天美影视传媒 Tacoma Chancellor Patricia Spakes announced this morning that she will step down as chancellor in July 2011. She has served as chancellor since April 2005.

In a letter addressed to the campus community this morning, Chancellor Spakes wrote: “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 double the number of students and added [more than $80 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.”

Spakes’ letter said she wants to consider her family’s needs and her retirement plans with her husband, UW Tacoma professor Jerry Finn, adding that she will continue in that role for one year “to help the campus achieve a smooth transition to new leadership.” As is customary in higher education, Chancellor Spakes has the option to serve as a tenured faculty member.

Spakes joined UW Tacoma in 2005, taking the reins from Steven Olswang, interim chancellor from 2003-2005. UW Tacoma’s first chancellor was Vicky L. Carwein, who served from 1995 to 2003.

During her administration, Spakes oversaw the transition of UW Tacoma from a two-year to a four-year university. The university’s first freshman class began their studies in 2006 and will graduate this June.

In 2008 Spakes completed a highly successful fundraising campaign that garnered $41.56 million in gifts and pledges, plus an additional $2.6 million from the UW Founders Matching Initiative.

The student body headcount grew from 2,189 in autumn 2005 to 3,111 in autumn 2009. Student applications nearly doubled, from 2,128 in autumn 2005 to 4,153 in fall 2009.

Other accomplishments during Spakes’ tenure include:

• Obtaining more than $80 million in capital funding
  
• Construction and opening of William W. Philip Hall
  
• Renovation on the Joy Building under way
  
• Acquired the Artists Lofts building
  
• Upcoming construction of a new classroom and office building on Jefferson Street
  
• Updating comprehensive master plan to accommodate four-year mission
  
• Adding new academic programs including information technology, healthcare leadership and criminal justice

Spakes has more than 30 years experience as a faculty member and administrator in higher education. Prior to obtaining a doctorate in social welfare from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, she was a practicing family therapist. Her doctoral work focused on family theory, policy and research. Spakes holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and English from Winthrop University in South Carolina and a master’s in social work from the University of South Carolina.

From 1980 to 1990 Spakes held tenured faculty positions as associate professor of social work at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, where she also served as chair of Women’s Studies. She was professor and chair of Women’s Studies at Arizona State University West from 1990-1997.

She held senior-level administrative positions as vice provost for academic affairs at Arizona State University West, vice president for academic affairs at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts, and provost and vice president for academic affairs at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.

Spakes has written extensively on family policy and family impact analysis, both from a national policy and from an international comparative perspective.

During her career, Spakes has been involved in many community and civic activities, including work with the Mental Health Association, Family Services of America and several state and local commissions on the status of women.

Current activities include serving on the Executive Council for a Greater Tacoma, the Urban Waters Endowed Chair Advisory Committee, Executive Board of Pierce County Careers Connections and the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber Board of Directors.

Spakes is a frequent conference presenter and community speaker on topics ranging from higher education to leadership.

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Professors from colleges and universities across the region have organized a new computer-security consortium through the UW, and a recently awarded federal designation for the effort is expected to benefit students, researchers, industry and governments in the Pacific Northwest.

Following a rigorous screening process, the National Security Agency recently designated the UW a national 鈥淐enter of Excellence in Information Assurance Education.鈥�

The center involves faculty from the Institute of Technology at the UW Tacoma, the UW Seattle鈥檚 Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical Engineering departments, the UW Information School, UW Tacoma 鈥榮 Milgard School of Business, Pacific Lutheran University, Seattle University, Idaho State University, Highline Community College, Bellevue Community College, Olympic College and Shoreline Community College.

Twenty-five universities applied this year for the NSA designation. The 10 selected, including the UW, will be recognized at a June 8 ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., during a national colloquium for information systems security education.

鈥淣ot only does this NSA designation show we are capable of doing some of the most advanced work in the nation in the field of cybersecurity and information assurance, it opens the door to federal grants as well as scholarships for students,鈥� says Steve Hanks, director of the UW Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity and a professor at UW Tacoma鈥檚 Institute of Technology.

