April 15, 2025
ArtSci Roundup: May 2025
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 May.
Innovation Month
April 30 | An Evening with Christine Sun Kim (Public Lecture)
May 1 | (Public Lecture)
May 3 | (Meany Center)
May 6 | (Chemistry)
May 13 | (Physics)
May 14 | (Dance)
May 14 | (Music)
May 15 | (Music)
May 16 | (Linguistics)
May 19 | (Linguistics)
May 21 | (DXARTS)
May 21 | (Chemistry)
May 27 | (Music)
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()
“Ways of Knowing” Podcast (College of Arts & Sciences)
Black Composers Project engages the School of Music faculty and students ()
Ladino Day Interview with Leigh Bardugo & MELC Professor Canan Bolel ()
Week of April 28
Thursday, May 1, 6:30 – 7:30 pm | (Public Lecture)
Afrofuturism began as a concept coined by scholar Mark Dery in 1993. It was his way of grouping ideas regarding how Black people used the technology of stories to deal with racial oppression, disrupted history, and the challenge of moving into a positive future. In recent years, we have seen an explosion of interest from various fields around the critical making space that we call Afrofuturism.
In this lecture, John Jennings will explore the major themes in the Afrofuturism movement, track the timeline of its growth, and posit future possibilities around this vibrant and ever-changing way of seeing the world.
Friday, May 2 to Saturday, May 3 | (American Indian Studies)
This symposium brings people together to share knowledge on topics such as traditional foods, plants, and medicines; environmental and food justice; food sovereignty/security; health and wellness; and treaty rights. This event serves to foster dialogue and build collaborative networks as we, Native peoples, strive to sustain our cultural food practices and preserve our healthy relationships with the land, water, and all living things. Save the Date for this year’s event. The theme is: “Generational Food Sovereignty.”
Friday, May 2, 5:00 pm | 听(Burke Museum)
Join the Burke Museum for an exclusive tour of the Burke鈥檚 extensive collection of oversized items at our Sand Point facility, followed by a reception, dinner, and auction.
Additional Events
April 30 | An Evening with Christine Sun Kim (Public Lecture)
May 1 | (Music)
May 1 | (South Asia Center)
May 1 | (Simpson Center)
May 2 | (Music)
May 3 | (Meany Center)
Week of May 5
Monday, May 4, 5:00 – 6:20 pm | ONLINE ONLY 听(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: Mark Ward, U.S. Foreign Service (ret.) and Instructor in the Department of History, Philosophy and Religion at Oregon State University.
Tuesday, May 6, 4:00 – 5:00 pm | (Department of Chemistry)
Professor David Hu – School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Tech
Host: Sarah Keller
Wednesday, May 7, 5:00 – 7:00 pm | 听(Department of Scandinavian Studies)
There is a common misconception in literary publishing that books for children and young adults are 鈥渟imple鈥� and are, therefore, easy to translate. But translating literature for younger people is not simple at all.
Join the panel of three distinguished translators鈥擲awad Hussain (Arabic), Shelley Fairweather-Vega (Russian and Uzbek), and Takami Nieda (Japanese)鈥攆or an engaging discussion of these issues.
Thursday, May 8, 6:00 – 7:30 pm | (Henry Art Gallery)
Thursday, May 8, 11:30 am – 12:00 pm | 听(Department of English)
Theodore Roethke taught at the 香蜜影视 from 1947 until his death in 1963. The Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Readings began in 1964 to honor his memory by bringing notable contemporary poets to the UW campus to give a reading of their works and, when possible, to meet with students enrolled in the department’s advanced poetry writing courses. The annual Roethke Readings, co-sponsored by the Department of English, the UW Graduate School, and the Theodore Roethke Memorial Fund Committee. This event is free and open to the public and regularly attracts large audiences of poetry lovers from around the Pacific Northwest.
Saturday, May 10, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm | (Burke Museum)
Hear about groundbreaking research from the Burke and UW scientists, enjoy hundreds of specimens from the Burke鈥檚 collection, and celebrate all things fossilized with fossil digs, ancient animal identification, microfossil sorting, crafts, and more!
Additional Events
May 5 | (Music)
May 6 | (Simpson Center)
May 7 | (Jackson School)
May 7 | (Music)
May 7 | (Scandinavian Studies)
May 8 | (Chemistry)
May 8 | (Meany Center)
May 8 | (Simpson Center)
May 8 | (Simpson Center)
May 9 | (Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies)
May 9 | (Political Science)
May 9 | (Classics)
May 9 | (German Studies)
May 10 | (Music)
Week of May 12
Monday, May 12, 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: Vanessa Freije, James D. Long, Tony Lucero, and Christopher Tounsel.
Tuesday, May 13, 7:30 pm | 听(Department of Physics)
When we think of engineering materials, we often picture solid blocks such as steel or plastic with fixed properties鈥攕oft, lightweight, or strong. In contrast, granular materials such as sand or rice flow and shear. What if a material could do both? Polycatenated Architected Materials (PAMs) are a new class of structures that bridge the gap between solids and fluids. Made of interlocked particles forming intricate 3D networks鈥攁kin to modern-day chainmail鈥擯AMs can switch from flowing like granular matter to behaving as solid elastic materials. Join the Department of Physics to discover how the geometry and topology of PAMs are redefining what鈥檚 possible in material science and engineering.
May 13, 15, and 16 | 听(Department of Applied Mathematics)
The Frederic and Julia Wan Lecturer Prize aims to invite renowned mathematicians to visit the Department of Applied Mathematics. The lecturer delivers three lectures, ranging from technical talks to experts to expository talks. Additionally, the lecturer actively engages with members of the department and the broader UW community.
