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Foster School of Business

News | March 10, 2023

“Hacking Inequity” Event Discusses Barriers for Women and BIPOC Developers

Last month, housing finance professionals, community members, and University of Washington faculty, staff, and students met in Founders Hall for “Hacking Inequity in Access to Real Estate Capital: Best Practices and New Options.” This event, hosted by Foster School of Business, Runstad Department of Real Estate, Urban@UW, and ULI Northwest, sought to present strategies of…


News | October 29, 2020

Amazon’s work from home policy means ‘tale of two cities’ for Seattle, Kent

Amazon’s decision to allow many employees to work from home until next summer is having dramatically different effects on two Puget Sound cities – Seattle and Kent. Seattle’s South Lake Union, the heart of the Amazon campus, is much quieter now than it was before the pandemic with so many employees working from home. “We’re seeing…


News | August 9, 2024

Are we on the brink of a tax revolt in Washington state?

Reported by Joshua McNichols for KUOW/NPR News Cities all over the region have big property tax levies on the ballot this year. There’s a transportation levy in Seattle, a levy to modernize the fire department in Tacoma, and a levy to pay for public safety and libraries in Everett. Increasingly, elected officials rely on these…


News | October 23, 2017

Best answer to Seattle affordability may win the race for mayor

The rising cost of housing is a dominant issue in Seattle’s mayoral election, but political messaging – on trust, results and leadership – could also move voters in the race between Jenny Durkan and Cary Moon.It’s a race away from a scandal and a race to become Seattle’s first woman mayor in about 90 years,…


News | January 24, 2023

Big Green School Bus

Hop in an Uber these days, and you’ll likely find yourself in a quiet, fuel-efficient hybrid vehicle. But millions of children are still riding to school in buses belching diesel fumes, a fuel more closely associated with a prior generation of tractor-trailer trucks. Maggie Polachek, graduate of the Foster School of Business, is working to…


News | May 1, 2019

Central District, other Seattle legacy communities are at risk — and we all need to help save them

In a new documentary about gentrification in the Central District, “On the Brink,” an advocate of Seattle’s historically African American neighborhood talks about recent construction projects in the area digging the soul out of that community. … The CD became a nearly 80% black neighborhood in the late 1960s and early ’70s because African Americans,…


News | November 26, 2024

Creating multi-sector teams to build cities where everyone thrives.

Research-to-Action Teams 2024-25 In April of 2024 two teams were selected for participation in the second cohort of the Research to Action Collaboratory. For 18 months Urban@UW will work with these teams to provide seed funds, dedicated time to building team cohesion and collaboration skills, and opportunities for peer support, shared resources, and learning. These…


News | April 23, 2020

For many Seattle-area small businesses, coronavirus aid comes with major risks

To understand just how hard it could be to recover from a COVID-19 recession, consider the case of Jim Harrer. Last week, the owner of kickboxing gyms in Kent and Federal Way learned he’d qualified for a $107,000 loan under the Payroll Protection Program — one of the last to do so before the U.S. Small…


News | August 22, 2022

Founders Hall will be a model of sustainable construction, carbon capture, energy and water conservation and natural cooling

As Foster School of Business students, faculty and staff anticipate enjoying the much-improved convenience, beauty and amenities of the newly constructed Founders Hall when it opens next month, they will be doing so in one of the region’s most sustainably constructed buildings. From carbon-sequestering construction materials to drought-resistant vegetation, every aspect of the building is…


News | January 12, 2022

How a Seattle community is supporting a tribe’s fight for its existence

The Duwamish tribe isn’t recognized by the US government. It doesn’t have its own reservation. More than a century of broken treaty promises, discriminatory laws and violence forced many of its people from their ancestral homelands in what is now the Seattle area. Still, the Duwamish continue to exist and fight for their survival. Today,…


News | March 10, 2020

How Coronavirus Shut Downs and Fears are Effecting Businesses in Seattle

Here at ground zero of the first and largest outbreak of the coronavirus in the United States, hardy residents in fleece and flannel are going about their daily lives as normally as possible.Children attend schools that have been deep-cleaned. Shoppers stock up on canned foods and paper towels, emptying pallets of toilet paper at their local Costco. Fishmonger…


News | October 18, 2024

How to avoid sharing election misinformation

Reported by Audrey Nguyen for NPR The 2024 election season is upon us. While Election Day is November 5, early voting started in September in some states. As we wait for the final results to be declared, chances are, you’re going to come across false or misleading information. To avoid spreading misinformation this election season,…


News | May 19, 2020

How will the COVID-19 pandemic reshape Seattle? Podcasting professor weighs in

What happens when seemingly unstoppable economic growth meets an irrepressible global pandemic? Seattle is finding out. The hard way. To get a uniquely informed perspective on the situation as it stands—and as it may look in the future—we turn to Jeff Shulman, the Marion B. Ingersoll Professor of Marketing at the Foster School of Business. For…


Scholar

Jeff Shulman

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News | November 26, 2024

Join Urban@UW in creating innovative solutions for city dwellers, today and into the future.

