ScholarWorks @ SeattleU (Seattle University)

El-Sherbeeny, Abdullah

Seattle University 
ScholarWorks @ SeattleU 
The Spectator Online Newspapers 
4-16-2025 
2025-04-16 Seattle U Credit Union Initiative Empowers Students 
with Financial Knowledge 
Abdullah El-Sherbeeny 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/spectator-online 
The Spectator • April 16, 2025 • https://seattlespectator.com/2025/04/16/seattle-u-credit-union-
initiative-empowers-students-with-financial-knowledge/
Seattle U Credit Union Initiative
Empowers Students with
Financial Knowledge
Abdullah El-Sherbeeny, Staff Reporter
What if there was an opportunity for students to simulate a
real-world working environment, gaining valuable
experience? The Seattle University Credit Union Initiative
(SUCUI) is a student-run not-for-profit program that aims
to help students run financial cooperatives.
Cisco Smith, the program advisor, is the adjunct professor
and chairman of the initiative. He has 20 years of
experience in the credit union space and graduated from
Seattle U with a degree in political science. 
Smith has long aimed to help create a program in which
students can gain useful financial experience to aid them in
the real world. He was inspired as an undergraduate at
Seattle U to create a credit union run by students. The idea
came to him when he visited Georgetown University (GU)
and saw that they had a student credit union. 
After visiting the Student Union Building on a tour at GU, Smith noticed a poster on the window with the caption ‘ How would you
like to be CEO of a multimillion-dollar financial institution before you graduate?’ Seeing this, he knew he had struck gold.
“I remember asking the student tour guide. ‘Excuse me, but what’s that?’ And she says, ‘Oh, that’s our completely student-run and
operated credit union. Yes, they’re running a financial institution like a bank and there’s a student, CEO all the way down.’ Light
bulb!” Smith said. 
Smith worked on making this project come to life, securing funding after pitching the idea to the administration. With a small
student team, the SUCUI program started its inauguration in January 2024. 
The team consists mainly of students, including Emma Nguyen, Clark Hayashi and Ana Giordano. The team, each with their
executive role, specializes in their field to help build skills in the proper workplace. 
Nguyen, a third-year individualized business major and the chief executive officer of SUCUI, shared how the program works in favor
of students. 
Zam Ortega
“One of the main things that we talk about is the benefits that students get for working internally within our organization. Cisco
mentioned how our overhead costs are a lot lower, because we don’t have paid employees.  All the students that work internally are
referred to more as student interns, and so they aren’t paid like in a typical job that you would work. We get a lot of other different
benefits,” Nguyen said.
Some benefits Nguyen discussed include academic credit for each quarter, working for the program, skill building and resume skills.
Additionally, the club offers many internship opportunities and other benefits for most majors, thanks to Smith’s extensive
network. 
The club is trying to emphasize financial literacy, a vital part of a student’s career, both in and out of college. 
Clark Hayashi, a third-year business analytics and marketing double major and the chief operating officer, shared the importance of
financial literacy at SUCUI. 
“Our goal for people who come [is]we want them to have the knowledge to make the right decisions, budget correctly, understand
what is a credit card and what is a debit card and to be successful when they end up leaving college because as you know, college is
super expensive and want to make the most out of the investment,” Hayashi said.
SUCUI holds a meeting every Friday, which anyone can attend by requesting online on their website, www.sucui.org. The program
will hold its first formal event April 24 in the student center, focusing on understanding credit.  
SUCUI is a space meant for students to gain education on finances and credit. The initiative also provides a space for students to
experience real-life business, marketing, accounting and much more. SUCUI aims to help develop skills for the future, a future
where students can be properly educated about their investments and finances. 


English

2025-04-16 Seattle U Credit Union Initiative Empowers Students with Financial Knowledge

As if being the first Wimbledon winner in over 20 years whose name wasn’t Djokovic, Federer, Murray, or Nadal wasn’t enough, Carlos Alcaraz’s victory was even more astonishing considering he came back after being handily dealt with by Djokovic in the first set of the final 1-6. Alcaraz’s miraculous recovery might be explained by a shift of flow in the game in his favor. In this paper, we compare two models that both interpret a small amount of past data within a given tennis match to determine which player has the current advantage, or “flow,” in the next game. We then analyze the data provided to us, determine the advantages one player may have over another, and use them to further enhance our models. Afterward, we discuss our findings and how our model could be improved. We finish by generalizing our model to predict what would change if the tournament was held on a different playing surface or if it was used in Women’s Professional Tennis

