Telling the Story of Diversity at the University of Washington | Spring 2020
G N I M O S C E R CL E V O TA
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SPRING 2020 P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E U W A LU M N I A S S O C I AT I O N I N PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H T H E U W O F F I C E O F M I N O R I T Y A F FA I R S & D I V E R S I T Y
FOUNDED 2004
Published by the
viewpoint
:: Telling the Story of Diversity at the University of Washington
UW Alumni Association in partnership with the UW Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity
From the Publisher
4333 Brooklyn Ave. NE Box 359559 Seattle, WA 98195-9559 Phone: 206-221-7087 Fax: 206-685-0611 Email: vwpoint@uw.edu Viewpoint on the Web: UWalum.com/viewpoint
viewpoint STA F F P U BLIS HER
Paul Rucker, ’95, ’02 M A N A GING EDIT OR
Hannelore Sudermann, ’96 A R T D IRECT OR
Carol Nakagawa CO N T R I BUTING WRIT ERS
Julie Davidow, Kim Eckart, Manisha Jha, Nancy Joseph P H O T OG RAP HERS
Quinn Russell Brown, Matt Hagen Emile Pitre, Mark Stone Corinne Thrash, Dennis Wise
viewpoint ADVISORY COMMITTEE Paul Rucker, ’95, ’02 Executive Director UW Alumni Association
Rickey Hall Vice President for Minority Affairs & Diversity University Diversity Officer
Eleanor J. Lee, ’00, ’05 Director of Communications UW Graduate School
Erin Rowley Director of Communications Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity
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S THE PUBLISHER OF VIEWPOINT and executive director of the University of Washington Alumni Association, I witness the many ways alumni and friends step forward to support the University, particularly the students, who are the heart and soul of the UW. For generations, members of the UW community like you have shared their experience, networks and resources to prepare fellow Huskies for what lies ahead. Now more than ever, our shared ideals of courage, kindness, creativity and innovation must come into play.
After navigating the necessary shift to remote instruction for spring quarter, many of our students now face additional challenges as a result of the COVID-19 crisis—including challenges to their own health or the health of a family member, new financial uncertainty and other significant disruptions to their lives. The UW has established emergency funds for such students on each of our three campuses. Those directly affected by the pandemic can use these funds for unrestricted emergency assistance to help with tuition and course materials, buy technology to accommodate remote learning and cover living expenses. If the time is right for you and your family, we hope you will consider making a contribution that will have an invaluable impact on the lives of our students. I encourage you to learn more at giving.uw.edu/student-emergency-fund.
We all know that staying connected has never been more important, which is why UWAA developed “Stronger Together” (https://www.washington.edu/ alumni/communities/strongertogether), an online resource for digital content designed to encourage conversations, engage learners and bring the world a little bit closer. Take a moment to explore its offerings. I also hope you enjoy this issue of Viewpoint, which acknowledges major milestones in the University’s work to support generations of underrepresented students, milestones that in other circumstances we would certainly be celebrating together. The Alumni Association’s century-old mission to support the University of Washington and higher education has seen us through past uncertainty and will continue to guide us through today’s trying times. I wish health and safety for each of you and your loved ones. The strength and resiliency of our alumni community inspires me every day, and indeed we are stronger together. Sincerely,
Paul Rucker, ’95, ’02 Viewpoint Publisher and Executive Director, UW Alumni Association
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In This Issue 3 Message From OMA&D 4 Fresh Justice 5 In the News 6 Cover Story: Lifeline for Grad Students 10 Creating Places for Indigenous Community 12 A Brush With Depth 14 Mentoring Youth in Rainier Vista 15 In Memory and In the Media
On the Cover UW graduate student David Mendez is swarmed by some of the many questions underrepresented students face when trying to thrive in their studies. — Illustration by Fred Birchman; photo by Matt Hagen
POINT OF VIEW
So Many Milestones
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HEN I THINK ABOUT the 20192020 academic year, I can’t help but reflect on the many milestones taking place across the University that represent our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Within the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity (OMA&D) alone, we have six programs commemorating an anniversary: Intellectual House (fifth), College Assistance Migrant Program (10th), Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program (20th), Rome Study Abroad Program (25th), Health Sciences Center Minority Students Program (40th) and Celebration (50th). Several campus partners are recognizing anniversaries as well, including the Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program (GO-MAP). Just as OMA&D advances access and success for pre-college and undergraduate students, GO-MAP does the same for graduate students. We are grateful for our partnership over these last 50 years and are proud to join the university in recognizing this legacy of expanding graduate education to underrepresented minority communities. Reflecting on these milestones speaks to the breadth and impact of our work to make our university more accessible, welcoming, equitable and affirming.
And the work is not done alone—it’s a collective effort. Together, we can and we will continue to make a difference. As we recognize these milestones, we would be remiss not to also recognize our 2020 Charles E. Odegaard Award recipient, Emile Pitre, who was to be honored this spring at the 50th anniversary of Celebration (which we now plan to celebrate on May 12, 2021). Not only was Emile involved in creating transformational change at the UW in 1968 as one of the Black Student Union founders, he has dedicated his life to supporting educational opportunity and success for thousands of students through various leadership roles in OMA&D over the past three decades. It’s because of Emile, his BSU brothers and sisters and their many supporters that we have these milestones to celebrate.
