Features – Page 17 – Undergraduate Academic Affairs

2017 UAA Staff Awardees Announced

Congratulations to the 2016-17 Undergraduate Academic Affairs staff recognition awardees. Selected for their dedication to supporting UAA鈥檚 mission of creating innovative academic experiences for undergraduates, these six UAA staff members made an indelible impact on 91爆料 students, faculty and staff.

And the awardees are…

Award for Excellence

Aley Mills Willis, director of academic services, Honors Program
Kathryn Pursch Cornforth, associate director, Carlson Leadership and Public Service Center

Outstanding Achievement Award

Ali Albrecht, transfer engagement manager, First Year Programs
Carey Christie, alumni and communications specialist, Honors Program

Outstanding Student Employee Award

Chungeun 鈥淐hloe鈥� Lee, teaching assistant for the 91爆料 Academy, Robinson Center
Bryan Nakata, digital media producer, Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Award for Excellence

Awarded to employees who have worked in UAA for at least five years, this award celebrates the employee鈥檚 leadership in creating formative student experiences and building the necessary infrastructure to support their vision. Recognizing the critical role advisers play in the undergraduate experience, Aley Mills Willis evolved the Honors advising program to be an essential piece of her students鈥� experience. Understanding the importance of experiential learning, Kathryn Pursch Cornforth actively works with peers across the campus and community to lay the foundation for students to engage in service learning.

Aley Mills Willis, the advising mastermind

鈥淎ley is a natural and gifted adviser, always fully engaged with each student she works with, while simultaneously thinking about the bigger picture of academic services. She is thoroughly dedicated to students and works tirelessly and creatively to ensure that they have rich and challenging experiences, while also supporting them in that journey. When recent graduates of our program are asked 鈥楬ow did Honors help you in your time as an undergrad?鈥� the nurturing, individually tailored advising experiences is most-often cited.鈥�
鈥� 91爆料 Honors Staff

Achievements of note: Created the Honors advising program, consistently provides support for her staff to grow; founded the Honors Field Studies Program; played a key role in building the Honors admission process; integral in developing the Honors 100 first-year seminar and the 2010 Interdisciplinary Honors curriculum; instrumental in creating the peer mentoring program; and formalized the National Collegiate Honors Council鈥檚 Partners in the Parks program.

Kathryn Pursch Cornforth, the visionary facilitator

鈥淜athryn is an inspirational, thoughtful and patient lead for UAA and for faculty teaching around the presence of Tent City 3 on campus during winter quarter. She worked tirelessly with the Tent City Collective, Tent City residents and with faculty to ensure that our collaborations were substantive, ethical and appropriately engaged. I could not have successfully offered my own class, 鈥楨ngaging Homelessness,鈥� without her wonderful partnership. We are so lucky to have Kathryn in the Carlson Center!鈥�
鈥� Dr. Vicky Lawson, director of Honors and professor of geography

Achievements of note: Played a critical role in fostering an impactful stay for Tent City 3, including building relationships with Tent City 3 residents, vetting learning opportunities with Tent City 3, including classes, conversations and meals; led the development of MLK week; heads the service learning teams, which impacts 3,000 students, 350 community partners and 100+ faculty; assisting with the development of a pilot study aboard program in Berlin, Germany.

See highlights from MLK Week, which Kathryn Pursch Cornforth plays a large role in organizing.

Outstanding Achievement Award

Recognizing the innovation, collaboration and tenacity it takes to initiate change, this award acknowledges the leaders behind some of UAA鈥檚 innovative programming. Ali Albrecht鈥檚 commitment to serving transfer students led her to create more robust experiences for them. Carey Christie鈥檚 vision for an Honors alumni network inspired her to build an active and engaged community of alumni.

