News Magazine of the UW Department of Communication
By: Katie McVicker
Due to a successful capital campaign and wise financial planning, the University of Washington will continue to prosper despite the recent state budget cuts and federal economic crisis announced UW President Mark Emmert in his Annual Campus Address Tuesday afternoon.
The UW has reason to celebrate as 2008 marked the end of its successful capital campaign Emmert told the charmed crowd of about 500 seated in Kane Hall. The plan, launched in 2000, generated nearly $2.7 billion, exceeding the expectations of UW officials by $650 million. More than 300,000 donors from 87 countries have invested in the UW, which according to Emmert gives the UW an enormous sense of responsibility to deliver excellence. What we do impacts lives, said Emmert; these donors have placed a huge vote of confidence in us.
Emmert proudly declared that the UW received about $118 million to uphold Students First Scholarships and the Husky Promise, stating that this year 5,600 students’ tuition and fees were completely covered. Emmert voiced that Husky Promise “continues to be a beacon for students who believe they don’t have the financial wherewithal to come here, but are just plain dead wrong.”
However, even with the exceptional donations and programs, Emmert held that UW officials must continue working to maintain UW’s financial stability and educational goals. He said, “Washington state’s revenues can swing pretty fast and almost violently,” so we have to watch out. UW has had a mid-year budget of recession of about $10 million and must discover a means to fill that gap. It would be easy to cut educational costs, said the president, but we can’t sacrifice great quality because of a two-year budget slip.
Emmert said the budgeting issue will be handled by open, transparent decision-making, but stressed that UW cannot afford to act slowly. He also suggested that UW plans to take advantage of the “down market” and use this time to recruit graduate students and faculty members from less-stable institutions. Terrific opportunities are embedded within this crisis, Emmert said, and in the academic market, we should be focused on buying, not selling.
Even with the budget distraction, it’s important for UW officials to focus on the next two decades not simply the next two years, said Emmert. While predicting the future isn’t exactly easy, he explained, apparent large-scale trends are developing, and each will bring its own opportunities and needs. Emmert said the UW needs to determine where things are headed in order to build strengths that will serve the school well today and in the future. In order to retain a competitive position, Emmert plans to:
Overall, concluded Emmert, the UW is in a pretty good place. He commended the UW students’ dedication and commitment to public service projects emphasizing that the UW sent the second highest number of students to the Peace Corps last year. Additionally, Emmert boasted that recently UW added another MacArthur Fellow “genius” prize winner to its list and the faculty once again placed in the top 16 of the Global 500 ranking.
In 2007-2008 “our faculty and our staff did a fantastic job,” Emmert declared, “and our students, in fact, continued those same traditions.” Emmert said he has no reason to believe that the current school year will be any less successful.
Video footage of Emmert’s speech can be viewed at http://www.uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.aspx?rID=27357&fID=5714.
