Viewpoint Magazine | Fall 2019

Telling the Story of Diversity at the University of Washington | Fall 2019

FINDING

SWEET SUCCESS A Foster School center helps small and minority-owned businesses

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FALL 2019

FOUNDED 2004

Published by the UW Alumni Association

P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E U W A LU M N I A S S O C I AT I O N I N PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H T H E U W O F F I C E O F M I N O R I T Y A F FA I R S & D I V E R S I T Y

viewpoint

:: Telling the Story of Diversity at the University of Washington

in partnership with

VIEWPOINT LETTER

the UW Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity

4333 Brooklyn Ave. NE Box 359559 Seattle, WA 98195-9559 Phone: 206-221-7087 Fax: 206-685-0611 Email: vwpoint@uw.edu Viewpoint on the Web: UWalum.com/viewpoint

viewpoint STA F F PU B LIS HER

Paul Rucker, ’95, ’02 M A NAG ING EDIT OR

Hannelore Sudermann, ’96 A R T DIRECT OR

Carol Nakagawa WRITERS

Julie Davidow, Hannelore Sudermann P H OT OG RAP HERS

Quinn Russell Brown, ’13, Matt Hagen, Emile Pitre, Mark Stone, Tara Brown and Naomi Ishisaka

viewpoint ADVISORY COMMITTEE Paul Rucker, ’95, ’02 Executive Director UW Alumni Association

Rickey Hall Vice President for Minority Affairs & Diversity University Diversity Officer

Eleanor J. Lee, ’00, ’05 Director of Communications UW Graduate School

Erin Rowley Director of Communications Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity

Lighting Their Way to Success

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ODAY, AS I LOOK BACK at the University of Washington’s Consulting and Business Development Center, I am simply amazed at how it has evolved and what it has become in the nearly 25 years since its founding. I learned about the center shortly after joining JPMorgan Chase in 2009. I was introduced to Michael Verchot, the long-time director, and it quickly became apparent that he had a strong passion and specific vision for what the center would one day become. I knew then that it was absolutely paramount that the program, which connects students, faculty and staff to businesses, be scaled and modeled to better meet the needs of small and minority-owned businesses everywhere.

The center’s approach, which it calls 3M, increases access to markets for the participating businesses, provides them with management consultation and offers many of them money advice. It is precisely the way to generate opportunity for small and minority-owned businesses, and at an impressive rate. As a result, the impact the center has had on communities here in Washington is nothing short of magical. In addition to the 3M model, the center has accomplished something far more important—it has increased the confidence of underserved small-business owners by lighting their way on a path to success. You will see a few of their stories in this issue of Viewpoint.

When I attended business school in the Foster School’s executive MBA program, I was fortunate to participate on a team that worked with a local company on an in-depth consulting project. This was a fantastic learning and outreach opportunity, but it was nothing like the Consulting and Business Development Center’s offerings to future business leaders. In supporting minority- and women-owned businesses, the center provides access to capital and other valuable opportunities that help minorities create and build wealth.

By empowering small businesses, the Consulting and Business Development Center plays a critical role in creating jobs and strengthening our local community. JPMorgan Chase takes great pride in playing a small role in helping the Center scale its incredible impact through its support of the Ascend program in numerous cities.

Phyllis Campbell, ’87, is the Chairman, Pacific Northwest for JPMorgan Chase & Co. She holds an executive MBA from the UW’s Foster School of Business. JPMorgan Chase’s Small Business Forward program and the UW Consulting and Business Development Center have developed Ascend 2020 to link business schools, business service organizations and community development financial institutions with neighborhood-based and minorityowned businesses in a number of cities across the country. She also volunteers her time and shares her expertise with Foster students.

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In This Issue 3 Message From OMA&D 4 Provost Perspective 5 New Equity Leaders 6 In the News 7 Profile of Pride 8 Cover Story: Serving up Success 14 In Memory 15 Donor Profile §Armon § Dadgar, '11

On the Cover Odette D’Aniello, owner of Celebrity Cake Studio, made use of the training and resources at the UW’s Consulting and Business Development Center to grow her Tacoma business from neighborhood bakery to leading cake boutique.

—Photo by Quinn Russell Brown

POINT OF VIEW

— Rickey Hall

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IT IS IMPORTANT TO ME THAT OUR LEADERSHIP, SCHOOLS, COLLEGES AND ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS ARE ACTIVELY WORKING TO INCREASE OUR DIVERSE SPEND.

The University can work in different ways to foster a healthy, diverse business community by directing both state dollars and campus expertise to create opportunity for small, local, and women- and minority-owned businesses.

Doing More for Diverse Businesses

ARGE INSTITUTIONS often hire external vendors and contractors for a variety of services. The University of Washington is no different.

And central to our business strategy should be our commitment to diversity and equity.

