Former SMEA students Caroline Potter, Luke Hiserman, Gregory Papp, Harshitha Viswanathan, and Leah Huff co-authored a recent publication in Frontiers in Education: “Student-led documentation of COVID-era education: A study of graduate programs on the human dimensions of oceans.
 
First and foremost, we would like to sincerely thank those students who participated in the study and we appreciate your insight about your graduate school experiences during COVID-19. 

SMEA graduate James Lee (’21) and accompanying authors recently published an article in the Marine Molecular Biology and Ecology section of Frontiers in Marine Science. The article is titled, “Characterizing host-pathogen interactions between Zostera marina and Labyrinthula zosterae.”
Meadows of eelgrass (Zostera marina) are crucial to coastal ecosystems but have been declining rapidly due to global warming and other anthropogenic stressors. 

 
On June 28, 2023, Dean Tolstoy and Director Dolšak hosted Admiral Linda Fagan, Commandant of the U. S. Coast Guard and SMEA alumna (MMA ’00). For reference, Admiral Fagan is the 27th Commandant of the United States Coast Guard (USCG), overseeing operations of more than 50,000 members and a fleet of 259 cutters, 200 aircraft, and 1,600 boats. Admiral Fagan was in Seattle to preside over the change of command ceremony for Healy, an active icebreaker homeported in Seattle. 

SMEA student Courtney Skalley has been selected as a member of the 2023 Bonderman Fellow cohort. The Bonderman Travel Fellowship was created by UW alumnus David Bonderman in 1995 to fund global journeys as a way of inspiring individual transformation. The 2023 Fellows cover a wide variety of interests including:

Afro-futurism and presentism
Black diasporic history and culture
Counterculture formation as a tool for human connection
Linguistics and dialects
Musical events and concert culture
The relationship between a place’s natural resources and its cuisine, clothing, and culture
The role of the bicycle in community-building

Courtney is a second-year SMEA student with an interest in sustainable fisheries management. 

SMEA Associate Professor Anne Beaudreau was recently featured on Juneau’s KTOO Juneau Afternoon discussion on selective sports fisheries for marked hatchery salmon alongside presenters from Juneau Libraries and SMEAKMG. The full episode is available here. 

Alumna Connie Sullivan graduated from the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs in 2012. Connie currently works as the Clean Boating Coordinator for Oregon Sea Grant and enjoys working with the boating community to ensure our waterways stay clean. Read on to learn more about Connie’s career and what advice she has for current SMEA students.
How did your time in SMEA prepare you for your work?  

The Ocean Nexus Center, directed by SMEA Professor of Practice Yoshi Ota, has introduced a new blog focusing on human dimensions of ocean space. New articles are posted every Friday through July 31st.  You can read the first few articles at the links below:
Introducing Human Dimensions of Oceans: From a Sociological Perspective
Introducing Environmental Sociology and its Importance for Ocean Space

Degrowth, Environmental Sociology, and the Blue Economy
More than Mermaids: Reclaiming the Lost Feminist Voice in the Sociology of Oceans
Aquaculture and Political Economy: Food System as Social Structure
  

An article titled, “Indigenous food sovereignty through resurgent self-governance: centering Nuu-Chah-nulth principles in sea otter management in Canada” from SMEA alumni Lindsey Popken’s (’21) thesis work has been published in Ecology & Society.  The research was published as part of a special feature on Collaborative Management, Environmental Caretaking, and Sustainable Livelihoods. The full article is available here. 

Recent SMEA graduates, Amelia Wells and Kellie Cutsinger (’23), completed their capstone “Community-Based Mitigation and Adaptive Strategies for River Flooding and Erosion in Alaska Native Communities”  with advisor Dr. Cleo Woelfle-Hazard and in collaboration with Iowa State University. As part of their work, a video was created highlighting the communities they collaborated alongside. A message from their Capstone community partner is shared below as well as a link to the completed video project. 

SMEA Associate Professor Ryan Kelly and UW’s College of the Environment Senior Communications Director John Meyer were featured in King5’s Evening segment last month. The segment highlights Northwest life and focused on Kelly and Meyer’s book, Between the Tides in Washington and Oregon: Exploring Beaches and Tidepools. The book, co-authored with SMEA professor Terrie Klinger, is described by King5 as, “…the ultimate guide to exploring different areas at low tide.”
You can read the full article and view the news clip here.