Tuesday, May 13, 4:00 pm:
Thursday, May 15, 4:00 pm:
Friday, May 16, 3:30 pm:听
Thursday, May 15, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm | 听(Jackson School)
Join us for a retrospective reflection on the future of African women and football, followed by a Q&A featuring guest speaker Martha Saavedra, faculty and associate director of the Center for African Studies at the University of California in Berkeley. This event is part of the Global Sport Lab initiative.
This event is free and open to all.
Additional Events
May 12 | (Classics)
May 12 | (Simpson Center)
May 12 | (Biology)
May 13 | (Simpson Center)
May 13 to May 23 | (Art + Art History + Design)
May 13 | (Meany Center)
May 14 | (Dance)
May 14 | (Music)
May 14 | (Jackson School)
May 14 | (Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies)
May 14| (CSSS)
May 14 | (Burke Museum)
May 15 | (Music)
May 15 | (Simpson Center)
May 15 | (Speech & Hearing)
May 16 | (Political Science)
May 16 | (Linguistics)
May 16 | Undergraduate Research Symposium (Undergraduate Academic Affairs)
May 16 | (Asian Languages & Literature)
May 16 | (Classics)
May 16 | (Statistics)
May 17 | (Meany Center)
May 17 | (Burke Museum)
Week of May 19
Monday, May 18, 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: Scott L. Montgomery.
Monday, May 19, 5:00 – 8:00 pm | 听(Asian Languages & Literature)
This lecture, Recipes for the Life Politics of Domesticity in Global Korea with Hyaeweol Choi, takes food as an entry for understanding gender history and culture in general, and the politics of domesticity in particular, by focusing specifically on the gendered history of street food in South Korea, exploring its evolution through the forces of war, poverty, industrialization, and nation-branding in the age of globalization.
Wednesday, May 21, 7:30 pm | (DXARTS)
Composer John Chowning is considered one of the pioneers of Computer Music. His contributions to this field, such as the invention of FM Digital Synthesis, had a strong cultural impact on the worlds of both classical and popular music. His invention allowed the production of one of the most popular digital synthesizers, the Yamaha DX7, which sold millions of units in the 1980s and was used by virtually every band from that era. Revenues from the licensing of this technology to Yamaha Corporation allowed Chowning to create the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University, one of the most important Computer Music research centers in the world.
Thursday, May 22, 7:30 pm | (American Indian Studies)
The Department of American Indian Studies at the UW hosts an annual literary and storytelling series. Sacred Breath features Indigenous writers and storytellers sharing their craft at the beautiful w菨色菨b蕯altx史 Intellectual House on the UW Seattle campus. Storytelling offers a spiritual connection and a sharing of sacred breath. Literature, similarly, preserves human experience and ideals. Both forms are durable and transmit power that teaches us how to live. Both storytelling and reading aloud can impact audiences through the power of presence, allowing for the experience of the transfer of sacred breath as audiences are immersed in the experience of being inside stories and works of literature.
Thursday, May 22 to Sunday, June 1, Times Vary | 听(Drama)
THRIVE, OR WHAT YOU WILL听tells the story of Jeanne Baret, a gender-nonconforming 18th-century herb woman, who embarks on an 11-year voyage around the world disguised as a听(male)听botanist’s assistant.听The听first woman to circumnavigate the globe, Jeanne’s journey is depicted through a blend of historical fiction and contemporary issues. The play interrogates themes of “discovery,” survival, power, access, gender, and identity while highlighting the subjective nature of history and self. With a style that merges past and present, this epic tale is funny, gripping, poignant, and wild.
Additional Events
May 19 | (Music)
May 19 | (Linguistics)
May 19 | (Asian Languages & Literature)
May 19 | (Asian Languages & Literature)
May 19 | (Biology)
May 20 | (Music)
May 20 | (Music)
May 20 | (CHID)
May 21 | (Slavic Languages & Literatures)
May 21 | (CHID)
May 21 | (Chemistry)
May 21 | (Chemistry)
May 21 | Judge Joel Ngugi (Public Lecture)
May 21 | (Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies)
May 21 | (CSSS)
May 21 | (Communication)
May 21 | (Statistics)
May 22 | (Music)
May 22 | (Jackson School)
May 22 | (Asian Languages & Literature)
May 23 | (Political Science)
May 23 | (Music)
May 23 | (Music)
May 23 | (Statistics)
May 24 – June 15 | (Art + Art History + Design)
May 25听| (Asian Languages & Literature)
Week of May 26
Thursday, May 29, 7:30 pm | (School of Music)
The University Singers, Treble Choir, and UW Glee Club present an eclectic program of music from around the world, folk tunes, and arrangements of popular music standards.
Thursday, May 29, 7:30 pm | (School of Music)
The UW Percussion Ensemble (Bonnie Whiting, director) and the UW Steelband (Gary Gibson, director) present an end-of-year percussion bash.
Additional Events
May 27 to June 6 | (Art + Art History + Design)
May 27 | (Music)
May 28 to May 30 | (Philosophy)
May 28 | (Jackson School)
May 28 | (History)
May 28 | (CSSS)
May 29 | (Indigenous Studies)
May 29 | (Simpson Center)
May 29 | (Philosophy)
May 30 | (Political Science)
May 30 | (Music)
May 30 | (Music)
May 30 | (China Studies)
May 30 | (Burke Museum)
Have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Kathrine Braseth (kbraseth@uw.edu).
