Community Building Initiatives

Part of UW ECE’s commitment to our community involves devoting resources directly to community members to do the work they think is important. To that end, the Department has committed $20,000 to fund community building initiatives proposed by community members in 2025. This web page provides information about how to submit a proposal and how proposals are evaluated, selected, and administered. 

Please contact the Associate Chair for DEI at chair_dei@ece.uw.edu with any questions.

Proposal guidelines

Proposals can be submitted by members of the UW ECE community, and can request funds for University-allowed expenses, including (but not limited to): supplies for outreach materials; stipends for students; training for students, staff, or faculty; catering or renting space for an event; travel expenses for an external speaker. 

Importantly, proposals can also be submitted to request ECE Department resources, including (but not limited to): staff support for hosting a meeting, workshop, or social event; staff support for creating and disseminating advertisements or marketing materials in print or digital media; space or classroom support for meetings or other activities. Note that UW ECE department resources like staff support may have associated costs or constraints.

Application, evaluation, and selection processes

To submit a proposal, please use this template and send a PDF to chair_dei@ece.uw.edu. Note that proposals do not need to be extensive – we expect most proposals to be 1–2 pages in length.

Proposals will be evaluated and selected for funding by a committee that consists of students, staff, and faculty who are committed to advancing our Department’s community goals.

The priority deadline for proposals is Feb. 28, 2025. 

Areas of focus

We especially welcome proposals targeting the following focus areas that were identified by our ongoing Understanding the Student Experience initiative as being particularly impactful.

Mentoring

There are multiple forms that mentorship could take: grad-to-undergrad mentoring which gives undergrads the opportunity to discuss research and graduate school; identity-based mentoring where you are matched with someone who shares a similar background and unique challenges as you (international students, underrepresented students, etc.); milestone mentoring such as well-seasoned PhD students mentoring new PhD students on their first research paper or qualifying exams, etc. Initiatives could fund meals, events, or participation in these programs (for instance).

Community building

Some possible mechanisms include: bringing in speakers (which benefits everyone at every level to have top researchers share their work); student-led presentations; structured social events (intramural sports, theme-based, faculty encouraged, students only); shared spaces like a coffee lounge.