College of Arts and Sciences

Quintard Taylor, a professor emeritus of history at the UW, died Sept. 21 after devoting his life to teaching history and educating people across the globe about Black history, particularly the history of the American West.

When something dies, a telltale radioactive signal ticks like a natural clock. Discovering it helped us solve all sorts of natural mysteries. Samuel Wasser, professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.

Watch the recording of the 2025 College of Arts & Sciences Welcome Event.

For a 2024 exhibition in Mumbai (for which I wrote a catalog essay), Sangram Majumdar explored the contrast between visceral presence and memorys shadow, as well as the double state of consciousness that is inherent in having to constantly realign here and there. The work of Sangram Majumdar, associate professor of painting and drawing, is featured.

The University of Washington announced a transformative gift that solidifies the importance and vitality of the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. It recognizes the legacy of former Dean John Simpson, his late wife Katherine, and the Simpson family by creating a namesake deanship for the College of Arts & Sciences. The Katherine and...

Nigeria is home to 100 known species of batsabout a third of Africas bat speciesbut scientists dont know much about them. Iroro Tanshi, postdoctoral researcher in the UW Department of Biology, is interviewed.

Working 9 to 5 is a way to make a living. But in Silicon Valley, amid the competitive artificial intelligence craze, grinding 996 is the way to get ahead. Or at least to signal to those around you that youre taking work seriously. Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.

Quintard Taylor died Sunday in Houston. He was 76 years old. A professor emeritus of history at the UW, Taylor started the research website BlackPast. This story includes excerpts from a prior interview with Taylor.

The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States will shut down this month after having its funding slashed earlier this year. The closure reflects the Trump Administration's move toward securitizing U.S. Arctic research, according to Arctic researchers. Mia Bennett, associate professor of geography at the UW, is quoted.

Quintard Taylor, a prominent professor at the University of Washington and the founder of an online archive of Black history that reached curious minds across the globe, died Sunday at 76. Taylor was professor emeritus of history at the UW. Ana Mari Cauce, professor of psychology and UW president emerita, is quoted.

In a new study, a team of scientists determined the minimum natural habitat on agricultural land that will allow insect pollinators including bumble bees, solitary bees, hoverflies and butterflies to thrive. UW News reached out to co-author Berry Brosi, UW professor of biology, to learn more about these results and how habitat is important to two types of bees native to Washington.

Bee experts wouldnt have previously expected to find the likes of Osmia cyaneonitens, Dufourea dilatipes and Stelis heronae in Washington. But this year, while collecting pollinators in Chelan County to study how climate and wildfires affect native bee populations, Autumn Maust, a University of Washington research scientist of biology, discovered eight bee species never recorded in Washington.

The Trump administration's announcement linking Tylenol to autism has been met with concern from many involved in autism education and research. Annette Estes, director of the UW Autism Center and a research professor of speech and hearing sciences, is quoted.

Researchers might have stumbled upon a way to solve an unrelated, decades-old cosmic mystery: why a big portion of the universe's "ordinary" matter is missing. Matt McQuinn, associate professor of astronomy at the UW, is mentioned.

Many in the theater world here in Seattle know of David Armstrong, UW affiliate instructor of drama, as 5th Avenue Theatre's artistic director and executive producer from 2000 to 2018. Now he's also an author. Armstrong is interviewed about his new book: "Broadway Nation: How Immigrant, Jewish, Queer, and Black Artists Invented the Broadway Musical."