Ali Albrecht, the transfer student advocate

“Ali has taken the lead on improving the transfer experience for more than 2,000 new transfer students every year. Even before she formally took on this role, Ali exhibited innovative thinking by hosting a Transfer Husky Kick-off event with remarks from President Cauce … Ali has always thought creatively about how we can broaden the UAA footprint to acknowledge and celebrate the diversity a transfer student brings to our campus.”
鈥� The First Year Programs Team

Achievements of note: Collaborating cross campus to improve the transfer student experience, including: hosting a Transfer Husky Kick-off event, establishing the Transfer Ambassadors peer mentor program, a seminar for transfer students and strategic plan to stay engaged with these students year-round and actively mentors students.

Virtually attend Transfer Dawg Daze, which Ali initiated:

Carey Christie, the alumni network architect

鈥淐arey has made the position her own, defining and crafting it to create a model of innovation, imprinting her creativity, her ‘can do’ attitude, and diverse communication skills to the task of alumni outreach and community building. Her special achievement of increasing alumni engagement in Honors has accomplished many layers of good for the Program and ripples across our work in Honors, as well as advances UAA鈥檚 mission to deepen and strengthen community.鈥�
鈥� 91爆料 Honors Staff

Achievements of note: Establishing the Honors Alumni Program from scratch; producing and coordinating the Global Challenges Event; creating the Honors Alumni Panel, now an integral part of the program; managing and steering the Advisory Board; Honors Hearths, which brings faculty and alumni into the residence halls for heartfelt conversations; and marketing the Honors Program.

Outstanding Student Employee Award

Student employees are an integral part of the UAA staff. This award recognizes the outstanding achievements of two student employees. Chloe Lee鈥檚 enthusiasm for her work as a TA is contagious and regularly inspires those around her to get involved with causes they feel passionate about. Bryan Nakata鈥檚 creativity has played an integral role in shaping UAA鈥檚 communications work.

Chungeun 鈥淐hloe鈥� Lee, leading by example

鈥淢any Robinson Center students have been inspired by Chloe鈥檚 initiative and leadership and have followed her into these groups to give back to their community in ways that Chloe has modeled. … Chloe鈥檚 contributions to the Robinson Center鈥檚 mission have been vast and, in every role she takes on, she demonstrates exceptional professional integrity, personal responsibility and care for others. We simply could not ask for a better teacher, leader and mentor for our community of students, and we feel so lucky that Chloe has given so much of her professional and personal energy to supporting others who wish to follow in her footsteps.鈥�
鈥� Curtis Hisayasu鈥�, associate director of programs, 91爆料 Academy, Robinson Center

Achievements of note: Founder, 鈥淗uskies for Kids鈥� registered student organization (RSO) which raises awareness of childhood poverty and illness; officer in 鈥淗and2Hand,鈥� which works with several women鈥檚 and youth shelters. As a T.A. performed better than most graduate students and set the bar for future T.A.s

Bryan Nakata, the up-and-coming filmmaker

鈥淏ryan has great technical knowledge and ability, and he also has a strong degree of self-awareness, creativity, drive, narrative instinct, receptivity to others鈥� ideas, and empathy to tell stories really, really well. His technical ability supports his creativity in his video work. He knows the effect of a particular camera lens, or lens flare, or angle, or lighting. And he鈥檚 constantly striving to push himself to learn more and use the technical to support the story.鈥�
鈥� Kirsten Atik, communications director, Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Achievements of note: Consistently producing top quality films and photos, including the MLK video above. Here are some additional videos he’s produced:

Mary Gates Endowment 20th Anniversary

Making art out of rejection: Miha Sarani paints his heroes

Lupita Tovar: Mapping New Worlds

Lupita Tovar originally intended to major in business. However, the opportunity to get involved with research changed her mind. Now an astronomy major, Lupita investigates telescopes to map exoplanets (words outside our solar system). If successful, she鈥檒l pitch her ideas to NASA and the greater science community.