Baldwin-McCurdy, Patrick

Habib, Alexander

Joseph, Abey

Modeling and Predicting Momentum in Tennis Games

Seattle University 
ScholarWorks @ SeattleU 
The Spectator Online Newspapers 
3-5-2025 
2025-03-05 Broadway Garage Brings Unease to Students 
Abdullah El-Sherbeeny 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/spectator-online 
The Spectator • March 5, 2025 • https://seattlespectator.com/2025/03/05/broadway-garage-brings-
unease-to-students/
Broadway Garage Brings Unease
to Students
Abdullah El-Sherbeeny, Staff Reporter
It’s not an uncommon experience for students at Seattle
University to receive emails from Public Safety informing
the study body about a break-in or a theft in the Broadway
Garage. There have been past incidents regarding
carjackings and robberies in the garage, which have left
students feeling uneasy about the location. 
The Broadway Garage is known to have a lot of traffic due
to many people utilizing the space. The garage has eight
parking levels, which allows for ample parking space. In
addition, it borders Broadway and Marion Street, which
allows easy access to the public. 
The downside to the big space, public access and traffic is
the difficulty in managing the space. Randy Merced is the
executive director of Public Safety at the university, and he shared
what concerns students have about the Broadway Garage. 
“When I first got here, I got to meet a lot of faculty, staff and
students and I asked them, what basic question, what’s their biggest
concern? A lot of them said this Broadway Garage was a big
concern. There was—and I didn’t understand the nuances until I
actually went to the Broadway Garage. I found that there is a
concern because it’s right on the street of Broadway and there was
no barriers there, so anybody could walk in and out all day long,”
Merced said. 
The lack of barriers and gates around the parking garage has led to
people roaming freely around the garage with no security for
students who park their cars in the lots. This has caused uneasiness
for many who use that space. 
Merced mentioned that he had to stop a couple of individuals behaving “suspiciously” from entering the garage, worrying that they
might steal something. Merced warned that one of the simple methods for carjackers to take cars there is going around and
checking for unlocked car doors. 
The concern of criminal activity near the Broadway Garage has been present even before Merced joined Public Safety. 
Eve Labriola
The north entrance to the Broadway parking lot.
Cars line the third floor of the parking lot. (Eve Labriola)
“It’s been consistent and a lot of nuisance crime. They’re breaking car windows, you know, getting change out of the console, or if
somebody decides [to leave their] laptop there, they’ll break in and try to steal something,” Merced said.
Carjackers usually target the items inside the cars. Catalytic converters are another common target, as well as bicycles. Chris
Wilcoxen, assistant director of emergency operations at Public Safety, shared how this is an issue with most parking garages. 
“Sometimes the bicycles are targeted for components or something
like that on occasion, and there has been. There was a rash, especially
last year, of catalytic converters, fast citywide well, region-wide so,
and we had a little bit of that as well. And yeah, those were main
concerns, just as we always, you know, want our facilities to be the
best that they can,” Wilcoxen said.
Among some of the heavy traffic in the garage, there are some willing
to take the risk of parking in the Broadway Garage. One of those
individuals is Colene Angkico, a 2024 Seattle U alumna. 
Angkico parks in the Broadway garage often to attend some meetings
on campus. However, she makes sure to stay cautious when she uses
the space. She hides her valuables by either putting them in the trunk
or covering things in the car to make sure nothing is visible. 
“Not leaving things visible like, even if it’s something like a bag of chips. If somebody’s desperate enough, they’ll see it, and they’ll be
like, okay, it’s worth breaking into this person’s car for this thing that’s not as valuable,” Angkico said. 
Public Safety has started taking the initiative to make the Broadway garage safer. Merced talked about how Public Safety has been
working on a barrier that will help prevent traffic in the garage. The barrier was initially going to be up by last Christmas, but wasn’t
due to delayed supply. 
“They weren’t ready at that point. So once they got ready, they started working in earnest, making sure that it’s done. But again, this
has been a problem well, before I started, and it’s been recognized by the institution as a continual problem, and the institution has
taken steps,” Merced said. 
Even with the barrier, Wilcoxen advises students to stay safe and not leave valuables visible in their cars. Students should keep
clutter and valuables hidden so as not to encourage break-ins. 
Angkico shared that she uses Public Safety as a resource as well by calling them to take her to her car when she feels unsafe or it’s
too late at night.
There are multiple ways to ensure your car will not be broken into garages. However, Seattle U is working to improve that so there
won’t be break-ins by installing barriers and enhancing security for campus safety. 
The first floor entrance to the Broadway parking lot.
(Eve Labriola)


