Wishing All of Campus a Safe and Restful Holiday Break

Dear Western Community,

As fall quarter ends, Uzma and I wanted to take this opportunity to reach out to all of you with a message of thanks and gratitude as we approach the holiday season with so much to reflect on. It feels like just days ago that we welcomed so many of you to campus for the beginning of the quarter.  

On that note, I’m happy to say that with a robust new class of first-year students, this marked the first year that Western’s total enrollment has grown since the pandemic. Students are the reason we are here. You are the inspiration behind what drives our faculty and staff to make Western the best possible place for you to succeed and flourish.

While we have so much to be proud of and excited about this quarter, we can acknowledge that it has not been without its challenges, both in terms of the continued global turmoil, social division and fragmentation, and the losses we’ve experienced here at home. We hold in our thoughts the friends and families of the Western students we lost this fall.  

But we also have so much to celebrate and take pride in. The work our students, faculty and staff do each day never ceases to fill me with a profound sense of pride: from our newest Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar, Professor of Chemistry Robert Berger, to major new grants researching nitrogen coupling, forage fish mortality in the Salish Sea, groundbreaking work in differential equations by Math’s Mariana Smit Vega Garcia to the certificate of merit awarded by the Goethe Institut to our own Cornelius Partsch – the awards and recognitions continue to highlight our faculty’s expertise and the cutting-edge work being done on our campus. Equally inspiring is the recognition of the Western Success Scholars program with the Beacon Award for Excellence in Student Success and Achievement, honoring the dedication of our Student Affairs colleagues in helping our students thrive.

Grants and awards aren’t the only places we have shined: new books by Sociology’s Melissa Osborne and Sandra Alfers of our Languages, Literature & Cultures Department have received great praise, and a number of our faculty and staff were sought after by media for their expertise during the election cycle, including Laurie Trautman, director of Western’s Border Policy Research Institute; Professor of Political Science Todd Donovan; and Economics faculty members Hart Hodges and Zoë Plakias. Thank you for being such insightful experts who represent the university so well.

The successes and interesting projects of our students are too numerous to mention, but two in particular have stood out to me: the group of students who spent a big part of their summer cleaning up and recycling ocean-borne plastics on a remote island in Alaska; and the summer Sustainability Pathways cohort that worked on sustainability projects in the Methow Valley. Both showcased the university’s mission towards a core goal of being the most sustainability-focused state higher-education institution in the Pacific Northwest – an effort that doesn’t have a beginning or an end, but is a constant pole star we align ourselves to – and leads nicely into another resounding success: the upcoming opening of Kaiser Borsari Hall.

Western’s new electrical and computer engineering, energy science, and computer science building will be the first publicly funded zero-energy academic building on a university campus in Washington – a milestone made possible by the incredible generosity of Fred Kaiser, Grace Borsari and many dedicated donors. As our first public-private endeavor, we are grateful for the strong support we received for this building from the state legislature and our Congressional delegation. We are also deeply appreciative to the teams in University Advancement, the Foundation for WWU & Alumni, Business and Financial Affairs, as well as the architects and contractors whose hard work and vision brought this project to life. We can’t wait to open its doors in January!  

As I bring this to a close, I want to loop back and offer once again that all students take advantage of academic advising and counseling and wellness support as you enter finals week. And to the roughly 630 of you who will graduate from Western this weekend: Congratulations! We couldn’t be prouder of you and your achievements, and we look forward to seeing your future contributions to our community and state in the years to come.

So, from Uzma and I, a last request to all of you, who make Western such a special place: Rest. Reconnect. Recharge. Enjoy time with family, friends, and loved ones. And our very best wishes for a great start and shared success in the New Year.

All my very best, 

Sabah