The faculty involved with the center will be innovators providing leadership to protect public and private information infrastructures throughout the Northwest. They will also educate professionals on the latest and most effective methods for protecting computer systems.

The UW center will support certification courses provided by community and technical colleges, as well as computer science bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degree programs focused on cybersecurity. It will also offer workshops, seminars and other professional development opportunities. Doctoral faculty will lead research efforts.

鈥淭he center will become an axis for researchers, educators and practitioners from industry and government to work together in protecting networked infrastructures from all kinds of threats, including mobile program code attacks, worms, viruses and denial-of-service attacks,鈥� says Radha Poovendran, associate director for research.

鈥淚t will definitely focus on age-old protections like encryption, backup and recovery, systems access control and disaster recovery,鈥� he added. 鈥淓xplosive growth in wireless and sensor network applications will further fuel the ongoing research in wireless security at Washington.鈥�

The National Science Foundation, Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research and Army Research Laboratory, as well as the Boeing Company, have been funding the wireless security research at the UW, Poovendran says. 鈥淚t is great to get NSA support as well.鈥�

Center participants believe their work will sustain the vitality of Northwest industries and help attract new businesses to the region. The center will generate inventions, public awareness efforts and research. Entrepreneurs will be encouraged and supported. Further, the center will be involved in incident forensics, a field that has been dramatized recently in several popular television shows.

鈥淭he center is brand-new, but the faculty involved are among the most seasoned researchers and educators found anywhere,鈥� says David Dittrich, a computer forensics expert at the UW Information School. The UW, in conjunction with a Seattle computer-security group called Agora, has participated in several cutting-edge national cyberdefense exercises and workshops.

鈥淭he 鈥楴SA Center of Excellence鈥� designation will help us establish and attract the kind of funding, researchers, professionals and students that will produce some great research and educational opportunities and continue to enhance cybersecurity in this region and nationwide,鈥� Dittrich says.

UW Tacoma supporters are also enthusiastic about the economic development prospects for the center of excellence. The Institute of Technology was established in part to be an economic development engine in the South Sound, and its leadership role with the new center promises to help fulfill that mission.

鈥淚f we have leading-edge work being done by professors collaborating here in Tacoma, in Seattle and as far east as Boise, we will likely see industry growth among businesses engaged in cybersecurity, as well as in the businesses and industries that depend on it,鈥� says Larry Crum, director of the Institute of Technology at UW Tacoma. 鈥淥rganizations like the Port of Tacoma are increasingly dependent on all kinds of security from a range of international threats. The benefits of this center, and its strong presence in the South Sound, will be far-reaching.鈥�

For more information about the UW Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity, call 253-692-5866.

When the National Urban League released its report on the 鈥淪tate of Black America鈥� July 23, it included the voice of Carolyn West, associate professor of psychology at UW Tacoma, a scholar who is rapidly gaining prominence for her pioneering work studying African American families.

Her chapter in the report, which is a scholarly assessment of the status of African Americans published annually since 1976, is called, 鈥淔eminism is a Black Thing?: Feminist Contributions to Black Family Life.鈥�

鈥淎frican Americans, as a group, have a history of racial and sexual violence in the home, in intimate relationships, in the workplace and in the community because they live at the intersection of race, class and gender inequalities,鈥� West says. 鈥淭o address the unacceptably high rates of black family violence, we simply must address this web of trauma, including the domestic aspects.鈥�

Dissension in black couples can be healed and the foundations of their families strengthened through a respectful but critical discussion of gender roles and sexism in the black community, West says. She believes that research and a feminist perspective can help move this process forward.

鈥淟ook at the history of feminism in America and you might get the impression that it was only a movement built by and for middle-class white women. But you鈥檇 be wrong,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he fact is that African Americans can look to a rich history of black feminist activities and relatively positive attitudes toward feminism.鈥�

As early as 1851, with leaders like Sojourner Truth, black women in America have written and organized and articulated a uniquely black brand of feminism, says West.

And in 1977, frustrated with the male-dominated civil rights and black nationalist movements and dissatisfied with the racial insensitivity of white feminists, the Combahee River Collective committed itself to battling racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression. More recently, according to West, in the third wave of black feminism, Joan Morgan, a self-professed hip-hop feminist, is challenging us to reflect on things like the degrading images of black women in rap music.