2025-03-05 Broadway Garage Brings Unease to Students

Albright, Isaiah

Seattle University 
ScholarWorks @ SeattleU 
The Spectator Online Newspapers 
3-5-2025 
2025-03-05 Federal Politics Pose Potential Threat to Seattle U DEI 
Programs 
Isaiah Albright 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/spectator-online 
The Spectator • March 5, 2025 • https://seattlespectator.com/2025/03/05/federal-politics-pose-
potential-threat-to-seattle-u-dei-programs/
Federal Politics Pose Potential
Threat to Seattle U DEI
Programs
Isaiah Albright, Volunteer Reporter
Ever since the inauguration of President Donald Trump,
there has been a slew of executive orders put in place that
have shifted the trajectory of policies in our country. Of the
many policies is one that has been in the news long before
Trump came into the Oval Office: DEI. Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion (DEI) is a framework set in place that helps
organizations reach out to often underrepresented
candidates and allow them opportunities that are not
always granted to members of their communities. It’s a way
for schools and businesses to acknowledge the social and
economic disparities across the country and do better at
allowing for others to have an opportunity.
In the face of the current political climate, Natasha Martin,
vice president of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI)
at Seattle University, emphasized the importance of DEI at
SU.
“As a Jesuit Catholic University, we see no dichotomy between academic excellence and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging—
these principles are integral to who we are as a learning community,” Martin wrote in an email to The Spectator.
Thursday, Feb. 27, the Business Leaders of Color Coalition organization at Seattle U hosted a DEI panel with Gerald Corporal, the
assistant dean of student engagement. He talked about how he ran a pre-college summer business institute that faced some
roadblocks starting in 2023. 
After the U.S. Supreme Court ended affirmative action in higher education, the business program was required to be open to
everyone, not just students of color and those from disenfranchised neighborhoods. When the program was opened to everyone,
Corporal still made it a mission to go to the overlooked neighborhoods in the city and make the program known to the high school
students who the program was initially for.
“While there is a feeling of security, there is also a feeling of anxiety,” Corporal said, speaking to the current status of DEI programs.
For Corporal, the uncertainty of not knowing what could happen next is scary. There is genuine cause for concern when it comes to
job security and what the rolling back of these practices across the country could mean for our faculty.
Annabelle DeGuzman-Carino
Martin sees the ODI as an integral part of the mission of the university. Inclusivity is a framework that is part of the university’s goal
to foster an environment that is welcoming of multiple backgrounds. The goal is “inclusive academic excellence” which fosters an
environment in which staff and students feel they belong and are welcomed at Seattle U. 
“Seattle University remains steadfast in its commitment to inclusive academic excellence as a core value. Regardless of external
political pressures, the values of diversity, equity and inclusion will continue to be a priority at Seattle University, ensuring that our
community remains welcoming, inclusive, and supportive for all,” Martin wrote.
Lucy Cress, a fourth-year social work major, criticized aspects of Seattle U’s approach to DEI.
“I feel like SU’s approach to DEI is very administration-led in a way that can feel performative. I feel really grateful to get to hear
from some remarkable speakers at events like the Racial Equity Summit, but I feel like the university markets these events to boost
its image, more so than it listens to student concerns regarding diversity and inclusion. From a student-led perspective, there is a lot
of diversity and energy amongst the student clubs, both cultural and social issue focused, whose events are widely promoted
around the school,” Cress said.
Cress emphasized areas she feels the school could improve in terms of supporting minority students, including more involvement of
queer students and students of color in university event planning.  She also discussed handling sensitive topics in discourse between
administration and students.
“Topics of racial justice have not always been well received in spaces where student opinion is heard, like the President’s town hall
last spring where he refused to denounce the genocide in Gaza as students vulnerably shared why this was important to them,”
Cress said.
DEI has helped in fostering inclusivity at Seattle U. Corporal and Martin have highlighted that Seattle U is a school that has created
an environment for inclusivity while Cress called attention to necessary areas of improvement with programs on campus and
communication between administration and students.


