Artist Lauren E. Nelson puts the finishing touches on a sidewalk chalk drawing at the Showcase Tacoma arts festival on the UW Tacoma campus Sunday. About 10,000 people attended the event, with 40 artists displaying their work on the UWT campus and around the neighborhood. Works ranged from sidewalk chalk art to hand-blown glass at a portable hot shop on the campus stairs.

Artist's Lofts building now under UWT ownership  

The Artist's Lofts building on Pacific Avenue.

The sellers, who had owned the property for 21 years, sold it to the university for just over $3 million. The transaction included a $500,000 gift to the University.

Read the university's news release

Soil cleanup to begin soon

A project to clean up contaminated soil under the UWT campus will begin soon. UWT inherited the problem when the campus opened in 1997.

The soil underneath the Shaub-Ellison parcel, the courtyard and garden area just south of the central campus stairs on Pacific Avenue, is contaminated with petroleum products that probably leaked from the Shaub-Ellison tire retailer and vehicle repair shop that once stood there. The mitigation project will consist of drilling several wells and pumping oxygen into the ground to support organisms that will naturally break down the pollution.

The soil contamination poses no hazard to anyone on campus and its mitigation is being monitored and supported by the EPA and UW Environmental Health Services.

In addition, several plumes of toxic groundwater have been found in the soil beneath other portions of the UWT campus and are slowly seeping downhill. UW Environmental Health and Safety officials estimate that it will cost $6.4 million to clean up the chemicals. The contamination was the subject of a News Tribune article last week.

Some of the chemicals can be traced to past enterprises on or near the site. But the origin of others is a mystery and will be the focus of an investigation scheduled to begin within the next couple of months.

Throwing punches: Defense course now open to men

UW Tacoma Campus Safety will open its popular self-defense course to men this fall.

Called Rape Aggression Defense (RAD), the course has been open only to women who want to develop the skills and confidence to defend themselves. Now, a new RAD — "Resisting Aggression with Defense" — class will be available for men who wish to learn the same skills.

IAS Associate Professor Carolyn West helped get the RAD program established on the UW Tacoma campus, and arranged the purchase of $4,000 of specialized equipment for the course. West holds the UW's Bartley Dobb Professorship for the Prevention of Violence, and used funding from that endowment to purchase the equipment.

Both courses will be led by Campus Safety officers and will include lecture and technique lessons and simulated attacks. The course schedule will be announced soon.

Visit the RAD Web site

Students leap ahead in Summer Jump Program

A partnership between UW Tacoma and St. John Baptist Church is helping teenagers catch up in school – and learn about college.

UW Tacoma alumni and Education Program students are leading a group of tutors in the Summer Jump Program, which brought 23 students to the UWT campus this summer for extra help in math and science. Part of a youth program sponsored by UWT, St. John and Popeye’s restaurant, Summer Jump helps these students get ahead – and helps UW Tacoma student teachers get hands-on experience in a classroom setting.

The key to the program is structured, individualized instruction, said coordinator Kathy Zapp, a graduate of the Education Program. Students work one-on-one with instructors and are evaluated throughout the program using placement tests.

The UWT student teachers earn six credits for working in the program. The Summer Jump Program ends today.

New open-house recruiting effort begins Thursday

UWT will offer monthly campus open houses for recruitment beginning this week, inviting prospective students to campus to meet with representatives from all programs and to take advantage of Tacoma's Artwalk, held on the third Thursday of each month.

Participants can drop in to the GWP building any time between 4 and 7 p.m. to meet with an academic adviser, explore UW Tacoma’s academic programs and support services, learn about financial aid and scholarships, meet current students and tour the campus.

“This is a great way for students to find out exactly what they need to know about UW Tacoma,” says Fiona Johnson, director of university recruitment.

Previously, UWT offered a quarterly information session. The new approach is designed to raise UWT's visibility and increase enrollment.

Students in Ile de la Gonave, Haiti, present their projects at a class finale this summer. Photo courtesy of Annette Henry.

UWT community steps up to donate

The UW Tacoma community gave generously to two international charity drives this summer.

In June, Education Professor Annette Henry sought supplies for a trip to help teachers work with students in Haiti. UWT faculty, staff and students brought clothes, linens, school supplies and books to distribute to Haitians in need.

Later in the summer, three student groups — the Queer-Straight Alliance, Student Social Work Organization, and Latino Student Organization — gathered donations of books to be shipped to disenfranchised and marginalized students in Kenya by the nonprofit group “Hands Across the Waters.” The UWT community came through again, donating more than 1,200 books for the project.

UW Tacoma in the news
News and projects of interest to the UW Tacoma community.

• New York City? A newspaper based in the Big Apple published a story about UWT's purchase of the Artist's Lofts. The newspaper, "Multi-Housing News," covers nationwide news of interest to professionals in the multi-family and mixed-use housing fields.
• Read about preparations to accept the first freshmen at UW Tacoma and UW Bothell in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
• UWT plans to do more outreach and recruiting in Kitsap County this year. Read about it in the Kitsap Sun.

Faculty and Staff Notes

Mark Dodson has been hired as the special projects coordinator in Student Life.

Kelly Kledzik has been hired as an office assistant in the Milgard School of Business.

Derek Levy has been hired as interim associate vice chancellor for student affairs.

Susie Shields has been hired as an undergraduate adviser in the Institute of Technology.

Ysabel Trinidad has been hired as UWT’s new vice chancellor for administrative services. Her first day is Sept. 1.

Administrative Snapshot: A look at issues and projects at UWT

If you are working on a project of interest to the UWT community, tell us about it at uwtnews@u.washington.edu.

Choose a topic:

• Environmental Science summer courses
• Advanced Standing MSW
• Library maps
• Chinese delegation visit
• Campaign update
• Pacific Avenue repairs
• New faculty and staff reception