Business equity—or, as some may call it, supplier diversity—is about ensuring that we are inclusive of women- and minorityowned businesses when procuring goods and services. As the University diversity officer, I know it is important that our leadership, schools, colleges and administrative departments are actively working to increase our diverse spend.

Thanks to the interest and oversight of

the Board of Regents’ Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Subcommittee and the commitment of President Ana Mari Cauce, we are seeing some improvement. We also benefit from the ongoing efforts of the Business Diversity & Equity program, which connects UW buyers with small, local and diverse suppliers, and offers networking opportunities for women- and minority-owned companies looking to do business with the UW. In addition to who we hire to do the work, universities can also play a role in the growth and development of diverse businesses.

The Consulting and Business Development Center, led by Michael Verchot in the Foster School of Business, does just that. This program provides UW student teams with

opportunities to consult local women- and minority-owned businesses, helping students build their own future careers and supporting the growth and enhancement of these local businesses at the same time.

We’re delighted about the work they do and that they are a national leader in these efforts. Because of their expertise, Michael and his team are also very good partners in helping us think through what might be possible on our campuses to further improve our work with diverse suppliers.

We should always be asking: What are we doing, and how can we do it better?

Rickey Hall, Vice President for Minority Affairs & Diversity University Diversity Officer

the story of diversity at the UW

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MA RK S T ONE

Through education and initiatives, the UW is bringing more students and faculty from underrepresented groups into science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In the College of Engineering, for example, nearly 23% of the faculty are women, compared to 16.9% in engineering programs across the country. From left, Sharon Heung, '19, and Ritika Gupta, '19, wire up a project for a class in human centered design and engineering.

Plugging Inclusion Into STEM Is Good for All Provost Mark Richards talks with Viewpoint writer Julie Davidow about his career-long focus on racial, ethnic and gender diversity in the STEM fields, and the challenges the University faces.

How would you define diversity in STEM? I think there are really two different prisms on that. We have a lot of foreign scholars who come here from different countries to get degrees and become researchers in STEM fields. They bring a diversity of perspectives on STEM itself that has to do with background, experience and country of origin. Then there’s the fact that the fraction of underrepresented minority students and faculty in our STEM programs don’t reflect the population of the country as a whole, or the state, for that matter. These are two very different things. The former is not something that we wrestle with too much. It’s something that we value and has been important to the American scientific, engineering and research enterprise. The latter is what I’ve been most focused on: How do we get to a point where the STEM workforce that we’re training in universities reflects the population as a whole?

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Why is diversity in STEM so important?

It’s important from a social justice standpoint because STEM careers are often among the best-paying and most influential in our society, whether you’re talking about doctors, engineers and computer scientists or just people with tech savvy. It’s also important as a national priority. Right now we’re missing a substantial fraction of the workforce. If you believe that talent is distributed irrespective of race, ethnicity and ZIP code, then if 10 percent of our graduate Ph.D. students are underrepresented minorities and 35 percent of the population of the country are underrepresented minorities, you’re missing 25 percent of the talent pool. There’s a very practical aspect to it.

How do we achieve more faculty diversity in STEM fields?

Like most other large, flagship state universities, we put a lot of emphasis on recruiting, advertising, interviewing and trying to hire as many excellent underrepresented minority faculty and women as we can. The competition for these people is very stiff because everybody else is also trying to hire them. Of course, the real problem is the supply. Even though we have made some strides over the past couple of decades in increasing the fraction of underrepresented minority Ph.D. students, we have not substantially increased the fraction of post-docs. This is something I have been working on. Post-docs are the main ranks from which we actually hire faculty in most of the engineering and science fields.

Bringing Out Our Best Strong graduate programs nurture a healthy democracy New Diverse Leadership

BY H A NN ELORE S U D E R M A N N

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N HER RESEARCH on colleges in the South in the mid-20th century, Joy Williamson-Lott found that the schools that wanted strong graduate programs were pushed to embrace academic freedom and freedom of speech. They had to if they wanted to qualify for federal money and research rankings. In turn, says the new dean of the UW Graduate School, the students and faculty at those schools attracted and influenced the communities around them.

Williamson-Lott explores this history in her book, “Jim Crow Campus: Higher Education and the Struggle for a New Southern Social Order.”

“Through my studies in the South, I came to realize that graduate education is not only important for individuals, but for society more broadly,” she says.

She was drawn to the job of Graduate School dean in part by her belief that a strong graduate education program is essential to an engaged community—and a healthy democracy. “Graduate school work is about discovery, unfettered conversations and having research institutions as intellectual hubs,” she says.

Williamson-Lott, who joined the faculty of the College of Education in 2007, was named dean in July.

She starts her new job with a focus on building financial support for graduate students, and is working with schools and programs around the University to do the same. “Part of my job is helping donors understand that it’s not just individual students they’re helping, but a public good,” she says.

