President e x c e l l e n c e , i n n o vat i o n , a c c e s s i b i l i t y
A VISION for
At the 2013 annual address, I proposed a vision for the future of the University of Washington. It’s a vision derived from countless conversations over the past two years with faculty, staff, students, the Board of Regents, supporters and many others in the UW community. It’s a vision that was seeded when the opportunity first arose to come here. I immediately knew UW was special. I knew we could do things that are truly exceptional, things that could not be done anywhere else in the world. From the beginning, I saw: • intellectual excellence that puts the UW at the very top—in passion, commitment, teaching, and research; • excellence in specific domains that would truly impact the world—such as genome science, big data, global health, and more; • innovation and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries with a goal of applying research and knowledge to big problems, affecting countless people and societies; • a distinctive location, unlike anywhere else in the world. UW has a cultural worldview that looks in every direction: east, west, north, south. It is located in a community that believes in looking beyond geographic and intellectual borders, beyond barriers both real and perceived. That was my impression before I arrived and the foundation for why I came here a little more than two years ago. I have now seen firsthand the extraordinary work going on here. The excellence of the UW and the capacity for positive, lasting, transformative impact was even greater than I could have possibly imagined. We are now emerging from some of the most difficult economic years UW has ever faced. It has been my first and foremost priority to address the financial challenges facing the UW, and it continues to be. But I believe we’ve turned a corner. Now it is time for us to chart a course for our future. As a great public university, our responsibility goes well beyond simply sustaining our operations. We need to do more and we know it. In order to fulfill our purpose for being, it is both our obligation and an opportunity to expand our offerings and our research to reflect the change occurring in the world around us. We need to lead. With that in mind, I propose four foundations to match the four columns in the campus’ Sylvan Grove that replicate the front of the very first UW building in 1861. The original columns were the literal foundation upon which the University was built, and they call us forward. I want to offer four foundations—or 21st-century columns—that I believe capture the essence of who and what UW
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