The 24th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium to happen virtually on May 21

Written by Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Posted on May 16, 2021March 3, 2023

On Friday, May 21, nearly 750 undergraduates from all three University of Washington campuses as well as local community colleges and regional colleges will participate in the 24th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, which will be held online for the second year. The UW’s Undergraduate Research Symposium is one of the largest in the country and provides a professional opportunity for undergraduates to present their research, scholarly and creative work.

Registration is required to attend the virtual Symposium. To register, visit symposium.uw.edu. Attending the event is always free. Pre-recorded presentations followed by a live Q&A will happen in real time and will not be available for later viewing.

Undergraduates from all disciplines show the ways their research connects to issues that matter in our communities and contributes to the University’s work as a leading public research university. In 2019-20, nearly 8,300 students participated in at least 1 quarter of research. More than 1,200 students presented their work in the 2019 Undergraduate Research Symposium, and over 850 students presented in the virtual Symposium in 2020.

This year is the fifth year that the UW’s Population Health Initiative is awarding select student presenters a Population Health Recognition award for “their innovative and well-presented research work.” Among this year’s 12 student awardees are these timely and challenging research projects:

Dancing Around the Point: Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy amid the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Puget Sound Region by Annette Mercedes, who’s majoring in anthropology and biology.
Ultrafine Particle Inequality by Race, Ethnicity, and Income in Seattle by Kaya Bramble, who’s majoring in industrial engineering.
Firearm Injury and Violence Research Articles in Health Sciences by Funding Status and Type: A Scoping Review by Pavithra Prabhu, who’s majoring in microbiology.

“The application of classroom concepts in problem solving and experimentation have made me a better student, a better learner, a better teacher, a better thinker, and a better person. I believe every student, no matter the field, should conduct a mentored internship/research project in their area of study.”
— 2020 Symposium Presenter

Overview of the format and registration

Support student presenters through social media. Add a special frame to your Facebook profile pic; download graphics and post about it. Change out your Zoom picture and background for the Symposium.

The Symposium begins at 9 a.m., Pacific Daylight Time, and will run to 5:00 p.m. UW President Cauce, Provost Mark Richards and UAA Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor have each recorded videos to welcome students and guests; congratulate undergraduates on their accomplishments; share who the recipients of the Research Mentor Awards are; and recognize the invaluable role mentors play in encouraging undergraduates to transform their education through research.

Students will present their research in one of these formats, all followed by a question and answer period:

Lightning talk presentation,
10-minute oral presentation,
Visual arts and design presentation, or
Performing arts presentation

Registered guests will be able to access students’ abstracts and presentation times, watch presentations by students they specifically want to see, and explore and attend multiple sessions.

All presentations will be pre-recorded and played in real time, according to the event schedule; they will not be available for later viewing. Registration is required to attend this free event.

To view the sessions, register for the Symposium and make sure to set up a Zoom account if you do not already have one. Information about how to access the sessions and a detailed Symposium conference schedule will be emailed to registered attendees the week of Symposium.

UW senior Maha Alhomoud named Carnegie Junior Fellow

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Posted on April 22, 2021March 3, 2023

Maha Alhomoud, a University of Washington senior majoring in political science, has been selected as a 2021-22 Junior Fellow by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A highly competitive award, only 5% of applicants are selected for the Carnegie Gaither Junior Fellows program each year. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a unique global network of policy research centers in Russia, China, Europe, the Middle East, India and the United States. Its mission is to advance the cause of peace through analysis and development of fresh policy ideas and direct engagement and collaboration with decision-makers in government, business and civil society. Alhomoud will join the Middle East program.

Fellows work alongside the Carnegie Foundation’s senior researchers and also have the opportunity to join meetings with high-level officials and contribute to the Foundation’s publications. In addition, as a full-time employee of the Foundation, they receive an annual salary and a generous benefits package. For Alhomoud, who is passionate about turning research into meaningful public policy, this opportunity is a chance to see how research is used to form policy, and how that policy goes on to impact people’s lives. She hopes her work impacts the development of sustainable healthcare and employment policies, particularly those from groups that are disproportionately marginalized in the Middle East.

