News from the School of IAS
Mira Shimabukuro speaks on the Mother’s Society of Minidoka
In early July, IAS faculty member Mira Shimabukuro spoke about her research at the annual Minidoka Pilgrimage in Twin Falls, Idaho to a group of survivors and descendants of survivors who gather each year to deepen their awareness about the history and legacy of Japanese American Incarceration during World War II. Shimabukuro told the little-known story of the Mother’s Society of Minidoka, a group of Japanese Issei (immigrant) women who wrote to respond to the US government’s 1944 announcement of ...
July 27, 2018
Wanda Gregory on A Brief History of Time Travel
IAS faculty member Wanda Gregory spoke at San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) as part of the panel for the documentary “A Brief History of Time Travel” which premiered at this international convention last weekend. Wanda appears in the film which explores time travel from a variety of perspectives including ...
July 25, 2018
IAS faculty present at Latinx Studies Association Conference
IAS faculty members Jade Power-Sotomayor, José Fusté, and Yolanda Padilla presented at the Latinx Studies Association Conference in Washington, D.C. Jade Power-Sotomayor presented a paper titled: “Zumba and its Discontents: The Extravagance and Ordinariness of Embodied Latinidad” as part of a panel titled "From Broadway to Zumba: Performing Latinidades Across Sound and Body." José I. Fusté presented a paper titled "María’s Uncounted: Accounting for Boricua Subalternities in the Face of (Un)natural Disasters and Debt Colonialism” as part of a panel titled "Afro-Latinx Studies Now ...
July 23, 2018
After the MFA: Sun, moon, wind, ocean – Talena Lachelle Queen and the poetry of art in community
By Natalie Singer (’16) As a student who preceded me in the UW Bothell MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics, Talena Lachelle Queen was someone I heard about often during my time in the program but didn’t have the chance to meet until after we both had graduated. I was excited to interview Talena because to me, she represents the real-world successful example of how one can realize a practice and career in art-making and community leadership and advocacy. While writing poetry, teaching, and mothering, a juggle I also seek to balance, Talena has figured out how to activate the conversation around art, its purpose and potential, in her community. While she advances her own practice, she is driven by the motivation to make art a civic venture and the belief that communities need art to thrive. Here is an edited version of our interview ...
July 17, 2018
Dan Jacoby discusses the Janus decision’s implications for labor unions
IAS faculty member Dan Jacoby wrote a commentary for The Herald on the Supreme Court’s Janus decision, which put an end to public agency unions requiring non-union member to pay “agency fees” toward collective bargaining expenses. Jacoby argues that the Janus decision will weaker unions and put workers at risk. “…this ruling will push public policy further down the discredited path of private contracting agencies. Private contractors do bargain the terms of employment, but ...
July 16, 2018
Rob Turner and Justin Felder work to return Kokanee salmon to local creeks
The Lake Forest Park (LFP) Stewardship Foundation is partnering with IAS faculty member Rob Turner and Biology faculty member Jeff Jensen on the “Return Kokanee to Our Streams” project. Turner has undertaken the testing of catch basin filters to determine their effectiveness in removing pollutants (heavy metals and polycarbons) in stormwater runoff from local roads. Environmental Studies major Justin Felder is assisting Turner by taking samples and gathering data and has completed the project’s second scientific report. ...
July 13, 2018
Poetry and Persistence: Belonging and Expression for First-Gen Students of Color
“I want to help minoritized students flourish and thrive in higher education. As a Cultural Studies student who wishes to go into Student Affairs, it is important for me to think of the best ways to serve and support diverse populations of students. I am very interested in using poetry as a way to cope, to heal, to create communities, and to make meaning. Being accepted into a university and going to class is not enough to help students succeed in college. All students are knowledge creators, and poetry is just one of the ways in which minoritized students can resist the restrictions of academic institutions.” ...
July 9, 2018
Kristin Gustafson publishes two new columns in Clio: Among The Media
IAS faculty member Kristin Gustafson published two new columns in Clio: Among The Media. The most recent column, “Using History to Draw Student Attention to the ‘Difficult and Dangerous’ Work of Journalism, Over Time, Around World,” describes her classroom lesson on Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s resistance against attacks meant to shut down her journalistic voice and her resiliency to find new pathways to campaign against lynching. Gustafson identifies histories like that of Wells-Barnett and historical understanding as valuable teaching tools. They can frame moments such as with the recent news of five U.S. journalists killed ...
July 9, 2018
Alumni Shout Out!
Sandra (Brewer) Hengen (’00, Liberal Studies) was chosen to represent Boeing at the 2018 Women in Aviation conference in Reno, Nevada. Neil Low (’03, Liberal Studies) has retired from the Seattle Police Department after almost 50 years on the force. Jared Mead (’15, Global Studies) is a city councilmember in Mill Creek and current candidate for the State House of Representatives in Washington’s 44th Legislative District. Amy (Felch) Panther (’06, Culture, Literature & the Arts) is a senior executive assistant in administration at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Aaron Thacker (’98, Liberal Studies) served two years as Commander of the 856 Military Police Company and ..
July 5, 2018
Becca Price publishes “Songwriting to learn”
IAS faculty member Becca Price, along with Sarah Ward (UW College of Education), Katie Davis (UW iSchool), and Greg Crowther (UW Bothell School of STEM and Everett Community College), recently published, "Songwriting to learn: how high school science fair participants use music to communicate personally relevant scientific concepts," a paper that describes the qualities of music that high school students wrote about scientific ideas. The students were all participating in the local BioExpo science fair. Their songs employed ...
July 5, 2018