UW Notebook – UW News /news Mon, 30 Mar 2026 19:28:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 UW researcher gives keynote speech on human-wildlife coexistence and climate adaptation at international roundtable /news/2026/03/30/uw-researcher-gives-keynote-speech-on-human-wildlife-coexistence-and-climate-adaptation-at-international-roundtable/ Mon, 30 Mar 2026 19:13:24 +0000 /news/?p=91143 A panel of experts sits on stage in front of a projector screen
Briana Abrahms (second from right) gave the keynote speech at the International Parliamentary Roundtable on Human-Wildlife Coexistence held in Botswana in January. Photo: Briana Abrahms

once believed the focuses of her doctoral and postdoctoral work were completely different.听

She completed her doctorate in Botswana, studying how humans were changing large carnivore behavior. After earning her degree, she researched whale migration at the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). But while Abrahms was with NOAA, a historic heat wave off the West Coast was associated with an unprecedented rise in whales getting tangled in fishing gear. The event reminded her of studying in Botswana, when an extreme drought led to predators killing more livestock.听

鈥淚t struck me as important that you have two really different systems, yet in both cases an extreme climate event led to a change in human-wildlife interactions,鈥 said Abrahms, an associate professor of biology at the 天美影视传媒.

Those experiences led Abrahms to study how climate change is affecting human-wildlife interactions and increasing conflict around the world 鈥 from polar bear attacks on people to elephant destruction of agricultural areas. Her areas of expertise made her the ideal choice for keynote speaker at the held in Botswana in January.

Abrahms offered a global perspective on how climate change is impacting human-wildlife conflict while also providing specific insight on southern Africa, since she has worked in Botswana since 2011. The roundtable was hosted by the National Assembly of Botswana in partnership with through its program.

鈥淚t was really gratifying,鈥 Abrahms said. 鈥淎s a scientist, we鈥檙e often putting papers out and not knowing what reach they will have. You never really know where they鈥檙e going to go, if they鈥檙e going to go anywhere. To be featured so prominently in this intergovernmental parliamentary workshop was a career highlight.鈥

The roundtable brought together parliamentarians from Botswana, other African nations, the European Union, and beyond, alongside government officials, civil society leaders, local community representatives, conservation experts and international partners. Attendees focused on identifying solutions to human-wildlife conflicts while ensuring that the interests of citizens, local communities, ecotourism operators and wildlife advocates are reflected in policy.

Abrahms鈥 speech addressed the global impacts of climate change on human-wildlife coexistence.

She discussed increasing news reports of human-animal conflict, like kangaroos mobbing areas in Australia during droughts, and increased alligator attacks due to hurricanes in South Carolina. Previous research from Abrahms and her team revealed that the warming world is increasing human-wildlife conflicts. Another of her studies found that the overlap between humans and animals will increase substantially across much of the planet in less than 50 years due to human population growth and climate change.听

鈥淭hese issues are definitely getting more attention and when I gave this talk, it resonated,鈥 Abrhams said. 鈥淎fterward, there was a panel featuring different parliament members and every single one of them had their own stories of climate increasing conflict in their countries, whether it was from a hurricane or a drought or a heat wave.鈥

Despite the wide variety of animal species and climate events 鈥 floods and hurricanes in Sri Lanka, droughts in Botswana and more 鈥 Abrahms was struck by how frequently climate change exacerbated these problems. She was heartened, though, by how many people from around the world came together to share experiences, success stories and challenges.

Some national-level policy recommendations that came out of the roundtable included predictable compensation and insurance mechanisms for when human-wildlife conflicts occur. Experts also suggested land-use planning that recognizes wildlife corridors as well as human needs. Among the other ideas: Investment in community resilience and climate-smart livelihoods, parliamentary oversight and a wildlife coexistence fund.听

Public outreach is also an important piece, Abrahms said.

鈥淭hat would help people prepare and hopefully prevent some of these conflicts from occurring,鈥 Abrahms said. 鈥淕overnmental fiscal planning also could help by anticipating that there will be increased strain on a system and extra money could be put into a fund for use during extreme climate events.鈥

Abrahms left the roundtable impressed with how much the attendees genuinely cared about the environment, as well as their interest in learning from each other and about her work.

鈥淚t was a very grounding experience,鈥 Abrahms said, 鈥渁nd it was nice to be part of a policy-oriented audience. There is a huge amount of money and resources and personnel and expertise aimed at alleviating these problems. In that respect, it was uplifting.鈥

For more information, contact Abrahms at abrahms@uw.edu.

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New faculty books: Ordinary people and the global legal order, imperial policing, making of modern Taiwan, and poetry /news/2026/03/16/new-faculty-books-ordinary-people-and-the-global-legal-order-imperial-policing-making-of-modern-taiwan-and-poetry/ Mon, 16 Mar 2026 19:40:30 +0000 /news/?p=90928 Four book covers on a wooden background
New faculty and stuff books from the 天美影视传媒 include those covering imperial policing, international law and the public, the making of modern Taiwan and poetry.

Recent books from 天美影视传媒 faculty and staff include those from legal studies at UW Tacoma, international studies, political science, history, and Asian languages and literature.听

UW Tacoma assistant professor collaboration with Policing in Chicago Research Group

鈥 was collaboratively authored by , assistant professor of legal studies at UW Tacoma, and the Policing in Chicago Research Group. They developed the book in dialogue with those on the front lines of struggles against racist policing in Black, Latinx and Arab/Muslim communities.

鈥淚mperial Policing鈥 analyzes the connections between three police 鈥渨ars鈥 鈥 on crime, terror and immigrants 鈥 with a focus on the weaponization of data and the coordination between local and national agencies to suppress communities of color and undermine social movements. Topics include: high-tech, data-based tools of policing; racialized archetypes; the manufacturing of criminals and terrorists; the subversion of sanctuary city protections; and abolitionist responses to policing, such as the Erase the Database campaign.

The book contains analysis and ideas for solutions at a critical political moment, and serves as a rare, vital example of scholars working directly with community organizations to map police networks and intervene in policing practices.

鈥溾業mperial Policing鈥 is an important offering that decenters normative modes of knowledge production and the academy itself and instead provides a model for collaborative knowledge production and change work that academics ought to take up and consider,鈥 Ravichandran said. 鈥淭his book deepens abolitionist analyses of U.S. Empire and broadens abolition as a necessary global coalitional framework.鈥

Modern Taiwan through an agrarian lens

鈥 is a recent book by , associate professor of international studies at the UW.

The book recounts the history of modern Taiwan through the lens of agrarian development. Starting in the 1950s, Taiwan sent international development missions to over two dozen nations across the Global South. From the 1950s to 1990s, Taiwan鈥檚 GDP per capita grew by 800%. While researching this growth, an article caught Lin鈥檚 attention: a report of how Taiwan鈥檚 efforts surrounding improved varieties of broccoli rabe would solve hunger, famine and malnutrition.

鈥淗ow could broccoli rabe make the world a better place?鈥 Lin wrote in a blog post about his book. 鈥淥ver the next decade, I traced the arc of agricultural development in libraries and archives across the world, from Ithaca, New York to Shanhua, Taiwan. The more I delved into this question, the more I unearthed a time when Taiwan鈥檚 contributions to the world weren鈥檛 in advanced semiconductors, but rather rice and vegetables.鈥

In 鈥淚n the Global Vanguard,鈥 Lin examines how Taiwanese technicians and agricultural scientists introduced new crop varieties, extended new agricultural technologies and extolled the virtues of a Taiwanese approach to development across the Global South.听

Lin argues the missions eventually shaped how the Taiwanese conceived their place in the world. At the same time, the Nationalist party-state of Taiwan co-opted agrarian science to position Taiwan as a modern nation, legitimizing the government’s authoritarian rule by martial law.

Ordinary people and the global legal order

鈥 examines an important, and often underappreciated, actor in international law.听

Written by , professor of political science at the UW, the book is of interdisciplinary interest due to its combination of constitutional and international law theories and a wide range of quantitative and qualitative data.

When considering who counts in the international legal order, most answers focus on governments, leaders, generals, lawyers or other elites. Wallace integrates insights from law and political behavior to advance the idea of 鈥減opular international law,鈥 where ordinary people are considered important legal actors.

鈥淒rawing on a blend of experiments, conventional polling, media coverage and historical cases, this book shows the ways in which national publics can have an impact on core functions of international law,鈥 Wallace said. 鈥淚nsights from the book offer an account of international legal politics from below 鈥 taking seriously the place of ordinary people in international affairs.

Co-authored book began with love of 18th century poetry

鈥 is a new book co-authored by the UW鈥檚 , associate professor of history, and , professor of Asian languages and literature. True to its subtitle, the book emerged from friendly conversations they had about early 18th century poetry in Urdu 鈥 a language that was called Rekhtah at the time.

Their interdisciplinary conversations led to the growing conviction that the diverse roots of this important vernacular tradition had become obscured through selective attention to a handful of poets associated with rarified imperial courtly environments. Poetic networks had become erased as poems were taken out of their social contexts and isolated in separate tomes by author.听听

鈥淰ali Dakhani and the Early Rekhtah Networks鈥 presents the evidence to reconstruct these lost literary networks of Urdu’s formative past. The book reframes the history of Urdu within the diverse context from which it emerged: lively social gatherings, bazaars, shrines and multiple courts of 18th-century South Asia, highlighting its engagement with diverse regional cultures and communities in South Asia.听

The cover illustration, an 18th-century canvas by Mughal painter Chitarman II, vividly depicts the many literary references to “Lovers and Beloveds” featured in the poetry of this period, inviting the reader to join the authors in sharing its pleasures.

