University of Washington Magazine - Winter 2024

Impact and Integrity

Dan Evans' legacy of service and human decency

Ode to a Ferry Terminal

The Mukilteo Multimodal Ferry Terminal is at once beautiful and practical. Built on the waterfront site where the Point Elliott Treaty was signed in 1855, a spot tribal communities have used for centuries, its elevated design is celebrated with the humble materials of wood, steel and concrete.

With input from Coast Salish tribes, the architects of LMN designed the building to reference the longhouse form, says Mette Greenshields, ’95, ’97, the architect who oversaw the construction.

The terminal has many ties to the University of Washington. One of the Native artists who created works for the project, master carver James Madison (Tulalip), ’00, brought his blend of traditional design and modern

approach to a pair of two-story glass murals tell the tale that he learned from his grandfather about an underwater village. And structural engineer Dan Alire, ’02, considered research from the UW’s Civil & Environmental Engineering Structural Research Laboratory. Concrete-filled steel tubes support the wharf.

The new terminal opened with little fanfare in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it has since drawn worldwide recognition for its cultural and ecological elements. “It’s definitely one of my favorite projects,” Greenshields says. “It’s like this little jewel box. And it’s right in our back yard.”

– Hannelore Sudermann

Photograph

by

Adam Hunter/LMN Architects

I study because I care about .

Chris Mantegna’s dream of being a marine biologist came true at the UW. As a grad student in aquatic and fishery sciences, she studies how pollutants affect our food chain, and she trains undergrads from communities underrepresented in the marine sciences. Through her work, Mantegna hopes to turn the tide on climate change — and change the face of her field.

For our climate. For our community. BE BOUNDLESS.

The Life and Times of Daniel J. Evans

With compassion, common sense and an innate drive to serve the greater good, Dan Evans left an imprint on the UW and the state of Washington that will be felt forever.

By Bob Roseth

30 The Civics Generation

More than ever, we need young people to get involved with public service. It’s a great thing that two programs at the University of Washington are helping lead the way.

By Caitlin Klask

37 A Grand (Hotel) History

The Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle is celebrating its 100th birthday as well as well as a priceless century-old connection to the University of Washington. By

Hannelore Sudermann

EXIT STRATEGY

On March 21, 1967, cabinet members joined Gov. Daniel Evans to sign legislation establishing The Evergreen State College. The school would open four years later, and Evans assumed the presidency in 1977.

Business broker Grace Chang, ’20, asks Jeff Jaeger, ’01, how he transitioned from the football field to restaurant ownership to real estate. uwmag.online/jaeger

SHAPING CLAY AND COMMUNITY

Jireh Redeque, a programs specialist at UW Bothell, makes clay earrings inspired by her Filipino heritage. uwmag.online/jireh

ART AND ETHICS

Mike Katell, ’13, ’17, ’20, was a fixture in Seattle's music scene and an expert on ethics in artificial intelligence. He died this summer at the age of 58. uwmag.online/katell

Visual artist Marc Burckhardt has painted Oprah Winfrey, Willie Nelson, the Dalai Lama and now Daniel J. Evans.

OPINION AND THOUGHT FROM THE UW FAMILY

BY TAMARA F. LAWSON

Access to Justice

As we celebrate the UW School of Law’s 125th anniversary, I look confidently toward our next 125 years, prepared to meet the modern challenges of legal education and access to justice as we continue to foster positive change in the legal profession in Washington and around the world. When we talk about “access to justice” within our legal framework, there are three key challenges to consider: access to law school, access to the legal profession and access to the courts. Currently, barriers of entry at each of these points result in a harmful lack of legal representation, especially in rural areas where there are legal deserts.

We are fortunate that our state Supreme Court is committed to reducing obstacles to access. In March, Washington added an alternative pathway to licensure that emphasizes experiential learning in lieu of a traditional bar exam. This innovation makes attorney licensure more equitable. The new pathway allows law students to exhibit their competency via supervised practice. Through clinics, externships, skills courses and pro bono opportunities, UW Law students learn from exceptional faculty and practitioners and are prepared to bring their practice experience to their future careers. The Washington State Bar has

initiated a task force to work on further implementation of this pathway. Additionally, Washington has adopted the NextGen Bar Exam, beginning in 2026, which focuses on lawyering skills and knowledge instead of rote memorization.

At UW Law, we are also innovating around admissions. Having obtained a variance from the American Bar Association’s Standard 503, we can admit up to 10% of our incoming J.D. class from among UW undergraduates without any standardized test score. Our goal is to enroll students who demonstrate outstanding academic and professional promise and whose background and experience will contribute to our learning environment. This new program aligns with the University’s holistic approach to admissions. We believe it will help us gather valuable data to reimagine ways to identify and educate future leaders in the law.

Our learning environment at UW Law reflects our understanding that meaningful access includes wraparound support for all law students. We have integrated career development and academic success services into the first year of the student experience. Further, our academic success program supports the full transition into the profession. For example, we provide an in-person simulated bar exam—a crucial opportunity for students who missed in-person exams during the pandemic. We also launched— and quickly doubled—our bar study awards program, supporting students with significant financial need. These initiatives have improved both morale and results.

Finally, access to the courts requires increasing access to legal representation and addressing the issue of legal deserts in Washington. We need skilled lawyers to work as public defenders and in other areas of public interest. UW Law is committed to public-interest law and our Gates Scholars program provides full scholarship support for students seeking to serve in this practice area. Additionally, all UW Law students complete a public-service requirement prior to graduation.

Our program of legal education provides these and other opportunities to develop professional identity and cultural competency—essential ingredients in achieving true access to justice.

Tamara Lawson became the Toni Rembe Dean of the UW School of Law in 2022. She is a nationally recognized legal scholar and educator with expertise in criminal law, social justice and the intersection of law and society.

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Seattleites on a stroll through Washington Park Arboretum. No umbrellas needed.

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

With Wit and Style

By Jon Marmor

When the University of Washington hired William Gerberding away from the University of Illinois to become president in 1979, it received a bonus: his wife, Ruth.

The Gerberdings went on to spend 16 years at the University, the longest run of a single president in school history. Ruth, who coordinated and hosted hundreds of events with students, faculty, donors and visiting luminaries, quickly became known for her style, wit and steady hand as one of the UW’s most visible representatives.

As Bill ran the University, Ruth ran HillCrest, the state-owned mansion and 1.5 acres of grounds that comprise the president’s residence. She was an unpaid employee, but her responsibilities were vast, centering on building public and private support for the UW. A parade of people came through their home for meetings, dinners and celebrations. She once told a reporter, “It doesn’t seem like there’s anybody left in Seattle who hasn’t been here.”

Tallman Trask, a former UW executive vice president, met the Gerberdings in the early 1970s and worked with them at UCLA and at the UW. “Ruth was one of my favorite

people ever,” he says. “Smart, friendly, musical and highly literate. I never met anyone who didn’t like her. She brought all that to life at 808,” the street address for Hill-Crest.

John Coulter, a UW Medicine administrator for nearly 30 yeas, attended events at Hill-Crest and joined the Gerberdings at Husky football games. “Ruth was the perfect hostess,” he recalls. “She was incredibly smart, had very high standards and was one of the nicest people.”

Ruth, who died Aug. 12 at the age of 93, also leaves a legacy of volunteerism and community engagement. (Bill died in 2014.) She served on the boards of the Seattle Symphony and the Seattle Chamber Music Society and volunteered at UW Medical Center-Montlake. “Ruth was full of life, vibrant, outgoing and gracious,” says Mimi Gates, former director of the Seattle Art Museum. “She had a big laugh. Her passion was classical music, especially piano music. Ruth also had wonderful sense of humor and a dry wit.”

We are grateful for all she did for the UW and the community.

STAFF

A publication of the UW Alumni Association and the University of Washington since 1908

PUBLISHER Paul Rucker, ’95, ’02

ASST. VICE PRESIDENT, UWAA MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Terri Hiroshima

EDITOR Jon Marmor, ’94

MANAGING EDITOR Hannelore Sudermann, ’96

ART DIRECTION AND DESIGN Pentagram

DIGITAL EDITOR Caitlin Klask

STAFF WRITER Shin Yu Pai, ’09

CONTRIBUTING STAFF Karen Rippel Chilcote, Kerry MacDonald, ’04

UWAA BOARD OF TRUSTEES PUBLICATIONS

COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS

Chair, Mark Ostersmith, ’90

Vice Chair, Roman Trujillo, ’95

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Bob Roseth, Mike Seely, George Spencer, Alden Woods

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Rick Dahms, Ariana Drehsler, Matt Hagen, Ian C. Haydon, George Spencer, Mark Stone

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS

Marc Burckhardt, Olivier Kugler, David Plunkert, Anthony Russo

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University of Washington Magazine is published quarterly by the UW Alumni Association and UW for graduates and friends of the UW (ISSN 1047-8604; Canadian Publication Agreement #40845662). Opinions expressed are those of the signed contributors or the editors and do not necessarily represent the UW’s official position. This magazine does not endorse, directly or by implication, any products or services advertised except those sponsored directly by the UWAA. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor, ON N9A 6J5 CANADA.

Woof. Woof. Woof.*

*That’s Dubs-speak for “Have you heard my big news?”

Happy History Memories

This was a great piece on history of place and HistoryLink, which I enjoyed immensely (“Making History,” Fall 2024). It brought back happy memories of my time in the University District and my high school and college friend and classmate Walt Crowley. I think of him when I ponder both simple and difficult problems, as Walt still to this day helps me find answers. Yes, I am a Husky (business). But today I am mostly a University of Montana Griz (Law 1973), so to Jennifer Ott: Go Griz!

Robert W. Minto Jr., ’69, Missoula, Montana

Curious for More

The HistoryLink article’s detailed citations lead the curious deeply into a topic. Ann Spiers, ’68, ’77, Vashon Island

Scarecrow’s Saga

Thanks for a very detailed narrative of a wonderful institution (“Last Straw for Scarecrow Video?,” Fall 2024). Always friendly, helpful, resourceful people, and so many valuable resources. I’m surprised about the financial concerns, as I’ve been away from Seattle now for many years.

John Wilson, ’76, Olympia

Husky Classics

Unbelievable that this article (“Husky Classics Rock,” Fall 2024) about Ave mainstays did not mention Shiga’s, which has been on the Ave since 1968, and which I often visited as an undergrad from 1972 to 1980 for ceramics, tea and even incense. Andy Shiga organized the first U District Street Fair. Research not your strong point?

Laurence Sarchin, ’80, Mercer Island

Dad’s Journey

Before Big Time Brewery opened, that building was the home of University Printing, a printing press where my dad, James G. McCurdy (not the famous one!), worked for many years as a printer. Living in Bellevue, he was one of the first to drive to work over the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge when it opened in 1963. One of Dad’s jobs was to print the Metro transfer tickets, and he claimed to be the one who randomly selected the letter and color of the daily ticket. I remember the huge, loud printing presses whenever

our mother would take us for a visit. After University Printing closed, Dad worked at a few other printing presses and would sometimes be called out of retirement to work a press no one else knew how to run. Eventually, one of the presses he used was shipped to a museum. I suggested they also ship Dad to a museum, but I wasn’t taken up on that.

Ann McCurdy, ’89, ’04, Seattle

Kudos for Cauce

Thanks to President Cauce for 38 years of working in and guiding the UW family to promote learning, writing, thinking, active listening and more (“Learning Across Difference” by Ana Mari Cauce, UW Magazine, Fall 2024). Her leadership helped fuel projects that improve maternal health, alleviate childhood poverty and increase awareness of geographic health disparities. We need solutions to meet global challenges, and the UW’s interdisciplinary research is on it. No doubt, my time at the UW as an undergrad and grad school at UW Tacoma prepared me for my volunteering with RESULTS (results.org) to work with Congress to pass legislation like the child tax credit that cut child poverty by 46% (until it wasn’t renewed) and supporting initiatives like The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Gavi, the vaccine alliance. Once at the UW, we don’t stop doing our best to make a difference. So thank you President Cauce for you efforts, guidance and leadership.

Willie Dickerson, ’73, ’94, Snohomish

Age-Appropriate?

The article on Tracie D. Hall, the warrior librarian (“Free People Read Freely,” Fall 2024), was uplifting and resonated with me. From grade school on, I have been an inveterate reader and have encouraged my children and grandchildren to follow (hard to do with today’s generation of school-age kids, though). There is just one concern I have about the article, which is how it discussed book censorship and bans. I am not in favor of censorship or bans, but I think the discourse has used the terms “censorship” and “bans” to inflame the rhetoric. For example, why is it that there is a generally accepted method of rating movies for age-appropriateness while attempting to do the same with regard to books is labeled “censorship” or “bans?” Not all movies are appropriate for all age groups, and the same is true for books.

ROAR

Obviously, there is no recognized rating system for books, but if the conversation was about how to create and implement one without a knee-jerk reaction that limiting access (as opposed to actual censorship or bans) based on age-appropriateness is “censorship” or “bans” of books, progress could be made. It might take a visionary librarian like Hall to lead that charge. Curiously, the most frequent and blatant actual censorship in the country occurs on social media platforms, yet the left-wing intelligentsia is not up in arms over that—instead, they focus on socalled “censorship” or “bans” of access to books that may not be age-appropriate.

Paul W.

Dendy, ’71, ’72, Vancouver

A Money Move

UW Athletics’ connection to the Big Ten may have some advantages, but let’s face it—it was totally a money deal. Fox News and ESPN engineered the departure of UCLA and USC initially to make money televising the games. And, of course, the athletes will probably be paid more. It’s very sad to see the Pac-12 Conference, which originated in 1916, destroyed by worship at the Temple of Mammon. H.Y. Upton, ’66, ’70, Woodside, California

Disappointed

I love reading the University of Washington Magazine. Most of the articles are well-written, timely and entertaining. The amount of puffery in your pages is at a surprising minimum considering the type of publication it is. And so when I read the piece of flack journalism entitled “The Big Benefits of the Big Ten,” by Jon Marmor (Fall 2024), I was very disappointed. Thirty or 40 years ago, strengthening academic ties with a Michigan State or University of Wisconsin might have been of incremental value, but today there are countless other ways for universities to cooperate academically without sacrificing all sense of tradition and honor to the gods of filthy lucre. I love the University of Washington and my experiences there through my undergraduate years and after. It is one of my favorite places on the planet. However, I cannot support the decision made by the administration and athletic department that destroyed the Pac-12.

Jena F. Gilman, ’74, ’78, North Bend

TV Revenue First

The benefit of the Big Ten is TV revenue. Period. The academic and research benefit

from the former Pac-12 was equal, if not superior, to the Big Ten. And what was the parting message to WSU? That UW would rather be associated with Rutgers?

Mark Donaldson, ’74, Long Beach

Lost Collections

I am a 1985 graduate of the then-UW School of Librarianship with a Master’s in Librarianship. I was struck by the article on “Benefits of the Big Ten” referencing the benefits from the Big Ten’s school libraries. As part of the Pac-12, UW students and researchers had access to the resources of the libraries at both Stanford and UC Berkeley. Both are now members of the ACC. Both collections are lost to UW researchers. Volume counts don’t reflect the value of library collections. The schools of the ACC are the winners in this. Thankfully, UW students can still access the UCLA and USC libraries. And the athletes having to travel across the country for games and competitions is all for money.

Ralph Stahlberg, ’85, Los Angeles

Bob Dylan at the HUB

I too have spent much time at the Husky Union Building. Your article on the HUB (“The HUB Turns 75,” Fall 2024) reminded me of a Bob Dylan concert I attended there. I recall it was a relatively small venue, and I also recall Bob Dylan was in an especially religious phase at the time.

Marc Stevenson, ’74, ’79, Kennewick

Kudos to Costco

Kudos to Costco Diversity Scholarships for supporting promising students from underserved communities (“Bridging the Gap,” Fall 2024), and to young Carlos Estrada for making the best of this extraordinary opportunity!

