When Giving Up
is not an Option
TAKING THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE IS SIMPLY NOT PART OF BETH PATIN’S VALUE SYSTEM, OR HER FAMILY’S. When her grandfather faced death threats in his efforts to have her father become the first black child to attend a segregated Alabama public school, he
Message from the Foundation Chair
persevered. And when Hurricane Katrina hit, flooding the New Orleans school where Beth had recently started working as a librarian, her thoughts immediately turned to rebuilding. “Because there wasn’t physical space for our library,” said Beth, a doctoral student at the iSchool, “I first created a cybrary [cyber-library]. I contacted online book companies, begged for free subscriptions and organized websites.” At night, Beth wrote grants — with stunning success. She raised nearly $500,000, ensuring that the library at Holy Cross School for Boys would come back better than ever. “I became interested in preserving not only information, but the services libraries provide in the face of disasters, when people need them most,” Beth said. She was able to discuss her growing interest in “Crisis Informatics” with UW iSchool Dean Harry Bruce at an American Library Association conference. His strong encouragement led her to apply to the UW. “It was scary thinking about moving all the way across the country,” Beth said. “But my Washington Doctoral Initiative Fellowship and the Nancy Gershenfeld Scholarship made it possible. Looking back, it was important for me to lose so much. It helped me understand what’s absolutely essential — my community. That’s exactly what I recognized when I came to the iSchool: a community of scholars.”
BELOW: Beth Patin helped rebuild a school library in New Orleans before moving across the country to pursue her Ph. D. at the iSchool.
When I was pregnant in the 1960s, having an ultrasound to determine the sex and health of a baby was not an option. I learned whether I was having a girl or a boy the day my kids were born, not months in advance. Unfortunately that’s also when many women facing complications found out there was a problem. There’s a world of difference between the information available then and today. And UW students like Wayne Gerard show how technology can be used for profound good. Just one ultrasound can save the life of a baby and a mother by detecting a problem that requires specialized care. But if the ultrasound isn’t accessible, then it doesn’t help anyone. Wayne and a team of UW students developed a low-cost ultrasound that can travel to the expectant mom. Before long, this technology will be tested in Africa. In Seattle, we have world-class hospitals like UWMC and Harborview in our backyard, but that’s not the case across our whole country or in a large part of the world. Last year, I visited Kenya with my grandchildren and toured a rural health clinic that had no ultrasound equipment and little more than an exam table and some medicine. All people, no matter where they live, deserve access to quality health care, and I’m so proud that UW students, with the support of many donors, are taking a big step toward making that happen.
Lyn Grinstein
WHAT will your LEGACY BE? Learn more about giving options at giving. uw.edu/planned-giving or call 800.294.3679.
March March 2011 2011
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