Tacoma institute to bolster high-tech workforce
A new technology institute designed to increase the number of Washington residents earning bachelor's and master's degrees in high technology fields was created when Gov. Gary Locke signed the state budget into law.
Sponsored as a public-private partnership, the project will receive $5.85 million in state funds for the UW, Tacoma. Even before the bill was signed, UW Tacoma had attracted pledges of $3.7 million in non-state funds for the institute. UW Tacoma expects to raise nearly twice that amount in the near future.
The institute will be a statewide resource. While getting started, it will primarily focus on needs of industry and students in the Puget Sound region.
The budget provides $2.7 million to help 14 community and technical colleges bring the first two years of a UW technology institute degree to students throughout the Puget Sound region. This funding helps the community and technical college system gear up to provide more students with the math and science backgrounds needed to transfer to the institute. Colleges in Tacoma, Olympia, Centralia, Bremerton, Auburn, Des Moines, Seattle and Bellevue will share $1.2 million to increase the number of eligible students and $1.5 million for computer labs on three campuses.
In addition to addressing the high tech industry's shortage of qualified workers, the institute will spread the benefits of the tech economy to the South Sound and to individuals who have not traditionally benefited, with an emphasis on increasing the number of women, minorities and nontraditional students entering the technology fields.
“This combination of ramping up the quality of the state's high tech workforce while spreading the benefits of the tech economy to more Washington residents is so powerful,” said Vicky Carwein, Chancellor of UW Tacoma. “We have seen tremendous support for building a technology institute at UW Tacoma.”
“We have to give credit to Governor Locke, who originally proposed this, and to all the legislators in the House and Senate who supported this during one of the toughest budget years in memory,” added Carwein. “And we cannot underestimate the contribution made by our donors. The private dollars that were raised so quickly following the proposal for the institute made this project stand out among all the projects competing for funding during this legislative session.”