Come curious. Leave inspired.

We welcome you to connect with us this autumn quarter through an incredible lineup of more than 30 events, exhibitions, podcasts, and more. From thought-provoking talks on monsters to boundary-pushing performances by Grammy-nominated Mariachi ensembles, it鈥檚 a celebration of bold ideas and creative energy.

ArtSci On Your Own Time

Exhibition: (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Journey through the seasonal cycle of weaving, from gathering materials and spinning wool to dyeing with natural ingredients and weaving intricate designs. Along the way, learn firsthand from weavers and gain insight into the deep cultural and scientific knowledge embedded in every strand. Free entry for UW faculty, staff, and students.

Closing September 28 | (Henry Art Gallery)
This focused exhibition features works from Passing On (2022), a series of collaged newspaper obituaries of influential feminist activists and organizers. The clippings, presented with Winant鈥檚 handwritten annotations, reflect on a lineage of non-biological inheritance and how language shapes memory and history. Free.

Closing October 4 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
The Jacob Lawrence Gallery presents Crossings, featuring new bricolage sculptures by Rob Rhee inspired by inosculated trees and experimental grafting processes. The exhibit includes work from his studio and ongoing developments at the 91爆料 Farm. Free.

Exhibitions: (91爆料 Magazine)
Find art by 91爆料 alumni and faculty in solo exhibitions, group shows and art fairs across Seattle and beyond. Free.

Podcast: Ways of Knowing, Season 2
Faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences are facilitating critical conversations in the classroom and the sound booth! The second season of 鈥淲ays of Knowing,鈥� a podcast collaboration with The World According to Sound, spotlights eight Arts & Sciences faculty members whose research shapes our knowledge of the world in real time鈥攆rom digital humanities to mathematics to AI. Free.

Video: (Astronomy)
What will Rubin Observatory discover that no one鈥檚 expecting? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice learn and answer cosmic queries about the Vera Rubin Observatory, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and our next big tool to uncover more about the universe with Zeljko Ivezic, Director of Rubin Observatory Construction. Free.

Book Club: 鈥淭he Four Winds鈥� by Kristin Hannah听(91爆料 Alumni)
Readers鈥� Choice! Author (and 91爆料 alum – BA, Communication, 鈥�83 ) Kristin Hannah highlights the struggles of the working poor during the Great Depression in this novel. Elsa is an awkward wallflower who is raising her two children on the family farm. As the Dust Bowl hits, she must choose between weathering the climate catastrophe in Texas or moving her family west to follow rumors of jobs in California. Free.

Week of September 22

September 25 | (Department of Chemistry)
A seminar featuring Professor Matt Golder. Free.

September 25 | (Henry Art Gallery)
A two-part series of readings by local authors exploring ghosts, familial histories, and the porousness between life and death. Free.

September 26 | 听
From the best-selling author of These Truths comes We the People, a stunning new history of the U.S. Constitution, for a troubling new era.

Week of September 29

October 1 | (School of Music)
Students of the 91爆料 School of Music perform in this lunchtime concert series co-hosted by 91爆料 Music and 91爆料 Libraries. Free.

October 3 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Celebrate fall at the Henry with an evening of bold, boundary鈥憄ushing art and vibrant community, featuring exhibitions like Rodney McMillian: Neighbors, Kameelah Janan Rasheed: we leak, we exceed, Spirit House, and Sculpture Court Mural 鈥� Charlene Liu: Scallion. Meet the artists, enjoy a no鈥慼ost bar, and a curated playlist. Free.

October 3 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Award-winning pianist and cultural ambassador Mahani Teave is a pioneering artist who bridges the creative world with education and environmental activism.

October 3 | (School of Music)
A performance featuring special guests Stomu Takeishi (bass), Lucia Pulido (voice), Cuong Vu (trumpet), and Ted Poor (drums), performing the music of Chilean composer Violeta Parra. Free.

October 4 | (Henry Art Gallery)
An in-depth conversation between artist Rodney McMillian and curator Anthony Elms about the artistic process, themes, and the

Week of October 6

October 7 | (Department of Economics)
Distinguished economist and 2024 Nobel Laureate James Robinson delivers the Milliman Lecture. Free.

October 8 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
A literary conversation between novelist and artist Gerardo S谩mano C贸rdova and 91爆料 professors Mar铆a Elena Garc铆a (CHID) and Vanessa Freije (JSIS/History), centered around S谩mano C贸rdova’s recent novel, Monstrilio, exploring the major themes of the book, including queerness, monstrosity, and grief. Free.

October 9 | (American Indian Studies)
A series to prepare for the Film Screening & 91爆料 Symphony Performance: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land on February 6, 2026 (). Free.

October 10 | (School of Music)
A performance featuring 91爆料 Jazz Studies students Jai Kobi Kaleo ‘Okalani, Coen Rios, and Ethan Horn. Free.

October 10 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
The South Asia Center and Tasveer Film Festival host a screening and discussion of Farming the Revolution (1hr 45min, India, 2024, Nishtha Jain). Free.

October 12 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
KEXP broadcasts live from the Burke Museum with music from Indigenous artists all day long! Visit the new special exhibition, Woven in Wool: Resilience in Coast Salish Weaving. While you’re here, say hello to Sammy the Sounder and celebrate the team’s new Salish Sea Kit, co-designed by local Coast Salish weavers. Enjoy free admission for all鈥攑lus, kids wearing any Sounders gear will receive a free soccer ball! Free.

