Professional & Organizational Development

About POD

We’re a small team of trainers, consultants, and administrative professionals whose mission is to foster positive change in individuals and organizations at the University of Washington. We accomplish our mission by partnering with organizations across the University and by providing training, coaching, and consulting to hundreds of UW leaders, staff, and faculty each year.

Jason Kalivas Director, Professional & Organizational Development
Caitlin Brief HR Specialist
Stephanie Briones Learning Specialist
Catherine Kinyua HR Specialist
Max Lane Assistant to the Director
Jeff Leinaweaver Sr. Organizational Development Consultant
Lisa Lewis Training Program Manager
Emily Lust Training Specialist
Jay Maulsby Training Coordinator
Bryan Nelson Program Operations Analyst
Lee Riley Training & OD Consultant
Ujima Sands Assistant Vice President, Total Talent Management
Skyla Savitch Training & Operations Manager
Kanani Van Leeuwen Learning Manager
Jamie Wilson Assistant Director & Communication Strategist, Total Talent Management
Sarah Zalutko Training & Onboarding Specialist
POD Affiliates
Dr. Anu Taranath UW Consultant and Teaching Professor, English and Comparative History of Ideas (CHID)

Our classes are designed to allow adult learners to quickly build knowledge, skills, and abilities. Through all of our training, coaching, and consulting offerings, we strive to equip UW employees and organizations with the tools, methods, strategies, and inspiration to put learning into action and truly effect change.

Fee-based programs and services

The majority of our programs and services do not receive University of Washington or State of Washington funding. To cover direct costs and operational overhead, we must charge fees for our self-sustaining programs and services:

Supported programs and services

We receive funding to support administration and facilitation of the following programs:

POD classrooms

We moved! Professional & Organizational Development, along with many other UWHR units, has moved to the new Gateway building, which is co-located with the University District Station. Most of POD’s in-person classes are now being held at our new training facility on the second floor of Gateway at 4320 Brooklyn Ave. NE.

You’ll receive email communications from POD within a week of your class start date with details about the Gateway location and accessing our new classrooms.

Parking and transportation options

We do not provide parking for POD course participants. The POD classroom location is well-served by transit (including HS Express), and you may be able to walk or take a bus to class.

If you choose to drive to class, there is metered street parking nearby as well as several pay lots in the area. If you have a valid UW parking permit, you may request an out-of-area permit in the UW Tower Garage (W46) by visiting a gatehouse. Please park only in designated permit holder spaces. Those with U-designator permits are allowed to park out-of-area in the W46 lot without visiting a gatehouse. Be aware that some spaces in W46 may be restricted so you will need to park in a unrestricted space to avoid being ticketed. The tower garage (W45) also has pay station parking as well.

For complete information about parking on campus and other transportation options, visit Transportation Services.