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REFLECTING ON THESE MILESTONES SPEAKS TO THE BREADTH AND IMPACT OF OUR WORK TO MAKE OUR UNIVERSITY MORE ACCESSIBLE, WELCOMING, EQUITABLE AND AFFIRMING. — Rickey Hall
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Rickey Hall
Vice President for Minority Affairs & Diversity University Diversity Officer
Rickey Hall, left, with Emile Pitre, a civil rights advocate who has witnessed the beginnings and supported many of the UW programs for underrepresented minority students.
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Gov. Jay Inslee, ’73, appoints Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Raquel Montoya-Lewis, ’95, ’96, to the Washington State Supreme Court.
Justice Arrives State Supreme Court gets its first Native American judge
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N FEBRUARY, the Washington State Supreme Court convened at the UW to hear oral arguments on three cases. The visit was part of a traveling court project to bring hearings to sites around Washington, allowing more citizens to see the court in action. The event also brought the newest associate justice, Raquel Montoya-Lewis, ’95, ’96, back to campus. Montoya-Lewis is the first Native American to join the Washington State Supreme Court, and the second to ever serve on any state’s supreme court. She is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Isleta and a descendant of the Pueblo of Laguna tribes in New Mexico. She was appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee in December and now puts two UW degrees— a JD and a master’s of social work—to use on the bench. Until last fall, Montoya-Lewis was judge for the Whatcom County Superior Court, a post she had held since 2014. Before that she worked in several tribal courts including the Northwest Intertribal Court System and was chief judge for the Lummi Nation, as well as the Nooksack and Upper Skagit Indian tribes. V I E W P O I N T : : U Wa l u m . c o m / v i e w p o i n t
“We could not be prouder to call you our alumna,” said Mario Barnes, dean of the law school, at a campus reception the evening before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments. “One of the things I’m most proud of is that you speak truth to power, including this school.” Montoya-Lewis told the crowd she was grateful the visit allowed her to spend time with students. Earlier that day, she and other justices met with students of color at the Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center and heard from them about their own experiences at the UW. Law school for Montoya-Lewis “was a really difficult time. I will not pretend otherwise,” she said at the reception. “It’s a little discouraging to hear students tell stories almost identical to my stories from 20 years ago. It made me reflect today on the work that we have to do.” It’s also important to consider institutional memory, she said. Some of the students’ concerns have been issues for decades, and it takes action on the part of the faculty and community to change them. It’s time to do something different, she said. “I really hope that I can be part of those conversations in support of the students.” Montoya-Lewis replaces Judge Mary Fairhurst, who resigned from the court for health reasons. Her term ends in 2021, and Montoya-Lewis has already announced plans to run for the seat in the next election. Beyond her work on the bench, Montoya-Lewis teaches classes on implicit bias to judges and other judicial employees. She has been recognized for her advocacy for children and youth, and for 12 years she taught as an associate professor at Western Washington University.
Jacqueline of All Trades Scientist engages children in her work
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DENNIS WIS E
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HE SLOAN FOUNDATION recently awarded four UW faculty, including Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño, early career Alfred P. Sloan Fellowships. PadillaGamiño, who came to the UW in 2016, studies algae and marine invertebrates. She considers issues like global environmental change, ocean acidification and microplastics in the ocean, and already has a national reputation for working across cultures and reaching beyond her scientific community. One example of this is her bilingual children’s book, “Kupe and the Corals,” which tells the story of a boy in French Polynesia who discovers the beauty and diversity of coral reefs and the ecological community they support. The idea for the illustrated book came from Padilla-Gamiño's own experiences as a child in Mexico watching scientists do field research and as an adult scientist encountering children curious about her own fieldwork studying corals. “Kupe” was published in 2014 as part of the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research Schoolyard Series. Candidates for the Sloan awards are nominated by their peers and selected based on their research, creativity and potential to become leaders in their fields. Each fellow receives $75,000 to apply toward their work. The UW’s three other fellows are Kyle Armour (Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences), and Yin Tat Lee and Hannaneh Hajishirzi (both Computer Science and Engineering).
Sloan-award winner Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño studies ocean change AND writes about science and culture for children. Here, she and Jeremy Axworthy, a graduate student, run an experiment to see if a coral ingests microplastics.
in the news Border Patrol Concerns
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FTER HEARING OF UNEASE from students and faculty, officials at UW Tacoma asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection not to attend a career fair on campus in February. The federal agency had signed up to attend the recruitment event as a potential employer. “In this particular instance, the upcoming presence of U.S. CBP on campus had created significant concern among a number of our students and faculty, who stated very clearly that they would feel unsafe and dissuaded from participating in the career fair,” Chancellor Mark Pagano said in a statement. “Considering the positive and educational
purpose of the career fair, we determined the best course of action was to ask CBP not to participate, and they agreed.” Other universities around the countryhave faced protests about the border patrol attending campus recruitment events. Last spring, San Jose City College asked the border patrol not to attend its job fair, stating the presence of immigration officials could cause some members of its community “undue distress and concern.”