Jaime Estrada, M.D.

Corrections

In the September In Memoriam section, we mislabeled the class years for the following three alumni:

SARA JOHNSONE GLERUM ’62, Seattle, age 84, April 14

ROBERT MONTGOMERY ’63, Seattle, age 83, May 16

RANDALL KING ROCKHILL ’63, Whidbey Island, age 90, March 22

‘Kind

of a Crazy Idea,’ Then a Nobel Prize

By Hannelore Sudermann

Professor David Baker takes early morning interviews in his living room shortly after learning that he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

“We were actually kind of on the lunatic fringe for many, many years,” Professor David Baker said during a rapidly organized campus news conference on the sunny October morning his Nobel Prize in chemistry was announced.

Standing at the podium in a rumpled button-down shirt and with his trademark tousled hair, he described his work in protein design in a few pithy sentences. Proteins are “the miniature machines that carry out all the important jobs in our bodies and in all living things,” he said. Until

recently, we only knew about the proteins we discovered in nature. Science focused on identifying the existing proteins and trying to modify them to alter their function. He explained: “That you could make new [proteins] was kind of a crazy idea.” But doing so could bring solutions to current problems including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and carbon storage. Baker described his scholarly journey as “a long and circuitous path. … I didn’t work on proteins until I became a professor here,” he said. In 1998, he and his

co-workers created Rosetta, a program that looks at amino-acid sequences to predict protein structures. The software, known today as Rosetta Commons, is used around the world and free for non-commercial applications. Baker and his team realized they could use the software in reverse to design proteins that might do things like target cancer cells or neutralize viruses. They designed and synthesized their first completely new protein in 2003.

Nine years later, Baker became the founding director of the UW’s Institute for Protein Design. In 2022, a COVID-19 vaccine that contained nanoparticles developed by institute scientists was approved in South Korea for use in adults. Now called SKYCovione, it is the first computationally designed protein medicine in the world.

More than 90 of Baker’s former students and postdocs have gone on to faculty positions around the world. He also has more than 100 patents and has co-founded 21 companies. As the Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor, Baker is housed in the Department of Biochemistry. But he is also an adjunct professor in computer science, physics, genome sciences, bioengineering and chemical engineering—evidence of the UW’s broadly collaborative campus. It’s “an absolutely wonderful place to do science,” he said. Baker, 62, grew up in Seattle and attended Garfield High School. His mother, Professor Emerita Marcia Bourgin Baker, was a geophysicist in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences. His father, Professor Emeritus Marshall Baker, was a theoretical physicist in the Department of Physics. His wife, Professor Hannele Ruohola-Baker, is associate director of the UW’s Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine.

On Oct. 9, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Baker one-half of the prize “for computational protein design,” noting that he “has succeeded with the almost impossible feat of building entirely new kinds of proteins.” The other half of the prize went to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper of Google DeepMind for developing an AI model to solve the 50-year-old problem of predicting proteins’ complex structures.

“We’ve really learned a lot about how to design proteins with new functions,” Baker said. “I think protein design has huge potential to make the world a better place, and I think we’re just at the very beginning.”

David Baker’s groundbreaking work in de novo protein design opens a new chapter for science

Winged Things

Specimens and stories from the Burke Museum’s collections are paired with illustrations, activities and storytelling to highlight scores of rare and endangered species of flying creatures. Built out of the book “Rare Air: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies & Bees,” published by an imprint of Seattle-based Mountaineers Books, the all-ages exhibit celebrates the complexity, diversity and fragility of these species. It also highlights ways to help and protect them. The vulnerable tufted puffin, for example, nests along the Pacific Coast. Since the 1980s, this bird has experienced steep population declines, but now citizens and researchers are working together to support the species. Visitors to the exhibit will learn about wildlife conservation, citizen science and the wonders of nature. “Rare Air” runs through March 31 in the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Image by Sarah Kaizar

Puppy Love

Danny Sprinkle's dad is a UW alum and Danny grew up watching the Huskies. Now he is back to rebuild the UW's men's basketball program

By Mike Seely

Danny Sprinkle was born in Pullman and grew up in Montana. This sort of upbringing doesn’t typically prime a person for affection toward the University of Washington, but Sprinkle’s no typical person.

had to mine the transfer portal to fill out the

squad.

on the

Sprinkle’s father, Bill, played defensive back for the Husky football team in the late ’60s. After Danny came into the world, his dad would drive him from Helena to one Husky home football game a year in the family minivan, often stopping at University Bookstore for a souvenir after the final whistle sounded.

The game he and his dad would attend was “random,” recalls Sprinkle, but the Montlake connection would prove indelible.

After four successful years as the head basketball coach of his alma mater, Montana State University, Sprinkle took the helm of Utah State’s team last season. There are fresh starts, and then there were the Aggies, a squad made up of players who hadn’t scored a single point the year before.

the best league in the country. It’s gonna be a challenge, but it’s getting the guys to play hard and play for one another. And that’s the one thing that made us successful at Utah State is—nobody cared who got the credit.”

Oh, right, the best league in the country. The Huskies, like many of their former Pac-12 rivals, will be taking a step up in class by joining the Big Ten this season and will undoubtedly be projected to be among the conference’s also-rans.

When asked to compare the Big Ten and Pac-12, Sprinkle said, “I think the Big Ten is the most prepared league in the country from a coaching standpoint. The Big Ten is the most physical. It’s going to be a completely different style. And we’re going to have to get used to it.”

AN OPPORTUNITY HE COULDN’T PASS UP

After last season's success, Sprinkle wasn’t actively looking to move. But the opportunity at Washington qualified as what he considers “one of the two or three moments in your life where it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass on.” Sprinkle’s sister has lived in Seattle for several years, and he enjoys dining with her at places like Uptown China on Queen Anne.

“There's something about being by the water,” he says. “There’s just a calming presence even when you’re flying into Seattle.”

It’s hard to argue with that.

As one does in the Name, Image and Likeness era, Sprinkle mined the transfer portal for most of the 13 roster spots that needed filling. Picked to finish ninth in the Mountain West, the Aggies not only finished first in the regular season but managed an upset over Texas Christian University in the NCAA tourney. It was the school’s first tournament victory since 2001.

Sprinkle inherits a similarly clean slate in his first year as head coach of the UW men’s basketball team. Only two returnees, Franck Kepnang and Wilhelm Breidenbach, made even modest contributions last season, averaging 13.6 points per game between them. Hence, the 2024-2025 Huskies will feature 11 newcomers, including burly transfer Great Osobar, one of the best players on Sprinkle’s Utah State squad last season.

“It’s a totally different team,” Sprinkle says. “We had to basically sign all 13 in Utah State, and we had to sign 11 here. But I like our group. Obviously, we’re in

BARK FOR DUBS’ BIRTHDAY Woo woo! Lovable Dubs II celebrates his seventh birthday on Jan. 4. The UW’s official mascot is not so little anymore, as the furry chatterbox will tell you every chance he gets. He assumed his duties from Dubs I in fall 2018, when Husky Athletics hosted a “Passing the Collar” ceremony, as UW President Ana Mari Cauce removed the official Dawg collar from Dubs I and placed it on the pup ap parent. Ever since, the Sammamish resident has been having a ball, getting his photo taken about a billion times, racing out onto the Husky Stadium field before every home football game and receiving more hugs than any creature on the planet. And he sure deserves them.

New basketball coach

Danny Sprinkle

13 roster spots

Husky

ANIMAL

The Sound of Música

Martha Gonzalez, a champion of Chicana/o identity, returns to the UW

In 2013, Martha Gonzalez, ’13, a selfdescribed Chicana “artivista,” won a Grammy with her rock band Quetzal for their album “Imaginaries.” At the same time, she was wrapping up her Ph.D. in the UW Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies. Her dissertation explored community building among Chicana artists and activists using musical tools and social techniques. She explored how Chicana artist-activists imagined and re-created elements in their communities like food sovereignty, artistic networks and knowledge production. “I received the best mentorship at UW that a student can ask for,” she says. “All of the professors are prolific, and my adviser, Michelle Habell-Pallán, continues to be a godsend in my life.”

She went on to a career in academia, joining the faculty of Scripps College in the Department of Chicana/o Latina/o

Studies, while continuing to make music with Quetzal. In 2022, Gonzalez was named a MacArthur Foundation fellow in recognition of her work strengthening cross-border ties and developing collaborative methods of artistic expression to advance social justice and community building.

Since then, a pair of her dancing shoes, known as zapateados, and her plywood stomp box were accessioned into the collection of the National Museum of American History as part of the “One Nation, Many Voices” exhibit.

In January, Gonzalez returns to Seattle for two events through the UW Public Lecture series. On Jan. 20, Quetzal performs, and on Jan. 22, there is “An Evening with Martha Gonzalez.” Both events will be at Town Hall. Registration opens on Dec. 12. For more information, visit washington.edu/lectures.

Books and Beyond

University Book Store celebrates 125 years in January

By Shin Yu Pai

Stesha Brandon, ’01, grew up attending the University Temple across the street from the University Book Store, where her grandpare nts worked as booksellers. “I would sneak out of church to go over to the store and read books,” says Brandon. “I loved the store. It’s been a keystone for community my entire life.”

Today, Brandon is the program manager for a nonprofit that helps manage Seattle’s status as a UNESCO City of Literature. She also runs the literature and humanities program for Seattle Public Library. But she got her start managing events for the University Book Store, where she worked from 2003 to 2013. Helping plan and produce hundreds of events across nine outlets, she brought academic and blockbuster speakers to UW’s main campus for classroom visits and large public events. Thanks to her efforts and those of the bookstore’s dedicated staff, the neighborhood and campus have had an enriched intellectual life.

Visitors from around the region have been drawn to browse the shelves, attend author events and take part in a vibrant literary community. While the most popular

events during her tenure focused on academic speakers with specialties in science and philosophy, the store introduced students and community audiences to the idea that “you could see writers in real life and that writing wasn’t just produced by dead people,” she says. The bookstore partnered with lecture series across campus to bring in speakers. “And sometimes with students, that relationship [with new writers or genres] would be opened up because we brought someone to campus,” says Brandon.

Turning 125 in January and now celebrating 100 years in its current location, University Book Store has served the local community in myriad ways beyond textbooks and sweatshirts. Established by two students with $50 borrowed from the faculty, it began in a cloakroom next to the president's office in Denny Hall and grew along with the University. The business incorporated in 1932 and later became a trust. In its present home on the Ave, the store grew into one of the largest college bookstores in the country.

World-famous authors like Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Louise Penny

and cartoonist Matthew Inman found their audiences at the bookstore. Sci-fi and fantasy writers like Neil Gaiman, Neil Stephenson and Terry Pratchett discovered just how avid Seattle-area fans are for their work. Book buyer Duane Wilkins gets much of that credit. “He’s been on staff over 40 years and nationally renowned in the sci-fi world, and knows many of the authors,” says Trevor Peterson, University Book Store CEO. “He’s one of many people who have

“It’s our people that make us special to the community.”

–

Trevor Peterson, University Book Store CEO

spent decades on staff. Many of our products can be bought anywhere. It’s our people that make us special to the community.”

A century ago, University Book Store started carrying books for a general readership and tailored its offerings to the greater community, Peterson says. With memorable events like a seven-day WizRock festival featuring Harry Potter-inspired bands to celebrate a new release in the J.K. Rowling series. It was Brandon who conceived of the WizRock fest.

She also commissioned 110 local writers on the 110th anniversary of University Book Store to write 110-word pieces to be published in a book. The anthology was given away to patrons who bought titles by any of the 110 authors during the store’s anniversary year. The book included new work by alumni Tom Robbins and David Guterson, ’82, as well as Northwest writers Jamie Ford, Ellen Forney, Lesley Hazleton, Eric Liu, Colleen J. McElroy, Shawn Wong and Jess Walter.

As University Book Store looks ahead to its next 125 years, Peterson is optimistic and excited. “Our relationship with the University has never been closer or stronger,” he says. “We are in the forever business, just like the University, and to carry out our work in step with our great partners at the University is what the bookstore’s mission really boils down to.”

The University Book Store celebrates its 125th anniversary on Jan. 10, 2025. Plans are taking shape for an anniversary event as well as special programming all year long.

Octavia Butler, a Seattle resident and Hugo Awardwinning science fiction writer, poses with her books at the University Book Store in 2004.

A Powerhouse for the Economy

A new report shows that the University generates almost $21 billion in annual economic impact for the state of Washington

By Hannelore Sudermann

Last year, the University of Washington generated more than $20.9 billion in economic impact for the state of Washington, up more than $5 billion from the last assessment, in 2018.

The UW recently hired a national consulting firm to examine and communicate how the public research university contributed to local and statewide economies. Parker Strategy Group, which does similar reports for institutions around the country, looked at the University’s records from 2023 and focused on areas including expenditures on operations, capital projects and wages, student spending off campus and what visitors to the UW spend when they’re here. University leaders use the report to show how the school—through education, research and community outreach—affects the state’s economy.

“I have done over 600 of these studies, a lot of them in higher education,” says Nichole Parker, the firm's managing principal. “The University of Washington impact is the single largest impact that I calculate for one institution.

“It’s a big deal that it continues to increase,” Parker says, adding that considering COVID-19 and a downturn in support for higher education across the country, many institutions are not showing growth.

According to the Association of American Universities, research universities like the UW can be economic engines for the communities they serve. They promote innovation and entrepreneurship, enhance community development and draw research investment from the federal government and private sources. They should communicate their contributions in terms of the economy and larger socioeconomic context. The UW has an economic impact report every five years since 2009. “Reports like this one help us say directly to taxpayers and lawmakers that the investments you make in Washington are paying dividends,” says Natalie White, the director of events and communications for the UW’s Office of External Affairs.

Compared to other Big Ten schools and similar institutions, the UW ranks “up at the top of its peer comparisons,” says Parker. The headline news of the most recent report is that the University, the fifth largest employer in the state, sustains nearly 112,000

jobs and comprises 3.1 percent of the state’s economy, she says.

“What’s most impressive to look at is the UW’s research enterprise,” says Parker. “With $1.87 billion in sponsored research, this is a core strength for the University and the envy of many of my clients.”

UW Medicine, alone, provided an economic impact of $12.5 billion and supported and sustained more than 60,000 jobs. One of the new elements in the report is a breakout of the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) medical education program, which has a combined impact across all five states of $159 million due to operations, $117.3 million of which is just in the state of Washington. In 2023, the program trained 805 students who provided $170 million in economic impact. And 6,534 alumni currently practice throughout the region.

The report also provided a snapshot of UW alumni. Of the nearly 590,000 around the world, more than 375,000 live and work in Washington: that’s about one in every 10 workers in the state, Parker notes. “These graduates are generating $454.6 billion in economic activity” throughout their careers, she says. “They fulfill the promise of educating a skilled and smart workforce.”

The report shows how “we’re growing our impact over time,” White, of the UW, says. “That’s what our legislators want to hear, that they’re making an investment, and it’s making a difference over time.” It also allows the University to show how it contributes to local businesses and local economies. Yes, the UW hires staff and faculty. It also hires folks who work in construction, build our buildings, support events and symposia, she says. And it drives visits to the region.

“It is why cities want a college in town,” Parker says. “The visitor spending, the construction impacts, the good family sustaining jobs.” The $14.4 billion generated in the Seattle-Bellevue-Tacoma area and the nearly $21 billion statewide “is a huge impact … you all do a great job keeping as much money local as possible.”

Water Matters

The UW’s Population Health Initiative, now in its eighth year, is working to address flood concerns along the Duwamish River

By Alden Woods

More than a century ago, Seattle leaders set out to control and redirect the Duwamish River. They dredged the riverbed and dug out its twists and turns. Wetlands were filled in, the valley was paved over, and a system of hydrology was severed.

environmental health, saw an opportunity for something greater. The coalition asked a team of UW researchers to help develop flood-adaptation plans that are communitybased, culturally responsive and that enrich the local environment.

