Dear Friends,
Hello from the Department of Geography! I write to wish you well and share recent news and highlights. As I write this letter, the Quad is alight with cherry blossoms and full of visitors. By the time you receive it, we’ll be wrapping up a busy spring quarter and getting ready to celebrate another year of accomplishments by members of our community!
In student celebrations, we are delighted to announce 2023 Halmo Scholar Kels Rizzo, who is collaborating with the ASUW and the UW Student Disability Commission, on a research and action project, “Expanding Reproductive Health Care at UW Seattle.” Geography major Eva Hudak was awarded a Mary Gates Research Scholarship for her Geography Honors project, "Storytelling and Mixed Race Identity in Seattle." And Katelyn Saecho, majoring in geography: data science and environmental studies, has just been named among the 2023 Husky 100! Ph.D. Candidate Julian Barr’s digital public history project on Pioneer Square and the making of queer Seattle was featured in a recent podcast “Politics of Public Memory." Ph.D. Candidate Yuying Xie was awarded the Frank Jenkins Jr. Fellowship in Labor Studies, to support her comparative analysis of service sector work, labor regimes, and union cultures in the US and China.
High-impact research by our faculty continues apace, with a number of projects drawing public attention in recent months. Results from Mark Ellis’s collaborative project on Geographies of Ethnic Diversity and Inequalities in England and Wales were shared by The Guardian and the BBC. Kim England’s ongoing work with the UW’s Wage Equity Study has generated a number of vital outputs, including an interactive digital timeline of policy developments related to Wage Equity in Washington state (in collaboration with Yuying Xie). Bo Zhao’s analysis of consumer support for Black-owned businesses in 20 US cities, including Seattle, was featured on KUOW’s Soundside radio show.
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!
