UW Tacoma Will Be Best Regional Public University in Nation

UW Tacoma will be the best regional public university in the nation, said Chancellor Sheila Edwards Lange at a recent campus event. In the process, the campus will grow to serve 10,000 students.

“We are going to do that because we are focused on social and economic mobility for our students and their families,” said Lange, “and we will do it by partnering with our community to ensure equitable economic growth in our city and our region.”

Lange was the keynote speaker at “A Toast to Tacoma’s Future,” at which regional business and community leaders marked her one-year anniversary as Chancellor.

Grow to serve 10,000 students

During her remarks, Lange introduced her bold vision to grow enrollments. “We are about 5,000 students now. 60% are students of color, 56% are the first in their family to go to college, and over 75% get some kind of financial aid.”

“We definitely are serving students in the South Sound who might not otherwise get educational opportunity. We are going to grow by continuing to serve South Sound students, and we are going to supplement that with students from elsewhere in Washington and from the rest of the world. That kind of diversity in our classroom enriches the learning of our South Sound students.”

Lange said the target of serving 10,000 students is in the campus master plan. She noted that, in order to serve students from all over, UW Tacoma will need to add more residential space and establish a dining program. “Can you imagine? Seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds don’t want to cook for themselves!”

Equitable economic development

Lange also outlined a vision of equitable economic development for Tacoma and the South Sound. The Milgard School of Business will lead efforts to foster a cross-campus, community-linked interdisciplinary entrepreneurship culture. Faculty in all academic units will generate community-engaged research of national and international prominence. Academic planning will respond to industry need and workforce gaps. Working with the community, the campus will catalyze South-Sound-based start-ups and spin-outs using UW-developed technology.

“These goals are not pie-in-the-sky,” said Lange. “We are already within striking distance of the goal of being #1. For example, Washington Monthly ranks UW Tacoma #2 in the nation for social mobility in 2022.”

“None of this is going to happen overnight, particularly the growing of our enrollments to 10,000. It will take a lot of hard work. But I know we can do it. In fact, we have to do it. Our community demands that we do it. And it is consistent with our founding and our mission that we do this,” said Lange.

“Think of all the potential human capital in our community and in our state that is just waiting for opportunity,” said Lange. “All of those people whose lives and families could be transformed by a college education.”

“I’m one of them,” said Lange. “I was the first in my family to go to college. Because I went to college, all of my nieces and nephews went to college. I was just one person, but my example transformed the trajectory of my family.”

Milgard Hall

Lange gave attendees a preview of Milgard Hall, the campus’s newest academic building, expected to open in early 2023.

She noted that the building is a model of the innovation through which UW Tacoma will grow. It is built using cross-laminated timber, or CLT, and other sustainable technologies. It will house business, engineering and design-thinking programs under one roof, fostering collaboration, interdisciplinarity, and innovation.

And the opening of Milgard Hall will free up space elsewhere on campus, allowing for the growth of existing, and the addition of new, high-demand programs. This fall students are enrolling in a new bachelor of education, and undergraduate degrees in mechanical and civil engineering, and new master’s degrees in environmental science, information technology and a doctor of nursing practice degree are in the works.

“We are laying the foundation now for the UW Tacoma of 100 years from now,” said Lange. “At the end of the day, it has to be a shared vision.”

The event also served to introduce to those in attendance three new campus executives: Dr. Natalie Eschenbaum, dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences; Dr. Elavie Ndura, vice chancellor of equity and inclusion; and Dr. Andrew Harris, executive vice chancellor of academic affairs.

Each of those campus leaders spoke briefly about their prior careers, what attracts them to UW Tacoma and what each envisions as their early focus for their units.