Green building champion Tadashi Shiga reconnects with UW Bothell

Alum Tadashi Shiga (’96) is an evangelist for sustainable living. Shiga’s passion for energy efficiency runs deep, as do his local roots as a third generation Seattleite. With 20+ years in real estate development, it was the 2007 economic downturn that sparked Shiga’s passion for green building. Faced with the market’s uncertainty, he began researching sustainability and energy efficiency for homes, eventually ...

April 10, 2019

IAS board member Leslie Olson supports the Global Scholars program in a big way

On April 4, 2019 all three University of Washington campuses participated in the first annual Husky Giving Day with a 24 hour, high energy, online campaign across all our media channels. The UW Bothell School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences came in second on the Bothell campus for most dollars raised, thanks in a large part to a $25,000 pledge for the Global Scholars program from UW alum and IAS Advisory Board member Leslie Olson. Leslie has

April 5, 2019

Alumni receive Fulbright awards to Estonia and Namibia

Hana Bloedel has been selected for a U.S. Student Fulbright grant to Estonia, where she will serve as an English Teaching Assistant. Hana completed her B.A. in Global Studies and Society, Ethics & Human Behavior, with a minor in Human Rights, in June 2018. Mariah Crystal (formerly Ortiz) has been granted a Fulbright award to conduct research in Namibia during the 2019-2020 academic year. She will be analyzing the oral history narratives of Namibian women who contributed the anti-apartheid movement and ...

April 5, 2019

Human rights in practice: The D.C. Seminar

Since 1991, more than 450 students have participated in the Washington D.C. Human Rights Seminar, which provides an experiential learning opportunity for students to engage with human rights policy at national and international levels. Hear faculty and alumni perspectives on the seminar in this video.

April 2, 2019

Jacob Allen co-founds social identity-focused school

IAS alum Jacob Allen (’12) is CEO and co-founder of pilotED Bethel Park, a new charter elementary school in Indianapolis that believes identity and civic engagement could transform the educational landscape, especially for students of color. Says Allen, “Once you acknowledge who the child is as a human being … what comes after that are highly engaged students.”

April 1, 2019

Alum Avery Viehmann teaches approaches to queer and trans activism

Avery Viehmann (they/them pronouns) grew up in Arkansas and graduated from the M.A. in Cultural Studies (MACS) program in 2016 with an undergraduate degree in Writing and Composition. They have 10 years of teaching experience and spent the last 5 years teaching English at Highline College in Des Moines where they formally served as their Writing Center Director. In February...

March 28, 2019

Alumni Shout Out!

Jaime Fajardo (’12, Society, Ethics & Human Behavior) earned his Master’s in Social Work in 2016 and is now serving as Program Supervisor for Snohomish County Superior Court’s Youth Enrichment Services program. Tera Figueroa (’98, Society, Ethics & Human Behavior) is the Administrative Specialist for the Career & Internship Center and Disability Services at UW Seattle and was recently interviewed about her career journey as part of the “Ask an Alum” blog series. Emily Olson, Salvador Salazar Cano, Markus Smith ...

March 26, 2019

Streamkeeper Nick Chen shares career navigations with IAS students

IAS alum Nick Chen recently spoke with faculty member Raissa DeSmet’s senior students about his career navigations since graduating in 2016. Chen is a Restoration Technician and Ecologist at Adopt A Stream Foundation who earned his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies. Chen originally ...

March 26, 2019

Aarshin Karande publishes “I Know Why the Mockingbird Sings: Between America’s Blackness and Whiteness”

IAS alum Aarshin Karande has published “I Know Why the Mockingbird Sings: Between America’s Blackness and Whiteness” in The Republic. In his essay, Karande reckons with America’s identity and its binaries. He contends, “America as we know it is in the midst of many changes—the postponed reckoning of its many discontents. Changes that will decide, among other things, whether the journey from President Obama to President Trump represents a triumph of diversity or an omen of immorals. The looming answer lies ...

March 26, 2019

Comics aficionado T. Andrew Wahl curates exhibit and launches speaking tour

In February, IAS alum T. Andrew Wahl began traversing the state with his presentation, Four-Color Reality: How Comic Books and the Real World Shape Each Other, as part of Humanities Washington’s Speakers Bureau. In this interactive presentation, he explores how everything from social movements to business concerns to changing demographics have shaped the reality seen in the pages of comics. Wahl’s talk will bring him to dozens of communities on both sides of the Cascades throughout 2019 and 2020. Wahl has also ...

March 7, 2019