An Invitation to Participate in a Conversation about the Future

TO: Regents, Faculty, Staff and Students
Legislators, Alumni, Donors and Friends

FROM: William H. Gates, President, Board of Regents
Richard L. McCormick, President
Arthur Nowell, Chair, Board of Deans
Gerry Philipsen, Chair, Faculty Senate

There are moments in the history of great institutions when they should turn to a conversation about their fundamental goals and their strategies for achieving those goals. This is such a time for the University of Washington.

In his October 5 address to the University community (which was published in the October 7 issue of University Week and is being shown on UWTV), President Richard L. McCormick called for a conversation about the future and spoke of the purposes it can serve in the life of the University and the State of Washington. He suggested that the conversation should: be based on our historic missions of teaching, research, and service; reflect the UW’s academic strengths, geographic location, special opportunities, and comparative advantages; connect the UW to the larger world—addressing global human needs in areas where we have expertise and where we can make a difference.

With this open letter, we repeat and underline the invitation, and mark the opening of a collective discussion. Already plans are under way to attract wide attention to the conversation and draw into it as many voices as possible, from within and beyond the UW campuses. Yesterday the Provost’s annual Administrators’ Workshop, which brings together academic deans, department chairs, and directors, devoted much of its agenda to the conversation we hope will ensue. On October 29, President McCormick will address the annual Visiting Committee and Advisory Board luncheon, informing these several hundred UW supporters and advisers about our plans and inviting their participation in the conversation. We hope that these opening events—one directed inward, the other directed outward—will help us start thinking and talking together about our purposes and strategies for the future.

There are plenty of opportunities for every UW constituency to have events contributing to the conversation—for example, visiting speakers, panel discussions, focus groups, and open meetings. Equally important will be occasions for reaching across and beyond the campuses through interdisciplinary panels, town meetings, and other cross-cutting conversations.

The Faculty Senate is planning a series of winter 2000 forums involving distinguished visitors, UW Regents, faculty, staff, and students. The Teaching Academy (composed of the winners of the University’s Distinguished Teaching Award) is also planning a series of events. The ASUW and GPSS, the staff associations, the UW Alumni Association, and every element of our community is hereby invited to do the same. Schools, colleges, departments, and programs are encouraged to link explicitly the events associated with their ongoing planning efforts to the Universitywide conversation.

Although a great deal of thought has gone into this already, we emphasize that it is an open conversation. We hope for a whole constellation of events generated by units, groups, and individuals who care deeply about our shared future. We hope the conversation brings forth a wide variety of voices, ideas, aspirations, modes of communication, and styles of participation.

To make the conversation as open and widely accessible as it can be, a “Future Conversations” Web site will be available directly from the UW home page under “Strategies and Initiatives” (http://www.washington.edu/change). The Web site will include a bulletin board for listing all the events related to the conversation (no matter who sponsors the event), a mechanism for ongoing discussion, a section for reporting on all the events that take place, and a reference library with links to relevant documents. The Provost’s Office will maintain the Web site, but everyone is invited to use it for announcements and reports related to the conversation. Events of general interest will also be announced in University Week.

We hope this Web site will be a permanent, accessible record of our yearlong conversation. Since no one of us will attend every event, it will also furnish important source material for whatever more formal summing up we decide to do. President McCormick will take responsibility for providing a written report on the conversation. We expect others to write reports as well. But there will be no single “vision statement” issuing from this conversation.

Finally, a word about resources. For the most part, the costs incurred for events will have to be borne by those sponsoring them. The University’s central administration does, however, have some funds to support a certain number of campuswide events that deal with overarching themes. Those wishing to propose such events should contact the President’s Office.

This is an important moment in the life of our University. Please contribute to the conversation we are now beginning. Thank you. ¶