35 Comments Add your own

• 1. Mehmet Sarikaya  |  February 6th, 2007 at 1:59 am

  When the universities were started many centuries ago, they not only meant as institutions for learning natural sciences and arts, but also for bringing these human endeavors to the general public, in ways that could be understood by any lay person. After teaching 22 years and doing state-of-the art research at the UW, what satifies me most is giving a lecture at a local Rotary Club or a high school, and receiving incredibly smart and meaningful questions. This, more than anything, keeps me going and makes me to learn and do more.

• 2. John Vidale  |  February 6th, 2007 at 7:51 am

  “Being Public” is literally true for those of us working on the seismic network at the UDub, monitoring the Pacific Northwest’s earthquakes and volcanoes. We work with the student body, the government and the public to inform, safeguard, educate, and learn. It is hard to imagine a place with more challenge or more fulfillment.

• 3. Gray Kochhar-Lindgren  |  February 6th, 2007 at 7:58 am

  “Being Public,” among many other things, means teaching our UWBothell first year students how to identify and understand the linkages between their in-class work and various points in the surrounding community (however defined). And, for my graduate class, it entails forming a more richly textured inquiry into the relationship between the “public humanities” and the tasks of the 21st century university, especially in the digital formations that permeate older layers of the contours of knowledge.

• 4. Antoinette Wills  |  February 6th, 2007 at 8:36 am

  I sometimes give tours of upper campus to visitors–donors, friends, new staff. After I had finished one of my tours, ending at the donor wall in Suzzallo Library, a visitor who works at Princeton commented that no-one had asked us for ID anywhere we went. We could just walk into that beautiful library and use it. I reminded her that the sign at the 17th Avenue entrance says “Visitors Welcome.” That was a moment when I was reminded what “being public” means to me.

• 5. Peggy Smith  |  February 6th, 2007 at 8:45 am

  “Being Public” means being accessible and accountable to not only taxpayers but citizens who look to us for answers to chronic and emerging health issues as well as scientific advances. When responding to the inevitable FOIA and Public Records requests, I often have to remind myself that this sometimes onerous task is also “being public”.

• 6. Sandra C. Clinton  |  February 6th, 2007 at 9:06 am

  I completely agree with Peggy Smith’s comments above. This should include letting the public know what is going on with the scientific research involving animals, especially primates. These labs should be made accessible to us taxpayers who would like to see for ourselves what research is being done and how it is being conducted. As of now, primate research at the UW is completely secretive and off limits to the public (why?), and I feel the public has a right to know what research their tax dollars are funding and if it is an effective use of grant money.

• 7. Rob Stevens  |  February 6th, 2007 at 9:11 am

  Being Public means getting out beyond the boundaries of the University walls, outside of the haze of acedemia, and bringing the UW ethic and education into the public light. There is a lot of good that can be done outside of the normal research corridors and on-campus activities, and interacting with people outside of the university system is just as important as on-campus pursuits.

  Further, Being Public also means being as transparent as possible in our policies and procedures, and realizing that students and faculty are not the only stakeholders in the university system. Conversations like this are critical to helping the public understand our goals and desires and showing more about what happens behind the purple and gold curtains.

• 8. Gael Tarleton  |  February 6th, 2007 at 9:22 am

  “Being public” means honoring the principle of providing public education to the citizens of a democratic society. As my parents used to remind me, my siblings, and their friends, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people is simply impossible without an educated, informed citizenry. The settlers in Massachusetts Bay colony created laws (1647) to make public education available in all towns of 50 or more families. Our public university carries on a 360-year old tradition that values public education at all levels, for all citizens.

• 9. Joanne Hegge  |  February 6th, 2007 at 9:24 am

  Being public means we are under public scrutiny because we are accountable to the public to conduct ourselves in a professional and ethical manner. Without systems in place to prevent abuses, some employees can develop an erroneous sense of entitlement, leading them to abuse their positions just because they can get away with it. This can lead to enormous embarrassment and expense for the university.

• 10. Anonymous  |  February 6th, 2007 at 9:41 am

  Being Public means that your professors are too concerned with their publishing to focus on teaching their classes effectively. It means that most class sizes are too big, and when they ARE small enough it’s hard to get in because there aren’t many sections (excluding language classes, in my experience). It means your advisors are extremely unhelpful in helping you take the steps to be successful in your program and after graduation. It means that if you are an out-of-state student you have next to no chances at getting financial aid. That’s what being public has meant for me at UW.

