Professional Development Center News – Page 2 – Serving the needs of working professionals with skills-oriented, career-enhancing certificate programs.

March 18, 2019uwtpdc

Meet the Instructors: Dean Priebe, Mastering Beer Styles

[Meet the Instructors is a series intended to introduce you to one of the greatest resources the University of Washington Tacoma Professional Development Center has to offer: its diverse team of veteran, industry-tested professionals. The Center’s professional development programs are designed to be rewarding, challenging and cutting-edge. Our instructors play no small part in that, ensuring students are exposed to the most current industry trends while remaining well-versed in the tried-and-true best practices of their professions. We’re excited to share our instructors with you, and their stories are a great place to start.]

In this installation of Meet the Instructors, we’re pleased to introduce Dean Priebe. Dean is Brewmaster at Icicle Brewing Company in Leavenworth, Wash., and the instructor for our newest Mastering Beer Styles in Bothell, Wash. Read on to learn more about Dean and sign up to attend class at Beardslee Public House!

December 10, 2018uwtpdc

Nick Bayard Leads Race and Equity Workshops at UW Tacoma

Updated February 2021

The UW Tacoma Professional Development Center offers DEI workshops that are geared towards the development of local nonprofits and public sector organizations. Check out our upcoming workshops.

Students will spend a day exploring the drivers of institutional racism in the nonprofit space, as well as learning tools to advance equity and enact positive societal change through their organizations’ work.

Leading the workshop is Nick Bayard, Assistant Chief Equity Officer at the City of Tacoma. For Bayard, this is deeply personal work. Not only is he deeply active in the local nonprofit community, but as a member of a bi-racial family, Bayard remembers a watershed moment in uncovering some of his own blind spots regarding race and equity in our society.

December 4, 2018uwtpdc

Meet the Instructors: Heather McClung, Business of Craft Beer

For this installment of Meet the Instructors, we sat down with beer industry veteran Heather McClung. She has a wealth of knowledge, and a passion for teaching, that she’ll bring to Business of Craft Beer on Jan. 28. Read more about her here! Read more Meet the Instructors: Heather McClung, Business of Craft Beer

November 14, 2018uwtpdc

Meet the Instructors: Christopher Smith, Fundamentals of Commercial Brewing

This January, a group of students will attend the Professional Development Center’s newest craft beer industry course: Fundamentals of Commercial Brewing. Building off the success of Mastering Beer Styles and Business of Craft Beer, this course will introduce students to the technical, operational world of commercial brewing. Like the craft beer courses before it, this course will be taught by industry experts with real-world lessons informing the curriculum. Leading the helm is Lowercase Brewing’s owner and managing member, Christopher Smith. Read more Meet the Instructors: Christopher Smith, Fundamentals of Commercial Brewing

November 2, 2018uwtpdc

Hayden Milligan: PDC Graduate Named to South Sound Business “40 Under 40” List

For 19 years, South Sound Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Awards contest has presented 40 local professionals under age 40 “who are dynamic leaders in the business community.” Writes the journal, “You dine in their restaurants. You conduct business with them. Sit on philanthropic boards with them. Run industry organizations with them. They have an innovative, entrepreneurial spirit that propels the economy today and will for years to come.” This year, one such person is Hayden Milligan, 31, a Professional Development Center graduate and a director of human resources in Olympia, Wash.

“No, I didn’t win $40,” said Milligan. Read more Hayden Milligan: PDC Graduate Named to South Sound Business “40 Under 40” List

September 18, 2018uwtpdc 2 Comments

Meet the Instructors: John Marti, Mastering Beer Styles

Mastering Beer Styles is a practical and hands-on approach of the key concepts, tools and techniques required to excel in the craft brewing industry. Delivering an intensive overview of the history, terminology and style characteristics of beer, this program is suitable for craft beer aficionados and professionals alike. Oct. 8, this program will hold its first class in Seattle, taught by Lowercase Brewing Head Brewer John Marti. Read John’s story and register for class today!

April 23, 2018uwtpdc 1 Comment

Meet the Instructors: Dariush “DK” Khaleghi, Human Resources

Instructors at the UW Tacoma Professional Development Center come from different backgrounds, professions and industries – and in the case of Dariush Khaleghi, from across the world. DK, who teaches in the PDC’s Leadership Essentials, Human Resources Management and Certified Public Manager® programs, came to the U.S. as a religious refugee from Iran in 1985. His journey since then has profoundly influenced the teacher he is today.

April 3, 2018uwtpdc 2 Comments

Meet the Instructors: Angel Latterell, Project Management

It comes as no surprise that Project Management has long been one of our most popular courses at the Professional Development Center. Across industries, project management continues to be a skill in-demand and invaluable. This summer, the PDC is expanding Project Management to Tukwila. This course gives us a chance not only to bring an exciting opportunity to lifelong learners in King County, but also additionally to introduce students to a new instructor, Angel Latterell. Currently working as a Senior Project Manager for Seattle Children’s, Latterell is a practitioner with what seems like more than one career’s worth of lessons to share. We talked with her recently to see what students can expect from her and the program.

March 28, 2018uwtpdc

Kelvin Keown: Mastering Beer Styles student shares experience

Mastering Beer Styles, University of Washington Tacoma’s first venture into craft beer education, kicked off March 20, 2017 – about one year ago today. Since then, two classes of MBS students have graduated. A third is preparing to start in April. The course, an introduction to the world of beer styles delivered over 10-weeks in partnership with 7 Seas Brewing, has attracted a variety of types of students. Some are home brewers, while some plan to open breweries. Others simply love beer.

“I fall into most of those categories,” said Kelvin Keown, a recent MBS graduate.

Like many students, Keown’s interest in beer goes back far before, and beyond, a classroom at UW Tacoma.

February 15, 2018uwtpdc

Meet the Instructors: Nathan Navarro, Lean Six Sigma

UW Tacoma Lean Six Sigma instructor Nathan Navarro did not always plan on teaching. His career actually started in retail, here he steadily worked his way up from pushing carts to sales, to marketing and eventually into management. When The Boeing Company opened a facility at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, he started work there as an aircraft painter and sealer, refurbishing military aircraft. It was an experience there that set Navarro’s path toward the classroom.

“We had an all hands meeting one day where they announced they would be handing out pink slips that day – no warning notices, no three months,” said Navarro. “I saw mechanics with tears in their eyes, pushing their tool boxes out of the door, so that made an impact.”