鈥淢y area of expertise is intimate partner violence in the black community and, since a disproportionate number of black families experience domestic abuse, I admit this can be a depressing topic,鈥� says West. 鈥淏ut knowing what black feminism has to offer, I am optimistic. And I have a lot of company among black scholars and activists. Many of them are convinced that remembering our feminist past, knowing the stories of groups like the Combahee River Collective and listening to our contemporaries who won鈥檛 stand for the degradation of black women will help us not just to keep black girls and women from being oppressed but also, collectively, to uplift the black family.鈥�

West edited and contributed to the book, Violence in the Lives of Black Women: Battered, Black and Blue, published by Haworth Press this year. The book is the most comprehensive overview of violence against black women, filling a void in the study of domestic violence.

She will be featured along with other authors of 鈥淭he State of Black America Report鈥� in a town meeting that is part of the National Urban League conference July 29 in Pittsburgh.

The UW, Tacoma has announced plans to pull down what remains of the historic Japanese Language School building and hopes the news of this decision will generate ideas for how best to preserve the heritage of the school, which with Tacoma鈥檚 Japan Town became a casualty of World War II.

Although still standing, the historic wooden structure known as the Japanese Language School is already gone. So reads the report of a consultant hired to analyze the feasibility and cost of rehabilitation, as well as to explore alternatives. While the building, which in Japanese was called Nihon Go Gakko, could be reconstructed for an estimated $3 million, the result would be a copy lacking the historic integrity of a rehabilitated building.

鈥淲e are about saving buildings, not knocking them down. This is a difficult situation for us,鈥� says Sandy Boyle, vice chancellor for finance and administration at UW Tacoma.

The University would be willing to negotiate a long-term lease with someone who wants to invest in reconstructing the building. Past efforts to find a tenant have failed.

The building, located in the 1700 block of Tacoma Avenue South, a relatively barren stretch featuring a few commercial and residential buildings and several vacant lots, will likely be taken down late this fall once the necessary processes are completed.

The study by BOLA Architects of Seattle was commissioned after the City of Tacoma labeled the building a safety hazard.

BOLA, a firm known for its expertise in historic preservation, assembled a team that included architects, landscape architects and a structural engineer specializing in preservation. The team concluded that, due to the extent of damage and deterioration, rehabilitating the building would be costly and have questionable historic preservation benefit. Although the frame and foundation are solid, the roof, walls and floors of the wooden building have rotted beyond repair. Rebuilding the school does not appear feasible. Instead, the team recommends the University focus on heritage projects to preserve the memory of the building in the context of Tacoma鈥檚 Japan Town, establishing a commemorative garden and other interpretive displays.

鈥淲e have spoken with several leaders in the local Japanese community and have found support for removing the building and commemorating it with a memorial garden,鈥� says Boyle.

BOLA recommends salvaging intact elements from the building and plants from the landscape and assembling them in an interpretive exhibit or a commemorative garden.

鈥淎 commemorative garden is an option to preserve the heritage of the building and Japan Town that could result in some poetic and compelling explanations of the unique history of the property,鈥� says architect Susan Boyle of BOLA (no relation to Sandy Boyle.) “The building doesn鈥檛 convey the history as thoroughly as would an annual conference focusing on the Tacoma Japanese-American community, or a thoughtful commemorative garden, or some other method of preserving and sharing the heritage of what happened here.鈥�

Planning for that is already underway. This summer, when a group of former Japanese School students, now in their 80s, gather in Tacoma for a reunion, UW Tacoma plans to interview them to capture oral histories.

Over the next few months, efforts will be made to salvage the few remaining parts of the building that recall its use as a school. These may be reused, either in other historic projects or in heritage or commemorative displays. Already, a calligraphy-teaching chart removed from the school is displayed on campus, and some additional printed artifacts have been moved to a UW library. UWT is also considering other heritage projects.

The Union Station Historic Warehouse district was a dilapidated, inner-city neighborhood before UW Tacoma decided to transform the sturdy, century-old warehouses into a modern university campus. The campus property extends northwest from the former railroad depot to include what was formerly part of the city鈥檚 Japan Town. Today, UWT is packed with students and is widely credited with fueling development of a thriving museum, education and retail district that鈥檚 attracting urban housing and tourists back to downtown.

