From the university to wherever you consider home, we invite you to engage with and learn from the College of Arts & Sciences community through public gatherings encompassing the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We look forward to seeing you this February.
Highlighted Events: Themes in Social Transformation
February 26 | A Scheme to Forget, a Demand to Remember: The Century-Long Struggle Over the Memory of the Tulsa Race Massacre (American Ethnic Studies)
Week of February 3
February 4, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm | A Broken Nation: Burma/Myanmar Four Years After the 2021 Military Coup d’État (Center for Southeast Asia and its Diasporas)
In February 2021, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing orchestrated a military coup that displaced Myanmar’s democratically chosen government, led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party achieved a monumental victory in the November 2020 elections. Since late 2023, the Myanmar military has endured multiple unprecedented battlefield humiliations as it confronts a nationwide uprising of numerous armed, anti-state factions determined to accomplish a revolution to eliminate military control over politics for the first time.Free of charge
February 4, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm | Hopkins Faculty Award Lecture in Chemistry: Prof. Daniel Gamelin (Department of Chemistry)
The Remarkable Life of Defects in Crystals
Professor Daniel Gamelin — Department of Chemistry, University of Washington
Recipient of the Paul Hopkins Faculty Award
In honor of the Hopkins Award, this discussion will highlight several historical instances along with our team’s investigation into defects present in inorganic materials that demonstrate intriguing and (at times) significant physical characteristics. It will showcase the importance of fundamental science in fostering the progress of next-generation technologies.
February 5, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm | The Social Shift: Content Creators, Emerging Voices, and the Future of Journalism (Department of Communication)
February 6, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm | Wessam Al-Badry: The Contribution of Art and Journalism to Society (School of Art + Art History + Design)
A prevalent misconception exists that journalism represents truth and impartiality; however, it is inherently rooted in a Eurocentric viewpoint that has long intensified societal divisions. What ideological forces underpin this medium, enabling it to continue such fragmentation?February 7, 7:30 pm | UW Symphony Orchestra featuring Carrie Shaw, Frederick Reece (School of Music)
David Alexander Rahbee conducts the UW Symphony in “With Love, from Scotland,” a selection of pieces by Thea Musgrave, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and Felix Mendelssohn. Featuring guest faculty Carrie Shaw, soprano, alongside Frederick Reece, the narrator.
Upcoming Events
February 3 | Prompt Engineering & Engaging with AI (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
Week of February 10
February 10, 3:30 pm – 6:00 pm | Stice Feminist Lecture of Social Justice: “Confronting Fascism with Intersex Justice,” led by Sean Saifa Wall (Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies)
Engage with Dr. Sean Saifa Wall in a dialogue that poses inquiries, conveys truths, and presents a path forward amid these challenging times.
February 11, 6:30 pm | Katz Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities – Learning to Perceive: Literature, Moral Insight, and Early Confucian Virtue Ethics (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
In the Analects, Confucius draws a parallel between an individual who has not sufficiently studied the masterful Book of Odes and someone facing a wall—unable to perceive, unable to act. During this presentation, Edward Slingerland, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Distinguished University Scholar, and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, interprets ambiguous references within the Analects to construct a cohesive understanding of how the Book of Odes functioned in early Confucianism as an instrument for virtue ethical self-cultivation, as well as how the Analects, as a literary piece, aimed to foster moral-perceptual expertise.
February 12, 7:30 pm | DXARTS Winter Concert (Department of Digital Arts and Experimental Media)
Digital Arts and Experimental Media presents Daniel Peterson’s new musical composition, Into the Air, which examines the transient nature of sound alongside the enigma of existence. Drawing inspiration in part from Jorge Luis Borges’ Everything and Nothing, this 80-minute work embodies both presence and void, encompassing traces of numerous influences while remaining fleeting and ungraspable; peculiar yet universally relevant. The composition fuses Parmegiani’s De Natura Sonorum with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 32 through custom algorithms crafted in the audio programming language, SuperCollider. The stereo composition will be distributed in real-time across 20 speakers.
February 13, 7:30 pm| Opening Night: The Winter’s Tale (School of
Drama
The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare revolves around King Leontes of Sicily, who becomes unreasonably envious and falsely accuses his closest companion and his spouse, Hermione, of unfaithfulness. Calamity quickly strikes his household and the realm. After sixteen years, Leontes’ estranged daughter Perdita, falls for Florizel, the heir of Bohemia. Leontes feels remorse, and a “miracle” occurs resulting in reconciliation and restored bonds.
