News from the School of IAS

Diane Gillespie connects sleep strategies to community development in West Africa

Since retiring in 2012, IAS Emerita Professor Diane Gillespie continues to find fulfillment in her work with Tostan, a West African organization that empowers communities to bring about sustainable development and positive social transformation based on respect for human rights. Tostan’s ground-breaking approach has catalyzed a grassroots movement for the promotion of human rights and the abandonment or harmful practices, such as female genital cutting (FGC) and child marriage. Gillespie has been involved with Tostan since 1991 when it was founded by her sister, Molly Melching, as chronicled in However Long the Night by Aimee Molloy. Now Gillespie has ...

September 18, 2018

Abigail Echo-Hawk discusses sexual violence among urban native Seattle women on KUOW

IAS alum Abigail Echo-Hawk spoke with KUOW’s Guy Nelson about a 2010 survey of Native women living in the Seattle area. It found that 94 percent had been raped or coerced into sex at some point during their lives. Echo-Hawk directs the Urban Indian Health Institute (UHIHI) in Seattle and holds an M.A. in Policy Studies (’09) and B.A. in American Studies (’07) from UW Bothell. UIHI’s mission is “to decolonize ...

September 18, 2018

Shannon Cram participates in Hanford Forum for Shared Conversation

IAS faculty member Shannon Cram participated in the annual Hanford Forum for Shared Conversation in August. The Forum is a three-day event that brings 40-50 people together each year to have open, insightful discussions about cleanup at Washington State's Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Cram is ...

September 18, 2018

Andrea Downs advances her career in special education

IAS Alum Andrea (Sweerus) Downs has worked in special education for close to ten years, specializing in emotional behavioral disabilities. Downs has advocated for equity, changes in discipline polices, and equal access to educational supports and environments. Since leaving the classroom, she has worked as a behavior specialist and program facilitator for both Everett and Seattle Public Schools, and most recently, accepted a position as the Director of Special Services with Coupeville School District. There, she will oversee ...

September 14, 2018

Barbara Noah’s Likely Stories in solo exhibition at Davidson Galleries

IAS faculty member Barbara Noah will exhibit her Likely Stories series in a solo exhibition at Davidson Galleries in Seattle in September 2019. In this series, unexpected metaphoric objects float in distant skies, deadpan and absurd relative to the grandeur of lofty extraterrestrial contexts. The images, some of which are visionary surrogate selfies or emojis, reflect on both issues like space exploration, climate change, and mortality, and ...

September 11, 2018

Kevin Ninh: From bullied teen to social media star

Kevin Ninh, known as Flawless Kevin online, entertains half a million followers with comedy sketches and makeup tips. Beyond the laughs and beneath the eyeliner, he is carving out a space for himself and others. Ninh graduated last June with ...

September 11, 2018

Gustafson and Lanza participate in 2018 Pen to Paper Retreat

Two IAS faculty members, Carrie Lanza and Kristin Gustafson, participated in the 2018 Pen to Paper Retreat in August. The two-and-a-half-day writing retreat brought scholars -- faculty, professional staff, graduate students, and community partners -- together for time focused on writing with, for, and about community engagement. Participants "unfurled" writing projects, pitched publication ideas to editors of leading community engagement journals, and built a new network of ...

September 6, 2018

Allyson Fredericksen helps organizations thrive

Allyson Fredericksen has dedicated more than 10 years to serving nonprofits. Passionate about social justice and mobilizing communities for change, she has found her calling as a strategic operations professional, helping organizations create efficient and effective internal systems so they can focus on their missions. Fredericksen is thrilled to ...

September 6, 2018