Ernie Tao leads with compassion

“The ideas of service and leadership connect to each other because a good leader is one who serves.”
鈥� Ernie Tao, 鈥�18, political science and biochemistry and volunteer firefighter

For 91爆料 student Ernie Tao, volunteering as a firefighter allows him to serve our communities with the highest level of engagement: 鈥渉is own hands and feet.鈥�

14 ways Huskies are leading the way

Throughout the 2016-17 school year, our undergraduates and alumni made the most of their Husky experience聽鈥� designing their own research projects, developing their leadership skills, mentoring each other and more 鈥� all with an eye towards leading the way to a better tomorrow.

In 2016-17, 80 CLUE tutors fielded more than 35,000 student visits. On top of that, they ran 12+ weekly discussion sessions and 75 exam reviews per quarter.

That鈥檚 20 years of students researching alongside faculty mentors, learning to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world settings and contributing to the 91爆料’s research powerhouse.

More than 200 undergraduates helped 3,500+ newbies navigate the ins-and-outs of campus life. This includes teaching , leading and .

As Washington state solicitor, Purcell argued Washington鈥檚 challenge to the controversial Trump administration travel and immigration ban, winning both in District Court and the 9th Circuit, earning a temporary restraining order of the ban.

21 91爆料 students, including 10 undergraduates will embark on Fulbrights. This year鈥檚 class will travel all over the world – including Lithuania, Nepal, Mexico and Israel – to teach English and pursue independent research projects.

For 18 lucky recipients of the Bonderman Travel Fellowship, the end of the year meant packing and planning for eight months of solo travel! With funding in hand, they will travel through at least six countries and two distinct regions. Fellows are not allowed to pursue research or academic study, but are instead directed to experience, learn and grow as they immerse themselves in new cultures and communities.

7. Huskies are eager to serve their local communities.聽
Over the course of the 2016-17 school year, 4,009 students served a collective 131,840 hours in partner organizations around Seattle.

68 students spent their spring breaks immersed in rural communities throughout Washington state. While there, they volunteered in local schools and learned about the broader issues facing their host communities.

134 students earned a Husky Leadership Certificate. Guided by mentors, these students looked deep within to define their leadership philosophy, envision the impact they will make and develop the skills to achieve their vision.

Fall 鈥�16 marked the first time 18 out of 22 teams had GPAs above 3.0. #GoDawgs!

Washington Husky Softball earned an average GPA of 3.44 and made it to the College World Series semifinals. Photo: Joshua Gateley

11. Helping preschoolers prepare for school through Jumpstart鈥�.
72 91爆料 undergrads worked with 257 preschoolers in 14 preschool classrooms, teaching them language, literacy and social skills needed to succeed in elementary school and beyond.

12. Discovering their passion.
More than 4,000 students received funding to pursue their own research, leadership and innovation projects through the Mary Gates Endowment for Students. Many credit this experience with giving them the confidence to pursue advanced degrees and prestigious careers. The Endowment turned 20 this year.

These scholars are now researching in the Arctic, investigating how the brain functions and developing new research techniques, using genome engineering to phenotype thousands of mutations in a single experiment.

Helicopter and supplies in Antarctica Photo: Jeff Bowman

Honors student and founder Lauren Mittleman discussed the power of sharing our failures on KUOW.

Photo: Katherine B. Turner

Celebrating 10 years of Levinson Emerging Scholars

Helicopter and supplies in Antarctica — Levinson Emerging Scholar alumnus Jeff Bowman prepares for field work in Antarctica Photo: Jeff Bowman

Since 2007, the Levinson Emerging Scholars Awards have supported undergraduate researchers whose passion for science never rests. Mentored by and working alongside some of the 91爆料’s most accomplished researchers and teachers, these students participate in the invigorating work of advancing knowledge to solve some of society’s most intractable problems. Meet this remarkable group of young scientists.

2015-2016 President鈥檚 Medalists Announced

President Ana Mari Cauce awarded three outstanding undergraduate students with the President鈥檚 Medalist award. Selected for their academic performance as well as their co- and extra-curricular involvement, their high grades and well-rounded extra-curriculars, this year鈥檚 recipients are: Hannah Werbel, a computer science major; Siena Traverso, an early childhood and family studies major; and Evan Wang, an electrical engineering major.