For more information, contact Lauren Kirschman at lkirsc@uw.edu

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Faculty/staff honors: Lifetime achievement award, Plyler Prize, Rome Prize fellowship /news/2026/03/09/faculty-staff-honors-lifetime-achievement-award-plyler-prize-rome-prize-fellowship/ Mon, 09 Mar 2026 21:28:47 +0000 /news/?p=90895 W statue in front of Memorial Way sycamore trees
Recent recognition of the 天美影视传媒 includes the Kenneth S. Norris Lifetime Achievement Award, the Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy & Dynamics, the inaugural Trevisan Prize in the Theory of Computing, the John Gaus Award from the American Political Science Association, the Washington Governor鈥檚 Award for Outstanding Leadership, and the Rome Prize Fellowship in Environmental Arts & Humanities.
Affiliate professor of biology receives 2026 Kenneth S. Norris Lifetime Achievement Award

, a research scientist and affiliate professor in the in the Department of Biology at the 天美影视传媒, was honored with the 听from the听. The award recognizes exemplary lifetime contributions to science and society through research, teaching, and service in marine mammalogy.

Over a 40-year career, Moore鈥檚 research has focused on cetacean ecology, acoustics, and natural history, particularly in the Arctic. A prolific researcher, she is widely recognized as a pioneer in using marine mammals as ecosystem sentinels in this rapidly changing region. Over decades of studying whales, Moore has helped scientists understand the health of ocean environments and how they are changing over time. Her work provides critical insight into the impacts of climate change in the Arctic and how marine ecosystems are responding. Her contributions to Arctic science have also been recognized with the听听from the International Arctic Science Committee and the 2023听听from the Alaska SeaLife Center; she is also a science adviser to the Washington State Academy of听Sciences,听and was appointed Commissioner听of the听 in 2022.

Natt-Lingafelter professor of chemistry awarded 2026 Earle K. Plyler Prize

,听professor of chemistry at the UW,听was听awarded the 2026听 from the American Physical Society for her impactful contributions to the anharmonic vibrational spectroscopy and dynamics of molecular radicals, ions, and clusters. Established in 1976, the prize honors pioneering spectroscopist Earle K. Plyler and is sponsored by the Journal of Chemical Physics. The prize will be presented at the APS Global Physics Summit, the world鈥檚 largest physics research conference, in March 2026.

McCoy鈥檚 research focuses on theoretical chemistry, where she develops methods to understand how molecules move, vibrate, and exchange energy. Her work has helped scientists better understand the fundamental behavior of molecules鈥攑roviding insight into how chemical reactions occur and how energy flows through molecular systems. Much of her recent work has focused on hydrogen-bonded systems and, specifically, proton transport. She is also interested in exotic molecules, like CH5+ and H5+, which have been proposed to exist in the interstellar medium. These advances help lay the groundwork for progress in areas ranging from atmospheric chemistry to materials science.

UW joint professor of mathematics and computer science awarded inaugural Trevisan Prize

天美影视传媒 professor 听has received the听 for his breakthrough contributions to the study of optimization problems.听Rothvoss听holds joint appointments in the Department of Mathematics and the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering and was honored in the mid-career category鈥攁 recognition of his impactful work over the course of his career.

for outstanding work in the theory of computing is sponsored by the Department of Computing Sciences at Bocconi University and the Italian Academy of Sciences. Awardees receive a one-time monetary prize and a medal and are invited to give public lectures at Bocconi University. The award ceremony and lectures took place in January 2026.

Rothvoss听has built a distinguished record of contributions to theoretical computer science and discrete optimization. He shares that 鈥渙ver the years my focus has changed a bit…I worked on approximation algorithms, which deal with finding provably good solutions to NP-hard problems in polynomial time.鈥 His work has since shifted toward discrepancy theory and the theoretical foundations of linear and integer programming.听In simple terms,听Rothvoss听studies听the mathematics听behind making听optimal听decisions听in听highly complex听systems. His research helps reveal when efficient solutions are听possible and optimization problems can be solved.

Political听science听professor听receives John Gaus Award

,听professor of听political听science at the UW,听received the听听from the American Political Science Association听(APSA).

The John Gaus Award is presented annually to honor a lifetime of exemplary scholarship in the joint tradition of political science and public administration. Prakash was selected unanimously for the award in recognition of a career devoted to advancing scholarship at the intersection of political science and public administration. A nomination letter noted that Prakash鈥檚 research, particularly on environmental issues, has helped bring environmental concerns into public administration in a variety of ways, including examining how businesses and NGOs can fill governance gaps. At the same time, the letter highlighted how his work explores the risks of these nontraditional governance mechanisms, including potential issues such as regulatory capture and accountability deficits.

Prakash鈥檚 research spans environmental governance, public policy, and global political economy. Over the course of his career, he has published eight scholarly books and more than 130 articles in peer-reviewed journals, with his work cited more than 18,000 times across the field. As part of the honor, Prakash presented the Gaus Lecture at the APSA Annual Meeting in September 2025.

Washington Sea Grant听interim听director听receives听governor鈥檚听leadership听award

, interim director of Washington Sea Grant, received the听, which recognizes exemplary leadership and service to the state of Washington.

Little was honored for her work supporting the state鈥檚 coastal communities through Washington Sea Grant鈥檚 research, outreach, and partnership-driven initiatives.

Little has dedicated more than 15 years to strengthening Washington鈥檚 coast through strategic vision, inclusive practices, and sustained investment in community-centered programs. Under her leadership, Washington Sea Grant delivered nearly $250 million in services and economic benefits statewide between 2021 and 2024, reflecting the program鈥檚 broad impact across coastal and maritime communities.

鈥淎 big thank you to the team at Washington Sea Grant for the nomination,鈥 Little said.听鈥淚鈥檓听deeply grateful to work alongside such thoughtful colleagues, who are so dedicated to our shared work.听I鈥檓听so honored by this recognition from the听governor. This award really is a testament to the impact of Washington Sea Grant鈥檚 work in serving the state鈥檚 coastal communities.鈥

Biology听professor听awarded Rome Prize Fellowship in Environmental Arts & Humanities

, professor of biology听at听the UW,听was awarded听the prestigious in the new Environmental Arts & Humanities category by the听. This pilot fellowship supports collaborative projects that explore how human beings relate to, experience, and interpret the natural world.

In partnership with Katharine Ogle, lecturer听of听English at听the University听of Southern California, Summers will pursue a project titled听鈥淧iscis Romana.鈥听Their work draws on听natural history听research conducted at the Friday Harbor Laboratories to investigate the links between marine life,听ecology,听and poetic expression.

鈥淭his听award will allow听Katie Ogle and听me to听further explore the links between poetry and natural history that have been developed by a group of us at Friday Harbor Labs,鈥澨齋ummers said.

Summers鈥 biological research spans marine and aquatic systems with a strong emphasis on understanding organismal form,听function,听and the broader natural-history context in which听species听evolve and interact. Partnering听with Ogle, he will extend that scientific inquiry into the realm of arts and humanities, looking at how the natural world inspires literary forms,听metaphors,听and cultural narratives.

With this Rome Prize fellowship, Summers joins a competitive cohort selected from听nearly 1,000听applicants and will spend several听months in听residence at the Academy in Rome, working among scholars and artists from around the world.

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Q&A: ‘MELA’ documentary demonstrates how art and local communities can enhance scientific projects /news/2026/02/19/mela-documentary-demonstrates-how-art-and-local-communities-can-enhance-scientific-projects/ Thu, 19 Feb 2026 18:59:53 +0000 /news/?p=90679
Vivek Hari Sridhar, UW assistant professor of biology, flies a drone in Blackbuck National Park for the MELA project. Photo: Praneetha M.

A recent documentary about the breeding habits of antelopes in India includes the story of how engaging with artists and local communities can help researchers share the importance of their work.

“MELA,” short for Mating Ecology of a Lek-breeding Antelope, is a short film about a research project that studies the mating behavior of blackbuck, an antelope species native to India and Nepal. During mating, male blackbuck aggregate into certain areas, called “leks,” to perform a series of feats to try to impress females.

This story of “MELA” is told in three chapters. The first chapter summarizes the science behind the project, including the technical challenges associated with creating continuous and sweeping drone footage across an entire lek. Then the second and third chapters focus on the researchers’ work with artists and local communities.

, a 天美影视传媒 assistant professor of biology, is one of the leaders of the MELA project, which started when he was a postdoctoral research associate at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the University of Konstanz in Germany. UW News asked him for details about the project and the documentary.

As scientists, we engage in evidence-based storytelling. We gather data and then we analyze and interpret it to reveal something new about the natural world. In that sense,听science can be thought of being a form of art.

Vivek Hari SridharUW assistant professor of biology

How did this project get started?

Vivek Hari Sridhar: It started in 2019 when the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior put out a global call for collaborative research projects that addressed broad questions related to how animal societies emerge and function. The call was meant to support teams of two or three postdoctoral researchers.

The timing was perfect because I was in the latter stages of my doctoral degree. As part of my doctoral research, I discovered how animals choose between spatially separated objects. I developed a theory and validated my model predictions in both vertebrates and invertebrates under controlled laboratory conditions. For my postdoc, I wanted to explore if the theory could tell us something about spatial decisions made by animals in the wild.

I teamed up with , now an assistant professor at the Birla Institute of Technology & Science, and , a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. For her doctoral research, Akanksha had already worked with blackbuck and had recorded a few drone-based videos of the lek. This got me excited because leks seemed like the perfect study system to extend my doctoral work. Hemal is a computer vision and machine learning expert who develops software to process large-scale drone footage. Hemal was crucial in the establishment of our art-science collaborations.

