UW News

Department of Geography


September 20, 2024

ArtSci Roundup: Kicking the school year off with gallery exhibitions, a faculty comedy show, filming screening, and more!

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week. This week, attend gallery exhibitions, and more. As the UW community returns to campus, consider taking advantage of campus perks available to UW employees and students: Free admission to the Henry Art Gallery and Burke Museum Discounted tickets to performances by Meany Center,…


September 13, 2024

In the Field: Understanding the impact of Arctic militarization on Indigenous communities

An aerial view of Tromsø, Norway.

Mia Bennett, University of Washington assistant professor of geography, will spend a week this month in Norway as part of the orientation for the Fulbright Arctic IV Initiative. Bennett is one of 20 scholars selected to collaborate on multi-disciplinary research over the next 18 months.


May 16, 2024

ArtSci Roundup: Global Sport Lab, Art Honors Graduation Exhibition, Interconnected Worlds with Henry Yeung and more

This week, join the Global Sport Lab for a conversation about what the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup means for Seattle, check out the BA in Art Honors Graduation Exhibition, attend the lecture on Interconnected Worlds with Henry Yeung and more. May 20 – 26, UW Innovation Month  Innovation Month is a campus-wide celebration of…


April 18, 2024

ArtSci Roundup: Improvised Music Project Festival, Modern Abortion Around the World Panel, Taiwan’s Pop Music and more

This week, join the Jackson School for International Studies for a panel on Modern Abortion Around the World, head to Meany Hall for the Improvised Music Project Festival, celebrate Taiwan’s pop music, and much more. April 22, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | ‘Genbaku Otome: Reconsidering the “Hiroshima Maidens”’ with Kim Brandt (Columbia University), Thomson Hall…


March 28, 2024

ArtSci Roundup: DXARTS Time and Time Again Exhibition, Meany Hall Concert, Colloquium Lectures and more

This week, head to the Henry Art Gallery for the Freedom in Failure: “That’s how the light gets in” program, learn how virtual reality platforms can advance personalized treatment options for patients, visit the DXARTS gallery for Time and Time Again, and more. April 3, 12:30 pm | First Wednesday Concert Series: Students of the UW…


March 21, 2024

ArtSci Roundup: Calder Quartet, Psychology Colloquium, Black Girls (Re)Creating Space through Digital Practice and more

This week, attend the Psychology Loucks Colloquium, visit the Henry Art Gallery for Martine Gutierrez’s Monsen Photography Lecture, hear from Ashleigh Greene Wade on “Where Can We Be? Black Girls (Re)Creating Space through Digital Practice” and more. March 27, 12:30 – 1:30 pm | TALK | Arctic Ambitions: Navigating Arctic Security Challenges, Husky Union Building Join…


April 28, 2023

ArtSci Roundup: Spring Faculty Panel, Producing Artist Lab, Indigenous Foods Symposium, and more

This week, listen to a leading voice in the women’s movement, watch the UW School of Drama’s student directed play “In The Blood”, attend the Indigenous Foods Symposium, and more.


November 21, 2022

Q&A: Managing Washington’s gray wolf population – through fear

gray wolf looking at the camera

Wolf management in Washington has been controversial. Rob Anderson, who obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Washington, explains the dynamic of managing a species through fear.


November 3, 2022

ArtSci Roundup: Assessing the 2022 Midterm Election Results With Implications for the Next Two Years and for 2024, Empires Strick Back: Football and Colonialism, and more

Connect with the UW community every week through public events and exhibitions, summarized in this ArtSci Roundup.


October 28, 2022

ArtSci Roundup: Democracy and the 2022 Midterm Elections, Hafu ハーフ film screening, and more!

Connect with the UW community every week through public events and exhibitions, summarized in this ArtSci Roundup.


October 26, 2022

UW is No. 6 in the world, according to US News Best Global Universities

university of washington sign

The University of Washington rose from No. 7 to No. 6 on the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities rankings, released on Tuesday. The UW maintained its No. 2 ranking among U.S. public institutions.


August 29, 2022

Black-owned restaurants disproportionately impacted during pandemic

A new study led by the University of Washington uses cellphone location data to estimate the number of visits to Black-owned restaurants in 20 U.S. cities during the first year of the pandemic. The study finds that despite the “Black-owned” labelling campaign launched by companies such as Yelp, the number of visits to Black-owned restaurants dropped off after an initial spike and was inconsistent around the country.


November 10, 2021

ArtSci Roundup: Political Science Faculty Panel: Is Democracy Dead?, Benaroya Lecture, and More

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week! This week, attend lectures, exhibitions, and more. Many of these opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT.  Sharing Indigenous Knowledge Across Boundaries: Fishing Sovereignty in Alaska and British Columbia November 16, 11:00 AM…


October 13, 2021

Rankings: UW among best in world for education, social sciences, business and law

group photo

The University of Washington is among the best universities in the world for the studies of education, social sciences, business and law, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2022.