DRCC was like, ‘Look, we really need the people who live in the flood zone to understand the solutions.’ Because we have this long-lasting relationship with them, they see us as someone who’s able to provide a list of solutions, not favor one over the others, and do it in an informative way.”

Boosted by a grant from the UW’s Population Health Initiative, Jeranko and a team representing five UW departments, the Burke Museum and the DRCC are engaging with the community. This fall, the team presented the neighborhood with an expansive list of flood-mitigation options and encouraged city leaders to consider people’s preferences. Early work shows the community would favor nature-based solutions, Jeranko says. Floodable parks, for example, would provide ecological, recreational and public-health benefits, while storing floodwater during storms.

When UW President Ana Mari Cauce launched the Population Health Initiative in 2016, she spoke in ambitious terms. “We have an unprecedented opportunity to help people live longer, healthier, more productive lives—here and around the world,” she said. UW researchers have leapt at that opportunity, forging connections across the University, working with community partners and breaking down traditional barriers to improving public health.

In just eight years, the Initiative has funded nearly 230 innovative, interdisciplinary projects. Many are focused in Washington, where projects have helped improve transportation accessibility in South Seattle, identified soil contaminants in community gardens in the Duwamish Valley and improved how community leaders along the Okanogan River communicate the public-health risks of wildfire smoke. Other projects have reached across the globe, targeting health disparities in Somalia, Peru and Brazil.

Alberto Rodríguez, the former Duwamish Valley adviser for the city of Seattle, worked with residents, businesses and a UW team to bolster climate and community resilience.

What had been a wild, winding river valley with regular flooding became an angular straightaway built for industry. But when UW postdoctoral scholar Maja Jeranko looks out at the Duwamish, she sees the river struggling to return. “The water was always there,” Jeranko says, “and now it’s fighting to come back up.”

The river did return, with devastating effect, in December 2022, when an exceptionally high tide and heavy rainfall flooded the South Park neighborhood, submerging homes and closing local businesses.

The underserved neighborhood faces a significant risk of future floods. To mitigate that risk, the city of Seattle has updated the stormwater drainage and launched a new flood-warning system. But the Duwamish River Community Coalition, a nonprofit focused on river pollution and

“There’s all this talk about flood mitigation, but all they see are sandbags.”

– Maja Jeranko, UW postdoctoral scholar

“In the community, people don’t think there’s been enough engagement. There’s all this talk about flood mitigation, but all they see are sandbags,” Jeranko says. “So

“In this relatively short period of time, we’ve demonstrated the power that accrues when faculty and staff across the various areas of our campuses are working together and also exposing students to the cutting-edge work of tackling grand challenges,” Cauce said in her most recent campus address.

The community-based Duwamish Valley project team hopes its model will be replicated by communities across the country facing similar risks from climate change and sea-level rise.

“Even though the UW and a lot of other universities really support and invest in community-engaged work, a lot of times it’s fundamentally hard to make that research happen,” Jeranko says. “But the Population Health Initiative grant was about supporting all those things.”

Their Work Is Pure Genius

Two Huskies win MacArthur Foundation grants

This October, two East Coast-based alums from different fields were among the 22 fellows awarded MacArthur Foundation’s “genius grants.”

TEMPERING TECHNOLOGY

Nicola Dell, ’11, ’15, who completed her master’s and Ph.D. in computer science and engineering at the UW, was chosen for her work developing technology interventions to address the needs of overlooked populations like survivors of intimate-partner violence and home health-care workers.

“Too often technology designers and engineers only think about the benefits of the technologies that they’re building,” she said in a MacArthur Foundation interview. “We need to deal with both the positive and negative effects of the technologies we build.”

Digital technologies have growing roles in facilitating intimate-partner abuse. Abusers use technology to track their partners’ communications, monitor their online activities and impersonate and harass them online, she said. At Cornell University’s Clinic to End Tech Abuse, which Dell co-founded as an associate professor, abuse survivors are paired with volunteer technology specialists who help them go over their devices and accounts and create a technology safety plan. She and her team also work with tech companies including Apple, Google and Meta to create products that limit abuse in the first place.

She also focuses on technology for home health-care workers, a vulnerable, marginalized and often isolated workforce. Technology for them is really designed to monitor and track their behaviors rather

than support their efforts to deliver care in a patient’s home, she said. Seeking to improve working conditions and patient outcomes, Dell and her team are working on computer-mediated peer support as well as harnessing technologies to better incorporate home-health workers in the patients’ care teams and to provide them with access to electronic training.

DEEP-SEA DYNAMICS

RESEARCH

WASHINGTON’S WOLVES

Nicola Dell

Benjamin

Oceanographer Benjamin Van Mooy, ’00, ’03, was selected for his work investigating how microbial organisms like plankton shape the cycling of elements fundamental to life in marine environments. As a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he has spent his career examining tiny processes in the ocean ecosystem. “Plankton form the very basis of the food web and feed all of the ocean,” he said in a MacArthur Foundation interview. “We look at the molecules that are inside these plankton called lipids. … what we’re finding is as the ocean warms, plankton may be making fewer healthy unsaturated lipids.”

Knowing more about this may help us understand the fate of carbon in the upper ocean, he said.

His Ph.D. in chemical oceanography looked at carbon and phosphorus cycling by distinct groups of bacteria in the North Pacific Ocean. That led to a postdoctoral position at Woods Hole and a long career.

Van Mooy is currently investigating what drives the downward flux of organic cellular materials in the ocean. Called marine snow, microscopic organic matter falls from the upper layers of the ocean into the deep sea, taking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and then drawing carbon down.

“About a quarter of all the carbon dioxide released that would have been released by human activities is actually drawn into the ocean,” he said. “Plankton are playing a huge role in that.” Understanding more will inform a broader understanding of the role of oceans in our climate system.

By the 1930s, humans had driven wolves in Washington state to extinction. Eighty years later, the wolves have returned. They started crossing from Canada into Washington in about 2008. Since then, wolf numbers have grown steadily. In the northeast part of the state, where wolves have had the greatest recovery, researchers from the UW and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife tracked one of their prey—white-tailed deer—and so far, wolves aren’t compromising the deer population as much as the cougar, a long-established predator, and the quality of habitat are. Wolves were a distant third. “A big takeaway from this study is that wolves are not returning to empty landscapes. These are places with humans and other carnivore species, like cougars, which will affect the impact that wolves can have,” says lead author Taylor Ganz, who conducted this research for her UW doctoral degree.

SPOTTING ALZHEIMER’S EARLIER

Adding a home-testing element to detect retinal biomarkers could give researchers a more reliable way to detect Alzheimer’s disease early, according to a paper by Dr. Cecilia Lee and her colleagues from the UW School of Medicine and the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute. Lee and colleagues published a 2018 study that found a significant link between dementia and age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.

FINDING FAULTS

New research provides a more detailed map of the Cascadia Subduction Zone that hints that the megathrust fault is not just one continuous structure but is divided into at least four segments. UW researchers played a key role in this multi-institutional effort. “We can’t say that this definitely means only single segments will rupture or that definitely the whole thing will go at once,” says Harold Tobin, professor of Earth and Space Sciences and director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. “But this does upgrade evidence that there are segmented ruptures.”

(above) develops technology interventions to protect survivors of intimate-partner violence.

Van Mooy (right) investigates the elements fundamental to life in marine environments. JOHN D. AND

THE LIFE OF TIMES AND DANIEL J. EVANS

By BOB ROSETH

A rare pragmatist who never compromised his values, Evans bettered the world as a senator, governor, community-college builder and champion of the environment

DANIEL JACKSON EVANS’ ACCOMPLISHMENTS

included:

› Member of the engineering design team for the Alaskan Way Viaduct

› Youngest person ever elected Washington governor (39)

› First Washington governor (and only governor until Jay Inslee) to serve three terms

› First Republican governor to call for the ouster of the John Birch Society from the party

› First governor to create a state-wide ecology department

› Creator of the modern Washington community college system, greatly expanding their presence throughout the state

› Made Washington the third-largest home for refugees from the Vietnam War

› Helped save The Evergreen State College from closure when he assumed its presidency in 1976

› Chair of the Northwest Power Planning Council, among the first official groups in the country to conclude that the cheapest source of energy was conservation

› As U.S. senator, sponsor of the Washington State Wilderness Act, adding 1.7 million acres to wilderness lands within three national parks (sponsored legislation creating the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area. Instrumental in establishing the Hanford Reach National Monument).

DDaniel J. Evans, who often pursued a bipartisan strategy to accomplish his goals, was a lifelong Republican. However, over the course of his career his party effectively left him, abandoning most of the principles that he cherished.

He was born in 1925 and grew up in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Seattle. His father was a civil engineer, rising to become the engineer for King County, responsible for designing and building the road system for the growing city and environs. His mother, following a family tradition, was a frequent volunteer for the local Republican Party. Political discussions were common at their dinner table.

Evans joined the Boy Scouts and achieved the level of Eagle Scout by age 16. Much later, political commentators connected his scrupulous honesty and forthrightness with those early experiences and nicknamed him “Straight Arrow.” Evans credited his scouting experiences with inspiring his lifelong love of Washington’s mountains and natural beauty.

Evans was in officer training school when World War II ended. He attended the UW on the GI Bill, received a B.S. in civil engineering in 1948 and a master’s degree a year later. He was called back to military service in the Navy during the Korean War in 1951. From the Sea of Japan, he wrote his father about his intention to seek political office when he returned home and help the country head down a different path.

A self-described sense of mission led Evans to run for the state Legislature from the 43rd district in 1956. His campaign was energized by buddies from his scout troop who volunteered to help him doorbell every house in the district, a new idea in local campaigns. He not only won but outpolled the district’s incumbents. Evans’ practical, detail-oriented approach, buoyed by a steady optimism, already was on display.

In his first session, he served on committees dealing with highways, forestry, and state lands and parks. After the session, his party recognized him as its outstanding freshman legislator and by 1960 he had become their floor leader. Colleagues and observers in Olympia noted that he was a quick study, mastering the detail and

substance of ideas as fast as anyone in government.

Evans’ political style was evident from Day One. When the parties were at loggerheads over the route for construction of what became the Evergreen Point Bridge in 1961, he recognized that his side didn’t have the votes for his preferred route. So he signed on as co-sponsor of the Democratic proposal, ensuring in negotiations that approaches to the bridge from eastern ramps were improved to his liking. “I still think it’s in the wrong location,” he commented, “but since it is being built, we ought to do a proper job of it.”

In 1963, minority Republicans learned that a band of House Democrats was disenchanted with their party’s leadership. Moving carefully and quietly, with Evans in the vanguard, they persuaded the dissidents to join them in a vote to oust the longtime speaker, giving the Republicans a measure of power even though they were in the minority by holding together the bipartisan coalition. The coup propelled Evans onto the short list of Republicans who might run for governor in 1964. He was ready for the challenge.

He knew it would be an uphill race. For starters, he had no name recognition outside his district. An early poll showed that statewide, he was supported by about 4% of voters. But as with his campaign for the Legislature, he out-organized and outworked his opponents, campaigning tirelessly and accumulating a growing cadre of enthusiastic and highly capable volunteers.

1964 was a bad year to be a Republican. Nationally, the party had chosen Barry Goldwater, a far-right senator, to run against President Lyndon B. Johnson. Candidate Evans distanced himself from the party’s standard-bearer, and Goldwater’s assertion that “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” surely made him wince. He introduced himself to state voters as a “passionate moderate.”

The party endured an epic defeat that toppled Republican office holders nationwide. Despite the headwinds, Evans was elected with 56 percent of the vote as the only new Republican governor in the country. His agenda included addressing human needs for medical care and unemployment programs, a civil service system for state jobs, major expansion of community colleges, stable funding of K-12 education, more efficient government

DANIEL J. EVANS 1925-2024

THE JOURNEY OF A GOVERNOR, SENATOR, ENGINEER AND EDUCATION CHAMPION

Born 10.16.1925

Seattle, Washington College Years 1946-1949

Graduated with a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1948, followed by a master’s in civil engineering a year later

Scouts Honor

Joined the Boy Scouts and achieved the level of Eagle Scout by age 16 1941

1943

Naval Service 1943-1946

Deployed to the Pacific Ocean shortly after the end of World War II as a commissioned ensign on a succession of aircraft carriers

1953 1948 1959

Marriage Wed Nancy Bell, who raised three sons with him

Early Career 1953-1956

Worked on Seattle’s structural engineering design team, contributing to the Alaskan Way Viaduct

State Governor 1965-1977

He was elected in 1964, defeating incumbent Democratic governor Albert Rosellini, and served until 1977

EVANS WAS A NAVIGATOR ON THE DESTROYER LEONARD F. MASON IN THE KOREAN WAR

1965

1977

President of The Evergreen State College 1953-1956

Became the second president of The Evergreen State College, which he founded in 1967 by signing a legislative act that authorized its establishment

Return to UW 1993-2005

Served on the UW Board of Regents 1999

The Evans School of Public Policy & Governance named for him

1983 1993

U.S. Senator 1983-1989

In 1983, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate following the death of Henry M. Jackson, ’35 and was elected in a special election in November and served until 1989, declining to run again. In Washington, D.C., he was known for his progressive views, particularly on social and environmental issues.

IT’S SAFE TO SAY THAT EVANS’ TIME IN THE SENATE WAS THE LEAST SATISFYING OF HIS CAREER.”

2017 2005

80th Birthday

Celebrated his 80th birthday Husky style with an event at UW

Honored by Washington

In 2017, 877,000 acres of Olympic National Park was rededicated as the Daniel J. Evans Wilderness in honor of Evans’ long running work in conservation

and a favorable climate for job growth. Evans prevailed by wooing independent and moderate voters, his approach in every election thereafter.

Some voters, and his right-wing Republican colleagues, were shocked when he announced that, in order to bring his plans to reality, tax hikes would be required. He shrugged off their criticism and continued down the path that he was sure was best for the people of his state. “We should take pride in doing what was right” was one of his standard replies.

While supporters and opponents were busy catching their breath, Evans augmented his agenda with yet more issues: improved transportation, curtailing pollution and reforming the state constitution.

For much of his time in office, Democrats had a majority in at least one house of the Legislature. Sometimes both. But he did not view that as a deal-breaker for his policies. He believed that many of his positions were actually nonpartisan, good for most citizens, and welcomed support from across the aisle. Advisers and even critics noted that they never witnessed him change his views for political reasons.

As a moderate, Evans was able to carve out a comfortable niche in the Republican Party of that day. But fervent opposition arose from right-wing party activists, especially in King County, which included a growing contingent of Birch Society members and sympathizers.

Evans responded in 1964 by repudiating the “irresponsible, irrational right” and demanding that the party expel extremists. “The Republican Party did not achieve greatness nor will it regain greatness by being part of the radicalism or lunatic fringe. I do not intend to watch silently the destruction of our great party and with it the destruction of the American political system,” he told a state convention.

The perennial American debate over who should be responsible for providing necessary human services and supports, the state or the federal government, was answered by the Birchers as “none of the above.” Evans concluded they were not Republicans, at least not traditional Republicans. The party ended up supporting his motion.

The move was largely symbolic as there was no way to police the beliefs of party members. Evans continued to face deep divisions within the Republican Party for the remainder of his time in public life.

As governor in the 1960s, Evans had to deal with large demonstrations and political activism against the Vietnam War and on behalf of civil rights. He responded by declining to send the National Guard to the UW campus, meeting with Black student activists, creating one-stop citizen service centers to address needs in underserved communities, and by appointing

the first Black members of the governing boards of Seattle’s community college and the University of Washington. He also created the Indian Affairs Commission and the state Women’s Council.

Evans’ plans did not always meet with success. Several times he proposed a state income tax to support equitable education. “It was apparent to me that public education would be permanently shortchanged without major reform of our regressive state tax system,” he said. But the Legislature repeatedly balked, and when a tax overhaul bill finally passed the Legislature and was sent on to voters as a constitutional amendment, it went down to resounding defeat.

