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Creating your UW academic adventure

Written by Undergraduate Academic Affairs
Posted on

Welcome to the University of Washington! This story is your own choose-your-own-adventure story, and begins right here with you. You are a first-year student in your first quarter. As you read, you will face challenges that ask you to decide which way to go. What will your pathway be? As you jump from storyline to storyline, you will learn about the resources available to you through UAA’s Academic Support Programs. Just as in life, you can’t go backward in this story, but you will get opportunities to redirect along the way. Have fun, and see you at the finish line: commencement!

Editor’s note: This story is not meant to be read straight through. Read a section, make your choice and see what part of your academic adventure unfolds next.

1

It’s your first quarter at the UW! You feel very motivated and excited by the possibilities of a big university and living on your own for the first time.

As you prepare for classes, you reflect on how you want to make a difference in people’s lives and help others. You aren’t entirely sure what this may look like, but you are leaning pretty heavily toward a major in a STEM field. You talk it out with your family and they support this idea, saying, “Not only would you be able to help others, but you will have many post-graduate opportunities in a medical field.”

You signed up for a series of introductory classes at summer Advising & Orientation, including a chemistry class. In the first week of class, you overhear a student saying, “I heard this is a weed-out class,” but you feel pretty confident in your academic ability based on your grades in high school.

Continue to #2

 

 

 

2

The quarter is underway, and after just a few weeks you find yourself overwhelmed with the workload in your chemistry class. Looking around you say, “Why does everyone else seem to be managing this better than me?” Your new friends are going to parties and get-togethers while you are stuck at your desk for hours trying to understand the textbook. You realize you never really learned how to study in high school, and have no idea if you are doing it effectively.

You decide you need to either increase your study hours and commit to study nights at Odegaard Library or talk to your TA about your challenges.

#3 Decide to do more solo studying at Odegaard

#4 Decide to check in with a TA

 

 

 

 

3

Decide to solo study at Odegaard

Having dedicated more time to studying at night in Odegaard library, you begin to get caught up on all your readings before each class. Although the evenings there come with fewer distractions, the late nights start to wear on you, leaving you feeling isolated and sleep-deprived. You make plans with new friends only to cancel, telling them, “I can’t hang out because I need to study. I’m so anxious about answering questions in class correctly.”

Your focus has improved as you move through the quarter. You review your lecture notes, the readings from the textbook, and do all the practice exercises. Since you are studying alone, though, you question if you are answering the questions correctly. The back of the textbook has some of the answers but not the ones you are most stuck on.

As midterms approach, you find yourself falling behind again. The late study nights leave you sleeping through your alarm clock and running late to classes. You are exhausted and bail on your quiz section to take a nap. At this point in the quarter you find yourself asking, “Do I need to go talk to my chemistry TA, or should I just keep doing what I’m doing and hope for the best?”

#4 Decide to go check in with a TA

#5 Head to the midterm

 

 

 

4

Decide to check in with a TA

You schedule a meeting with your TA and share how much time you are studying. The TA reassures you that it’s enough time and gives you a piece of advice, “It is important to find study strategies that work best for you to understand the material.” You know the TA cares about your success and talking with them was helpful, but when you leave you realize you aren’t exactly sure how to find the strategies that work best for you, especially when you never had this type of workload in high school. You feel a little lost and stuck, so you head to the library for a few more late nights of midterm prep.

#5 Time to head to the midterm

 

 

 

 

5

It’s time for the midterm

The first midterm of the quarter is here, and with all the extra nights you spent studying, you feel like it went pretty well! The professor mentioned it would be graded on a curve, so you think you will get at least a B. When the test scores come back you find out you did not even pass! Looking at your score you think, “I don’t even know how this could happen! I studied so much, and missed out on all the fall events. I’m nervous about asking for help, but with this score, it’s clear I am going to need it.”

You remember seeing a post for CLUE tutoring on your Instagram feed and think they might be able to help you with your chem homework. You also remember an Academic Success Coaching flyer in the HUB and think they might be able to help with study skills and time management. You feel anxious about either option but eventually decide to reach out.

#6 Go to CLUE tutoring

#7 Go to the academic success coach

 

 

 

6

Decide to go to CLUE tutoring

You have been feeling a little intimidated connecting with others, and your nervousness has kept you from going to CLUE tutoring yet. You realize you really do need the help as you say, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” while eying the time on your phone. It’s 7 p.m., so the CLUE tutoring drop-in sessions just started. You grab your chemistry homework and head over. You sit in the chemistry tutoring section and hear other students talk about tips they have used to better understand concepts. It’s reaffirming to hear that others struggle with the same material, and you feel like you’ve warmed up to working with other students. The CLUE tutor reviews additional problems with you, helping you identify what step you were missing. You write down the steps to solve the problems, and are so happy to have that for later reference!

You feel like you have gotten help with some of the concepts you were struggling with in class, so now you need to choose if you want to keep studying these concepts for finals, or meet with an academic success coach and dive deeper into your study skills.

#10 Apply what you learned at CLUE and head to finals week

#8 Stopover with an academic success coach before finals week

 

 

 

7

Meet with the academic success coach

“What’s the worst thing that could happen?” you ask yourself as you schedule a session to meet with an academic success coach. When you arrive and settle in, they ask how the quarter is going, and at first you say, “It’s going okay.” They continue to ask you questions and mention that they had a challenging time their first quarter at the UW. You decide to tell them how you are actually doing: “I’ve worked so hard and it’s as though I don’t see any of it reflected in my grades. I am homesick and sad to have missed out on new adventures with friends. I’m just always studying and barely making it!”

The coach listens and says, “It’s completely understandable that you are feeling homesick with all this time spent studying alone. I know when I studied alone and tried to teach myself all of the material my first quarter of college, I was totally exhausted and realized I needed to try new study strategies that would work for me.” You feel relieved that someone understands you, and even more relieved when they share these active studying techniques with you. The coach suggests you start working with others to avoid isolation and collaborate through practice problems. “You can actively study with others by working together through practice problems and having discussions on the material,” they suggest.

Before you leave, they go over what your academic needs and learning styles are so they can coordinate the right resources for you. You end up walking out with a list of CHEM student organizations for group course content discussions, CLUE tutoring to work through problems with and strategies for tackling practice problems. You think, “I am so happy that I gave this a shot! You think about whether you should also get some 1:1 tutoring at CLUE or join a study group as you head to finals week.

#9 Decide to go to CLUE tutoring

#10 Head to finals week

 

 

 

 

8

Dive into study skills with an academic success coach

After going to CLUE tutoring, you are less intimidated in connecting with others. Now that you have gotten support with some of the class concepts, you want to address potential study strategies.

You head in to meet with an academic success coach and they ask how the quarter is going. You say, “It’s going okay,” but they continue to ask you questions and mention that they had a challenging time their first quarter at the UW. You decide to tell them how you are actually doing, “I’ve worked so hard and it’s as though I don’t see any of it reflected in my grades. I am homesick and sad to have missed out on new adventures with friends. I’m just always studying and barely making it!”

