Greetings!
What a privilege and joy it is to learn together at the UW in the Department of Scandinavian Studies. This fall I am teaching a course on the Nobel Prize in literature. It meets in Gowen 201, a lecture hall with big windows and long wooden desks. This week, the topic was the Icelandic Nobelist Halldór Laxness. The expert lecturer was department Assistant Teaching Professor Lauren Poyer. She helped the students understand Laxness’ advocacy for small communities in Iceland, living close to the land. The students’ interest filled the room with energy.
That energy is carrying them forward in their lives, too. We congratulated 12 new graduates in June 2022. I know nothing can stop them. Their attitudes are positive and their knowledge strong. They made it through the move to online teaching that lasted from spring 2020 to summer 2021. They barely batted an eye over the on-again-off-again in-person teaching plans of the Omicron months. We could not even serve them food or drink at their graduation ceremony: the caterer cancelled at the last moment due to COVID-caused staffing shortages. Yet, there they all were, knowledgeable and undeterred graduates. They were Dean’s List members, members of honors societies, and one of our majors even became a member of the Husky 100. How good it was to gather and celebrate our graduates and their families!
Also, please consider joining our department’s community list-serv, the Snowball -- JOIN SNOWBALL -- to keep apprised of all we have going on. We hope to see you at an upcoming event!
I hope you will celebrate and support the students, staff, and faculty of the Department of Scandinavian Studies once again this year. As we pursue our learning through study, teaching, and research, your generosity helps us reach the places our learning directs us to. Please give to the UW Scandinavian Studies' Friends of Scandinavian Languages & Literature Fund as you make your end-of-year philanthropic contributions.
With warmest holiday greetings!
Sincerely,
Andrew Nestingen
Professor and Chair
