To the SHS Community,
Today, we begin the final stage of our school’s move from 1925 San Jacinto to Walter Webb Hall.
To say that this move has been an enormous and complicated feat would understate it. Moving to Walter Webb Hall has required months of planning, coordinated efforts with numerous groups on and off campus, and adjustments prompted by budgetary and logistical challenges.
Of course, this move has also required everyone’s patience, flexibility, understanding, and grace. The Steve Hicks School (SHS) benefits from having a remarkably generous and gracious community whose members prioritize collaboration, the collective good, and teamwork.
We will adjust quickly to our new surroundings, where we will find long-needed improvements, see one another more often, and engage in opportunities to build community in fresh ways.
I remain mindful that we have yet to reach the goal of having every member of the SHS community work and contribute from the same building. We will reach that goal in approximately five years, when we move to Speedway and the current home of the McCombs School of Business. This current move to Walter Webb Hall brings us closer to that goal.
My heartfelt appreciation extends to all Dean’s Office staff and Leadership Team members, who made significant contributions and provided vital feedback throughout the complex moving process.
Mia Vinton, who has led this project from concept to implementation, deserves special mention and our collective gratitude for her excellent work.
Our new home and location bustles with energy and opportunity. Our new neighbors eagerly await witnessing how SHS—who we are and what we do—will make valuable contributions on campus and beyond.
To all of you, thank you for the many ways you help make the SHS community what is. Thank you for your patience, understanding, flexibility, and grace.
In this spirit, if you encounter problems this week or at any time, please reach out through wwh-inquiries@austin.utexas.edu, and know that we will seek to solve any problems to the best of our ability.
Our best days lie ahead of us. I couldn’t be more grateful or excited.
Appreciatively,
Allan Cole
Dean
Bert Kruger Smith Centennial Professor in Social Work
Steve Hicks School of Social Work
Courtesy Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Dell Medical School
The University of Texas at Austin