The coach listens and says, “It’s completely understandable that you are feeling homesick with all this time spent studying alone. I know when I studied alone and tried to teach myself all of the material my first quarter of college, I was totally exhausted and realized I needed to try new study strategies.” You feel relieved that someone understands you, and even more relieved when they share these active studying techniques with you. The coach suggests you start working with others to avoid isolation and collaborate through practice problems. “You can actively study with others by working together through practice problems and having discussions on the material,” they suggest.

Before you leave, they give you some great resources. A list of CHEM student organizations for group course content discussions and strategies for tackling practice problems. As you walk out you tell yourself, “I think I have a better handle on study strategies I want to try. I’m going to reach out to these groups today and commit to studying with new friends instead of by myself!” You are very happy you decided to schedule an appointment, and head out for boba to celebrate.

#10 Time for finals!

 

 

 

 

9

Decide to go to CLUE tutoring

You decide to head over to CLUE after your coaching session, grabbing your chem books and unanswered problems. The CLUE tutor reviews the problems with you and is able to identify what step you were missing. “I could tell right away, because that is the step I always forgot and most students struggle with,” they share. It’s reaffirming to hear that others struggle with the same material, and it feels good to be working with another student. After you complete a few problems, they have you write down the steps you took to solve it. You are grateful to take that with you for later reference. You feel like you have gotten help with some of the concepts you were struggling most with in class. Between the coach and CLUE, you feel ready now for finals.

#10 Head to finals week

 

 

 

10

It’s finals week!

As the week begins, you find yourself thinking “I’m definitely more prepared now than I was for midterms. I’ve reviewed the concepts from the CLUE tutor and I’ve been using the active studying techniques from the academic success coach. I’m ready for this week!”

When final scores arrive, despite your hard work, you discover you are ending the class with a grade lower than what you were expecting. As you reflect on the experience of this first quarter, you wonder if you should sign up to retake the course. The idea alone has you feeling burned out and unmotivated. You ask yourself, “Do I really belong in STEM? I thought I would be motivated by studying something I could use to help people in a career. What am I doing wrong?”

#11 Reinvigorate your path to STEM

#12 Continue as you have been

#13 Decide to switch majors

 

 

 

11

Reinvigorate your path to STEM

Thinking back to the conversation you had with the academic success coach, you remember them asking, “What’s your motivation?” When the year began, your goal was just to pass your classes. “What is my motivation?” you wonder. You pull up a goal-setting worksheet from the coaching website and spend the rest of the evening filling it out. Identifying specific short-term goals for each week, you put them all together toward one major long-term goal.

Keeping on track over the coming weeks helps you regain the motivation you felt before school started and you start to feel less burned out. With your free time you do self-care activities including more calls to your family. On a recent call you share, “I’ve really been questioning myself and if I belong in STEM.” Your family reminds you of how much of an impact and a difference you can make in your community! You feel inspired again and that is the fuel you need for the next quarter. Keeping your mind on the big picture, you eventually make it through the hardest times. You find yourself enjoying your studies and succeeding. You become a regular at CLUE and also continue meeting with an academic success coach. You feel invigorated and continue on through the school year — excited for class, happy to share time with new friends and look forward to what the future holds.

This is the end of this story, but yours is just getting started …

 

 

 

12

Continue as you have been

This quarter passes, then the next, and you keep grinding in your CHEM classes. You are so burned out you don’t even have the motivation to complete your work or reach out for more help. Thinking back to the conversation you had with the academic success coach, you remember them asking, “What’s your motivation?” When the year began, your goal was just to pass your classes. “What is my motivation?” you wonder. “I really felt like this was an optimal path for helping people and ensuring a great career post-college, but I think there might be another pathway for me to do that,” you tell yourself. You schedule a meeting with your academic adviser, and share your recent self-discovery. “I don’t feel connected to this side of the STEM world anymore. I’ve been thinking about a move toward psychology as a potential field to help people.” Your adviser helps you develop a plan to switch potential majors. You feel invigorated by your new self-discovery and continue on through the school year becoming a regular at CLUE and regularly meeting with an academic success coach. You are excited for class, happy to share time with new friends, and look forward to what the future holds for you.

This is the end of this story, but yours is just getting started …

 

 

 

13

Decide to switch majors

You’ve struggled all year with the question: “Is STEM really for me?” Thinking back to the conversation you had with the academic success coach, you remember them asking, “What’s your motivation?” When the year began, your goal was just to pass your classes. “What is my motivation?” you wonder. “I really felt like this was an optimal path for helping people and ensuring a great career post-college, but I think there might be another pathway for me to do that,” you tell yourself. You keep coming back to psychology as an option where you could redirect yourself and still be helpful to people in your community. You meet with your adviser for support and together you put plans in place to switch potential majors. You feel invigorated by your new self-discovery and continue on through the school year becoming a regular at CLUE and regularly meeting with an academic success coach. You are excited about class, happy to share time with new friends, and look forward to what the future holds for you.

This is the end of this story, but yours is just getting started …

This story came together through collaboration. Thank you to these generous and creative colleagues for your work and dedication to this endeavor: Alli Botelho, Danielle Marie Holland, Gracie Pakosz, Ian Teodoro, Jenelle Birnbaum, Kirsten Atik and Mina Zavary. Photo illustrations by Ian Teodoro.

A quarter century with Riverways

Written by Interview by Danielle Marie Holland
Posted on
Photo of Christine Stickler standing in front of rainbow-colored butterfly wings.
Christine Stickler, retiring director of Riverways Education Partnerships

After 25 years of service to the University of Washington and our local and statewide communities, Christine Stickler will be retiring July 2022. Stickler, founder and director of Riverways Education Partnerships, has transformed the learning and growth of countless students, connecting over 1,000 UW students with thousands of students in rural and tribal communities across Washington state. Riverways Education Partnership is a K-12 outreach program, and part of the Community Engagement and Leadership Education (CELE) Center, where programs are centered around community-engaged learning, democratic engagement, leadership education, student success and place-based initiatives.

In the past two+ decades, Stickler has created pathways connecting 10,000 UW students with tutoring and mentoring opportunities in K-12 schools and organizations to address inequities in education. She has strengthened bridges between the UW and community colleges through the Riverways Guides program connecting Native UW students with Native youth to envision pathways toward higher education through community college. With unwavering commitment and steadfast vision, she has built dynamic partnerships including Neah Bay Elementary School where storytelling and digital literacy are used to support students in imagining their futures.

As Stickler prepares to retire from Riverways Education Partnerships, she shares her thoughts on her accomplishments as director, the transformation of undergraduates through the outreach program, and the enduring impact of relationships and storytelling.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It has changed me in every way you can imagine

How has the experience and work of Riverways Education Partnerships impacted and changed you?

It has changed me in every way you can imagine. I became aware of the amazing state that we live in. I spent the last 25 years traveling to remote, rural and tribal communities getting to know the community members. The reason the program is as strong as it is today, is because relationships were formed. I’ve been the incredibly fortunate recipient of the friendships that come from going back to community. That’s number one. Number two is the chance to have worked with literally thousands of undergraduate students who have been drawn to a program that said, “Do you want to experience life outside of Seattle? Do you want to experience what it means to travel to a tribal community and learn from the people that live there?”

