May 31, 2007
Etc: campus news and notes
RUNNING THE NUMBERS: You’ve heard the expression “trash into treasure” applied to recycling, but UW Recycling probably hadn’t thought of its trash as being the inspiration for art. Nonetheless, that’s just what it’s become. Chris Jordan, a Seattle-based photographer and artist, approached the UW Recycling Program and asked if he could have some of their recycled plastic bottles to use in his latest work.
Called Running the Numbers, the work is a series of photos that give a visual representation of statistics. And one of those photos features 2 million plastic bottles — the number, Jordan says, that is used in the United States every 5 minutes. Other photos in the series depict cell phones, cigarettes and jet trails. “My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books,” Jordan says.
UW Recycling first became acquainted with Jordan when it asked to use some of his earlier photos on their Web site — photos of piles of garbage. They were happy to let him have the bottles, which Jordan naturally recycles after he’s finished with them. See the whole Running the Numbers series at http://www.chrisjordan.com.
MAGNIFICENT MENTOR: Betty Repacholi, assistant professor, Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, Department of Psychology, was named the winner of the Davida Teller Distinguished Faculty Award, which is given to a faculty member who is an exemplary advocate for graduate and undergraduate mentorship and program development within the Department of Psychology. Repacholi was cited for “her constant encouragement, advice, and commitment to graduate and undergraduate students alike.”
POETIC COUNSELOR: Neile Graham, counseling services coordinator in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, was recently awarded a $20,000 Canada Council grant to write a new collection of poetry based on the intersection of artifacts and folklore between Scotland and the west coast of Canada/the Pacific Northwest. Graham is the author of three collections of poetry and a forthcoming poetry CD.
ALUM EXTRAORDINAIRE: Professor of Sociology Pepper Schwartz was one of five alumni of Washington University St. Louis to receive Distinguished Alumni Awards from Arts & Sciences there. She earned her B.A. at the university in 1967 and her MA in 1968, both in sociology. Her doctorate is from Yale.
FORESTRY FAME: College of Forest Resources faculty, staff and students recognized May 24 at the college’s annual recognition event were: administrative staff award, Amanda Davis; outreach staff award, Ellen Matheny; research staff award overall contribution, Megan O’Shea; research staff award for most new research dollars, John Calhoun; faculty award, teaching, Sarah Reichard; faculty award, research, Bob Lee and Stuart Strand; faculty award, service, David Mabberley; TA, Akira Kato; RA, Wendy Descamp; student community participation, Cody Hargrove; fact sheet awards, first to Greg Ettl and Maryka Lier, second to Ara Erickson and Luke Rogers and third to Larry Mason; Center for Sustainable Forestry essay-contest winner, Judy Suing; and media/public relations award, the team behind the Northwest Environmental Forum led by Brian Boyle. Dean’s exemplary awards went to faculty Jerry Franklin, staff Sally Morgan and a new “external colleagues” award to John Linse and Jo-Ann Sire of UW Publications Services.
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.
