Alumni

Tim Egan ('81) has received the National Book Award for nonfiction for a book about the Great American dust bowl. 

Alumnus Don Logan, who spent years teaching Seattle public schools after earning two history degrees at the UW, has endowed a chair in the Department of History. 

Immediately after graduating from the UW School of Drama, 11 alumni founded Washington Ensemble Theatre, or WET. As they begin their third season, WET's members remain true to their original vision for the theatre. 

Just before graduating last spring, Julia Parker created a community service award for future philosophy students, raising the funds for the award herself. 

Alumni in fields ranging from biotechnology to finance believe their UW English degree has been a valuable asset throughout their career. Related stories: A poetry group created by an English alum and friends is still going strong after 15 years; a donor has funded "Ask Betty," an interactive website on English grammar and usage, in his mother's honor. 

Ed Viesturs’ (’81) first climbs were in the Northwest, during his years as a UW undergraduate. Now he has become the first American to successfully summit all 14 of the world's 8,000+ meter peaks without supplemental oxygen. 

Don Petersen, former chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Company, has been an inspirational chair of the College of Arts and Sciences' board for the past six years. 

Chia-Hui Huang made a promise to herself to donate her first paycheck to the Linguistics Department after earning her PhD--and she kept her promise. 

Three alumni describe how they have reconnected with the College, decades after graduating. 

After Frith Maier retraced adventurer George Kennan's 1870 route through the Caucasus Mountains, the journey became the basis of her UW master's thesis and a new book.

Astronaut Michael Anderson, who perished in the space shuttle Columbia, earned his B.S. from the UW College of Arts and Sciences in physics and astronomy. 

Although Yehuda Hayuth (Ph.D., '77) is president of the University of Haifa in Israel, he still makes time to teach at the University of Washington each summer.

An interview with Rhodes Scholar Elizabeth Angell (BA, History, International Studies, 2001).

Art Levinson (1972), head of biotech firm Genentech, got his start working in a faculty lab as a UW student.

When A&S alumnus Gordon Hirabayashi refused to go to an internment camp in 1942, he went to prison for his actions. Nearly five decades later, the government finally overturned his conviction.