UW Tacoma received national awards from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Institute of Architects for the rehabilitation of other buildings in the Historic Union Station Warehouse District, a section of town along Pacific Avenue that originally blossomed at the terminus of the second great transcontinental railroad, located in Tacoma during the 1870s.

Founded in 1990 with 176 students, UWT moved to its permanent campus in 1997 and today serves 2,000 students. The campus fills 15 acres on the eastern end of its campus footprint along Pacific Avenue. It will likely be decades before the campus builds up around the Language School site, which is on the western edge of the campus.

Several blocks up a steep grade from the current UWT campus, the language school was at the heart of a bustling Japan Town before World War II. Built in 1922 with an addition in completed in 1926, the school was a place for Japanese children to study language and Japanese culture.

During the war, the building was used to gather people of Japanese descent before sending them to internment camps. Unlike other urban centers, where Japanese communities returned and thrived, downtown Tacoma saw few of its Japanese return.

Since the war, the Japanese Language School has, for the most part, remained vacant.

UW Tacoma acquired the language school property in the early 1990s as part of its program to purchase land within the 46-acre 鈥渇ootprint鈥� the campus will eventually inhabit. At that time, a study was commissioned to evaluate the building鈥檚 potential, and tenants were sought with no success. Also in 1993, the University received approval from the Tacoma Landmarks Commission to remove the building but did not act. When the City of Tacoma notified UWT the building was a hazard in 2001, the Preservation Commission re-approved the original motion to demolish the building and create a commemorative garden. In 2002, UWT commissioned the BOLA Architects of Seattle to explore alternatives to tearing the building down.

TACOMA, Wash. — The 天美影视传媒, Tacoma has announced plans to pull down what remains of the historic Japanese Language School building and hopes the news of this decision will generate ideas for how best to preserve the heritage of the school, which with Tacoma’s Japan Town became a casualty of World War II.

Although still standing, the historic wooden structure known as the Japanese Language School is already gone. So reads the report of a consultant hired to analyze the feasibility and cost of rehabilitation, as well as to explore alternatives. While the building, which in Japanese was called Nihon Go Gakko, could be reconstructed for an estimated $3 million, the result would be a copy lacking the historic integrity of a rehabilitated building.

“We are about saving buildings, not knocking them down. This is a difficult situation for us,” says Sandy Boyle, vice chancellor for finance and administration at UW Tacoma.

The University would be willing to negotiate a long-term lease with someone who wants to invest in reconstructing the building. Past efforts to find a tenant have failed.

The building, located in the 1700 block of Tacoma Avenue South, a relatively barren stretch featuring a few commercial and residential buildings and several vacant lots, will likely be taken down late this fall once the necessary processes are completed.

The study by BOLA Architects of Seattle was commissioned after the City of Tacoma labeled the building a safety hazard.

BOLA, a firm known for its expertise in historic preservation, assembled a team that included architects, landscape architects and a structural engineer specializing in preservation. The team concluded that, due to the extent of damage and deterioration, rehabilitating the building would be costly and have questionable historic preservation benefit. Although the frame and foundation are solid, the roof, walls and floors of the wooden building have rotted beyond repair. Rebuilding the school does not appear feasible. Instead, the team recommends the University focus on heritage projects to preserve the memory of the building in the context of Tacoma’s Japan Town, establishing a commemorative garden and other interpretive displays.

“We have spoken with several leaders in the local Japanese community and have found support for removing the building and commemorating it with a memorial garden,” says Boyle.

BOLA recommends salvaging intact elements from the building and plants from the landscape and assembling them in an interpretive exhibit or a commemorative garden.

“A commemorative garden is an option to preserve the heritage of the building and Japan Town that could result in some poetic and compelling explanations of the unique history of the property,” says architect Susan Boyle of BOLA (no relation to Sandy Boyle.) “The building doesn’t convey the history as thoroughly as would an annual conference focusing on the Tacoma Japanese-American community, or a thoughtful commemorative garden, or some other method of preserving and sharing the heritage of what happened here.”

