Diversity

The University of Washington has produced its share of poet laureates, but Mateo Quispe, a queer and trans Peruvian American poet and senior in the Comparative History of Ideas program, may be the only student ever to hold a laureateship while at the UW. University of Washington Magazine shares this profile of Quispe, who is studying the comparative history of ideas at the UW while completing his tenure as Auburn Poet Laureate.

Through summer excavations at a former plantation and an anthropology honors thesis, Raquel Matthews is advancing our understanding of the lives of enslaved people who lived there. 

For his UW master's in Scandinavian Studies, Estonian student Greg Rahuoja addressed political and practical challenges for Khanty, an Indigenous language spoken in parts of Siberia. 

Mounting a stage show, where five actors draw lots at the start of every show to determine who plays what, sounds intimidating. Chi-wang Yang, assistant professor of acting and directing at the UW, is quoted.

A public art installation commemorating the 1886 expulsion of Chinese Seattleites is a step closer to reality after more than 20 years in the making. About 50 community leaders, historians and members of the public gathered on April 28 at the Wing Luke Museum for an educational open house about the Chinese American Legacy Artwork Project. Connie So, teaching professor of American ethnic studies at the UW, is mentioned.

Humanities 103, part of the Humanities First program for first-year students, emphasizes place-based learning through thoughtfully designed field trips. 

A 14-foot bronze sculpture commemorating the violent expulsion of Seattles Chinese community in 1886 moved closer to reality on April 28 when civic leaders, community historians and media professionals gathered at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience to announce the project had reached its fabrication funding thresholdmore than two decades after the idea was first conceived.Connie So, teaching professor of American ethnic studies at the UW, is quoted.

On display now at the University of Washingtons Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Woven in Wool: Resilience in Coast Salish Weaving examines the traditional art form and its importance to Coast Salish communities. Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, associate professor of art history at the UW and curator of Northwest Native American Art at the Burke Museum, is quoted.

UW Department of Communication Professor LeiLani Nishime shared her expertise on the current cultural discourse around “Wasians” (those of mixed White and Asian descent) for NPR’s It’s been a Minute podcast, “Welcome to ‘The Republic of Wasia.”

Upper Skagit elder Vi Hilbert's legacy in language and culture preservation lives on through archival records collected in the Vi Hilbert Collection, first curated and digitized by retired longtime UW Ethnomusicologist Laurel Sercombe and now housed through UW LIbraries, and through a documentary film and symphony she commissioned, Healing Heart of the First People of This Land," staged at the UW in February 2026 by the UW Symphony and soloist (and School of Music alumna) Adia S. Bowen.  

A bilingual educator with 18 years of experience at both the college level and in K–12 public schools, Whitemarsh hopes to give back to her hometown of Pasco.

A Burke Museum exhibit, co-curated by Coast Salish weavers and Burke curators, highlights the importance of weaving to Coast Salish communities.

Before earning his UW degree in American Indian studies, Devin Sampson-Craig took a break to act in a Netflix film about basketball players on the Navajo Nation reservation.

"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.

In the spring of 1970, a group of Native American students brainstormed ways to prioritize Native studies at the UW. By fall, the American Indian Studies Center was formed, with faculty from across campus teaching anthropology, art, and history from a Native perspective. Five faculty from the department share their thoughts on 55 years of Native knowledge at the UW.