SEFS Graduation Celebration 2023

SEFS Faculty during the 2023 graduation celebration.

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.

a group of graduates in cap and gown
The Class of 2023 stands to celebrate their accomplishments.

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.

SEFS students and Professor Brian Harvey
SEFS Associate Professor Brian Harvey poses with recent graduates and current students.

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.

An undergraduate student in the Bioresource Science and Engineering program celebrates with her advisors.

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!


2015 SEFS Graduation: Slideshow!

This past Friday, June 12, we honored the Class of 2015 at the SEFS Graduation Celebration. We heard great student speeches from Sam Israel and Stuart Jergensen, as well as a powerful keynote from SEFS alumna Melody Mobley (’79), and you could feel the pride beaming from friends and family packed into Kane Hall. It’s never easy to say farewell to such a special group of graduates, but we send them off knowing we’ll hear from them again soon—as alumni, as friends, as colleagues and as the future environmental leaders of the world!

If you’d like a glimpse of the fun, browse a gallery of photos from the ceremony and lunch reception afterward, or check out the slideshow below!

Photos © Karl Wirsing/SEFS.

Click here to view these pictures larger


Slideshow: 2014 SEFS Graduation Celebration!

This past Friday, June 13, we honored and celebrated with our latest graduating class, sending off an incredibly talented group of students to become the next leaders in their fields—both here at home in the Pacific Northwest, and all around the world. With families and friends packed into Kane Hall, and with professors and graduates in their splendid academic regalia, we heard terrific student speeches from Crescent Calimpong and Tara Wilson, and Professor David Ford had the room in stitches throughout his keynote address. It was a grand affair, and we even managed to wrangle (nearly all of) the graduates for some group photos.

If you’d like a glimpse of the action, take a look at a slideshow we put together from the ceremony and cupcake reception afterward!

Slideshow photos © Karl Wirsing/SEFS.


2013 SEFS Graduation Slideshow!

In case you missed the SEFS Graduation fun last Friday, we had a packed ceremony followed by a terrific reception in the Anderson Hall courtyard–where beaming families and friends enjoyed perfect sunshine and enough cupcakes to put their kids in orbit for a week!

We put together a brief slideshow to capture some of the energy, so take a look at the final send-off for our latest graduating class!

Photos © Karl Wirsing/SEFS.