The pace of visitors coming to Washington DC slowed quite a bit in November, which is typical for this time of year. In fact there were only three from campus. The first was Randy Hodgins, Vice President of External Affairs, who was here the first week of November. Randy and the Federal Relations team of Christy Gullion (Director) and Jonathan Nurse (Assistant Director) visited offices of the Washington delegation to discuss the projects that have been submitted for inclusion as directed appropriations (earmarks) in the FY 2011 budget. Randy was able to stay through Saturday to join UW alums in cheering on the Huskies football game.
Elaine Oneil, Dean of Forest Resources and Executive Director of CORRIM (Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials), was in DC November 18 to the 20th. She testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on “The Management of Federal Forests in Response to Climate Change, Including for Natural Resource Adaptation and Carbon Sequestration.” While she was here she was also able to meet with some of the Washington delegation staff about the issue. In Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ office, Elaine briefed staff on a project she recently completed on biomass availability from forest residuals from McMorris Rodgers’ district.
The last visitor to DC was David Allen, Chair of Women’s Studies, who was here to attend a meeting of the White House Council on Women and Girls at the White House on November 23. This Council was appointed by President Obama in March of this year; they were interested in gathering feedback regarding the UW’s efforts in this area and the UW program.