Week of October 13

October 14 | (School of Music)
New 91爆料 strings faculty John Popham (cello) and Pala Garcia (violin) are joined by Mika Sasaki (piano) in a concert of contemporary works by their trio Longleash, including Nossas M茫os (Our Hands) by Igor Santos.

Online Option – October 14 | (Classics)
For three decades, the Centre d鈥櫭塼udes Alexandrines has reshaped our understanding of Alexandria, moving its history from ancient texts to a tangible reality. Terrestrial digs reveal the city’s daily life, while underwater excavations at the site of the legendary Lighthouse have yielded spectacular monumental discoveries. These integrated findings present a multi-layered city, allowing us to write a new history of Alexandria grounded in its material culture of adaptation and reuse. Free.

October 15 |听
President Jones will share his vision for advancing the 91爆料鈥檚 public mission: expanding access to an excellent education for all students; strengthening connections with our communities; and accelerating research, discovery and innovation for the public good. Free.

October 15 | 听(Department of Mathematics)
Mathematics has its own language, which is used by all other sciences to describe our world. It is very important to use it correctly, and to appreciate how it changes with time. This importance is growing rapidly with the ever wider use of large language models. There is great potential here, but also many pitfalls, as discussed in this lecture. Free.

October 15 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
This Fall MFA exhibition at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery showcases emerging artists鈥� work. On view through November 8. Free.

October 16 | (American Indian Studies)
A series to prepare for the Film Screening & 91爆料 Symphony Performance: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land on February 6, 2026 (). Free.

October 16 | (Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies)
Connect with local legislators. John Traynor, the Government Affairs Director from the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, will facilitate the forum.

October 16 | (Simpson Center for the Humanities) Free.

October 17 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
The Grammy-nominated ensemble puts their unique spin on traditional mariachi, creating an explosion of colors and sounds all their own.

October 17 | (Department of Political Science)
UC Berkeley鈥檚 David Vogel joins the 91爆料 Center for Environmental Politics for a special guest lecture. Free.

October 18 | (Henry Art Gallery)
A curated selection of works explore the significance of branded products, examining how their ubiquity shapes perception, influences identity, and reflects broader cultural values. On view through January 28, 2026. Free.

October 18 | (School of Music)
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Fritts-Richards organ with a concert featuring 91爆料 students and faculty. A reception follows. Free.

Week of October 20

Online Option – October 21 |听 The AI Con (Book Talk) with Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna (Office of Public Lectures)
Emily Bender (Linguistics) and Alex Hanna expose corporate-driven AI hype and provide essential tools to identify it, break it down, and expose the underlying power plays it seeks to conceal. Pay what you will.

October 21 | (Meany Center for the Performing Arts)
Internationally acclaimed for their rich tone and precision, the Jerusalem Quartet brings a dynamic program featuring works by Haydn and Beethoven, plus Jan谩膷ek鈥檚 dramatic 鈥淜reutzer Sonata.

October 21 | (College of Arts & Sciences)
Staley is the author of Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education, which argues that too many innovations in education focus on delivery rather than transformative experience. Free.

October 22 | (Department of Chemistry)
Professor Wilfred van der Donk delivers this annual lecture in memory of Prof. Dauben, who helped shape modern organic chemistry. Free.

October 22 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
A forum discussing recent developments, diplomacy, and policy issues on the Korean Peninsula. Free.

October 23 | Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture – Beyond Status: Living Undocumented in Disruptive Times (Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity)
Dr. Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky is a sociologist in the Department of American Ethnic Studies at the 91爆料, where she also holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Sociology. Annual lecture honoring 91爆料 faculty focused on diversity and social justice. Free.

October 23 | (American Indian Studies)
A series to prepare for the Film Screening & 91爆料 Symphony Performance: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land on February 6, 2026 (). Free.

October 23 | 听(Education)
Filmmakers and College of Education (CoE) community members Dr. Edmundo Aguilar, Assistant Teaching Professor, and Tianna Mae Andresen, ECO alum and instructor of Filipinx American US History in SPS, bring us the story of 鈥渢he students, teachers, and community members in their fight to preserve cross community liberatory ethnic studies and watch them reclaim their humanity along the way.鈥� Free.

Online Option – October 24 | The Art of Refuge, Resistance and Regeneration with Peter Sellars (Office of Public Lectures)
Director Peter Sellars will share real-world examples drawn from a lifetime of cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary artistic collaborations around the globe鈥攄emonstrating how art responds to crisis and catalyzes social transformation in an era of profound stakes.听Pay what you will.

October 24 | (Department of Political Science)
Jessica Weeks joins the 91爆料 International Security Colloquium to present current research in global politics and international relations. Free.

October 24 |听 (Department of Political Science)
This event is jointly hosted by the 91爆料 Political Theory Colloquium and the Washington Institute for the Study of Inequality and Race (WISIR). Free.

October 25 | (Henry Art Gallery)
Explore new exhibitions, catch captivating performances, get hands-on with an all-ages art-making workshop and museum bingo, and discover rarely seen works from the Henry鈥檚 collection. Free.

October 26 | (School of Music)
Chamber winds from the 91爆料 Wind Ensemble perform works by Caroline Shaw, Richard Strauss, and more, under the direction of Erin Bodnar. Free.

