A Newsletter for Friends and Alumni of the University of Washington
News Stories

Top architects to teach green design

James Timberlake and Stephen Kieran, Mithun/Russell Family Foundation Endowed Professors in Sustainability.

Two architects renowned for their earth-friendly designs and innovative approach to building production will share their insight with UW students during the next three years, thanks to the generosity of Mithun, a Seattle-based architecture, planning and design firm, and the Russell Family Foundation.

The UW’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) has appointed Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake as its first Mithun/Russell Family Foundation Endowed Professors in Sustainability. Philadelphia-based Kieran Timberlake Associates has earned international acclaim for its green buildings, such as the Sidwell Friends Middle School in Washington D.C., which optimizes natural lighting to reduce non-renewable energy consumption.

Kieran and Timberlake will lead a multi-disciplinary research studio and seminar linking CAUP’s sustainable design activities with environmental work of other UW schools and colleges. they will hold at least one public lecture.

“With help from Mithun and the Russell Family Foundation, the College of Architecture and Urban Planning is providing students, faculty, and the professional community with access to two of the most highly regarded practitioners in the increasingly important field of sustainable architecture and integrated design,” says Daniel Friedman, CAUP’s dean. “Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake will help the UW empower a new generation of environmental leaders.”

For more on the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, visit www.caup.washington.edu.

“Mr. Tacoma” honored by Milgard pledge

Rendering of the William W. Philip Hall at UW Tacoma.

Two of Pierce County’s great business leaders will be forever linked by a much anticipated focal point for UW Tacoma: a 20,000 square foot, 500-seat assembly hall opening next november.

This major addition, which promises to become UW Tacoma’s “community living room,” was made possible by a lead gift from James and Carolyn Milgard, along with additional support from George and Dion Russell, Larry and Judith Kopp, the late Carol Milgard, the Ben B. Cheney Foundation and others.

The Milgards requested the hall, formerly known as the Dawg Shed, be named the William W. Philip Hall in honor of Columbia Bank’s retired president and CEO, whose strong community support has earned him the nickname “Mr. Tacoma.”

“The University of Washington Tacoma would not be what it is today without the dreams and dedication of Bill Philip,” says James Milgard. “His influence is evident everywhere on this campus, but true to Bill’s nature, his name isn’t.”

Chancellor Patricia Spakes says the new facility will serve UW Tacoma’s nearly 2,500 students as a much-needed gathering place and create a center for connection with the greater community. The commons area within the hall will be named for the late Jane Russell, former UWT Advisory Board member and longtime community activist.

For more on UW Tacoma, visit www.tacoma.washington.edu.

Physical feats of endurance benefit graduate students

A UW team participated in the Seattle Half Marathon and Seattle Marathon to raise money for the Graduate Students First Challenge Fund.

The University’s tradition of excellence in graduate education is almost as old as the institution itself. the university awarded its first graduate degree in 1885 — a Master of Arts in classical languages — and has since conferred more than 45,000 master’s degrees and 9,000 doctoral degrees, not counting medical, dental and legal doctorates. At present, more than 10,000 graduate students are pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees in 114 units across the Bothell, seattle and tacoma campuses.

Those 10,000 students have a stalwart friend in UW Sociology Professor Bob Crutchfield. The professor, who formerly served as assistant dean of the graduate school, is willing to endure physical extremes to create opportunities for graduate students, a willingness he demonstrated throughout the fall quarter by training for the seattle Half Marathon.

Following in the footsteps of former Governor Dan evans, who walked 13.1 miles last november to raise funds for student scholarships through the UW Students First matching initiative, Crutchfield recruited 99 teammates to walk or run with him in an effort targeted specifically for graduate students.

The team, composed of students, faculty, staff and UW friends, set a goal of raising $100,000 in gifts and pledges to the Graduate Students First Challenge Fund, the minimum amount needed to trigger a 50 percent match through the UW Students First matching initiative. The fund will provide need-based fellowships to graduate students in all disciplines, ensuring that talented scholars can reach their potential regardless of their economic background.

All of the team’s training and practice culminated in a test of endurance Sunday, November 25 at the Seattle Marathon sponsored by the UW Medical Center and UW Medicine. Whether they completed the full or half marathon event, every participant hoped to increase opportunities for students far into the future. As of December 31, the team’s efforts had raised more than $41,000 toward the Graduate Students First Challenge Fund.