Alhomoud is an international student from Saudi Arabia. She has always been interested in examining the contextual factors that create unique political systems in different countries, especially in the Middle Eastern context, leading her to focus on studying political economy. She is interested in studying resource reliance, authoritarianism and state-society relations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states as they relate to political economy and comparative studies. Alhomoud is currently working on her political science honors thesis, supervised by Professor Whiting. Alhomoud’s work explores the evolution of extractive and distributive institutions in Saudi Arabia, specifically as they relate to taxation, and how the introduction of extractive policies impacts state-society relations. As the country is undergoing rapid change per its economic diversification roadmap, VISION2030, employing a process-tracing methodology has helped her understand the intersection between politics and economics.

Previously, as an undergraduate fellow for the Center for American Politics and Public Policy (CAPPP), Alhomoud designed a project concerning corruption, foreign direct investment and economic diversification in a panel study of 17 major oil exporters over time. She is also currently an undergraduate research assistant in the political science department to Kenya Amano, Ph.C., where she’s working on a project about central bank independence.

In addition to her academics, Alhomoud advocates for increased international student representation at the university level. This year, she earned a Mary Gates Leadership Scholarship to establish the first ASUW office dedicated to international student advocacy. For this project, she’s leading a team of 15 people to determine the new office’s mission, structure, budget and program. She is also a mentor for the International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP) at UW.

In the next few years, and especially as venues for Saudi women in the political sphere are increasing, she wants to learn more about the conduct of foreign affairs at the government level in Saudi Arabia and the GCC. During this time, she also plans to explore and rely more on local archives and works produced in the region for independent research projects. Long term, Alhomoud’s goal is to pursue a dual-graduate degree in law and political science and attain a membership in the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. Ultimately, she hopes her work “contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the Middle East and more inclusive reform as countries diversify beyond oil to address the impacts of different policies on different segments of society, especially those who are disproportionately affected.”

A feature story about Alhomoud will be coming soon.

About the Carnegie Gaither Junior Fellows Program

The James C. Gaither Junior Fellows Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is designed to provide a substantive work experience for students who have a serious career interest in the area of international affairs. Approximately 12-14 students will be hired to work as employees at Carnegie in Washington, DC on a full-time basis for a period of one year. Gaither Junior Fellows provide research assistance to scholars working on Carnegie Endowment’s projects. They are matched with senior associates – academics, former government officials, lawyers and journalists from around the world – to work on a variety of international affairs issues. Junior Fellows have the opportunity to conduct research for Carnegie publications, participate in meetings with high-level officials, contribute to congressional testimony and organize briefings attended by scholars, journalists and government officials.

About the Office of Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards

The Carnegie Gaither Junior Fellow application 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. The UW campus application process for students interested in Carnegie Junior Fellowship (and other scholarships supporting graduate studies around the world) will get started this spring for 2022-23 awards.

UW Junior Sophia Carey named Beinecke scholar

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Posted on April 21, 2021April 22, 2021

University of Washington junior Sophia Carey was recently selected for the Beinecke scholarship! Carey, who is majoring in English and comparative history of ideas and minoring in theatre studies, was selected from 95 applicants to join this year’s class. Each year the Beinecke Scholarship offers 20 scholarships to undergraduates who intend to pursue a master’s or doctoral program in the arts, humanities or social sciences. The selected students receive $30,000 to be used for graduate study and $4,000 in their senior year. The last time a UW student received this award was 2011.

Carey entered the UW through the Early Entrance Program at the Robinson Center for Young Scholars and has since focused her interdisciplinary studies in the arts, humanities and social sciences into a passion for community-based theater and the intersections between public policy and the performing arts. She is also in the Interdisciplinary Honors Program.

Research and leadership experiences have been hallmarks of her time as a UW student. Her past research includes the paper “Performing Beyond Utopia,” which explored how residents of Lima, Peru, in the 1970s used community-based theater to resist and transcend dictatorial state agendas. Outside of performance studies, Sophia’s research has been featured in an open glossary of law, society and justice terms, and in 2019, she won the UW Library Research Award for Undergraduates for her paper investigating barriers to Latin American youths’ access to educational support services.

Sophia is currently the president of the Early Entrance Drama Society, a student-run drama club at the UW. In almost three years of involvement in the club, she has co-facilitated the translation of a 2020 production into a virtual format, performed in and directed several productions, and hosted drama-related events designed to build community and provide performance opportunities for students interested in arts and arts leadership. In addition to her work with the Early Entrance Drama Society, Sophia has acquired significant experience with local nonprofit and community-directed theater, as a directing intern at Stone Soup Theater, a development assistant at ArtsWest, and currently as a volunteer at the Seattle Rep.