A quick story about Pipeline

Riverways was formerly called the Pipeline Project. We got the name 25 years ago as part of an initial funding grant from Coca-Cola. After 20 years, the name had too much connotation to the school-to-prison pipeline. We worked with First Nation students and with Tami Hohn, a Native language and law professor at UW. Tammy came up with the name Riverways, which we all absolutely loved. It’s beautiful.

Then there was Riverways

I think of all the undergraduates that I’ve been able to meet, have them do the experience, who then came back to be a team leader. Many of those students are now close friends of mine — my life has been changed by the people that I’ve met. I’ve gotten to work with some incredible colleagues at the University of Washington, [including] community partners, UW alumni and colleagues that have enriched my life and shown me things I never would have dreamed of.

And the K-12 students! In 2006 I met Auston Jimmicum, member of the Makah Tribe, in our Neah Bay program when he was in elementary school. Auston came to UW as a freshman, became part of the Neah Bay: Telling our Stories Program and went back to his community. Now he’s in law school at the University of Idaho.

When I think about it, the bittersweet part about retiring is that I feel I’ve had one of the best jobs in the world. I’ve loved it. I’ve been able to show my passion and have a way for that passion to develop and be nurtured. I don’t know how many people can say that about their jobs. I feel blessed.

How has the program evolved over the years?

We’ve connected on a deeper level with American Indian Studies Program and Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies (CAIIS). Their support has meant the world to us. With funding from CAIIS we started the Riverway Guides program. We’ve been able to hire Native UW students, previously community college students, who mentor kids in tribal communities. They encourage them to consider community college as a pathway to higher ed. That idea came to be because of our relationship with CAIIS and the AISP. We also have had an amazing partnership over the past 16 years with Polly Olson, tribal liaison at the Burke Museum. She introduced us to the Yakama Nation. These partnerships have grown over the years and have enriched the program. Not only do we have really strong partnerships now, but we have built solid funding.

I believe with all my heart that the relationships form the basis of the work.

What do you see as the current state of educational justice and where things are moving?

One of our goals was looking at issues of educational inequity anywhere we found it and trying to be part of the solution or part of the resources going towards dealing with those issues of inequity. In Seattle, it was targeting schools that had the lowest test scores and the least access to resources. Around the state, we learned by our travels to rural and tribal communities. What we are asked to address when we go into those districts is the idea of making sure there’s no barriers in the minds of the kids we’re working with, that they have a pathway that could lead them to higher ed if that’s what they choose to do, and that there are resources to support them. That if they do come to the University of Washington, resources like First Nations and the wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House will provide them a home away from their communities.

Can you speak to a highlight you’ve had in collaboration with undergrads?

Staying around for 25 years, one of the beautiful things about it is that I’ve had a number of students who did the program as elementary school students out in rural tribal schools and ended up at UW. That said, this program had such an impact on me, I want to be part of it and go back out. One of our alternative spring break programs, Literacy Arts, is where students go into the community for a week and help kids write stories and publish a book about identity and place. I’ve had undergraduates come up to me and go, I still have my book!

Right now we are in the midst of putting out the magazine for this year, themed “A Poem Is a Possibility.”
We were able to work with Washington state poet laureate, Rena Priest, who is just amazing. She trained the UW students on how to do poetry with youth in a way that they didn’t even know they were writing poems! It was just beautiful!

The incredible richness we have in this state

I believe we’re at a very exciting time. In the last three or four years, I’ve seen a seismic shift towards recognizing the importance of the incredible richness we have in this state. Recognizing the Indigenous and rural communities. We now have more outside funding and University attention. My goal was that my legacy would be that the person that came into this job would not have to struggle for funding and would be able to just focus on the work, so we’re in a better place today than we’ve ever been in 25 years.

The importance of stories

What are you most excited about in this next adventure in your life?

My passion is writing with kids and helping kids to discover the amazing voice they have. So my dream is, I want to see if in six months or so I could possibly write a grant and work with arts organizations to get a mobile publishing center. An RV that would go around to rural and tribal communities and help kids publish their writings.I am also really excited about doing some arts and writing activities with refugee immigrant communities here in Seattle. Art and writing is what I want to do. One of the things I’ve learned so powerfully over the years is that people are desperate to tell their stories, and don’t have the chance or opportunity to do it.

I just feel blessed that I have had a program that has allowed so many people to find that place, to share their voice and to share their story.

Honors Director Vicky Lawson prepares for next adventure

Written by Interview by Danielle Marie Holland
Posted on

After more than three decades of service to the University of Washington, Vicky Lawson will retire at the end of the academic year. Lawson, professor of geography and poverty researcher, has spent the past eight years directing the Honors Program, contributing to the deepening of its interdisciplinary focus and approach to intentional community building, innovative thinking and global citizenship.

Lawson is past president of the Association of American Geographers and former chair of the Department of Geography. Having worked across South and North America on informal economies, women’s work and poverty, her classes focus on the intersections of poverty, inequality and feminist care ethics. In addition to her leadership in the Honors Program, she is co-director of the Relational Poverty Network, a global research network that aims to expand thinking about the causes of poverty in both rich and poor countries. During her tenure at the UW, she has served as adjunct professor in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies and as a faculty affiliate of the West Coast Poverty Center.

Photo of Ed Taylor, Vicky Lawson and Tina Ragen.
Vicky Lawson, center, at her retirement party with Ed Taylor, left, and Tina Ragen, right. Photo: Photo by Shannon Sherman

As Lawson prepares to pass the role of Honors Program director to Stephanie Smallwood, she shares her thoughts on her accomplishments as director, the transformation of undergraduates through the interdisciplinary program, and the enduring impact of the Honors Program.

Honors broadened my view

How has the Honors Program most impacted and changed you?

With a 35-year career in the geography department and College of Arts and Sciences, coming over to Honors changed my perspective on undergraduate education and the University as a whole. Honors broadened my view of the University, in terms of who holds the University up and how, and in terms of the breadth of interests and capacities of students from all across the University. Honors spans the entire campus [and includes] students, instructors and classes from every college. It was a new vantage point for me of the brilliance of students regardless of what corner of campus or what background they come from.

I teach a class on houselessness and one particular student from aeronautics engineering made a profound contribution to an art exhibit my students installed with Real Change News through a comparative historical photography project of Seattle. It was a wakeup call for me to realize that it’s not just geographers who know how to read a city.

In addition to appreciating the breadth and curiosity of the students, coming over to UAA was coming into a space that is driven by professional staff. I came to appreciate just how staff hold up the University and how much they contribute. Getting to work closely with incredibly talented staff was a real gift because you see the commitment and the depth of the work they do. In Honors, all the staff are leaders. It’s a super creative space.

A deep commitment to inviting in the students

How has the Honors Program changed in the past eight years?