Support Urban@UW Urban@UW extends the understanding of cities—from people, buildings, infrastructure, and energy to economics, policy, culture, art, and nature—beyond individual topics to dynamically interdependent systems, so that we can holistically design and steward vibrant and welcoming cities in which future generations will thrive. Urban@UW works with scholars, policymakers, and community stakeholders to develop cross-disciplinary…


News | July 3, 2016

Looking ahead to July, Recapping June

Looking forward into July – Unlikely Allies is coming to Seattle right after July 4th weekend. Impact Hub Seattle is hosting the Unlikely Allies: Future of Cities Festival in partnership with the Impact Hub Company – the organization that coordinates the network’s 89 locations worldwide. More than 200 delegates from 70 cities will be joining…


News | August 1, 2016

Midsummer in Full Swing, A July Recap

While we are in the midst of a beautiful summer, things at the University of Washington and at Urban@UW are moving right along. We’ve seen some original writing, research, and even a podcast come out of community covering topics from marine noise pollution to data science and minimum wage to police reforms. The eScience Institute…


Scholar

Nancy Rivenburgh

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News | June 5, 2019

New documentary examines the impact of gentrification in Seattle

If you’ve been in our area for any length of time, you can probably recognize the changes occurring not only in downtown Seattle but across Western Washington. Many feel that gentrification of neighborhoods is stifling cultural communities and their history. On the Brink, a new documentary produced by University of Washington’s Foster School of Business…


News | July 14, 2020

On re-centering the poor in poverty politics

A conversation between LaShawnDa Pittman, American Ethnic Studies, and Jayna Milan, UW Marketing graduate, for the Relational Poverty Network. Jayna Milan: What are priority research topics on impoverishment in this moment? LaShawnDa Pittman: The first thing that I thought about when I saw this question was getting poor people access to the political system and…


News | May 29, 2016

Quick Recap: Here’s What Happened in May!

May saw a lot of wonderful events, visitors, and research coming out of the University of Washington community. Here’s a quick recap: The CBE PhD Program looked at the future of cities Patricia Romero Lankao visited to talk about the human dimension of climate change Seattle’s “diverse neighborhoods” are actually surprisingly segregated New lighting research…


News | November 5, 2019

Seattle area has undergone record growth. Now voters may reshape its politics.

The Seattle region has more of almost everything than it did just six years ago, when voters chose to elect City Council members by districts. The area has added 135,000 homes, but has seen its population swell by 400,000. Homelessness has spiked by a third. Amazon’s workforce here has exploded from 13,000 to nearly 55,000….


News | September 4, 2018

Seattle Growth Podcast 5.3: Homeless in Seattle

The fifth season of the Seattle Growth Podcast continues the wide-ranging conversation about the city’s growing homelessness crisis. “Each episode of this season brings voices from a variety of perspectives,” says podcast host Jeff Shulman Associate Professor of Marketing in the Foster school of Business. “Together, the episodes will help listeners understand homelessness from multiple angles, become better informed…


News | June 14, 2019

Seattle Growth Podcast 6.1: Finding community in a dynamic city

How do you find community in a city as dynamic as Seattle? Newcomers look for ways to connect to people and organizations. Longtime residents try to adjust to a city that looks and feels different than it did even five years ago. Season six of the Seattle Growth Podcast will bring diverse perspectives on how to build…


News | August 14, 2019

Seattle Growth Podcast 6.10: Case studies in building ‘neighborhood’ communities

Season six of the Seattle Growth Podcast, produced by UW Foster School of Business professor of marketing Jeff Shulman, has explored the many ways that Seattleites are building or finding a sense of community in a city that is growing and changing so rapidly. Episode 6.10 looks at efforts to build community within, well, communities. Neighborhoods…