She plans to continue studying the potential for community-based theater to bring about material and political change through graduate research in a Ph.D. or MFA program that combines practical approaches and critical scholarly research methods in the study of theater.

About the Beinecke

The Beinecke Scholarship program is open to juniors in studying the arts, humanities and social sciences. The scholarship provides funding for students to pursue a masters or Ph.D. in these fields. Since 1975 the program has selected more than 664 college juniors from more than 110 different undergraduate institutions for support during graduate study at any accredited university.

About the Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards

The Beinecke application 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.

UW junior awarded selective Goldwater Scholarship

Written by Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Posted on March 26, 2021March 26, 2021

Congratulations to University of Washington junior Daniel Chen, whom the Goldwater Foundation honored with its undergraduate scholarship for students studying the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. Chen, who is majoring in informatics and microbiology, is one of 410 undergraduate students selected for the award from a pool of 1,256 students nominated by 438 institutions across the country.

Photo of Daniel Chen — UW junior Daniel Chen was selected for the competitive Goldwater Scholarship. *(Photo taken following public health guidelines at the time.)*

Goldwater Scholarships are granted to sophomores and juniors who show exceptional promise and plan to pursue research careers in math, engineering or the natural sciences. These scholarships award up to $7,500 a year to help cover costs associated with tuition, mandatory fees, books, room and board.

Photo of Daniel Chen at Pratt Lake — Chen on a snowy hike above Pratt Lake in Washington.

Chen’s interest in challenging himself can be seen through his academic choices: In addition to majoring in two disciplines, informatics and microbiology, he is pursuing departmental honors in microbiology. Chen has previously been awarded the Levinson Emerging Scholars award and the Mary Gates Endowment Research Scholarship, and is also listed on the annual Dean’s List.

He began his college path early, entering the UW after middle school through the Early Entrance Program. To balance out his rigorous academic and research work, Chen enjoys hiking in nature preserves and crocheting amigurumi animals, hobbies that suit the environment of his hometown of Sammamish, WA.

“This news is simply wonderful,” says Undergraduate Academic Affairs Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor. “Through his involvement in undergraduate research, Daniel has shown a dedication to furthering science and understanding as well as to the purpose of making people’s lives better. As a University community, we couldn’t be more proud of him. I extend my warmest congratulations to Daniel as well as his faculty mentors and others who have supported him on his journey so far.”

Infographic from Daniel Chen's research paper

As an undergraduate, Chen was one of the co-authors of the research paper, “Multi-Omics Resolves a Sharp Disease-State Shift between Mild and Moderate COVID-19.”

Chen currently conducts research under Dr. Yapeng Su and Professor Jim Heath in the Heath lab at the Institute for Systems Biology. His research is focused on using the single-cell multi-omic paradigm to analyze COVID-19 peripheral blood mononuclear cells to identify the disease state effects of SARS-CoV-2 on patient immune systems. Such research has also branched out into investigating heterogenous patient responses to COVID-19 in convalescence along with interrogation of patient epigenomes to identify the early-stage immune cell subpopulations responsible for humoral immunity formation and the epigenomic changes that may guide such. In combination with Chen’s previous research investigating melanoma subpopulations using single-cell transcriptome (scRNA-seq) and epigenome (scATAC-seq) data, his current research projects have continued to push and develop his passion for biomedical informatics particularly when applied to clinically relevant problems.

After his undergraduate studies, Chen intends to pursue an M.D.-Ph.D. centered on leveraging computational resources and advances to solve human medical challenges such as cancer and infectious diseases. He particularly looks forward to identifying best practices and applications for such research to develop more accessible medical solutions for the given problem. He eventually hopes to pursue a faculty position at a university to conduct translational research in biomedical-informatic oriented fields.

For more information, contact Robin Chang, director of the Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards, at robinc@uw.edu.

The UW is a Fulbright top producer for the 2020-21 school year

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Posted on March 24, 2021

The University of Washington made the Chronicle of Higher Education’s list of the top Fulbright producing institutions. The UW has received this application eight out of the past ten years. Almost 600 U.S. higher-education institutions participate in the Fulbright program and the program’s participants work in more than 140 countries around the world.