Another of her priorities is to further diversify the student body across campus. The UW currently has 14,498 graduate students, 12.5% of whom are underrepresented minorities and 54% of whom are women. The University has been com-

Joy Williamson-Lott, the new dean of the Graduate School, says we can learn from our past. Her recent book, "Jim Crow Campus," explores how civil rights and anti-Vietnam activism transformed higher education in the South. mitted to recruiting and supporting underrepresented graduate students for decades, she says. The Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program, for example, will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. “And now, from the president on down, we are working hard to be even more committed to diversity in deep and meaningful ways.”

The Graduate School’s primary purpose is to advance research and support the many graduate programs across the three campuses.

“We’re also focused on helping our

students find and create community here at the UW,” WiliamsonLott says.

The UW is a great place to be in graduate school, she says. “We have unmatched resources on campus like libraries, the number of labs, and hands-on research and outreach experiences students can find on campus as well as off in our communities. And we hope to attract a particular kind of student who is interested in making a broader impact rather than just in their own personal good.”

LONG WITH Joy Williamson-Lott, several other leading scholars and faculty from underrepresented communities have joined the ranks of UW administrators.

Last summer, James McShay joined UW Tacoma as the assistant chancellor for Equity & Inclusion. He comes from the East Coast, where his work included directing the Office of Multicultural Leadership & Community Service Learning at the University of Maryland in College Park.

Sharon A. Jones joined UW Bothell this summer as vice chancellor for academic affairs.

She comes from the University of Portland, where as dean of the engineering school, she increased diversity among students and faculty. Her scholarly work has been recognized by the Lafayette College Association of Black Collegians Faculty and the Indian Health Service.

Renée Cheng, dean of the College of Built Environments, recently led the American Institute of Architecture’s Guides for Equitable Practice in the Workplace. The guides are part of the AIA’s commitment to ensure that the profession of architecture is as diverse as the nation it serves.

The dean of the School of Law, Mario Barnes, is a nationally known expert for his research into the legal and social implications of race and gender, primarily in the areas of employment, education, criminal and military law.

the story of diversity at the UW

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N A OM I ISH ISA K A

in the news

Seventh- and eighth-graders came to campus for an Early Engineering Institute in August.

Clearing the Path to College

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HE OFFICE of Minority Affairs & Diversity’s new GEAR UP Achievers program serving pre-college students in South King County partnered with the UW College of Engineering to host its first event on campus in August. Fifty-six seventh- and eighth-graders from the Auburn, Renton and Tukwila attended the Early Engineering Institute. The UW-administered Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs uses U.S. Department of Education funding to prepare low-income students for college and help them gain access to financial aid.

Human Difference A new class titled “The History of Human Differences” debuts this fall to address the history of disabled people and the ways disability intersects with race, ethnicity, gender, class and sexuality. Instructor Joanne Woiak designed the class to bring students to examine historical episodes in which groups were oppressed by having disability attributed to them. The class will also look at how social-justice movements have sought to distance themselves from disabled communities and explore examples of solidarity practices in disability rights and justice.

Q Center Wins The UW was recently ranked No. 1 in the nation for LGBTQ students by BestColleges. com in partnership with Campus Pride. The ranking, released in June, credited the Lavender Graduation and Welcome Luncheon events. It praised the student experience and resources, including the student-run Q Center, counseling, queer mentoring and a course that explores gender intersectionalities. The ranking also highlighted the UW’s gender-inclusive housing, non-gendered restrooms, and gender and sexuality courses, degrees and scholarship.

Multicultural Outreach & Recruitment This summer, Jaime Soto, ’10, was named director for the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity’s Multicultural Outreach & Recruitment team. A member of the M.O.R. team since 2014, Soto now leads the efforts to attract and enroll Washington’s most promising students, reflecting an intellectually and culturally diverse student body.

UW Bothell Change Leads to State Law In 2017, two UW Bothell professors adjusted their exam schedules to accommodate nighttime testing for Muslim students who were fasting for Ramadan. The positive response prompted students on the Seattle campus to go a step further by drafting a state bill requiring higher education institutions to “reasonably accommodate students” who expect to be absent or endure a significant hardship for religious reasons.

After students, faculty and leaders from various faiths testified in Olympia in the spring, the bill was approved and signed into law, making Washington the first state in the country to make such an accomodation.

World of Wonders A new book explores the work and friendships of Alfredo Arreguin, ‘67, ’69, the Seattle-based artist renowned for his vibrant pattern-painting style. In “Alfredo Arreguin’s World of Wonders” authors Laura Flores and Doug Johnson curate a selection of essays and poems

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that connect to the work of the artist.

The authors write their own pieces and highlight work by Arreguin's contemporaries, such as writers Tess Gallagher and Raymond Carver. These are paired with images of Arreguin’s own paintings. The book is published by Cave Moon Press.

