In 2013, David Rogers was retired and living his dream, having made his boat his home, sailing with his wife through the Sea of Cortez, when he became very ill. He was advised to return to the States, where he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. When a loved one is diagnosed with cancer, most people feel an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Not so David’s daughter, Kirsten Rogers. Kirsten (‘05, ‘10) set out to research all she could about how to best support her father.
Author: Undergraduate Academic Affairs
Reviewed 9/22
Undergraduate research to take over Mary Gates Hall on May 16
On Friday, May 16, more than 1,100 University of Washington undergraduates will participate in the 17th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium—an event that might well be the country’s largest “show and tell” for undergraduate research. The Symposium takes place from 11 a.m.–6 p.m. in Mary Gates Hall; select oral presentations will happen in Johnson Hall and visual arts and design presentations will be in Odegaard Undergraduate Library.
Discover the impact of student service and leadership at the Spring Celebration
UW students have a zeal for community service and activism. In 2012-13, more than 7,000 students engaged in academic service-learning, volunteering a staggering 465,000 hours with organizations such as Girls on the Run and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. That’s the equivalent of 53 years of service.
In recognition of this extraordinary accomplishment, the annual Spring Celebration of Service and Leadership showcases more than 100 UW undergraduates who have dedicated their time, skills and sheer hard work to service and leadership activities in the community.
The Spring Celebration takes place May 20, 3-6:30 p.m. in the HUB (gallery of projects on first floor, reception in Lyceum) on the UW Seattle campus. All students, staff, faculty and especially alumni of UAA programs are invited to attend.
This year’s Spring Celebration will include a Gallery of Student Projects, nine break-out sessions and a pop-up museum showcasing artifacts that represent the theme of “the art of powerful citizenship,” curated by students who attended Citizen University 2014, a national conference for educators and activists on civic engagement.
Service is, of course, about contributing your skills and giving your time to those in need. But this also leads to innumerable benefits for the volunteers themselves.
Spring 2014 Alumni e-Newsletter
Table of Contents
- Message from Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor
- Entrepreneur Kirsten Rogers aims to take a bite out of cancer
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s visit to the UW
- Honors students discover the world, themselves
- UW collaboration, student discovery on display at Undergraduate Research Symposium
- Discover the impact of student service and leadership at the Spring Celebration
- Dream Project freshmen reflect on year 1 at the UW
Back to e-newsletter overview >
Daniel Hadidi, who graduated last winter quarter with a B.S. in biology, worked with Persian Circle, a cultural organization that works to bring together Persians at UW and in the greater Seattle area. Daniel found that his work not only helped strengthen the Persian community, but it also helped himself in many ways. “I have experienced great personal growth, becoming more confident in social situations and establishing closer relationships with others,” he says.
Professor Rick Bonus, associate professor of American Ethnic Studies, stresses the educational value of service-learning projects. “It’s not only a different kind of learning because of its location,” he says. “It’s a kind of learning that is wrapped around the practice of being of service to others. When serving others takes place, students learn how to empathize, collaborate, and participate in someone else’s lives. Indeed, many students tell me how being of service is such a humbling experience, and one that provides them with a deeper sense of meaningfulness beyond what a classroom session could offer.”
Hanna Dinh, a senior studying public health and medical anthropology, certainly experienced that. She volunteered with the Vietnam Health Center and served on its Public Health Committee to make educational posters and take-home notecards for patients in rural areas of Vietnam about public health issues such as water sanitation. Hanna was especially impressed by the amount of teamwork it took from volunteers, staff, advisers and other students to achieve a successful project. “We all volunteered and struggled together, but also challenged and supported each other to reach our potential […] Witnessing and experiencing this teamwork daily during our volunteering in Vietnam gave me the necessary energy and strength [to complete the project].“
The Spring Celebration of Service and Leadership is sponsored by the Carlson Leadership and Public Service Center, the Husky Leadership Initiative, Jumpstart, the Mary Gates Endowment for Students, the Pipeline Project, and the HUB, programs that are a part of Undergraduate Academic Affairs and Student Life.
UW Dream Project is awarded a $150,000 College Spark Washington Community Grant
The Dream Project at the University of Washington has been awarded a three-year, $150,000 College Spark Washington Community Grant today to enhance its current work by improving its curriculum, materials and training of mentors; and improvements to its data management system to better inform efforts to help students avoid remediation.