Twenty-four UW students received Fulbright awards for the academic year 2020-21. Of the recipients, 15 were undergraduates. Their awards cover graduate work, research and English teaching abroad. The Fulbright experience gives students the opportunity to live and work abroad, learning about their host country and developing a new community of colleagues and friends. These programs are designed to help participants gain greater understanding of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, ultimately promoting an atmosphere of openness and mutual understanding. Perspectives alumni will take with them as they pursue their future careers.

For Fulbright alumna Tammy Tarhini, the opportunity to teach English in Germany felt critical to her development as a future doctor. She explains: “In both schools, I’m the only teacher with an Arabic background, and something that has stuck with me is seeing how important it has been for my students to have a teacher they can identify with.” Tarhini sees a direct connection to her future goal of becoming a physician focusing on under-served Arabic-speaking refugee and immigrant communities, sharing that it is important for patients to have healthcare providers they connect and identify with.

Undergraduate Academic Affairs’ Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards supports undergraduate applicants through the application process. “The whole process of applying to programs like the Fulbright is exciting and courageous. The application requires applicants to articulate their goals.” Explains Assistant Director Emily Smith. “As students embark on their Fulbright grants, it’s a delight to see them turn their goals into lived experience. And, it’s inspiring to see them deepen their understanding of the work they care about and follow the evolution of their careers.”

In addition to the undergraduate recipients, nine graduate students and three UW professors also received Fulbright awards. Read more about this distinction from UW News.

About the Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships and Awards

The Fulbright application 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. The UW campus application process for students interested in Fulbright U.S. Student Programs (and other scholarships supporting graduate studies around the world) will get started this spring for 2022-23 awards. Watch for updates about OMSFA’s Global Fellowships Prep program.

About the Fulbright Program

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the largest U.S. international exchange program offering opportunities for United States students to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide. Founded in 1946, the Fulbright Program will celebrate its 75th anniversary this year. The UW is proud to have had Fulbright recipients as far back as 1949.

Celebrating the 2019–20 President’s Medalists

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Posted on March 2, 2021March 4, 2021

From the thousands of undergraduate students at the University of Washington, three are selected each year for the prestigious President’s Medalist Award.

Sam Colgan, Natasha Lavides and Nuria Alina Chandra are the medalists for 2019–20, selected by a committee for their high GPAs, rigor of classes and numbers of Honors courses. All three are students in the Honors Program completing the Interdisciplinary Honors track.

Each medalist has carved a unique path at the UW, but they’re united in their passion for their chosen areas of study — from psychology to computer science to economics and English. While the pandemic prevents us from holding the customary UW Undergraduate Medalists Reception, each recipient received their medal, along with a message from University President Ana Mari Cauce and a special celebratory gift, at their home. Read on for more about these exceptional students who embody the Husky Spirit.

Meet this year’s medalists:

Sam Colgan, junior medalist

Majors: English and economics
Hometown: Seattle, WA

Twelve years after Sam Colgan moved to Seattle, he began his first quarter at the UW — just a mile from his family’s first home in the Ravenna neighborhood. Coming full circle made Colgan think about how the city has changed over the last decade.

“Much of my time at the UW has involved critically reexamining the city by learning about early Seattle history,” says Colgan, who was inspired to dive deeper into how redlining and gentrification have shaped the city’s race and class dynamics.

Driven to better understand Seattle history as well as the current housing crisis and rising cost of living, Colgan decided to study economics. Double-majoring in English as well, he’s learning how to explain those greater forces at work through his own story — and the stories of others.

“I’m particularly interested in the causes and consequences of gentrification, globalization, homelessness and urban decay,” says Colgan, an Interdisciplinary Honors student whose sights are set on graduate school for economics. “I think I could be effective at representing the economic dynamics for a popular audience.”

Colgan credits the UW’s emphasis on interdisciplinary education for broadening his horizons and encouraging him to study subjects outside his majors, from epidemiology to artificial intelligence.

In his free time, Colgan writes short fiction and enjoys jotting down story ideas and developing character sketches. He has also interned on a political campaign and volunteered as a tutor for students who are first-generation Americans.

Natasha Lavides, sophomore medalist

Major: Psychology
Minor: Education, learning and society
Hometown: Kirkland, WA

Growing up on Seattle’s Eastside, Natasha Lavides fantasized about attending college in a different city or state. All that changed when she started applying to schools.

