Washington men’s basketball team joins Special Olympics for clinic and scrimmage in Shanghai Photo: Pac-12
With less than 48 hours left before the big Pac-12 China game, the UW Men’s Basketball team took in the sights of Shanghai, observing monks, visiting historic sites and practicing their Mandarin with locals. The Huskies also gave presentations at a temple as part of their class with English Professor Shawn Wong.
And today the team joined in a fun-filled, Special Olympics basketball clinic and scrimmage with student athletes from Shanghai Pudong Special Education School and staff from the U.S. Consulate General.
Check out this video of the team’s Shanghai adventures:
Photographers have been capturing scenes from the first half of the #UWinChina events, from a visit to Tsinghua University, to meeting Jack Ma at Alibaba’s headquarters, to experiencing some of the history and culture of China. Here are a few of our favorites.
All photos courtesy of Dan Schlatter (UW), Chad Ingraham (Shanghai) and the Pac-12
You are invited to join us for a day-long dialogue on the current status and future of the Arctic Council including some of the founding voices in the Arctic Council and heads of the Permanent Participant organizations. Please join us for all or part of the day (see the program for presentation times). No registration necessary.
The Arctic Council at Twenty: Permanent Participants, Arctic Policy in Canada and the United States, and Stewardship
Friday, 20 November 2015, 8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., Odegaard 220, University of Washington
The Arctic Council is the leading intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic states, Arctic Indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues. The Arctic Council is a unique international forum both historically and globally. It is the first international institution formed in dialogue with Indigenous peoples and the first where government and Indigenous organizations work on almost equal par to provide coordination for international decision making and activities in and concerning the circumpolar world. According the Griffith (2011) the Arctic Council was the result of a ground swell in civil society where scholars, practitioners and Indigenous leaders engaged in a dialogue concerning the need for an international coordinating body to address Arctic issues from a government and Indigenous perspective.
This workshop – supported by the Korea Maritime Institute, and hosted by the Canadian Studies Center/Arctic and International Relations in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies – will reflect on the almost 20-year history of the Arctic Council, its influence on Arctic policy in North America, and future options concerning its role. Participants will present and discuss their reflections on the Arctic Council including its influence on Canadian and U.S. Arctic policy, and the role of four of the six Permanent Participant organizations who are represented in the Pacific Northwest.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma welcomes President Ana Mari Cauce. Photo: UW
Try everything. Be optimistic. Don’t be afraid of failure. And make sure the people around you are empowered. Those are Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s guiding principles, and the advice he gave student journalists at the company’s Hangzhou headquarters Tuesday.
President Ana Mari Cauce asked Ma for his advice to students from The Daily and HUA Voice Radio who were at the session as part of their coverage of the UW’s events in China and Alibaba’s Singles Day.
Ma said he failed on three attempts to get into college before finally being accepted, and was even turned down from a job at KFC — the only one of two dozen applicants to be denied. He persisted and following a 1995 visit to Seattle, where he had his first experience with the Internet, and then Dallas, where he bought his first computer (“A 486,” he laughed), Ma went on to found one of the largest technology companies in the world.
You may be turned down, Ma said, but stay positive and “don’t turn down yourself.”
Alibaba is sponsoring the Pac-12 China game, as Ma believes team sports are a way to build teamwork and sportsmanship, and not just in athletics. He said that while businesses and nations are competitors, they should also respect each other and follow the rules.
After the Q&A, Ma met with the Huskies and the Longhorns — along with the two schools’ spirit squads and mascots — who presented him with jerseys. The teams each held a short practice on the company’s campus, before taking part in an educational seminar in the afternoon.
President Cauce gives the keynote address at the Tsinghua University Innovation and Big Data Forum. Photo: Dan Schlatter
The challenges of our time cross boundaries, so universities and nations must do the same to solve them. That was the message President Ana Mari Cauce delivered during her keynote address Monday at the Tsinghua University Innovation and Big Data Forum in Beijing.
“The future health, prosperity, and well-being of our nations and our planet depend on our ability to cross boundaries and build relationships. Relationships between our students, who are the future leaders of our nations; between our faculties, who are driving innovation around the world; and between our countries, as leading players on the global stage,” Cauce said.
Cauce said the opportunities of “big data” are perhaps most evident in public health, an area that is an area of particular strength for the UW. She discussed work by both the School of Public Health and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation to bring big data to bear on health challenges, from adverse pharmaceutical reactions to the effects of pollution.
IHME’s ongoing work with Chinese researchers and health agencies are identifying community-by-community health trends and challenges, and this enables a systematic approach to solving these challenges.
