Western Washington University is entering the 2026-2027 academic year with a set of significant structural changes on the horizon. In his annual state of the university address delivered Thursday, September 17, WWU President Sabah Randhawa outlined plans for a new college of health sciences, the beginning of a conversation about switching from a quarter system to semesters, new AI governance measures, a geographic expansion to the Kitsap Peninsula, and a continued push to recover enrollment to pre-pandemic levels.
A New College of Health Sciences
The most concrete announcement from Randhawa's address was the formation of a task force to create a college of health sciences at Western. The new college would establish health science as a standalone academic division at the university, elevating programs in that area from their current departmental homes into a more visible and resourced institutional structure.
Randhawa framed the move in explicitly regional terms. "Through partnerships with regional community health organizations, Western has a unique opportunity to expand its footprint in the health science area," he said. "Expanding Western's academic programs in the health sciences will position the university to develop new programs that respond to regional workforce and community needs."
Whatcom County's healthcare workforce needs are substantial. PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center, the region's primary hospital, along with a network of clinics, behavioral health providers, and long-term care facilities, employs thousands of workers across Bellingham and the surrounding county. Developing a stronger pipeline of locally trained health professionals is a priority that regional employers, state officials, and university administrators have discussed for years. A WWU college of health sciences would give that effort an institutional home and the ability to develop new degree programs and clinical partnerships more systematically.
The Quarter-to-Semester Debate
Randhawa also said the university is beginning talks about a possible transition from its current quarter system to a semester calendar, a shift that would align Western with a growing number of Washington public universities moving in that direction. The quarter system runs on three 10-week academic terms per year plus an optional summer session. A semester system uses two longer 15-to-16-week terms, which proponents argue gives students and faculty more time to go deeper into material and simplifies credit transfer between institutions.
The change, if it happens, would be one of the most significant operational transformations in WWU's history, affecting everything from how courses are scheduled to how degree requirements are structured and how transfer credits from community colleges are evaluated. Western Washington University has been on the quarter system since its founding, and transitions of this kind at other universities have taken multiple years to plan and implement. For now, Randhawa described the conversations as exploratory.
AI Policy and Governance
The address also included an announcement that WWU is establishing a work group to develop university-wide policies on artificial intelligence. Randhawa acknowledged both the opportunity and the risk. "The field of AI is developing rapidly with major implications for higher education," he said. "While AI offers tremendous opportunities to drive innovation and solve some complex problems, it also creates ethical dilemmas ranging from student data privacy to the confidentiality of intellectual property and perhaps most concerning, the loss of human connection."
The work group will be tasked with determining how the university can use AI tools effectively while establishing guardrails around academic integrity, data privacy, and the protection of intellectual property developed by faculty and students. Virtually every university in the country is navigating the same set of questions, but the specific policies each institution develops will shape student and faculty experience in concrete ways, from how AI tools are permitted in coursework to how the university's own administrative systems use automated decision-making.
Enrollment Recovery and the Poulsbo Expansion
Randhawa also addressed Western's ongoing budget challenges, which stem in part from an unexpected drop in last year's freshman class. The university is pursuing enrollment initiatives aimed at returning to approximately 16,000 students by 2030, a figure it reached before the pandemic. Current enrollment is below that target.
One part of the growth strategy is geographic. Randhawa said Western will seek state funding in the upcoming legislative session to build a new academic building in Poulsbo, on the Kitsap Peninsula, to expand the university's presence in the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsula region. WWU already operates a Poulsbo location, but a new purpose-built academic facility would allow for expanded course offerings and potentially new degree programs aimed at serving students in that part of the state who might not otherwise travel to Bellingham for a university education.
Students have already begun moving into residence halls on WWU's main Bellingham campus, and fall quarter classes are scheduled to begin on Wednesday, September 23. For ongoing WWU news and announcements, the university publishes updates at WWU News. Earlier coverage of Western's fall semester launch tracked the opening events and activities that kicked off the new academic year on campus.
