About the Blogs

U & The Union

UAW 4121 (“The Union”):

The Union of Academic Student Employees & Postdocs at the University of Washington represents over 6,500 Academic Student Employees (ASEs) and Postdocs at UW. About 250 TAs, RAs, graders, tutors, and Postdocs are employed in the Chemistry Department every quarter, and we have many active union organizers working on improving our collective bargaining agreement with the UW administration. By joining as a member (membership form), each of us contribute to building our collective power and resources. Together, we improve compensation and benefits that enhance our standard of living, expand rights that secure safe working environments and academic excellence, and advocate for social justice issues not only on campus, but also as part of city- and nation-wide movements. If you would like to get more involved, are facing issues, or have any questions or concerns, please contact any of the stewards in chemistry or uaw4121@uaw4121.org.

Active Chemistry Representatives:

  • Matthew Crane
  • Sarah Pristash
  • Lizzy Canarie
  • Marissa Parker
  • Nayon Park
  • Sam Phan
  • Brianne King
  • Dan Hart
  • Max Friedfeld

Senate Spot

Graduate and Professional Student Senate

Two Senators represent the Chemistry department’s graduate students in the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS). GPSS is an organization that advocates for the needs and interests of the graduate student body; it is composed of graduate students from all departments on campus. 

Being a Senator gives you the opportunity to engage with graduate students all over campus to discuss issues and solutions facing the UW population. GPSS meets every other week during the school year. If you have any questions, please reach out to one of the current senators, or visit http://depts.washington.edu/gpss/about-gpss/. 

Examples of some of the conversations had in GPSS this past academic school year (2019-2020) included budgets and spendings of the University, and how these decisions will affect both graduate students and the entire UW as a whole. An example of this is the U-Pass: who gets it, how much it costs the University, where are those funds coming from, and how will this affect the student body?

We also create a GPSS Legislative Agenda, which GPSS representatives use as a guide to advocate for UW Graduate and Professional students in direct conversations with lawmakers in Olympia. Some discussions we had which later became part of the agenda included (1) graduate student health insurance, (2) graduate student mental health and wellness, (3) improved sexual misconduct prevention and institutional response, as well as others.

Diversity Board Debriefs

Chemistry Diversity Committee

Keep up with meeting minutes on the UW Inclusive Chem Website!

The UW Department of Chemistry Diversity Committee is responsible for developing practices and policies that build and maintain an inclusive environment where differences of opinion, beliefs, and values are sought, listened to, respected, and valued.

2019-2020 Members:

Current Projects

  • Organizing a team to attend the SACNAS and NOBCChE meetings
  • Improving our web presence on the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives
  • Reviewing current hiring and recruitment efforts at the faculty, postdoc, and student levels and recommending best practices
  • ACS Bridge Partner application
  • Quarterly brown bag lunches open to all students, staff, and faculty to discuss issues related to departmental climate and topics relevant to equity and inclusion initiatives

 

Chair’s Chirp

Chair’s Student Advisory Committee

The Chair’s Student Advisory Committee consists of three graduate student representatives who act as liaisons between the graduate student body and the Chair of the Chemistry Department. The goal of this committee is to maintain open communication between the graduate student body and the Chair. Once per quarter, the committee provides a survey to graduate students to obtain feedback and then meets with the chair to discuss the comments and concerns of the graduate student body. Summaries for each meeting will be posted on the Chair’s Chirp blog and shared via slack and email. In addition to the quarterly surveys, you can share your questions, comments, or concerns with the Chair’s Student Advisory Committee by writing to ccstudentadvisory@uw.edu.
Current Student Representatives (2020-2021):
  • Ulri Lee
  • Emily Cliff
  • Farhad Akrami