Planning for that is already underway. This summer, when a group of former Japanese School students, now in their 80s, gather in Tacoma for a reunion, UW Tacoma plans to interview them to capture oral histories.

Over the next few months, efforts will be made to salvage the few remaining parts of the building that recall its use as a school. These may be reused, either in other historic projects or in heritage or commemorative displays. Already, a calligraphy-teaching chart removed from the school is displayed on campus, and some additional printed artifacts have been moved to a UW library. UWT is also considering other heritage projects.

The Union Station Historic Warehouse district was a dilapidated, inner-city neighborhood before UW Tacoma decided to transform the sturdy, century-old warehouses into a modern university campus. The campus property extends northwest from the former railroad depot to include what was formerly part of the city’s Japan Town. Today, UWT is packed with students and is widely credited with fueling development of a thriving museum, education and retail district that’s attracting urban housing and tourists back to downtown.

UW Tacoma received national awards from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the American Institute of Architects for the rehabilitation of other buildings in the Historic Union Station Warehouse District, a section of town along Pacific Avenue that originally blossomed at the terminus of the second great transcontinental railroad, located in Tacoma during the 1870s.

Founded in 1990 with 176 students, UWT moved to its permanent campus in 1997 and today serves 2,000 students. The campus fills 15 acres on the eastern end of its campus footprint along Pacific Avenue. It will likely be decades before the campus builds up around the Language School site, which is on the western edge of the campus.

Several blocks up a steep grade from the current UWT campus, the language school was at the heart of a bustling Japan Town before World War II. Built in 1922 with an addition in completed in 1926, the school was a place for Japanese children to study language and Japanese culture.

During the war, the building was used to gather people of Japanese descent before sending them to internment camps. Unlike other urban centers, where Japanese communities returned and thrived, downtown Tacoma saw few of its Japanese return.

Since the war, the Japanese Language School has, for the most part, remained vacant.

UW Tacoma acquired the language school property in the early 1990s as part of its program to purchase land within the 46-acre “footprint” the campus will eventually inhabit. At that time, a study was commissioned to evaluate the building’s potential, and tenants were sought with no success. Also in 1993, the University received approval from the Tacoma Landmarks Commission to remove the building but did not act. When the City of Tacoma notified UWT the building was a hazard in 2001, the Preservation Commission re-approved the original motion to demolish the building and create a commemorative garden. In 2002, UWT commissioned the BOLA Architects of Seattle to explore alternatives to tearing the building down.

# # #

TACOMA, Wash.–The 天美影视传媒, Tacoma has announced a gift of $15 million from the Milgard family of Tacoma, founders of Milgard Manufacturing, to fund expansion of its Business Administration program, which now offers both baccalaureate and master’s degrees.

In recognition of the gift, the campus will name its Business Administration program the Milgard School of Business, adding a Center for Corporate Leadership and Social Responsibility and a Center for Information-Based Management, as well as a $3 million endowed scholarship program. The gift from Gary E. Milgard, the Gary E. Milgard Family Foundation and James A. Milgard will enable the school to add more faculty and provide the resources necessary to take the business program to an even higher level of stature and accomplishment.

“This very generous gift will take the UW Tacoma’s Business Administration program, already one of our strongest academic endeavors, to the next level of excellence,” said Vicky Carwein, chancellor of the 天美影视传媒, Tacoma. “I expect that the Milgard School of Business will quickly become one of the Northwest’s strongest schools of business,” she added. “We are honored to name the school the Milgard School of Business in recognition of this gift and in honor of a family of distinguished business leaders, entrepreneurs and community supporters.”

Naming the Milgard School of Business requires approval of the UW Board of Regents. The full board is is scheduled to vote on the item during its meeting this afternoon.

Milgard Manufacturing, operated by Gary and Jim Milgard, grew from a small, two-person shop in 1958 to become the largest producer of quality residential windows in the western United States. Today it employs more than 4,000 people and operates plants in several states. The family recently sold the business, but Gary and Jim Milgard continue as president and executive vice president, respectively.

