The University of Washington Bothell this year launched two off-campus speaker series in which professors share their expertise with the community in free, public presentations. Pub Night Talks began in the summer at McMenamins Anderson School. Campus Research Connections began this fall in Bothell City Hall.
Benjamin Gardner, associate professor of global studies, cultural studies and environmental studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, kicked off the pub talks with “To Travel or Not to Travel: The Possibilities and Perils of Ecotourism.”
Gardner says it was a great venue to bring current research on the politics of travel into a public conversation.
“It was fun to meet so many people who are interested in understanding how travel is connected to systems of power and representation,” said Gardner, who also drew many current and former students to the talk.
Dan Jaffe, professor and chair of the physical sciences division in the UW Bothell School of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics, said it was “energizing” to present a full room at McMenamins. His topic was titled “Planes, Trains and Mountain Tops: The Adventures of One Scientist and His Students Studying the Impacts of Humans on Planet Earth.”
“It was great to see so many people interested in environmental science, climate science and the research we do at UW Bothell. There were so many great questions,” said Jaffe.
The Pub Night Talks series continues on the last Tuesday of each month in McMenamins Haynes’ Hall where a brew and food menu is available to the audience.
Warren Gold, associate professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and director of the UW Restoration Ecology Network, began the campus research series, discussing what it means to have a “sense of place” with faculty colleagues Jennifer Atkinson and Caren Crandell, Bothell City Manager Jennifer Phillips and longtime resident Jim Freese.
“The high level of energy in the room made it clear how passionately people in our community feel about finding ways to create viable natural ecological systems within our community that can be sustained for the long run,” Gold said.
Other fall presentations, sponsored by the UW Bothell Office of Research, focused on water and natural landscape. In the winter the series focuses on cybersecurity with faculty talks leading up to a big public event on data breaches March 29 at the Chateau Ste. Michelle Theater in Woodinville.
