It took almost 15 years, but Charlotte Coté finally got her answer. Where do all of us hang out? She first asked the question when she arrived at the UW in 2001. "Nobody really knew what to say," recalled Coté, a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations in British Columbia. "We're on Native land — Duwamish had villages here — and yet, you could walk down this campus and that wasn't visible."

Those 20-minute showers are lavish, but how much water did it take to make your favorite pair of shoes? How about the beans in your morning coffee? The fuel in your gas tank? Water that goes into producing consumer goods is called virtual water, and it flows through your closet, your kitchen, and your daily commute. Virtual water accounts for over 95% of our water footprint, but we don't talk about it much. Rob Turner wants to change that.

Forget "tough love" — the Harm Reduction Research and Treatment (HaRRT) Center explores alternative pathways to treating addiction. The center researches drug, alcohol and tobacco dependency, often in chronically homeless populations.

Tucked in a sleepy corner of the UW Quad, Smith Hall is as peaceful as it gets on the Seattle campus. But walk inside and you’ll find torture, incarceration, and assassinations. “We work with organizations and individuals on the front lines of human rights challenges,” said Angelina Godoy, the director of the UW Center for Human Rights, which is based on the mezzanine level of Smith. “Those challenges could be here in Seattle or anywhere in the world, and they can be anything from the right to health to the right to free speech to tackling genocide.”

When Joe Lott taught a course about black and brown men in higher education, students from departments all over campus signed up — sociology, political science, engineering. "For many of them, it was one of the first classes where they talked about race," said Lott, an associate professor in the College of Education. “I found that shocking."

Earlier this spring, UW professor Ken Tadashi Oshima became the president of the Society of Architectural Historians, an international organization based in Chicago. He's the first president from the University of Washington, and the first who specializes in non-Western architecture.

Don't let the smile fool you: He's one of the most dangerous men on campus. At least that's what some people say. In his four decades at the UW, psychology professor David Barash has been blacklisted by an academic watchdog group, the American Counsel of Trustees and Alumni, and featured in a book called The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America.

Anyone can start a nonprofit. It’s easy: Just pick a cause, file with the IRS, and register with your state government. "Next thing you know, you're a 501(c)(3) and you have no idea how to sustain yourself," said Ruth Bernstein, who runs the Nonprofit Studies program at UW Tacoma. "You may not even know how to effectively deliver your service."

Magic and mysticism. Angels and demons. It's hard to find a dull moment in Mika Ahuvia's syllabus. The assistant professor of Jewish Studies teaches a class called Heroes, Heretics, and Radicals: The Beginnings of Judaism and Christianity.

When Alexes Harris read a recent Seattle Times article about being black on a college campus, she was reminded of her undergraduate days at the UW. The sociology professor took to Twitter to share her thoughts.

We tend to think of the workplace as transactional: we show up, we get paid, we leave. But that model misses something. "We’re still human beings when we go to work," said Ryan Fehr, an assistant professor in the Foster School of Business. "We still have emotions. We still care about our connections. Being appreciated still feels good in the workplace, just like it does everywhere else."

Math professor Jennifer Quinn loves to count her steps. Her goal is 10,000 a day, the number recommended by the American Heart Association. "We worry about so many things in our lives — our families, our students — that taking care of ourselves comes last," said Quinn, the interim associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at UW Tacoma. "It's so important to value yourself and your health and to make that time. Whatever you enjoy doing in life, you want to make sure you enjoy it for a long time, right?"