The UW Tacoma Business Administration program was established in 1993 when it admitted 40 students. It now serves nearly 400 undergraduate students and more than 50 graduate students. The program offers eight areas of concentration, from accounting to international business.

“We are very pleased to help a high-quality business program expand its faculty, which in turn will offer additional academic opportunities and provide more scholarship support to students,” Gary said. “As founders of Milgard Windows, we have always strived to maintain the highest standards of integrity, respect, creativity and corporate and community responsibility, and to instill those qualities in our employees. We are, therefore, particularly pleased that the Milgard School of Business is establishing a center for corporate leadership and social responsibility, along with a center for information-based management. We can think of no better way to contribute to the Greater Tacoma region than to fund these centers and the School of Business,” he said.

Jim Milgard agrees.

“We grew up in Tacoma, and our business has enjoyed great success here,” Jim says. “This gift, because it is an endowment, will allow us to contribute in perpetuity to the economic vitality of our community and to the lives of future graduates. It will help many local businesses, which will benefit from the talent, skill and knowledge UWT’s business graduates will have to offer. It is very gratifying to know that our investment in the 天美影视传媒, Tacoma will help entrepreneurs, mid-sized companies and corporations throughout the area flourish.”

Dr. Patricia Fandt, director of the UW Tacoma Business Administration program, believes the partnership between the Milgard family and the business program is a natural.

“Both were founded in Tacoma and are committed to serving the Puget Sound. Both value innovative and socially responsible business practices. It will be an honor to have the Milgard name on the Business School,” Fandt said.

At $15 million, the gift is by far the largest ever made to the 天美影视传媒, Tacoma, whose largest donation until now was a $1 million anonymous contribution in 2001 for the Institute of Technology. It is among the top five gifts from private individuals ever made to any UW campus.

“This gift is a major milestone,” said interim UW president Lee Huntsman. “These generous donors recognize that the 天美影视传媒, Tacoma has become a powerful educational force, one with all the quality and commitment to excellence characteristic of the 天美影视传媒, but also with a distinctive commitment to its South Puget Sound community.”

The Milgard gift will have both immediate and long-term benefits.

“As the impact of this gift grows over time,” Carwein said, “it will help others see the importance of public-private partnerships in supporting higher education. It will increase the visibility of UWT both locally and nationally. An enhanced business school will help fuel the region’s economy and give people greater access to educational programs that transform the lives of individuals and through them their communities. The Milgards are creating a legacy that will grow through generations to come.”

UW Tacoma’s first official athlete is a Husky who rides bulls.

Zach Holt is an environmental science student with his eye on a career in marine biology. He also competes in rodeo, and is the only person ever to compete for UWT in intercollegiate sports.

Holt, founder and president of the UWT Rodeo Club, part of the National Collegiate Rodeo Association, placed high in the northwest rodeo finals in Pendleton, Ore., and advanced to the western finals in Elko, Nevada last weekend. He was eliminated from the competition after being bucked.

鈥淚 hope to make the rodeo finals next year,鈥� says Holt, a Port Orchard resident whose family has a long tradition of rodeo competition. Holt is the Rodeo Club’s only competitor and pays for competitions and practice out of his own pocket. The club鈥檚 lone rider must travel to Onalaska to train.

鈥淚t’s tough competing against the rodeo teams at other schools because they have arenas, coaches and stock (animals ridden in competition),鈥� says Holt. 鈥淭he closest arena for me is down south of Onalaska, the Lazy H K Arena,鈥� he says.

Holt hopes the Rodeo Club provides an avenue for students to develop an interest in the sport.

鈥淚 am hoping for more student involvement, but they have to have some experience or be willing to learn,鈥� he says.

Holt transferred to UW Tacoma from Olympic College and plans to study inter-tidal invasive species, a branch of marine biology, at the graduate level at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 really consider myself a cowboy. I don鈥檛 live on a ranch and don鈥檛 live the lifestyle,鈥� says Holt.