“I realized how much I appreciated where I grew up and how meaningful it was to stay close to home,” says Lavides about why she chose the UW. Beyond the proximity to family and friends — her support system — the University’s breadth of programs gave the psychology major the chance to discover her calling.

“I love working with people, and if there’s one thing I want to do for the rest of my life, it would be that,” explains Lavides, who currently helps other students as a peer academic advisor and advising student associate.

For Lavides, finding a supportive community at the UW has been as meaningful as finding her major. In addition to advising students, she’s worked as a research lab assistant and interned with the Asian Student Commission, giving her the opportunity to interact with a wide cross-section of campus.

After graduation, she’s thinking about a gap year before pursuing a graduate degree in clinical psychology. Whatever her career path, she will likely be a mental-health advocate.

“I hope that I can combat the stigma surrounding mental illness in marginalized communities and work on removing barriers for these groups,” Lavides says about her goals.

Nuria Alina Chandra, freshman medalist

Major: Biochemistry (current); computer science (intended)
Minor: Global health
Hometown: Olympia, WA

When a chemistry professor introduced Nuria Alina Chandra to the Python programming language, she was immediately hooked — and inspired to take more computer science courses.

Soon the biochemistry major, who had originally envisioned a career in medicine, realized that computer science better reflected her interests and strengths.

“Computer science combines my love of math and quantitative problem-solving in powerful ways that can reshape systems and improve people’s lives,” says Chandra, who grew up in Olympia and is minoring in global health. Being around fellow students and professors who care about their chosen field helped Chandra feel supported in her decision to switch majors.

Outside the classroom, Chandra is sharpening her skills as both a researcher and a writer. At the Seattle Children’s Pediatric Pain and Sleep Innovations Lab, under the mentorship of UW Medicine anesthesiologist Jennifer Rabbitts and with the support of the Mary Gates Research Scholarship, she is investigating how acute pain becomes chronic pain. She also writes for The Daily and edits for Voyage UW, a student-run travel magazine.

Although Chandra is still exploring possible career paths, she wants to combine her creativity and computational thinking to fix issues stemming from structural inequalities.

“I’m still very interested in medicine and health-care inequality,” says Chandra. “I hope to have a career that allows me to use the methods that I love to help solve problems that I care about.”

Note: All photos featured in this story were taken following appropriate safety protocols.

Husky Stories: Taking advantage of failure with Ryan Lowery

Written by Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Posted on November 10, 2020

Each and every Husky goes through their own journey, undergoes their own unique experiences and, most importantly, has their very own story to share. Husky Stories is a mini-series in which Huskies share their successes, failures, experiences — their stories. There is no one way to be a Husky. Indeed, the culmination of individuals’ stories shape the picture of what it means to be a Husky.

Welcome to the very first episode of Husky Stories! Ryan Lowery is majoring in math and atmospheric sciences here at the University of Washington. Other than school, Ryan is also involved with the Resilience Lab, a program within Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Here, he shares his stories of dealing with failure and resiliency. (Note: This interview took place prior to the coronavirus pandemic.)

The Resilience Lab is a campus partner in the Husky Health & Well-Being initiative. If you would like to talk with a counselor or simply learn more about the mental health resources available to students, visit the Husky Health & Well-Being website.

Video by Sovechea Sophanna.

New guidebook helps faculty and instructors support student well-being

Written by Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Posted on October 29, 2020October 29, 2020

This week, the University of Washington’s Resilience Lab released the Well-Being for Life and Learning Guidebook, a new resource for instructors to aid them in designing learning environments that promote well-being. Combining research, best practices and personal testimony, the guidebook gives faculty and other instructors concrete ideas and direct input from the campus community around supporting the whole student and promoting resilience and compassion on campus.

Students’ well-being has been a growing concern for several years and has been exacerbated by 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic, economic fallout and the national reckoning over race and policing. A recent survey by the American Council on Education found that campus mental health was the top concern of university presidents.

“As we prepare the next generation of citizens and servant leaders, future educators, researchers, entrepreneurs and more, it really is critical that we incorporate practices that support our students’ whole lives and lived experiences,” says Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean on Undergraduate Academic Affairs. “As a public research university, much of our work is focused on understanding the factors that contribute to resilient communities. This guidebook helps us with that work right here at our UW home, knowing that it expands beyond campus as we all interact with our broader community through research, service and teaching.”