SAVE THE DATE! May 13, 2020 The UW Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity and Friends of the Educational Opportunity Program (FEOP) will host the 50th anniversary of “Celebration” this spring! Mark your calendar for this signature event, which features the outstanding achievements of EOP students, recognizes the Charles E. Odegaard Award recipient and raises funds for scholarships.

Learn more: uw.edu/ omad/celebration Are you a former FEOP board member?

OMA&D wants to hear from you!

As preparations are underway to honor 50 years of Celebration, OMA&D is inviting all past members to participate in a 2020 reunion. To ensure an invitation, you and other FEOP members are encouraged to contact OMA&D Assistant Director of Constituent Relations Joaquín Chapar Ortiz by email (jbchapar@uw.edu) or phone (206-685-2116).

An activist and advocate since before college, Ray Corona, '13, doesn't let his undocumented status keep him from bringing people together in support of Latinx and LGBTQ communities.

Leading With Latinx B Y JUL I E D AV I D O W

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OR RAY CORONA, ’13, the Latinx Pride Festival is, in many ways, a tribute to his mother.

After Corona came out as a teen, his mother, who died in 2016, embraced not only him but his queer friends as well. “My house became the go-to house and go-to family for support,” he says.

In that spirit, Corona and his friend Monserrat Padilla, coordinator for the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, founded Somos Seattle in 2017 to support and celebrate Latinx LGBTQ people. In July, Somos hosted its third Latinx Pride Festival at El Centro de la Raza on Beacon Hill. Just a few weeks earlier, Corona received Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan’s 2019 Emerging Leader Pride Award. The honor recognizes his work in support of for immigrants and the Latinx LGBTQ community.

The Pride festival increases the visibility of Latinx people as leaders and members of the LGBTQ community and provides a place to celebrate their language, culture and experiences, says Corona. But “I think Pride should be more than one month,” he adds.

Corona immigrated to the United States when he was 9 and grew up in Everett. As a student at UW Bothell, Corona qualified for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program enacted in 2012 that allowed undocumented people who migrated to the United States as children to obtain temporary work permits without fear of deportation. Given the uncertain future of DACA under the current U.S. administration, Corona would like to expand Somos throughout the state and create an organization that can continue without him.

“I want to make sure people are feeling supported and connected, not just in our LGBTQ community, but overall, especially given this particular political climate,” he says.

the story of diversity at the UW

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SERVING UP SUCCESS

Celebrity Cake Odette D'Aniello

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BY JUL I E DAV ID O W | P H O TO S B Y Q U I N N R U S S E LL BROWN

DETTE D’ANIELLO taught herself to decorate cakes when she was 10 years old. Not for a class project or an Instagram story, but to escape the tedious job of slicing hundreds of loaves of bread every afternoon at her uncle’s bakery in Guam.

“It was the culture of my family,” says D’Aniello, whose aunt and uncle paid for her parents, sister and brother to move from the Philippines to Guam in 1980 to help at their bakery. “We were just workers.”

Still dressed in her Catholic school uniform, she would sneak away from the slicers and into the decorating room and practice writing her name in frosting. “Before I was 11, I could decorate cakes with my eyes closed.”

Nearly four decades later, D’Aniello tells her story surrounded by models of the wedding cakes her team creates at Celebrity Cake Studio in Tacoma. She owns and runs the parent company, Celebrity Gourmet Ventures, with her husband, David, and her younger sister, Mary Ann Quitugua. They started their business almost 20 years ago. Along the way, they relied on the Foster School’s Consulting and Business Development Center to make the leap from talented cake decorators to successful entrepreneurs whose company now distributes hundreds of products nationwide.

The UW-based center—a national leader in providing management education, access to financial support, and markets for businesses owned by people of color, women, LGBTQ, veterans and those in underserved communities—is celebrating its 25th anniversary next year. “Most business schools in this country still do not have anything that engages students and faculty with businesses in underserved communities,” says Michael Verchot, co-founder and director of the center. u

The Business Boosters A core group of alumni, business owners and business leaders have generously provided support to the Consulting and Business Development Center over the past 24 years.

Steve Boyer, ’76, ’92 A public relations professional, Boyer has served on the center’s board, mentored undergraduates, and shared his expertise as a consultant.

William Bradford Bradford was dean when the center started. His research, particularly on entrepreneurs of color, has driven the center’s work.

Phyllis Campbell, ’87 Campbell is local leader and global visionary for using colleges and universities to support the growth of businesses owned by people of color. She helped build a national network of entreupreneurial support organizations, and often speaks in classes and meets with students.

Craig Dawson, ’85 An early client for the student consulting program, Dawson has served on the board for nearly 15 years. He also helps the center connect with African American-owned businesses.