Portrait of Hannah Werbel. Photo: Bryan Nakata

Hannah Werbel

Award: Freshman Medalist
Major: Computer science
Hometown: Sammamish

“Winning this award means a lot. I love to learn, and have always aspired to make the most out of every opportunity I have to gain new knowledge, both inside and outside of the classroom. This award validates all of the hard work and effort I’ve put into my studies. It was very unexpected, which makes it even more rewarding. I’ve never considered myself to be the “smartest” kid in the class (and still don’t), but this award shows that with hard work and determination, anyone can learn anything.”

Hannah Werbel鈥檚 desire to use her creative and analytical skills to make a positive impact on the world led her to study computer science. Werbel鈥檚 introduction to research came as junior in high school, when she worked in an 91爆料 electrical engineering lab writing scripts to analyze data from brain computer interface experiments. Now at 91爆料, she has continued with research and enjoys finding practical applications to what she鈥檚 studying in class. Werbel also loves teaching, and is currently a TA for an introductory computer programming class. Outside of academics, Werbel plays piccolo in the marching band and basketball pep bands. Being legally blind, she is dedicated to increasing accessibly for other blind students. She is president of the Washington Association of Blind Students and works for DO-IT (disabilities, opportunities, internetworking and technology), where she frequently attends panels about disability in the technological fields.

Portrait of Siena Traverso. Photo: Bryan Nakata

Siena Traverso

Award: Sophomore Medalist
Major: Early childhood and family studies
Hometown: Corte Madera, California

“I was incredibly surprised and honored to receive this award. After the initial shock wore off, I realized that I could not have achieved this without the support and guidance of my incredible teachers. They inspired me to love learning and to work hard, which has allowed me to get to where I am today. This award has motivated me to become more like those teachers, in the hopes that I can have the same impact on my future students.”

Siena Traverso is passionate about teaching and mentoring others. Recognizing this interest while in elementary school, Siena started tutoring in 5^th grade, and hasn鈥檛 stopped since. Today, she is a peer educator with the Honors Program, where she teaches a weekly class to incoming honors students. She also volunteers her time as a peer mentor, where she fields questions from prospective honors students. Beyond her involvement in honors, Siena also works as a peer adviser for undergraduate academic advising and a tutor-mentor with academic support programs.

Portrait of Evan Wang. Photo: Bryan Nakata

Evan Wang

Award: Junior Medalist
Major: Electrical engineering
Hometown: Monroe, Washington

“I think in large public schools such as 91爆料, its very easy to become lost in the crowd; to just see yourself as one of many thousands of students. So it is a great honor聽to be individually聽recognized by the university.聽Receiving this award has helped me realize that my research and my accomplishments can make an impact.”

Evan Wang鈥檚 drive to better understand the natural world led to a fascination with learning how things work at the atomic level. Over time, this led to learning the math and physics involved in reactions, and ultimately to his choice to study electrical engineering. Evan has been researching with Professor Anantram to model properties of devices that may one day be able to serve as a faster, smaller and cheaper memory source in computers. Because it鈥檚 too expensive to run experiments on today鈥檚 devices, Wang is working on computer simulations to study this technology en masse. Outside of the lab, he enjoys playing French horn. Last year, he went on a tour to China with the wind ensemble.

Innovative paid internship allows student to gain hands-on work experience

For students at the 91爆料, internships are key to crossing the gap between college and the world of work. However, financial need is a major setback that prevents many students from doing unpaid internships.

This is the situation that faced Ruby Vigo. A student from the , Ruby鈥檚 longstanding desire to help others turned into a passion for helping youth and an interest in criminal justice.聽 Ruby knew an internship in a nonprofit would help her gain valuable professional experience and help shape her future plans. Nonprofits, however, typically can鈥檛 pay their interns, and Ruby didn鈥檛 have the time or financial ability for a volunteer internship.