The guidebook’s Foundations for Advancing Student Well-Being are the framework for the guide and include the themes of teaching for equity and access, building resilience coping skills, nurturing connection and connecting to the environment. This framework promotes core skills and mindsets of social and emotional learning and draws on best practices modeled at other institutions. This resource was researched, developed, co-written and edited by the Resilience Lab team and more than 40 Well-Being for Life and Learning Fellows who are faculty members, instructors, staff and students across disciplines and from all three UW campuses. Their contributions give the guidebook a UW-focused, holistic perspective on the impact of teaching the whole student. In that way, the guidebook is both a call to action and an invitation to the work of helping students develop the tools and habits for well-being so they are mentally and emotionally equipped to learn and thrive.

“All of us at the Resilience Lab are so honored to have worked on this guidebook with such a committed group of instructors, staff and students,” says Resilience Lab Director Megan Kennedy. “We know that advancing student well-being really takes all of us, so our goal was to create a tool for our campus colleagues to add to their pedagogical toolbox. We wanted to give instructors a foundation of both why this work matters and how they can incorporate it into their teaching no matter where they are in terms of personal and professional experience.”

Support resilience, compassion and well-being

The Resilience Lab promotes well-being at the University of Washington through education, research partnerships, and core programs and initiatives.

Make a gift

The Well-Being for Life and Learning guidebook sits at the prevention and promotion end of a mental health continuum of care within the UW and is aimed at preventing larger issues or crises by bolstering students’ resilience coping skills and helping them respond to stress and stay connected to others. It’s a part of the Resilience Lab’s Well-Being for Life and Learning initiative, one of the Lab’s efforts toward building and sustaining a culture of well-being at the UW.

About the Resilience Lab

The Resilience Lab was founded in 2015 and is a program within Undergraduate Academic Affairs that promotes well-being at the UW through education, research partnerships and core programs and initiatives.

For more information about the Resilience Lab or its Well-Being for Life and Learning initiative and guidebook, contact Megan Kennedy at meganken@uw.edu.

Ryan Burt named director of Academic Support Programs

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Posted on October 22, 2020November 10, 2020

Congratulations to Ryan Burt, who was appointed the new director of Academic Support Programs in September, 2020.

Academic Support Programs runs the Center for Learning and Undergraduate Enrichment (CLUE) — a free, late night, peer-to-peer, drop-in tutoring program and academic support coaches, a peer-to-peer coaching program. Academic Support Programs sits within Student Academic Services along with First Year Programs and Undergraduate Academic Affairs Advising. Burt explains that being situated here “creates really powerful opportunities to collaborate with First Year Programs and UAA Advising. This is a great space for us to think creatively and collaboratively about supporting the transitional experiences of first-year and pre-major students, especially in this virtual world.”

Photo of Ryan Burt — Ryan Burt, photographed at CLUE — a free, late night, peer-to-peer, drop-in tutoring program — in 2018. Academic Support Programs runs CLUE, along with the academic success coaching program.

Inclusiveness is central to Academic Support Programs’ work. When examining the effectiveness of their programs, Burt and team ask who is coming, and more importantly, who isn’t coming and why? Even before the pandemic hit, Burt and his team were planning to offer their services online to make it easier for students to access these resources. The University’s move to online learning in spring 2020 sped up the timeline for this change.

“We’re working to make the online experience a rich one. Even though it’s a challenging year, there is still a lot of possibility of collaborating differently in the virtual setting.” Burt explains “I want students to know we care about each of them. We know that being a student at a large public university can be overwhelming, daunting. That’s where we come in: we’re their academic home away from home.”

Associate Dean Michaelann Jundt shares, “I am thrilled to have Ryan leading Academic Support Programs. His curiosity fuels his dedication to deep learning and informs his leadership. I am impressed by how well he handles unexpected change and the ways he has embraced collaborative projects. His commitment to students will continue to move us forward in supporting UW student success.”

Academic Support Programs’ offerings rely on students teaching other students. The peer-to-peer model is impactful. Students learn from other Huskies who are going through similar experiences and challenges. It allows them to relate and to learn from someone who is balancing the demands of student life, just like they are. To that end, Academic Support Programs increased the number of student coaches they hired in spring 2020 to both provide jobs for students who may have otherwise lost them and to be able to better serve UW undergrads.

To all faculty, staff and students thinking creatively about how to best support students, please reach out. Academic Support Programs is eager to connect, share ideas and work together.