LGBTQ Health Disparities LGBTQ individuals in Washington state have higher rates of disability and poorer mental health than their heterosexual counterparts, according to a UW study
released in October. The results of the Washington State Equity and Diversity Project show specific health disparities in LGBTQ adults. They have higher rates of chronic conditions such as arthritis and asthma, and generally have poorer physical health than heterosexual adults. On a more positive note, the study also revealed strong social support within LGBTQ communities. The study is the first of its kind to examine LGBTQ people of all ages throughout the state. The goals are twofold: to identify health disparities among Washington’s LGBTQ population, including among specific racial/ethnic communities; and to come up with potential interventions to address these disparities.
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A LIFELINE GRAD STUDENTS for
Students from underrepresented communities find funding, social networks and academic support through the Graduate Opportunities & Minority Achievement Program. Now in its 50th year, GO-MAP continues in its mission to help current and future students overcome obstacles to success. BY HA NN ELORE S UD E R M A N N • P H O TO S B Y M ATT H AGE N
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N SPRING 2010, when Nick Hunt-Walker was considering graduate school, he flew to Seattle to check out the UW astronomy department. The native New Yorker was used to living and studying among African Americans, Hispanics and people of Caribbean descent. But when he got to campus he was struck by how much he and his community weren’t represented. Not only was he unsure whether he would fit in, he wasn't confident he had the stamina to move across the country, teach undergraduate classes and navigate a new university. Everything changed after he met with graduate students and faculty in astronomy. The planets aligned. A professor mentioned the UW’s Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program (GO-MAP), and said that Hunt-Walker would receive a fellowship with enough financial support that he wouldn’t have to teach or work as a research assistant his first year. With all the challenges of moving, learning the department, taking classes and acclimating to the school in general, having to teach would have overwhelmed him, Hunt-Walker says. “But with funding for the first year, GO-MAP had already set me up for success, and I hadn’t even become a student yet.” When Hunt-Walker returned that fall to start graduate school, he found new friends through GO-MAP who were having similar experiences. They formed a community and would meet up for meals and sometimes go out to minority-owned bars where he felt he could kick back and “just be my Blackademic self.” “I was in spaces with people who just got it,” he says. “And that support system stayed with me for the most difficult moments of the academic year.” When it comes to diversity, graduate schools around
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the country struggle to find and recruit underrepresented minority students. And that is only the first challenge. Many first-generation students and those from low-income backgrounds may not even know that graduate school is an option. Then, once they do apply and arrive, they don’t find people who look like them or share their experience. They may feel isolated. The UW has about 14,500 graduate students. Of them, about 12.5 percent are underrepresented minorities. Often, in fields like astronomy, economics, political science, mechanical engineering and earth and space sciences, they are the only person—student or faculty—in the department with their racial or cultural background.
Students David Mendez and Kayla Newcomer, seated, landed coveted jobs this year as staff assistants in the GO-MAP office, a place where they can get help with their studies, find financial support and connect with other students and faculty from minoritized communities. Standing, GO-MAP staff members Willa Kurland, left, and Carolyn Jackson are responsible for graduate success, and outreach and recruitment, respectively.
Fifty years ago, the University’s leaders recognized the profound lack of graduate students of color on campus. In 1970, they created a program to strengthen graduate diversity and transform the UW into a place where every student can thrive. A new assistant dean of the graduate school, Herman McKinney, was hired to recruit students of color from around the country. His office, at the time, had the simple job of finding students and providing them with financial support. Then in 1975, the Board of Regents voted to provide special educational opportunities for underrepresented minority and women students, making it one of their highest priorities. Funding for students of color was the major focus. u the story of diversity at the UW
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Vanessa Álvarez, interim director of GO-MAP, draws upon her experiences as a diversity outreach specialist and as a one-time UW graduate student in education for her work with graduate students of color. Nearly two decades later, Julius Debro was hired away from his job as the chair of the criminal justice department at Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University) to become associate dean for the program. At this point the UW was receiving 12,000 graduate school applications, and only about 100 of them came from students of color, Debro says. Under his leadership, the program recruited faculty as well as students— understanding that a diverse faculty would not only enrich the campus community, but would go much further in attracting students of color. Debro was challenged to get the faculty to focus more on diversity and change their student recruitment and selection practices—especially since they were entrenched in their own research and didn’t show much energy toward bringing in more students of color. “It can be done,” he says. “But there has to be a commitment from the departments and the faculty.” He found some students really helped the program foster community. “Roy Diaz, for example, was very social and friendly," Debro says. "We worked with students like Roy to get people together. We’d meet on weekends. We’d get tickets for football games.” Diaz, ’94, ’96, ’02, completed a Ph.D. in biophysics and a law degree while at the UW. In 2015, he was president of the UW Alumni Association. Once the students were on campus, they still needed help, Debro says. “We tried to teach them how to change their study habits for graduate school and how to form small groups across departments to create social support,” he says. “Our intent was not only to recruit them
