Leslie Ashbaugh, who joined the UW Bothell campus in 1998, passed away last week after a two-year battle with cancer. She was 52. When diagnosed with melanoma, a form of skin cancer, Leslie chose to remain in her role as assistant vice chancellor of academic achievement. Before taking a position in leadership, she taught in the [...]

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Doomsday stories are easy to find at the box office these days. Biology professor Dee Boersma wants to see more movies about saving the world. In her class Science Communication: Video Storytelling, students produce educational films about the natural sciences. Viewers get tours of the coral reefs of Hawaii and the forests of Washington, and explore topics like endangered animals, food waste, and water pollution.

Markets are meant to be disrupted. That's what you'll walk away thinking after a chat with Professor Charles Hill. "Disruption is the nature of a capitalist economy, and you've got to argue that disruption is fundamentally a good thing," said Hill, who’s taught in the Foster School of Business since 1988.

From Ebola and Zika to malaria and dengue fever, there seems to be a global health crisis around every corner. If you haven’t witnessed an outbreak in person, you’ve seen the images on TV: Patients struggle to survive, doctors cross borders to treat them, and researchers rush to develop vaccines. But there’s a tireless group of frontline caregivers that often get overlooked — both by daily news coverage and high-level decision-makers.

When Mount St. Helens erupted in the spring of 1980, over 200 miles of plants and trees were wiped away by wind, lava, and rock. Nearby buildings were buried, and 57 people were killed. A serene and picturesque landscape had turned terrifyingly barren. But researchers have since found a silver lining: the eruption created a great natural experiment. The federal government designated the mountain a national monument, which allowed plants and animals to return naturally — rather than being placed there by people.

When the president of China sojourned in Seattle last fall, political and business leaders lined up to welcome the head of Washington’s biggest trade partner. Meanwhile, politicians and talking heads in Washington, D.C. were accusing China of manipulating its currency and ripping off the American economy.

This laboratory experiments on people, places, and things. Freaked out? Don’t be. They’re studying storytelling. The News Lab is a newsroom for journalism students. "From Woodinville to Federal Way to Everett, our students put important news in front of people," said Andrea Otanez, who's teaching the lab this quarter.

You know that moment when you can't think of anything to say? Jed Thompson doesn't.

Put your phone away. What would you do if you heard that? Turn your phone off, or silence it? Flip it upside down on the table? Put it in your pocket or your purse? Throw it in the trash can? At the movies, do you power down or switch to vibrate? Do you peak during a bathroom break? Did that Facebook notification give you a dopamine rush?

As one of the most cited researchers in his field, UW Astronomy Professor Tom Quinn is featured on the latest Thomson Reuters list of the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds. We had a special Q&A chat with him for this week's Faculty Friday.

A musician can make a great tour guide. In Tom Collier’s new jazz album, "Across the Bridge," he explores the streets, schools, and sounds of West Seattle, the neighborhood he grew up in. The School of Music professor plays two instruments on the nine-track trek: the vibraphone and its king-sized cousin, the marimba.

At a big university like UW Seattle, political correctness can cut both ways. Some feel that classrooms are safer when offensive language and fringe ideas are driven out. Others think that eliminating these voices, as hurtful as they can be, restricts the learning process. Senior Lecturer Anu Taranath says it all depends on whose stories we focus on. In her Comparative History of Ideas class Re-Thinking Diversity, students hash out these ideas of power and privilege.