• 11. T Morgan  |  February 6th, 2007 at 9:59 am

  Being public to me is quite simple, I am of service to my community, actively and professionally. As an alumni, staff member and citizen of Washington State I represent my community within and without the University campus borders. It is an honor to be a part of a team of people who work every day to make the World a better place for my family and my community. I know first hand that the results of my efforts benefit many people I might not ever meet, and people who I know personally.

• 12. Ann Marie Kimball  |  February 6th, 2007 at 10:01 am

  “Being Public” is working for the people of Washington State as our primary constituency. I agree with accountability and transparency as core values (as commented by others on this list) . We as faculty are incredibly privileged to be able to pursue scholarship and teaching with the support of the public.

  Public Health is the ultimate “public” discipline. I try to actualize “being public” through civic involvement and public speaking (as well as teaching, practice and research) . Each of us is an ambassador for the University in all that we do in Seattle or in Shanghai. That means we are seen as part of a common mission. Beginning to “act” like we are on a common mission will help us realize that mission. Academics are sniped at often by outsiders for their egotistical backbiting and petty politics. Being on a common mission means foregoing such behaviors to focus on our collective contribution.

  Thanks, Provost Wise, for your leadership in this.

• 13. Gene Kim  |  February 6th, 2007 at 10:10 am

  I’m relatively new to this campus. I was a former student and an assistant dean in College of Letters and Science in UW-Madison. I believe being Public is captured in the “Wisconsin Idea” via University of Wisconsin President Charles Van Hise in 1904, Theodore Roosevelt , & “Fighting Bob” La Follette (Former Governor & Senator of WI):

  http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinIdea/

  http://www.news.wisc.edu/welcome/odyssey/Outreach/wiscidea.html

  http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Contents/Idea.htmll

• 14. Sheila Lockwood  |  February 6th, 2007 at 10:51 am

  “Being Public” means we are actively able to participate in local, regional and national efforts that not only benefit the UW community but aid our peers and associated at other colleges and universities. it means be activitly involved with a number of efforts:
  1.Active member of the Medical Industry Round Table Forum
  2.

• 15. John Gastil  |  February 6th, 2007 at 10:54 am

  To me, “public” makes me think of “public scholarship.” Our department established “public scholarship” as one of its four core principles, in which we stress the importance of connecting rigorous research with public engagement. To demonstrate the importance of this idea to us, we made one of our three required graduate courses the five-credit “Communication Scholarship and Public Life.” The existence of that seminar has helped to recruit students every year since its inception.

  Our departmental statement on public scholarship reads, “Scholarship and citizenship go hand in hand. Although scholars in higher education ultimately work on behalf of their communities, their nations and the world, much of their scholarship stays within the traditional research process, subject to peer review and publication in discipline-based journals and books, although available for review and application by persons and institutions outside of the academy. Scholars also directly engage the world beyond the academy, drawing on scholarship developed in the rigor of disciplinary tradition. Productive efforts of this kind, herein called public scholarship, may take many forms, such as popularization of research-based ideas in a variety of media and formats, facilitation of deliberation about such social values as equality, justice and freedom, and explanation or appreciation of texts, concepts, values or events. Such efforts can promote constructive dialogue with and among students, citizens, diverse communities, and political and cultural leaders.”

  For more details on the seminar and our conception of public scholarship, see
  http://www.com.washington.edu/Program/Grad/public.html

• 16. Doug Hayman  |  February 6th, 2007 at 10:57 am

  “Being Public” means taking into consideration the variety of our public and their needs. It is great to see this video not only share info about this great resource Harborview, but do so with captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing. The folks at UWTV do great work.

• 17. Jeanne O'Connell  |  February 6th, 2007 at 1:17 pm

  “Being Public” means to me that we are absolutely accountable to our students, the state legislature, any person walking up the street, the furhermost little communities of our state, and those agencies which fund the myriad research programs available on our campuses. We owe these contituencies transparency in our processes, accessability to our resources, and integrity in our responses to their requests. This is a wonderful place to work, and if I do not avail myself, as staff, of the opportunities for continued growth and learning, this too is somehow cheating our “public” because I’d be less able to cimmunicate to them the impac we have on our state community.

