From The Top

Welcome to the second issue of IAS’s new online Alumni Newsletter, Junctions.   Since the inaugural issue published about a year ago, much has happened in IAS.  I came on as the new Director last July, Dr. Jenny Quinn came on board as Associate Director in August, and we gained a much needed new advisor, Caroline Calvillo, in October.  There were some other staff changes as well, including, sadly, the loss of a longtime Program Coordinator Michelle Hartman this May.  She moved on to a new position outside the University.

A Year of Success and Transition
Other gains though, include the hiring of Dr. Stephen Ross, an experimental cognitive psychologist, who will be joining us in the fall, and the securing of a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Award for Loraine Leeson, an internationally known multi-media artist from the United Kingdom who will be spending Winter and Spring quarters of next year with us.  We also are gaining a new Full Professor --  Dr. John “Buck” Banks has earned a much deserved promotion.  This brings the number of IAS faculty who are Full Professors to 12 – the largest number ever. 

We hired over the past year several years new full or part-time Lecturers to help us offer the largest number of courses to the largest number of students in our program’s history.  We will be doing the same this coming year.  Not only will these folks be helping us deliver more individual classes, they will contribute to programs as well.  These include a new concentration in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and new minors in Economics, Law & Policy, Math, and Politics. 

New majors in History, Writing Studies, and a new tri-campus minor in Restoration Ecology are all coming soon (we hope in the next year), as is the long-awaited conversion of most of our concentrations to full-fledged major status.  Also by next spring, we will be administering all of this from new digs in the Joy Building (immediately adjacent to, but two floors below, our current West Coast Grocery location).  This renovation and adaptive re-use project is another feather in UWT’s cap, and IAS is thrilled to be the anchor tenant in the building. 

Finally, our outreach and other efforts to strengthen ties to our neighbors and surrounding communities continue, as the first ever IAS/Environmental Science Community Engagement Forum on “Envisioning Tacoma as a Leader in the New Green Economy” last March shows.  We will be conducting at least one more community engagement forum – and perhaps two – in the 2010-11 year. 

Celebrating Continued Student Success
IAS students continue to make us proud through their amazing scholarly and professional achievements.  Jacque Clinton, a Politics and Values student, won the 2009-10 Chancellor’s Medal for Scholastic Achievement.  Christopher Thomas, an Environmental Studies and Global Honors student, won a Chancellor’s Fund grant to conduct research this summer in Kenya and is going on to a graduate program in Geography at the University of Oregon. 

Several students won awards at the UW Water Center’s Annual Review of Research, the Pacific Estuarine Research Society conference, and the Northwest Geological Society’s student poster competition.  Still others won prestigious scholarships, published research (often with faculty mentors), and presented research at conferences in various parts of the country.  And, our graduates continue to convert their achievement into good jobs and admission to high quality graduate programs around the country and beyond.

IAS Faculty and Staff Earn Accolades
During the past year, IAS faculty continued their awesome record of scholarly and artistic productivity, which included 10 books in print or forthcoming, more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, book reviews, or technical reports, and nearly 200 conference presentations, invited talks, posters, or exhibitions. 

Dr. Mary Hanneman, Coordinator of the Global Studies concentration, won a Fulbright Scholar Award and will spend her sabbatical next year in India.  Dr. Michael Honey won the UWT Distinguished Research Award AND a Labor Educator Award.  Dr. Mike Allen’s Patriot’s History of the United States became a best-seller on both the New York Times and Amazon lists.  Dr. Bill Kunz won ANOTHER Emmy.  And, Dr. Jim Gawel won the UW-wide Undergraduate Research Mentor Award.  As a whole, the IAS faculty brought in roughly $7 million in external support for research, teaching, scholarships, and other programming, plus a substantial amount of competitively awarded internal grant funds.

Finally, our wonderful staff continued their tradition of exceptional professional achievement while simultaneously providing exceptional service.  Congratulations especially to advisor Noelle Bernard for the New Advisor Certificate of Merit she won from the Pacific Northwest chapter of the National Academic Advising Association and to Program Administrator Julie Buffington for her UWT Distinguished Woman Award.
I hope you will enjoy exploring this e-newsletter, and invite you to come visit us in person to see all the changes and accomplishments first-hand.  We would be delighted to host you!

With all best wishes,

Larry Knopp, Director