November 9, 2006
Etc
SLEUTHING FOR FUNDS: The Financial Management Department takes care of serious accounting work all year long. But they also know how to throw a good fund-raising party. This they did on Halloween at the Ethnic Cultural Center in the form of a mystery theater and silent auction, where employee Erick Winger played the role of Inspector D’Eclu, investigating the heist of a UW statue. The auction raised $494 for two agencies supported by the UW Combined Fund Drive — Big Brothers, Big Sisters of King County and LifeCenter Northwest.
PLANT DEDICATION: John A. Wott, professor of horticulture in the College of Forest Resources and former director of the Washington Park Arboretum, was recently honored by the board of the International Plant Propagators’ Society, Inc. (IPPS). Wott completed 20 years as the international secretary-treasurer of the society, handling the overall membership information and finances of the organization. He was honored during the recent Scandinavian IPPS tour at a presentation in Droebak, Norway.
STAR QUALITY: Americanese, the film based on a novel by UW Professor Shawn Wong, is going big time. IFC First Take, a New York-based entertainment company, has bought the North American rights to the film and is planning to distribute it to movie houses around the country next summer. It’ll also be available as video on demand. “A lot of novels get optioned but never made into movies, and a lot of movies get made but not distributed. This is like a dream come true,” said Wong.
A PENNY EARNED: G. Robin Smith, a truck driver for Property and Transportation Services, presents his one-man show, Benjamin Franklin: Innovative American in Kirkland this month. He’ll be appearing at a fundraiser for — what else — Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, 12434 NE 60th St., at 7 p.m. Nov. 30. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. See www.ben-franklin.org for more information.
COMMUTE CHAMPS: The UW, along with 248 other Puget Sound-area employers, was named a best workplace for commuters by Puget Sound’s Best Workplaces for Commuters Coalition, a coalition led by the Environmental Protection Agency, local non-profits and transit organizations.
MATERIALS MAN: Thomas Stoebe, professor emeritus of materials science and engineering, received the George A. Roberts Award from ASM, the Materials Information Society. Stoebe was recognized for “his focus on using the materials of everyday life to instill in students a basic understanding of how things behave, demonstrating that we all have an innate knowledge of science through our everyday experience.”
CLEAN MACHINE: Staff of the College of Forest Resources Center for Sustainable Forestry at Pack Forest completed another “Adopt-a-Highway” litter cleanup. The staff collected 35 bags of trash and another 10 bags of recyclables. This is the tenth year the staff has been involved in the program.
RESEARCH COMMUNICATER: College of Forest Resources Research Associate Zareen Khan was selected to present her research on the endophyte-assisted phytoremediation of Trichloroethylene at the recent 2nd Annual UWPA Postdoctoral Research Symposium. See http://depts.washington.edu/uwpa/ for symposium agenda. Following the symposium, she received an award for best presentation, with emphasis on successfully communicating her work to a broad audience.
FIGHT HUNGER: Husky football fans are reminded to bring non-perishable food items and cash donations to this week’s game against Stanford. Members of the UW Police and local Law Enforcement Explorers will be at the stadium to collect donations, which will be given to Northwest Harvest.
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.
