On the road again: Faculty field tour sets out for second year

The UW’s successful 1998 faculty field tour has been expanded to cover more of the state this year. President Richard L. McCormick will lead 30 new professors and librarians from the UW’s Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses on an 1,100-mile, five-day bus trip to learn about the people, places, passions and problems of their home state.

The tour begins June 14.

McCormick will be joined this year by the chancellors of UW Bothell and UW Tacoma as the tour takes in more of the northern and western parts of the state in addition to Eastern Washington.

“The first faculty field tour was very successful and proved how important it is for our faculty to meet face to face with some of the people of our state,” McCormick said. “We want our new UW professors to get a feel for Washington and to discover how they can work with citizens around the state to address some of their challenges, opportunities and problems.”

The tour will depart from the UW Seattle campus. The five-day expedition will include stops at Boeing’s Everett plant, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, an apple orchard and packing plant in Brewster, Grand Coulee Dam, Spokane’s historic Campbell House, a farm workers’ clinic in Yakima, state legislative buildings in Olympia, a revived paper mill in Hoquiam and the Olympic Natural Resources Center in Forks. New to this year’s tour route will be the North Cascades Highway, Gray’s Harbor area and Olympic Peninsula. The bus will return to Seattle the afternoon of June 19 for a barbecue picnic for tour participants and their families at the president’s residence.

During the tour, the UW contingent will hear presentations about Washington’s economy, geography, history, politics and society. Participants also can expect to develop ideas for relating research and teaching initiatives to state needs. And they likely will form bonds with individuals they meet at various stops and with one another—bonds that may lead to collaborative research and service projects.

“I was able to exchange articles and ideas with other participants, many of whom I wouldn’t have met without the faculty field tour,” said Jacqueline Meszaros, a business professor from UW Bothell who took part in the 1998 tour. “It was great to establish connections with colleagues at Tacoma and Seattle and to build understanding across the three campuses. It would be wonderful if every professor in the University had this opportunity.”

The tour is open to faculty members who have been at the UW for three years or less. Participants were selected to reflect a variety of academic disciplines from all three UW campuses. UW Tacoma Chancellor Vicky Carwein and new UW Bothell Chancellor Warren S. Buck also are going along this year. UW Provost Lee Huntsman will join the tour for the final two days. ¶

Greg Orwig, News and Information