It was already an incredibly innovative, complex, interdisciplinary space when I got here. I don’t take a lot of credit for the brilliance of this program. I just came in and tried to amplify and support what the staff were already doing. These were things that were already happening, but we have been deeply introspective about difference and intersectional equity in our program. Honors has evolved tremendously over its 60-year history, especially over the past two decades. Juliana Villegas has been a leader on this work, but everybody’s been involved in understanding who our students are and where they come from. We have been committed to bringing in first-generation students and students of color and understanding how we’re doing compared to the University as a whole. We have a lot more work to do, but we do have a deep commitment to inviting in students who saw the label “Honors” and thought, “Well, that’s not a space for me.” Instead [we] invite them to know that, actually, participating in Honors is being part of an education that honors the University. Everybody’s backgrounds, experience and knowledge brings brilliance. It’s been a major part of what we’ve been doing. Juliana has led on it, and everybody has leaned in very seriously on that work.

Interdisciplinary education, experiential learning, and being in community

Photo of Global Challenges event with panelists Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Ece Kamar, Shankar Narayan and moderator Vicky Lawson
Global Challenges, 2019, with panelists (left to right) Anna Lauren Hoffmann, Ece Kamar, Shankar Narayan and moderator Vicky Lawson.

Another area that I’m particularly personally proud of in Honors is this incredibly creative space that has always rested on pillars of interdisciplinary education, experiential learning and being in community. I wanted to invite the whole campus into this space with our students, and one of the ways that we did that was through our Global Challenges series. We built an annual event that puts people from different walks of life in conversation with each other and asks them to talk about an issue that students themselves raised. We pull the freshmen in and say, “What do you care about? What is keeping you up at night?” We’ve done this now since 2015. Each year we’ve filled a ballroom with 500 people and we’ve hosted the event online with hundreds of people. By asking the students what they want us to talk about, we put the students in charge of their education the minute they walk through the door. Honors students learn that, at UW, we listen to them, that we build the program around their interests. At Global Challenges, they get to see what it’s like to have three people who are very accomplished in their fields, in a humble conversation about a really big topic for which there is no simple answer. That’s an example of showing the larger community what Honors is all about, what our students are all about, what our pedagogy is all about.

We are building that broader, richer sense of who we are and why we do what we do and inviting everybody. We are building something that’s for everyone.

What is the impact you’ve witnessed of interdisciplinary research?

Photo of Sarah Elwood and Vicky Lawson
Sarah Elwood, left, and Vicky. Photo: Photo by Shannon Sherman

One of the things that Honors did was create a space where I could literally teach my driving passion. In my research, I had a long-standing relationship with Real Change News along with Sarah Elwood, my collaborator. Each year in Honors I’ve taught a class on poverty and houselessness. A couple of years ago, we did a deep dive with Real Change News as collaborators to bring the portrait project to campus. I gave the students the responsibility to curate the exhibit to run for three weeks and build a launch event in the Allen Library. Twenty-five students collaborated together on every aspect of bringing that exhibit to campus, they collaborated with our Real Change News colleagues who were at the core of the project. Many of the students who were involved have come back to me to talk about where that experience took them.

Students will rise to any challenge

This morning, I sat with a student applying to medical school, who was in another iteration of that same class. She talked about how doing medicine was one thing, but thinking about it through the lens of social justice, access, historical racism and how that shapes who has access to care, was transformative for her. She understood that in a deep way because she’d been part of that class. I create a class space where the students teach each other and they pick up and carry that work and take it to places that are important to them.

This last quarter I had a group of students create a zine, called Hopeful Futures, in collaboration with homeless youth in the U District. It is full of incredible art, essays, cartoons and drawings. The students did the work of assembling this art aimed at elevating the voice of homeless youth, about their ideas of what the future could look like. This was a chance for our students to collaborate with the youth and to elevate their vision, their brilliance and their ideas. I’ve come to realize working with our students that, literally, they will rise to any challenge. They will mount an art exhibit, they’ll create a zine, they will do collaborations that are deep, they will face up to the impossibly difficult questions of climate change and poverty, and houselessness.

It’s been transformative for me working with these students.

How do you see the impact of the Honors Program on the students as they graduate?

What we’re trying to do and what we’ve really committed ourselves to with Honors, is to support the students to complicate their ideas and work, and to be brave about it. So if they think they’re going to do medicine, can we work with them to think about what it means to be a doctor? What does it mean to be a doctor that cares about social justice? How do we invite students into spaces in a way that is actually enabling? That’s what Honors classes do. And the students take the work places we never thought of. I have students that worked for the Pike Place senior center, a student who’s up in Skagit County as an organic farmer, students at Harvard, students in medical school, a student working on climate change activism. They learn that they can be brilliant in any number of different ways.

We have brought together a community

What’s something that comes to the forefront that you are very proud about?

I am proud of how we’ve connected to broader communities — and Carey Christie gets credit here. We have worked hand in glove to bring together a community of alumni. We’ve built an advisory board that leans in and shows up. We have built financial and moral support for this program at a level that did not exist when we came in. We have an endowed scholarship for equity. We built an endowed leadership fund that’s still growing. It’s about people believing in us and people in the community really reaching in and supporting what we do. And we’ve got an incredible group of volunteers now. We just had the most successful Husky Giving Day which is less about the money and more about the fact that over 70 people thought Honors was special enough to make a gift. I feel really proud of how we’ve expanded our community with people who deeply care and want to support our students because of how they think and what they mean to the future.

What are you most excited about with the next adventure?

Photo of Vicky Lawson riding a brown horse
Vicky, doing one of her favorite things.

I’m excited about not being busy! I’ve always been on a mission to be an academic and teach. I’m very curious what life has to offer if I’m not doing those things. I’m curious about what my next chapter is going to be and I don’t think I’m going to really truly know that until I stop. I am quite sure it’s going to continue to have to do with activism around impoverishment and houselessness. There are a lot of things I think about and wonder what my skills might do to make an impact. I do know that I’m going to grow a garden. I’m going to travel and I’m going to raise a horse and train it.

Any last thoughts?

Photo of a black pony with white lower legs and feet in a field.
Vicky Lawson’s first post-retirement project: Training Domino, a one-year-old Missouri Fox Trotter.

I came into Honors and I realized that this is where the work is. Undergraduate education, especially at a public university, is the place that I believe you can have the most impact. Undergraduate students have infinite paths open to them. Honors has redoubled my commitment to undergraduate education as a place of praxis and place of personal and professional transformation that’s really important. The staff in Honors are just quite remarkable and they taught me every day what is possible in undergraduate education for life.

Undergraduate education is the place I believe you can have the most impact.

UW sophomore Jonathan Kwong awarded selective Udall Scholarship

Written by Danielle Marie Holland
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University of Washington sophomore Jonathan Kwong was recently named a Udall Scholar! Kwong is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and resource management with a minor in oceanic and Pacific Islander studies.

Photo of Jonathan Kwong
Jonathan Kwong , UW sophomore, was recently named a Udall Scholar. Photo: Photo by Ian Teodoro

This year, the Udall Foundation awarded 55 scholarships to college sophomores and juniors for leadership, public service and commitment to issues related to American Indian nations or to the environment. More than 380 candidates from across the country applied for this selective scholarship, with award recipients receiving up to $7,000 each. The Udall Scholarship honors the legacies of Morris Udall and Stewart Udall, whose careers held significant impact on American Indian self-governance and stewardship of lands and resources.