UW students to explore far reaches of the globe by means of unusual fellowship
Fourteen University of Washington students were recently awarded Bonderman Travel Fellowships that will enable them to embark on solo journeys that are at least eight months long and take them to at least two regions and six countries of the world. These fellowships, worth $20,000 each, aim to expose students to the intrinsic, often life-changing, benefits of international travel.
LeAnne Wiles, associate director in First Year Programs, named a Distinguished Staff Awardee
LeAnne Wiles, associate director in First Year Programs, was recently named a Distinguished Staff Awardee for 2014! Four individuals, including Wiles, and one team were awarded the University of Washington’s top honor for its staff.
In Memoriam: Eliana Hechter
Eliana Hechter died on Wednesday, April 16, 2014. Eliana graduated magna cum laude from the University of Washington in 2006 with a degree in mathematics. She entered the UW at age 14 through the Robinson Center’s Early Entrance Program, was a student in the University Honors Program, and graduated when she was 18 years old.
As an undergraduate, she studied creative writing in Rome with the Honors Program, conducted research at Friday Harbor Laboratories, participated in the Mathematics Department’s highly selective Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program, was a teaching assistant for honors accelerated advanced calculus (a course she took as a freshman), and was an involved student in the Honors Program community.
Eliana’s undergraduate honors and awards include UW and national recognition. Her UW awards include a Dean’s Medal in the natural sciences, a Phelps Fellowship, NASA Space Grant Scholarship, and a Best Graduating Senior Award from the Department of Mathematics. Nationally, Eliana received a Goldwater Scholarship and was a 2006 Rhodes Scholar—at the time she was the second-youngest person to ever receive the Rhodes. She was also selected for a Marshall Scholarship but declined in order to accept the Rhodes.
At Oxford University, Eliana earned her Ph.D. in statistics. According to her website, she was a visiting graduate student at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard as well. At the time of her death, she was a first-year medical student at the joint Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program.
UW English professor and former Honors Program director Shawn Wong remembered an 11-year-old Eliana coming to his office door looking for critical feedback from him on her stories. When Eliana enrolled at the UW at age 14, she took Wong’s graduate creative writing class and was a student in his Honors study abroad class in Rome when she was 15. They stayed in contact through the years, and Wong read two of her novels-in-progress. Wong remarks, “There was no doubt in my mind that she was going to be a published novelist as well as a physician and mathematician.”
Eliana is survived by her father, former UW professor Michael Hechter. Her mother, Debra Friedman, passed away in January, 2014, from cancer. She was the chancellor of UW Tacoma at the time of her death but was also instrumental in establishing Undergraduate Academic Affairs, formerly known as the Office of Undergraduate Education, on the Seattle campus.
Photos, video, and stories from Justice Sotomayor’s UW visit
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor visited the University of Washington earlier this year. Provost Ana Mari Cauce interviewed Justice Sotomayor, asking questions submitted by students. The audience learned about the Justice’s formative experiences that shaped her into who she is today. Relive the event through video, photos, and links to media stories.
Spring 2014 Collegium Seminars lineup
Congratulations, freshmen! You made it to spring quarter! Undoubtedly, you’ve checked off many items on your first-year-at-the-UW-to-do list. But have you taken a Collegium Seminar yet? They are only for freshmen so this quarter is your last chance!
These unique classes are a great way to fill out your schedule. Take a class that’s a little different from what you normally take. If you took one in winter or fall quarter, you can take another in the spring. Collegium Seminars are low-risk (they’re 1 credit, credit/no credit); they’re taught by some of the UW’s best faculty; and they’re limited to 25 students. Help your mind blossom this spring: enroll in a Collegium Seminar!
Quick Links
Seminars offered in spring quarter 2014
Note: For more specific information about a particular seminar, please contact the instructor listed for the course.
Seeing Race in a Color Blind World
Moon-Ho Jung, History
- GEN ST 197, SLN 14334
- TH 2:30-3:20
For most Americans, particularly after the election of Barack Obama, race tends to be framed and understood as a relic of the past. How might we study and discuss race in our contemporary moment, when any and all talk of race is commonly dismissed as promoting racial divides? From the latest scholarly articles and Supreme Court rulings to media representations and daily social interactions, we will explore the thorny politics of race in the 21st century.