“Where you’re born matters. And by harnessing big data we’re able to see for the first time just how much it matters, to identify the hidden boundaries between us, and to do something about them,” Cauce said.
UW President Ana Mari Cauce shakes hands with Tsinghua University Chairperson Chen Xu after signing an agreement Nov. 9 creating a dual degree program within the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX). Dan Schlatter Photo: Dan Schlatter
A partnership created in June with the launch of the Global Innovation Exchange was further deepened Monday in Beijing as the University of Washington and Tsinghua University signed an agreement creating a 1+1 dual degree program.
The signing ceremony between President Ana Mari Cauce and Chairperson Chen Xu took place on the Tsinghua University campus after the UW delegation — including former U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke, former Washington Governor Chris Gregoire and Microsoft Corporate Vice President Rich Sauer — was welcomed at the historic Gong Zi Ting hall.
The dual degree program will provide students with the opportunity to study in both Bellevue and Beijing, earning a master’s degree from each university.
The GIX announcement was the first of a series of events between the two universities this week, with the morning also including an Innovation and Big Data Forum. #UWinChina continues in Hangzhou and Shanghai, capped off by the UW Innovation Summit and the Pac-12 China game.
President Ana Mari Cauce and former Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire highlighted how the Puget Sound’s unique spirit of inclusive innovation presents international opportunities in today’s Seattle Times. Gregoire is taking part in the UW’s events in China this week.
“[T]he most meaningful innovations of the future will result from multidisciplinary, multi-institutional and multinational collaborations to address and solve some of the world’s most perplexing challenges,” the two wrote.
“We believe our two great countries have much to contribute to making our world better and that we can accomplish more if we work together.”
In a trip all about building international partnerships and bridging two cultures, it makes sense that the Department of Communication would be well represented.
This week the department highlighted the faculty, students and alumni taking part in the events in China.
Associate Professor Gina Neff and UW Communication Hall of Fame member and former Gov. Chris Gregoire will both speak at the UW Innovation Summit.
Meanwhile, three students and a recent graduate are also part of the week. UW junior Joe Knight, a men’s basketball player, and sophomore Jane Yang, a teaching assistant, are part of the Pac-12 China game and related educational activities, and junior Olivia Fuller and alumnus Erik Erickson are reporting on the events for The Daily and HUA Voice.
Before departing for China, President Ana Mari Cauce and other UW officials, including Head Men’s Basketball Coach Lorenzo Romar, spoke with media from Seattle, as well as the home of the Huskies’ Pac-12 China game opponent.
The stories all encompassed the full range of activities — from academics and innovation to athletics — that will take place during the week. Follow all the events on Twitter at #UWinChina.
Kim Boudreau served as a Husky Presidential Ambassador this summer, traveling to China to study abroad and mentor incoming international freshmen. For this senior from Spokane, the trip was a chance to leave North America for the first time and share her Husky Pride with incoming freshmen. She came back with new friends and fresh perspectives.
Exploring Beijing
I loved exploring China with the freshmen students. Meeting them in their home country opened my world and theirs. I was matched with Qingyuan and Leo in Beijing, and with Zhicheng and Danni in Shanghai. One of my favorite memories is visiting the crowded, windy Hutongs of Beijing. The Hutongs are a series of old, narrow alleyways, not an ideal place for a big group. Our group of eight UW students was having so much fun that we decided to stick together anyway. Miraculously, we managed not to lose anyone.
I gained as much from the experience as the freshmen students did. I had traveled outside the U.S. only once before, on a trip to Montreal to visit family. This experience was on a whole new level. The Chinese students asked a ton of questions about life at the UW and in the United States. What are the professors like? Which classes should I take? Where’s the best place to eat? If I didn’t know the answer, I asked a fellow Husky Presidential Ambassador. This showed the freshmen students that peers are very useful resources. For my part, I learned that Chinese students are a lot like me. They have the same questions and worries that I had when I first started college. When I started at the UW I was very nervous, and I was only moving from Spokane. I can’t imagine moving halfway across the world. This experience totally changed my perspective on international students.
Back on campus
My study abroad experience was so much richer because I had the opportunity to participate in this cultural exchange. Being with someone who spoke the language and knew the culture made exploring Beijing and Shanghai much easier, but more importantly, I had new friends with me who could answer questions, and tell me about these new places from their perspective.
I didn’t want our time in China to end. At the same time, I was so excited to get back to Seattle because that meant I was one step closer to welcoming the Chinese students to the University of Washington. This quarter, we have class together every Friday. I’m excited for us to explore our University together.