“I’m really happy and overjoyed. What the Udall Scholarship means to me is I’m able to continue doing my research, and it’s such an honor. I will be able to continue meeting with professors, continue learning more and doing the work without having to worry about finances,” shared Kwong. They cite the additional benefit of this award granting them time to make friends, connections and develop new mentor relationships.

A dedicated researcher, scholar and storyteller, Kwong is focused on uplifting traditional ecological knowledge within the environmental science fields and cites their upbringing and heritage from Guam as essential to their understanding of land, nature, resources and history. Kwong’s interdisciplinary studies have given them the opportunity and resources to actively create a pathway rooted in community, as they become a scientist who is both equitable and effective.

“My Indigenous perspective is they’re not separate – academia, research, storytelling, education. They’re all connected and it’s only really the socially constructed boundaries that separate them into different subjects and disciplines,” says Kwong.

With an intersectional-justice-focused lens, Kwong is actively working to make environmental science accessible and equitable. Teaching elementary through high school students, they have created anti-racist science curricula, developed podcasts and designed board games to increase engagement, awareness and overall impact.

Kwong is no stranger to making contributions and remains personally dedicated to community-building toward the greater collective. Kwong leads the UW student organization Queer People of Color Alliance and actively participates in community work with organizations including Equity Institute, King County Airport Community Coalition and Root of Our Youth. They see a fundamental connection between all their diverse avenues of interest and research.

“I think research and academia has helped me identify terms. Research has helped me be able to look for biases, look for the details. Storytelling has been able to help me communicate the idea. Education has helped me work with students to bring change,” shared Kwong. They remain steadfast in their dedication to their own education, and to uplifting and sharing awareness within the community.

Kwong has additionally been selected for the 2022 NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship and has an upcoming internship at Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s Biogeochemistry Lab. Previous awards and honors for Kwong include a 2021 Doris Duke Conservation Scholar for University of California Santa Cruz and the 2021 University of Washington Alumni Association Homecoming Scholar.

About the Udall Scholarship

The Udall Undergraduate Scholarship is open to college sophomores and juniors for leadership, public service and commitment to issues related to Native American nations or to the environment. Udall Scholars come from all majors and fields of study. Recent Udall Scholars have majored in environmental sciences and policy studies, agriculture, political science, natural resource management and American Indian studies, to name just a few areas.

About the Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards

The Udall Undergraduate Scholarship process is supported by the Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards (OMSFA), a UAA program. OMSFA works with faculty, staff and students to identify and support promising students in developing the skills and personal insights necessary to become strong candidates for this and other prestigious awards.

More about Jonathan, a Q&A

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I study environmental science and resource management and I minor in Oceanic and Pacific Islander study. That’s been a really cool and unique combination. My main focus I want to get out of environmental science is traditional ecological knowledge, especially in dismantling the extractive system of Western science. It’s been interesting trying to balance those two out.
Asking, how do I learn science and learn the technologies and the methods while also being critical of it.

There’s this thing called parachute science, when research scientists swoop into a community. They collect the data, they do their thing, they swoop out without giving back to the community, without really contributing. That usually happens a lot in coral reef research, and, as someone who was raised in Guam, my heritage is rooted in, “how do I not be extractive”? Especially [considering] the stories that I’ve been told and the history I’ve learned from the land, [I want to ask]: How do I be a scientist in a way that is both equitable and effective?

During my freshman year, I had just started exploring the word intersectionality and what that meant to me. It was really cool to go into that mindset. I was reading about water systems, and then seeing it in class and thinking, “What else do I want to learn more about?” I gradually found myself free floating all throughout science. I did classes in museum studies, disability justice and law, and gender law. I wanted to see how there could be maximum inclusion, maximum equity. That goes into processes, and there’s so many identities out there beyond race, so everyone can bring something to the table, but how are we getting people to speak up and how are we getting people to uplift their voices?

I’ve hosted a storytelling event called “Voices in American ethnic studies.” Counter-narratives highlight voices that are ignored, so it’s important to have discussions with the affected people present. There’s so much, “people of color are suffering.” Especially regarding the Pacific Islands, [people say,] “they’re sinking, they’re drowning. In the next 20 years, they’ll be gone.” People still live there. And people still exist. So what are those stories? [I want to uplift] the counter stories, counter narratives that can be told about these cultures, about how these [people] are not just statistics that go away in 20 years, but how [they] will continue to fight and solve a problem that was not their own making.

So anti-racism has been a really big thing that I’ve been trying to get into and especially working with the community. Ever since I created my own [anti-racist science] curricula, I was piloting it in classrooms. I was invited to teach it. And I gradually got to know educators of color. Now we have a racial healing circle with educators of color across Washington state where we’ve talked about issues with access and education. We ask what’s wrong with accessibility and equity and how are people being mistreated? How are people being isolated and attacked? And how are they also not being acknowledged when these things happen?

I’m a community organizer for King County International Airport Community Coalition. This work is focused on stopping the expansion of King County International Airport, especially since they originally were trying to expand into places like Beacon Hill and Georgetown, low income and communities of color. This is an obvious sign of gentrification. We look at how we are bringing in neighbors. I’ve also learned so much about air pollution and the history here.

I think just living within Seattle, Washington, it’s great to be able to do the science, go to the parks, go to the rivers and test. But it’s even better to work with the communities. Work with the King County International Airport Community Coalition and work with educators to not only solve issues locally, but to bring awareness through education.

I’m part of the Interdisciplinary Honors Program. So half of my classes are different disciplines smashed together and they create something really beautiful. I took a disability, gender and law class through Honors and brought that disability perspective, especially highlighting people of color with a disability, into discussions about what’s excluded when we make trails, when we build green infrastructure. When we say “oh, we should just get rid of all the roads and create a bypass” but people with a wheelchair need cars. You know, if we get rid of all elevators because they’re electric and we make stairs because they’re more eco friendly? Who’s going to be claiming that, because it’s definitely not the wheelchair user.

Learning these nuances is incredibly helpful in doing the decolonizing work within myself. Another set of classes that I took were solving issues in museum spaces and decolonizing ethnomusicology archives. What does the colonial history of archives look like? How have they helped and harmed? Discussion repatriation and land back in the context of institutions helped me learn more about how prevalent colonialism is within all fields, including my own. Studying environmental science comes with going to natural reserves, like Friday Harbor Laboratories or Pack Forest or UC Natural Reserve System. But these research places are still stolen. I want to learn more about how to re-indigenize or truly decolonize spaces as I continue my work.

We have to do the equity work within ourselves before we do the work outside. If we never internalize what equity means to us, then our actions fall flat. Community activism has been helpful in putting action to my words. I might identify a lot of issues, but now I’m finally able to act upon them. I’m able to have a community and come together with other people and look into it. Look at educational disparities, look at lack of access to technology, airport expansion — and look at why these are wrong. We can work with councilmembers, talk with legislators and ask who is being left out of the conversation. We can work to not speak for other people but to uplift people’s voices.

Stephanie Smallwood named director of Honors Program

Written by Undergraduate Academic Affairs
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Congratulations to Stephanie Smallwood, acclaimed professor and historian, who has been appointed the new director of the University Honors Program, officially beginning her term in September, 2022.