The project developed from our common commitment toward supporting junior researchers in the field, working with local communities and establishing a research project in India, our home country.

Chapter 2 of the documentary talks about art and science. Can you talk about how they are similar?

VHS: Artists use various media 鈥 writing, visual art, performances, etc. 鈥 to try to understand the world around them and to tell the stories that matter most to them. As scientists, we engage in evidence-based storytelling. We gather data and then we analyze and interpret it to reveal something new about the natural world. In that sense, science can be thought of being a form of art.

What was it like working with artists on this project?

VHS: It was an incredible learning experience! I worked with , a German-based institution that brings artists and scientists together, for my artist residency.

At first I was nervous. The idea of working on something artistic myself felt daunting. Retrospectively though, it was one of the most rewarding experiences. I met several interesting people over the years and collaborated with many of them. They helped me realize that I had several stories that I wanted to share that I couldn鈥檛 do solely through science. Working with writers and sound artists, I have since been able to explore a creative side of myself that I didn鈥檛 know existed.

Chapter 3 explains that it was important to engage with the community where you did this research. Can you talk about why that is?

VHS: As academics, we spend much of our time within the confines of the university, engaging with literature within our field and building on those ideas. And while these are extremely important aspects of the job, it is only one of the many sources of inspiration, especially in the context of studying animal behavior 鈥 people in local communities spend their lives surrounded by these animals every day.

Conversations with the locals gave us a head start in terms of understanding the natural history and activity patterns of these animals. A great example of this is when the locals told us about the location of a new lek. Because leks are traditional mating grounds, they鈥檙e occupied by males year after year. We intended to conduct our study on a lek that had been around for nearly 40 years. But then the locals told us about a second location with a larger aggregation of males. This information allowed us to monitor both sites, which led to a whole new line of research inquiry.

Beyond science, I also believe we have an ethical obligation to let people know what we鈥檙e doing. Many people from these communities are curious to know why we’re visiting their corner of the world. Once we learned what interested different community members, we were able to engage with them accordingly. For example, we took some children birding because they were fascinated with our use of binoculars.

What do you hope people who watch the documentary will learn?

VHS: Perhaps that science is not just a knowledge-seeking endeavor 鈥 it’s also a human-endeavor. We can do more impactful work when we work together with other people from various walks of life. Here, we came together as three scientists collaborating with artists, local communities and students to produce what we believe is something more than “just science.”

But doing this work takes time, effort and resources. In a fast-paced and productivity-focused society, it is important to stop and consider what is important to us. We were fortunate to have the time and opportunity to shape our work and we hope this inspires others to think beyond the immediate call of their jobs.

This research was funded by a Collaborative Research Grant funded by the Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour at the University of Konstanz.

For more information, contact Sridhar at behavior@uw.edu.

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Q&A: UW course uses the Olympic Games as a historical lens /news/2026/02/11/qa-uw-course-uses-the-olympic-games-as-a-historical-lens/ Wed, 11 Feb 2026 19:22:29 +0000 /news/?p=90634 A statue of the Olympic rings in front of a snowy mountain range
As the 2026 Winter Olympics unfold in Italy, 天美影视传媒 students are learning about the history of the Games. Photo: Pixabay

Before the 天美影视传媒鈥檚 winter quarter even started, told his 鈥淢odern Olympic Games鈥 class one of the questions that would be on the final exam: 鈥淲hat is something that happened in the 2026 Winter Olympics that you can understand better because of something you鈥檝e learned in this course?鈥

鈥淭here is not yet an answer to that question,鈥 said Haddad-Fonda, a part-time lecturer of history at the UW, 鈥渂ut there will be by the end of the quarter.鈥

As Haddad-Fonda鈥檚 students watch this month鈥檚 Winter Olympics in Italy, they are also learning in the classroom about the history of the Games. The course covers subjects ranging from ideology and national identity to race and the position of women in society.

UW News talked with Haddad-Fonda to learn more.

What makes sports such an effective window into history?

Kyle Haddad-Fonda: This is a 100-level course, and the majority of students taking it are first-year students aiming to fulfill a general education requirement. I see the course as a kind of sampler platter of 20th-century history. Students may not know coming in that they would be really interested in Native American history or Nazi Germany or some aspect of women鈥檚 history 鈥 but they鈥檙e going to get exposed to a little bit of everything. What ties it all together is Olympic competition. Sports are inherently about race and gender and politics.

In class, I get to tell stories about some truly wild things that have happened in the Olympics. I鈥檝e talked already this quarter about a dehydrated whose trainer refused him water but gave him strychnine mixed with egg white, a dubbed the prettiest girl at the Olympics who was kicked off the team for having the audacity to drink champagne, and a whose coronation as the world’s greatest athlete was upended when a teammate poisoned his orange juice. But after I tell these stories, the next step is to stop and say, 鈥淥kay, why does this matter on a deeper level? What can this one athlete鈥檚 experience tell us about the world?鈥

Where did the idea for this course come from?

KHF: I’ve been mulling it over for years, and now seemed like the right time to do it because the Winter Olympics are happening at the same time.

This is the seventh academic year in a row that I鈥檝e taught the history of the Cold War. After a few years of teaching the same course, the content gets pretty well set. I started to realize that the only changes I was making to the lectures was to add short anecdotes about sports. Students responded really well. Including the occasional bit of sports content became a strategy for illustrating complicated ideas in a relatable way.

Last year, I advised a senior thesis by a history major who had previously taken my Cold War course. I had spent maybe 30 seconds in class talking about how the Catholic Church in Italy as part of its broader campaign against communism around the time of the 1948 Italian election. This student was a soccer fan, and she went and did a lot more reading about the role of soccer in postwar Italy. A year later, she came to me and said that just that one comment had helped her to realize that sports were something she could take seriously as an academic topic. She ended up writing her senior thesis about athletes who defected from communist countries during the very short period between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. This student鈥檚 enthusiasm for viewing sports as a window into deeper historical phenomena gave me that final push to decide I was ready to create this course.

What is one of your favorite topics that you cover in the class?

KHF: Just last week, we talked about the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, after which about a third of the athletes on the Hungarian team . Those Olympics happened in the immediate aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution and the Soviet crackdown. There was a 16-year-old Hungarian swimmer named Zsuzsa 脰rd枚g who had to make a decision all by herself about whether she was going to defect to the U.S. or return home to her family. She ended up moving to Mercer Island because she was by the family of a 16-year-old American swimmer, Nancy Ramey, who had won silver in the butterfly.

One of the reasons I mentioned 脰rd枚g was to contrast her story with that of Hal Connolly and Olga Fikotov谩. Connolly was an American who won a gold medal in the hammer throw in 1956; Fikotov谩 was a Czechoslovakian who won gold in the discus in the same Olympics. While they were competing in Melbourne, . Three months after the Olympics, Connolly went to Prague, where he and Fikotov谩 got married. Then they moved to the U.S. The American media was delighted by a love story that transcended the Iron Curtain. In class, I showed my students a clip of the newlyweds appearing on the game show 鈥.鈥

Before the next Olympics, Fikotov谩 wrote to the Czechslovakian Olympic Committee saying she was ready to represent Czechoslovakia a second time. She got a letter back saying that the committee no longer considered her to be Czechoslovakian. Fortunately, her U.S. citizenship came through about a week before the U.S. Olympic trials, so she showed up 鈥 as the reigning Olympic champion 鈥 and made the U.S. team. She went on to represent the U.S. at four Olympics and even carried the flag in 1972.

Fikotov谩鈥檚 experience of moving to the U.S. was markedly different from what happened to the Hungarians who defected at the same Olympics. For starters, by the Olympic rules at the time, athletes couldn鈥檛 change national allegiance for political reasons. The only way for somebody who had represented one country to compete for another was if a woman changed her nationality by marriage. So while Fikotov谩 could throw the discus for the U.S., Hungarian athletes had no recourse. 脰rd枚g went on to set an American record in the breaststroke, but there was no way she could ever swim in the Olympics again. Quite a few of the Hungarians who defected to much fanfare in 1956 subsequently decided to return quietly to Hungary and resume their former lives. Their stories offer a great illustration of the hard choices that faced ordinary people who got caught up in Cold War rivalries.

Do you anticipate any crossover into the course from more recent Olympics, and even the current Olympics?

KHF: While it鈥檚 tricky to talk about the ongoing Olympics from a historical framework, I do plan to bring my course all the way into the 21st century. My students will get to evaluate whether host cities have lived up to the promises they have made about using the Olympics as a catalyst for urban transformation. And we鈥檒l talk about the ways that the Olympics have legitimized authoritarian regimes and examine how activists have articulated calls to boycott the games.

All of these are themes that have been building over the entire quarter. I recently talked about William May Garland鈥檚 plans to use the 1932 Summer Olympics to build Los Angeles. You have to start there in order to make sense of London鈥檚 efforts to rejuvenate the East End or Paris鈥檚 campaign to restore the Seine. By the time we talk about calls to boycott the Olympics in 2014 and 2022, we will have already discussed boycott efforts 鈥 successful or unsuccessful 鈥 in 1936, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984 and 1988.

All this history matters especially much right now because our own country is gearing up to be the next Olympic host. I know my students are going to watch the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles 鈥 in fact, one of them has entered the lottery to buy tickets. When they do, I need them to be empowered to look beyond the headlines. I want them to understand that all the controversies that will inevitably swirl around those games spring from 130 years of contentious, messy historical precedent.

For more information, contact Lauren Kirschman at lkirsc@uw.edu.

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ArtSci Roundup: January /news/2025/12/22/artsci-roundup-january/ Mon, 22 Dec 2025 19:39:22 +0000 /news/?p=90112

Come curious. Leave inspired.

