Humanities Division

Meet the four graduating students selected by the College of Arts & Sciences as 2025 Graduate Medalists for their accomplishments. 

"What might the virtual assistant in your phone sound like if the artificial intelligence that powered it emerged from the consciousness of a Black girl from Chicago?" writes Timeka Tounsel, associate professor of Black studies in communication at the UW. Golden M. Owens, assistant professor of cinema & media studies at the UW, is quoted.

Meet the four new graduates honored as College of Arts & Sciences Dean's Medalists for 2025. 

MFA alum Brian Christian explores the tricky dynamics between human behavior and artificial intelligence. After moving to Seattle—drawn by both it’s tech and literary scenes—he decided to pursue a master’s in creative writing at the UW. He studied creative nonfiction and poetry but did not lose touch with his affinity for computer science.

"Is AI going to take over the world? Have scientists created an artificial lifeform that can think on its own? Is it going to replace all our jobs, even creative ones, like doctors, teachers and care workers? Are we about to enter an age where computers are better than humans at everything?" writes Luke Munn research fellow at the University of Queensland. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Distinguished Teaching Award, the UW’s highest teaching honor. And now, drumroll please, here are this year’s stars.

Imagine sitting in a movie theater watching a film youve been anticipating for months. Suddenly, the screen goes blank. It only lasts a second, but thats long enough to disrupt the experience. Its also long enough, says Mal Ahern, to remind you of the physical infrastructure behind what we so often see as an immaterial...

The College of Arts & Sciences celebrates undergraduate and graduate students from across all four divisions, who are recognized for making the most of their time at the UW. 

Recent recognition of the University of Washington includes an EarthLab Innovation Grant, the Best Paper Award from American Political Science Association and honorable recognition mention from the American Society for Theatre Research. UW professor Richard Watts and team awarded EarthLab Innovation Grant Richard Watts, UW associate professor of French, is part of an interdisciplinary team...

Recent faculty books from the University of Washington include those from linguistics, Slavic languages and literature and French. UW News spoke with the authors of four publications to learn more about their work. Scrutinizing and confronting AI hype Emily M. Bender, UW professor of linguistics, co-authored The AI Con: How to Fight Big Techs Hype...

Virtual assistants, such as Apples Siri, can perform a range of tasks or services for users and a majority of them sound like white women. Golden Marie Owens, assistant professor of cinema and media studies at the University of Washington, says there is much to learn about a person from how they sound. The...

Speculative fiction author Anselma Prihandita (PhD, language and rhetoric, 2025), a Nebula Award winner, finds that her creative writing bolsters her scholarly work in unexpected ways. 

Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, and Alex Hanna share five key insights from their new book,"The AI Con: How to Fight Big Techs Hype and Create the Future We Want." This bookis an exploration of the hype around artificial intelligence, whose interests it serves and the harm being done under this umbrella.

Imagine an art class where you only did paint by numbers, or a music class where you werent allowed to play a song until you practiced scales for 20 years. This is often what its like to take a math class, where students spend most of their time learning to solve problems that have already...

"Unfortunately, the goal of creating artificial general intelligence isnt just a project that lives as a hypothetical in scientific papers. Theres real money invested in this work, much of it coming from venture capitalists," co-writes Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW.