Congratulations President Frisch and the CityU community!

As students and faculty around across the country gear up for back-to-school, I want to acknowledge and thank all of the hard-working students, faculty and staff at CityU who are committed to education year-round. One year ago, I had the pleasure of announcing Randy Frisch as the new president of City University of Seattle. President Frisch along with the amazing faculty and staff at CityU have demonstrated a strong commitment to strengthening collaborations with Seattle businesses, refining the University’s global studies opportunities and furthering CityU’s mission of changing lives for the better by offering access to specialized, high quality and relevant education to lifelong learners.

As an affiliate of the National University System, CityU has a proud history of serving diverse and non-traditional students. With 50 thousand alumni globally, I was thrilled to see the University strengthen its student and alumni network with the first academic achievement and alumni reception in February of this year.  Recognizing the hard work of students and alumni achievements is so important to us, and moreover, this connection allows us to gain feedback that assists us in continuing to provide students with market-relevant programs and meaningful learning.

As nonprofit organization, CityU is dedicated to giving back to the communities it serves. For example, in March of this year, the National University System received a $28 million gift from renowned entrepreneur and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford to expand the development and reach of the Sanford Education Programs.  Sanford Harmony is a social-emotional learning program for grades K-6, and Sanford Inspire is an online professional-development tool for teachers. Both programs are already affecting change in Washington communities, as well as strengthening CityU’s Albright School of Education programs and offerings.  Recently, CityU added the Sanford Institute of Philanthropy, which is part of a national network of Institutes being launched by the founding Sanford Institute of Philanthropy at NUS affiliate, National University. The Institute provides educational and professional fundraising resources to nonprofit leaders and volunteers in Western Washington to learn how to better to communicate their causes and apply a business-minded approach to fundraising.

Beyond serving the local community, CityU serves students at over 20 locations in the Northwest and worldwide. The University offers programs in Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Vietnam. I have enjoyed meeting our international students in Europe, Vietnam and Mexico. Recently, President Frisch and Hiep Quach, a member of our Board of Trustees, traveled to Hanoi to further the global reach of CityU. In addition, last September, President Frisch and I were thrilled to travel to Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior (CETYS) University in Mexico to celebrate the CETYS University’s 55^th anniversary with Fernando León García, president of CETYS University System. Even more exciting, in January of this year, we celebrated Eduardo Diaz, who became our first doctoral graduate from Mexico. He completed his Doctor of Education in Leadership (Ed.D.), with a concentration in Organizational Leadership.

I’d also like to say how thankful I am for the service of our military and veteran student community and want to thank everyone involved with the opening of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord site to better serve these students. CityU faculty and staff are dedicated to supporting students of all backgrounds, but the commitment to serving our military community is one that ties back to the roots of System affiliate National University and the entire National University System.  I greatly appreciate the CityU community for all of the hard work this past year. I’m looking forward to another amazing academic year, and working together with President Frisch to help identify new strategic partnerships and develop academic pathways that benefit our dedicated students.