For those near and far, we invite you to start the year with us through a range of events, performances, exhibitions, podcasts, and more. And as January comes to a close, see what’s happening in February.

In addition,听.


ArtSci On Your Own Time

Podcast: (Henry Art Gallery)
Frequencies is a creative audio project where a cohort of artists, writers, and community members are invited to contribute sonic responses to the Henry鈥檚 exhibitions. The series serves as an aural companion to the work on view and can be experienced either in-gallery or before or after visiting. In lieu of a traditional museum guide in which historical and contextual insights are gleaned, these responses provoke further thought and exploration demonstrating that interpretations of contemporary art can be as varied as the individuals who encounter it.

Book: (History)
This book examines spaces, practices, and ideologies of incarceration in the ancient Mediterranean basin from 300 BCE to 600 CE. Analyzing a wide range of sources鈥攊ncluding legal texts, archaeological findings, documentary evidence, and visual materials鈥擬atthew D. C. Larsen and Mark Letteney argue that prisons were integral to the social, political, and economic fabric of ancient societies. Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration traces a long history of carceral practices, considering ways in which the institution of prison has been fundamentally intertwined with issues of class, ethnicity, gender, and imperialism. By foregrounding the voices and experiences of the imprisoned, Larsen and Letteney demonstrate the extraordinary durability of carceral structures across time and call for a new historical consciousness around contemporary practices of incarceration. .

Dive deeper with Letteney during the , , and .


Week of January 5

January 7 | (Music)
A free lunchtime performance featuring UW School of Music students in the North Allen Library lobby. Presented in partnership with UW Libraries. Free.

January 8 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Alongside China鈥檚 rapid economic growth and urbanization, the country has witnessed an unprecedented wave of rural-to-urban migration. Educating this large population poses considerable challenges to the nation鈥檚 household registration (hukou)鈥揵ased education system. Addressing the educational needs of migrant children is not only essential for promoting social equity and cohesion, but also carries profound implications for China鈥檚 long-term economic development and social progress. Since the central government issued a 2001 directive requiring destination cities to provide public education for migrant children, their access to urban schools has improved substantially, however, reforms related to high school admissions have progressed more slowly. This lecture addresses the data gathering structure created by the author and examines how these policies influence family migration decisions and the educational outcomes of migrant children. Free.

people looking at giant animal fossilJanuary 8 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Part of Burke鈥檚 Free First Thursday series, the museum opens its collections spaces from 4:30 to 7:30鈥疨M. Visitors can explore behind鈥憈he-scenes labs and storage, and speak with researchers, staff, and volunteers about their work. Free.

January 9 | (School of Drama)
School of Drama faculty Nikki Yeboah, Jasmine Mahmoud, and Odai Johnson share recent scholarship on women and performance, followed by conversation. Coffee provided. Free.

Closes January 11 | 听(Henry Art Gallery)
Spirit House investigates how contemporary artists of Asian descent challenge the boundary between life and death through art. A thematic exploration of the work of thirty-four Asian American and Asian diasporic artists, Spirit House asks the question, what does it mean to speak to ghosts, inhabit haunted spaces, be reincarnated, or enter different dimensions? Inspired by spirit houses, small devotional structures found throughout Thailand that provide shelter for the supernatural, this exhibition considers how art can bridge the gap between this world and the next. Free.

Admission to the Henry is free to all visitors.


Week of January 12

Online – January 12 | 听(Jackson School of International Studies)
Presented by Edward Alden, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; John Koenig, U.S. Ambassador (ret.) and UW Lecturer; and Jacqueline Miller, President and CEO of World Affairs Council-Seattle. Trump in the World 2.0 is an online series of talks and discussions featuring guest speakers and faculty exploring global perspectives on a second Trump administration. Free.

UW students: Interested in taking this as a 2-credit/no credit course? Visit MyPlan for complete course details.

Online – January 12 | (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
Drawing on his new book, Pan-African Futurism, Dr. Reginold Royston will discuss technology and role of Pan-Africanism in the fields of international development, diaspora and politics in Ghana and beyond.

January 13 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
The question to consider during dinner and conversation: How can we bring together emerging, established, and elder leaders in the conversation around liberation? This program is part of the year-long Liberation Book Club series exploring liberation through shared texts, art, film, music, and workshops. Free.

Online option – January 14 | Philosophical Nonviolence and the Democratic Ideal with John Wood Jr. (Public Lectures)
Too often, democracy is narrowly defined by the act of voting, reducing the citizen鈥檚 role to mere electoral participation. However, a truly thriving democratic society is one in which full inclusion is built upon a foundation of cultural goodwill between distinct communities. This vision of a beloved community鈥攔ooted in the philosophy of nonviolence鈥攚as championed by Martin Luther King Jr. It is this philosophy that we must revive to bridge the deep political and cultural divides that threaten American democracy today. Free.

January 15 – 18 | (featuring UW School of Music faculty and students)
In addition to papers by scholars from around the country, the festival features keynote talks and performances by internationally acclaimed musicians and writers. Free.

January 16 | 听(Political Science)
As a part of the Severyns Ravenholt Seminar in Comparative Politics, this lecture features Jihyeon Bae, Ph.D. Student.听Free.

January 17 |听(Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Karim Sulayman 鈥 lauded for his 鈥渧elvety tenor and pop-star charisma鈥 (BBC Music Magazine) 鈥 joins guitarist Sean Shibe, whose 鈥渕usic-making is masterful, beautiful and convincing in every way鈥 (The Times, UK), for an intimate recital of music ranging from the Middle Ages to the present. This compelling musical journey examines the close cultural and musical ties between East and West, reflecting the artists鈥 personal experiences with roots in Lebanon and Japan.


Week of January 19

January 22 | (School of Music)
The acclaimed piano鈥損ercussion quartet Yarn/Wire performs contemporary works by UW composition students and alumni in an evening of innovative new music.

January 22 – 25 | (Dance)
The inaugural Grad Lab Concert debuts an evening-length work co-created and performed by UW MFA candidates Jake Bone, marco farroni leonardo, Alice Gosti, Jillian Roberts, and Tracey Wong. Through five distinct artistic perspectives, the piece weaves a vibrant tapestry of movement鈥攅xploring lineage, experimentation, and care.

Online – January 22 | 听(History)
Catherine Conybeare is the first woman to write a biography of Augustine since Rebecca West. She has received awards and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies and the National Endowment for the Humanities, amongst others. She is the Leslie Clark Professor in the Humanities at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania.听Free.

Online option – January 22 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Professor Nicholas de Villiers of University of North Florida, contends in his book that we need to theorize both queer time and space to understand Taiwan-based director Tsai Ming-liang鈥檚 cinematic explorations of feeling melancholy, cruisy, and sleepy. Building on those arguments, this presentation starts with a reading of Tsai鈥檚 short film It鈥檚 a Dream (2007)鈥攕et in a movie theater in Malaysia鈥攁s a microcosm of Tsai鈥檚 themes and motifs of sleep/dreaming, cruising, nostalgia, and the space of the cinema. It then addresses Tsai鈥檚 鈥減ost-retirement鈥 (after 2013) films and museum installations, including the queer Teddy award-winning digital feature film Days (Rizi, 2020) shot in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Thailand, and the short film The Night (2021) shot in Hong Kong in 2019. Free.

January 22 | (Stroum Center for Jewish Studies)
Mark Letteney will be joined by Stroum Center faculty and history professor Joel Walker and classics professor Sarah Levin-Richardson to discuss the book, unpack what role prisons played in ancient societies and how this history continues today, and answer questions. Free.

January 23 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Celebrated Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes performs an eclectic solo recital featuring works by Schumann, Jan谩膷ek, and Kurt谩g.

January 23 | (Classics)
This year’s McDiarmid Lecture features Kirk Ormand (Oberlin College). Free.

January 23 | (Political Science)
Presented by Barry Rabe,Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus; Professor Emeritus of Public Policy; Professor Emeritus of Environmental Policy; Professor Emeritus of the Environment; Professor Emeritus of Political Science. Free.

January 25 | (Burke Museum)
Uncover an ancient marine creature in the dig pit, compare your footprint to a giant sauropod, and learn about the mighty animals of the Mesozoic.


Week of January 26

Online – January 26 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Presented by Roberto Dondisch, Distinguished Fellow Stimson Center; Lecturer, 天美影视传媒 and Bonnie Jenkins, U.S. Ambassador (ret.); Visiting Professor, George Washington University. Trump in the World 2.0 is an online series of talks and discussions featuring guest speakers and faculty exploring global perspectives on a second Trump administration. Free.

UW students: Interested in taking this as a 2-credit/no credit course? Visit MyPlan for complete course details.

January 28 | (Stroum Center for Jewish Studies)
Miriam Udel will discuss her new book, Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Yiddish Children’s Literature. Free.

Online – January 29 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
The U.S. intervention in Venezuela recalls a painful history of similar actions by the United States in the region. Since the capture of President Nicol谩s Maduro, responses around the world have ranged from celebrations by the Venezuelan diaspora to protests against U.S. imperialism and the violation of Venezuelan sovereignty. Underscoring the importance of historical knowledge of inter-American relations, this virtual roundtable will feature 天美影视传媒 professors Ileana Rodr铆guez-Silva (History) and Sebasti谩n Rubiano-Galvis (Law, Societies & Justice), political scientist and Sim贸n Bolivar University professor Colette Capriles, and historian of Venezuela and New York University Professor Alejandro Velasco, who will shed light on the invasion. Free.

January 29鈥31 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Ephrat Asherie鈥檚 choreography remixes street and club dance styles with the live Latin jazz of Grammy鈥憌inner Arturo O鈥橣arrill in Shadow Cities.

