January 19, 2006
Etc.: Campus news & notes
MILLIONS: Wecve all seen those promotions where a customer walks into a store and suddenly a horn is blaring as she is surrounded by balloon-bearing staff declaring her the millionth customer. Well, a similar thing happened to Clara Varga, a supervisor for Housing and Food Services, when she keyed in a work request for a clogged shower drain in Mercer Hall. Varga’s request was the millionth work order since Facilities Services’ Maintenance and Alterations unit started using a computerized request system in the early ’90s.
In celebration, Facilities Services contacted Varga’s boss, Housing and Food Services Manager Michael Glidden, to arrange a surprise visit to her office. Facilities Services staff brought her flowers and balloons. Meanwhile, plumber Emily Young took care of the ailing shower drain.
Maintenance and Alterations had been expecting the marker event since June of 2004, when service requests hit 900,000, according to Dana Miller, computer services consultant for Facilities Services Technology Services. Since about 60,000 requests are submitted each year, late 2005 was when they expected to hit 1 million. And they were right; Varga’s work order came in on Nov. 9. And what happens to a computer system that has hit 1 million? Says Miller, “It rolls back to 000000, just like the odometer on a trusty 1968 Dodge Dart.”
WINDS OF MUSIC: The UW’s Kirsten Wind Tunnel has served as the inspiration for many engineering feats, but this year probably marks the first time it has ever inspired a concerto — a tuba concerto, to be exact. The concerto was written by Seattle Symphony Composer in Residence Samuel Jones under a commission from Sandra Crowder, who wanted to honor her late husband James. James Crowder was both an engineer and an amateur tuba player who used the tunnel in his research on flow visualization. Here’s what the composer had to say about the piece and its wind tunnel origins:
“The third movement . . . is inspired by a wind tunnel. One can clearly hear its acceleration as it groans toward its predestined speed. Once there, the tuba enters with a perpetuum mobile theme, illustrating musically the same swirls of air along a wing’s surface that Mr. Crowder illustrated visually in his work. But some turbulences need to be smoothed, so we hear the wind tunnel decelerate, and the aeronautical engineer returns to the basement workshop in his home and listens to his favorite music….”
Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra had its premiere at the Seattle Symphony earlier this month.
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI: Four leaders in different fields have been chosen as to receive Distinguished Alumnus Awards from the UW’s College of Arts and Sciences. The four are Tom Lantos, congressman from California’s Congressional District number 12; Kristina B. Katsaros, retired director of NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories; Roger Shimomura, an artist; and Herbert Lindenberger, a distinguished linguist. Honorees are chosen on the basis of embodying a commitment to lifetime learning and active citizenship that the college strives to provide as a foundation for its students. The four will be honored at the annual Celebration of Distinction Dinner on May 18.
PSYCHOLOGY STAR: Ted Beauchaine, associate professor of psychology, is being honored with the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Contribution to Psychology in the area of psychopathology. The award, from the American Psychological Association, will be presented at the association’s convention this summer, and comes with a $1,000 honorarium.
MOTORING MERIT: The UW Motor Pool was named as one of the 100 Best Fleets in North America by Fleet Equipment Magazine. The 100 Best Fleets Program recognizes and rewards fleet operations in North America.
Do you know someone who deserves kudos for an outstanding achievement, award, appointment or book publication? If so, send that person’s name, title and achievement to uweek@u.washington.edu.