The University Honors Program, now celebrating its 60th birthday, serves as an academic core of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, bringing students and faculty from every corner of campus together for original learning opportunities focused on collaborative, cross-disciplinary curriculum, experiential learning, research and critical reflection.

Portrait of Stephanie Smallwood standing outside
Professor Stephanie Smallwood has been named the next director of the Honors Program. Photo: Photo by Dennis Wise

In the past eight years under the direction of geography professor and poverty researcher, Victoria Lawson, the Honors Program has contributed to the deepening of its interdisciplinary focus and approach to intentional community building, innovative thinking and global citizenship. As Lawson prepares to retire from the University of Washington, she expresses admiration for Honors’ incoming director, stating: “I am a huge fan of Dr. Smallwood and I am confident she will love leading within this community, as I have.”

Fostering collective and diverse brilliance

Honors by the numbers 

The UW Honors Program facilitates Interdisciplinary, College and Departmental Honors for over 1,400 undergraduates annually.

83% of Honors students come from public high schools.

100+ UW majors represented by Honors students and faculty.

70% say Interdisciplinary Honors admission is a top reason they chose the UW.

Smallwood says she’s excited by the Honors Program’s trajectory and sees great opportunities to continue expanding this interdisciplinary educational hub at our public research university. Smallwood’s vision of fostering collective and diverse brilliance aligns with the program’s long arc toward education that centers public needs and un-siloed, collaborative inquiry.

“Interdisciplinarity informs my scholarship, my mentoring, my teaching, and informs everything I do,” shared Smallwood. A narrow singularly disciplinary lens cannot adequately approach the questions which animate her work, or the questions that remain most urgent and pressing to our society today.

“Undergraduate Academic Affairs is a unit devoted to changing lives of students by deepening their UW experience,” shares Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor. “Stephanie Smallwood has the vision, knowledge and experience to move the program and experience of students into a future that is much in need of their potential to help make the world better.”

Guiding students in intellectual exploration

Smallwood is an associate professor in the Department of History, where she holds the Dio Richardson Endowed professorship, and she has a joint appointment in the Department of Comparative History of Ideas. She has devoted the past 15 years at the University of Washington to undergraduate teaching and mentorship on the histories of slavery, race and colonialism in the early modern Atlantic world. Guiding students in their exploration of the challenging problems that have profoundly shaped our world remains as fresh and rewarding for her today as when she began her career as a teacher-scholar nearly 25 years ago.

Her book “Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora” (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007) was awarded the 2008 Frederick Douglass Book Prize; the award for best book written in English on slavery or abolition by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University; and was a finalist for the 2008 First Book Prize of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians.

“The University of Washington is so fortunate that Professor Stephanie Smallwood has accepted a three-year term as director of the Honors Program. Professor Smallwood is a prize-winning historian, gifted teacher and exemplary University citizen. She will bring her gifts of shrewd analysis, excellent judgment and visionary leadership to this position,” shared Glennys Young, chair of the Department of History.

A history story

Smallwood’s interest in history began as an undergraduate at Columbia University, stemming from her involvement in anti-apartheid demonstrations. In 1985, on the anniversary of the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Smallwood demonstrated in a domestic divestment campaign. When camping out on the steps of an administrative building for three weeks was followed by a summer of disciplinary hearings, she was led directly toward learning more about the history behind the political actions she found herself engaging in.

For the first time in her life, Smallwood began to read African history — and found herself blown away. She spent the last two years of her undergraduate studies taking graduate-level seminars. “I knew then that history was what I wanted to do and study,” said Smallwood. Under the mentorship of Marcellus Blount, she was guided towards an interdisciplinary M.A. in African and African-American studies at Yale University.

Smallwood became a research assistant to renowned historian John Blassingame, who was beginning to examine the 17th- and 18th-century slave trade. During days spent in the Yale library’s microfilm room, Smallwood poured over newspapers from 17th century Maryland and Virginia, reading the announcements of arrivals of slave ships. Her time there would prove to be invaluable, as she began to piece together the literal connections between African and African-American history. “It was the first time, that past, that period, was animated for me intellectually,” she said. Transcended beyond just responding to contemporary politics, she sought out to study the entire expanse of Black history. Smallwood would go on to earn her Ph.D. in early African-American history at Duke University.

“I am incredibly excited to see Professor Smallwood’s leadership and inclusionary vision applied to the Honors Program as its community continues to grow and build connections across campus. Her support and encouragement enabled us students to reach our full potential and I know she will do the same for the many students who come under her guidance as she takes on the role of director,” shared Erin Nicole Kelly, senior.

The role imagination plays

The interdisciplinary impact of her studies and research have informed the lens for all of her ongoing research, leadership and publications. Smallwood recognizes that a key component of the role of a historian is to imagine. “The fact of the matter is that historians have to imagine, to tell stories.” She cites the fiction of novelist Toni Morrison as being in relationship and conversation with her historical research. “We have to be able to use the gifts that only a Toni Morrison can bring to the table, to guide us in how to dare to imagine. You can’t ask good questions if you can’t imagine outside of the box,” Smallwood said.

Smallwood connects the value of the Honors Programs to its interdisciplinary imagination. A program that curates small classes and dynamic curriculum where students experience, as she describes, “the freedom of when you’re not already locked into a particular methodology or a set of rules that govern a particular discipline.”

Her recent experiences teaching the classes, Honors Historical Method and Race and Slavery Across the Americas, have served Smallwood as continued affirmations of what’s possible in intimate learning environments. “Knowledge production happens best when we put different disciplinary methods in relationship to one another,” she shared. “Often our best and most innovative learning happens in collaboration.”

Our best learning happens in collaboration

Smallwood remains continually fueled and reinvigorated as an educational collaborator and mentor. Facilitating class experiences for undergraduates to engage in intellectual discovery and risk taking, Smallwood is focused on new approaches to learning that can meaningfully advance a social justice mission.

Smallwood sees her appointment as director of the Honors Program as an honor within itself. She intends to use her skills and background of scholarship and teaching in a public research university to serve students and boost their capacity to imagine, contribute and make change. “To be at a public research institution like the UW means you’re in a community of extraordinary scholars with extraordinary resources,” said Smallwood. “It’s the best possible combination of what it takes to be a scholar and for the largest impact you can have on reaching and touching people.”

Welcome, Stephanie Smallwood!

The community and discovery of undergraduate research celebrated at 25th Undergraduate Research Symposium

Written by Danielle Marie Holland
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Join students, faculty, staff and the broader UW community on May 20, 2022, as we celebrate the 25th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. Engage in conversations surrounding the problems and questions of our times. Gather for innovative research that matters most to you.

Connecting, belonging, being well: Across UAA, programs welcome back students

Written by Jenelle Birnbaum
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The pack is back! For the first time since the transition to mostly virtual learning in March 2020, Huskies are crossing Red Square on their way to class. These Dawgs include two classes who are completely new to campus: incoming first-year students and second-year students, in addition to upperclassmen who’ve spent more than 18 months away from campus.