Burt and team are eager to collaborate across campus. Because they work with both faculty and students, they have a unique vantage point to see both the faculty’s learning goals and how students are understanding the class material. They are available to meet with faculty and staff to share their observations and help support their classes.

Burt’s involvement with Academic Support Programs began in 2013, when he was a program manager. His work included overseeing the CLUE writing center and teaching academic support classes for multilingual students. The majority of students Burt was working with were international students, so Burt co-founded the International Student Success Committee. The Committee’s work brought together colleagues serving international students together to focus on enriching the international student college experience.

Burt continued to grow his career in Academic Support Services, serving as senior program manager, assistant director and most recently served as interim director. He continues to focus on how to best support the University’s diverse undergraduate student population.

He is a triple Dawg, earning his Ph.D. in English literature. His graduate work focused on critical multiculturalism in literature. He also holds a B.A. in both the comparative history of ideas and literature, and an M.A. in literature. He led the Academic Support Programs course English 295: Imagination, Immigration and Identity in Post-Colonial Rome and spent two years as a visiting professor of English at the Université Ibn Zohr in Agadir, Morocco.

Beyond his work in Academic Support Programs, Burt has been involved in several committees including Undergraduate Academic Affairs’ general studies curriculum committee and the diversity and inclusion team. He co-chaired the Undergraduate Academic Affairs’ staff teaching committee with Carissa Mayer, which brought together staff from across campus to think critically about undergraduate education. He is also co-chairing the University’s Task Force on Writing, where he’s helping to reimagine the W (writing) requirement. Burt brings a unique perspective to this work, having been an undergrad and grad student at the UW, in addition to having taught classes as both a grad student and now a staff member. This work seeks to broaden the writing requirement to include diverse fields and writing intensive, upper-level language classes.

Outside of work, Burt, his wife Jennifer and their son Lucien recently welcomed their newest family member, Zinédine. Burt is a musician and drummer for the band Postcard from the Badlands. In addition, he’s an avid coffee drinker. Pre-pandemic, he’d offer you a Chemex pour over when you visited his office. His current favorite coffee is Boon Boona Coffee, which translates to“coffee, coffee, coffee…” in several East African languages — perfect for a coffee enthusiast.

Dear Students: Voting is a habit that holds our democracy together

Written by Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Posted on October 21, 2020October 22, 2020

Vote graphic — **Voting is a habit that holds our democracy together.**

The University of Washington has one of the highest voter participation rates of any college or university in the nation. This legacy of civic participation — that #HuskiesVote — is something we can all be proud of. And it’s something we can continue.

If you are eligible to vote make sure that your voter registration status is up-to-date so you are ready to vote in the upcoming November 2020 election.

Important dates

October 26, 2020

Deadline for online voter registration in Washington state.

NOTE: Deadlines and processes vary from state to state, so it is wise to register as soon as you can. Check the voting resources page for deadlines in other states.

November 3, 2020

Election Day

In Washington state, your ballot must be in a ballot box before 8 p.m. on November 3 or postmarked on or before November 3.

This November, you have the chance to vote for the president, governor and local officials as well as ballot initiatives — all of which are important decisions that impact your life. Voting is a way you can use your civic voice; we encourage you to use it. But first: You need to register.

As the largest and most diverse generation alive right now, young people have a chance to make a real impact in our country — if every eligible voter participates in elections. In order to make sure that you can vote in the upcoming local, state and federal elections, you need to be registered to vote at your current address.

Please take five minutes and register here.

Let’s exercise some civic muscle and vote. #HuskiesVote

Additional resources

Voting Resources: Check your voter registration status and find out more about upcoming elections, including how to vote safely by mail. If you are residing in another state, this website has information about voting in each state.

Huskies Vote: Get step-by-step guidance on how to vote and how you can help others vote.

Do you need in-person assistance or did you miss the registration deadline?

Come to the Vote Center at the Dempsey Indoor Center. It will be open Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Monday, November 2, 8:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, November 3, 8:30 a.m.–8:00 p.m. You’ll be able to register for the first time or update your registration, get a replacement ballot if you need one, or use an accessible voting unit if you have a disability and would prefer an audio ballot, touchscreen or other adaptive equipment. Public health precautions will be in place and wearing a face covering will be required.

This post is an edited compilation of a couple messages sent to students at UW’s Seattle campus to encourage them to register to vote and vote because civic engagement is an important component to a UW education.