News | October 3, 2019

Seattle Growth Podcast 6.11: Building community among filmmakers and film lovers

Seattle is a city of cinephiles. And film lovers and film makers, like other affinity groups, tend to seek each other out. Season six of the Seattle Growth Podcast continues its exploration of the myriad communities that have formed as the city grows and changes. Episode 11 introduces communities built around the movies. Vivian Hua, a local writer, filmmaker…


News | August 7, 2019

Seattle Growth Podcast 6.8: Empowering youth and underserved communities

“Community” is essential to people of all ages. As season six of the Seattle Growth Podcast by UW Foster School of Business professor of Marketing Jeff Shulman continues to explore how Seattleites are building or finding a sense of community in a city that is growing and changing so rapidly, episode 6.8 introduces two people who are committed to…


News | November 4, 2020

Seattle Growth Podcast 7.1: the pandemic’s effect on real estate and restaurants

Jeff Shulman created the Seattle Growth Podcast in 2016, a time when Seattle was in a state of profound transition while experiencing unprecedented economic and population growth. Shulman, the Marion B. Ingersoll Professor of Marketing at the University of Washington Foster School of Business, wanted to bring diverse voices together for a constructive dialogue about where Seattle has…


News | February 13, 2021

Seattle startup’s bright idea: High-tech crosswalk could signal a way to improve pedestrian safety

On a rainy, foggy night in Seattle, an incident in a crosswalk changed the path that Janie Bube was on. A University of Washington student at the time, Bube was walking near the Burke-Gilman Trail when she was hit by a bicyclist in December 2018. Nobody was hurt, but Bube was rattled enough to immediately…


News | September 25, 2018

Seattle-area women of color share how they navigate the workplace

Seven years ago, right before I moved to the United States from Singapore, the concept of equality was a resounding reassurance offered wherever I would go. Friends, neighbors and family members would say, “Everyone is equal there … you just have to work hard.” The cliché hits me in full force in hindsight, but back…


Course | OPMGT 579

Special Topics in Operations Management

Major topics in operations management and systems analysis. Emphasis on research and, where appropriate, application of quantitative analysis and computers. Topics vary, including workforce planning, project management, research and development management, quality assurance, technology planning and forecasting, systems analysis of complex organizations, and urban systems analysis.

Scholar

Tracey Seslen

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News | November 26, 2024

Urban@UW is working toward a future where cities are hubs of innovation, inclusivity, & sustainability.

Research-to-Action Teams 2023-2024 In April of 2023 the teams selected for the inaugural cohort of the Research to Action Collaboratory (RAC) were announced. These groups combine the research capabilities of University of Washington scholars with frontline leaders embedded in their communities and government officials who can codify change.  The Research-to-Action Collaboratory provides the teams with…


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Urban@UW unites research, community insight, and policy to drive innovation for resilient and equitable cities.

Inclusive Data-Driven Innovation for the Future of Cities Urban@UW extends the understanding of cities—from people, buildings, infrastructure, and energy to economics, policy, culture, art, and nature—beyond individual topics to dynamically interdependent systems, so that we can holistically design and steward vibrant and welcoming cities in which future generations will thrive. In partnership with the College…


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Urban@UW’s Research to Action Collaboratory provides funding, facilitation, & tools to empower cross-disciplinary teams to solve urban problems

About the RAC The Research to Action Collaboratory serves as a catalyst for research teams, building their transformational collaborative capacity to address today’s most pressing urban challenges. The RAC combines financial support, thought partnership, and skill-building to increase the capacity of scholars, community stakeholders, and the UW for impactful, collaborative research. Today’s most pressing problems—from…


News | January 23, 2024

What Happened to Seattle’s Relationship with Boeing?

The aftermath of the Alaska blowout reveals that the connection is slowly unraveling. From Seattle Met Written by Benjamin Cassidy IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH of the fuselage blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight earlier this month, Margaret O’Mara noticed something that would’ve once been unthinkable in Seattle. The University of Washington history professor observed that locals…


News | September 10, 2020

What will happen to Seattle’s empty office towers when COVID-19 ends?

As many white-collar employers extend into next year the work-from-home policies they instituted in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a vast amount of vertical space in downtown Seattle is leased but empty. The vacant space amounts to more than 700 football fields, by one estimate — acres of desks, with knickknacks and mementos that few…


News | July 26, 2024

With $50M infusion, UW to launch security center to fight research theft

Reported by Emerson Drewes for the Seattle Times The University of Washington will receive a $50 million investment over five years from the United States National Science Foundation to establish a national center for research security. Universities, including those in Washington, have been victims of cyberattacks and hacks in attempts to access, download, alter or…