Between the hours spent at school and a job waitressing at a restaurant five days out of the week, Ruby often had to choose between school and her job. Her friends would organize group study sessions that she would miss. In order to attend mandatory class meetings, she would call into work to ask for some hours off. The restaurant would not budge on her work hours. Ruby could not find the time to explore her career options in social work and she found herself struggling to keep up with both work and school. But her situation changed when she found out about the 91爆料鈥檚 new paid community-based internships.

In spring of 2016, the 91爆料 funded 30 paid internships for students to gain work experience in nonprofits. Ruby was excited to be accepted as one of the interns and was matched with , a nonprofit specializing in foster youth care. This opportunity enabled her to leave her part-time job as a waitress to focus on her future.

鈥淚t was so nice because the hours I would have spent waitressing, I was able to spend on schoolwork and my internship.鈥� With more time to study for her exams, Ruby鈥檚 grades improved and her stress level dropped. Her time with Treehouse reaffirmed her interest in nonprofits and nurtured her confidence in the professional work place.

At Treehouse, Ruby conducted outreach to clients, keeping clientele well-informed about the organization鈥檚 programs. At first she felt a little shy interacting with her co-workers and making phone calls to clients, social workers and caregivers. However, over the two quarters of the internship, Ruby鈥檚 confidence grew as she took on different tasks, from translating documents into Spanish to making phone calls and creating information pamphlets. She now feels confident asking questions to her co-workers and feels like a valued part of the Treehouse staff. 鈥淚 love Treehouse and the work environment here,鈥� she says, 鈥淚鈥檝e grown so much by applying my skills to new tasks, like translating documents.鈥�

The internship has only made Ruby鈥檚 passion for nonprofit work grow stronger. Having graduated this past spring, Ruby now works full-time at , a nonprofit specializing in political advocacy. She鈥檚 excited to see what else there is to discover in the world of community-based work.

Interested in learning more about the 91爆料鈥檚 community-based internships? Contact the Carlson Leadership & Public Service Center Director, Rachel Vaughn,聽 or 206-685-2705 or visit the website.

Daniel S. Feetham named director of Undergraduate Academic Affairs Advising

Undergraduate Academic Affairs is pleased to welcome Daniel S. Feetham to his new appointment as director of Undergraduate Academic Affairs Advising. Feetham previously served as director of Advising and Student Engagement at the College of Engineering. In that role, he oversaw an award-winning advising staff that served more than 2,000 students annually. He began his new job in Undergraduate Academic Affairs on Nov 1, 2016.

Feetham brings a deep understanding and appreciation for academic advising, a clearly-articulated advising philosophy, a demonstrated ability to manage other professionals and a commitment to collaboration.

鈥淚 am grateful to have a director of advising who is well respected among peers,鈥� says Ed Taylor, vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, 鈥渁nd is an exemplary adviser at the 91爆料 who understands the student experience, the work of his colleagues and the work of our faculty with great acumen.鈥�

In addition to his work at the College of Engineering, Feetham earned a law degree from Seattle University and has a background in both legal advocacy for at-risk youth and dispute resolution. He also has experience working with diverse student populations in an atmosphere of inclusivity and mutual respect.

鈥淚 am excited for the opportunity to support student learning in such an energetic and dynamic office,鈥� says Feetham. 鈥淚 am especially excited about the opportunity to work with our partners across campus in supporting undergraduates鈥� academic growth.鈥�

Academic advisers help students design an overall curriculum, drawing from the programs and opportunities across the entire University. In addition to helping students choose a major and plan their course schedules, advisers work with students to clarify academic and personal goals. As educators, they emphasize the core skills of critical thinking, decision-making, and the value of broad exposure to a diversity of perspectives. Advisers also provide pre-professional advising in a number of areas such as pre-medicine and pre-law. UAA Advising works closely with First Year Programs鈥� advising and orientation programming and Academic Support Programs鈥� tutoring and course discussion sessions for undergraduate students. Through this work, advising appointments and pre-major info sessions, UAA Advising serves more than 9,000 undergraduates annually. It is located within the Center for Undergraduate Advising, Diversity and Student Success (CUADSS), along with the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity鈥檚 Academic Counseling Services.