Tickets: $10 – $20
February 13 through April 18 | artists & poets (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Aiming to replicate the interdisciplinary artistic atmosphere that Jacob Lawrence experienced during his early years, this exhibit delves into a heritage of collaboration between artists and poets. artists & poets represents the re-establishment of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery in its commitment to education, innovative practice, and social equity. The exhibition and the gallery’s space will be divided into two segments. The Cauleen Smith’s Wanda Coleman Songbook will serve as a modern illustration of this significant legacy of collaboration between artists and poets. The other portion of the exhibition will highlight Dudley Randall’s Broadside Press which was established in Detroit in 1966 and will draw from archives to capture the press’s history and contributions.
Additional Events
February 14 | Generative A.I. and Writing Across the Curriculum (Simpson Center)
Week of February 17
February 21, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm | University of Washington International Security Colloquium: “International Financial Institutions and the Promotion of Autocratic Resilience” (Department of Political Science)
Christina Schneider – “International Financial Institutions and the Promotion of Autocratic Resilience”
February 21 | Self-Destructive Policy Pursuit and Self-Serving Evasion, featuring Ko Maeda, University of North Texas (East Asia Center)
Political figures and parties typically make commitments during election seasons. However, accomplishing a policy objective can sometimes adversely affect their electoral outcomes, resulting in a situation where a party might benefit from not pursuing the desires of its constituents. This research empirically illustrates that Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party has been gaining an electoral edge by refraining from achieving its publicly declared objective of constitutional reform.February 21, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm | Disparities in Utility Access: Navigating Climate Change Challenges (Department of Political Science)
February 21, 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm | Diana Behler Memorial Lecture: From the Grimms’ Wonder Tales to AI: Wells, Hedges, Automata, Screens (German Studies)
Prof. Dorothee Ostmeier will present a lecture honoring esteemed UW Prof. Diana Behler.
Spanning from literary Romanticism to contemporary AI narratives, portals facilitate transitions between tangible and digital, human and non-human realms. This lecture traverses the limits of reality transformations as illustrated in the stories of the Brothers Grimm and ETA Hoffmann, integrating German literary discussions on the fantastical into the dynamic inquiries posed by anthropologists and cultural critics, as well as architects of digital realism. All of these varying perspectives explore potential futures that extend beyond our anthropocentric viewpoints and psyche.
February 22, 4:00 pm | UWAA Movie Night: Singles (UW Alumni Association)
Additional Activities
Week of February 24
February 24, 6:00 – 7:00 pm | An Evening with Krzysztof Siwczyk (Slavic Languages & Literatures)
Please join us
On Monday, February 24, at 6:00 pm, join us for a reading and a discussion with award-winning Polish poet Krzysztof Siwczyk along with his translator, Prof. Piotr Florczyk, facilitated by Prof. Agnieszka Jeżyk.
February 26, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm | Weston and Sheila Borden Endowed Lecture in Theoretical Chemistry: Prof. Abraham Nitzan (Department of Chemistry)
Weston and Sheila Borden Endowed Lecture in Theoretical Chemistry
Professor Abraham Nitzan – Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania
Host: David Masiello
February 27, 6:00 – 7:00 pm | Tanya Sheehan: Public Art, Public Health – Jacob Lawrence and the Murals of Harlem Hospital (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Complimentary
Upcoming Events
February 24 | Baroque Ensemble (School of Music)
February 24 | A Spotlight on Rumors (University Faculty Lecture)
February 25 | Isidore String Quartet: Unrequited (Meany Center for Performing Arts)
February 26 | Provost Town Hall (Provost Office)
February 27 through March 1 | Ronald K. Brown: EVIDENCE (Meany Center for Performing Arts)
February 27 through March 2 | Dance Majors Concert (Dance)
February 27 | Can the Subaltern Sweat? Race, Climate Change, and Inequality (Public Lectures)
February 28 | Severyns Ravenholt Seminar in Comparative Politics: Pablo Beramendi, Duke University (Political Science)
February 28 | 2025 John B. and Mary K. McDiarmid Lecture: Craig Williams, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Classics)
February 28 | Linguistics Department Colloquium: Kathleen Hall from the University of British Columbia (Linguistics)
February 28 | A Magic Flute for the 21st Century (German Studies)
Exhibits Closing Soon
If you have an event you would like to be included in the ArtSci Roundup, please reach out to Kathrine Braseth ([email protected]).