His proposal for the creation of community health centers was largely ignored. He wanted highway funding removed from the pork barrel and located in a new state Department of Transportation, which would also give mass transit a higher profile, but the state didn’t make that change until long after he had departed the Governor’s Mansion. The idea of holding a constitutional convention, with an eye toward consolidating “a multi-headed executive branch,” fell on deaf ears.

Still, he enjoyed a high national profile as a future party leader. He was invited to give the keynote address at the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami and told the delegates that it was time to make America great again by addressing the pressing problems caused by war, poverty, lack of equal opportunity and the barriers to free enterprise. The convention went on to anoint Richard Nixon as its presidential candidate.

In 1969, Evans faced the state’s deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression. The Boeing Bust sent the jobless rate in Seattle soaring to nearly 16%, with about half those unemployed not entitled to any public financial support. Home repossessions rose eightfold. Evans secured extra federal assistance with the intervention of Senators Warren Magnuson and Henry M. Jackson. He also called for a series of state bond issues to jumpstart the economy through capital investments in waste disposal, water supply, recreation, health and social services, public transportation and community college. Every one of these was defeated in 1971, but undeterred, he offered them again the following year as part of his successful re-election campaign. Four of them were approved by the state’s voters, but the measure to improve public transportation was defeated.

Evans’ final term as governor included proposals for a state role in the creation of child-care centers for working families and a study of what the state could do to help people cope with the economic consequences of catastrophic illness. He urged lawmakers to focus on addressing problems of hunger, poverty, lack of medical care,

“

LEADERSHIP COMES FROM THOSE WITH VISION, WISE PLANNING, AND THE ABILITY TO LISTEN TO OTHERS.”

support of the elderly, and civil rights. He said they had the opportunity “to make Washington the most progressive state in the nation.” But the Legislature, especially his ever-more-conservative Republican colleagues, had little interest in being progressive.

Evans, undaunted by setbacks, commented, “I’d rather go down swinging than survive as a chicken.”

As his party statewide and nationally shifted ever further to the right, he didn’t hesitate to raise his voice in opposition.

“The genius of American political parties has been that they refuse to become ideological hobby horses,” he said. He wasn’t a fan of big government. Or small government. What he wanted was smart government.

In defense of his time as governor, often against his own party members, he noted that taxes in Washington had grown at a slower pace than the rest of the country and the welfare caseload was half of the national average. The critics were not mollified. The acronym RINO (Republican in name only) had not yet crept into common use, but the sentiment was there.

When the Republican National Convention in 1976 was set to meet, state party operatives, enthusiastic supporters of Ronald Reagan, denied Evans, who leaned toward Gerald Ford, a place in the state delegation, although he was the senior Republican governor in the nation.

When Evans left office in 1977, he was barraged with requests to serve on corporate boards and other high-level positions. He surprised some by accepting the offer to become the second president of The Evergreen State College. Evergreen, authorized in 1967, had pioneered an approach to education focused on portfolios rather than grades and attracted a student population that often marched to a different drummer, which raised the ire of some legislators and the incoming governor, Dixy Lee Ray. Still a startup, it was under-enrolled, which became the principal excuse for critics recommending its closure.

Evans bought the school enough time to raise its profile and attract laudatory comments from independent reviewers and graduates. He also created a sense of unity and mission among faculty and students. By 1980, the turnaround was complete, as Evergreen faced the new challenge of over enrollment.

But the Evergreen presidency was apparently insufficient to occupy all of Evans’ time. He accepted a position on a brand-new body, the Northwest Power Planning Council, which was charged with developing a plan for electric power in the region over the coming two decades. At its first meeting, he was elected chairman.

The council met with representatives of the major power companies, public and

Daniel J. Evans: An Autobiography

private, as well as experts on regional fisheries, wildlife and Native American rights. The council posed hard questions to the Army Corps of Engineers and considered a range of ideas to secure the region’s energy future at the lowest cost and least environmental impact.

Its most important conclusion was that the cheapest source of energy was conservation. This has become a cornerstone of the council’s planning. Indeed, the panel’s name is now the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

When Sen. Jackson died suddenly in 1983, Evans received a call from his longtime colleague, Gov. John Spellman, asking him to fill the seat until a special election could be held. From the day he accepted the appointment, Evans knew he would run for a full term. He engaged in a two-month campaign for the seat against then-Rep. Mike Lowry. Evans was dismayed that the bulk of the campaign went into empty, often misleading ads and “time-constrained debates that squashed intelligent exchanges on complicated issues.” Evans won with over 55% of the vote, but he and Lowry became good friends after the election.

business. He described the congressional budget process as “convoluted duplicity.”

Clockwise from top: Dan and Nancy Evans pose in front of Parrington Hall, home to the Evans School. In 2011, Evans participated in a 5K kicking off the school's 50th anniversary.

Evans and Sam Reed, assistant secretary of state, in the governor's office. National Park Service staff celebrate the rededication of the Daniel J. Evans Wilderness.

At the age of 63, Evans declined to run for re-election. He was interested in joining the administration of George H.W. Bush, particularly as Secretary of Interior, but he was reportedly deemed too “liberal and balanced” for the job.

Other doors were open. He and Lowry hatched a plan to advance their shared environmental concerns. They developed a way to save old-growth greenbelts, protect endangered habitat and build parks by creating the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition as both a political lobby and administrator of matching funds.

In 1993, Lowry, who had just been elected governor, appointed Evans to the UW Board of Regents, where he served for 12 years. A Seattle Times reporter who observed him at the board meetings described him as “blunt and independent.” William P. Gerberding, UW president during much of Evans’ time on the board, commented, “He remains slightly larger than life.” The favor was returned: Evans described Gerberding as a “transformational” president, responsible for enhancing the university’s excellence, increasing faculty pay and expanding research.

Evans, who died September 20 at the age of 98, lived long enough to see his Republican Party morph into a very different entity, one that would expunge those with moderate beliefs and values in much the same way that he had urged expulsion of the John Birch Society. “Most Republican voters now share Trump’s principles, not the principles of Ronald Reagan or Dan Evans,” commented Chris Vance, former state Republican Party chairman. Evans, optimistic to the end, continued to urge his fellow citizens to become civically active and to participate in the “generosity of voluntarism.” He remained convinced that “leadership comes from those with vision, wise planning and the ability to listen to others. People will give their votes to those leaders and that party who can best speak for their aspirations.”

It’s safe to say that Evans’ time in the Senate was the least satisfying of his career. Although he was able to advance legislation expanding wilderness areas in Washington’s national parks and also gained protection for the Columbia Gorge, he was disappointed with the way the purported “world’s greatest deliberative body” conducted

Ever the optimist/pragmatist, he worked with a group that proposed major shifts in government responsibility, turning many aid programs back to states while allowing them to use federal funds to expand job training and child-care services. “We spend so much time and money regulating and supervising the states instead of delivering services,” he said. Few legislators signed on to even explore those ideas. “It was apparent that a junior senator could not bring a proposal of this magnitude to fruition, and neither the president nor congressional leaders chose to lead.”

Mike Flynn, longtime reporter and editor of the Puget Sound Business Journal, said it best. “He has always been a leader in what … is an unfortunately disappearing breed, those who view ideas on their merits rather than insisting that any new idea must be vetted based on where it fits ideologically. [He is] likely the most important political figure in Washington state’s history.”

Bob Roseth retired as director of UW News & Information in 2013 after nearly 30 years in the role. He helped found the UW’s Professional Staff Organization and served on the board of the League of Education Voters. Post-retirement, he has volunteered as a Washington state long-term care ombudsman. His first novel, “Ivy is a Weed,” is a mystery set at a large public university.

How do you inspire a new generation into public service? The Evans School and CELE Center are connecting students with seasoned leaders and local opportunities to do just that

THE

CIVICS

GENERATION

PHOTOGRAPHS BY

RICK DAHMS WRITTEN

BY

CAITLIN KLASK

PARTICIPANTS OF THE NEXTGEN PROGRAM ARE MOTIVATED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Generation Z, one-fifth of the American electorate, made up 40 million eligible voters and about 20 million confirmed voters this election year. But Gen Z represents far more than a ballot: They’re tomorrow’s leaders and changemakers. And, to put it simply, this generation is frazzled.

PREVIOUS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:

ASHLEY RAMIREZ , ’25, AVA MICHLER , ’27, AND ESTHER HIMMELFARB , ’25

Adults under the age of 27 grew up during a global recession and attended school remotely through a historic pandemic and national reckoning with racism and police violence. Today, they face socioeconomic challenges, climate change, controversial foreign policy and declining trust in public institutions. Still, young people are motivated.

“So much of the discourse about Gen Z is, these are the pandemic kids,” says Kathryn Pursch Cornforth, ’11, director of community engagement at the UW’s Community Engagement and Leadership Education (CELE) Center. “They’re so used to being focused on their screens. They don’t want to connect with other people.

“My experience of working with college students is just completely opposite of that. There are all of these examples that we can point to of students seeking out connections, seeking out involvement, seeking out ways to make a difference.”

CELE Center and the UW’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, both of which boast programs to court young people into civic engagement, offer a program called the NextGen Civic Leader Corps to provide those connections and guide students into public service. It’s a partnership with the Volcker Alliance

FYI

CIVIC PARTICIPATION IS LINKED TO HIGHER EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES AND HIGHER INCOME LEVELS IN ADULTHOOD

UW GRADUATE STUDENT NATHAN LOUTSIS , ’24, IS A COUNCILMEMBER FOR THE CITY OF KENMORE AND AN ALUMNUS OF UW'S NEXTGEN CIVIC LEADER CORPS. LOUTSIS BEGAN HIS PUBLIC SERVICE CAREER AT AGE 14, WHEN HE JOINED A KING COUNTY VOLUNTEER PROGRAM. AFTER MEETING LAWMAKERS AT NEXTGEN NETWORKING EVENTS, HE CAME UP WITH NEW STRATEGIES FOR BETTERING LIFE IN KENMORE.

Next Generation Service Corps, a national network of universities aiming to prepare and inspire the next generation of public servants.

And it’s not just about becoming a lawmaker. “Through NextGen, I can explore how STEM can interact with public policy, and that’s inspired me to pursue more programs with [and take classes at] the Evans School,” says Ava Michler, ’27, an ambassador for the program’s national network, who recently took a trip to Arizona to meet with like-minded NextGen students from universities across the country.

“We jumped at the opportunity to be able to work with the Evans School,” says Brett Hunt, senior director of Volcker Alliance’s Next Generation Service Initiatives. “When we look at our national network, Evans is right at the top of folks we want to talk about, point to and refer people to talk to.”

Evans School Dean Jodi Sandfort, a proponent of expanding public-policy access for young people, was impressed by the Next Generation program. “They had the audacity to say, ‘What should we be doing to help young people feel a sense of agency? What should we be doing to counter a cynicism that there’s nothing any of us can do in common anymore?” she said in 2022 at a celebration of the UW’s first NextGen cohort.

The program isn’t a minor or a major, and it’s not a student club, either; NextGen is a community of students meeting civic leaders, attending skill-building workshops and networking with fellow civically engaged young people. Members receive priority consideration for scholarship opportunities and, at the end of the program, a certificate and graduation stole. In October, a NextGen event enabled students to meet with Washington lawmakers with UW degrees to connect and get career advice. The perks of the NextGen program are “a way for us to meet students where they are, holistically and equitably,” says Amen Tsegai, undergraduate program manager at the Evans School.

“Giving a name, a language and maybe a micro-credential to help make meaning of things they’re already doing is part of what gets people excited about NextGen,” says Pursch Cornforth. “Think about it like making the implicit explicit. We’re all leading, or all doing leadership activity all the time. It's just recognizing it as such is the trick.”

Recognition for lived experience can be key to a young adult’s pathway to public service. In the media, youth are often portrayed as lazy, irresponsible and lacking in communication skills. This perspective is sometimes called “adultism” or “adultcentrism,” especially when it results in young people’s opinions going unheard. According to a United Nations study, this disenfranchisement increases apathy among young voters, which can lead to frustration with government.

Meanwhile, civic participation is linked to a healthier transition into adulthood, higher educational outcomes and higher income levels in adulthood above and beyond the socioeconomic status a person grew up with. But not everyone needs to become

“Giving a name, a language and maybe a micro-credential to help make meaning of things they’re already doing is part of what gets people excited about NextGen.”

a politician or career activist. That’s why NextGen’s interdisciplinary approach makes it easy for a student in any field to explore civics.

When Eamon Challinor, a junior at UW Tacoma, attended a NextGen event at the UW that included state senators, he noticed they didn’t all have political science degrees. “As a computer science student, I was intrigued because these two things don’t seem to mesh. But I noticed civic engagement is interdisciplinary. … you have to have, regardless of what field you’re in, leadership.”

“I don’t think everyone needs to show up to NextGen in the same way,” agrees fourth-year student Esther Himmelfarb, a 2023 NextGen Ambassador studying political science. “There are people who are majoring in engineering who are equally as impacted as I’ve been. It’s important to remember the space we’re trying to create—this cross-sector collaboration for the public good.”

Three years after inception, NextGen now hosts 392 undergraduate students in more than 50 majors across all three UW campuses. Staff envision scaling the program up, but they see a few hurdles.

“The big piece that comes up a lot in my advising meetings is paid internships,” says Dahn Bi Lee-Hong, NextGen Student Engagement Coordinator. Out of all internship opportunities on UW’s Handshake platform, only 5% are unpaid, and those unpaid internships are connected to public service.

Studies point to internships as the most dependable way to engage young people in civics. One-off community-service stints proved to be far less helpful than sustained commitments—like

KATHRYN PURSCH CORNFORTH , ’11, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FOR THE CELE CENTER, WORKS IN AND WITH COMMUNITIES TO CRAFT LEARNING EXPERIENCES FOR STUDENTS.

Move offline.

According to iSchool doctoral candidate Katherine Cross, political conversations on social media are individualistic and ineffective. Cross argues they “provide momentary, individual emotional satisfaction, and it’s easy to mistake that for politics. … Social media’s prioritizing of individual emotion is anathema to real organizing.”

UNDERGRADUATE

an internship where one feels valued, intellectually and financially. “A great number of those students end up going into nonprofit and government careers, and not everyone comes into an internship thinking that that's their end point,” says Pursch Cornforth. “So we know that exposure to internships and deep experience with community organizations and schools can shift students’ career framework.”

Another obstacle on the course of civic engagement is networking. While CELE Center, the Evans School and the Volcker Alliance have become “synergistic partners,” according to CELE Center Executive Director Fran Lo, ’99, ’11, the web of democracyfocused programs and resources within the UW is ever expanding, and increasingly intimidating to navigate.

“We’ve heard from students that one of the most valuable things for them is just connection with others. Fran and I call them ‘do-gooders,’” says Pursch Cornforth. “They just want to be connected with other do-gooders. NextGen gives us a stage on which to make those connections a little more formally.”

“There’s this big network, and NextGen is a node in that network, and the role of NextGen is to increase the number of connections made between students,” says Lo. “Not just with each other, but for themselves, and connecting them to other experiences that will deepen and develop their capacity for effective public service, whatever field they go into.”

Evans School Assistant Dean for Advancement & External Relations Lauren Domino, ’05, ’11, agrees. “If somebody wants to be involved, we’ll find a job for them to do, wherever they can give of their time and talent.”

Brett Hunt, of the Volcker Alliance, finds that nationwide, students make civics part of their personal brand. “You’re self-selecting into something bigger than yourself,” he says, which can be a relief to those of us overwhelmed by compounding civic crises. “When somebody has a great degree from a university like the UW and has the skills and leadership experience they gain through NextGen, that’s how we move the needle,” says Hunt.

“We have to instill in everyone who leaves our doors a sense of public good,” says Domino. “This can be the mechanism to do it.”