Jai-Anana Elliott, ’12 As a Foster School employee, Elliott led efforts to increase diversity among

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the story of diversity at the UW

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Taste Titan Lewis Rudd

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VIEWPOINT

SERVING UP SUCCESS In 1993, when Verchot started his MBA at the UW, Seattle was wrestling with change. Boeing was still the largest employer and economic engine for the region, but the successes of Microsoft and other tech companies were offset by businesses and areas of the city, including the Central District, that were struggling. “At that point, it was really more about neglect and lack of investment” in the Central District and Southeast Seattle, Verchot says.

At the business school, Verchot joined a group led by marketing professors Thaddeus Spratlen and David Gautschi, along with Ali Tarhouni, a senior lecturer in business economics, and Paul Pressley, another MBA student, to ask why small businesses owned by people of color underperformed while other business thrived. Guided by Spratlen's research, they sought to identify what the UW could do about it. As business faculty at a public university, the center’s founders agreed it was their responsibility to build relationships with businesses in underserved communities.

Spratlen had led student projects with African American-owned businesses in the Central District for years, but the opportunity arose to establish an ongoing center when William Bradford, the Foster School’s first African American dean, was hired in 1994. Bradford’s research focuses on black business development and continues to inform the center’s mission. “There was a whole segment of the business community that we weren’t serving,” Verchot says.

More than two decades later, the center has provided courses on management education and support from student consulting teams for hundreds of businesses owned by people of color, women and other underserved groups. It also places graduate students on the boards of nonprofits that serve more than 2.5 million Puget Sound-area residents. Its work has generated an estimated $200 million in revenue and helped create or retain more than 200,000 jobs in the state.

Giving business students at the Foster School a chance to work in the community was a key component of the center from its earliest days. But the focus on experiential learning was unusual when the center started in the mid-1990s and not entirely embraced by the academic community, Verchot says.

Today, the center’s model of connecting students with small businesses and providing resources for owners is a national program that has expanded to 12 cities. The programs connect business schools, nonprofit community development financial institutions and business associations with local businesses. “We want to invest in businesses that can build wealth and create jobs for people u

u Business Boosters the students. Today the effort has become the Young Executives of Color program, which reaches 175 high school students each year.

Isa Forenza, ’10 A principal of Legacy Trading, LLC, Forenza participated in the Minority Business Executive Program and more recently funded scholarships so more Latinx business owners could attend.

Dan Gandara and Dave Gandara, ’90 The Gandaras helped establish the Ernest I.J. Aguilar Endowed Scholarship for Latino MBAs and set the model for endowed scholarships at the school.

Chandra Hampson, ’00 As an MBA student, Hampson worked with the center to launch its work with tribes, tribal enterprises and Native Americanowned businesses.

John Hartley, ’75 A coach and mentor to the center, Hartley has helped the center support and motivate its own employees, decrease turnover and improve outcomes for students and clients.

Fernando Hernandez A Microsoft executive and long-serving CBDC advisory board member, Hernandez helped launch the national network. He also was a founding corporate partner in the Minority Business Executive Program.

Ed and Bob Kershaw, ’61 and ’60 The Kershaws helped the center scale up its work in the Yakima Valley and provided financial support and strategic advice to create and operate a program teaching business and finance there.

Leslie Lum A long-serving advisory board member who helped the center partner with community colleges, Lum also co-wrote the center’s textbook.

Bill Marshall, ’83 Marshall is a founding board member, a mentor to students and a major recruiter of other business people to work with students. u

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SERVING UP SUCCESS

u Business Boosters Fernando Martinez Helped establish the Minority Business Executive Program and now works with the center to secure corporate sponsors and connect businesses owned by people of color with corporate supply chains.

Neil McReynolds ’56, ’75 A founding co-chair for the center, McReynolds helped build partnerships with Seattle Rotary. As a business leader, he helped provide the center with credibility in its early years.

Connie Proctor, ’78 As a local philanthropic leader and a UW Regent, Procter helped raise the center’s proifle around campus and in the community. She also helped establish MBA scholarships for Latino and African American students.

Lewis Rudd and Faye Stephens

A corporate executive, Miles has served for 25 years as an adviser, coach and champion for the center’s work. With his family, he established and endowed a summer internship.

Two of the founders of Ezell’s Famous Chicken started as clients and have welcomed a number of student teams into their business over the years. Rudd and Stephens also helped the center reach other underrepresented minority owned businesses.

Tomio Moriguchi ’59, ’61

Martha Sandoval, ’04, ’07

Moriguchi's business, Uwajimaya, was an early client for the student consulting program. He has continued to be a voice of support for the center’s work, served on the board and promoted multigenerational partnerships between the African American and Asian Pacific Islander communities.

As a student, Sandoval consulted with the center and helped with research into African American entrepreneurs. She also connected the center with the UW law school and the small-business law clinic. Today, as a corporate practice partner at Perkins Coie, she supports the center with law seminars and pro bono legal advice to clients.