Week of October 27

October 28 | (Department of Physics)
Nobel laureate David鈥疊aker discusses advanced protein design software and its use in developing molecules to address challenges in medicine, technology, and sustainability. Free.

October 28 | (School of Music)
Renowned pianist Santiago Rodriguez, from the Frost School of Music (Miami University), performs a solo recital presented by the keyboard program. Free.

October 30 | (American Indian Studies)
A series to prepare for the Film Screening & 91爆料 Symphony Performance: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land on February 6, 2026 (). Free.

October 31 | (Political Science)
Lecture by Egor Lazarev, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Yale University. Sponsored by the Severyns Ravenholt endowment and The 91爆料 International Security Colloquium (91爆料ISC).

October 31 | (School of Music)
Dr. Stephen Price, 91爆料 Organ Studies students, and guests perform spooky organ works and Halloween-themed favorites in this festive concert. Free.

Curious about what’s ahead? Check out the November ArtSci Roundup.

ArtSci Roundup goes monthly!

The ArtSci Roundup is your guide to connecting with the 91爆料鈥攚hether in person, on campus, or on your couch.

Previously shared on a quarterly basis, those who sign up for the Roundup email will receive them monthly, delivering timely updates and engaging content wherever you are. Check the roundup regularly, as events are added throughout the month. Make sure to check out the ArtSci On Your Own Time section for everything from podcasts to videos to exhibitions that can be enjoyed when it works for you!

In addition, if you like the ArtSci Roundup, sign up to receive a monthly notice when it’s been published.

Do you have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu).

New research from the 91爆料 shows that the program can improve fruit and vegetable intake and food security among low-income populations by providing financial support for buying healthy food.

The Fresh Bucks program works with local partners to help Seattle residents access healthy food. The program accepts applications from Seattle households with income less than 80% of the area median 鈥� $110,950 for a family of four in 2024. Recipients can use the $40 per month benefit to purchase fruits and vegetables at more than 40 retail locations throughout Seattle, including farmers markets, Safeway stores and independently owned grocery stores.

The study, , shows that Fresh Bucks households experience a 31% higher rate of food security and consume at least three daily servings of fruits and vegetables 37% more often than those assigned to a program waitlist.

鈥淚 would classify both of those numbers as pretty large,鈥� said , co-author, 91爆料 affiliate professor of health systems and population health and of epidemiology and University of California, Irvine professor of health, society and behavior. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 routinely see interventions that work that well. It鈥檚 a pretty big impact on diet in terms of what we can do from a policy perspective and expect to make a difference in food insecurity.鈥�

Food insecurity, or the lack of access to nutritionally adequate foods, is linked to lower-income households and is often associated with poor nutrient intake, diabetes and hypertension. Diet quality, including fruit and vegetable intake, impacts the risk for premature disability and death from cardiometabolic disease, cancer and other causes. But fresh fruits and vegetables tend to be less available in lower-income neighborhoods and more expensive than processed foods.

鈥淭he 91爆料鈥檚 study helps us understand how the City of Seattle鈥檚 Fresh Bucks program shows up in the day-to-day decisions of our enrolled households,鈥� said Robyn Kumar, Fresh Bucks program manager at the City of Seattle Office of Sustainability. 鈥淔indings show that the healthy food access program makes a tangible difference for customers, significantly increasing food security and fruit and vegetable intake. We know these lifestyle changes have long-lasting benefits, and Fresh Bucks is helping to ensure that our most overburdened community members have equitable access to healthy foods and increased quality of life.鈥�

In October 2021, 6,900 new applicants and existing beneficiaries applied to receive benefits in 2022. The total number of applicants exceeded program funding, so 4,200 households were randomly chosen to receive benefits. The remaining applicants were placed on a waitlist. The City of Seattle then mailed a follow-up survey to all 6,900 applicants in July 2022. The sample for this study consists of the 1,973 households who completed and returned the survey.

Researchers compared new applicants who received the benefit and new applicants assigned to the waitlist. They also considered the impact of losing Fresh Bucks by comparing returning applicants who were placed on the waitlist with those who continued receiving benefits. Losing the benefit reduced food security by 29% and resulted in households being 26% less likely to eat fruits and vegetables at least three times a day.

鈥淭he results were quite symmetric,鈥� said , lead author and 91爆料 teaching professor of economics. 鈥淭he people who gained the program saw nearly the same benefit as what was lost by the people who lost the program. So, it seems like there are two things going on: One is that the program is helping people, and the other is these effects don鈥檛 magically sustain themselves without funding.鈥�

Because of the health risks associated with poor diet, insurers have recently shown increased interest and investment in 鈥渇ood is medicine,鈥� or FIM, programs, which include produce prescriptions and programs that provide free, healthy food for patients. Before FIM programs, federal grants funded 鈥渘utrition incentive programs鈥� to increase healthy food access and food security.

But Fresh Bucks differs from other healthy food benefit programs in several ways, including focused enrollment within households disproportionately impacted by food insecurity and diet-related chronic disease, divesting enrollment from SNAP participation, enabling participants to redeem benefits at a large chain food retailer and smaller local stores and no required match spending 鈥� where participants receive additional benefits based on how much of their own money they spend.