“We had hoped that our walk would raise funds and build public awareness of the vital faculty-graduate student teamwork that generates discovery and innovation throughout the UW every day,” Crutchfield says. “We’re really grateful to everyone who supported us.”

For more on Graduate Students First, visit http://uwfoundation.org/giving_opps/uw_wide_opps/graduate_students_first.asp.

Professorship aims to keep student-athletes healthy

Sally Behnke and her late husband, Bob.

Sally Behnke (’44) and her late husband, Bob (’43), shared a deep love of Husky sports, as well as a concern for student-athletes. “Bob and I went to lots of basketball games and all the football games,” says Behnke, a long-time UW volunteer. “He enjoyed athletics and also meeting the athletes.”

To honor her husband’s memory, Behnke recently established the Bob Behnke Endowed Professorship for the Health of the Student Athlete, which will support Intercollegiate Athletics’ medical coordinator in the Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine.

The professorship has its roots in an earlier endowment created by Bill and Lannie Hoglund, Gary (’68) and Alea Culpepper, and Anne and Rick (’74, ’75) Matsen III, M.D. Behnke and the Hoglunds, the earlier fund’s lead contributors, agreed to use it to augment the professorship. Future contributions are being sought to upgrade the professorship to a chair.

“With an endowed professorship dedicated to the care of these talented young people, we’re putting significant resources into the health and well-being of student-athletes,” says Dr. Matsen, Department of orthopaedics and sports Medicine chair. “First-rate care to our 500-plus student-athletes is a high priority for UW Medicine and for the entire University.”

For more on the Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, visit www.orthop.washington.edu.

Private support behind UW’s great accomplishments

The UW has long led the nation’s public research universities in its level of research grant funding, but 2007 was a banner year even by the UW’s decades-long standards of success. In breaking the $1 billion mark, the UW set a new record in the amount of research funding it received.

This achievement is a testament to the excellence of the UW’s research faculty, and it also speaks to the generosity of private philanthropists. Donors’ generosity often provides forward momentum for researchers, providing the seed money they need to get their programs off the ground.

“Federal funding is essential for ongoing biomedical research, but it is not intended for testing new ideas. innovation is propelled by private support,” says Paul ramsey, Ceo of UW Medicine, executive vice president for Medical Affairs, and dean of the School of Medicine. Recent grants received from the National Institutes of Health, for instance, support UW Medicine researchers whose work has been launched by private giving.

Nora Disis, M.D., a breast cancer researcher, provides one example. Contributors created lab space at South Lake Union for Disis, along with other faculty who conduct leading-edge medical research. And last fall, Disis was named to head the new Institute of Translational Health Sciences, which recently received a $62 million grant from the NIH.

The NIH also recently awarded $10 million to the UW for human embryonic stem cell research. That program will be led by Anthony Blau, M.D., co-director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. The institute was established, in part, through private support from numerous UW contributors.

“Private philanthropy provides critical resources that have helped make possible the UW’s current upward trajectory in its research enterprise,” says Provost Phyllis Wise. “We cannot overstate the importance of the financial support we receive from the UW’s many friends.”

Scholarship pays tribute to radio pioneer

The late Chih-Chi Hsu.

The next time you turn on your car radio, take a moment to remember the late Chih-Chi Hsu. An award-winning UW electrical engineering professor from 1958 to 1993, Hsu coinvented the original car radio “seek” function which is still in use in virtually all car radios today.

In July, Hsu’s wife, Patricia, created a memorial to her husband by establishing the Professor Chih-Chi Hsu Memorial Scholarship in Electrical Engineering. Her generous gift was matched by the UW’s Faculty, Staff and Retiree Matching Gift Campaign. UW alumni and staff members have made additional gifts to the memorial, which will provide scholarship support for undergraduates in the UW’s top-ranked department.

While the car radio may be Hsu’s most notable legacy, he is best remembered at the UW for his love of students and exceptional skill as a classroom teacher. “He was voted Best Teacher by the EE students many times,” says electrical engineering Chair Leung Tsang. “From the 1960s on, he was viewed by his colleagues as the best undergraduate teacher. He was devoted and tireless — one of the best undergraduate teachers I have ever seen.”

For more on the Department of Electrical Engineering, visit www.ee.washington.edu.

