April 2024 Newsletter
Perspectives is a monthly newsletter that highlights the accomplishments and latest news from the College of Arts & Sciences community. Learn about unusual courses, student projects, faculty research, alumni careers, and more.
Featured Stories This Month
What the Sky Teaches Us
In the course Pacific Indigenous Astrophysics, visiting professor Brittany Kamai teaches about the sky as an astrophysicist and as a Native Hawaiian trained in celestial navigation across the Pacific.
Exploring Connections Through Global Literary Studies
The UW's new Global Literary Studies major encourages students to explore literary traditions from around the globe and all eras of human history.
Two Majors, Complementary Skills
Elizabeth Xiong (2024), a double major in art history and computer science, shares how she gained different and complementary skills from each major.
-
Enlightened Giving
“I couldn’t ask donors to give if I weren’t also giving,” says Michael Podlin, a former UW fundraiser who has included a significant bequest for the Department of Philosophy in his estate plans.
Arts & Sciences
Opportunities to Explore
-
Northwest Sinfonietta with UW Piano Students
April 12, 7:30 pm
Meany Hall – Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater
UW piano students perform concerto movements by Haydn, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn with Tacoma-based chamber orchestra Northwest Sinfonietta. David Alexander Rahbee, senior artist in resident in the UW School of Music, conducts. -
Simon Benjamin: A Bolt from the Blue
Through April 20
Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Art Building
The exhibition Simon Benjamin: A Bolt from the Blue was created as part of Benjamin's 2024 Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency, organized by guest curator Berette S Macaulay. Curated as a living space of temporal contemplation, the exhibition – which incorporates video installation, painting, sculpture, and photography -- reflects Benjamin’s research of the sea and coastal areas as connected sites of colonial legacy. -
Performance, Subversion and Gender-Bending in Ottoman Poetry
April 18, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Kane Hall, Walker Ames Room (Room 225)
Mihri Hatun (d. circa 1512) was the first Ottoman woman whose poetry was collected during her lifetime and is still intact. In this Walter Andrews Memorial Lecture, Professor Didem Havlioglu (Duke University) will discuss the poet’s unapologetically marginal voice as a way to understand the physical and discursive contours of the Ottoman intellectual world. Presented by the UW Department of Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures. -
Intergenerational Encounters: A Conversation with Kelly Akashi
April 26, 3:00 – 4:00 pm
Henry Art Gallery, Education Studio
Join artist Kelly Akashi, whose work is currently on view at the Henry Art Gallery, for a small group conversation on intergenerational ties through objects. Akashi invites all participants to bring an object to explore the theme of heirlooms and what is passed down generationally. Guests can anticipate sharing about the object they brought, its significance to their family history, and engaging in conversation with Kelly and the other participants. Registration required. -
Frontiers in Physics Lecture: Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with JWST
May 8, 7:30 pm
Kane Hall, Room 130
The new James Webb Space Telescope (JWSP) is producing magnificent images and surprises about galaxies, active galactic nuclei, star-forming regions, and planets, extending the scientific discoveries of the Hubble Telescope. John C. Mather of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, a 2006 Nobel laureate in Physics and JWST senior project scientist, will share how JWST was built and its most exciting current discoveries. Registration required. Presented by the UW Department of Physics.
Looking for more events? Visit ArtsUW and the UW Alumni Association website.
In The News
-
Scientists CT-scanned thousands of natural history specimens, which you can access for free
Scientists around the globe and curious folks at home can access valuable museum specimens to study, learn, or just be amazed by, thanks to openVertebrate, or oVert, a five-year collaborative project among 18 institutions, including scientists at the UW and the UW’s Burke Museum. The project has created 3D reconstructions of vertebrate specimens and made them freely available online.
UW News -
5 Indigenous artists and scholars on Lily Gladstone, the Oscars, and more
Five local Native American artists and cultural workers shared their feelings about how Lily Gladstone’s Oscar nomination blazed a new path for Indigenous creatives as well as the racist tropes still targeting Native Americans in the media. Charlotte Coté, UW professor of American Indian studies, is interviewed.
The Seattle Times -
What is the Japanese ‘wabi-sabi’ aesthetic actually about? ‘Miserable tea’ and loneliness, for starters
"Wabi-sabi is typically described as a traditional Japanese aesthetic: the beauty of something perfectly imperfect, in the sense of 'flawed' or 'unfinished.' Actually, however, wabi and sabi are similar but distinct concepts, yoked together far more often outside Japan than in it," writes Paul Atkins, UW professor of Asian languages and literature.
The Conversation -
Yes, JK Rowling, the Nazis did persecute trans people
In a recent tweet, author JK Rowling disputed the fact that Nazis destroyed early research on the transgender community. UW professor of history Laurie Marhoefer, who studies trans people and Nazis, offers historical background.
The Stranger