鈥淲e clearly see that once this program goes away, people can no longer afford to eat these foods, as evidenced by the increase in fruits and vegetables when people are receiving the benefit, but the near symmetric decrease when benefits are lost,鈥� Jones-Smith said. 鈥淚 think that really drives home the fact that money or material resources are necessary for enacting this kind of dietary change.鈥�

Other co-authors from the 91爆料 include , recently graduated doctoral student of health systems and population health; , associate professor of health systems and population health; and , community research coordinator. The study was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

For more information, contact Knox at knoxm@uw.edu.

From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this June.

ArtSci on the Go

Looking for more ways to get more out of Arts & Sciences? Check out these resources to take ArtSci wherever you go!

Zev J. Handel, “Chinese Characters Across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese”听()

Black Composers Project engages the School of Music faculty and students ()

Ladino Day Interview with Leigh Bardugo & MELC Professor Canan Bolel ()

Back to School Podcast 听with Liz Copland ()

Featured Podcast: “Ways of Knowing” (College of Arts & Sciences)

This podcast highlights how studies of the humanities can reflect everyday life. Through a partnership between and the 91爆料, each episode features a faculty member from the 91爆料 College of Arts & Sciences, who discusses the work that inspires them and suggests resources to learn more about the topic.

Episode 1: Digital Humanities with assistant professor of English and data science, Anna Preus.

Episode 2: Paratext with associate professor of French, Richard Watts.

Episode 3: Ge’ez with听associate professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures, Hamza Zafer.

Closing Exhibits

Week of June 2

Monday, June 2, 5:00 – 6:20 pm | ONLINE ONLY: (Jackson School)

Join the Jackson School for Trump in the World 2.0, a series of talks and discussions on the international impact of the second Trump presidency.

This week: Daniel Bessner; Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Associate Professor in American Foreign Policy at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.

Monday, June 2, 5:00 – 7:00 pm | (Jackson School)

This talk discusses the unconventional forms of care that emerge out of Kurdish resistance in Turkey, where mothering becomes a powerful response against necropolitical state violence. By centering the stories of two Kurdish mothers who had to care for their dead children and mother beyond life under the violent state of emergency regime declared in 2015; the talk examines how Kurdish mothers 鈥渞escue the dead鈥� (Antoon, 2021) from the necropolitical state and create their necropolitical power through a radical embrace of death and decoupling of mothering from the corporeal link between the mother and the child.

Monday, June 2, 3:30 – 5:00 pm | (The Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies)

Why do some protests in autocracies attract popular participation while others do not? Masaaki Higashijima’s, University of Tokyo, paper argues that when opposition elites and the masses have divergent motivations for protesting, anti-regime mobilization struggles to gain momentum. Moreover, this weak elite-mass linkage is further exacerbated when autocrats selectively repress protests led by opposition elites while making concessions to those organized by ordinary citizens.

Tuesday, June 3, 5:00 – 6:30 pm | (Communications)

A conversation with local public media leaders about current challenges–including federal funding cuts–and pathways forward for sustaining public service journalism.

Speakers include:

Rob Dunlop, President and CEO, Cascade PBS
David Fischer, President and General Manager, KNKX
Tina Pamintuan, incoming President and CEO, KUOW
Matthew Powers, Professor and Co-Director, Center for Journalism, Media and Democracy

Wednesday, June 4, 3:30 – 4:30 pm | (Psychology)

Cognitive biases 鈥� such as attentional biases toward aversive cues, distorted expectations of negative events, and biased interpretations of ambiguity 鈥� are central features of many forms of psychopathology. Gaining a deeper understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying these biases is crucial for advancing theoretical models and clinical interventions.

In this talk, Prof. Hadas Okon-Singer will present a series of studies exploring emotional biases in both healthy individuals and participants diagnosed with social anxiety, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.

Wednesday, June 4, 12:30 – 1:30 pm | (Center for Statistics & Social Sciences)

Many statistical analyses, in both observational data and randomized control trials, ask: how does the outcome of interest vary with combinations of observable covariates? How do various drug combinations affect health outcomes, or how does technology adoption depend on incentives and demographics? Tyler McCormick’s, Professor, Statistics & Sociology, 91爆料, goal is to partition this factorial space into “pools” of covariate combinations where the outcome differs across the pools (but not within a pool).

Friday, June 6, 7:30 pm | (School of Music)

David Alexander Rahbee leads the 91爆料 Symphony in a program of concerto excerpts by York Bowen, Keiko Abe, and Camille Saint-Sa毛ns, performed with winners of the 2024-25 School of Music Concerto Competitions: Flora Cummings, viola; Kaisho Barnhill, marimba; and Sandy Huang, piano. Also on the program, works by Mikhail Glinka, Richard Wagner, and Giuseppe Verdi.

Saturday, June 7 & Sunday, June 8, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm | (Burke Museum)

Stewart Wong will share knowledge and personal experiences about working with Broussonetia Papyrifera. He will talk about the history, uses, and cultivation of the paper mulberry plant. In addition, Stewart plans on dyeing, drawing on, and printing kapa. Stewart will have printed information and material samples to supplement the talk.

Saturday, June 7, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm | On Our Terms with Wakulima USA (Burke Museum)

Join the Burke Museum for a short screening from “,” plus a conversation with co-producer Aaron McCanna and Wakulima USA’s David Bulindah and Maura Kizito about food sovereignty and community building.

Additional Events

June 2 | (Music)

June 2 | (Asian Languages & Literature)

June 2 – June 6 | (Astronomy)

June 3 | (Music)

June 4 | (Music)

June 4 | (Psychology)

June 5 | (Music)

June 5 | (Speech & Hearing)

June 5 | (Labor Studies)

June 5 | (Art + Art History + Design)

June 6 | (Dance)

June 6 | (Geography)

June 7 | (Music)

Week of June 9

Wednesday, June 11 to Friday, June 27 | (Jacob Lawrence Gallery)

At the end of the spring quarter, the academic year culminates in comprehensive exhibitions of design work created by graduating students. The 91爆料 Design Show 2025, showcasing the capstone projects of graduating BDes students, will be held from June 11 to June 27 in the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.

Additional Events

June 11 | (Henry Art Gallery)

June 11 | (Art + Art History + Design)

June 12 & June 13 | (DXARTS)

June 13 | (Art + Art History + Design)

Events for the week of June 23

June 24 | (Information Sessions)

June 25 | (Information Sessions)

June 26 | (Information Sessions)

June 27 | (Information Sessions)

Commencement

June marks the end of many College of Arts & Sciences students’ undergraduate experience. Interested in attending a graduation ceremony? Click here to find information on ceremonies across campus.

Eight cities in the United States have implemented , which contribute to health issues including obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

New research from the 91爆料 investigated responses to sweetened beverage taxes using the purchasing behavior of approximately 400 households in Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland and Philadelphia 鈥� all of which recently introduced beverage taxes. was published online Sept. 30 in Health Economics.

Researchers found that after the tax was introduced, lower-income households decreased their purchases of sweetened beverages by nearly 50%, while higher-income households reduced purchases by 18%. Since previous studies have shown that lower-income individuals consume sweetened beverages at a higher-than-average rate, these results suggest the taxes could help reduce health disparities and promote population health.

鈥淚f households reduce their sugar intake, they will experience health benefits,鈥� said , co-author and 91爆料 associate teaching professor of economics. 鈥淪weetened beverages are one of the largest sources of sugar in the American diet. They have all kinds of health consequences and don鈥檛 really provide any nutrition. The idea with the tax is that lower-income people, because they reduce their intake more, receive greater health benefits than the higher-income households.鈥�

Using , researchers followed the households for a year before and after the tax was implemented in their city. Consumers were given a handheld scanner to report their purchases.

The results showed that households experienced price increases for taxed beverages, with the difference persisting for at least one year post-tax. Price increases were largest for lower-income households 鈥� a 22% increase in sweetened beverage prices versus 11% for higher-income households. After the tax was implemented, lower-income households saw a 47% decline in purchases of sweetened beverages. Researchers didn鈥檛 observe a post-tax increase in cross-border shopping.

鈥淲e also looked at untaxed beverages and found that lower-income households are substituting with untaxed beverages,鈥� Knox said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e using some of their money to go buy a different beverage, rather than buying a candy bar instead of buying a Coke.鈥�

Policy makers are particularly interested in the response of lower-income consumers due to their higher consumption on average of sweetened beverages and concerns that the taxes are regressive.

Previous research from the 91爆料 found that lower-income and higher-income households paid about the same amount toward the tax, which means lower-income households spent a higher proportion of their income. But the study also showed more dollars went toward funding programs that benefit lower-income communities than those households paid in taxes. The annual net benefit to lower-income communities ranged from $5.3 million to $16.4 million per year across three U.S. cities.

More found the tax was also associated with declines in childhood body mass index among children in Seattle compared to a well-matched comparison group.

鈥淭ogether, this body of work suggests the tax is having the intended health benefits and this new evidence gives reason to believe health benefits could be larger for households with lower incomes,鈥� said , co-author and 91爆料 professor of health systems and population health.

The research was funded by the 91爆料鈥檚 Royalty Research Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Partial support was provided by a Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development research infrastructure grant.

For more information, contact Knox at knoxm@uw.edu and Jones-Smith at jjoness@uw.edu.

Sugar-sweetened beverages are a known contributor to several health issues, including poor diet quality, weight gain and diabetes. While several studies have shown that taxing sweetened beverages significantly reduces purchasing, questions have been raised about whether the taxes place a greater economic burden on lower-income households.

New research from the 91爆料, , addressed the issue by examining the economic equity impacts of sweetened beverage taxes in three cities: Seattle, San Francisco and Philadelphia.

鈥淪ugar-sweetened beverages are the new tobacco,鈥� said , senior author and clinical professor of health systems and population health in the 91爆料 School of Public Health. 鈥淧ublic health researchers and others have been working for some time to reduce sales of these beverages. Taxes worked well to reduce tobacco purchases, and they鈥檝e been applied and appear to work equally well in sugary drinks.鈥�

The study showed the tax paid by households accounted for a larger proportion of income for lower-income households, but still only 0.01% to 0.05%. The annual per capita dollar amount that households paid toward the tax, between $5.50 and $31, didn鈥檛 differ by income level.

The researchers also found that sweetened beverage taxes redistributed dollars from higher- to lower-income households. More dollars went toward funding programs that benefit lower-income communities than those households paid in taxes. The annual net benefit to lower-income communities ranged from $5.3 to $16.4 million per year across the three U.S. cities.

鈥淐ities have prioritized funding programs that benefit lower-income populations, which makes sweetened beverage tax policies more economically equitable,鈥� Krieger said.