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but sustain their studies here. Then we stayed in touch and tried to help them find jobs.” Being able to consider race in the admissions process was an important tool in bringing diverse students to the UW, Debro says. When Initiative 200 passed in 1998 and Washington became one of the first states to ban affirmative action, the number of underrepresented minority graduate students plummeted, and the efforts of the program were undermined. In the face of the new challenges, Debro decided to retire. While much has changed since the creation of the program in 1970, campus populations of underrepresented groups still fall behind state numbers. For example, Latinx students make up 8 percent of the student population, while Latinx people make up 18 percent of the state’s population. Those numbers are lower among graduate students. Even with the challenge of I-200, the program has persevered. Kayla Newcomer, a GO-MAP students who works in the program office, researched similar programs nationwide. Many schools had diversity awards or professional development opportunities for their underrepresented students, but “there was nothing as robust as what we have here,” says Vanessa Alvarez, the current GO-MAP director. “You hear that from a lot of our students
who do decide to come here. We are very fortunate to have an institution that invests in our work and donors who support our goals.” Now, some faculty are using GO-MAP as part of the lure to bring students to the UW. “A couple of weeks ago, a faculty member in anthropology brought by a candidate to show them how they might connect with a community,” Alvarez says. Typically, each spring, graduate programs from across all three campuses bring in prospective students who have already been admitted to visit labs, meet faculty and decide whether to attend the UW. GO-MAP works with the departments to ensure that the minority students who visit campus are included in special receptions where they can hear from current graduate students about topics like being an underrepresented minority on campus, housing and graduate fellowships. “I went to a breakfast at the UW Club, with a view of the mountains. I met some of the staff and connected with other students of color,” says Erin Lee, a second-year master’s student in public health. The GO-MAP staff and students gave her advice, encouragement and a way of imagining how she would fit in with the University. “Because of that, I felt very comfortable coming here.” Through GO-MAP advice, Lee has found mentors outside of her department. “I want to further my understanding of black women’s health and black maternal health,” she says. Now she has connections with Kemi Doll, a doctor in the School of Medicine who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology, and LaShawnda Pittman in American Ethnic Studies. “I don’t think I would have been able to stick it out here without the community I’ve found and built,” says Lee. The GO-MAP program is nested in the offices of the Graduate School. The four doors of the staff members’ offices open into a small central hallway furnished with a couch and cushy chairs. When campus is open, students often swing by between classes to visit, vent or seek advice. GO-MAP also hosts dinners and social events, “power hour” discussions with faculty and community leaders, a dissertation writing group with faculty advisers and advocacy for students across campus. “At GO-MAP we were celebrated, respected and not treated as tokens,” says Louie Leiva, who completed his master’s in urban planning in 2019. Looking at graduate schools, he had considered New York University, the University of Southern Californian and the University of California at Berkeley. “But none of them had a GO-MAP,” he says. “From the first point of contact, they embraced me in a genuine and loving way.”
Drawn by the master’s in social work program, Kayla Newcomer moved to Seattle from Los Angeles. Working in the GO-MAP office has helped her meet and support students with similar backgrounds and educational experiences.
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The Beginning of Something: Kelly lecturer shares her vision BY MA N IS H A JH A
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IVE YEARS AGO, - Intellectual House opened its doors as a home at the University of Washington for Native students, scholars and Indigenous peoples from around the region and the world. It was born out of a grand vision of “indigenizing the University” by weaving Native understanding into the fabric of campus through enrollment, scholarship and teaching. Now Charlotte Coté (Tseshaht/ Nuu-chah-nulth), the American Indian Studies associate professor who chaired the advisory committee for - Intellectiual House, offers a vision for the future of that work as this year’s Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecturer. While the lecture was cancelled due to coronavirus concerns, the ideas behind the talk continue to resonate. Physically, - Intellectiual House is a longhouse-style building between the Quad and MacMahon Hall—but the structure is much more than a gathering place. It’s part of a Charlotte Coté larger process to create community among Indigenous faculty, staff and students and catalyze a network of Indigenous communities across academia and beyond, Coté says. Through events like the annual “Living Breath of ” Indigenous Foods and Ecological Knowledge Symposium, founded by Coté, people from Indigenous communities around the globe are drawn to Seattle to be connected. Maori people from New Zealand participated in last year’s event and are planning to return. Coté is a food scholar, and her research relates directly to healing injustices through community-building around food. So what exactly does indigenizing the UW mean? It means including the perspectives of Indigenous students, faculty and staff into the larger curriculum, Coté says. “My hope is that the UW will see the as a starting point … and through respectful dialogue we can begin to break down academic institutional barriers, and Indigenous voices will be included and welcomed in the development of institutional policies, procedure and practices.
