UW News

Devin Naar


March 15, 2021

New Stroum Center podcast series ‘Jewish Questions’ explores anti-Semitism, features UW faculty

“Jewish Questions,” a podcast from the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, explores issues of Jewish life, politics, history and culture


February 9, 2021

Faculty/staff honors: Holocaust commemoration, new compositions, a top local album of 2020

Recent honors and achievements by UW faculty include a keynote address at a national Holocaust commemoration event, an album of new compositions and a best-of-2020 musical nod from the Seattle Times.


November 4, 2020

Faculty/staff honors: New atmospheric research board trustee; prize-winning fiction; PBS show consultant

Shuyi Chen, UW professor of atmospheric sciences, has been elected one of five new trustees to the board of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, the group that manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

A University of Washington meteorologist joins a national board for atmospheric research, an English professor’s story is honored and a Jackson School faculty member helps with research for a PBS show.


September 9, 2020

English Department discusses coronavirus, ‘politics of care’ in ‘Literature, Language, Culture’ podcasts, videos — plus Devin Naar of Sephardic Studies interviewed on two podcasts

The Department of English has introduced its new “Literature, Language, Culture” Dialogue Series, a series of podcasts and YouTube videos — and Devin Naar of Sephardic Studies is interviewed on two podcasts


May 24, 2019

UW books in brief: Mindful travel in an unequal world, day laborers in Brooklyn, activist educators

Recent notable books by University of Washington faculty explore mindful international travel, men seeking work as day laborers, and activist teachers.


March 14, 2019

Jackson School’s Devin Naar featured in documentary premiering March 24 at Seattle’s Jewish Film Festival

Professor Devin Naar of the UW Jackson School and Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, right, talks with Joseph F. Lovett, director of the documentary "Children of the Inquisition." The film, which Naar consulted on and appears in, will premiere at the 2019 Seattle Jewish Film Festival.

Devin Naar, UW professor of international studies and history, is featured in “Children of the Inquisition,” a new documentary film about descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions discovering their Sephardic Jewish heritage. The film will premiere March 24 as part of the Seattle Jewish Film Festival.


January 28, 2019

UW’s Stroum Center affiliates present on Holocaust, Ladino archives and more at 50th anniversary Jewish studies conference

The Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, in the UW Jackson School of International Studies, was well represented at the 50th annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies Dec. 16-18 in Boston.


December 19, 2017

UW-authored books and more for the Dawg on your holiday shopping list

Here’s a quick look at some gift-worthy books and music created by UW talents in the last year or so — and a reminder of some perennial favorites.


March 23, 2017

Jackson School to offer lectures for students on ‘Trump in the World’

Faculty with the UW Jackson School of International Studies will explore the impact of the 2016 election on their respective areas of expertise in a new two-credit class titled “Trump in the World: International Implications of the Trump Presidency.”


November 2, 2016

Devin Naar’s book ‘Jewish Salonica’ tells of city’s transition from Ottoman Empire to Greece

"Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece" was published in September by Stanford University Press.

Prof. Devin Naar of the Jackson School and the Department of History discusses his new book, “Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece,”


October 5, 2016

‘A Hug from Afar’: A Sephardic family’s journey of escape as World War II looms

"A Hug from Afar: One Family's Dramatic Journey Through Three Continents to Escape the Holocaust" is by Claire Barkey Flash, with foreword by Devin Naar, UW Isaac Alhadeff Professor of Sephardic Studies and associate professor of history and Jewish studies.

Prof. Devin Naar of the Jackson School’s Stroum Center for Jewish Studies discusses the book “A Hug from Afar: One Family’s Dramatic Journey Through Three Continents to Escape the Holocaust,” by Claire Barkey Flash, for which Naar wrote the foreword.


April 29, 2016

UW professor helps TV star Lea Michele discover her Sephardic heritage

Actress Lea Michele is surprised to learn about her family roots from Devin Naar, UW assistant professor of International Studies and chair of the Sephardic Studies Program in the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies. The photo is from the May 1 season-ending episode of the TLC channel's show "Who Do You Think You Are?"

The upcoming season finale of TLC’s popular program “Who Do You Think You Are,” airing May 1, will feature UW professor Devin Naar helping television star Lea Michele learn about her Sephardic Jewish ancestry.