Greetings to all new, returning, and prospective members!
We’re the American Public Works at the University of Washington (APWA@UW for short), a group with an interest in furthering our understanding about public works projects from all fields as well as networking with present and past professionals from the public sector. We have no membership fees and no required time investment for general members as we don’t want to take away from your student experience – only adding to it.
For our events, we try to have at least one major event per quarter and smaller events as possible to benefit our members. A few examples of what our major events can look like are a panel of industry experts discussing current issues facing the industry and how those issues may affect the public, a discussion on a in-progress or recently completed public works project, or an in-depth company visit where we invite a company operating in the public sector to come discuss and network with students. For minor events, they’re usually small group activities such as site visits, resume nights, etc. that we work with our industry contacts and liaisons to organize and conduct – spots can be limited for these events so when we communicate them to you definitely reach out to us early if you’re interested!
Speaking of communication, the way which we will reach out to you and would like to hear from you is our email apwa@uw.edu. We’d love to hear any questions or suggestions you have so you’re always welcome to send us a message and we’ll get back to you as appropriate. Generally, those signed up to our mailing list (if you filled out the google form to register as a member, you’re on it – if not, send us a message or use the google link below) will be notified first before we send out any via the advising department or the group emails departments send out. Another advantage of being on the email list is that sometimes due to limited spots we’ll only advertise specific events to the most relevant department but, by being on the list, it will give access to events that might not otherwise have reached you!
For a short teaser of some of the events we have in the works and upcoming:
- In Fall
- A resume event on December 8th to polish up and seek advice from professionals in preparation for the CEE Career fair coming up in January. More details regarding the event and how to get your spot will be sent out soon.
- In Winter
- Our annual partner event with MPAC(the Management & Public Administration Committee) this year will be held in early January, around the second week of the quarter. This will be a Transportation specific event regarding the goal of Net Zero Emissions across various sectors. Specific details on the speakers, transportation sectors present, and location will be sent out late November or early December.
- We’ll also be trying to set-up a site visit or two during winter. Currently we’re thinking of arranging a visit to Brightwater Treatment Centerin Woodinville, a sewage treatment plant that was in the works for over a decade and completed as a megaproject costing $1.8 billion. The plant has a focus on the engagement with the public through education opportunities, green landscaping, and other features.
- In Spring
- A water focussed eventstill in the early phases that will likely be an in-depth look at wastewater treatment in the area and what its impacts on the future will be. We’d definitely encourage trying to attend the Brightwater site visit to get a hands-on experience of what such facilities look like and how they operate before this event!
- Officer elections! This will likely be held in early spring quarter and these elections will be for the 2022-2023 school year. We definitely recommend applying to these as it looks great on resumes, you get first access to events, and it allows you great networking opportunities through outreach and closely working with organizations and professionals while planning events. Some general details about being an officer: there is a small required time investment of usually no more than an hour or two per week and there are multiple positions available with differing primary responsibilities. If you’re interested we’re happy to discuss this in more detail and we’ll be sending out more details as the elections approach.
Finally, for those of you who either aren’t on our mailing list or have yet to apply for general membership, below is our google doc – simply fill out the information required, click submit, and Welcome to the APWA!
Thanks for your time and we look forward to seeing you at one of our events.