How do you win a UW campus? Ask Tacoma

TACOMA – Everett hopes to take a page or two from Tacoma as it tries to land a University of Washington branch campus.

On that quest, nearly three dozen political and business leaders spent Monday at the University of Washington’s Tacoma campus looking for guidance on the do’s and don’ts of reeling in a university.

“The reason we are here in Tacoma is we want to be like you when we grow up,” said Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson.

UW-Tacoma leaders and longtime supporters who helped bring the campus to their city had plenty of advice.

The most recurring themes:

Line up unified support from business, lawmakers and community leaders;

Understand it will take millions of dollars in fundraising to succeed;

And be patient.

“It has taken a focused, organized and energetic community 25 years to get the campus where it is today,” said UW-Tacoma Chancellor Patricia Spakes.

Everett and several other Snohomish County communities are in the running for a four-year UW branch campus. The state’s capital budget provides $4 million to help launch the new university as a branch campus.

By June of next year, the UW must present Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature with an idea of where it wants to build and how it wants to run the college, which is expected to focus on science, technology and engineering.

Tacoma’s already been down this road, spending several years on planning and wooing the Legislature. UW-Tacoma opened in temporary quarters in 1990.

Today, it has 2,300 students. It hopes to reach 5,000 in the next five to eight years and 8,000 to 10,000 over the next 25 years, Spakes said.

More than $150 million has been invested in building the campus, which has helped revitalize the once rundown and crime-ridden downtown core. UW-Tacoma includes 13 restored warehouses and buildings that are new from the ground up.

Herb Simon was an early backer of UW-Tacoma and is now a University of Washington regent.

As a regent who could someday examine the proposal for a new branch campus in Snohomish County, he will be looking for a solid 10-year business plan, the types of educational programs that could be offered and what steps are planned to develop the campus.

“Your business community needs to step up there and make a contribution,” Simon said.

Since July 2000, supporters of UW-Tacoma have donated more than $38 million, which has been used for scholarships and for support of academic programs and subsidies of building costs.

Everett officials said they are confident they can duplicate the Tacoma model.

“Everett is a lot like Tacoma,” said Roy Yates, Frontier Bank senior vice president and manager in Everett. “There’s real good community support.”

Simon and others urged the visitors from Everett to be patient.

“It doesn’t happen, boom, overnight,” said state Sen. Debbie Ragala, D-Tacoma.

Business leaders said the discussions and tour were helpful.

“Very valuable,” said Louise Stanton-Masten, president and chief executive of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce, which organized the trip.

While Everett officials surveyed their campus, students geared up for final exams.

Several students said they are glad they have a campus so close to home and don’t have to drive a clogged stretch of I-5 to earn their UW degree.

“UW is public Ivy League,” said Julio Perez, 30, who is majoring in interdisciplinary arts and sciences. “I think that holds some cachet.”

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.