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For more information contact: Dan Feetham, director of UAA Advising, at 206-543-2550 or dfeetham@uw.edu.

Student draws on her past to inspire the future

Christina Chan, 鈥�16, knows first-hand the adversity surrounding college entrance for many high school students, especially for low-income students like herself. When she entered her junior year at Franklin High School, college loomed before her, looking more and more like an unattainable goal. College application forms and personal essays were complicated requirements that she didn鈥檛 know how to complete.

Then Christina decided to apply to (CAN), a nonprofit organization that specializes in helping low-income high school students enter college. Four years later, she graduated from the 91爆料 with degrees in English and sociology and returned to CAN as a 91爆料 community-based intern.

When you were in high school, what challenges stood between you and your dream of attending the 91爆料?
I鈥檓 the first generation in my family to attend college. My parents are immigrants from China and didn鈥檛 receive any official education past the third grade. Ever since I was a child, they instilled in me the value of education. Attending the 91爆料 was my dream, but when it came to actually applying, the process was overwhelming because there were so many things my parents and I didn鈥檛 know. All the required forms, like the FAFSA, the essays and preparing for the SATs, everything seemed so daunting. The FAFSA was particularly confusing 鈥� I鈥檇 never filed a tax report before! The jargon itself was discouraging.

How did you overcome the challenges of applying to the 91爆料?
In my junior year of high school, I reached out to Franklin High School鈥檚 chapter of College Access Now. They really broke down the steps for applying to 91爆料 and made college look achievable. They helped me draft my personal statement and made sure I used it to show who I truly was. I had good, but average SAT scores, so I really believe it was the personal statement that helped me get into 91爆料.

The experience that I went through as a financially disadvantaged student has influenced how I perceive the world, how I carry myself, and what I want to do in the future. Every opportunity, encounter and experience that I鈥檝e faced is an advantage because I鈥檝e developed resiliency when faced with adversity. This is something that I will instill in my future students; I want to share my experience and inspire them.

How did you return to CAN as their intern?
Because I knew how difficult it could be to apply to college, I wanted to intern at a nonprofit organization focusing on education. In my senior year of university, 91爆料 offered at nonprofit organizations in Seattle. I found out that CAN was actually one of the nonprofits that would be hosting an internship through 91爆料! The timing was perfect and I was matched to CAN as their intern.

What do you do as an intern at CAN?
I work on the College Services team that specializes in supporting CAN students through college and beyond. We know that the obstacles you face as a low-income individual don鈥檛 just go away after graduating college so we wanted to create a support system for the alumni. In fact, we just recently hosted our first ever CAN alumni engagement event. I helped with the outreach and logistics for the event.

You just graduated from the 91爆料. What鈥檚 next for you?
My journey is officially coming full circle as I will be serving as an AmeriCorps 11th grade college coach at my alma mater, . As the students鈥� mentor, or college coach, I鈥檒l be helping students apply to college and teach them how to better utilize their resources.

How does being an alumni of Franklin and CAN make your insight unique as a college coach?
I feel really passionate about coming back to Franklin High School as a college coach because I want to be the students鈥� support system. Being from South Seattle, I can relate to the issues that many students at Franklin High School experience. It鈥檚 one of the most diverse schools in Seattle, and聽60-70% of their students qualify for free/reduced lunch. I also come from a low-income family. I鈥檝e been through the system, I鈥檝e been in their shoes. I鈥檝e seen so many people stuck in the same spot because of the role society sees them in. I want to help them break free of these restrictive labels and take a different path. CAN is a great way to do this because they give everyone a chance to work towards a better future.

One big Husky family

Students come from all across Washington state, the country and the world, but when they come here, they are all part of the same Husky family. Watch as they come together in one gigantic W. (Video)