UW Tacoma Faculty Assembly

April 30, 2025

Open Space Technology for our Faculty Assembly: Charting a New Course

With gratitude for Executive Council (EC) members who raised the idea of adopting Open Space Technology for our Spring all-faculty gathering, we can gladly report a successful, substantive, generative gathering.

Six groups self-organized.

Gathering at tables, Using flip charts, Talking together, Scribing ideas and questions, Posting handwritten notes, and reporting back to the assembled faculty.

Following an hour of self-directed discussion and interaction, groups were asked to consider the following prompts:

 

  • What insights emerged?
  • What is still unclear?
  • What are some ideas for action?

From the self-organized groups:

  1. Attacks on Higher Ed;
  2. Support for international and undocumented students;
  3. International Faculty and Faculty with Internationally Grounded Scholarship and Teaching;
  4. DEI in the Curriculum;
  5. Mutual Aid;
  6. Protecting Faculty, Students, and Staff:

24 different ideas for action were generated.

Some have already been, and are being done.

You are invited to find out more. Reach out to your EC rep; contact a member of the FA Leadership Team; come to our next “Plan and Pint” happy hour gathering.