MAKING A PLACE, CLAIMING THE CAMPUS, “I don’t think we’re there yet,” Coté says. “I think this is just the beginning of something that could create a really important change on campus as long as the University itself wants to see that change.” While there has been some rise in Indigenous student enrollment since Coté joined faculty in 2001, she hopes that growth trend continues. Indigenous students need to see adequate representation in the UW staff—every department needs Indigenous faculty, not just American Indian Studies, which has itself dropped in number of Native American faculty by 50% in the last two decades, mostly because of retirements, she says. But “it’s not just about building relationships on campus,” Coté says. “It’s
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about bringing health and wellness and indigenizing together.” This is part of her ongoing research and her latest project—a book she has been working on since she published "Spirits of Our Whaling Ancestors: Revitalizing Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Traditions" in 2010. Her new book aims to extrapolate theory from narrative. Coté describes her work as less like academic discourse and more like returning home: While other scholars might call her methods “community-based participation,” Coté views them as just “talking around a table.” The book will examine the restoration of health and wellness in Northwest Indigenous communities and the centrality of food. Manisha Jha is an undergraduate studying public health and international studies.
Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies Gains Grant BY KI M E CKART
T Last fall, architects Jim Nicholls and Daniel Glenn (Apsáalooke (Crow)), an expert in culturally responsible architecture, led a graduate-level studio focused on decolonization. The seminar connected students with members of the Native American community to design Native student housing and community space on campus. Second-year graduate student Steven Moehring, who designed the concept on the left, said: “The architecture is meant to act as a way for Indigenous values to re-manifest themselves as a strong and tangible reclamation of the site.”
IMAGINING MORE CREATING PLACES AND SPACES FOR INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY AT UW ART BY NISHAT TASNIM
he UW Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies, which was established in 2018, now has funding for four years of Native student support, academics, research and cultural programs. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation granted $1.8 million to the center last fall to support both students and research. “We spent the first year planning the center from the ground up, meeting with Native faculty, students, staff and community research partners across the UW campuses,” says co-director Jean Dennison (Osage Nation), an associate professor of American Indian Studies. “We envisioned creating strong communities where we can support and learn from each other. This Mellon grant will go a long way in helping us reengineer the University to meet these needs.” The New York-based Mellon Foundation, which supports the humanities in higher education and the arts, awarded the grant in recognition of UW’s potential to be a leader among universities in the growing field of Indigenous Studies. The center brings together faculty and students in American Indian and Indigenous studies, an interdisciplinary field of research that traverses the social sciences, arts and humanities, education and natural sciences. Nearly a dozen units, including the Provost’s Office, the Graduate School, UW Libraries, UW Tacoma and UW Bothell, contributed to the initial funding of the center and related activities, a total of more than $1 million over five years. The center has a deans’ advisory board as well as an overall advisory board of Native undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff and community partners. American Indian, Alaska Native and Pacific Islander students make up about 1% of undergraduates at the UW, and 0.4% of the faculty. That underrepresentation could change with an environment that supports staffing and activities focused on the Native community, says Rickey Hall, vice president for the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity and University diversity officer.
With the new grant, the center can continue an existing seminar for graduate students—the Summer Institute on Global Indigeneities—and create five new programs for undergraduates, graduates and transfer students. This includes a Native UW Scholars Program for incoming freshmen that will partner with the - Intellectual House to host a one-week residential experience in the summer, an orientation program with parents, a yearlong seminar and peer mentorships. “The Mellon grant will allow us to better leverage the UW’s existing infrastructure for connecting with Native communities; supporting Native students, staff and faculty; and producing innovative scholarship in the expanding field of Indigenous studies,” says Chadwick Allen (Chickasaw ancestry), the center’s other co-director, professor of English and associate vice provost for faculty advancement. “Central to our goal of fostering Indigenous communities at the UW is creating a space in which Native knowledge, especially the languages, can thrive,” Dennison says. The funding also provides for a new residency program to bring Native specialists to the UW’s campuses to teach in the Department of American Indian Studies, host regular knowledge tables, supervise research projects, offer lectures and workshops, and develop curricula. The department will also build partnerships with Indian-education programs to create pathways for Native students to attend the University and to graduate. Tami Hohn of the Puyallup Tribe was the first resident specialist. She lectured and shared her expertise in Southern Lushootseed, a language of Coast Salish tribes including the Muckleshoot, Puyallup and Suquamish. “The UW and our partners are now at a point where we can do more than simply reach out to communities that have been marginalized and underserved,” Allen says. “We can actually begin to transform academic space across disciplines, working to create supportive ecosystems in which Indigenous peoples and our relations can thrive.” the story of diversity at the UW
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A BRUSH WITH DEPTH A Latinx artist-alum opens a cultural center and paints the way BY JULIE DAVIDOW | ART BY JAKE PRENDEZ
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HOUGH SOPHIA VAZQUEZ does not see many students who look like her when she walks around UW, she hears the familiar sounds of home. Her earbuds, filled with the Spanish-language music her mom played in the car and while cleaning the house on weekends, evoke her Mexican roots even as she feels like an outsider. “The music is what really holds me together right now,” says 19-year-old Vazquez, who started at the UW in the fall. A range of songs, from Selena to Shakira and cumbia, populates her playlist. Vazquez always knew she was college bound, but she was never sure where—or if—her Mexican identity fit in that plan. Although her high school in Federal Way was more than 50 percent Latinx, the honors classes where she spent most of her time lacked diversity. She worried about standing out if she called attention to her heritage. “I didn’t like being different,” she says. Then, on a whim, she joined the first session of an arts residency program for Latinx teenagers led by Chicano artist Jake Prendez. “Suddenly I was in a group of kids who were all like me,” says Vazquez, whose parents met in California. Both sides of her family came from the Mexican state of Jalisco. The Próxima Generación: Youth Residency Project introduced Vazquez to artists and activists who encouraged the teens to consider their own role in sustaining cultural traditions. “I became more comfortable being able to connect with my roots,” Vazquez says. Prendez, ’00, knows what it’s like to be on the outside. As a Mexican teenager in Bothell in the 1990s, he faced constant reminders that he didn’t belong. Once, police stopped his group of black and brown friends and held guns to their heads because they said the 14-year-olds matched the description of a robbery suspect. A math teacher at his high school handed out word problems based on racist stereotypes of African Americans and Latinos. Art teachers told him his work was too ethnic. “I quit art after my first year in college,” says Prendez, who attended Bellevue Community College before transferring to UW. “I thought, finally an art teacher will get me. They will see me. But they just perpetuated the same thing I heard from everyone else.” After struggling with school as a child and teen, he found a major—American Ethnic Studies—that helped him make sense of the racism he experienced.