• 18. Linda R. Scheidt  |  February 6th, 2007 at 1:42 pm

  February 6, 2007

  Provost Wise:

  “I need a field technician right away. Please post this in “Northwest WaterWork” as soon as possible”. “Your publication is a critical component of my job search resources”.

  Students in our College, students on campus, employers, audiences from around the Puget Sound, Washington State, the US, and the world access the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences’ online employment publication “Northwest WaterWork.” I have had the privilege of producing this publication for 18 years, as part of our College’s career services program. You’ve probably guessed—public to me means sharing vital information that helps shape careers and may literally change peoples’ lives. With foresight, our College recognized the wisdom of this 25 years ago. The return to us has been bountiful. In the broader sense, our university should be a touchstone in assisting the “public” make an informed decision. Oh yes—you may enjoy viewing: http://www.cofs.washington.edu Select “Employment Listings”. Thank you.

  Linda Scheidt
  Career Center
  College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences

• 19. T. Currey  |  February 6th, 2007 at 3:57 pm

  What the UW does has huge implications on society in general. I am horrified at the continual litter in the Greek system just north of campus that continues despite contacting and meeting with the IFC, Pan Hellenic, Greek Relations and sending letters out to every house. It makes our public face one of neglect and of damaging both the community and the environment. The UW has to take a stronger stance because these houses are not being kept up to city code.

  Also, I feel the UW discriminates against minorities when it comes to science. I do not kill animals and the UW is preventing me from graduating because of it. I am a darn good scientist (yes I work in a lab). I love science and will not change majors. I shouldn’t have to.
  Currently the UW doesn’t have a single animal lab course that doesn’t require either killing, using killed animals or supporting the meat industry by “recycling” their fetal pigs. I am an animal focus so plant labs won’t count. There is nothing in science that says you must kill. It is simply a matter of culture and convenience. You can still be a scientist (surveys, tracking, observation, behavioral studies etc.) without killing. Yet the UW seems to think otherwise and is imposing this misguided belief of students. A teacher told me that the dissection was the only way to learn the material (frog nerve impulses in this case). Teaching 101 says that you need to be able to come up with other ways of teaching that material. If a teacher says they cannot teach the material any other way they are horrible teachers.

  My community college was much more progressive in this area which is a bit of a shock. I was allowed to bring in an animal that died of natural causes for my dissections. Others used the virtual frog and pig. Some may say that we need to see the inside of the frog or pig, but really what percentage will be dissecting frogs or pigs for a living? The Burke gets animals that died naturally or by accident all the time and they are just thrown away when these could be used.
  I am so lucky that I took the intro series at a community college because by opting out of dissections I would have lost major points and gotten a much lower grade which is unfair if I know the material. This is the case for many undergrads right now. Also this policy discourages a huge population of students from being scientist which is a huge loss to science.

  In order to graduate I need to do two separate undergraduate research projects for at least 4 credits each (12 hours a week each) which is a HUGE amount of extra work on top of other classes, work, volunteering and other extra curricular activities.
  So because I am a scientist who doesn’t kill the university is discriminating against me by making me do extra work to graduate simply because of my beliefs (which in 500 years or less everyone else will agree with as well). One would think that science would want to encourage people like me to enter science. I am an intelligent, motivated, independent thinker who doesn’t conform for conformity’s sake (that IS science). By having alternatives you would not be losing the standard lot of science students, but would be adding people like myself who are motivated and have a lot to offer.
  In the meantime I have set up my own lab at home to learn the material that the UW refuses to teach me without killing. It is a sad situation.
  Something has to be done. Public to me means accepting and tolerating all viewpoints and the UW is failing.

• 20. anonymous  |  February 6th, 2007 at 4:25 pm

  Being public means never having anywhere near enough money to fund the research and graduate students that the university, for some reason, accepts anyway.

• 21. Sara Riechers  |  February 6th, 2007 at 6:56 pm

  Being public definately means educating the community, but in a health sciences school, it also means treating them. I am a dental student and I know there are many people in our community with little or no money for care. Specifically in a dental emergency, patients with no money are not accepted for care in the dental emergency clinic. Patients can go to the UWMC ER, but they are not always accepted for treatment, this is not the best environment for them, and they can only be treated after normal business hours. This ends up being much less cost effective as well. In my opinion no one should have to suffer in pain, and tooth pain is one of the worst. In our great school, city, state and country, this should not happen. Being public should include serving all of the public, not just those with money.