Allow young people to make decisions.

Boston’s mayor sets aside $1 million per year for youth (12-22) to oversee and manage proposals. So far, they’ve implemented solar-powered benches that charge phones, new water bottle filling stations and much-needed trash cans and recycling bins in public areas.

Put young people on your board.

It’s great exposure for them, but it also encourages innovation and productivity in your company.

Build a culture of support at work.

Raise awareness about workers’ rights in your workplace. Strengthen training for younger

workers, and be their model for civic engagement. Try mentoring a new employee.

Provide paid internship opportunities. These roles can open doors for students, especially in the public service sector.

GRAND HiSToRY A

Some StorieS take you on an epic journey. otherS follow the path of a character. thiS Story, the tale of how a patch of univerSity of waShington land in downtown Seattle became the Site of a gloriouS hotel, travelS acroSS time.

D o WNT o WN,

dwarfed amid the glass-and-steel high-rise buildings, the stately Fairmont Olympic Hotel and the properties around it stand testament to early Seattle and the founding of the University of Washington. Its history is a fine tapestry embroidered with civic generosity, elegant details, extravagance, tales of celebrity guests and—very nearly—an untimely end.

In 1861, the site—within the wooded village of Seattle—was known as Denny’s Knoll. Businessman Arthur Denny was leading his fellow Seattleites in the charge to establish a territorial university, even though there were little more than 300 settlers. He donated 8 acres of his homestead, and his fellow pioneers, Charles and Mary Terry and Edward Lander, donated the rest to make up the 10 acres needed for a university campus.

This postcard from the Olympic Hotel was already in circulation in 1926. A vintage luggage tag featuring a clipper ship, above, nods to Seattle’s maritime roots.

John Pike, a settler from the East Coast, designed and built the UW’s original home, a two-story classically influenced clapboard structure. It had four massive columns in front, facing Puget Sound, and a cupola perched on top. An 1880s-era photo of the original university building shows it dominating a rough landscape of humble homes, barns and businesses.

The site served as Washington’s university for more than 20 years while the village around it turned into a town and the population soared to well over 3,500. In 1884, citing the “excitements and temptations” of Seattle’s waterfront district and a fast-growing downtown, the University’s Board of Regents decided to move the campus to a calmer, undeveloped location 6 miles north.

The settlers’ gifts of land in the present-day heart of downtown Seattle eventually became a boon to the fledgling university, but first it was a derelict patch. The regents were in a quandary with what to do with the land; they couldn’t sell it because of an economic

slump. Instead, and to great long-term benefit to the University, they decided to lease the 10 acres for business construction and formed a public-private partnership with the Metropolitan Building Co. to make it happen. By 1909, the hillside—which became known as the Metropolitan Tract—had been regraded, and Beaux Arts-style commercial buildings sprouted up around it.

Meanwhile, the Klondike gold rush in the late 1890s funneled tens of thousands of men and women through the city as they provisioned themselves on their way to Alaska. With the arrivals of the Union Pacific and Milwaukee Road, Seattle had transformed from a small port city into an international trading post. The local leaders created a promotional pamphlet to lure new businesses and developers titled, “A Few Facts About Seattle: The Queen City of the Pacific.” The 40-page advertisement boasted booming industries of timber, farming, fisheries and maritime, noting that Seattle was a gateway to Hawaii and trade with Asia. It even celebrated the potential of hydropower.

Far left, long before Seattle had streets and sidwalks, the original Territorial University of Washington building stood on Denny’s Knoll. Built in 1861, the structure was demolished in 1910.

Left, civil rights marchers cross in front of the Olympic’s original front entrance in 1964.

Below far left, the Olympic Hotel under construction on the original site of the UW in May 1924.

Below left, an early menu from The Georgian Room, one of Seattle’s most elegant restaurants.

Right, the Olympic, a bustling hub for conventions and city events in the 1950s, captured on a postcard.

construction. A famous New York architectural firm—George B. Post and Sons—designed the building, while the local firm of Bebb and Gould (Carl Gould created the 1915 plan for the UW campus and founded the UW’s architecture program) oversaw the construction.

The building went up in record time, with crews breaking ground in July 1923 and handing over the keys to the operating company at the end of October 1924. The final cost came to $5.5 million, plus another $800,000 for furnishings.

In this time of optimism and opportunity, Seattle was ready for a luxury hotel—one where world leaders, entertainers and the wealthy elite could stay in luxury and steep themselves in the Pacific Northwest culture. Business leaders formed the Community Hotel Corp. to finance the project—and Seattleites were primed to support it. In

“THE o LYMPIC HOTEL WAS A ‘M o NUMENT TO CO o PERATIVE COMMUNITY EFF o RT.’”

the first week of fundraising, a bond sale garnered more than $2.8 million from nearly 4,600 subscribers.

The Seattle Times ran the contest that delivered the name: The Olympic. The real-estate developer who won donated his $50 prize back to support the

Years later in her letter nominating the hotel for the National Register of Historic Places, Miriam Sutermeister, ’77, an architectural historian, describes The Olympic as “a monument to cooperative community effort” and the grand opening on Dec. 6, 1924, as “one of the most notable affairs in the history of the city.” According to one newspaper story at the time, guests from around the country flocked to Seattle to be the first to stay in the rooms.

The hotel boasted an oak-paneled, two-story lobby with an airy fine-dining restaurant at one end and a generous ballroom at the other. At least 7,000 people—many of whom had purchased stock to build the hotel—swarmed to see the grandeur for themselves. The project put Seattle on the map with lavish social events more typical of the East Coast.

In 1929, work was completed on the hotel’s 300-room northeast wing—just in time for the Great Depression. The operator filed for bankruptcy in 1931, and the hotel changed hands a few times until the 1940s, when William Edris, a UW Law alum and real estate investor, took control. In the 1950s, Western Hotels was running it. For 50 years, The Olympic was the city’s largest and finest hotel. It lived up to its promise, hosting princesses, pop stars and presidents. During a 1937 visit to Seattle,

President Franklin Roosevelt used the hotel’s 11th floor as headquarters for his staff.

Decades later, President Kennedy, who came to town to celebrate the centennial of the University of Washington, created a “Seattle White House” by basing his staff at the hotel. “The Olympic: The Story of Seattle’s Landmark Hotel,” by Alan Stein and the staff at HistoryLink (an online history resource) boasts myriad stories of such luminaries as Elvis Presley, Joan Crawford and Martin Luther King Jr. Bob Hope stayed there in the 1950s when he served as grand marshal of the Seafair Parade. And Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopia, was a guest during a zany Shriners convention.

But by the early 1970s, developers were tearing up the city. They set their sights on The Olympic and other Metropolitan Tract buildings, which were showing their age. The White-Henry-Stuart building, part of the original Beaux Arts master plan for the UW land, was demolished to make way for the Rainier Bank Tower (designed by Minoru Yamasaki, ’34) and its shopping plaza. “We feared The Olympic would be next,” says historian Sutermeister.

Seattle in the late 1960s and early ’70s lost some, but not all, of its precious structures, says Sutermeister’s husband, Professor Emeritus Grant Hildebrand. The Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square endured, thanks to grass-roots citizens led by UW architecture professor Victor Steinbrueck, ’35.

Seattle’s preservationists had watched the demolition of Penn Station in New York and were driven by the fear that bad modern architecture was replacing what was good,

“WE ARC ALL o C A RVING AND WO BEEN HERE FR

Hildebrand says. The Olympic is a strong example the Renaissance Revival style, he says. “The architectural quality is irreplaceable.”

A group called Allied Arts of Seattle, which included UW alumni and faculty, turned its energies to the UW land downtown. “We decided they had this whole 10-acre tract with these wonderful buildings that were going by the wayside, and we needed to do something,” says Sutermeister. The group publicly urged the University to preserve the historic structure. But not everyone was interested, Sutermeister says: “At one meeting, people fell asleep.”

upscale bar at its center. “We don’t ever touch the architecture of the hotel,” says Jennifer Sørlie, director of public relations and marketing for the hotel. “All of the original ornate carving and woodwork has been here from the beginning.”

Besides holding public forums and drawing attention to the threat, “the only thing we thought we could do was a National Register nomination,” she says. A nontraditional student with grown children, Sutermeister had enrolled at the UW to study interior design. She had relished her entry-level architecture classes and willingly took on the job of researching and writing the multi-page document nominating the hotel to the National Register of Historic Places. She dug into the archives at Suzzallo Library and sought expert advice from campus sources in crafting the document. The National Park Service gave its approval a few months later.

That nomination helped tip the UW’s regents into voting to preserve the hotel, she says: “That was a hurray.” Several members of the board had worked on the Seattle World’s Fair and had traveled through Europe, so they understood how beautiful and historic buildings enrich a place. “They had that sense that you can’t save them all—and you shouldn’t—but there are some to preserve,” she says.

In 1982, after a massive renovation that included tearing out walls and turning more than 750 small guest rooms into 450 generous ones, the revitalized hotel reopened as the Four Seasons Olympic and again was the belle of the city. In 2003, the hotel changed hands again. Legacy Hotels, the

A few months ago, she received an unusual request. Jay Cunningham, a UW graduate student completing his Ph.D. in human centered design and engineering and a former UW student regent, hoped to use the hotel lobby to have some professional portraits taken. “I’ve come to learn and highly respect the history of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel since it transcended as the first location of the University of Washington,” he wrote. “In this 100th year of the hotel’s history, I am excited to celebrate such an amazing milestone.”

She was tickled by the request. Lately, Sørlie and her colleagues have been knitting together projects to celebrate the hotel’s 100th birthday. Along with a gala on Dec. 6, the anniversary of the grand opening a century ago, the menu in The George (formerly the Georgian) will feature modernized versions of dishes featured on the menu in 1924: Waldorf salad, steak Diane and trifle. And there’s a special project in the works to renovate one of the guest rooms into a Husky-themed suite.

While some elements of the hotel are the same (such as the spectacular Spanish Ballroom) and others have changed (rooms are no longer $3.50 a night), the hotel, the land and the ties to the UW persevere. Today, as visitors walk through the front entrance from University Street, they pass an assemblage of bronze markers noting the history of the place: “On this site the University of Washington was established in 1861.”

Distinguished Alumni Veterans Award

A Leader in Combat Care

Battlefield surgeon Dana Covey brings his trauma expertise to medical research

By Shin Yu Pai

Capt. Dana C. Covey is celebrated for his innovative approaches to surgery and healing.

Considered one of the world’s leading authorities on battlefield care of musculoskeletal trauma, Capt. Dana C. Covey, M.D., ’84, is this year’s recipient of the UW’s Distinguished Alumni Veteran Award. A decorated combat veteran, orthopaedic surgeon and professor, he has dedicated his professional life to contributions to the Navy and the medical profession.

As a professor at University of California San Diego, Covey is a role model for young physicians. His “extraordinary personal standards of competency and dedication to service and integrity, transcend his international reputation as one of the world’s leading authorities on combat surgery,” according to his nomination for the UW award.

Born in Woodland, California, Covey attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he studied oceanography. He later completed a master’s degree

in immunology/zoology from the University of Idaho. In his 40 years in the Navy, he rose to the rank of captain and eventually served as a combat surgeon. His deployments include Iraq and Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Haiti, the former Yugoslavia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and at sea in the Persian Gulf.

His military decorations include two Legion of Merit awards, a Bronze Star Medal, three Meritorious Service Medals, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, a Combat Action Ribbon, a Joint Meritorious Unit Award with Oak Leaf Cluster and numerous campaign, unit and service awards. He is a designated Surface Warfare Medical Officer and achieved Fleet Marine Force Officer Qualification.

In 1984, Covey received his medical degree with honors from the University of Washington. “My education and other

experiences during my time at the UW prepared me well for the challenges of orthopaedic surgical training and beyond,” Covey says. “I found my trauma experience at Harborview Medical Center especially beneficial. I had outstanding professors and mentors who inspired me to pursue academic orthopaedic surgery and the education of medical students and residents.”

Covey went on to complete his orthopaedic surgery internship and residency at Louisiana State University and an orthopaedic surgery fellowship in sports medicine and athletic trauma surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. His research includes studying the mitigation of injury in service members through the use of newly improved personal body armor, contributing clinical rationale for the redesigned combat vehicles, enhanced field surgical training, rapid medical evacuation and the close availability of a forward surgical team.

His recognitions in the medical field rival his military honors and include the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Award for Excellence in Military Medicine, the American Orthopaedic Association North American Traveling Fellowship, membership in the scientific research honor society Sigma Xi, the Sir Henry Wellcome Medal and Prize for outstanding medical research and the Colonel Brian Allgood Memorial Award for Excellence in Military Orthopaedic Leadership. In 2019, Covey was awarded the William W. Tipton Jr., MD Leadership Award, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ most prestigious award in recognition of his o utstanding leadership in service to his nation, profession and patients.

A research physician and an innovative scholar whose published work has led to advances in humanitarian care and wartime surgery, Covey is considered a lion in his field. His professionalism epitomizes the ideals expressed in the Navy’s core values of honor, courage and commitment. Despite his long list of accomplishments, Covey regards the UW’s Distinguished Alumni Veterans Award among the highest acknowledgments he has received. “I am honored and humbled to have even been considered for this award from my alma mater, one of the great universities of our nation,” he says. Currently a professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of California San Diego, Covey also practices as an orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine physician.

ARIANA

DREHSLER

Assunta Ng, entrepreneur and journalist, has dedicated her career to serving the Asian American community. She stands in the front office of the Northwest Asian Weekly, which she founded in 1983.

Read All About It

Newspaper founder Assunta Ng passes her empire to a new generation of community-minded UW alums

By Shin Yu Pai

When her husband, George Liu, was diagnosed with cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic, Assunta Ng, ’74, ’76, ’79, knew something had to give. Adding her partner’s operational duties for the publications to her own responsibilities as newspaper publisher, she found it impossible to balance her time with being his caregiver. So in

2023, she discontinued the print editions of the Seattle Chinese Post and Northwest Asian Weekly—two beloved communitybased newspapers that she had produced weekly for more than 40 years.

Over the decades, Ng faced a number of wide-ranging challenges in producing the paper. “One day, the printer might say,

‘My machine broke down, and we can’t handle how many color pages you need,’” she says. Ng would have to notify her advertisers and promise to make it up to them in the next issue. Broken machines meant paper delivery would be delayed. Ng would have to call the distributors and still pay them for their time. She even served as a part of the delivery system for the papers, refilling news boxes in the Chinatown-International District. “When the print versions were shut down, I didn’t have to take care of these little things anymore,” she says.

But the community reaction was strong. “People cried,” says Ng. “When they received the paper, it was like hearing from a good friend. And when it stopped, the friend didn’t come by to say hi anymore.” Ng describes the Chinese Post as a Chinese-language publication that provided “weekly spiritual guidance.” The paper covered news in the neighborhood, the nation and the world, with coverage spanning Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. “When we sent out the refunds for the subscribers, people said there was not enough notice,” she says. “They thought we’d go on forever.”

The paper’s content gave readers a common ground to engage with their neighbors and develop a political perspective. “[Losing the print edition] was very damaging to the community,” Ng says. “We were the only one to also talk about Seattle and American politics. The other papers didn’t do that.” But it served more practical purposes, too. The Chinese Post had a significant classified ad section, publishing between 100 and 150 ads each week. “Many immigrants told us they found jobs through our inexpensive classified sections,” Ng says. “Small businesses found their clients through little ads. We built up our community’s economic power through the classifieds.”

During the pandemic, Ng thought seriously about selling the business, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. “I didn’t want to let people know that I wanted to sell it because it would affect our image,” she says. “I kept quiet, hoping that someone would come to me.” The perfect buyer came forward in Jeff Roh, ’93, ’16, who formed a partnership with his wife, Grace (Shin) Roh, ’94, Sam Cho and Tim Wang, ’12.

