In this year’s Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture, Dr. Shawn Wong from the Department of English will discuss his experiences leading study abroad programs and explore the importance of travel for undergraduate students. The free lecture will be held on Thursday, April 16 at 6pm in Alder Hall.
News and features
Treasured UW Sephardic document featured in PBS documentary
A precious document from the UW Sephardic Studies Program’s Digital Library & Museum is featured in a new PBS documentary called The Jewish Journey: America.
Read more from the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies…
wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House will unite indigenous learning, research efforts
After 40 years of planning and hard work, wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House opens today on UW campus. The indigenous learning center will be a gathering place for the entire University community and a home base for Native students and a center for research.
Hired at Microsoft, senior reflects on study abroad in Spain
Months before receiving her diploma, UW Bothell student Eleanor Wort has already secured a position with one of the region’s top employers. In July, she will be utilizing her bachelor of arts in Applied Computing degree as one of Microsoft’s newest associate consultants.
During the interview process, Eleanor was flown to Dallas, Texas. Along with 42 other applicants, she was given two days to prepare a 20 minute presentation for a panel of Microsoft employees on something she was passionate about. She decided to present on her study abroad experience in San Sebastián, Spain.
“Everybody I met in Spain was really surprised that I was a girl doing any kind of engineering. They would tell me, ‘what, no, you can’t do that. You are a girl.’”
What they didn’t realize is that Eleanor represents the future of STEM disciplines. The number of women in STEM majors at UW Bothell has more than doubled from nine-percent to nearly 19 percent in 2014. Women make up 40 percent of STEM faculty, far outpacing the national average.
UW leads the nation in Peace Corps volunteers
The University of Washington produced the most Peace Corps volunteers for 2015, reclaiming the top spot with 72 alumni currently in service. The UW, Western Washington University and Gonzaga University combined to lead all three categories – large, medium and small schools – marking the second time in three years that institutions in the state of Washington produced the most Peace Corps volunteers in each category. Washington is the only state to top all three of Peace Corps’ undergraduate school ranking categories.
“We try to instill in students a sense of their place in the world and how one person can make a difference,” said Ana Mari Cauce, UW provost and executive vice president. “We are very proud of those students who actually make the commitment to test this by volunteering for the Peace Corps. It is very gratifying to think of our students in places all around the globe helping to make someone’s life a little better.”
Since the first days of the Peace Corps, 2,888 alumni from UW have traveled abroad to serve as volunteers, placing it third on the list of all-time volunteer producing schools. This is the second time UW has held the No.1 spot in the last three years.
UW named ‘top producer’ of Fulbright recipients
The University of Washington is one of 12 institutions to make the “top producers” list of both Fulbright scholars and students for 2014-15, according to lists released Thursday in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The Fulbright Program, operated by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program.
“The UW has a proud history of global engagement, with a large number of faculty engaged in international research collaborations, and many undergraduate and graduate students studying and conducting research abroad,” said Jeffrey Riedinger, the UW’s vice provost for global affairs.
Seven scholars and 13 students from the UW were awarded Fulbright grants for 2014-2015, with the university landing fourth on the scholars list and tied for 17th on the students list.
Jackson School to discuss Paris aftermath, current conflicts
The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies will hold a roundtable discussion on questions of radical Islam, European unity and conflicts in the Middle East, 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, in Room 101 of Thomson Hall. The event — which is free and open to the public — is titled “Paris and Beyond: Making Sense of the World with Jackson School Faculty.”
“The attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo and the supermarket in Paris reverberated across Europe, the Middle East and North America,” said Jackson School Director Reşat Kasaba. “In the Jackson School, we are grappling with the whys and hows of these events.”
Soot or snow? Researchers address climate change in Canadian, US winter wonderlands
University of Washington scientists recently published the first large-scale survey of impurities in North American snow, to see whether they might absorb enough sunlight to speed melt rates and influence climate. The project involved collecting hundreds of snow samples from 67 sites away from any cities or major roads. The trip took the researchers from Seattle to North Dakota to Churchill, Manitoba. Every few days they melted and filtered the snow in their motel rooms, then back at their UW lab they shone light through a filter to see how much light was blocked, and did chemical analyses to determine what particles were responsible.
Belarusian exchange student revolutionizes plastics industry
When Volha Hrechka, ’13, left her home country of Belarus on an exchange program in 2004, she had no idea she’d one day be revolutionizing the plastics industry. Today her startup PolyDrop is responsible for creating an innovative additive that dissipates electrostatic charge on airplanes one drop at a time — and it all started in the halls of the UW.
None of this would have been possible without the help of the UW, says Volha. “Countless times I’ve asked for help and it was always provided to me. I’m so thankful.”
Alumna builds clinics, hope for Syrian children
With a humanitarian crisis leaving a trail of destruction in Syria, UW alumna Rita Zawaideh is building a path toward healing for children facing the traumas of war. Funded entirely by donations, the Maliki-SCM Children’s Center is dedicated to helping the youngest victims of the wars in neighboring Syria and Iraq.
Opened in January of this year, the center serves about 25-30 children every quarter, year-round. The children often arrive displaying one or more symptoms of trauma: aggression, bed wetting, a refusal to interact with others. With a staff including social workers, teachers, and a psychologist, the nondescript white building in this quiet neighborhood in Jordan’s capital is the first of 10 Zawaideh plans to open. A second center is scheduled to open in March, Zawaideh says, and funding is lined up for eight more to open around the country, one-to-two months apart. When all 10 centers are operating they will be able to serve more than 1,000 children every year.
The centers, according to Zawaideh, will focus on the behavioral and emotional needs of traumatized children. They are treatment programs, not schools. Instead of working on math or reading, children play, receive behavioral therapy and one-on-one sessions with psychologists, and have structured free time.
Zawaideh is a 1975 alumna of the University of Washington and is widely recognized for her knowledge of and work in the Middle East.