UWT Chancellor To Leave

The University of Washington Tacoma’s Chancellor Pat Spakes announced this morning that she will be leaving in a year. Here’s the email:

Dear Campus Community,

During the past five years we have accomplished much and seen significant change to our campus. We made a rapid transition from a two-year commuter campus to a four-year comprehensive institution; we completed a capital campaign that exceeded expectations more than fivefold; and we executed a strategic planning process and a new Master Plan that begin to define who we are becoming. At the same time, we doubled the number of students and added nearly $100 million in capital funding to our campus. In the scope of these major changes, we suffered historic budget cuts, accompanied by the human toll of layoffs that challenged our sense of community. We have accomplished all of this in an environment of consistently declining state resources.

I am very proud of what we have accomplished together and the way we have weathered the current storm. Now, as Jerry and I consider our family’s needs and our retirement plans, I want to help the campus achieve a smooth transition to new leadership.

It is for this reason that today I announce that I will remain Chancellor of the University of Washington Tacoma for one more year, while a search is conducted for our next Chancellor. There is much to accomplish in the next year as we continue to build the campus and prepare for a strong leadership transition. I will be meeting with campus leadership to identify a set of goals for the next year and expect we will share those with the entire campus community soon.

We all share great pride in this institution, so the most important priority is the work we do together in laying a strong foundation for continued success.

Pat Spakes