Nate Miles, ’82

Assunta Ng, ’74, ’76, ’79 Ng is a longtime mentor for student consulting teams and a leader for fundraising. As publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly, she has raised the center’s profile in the Asian and Pacific Islander business communities.

George Northcroft Northcroft is a force behind how the center measures and evaluates its effectiveness. He also helped establish the first endowed scholarship for African American MBA students at the UW.

Lynn Palmanteer-Holder As UW’s tribal liaison, PalmanteerHolder connected the center with

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tribal leaders and businesses. She also helped launch the certificate program in tribal gaming and hospitality management, a first for a nontribal college.

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Shaun and Brooke Spearmon, ’11 and ’09, respectively The Spearmons worked with the center and have supported the minority business community in myriad ways, including helping to create the Minority Business Executive Program and a supplier diversity toolkit to help corporations launch their own supplier diversity programs. Both have served on the board.

Thaddeus Spratlen The first African American faculty member at the Foster School, Spratlen was the center’s founding director. His curriculum and teaching materials are still largely in use.

who live in those communities,” Verchot says.

Lewis Rudd, CEO of Ezell’s Famous Chicken, remembers the first student team back in 2004 that devoted weekend and evening hours to studying the workflow at the restaurant’s original location across from Garfield High School. “They were just bright students, full of energy,” Rudd says. The subtle changes they suggested, including self-serve soft drinks and separate chef stations for the spicy and regular chicken, improved the store’s efficiency and increased sales by 40 percent. Since then, the company has expanded to 13 stores.

Most important, Rudd says, Verchot has always understood the challenges of running a small business for people of color in Seattle. “We’re still today benefiting from those meetings with the students,” says Rudd. “Through them we learned how to create a company that’s built for growth.”

In addition to supporting businesses, the center has guided many students to find their calling. Georgette Bhathena, ’00, says her time with the center helped her meld her values and career goals. Bhathena worked in corporate philanthropy for JPMorgan Chase and was later the director of Partnership for the Bay’s Future, a collaboration of businesses and foundations supporting affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

She recently became senior director of grantmaking at Tipping Point Community, a nonprofit that uses corporate and individual donations to fight poverty. “You can see a theme,” Bhathena says.

“The center helped me think about how to leverage my business school background for social good.”

Khatsini Simani’s summer internship linking small businesses with financing was a natural fit for her interests—professionally and personally. Simani, who grew up in Seattle, left college after one year to avoid graduating buried in student loan debt.

Instead, she worked for five years to ground herself financially before returning to college.

This fall, Simani, ’19, started a Ph.D. program at the UW’s Information School. She’s interested in teaching financial literacy to young people—especially those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Understanding money and how it can shape your life is an important skill, Simani says. “I don’t think that’s something that should be reserved for people with more fiscal resources.”

Leull Belete, who graduated from UW Bothell in June, was one of the center’s two consulting interns this summer—and the first Nate and Leslie Miles Family Endowed Summer Intern. He spent his internship researching market conditions for a Central District nonprofit that helps local residents open small businesses.

As an engineering major, Belete is trained to find elegant solutions to tricky problems. But many concerns cannot be addressed with technical savvy alone. Money and access to capital is often the key, Belete says. Through the center, he helps entrepreneurs draft business models that set them up for success. “I’m hoping to create a roadmap that can help people in this community keep up with the growth in Seattle, create businesses and take care of their families.”

At Celebrity Cake Studio, D’Aniello does not hesitate when asked if baking was her long-term plan: “Never!” She graduated from the University of Arizona in 1992, worked abroad as a teacher for five years and applied to a Ph.D. program in education at the UW. When she didn’t get in, D’Aniello and her husband moved back to the United States anyway. Quitugua, who was 18 at the time, came along.

The trio started their lives as business owners with a cafe in Lacey. The lunchtime lines regularly stretched out the door, but their overhead costs were too high and they were always operating in the red. After stumbling across a wedding show at the Tacoma Dome, D’Aniello realized she could use the skills she had honed as an overworked kid to start a specialty business. “One day we were a cafe, the next day we were a cake studio,” Quitugua says.

D’Aniello describes her experience at the center as a miniMBA program where she learned about the supply chain, profitability and efficiencies from experts in the field while still running her business. “I can go to the UW, come back here, and I have a totally different perspective,” she says. “My decision making is clearer.”

In the past three years, Celebrity Gourmet Ventures, which employs about 20 people, has acquired two new businesses: Wax Orchards, a fudge sauce sold in grocery stores around the country, and Dragonfly Cakes, a Sausalito, Calif.-based petit four company. The tiny cakes are now made at and distributed from the Tacoma store.

“To create a business this happy and thriving,” D’Aniello says, “is quite miraculous considering where we came from.”