Mathematics in Our World
Andrew Loveless, Mathematics
- GEN ST 197, SLN 14340
- W 2:30-3:20
Mathematics is in everything we do. Topics in this seminar will be based on students’ interests, but I personally have interests in problems that appear in cryptography, networks and discrete mathematics. Questions like how do we encode our credit card number so that only Amazon.com can read it? Or how can a delivery company minimize its fuel use? We will touch on many such questions and broadly discuss problems that are interesting to mathematicians and have far reaching applications. Throughout this discussion, I hope to convey the beauty and joy of problem solving which is at the heart of my love of mathematics.
The Sustainable Campus
Bruce Balick, Astronomy
- GEN ST 197, SLN 14342
- W 3:00-4:20
The goal of this hands-on course is to demonstrate how our students can influence and improve the world in which they live. “The Sustainable Campus” is a field-oriented course in which teams of students select, analyze and propose improvements in an area of UW operations of their choosing. Students will work with responsible UW officials to collect data and generate beneficial and practical suggestions for change. Examples of course topics are improvements in UW’s composting and recycling programs, commuter practices, the operations of UW’s sports facilities, electricity and water use in residence halls, and healthy foods on campus.
So You Want to Be a Zen Master
John Manchak, Philosophy
- GEN ST 197, SLN 14336
- F 12:30-1:20
This seminar will introduce students to Zen Buddhism and investigate the science and practice of mindfulness meditation.
Where and Why Do Wildlife and Humans Collide?
Karen Petersen, Department of Biology
- GEN ST 197, SLN 14335
- W 12:30-1:50
Learn about wildlife and human interactions by exploring the world of vertebrates, from fish to mammals. We’ll take walking tours through a heron rookery, as well as behind-the-scenes tours of the Burke Museum and the University of Washington’s fish collection. Interspersed with our tours, you’ll discuss how and why researchers study urban wildlife and how humans and wildlife may collide by competing for the same resources, and the multiple ways that wildlife can provide scientists with important research models to address a variety of human needs.
Sustainable Energy Solutions for the 21st Century: Science, Technology, and Policy
Payman Arabshahi, Electrical Engineering
- GEN ST 197, SLN 14341
- M 11:30-12:20
Become an informed citizen of a new generation and prepare to contribute meaningfully to the energy debate. We will cover regional and global energy demand, sources, policy, current and future technologies, costs of sustainable energy production and its impacts on climate and the environment, and solutions to our energy problems. The class text will be “Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air” (download at http://withouthotair.com). Class will be structured around field trips and group projects.
The Violence of the Small: Looking into Global Complexity
Clarke Speed, University Honors Program
- GEN ST 197 SLN 14338
- W 1:30-2:20
I have always been interested in the rest of the world—off the global path but tied to all things global. Here one finds the power of the small—people and societies that resist globalization and in a few cases those that remain un-captured by larger global flows. In some cases, the power of the small upsets the rule of law and the nation-state, as ethnic groups and factions in various regions fight both cultural and technological wars for survival. I want to talk about these small wars at very basic levels to get the big and small pictures of the power of the small.
Microbial World: Friend and Foe
Roger Bumgarner, Microbiology
- GEN ST 197 SLN 20975
- M 3:00-3:50
This freshman seminar course is focused on introducing students to a wide range of research and research topics in microbiology with an emphasis on how the research relates to their daily lives. Speakers are chosen specifically to cover topics that might be of interest to students such as bacterial biofuel production, HIV vaccines, food safety and bacterial and viral pathogens involved in aquaculture and the health of wild fish populations. Speakers will provide a brief discussion of how they became interested in science and how they wound up in their current position followed by a discussion of their current research. Prior to each seminar, students will be provided with one or more links to news articles related to the research topic. The seminars are, for the most part, informal and students are encouraged to ask questions of the speakers both during and after the presentation.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to visit UW in March
On March 10, 2014, United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will visit Seattle to talk about My Beloved World, her memoir chronicling her journey from a housing project in the Bronx to her service as a federal judge in New York and ultimately as a Supreme Court Justice.