News

Alumni and Student News: May and June 2023

Written by Karen L. Bystrom
June 7, 2023

Alumni

Gregory Davis, General Studies ’82, was featured in the Seattle Times article “Rainier Beach’s ‘unofficial mayor’ aims to strengthen community for future generations.

Toshiko Grace Hasegawa, BA Criminal Justice and Spanish,  '10 and MACJ ’19, a member of the Port of Seattle commission and vice president with The Northwest Seaport Alliance, co-authored the Seattle Times op-ed, "Protect the viability of Puget Sound’s working waterfronts.”

Paul Johnson, BA Public Administration ’89, was promoted to Vice-President of People Culture and Chief Diversity Officer at Seattle Symphony. While at SU, he played woodwinds and sang in the university chorale.

Gavin Muller, MPA ‘22 was recognized as one of this year's winners for the N. Joseph Cayer Public Administration Best Student Paper Award by the World Social Science Association for his research paper entitled “Foster Children in Hotels: A Qualitative Study on the Decline of Residential Treatment Placements.”

Beth Raas-Bergquist, MFA in Arts Leadership ’10, has a play, “Josh’s Real Funeral,” included in Rain City Project’s upcoming edition of the Manifesto series, "Manifesto Volume Six: Ten to Places.” The 6th edition of the Manifesto Series was edited by A. Rey Pamatmat. His insightful Manifesto discusses the art of short form writing.

Mariah Ribeiro, BA, Art History with Departmental Honors, '19, co-curated an exhibition at the Henry Art Gallery of Dana Claxton's work to coincide with the artist's Monsen Photography Lecture on May 12. Ribeiro is currently a PhD Candidate in Art History at University of Washington and the Graduate Curatorial Assistant at the Henry. Ribeiro's BA honors thesis at SU explored Claxton's work along with other contemporary indigenous artists in relation to the concept of survivance. She was also recently invited to reflect on the work of Kent Monkman in a UW web post to accompany the artist's visit to the university.

Kiyon Ross, BA, Arts Leadership '15, recently named Associate Artistic Director at Pacific Northwest Ballet, choreographed “…throes of increasing wonder” in honor of the company’s 50th anniversary. It was performed as part of PNB’s final repertory program June 2 through 11. Read the Seattle Times story.

Cady Seavey, BS, Kinesiology '22, with faculty Brittany Heintz Walters, PhD, will give a podium presentation of their research titled, "The effect of dual task type on manual dexterity and the association with cognitive function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment" at the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity Annual Conference in Toronto, Canada.

Tre Smith, BA, History ’19, and a Seattle Police officer, is quoted in the Seattle Times Op-Ed “Dressed for success: Helping Black, brown students prepare for their futures.

Students

Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal VII

The seventh issue of the student research journal has been published. Read about how students and faculty work together to produce the annual publication.

2023 College of Arts and Sciences Student Awards

    • Richard P. Hickey Award - Cullin Egge (Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Bachelor of Social Work) 
    • Fr. William Le Roux, S.J. Leadership Award - Abigail Dean (Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, University Honors) 
    • Wallace Loh Academic Excellence Award – Ava B. Keating (Master of Arts in Psychology) 
    • Social Justice and Community Engagement Award –Adana Protonentis (Master of Public Administration)
    • Leadership and Professional Engagement Award – Brandon Bledsoe (Master of Criminal Justice, Research and Evaluation)

Amanda Morgan, Interdisciplinary Arts, specialization in Arts Leadership, is featured on arts writer Marcie Sillman’s blog in “The Unstoppable Amanda Morgan.” A soloist with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Amanda is earning her BA through Second Stage, our partnership with the ballet company. She founded Seattle Project, a multi-arts nonprofit featuring work by BIPOC and queer creators.

Brandon Bledsoe, MACJ/Research & Evaluation ’23, Received a Provost Graduate Fellowship to complete his PhD in Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati and will be receiving the Department of Criminal Justice, Criminology, & Forensics graduate program 2023 Norm Maleng Academic Excellence and Citizenship Award. The Norm Maleng Academic Excellence & Citizenship Award is awarded to an outstanding graduating student in the Master of Arts in Criminal Justice program. The award is named in honor or Norm Maleng, former King County Prosecutor, who for almost 30 years was a vocal advocate for reform in criminal justice and introduced many programs in Seattle related to victim’s rights and drugs.  Selection is based upon exceptional graduate work in the classroom and service to the community.

Joshua Bonilla, BS, Forensic Psychology ’23, was accepted into the Columbia University Master of Arts in Counseling Program.

Ashley Dobbs, MACJ/Investigative Criminology ’23, was hired as a Court Operations Associate with the Minnesota Judicial Branch.

Audrey Herold, MFA Arts Leadership student, produced a play called “The Forlornness,” June 2-4 at Bannan Auditorium. Based on primary source diary accounts of a haunting in 1923, “The Forlornness” was workshopped by Dacha Theatre in 2020. Part spooky ghost-story and part poignant & sentimental, ‘The Forlornness' feels like ‘The Woman in Black' by Stephen Mallatratt meets “Mary’s Wedding” by Stephen Massicote. This historical-fiction thriller explores grief, hope and saying “goodbye” before you’re ready,

Katie Kepler, MACJ/Victimology ’23, is in the process of applying for a position as an officer with the Seattle Police Department.

Evelyn Madrid-Fierro, BS, Criminal Justice/Forensic Science ’23, was hired as a Laboratory Technician with Eurofins.

Brandon Bledsoe and Katie Kepler are co-facilitating a spring practicum course, “Restorative Community-Police Dialogue Circles,” with SPD officers Matthew Roberson and Aaron Lucas.


Seattle University Debate Team

Debate coach Jim Hanson reports that the team finished the year on several high notes.

      • Chris Uzochukwu won the Climb Spring Championship tournament as the #1 Novice national champion and the #5 speaker.
      • Chris and partner Matthew Mattox advanced to the first year semi-finals at the YODL National Championship advancing as the #2 team. Chris and Matthew were in finals at the national circuit Vanderbilt tournament.
      • Alex Cruz and Ed Strok placed #2 at the Seattle Mini tournament. Julia Jenaro Barrio and Allison Tidwell were novice semi-finalists at the YODL 4 tournament. 
      • Tea'Ayanna Garvey was 3rdspeaker (Seattle Mini), Allison was 3rd speaker (YODL 4) and 5th speaker (Seattle Mini), Matthew was 2nd speaker (Seattle Mini), Julia was 1st (YODL 4), Alex 5th speaker (YODL 4) and 2nd speaker (Seattle Mini) and Ed Strok was 2nd speaker (Seattle Mini).

We also hosted four very large tournaments for elementary, middle school, and high school students in March and in May. Schools from throughout the Puget Sound plus Canada and China joined in for great competition. In total, we hosted more than 600 participants at our tournaments.