University of Washington

Undergraduate Student Profiles IN JUNE 2013, Janelle Lena White graduated from the University of Washington with a double major in History and American Ethnic Studies. At the Department of History's Annual Awards ceremony, White was the co-winner of the Power Prize for Outstanding Graduating Senior. This fall, she will be moving to San Francisco to begin a job in the Google Human Resources Department. When asked what role her training in History played in the career search process, White wrote, "They (Google) were most concerned that I could write and speak well, critically think and assess problems from a multitude of vantage points, and analyze trends and data." In addition, White highlighted how a class in Latin American history with Professor Adam Warren proved important in the interview process. "Google has something called the 'Analytic Value Chain,' which is essentially the steps they take when analyzing employee data and drawing conclusions about the trends they find. I was able to compare this value chain to how I have approached historical work--I think I specifically talked about how I might go about extracting information from something like an Aztec Codex. The skills I have learned from the UW History Department and faculty — from close reading a document to compiling a successful research project — have a very practical application outside of the academy." IN 2012-203, UW HISTORY major Molly Bishop studied at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey, building upon her coursework in Near Eastern History and Turkish language. In addition to Turkish language acquisition, Bishop has been taking classes in early and late Ottoman history and Modern Turkish history. She has also UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT MOLLY BISHOP AT YEDIKULE FORTRESS IN ISTANBUL. developed an interest in Ancient Mesopotamian and Anatolian history and archeology. Three Departmental scholarships provided critical support for Bishop during her time abroad: the Sleizer Scholarship for Undergraduate Tuition, the Lois and Maurice Schwartz Fellowship for Non-Western History, and the Bicknell Fund for Academic Travel. After graduation, Bishop eventually wants to continue her education in either Turkish Studies or Library and Archival Science. In the short-term, she is considering teaching English abroad, especially somewhere in Turkey so she could improve her language skills. Department Public History Projects FACULTY, GRADUATE STUDENTS, AND UNDERGRADUATE students at the University of Washington are engaged in a wide variety of public history initiatives, including many that embrace new and emerging digital technologies. BattleofAdwa.org supplements and extends The Battle of Adwa: African Victory in the Age of Empire, a book published by Professor Raymond Jonas in 2011. The website includes an illustrated discussion of the historic Adwa campaign undertaken by Emperor Menelik and Empress Taytu as well as a timeline and a full bibliography (archival and print) related to the Adwa story. It showcases "born-digital" material designed to enhance understandings of this historic event. Blackpast.org (www.blackpast.org) is a 10,000-page online reference guide focused on African American history in the United States and on the history of the more than one billion people of African ancestry around the world. Founded by Professor Quintard Taylor, the site includes an encyclopedia of nearly 3,000 entries; the complete transcripts of nearly 300 speeches by African Americans, other people of African ancestry, and those concerned about race, given between 1789 and 2012; over 140 full text primary documents, bibliographies; timelines and six gateway pages with links to digital archive collections, African and African American museums and research centers, genealogical research websites; and more than 200 other website resources on African American and global African history. Dozens of UW students as well as other scholars have contributed to the project. PAGE 10 University of Washington The Pacific Northwest Labor and Civil Rights Projects (depts.washington.edu/labhist/) are directed by Professor James N. Gregory and supported by the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, the Simpson Center for the Humanities, and the Center for the Study of Pacific Northwest. The eleven projects, which include themes as varied as the Great Depression in Washington State and Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History, include nearly one hundred video oral history interviews, several thousand photographs, documents, and digitized newspaper articles. Included are films, slide shows, and lesson plans for teachers. The projects also feature dozens of historical essays about important issues, events, and people, many written by undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Washington. Silk Road Seattle (depts.washington.edu/silkroad/) is an ongoing public education project using the "Silk Road" theme to explore cultural interaction across Eurasia from the beginning of the Common Era to the Seventeenth Century. The website, a project of Professor Emeritus Dan Waugh, includes historical texts, illustrations of historic cities and architecture, extensive annotated bibliographies of resources, an electronic atlas, and a stunning virtual art exhibit drawing on museum collections from around the world. South Lake Union Stories is a new digital history project organized by Professor Margaret O'Mara (faculty.washington. edu/momara/omeka/). Based on original, primary-source based research completed by students in a course on Urban History, the website features visually rich micro-histories on almost every block in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood. Read more about the initiative on the History News Network (HNN) site: hnn.us/articles/ cities-are-living-embodiments-past-decisions

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