Spring 2020

Letter from the Chair

Dear Friends,

Hello from the Department of Geography! I write to share recent news and highlights from the department, and to wish you well in this difficult time.

Many of you have wondered how students, staff and faculty are doing in these last months, as we have navigated the COVID-19 crisis, the university’s rapid pivot to remote operations, and searing protests of racism, anti-blackness, and police violence in Seattle and nationwide. All of this is extremely challenging, and I am deeply proud of how all members of the department are responding.  

As alumni and friends, you know well that a commitment to social justice and public scholarship lies at the heart of our department’s history and identity. Right now, this means systematically exposing racialized inequities, stating unequivocally that Black lives matter, and working to end systems of racism that perpetuate social and spatial injustices. Our faculty, teaching assistants, and advisors created crucial spaces of connection, learning, and thriving for our students as they worked through the spring quarter amidst tremendous upheaval. Faculty and students continue to bring their creative skills to bear in this effort – organizing, listening, teaching, and learning together, on campus and beyond.

As the pandemic prompted UW to move to remote instruction in March, faculty and graduate instructors collaborated with staff to build robust online courses at great speed. Our undergraduates successfully completed their courses from around the world, while juggling school, work, and family circumstances and learning to learn in completely new ways. Geography graduate students continue adapting their research plans to adjust to physical distancing requirements. Generous gifts to the department allowed us to offer a modest emergency grant to all our graduate students to assist them with the financial burdens of Washington State’s stay-at-home order. We are deeply grateful for this support. 

Last week we celebrated our largest ever graduating class – nearly 150 B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees granted this academic year! Two geography undergraduates, Anush Mughetsyan and Racquel West, were named to the Husky 100, an annual recognition of students for their commitment to inclusivity and capacity for leadership. Graduate students continue to win recognition and funding for their research. Rob Anderson won an Alvord Fellowship in the Humanities for his dissertation work on the politics of science in wolf conservation and management, and Elizabeth Shoffner a prestigious 2020-21 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Fellowship for her research on conversation practice and decoloniality along the Rio Uruguay.

In alumni news, we are saddened by the passing of Geography alumnus and UW campus leader Dr. Gabriel Gallardo. Most recently an associate vice president in the Office Minority Affairs and Diversity, Dr. Gallardo enacted a deep commitment to students, colleagues, and programs supporting underrepresented students, and leaves a tremendous legacy.

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

The Department of Geography’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee at the University of Washington shares the immense pain, grief, and anger over the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and Tony McDade. In the Seattle region, we say the names of Charleena Lyles, Shaun Fuhr, Che Taylor, Bennie Branch, Said Joquin, Manuel Ellis, and Eugene Nelson. These killings are but a few of… Read more
Read more
Last week, the Department of Geography celebrated nearly 150 B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. recipients at our annual Convocation Ceremony! Due to Washington State's ongoing COVID-19 safety efforts, the event was held virtually with a prerecorded video, slideshow of graduates, and Zoom rooms with faculty and staff. While unprecedented, this online convocation offered space for recognizing the strength and resilience of our geography community. Professor Mark Ellis, Graduate Program Coordinator, and… Read more
Designated critical infrastructure by President Trump in an executive order and encouraged to reopen or remain in operation, meat processing plants face challenges in keeping workers safe during the pandemic. Two University of Washington faculty members, with backgrounds in public health and human geography, explain the situation inside the plants and what can be done to improve it.… Read more
"How does climate change disproportionately affect the health of women of color?" So asks episode 7 of the new podcast series, You Thought You Were an Environmentalist: An Environmental Justice Podcast. Produced by students in the autumn 2019 writing link with GEOG 272 Geographies of Environmental Justice, the podcast's episodes are the culmination of a full quarter of research, writing, editing and recording by nine groups of undergraduate… Read more
Read more
Students in the Interdisciplinary Honors class “Citizen Acts to Challenge Poverty” collaborated with Real Change to bring the exhibit Portraits for Change.Featured on UW Undergraduate Academic Affairs 
While geography student Tanner Minh Le found a Software Engineering internship with Liberty Mutual Insurance by browsing job search websites such as LinkedIn and Handshake, it was Tanner's willingness to tap into the UW alumni network that… Read more
A year and a half out of UW, Utako Kase works as a Software Engineer with the GIS Team - "the backbone" - of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Kase started with AWS as an intern with the Supply Chain Management (Infrastructure) team, and afterward was hired for the current full-time position. As an international student, Kase was able to enroll in GEOG 496 Internship in Geography for Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and now is employed… Read more
Share