Social Sciences Division

This week, listen in to the “Health and Houselessness in Seattle” conversation, head to the Burke Museum for some cherry blossom activities, witness Angela Hewitt’s famous piano talent, and more.

Dustin Mara, Class of 2022, shares about his global upbringing, his vision for intersecting culture, language, and type design, and what he is looking forward to about his future career.

In “Woman, Captain, Rebel: The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Icelandic Sea Captain,” UW professor Margaret Willson chronicles the true life story of the Icelandic female sea captain, Thurídur. Read writer Megan Matti’s interview with Willson in preparation for Willson’s University Book Store reading on March 8. 

Attend lectures, performances and more.

Four new faculty books from the University of Washington cover topics ranging from inequality's effects on health to fad diets to former German chancellor Angela Merkel's legacy on gender equality.

James Gregory, UW professor of history, knows the subject of racism in housing well. For roughly two decades, he’s been unearthing the ugly, racist underpinnings of racial disparities in wealth and homeownership seen to this day across Puget Sound.

A new UW report raises questions about adequate janitorial services at Tacoma’s immigration detention center. The report includes internal emails among ICE staff, noting concerns about cleanliness at the facility. Angelina Godoy, professor of law, societies and justice and of international studies and director of the Center for Human Rights at the UW, is quoted.

Over 100 people participated in a hunger strike last week at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, known colloquially as the Northwest Detention Center. The strike ended on Feb. 5 after four days, according to detention abolitionist group, La Resistencia. Angelina Godoy, professor of law, societies and justice and of international studies and director of the Center for Human Rights at the UW, is quoted.

The City of Kirkland was counting on Google to be the “catalyst project” in its proposed Station Area Plan, a reimagining of the area around a planned rapid transit bus station into a higher density community of housing and businesses. But suddenly and without warning to the outside world, the plans went away last month. The City of Kirkland issued a surprising press release: Google, which on the same day announced it was cutting 12,000 jobs globally, no longer planned to be the tech centerpiece in the city’s development plan. The company’s move to back out of the project — even with $113 billion in the bank and $60 billion in profits last year — highlights the surprisingly fleeting relationship between big tech companies and the cities they’ve reshaped, and the mixed feelings and uncertainty left behind. Chuck Wolfe, affiliate associate professor of urban design and planning at the UW, and Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW, are quoted.

Three University of Washington experts have provided quotes in response to the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday morning.

Philosopher Arthur Obst, a UW doctoral student, thinks that wild places can thrive — if we adjust our definition of wilderness and embrace the idea of letting go. 

More than 40,000 property deeds containing racially discriminatory language have been uncovered in Western Washington by the Racial Restrictive Covenants Project. Director James Gregory, professor of history at the University of Washington, and his team aren't finished yet.

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Christopher Tounsel, associate professor of history at the University of Washington, found multiple connections between Sudan and Seattle while researching his upcoming book. The most prominent was the late Andrew Brimmer, a UW alum who in 1966 became the first Black member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Ever wonder what the world would be like without planes, computer software and online shopping? Thanks to progressive Seattle innovators and change-makers, the world is a much better place to live, work and play. Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.