January 29鈥揊ebruary 8 | (School of Drama)
In this new translation of Chekhov鈥檚 鈥漵erious comedy of human contradictions鈥, a group of artists and dreamers meet in the countryside and wrestle with the costs of ambition, unspoken longings, and the harsh realities of artistic pursuits. Set against a backdrop of love, passionate aspirations, and the search for meaning,听The Seagull听captures the fierce hopes and quiet heartbreaks of an artistic career.听 Directed by MFA Student Sebasti谩n Bravo Montenegro.

January 30 | (German Studies)
Presented by Alexandra Sterling-Hellenbrand, Professor of German and Global Studies at Appalachian State University.听Free.


ArtSci Roundup goes monthly!

The ArtSci Roundup is your guide to connecting with the UW鈥攚hether in person, on campus, or on your couch.

Previously shared on a quarterly basis, those who sign up for the Roundup email will receive them monthly, delivering timely updates and engaging content wherever you are. Check the roundup regularly, as events are added throughout the month. Make sure to check out the ArtSci On Your Own Time section for everything from podcasts to videos to exhibitions that can be enjoyed when it works for you!

In addition, if you like the ArtSci Roundup, sign up to receive a monthly notice when it’s been published.

Do you have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu).uw.edu).

]]>
ArtSci Roundup: December /news/2025/11/14/artsci-roundup-december/ Fri, 14 Nov 2025 19:24:48 +0000 /news/?p=89845

Come curious. Leave inspired.

For those near and far, we invite you to end the year with us through a range of events, performances, exhibitions, podcasts, and more. As you begin to shape your December plans, don鈥檛 miss the inspiring events still to come this November.

In addition,听.


ArtSci On Your Own Time

Henry Art Gallery Exhibitions Closing in January:

Influenced by non-verbal communication, Kim merges graphic and musical notation with American Sign Language. Her compositions uniquely address her experience as a Deaf individual in a hearing-centric society and broader societal influences on whose voices hold sway.


This presentation is the second rotation in a two-part series showcasing new additions to the Henry鈥檚 permanent collection. Artists featured in this presentation highlight both locally and globally recognized figures, including Sarah Cain, Fiona Connor, Demian DineYahzi鈥, Mary Ann Peters, and Carrie Yamaoka, among others.


Spirit House investigates how contemporary artists of Asian descent challenge the boundary between life and death through art. A thematic exploration of the work of thirty-four Asian American and Asian diasporic artists, Spirit House asks the question, what does it mean to speak to ghosts, inhabit haunted spaces, be reincarnated, or enter different dimensions? Inspired by spirit houses, small devotional structures found throughout Thailand that provide shelter for the supernatural, this exhibition considers how art can bridge the gap between this world and the next.

Admission to the Henry is free to all visitors.

Podcast: 听(Jackson School of International Studies)
Launched in 2021 with UW Professor Daniel Bessner and writer Derek Davison, 鈥淎merican Prestige,鈥 the winner of the 2025 Signal Awards “silver” medal, offers an in-depth analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs, and has featured guests such as actor Morgan Spector and HuffPost senior diplomatic correspondent Akbar Shahid Ahmed.

Exhibitions in the Community: (Art + Art History + Design)
Eight students graduated in June 2025 with their Master of Fine Arts degrees and just a few months later, are already making impressive moves in their artistic careers with work being featured at the Tacoma Art Museum, 4Culture, and more!

Podcasts: (天美影视传媒 Magazine)
From Indigenous Jazz to conversations about how to live with uncertainty and discomfort without disconnecting from our shared humanity, listen to podcasts and radio shows from UW alumni and faculty.


Events Happening in December

December 1 | 听(Music)
Phyllis Byrdwell leads the 100-voice Gospel Choir in songs from the Gospel tradition.

December 1 | (Slavic Languages & Literature)
UW professor, translator, and writer Jos茅 Alaniz discusses his latest book, Comics of the Anthropocene: Graphic Narrative at the End of Nature, the first full-length monograph to explore how US comics artists have depicted environmental destruction, mass extinctions, and climate change. He will be joined in conversation by fellow artists Megan Kelso, Leonard Rifas, and T Edward Bak.听Free.

December 2 | (Political Science)
The UW Political Science Department welcomes Hayko Ba臒dat to the stage with UW Professor Asli Cansunar for a discussion on minority rights, freedom of expression and belonging in Turkish politics today. Drawing on personal stories, they鈥檒l explore what it means to speak truth, to live in exile for that truth, and to carry both love and loss for a country from afar. Free.

December 2 | (Art + Art History + Design)
Our question to consider: What is the soundtrack to liberation? This year-long program series hopes to honor our commitment to social justice and to gather our community to think about the work of liberation through shared texts, art, film, music, conversation, and workshops. Unlike your traditional book club all the reading and study happens together, so no need to prepare.

December 3 | 听(Music)
A free lunchtime performance featuring UW School of Music students in the North Allen Library lobby. Presented in partnership with UW Libraries.听Free.

people looking at giant animal fossilDecember 4 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Part of Burke鈥檚 Free First Thursday series, the museum opens its collections spaces from 4:30 to 7:30鈥疨M. Visitors can explore behind鈥憈he-scenes labs and storage, and speak with researchers, staff, and volunteers about their work.听Free.

December 4 | (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
Over the past quarter-century, the Simpson Center has established itself as an internationally recognized model for leading-edge humanities research. Its work鈥攆rom scholarly gatherings to fellowship programs to publications鈥攈as been transformative for faculty, students, and staff at the 天美影视传媒. The new faculty director of the Simpson Center, Professor Lynn M. Thomas, invites you to celebrate the impact of the Center鈥檚 work and to raise a glass to honor Professor Kathleen Woodward鈥檚 legacy of leadership at the Simpson Center.听Free.

Online Option – December 4 | The Office of Public Lectures presents: Healthcare Where All Can Thrive: Advocating For Older LGBTQ Adults with Carey Candrian (Graduate School Public Lectures)
Healthcare can be challenging for anyone鈥攂ut for older LGBTQ individuals, the barriers are often deeper and more complex. This talk explores how thoughtful, inclusive communication can transform healthcare experiences, making every person feel truly seen, heard, and respected. Free.

December 4 | School of Music Performances
Free

Free

December 5 – 13 | (Drama)
Part farce, part protest, this sharp and timely comedy explores Capitalism and economic survival with wild humor and a lot of heart. Directed by Bradley Wrenn, as part of our Producing Artists Laboratory, They Don鈥檛 Pay! We Won鈥檛 Pay! brings riotous laughter to a situation that feels all too close to home.

December 7 | 听(Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Join Cantus for a reflection on the meaning and joy of the holiday season with a program that the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune deemed “as joyful a celebration of the season’s spirit as any caroling party you’re likely to attend this year.”

December 7 | (Music)
The 天美影视传媒 Modern Music Ensemble (Cristina Vald茅s, director) presents diverse and innovative programming from the mid-20th century to the present. Free.

December 8 | 听(Asian Languages & Literature)
In this talk, David Spafford, Associate Professor of Premodern Japanese History at the University of Pennsylvania, takes a closer look at the complexities of sixteenth-century Japan and unpacks why this particular moment in history matters so much 鈥 and how the hit Shogun series does (or doesn鈥檛) help us understand it. Free.

December 9 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Through a captivating multimedia performance, Feinstein breathes life into iconic songs, blending holiday classics and more. The concert includes a wide-ranging selection of favorites with melodies that promise an unforgettable evening celebrating the magic of the holiday season.

December 11 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Dianne Reeves 鈥 one of the pre-eminent jazz vocalists in the world today 鈥 brings her fresh interpretations of Christmas standards to Meany for a night of holiday magic. Her brilliant virtuosity, improvisational prowess and unique jazz flair are showcased in a set of music from her celebrated album, Christmas Time Is Here.

December 18 |

Read the book ahead of time, or join to learn more about the selection. The听December book is The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Polly Olsen, Burke Museum Tribal Liaison, will discuss The Serviceberry and illustrate the book鈥檚 core concept, the gift economy. After the conversation, explore the museum on your own and see examples of lessons from The Serviceberry in the galleries.

December 18 – 20 | (Dance)
From improvisation and playful experiments, to a soft collision with movement, each work has a distinct choreographic style. The evening asks us to consider different modes of relation: between artists, across decades, in conversation with lineage, and with embodied inquiry. In collaboration with UW Associate Professor Rachael Lincoln.

December 31 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Enjoy fossilized fun at five drop-in stations designed for young learners ages 3鈥8. Hold fossils and casts at the touch table, make scientific discoveries in the dig pit, create a craft to take home, and collect a new stamp each month in your Fossil Finders Passport.


ArtSci Roundup goes monthly!

The ArtSci Roundup is your guide to connecting with the UW鈥攚hether in person, on campus, or on your couch.

Previously shared on a quarterly basis, those who sign up for the Roundup email will receive them monthly, delivering timely updates and engaging content wherever you are. Check the roundup regularly, as events are added throughout the month. Make sure to check out the ArtSci On Your Own Time section for everything from podcasts to videos to exhibitions that can be enjoyed when it works for you!

In addition, if you like the ArtSci Roundup, sign up to receive a monthly notice when it鈥檚 been published.听

Do you have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu).

]]>
ArtSci Roundup: November /news/2025/10/13/artsci-roundup-november/ Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:21:33 +0000 /news/?p=89301

Come curious. Leave inspired.

We invite you to connect with us this November through a rich and varied schedule of more than 30 events, exhibitions, podcasts, and more. From chamber opera premieres and public lectures to Indigenous storytelling and poetry celebrations, there鈥檚 something to spark every curiosity. Expect boundary-pushing performances, thought-provoking dialogues on memory and identity, and cross-disciplinary collaborations鈥擭ovember is a celebration of bold ideas and creative energy.