April 21, 2021

A growing problem of ‘deepfake geography’: How AI falsifies satellite images

satellite photo of Tacoma using geospatial data from Beijing, with shadows cast from most buildings

Using satellite photos of three cities and drawing upon methods used to manipulate video and audio files, a team of researchers led by the University of Washington set out to identify new ways of detecting fake satellite photos and warn of the dangers of falsified geospatial data.


February 17, 2021

ArtSci Roundup: Katz Distinguished Lecture: Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Contemporary Environmental Issues In Taiwan, Global Perspectives on Restorative Justice & Race, and More

During this time of uncertainty and isolation, find solace in digital opportunities to connect, share, and engage. Each week, we will share upcoming events that bring the UW, and the greater community, together online.  Many of these online opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT.  Joff…


December 28, 2020

ArtSci Roundup: Protest, Race and Citizenship across African Worlds, TEAL Digital Scholarship for East Asian Studies: The Deep Fake of Place, and More

During this time of uncertainty and isolation, find solace in digital opportunities to connect, share, and engage. Each week, we will share upcoming events that bring the UW, and the greater community, together online.  Many of these online opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT.  Beyond…


November 12, 2020

ArtSci Roundup: Rick Steves at UW Global Month, Beethoven Piano Trios, Lessons (Not) Learned from the Holocaust, and more

During this time of uncertainty and isolation, find solace in digital opportunities to connect, share, and engage. Each week, we will share upcoming events that bring the UW, and the greater community, together online.  Many of these online opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All UW faculty, staff, and students have access to Zoom Pro via UW-IT.  Livestream:…


May 27, 2020

UW experts on challenges to worker safety in meat processing industry

Meat processing plants face challenges in keeping workers safe during the pandemic. Carrie Freshour, a UW assistant professor of geography, and Marissa Baker, an assistant professor in the UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and an expert on worker safety related to infectious diseases, provides comments on what the industry can do to protect workers.


February 10, 2020

UW study reveals gender, racial disparities in evictions

Photo of closed door with eviction notice on the front

A new University of Washington study of eviction filings from each of Washington’s 39 counties illustrates where, and to whom, evictions hit hardest.


February 7, 2020

Interactive map shows worldwide spread of coronavirus

heatmap of China showing worldwide spread of coronavirus

University of Washington geographer Bo Zhao has created an interactive map, updated every few hours, of coronavirus cases around the world.


January 14, 2020

Academic, administrator, artist: Paintings by JW Harrington to be displayed at UW Tower

JW Harrington is not only a scholar of urban studies and a longtime UW professor, in recent years he has also become an artist. He has an exhibit pf paintings at the UW Tower in January and February.

James W. Harrington is not only a UW professor and former administrator — in recent years, he has also become a prolific painter. UW Notebook caught up with him to ask a few questions about his art and his coming exhibit at the UW Tower.


June 29, 2017

As metro areas grow, whites move farther from the city center

    In the middle of the 20th century, cities began to change. The popularity of the automobile and the construction of interstate highways fueled the growth of suburbs, while discriminatory housing policies segregated neighborhoods and helped create the phenomenon of “white flight” away from downtowns. Decades later, the average white person still lives farther…


June 16, 2017

What the bond between homeless people and their pets demonstrates about compassion

Spirit lives in Los Angeles with his two dogs. He is one of the homeless people featured in the My Dog is My Home exhibit.

A video camera captures an interview with a man named Spirit, who relaxes in an outdoor plaza on a sunny afternoon. Of his nearby service dogs, Kyya and Miniaga, he says, “They mean everything to me, and I mean everything to them.” In another video, three sweater-clad dogs scamper around a Los Angeles park, while…


May 21, 2015

Students put GIS skills to use on social justice projects

Geography professor Sarah Elwood sits at the front of a University of Washington classroom on a recent afternoon, listening and making suggestions as students discuss the data challenges they’re having. Some are wondering how to put data in a particular format. Others are muddling through the process of mapping data, or figuring out where to…


May 20, 2015

UW-led network seeks to reframe poverty locally and globally

Two University of Washington geography professors are leading an effort with what might be considered a staggeringly ambitious goal — to reframe how poverty is perceived and studied around the world. Victoria Lawson and Sarah Elwood are the co-founders of the UW-based Relational Poverty Network, a coalition of academic institutions and organizations around the United…


May 7, 2014

UW student briefs lawmakers on global land use, touts undergrad research

Mollie Holmberg stands next to her poster

At an event in Washington, D.C. a UW biology student presented her research into the global connections between consumers and goods that come from agriculture and forest production.


August 14, 2013

UW geographer devises a way for China to resolve its ‘immigration’ dilemma

University of Washington geographer Kam Wing Chan is in China this week, explaining how that country can dismantle its 55-year-old system that limits rural laborers from moving to and settling in cities and qualifying for basic social benefits.