A Message From The President

Dear Alumni and Friends:

It is with a sense of deep gratitude and honor on behalf of the entire Washington Adventist University learning community to say thank you for your continuous support and prayers to make our Mission and Vision a reality for our students and employees. The years of the pandemic have been difficult. We had to lead tough conversations, make difficult decisions, and spend hours on Zoom – all to support our valued students and employees. We are now emerging through one of the most challenging times we have ever faced in higher education. During the pandemic, we were determined to keep our workforce whole and safe as we continued to teach and satisfy the learning needs of our students. To God be the glory I can report to you that our dedicated faculty and staff made the necessary adjustments for virtual and limited face-to-face teaching and learning without any major infections on campus or loss of life. Due to the resiliency, flexibility, responsiveness, and commitment of our workforce learning continued at WAU. The state of the university is even stronger.

There is a revitalized spirit of community. A greater dependence on God and a welcoming of our diversity of faith, culture, race, and learning styles. Our revenue-generating departments are discovering new ways and fine-tuning the old ways of generating revenue to continue the Mission for the next hundred years. The enrollment team members are energized to recruit and encourage all of God’s children to gain the wonderful and lasting rewards of Christian education in the nation’s capital.

Alumni and friends of the university this issue of the Gateway will provide you with a flavor of how we are continuing to engage minds and transforming lives. Let me take this opportunity to also share with you some major accomplishments that demonstrate the continuing growth and vision for WAU:

• Middle states accreditation completed a successful site visit, waiting for the final results.

• Board of Trustees approved Vision 2030: Distinctive Excellence in Student Success

• Adoption of the principles of Relationship Rich Education – how human connections drive success in college.

• Action is taken to offer a fixed tuition rate of $12K to all members of the Columbia Union Conference to be in alignment with the Union’s strategic initiative to make SDA Christian education affordable and accessible.

• Academic Partnerships with the University of Baltimore Law and Capital Technology University to provide seamless transitions into professional career pathways.

• Received over $7,000,000 in federal, state, and personal gifts primarily to support the affordability gap for students, their COVID-related expenses, and for COVID-related institutional support between March 2020 and the present.

• Our Hispanic student population continues to grow and is now twenty-five percent of our current enrollment - welcome!

• Montgomery County’s Mini Master Plan for the 21st Century infrastructure development for the combined Washington Adventist University and Washington Adventist Hospital site was presented to the community.

• Established a well-equipped and stocked food pantry for residential and community students.

• Student Association 2022-2023 theme: Be Still – Defend the House

• Commencement transitioned from an off-campus event to an on-campus event.

• Plans are in place to partner with the Columbia Union Conference and reintroduce the teacher education academic offering to address the North America Division teacher shortage.

Together we will continue to grow to become the best place for students to learn and for employees to work. Your support as a partner in Christian higher education at the nation’s capital will ensure, for the next hundred years, that WAU will graduate all students on time with little or no debt and be ready for the workplace and eternity. Our strategic focus is to rebound from the pandemic, grow enrollment, and distinctive excellent in student success.

Thank you for being a valuable partner and for all you have done to help students obtain their educational aspirations in a Christian environment. We celebrate the richness of diversity in human resources, personality, culture, and contributions.

This is Washington Adventist University!

Sincerely,

Weymouth Spence