On Friday, June 9th, SEFS celebrated the graduation of the Class of 2023 at Kane Hall. 129 undergraduate students, 16 master’s students, and 11 Ph.D. students walked the stage, celebrating years of hard work and dedication.

Several phenomenal speakers imparted words of wisdom to this year’s graduating class, including SEFS Director Dan Brown, Maya Tolstoy, Dean of The College of the Environment, and alumnus Steve Rigdon, Yakama Tribal Member and General Manager Yakama Forest Products. They commended the resilience of the 2023 graduates in navigating a tumultuous period of online and in-person learning throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and conveyed lessons for the future.

Taylor Renee Ganz, this year’s graduate student speaker, regaled the crowd with a tale of perseverance, teamwork, and, well, geese, while sharing her experience studying wildlife science with SEFS Associate Professor Laura Prugh. The 2023 undergraduate student speaker, Maxwell Perkins, inspired attendees to find their sense of climate hope, in a world where it can be easy to lose sight of it.

Classmates and guests cheered on the Class of 2023 as they walked the stage, celebrating the incredible work they’ve done and will go on to do. Families, friends, faculty, and staff gathered after the ceremony for a reception in the Anderson Hall Courtyard.

A hearty thank you to Liz Collier, SEFS Graduate Program Advisor and Manager of Student and Academic Services, along with the many student and staff helpers who contributed to a smooth ceremony and reception. Additionally, we thank Professors Laura Prugh, Sergey Rabotyagov, and Brian Harvey for reading names.

College of the Environment Graduation Gift

In appreciation of the 2023 College of the Environment graduating class, the College is partnering with the Campus Sustainability Fund to help fund the Resiliency Tunnel Project for the UW Farm, a student-powered urban farm that provides locally grown produce to UW and the greater community through local partners and the UW Food Pantry. This gift will help fund the construction of a high tunnel, a USDA-approved method for season extension, to protect crops and extend the production season by multiple months. This project will incorporate small scale solar and rainwater catchment systems and provide an educational space for the community. We are excited to support this project and the increased sustainability of our Husky community.

Graduates: Contact sefscomm@uw.edu to request any pictures we might have taken of you during the ceremony or reception. Please subscribe to the SEFS Newsletter to keep up with our activities and alum adventures!