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Community engagement stories

 


  • Meet Seattle's first indigenous planner

    Two people in masks working with some bales of hay.

    Tim Lehman (Northern Arapaho) didn’t set out to become Seattle’s first Indigenous planning strategist. As a teen, he was drawn to the hands-on craft of masonry. It wasn’t until his time at the University of Washington (UW) — and a FEMA-supported coastal hazard mitigation project — that he discovered a love for design. That turning…

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  • Building the UW's capacity for CE documentation and assessment: CCUW Fall 2025 Update

    screenshot of Community Connect UW webpage

    Community Connect UW (CCUW) is a database and management platform that allows UW faculty, staff, students and community partners to connect, organize, and understand impacts of collaboration. Fall 2025 Update This autumn, we're rolling out the platform to support community-engaged courses. We are also exploring new uses such as: Civic Health Scorecard, piloting on the…

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  • UW President Dr. Robert J. Jones Lays Out Bold Vision for Affordability, Innovation, and Community Partnership

    In his inaugural address as the newly appointed president of the University of Washington, Dr. Robert J. Jones delivered a powerful and forward-looking message about the future of higher education, the urgency of affordability, and the need for transformational collaboration across sectors. Jones, a nationally recognized higher education leader, spoke candidly about the challenges universities…

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  • Seattle to launch first connected network of community food micro-pantries

    person on a bike with a trailer

    New NSF-funded UW project will use smart sensors to fight hunger, reduce food waste, and increase food access Photo by Cascade Bicycle Club. Seattle will soon pilot the first connected network of community food micro-pantries in the U.S., using smart sensors to track supply and demand. Led by the Urban Freight Lab at the University…

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  • Toward liberation

    Dr. Dan Berger, professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, is recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Community-Engaged Scholar Award. As a young activist, Dr. Dan Berger found special inspiration in the Black visionaries of the ’60s and ’70s. So how, he wondered, did we get here? “Here” is an era of mass incarceration,…

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