As you plan for the end of the year, take a look at what’s coming up in the December ArtSci Roundup.

In addition, .


ArtSci On Your Own Time

Closing November 8 | (Art + Art History + Design)
This Fall MFA exhibition at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery showcases emerging artists鈥 work. Free.

Closing January 11 | (Henry Art Gallery)
A thematic exploration of the work of thirty-four Asian American and Asian diasporic artists, Spirit House asks the question, what does it mean to speak to ghosts, inhabit haunted spaces, be reincarnated, or enter different dimensions?

Book Club:听鈥淭he Four Winds鈥 by Kristin Hannah(UW Alumni)
Readers鈥 Choice! Author (and UW alum 鈥 BA, Communication, 鈥83 ) Kristin Hannah highlights the struggles of the working poor during the Great Depression in this novel. Elsa is an awkward wallflower who is raising her two children on the family farm. As the Dust Bowl hits, she must choose between weathering the climate catastrophe in Texas or moving her family west to follow rumors of jobs in California.听Free.

Books, podcasts, etc: (天美影视传媒 Magazine)
This spring, 18,883 degrees were conferred upon graduates of all three UW campuses. We estimate there are just under 600,000 living alumni of the UW. And the UW supports or sustains 100,520 jobs, making it the fifth-largest employer in the state. No wonder we鈥檙e always hearing about new books, music, podcasts, and film projects from the UW community. Read on for a few recent accomplishments from Huskies in the media.


Week of November 3

November 1 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
A West Coast premiere of a chamber opera by composer Matthew Aucoin and director Peter Sellars, based on poems by Jorie Graham. The performance explores embodiment and identity in an age of transformation.

Ed Yong

Online Option – November 4 | Becoming a Birder (Graduate School Public Lectures)
This talk considers birding not only as a scientific and recreational practice but as a way of seeing and being鈥攁ttuned to classification, memory, imagination, and care. Free.

November 4 | (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
A public lecture on the use鈥攁nd misuse鈥攐f historical analogy in politics, focusing on Holocaust memory and the complexities of comparison in historical discourse. Free.

November 5 |(DXARTS)
Hum Under the Riverstone explores different forms of connection and dialogue that can unfold among various kinds of intelligences: human, natural, and machinic. The title of this project draws inspiration from 脡douard Glissant and his concept of archipelagic thinking. Free.

November 5 | (Music)
A free lunchtime performance featuring UW School of Music students in the North Allen Library lobby. Presented in partnership with UW Libraries. Free.

Online Option – November 5 | (Jackson School)
What does it mean to commemorate a genocide? This is the overarching question governing this academic panel as its presenters ruminate over the mass killings that transpired in Indonesia between 1965 and 1966 which saw an estimated deaths of at least 500,000 alleged communists and their sympathizers, among others. Free.

November 6 – 16 | (Drama)
A new devised performance piece created under the direction of Adrienne Mackey with UW students, set in a dystopian workplace where employees inhabit modular rooms and confront disconnection, routine, and possibility.

November 6 | (Political Science)
Bart Wilson is the Kennedy Endowed Chair in Economics & Law and the director of the Smith Institute for Political Economy & Philosophy at Chapman University, and author of Humanomics (with Vernon Smith), The Property Species, and Meaningful Economics. Free.

November 6 | (American Indian Studies)
A series to prepare for the Film Screening & UW Symphony Performance: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land on February 6, 2026 ().听Free.

November 6 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Part artist talk, part lecture-performance, this presentation by artist Chlo毛 Bass will use the lens of public art today to explore feelings as a type of knowledge. RSVP encouraged. Free.

November 6 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Part of Burke鈥檚 Free First Thursday series, the museum opens its collections spaces from 4:30 to 7:30鈥疨M. Visitors can explore behind鈥憈he-scenes labs and storage, and speak with researchers, staff, and volunteers about their work. Free.

November 6 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Renowned pianist Jon Kimura Parker returns to Meany with a dynamic solo program featuring Mozart, Beethoven鈥檚 Appassionata, Ravel鈥檚 Jeux d鈥橢au, and an Americana鈥慽nflected selection including works by Chick Corea, John Adams, and Oscar Peterson.

November 7 | (American Ethnic Studies)
Celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Department of American Ethnic Studies (AES) and honor the 449 Japanese American UW students of 1941-42 whose education was interrupted and who were unjustly incarcerated during WWII. Pictures and memories will be shared from the families of The Long Journey Home honorees, followed by remarks from AES Chair Alexes Harris and faculty member Vince Schleitwiler. Free.

November 7 | (Political Science)
Megan Mullin, Faculty Director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, discusses how scientific expertise shapes public decisions in the aftermath of disaster, drawing on lessons from the 2025 Los Angeles fires. Hosted by the Center for Environmental Politics. Free.

November 7 | (Anthropology)
Anthropologist Tracie Canada draws from long-term ethnographic research to explore how Black college football players navigate and resist the structural harms of college athletics. Canada is the Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University and director of the HEARTS Lab. Free.

November 8 | (Henry Art Gallery)
As part of the Spirit House exhibition, this reading explores grief, memory, and the porous boundary between life and death through storytelling across cultures. Free.

November 8 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
This special tribute celebrates Amadou鈥檚 musical legacy with Mariam鈥檚 iconic vocals, longtime band members, and new music from their forthcoming album L鈥橝mour 脿 la Folie. A legendary duo blending Malian blues with Afropop, disco, and rock influences.


Week of November 10

November 6 – 16 | (Drama)
A new devised performance piece created under the direction of Adrienne Mackey with UW students, set in a dystopian workplace where employees inhabit modular rooms and confront disconnection, routine, and possibility.

November 12 | 听(Drama)
In conjunction with the School’s upcoming production of OMMIA Break Room, this panel discussion centers on collaborative creation across multiple fields of study with notable faculty speakers from across the Seattle campus.

November 12 | 听(Honors)
As it becomes increasingly woven into our daily lives, public trust in science鈥 or the lack thereof 鈥 matters more than ever. Join a dynamic conversation among UW Interdisciplinary Honors faculty whose scholarship and teaching engage natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities, as they explore what happens when scientific research and scholarship are misunderstood, mistrusted or misused. Free.

November 12 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
A panel discussion on the new edited volume Spaces of Creative Resistance: Social Change Projects in 21st-Century East Asia, exploring how scholars, artists, and activists respond to inequality, environmental degradation, and social disconnection across Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Featuring Andrea Arai, Jeff Hou, and James Lin. Free.

November 13 | (American Indian Studies)
Composer Bruce Ruddell, Musicians Adia tsi s蕯uyu蕯a色 Bowen (Upper Skagit) and
Ben Workman Smith (Tolowa), Conductors Ryan Dudenbostel and David Rahbee, with John-Carlos Perea (Mescalero Apache/German/Irish/Chicano) as discussant. A series to prepare for the Film Screening & UW Symphony Performance: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land on February 6, 2026 ().听Free.

November 13 | (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
Philosopher Marshall Abrams challenges standard population-level views of evolution by emphasizing the unique role of individual organisms and their environments. Drawing from his book Evolution and the Machinery of Chance, Abrams explores how evolution unfolds within dynamic 鈥減opulation-environment systems.鈥 Free.

November 13 – 14 | and (Music)
UW Jazz Studies students perform in small combos over two consecutive nights of original tunes, homage to the greats of jazz, and experiments in composing and arranging. Free.

November 14 | 听(Political Science)
PhD Student Ryan Reynolds presents, 鈥淪tructurally Induced Anxiety and Anti鈥慦ar Voting: Military Social Networks and Presidential Elections.鈥 Free.

November 14 | (Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures)
A multilingual poetry gathering celebrating the ghazal, a poetic form rooted in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu, and more. Participants will recite ghazals in their original languages with English translations, reflecting on sound, translation, and the form鈥檚 enduring vitality. Free.

November 16 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Explore ancient technologies, identify animal bones, sort shells, and enjoy a flintknapping (stone tool鈥憁aking) demonstration. Burke archaeologists and community partners present hands鈥憃n activities and share stories about artifacts and historical practices. Free with museum admission; free for Burke members.

Online Option – November 16 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
The Stroum Center for Jewish Studies brings together scholars and community members to discuss the meaning and impact of Spanish and Portuguese citizenship offers to descendants of Sephardic Jews. Featuring Rina Benmayor, Dalia Kandiyoti, and Professor Devin E. Naar. In-person registration required. Free.


Week of November 17

November 18 | 听(Chemistry)
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognizes the architects of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi. Professors Dianne Xiao and Doug Reed from the Department of Chemistry will introduce MOFs and discuss their importance.
November 18 | (Art + Art History + Design)
Join a Narcan training workshop followed by a pizza party and conversation focused on community care, harm reduction, and accessibility. Part of the year-long Liberation Book Club series exploring liberation through shared texts, art, film, music, and workshops. Free.

November 18 | (Music)
UW voice students of Thomas Harper and Carrie Shaw perform art songs and arias from the vocal repertoire. 听Free.

November 18 | (Jackson School)
Forty years after the US pulled out of South Vietnam, a Vietnamese martial arts master returns to the waters that claimed his wife and children during their escape in hopes of finding their grave. The screening will be followed by a virtual discussion with members of the GETSEA consortium. Free.

November 20 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Co-presented with the UW School of Art + Art History + Design, this conversation will address the role of historical research in DeVille鈥檚 object-based and performance practice, as well as her alchemical way of transforming found materials into psychically charged paintings, sculptures, and installations. Free.