Mike Allen, professor of history at UW Tacoma, is the advisor to the Rodeo Club and author of Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination. He says Holt鈥檚 brand of sincere, polite modesty and steely determination remind him of characteristics consistently found in today鈥檚 rodeo cowboys.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 an old debate, whether they are ranch trained or arena trained. Now, most are arena trained, so they are pretty much all called cowboys,鈥� says Allen. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 nice that Zach respects the distinction of the ranch-trained cowboy.鈥�

He also says Holt is a courageous student athlete to compete in one of rodeo鈥檚 most dangerous events.

Among rodeo鈥檚 rich traditions is collaboration, sharing information about how a bull turns and bucks, even though that information may help the next competitor to win.

While collaboration is consistent with students and faculty expectations at UW Tacoma, the notion of a Rodeo Club on this urban, downtown campus is not.

鈥淭here is no small degree of irony here,鈥� says Allen.

The UW Tacoma recently named Carol Van Natta as director of development and alumni relations. Van Natta comes to UW Tacoma by way of Colorado, where she was director of development for the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.

Originally from Vancouver, Van Natta is no stranger to the UW. In the 1970s and 1980s she was a member of the advancement staff in Seattle, and has maintained close ties with many friends and professional colleagues in the Puget Sound area.

Van Natta has experience in all aspects of institutional advancement, including major and annual gifts, alumni relations and strategic development planning. She holds a bachelor鈥檚 in English from Portland State University and a master鈥檚 in public administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She brings more than 20 years of experience and a record of success in fund raising, public relations, special events and budget management. She sees her new role at UW Tacoma as an opportunity to continue to strengthen the institution鈥檚 connection to the South Sound community.

鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting to be involved in this type of challenge, especially to have the opportunity to help build a young and fast-growing institution, create new educational opportunities and contribute to the city鈥檚 economic development,鈥� she says.

鈥淚 hope to be able to help Chancellor Carwein and other University leaders persuade the philanthropic community 鈥� individuals, corporations, foundations 鈥� that an investment in UWT will produce tremendous returns both in the short and long term. Now, more than ever, our public institutions need private support. Scholarships, endowments to attract and retain outstanding faculty, support for new programs and facilities 鈥� all are important priorities.鈥�

At a time when state support for Washington鈥檚 colleges and universities is decreasing and more and more difficult to acquire, continued and vigorous philanthropic investment in this campus is vital, says UW Tacoma Chancellor Vicky Carwein.

鈥淚 am confident Carol鈥檚 experience and leadership in this arena will help UWT continue to attract significant investment,鈥� says Carwein.

If you can create an aquarium exhibit that fascinates and entertains kids and their parents with green crabs, tiny zebra mussels and the cute Chinese mitten crab, along with vibrant graphics and stories that warn of alien invaders, then education sneaks into a fun adventure.

That’s just what a UW Tacoma professor had in mind for the “Alien Invaders” exhibit at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. The recently opened exhibit is part of the aquarium’s regular displays within the new Marine Discovery Center, but the professor and his co-creators plan to develop a similar, larger traveling exhibit that will educate and inform across the nation.

The “Alien Invaders” exhibit was developed primarily by David Secord, UW Tacoma environmental science professor; John Rupp, the Point Defiance curator of marine animals, and Kristin Hemmelgarn, a former undergraduate UW Tacoma student turned part-time “Alien Invader” employee. More than a dozen other UW Tacoma undergraduate students have also contributed to the project during the last four years. Their efforts were supported by a host of local and federal agencies and environmental organizations.

“Aquariums and zoos are an untapped resource for public education on biodiversity. Because they are all about combining entertainment, education and conservation, they are perfect for this kind of outreach,” says Secord. “More people visit zoos and aquariums annually in the U.S. than attend all professional sporting events combined, so this is a great way to educate the public about aquatic invasive species.”

He points out that this problem, according to one university study, cost more than $137 billion annually in the U.S. alone.

In fact, invasive species 鈥� a.k.a. alien invaders 鈥� are the second leading contributor to endangered species. Habitat degradation is enemy No. 1. Third is over-harvesting. Fourth is pollution.

“Decline in biodiversity is connected to quality of life in all kinds of ways that are well documented,” says Secord. “People are involved in the spread of invasive species and we can reach people, which means we can prevent and control new invasions. We can stem the tide. We want to place an emphasis on prevention, and education is at the heart of making that happen.”

