University of Washington branch campuses in Tacoma and Bothell attracted scores of new students as they began their second year of classes Sept. 30.
At Bothell, enrollment zoomed 140 percent over last year’s levels, from 122 students in 1990 to 293 this fall. At Tacoma, enrollment more than doubled from 176 to 360. Both branches have enrollment goals of about 400 students and Tacoma may reach its target by Winter Quarter.
Students at both campuses faced a problem common to the main campus—closed classes, reports Branch Campus Academic Affairs Director Michael Magie. “Some had to enroll in their second choice.”
Magie says the rapid rise comes from increased publicity and the fact that this is the branches’ second year. “Some students told us they waited a year to see how things were ‘shaking out,'” he says.
Branch campuses offer courses at the junior and senior level leading to a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies. In the fall of 1992 each campus will also offer master’s degrees in education and engineering and a bachelor’s degree program in nursing.
As classes began, the Board of Regents approved the appointment of architectural firms that will prepare the master plans and design the first buildings for the Tacoma and Bothell campuses.
Moore Ruble Yudell of Santa Monica, Calif., will design the Tacoma campus, to be located in downtown Tacoma near Union Station. Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Moris of San Francisco will design the Bothell campus, to be built on the site of the Wellington Hills Golf Course near the intersection of state highways 522 and 9.