On June 10, 2022, the Department of Geography celebrated over 200 B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. recipients at our annual Convocation Ceremony! Event attendees enjoyed a return to campus for the first time since 2019, with a reception that served as a reunion for graduates from 2020 and 2021. Professor Bo Zhao, Undergraduate Program Coordinator, and Professor Suzanne Withers, Graduate Program Coordinator, announced the following honorees who received awards from the department and from other units at UW:
Graduate Awards & Recognitions
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Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching |
Steven Bao |
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Edward L. Ullman Doctoral Award for Excellence in Scholarship |
Samantha Thompson |
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Edward L. Ullman Masters Award for Excellence in Scholarship |
Danielle Lynn Brown Olivia Orosco |
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Howard Martin Medal for Extraordinary Achievement in Scholarship, Teaching & Service |
Isaac Rivera |
Undergraduate Awards & Recognitions
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Community Service & Public Engagement Award |
Camila Nakashima |
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Outstanding Senior Award |
Arghya Kannadaguli Anush Mughnetsyan |
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Dean's Medal Nominee |
Elizabeth Theirl |
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Honors in Geography 2021-2022 |
Ivan Foster Manqi Jiao Arghya Kannadaguli Elizabeth Theirl Yunze Zhao |
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Husky 100 |
Talia Danielle Kertsman |
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Mary Gates Scholarships |
Elizabeth Theirl Yunze Zhao |
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Geography Undergraduate Research Symposium, Live Lightning Talks Session I Prize |
Elizabeth Theirl, "Land of '10,000 Lakes': Analyzing Blue Spaces through an Environmental Justice Lens" |
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Geography Undergraduate Research Symposium, Live Lightning Talks Session II Prize |
Zhengyang Wang, Qirun Jiao, "Analysis and Prospect of Public Transportation in Seattle Area for Living Convenience" |
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Geography Undergraduate Research Symposium Gallery Prize |
Yunze Zhao, "The effectiveness of CTAs and Related Policies in Covid Control" |
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Geography Undergraduate Research Symposium Gallery Honorable Mention |
Andrew Jang, Parker Mullen, Collin Pucher, "Park Access in Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC" |
Each year, graduating seniors have the opportunity to nominate an instructor for the Award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching. The recipient of this year’s award is Professor Gunwha Oh. Geography majors shared their appreciation for Professor Oh with their nominations:
- “Professor Oh was really engaging in the materials and made learning very enjoyable and understandable."
- "Professor Oh clearly cares a lot about her students and how much they are learning."
- "Professor Oh was incredibly accommodating and wrote really insightful assignments that helped students to truly understand the content matter."
- "Professor Oh gives us great projects that I can use knowledge and skills that I earned from the class and how to apply those techniques to the real life scenarios at the same time. It was great practice for me to how geography can be used in real life."
- "She also had a very refreshing attitude towards teaching where she was relatable but also tried to make her content entertaining and engaging, while also being able to properly educate. Also, I am not the most talkative and engaging person, but she put in effort to learn everyone's names in every lecture I had with her, and she still remembers me and calls me by name despite me just having her online for my first year with the major. That truly meant a lot."
- "She has been nothing but a supportive and helpful figure in my undergraduate career."
- "I have had Professor Oh for four classes here at UW and each one has been exceptional. She has taught me everything I know about data analytics and visualization, and she made it fun! I can tell she really cares about her students and made an effort to learn all of our names and get to know us. I am very sad I am leaving because I would love to continue taking classes with her."
- "Professor Gunwha Oh motivated me to study with her approach in teaching. She encouraged students to try in her classes, did not stigmatize mistakes and was very approachable as well as accommodating to everyone."
The 26th Annual Geography Undergraduate Research Symposium remains live on the Department of Geography website and features the award winners noted above as well as many other impressive projects in the online Symposium Gallery.