Since 2020, the Office of Equity & Justice (OEJ), Graduate Student Equity & Excellence (GSEE), and Graduate Student Affairs (GSA) has hosted this annual tri-campus event for faculty, staff, graduate students, and university leadership across the Bothell., Seattle, and Tacoma campuses. The day-long summit is a partnership with units across the tri-campus and strives to help university leadership develop inclusive excellence.
Our day begins with an insightful State of the Union, followed by four focused fireside chats that address critical aspects of self and student support: navigating discomfort and burnout while maintaining effective advocacy on behalf of inclusive excellence, creating sustainable resources for undocumented and international students, strengthening practices for LGBTQIA+ student retention, and developing meaningful mentorship practices. Throughout these sessions, attendees will gain practical strategies from university experts and community elders on implementing structural changes that create just, diverse, and inclusive environments. Join us for this collaborative day of learning where we’ll explore concrete approaches to ensure every student can succeed in their degree and career aspirations.
The summit will be hybrid; held in-person in Gates Commons in Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering building and virtually via Zoom.
2025 Sessions
State of the Union
10:00 a.m. – 10:10 a.m.
Over the past 5 years, the Office of Equity & Justice has been developing the Equity Progress Tool as a self-service assessment of programmatic strengths and areas of growth for their policies and practices to support graduate students throughout their entire degree lifecycle. We will hear insights on how best to use the tool to create structural change.
Session 1: Strategies for Navigating Discomfort & Burnout
10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
In moments of difficulty and uncertainty, our personal emotions and experiences inevitably influence how we’re able to show up for the students who most need our support. In this session, we will be working on moving through discomfort and burnout while still creating actionable goals for structural change. Specifically, we’ll be talking about emotional regulation in the service of progress and making sure everyone has practices/strategies in their repertoire as they work with students.
Session 2: Supporting our Undocumented & International Students
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
As we work through changing political realities and access to resources, how do we best support our students who are most vulnerable? This session will focus specifically on the supports available for students who are not citizens, with special insights from the UW and Seattle community about what student anxieties and needs must be top of mind as we continue to advocate for all students to succeed in their degree and eventual career goals.
LUNCH
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Link coming soon. Please note lunch RSVPs are capped at 50.
Session 3: Supporting our LGBTQIA+ Students
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
What are the practices and structures that we have in place to support our trans and LGBTQIA+ students? How can they be strengthened and improved to increase student retention? In this session, we will hear from experts and elders from the university and larger Seattle community about what resources and supports currently exist for our students with intersectional identities, as well as reflections on how different communities create spaces for advocacy and advancement in changing times.
Session 4: Strategies for Mentorship in Changing Times
2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Ultimately, regardless of larger social changes, our responsibility is first and foremost to support all our students and ensure their progress not only through their degree but also towards their individual aspirations. Our final session will focus on best practices around mentorship, particularly mentorship across lines of difference, as well as the multitude of resources that exist for students of all identities across the tri-campus. We also highlight the importance of moving through discomfort in a changemaking process on both a structural and an individual level.
Register for the 2025 summit now
Last Year’s Summit
The 2024 Summit introduced the Graduate Excellence Progress (EP) Tool, designed to assist units/departments in pinpointing strengths as well as areas for growth in efforts to create a just, diverse, and inclusive environment for students at every stage of their graduate career, from pre-recruitment to post-graduation. This annual summit guides faculty, staff, graduate students, and campus leadership to reflect and actively engage in the work to promote inclusive excellence in Graduate Education.