College of Arts and Sciences

As a candidate, Joe Biden ran on a climate-focused platform, promising a transition to a clean, carbon-neutral economy by 2050. But since taking office, the U.S. has doubled down on oil and gas production. Is President Biden being overly friendly to the fossil fuel industry? What gives? Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW, is interviewed.

From May 3 to 7, the UW School of Drama’s Producing Artists Laboratory put on a heavy performance of “In the Blood” at the Glenn Hughes Penthouse Theatre. The show follows the story of Hester, a single mother struggling to raise her five children while living on the streets. Read writer Harper Gould's review on the production. 

Eason Yang (MDes 2022) talks about his competitive streak and the creation of his project Not Entirely Dead on KOUW's podcast Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai.

Many Spanish speakers have been discouraged from using Spanglish — a dialect of Spanish influenced by English — at some point in their lives. Because of these experiences, the Spanish Language Heritage Program was formed in 2000 by María Gillman, who saw the program as a necessity for students with different linguistic abilities. Writer McKenna Sweet highlights the program and its impact on student. 

Is AI going to kill us? Or take our jobs? Or is the whole thing overhyped? Depends on who you ask. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

Two University of Washington faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences for 2023: Gunther Uhlmann, the Robert R. and Elaine F. Phelps Endowed Professor in Mathematics at the UW; and Philip Greenberg, professor of medicine and of immunology at the UW.

There's democracy at the federal level. Then there's the states, once called the laboratory of democracy. Jake Grumbach, associate professor of political science at the UW, decided to measure the health of democracy at the state level.

On May 5, 1945, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded over Oregon and killed six Americans -- the only mainland civilian causalities from enemy attack during WWII. Ross Coen, a PhD graduate in history and instructor at the UW, is interviewed.

Three new faculty books from the University of Washington cover topics ranging from children’s use of technology to the life experiences of Black women to neuroscience and brain research.

Along the U.S. Pacific coast, droves of alien creatures about the size of a doughnut are washing up on beaches and leaving a mat of briefly blue debris that soon fades to a crackly white -- hiding just how bizarre these tiny animals are. Julia Parrish, UW professor of biology and of aquatic and fishery sciences and director of COASST, is quoted.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears to have resumed flights to Boeing Field in King County after four years of using the Yakima Air Terminal. 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.

Earlier this month, poets Javier Zamora and Ricardo Ruiz met at the sixth annual Lee Scheingold Lecture in Poetry & Poetics to discuss their work, immigration, and the importance of representation in all forms of media, including poetry and prose. In their latest, writer McKenna Sweet recaps the event and reiterates the key takeaways from the poets’ works

For the past few years, Preston Wadley (MFA 1977) has been thinking about those people who visit a museum or gallery and spend—at most—15 seconds looking at a work of art. How could he keep them longer, he wondered. How could he change their views? His answer to that question is now on display at the Bellevue Arts Museum in an exhibition titled “Abstract Truth.”

Stephanie Kerschbaum, associate professor of English at the UW and author of the new book "Signs of Disability," will discuss her latest work at Edmonds Bookshop on May 18.

"In recent years, some climate groups have resorted to disruptive action to focus public attention on climate policy lethargy. Activists have thrown tomato soups on paintings in prominent museums, blocked trains and major highways, picketed oil terminals, and glued themselves to the floor of BMW showrooms. So, why not escalate disruption by attacking fossil fuel infrastructure?" write the UW's Nives Dolsak, professor of marine and environmental affairs, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science.