The 2019 Impact Awards

Dec. 5, 5:30 p.m., The Westin Seattle

J

OIN THE FOSTER SCHOOL and the Consulting and Business Development Center in December to recognize business, civic, and student leaders who are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in business.

The annual Impact Awards dinner celebrates businesses owned by people of color and the work that business and civic leaders take to ensure equity business opportunities in the Northwest. It is one of the largest Foster School events every year. This year’s event will kick off 25 years of Consulting and Business Development at the UW. Individuals, corporations and civic leaders will be recognized for their impact in growing businesses and jobs in undeserved communities across Washington and in accelerating students’ careers.

Proceeds from the Impact Awards support undergraduate students build business skills while working with diverse businesses in under-served communities.

You can register online or contact Rebecca Thornton at thornra@uw.edu or 206-543-5458 for more information. the story of diversity at the UW

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In Memory

IN MEMORY | MARVIN OLIVER, ’73

A lifelong humanitarian and long-serving associate professor in the School of Social Work, Anthony Ishisaka was a leader in multi-ethnic social work practice, a mentor to many and a major influence in supporting health needs in underrepresented communities.

In 1973, while new to the UW’s faculty, he co-founded the Asian Counseling and Referral Services to address unmet behavioral health and human services needs in Seattle’s Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

Ishisaka was born in a Japanese concentration camp in Colorado in 1944. After release, his family moved to Elk Grove, Calif., where he spent his childhood on a ranch. As a student at the University of California at Berkeley, Ishisaka found his calling in social work and completed his master’s degree in 1968. He joined the UW faculty a few years later. During his nearly four-decade career as teacher and administrator, he developed service-learning opportunities in communities of color, created a curriculum for preparing social workers to respond to people from vulnerable populations, especially those with mental illness, and helped his department do more to recruit and support students and faculty of color.

“Uncle Tony,” as he was known, died July 16 at the age of 75.

A Teacher and Artist Offers a Final, Gracious Lesson in Encouragement

H

E DIDN’T WANT to miss the Raven’s Feast.

Though Marvin Oliver’s health was failing this spring, he threw his energies into two things that he loved: creating art and supporting Native American students. In early June, he attended his final Raven’s Feast, the annual graduation celebration for Indigenous students that he founded in the 1970s. And he presented his final gift, a print for each student.

As a professor, professor emeritus and mentor, Oliver inspired and encouraged thousands of UW students. As a sculptor, printmaker, carver and gallery owner, he enriched arts communities throughout the West and the world. Melding his Quinault and IsletaPueblo heritage with his fine arts sensibilities, he shaped the region’s understanding and respect for Northwest and Native American art.

The University was his second home, the colleagues, students and fellow artists, his second family. “I’d give them my whole story and what influenced me,” he said in an interview last spring. “I shared how I found my purpose.” Oliver’s work lives on in homes, in spaces like Seattle Children’s and the Smithsonian, and in the hearts of the many people he reached and inspired.

The first print he ever made to honor students at Raven’s Feast was a whale. The last, which he personally presented to each graduate this spring, was a hummingbird.

He died July 17 at the age of 73.

– Hannelore Sudermann EMILE PIT RE

Anthony Hideki Ishisaka

Seattle Campus Events Annual President’s Address Oct. 15, 3:30-5 p.m.

- Intellectual House | Open to the public Samuel Sinyangwe Using Data to Advance Racial Justice Oct. 15, 7:30 p.m. | Kane Hall, Room 130 In this Graduate School Public Lecture, Sinyangwe, a policy analyst and data scientist, talks about his work with communities of color to fight systemic racism. He is co-founder of “We The Protesters.”

Jason Reynolds Oct. 31, 7:30 p.m.

Kane Hall, Room 120 $10 public/$5 students Best-selling author of novels and poetry for young adult and middle-grade readers, Reynolds comes to campus for a lecture and book signing. He is being hosted by the Information School’s Spencer G. Shaw Endowed Lecture Series.

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V I E W P O I N T : : U Wa l u m . c o m / v i e w p o i n t

At the Raven’s Feast celebration in June, Professor Emeritus Marvin Oliver presented gifts of his own artwork to the graduating students. Pictured are Oliver with students Sierra Red Bow, Calvin Smith, ’19, and Oliver’s son Owen Oliver.

Alum Turns Tech Success Into Student Support B Y HA N NE LO R E S U D E R M A N N

EMILE PIT RE

A

RMON DADGAR made the most of his time at the UW. He joined student groups, found a spot on a multi-year computer science research project and found some incredible friendships. Now, less than a decade after graduating and in the wake of the success of his tech startup, Dadgar has pledged $3.6 million for scholarships for underrepresented students so that they can have the full UW experience that he did.

He met best friend and future business partner Mitchell Hashimoto in their computer science classes. After graduating, they moved to the Bay Area and created HashiCorp, a software company that performs cloud infrastructure automation.