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“Genetic Memory,” a 2018 oil on canvas, captures Prendez's approach for youth empowerment, his penchant for positive imagery and his connection to his Indigenous roots.
Often his work explicitly tackles political subjects. “Our Lady of the Detention Centers,” for example, features a woman in a hoodie, her eyes averted. “I wanted to have a teen angst version of Our Lady of Guadalupe—a young woman who would blend in but she’s looking over the folks in the detention centers.” Prendez opened the Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery in White Center last year to showcase Latinx artists and to host the kids from Próxima Generación. "Nepantla" is an Aztec term used by anthropologists and others to describe being in the middle, often between two cultures or communities. It can reference being in between two cultures or communities. Prendez, who runs Nepantla with his partner Judy Avitia-Gonzalez, wanted Latinx students like Vazquez to have a place to celebrate and learn about their culture. Nepantla is also open to members of any community who feel threatened or endangered, Prendez says. “We want to
take care of those who feel like they don’t have a place. This is their place.” The gallery stages monthly exhibitions with artists from marginalized communities and is also home to a gift shop stocked with clothing, jewelry and crafts made by artists around the country. For Vazquez, everything clicked at Próxima when a medical professional came to speak to her group. The doctor’s commitment to folklórico (traditional Mexican dance) made her realize she did not need to segment her heritage from the rest of her life. She became president of her high school's Latino Student Union. At the UW, she chose a major in Education, Communities and Organizations to learn skills to serve the Latinx community. “That group really changed my life,” Vazquez says. But the most significant changes may be the everyday moments no one else sees. Now when she seeks comfort listening to Spanish music on her way to class, she credits Próxima.
“Our Lady of the Detention Centers,” 2019, blends teen angst and Latinx culture.
“It Is What It Is,” a self-portrait of Jake Prendez from 2018. He graduated from UW with honors and moved to Los Angeles for a master’s program at California State University at Northridge. Making art became a “side hustle” while he worked for more than a decade as a college recruiter at Northridge and as an events coordinator for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Four years ago, when his son enrolled at the UW, Prendez moved back to Seattle and made art his fulltime pursuit. His paintings meld the past and present of Latinx experience, identity and culture. A series called “Contemporary Codices” layers Aztec imagery on modern subjects—a baseball player from the Los Angeles Dodgers, a girl taking a selfie, a woman on her laptop. “I’m tired of folks talking about Mayans and Aztecs as an extinct people,” Prendez says. “We’re still here. Our culture survives in the way we cook, the way we dance, the way we work with our elders.” the story of diversity at the UW
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Yasmin Habib created a nonprofit program to serve refugee, immigrant and marginalized children in the Rainier Vista community. The World Mind Creation Academy features after-school programs to explore cultural identity, develop leadership skills and build community.
Serving Youth in Rainier Vista BY NA N C Y JOS EP H
Y
ASMIN HABIB has been on many journeys. From Somalia to Kenya as a small child. From a Kenyan refugee camp to the U.S. at age 5. From city to city as her family sought opportunities in America. But Habib’s most challenging journey has been veering from the path expected of her—a career in medicine—to a path that felt right.
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THE ONLY THING THAT BECAME IMPORTANT WAS BEING HAPPY AGAIN, FEELING NORMAL . THE DEPRESSION FORCED ME TO SPEAK MY TRUTH. — Yasmin Habib
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V I E W P O I N T : : U Wa l u m . c o m / v i e w p o i n t
Today Habib, ’14, is founder and director of World Mind Creation Academy, a nonprofit for refugee, immigrant and other marginalized youth in South Seattle. She created the academy in 2014 and three years later received a major grant from King County’s Best Starts for Kids initiative to expand the program. But those successes belie the challenges Habib encountered along the way. When she arrived at the UW, Habib had an impeccable academic record. Valedictorian of her high school in Kent, she had long planned to become a physician. But her pre-med courses didn’t excite her, and a medical-dental summer program after her sophomore year confirmed that she did not want to be a doctor. It was a difficult realization. “My family sacrificed a lot,” Habib says. “The best thing to an immigrant mom and dad is for their child to be a doctor, because everybody
needs doctors … For a long time I convinced myself that’s what I wanted to do.” Habib fell into a depression. She took time off from school and moved back home. Telling her parents she did not want to be a doctor “was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do,” she recalls. “But I was already at the lowest I could be, and the only thing that became important was being happy again, feeling normal. The depression forced me to speak my truth.” She remembered liking an anthropology class. When she returned to campus, she decided to take more, including a anthropology service-learning course that involved tutoring Somali children at a local nonprofit. “That was a huge turning point,” she says. Being around Somali youth felt familiar, as did the children’s focus on academic success. Habib saw herself in those students and understood the intense pressure they felt to succeed.