Student well-being is top of mind as programs across Undergraduate Academic Affairs are welcoming back our students. This work involves building community so students feel connected and a sense of belonging. It’s recognizing and addressing the increased stresses students may be experiencing as a result of the pandemic and the transition back to in-person learning. It’s programs incorporating resilience and mindfulness work to give students the tools to care for their mental health. It’s the dedication to meeting students where they are at. Programs are also maintaining some virtual programmatic offerings this year to increase students’ access to services. Read on to learn more about how programs throughout Undergraduate Academic Affairs are orienting and supporting students this autumn.

Academic Support Programs: An academic home away from home

Academic Support Programs are free and available for all students. See the CLUE tutoring schedule, upcoming study skills workshops, online academic resources, and schedule a meeting with an academic success coach on their website.

Academic Support Programs runs CLUE, the largest late night, multidisciplinary tutoring center at the UW, and Academic Success Coaching, individualized meetings with a peer coach to develop skills for academic success.This year they are expanding these programs to reach more students in new and innovative ways.

CLUE: Tutoring center creates a sense of community

When Academic Support Programs Director Ryan Burt asked this year’s CLUE tutors why they were interested in becoming tutors, many shared that last year’s virtual CLUE was a space where they came to be together to navigate all that was happening around them. CLUE remains focused on creating a similar sense of community to the tutoring space for the 2021-22 school year. Student tutors play a big role in setting a welcoming tone, which starts with their own self-reflection.

In the autumn quarter training class Burt co-teaches with CLUE Program Manager Lizzy Harman, tutors check in about their own experiences returning to campus. They talk about how to navigate social and emotional challenges that they and other students might be experiencing. They focus on language and strategies to develop resilience and a growth mindset, both for themselves and the students they tutor. This emphasis on their mental state is intentional. When people are in a stressed state, it can be hard to focus on one’s studies or work. These weekly class sessions happen right before CLUE opens, preparing tutors to take a holistic approach to their work. This allows them to create a calm, safe and supportive space and helps them guide students to stay motivated as challenges or setbacks arise.

Photo from 2018 of a CLUE tutor working with a student
Above: A tutor provides free tutoring in 2018. This year, CLUE is offering in-person and virtual tutoring. Of course, all CLUE participants are following the UW’s current face covering policy. Photo: Bryan Nakata

This year, CLUE is offering tutoring both in-person and virtually. Both spaces are busy; tutors quickly switch between leading tutoring tables in the Mary Gates Hall Commons and leading online sessions. This hybrid approach increases students’ access to tutoring: Some students don’t want or are unable to stay on campus late, live too far away from campus to come back for evening tutoring, or want to limit exposure to others.

Academic Success Coaching: Setting goals and making plans to reach them

Academic Success Coaching Manager Alli Bothello oversaw the expansion of the Academic Success Coaching program, expanding from eight coaches last year to 14 coaches this year. Coaching sessions are open-ended and guided by what is on the student’s mind. Conversations can range from time management and study strategies to concern over disappointing test results — “I didn’t do well on my first test; now I’ll never get into my major…” to topics beyond academics. The coaches work with each student to guide them through these experiences, with a goal of helping students find resources, develop ways to move forward from setbacks and set and reach their goals. Coaches are available to meet at whatever frequency the student needs, be it weekly, quarterly or as needs arise. They are also hosting workshops on developing effective study strategies, time management, self-care and building a community, and finals exam prep.

Academic Support Programs are free and available for all students. See the CLUE tutoring schedule, upcoming study skills workshops, online academic resources, and schedule a meeting with an academic success coach on their website.

First Year Programs: Building community and wayfinding through the UW

Cornerstones of First Year Programs’ (FYP) work are helping students learn about campus resources, build their community and understand how to navigate the UW. This work is rooted in the knowledge that students who feel connected to campus socially and academically are more likely to persist through college and earn their degree.

First-year networks: Connecting Huskies with similar lived experiences and interests

Photo of 15 student first-year network leaders posing with the signs identifying the network they are facilitating.
First-year networks help students make connections with other Huskies who have similar lived experiences, interests and aspirations. Here, the peer network leaders share their group’s focus.

First-year networks are social groups run by peer leaders. The 14 networks’ themes range from shared interests, including mindful-living, foodies, to shared identities, such as East Asian and transfer students. Students are connected through a Discord (a group chatting platform), and are invited to various events and meetups, learn about academic support programs and most importantly meet a group of students with similar interests and shared identities, helping them establish a community at the UW. FYP surveyed students as they signed up for networks: 93% registered to make friends and 90% are seeking connections to students with shared interests.

First-year interest groups keep well-being at the forefront of their work

Mindfulness and self-care is incorporated into each General Studies 199 class meeting, taught by First-year Interest Group Leaders. The goals of this are to help students understand mindfulness and its benefits. They explore mindfulness activities like journaling, meditation, 3-minute dance parties and breathing exercises.

Each FIG Leader brings in a LiveWell peer health educator to lead a seminar on one of four topics: mental health, coping with clouds, Sleepy Husky or physical health. The peer educators explore the science of the given topic and discuss how it connects to physical, mental and emotional health. One past participant commented, “The mental health seminar project was important to me since the pandemic has taken a toll on me when it comes to being motivated and isolated.” There is also great power in hearing peers talk about similar experiences, with another participant sharing, “Being able to have guest speakers talk about research, mental health and admissions was extremely valuable because it gave me more understanding for how the areas work. I don’t feel alone in the process of college.”

Paw print line drawing with purple outlineStudents can still join a First-year network.
First Year Programs also has ongoing student leadership opportunities. 

Honors: Introducing a student-led mentorship program

Photo of almost 50 students, wearing face coverings, posing for a group photo.
The new, student-led Honors Peer Mentoring Program launched with a welcome event on October 21, 2021. Photo: Provided by Shannon Hong

The Honors Program’s new wellness-oriented program is student-led. Shannon Hong, a junior majoring in neuroscience, first experienced peer mentoring through the student-led Neurobiology Club Mentorship Program. Finding it valuable, she approached Honors to start a similar program for them. The Honors Peer Mentoring Program, launched this fall, creates a network of support within the Honors Program. Volunteer mentors are connected with mentees and focus to help them navigate the Honors requirements and their general Husky experience. “My peers and I initially created the Honors Peer Mentoring Program to help students feel more supported and engaged in the Honors community,” explains Hong. “But since then, it has grown into something bigger — a program that empowers students to become leaders and take initiative in their UW Honors experience.” These mentoring relationships are available throughout the entire year.

Paw print line drawing with purple outlineApplications for the Honors Peer Mentoring Program winter cohort will open on January 3, 2022. Check the website to learn more.

Office of Educational Assessment: Surveying students to best meet their needs

The Office of Educational Assessment is launching Husky Check-in surveys this year. Designed to gauge student needs in real time, these twice-a-quarter surveys will focus on timely issues related to the student experience. The first survey explored how students are accessing support services, their preferences for virtual versus in-person offerings, whether where they live impacts their preference and what additional unmet needs may exist. The research team will share the results with key stakeholders across campus who can use the feedback to adapt programs to match the needs of students. The first survey launched the week of October 11, 2021; approximately 1,300 undergraduate and 400 graduate students participated.