In February 2023, Roh approached Ng to ask about her plans with the Northwest Asian Weekly website. He had thought about buying it after hearing community members express their loss with the end of the print versions of the Chinese Post and Northwest Asian Weekly. “He went out and talked to three potential buyers,”

Ng says. In Roh’s mind, those specific partners would make a great team. Ng was thrilled to learn that Sam Cho, who serves as commissioner for the Port of Seattle, was one. Later, readers would be thrilled as well.

“I started to discreetly ask respected leaders of the community for their thoughts around the Northwest Asian Weekly and whether they felt a locally owned AAPI [Asian American Pacific Islander] newspaper was still relevant and necessary,” Cho says. “The response I got was overwhelmingly affirmative. It convinced me to pursue this venture with my partners. After the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative for the AAPI community to have a steady voice. We can’t depend on viral moments to be heard and taken seriously. That’s why the Northwest Asian Weekly is so critical.”

“We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Assunta,” Grace Roh says. “Thanks to her commitment and advocacy for over four decades, the greater Seattle community has relied on Northwest Asian Weekly as a leading local source for AAPI news. Out of a passion to preserve its legacy, we will continue to provide a platform to bring awareness to AAPI issues, stories and perspectives that may otherwise go unheard.”

With the newspapers now in steady hands, Ng is taking a break from journalism to explore new interests. She has helped campaign and fundraise for several political candidates and is committed to making Asian Americans visible and empowering them to run for office. “When I first started, there were few Asian Americans in decisionmaking positions and few in elected officials,” Ng says. “Today, the number of Asian Americans running for office has multiplied. They aren’t afraid of running for office anymore.”

She also recently developed several endowments and funds at the UW, including scholarship awards administered through the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, Foster School of Business, College of Education and Department of Communication. She also set up funding for the Asian Languages and Literatures programs to support student trips and guest lectures. Ng’s long history of support at the UW includes serving as a voluntary mentor to Foster School undergraduates for the past 20 years through the Rotary Club’s mentorship program.

Ng’s formative experiences as a UW student included working at The Daily and taking journalism classes that would inform her eventual work as a publisher. She studied communications while teaching at a junior high school. “I started the

Chinese Post because of my work as a social studies teacher,” Ng says. “I worked with a lot of immigrant families. I understood what the parents and the students were going through. I wanted to have the Chinese-language paper to help the parents. Later, I started the Northwest Asian Weekly because the American-born children complained they couldn’t understand a damn thing and they wanted to know what their parents were reading.”

Ng saw the Northwest Asian Weekly as a tool for liberation and political empowerment in the face of social injustice and racism. “The paper was to help readers recognize injustice and to fight back as a community and encourage people to run for office,” Ng says. The newspapers also

MEDIA

BOOKS

Frog Day: 24 Hours and 24 Amphibian Lives By

Marty Crump,

Illustrated by Tony Angell University of Chicago Press, 2024

Illustrator Tony Angell, ’62, came to Seattle on an athletic scholarship in the late 1950s. While pursuing a degree in speech communications, he often explored outside the city and made drawings of the nature and wildlife he encountered. Now 83, Angell is a renowned illustrator and artist with several books and with work in the collections of museums around the U.S. and in England. With descriptions from herpetologist Marty Crump, “Frog Day” charmingly describes amphibian habits and distinctive physical traits while highlighting the wide-ranging ecology of frogs and toads.

The paper helped readers recognize injustice and to fight back as a community and encourage people to run for office.

organized workshops bringing Asian and Black leaders together. “We as a community have much to learn from the Black community,” Ng says. “We can learn from others and build coalitions and share strategies to work for our community and rise. The Asian community has a lot to learn. We are so afraid. All these things in America, you deserve them as much as the person next to you.”

When Ng started the newspapers, people told her she wouldn’t be successful. One family friend, upon hearing there were only about 10,000 Chinese immigrants in the community, told her she wasn’t dreaming big enough for her business. “He meant, ‘you are not going to make a lot of money,’” she says. “I don’t know if my dream was big or small,” but with two newspapers that at peak circulation reached about 26,000 people and eventually owning a building to house the business, “we were bigger than we ever dreamed.”

Sunlight & Breadcrumbs: Making Food with Creativity & Curiosity

By Renee Erickson and Sara Dickerman

Abrams, October 2024

Acclaimed Seattle chef and restaurateur Renee Erickson, ’95, who earned a degree in painting from the UW School of Art + Art History + Design, got back in touch with her creative side with this new cookbook. She provides ideas for simple-but-exciting food to make for friends and family.

This One We Call Ours by Martha Silano, ’93 Lynx House Press, June 2024 Winner of the 2023 Blue Lynx Prize, Martha Silano’s new collection of poems explores grief through loss of the natural environment and human losses. Silano, a New Jersey native who came to the UW to complete her MFA, fills her book with works that explore astronomy, marine species and backyard birds. Her poems express her deep, enduring love for the world.

VIDEO GAMES

Stardew Valley, 1.6 Update

By Eric Barone

November 2024

In 2016, Eric Barone, ’11, a UW Tacoma alum, created the popular role-playing indie video game “Stardew Valley” in which players farm, fish and encounter monsters and treasure underground. Since then, the game has sold more than 30 million copies. The update adds more festivals and events, holiday decorations, a new meadowland farm type, additional pets and a other features to “add more things, make it better, make it cooler, make people happy,” Barone told PC Gamer.

Former UW student Roger Fuiten has seen what Alaska has to offer from the air. As a pilot, he has carried tourists and explorers all over the last frontier.

High Risk, High Reward

Alaskan pilot Roger Fuiten has experienced danger and delight during his lifetime of flying across the last frontier

By George Spencer

At 20,310 feet, Denali looms large over Alaska’s landscape—and in the imaginations of people who live and travel there. It’s the continent’s tallest peak. For centuries Alaska Natives called the mountain (in various languages) The High One, The Tall One, The Mighty One and even The Shy One because this granite monolith is so massive, it creates its own weather system that often blocks it from view.

Roger Fuiten, 71, calls Denali the place where he works. He’s an air taxi pilot for the flightseeing company Denali Air. For the past 25 years, he has spent his summers jumping off the gravel airstrip at the edge of Denali National Park & Preserve in a single-engine, seven-seat Cessna 206 to show visitors the sights.

A mountaineer in his youth, Fuiten summited two other major peaks in the Alaska

Range: 13,220-foot Mount Silverthrone and 11,890-foot Mount Brooks. While flying, he still scrutinizes routes on the mountains. “I think about how people would climb them or how I would approach them,” he says.

But Fuiten mostly views the forbidding yet awe-inspiring scenery as a pilot should. On a clear day, pennants of snow stream from Denali’s rocky facets. “I’m looking at the snow blowing off the summit and trying to estimate the wind’s speed and direction,” he says. “That’ll tell me where I’m going to get turbulence or downdrafts. I’m not just looking at the mountain from a grandeur perspective.”

Navigating a tiny propeller plane around such rugged scenery never gets old. “Every trip is different. Every group is different. I get enjoyment sharing Denali with other people who haven’t seen it before,” says the Hillsboro, Oregon, native.

The son of a mail carrier and homebuilder, Fuiten has that quiet, confident voice common among commercial pilots, as well as kindly eyes and big, toothy grin. He fell in love with Alaska’s frontier spirit during a family vacation there when he was 15. After finishing high school, he worked on a framing crew building houses. “I was always talking about going to Alaska. My friends said, ‘Don’t talk about it—do it,’” he recalls

So, when he was 20 in 1973, he hitchhiked 2,500 miles to Denali National Park, an expanse larger than New Hampshire. He got a job as a shuttle bus driver and put down roots.

“I was very frugal. My friends and I would carpool to go to Fairbanks 130 miles away. Nobody had any money,” he says. Soon he landed work outdoors in the winter on a seismic exploration crew looking for oil and gas deposits. By 1975, he had saved enough to buy a parcel in the village of Denali next to the park. He built a 12-by-20-foot log cabin where he lived for 40 years.

Remote central Alaska was still the frontier. “Getting a moose was a pretty important part of getting ready for winter. It’s not like that now,” he says. “If anything, being around Denali now, there’s a large group of people who are anti-hunting.” Many locals

are now snowbirds who leave to avoid the long, harsh winters. “They’re only here for the money, because it’s easy to get a job here in the summer.”

Fuiten always wanted to learn new trades. “I’ve always seen opportunities that other people didn’t want to go after,” he says. For 31 years, he worked as a construction superintendent for the state’s Indian Health Service, putting in water and sewer lines in Native villages. He has a blasting license and does explosives work for companies in Anchorage and Wasilla. (His UW extension class taught him a safer method of blasting that uses non-electric initiators.) And he owns a Caterpillar excavator and hires himself out to local contractors.

“What do you say about a guy who’s a pilot, a heavy-equipment operator, mechanic and an explosive expert? He’s a real Renaissance guy for Alaska,” says Fuiten’s former co-worker Peter Bilbo. “If he’s your friend, he’s a friend for life.”

“That was probably one of the most interesting parts of the trip,” he deadpans.

The party also found a buried cache of provisions. In 1944, the Army’s 10th Mountain Division had done cold-weather equipment testing in Denali. Besides parachutes and snow goggles, he pulled out a case of frozen K rations.

Because the climbers spent an unplanned extra week on the mountain, they ran out of food. All Fuiten had to eat during his solo trek out were 2 lbs. of Swiss chocolate and seven cans of 31-year-old corned pork.

When flying tourists, he tells them about that expedition and his other adventures in the park. “People are interested, but a lot of them don’t even believe me.”

Fuiten earned his pilot’s license in 1978 after buying an Air Force surplus Cessna O-1 Bird Dog, which had been an observation aircraft. He will always remember a close call in 2003. While flying across the Shelikof Strait from Kodiak to Chignik, his engine started to run hot. He knew it might soon conk out. He was five miles offshore at 14,500 feet. Thick clouds prevented him from seeing a place to land.

Though he had declared Mayday and spoke with another pilot, he soon lost radio contact. “The coastline was real rocky, cliffy. I descended into the clouds and broke out at 2,000 feet with three-quarters of an inch of ice on my wings,” says Fuiten.

He spotted a 1,000-foot-long beach and made it down. “The tide was coming in. The beach was only 25 feet wide,” he recalls. Suspecting that water had got in his fuel line and frozen, he fixed the problem and leapt off the beach before the tide rose. “I was so lucky in so many ways, and I did everything right,” he says.

GEORGE SPENCER

Filling a Need

A UW rural dentistry program trains graduates to practice in small communities—meeting the demand for dental care across Washington state

By Jackson Holtz

Dentists can spot the signs of many critical health conditions such as diabetes, cancers and high blood pressure.

Working as a flight attendant after college, Patty Martin, ’12, was on a layover in Sitka, Alaska, when she received the call she’d been hoping for from the University of Washington School of Dentistry: She’d been accepted to the inaugural class of the Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) program, a special cohort of dentistry students trained to practice in rural communities.

The UW’s innovative RIDE program fills a critical need for our region. Dentists are in high demand nationwide, but especially in rural areas like eastern and central Washington. In RIDE, UW dental students get practical experience in rural community clinics, preparing them for the challenges of practicing in remote locations. And they benefit from the profes sional network RIDE has built throughout the Pacific Northwest, offering expertise via new technologies and mentorship from among generations of dentists.

Even as a teenager, Martin had set her sights on dentistry. Interested in science and in people, she’d started making an alphabetical list of potential careers, but she never got past “D.” While having her teeth cleaned, she asked her dentist about his job—and he invited the teenager to shadow him, an experience that would eventually shape her career path.

Martin was elated to start dental school with the UW School of Dentistry and RIDE. Though she’d grown up in the Seattle suburbs, she felt at home training

in eastern Washington—drawn to the sunshine, the rugged landscapes and the communities small enough that she could see the impact of better oral health care on her patients and their families. Good oral health is about much more than fighting cavities and encouraging flossing: Dentists can spot the signs of many critical health conditions such as diabetes, cancers and high blood pressure. Martin valued her role in the community's health. A dozen years later, Martin has built a thriving dental practice in Walla Walla. “If you can change someone’s life or leave a little piece of you along the way, I think

DENNIS WISE

RIDE: 15 Years of Impact

Oral health is key to overall well-being, but many rural communities are short on dentists. With the support of philanthropy and public funding, the UW School of Dentistry’s Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) program is addressing this crisis by training dental students where there is the greatest need. Since 2009, these students have provided more than 90,000 hours of patient care across eastern and central Washington— and 80% of RIDE graduates go on to set up practices in rural and underserved communities.

that’s fulfilling,” she says. “What’s great about dentistry is you get the chance to have those interactions.”

A NEW GENERATION OF RURAL PROVIDERS

About 15 years ago, leadership at the UW School of Dentistry wanted to develop a program modeled after the success of UW School of Medicine’s WWAMI, the medical education program serving the five-state region of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. RIDE, which was first funded by the Washington Legislature in 2007 and benefits from philanthropic support, similarly trains students to practice in rural and remote areas and connects them with working health care professionals

“We’re trying to improve access to care, particularly in rural sites in Washington and the five-state region.”

– Frank Roberts, RIDE Director

across the region. By providing world-class training in small communities, the UW is helping to address our state’s critical health care needs while also creating career paths for the next generation of providers.

“We’re trying to improve access to care, particularly in rural sites in Washington and the five-state region,” says RIDE Director Frank Roberts, who’s also the School of Dentistry’s associate dean for regional affairs. “The rural areas have a lot of challenges.”

The demand is so high that the UW secured $2.5 million in state funding to expand RIDE from 32 to 64 students beginning in the 2024–25 school year, doubling the number of graduates and expanding into rural western Washington. And thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, RIDE has technology to connect community clinics to UW dental specialists and to enhance the classroom experience for first-year

Above: Mariany Morales, ’21, treats a patient at the Quincy Community Heath Center, just an hour north of where she grew up.

Left: Patty Martin, ’12, at her practice in Walla Walla.

RIDE students, who are based in a hightech classroom on Eastern Washington University’s Spokane campus. Some classes are held over Zoom with professors in Seattle; others are taught by faculty in Spokane. This arrangement gives RIDE students in the eastern part of the state access to dental labs, in shared space with EWU’s dental hygiene program.

The RIDE Idea

Many parts of Washington state have a shortage of health professionals, including dentists (shown in purple). Here’s where RIDE students and graduates are filling that gap.

In RIDE, UW dental students get practical experience in rural community clinics, preparing them for the challenges of practicing in remote locations.

RIDE students’ first year ends with a four-week rotation in a community clinic in eastern or central Washington. Secondand third-year students take classes on campus in Seattle, although the program is seeking funding for second-year students to remain in Spokane. In their final year, RIDE students are placed with a rural dental clinic, where they hone their clinical and professional skills under the supervision of UW affiliate faculty.

CARING FOR THE COMMUNITY’S COMPLEX NEEDS

The daughter of Spanish-speaking farmworkers, Mariany Morales grew up in Yakima, not far from the community clinics where RIDE students get realworld training. As a junior at Washington State University, Morales attended an information session about RIDE where she heard students describe their experiences training in small communities across the state. “I was blown away,” she says. “It was very heartwarming.” She

University of Washington, Seattle

Sources: U.S. Department of Health; U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration; UW School of Dentistry

RIDE learning site RIDE graduate dental practice

80%

OF RIDE GRADUATES OPEN PRACTICES IN RURAL AND UNDERSERVED AREAS

recalls thinking, “This sounds like exactly what I want to do for my career.”

After earning her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 2021, Morales began her professional career an hour north of her hometown at the Quincy Community Health Center. She was drawn by the challenge of caring for the community’s complex needs. Specialty care may be readily accessible in big cities like Seattle, but it can be out of reach for patients in remote parts of the state. Cost, distance,

HOURS OF PATIENT CARE DELIVERED BY RIDE STUDENTS SINCE 2009:

90,000+

language barriers and lost wages can be insurmountable barriers.

