56³Ô¹ÏÍø

See below for highlights from the Spring 2025 Academic Affairs Quarterly Newsletter. Click the link to read the full newsletter. Reach out to Sawyer Dedmon with any questions.

From the Vice Chancellor

Dear Campus Community,

Thank you—to my thoughtful and courageous leadership team as they guided our campus through multiple challenges with compassion. Thank you—to our committed faculty and staff who provided the necessary critique and accolades that kept us true to our mission. Thank you—to our GFO leaders, especially those who helped me early on to appreciate our unique campus culture. Thank you to my peers across the tri-campus who understand the joys and despairs of this role. Thank you—to our amazing students who inspire us to keep striving to do better for them. Finally, thank you—to our chancellor for your support.

All the best for a peaceful summer as we prepare for what’s ahead because what we do matters now and for the future.

With gratitude,

Sharon A. Jones, Ph.D., VCAA

Updates on 2024/25 VCAA Goals

Below is a summary of where we landed in terms of  overarching goals for the division during this past academic year. Each is listed below with a brief update.

• Complete the STEM dean search. ✅
• Complete the build-out of the Office of Faculty Success. ✅
  • A strategic reorganization brought the Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) and the Learning and Teaching Collaborative (LTC) under the OFS umbrella to better support transformative pedagogy, scholarship, and creative practice across all schools and faculty career stages.
• Develop a high functioning operations team for the Division of Academic Affairs. ✅
  • The operations team now supports the central units with financial reporting and planning and, by the end of summer, with all administrative functions.
• Support the launch of the recently authorized research center, the Collaborative for Socio-Ecological Engagement. ✅
• Complete a program review for the Office of Connected Learning. ✅
• Co-sponsor (with the division of enrollment management & student affairs) a prioritization of the recommendations from the FY24 external review of the Office of Career Services. ✅
  • Based on the two program reviews and an internal work group’s recommendation, Chancellor Esterberg recommended that the two offices, Career Services and Connected Learning, be merged by the end of the 2025-2026 academic year to address similar challenges and opportunities. The Vice Chancellors are developing a process to engage the campus in the implementation plan.
• Determine (with the division of enrollment management & student affairs) next steps based on a FY24 work group’s recommendations regarding the campus-wide structural needs to support graduate programs. ✅
  • We contracted with EAB to strengthen the recruitment pipeline for all graduate programs currently offered.
  • Launched quarterly meetings of the graduate program coordinators and advisors.
  • Hosted the inaugural Open House on May 2 featuring a graduate student panel, a personal statement writing workshop, and a showcase of 56³Ô¹ÏÍø Bothell graduate programs. Launched the official Instagram page .
  • Brought an advanced hyflex classroom online in 56³Ô¹ÏÍø1 spring quarter 2025. Similar upgrades in classrooms in Beardslee Building will soon start.
  • See below for information about improvements to the curricular approval process.
  • Shifted from the current pooled tuition model to a direct allocation model for graduate tuition. Each school will now receive their share of the total tuition collected from students in their graduate programs as part of overall improvements to the campus’ RCM funding model.
• Clarify 56³Ô¹ÏÍø Bothell’s tri-campus role for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities accreditation seven-year report and visit based on feedback during FY24’s mid-cycle report and visit. In progress.
  • This work is led by the 56³Ô¹ÏÍø Provost’s office. 56³Ô¹ÏÍø is developing tri-campus learning outcomes that should be met by all 56³Ô¹ÏÍø students on all three campuses, along with the assessment framework, comprehensive student surveys, and so on. Several 56³Ô¹ÏÍø Bothell faculty members are on the and on another tri-campus group for assessing advising. The 56³Ô¹ÏÍø Bothell campus will need to think about how these tri-campus learning outcomes intersect with various learning goals that exist within schools and at the campus level.
• Support the process that the Office of the President is launching (with the Faculty Council on Tri-campus Policy) to clarify the leadership structure for 56³Ô¹ÏÍø Bothell and 56³Ô¹ÏÍø Tacoma via official policies. ✅
  • New and revised executive orders should be in effect for FY26+ and will clarify administrative roles and responsibilities for Bothell and Tacoma within the 56³Ô¹ÏÍø tri-campus context.