UW News

April 22, 2014

News digest: Burke-Gilman detours, Honor: McCarthy, provost town hall, Honors: Sutton and Loveland, Green UW

Burke-Gilman Trail detour expands starting April 23
Walkers and bicyclists using the Burke-Gilman Trail can expect additional closures and changes starting Wednesday, April 23, from the corner near Husky Stadium, along Northeast Pacific and up behind Stevens Court. This detour expands on a previous detour put in place by the Montlake Triangle/Rainier Vista project.

Map with detours marketThe new detour will close two more portions of the trail, one at the Rainier Vista and the other between Fifteenth Avenue Northeast and Brooklyn Avenue Northeast. A stretch of the trail in between these two areas will have local access only until construction begins in June, when the university will close this longer stretch. It is anticipated that this detour will remain in place through the fall and likely into the winter months.

The detours are to accommodate University of Washington work improving connections at the Rainier Vista and Montlake Triangle and construction projects by Seattle City Light to better connect the university to its power grid. Eventually the trail will be double-its width, with a separate sidewalk for pedestrians and cycletrack for bicyclists, and have dozens of new lights, more blue emergency phones, better trail intersections and improved sightlines.

Signs will be in place to indicate detour changes, and updated information is available online.

John McCarthy
McCarthy named physician/citizen of year in Spokane
Spokane native Dr. John McCarthy, assistant dean for regional affairs at the UW School of Medicine, has been named “Spokane Physician/Citizen of the Year for 2013” by the Spokane County Medical Society. The award was presented April 17 for his contributions to the medical profession and community.

McCarthy received his medical degree from the UW in 1990 and became board certified in 2003 after completing a family medicine residency at Tacoma Family Medicine. Today, McCarthy is a practicing physician in the Spokane area, where he also oversees clinical medical education in Eastern and Central Washington through the WWAMI program, a  collaborative medical education program among universities in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho, and the UW School of Medicine.

McCarthy has garnered numerous awards including the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Graduate Regional Medical Campus’s Shining Star Award earlier this year. In 2013 he was awarded the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Innovative Program Award, and in 2012 he earned both the UW School of Medicine Service Excellence Award and the Washington Academy of Family Physicians Doctor of the Year.

Provost town hall April 29
Join the town hall discussion with Provost Ana Mari Cauce in Kane 120, or watch online, 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 29. She plans to address key issues and priorities for the current academic year and answering questions.

Those who wish may submit questions in advance to provost@uw.edu or via the UW’s Facebook page.

Mug shot of Sharon SuttonUW faculty honored by architect association’s Seattle chapter
Sharon Sutton, UW professor of architecture and urban design and planning, has been awarded the 2014 Medal of Honor by the Seattle chapter of the American Institute of Architects, now called more simply AIA.

Sutton also directs the UW Center for Environment, Education and Design Studies. The medal is the chapter’s highest annual award.

Mug shot of Joel LovelandAlso, Joel Loveland, professor of architecture, is recipient of the chapter’s 2014 Community Service Award. Loveland is director of the UW’s Integrated Design Lab, which won the group’s 2014 Allied Organization Award.

The Seattle honorees were nominated for the awards by their peers, and will be recognized in an honors dinner May 31 at the Museum of History of History and Industry.

Fifth year in a row, UW among green colleges
In time for Earth Day, the UW has been listed among the 22 most environmentally responsible “green colleges” in a guidebook just published by the Princeton Review and the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council.

Those schools all received the highest rating (99) in a 2013 survey of 832 schools in the U.S. and Canada that asked about the institutions’ sustainability related policies, practices and programs. It is the fifth consecutive year UW has been on the “green colleges” list.