Alumnus credits CWU with career success

One topic that most people likely wouldn’t expect to come up during a State of the University address turned out to be the focus of this year’s speech—love.

Keynote speaker Ron Sims, CWU alumnus and former deputy secretary of the U.S. department of housing and urban development, openly described his experiences and love of CWU to more than 250 students, staff and faculty members at the State of the University address last Thursday, Feb. 16.

Sims even went as far as to speak about the first time he fell in love, an experience he had while still a student on campus.

“The first time you ever fall in love is so sweet,” Sims said. “And so, so stupid.”

But Sims’ love at CWU didn’t end with “things struggling to be candles and Smokey Robinson workin’ it” in his dorm room as he tried to impress his first love.

According to Sims, his love of education in college was cultivated, which ultimately propelled him to the professional goals he has achieved since graduating in 1971.

“I went from a lost soul as a kid, a person that didn’t want to read, a person that was rebellious, a person that didn’t want to allow my little small, comfortable world to expand, to a place that detonated called Central Washington,” Sims said. “I would not have had my career without being here.”

Sims left CWU and went on to find success as the King County Executive before President Barack Obama asked him to join the administration in 2009.

Sims said he was admittedly “star-struck” when he was first asked to join the Obama administration. His mom was equally as proud.

“I remember telling my mom I was going to work for President Barack Obama,” he said. “The smile on her face was worth every day at Central Washington.”

University Affairs

President James Gaudino spoke earlier in the address and used his time to recap the university’s past few months and discuss the groundwork for upcoming years.

One of Gaudino’s focal points was on the recent construction and the ongoing department shift that has been dubbed “movezilla.”

“Movezilla” is the current process in which several on-campus departments are being consolidated into Bouillon to create a single location for student services.

This process will also shift the departments currently in Bouillon into Mitchell hall and eventually the neighboring Lind Hall.

Gaudino said that the complex consolidation of services and rearranging throughout campus has been described by Facilities’ Executive Director Bill Yarwood as being similar to “playing three-dimensional chess with 175 pieces.”

Gaudino also discussed the record-breaking freshman class that arrived on campus in September with more than 2,000 new students, a 25 percent increase over the last decade.

Additionally, CWU hired approximately 200 new staff and faculty, including Provost Katherine Frank, who assumed her role in the administration on July 1, 2016.

Gaudino dove into the financial side of CWU’s last year near the end of his speech. According to Gaudino the university finished the 2016 fiscal year with not “huge surpluses, but positive surpluses.”

Gaudino forecasted multiple year wage increases for classified staff and said that bargains with the faculty union to achieve the same result begin this month. Gaudino said he plans to extend the wage increases to non-represented employees as well.

Although Gaudino said that the university has reached fidelity, he remains cautious and concerned for the upcoming years.

Changes on the Horizon

The majority of Gaudino’s address had an optimistic tone as he recalled the university’s past few months, but that couldn’t deter from the underlying tension as he referenced “political turmoil and hyper-partisanship” and shared his concerns for students.

“I admit to have been discouraged and disappointed by the cacophony of civil discourse that seem to divide us, to confuse us and to alienate us,” Gaudino said. “Some of it has made me feel anxious about our present and our future.”

Gaudino also focused heavily on the need to encourage a safe, diverse and inclusive learning environment—a growing concern as KKK pamphlets continue to appear on campus and within the Ellensburg community.

“While the changes confronting us can be uncomfortable, adapting to them is absolutely essential,” Gaudino said. “If we are to remain the best we must look at ourselves and our pedagogical practices through fresh, diverse and young eyes.”

Sims echoed the idea of change and said CWU taught him to embrace it while not letting it frustrate him. It was that ideology that allowed him the opportunity to expand his love of learning, something that he has carried with him throughout his life.

“It’s people like me that you cultivate every day,” Sims said. “You allow them to have their souls sing…you allow them to take risks and you encourage it.”