CORIN N E TH RA SH
“There’s this huge emphasis on getting your work done,” she says. “But what about connection? What about emotion? I learned the hard way that you have to make time for that, or your body will force you to make time for it. I wanted to prevent the same thing from happening to these kids.” That thought stayed with Habib after she graduated. She read books about youth development and volunteered with nonprofits to better understand existing programs for children. But none of those programs provided the services she wanted to offer. So, after a year of planning— including many conversations with mentor Bettina Shell-Duncan, professor of anthropology— Habib launched World Mind Creation Academy. The after-school program in South Seattle’s Rainier Vista neighborhood offers six-week sessions where children ages 6 to 14 play games, participate in teambuilding activities and take on community projects. “Children need to feel a sense of belonging, to celebrate their cultural heritage, and to discover that they can thrive and make a difference in their own communities,” says Habib. Adult mentors are an important part in this endeavor. Habib says that children benefit from mentors who look like them, speak their languages and can relate to their experiences. The academy’s mentors help with projects but encourage the children to take the lead—an experience Habib wished she’d had as a child. “I didn't feel fully heard when I was 8,” she says. “That happens so much with kids, and it’s so unfair to them. At WMCA, kids get to own the program. That can be very challenging for the adults, who want things to be perfect. But our idea of perfect and the kids’ idea of perfect is not that same, and we have to accept that.” For the first few years, Habib ran the program on a shoestring, securing short-term projects on a contract basis. Then she heard about King County’s Best Starts for Kids initiative. “It felt like the perfect grant at the right time,” she recalls. “It just fit with everything we were trying to do.” With a $500,000 grant in 2017, Habib has expanded WMCA’s curriculum while maintaining the focus on children’s emotional well-being. Receiving the grant was both exhilarating and scary, Habib says, much like the decision to follow her passion. Her journey has been difficult, but “I feel like it’s all working out the way it’s supposed to.”
In Memory Billy W. Hilliard Billy (Bill) W. Hilliard, who helped build the foundation for the UW Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity as one of its early leaders, died on Oct. 2, 2019, at the age of 78. Hilliard, ’71, was born in Weed, California in 1941. His family moved to Washington in 1943 when his father found work in a West Seattle shipyard. Hilliard attended Seattle Public Schools and graduated from Garfield High. Later, he enrolled at the University of Washington to study sociology. In the late 1960s, when the UW was creating programs to support students of color, Hilliard was hired to coordinate the recruitment of minority and economically dis-
advantaged students. He helped launch what is known today as OMA&D, serving as assistant vice president from 1968-1975. After leaving the UW, Hilliard continued his career in public service as director of the Washington State Human Rights Commission and later led the Seattle Human Rights Department. He was also a lobbyist for Seattle City Light. He was president of the Breakfast Group, a nonprofit service organization of civic-minded professional African American men dedicated to mentoring and addressing the challenges of low-income and at-risk male youth of color. Hilliard’s leadership in the community and his commitment to service was honored with the UW’s Charles E. Odegaard Award in 1998. The award is the university’s highest achievement for diversity and is presented each year at OMA&D’s annual Celebration event. Hilliard was also recognized in 2002 with the UW Multicultural Alumni Partnership’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
Viewpoint Media Camera Power: Proof, Policing and Audiovisual Big Data By Mary D. Fan, UW Professor of Law Cambridge University Press, 2019
Haboo Native American Stories from Puget Sound, Second Edition Translated and edited by Vi Hilbert University of Washington Press, April 2020
It took nearly two days for the footage of LAPD officers beating Rodney King to reach the public. Today, it would take a matter of seconds. Since that explosive moment in U.S. history, the rapid evolution of technology has amplified and reframed the conversation around race, law enforcement, violence and civil rights, leading to unprecedented revolutions in proof and police regulation. The impacts of this cameracultural revolution and how to better protect civil rights and liberties are the subjects of Mary Fan’s new book. Her research included nearly two years of reporting from more than 200 jurisdictions and more than 100 interviews with police leaders and officers, watchdog groups, community members, civil rights and civil liberties experts, industry leaders and technologists. The result is a first-of-its-kind exploration of the policy questions raised by the evolution of technology in regard to policing. Fan, the Henry M. Jackson Professor of Law, is a former federal prosecutor.