November 20 | 听(American Indian Studies)
A series to prepare for the Film Screening & UW Symphony Performance: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land on February 6, 2026 ().听Free.

Online – November 20 | (Geography)
Alums share how their geography degrees have shaped careers in climate risk, procurement, and user experience design. Featuring Sadie Frank (CEO, N4EA), Nina Mesihovic (Enterprise Contracts Specialist, WA State), and Anirudh Ramanathan (Senior UX Researcher). Moderated by Professor Sarah Elwood. Free.

November 20 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Historian Edward Wright-R铆os explores the enduring and evolving practice of pilgrimage among Mexican Catholics, challenging common misconceptions and revealing why this tradition remains vital in modern life. Free.

November 20 | (Music)
The Campus Band (conducted by Solomon Encina) and Concert Band (conducted by Yuman Wu) present their Fall Quarter concert at Meany Hall鈥擪atharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater. The program features works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Steven Bryant, Clifton Williams, Richard Saucedo, Frank Ticheli, and others.

November 21 | (American Indian Studies)
As the days grow shorter, we gather in for a gathering with friends, family, and community to appreciate some long-form storytelling. Free.

November 21 | (Music)
The UW’s graduate-student-led choral ensembles鈥攖he University Singers, UW Glee, and Treble Choir鈥攑resent an eclectic end-of-quarter concert.

November 21 | (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
This symposium brings together global wetland scholars to propose four analytical interventions in wetland studies, namely: rethinking the undisciplined wetland; post-colonial/settler politics of the wetland; shifting spatial geographies and temporalities of the wetland; and finally (counter) mapping the wetland. Free.

November 23 | (Music)

UW music students perform music from the Baroque era under the direction of Tekla Cunningham. Free.

November 24 | (Music)
The UW Studio Jazz Ensemble and Modern Band present a shared program featuring a mix of repertory selections, original compositions, and inspired arrangements. This performance offers a dynamic evening of jazz that highlights the talents of UW’s student musicians.


ArtSci Roundup goes monthly!

The ArtSci Roundup is your guide to connecting with the UW鈥攚hether in person, on campus, or on your couch.

Previously shared on a quarterly basis, those who sign up for the Roundup email will receive them monthly, delivering timely updates and engaging content wherever you are. Check the roundup regularly, as events are added throughout the month. Make sure to check out the ArtSci On Your Own Time section for everything from podcasts to videos to exhibitions that can be enjoyed when it works for you!

In addition, if you like the ArtSci Roundup, sign up to receive a monthly notice when it’s been published.

Do you have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu).

]]>
Story pole celebrating Coast Salish peoples installed on UW campus /news/2025/09/16/storypole/ Tue, 16 Sep 2025 14:38:41 +0000 /news/?p=89141

Five years before a 25-foot story pole was installed outside Denny Hall on the 天美影视传媒 campus, (Sugpiaq/Alutiiq) had a vision.

A Native Alaskan, Haakanson understands the importance of recognizing a land鈥檚 native peoples. So, when he looked around the UW鈥檚 Seattle campus, he found himself wondering: Where is the Coast Salish community? The Burke Museum houses Coast Salish pieces, he said, and there are small works in other buildings. But representation was noticeably missing from the actual grounds.

A story pole being carved in a workshop
A story pole being carved in a workshop
A story pole being carved in a workshop

Al Charles (Lower Elwha Klallam), Tyson Simmons (Muckleshoot) and Keith Stevenson (Muckleshoot) carved the story pole that’s now on the UW campus. Credit: Sven Haakanson

Haakanson, a UW professor of anthropology, wanted to change that. He first started by talking to Al Charles, a carver from the Lower Elwha Klallam听Tribe, and then to Tyson Simmons and Keith Stevenson, of the Muckleshoot Tribe, to get their thoughts on bringing a story pole to the UW. They were all on board, but Haakanson didn鈥檛 approach the university until about a year later.

A celebration of the story pole will be held by the carvers on Sept. 18. The Coast Salish ceremony consists of one speaker and invited witnesses who will observe the dedication of the story pole to the space. The carvers will then offer gifts to those who worked behind the scenes to bring the pole to campus. 鈥淲e should be educating ourselves about where we are,鈥 Haakanson said. 鈥淗aving the story pole there for all of us to learn from, celebrate and enjoy is another wonderful way of learning about the tribes that are here.鈥

听is also available for use.

He had just been offered the position to chair the Department of Anthropology. While discussing ways to retain him at the UW, Haakanson asked for a story pole to be commissioned for the UW Seattle campus.

鈥淚t was kind of an odd ask for retention,鈥 Haakkanson said. 鈥淏ut this is a wonderful way to promote, lift up and celebrate the Coast Salish peoples, whose land we鈥檙e on.鈥

Photo of a story pole on a black background
Story poles, like the one installed on UW’s campus (above), were specifically created to share and teach Coast Salish legends, histories and stories. Photo: UW Department of Anthropology

and indicates the cultural group of Indigenous peoples who speak or spoke these languages. Coast Salish peoples have lived in present-day western Washington and southwestern British Columbia for more than 10,000 years. The UW is located on land that touches the shared waters of the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.

The Coast Salish people carve story poles, while totem poles are a broader category of carved wooden monuments from the Pacific Northwest. Story poles were specifically created to share and teach Coast Salish legends, histories and stories.

鈥淪tory poles are meant to tell stories,鈥 Haakanson said. 鈥淲ith totem poles, they are talking about their clans and their histories. Story poles are about histories, as well, but the Coast Salish have used story poles to tell a story about an event, a legend or where we are now.

鈥 We see a lot of totem poles here, but totem poles are from up north. I love what totem poles represent, and I love the symbolism, but we should also be supporting local communities in their form, in their way. This is one way for students and visitors to learn about who the Coast Salish peoples are.鈥

Charles, Simmons and Stevenson submitted a proposal for the pole, which Haakanson then relayed to the university. The project was approved, and work on the log started a year and a half ago.

鈥淭he carvers turned this from a vision into the story pole itself,鈥 Haakanson said. 鈥淭hey put in not just a lot of time and work, but also so much care and thought. To me, it鈥檚 not just a phenomenal piece of art but a celebration of the Coast Salish peoples.鈥

The title of the story pole is sk史ata膷 dx史蕯al x虒史蓹l膷, which translates to 鈥淔rom the Mountain to the Coast Salish Sea.鈥 From the top down, images on the pole are Mount Rainier, women鈥檚 weavings, the holding two orcas, four salmon that represent four rivers, Coast Salish peoples and听the Coast Salish Sea.

A story pole being carved in a workshop
A story pole being carved in a workshop
A story pole being carved in a workshop

Carving of the story pole that’s now installed on the UW campus began a year and a half ago. Credit: Sven Haakanson

The aluminum back features the North Star at the top and water and mountains in in the middle. Underneath are three canoe prows from the Northwest Coast, the Salish Coast and the West Coast.

鈥淲hat I really loved about the story pole is it celebrates and recognizes the original peoples and symbolizes our responsibility, as the community now, to care for our environment from the mountains to the sea.鈥 Haakanson said. 鈥淭hey have this symbolism embedded in the story pole.鈥

For more information, please contact Haakanson at svenh@uw.edu.

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ArtSci Roundup: September and October /news/2025/09/15/artsci-roundup-september-and-october/ Mon, 15 Sep 2025 22:31:12 +0000 /news/?p=89104

Come curious. Leave inspired.

We welcome you to connect with us this autumn quarter through an incredible lineup of more than 30 events, exhibitions, podcasts, and more. From thought-provoking talks on monsters to boundary-pushing performances by Grammy-nominated Mariachi ensembles, it鈥檚 a celebration of bold ideas and creative energy.


ArtSci On Your Own Time

Exhibition: (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Journey through the seasonal cycle of weaving, from gathering materials and spinning wool to dyeing with natural ingredients and weaving intricate designs. Along the way, learn firsthand from weavers and gain insight into the deep cultural and scientific knowledge embedded in every strand. Free entry for UW faculty, staff, and students.

Closing September 28 | (Henry Art Gallery)
This focused exhibition features works from Passing On (2022), a series of collaged newspaper obituaries of influential feminist activists and organizers. The clippings, presented with Winant鈥檚 handwritten annotations, reflect on a lineage of non-biological inheritance and how language shapes memory and history. Free.

Closing October 4 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
The Jacob Lawrence Gallery presents Crossings, featuring new bricolage sculptures by Rob Rhee inspired by inosculated trees and experimental grafting processes. The exhibit includes work from his studio and ongoing developments at the UW Farm. Free.

Exhibitions: (天美影视传媒 Magazine)
Find art by UW alumni and faculty in solo exhibitions, group shows and art fairs across Seattle and beyond. Free.

Podcast: Ways of Knowing, Season 2
Faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences are facilitating critical conversations in the classroom and the sound booth! The second season of 鈥淲ays of Knowing,鈥 a podcast collaboration with The World According to Sound, spotlights eight Arts & Sciences faculty members whose research shapes our knowledge of the world in real time鈥攆rom digital humanities to mathematics to AI. Free.

Video: (Astronomy)
What will Rubin Observatory discover that no one鈥檚 expecting? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice learn and answer cosmic queries about the Vera Rubin Observatory, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and our next big tool to uncover more about the universe with Zeljko Ivezic, Director of Rubin Observatory Construction. Free.

Book Club: 鈥淭he Four Winds鈥 by Kristin Hannah(UW Alumni)
Readers鈥 Choice! Author (and UW alum – BA, Communication, 鈥83 ) Kristin Hannah highlights the struggles of the working poor during the Great Depression in this novel. Elsa is an awkward wallflower who is raising her two children on the family farm. As the Dust Bowl hits, she must choose between weathering the climate catastrophe in Texas or moving her family west to follow rumors of jobs in California. Free.


