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New campus leaders to speak at Showcase March 20

March 7, 2013

“Innovation” is a word we’ve heard a lot lately, given that it’s the Year of Innovation and Educational Innovation is a campus priority. Innovation will also be front and center March 20 at Showcase 2013, where seven UW leaders who are new to our campus will share their perspectives on current innovation efforts and opportunities to innovate even more. 

After introductory remarks by Interim Chancellor David Ward, the Showcase keynote session will feature:

Bill Elvey, associate vice chancellor for facilities

Bruce Maas, vice provost for information technology and chief information officer

Scott Owczarek, university registrar

Margaret Raymond, dean, Law School

Paul Robbins, director, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

Soyeon Shim, dean, School of Human Ecology  

Kate VandenBosch, dean, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

The keynote session will take place at 11:15 in Tripp Commons at Memorial Union, where lunch will be available to registrants. It will also be streamed live via the Office of Quality Improvement’s website.

Before the opening presentation, the poster session from 8 to 11 a.m. in Great Hall will feature more than 60 posters, including a section dedicated to Educational Innovation. Visitors are encouraged to spend the entire three hours or any portion of it viewing posters and conversing with colleagues.

Last year, more than 400 UW faculty and staff took advantage of this opportunity to discuss creative ideas, innovations, best practices and success stories from every corner of campus. Connections made at Showcase often spur follow-up meetings where ideas are explored in-depth and cross-campus collaborations are set in motion. People frequently remark that, through the poster session, they’ve met UW colleagues and learned of projects they never would have known about otherwise.

Besides posters, Showcase will offer several 45-minute break-out sessions where you can explore selected topics in detail, including onboarding new employees and enterprise IT decision-making. A complete list of this year’s posters and break-out sessions, along with posters and presentations from prior years, can be viewed here.

Showcase is sponsored jointly by the Office of Quality Improvement (OQI) and the Office of Human Resource Development. “People draw inspiration and some great ideas from Showcase each year that help them solve problems and work more effectively,” says Maury Cotter, OQI director. Those ideas include:

  • Innovative educational strategies and techniques;
  • Creative solutions with tools and technology;
  • Developing faculty, staff and students;
  • Organizational structures and strategies;
  • Developing high-performing collaborations and partnerships;
  • Administrative Process Redesign success stories;
  • Using data to improve services to students and staff; and
  • Being a good steward of university resources.

Showcase is free, but registration for the poster and break-out sessions is requested. A separate advance registration is required for the keynote session, which includes a free lunch.