Better Hustle

Over the past two years, dance MFA candidate Abdiel Jacobsen, right, has brought their love of hustle to the UW and transformed their classroom into a club for a course titled “Special �opics in Street and Club Dance.” Hustle developed in the Black and Latino communities of the South Bronx in the early 1970s, Jacobsen says. It came from dance traditions like mambo and Lindy that were rooted in the African diaspora. It also broke the norms of partner dancing by empowering women and queer people. “It is so dynamic, it is so fierce, and there are so many characters and so much originality,” Jacobsen says. By bringing dancers of all levels of experience to interact on the dance floor, Jacobsen wants to study and preserve the dance as well as continue breaking norms.

�hey noted that in the Eurocentric dance classroom, “there’s a ballet barre and a grand piano … but why isn’t there a disco ball?” Jacobsen graduates in June and will start as an assistant professor at Scripps College in January.

Ballmer Gift For Education

Ballmer Group is investing more than $43 million to build and diversify Washington’s early childhood education workforce. The funding, which was announced in March, includes a $38 million anchor gift over eight years to the College of Education to support more than 1,500 scholarships. It will cover tuition and expenses for students pursuing bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and high school internships in early childhood education. “Ensuring access to high-quality early childhood education requires a deep, diverse field of excellent early learning educators and services,” Ballmer Group noted in its announcement of the gift, which includes $5 million for advocacy for the workforce and to elevate diverse leadership. The goal is reduce or remove financial barriers for students pursuing careers in early childhood education while attracting a more diverse workforce. Studies show that diversity among teachers results in better outcomes for all students, and especially those from historically marginalized communities.

UW TACOMA’S FAMILY ROOM

Almost a year ago, the UW Tacoma campus opened a convening space for Indigenous members of the campus community in the West Coast Grocery building. Gabe Minthorn, the campus tribal liaison, designed it to be a place where students, staff and faculty could meet and share cultures. The room, which officially opened late last summer, is named , a Lushootseed word that roughly translates into “family room.” While geared toward UW Tacoma’s Native community, everyone is welcome, says Minthorn. “Part of what I’m looking to do is build community, to get folks on campus and provide a space where they can spend time together and establish those relationships.”

The newly re-formed student club, the Cedar Circle, recently hosted a screening of the movie “Powwow Highway.”