Dear Friends,
Hello from the Department of Geography! I write to wish you well and share recent news and highlights. As I write this, we are wrapping up a busy autumn quarter on campus and in the department.
We opened the academic year by welcoming assistant professor José Alavez and our incoming cohort of new graduate students. Professor Alavez holds a Ph.D. from Concordia University in Montreal. His research and teaching center critical cartography, digital humanities, and Global South approaches to transnationalism, exile, and diaspora, with an emphasis on geographies of migration across the Americas.
At our seventh annual Geographers in Practice panel discussion, we were delighted to learn from the career pathways and reflections of alums now working in public sector contracts and procurement, UX design and research, and climate finance and resilience planning. We invite you to find a recording of the event on the Geographers in Practice website. In further alum news, 2023 graduate AZ was featured in Seattle Housing Authority Stories. AZ’s reflections remind us all that access to higher education changes lives, families, communities, and futures.
The geography department faculty continue to build a robust array of research and learning opportunities for our undergraduates. Last summer, 15 students traveled to South Korea with Professors Gunwha Oh and Jin-Kyu Jung (UW Bothell) for their study abroad program, “Smart Cities South Korea: Communities, Technologies, and Climate Resiliency." The students have shared insights from their experiences in a StoryMap gallery. Our 2025 Halmo Geography Scholars Program sponsored research internships for four undergraduate students working with Professor Erin McElroy’s Anti-Eviction Lab and Professor Bo Zhao’s Humanistic GIS Lab. One of the Halmo Scholars, Edwin Bai, has even been profiled in the College of Arts & Sciences Perspectives newsletter!
We are deeply grateful for a generous estate gift to the department by Professor Bill Beyers and his spouse Margi Beyers. The Beyers Endowment will support graduate student fellowships beginning in late 2026, substantially increasing our ability to support periods of full-time research by our M.A. and Ph.D. students as they complete their degrees.
As friends and alumni, you play a crucial role in supporting these accomplishments. We are so grateful for your gifts, your involvement in department events and programs, and your efforts to champion geography in your professional and personal communities. Please keep in touch as we are always happy to hear from you!
Warm wishes,
Sarah Elwood-Faustino, Professor and Chair
