A 50,000-foot view A 50,000-foot view A 50,000-foot view

Q: What do protein design, whitewater kayaking, democracy, contemporary art, data-driven astronomy, venture capital and cancer care have in common?

A: Jodi Green and Mike Halperin, ’85, ’90, a pair of longtime Husky supporters whose connections at the University of Washington are as broad as they are deep.

Halperin, a retired emergency medicine doctor, and Green, a former software engineer, have cultivated an all-encompassing relationship with the UW over decades as donors, volunteers, ambassadors and leaders. In that time, they’ve met with countless faculty to learn about their research, partnered with University leaders to drive strategic initiatives, co-chaired the successful Be Boundless fundraising campaign, and championed the UW as a powerful agent for positive change in the world. And they’re still going strong—ready to say yes when the UW calls.

“There is something rare in the way they move through this University,” notes Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. “They engage the intellectual, civic and moral life of this place with care, humility and a deep sense of responsibility to something larger than themselves.” This year, the UW Foundation is honoring Green and Halperin with the Gates Volunteer Service Award, recognizing their lifetime of philanthropic giving, volunteerism and impact.

This conversation with Green and Halperin has been edited for style and length.

What are your UW origin stories?

Mike Halperin: I moved to Seattle when I was 7. My father took a job in the botany [later biology] department, and we lived in faculty housing. The UW was more than just his job; it was our whole identity. I’d come to his lab in Johnson Hall, where he’d sometimes sleep on an old green Army cot to keep an eye on experiments. Later, I’d take the bus over to buy peanut butter cups at the HUB and to bowl in the basement. And there were our weekend trips with the UW kayak club.

Jodi Green: I didn’t grow up here; Mike and I met on the East Coast. When I came to Seattle, I remember getting a tour of campus—seeing Johnson Hall and the old greenhouse. In the early ’90s I joined the Henry Art Gallery board, where I learned about service and being a volunteer in the community. Nobody in my family went to college, but my parents really valued education. Going to college gave me a good job and changed my life. When I look around here, I’m looking at thousands of Jodis that are getting this incredible opportunity.

How did you get involved with the UW Foundation, the nonprofit organization supporting the UW in raising private funding to advance the University’s mission?

Jodi: I agreed to represent the Henry on the UW Foundation Board and realized, “I better learn a thing or two about the UW.” If I met anybody at the UW, I’d take their card and follow up with them. That’s how I got to see Affiliate Associate Professor Jana Mohr Lone’s ethics class at a local elementary school. And UW Medicine is such a big enterprise, so I’d ask Mike to come with me when I went to Professor Nora Disis’ lab and to the Institute for Protein Design. I went everywhere and asked too many questions. Eventually, I was asked to chair the board.

Mike: She went around all three campuses—Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma—whether they were official events through the Foundation Board or unofficial “Jodi jaunts.” She had these black notebooks, each one a couple of hundred pages. Everywhere she went—every meeting, every professor, student, dean, the president and the provost—she took notes. It made her this amazing repository of information. That 50,000- foot view of the University is what we learned through Jodi’s time as chair.

Mike and Jodi “engage the intellectual, civic and moral life of this place with care, humility and a deep sense of responsibility to something larger than themselves,” says Ed Taylor, UW Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs.

How did that big-picture view help you as general co-chairs for the UW’s be Boundless campaign, which raised $6.3 billion?

Mike: Over half the dollars that came to the campaign were not from UW alumni. One reason for us to have broad knowledge was to interact with people who wanted to get involved, with either their time or their dollars. As Jodi says, the more we know, the better we serve. We’ve continued to educate ourselves so we could be effective advocates and connect people in the community with the University.

Jodi: We became a sounding board for folks on campus to help them hone their story and talk to people outside the University. At the same time, we’d bring people into the University because we’d learned so much. There are people like me who found their way to the UW—maybe you didn’t go to school here but moved here for a job. It’s a real opportunity to let people in on the secret that is the University of Washington and the many incredible things happening on campus.

What led to establishing the Walt Halperin Endowed Professorship in Biology, named for Mike’s dad, as part of the campaign?

Mike: My father, who was my hero and role model, taught plant physiology here for 35 years. When I came to the UW, I was in his introductory biology class, so I got to experience his teaching personally. He was also a good researcher—and gave so much of his life to the UW. We wanted his name to continue on here.

Jodi: During the campaign, we wanted to do a gift that was bigger than we’d done before and honor Walt’s service here. We took Mike’s folks to lunch at the Faculty Club. Walt was incredibly clever and always had the perfect self-deprecating thing to say. When Professor Toby Bradshaw, the chair of the biology department, announced the endowed professorship, Mike’s dad was speechless for the first time in his life.

Can you give an example of how you’ve used your connections to help a program grow?

Jodi: We visited UW Tacoma many times to strategize on volunteer campaign leadership, see community-based research projects, meet student leaders and tour buildings that are an adaptive-reuse success story. We sat on a bench on what was the old railroad track through the middle of campus and marveled at the diversity of students. We love it there. I developed a deep relationship with Jim Milgard Sr. [then a South Sound business leader] when he was a director of the UW Foundation Board. During the Be Boundless campaign, we met with him in Tacoma and in California, where Mike asked him for a significant gift for the Milgard School of Business, building on the family’s $15 million endowment to name the school [the largest philanthropic gift ever made to UW Tacoma].

UW leaders invited you to shape the Civic Health Initiative, an effort to collaborate with local communities to strengthen civic participation and public institutions. Why did you say yes?

Jodi: When the UW calls, we almost always say yes. We know we can help shape the mission and goals so donors, volunteers and outsiders can understand what the University’s trying to do. We’re both interested in the state of our democracy, so it was a good fit.

Mike: We understand the breadth and depth of talent here— and the ability of those people to make change in the world. There’s so much fragmentation in the civic health space, and often the answers are already there because of the scholarship, research, and deep expertise of UW faculty and graduate students. Whether folks are elected or running an organization for civic health, they should be working hand in hand with UW people.

What would you advise someone who wants to support the UW but isn’t sure where to begin?

Jodi: The University is an extraordinary place in our backyard that people new in town might not know about. There’s probably a center of excellence here that is a good match to their interests.

Mike: I grew up with the UW in my blood, but it was through Jodi that I went to the next level and really learned what this place was like. You can make tremendous positive change in the world by giving through the University, whether that’s with your time or your dollars. Those working here would love to talk to folks on the outside; the doors are open. The UW wants to know you as much as you want to know the UW, and wants to work with you.