IAS faculty member Dan Berger published an article in the UW Center for Human Rights website on the problem pandemics pose for prison. "While Washington state has ostensibly abolished the death penalty, its approach to incarceration now puts thousands of people at risk–in and out of prison–of a most painful and preventable death due to coronavirus," Berger writes. "The safest measure to “flatten the curve” ...

In February, two anonymous Seattle patrons of the arts announced the fourth annual Champion of Seattle Arts (COSA) Award winner: Berette S. Macaulay, local artist, curator, and M.A. in Cultural Studies candidate.“Working with a variety of established local arts organizations, Berette has brought forth recent exhibitions of power and strength, focusing on female-identifying photographers of the African diaspora ...

IAS faculty member Kari Lerum was recently elected co-chair of the Seattle LGBTQ commission. The commission’s mission is “to effectively address and present concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender citizens of Seattle to the Mayor, City Council, and all City Departments” and to recommend  “legislation, policy, programs and budget items to the Mayor, City Council and City departments.”

IAS faculty member Yolanda Padilla  presented her work on a panel titled "Recovering Latinx Modernisms" at the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project conference in Houston, TX. The panel centered non dominant literary forms, such as testimonies and periodical writing, to stage a conversation about what it means to recovery Latinx modernism as indispensable to and constitutive of U.S. and Latin American modernisms. Padilla's presentation ...

On February 22, 2020, the Henry Gallery hosted a screening and discussion of “Spirits of Rebellion: Black Cinema from UCLA” directed by Zeinabu Irene Davis, who was introduced by her former student and current IAS faculty member Lauren Berliner.The discussion centered on and was facilitated by members of the Black Cinema Collective and M.A. in Cultural Studies students Berette Macaulay and Savita Krishnamoorthy. ...