Planned gift to honor sister’s artistic gifts

June Roberts

West Seattle native June Roberts (’53) began her college education at Washington State University, but eagerly transferred to the UW School of Art when she was offered a dream job as a part-time artist at Boeing. Her sister Madeleine Roberts Hagen’s education led her in the opposite direction: Hagen started at the UW, but switched to WSU.

Roberts enjoyed a satisfying art career, founding and operating a successful advertising agency in Denver until her death in 1977, but she always retained warm feelings for the UW. So it was natural when Hagen wanted to honor her only sister’s memory with a charitable gift annuity that she would choose the UW School of Art as the recipient.

Hagen’s planned gift will create a scholarship in memory of June — who Hagen says was hardly ever without a pencil in her hand — to support students demonstrating similar creativity and artistic talent.

“June was so talented, and she passed away far too soon,” Hagen says. “It gives me a good, warm feeling that I decided to give to the University in honor of my sister.”

For more on the School of Art, visit http://art.washington.edu.

Corkery bequest creates endowed economics chair

A bequest from Alberta Corkery created the first endowed chair.

In 1937, Alberta Corkery was the only woman in her UW graduating class to earn a bachelor’s degree in economics. After graduation, her work took her many places, including Alaska and Hawaii and — after World War II — to Germany, working for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

As part of her class’s 50th reunion in 1987, she endowed a scholarship in economics named for her parents. it was the first of several generous gifts to the University, including a scholarship in economics in her own name. Honoring her family’s connections to the timber industry, she joined other family members in creating two endowed funds — including the Corkery Family endowed Chair — in the UW’s College of Forest Resources.

Corkery, who died in 2006, capped her giving with a bequest to create the Alberta Corkery Endowed Chair in Economics, the first endowed chair in that department.

“Alberta always felt it was important to give back to the community in any way she could,” says Economics Chair Robert Halvorsen. “This generous gift will help the economics department recruit and retain the world-class faculty we are known for.”

For more on the Department of Economics, visit www.econ.washington.edu.

UW Bothell scholarship honors single moms

Kristin Smallwood, the first recipient of the Karen Morse Scholarship at UW Bothell.

As a single mother raising two sons and attending community college, Karen Morse still found time to write poetry, research her family history, pursue photography, and volunteer extensively, including teaching english as a second language to adults. Until her death in 2000, Morse continued giving tirelessly of herself to her family and the community.

Morse’s sons, Rick and David Cantu, co-founders of Redmond’s Redapt Systems, Inc., have created the Karen Morse Scholarship at UW Bothell to honor her legacy. The scholarship provides full tuition assistance to a single mother who demonstrates outstanding academic achievement and commitment to community service, and who exemplifies UW Bothell’s strong commitment to encouraging non-traditional students.

Kristin smallwood, a 4.0 GPA student in UW Bothell’s Teacher Certification Program and a single mother of a special-needs son, is the first recipient of the scholarship. “As a single parent, attending school full-time has been challenging in many ways,” she says. “This scholarship has taken a great deal of the financial burden off my shoulders so I can focus more easily on studies, my son, and serving the community. I am so grateful to the Cantus for their generosity.”

For more on UW Bothell, visit www.uwb.edu.

Basketball great makes full-court press for students

Former Husky basketball star and current Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy is the new spokesperson for Students First, the UW’s matching gift initiative for student support. The NBA’s 2006-07 Rookie of the Year recently shared his thoughts about the importance of scholarships and education.

Q: How did the scholarship that you received from the uw make a difference for you personally?

A: It meant everything. Without that scholarship, I wouldn’t have been able to attend college.

Q: You’ve enjoyed immense success as a professional basketball player and yet you returned to the UW to finish up your degree. What motivated you to come back and do that?

A: I spent four years at the UW, but still had one last quarter to go. Then i had a baby boy. I want my son to grow up to say his dad not only made it to the NBA, but he has a degree from the University of Washington.

Q: Why should others support Students First?

A: Scholarships are important. There are a lot of kids out there who aren’t fortunate enough to be able to pay for schooling, but they’re very smart kids. students First is important because it doesn’t matter what you put forth, every dollar counts, whether it’s $10 or $10,000. The University of Washington is willing to match half of that. If we give to these kids now, one day they’ll be able to develop and hopefully give back in the future.

Read more of Brandon’s interview, or for more on Students First.

Return to Winter 2008 Campaign Newsletter