For example, revenue raised by has been used to fund programs and services that increase access to healthy food and support child health and learning in early childhood. In 2020, sweetened beverage tax revenue was also used to provide support to communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The researchers studied the volume of beverage purchases made in stores by 1,141 households in the three U.S. cities to estimate taxes paid by households during the first year after tax implementation. They then used city population data to calculate the per capita amount of sweetened beverage tax paid by income level.

The authors also reviewed public documents and contacted city representatives to find the dollar amount of annual tax revenue and the amount invested in programs serving lower-income communities.

鈥淭here aren鈥檛 a lot of studies right now that look at actual household purchases of these taxed beverages,鈥� said co-lead author , 91爆料 associate teaching professor of economics. 鈥淭hey mostly look at retail-level data. But you don鈥檛 know what people are doing at a household level. They could be going to another city to buy their sweetened beverages and bringing them back to Seattle. This study catches all of that. We鈥檙e just looking at households that live in these cities and the totality of everything they report having purchased.鈥�

The study shows that sweetened beverage taxes 鈥渃an be an economically progressive policy,鈥� Krieger said. Seven local jurisdictions in the United States, the Navajo Nation and at least 45 other nations have implemented sweetened beverage taxes.

鈥淭hese taxes selectively and specifically benefit people with lower incomes to a greater extent than people with higher incomes, because the money that鈥檚 raised by taxes goes toward programs serving lower-income communities,鈥� Krieger said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 from the economic point of view.

鈥淭he taxes also benefit people with lower incomes because they drive down consumption more and sales more for that population. People will consume less of an unhealthy product and they鈥檒l be healthier because of that. It鈥檚 a win for health, it鈥檚 a win for the pocketbook and it鈥檚 a win for their communities.鈥�

, 91爆料 associate professor of health systems and population health and of epidemiology, was a corresponding author and co-principal investigator.

Other co-authors from the 91爆料 were , clinical instructor of health systems and population health; , senior research scientist in the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, , affiliate associate professor of urban design and planning; and , who recently graduated with a master鈥檚 degree in epidemiology. , associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, was also a co-author.

The study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation鈥檚 with partial support from an NICHD grant to the at the 91爆料.

For more information, contact James Krieger at jkrieger@hfamerica.org and Melissa Knox at knoxm@uw.edu.

Correction on 7/13: A previous version of this story said that the annual net benefit to lower-income communities ranged from $5.3 to $19.1 million per year across the three U.S. cities. The latter number is actually $16.4 million.

Each odd-year election cycle since 2017, four $25 democracy vouchers have arrived in the mail for registered voters in Seattle.

Each voucher can be donated to a single campaign for city office or dispersed to separate campaigns. According to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, or SEEC, the goals of the democracy voucher program are to increase the number of voters donating to municipal elections and the number of candidates in those elections.

But is it working?

New research from the 91爆料 says yes.

鈥淲e found a really big effect on donation activity,鈥� said , 91爆料 assistant professor of economics. 鈥淭ogether with that, we found big effects on small donations. There鈥檚 a lot more money being given to candidates in Seattle and more money coming from more donors.鈥�

The study, will appear in the Journal of Public Economics.

Researchers analyzed the effect of the voucher program on Seattle city council races during the first two election cycles post-implementation. Then, they compared the outcomes pre- and post-vouchers to the next six largest cities in Washington and the largest cities in California. The California cities had populations much closer to Seattle鈥檚, but different rules for elections and public campaigns.

Per 100,000 people, Seattle鈥檚 program increased donations by approximately $31,000, or 53%, per race and increased the number of donors per race by 350%. Candidates received about 270% more dollars through small donations, which are donations of less than $200. The study also revealed an 86% increase in the number of candidates and a large decrease in incumbent electoral success.

鈥淗ow campaigns learn to interact in a world with democracy vouchers is an interesting question,鈥� Griffith said. 鈥淓verybody has $100 to give out and the intention of the program is to shift the fundraising attention and the policy toward those people instead of people who can write big checks.鈥�

In the 2015 Seattle City Council races, before the voucher program, candidates raised more than $400,000 per race from more than 2,000 donors on average. Due to the amount of money required to run campaigns and the relatively small number of donations, concern grew that public policy was dictated by those who had the means to donate.

That same year, city voters passed a ballot initiative that included the democracy vouchers program. When the vouchers are redeemed, the SEEC distributes the value to the campaign.

In 2017, the first year of the program, vouchers were redeemable by candidates in the city council and city attorney races. Mayoral elections were included in 2021. Nearly $1.75 million per cycle was distributed over the first two election cycles post-implementation (2017 and 2019).

鈥淭here鈥檚 been a lot of talk in Congress about scaling up and building other programs that look like Seattle鈥檚,鈥� Griffith said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of non-government organizations that are trying to push expansion of this into different cities. People that are pushing this as a way to solve the problem of there being too much money in politics.鈥�

The study found that between 2% and 5% of vouchers are used, meaning there is a substantial amount of money that isn鈥檛 being donated. The Seattle campaign differs from other programs in that no large grant is given to fund campaigns. It also allows voters to direct money without having to commit any of their own funds.

鈥淭here鈥檚 really no other program that gives vouchers,鈥� Griffith said. 鈥淪eattle鈥檚 program is unique in that you鈥檙e given free money to give out. We鈥檙e not aware of any other programs that are like this.鈥�

, who graduated from 91爆料 in 2020 with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in economics, co-authored the study.

