AFTER BEGINNING TO RETURN FROM THE PANDEMIC, A REFLECTION ON CONTINUUM'S MOST SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF 2022, OPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATION AND THE ORGANIZATION'S IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY.
Making an Impact
Looking back at 2022, it’s hard to narrow down to just one thing that stands out as UW Continuum College’s biggest accomplishment. The first thing that comes to mind is that in the past year we reached close to 50,000 learners worldwide and had 120,000 course enrollments. Having an impact on that many people, many of whom would not have come to the University of Washington through traditional channels, is one of our biggest success stories of the year.
I am also so proud of our staff’s incredible resilience and innovation. We’re a very nimble higher education institution, and we put these abilities to use this past year as we collaborated with campus partners to create a brand-new service model that will give units throughout the university more choice in how they partner with us to offer self-sustaining programs. We’ve also begun a multi-year project to redevelop our technological infrastructure that will really help us to be more versatile.
Another important collaboration that launched in 2022 has been with the head of Microsoft's autonomous AI unit. Together, we’re building a very low-cost massive open online specialization that has the potential to reach hundreds of thousands of learners, with little to no experience in the field, who want to explore the possibilities of autonomous artificial intelligence. That’s just one example of how we’re refining our view of equity in higher education and how we create more access for traditionally underrepresented students.
For more than 110 years, we’ve had an impact on so many individuals and communities, and everyone we serve has a tremendous individual story. The stories ahead highlight how our programs affect people’s lives at every stage. And as we move into 2023, I am genuinely excited to explore more ways Continuum can create programs for learners of all backgrounds and bring our organization even closer to educational equity.
Rovy F. Branon III
Vice Provost, University of Washington
Continuum College