Main Content
The Professional Development Center is the University of Washington Tacoma's continuing education department, serving the needs of working professionals with skills-oriented, career-enhancing certificate programs. Our programs meet at UW Tacoma and other locations ranging from Olympia to Everett. We strive to foster a diverse, prosperous and connected community through access to professionally relevant courses and certificate programs for individuals, business, and public organizations. We support the University of Washington Tacoma’s mission to catalyze the social and economic vitality of the South Puget Sound region.
Principles of Good Practice
The Professional Development Center operates under the guidance of the University Continuing Education Association's (UPCEA) Principles of Good Practice. These principles were established "to guide the practice of continuing higher education." Learn more about UPCEA here.
Our Mission
The UW Tacoma Professional Development Center fosters a diverse, prosperous and connected community through access to professionally relevant courses and certificate programs for individuals, business and public organizations. Our center supports the University of Washington Tacoma’s mission to catalyze the social and economic vitality of the South Puget Sound region.
Our Values
ACCESS
We offer access to professional development with a wide-range of day and evening classes meeting on the UW Tacoma campus and at sites around western Washington. We provide a broad range of high-quality self-paced and synchronous online courses. Located minutes from JBLM, we are proud to offer our veterans and military families access to high-quality continuing education and professional development opportunities.
DIVERSITY
We embrace UW Tacoma’s commitment to ensure a diverse, equitable environment for all members of our community. Our non-traditional students and instructors enhance the DIVERSITY of the UW Tacoma family with their unique personal and professional backgrounds.
INNOVATION
INNOVATION defines our approach to continuing education by building and supporting programs that are relevant and responsive to today’s industries. Our students complete hands-on projects which blend theory with practice to provide solutions to real-world problems, in the workplace and the community.
COMMUNITY
We are proud to be a member of the Puget Sound community. Our programs are designed to benefit the businesses, governments, nonprofits and professionals who make our region thrive.
EXCELLENCE
As part of the University of Washington, we deliver excellence in all we do. Our academically-reviewed programs are developed and taught by experienced professionals and industry leaders. When you graduate from one of our programs, you can be proud to put the UW on your resume.
GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government website at https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill.
PDC Newsletters
Our newsletter comes out monthly and offers readers career-related content as well as information about upcoming courses at UW Tacoma. Occasionally, we also send out a newsletter called Career Boost which features curated content.