For more information, contact Griffith at alangrif@uw.edu.

The 91爆料 is among the best universities in the world for the studies of education, social sciences, business and law, according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject 2022.

The rankings, released , show that the 91爆料 moved up three spots to be No. 18 in , placing eighth among U.S. public universities. Education includes the following disciplines: education, teacher training and academic studies in education. This year鈥檚 education ranking includes 597 universities.

, which includes communication and media studies, politics and international studies, sociology and geography, rose five places to be No. 26 in the world, or sixth among U.S. public universities. There were 870 universities ranked in this field.

Meanwhile, ranked No. 45, or sixth among U.S. public universities. Business and economics include the following disciplines: business and management, accounting and finance, and economics and econometrics. Some 795 universities worldwide were ranked in this subject.

The final subject ranking released was , where 91爆料 placed No. 76 in the world, out of 257 institutions that were included on the list.

The subject tables employ the same range of听听used in the overall听; however, the methodology is recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields.

Many of these online opportunities are streamed through Zoom. All 91爆料 faculty, staff, and students have access to听.听

Film Screening: “Blind Bombing, Filmed by a Bat” with Kota Takeuchi

April 28, 3:30 – 5:00 PM听| Zoom Event

Artist听Kota Takeuchi听will screen and talk about his short film “Blind Bombing, Filmed by a Bat” (32 min., 2019) which explores how balloon bombs were created, propagandised, and used in Japan during World War II. The film combines interviews and historical data, while developing a loose relationship between an animal (the bat) and the fictional Japanese monster Te no Me.

Free听|听

Astrobiology Spring Colloquium Series – Juan Perez Mercader (Harvard University)

April 28,听 3:00 – 4:00 PM | Zoom听Lecture

Join the Astrobiology Department in continuing their biannual colloquium series featuring key speaker Juan Perez Mercader from Harvard’s Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences. Mercader will present a lecture titled Mimicking simple life without biochemistry. Synthesis and boot-up from a homogeneous mixture of functional polymer vesicles: birth, growth, self-replication, extinction and competition cycles.

Please be aware that the talks in this colloquium series are scientific presentations geared towards the Astrobiology Community and will contain theories and terminology common to the field.

Free, please email听astrobio@uw.edu for password听|

Labor On-line: Virtual seminar Series, Spring 2020

Tuesdays at 1:15 PM and Wednesdays at 6:00 PM

This Spring,听Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies听hosts two weekly online seminars with a wide range of labor scholars and activists. These sessions are free and open to the public.

Free听|听

This week’s 听seminar:
Hosted by Labor Studies faculty at 91爆料 Bothell

April 28 –听Japanese Teacher Unions
1:30 PM | Zoom:听
Presented by:听Keith Nitta, Professor 91爆料 Bothell 听& Jordan Woljter, Law, Economics and Public Policy

This week’s听听seminar:
Hosted by the 91爆料 Tacoma Labor Solidarity Project

April 29 – “Rebooting Big Tech”
6:00 PM | Zoom:听
Presented by: Professor Rob Larson, Economics, Tacoma Community College

Quick Talk:听Chagall, Modigliani, & Jewish Painters from the Russian 鈥淧ale of Settlement鈥�

April 28, 4:00 PM | Zoom

The Stroum Center for Jewish Studies invites Dr.听Galya Diment, professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the 91爆料, for a 20-minute 鈥渜uick talk鈥� on how early 20th-century painters Marc Chagall and Amedeo Modigliani related to Jewishness in their lives and art 鈥� and how their work contrasts with that of other Jewish painters from the Russian 鈥淧ale of Settlement.鈥�

The talk will be followed by a Q&A session, with questions submitted via www.slido.com and moderated by a staff member.

Free, please register for access听|

Re/frame: The Built Environment

April 30, 12:00 – 1:00 PM | Zoom

The Henry鈥檚 current exhibition,听In Plain Sight, includes multiple works by artists who are exploring the concept of the built environment. These human-made spaces in which we live, work, and recreate, heavily influence many facets of our lives. Join us to see how artists have grappled with the built environment in a variety of works from our permanent collection.

Re/frame is a recurring program that delves into the Henry’s extensive collection, highlighting a different group of objects each month. Join us for group discussions and the opportunity to see art rarely on public view.

Free听|

Reading Recommendation: Helen Sword鈥檚 Air & Light & Time & Space: How Successful Academics Write

Looking for a good excuse to look away from your screens? Caitlin Palo, Program and Events Manager with the听Simpson Center for the Humanities, suggests Helen Sword鈥檚 Air & Light & Time & Space: How Successful Academics Write.

In the midst of overwhelming pressure to stay productive during a global pandemic (with nothing less than a dissertation to complete), Palo reflects on听Sword鈥檚 suggestions for making space to write.

“Air & Light & Space & Time听is not an instructional book. It is an orchestration of voices, an ethnography of writers. It is a picture of the rich diversity of writing practices at the heart of intellectual endeavors in the sciences as well as in the humanities, and an invitation to think more broadly about one鈥檚 own practices in the company of other successful writers.”

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#BurkeFromHome Trivia Night: Now starting at 7pm

Every Friday, 7:00 PM听|听Virtual Event

Join the Burke Museum online on Fridays at 7 PM for #BurkeFromHome Trivia. The popular Burke Trivia Night is back鈥攖his time online to practice social distancing while having loads of fun! Get your nerd on with natural history and culture-themed trivia.