Resilience Lab: Working towards a campus culture of compassion and mindfulness

Learn about upcoming BeREAL sessions and request copies of the Well-being for Life and Learning guidebook.

The Resilience Lab’s work centers on promoting well-being among students, faculty and staff at the University of Washington. Their Be REAL (REsilient Attitudes and Living), a program developed in collaboration with the Center for Child and Family Well-Being, has equipped more than 100 faculty and staff members with skills and tools to foster their own wellness and that of their colleagues and students. Be REAL participants learn mindfulness skills to manage stressful emotions, strengthen self-awareness and to foster community well-being and mental health. Because of that ripple effect, Be REAL reaches people far beyond those who signed up for the 6-week course. And the reach of this work will continue to deepen. For example, some alumni of Be REAL choose to participate in a community of practice where they can ask questions and brainstorm ways to bring these ideas into their work. “It’s really powerful to do this with colleagues,” explains Sasha Duttchoudhury, Resilience Lab graduate student assistant. “Doing this on ‘work time’ shows value, that the UW values our well-being.”

The Be REAL faculty and staff program grew out of the student Be REAL course. The current format allows for flexibility, allowing it to be a stand-alone class or taught as part of other programs. Be REAL is also offered as a one-quarter class for students. Be REAL recently created a video series covering the Be REAL concepts and practices.

Another way the Resilience Lab is bringing well-being practices to the campus community is through the “Well-being for Life and Learning” initiative. Students, staff and faculty collaborated on this work to create a vision for the classroom as a cornerstone of well-being. The resulting guidebook is organized into four main pillars: teaching for equity and access; nurturing connections; building coping and resilience skills; and connecting to the environment. The guidebook’s appeal is wide: with programs from STEM to social sciences ordering copies.

President Cauce talks about the benefits of Be REAL in her annual address:

Paw print line drawing with purple outlineUW News recently ran a story about the Resilience Lab’s work, including an interview with director Megan Kennedy. Read the article here.

Robinson Center: Intentionally bringing students to campus and creating community

Photo of a student's hand signing a blanket that reads "UW Robinson Center 2021" and has handwritten notes of encouragement from other students on it.
Students sign blankets for one another as a community-building activity at this year’s orientation.

Preparing Transition School students to come to campus for the first time began in spring 2021. Transition School principal Lisa Scott recognized that for this group — students who spend what would be their ninth grade year preparing to fully matriculate into the UW the following year — knowing their way around campus and building a community was crucial to their emotional and physical well-being. Scott developed a plan to safely bring these students to campus in May 2021. They spent the day completing a campus-wide scavenger hunt and acclimating to the campus environment. “Many parents have told me that the May Activity Day was the highlight of their student’s year,” shared Scott. This group of students returned to the UW campus as first year Early Entrance Program students in autumn 2021.

To prepare Robinson Center students for the 2021-22 school year, the Robinson Center held orientations for the Early Entrance, UW Academy and Transition School students. Though each orientation was fine-tuned to meet the groups’ specific needs, common threads included building community, exploring campus and learning about campus resources.

Learn more about the Robinson Center’s programs.

Students are typically two to three years younger than most of their college peers, and student well-being programs remain a priority throughout the year. Students continue to meet with mentors and attend seminar classes on topics including majors and resources. The Robinson Center serves as a mini-HUB with places to relax, study, hangout with friends and eat outside.

When touring the space recently, an engineering colleague commented, “You can feel the community in this space.”

Student-Athlete Academic Services: Keeping the pulse on student-athlete well-being

Illustration of elements of sports student-athletes compete in: shoes, soccer ball, tennis racket and ball, relay baton, basketball, football, softball ball and helmet, bat, baseball, dumbell, uneven bars, volleyball, golf ball and tee, oar
Illustration: Burke Smithers

Student-Athlete Academic Services (SAAS) has been checking on the well-being of the UW’s 650 student-athletes throughout the pandemic through their regular pulse surveys. These 10-question surveys asked about what’s going well to what’s been most challenging. SAAS adjusted their programs and outreach based on the feedback they received.

Throughout the pandemic, the SAAS team also discovered new ways of serving their students: virtual counseling and virtual tutoring. Pre-pandemic, these services were exclusively offered in person. Yet the effectiveness of these online programs means the SAAS team will carry them forward. For athletes who travel to meets, games and competitions, being able to continue to access tutoring and counseling uninterrupted is hugely beneficial.

Join the team and make your own wellness commitment with this printable. Print it, write your commitment on it and post it somewhere visible to you to continue to encourage yourself.
Image of the wellness commitment printable. Husky dog face at the top left, next to the words, "My commitment to wellness..." UAA's logo at the bottom of the page on top of a purple bar.

The SAAS team saw both first- and second- year students join their orientation. This year’s focus was building community — community within the 22 teams, within the student-athlete community and the broader UW community. Activities included a campus-wide scavenger hunt to find campus resources and a barbeque with coaches and staff from around campus to help students connect to the UW’s services. They also participated in the NCAA’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Students particularly embraced the wellness wall, where they anonymously wrote a commitment to personal wellness they are committing to for the 2021-22 year. Mental health services, team doctors and nutrition advising supports continue year round. In addition, SAAS provides advising, tutoring, career development, internships and academic coaching year round to best support our Husky student-athletes.

Undergraduate Research Program: Introducing undergrads to the what, why and how of research

Photo of student wearing a purple UW face covering working on a computer in a medical lab.
The Undergraduate Research Program works with students to find research opportunities across all fields, including the humanities, arts and sciences.

The Undergraduate Research Program is building community within their 43 undergraduate research leaders (URLs) — student volunteers who help their peers get involved with research. Last year, the URLs spoke to more than 1,500 students about these opportunities. This work included a two-day orientation, which took a holistic approach to leadership development, with lots of time for reflection and conversation. There was an emphasis on empathy to help students slow down, reflect on the experiences of one another and and find commonalities with their own experiences. Mindfulness practices like deep breathing and other grounding exercises were included to help students center themselves.

Another key component of orientation was a diversity, equity and inclusion training on inclusivity and bias. The URLs learned about the experiences and potential barriers encountered by students from groups ranging from BIPOC students to first-gen to neurodiverse students to transfer students. Students then reflected on how this awareness will change their mindset in their work as a URL, explaining, “Our role is not just to promote research, and generally mentor undergrads entering research, but to help others to overcome the barriers that they may be facing in even entering a lab in the first place.”

The URLs are proactively thinking about ways to continue to support their peers and are pitching ideas — unprompted — to URP’s leadership team. We’ll share info about these new initiatives on our social media channels as they are launched.

In addition to their URL program, the Undergraduate Research Program expanded their advising offerings to include weekly virtual advising, in-person group advising and individual drop-in advising appointments. These sessions often focus on learning how to get involved with research and answer questions like, “I’m a first-year student. Is research for me?” (Answer: Yes!) Through the continued support, students grow their confidence and resilience as they navigate finding a research team and ultimately begin their research experiences.

Paw print line drawing with purple outlineGet involved with undergraduate research. Check the Undergraduate Research Program website for upcoming advising sessions, search for research opportunities and more.