A year of building community

The fourth floor of Tioga Library Building has just about the best views anywhere on campus. Surrounded by expansive windows on three sides, you can look east across the southern end of downtown Tacoma toward the tideflats, or south towards the Brewery District, or west up the hill.

It’s a lovely space for quiet study, amidst the book stacks, and the view brings to mind a theme I am emphasizing this year: “Building Community.”

From that perch, you can readily see how our campus is tightly woven into our city’s urban fabric. Below is the Prairie Line Trail through the heart of campus. On the horizon are the towering cranes of the Port of Tacoma. Up the hill is the iconic building of St. Joseph Medical Center, one of the two hospitals that bookend the historic Hilltop neighborhood.

As we begin our 34th year of educating diverse learners and community collaboration, our mission as an urban-serving university has never been more urgent. News feeds are filled with debates about the American public’s perceptions of the value of higher education. If you work here, you may be wondering if your contributions are appreciated. If you are a student here, you may be wondering if you have made the right decision to pursue a college degree.

Here is my message to each and every one of you: YES, you belong here, and you are a vital member of this community. UW Tacoma is nationally recognized as a college that delivers extraordinary value and is a game-changer for our students and their families. Do not let the national discourse distract you: Tacoma and the South Sound are strong supporters of UW Tacoma.

The expertise of our faculty and staff and the energy and promise of our students are seen by many of our elected and business leaders as central to making this region safer, healthier, more purposeful and more resilient. (Watch a video greeting to new students from Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards.)

Over the next couple weeks, as you settle into the rhythms of autumn quarter, make yourself a resolution. Commit to doing something, big or small, each day that contributes to the building of our community.

If you are a student, it could be by getting involved in campus activities and events, getting to know your instructors, and signing up for a vaccination clinic.

If you are an employee, check out the new Teaching@UW portal, sign up for a COVID/flu vaccine, and check out Husky Landing, the professional networking tool for the alumni, students, staff and friends — anyone in the UW community.

And I encourage everyone to take part in a preparedness exercise such as the Great Washington ShakeOut on Oct. 19.

In an oral history housed in our library, Harold Moss, the first Black mayor of Tacoma, said, “Once you realize you are a vital, essential part of the whole fabric, you can never go back. What you do affects the whole. You do not stand outside any group. When you accept and acknowledge that you are part of the family …, you are obligated to make it the best you can for everyone in the family.”

Mayor Moss might easily have been talking about our Husky family. I look forward to all the ways we will work over the coming year to build community together.

Welcome to UW Tacoma.