Week of September 22

September 25 | (Department of Chemistry)
A seminar featuring Professor Matt Golder. Free.

September 25 | (Henry Art Gallery)
A two-part series of readings by local authors exploring ghosts, familial histories, and the porousness between life and death. Free.

September 26 |
From the best-selling author of These Truths comes We the People, a stunning new history of the U.S. Constitution, for a troubling new era.


Week of September 29

October 1 | (School of Music)
Students of the UW School of Music perform in this lunchtime concert series co-hosted by UW Music and UW Libraries. Free.

October 3 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Celebrate fall at the Henry with an evening of bold, boundary鈥憄ushing art and vibrant community, featuring exhibitions like Rodney McMillian: Neighbors, Kameelah Janan Rasheed: we leak, we exceed, Spirit House, and Sculpture Court Mural 鈥 Charlene Liu: Scallion. Meet the artists, enjoy a no鈥慼ost bar, and a curated playlist. Free.

October 3 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Award-winning pianist and cultural ambassador Mahani Teave is a pioneering artist who bridges the creative world with education and environmental activism.

October 3 | (School of Music)
A performance featuring special guests Stomu Takeishi (bass), Lucia Pulido (voice), Cuong Vu (trumpet), and Ted Poor (drums), performing the music of Chilean composer Violeta Parra. Free.

October 4 | (Henry Art Gallery)
An in-depth conversation between artist Rodney McMillian and curator Anthony Elms about the artistic process, themes, and the


Week of October 6

October 7 | (Department of Economics)
Distinguished economist and 2024 Nobel Laureate James Robinson delivers the Milliman Lecture. Free.

October 8 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
A literary conversation between novelist and artist Gerardo S谩mano C贸rdova and UW professors Mar铆a Elena Garc铆a (CHID) and Vanessa Freije (JSIS/History), centered around S谩mano C贸rdova’s recent novel, Monstrilio, exploring the major themes of the book, including queerness, monstrosity, and grief. Free.

October 9 | (American Indian Studies)
A series to prepare for the Film Screening & UW Symphony Performance: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land on February 6, 2026 (). Free.

October 10 | (School of Music)
A performance featuring UW Jazz Studies students Jai Kobi Kaleo ‘Okalani, Coen Rios, and Ethan Horn. Free.

October 10 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
The South Asia Center and Tasveer Film Festival host a screening and discussion of Farming the Revolution (1hr 45min, India, 2024, Nishtha Jain). Free.

October 12 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
KEXP broadcasts live from the Burke Museum with music from Indigenous artists all day long! Visit the new special exhibition, Woven in Wool: Resilience in Coast Salish Weaving. While you’re here, say hello to Sammy the Sounder and celebrate the team’s new Salish Sea Kit, co-designed by local Coast Salish weavers. Enjoy free admission for all鈥攑lus, kids wearing any Sounders gear will receive a free soccer ball! Free.


Week of October 13

October 14 | (School of Music)
New UW strings faculty John Popham (cello) and Pala Garcia (violin) are joined by Mika Sasaki (piano) in a concert of contemporary works by their trio Longleash, including Nossas M茫os (Our Hands) by Igor Santos.

Online Option – October 14 | (Classics)
For three decades, the Centre d鈥櫭塼udes Alexandrines has reshaped our understanding of Alexandria, moving its history from ancient texts to a tangible reality. Terrestrial digs reveal the city’s daily life, while underwater excavations at the site of the legendary Lighthouse have yielded spectacular monumental discoveries. These integrated findings present a multi-layered city, allowing us to write a new history of Alexandria grounded in its material culture of adaptation and reuse. Free.

President Robert J. Jones

October 15 |听
President Jones will share his vision for advancing the UW鈥檚 public mission: expanding access to an excellent education for all students; strengthening connections with our communities; and accelerating research, discovery and innovation for the public good. Free.

Andrei Okounkov

October 15 | 听(Department of Mathematics)
Mathematics has its own language, which is used by all other sciences to describe our world. It is very important to use it correctly, and to appreciate how it changes with time. This importance is growing rapidly with the ever wider use of large language models. There is great potential here, but also many pitfalls, as discussed in this lecture. Free.

October 15 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
This Fall MFA exhibition at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery showcases emerging artists鈥 work. On view through November 8. Free.

October 16 | (American Indian Studies)
A series to prepare for the Film Screening & UW Symphony Performance: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land on February 6, 2026 (). Free.

October 16 | (Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies)
Connect with local legislators. John Traynor, the Government Affairs Director from the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, will facilitate the forum.

October 16 | (Simpson Center for the Humanities) Free.

October 17 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
The Grammy-nominated ensemble puts their unique spin on traditional mariachi, creating an explosion of colors and sounds all their own.

October 17 | (Department of Political Science)
UC Berkeley鈥檚 David Vogel joins the UW Center for Environmental Politics for a special guest lecture. Free.

October 18 | (Henry Art Gallery)
A curated selection of works explore the significance of branded products, examining how their ubiquity shapes perception, influences identity, and reflects broader cultural values. On view through January 28, 2026. Free.

October 18 | (School of Music)
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Fritts-Richards organ with a concert featuring UW students and faculty. A reception follows. Free.


Week of October 20

Emily M. Bender, Alex Hanna

Online Option – October 21 |听 The AI Con (Book Talk) with Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna (Office of Public Lectures)
Emily Bender (Linguistics) and Alex Hanna expose corporate-driven AI hype and provide essential tools to identify it, break it down, and expose the underlying power plays it seeks to conceal. Pay what you will.

David J. Staley

October 21 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Internationally acclaimed for their rich tone and precision, the Jerusalem Quartet brings a dynamic program featuring works by Haydn and Beethoven, plus Jan谩膷ek鈥檚 dramatic 鈥淜reutzer Sonata.

October 21 | (College of Arts & Sciences)
Staley is the author of Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education, which argues that too many innovations in education focus on delivery rather than transformative experience. Free.

October 22 | (Department of Chemistry)
Professor Wilfred van der Donk delivers this annual lecture in memory of Prof. Dauben, who helped shape modern organic chemistry. Free.

Dr. Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky

October 22 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
A forum discussing recent developments, diplomacy, and policy issues on the Korean Peninsula. Free.

October 23 | Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture – Beyond Status: Living Undocumented in Disruptive Times (Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity)
Dr. Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky is a sociologist in the Department of American Ethnic Studies at the 天美影视传媒, where she also holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Sociology. Annual lecture honoring UW faculty focused on diversity and social justice. Free.

October 23 | (American Indian Studies)
A series to prepare for the Film Screening & UW Symphony Performance: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land on February 6, 2026 (). Free.

October 23 | 听(Education)
Filmmakers and College of Education (CoE) community members Dr. Edmundo Aguilar, Assistant Teaching Professor, and Tianna Mae Andresen, ECO alum and instructor of Filipinx American US History in SPS, bring us the story of 鈥渢he students, teachers, and community members in their fight to preserve cross community liberatory ethnic studies and watch them reclaim their humanity along the way.鈥 Free.

Online Option – October 24 | The Art of Refuge, Resistance and Regeneration with Peter Sellars (Office of Public Lectures)
Director Peter Sellars will share real-world examples drawn from a lifetime of cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary artistic collaborations around the globe鈥攄emonstrating how art responds to crisis and catalyzes social transformation in an era of profound stakes.听Pay what you will.

October 24 | (Department of Political Science)
Jessica Weeks joins the UW International Security Colloquium to present current research in global politics and international relations. Free.

October 24 |听 (Department of Political Science)
This event is jointly hosted by the UW Political Theory Colloquium and the Washington Institute for the Study of Inequality and Race (WISIR). Free.

October 25 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Explore new exhibitions, catch captivating performances, get hands-on with an all-ages art-making workshop and museum bingo, and discover rarely seen works from the Henry鈥檚 collection. Free.

October 26 | (School of Music)
Chamber winds from the UW Wind Ensemble perform works by Caroline Shaw, Richard Strauss, and more, under the direction of Erin Bodnar. Free.


Week of October 27

David Baker

October 28 | (Department of Physics)
Nobel laureate David鈥疊aker discusses advanced protein design software and its use in developing molecules to address challenges in medicine, technology, and sustainability. Free.

October 28 | (School of Music)
Renowned pianist Santiago Rodriguez, from the Frost School of Music (Miami University), performs a solo recital presented by the keyboard program. Free.

October 30 | (American Indian Studies)
A series to prepare for the Film Screening & UW Symphony Performance: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land on February 6, 2026 (). Free.

October 31 | (Political Science)
Lecture by Egor Lazarev, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Yale University. Sponsored by the Severyns Ravenholt endowment and The 天美影视传媒 International Security Colloquium (UWISC).

October 31 | (School of Music)
Dr. Stephen Price, UW Organ Studies students, and guests perform spooky organ works and Halloween-themed favorites in this festive concert. Free.

Curious about what’s ahead? Check out the November ArtSci Roundup.


ArtSci Roundup goes monthly!

The ArtSci Roundup is your guide to connecting with the UW鈥攚hether in person, on campus, or on your couch.

Previously shared on a quarterly basis, those who sign up for the Roundup email will receive them monthly, delivering timely updates and engaging content wherever you are. Check the roundup regularly, as events are added throughout the month. Make sure to check out the ArtSci On Your Own Time section for everything from podcasts to videos to exhibitions that can be enjoyed when it works for you!

In addition, if you like the ArtSci Roundup, sign up to receive a monthly notice when it’s been published.

Do you have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu).

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