News and Updates

In addition to joining a national venture this week to offer free on-line courses, the UW has announced it will be the first university in the U.S. to  provide fee-based credit for some of the courses using a new online learning platform.

“Global Health Experience”, a free exhibit at Seattle Center, highlights Seattle’s role in furthering global health and was coordinated in part by the University of Washington.  Visitors to the exhibit can listen to personal stories of health care experiences around the world and see innovations that are improving health outcomes, reports a recent article in the Daily.

Led by Hope Solo, ’04, who led US women’s soccer to the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, UW Huskies gearing up for the ’12 Games include rowers Mary Whipple and Dave Calder, world champion pole vaulter Brad Walker, and former UW volleyball standout Courtney Thompson. According to an article in Columns magazine, the University of Washington’s Olympic legacy runs deep and may include more names after the Olympic trials are over in July.

Today’s Seattle Times reports on the public forum in Kane Hall last night where Martha Kanter, undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Education and a key policymaker in the  Obama administration, called for  “stable and predictable higher-education funding” to ensure all residents  at least a year of education after high school.  She also called the UW a  “model” for its high graduation rate and a low number of student loan defaults.

Seattle is the fifth whitest of the 50 biggest cities in the country. As part of the KPLU “I Wonder Why?” series, Richard Morrill, professor emeritus of geography, explains why this trend has persisted throughout history, even though Seattle also has some of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country.