Established as a result of widespread community support and statewide efforts to expand access to higher education, the University of Washington Tacoma opened its doors in 1990. Since that time, the student population has grown dramatically, with freshmen and sophomores added to the original junior and senior transfers, and the campus has expanded its educational offerings from a single upper-division Liberal Studies program to a full range of undergraduate and graduate offerings in seven programs and schools. Because of its location in a historic warehouse district, the campus continues to play a vital role in revitalizing and transforming downtown Tacoma and the surrounding region. The university has in many ways fulfilled its original mission to provide underserved students educational opportunity even as it grapples with contemporary challenges to public education.