Plus, working in Quincy has other benefits over being in a big city. Morales often cares for multiple generations of the same family, patients she’s likely to bump into while grocery shopping. She lives minutes away from the clinic, and the town can feel like an extended family.

The trust she builds with patients, often speaking Spanish with them, translates to better outcomes. “If they don’t feel that

Specialty care can be out

in smaller communities like Quincy, in central Washington.

comfort,” Morales says, “some people just won’t return and won’t get that treatment.”

Like Morales, 80% of RIDE graduates go on to develop practices in rural and underserved areas, a trend that far surpasses the national averages, says RIDE Director Roberts. “They get a chance to be really important and matter in that community, to have a big role in leadership with the young people in the community toward education and considering professional careers,” he says.

The UW is now working to improve telehealth options in the community clinics, enabling access to experts who can help assess if a case can be managed locally or requires specialty care in a larger city.

“It saves everybody a lot of time and money—and it saves the health care system money too,” Roberts points out.

For Morales, it’s about the good feeling she gets knowing she helps people improve their health. She enjoys meeting the diversity of people who fill her practice—and learning from them. And she looks forward to one day helping train the next generation of dentists.

“I love the RIDE program and everything it stands for,” Morales says. “It’s doing great things and preparing people to come back to these rural communities and make a difference in other people’s lives.”

Embracing Change

By Ken Denman Chair, UW Foundation Board

It’s been an exciting year at the University of Washington. We’re thrilled to have joined the Big Ten Conference in athletics and academics—a move that brings new challenges and new opportunities. The stories in this issue’s Impact section exemplify the UW’s culture of embracing change, whether by creating new programs to meet the changing needs of our state or working to prepare Huskies for a changing future. On p. 44, you can read about the UW School of Dentistry’s innovative solution to the severe shortage of dental care providers in rural communities across central and eastern Washington. The Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) program creates a pipeline of dental providers dedicated to working in underserved regions. Over the past 15 years, this scalable, communitybased program has expanded with funding from the Washington State Legislature. Your gift can help the program create student scholarships, cover housing and transportation costs during clinical placements, and invest in the latest dental technology. RIDE is truly a testament to how far-reaching our impact is when we bring together private philanthropy and public investment.

Music lovers will enjoy reading about the UW’s Campus Philharmonia Orchestras on p. 48. For more than a decade, these ensembles of mostly non-music majors, faculty, staff and community members have brought the works of Mozart and Tchaikovsky to life on campus—all under the expert guidance of graduate student conductors, who gain experience leading their own orchestras. Investing in the arts leads to more opportunities for student learning, ensemble performance and innovation in music education. I’m grateful for everyone who has supported the ongoing fundraising effort to benefit UW music and art program facilities— which I’m happy to report is making steady progress to its goal.

As we close out this year and begin a new one, I hope you’re as inspired as I am by the many ways the UW is enriching lives, around campus and across the state. With your continued support, we can do so much more— and I’m excited to see where we go next.

Thank you.

of reach for patients

The Right Direction

Ryan Dakota Farris, ’19, ’25, raises his baton and the hall quiets. The baton cuts through the air, and the musicians respond as one. Though it looks seamless, this performance is the culmination of weeks of learning and rehearsal in which Farris (right) and the 80 members of this Campus Philharmonia Orchestra build knowledge and trust with each other.

The University of Washington’s Campus Philharmonia Orchestras welcome nonmusic majors along with community members, faculty and staff, all of whom enroll out of a love of performing music. Director of Orchestral Activities David A. Rahbee (who holds an Adelaide D. Currie Cole Endowed Professorship at the School of Music) created the orchestras in 2014 to serve these students, with weekly practices that can fit into busy schedules. Continued philanthropic support can help the School of Music create more opportunities like this for Huskies to learn, perform and continue bringing art to our communities.

The groups are also a training ground for graduate students like Farris, who’s in his final year of the Doctor of Musical Arts in Instrumental Conducting program. Leading their own orchestras is the best way for conducting students to gain experience, Rahbee says: “If you want to practice piano, you can walk up to a piano and practice. If you want to conduct, you need an orchestra.”

Conducting is about seeing a piece of music as a whole, says Farris, who’s also a cellist. A conductor must consider every layer and guide musicians as they learn together.

“You’re always thinking about, ‘How am I going to help these musicians trace a path from the beginning to the end, to create a satisfying kind of musical idea?’” Farris says.

Farris’ education at the UW has already led him to a professional role: He was recently named music director of the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra. He’s also gained lifelong career skills in communication, administration and management— all part of the extensive behind-the-scenes effort leading up to the seemingly effortless moment on stage.

By Tara Roberts

Photo by Dennis Wise

Strengthen music education. Support the School of Music’s work to prepare its graduates for careers—and encourage innovation in the arts. giving.uw.edu/dec-2024

Flavors, Fascination and Friendliness

Got an appetite to meet locals and learn about cultures in Spain, Greece and Cuba in 2025? Sign up now with UW Alumni Tours.

Flavors of the Spanish Coast

May 17-25, 2025

Tour operator: Orbridge

Join special guest Nancy Leson, ’92, for this small-group opportunity to visit artisan shops, delight in tours and tastings at award-winning wineries and discover local fishing, farming and culinary techniques that have been used over generations. Embrace the region’s unique charm and interact with the coastal community as you learn about the history and culture that shaped these seaside villages. Leson is a renowned Seattle-area food writer and radio personality who will accompany the group on this tasty culinary adventure.

Havana: The Afro-Cuban Experience

October 31-November 7, 2025

Tour operator: AHI Travel

Ancient Greece

October 16-29, 2025

Tour operator: Odysseys Unlimited

Unearth the grandeur of the ancient world on this singular journey combining premier archaeological sites with the beauty and lore of the Aegean. As the ancient world comes alive in Athens and the Peloponnese, Crete and Santorini, we celebrate the glory that was Greece and still is today. Highlights include experiencing Athens’ magnificent Acropolis and Parthenon, an excursion to ancient Delphi, Heraklion’s Minoan Palace of Knossos and Archaeological Museum and a tour and stay on spectacular Santorini.

Here’s your chance to take part in an itinerary that benefits and supports the local people. Visit Guanabacoa and Matanzas, rich with Afro-Cuban history. Enjoy Havana’s jazz and art scenes. Honor the memory of those who came before with a tour of Cuba’s “slaves’ route.” Have meaningful conversations with entrepreneurs, artists and community leaders. Professor Ileana M. Rodriguez-Silva, an expert in Latin American and Caribbean history, will serve as the UW host for this tour.

REAL DAWGS WEAR PURPLE

BILL SINGER, ’87

Director of Architecture, Affordable Housing Studio Lead Environmental Works Community Design Center

Home. When Bill Singer designs affordable housing, he considers what that word evokes: a welcoming entry, lush outdoor space, cozy places to gather. He then works to make his spaces feel like home. The results are projects such as Bakhita Gardens, in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, for women coming out of homelessness. The proud Husky’s architectural philosophy was shaped in the University of Washington’s Master of Architecture program, where he studied housing in urban Seattle. This dedicated Dawg is committed to honoring the dignity of all people. At Environmental Works, Singer has designed spaces for a range of communities and needs, including affordable housing for farmworkers, Indigenous tribe members and people with behavioral health issues. He focuses on comfort, safety and health — incorporating green building techniques like healthy materials and improved indoor air quality. Traugott Terrace, low-income housing he designed in Belltown, was the nation’s first LEED-certified affordable housing project.

To design this common area at Bakhita Gardens, Bill Singer met with women coming out of homelessness to learn about their needs.

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Professor Don Pember was a favorite of communication students. On the UW faculty from 1969 until the early 2000s, he taught media law and reporting.

Journalism’s Gold Standard

Professor Don Pember, a leading scholar in media law, shaped generations of great journalists

By Jon Marmor

Nearly 50 years ago, Don Pember wrote the book that remains a gold standard in the field of journalism, “Mass Media in America.” Says Jerry Baldasty, ’72, ’78, former UW communication chair and former provost, “It was one of the first [works] that really took a critical/analytical view of the media—Don was a huge supporter of the free press but no apologist for its errors.”

Pember joined the UW faculty in 1969 and quickly earned a reputation for his rigorous and compassionate teaching, along with his expertise in mass media, privacy and the press, and the First Amendment.

Only four years later, Pember became the first communication faculty member to receive the UW’s Distinguished Tea ching Award. Two years after that, he was recognized for his excellence in teaching by the Carnegie Foundation. Many of his students went on to become influential scholars, journalists and communications professionals. What made him such a great teacher?

“His passionate sincerity,” Baldasty says in an obituary on the Communication

Department website. “He really cared about the media, about the law and ethics. And the students. He wasn’t an easy grader! He encouraged his undergrads to take things seriously, too—because he saw media as central to democracy.”

Of her time as a student of Pember’s, Betty Winfield, Curators’ Professor Emeritus at the Missouri School of Journalism, says that “if ever a professor impacted a student, Don Pember certainly did; not just as an excellent teacher and a scholar but as a decent, sensitive human being.”

Teaching Professor Caley Cook recalls using Pember’s book as an undergraduate “and being struck by the humor, wit and curiosity with which he approached the study of legal issues within the media. And then I met him in person and realized his humor and love for the subject wasn’t isolated just to the written word.”

After he retired in the early 2000s, his students and colleagues created the Don Pember Journalism Endowed Scholarship. He died June 22 at the age of 84.

RECOGNITION

Francisco “Frank” Irigon, ’76, ’79, the first Filipino American to serve on the ASUW Board of Control, went on to become an influential leader in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. He led the effort against building the Kingdome to preserve the Chinatown-International District, was co-founder of the Asian Family Affair newspaper, helped create the UW Alumni Association’s Multicultural Alumni Partnership and was the 2022 recipient of the UW’s Charles Odegaard Award. He died Sept. 12 at the age of 77.

Nita Rinehart , ’90, was a college student when she attended a campus visit by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That inspired her to get involved in the civil rights movement, earn a law degree from the UW and enjoy a long career in Washington state politics. As a state representative and senator, she advocated for education and social services and led the effort to establish Washington’s consumer protection Lemon Law. She died July 10 at the age of 83.

Michael K. Copass , ’73, was a pioneer in emergency medicine. He joined the UW School of Medicine in 1969 as a neurology resident and went on to hold such influential positions as director of emergency services at Harborview Medical Center and founder and medical director of Airlift Northwest. His work to strengthen the Medic One program, a partnership between the Seattle Fire Department and medical providers, became a national model for pre-hospital care, not just for trauma but for obstetrics, pediatrics and cardiac arrest. According to Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, ’80, ’84, “He is a true hero and made an indelible impact on our city.” Dr. Copass died July 26 at the age of 86.

