Growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Kathryn Topper thought she wanted to be an astronaut or astrophysicist. That was until tenth grade, when she fell in with a different crowd. This group made a habit of gathering late into the night to talk, sing, and drink—sometimes making a competition of flinging dregs of wine [...]

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Naomi Macalalad Bragin teaches dance. But you won’t find her teaching only steps. She’s more interested in what’s happening off-stage—underground and in the street. The assistant professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell is a performance ethnographer whose work places her at the convergence of dance, pop [...]

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To deliver the perfect presentation, prepare to embrace your mistakes. That’s the philosophy Tim Essington brings to Applied Improvisation for Science Communication, a course the professor of aquatic and fishery sciences developed to help scientists more confidently and effectively communicate their research. “Giving a good talk isn’t just what you put on your slides, it’s [...]

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Anaid Yerena’s textbook is out of date. But the assistant professor at University of Washington Tacoma’s School of Urban Studies wouldn’t have it otherwise. Yerena teaches the course “Housing in America” and the text in question, Introduction to Housing, was last published in 2006. “I need you to be reading this book within the context [...]

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It’s a simple question with a complicated response. “Who cares?” The search for an answer is at the core of Clara Berridge’s research at the University of Washington’s School of Social Work. The assistant professor explores the social and ethical aspects of how healthcare technologies challenge, change, and enhance care relationships—especially for older adults. “There [...]

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How do you measure a microaggression? That’s just one of the questions at the heart of Jonathan Kanter’s research at the University of Washington’s Center for the Science of Social Connection. Kanter, a research associate professor of psychology who has served as the Center’s director since 2013, believes the answer may prove essential to better [...]

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The study of literature can be wet work. Richard Watts teaches the course that proves it. In Water Crisis in Literature & Cinema, Watts, who serves as associate professor and chair of French and Italian Studies, addresses the cultural significance of water and its changing meaning as societies grow more conscious of risks posed by [...]

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Amanda Lock Swarr is an associate professor in the Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies. Since 1997, she has researched and written about people who fall outside of the gender binary in South Africa. Her current work looks at sexual violence and masculinity in particular. “African masculinities get represented in really problematic ways in international media, especially in very racist ways,” Swarr said. “I’m thinking about what it means to be in a newly democratic society since the end of apartheid, to have that new space to re-conceptualize masculinity.”