Hello from the Department of Geography! I write to wish you well and share recent news and highlights. We’ve just wrapped up a busy spring quarter and celebrated another year of accomplishments by members of our community!
Undergraduate geography students Edwin Bai, Kayla Gibbs, Yuanfan Wang and Lucy Zern were selected as our 2025 Halmo Scholars, completing research internships with the Humanistic GIS Lab and Anti-Eviction Lab. Our congratulations goes out to Elena Vega de Soto, a geography and environmental studies double-major who was selected for the 2025 Husky 100! Many of our students presented outstanding research and projects at our 2025 Geography Undergraduate Research Symposium, and in mid-June, we celebrated over 190 B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. graduates at our annual Convocation.
In recent months, our Alum Ambassador Committee premiered two new events, in collaboration with the Geography Advising Office: an alum reunion gathering in March and a speed-networking event in April with current majors. Thank you to our alum ambassadors, and please stay tuned for future gatherings!
High-impact research by our faculty continues apace, with a number of projects drawing public attention in recent months. Professor Erin McElroy’s research was quoted in a recent article in The New Yorker and Professor Gretchen Sneegas’s creative pedagogies in her Geographies of Energy and Sustainability course was featured in Wikipedia’s Wiki Education Blog. Professor Emerita Vicky Lawson received Lifetime Achievement Honors from the American Association of Geographers. Many of our faculty and graduate alums gathered for two panel sessions celebrating her career. Congratulations, Vicky!
On a more sobering note, many of you will be aware that the current economic and political environments are creating unprecedented difficulties for American universities, including the extraordinary withdrawal of federal funding for research and education. The State of Washington is also making budget cuts, and the UW College of Arts and Sciences is now implementing a permanent 5% cut. We are seeing the loss of instructors, researchers and staff, and elimination of core activities within UW’s teaching, research and public service mission. The UW’s ability to continue offering a top-notch college education and doing world-leading research is under threat. You can help by contacting your national elected officials about federal support for university research and teaching. Contact your state elected officials about adequately funding your state’s public universities. And you can contact the UW Office of the Provost about adequately funding the College of Arts of Sciences – the foundation and heart of the Husky undergraduate experience. No action is too small; we are profoundly grateful for any steps you are able to take.
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
