Recent honors to 天美影视传媒 faculty and staff include an early career award in astronomy, an honorary doctorate from the Delft University of Technology, a seat on Washington state’s new LGBTQ Commission and national honor for an English Department writing program.
American Astronomical Society honors UW’s Emily Levesque for early career achievement
The American Astronomical Society has named , UW assistant professor of astronomy, recipient of its 2020 , given for outstanding early career achievement in observational astronomy.
Levesque was honored, more specifically, for her “breakthrough studies of massive stars and their explosive end states.
“Through observations of the host galaxy environments of long-duration gamma-ray bursts she has provided new insights into the stellar populations that create these extremely energetic events,” the AAS said in its . Levesque also led development of a new temperature scale for stars. She wrote a graduate-level e- on the subject in 2017, and is working on a new for the general public about observational astronomy, coming in August.
The is named for American astronomer . This is Levesque’s second honor from the AAS; in 2014 she received the for outstanding research and promise for future research by a postdoctoral woman researcher.
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Social work professor Karen Fredriksen Goldsen named to Washington state LGBTQ Commission
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee has named of the UW School of Social work one of 15 members to serve on the state’s new LGBTQ Commission.
Fredriksen Goldsen is a professor of social work and director of the at the UW.
All the commission members were chosen by the governor with input from members of the state House and Senate as well as from community stakeholders. The commissioners will serve three-year staggered appointments, and all are effective immediately. The was made Jan. 16.
The LGBTQ Commission was established by the state Legislature and signed into law by Inslee in April 2019. The commission is tasked with identifying the needs of the LGBTQ community and advocating for equity and inclusion throughout Washington state government.
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Information School professor Batya Friedman receives honorary doctorate from Delft University of Technology
, professor in the Information School, has been awarded an honorary doctorate from , in Delft, Netherlands.
The honor was one of two given to researchers who “symbolize new perceptions in design” during , the Dutch school’s 178th anniversary celebration, on Jan. 10. Friedman gave a keynote lecture during the event’s Program Design for Values .
Friedman is founder and co-director, with iSchool colleague , of the UW’s . The two also co-wrote the 2019 book “.”
Value sensitive design, the two wrote, “brings together theory, methods and applications for a design process that engages human values at every stage.”
In the ceremony, Delft professor Ibo van de Poel praised Friedman as a pioneer: “In 1996, you for the first time used the term value sensitive design in a publication 鈥� Now, 20 years later the approach has been adopted world-wide.”
Watch a of the Dies Natalis event (Friedman appears at about the 55:35 mark).
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English Department’s Expository Writing Program wins national honor
The Department of English’s has been awarded a certificate of excellence by the nationwide .
The program is directed by , UW associate professor of English. Other associate directors and mentors, noted in the department , are , , , , and .
The awards committee wrote that they were impressed by the program’s “expansive” vision of writing, including its “attentiveness to the needs of diverse learners, including its support for multilingual writers, and its integration of anti-racism into professional development opportunities.”
The newsletter also noted the contribution former program directors, including , , and .