The University of Washington's new president is psychologist Ana Mari Cauce, PhD, the first Latina and the first woman to serve permanently in the role. The former provost had been the university's interim president since March.
Cauce is known for her work to increase access to education and promote inclusiveness at the school. Under her leadership, UW reduced its tuition and plans to make more cuts next year. She also increased the minimum wage for campus employees. And, in the wake of racial tension throughout the nation last spring, Cauce launched the university's Race and Equity Initiative to promote diversity and social justice on campus.
"We see for the first time in many, many years, someone from the highest office convene students and faculty on campus to have an open discussion about issues of growing concern in our society," says psychology department chair Sheri Mizumori, PhD.
Cauce joined the UW faculty in 1986 as an assistant professor of psychology. She served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 2008 to 2011 and as provost and executive vice president — managing the school's $6 billion budget — from 2012 until March when she was appointed interim president.
Her deep commitment to education is partly inherited. Her father was Cuba's minister of education before her family immigrated to the United States during the revolution when Cauce was 3. Raised in Miami, where both her parents worked in a shoe factory, Cauce earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and English from the University of Miami and her PhD in psychology from Yale University. As a graduate student, she was a member of the first class of APA's Minority Fellowship Program.
Among students and faculty, Cauce was a popular choice for president and is widely respected for her fair and transparent leadership. "Anyone who knows Dr. Cauce knows that she is one of the most passionate and hard-working individuals around," Mizumori says. "When she sets a goal or makes a promise, you can be sure she will do everything humanly possible to make it happen."
Follow Cauce on Twitter at @amcauce. Watch her first presidential addressopens in new window.
— Jamie Chamberlin
