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International researchers track melting sea ice

Led by principal investigator Craig Lee, an oceanographer at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory, researchers from around the world are conducting the longest and most extensive effort ever to track the melting of arctic sea ice. Members of the international research team hail from the United States, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and France.

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‘Support global health workers’, urges alumna in TEDx talk

At last month’s TEDxUofW event, UW alumna Julia Robinson spoke candidly about the importance of human resources in solving global health challenges like AIDS. New technologies are getting a lot of buzz, she told the crowd, but supporting health workers is the best way to solve health challenges globally.

“I think technology is amazing, but I also believe… that technology needs people to implement it. We need to put that same level of effort into supporting health workers.”

Julia is Deputy Director of Côte d’Ivoire Programs and Director of Advocacy Programs at Health Alliance International, a center of the UW Department of Global Health. She earned Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health degrees from the University of Washington.

Watch Julia Robinson’s TEDx talk…

UW ignites international student’s passion for art

College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Medalist Jueqian Fang showed promise in the sciences during high school in China. However, she came to UW ready to explore new pathways. Drawn to the arts, Jueqian went on to double major, earning degrees in photomedia in the School of Art + Art History + Design and cinema studies in the Department of Comparative Literature.

While at UW Jueqian has displayed her artwork at exhibitions on campus as well as in a juried art show in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. She was selected as a Dean’s Medalist on the basis of academic performance and faculty recommendations. 

Read more about Juequian’s work from Perspectives… 

Study abroad programs, scholarships shaped grad’s Husky Experience

English literature major Shangé Purnell was chosen for the honor of carrying the Arts & Sciences college banner at this weekend’s graduation. Study abroad played an important part her Husky Experience and helped develop her exciting future goals.

GO! and Fritz Scholar Shangé Purnell
GO! and Fritz Scholar Shangé Purnell Photo: University of Washington

Shangé plans to earn a doctorate in English literature and teach at the college level. Through this work, she wants to help increase diversity in published literary works. She says, “the highbrow elite have set what is highbrow literature – Shakespeare and other mostly white European authors. We’re starting to get more diversity, but it’s still very narrow, it’s still a Eurocentric perspective. I realize that being a U.S. citizen I have been conditioned to have a Eurocentric view, but I’d like to give view to the people of color in this world.”

Beyond serving as an officer in the Black Student Union and as a member of the Students for Diversity Coalition, Shangé also sought new perspectives and leadership experience through international learning. Her experiences studying abroad in the United Kingdom and Ghana with UW faculty-led programs were important in developing her goals and provided new insight into diversity issues. Particularly while in Ghana, where she tutored school-aged children, Shangé tried to see world through fresh eyes. “We tried to look at it from not just a Western perspective,” she says.

Scholarships from UW Global Opportunities supported Shangé’s study abroad experiences. She received the GO! Scholarship for her trip to the United Kingdom, and the Fritz Scholarship for the next summer’s program in Ghana.

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