In Memory

ALUMNI

DONALD M. LUNDBERG

Murphy, Texas, age 94, Sept. 10

PETER NISSEN Grants Pass, Oregon, 2011

1930s

PALMER DORSEY KOON

’32, ’33, Seattle, age 98, Dec. 22

1940s

MARJORIE RUTH BUTLER

’47, Kirkland, age 98, July 2

HELEN LOUISE TEMTE

’49, Seattle, age 97, Sept. 13

DERYL L. WOOD

’49, Olympia, age 94, Nov. 2018

1950s

JOHN FRANKLIN COCKBURN

’50, age 96, Sept. 5

DONALD W. “WAYNE” LAMBERT ’50, Kirkland, age 96, Sept. 7

BARBARA ACKERMAN ASPEN ’51, Woodinville, age 94, May 25

ANITA ROE DAVIE

’51, Clyde Hill, age 93, Sept. 20

ROBERT KEITH DINGS

’51, Mercer Island, age 94, July 22

LAVEEN KANAL

’51, ’53, Silver Spring, Maryland, age 92, May 3

BERNARD J. ZELDOW

’51, Bellevue, age 97, July 16

RUTH-ELLEN ELLIOTT ’52, Seattle, age 94, July 16

HOWARD J. MORRILL ’52, Seattle, age 95, Sept. 4

RITA GILL

’53, Seattle, age 93, July 25

JOHN LEWIS CAHILL ’54, Charlotte, North Carolina, age 91, Aug. 15

PHYLLIS JOHNSON ’54, Edmonds, age 92, July 5

AZARIA ROUSSO ’54, Mercer Island, age 94, July 12

GORDON BLYTHE HIRST ’55, Bellevue, age 92, Aug. 20

JOSEPH W. PICCHENA ’55, Bellevue, age 91, July 7

VILA RAUDA ’55, Seattle, age 91, April 18

RICHARD ALLAN WETMORE ’55, ’63, Bellevue, age 91, July 19

JOHN COSTELLO ’56, Edmonds, age 94, July 2

ROBERT KANJI FUJIMURA ’56, San Francisco, age 90, Nov. 5, 2023

REID EMORY HALE ’56, Bothell, age 93, Aug. 9

LOUIS ANTHONY ROSELLI ’56, ’60, Bothell, age 89, Sept. 15

ROBERT K. WILSON ’56, Seattle, age 93, July 7

JO ANNE MEYERS ERICKSON ’57, Alamo, California, age 89, June 26

CLARE NORDQUIST ’57, Bellevue, age 88, July 10

DAVID E. CALDWELL ’58, Seattle, age 87, Aug. 9

HEYWARD Y. CHOW ’58, ’67, Seattle, age 91, Nov. 19, 2022

STEPHEN M. CHURCH JR. ’58, Lacey, age 88, July 8

ANNETTE THOMAS HOXSEY ’58, Missoula, Montana, age 87, June 8

EDWARD “SONNY” SCHACHER ’58, Bothell, age 90, July 23

WARREN DONNELL BUCY ’59, Mercer Island, age 91, July 20

WILLIAM CORY WHISLER ’59, Des Moines, age 95, July 9

1960s

J.W. “BILL” GREGER ’60, Bellevue, age 87, Aug. 20

R. MARSDEN MALAN ’60, ’75, Hansville, age 86, June 4

KAREN HELLESEN KERSHAW ’61, Seattle, age 85, June 13

KAREN LUNDER ’61, Normandy Park, age 86, May 19

JACK K. WINJUM ’61, Olympia, age 91, April 20

STEPHEN GRANT MARTIN ’63, ’65, ’71, Kirkland, age 83, Sept. 27

HELEN ROSKIE ODEGARD ’61, Seattle, age 83, May 12

JAMES RANEY ’61, ’65, Bainbridge Island, age 89, Aug. 9

MARJORIE GRIFFIN ’62, Seattle, age 89, May 8

DAVID VERNON MARTIN ’62, Long Beach, California, age 84, Sept. 2

LELAND “JIMMY” COULTER ’63, Sequim, age 85, July 30

ROBERT ANTHONY KEOLKER ’64, ’66, Bothell, age 88, July 13

EUGENE BERT RICHARDSON ’64, ’70, Lake Stevens, age 82, Feb. 13

DAVID SHANNON ROYS ’64, ’71, Seattle, age 85, Sept. 3

DAVID M. EYRE JR. ’65, Winthrop, age 82, July 25

NEIL A. JOHNSON ’65, Mill Creek, age 89, Aug. 6

SADAOMI OSHIKAWA ’65, Edmonds, age 95, Sept. 4

KATHLEEN ANN FIELDS ’66, Edmonds, age 80, July 16

DANIEL NELSON O’BRIEN ’67, Bellevue, age 79, July 15

WILLIAM LYNDON STONE ’68, Anacortes, age 78, Aug. 18

SUSAN JO CROCKETT ’69, Mercer Island, age 77, June 20

MIKE FARLEY ’69, ’73, Burien, age 77, July 25

DENNIS TRUMAN HUSE ’69, Edmonds, age 76, July 14

LYNN GORDON JOHNSTON ’69, Eagle Creek, Oregon, age 81, Sept. 26

EDWARD KLOPP ’69, Clarkston, Mississippi, age 76, Dec. 25, 2023

LYNN L. WILCOX ’69, Wenatchee, age 76, Feb. 26

1970s

SUSAN GALE ADKINS ’70, ’05, Eastsound, age 76, July 14

GLENN A. ERICKSON ’70, Seattle, age 77, Aug. 14

CHRISTINE STRATTON ’70, Seattle, age 76, June 15

MARC S. WHITNEY ’70, Flagstaff, Arizona, age 74, Dec. 2022

JOHN ENGER ’71, Seattle, age 75, July 30

NORMA NAIDEN NEWELL ’71, Ferndale, age 76, July 4

STEVEN ESZENYI ’73, Surprise, Arizona, age 81, July 15

CHARLES W. MILLINGTON ’73, Edmonds, age 77, Sept. 1

ROBERT H. WEDGWOOD ’73, Palm Springs, California, age 75, Feb. 7

JOANNE “JO” BOUSMAN ’74, ’79, ’83, Bellevue, age 92, May 16

WILLIAM DEAN JOHNSON ’74, Monterey, California, age 72, Aug. 9

DONALD KING MACKAY ’74, Seattle, age 73, June 28

MARY ANN “MOLLY” PHILLIPS ’74, Spokane, age 72, June 17

HELEN HANSFORD PIEHLER ’74, Mukilteo, age 99, July 10

DAVID JAMES FOSTER ’75, Indianola, age 75, May 25

ANDREW JAMES KING ’75, Seattle, age 74, Aug. 7

ANNE MACAULAY TRAVER ’76, Seattle, age 71, Sept. 18

WILLIAM L. HUSEBY ’77, Anderson Island, age 79, Jan. 14

DAVID CONNOLLY HALL III ’78, ’84, Lopez Island, age 78, Aug. 12

DIANA L. VARNELL ’79, Lacey, age 73, Nov. 2023

1980s

CONSUELO CORBETT ’80, Bellevue, age 89, June 26

RODERICK DAVID JOHNSTON ’81, Burnsville, North Carolina, age 71, July 9

LETHA JANE OWENS ’81, Seattle, age 64, Jan. 14

MARILYN ELDORA FULLER ’84, Seattle, age 81, June 20

JOAN H. EDMONDS ’85, ’86, Bellevue, age 85, July 5

CRAIG ROSS ’87, Buckeye, Arizona, age 78, July 14

IRENE BURLILE ECKFELT ’88, Seattle, age 89, Sept. 21

TIMOTHY JACOB HEINRICHS ’88, ’91, Shoreline, age 71, Sept. 4

ERIC MICHAEL MAUER ’88, Bainbridge Island, age 58, April 16

1990s

MERRY LYNN MCCREERY ’91, ’92, Bellevue, age 73, June 20

CHARLES EDWARD COATS ’94, Post Falls, Idaho, age 56, June 28

CHARLENE KAY SIEMERING ’95, Kenmore, age 83, April 11

JOHN RHODES THOMAS ’98, ’06, Bellevue, age 88, June 30

2000s

GEORGE O. TAMBLYN III ’03, Mercer Island, age 87, July 7

JOEL FRANCIS MURRAY ’07, Vancouver, Washington, age 38, June 26

2010s

NILS JENSEN ’10, Seattle, age 43, Feb. 20, 2023

MATTHEW DORSETT ’13, ’15, Redmond, age 32, July 21

FACULTY AND FRIENDS

RICHARD PAUL BARDEN served as assistant director of the UW Press from 1968 until his retirement in 1992. The Spokane native spent the next three decades hiking, reading and enjoying time with family and friends. He died May 4 at the age of 91.

GEORGE GORDON BIELY worked as a teacher and counselor at the UW Student Health Center. After he opened a private psychiatric practice in Seattle, he maintained an affiliation with UW Medical Center–Northwest. He died July 25 at the age of 92.

PRISCILLA “LEE” BLUME served on the UW Alumni Association Board of Trustees in the 1980s. As a UW student, she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. She died May 5 at the age of 84.

KENNETH AUBURN BRIGGS served as a naval mechanic and crew chief for the admiral of the 7th Division during the Korean War. He later went to medical school, opened an orthopedic practice

and served on the UW School of Medicine faculty. He died July 22 at the age of 93.

CHARLES CROSS, ’81, was a former writer and editor at The Daily who went on to become the owner and editor of The Rocket and one of Seattle’s pre-eminent music journalists. Of the nine books he published, his biographies of Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix were particularly highly regarded. He died Aug. 9 at the age of 67.

RALEIGH CURTIS, ’72, served as an infantry lieutenant during the Vietnam War. He was a part-time instructor in the UW School of Dentistry while practicing at Seattle-King County Public Health. He died Aug. 19 at the age of 82.

PETER KEN DOMOTO, ’70, ’75, was the founding dental director of the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic in 1970. He joined the UW School of Dentistry’s pediatric faculty in 1973 and served as department chair from 1977 until his retirement in 2002. He dedicated his career to improving dental health for all children, especially those who were at high risk or disadvantaged. He coordinated opportunities for dental students to gain training in underserved settings, such as Alaskan Native villages, on farms with migrant-worker families and other rural areas. He died June 26 at the age of 86.

ASHLEY F. EMERY was the longest tenured professor in UW history when he retired in March 2024. The San Francisco native loved teaching and research. His obituary said, “He was always happiest with a textbook in his hands no matter where he might be: at the opera, on vacation or a UW football game.” His research specialty was heat transfer and he was a pioneer in studying temperature gradients of body tissues, designing energy-efficient buildings, determining microwave safety and solving the Space Shuttle heat-resistant tile trouble for NASA. He died May 6 at the age of 89.

AYSENUR EZGI EYGI, ’24, traveled to Israel after graduating from the UW in 2024. She was shot and killed while protesting against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. “I’m absolutely devastated. The whole community is,” Aria Fani, who taught Eygi as an assistant professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures at the UW, told The Seattle Times. “It’s a huge tragedy.” She died Aug. 30 at the age of 26.

SHEILA GALVAGNO was a UW student who met her husband, Remo, at the University. A major UW supporter, she volunteered for

the Overlake Service League, Delta Gamma Fraternity, Providence Hospital of Seattle Foundation and the PTA. She and Remo, who ran AirVan Moving, the official mover for Husky Athletics, attended Husky football, basketball and baseball games for many years. She died June 29 at the age of 86.

SHIRLEY ANN BURBACH GLOYD

enjoyed a career in purchasing at the UW. She and her husband, Park, were Husky season-ticket holders for 45 years. She died June 10 at the age of 88.

STANLEY HABIB was in the ROTC as a captain in the Army and earned a degree from the Foster School of Business. He and his wife, Berthe, philanthropically supported many organizations and provided scholarships at the UW, Bellevue College and the College Success Foundation. He died June 21 at the age of 89.

DARIL WAYNE HAHN, ’55, ’60, enjoyed a 35-year career with Boeing. He was also a mountain climber, a bird watcher and a photographer. A major supporter of the UW, he died May 22 at the age of 91.

RACHAEL HALL worked for many years at UW Medical Center-Montlake and Seattle Children’s Hospital as an executive administrative assistant. She died Nov. 16, 2023 at the age of 78.

LIM KIA HONG, ’81, played a huge role in developing Singapore’s technology sector. He was co-founder of SIS Technologies, selling hardware and software to businesses and institutions in Singapore and the region. He also helped computerize Singapore’s Ministry of Defense and brought other tech companies to Singapore and the rest of Asia through a distribution network he developed. He died Aug. 11 at the age of 67.

JERALD “JERRY” JENSEN earned a custom degree from the UW School of Music in electronic art under the supervision of Glenn White. He went on to work at the UW Ethnomusicology Archives and as the first sound technician for the then-new UW Meany Theater. He died July 31 at the age of 74.

JOHN HENRY JONES grew up in Colorado, earned three degrees from the Colorado School of Mines and taught in the UW Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Ceramic Engineering from 1969 to 1976. He then worked as a materials engineer for Boeing’s Commercial Airplane Co. from 1976 until his retirement in 2010. He died July 12 at the age of 82.

BETTEJANE KIRKPATRICK served as the administrative assistant to the dean of the UW School of Social Work. She later became the executive assistant to the chancellor of the Seattle Community Colleges, where she served under six chancellors. She died Aug. 13 at the age of 93.

MARIA LEE KOH worked at UW Medical Center-Montlake as a registered dietitian, training residents and providing patient care across various specialties. She is particularly known for working with Dr. Belding Scribner, who started the world’s first outpatient dialysis facility, now Northwest Kidney Centers. She was also a major supporter of the UW. She received the 2012 Jefferson Award from the state of Washington for her community and public service. She died May 23 at the age of 91.

ROBERT GODFREY LEE joined the faculty of the UW College of Forest Resources in 1978 and served more than 30 years as a professor. His inspiration for entering this field came when he had a job working for Rockport Redwood Co., seeing how the forestry profession intersected with community. He died July 12 at the age of 83.

NED LUMPKIN, ’66, was a Yakima native who founded several Pacific Northwest wineries. An Army veteran who served in Germany, he first worked in construction, building schools and other structures in Alaska. He also worked on many projects for developers. He founded the highly regarded Lazy River Vineyard in Oregon and Carlton Winemakers studio, which was the first of its kind, a sustainable, multi-tenant winery that provided a world-class winemaking facility for young winemakers. He was a major UW supporter. He died June 20 at the age of 84.

JAMES L. MCINTIRE, ’83, ’93, served two terms as Washington state treasurer during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. He was an economist for Sen. Hubert Humphrey, senior lecturer at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, fiscal policy adviser to Gov. Booth Gardner, ’58, and he served as a state representative. He taught economics and established a research center at the UW. He died Aug. 16 at the age of 71.

DONALD T. MIZOKAWA spent 32 years as a professor in the UW College of Education from 1979 until his retirement in 2005 as professor emeritus. He died Sept. 26 at the age of 80.

DONALD BRION NORTON, ’76, earned his MBA from the UW and worked for 41 years in the systems

automation and accounting fields, eventually retiring from the UW in 2016 after 20 years in contracts and grants accounting. He died July 3 at the age of 84.

CHRISTIE JEAN QUIGLEY, ’82, served on the UW Alumnae Board, Shoreline Public Schools Foundation, Gamma Phi Beta Sorority Alumni Board and other community organizations. She died June 25 at the age of 64.

JIM RISWOLD, ’83, was the major creative force behind some of Nike’s most memorable ads and commercials while working for the Portland advertising firm Weiden+Kennedy. His work on ads and commercials featuring Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods is credited with making Nike a pop-culture mainstay and giving Portland its well-deserved reputation as a hotbed for creativity. He died Aug. 9 at the age of 66.

CHARLES GLEN SIENKIEWICZ, ’61, earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the UW and worked for Boeing and Seattle University before accepting a position at the UW’s Applied Physics Lab. An expert in underwater acoustics, he spent more than 30 years at the lab. He died March 14 at the age of 86.

JAMES TROTTER STALEY was a South Dakota native who had a lifelong interest in science. In 1971, he became a professor of microbiology at the UW. He was particularly interested in microbial evolution and diversity and considered his life’s work “Seeking Truth in the Microbial Cosmos.” He wrote and published textbooks and served as the founding director of the UW Astrobiology Program from 1998 to 2005. His research covered a wide range: the impact of the Mount St. Helens eruption on the lakes in the blast zone, desert varnish and manganese oxidation, whale microbiology and chitin degradation. He died Aug. 22 at the age of 86.

STEVEN A. STEINS, ’89, ’91, was an assistant professor of psychiatry at the UW School of Medicine. Following his own spinal cord injury, he went on to specialize in spinal cord injury and rehabilitation and served Seattle-area veterans for 22 years at the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System. He died Sept. 25 at the age of 65.

AN THI TRAN worked the past two years on the UW Medicine’s Advancement Team as director of philanthropy to advance the Department of Ophthalmology’s mission to eliminate suffering from eye diseases. Before that, she served as associate director for advancement on the Regional Advancement team, working with major donors

in Northern California. A native of Southern California, she was classically trained in piano and played the violin in her school orchestra. She died July 14 at the age of 42.

ROBERT VANDENBOSCH earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from UC Berkeley and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to do research at the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark. He came to Seattle in 1963 to join the faculty of the UW Department of Chemistry and served as director of the UW nuclear physics laboratory. He received the 1981 American Chemical Society’s Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry. He died Aug. 1 at the age of 91.

WILLIAM “BILL” WELLS, ’89, joined the faculty of the UW Foster School of Business in 1989 after earning his master’s degree in professional accounting. He had a distinguished 20-year career in the military before that, serving as an intelligence officer, analyst and controller in the Army as well as a financial analyst for NATO. He taught thousands of undergraduate students in Accounting 215 and served as the faculty director of the Foster School’s Delta Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi. He received the 2006 UW Distinguished Teaching Award, the 2012 Ernst & Young Inclusive Excellence Award, and in 2012, the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants Special Award for his support and promotion of the CPA profession. He died Sept. 11 at the age of 85.

MARIANNE WELTMANN joined the UW School of Music faculty and her vast knowledge enabled her to provide valuable guidance for students not only at the college level but privately all over the world. She died June 2 at the age of 93.

HARVEY WEST, ’67, joined ROTC and served as an artillery officer in the Army. He later taught at the UW School of Arts + Art History + Design and served as director of the Henry Art Gallery from 1978 to 1986. He was approached by Deng Pu Fung, son of Deng Zio Ping, the paramount leader of China, to organize a major exhibit of China’s cultural resources in the U.S. He moved to Beijing, and this project culminated with the “Son of Heaven” exhibit at the Seattle Center in 1988. He died June 24 at the age of 83.

ROBERT WHITACRE, ’74, graduated from the UW School of Dentistry in 1974 but decided he would rather teach than have a full-time practice. He served on the UW faculty for nine years, focusing on improving educational methods, especially in infection disease control. He was honored nationally for his expertise in self-instructional learning and infection control methods. He died Aug. 6 at the age of 82.

THINGS THAT DEFINE THE UW

High Five for ’75

Twenty years ago, alums from the class of 1975 were named UW president and received the Nobel Prize

By Jon Marmor

For two members of the UW’s class of 1975, 2004 was a big year—make that a huge year. On June 14, 2004, Mark Emmert became only the third alum to be named president of the UW. Barely four months later, on Oct. 4, Linda Buck, affiliate professor of physiology and bio-physics at the UW School of Medicine, became the UW’s first woman alum to receive the Nobel Prize (hers was in Medicine or Physiology).

According to “The Campus History Series” book on the University of Washington, Emmert also hosted a 2004 dinner for the Nobel laureates on the UW faculty. It turned out that the three other Nobel laureates who attended the celebration had been at the UW when Emmert and Buck were undergraduates. Joining Buck and the president was a high-powered group: Hans Dehmelt (1989 Nobel Prize in Physics), Edwin Krebs (1992 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology) and E. Donnall Thomas (1990 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology). Thomas and Buck were honored for their prize-worthy research at Fred Hutch.

BUCKING TRADITION

Buck, a Seattle native, earned her B.S. in psychology and microbiology at the UW. Now in her 22nd year as a professor in Fred Hutch’s Division of Basic Sciences, she shared the Nobel Prize with Columbia University professor Richard Axel for identifying the genes that control odor receptors.

FIFE FANTASTIC

As an undergrad, Emmert, a native of Fife, transferred to the UW from Highline Community College to earn his bachelor’s degree in political science. He served as UW president from 2004 to 2010, when he left to become president of the NCAA. During his tenure here, the University received record amounts of funding for research, state support and private philanthropy. Graduation records were also tops in school history.

Two local kids who went on to make an incredible impact in the world and at their alma mater. What a story.

Above, UW President Mark Emmert, ’75, joins Nobel Laureate Linda Buck, ’75, and Provost Phyllis Wise. Below, Buck with fellow UW laureates Hans Dehmelt, Edwin Krebs and E. Donnal Thomas.

Undergrad. Post-grad.