• 22. jeremy palmer  |  February 6th, 2007 at 8:57 pm

  Public is everybody’s. Like the Seattle Central Library, which by the way I love. Public is human. Humans have thrived because of the notion of public. We look out for one another across the board. It’s not just a human trait, but I think maybe we do it best. When we’re not public we are not human. I love being public! Be public UW!

• 23. Heidi Copeland RN  |  February 7th, 2007 at 7:56 am

  I work in the Medical Center and am proud of the team with which I work and the difficult work that we do. Unfortunately, “Being Public” sometimes means that the local media (TV and newspapers) often publicizes our occasional mistakes but never seems to focus the same fervor and publicity on the numerous positive accomplishments that are made. This process saddens and angers me but does not change the excellent work that we do nor the pride that I have for working at UWMC.

• 24. Jenn Dougherty  |  February 7th, 2007 at 1:38 pm

  I agree with others; “Being Public” means accountability and transparency to the public.

  “Being Public” also means transparency and accountability to each other within UW. There is immeasurable waste, redundancy and effort required for the simplest task when we do not work together.

  Finally “Being Public” means giving back to the public and impacting all lives through our research and our education.

• 25. John Wynn  |  February 7th, 2007 at 6:23 pm

  I am on the clinical faculty of the medical school and feel that we work in the boundary zone where public and private, academe and community, truly meet. Our teaching activities routinely include time with medical students and residents at UWMC as well as with physicians practicing in the community locally, regionally and internationally. We benefit through participation in a community of scholars; hopefully we add to the reality-orientation that denizens of the ivory tower might otherwise overlook.
  Our obligations to the public are to present cutting edge information in basic and clinical research; to advance the science and art of medicine; and to encourage curiosity in all we meet.

• 26. Pat McGiffert  |  February 8th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

  Thank you Provost Wise for this opportunity.

  “Being Public” means to me, creating an accurate image of who we are as a Teaching and Research Hospital and University.

  “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
  It says so much in a glance.
  In my department, Health Sciences Academic Services and Facilities, we have a variety of ways we help assist other departments, staff and students with their research and public image through Photography, Illustration, Posters and Web Design. We do Brosures to Portraits/Passport Photos to Recruiting Tools, for professional quality marketing and much more.
  COME SEE US! MAKE YOUR WORK VISUAL!

  http://depts.washington.edu/hsasf/creative/identity.html

• 27. Karen Dvornich  |  February 8th, 2007 at 3:10 pm

  Being public is what The NatureMapping Program at the College of Forest Resources does. It engages the public in the application of UW biodiversity research, advances scientific knowledge through consistent data reporting, analysis, and mapping, and provides feedback to the public in a variety of formats so they may use the information to be better stewards of their environment.

  Being public is a two-way street, teaching the public and learning from them.

  Being public is utilizing the strengths of UW departments to integrate similar efforts and allow UW students to apply their academic training to real-life situations within their communities.

  Being public is knowing the public trusts that their data collection efforts enhances the UW’s research efforts and by working together will maintain our quality of life.

  “I want to thank you for letting us know that what we do is actually important to the state and that we really do matter.” – 7th grade student

• 28. Ann Lally  |  February 12th, 2007 at 11:00 am

  As someone who is involved with making some of the University Libraries materials available online, Being Public is what my job is all about. The level of engagement that people in the community have with this material is wonderful. Folks often send us corrections or additions [often offering the names of their relatives] to the descriptions of our images. When I go out and promote our resources or receive enthusiastic feedback I am grateful that my job at the UW allows me to give something so valuable to the people of Washington.

• 29. Miriam Bartha  |  February 12th, 2007 at 2:52 pm

  At the Simpson Center for the Humanities, where I work, “being public” means asking faculty and graduate students to consider how their scholarship might to better engage publics beyond the university. The Simpson Center then provides structural support for creating and sustaining those bridges with various communities. For example, our “Teachers as Scholars” program provides scholarship-based intellectual enrichment as a model for K-12 professional development. The program brings UW faculty into cross-educational dialogue with the region’s schoolteachers and offers important professional development benefits for UW faculty, who gain greater perspective on and insight into the workings of a “K-16+” educational system . The Simpson Center has also created “The Institute on the Public Humanities for Doctoral Students,” the first of its kind in the nation, to cultivate the ethos and the skills necessary to humanistic public engagement and cultural collaboration among the next generation of faculty, community, and civic leaders.

