Teens find math, science success at UW Tacoma

Three years ago, Larissa Jackson didn't think she could succeed at math.

“My grades were really low,” says 15-year-old Larissa, who will enter 10th grade at Mount Tahoma High School in the fall. “I just wasn't good at math and science.”

But in the summer before she started 8th grade, Jackson's mother discovered the Math, Science and Leadership Program at UW Tacoma, and everything changed. Larissa's grades shot up, especially in math and science. And she became more confident - in her math skills and in herself.

Now in its fourth year at UW Tacoma, the Math, Science and Leadership Program is a summer camp designed to strengthen the skills of students who might not otherwise have succeeded in these fields. It is targeted toward first-generation college students, underrepresented minorities and girls – students who might otherwise slip through the cracks.

In the four-week program, these students study the fundamentals of math and the scientific process, robotics, computer programming, environmental studies and engineering, subjects they’ll tackle in their next year of school. The program stresses positive reinforcement, and the students learn about good leadership skills.

Since its inception in 2003, contributors from the private sector have donated nearly $190,000 in support of MSL. Corporate donors have included Intel, The Boeing Company and Wells Fargo Bank. Local foundations have also been solid supporters of MSL.

"Companies that do business in our region recognize the importance of enhancing, during the summer, what public schools accomplish during the academic year. They are also interested in helping to open the doors of educational opportunity to students who would be the first in their family to graduate from college," said Development Officer Jamie Martin-Almy.

• Read more about the MSL Program
• See more photos of the MSL students at work

Showcase Tacoma: UWT campus at center of arts festival

Nearly 30,000 people are expected to visit the UWT campus and surrounding neighborhood for a special arts festival the weekend of Aug. 11-13.

Sponsored by Metro Parks and the Museum of Glass, the event, called Showcase Tacoma, will celebrate art in Tacoma with food, drink, art and live entertainment scattered throughout the museum district and the UWT campus. Local and regional artists will display their works throughout the three-day event.

Planned activities include a wine and art garden, chalk art ground murals, a martini bar and beer garden, performance stages and more. On Aug. 12 and 13, UW Tacoma will host a portable glass hotshop, artists' booths, a Taste of Tacoma festival and live music.

To kick off the event, world-renowned native Tacoma glass artist Dale Chihuly will spend a week as a visiting artist in the Museum of Glass Hot Shop.

Organizers hope to make Showcase Tacoma an annual event. The festival is free and open to the public, but tickets will be required for some events, such as Chihuly's appearahce at the Hot Shop.

• Learn more at the Metro Parks Tacoma Web site
• Read about Chihuly's schedule at the Museum of Glass

Gift to launch world-class UWT lecture series

Beginning in 2008, you will be able to attend a lecture series featuring prominent speakers on the UW Tacoma campus, thanks to a $1 million pledge by Arthur R. Paulsen, a native Tacoman and University of Washington alumnus.

The gift creates an endowed fund, called the Arthur R. and Anna Mae Paulsen Visiting Chair in Public Affairs, that supports bringing well-known public figures to campus each year to enhance the intellectual life of UW Tacoma students and the South Sound community.Visiting lecturers will address a range of political and social issues.

Paulsen, who has memories of hearing British Labour Leader Harold Laske speak at the UW in 1939 as part of the Walker Ames Lecture Series, wanted students to benefit from balanced presentation of viewpoints on world affairs.

The first lecture in the series will coincide with the opening of the new Assembly Hall in 2008.

Nursing earns Army's Patriot Award

The U.S. Army has given UW Tacoma's Nursing Program a Patriot Award for its support of Adviser Ginger Hill while she was on deployment.

Hill, who recruits and advises Master of Nursing students, has been deployed several times in the past three years. A nurse with an 18-year Army career, Hill has recently been sent to Fort Lewis, Georgia and Germany — twice.

“I think I've been gone for half of the last three years,” Hill said. “It's been quite an adventure for me.”

Hill joined the Army in 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War, and resigned her commission in the 1970s. In 1992, however, she decided to join again during Operation Desert Storm.

“I realized this was something I needed to do again,” she said.

Hill said the staff and faculty in the Nursing program have worked hard to fill her duties at work while she's gone and ensure that she has a job when she returns. Associate Professor Janet Primomo, Adviser Dannah Madden, Program Administrator Nan West and program assistants Crystal Perrine and Laurie McKay often take on Hill's duties when she's not there.

“The Nursing Program has allowed me to succeed at both parts of my life,” she said.

Goodbye, Dawg Shed

Architects for UW Tacoma's new Assembly Hall have released this drawing of what the building might look like from Pacific Avenue, with Cherry Parkes to the left and Walsh Gardner to the right. UW Tacoma is just beginning a campaign to raise nearly $5 million in private funding toward the building, which will replace the Dawg Shed. Scheduled for completion in 2008, the Assembly Hall will serve as a venue for world-class public lectures, arts events, performances and classes and will provide a student commons area, collaborative study rooms and new retail space along Pacific. The Dawg Shed is scheduled to be torn down in May 2007; construction on the Assembly Hall will begin in September 2007. See the other side of the building

UW Tacoma in the news

Other news and projects of interest to the UW Tacoma community

• UW's Restoration Ecology project brings students into the community to restore degraded ecosystems. UWT Associate Professor John Banks co-wrote an article in Science Magazine (PDF) about the project.
• Do you use public transportation to get to work? Sound Transit may have good news for you: they'll be adding more Sounder commuter train routes in September 2007, including a “reverse” commute from Seattle to Tacoma in the morning. Read about it in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
• Three UW Tacoma faculty members joined UW's annual faculty field tour. Read about it in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
• High-school students are catching up on math and science education at UW Tacoma this summer as part of the Summer Jump program, run by St. John Baptist Church. Read about it in The News Tribune.

Faculty and Staff Notes

Scott Pinkston has been hired as the alumni relations and annual fund manager in Advancement.

Anna Mertz has been hired as student affairs coordinator in Student Affairs.

Nathan Ketzner has been hired as an office assistant in Enrollment Services.

Alina Urbanec has been hired as program administrator in the Institute of Technology.

Kathi Gibbons has been hired as an undergraduate adviser in the Institute of Technology.

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:

• Pacific Avenue repairs
• Campaign update
• New faculty
• New faculty and staff reception
• Strategic planning retreat
• Japanese Language School
• New student orientation
• Freshman advising and preparation
• Court 17