All that bad press may make you think the Chinese mitten crab or the prolific zebra mussel are evil incarnate, but that’s not the case.

“The aliens aren’t really bad themselves. They are bad when they are out of place, because they can take over for native species and even drive them to extinction,” says Hemmelgarn.

For example, the striped-shelled zebra mussel, on average, is the length of a human fingernail, but in the United States, these mussels multiply rapidly and, in addition to threatening native species, establish such large populations they clog pipes in drainage systems. They have done tremendous damage in the Great Lakes, where the invasion started from ships’ ballast water, and have spread throughout the Mississippi River basin, where they are threatening dozens of native species. They are now in the Missouri River, which could take them into Montana. An international initiative is focused on preventing zebra mussels from crossing West over the 100th meridian.

“If they reach Montana, all you have to do is move a boat from there to a Washington lake or river and zap, you’ve got a problem here. That’s one of the reasons for this exhibit,” says Secord.

Plants can be aliens, too. Spartina grass, commonly known as smooth cordgrass, has been taking over mudflats in Willapa Bay for years, altering habitat for shorebirds, shellfish and fish. Other aliens may carry parasites. For example, the Chinese mitten crab is a suspected host of the Oriental lung fluke that causes disease in humans. The crab itself is wreaking havoc in San Francisco Bay, where juvenile crabs burrow into banks, causing erosion and disrupting efforts to enhance native endangered fish populations. Atlantic farmed salmon accidentally released into Pacific coastal fisheries are also aliens because they may compete with native endangered salmon.

Although many alien invaders arrive in local waters through ships’ ballast water, individual human behavior 鈥� such as dumping a home aquarium or engaging in certain fishing and boating practices 鈥� can contribute. Not all alien species survive, and not all that survive will thrive to the point of endangering native species, but every species has the potential to cause unexpected economic, ecological or public health problems when moved to a new environment beyond where it evolved.

Because of the human factor, public education is critical.

Secord says growing awareness created by this exhibit and others like it will also generate support for public policy changes. He has been active in supporting legislation to help protect the state’s shorelines from invasive species. The state Legislature has already passed legislation addressing aquatic invasive species. Other states and the federal government have been active as well.

Secord and Rupp are pleased the development of the exhibit involved research and other contributions by so many undergraduate students.

“Whatever it is our students work on will have vast downstream impacts. Not just on awareness, but on future invasive species policy,” says Secord.

More than a dozen UW Tacoma undergraduates have been directly involved in all aspects of combining cool critters with public education in creating the exhibit, including developing the text and artwork, doing scientific background research and learning about animal husbandry to see how to keep things alive on exhibit. Some continued the work after graduation.

Hemmelgarn has become an alien expert, beginning her work on the project while earning a bachelor of arts degree in environmental studies and continuing as a part-time employee on the project after she graduated in June 2001. In working with One Plus Two Inc., a design firm that specializes in scientific exhibits, she helped translate science into something the general public would understand and appreciate.

“It had to be simple, eye-opening and accurate,” she says.

Her work has involved publishing an article as lead author with supporting roles by Rupp and Secord in a national publication about invasive aquatic species.

“None of this would have happened without Kristin. Because of her work, the exhibit allows us to bring a wealth of knowledge and information about aquatic invasive species together and hit a vast cross-section of the interested public,” says Secord. “John Rupp and I first conceived of the exhibit in 1998, but we are both overwhelmed with our regular workload. Kristin’s efforts, creativity and intelligence filled in the gaps and kept this thing moving.”

The exhibit viewed today is a 500-square-foot installation. Its creators plan to develop a 2,000- to 3,000-square-foot version that will travel to zoos, aquariums and scientific museums across the country.

“The science and the environmental messages are similar everywhere. The species highlighted should change depending on the geographic location,” says Hemmelgarn.

Secord and Rupp are confident “Alien Invaders” will attract further financial support from sources like the National Science Foundation to allow for expansion and touring.

The exhibit was made possible with support from the National Sea Grant Program, which is part of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as well as the Washington and Oregon Sea Grant Programs, Pacific Northwest Marine Invasive Species Team, Puget Sound Action Team, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board.

The small prototype exhibit is locate