• 30. Grace Hamilton  |  February 14th, 2007 at 11:03 am

  It is refreshing to read the contributors of this conversation-at first glance, it appears that there is a need to instigate this sort of discourse; from the professional to the personal.

  The notion of public has engendered new meaning for many of us lately-we are constantly on the verge of wondering what will yield next in the media, who will monopolize an undeserved spotlight, and which group will announce their presence in the grande scheme of our public world.

  What is ‘being public’? I believe that it is an act of coming to realization that we, as a collective, a community, a university, a representative, an ambassador to all, et cetera, need to consider how we use the term public. Many of the postings, while certainly valid and meaningful in their own respective right, all fall into the space of selfishness. Public has become, as many of the posts clearly reveal, something about the individual, the ‘I’, the ‘me’. Public has fallen into the site of personal contestation, personal motives, and personal agendas rather than what I believe being public should truly entail: community, collectivity, mutual consciousness, and responsible citizens who work toward and for each other with a democratic engaging purpose. The language we use to define ‘being public’ needs to be scrutinized.

  Individuality and selfishness is not synonymous with BEING PUBLIC…

• 31. Mitsuhiro Kawase  |  February 18th, 2007 at 7:12 pm

  Thank you Dr. Wise for your leadership and for giving us an opportunity to provide comments and feedback.

  As one of the researchers engaged in an activity mentioned in the February 6 webcast, addressing the Hood Canal oxygen problem, and one who frequently does collaborative work with state and local agencies, I’m becoming more and more aware that an important aspect of being public as a university is respect for other public and private institutions that make up our regional community, and their missions and mandates. From time to time I find myself in a situation where the collaborative relationship is strained because of misunderstandings and lack of good will. While something like this is rarely a fault of one side only, on our part we often create such a situation by acting as if we had all the answers without taking into account what our partner’s real needs are. It is important that we put effort into understanding theirs, and in turn helping them understand our mission and goals.

• 32. Tina Lever  |  March 9th, 2007 at 1:08 pm

  I am a citizen of the United States. I have never considered myself a citizen of the world and never will.

• 33. Geraldine Dawson  |  March 19th, 2007 at 7:24 pm

  Being public for the UW Autism Center means providing diagnostic evaluations and treatment services for 600 families each year. It means training and supervising UW undergraduate students so they can go into families’ homes to provide intensive behavioral intervention.

  Being public means going out into local school districts and working with teachers and administrators to improve their educational programs for children with autism. Being public means offering a 2-week autism training program for close to 100 families and community professionals each summer.

  Being public means visiting local pediatric offices to inform them about new screening methods for toddlers at risk for autism. Being public means travelling throughout Washington state and greater northwest including Alaska and Montana to help a family and train a teacher or health professional.

  Being public means providing funds for a full time staff member to answer over 7,000 calls each year from people in the community seeking autism information, advice, and referrals.

  Being public means never failing to respond to a phone call, email, or letter from a parent, professional, or individual with autism.

• 34. Edwin Loftus  |  May 3rd, 2007 at 6:55 am

  Being “public” ought to mean a great deal. Unfortunately all we have done is to substitute the human frailties of high-salaried professional bureaucrats paid by the state for those of high-salaried professional bureaucrats paid by private trusts and donors. The same conflicts of interest between that which serves the goals of the institution and that which serves the goals of these bureaucrats remains unchanged except for one important difference.

  If privately owned, the University would be subject to independent state oversight and regulation. As a publicly owned institution, the University IS the state. Its tendrils of influence and power extend to those that should be its watchmen and diminish the effectiveness of their oversight and regulation.
  Too often, and in too many important ways, our “public” status serves the ends of those whose business is to serve their own interests, not those of the public. “Being Public” makes that self-service easier, not more difficult.

• 35. Susan Yantis  |  May 3rd, 2007 at 7:44 am

  Being Public –
  To me a public university is something to be cherished and preserved. It means open access and open opportunities, and I see it as the very opposite of elitism. An environment of sharing, creativity, and innovation can flourish when the doors are open to everyone. I am concerned about the future of “public” during our economically-challenged times. I wonder how many things will venture into the privatized arena, and what limits will be imposed re access/opportunities. Because the university is an evolving entity, I also hope for better times – we need a beacon & a renaissance!

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