News from the School of IAS

Category: Alumni

Madison Nikfard: Personal growth through writing, digital arts

Madison Nikfard, a Media & Communication Studies graduate (’20) who excelled in writing and digital arts, continues at UW Bothell in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing & Poetics program. For making the most of her UW education, Nikfard was recognized this past academic year as one of the Husky 100 students honored from across all three UW campuses.

January 4, 2021

Shana Lee Hirsch publishes Anticipating Future Environments

M.A. in Cultural Studies alum Shana Lee Hirsch has published a new monograph, Anticipating Future Environments: Climate Change, Adaptive Restoration, and the Columbia River Basin, with University of Washington Press. In this book, Hirsch tells the story of restoration science in the Columbia River Basin, surveying its past and detailing the work of today’s salmon habitat restoration efforts. Her analysis ...

December 16, 2020

Supporting International Students course boosted by alumni

International students have unique needs and face different challenges than their counterparts. Prior to the pandemic, IAS staff members Jung Lee and Sakara Buyagawan received a UW Bothell Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement Fellowship to explore support options for international students. Their efforts, however, became urgent when the U.S. Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) placed restrictions on international students’ visitor status, due to the COVID-19 health crisis.

December 10, 2020

Paul Johnson leads diversity, equity, and inclusion at Seattle Waldorf School

IAS alum Paul Johnson has joined Seattle Waldorf School as their first Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI). In this capacity, Johnson will develop and implement programs and strategies to help ensure that all students, faculty, and staff feel valued for their individual talents and unique cultural perspectives. He will also seek to broaden the diversity of ...

December 7, 2020

Brandon Washington discusses philanthropy at UW Bothell

How has work in Advancement & External Relations changed since remote operations began at UW Bothell? Brandon Washington, manager of annual giving and philanthropy, answers a few questions from Maria Lamarca Anderson, director of communications. A graduate in Media & Communication Studies (’15), Washington worked in community engagement for several years before joining UW Bothell in January 2020, and his onboarding experience has been far from normal.

December 2, 2020

Hip hop artist and alum Essam Muhammad shares his story and creative practice

Essam Muhammad is a UW Bothell alum, South Seattle-based rapper/poet, and community organizer. On October 20, he connected with students over Zoom for the event "Coming Home: Songs, Stories, & Conversation with Essam Muhammad" organized by UW Bothell’s Campus Events Board (CEB) and IAS faculty member Georgia Roberts. Muhammad spoke on ...

November 19, 2020

Chris McRae helped build veteran-friendly campus

Randall Christopher McRae helped make the University of Washington Bothell a veteran-friendly campus. After his military service, McRae attended UW Bothell and received a degree in Community Psychology in 2012. During his time on campus, he helped develop the Student Veterans Association and served as one of its first presidents. He raised funds for the Veterans Archway, which was dedicated in 2013 to honor student veterans.

November 6, 2020

EJ Juárez: Understanding the architecture of power

EJ Juárez, a 2013 Master of Arts in Cultural Studies graduate, who now is the public policy manager for Group Health Foundation, will lead a UW Bothell What If…? Conversation on Nov. 12. Juárez will discuss how we might think differently about public spaces and institutions, like libraries. “They’re a place where people are seeing and interacting with other people, where they are learning a skill, where they are finding their own imagination,” he said. “I am interested in the design of those spaces and the impact of that on our democracy and society.”

November 6, 2020

Frances Lee investigates threats to subsistence fishing with Melissa Watkinson and Haliehana Stepetin

As a 2019-20 Environmental Justice Investigative Journalism Fellow for Seattle Globalist, M.A. in Cultural Studies alum Frances Lee (’18) examined the threats of climate change and pollution to marine subsistence harvesting. In their article “Declining Marine Health Threatens Traditional Subsistence Fishing for Tribes," published in the South Seattle Emerald, Lee discusses ...

October 27, 2020