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May 3, 2007

Washington Weekend: A UW celebration

Photo by Mary Levin
UW President Mark Emmert, center, smiles as he lends a hand at the Community Celebration on Friday. The celebration featured Emmert, Provost Phyllis Wise and other administrators serving lunch to employees to thank them for their work. At right is Ron Irving, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Photo by Kathy Sauber
Student dancers Jennifer Levy, front, and Katherine Boulanger, behind her, practice in the Intermediate Ballet class, which opened its doors to visitors during Washington Weekend.

Photo by Kathy Sauber
Dan Klein, a graduate student from the Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in the College of Engineering, shows off Robofish, an autonomous underwater vehicle that could be used for exploration. The demonstration was part of the college’s open house, held every year during Washington Weekend.

Photo by Kathy Sauber
Adam Huxtable, a senior in mechanical engineering, shows off the human-powered submarine called Dive Dog as student visitors look on.

Red Square smelled of smoke at midday Friday — barbecue smoke, rising from the grills upon which thousands of burgers and dogs got cooked for the enjoyment of faculty and staff during the UW Community Celebration.

President Mark Emmert, Provost Phyllis Wise and other UW luminaries donned chef’s aprons and helped sling burgers and dogs as lengthy lines snaked past tables heaped with lunch food and beverages. The smoke and sizzle, together with jazz by the band Pocket Change, made an excellent party atmosphere.

But the staff celebration was just part of the campuswide shindig known as Washington Weekend. The event is the UW’s annual time for opening the campus to the outside community for lectures, tours, demonstrations, open houses, arts performances and more. There were entertaining presentations such as the “Who Gets the Last Word” lecture, this year delivered by Mary Pat Wenderoth, a senior lecturer in the Biology Department, and a talk by James Sun, a UW Business School graduate who is currently appearing on the television show The Apprentice. Drama, music and dance performances were plentiful, with the schools of music and art opening their doors to visitors.

Suzanne Mercier, senior events manager for the Alumni Association, said, “When I think this is just the third year, it’s amazing to me what it has become.” Still, Mercier said she will plan for even wider participation when Washington Weekend comes back around for its fourth run in 2008. “I know, particularly with the success of the Community Celebration, that there are parts of campus that we are not yet touching with Washington Weekend,” she said. “One of my big goals for the coming year is to make sure we’re enabling outreach to all corners of the University, for people to both attend and showcase their work.”

And finally, the event was also pronounced good by Chuck Blumenfeld, executive director of the UW Alumni Association, the event’s main sponsor. “It was a success on a number of fronts,” he said, citing the Community Celebration and higher attendance and fortunate weather. “In all, it met or exceeded all of our expectations.”