Their innovative work has drawn the attention of major investors, and last year the business raised $100 million in funding. The financial milestone gave Dadgar a moment to think about his pathway and his priorities. “I look back at the success of the company and what got us here,” Dadgar says. “A lot of it is rooted in the University of Washington.”

Though not even 10 years into his career, Dadgar sees no reason to delay using his success to help others. His philosophy has always been,

Join Armon and Joshua to support students by giving to the Educational Opportunity Program, or make a gift through your estate. Please tear out and mail back this insert, or contact Daya Terry at wmnterry@uw.edu or 206-616-2492.

You can also make a gift online at: giving.uw.edu/eop

their support, Dadgar knew what to expect from college and was able to throw himself into his studies and projects. At the same time, he saw classmates who were first-generation college students taking out loans and struggling to hold down jobs. He could see the disadvantages of being low income, or an underrepresented minority or first-generation student.

Then a friend from the College of Engineering pointed him to the UW’s Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity, where he learned about the Educational Opportunity Program. It was doing the exact work he was hoping to support. The program was already plugged into the admissions process and already working with the students he wants most to help. “I couldn’t have asked for a better fit,” he says.

His gift, given with his partArmon Dadgar, '11, was able to pursue a breadth of opportunities ner Joshua Kalla, assistant at the UW. Now he and his partner, Joshua Kalla, want to lighten professor of political science the financial load for other students so they can do the same. at Yale University, will pay students' expenses and tuition so they aren’t burdened with work and loans.

“Why wait? If we can help people, why not do it “People often think of the University as now? The net benefit will be so much greater,” he just coursework. But that is a limited view of says. Dadgar started to think about how he would what it has to offer,” he says, citing the benegive back to the community that shaped him, “and fits of the social experiences, networking and how I could help people who don’t have the same joining in research. “It’s just a shame not to opportunities and the same privilege I had.” take advantage of it.”

His parents immigrated from Iran. Thanks to COURTESY A RMON DA DG A R

ALUMNI DONOR PROFILE | ARMON DADGAR, ’11

✂ Name Address Phone #

Email address

r

I would like to learn more about planned giving and how it can make an impact at UW.

r

A check payable to the UW Foundation is enclosed to support OMA&D's Educational Opportunity Program (EOPFND)

r

Please charge my Visa, MasterCard or American Express to support EOP:

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Authorized signature

the story of diversity at the UW

15

Telling the Story of Diversity at the University of Washington

MAT T H A G EN

4333 Brooklyn Ave NE Campus Box 359508 Seattle, WA 98195

MAP

BRIDGING THE GAP BREAKFAST Saturday, Oct. 19, 8:45 a.m.

HUB Ballroom Celebrate the

Distinguished Alumni Awards

Multicultural

TERRYL ROSS is the assistant dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at the College of the Environment. He works with faculty and staff across the college to develop and focus diversity and equity efforts.

Alumni Partnership’s 25th Anniversary on Homecoming Saturday. Meet scholarship recipients and celebrate the achievements of distinguished alumni and friends.

MAP’s annual breakfast benefits the MAP Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Register at UWalum.com/ map

consortium of school districts, and guided teachers to be more culturally aware and sensitive to their students.

Watt knew Native American children needed to participate in their cultures rather than just learn about them in the classroom, and she sought ways to promote that. Her efforts reduced absenteeism and led to more Native American students finishing high school. Today, though she's retired, Watt continues to advocate for Indigenous students. As a member of the UW’s Native American Advisory board, now in its 25th year, she guides and supports the University’s efforts to serve its Native American students, faculty and staff.

Dr. Samuel E. Kelly Award ROMAYNE WATT spent her career helping Native American children thrive in public schools. A member of the Seneca Nation, she grew up on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in New York State. She completed her college degree in 1962 and married David Watt, an engineer. In 1975, she became an Indian education specialist. Through her work, she supported and advocated for Native children at schools around the Seattle area, including the Bellevue, Northshore and Lake Washington districts. She introduced a storytelling circle, led a

MARTHA SANDOVAL, ’04, ’07, is a non-traditional student who first came to the UW to work in the College of Engineering before becoming a student. Once enrolled, she dove into her studies and student organizations.

Today she is a partner in Perkins Coie, LLP’s corporate and securities practice group and serves as a trustee for the UW Alumni Association.

ROGER SHIMOMURA, ’61, is an artist and retired University of Kansas art professor who draws upon his experiences as a Japanese American and a former Minidoka prisoner to create his art. He uses stereotypes and archetypes to explore politics, race and history.

KAY LARSON, ’61, has lifelong ties with the University and was instrumental in the formation of the Multicultural Alumni Partnership. She has served as an adviser to students in the Greek system and volunteered in myriad ways with the Alumni Assocation.