people on ladders building a shed
• Misty Shock Rule

UW Facilities’ Salvage Wood Program gives campus trees a second life. When trees need to be cut down — due to construction, natural death, disease or other reasons — Facilities staff save the trees from the compost pile and transform them into usable wood for construction or woodworking. 

light rail train on elevated track with trees and buildings in the background
• Misty Shock Rule

When new Sound Transit light rail stations open this month, it will be a win for mobility around the region. It will also mean an upgrade to the U-PASS, said Bill Bryant, assistant director of UW Transportation Services.

Starting Aug. 30, the Link light rail will go north to Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace and Shoreline. The UW community will be able to easily explore more of the region thanks to the unlimited rides the U-PASS provides.

Boilers in UW Power Plant
• Misty Shock Rule

Decarbonizing UW operations is a big job that involves rebuilding the campus energy infrastructure, and it will take nearly a decade to complete. But it just got a boost from an unexpected source.

Right now, the UW burns natural gas to create steam and heat campus, emitting greenhouse gases. The University is at the beginning of an effort to decarbonize its energy system, called the Energy Transformation Strategy.

three women sit at computers and a teacher leans over the shoulder of woman on the right to help her
• Misty Shock Rule

Kye Lee, a UW custodian at the Physics/Astronomy Building, began his journey learning English almost 60 years ago, as a schoolboy in South Korea. Like many students who learn from textbooks, his reading comprehension skills were good, but he had trouble with speaking and pronunciation. By the time he moved to the United States, he was 50, a hard age to acquire a second language.

UW Quad with cherry trees
• Misty Shock Rule

Today, the Yoshino cherry trees in the UW’s Quad are as iconic to the University as Suzzallo Library and Drumheller Fountain. But it’s been 60 years since they were transplanted from the Arboretum, and even legends aren’t immortal. 

People standing in room with missing ceiling tiles and rubble in the background
• Misty Shock Rule

Late Friday afternoon before Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, Jodene Davis returned to her office in Mary Gates Hall, where she works as a director in Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Her colleagues pointed to the ceiling in the hall of their ground-floor suite. Water was coming out of the tiles, making its way down the wall and out the bottom of a doorframe. 

people in line on Red Square at night
• Misty Shock Rule

The challenge: Prepare the UW campus to host a live national TV show, manage hundreds of students lined up before dawn, and do it all on the busiest spot in campus. You have less than a week. Go.

Husky Stadium bathed in purple light
• Misty Shock Rule

Every September, UW sports fans return to campus decked out in Husky colors — but this year, they won’t be the only ones creating a purple haze on Montlake. The venues can turn purple too, thanks to new sports lighting.

U District light rail station
• Misty Shock Rule

According to the most recent survey, 13% of the UW community is driving to campus alone, a record low. The numbers reflect the continued impact of remote work as well as support for mass transit despite post-pandemic declines.

coyote walking on UW campus near Denny Hall
• Misty Shock Rule

The UW campus is not only a home for higher learning, it’s also a home to wildlife. Rabbits, ducks, geese, deer, squirrels and more all enjoy the UW’s hundreds of acres of lawns, hidden gardens and green space. And then there are the coyotes.