BYOB, snacks, and slippers!

Free, please register for access听|

Staying home? Here’s what to watch

Ongoing | Your favorite streaming service

Looking for ways to stay entertained while staying at home?听If you’ve already binged all the shows in your Netflix queue, fear not. Faculty in the Department of Cinema & Media Studies听have gathered television and film recommendations to fit every mood.

Looking for more?

Check out 91爆料AA’s Stronger Together web page for听more digital engagement opportunities.

Ghironi is a professor of economics who studies monetary economics and international macroeconomics 鈥� which, in keeping with its name, looks at the performance of economies as a whole, noting such factors as inflation, growth rates and gross domestic products.

His paper, “,” was circulated in September in the Discussion Papers series of the London-based and in the Working Papers series of the Cambridge-based . It will be in January in a symposium issue of the on 鈥淩ebuilding Macroeconomic Theory.鈥�

Smith, a former assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, wrote that in 2017 economic theorizing “took a back seat” to political struggle. “But even as attention was focused on policy battles over health care and tax reform, economists were quietly talking about how to make the economy more productive and more equal.” He offered a list of “some great books and papers that emerged from this turbulent year.”

Smith cited Ghironi’s paper in a section titled “The Ongoing Macro Debate.” Economic debates over macroeconomics have been out of the news since the Great Recession, Smith wrote, but academic economists are still “quietly debating” whether the dominant theory of macroeconomics 鈥� called 鈥� “has been overused or misapplied.”

Ghironi, the Paul F. Glaser professor of economics, summed up the statement of his paper in this way: “Macroeconomics has been the subject of much criticism since the crisis of 2008-09. Some is fair, some is not. In ‘Macro Needs Micro’ I offer my perspective on how macroeconomics has been changing and should continue to change to address current and future policy-relevant questions.”

The Centre for Economic Policy Research, with which Ghironi is a research fellow, produced a podcast where he is interviewed on “the need to incorporate more microeconomics to macroeconomics.” Listen to that podcast .

Ghironi will be in good company publishing in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy’s issue on rebuilding macroeconomic theory; other contributors include Nobel Laureates and and Oliver Blanchard, former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund, among others.

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For more information about Ghironi and his work, contact him at ghiro@uw.edu.

The life of a Bangladeshi garment factory worker is not an easy one. But new research from the 91爆料 indicates that access to such factory jobs can improve the lives of young Bangladeshi women 鈥� motivating them to stay in school and lowering their likelihood of early marriage and childbirth.

The ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh has grown tremendously in the last 30 years and now accounts for more than three-quarters of the country’s total annual export revenue, according to a 2009 report by the Bangladesh Export Processing Bureau. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association notes there are about 4 million such workers in Bangladesh, 80 percent of whom are women, according to government reports.

The April 2013 collapse of a commercial garment factory building that killed more than 1,100 people thrust the industry into a harsh spotlight and brought attention and concern from human rights groups. But amid the hardships, the new research indicates there is a quiet upside to factory work for many Bangladeshi women.

91爆料 economist and co-author A. Mushfiq Mobarak of the Yale University School of Management studied data on school enrollment and marriage and childbirth outcomes from 1,395 households in 60 Bangladeshi villages in the year 2009. In a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Development Economics, they looked at the age at marriage and at the birth of the first child for girls with greater exposure to factory jobs.

“We document the likelihood of marriage and childbirth at early ages drops sharply for girls when they gain exposure to the ready-made garment sector,” the authors wrote.

More specifically, the researchers found that:

• Girls 12 to 18 years old who have lived in the proximity of a garment factory for about six years 鈥� the average time studied 鈥� were 28 percent less likely to be married than those living in villages in the same district that were not close to a factory.
• Girls who live near a factory tend to have 1.5 more years of education than their brothers when surveyed. This represents a 50 percent increase in girls’ educational attainment over villages without a garment factory nearby.
• Girls and young women who are exposed to factory jobs when they are 10 to 23 years old are 79 percent more likely to work outside the home before marriage.
• Overall, girls are 7.2 percentage points more likely to be enrolled in school when factories open close to their village. This effect is especially strong among young girls, 5 to 9 years of age.

They also found that in the areas surveyed, the demand for education generated through manufacturing growth in Bangladesh accounts for more of the educational increases among girls than the Female Secondary School Assistance Program, a large-scale government-funded program to encourage female schooling.

“In summary, access to factory jobs significantly lowers the risk of early marriage and childbirth for girls in Bangladesh,” Heath and Mobarak wrote in an accompanying research brief.

A small negative effect to factory job access on education also was found: Unlike the positive effect for those younger girls, those who were 17-18 years old were slightly more likely to leave school for factory employment.

“Of course, to say the industry has had positive effects does not deny that there have been serious tragedies,” Heath said. “We think that increased monitoring of conditions inside the factories can allow Bangladesh to reap the benefits of these jobs while minimizing the safety risks of working in them.”

The results, the researchers write, also provide one explanation, unexplored until now, for accelerated gender equity in education in Bangladesh, “thus generating policy implications for other countries interested in emulating Bangladesh’s success.”

Funding for the research was provided by the National Science Foundation.

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For more information, contact Heath at rmheath@uw.edu or 206-543-5796.
NSF grant number: SES-0527751.