This vibrant collection of traditional stories from the Lushootseed-speaking people of Puget Sound was first published in 1985. The tales, translated by Vi Hilbert, who taught Southern Lushootseed language at the UW for many years, represent an oral tradition by which one generation hands down beliefs, values and customs to another. Many of the 33 stories are set in the "Myth Age," before the world transformed. Animals, plants, trees and rocks had human attributes. Hilbert, who died in 2008, was a member of the Upper Skagit Tribe and grew up with many of the old social patterns of her community. Her first language was Lushootseed. She spent many years translating and transcribing recordings of the language to help in its preservation. She also co-wrote Lushootseed language primers and dictionaries. Beautifully redesigned and with a new foreword by Jill La Pointe, “Haboo” offers a resource for linguists, anthropologists, folklorists, future generations of Lushootseed-speaking people and others interested in Native languages and cultures. the story of diversity at the UW
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Telling the Story of Diversity at the University of Washington
4333 Brooklyn Ave NE Campus Box 359508 Seattle, WA 98195
CHARLES E. ODEGAARD AWARD RECIPIENTS
Celebrating Emile Pitre, ’69
2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974
Winner of the Charles E. Odegaard Award By Erin Rowley AS A GRADUATE STUDENT IN THE LATE 1960’S, EMILE PITRE helped found the UW’s Black Student Union, whose calls for equity led President Charles E. Odegaard to establish the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity. Since then Pitre has spent over three decades with the office, serving in various roles, including time as director of the Instructional Center and associate vice president for assessment. Pitre dedicated his career to advocacy and educational opportunity for underrepresented minority, first-generation and lowincome students at the UW, and since his retirement in 2014, has been known as OMA&D’s “elder statesman” and historian. The son of a sharecropper, Pitre was born in Louisiana and grew up with seven siblings. He was the first in his family to graduate from high school, and he received a full-ride scholarship for the first seven years of college. Pitre earned a bachelor’s degree (magna cum laude) from Southern University, and a master’s degree and Ph.C. in chemistry from the UW, where he was a National Institutes of Health fellow. After graduating, Pitre worked as chemist and educational planner, but ended up rejecting an offer that would have paid more to return to the UW in 1982 and serve as the head chemistry instructor with OMA&D’s Instructional Center. Seven years later, he was promoted to director. Under his leadership, more than 11,000 IC students earned bachelor’s degrees and the center won two UW Recognition awards.. Pitre went on to serve as OMA&D assistant and associate vice president for assessment. He currently works part time as senior adviser to the vice president.
Pitre is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and has held various leadership roles within the organization. In 2010, he received the Sigma Inspirational Award for dedication of service to education. Pitre has been the recipient of several other honors, including the UW Professional Staff Organization Award for Excellence, and he has three academic scholarships in his name. QU INN RU S S ELL BROWN
Marvin Oliver Ricardo S. Martinez Joanne and Bruce Harrell Richard A. Jones Colleen Fukui-Sketchley Denny Hurtado Rogelio Riojas Gertrude Peoples Assunta Ng Nelson Del Rio W. Ron Allen 1968 Black Student Union Alan T. Sugiyama Charles Mitchell Mike McGavick Jeff and Susan Brotman Herman McKinney Constance L. Proctor Ernest Dunston Vivian Lee Albert Black Bill Hilliard Andy Reynolds Hubert G. Locke Ron Moore Bernie Whitebear Ron Sims Sandra Madrid Ken Jacobson Herman D. Lujan J. Ray Bowen Frank Byrdwell Andrew V. Smith Phyllis Gutiérrez Kenney Norm Rice Nancy Weber William Irmscher Mark Cooper Millie Russell Minoru Masuda Toby Burton Vivian Kelly Sam and Joyce Kelly Leonie Piternick Larry Gossett Dalwyn Knight
For over 20 years, Pitre has served as an adviser to the UW’s Black Student Union. He also led the production of an awardwinning documentary in 2007 that highlighted the BSU’s role in the establishment of OMA&D. In 2008, Pitre and the other founding BSU members were presented the Odegaard Award as a group.
Pitre has long worked to document the story of OMA&D and is writing a book on its 50-year history. An avid photographer, he is often seen at OMA&D and UW events with a camera in hand. “Not only was he involved in creating transformational change at our university in 1968, Emile Pitre has dedicated his life to supporting educational opportunity and success for thousands of students,” says Rickey Hall, vice president for Minority Affairs & Diversity and university diversity officer. “His leadership throughout the years and his commitment to our OMA&D mission is extraordinary. We are incredibly proud to honor him with this award, especially as we commemorate a historic 50th year of Celebration.” The Charles E. Odegaard award was established in 1973 to honor individuals whose leadership in the community exemplifies the former UW president’s work on behalf of diversity. It was President Odegaard’s response to student-led calls for equity in 1968 that led to a University-wide commitment to diversity and the establishment of what is now known as OMA&D. The Odegaard award is regarded as the highest achievement in diversity at the UW. The winner is recognzied at the annual Celebration event.
OMA&D CELEBRATION 2020 CANCELED Due to a campus-wide closure for spring quarter, the 50th-annual Celebration event hosted by OMA&D and the Friends of the Educational Opportunity Program (FEOP) is canceled. Please visit washington.edu/omad/celebration for more information about plans to recognize the Odegaard recipient and student scholars.