2025-03-05 Federal Politics Pose Potential Threat to Seattle U DEI Programs

Miller, James

Fragments 
Volume 67 Discarnate Article 7 
2025 
Empty 
James Miller 
Seattle University 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/fragments 
Recommended Citation 
Miller, James (2025) "Empty," Fragments: Vol. 67, Article 7. 
Available at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/fragments/vol67/iss1/7 
This Poetry is brought to you for free and open access by the Seattle University Journals at ScholarWorks @ 
SeattleU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fragments by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks @ SeattleU. 
Empty by James Miller 
I gave you a sorry 
like the last dollar 
in my pocket. 
I’m coming up 
Empty— 
my stomach 
void of its acid 
shoves nothing 
from my throat, 
gagging. 
I know I’m low 
when their smiles blind 
like hospital lights 
And bind like 
white wristbands. 
I look down 
so they can’t see 
my face— 
eyes vacant, 
pupils dilated. 


Empty

Shelf, Trudy

Fragments 
Volume 67 Discarnate Article 11 
2025 
Ode on My Anchor 
Trudy Shelf 
Seattle University 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/fragments 
Recommended Citation 
Shelf, Trudy (2025) "Ode on My Anchor," Fragments: Vol. 67, Article 11. 
Available at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/fragments/vol67/iss1/11 
This Poetry is brought to you for free and open access by the Seattle University Journals at ScholarWorks @ 
SeattleU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fragments by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks @ SeattleU. 
Ode on My Anchor by Trudy Shelf 
My naked body, washed ashore 
tied down by one breast, 
rusted amber brown by times weariness 
Scar tissue wrapped around my skin like 
slimy seaweed - a reminder 
of a girl, barely sixteen, 
Hoping her mind was made up, hoping no 
wave would come and take her away 
Now nearly twenty and 
my anchor rests heavy on my chest and  
the metal bites at my ribs 
I feel the sand in my hair and  
the sun blossoms orange through my eyelids 
I reflect on ramifications and wonder 
Am I being punished by an  
all-knowing feminist god? 
I remember when my scars were baby pink 
newborn 
Fresh faced and the waves were frigid, falling 
Now on the beach, my anchor glows  
golden rays on golden, raise 
my hand, I block the light 
Now on the beach, I am not tied down 
but warmly embraced 


Ode on My Anchor

Renn, Emma

Fragments 
Volume 67 Discarnate Article 20 
2025 
To Be a Mushroom 
Emma Renn 
Seattle University 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/fragments 
Recommended Citation 
Renn, Emma (2025) "To Be a Mushroom," Fragments: Vol. 67, Article 20. 
Available at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/fragments/vol67/iss1/20 
This Prose is brought to you for free and open access by the Seattle University Journals at ScholarWorks @ 
SeattleU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fragments by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks @ SeattleU. 
To Be a Mushroom by Emma Renn 
I want to be like a mushroom, to communicate to others across bodies1. Not mind-
reading per se, but I want to be like a mushroom. Tough, an acquired taste, something 
that takes a little bit of work. Maybe a little poisonous to some, or maybe poisonous in 
just some forms. I want to be like a mushroom and be centuries old with all the wisdom 
and language and power that comes with it. I want to be unstoppable, uncroppable, un-
something-or-another-able. I want to be powerful.  
People question if how they communicate is language2, but that means defining 
something according to human terms and the confines of linguistics. These 
communications mimicking language speak to something beyond carnal, an electrical 
signal3—like the synapses in our brains. Beyond the caricature of human as superior, of 
nature as something to dominative, cultivate, and force assimilation. I want to be like a 
mushroom, and though I struggle with the taste and texture (maybe inherited from my 
mother), I want to have that intangible power to create something that is ours, not that it 
belongs to us, but that in our relationship, we form a bond of ours. Where instead of 
being separate, our roots nestle together, finding the space in between, we protect the 
young, the slightly deformed, and welcome harvest season. Because we are not inherently 
separate, though the myth prevails that we are, community ends up on top, and I yearn for 
my kindred spirits here  
I want to be like a mushroom, where my body no longer carries this invisible 
weight – or maybe that’s just gravity. I want to be separate from the form I am in, and 
find my spirit as something different, as something found. Maybe I don’t want to be a 
mushroom at all, maybe I just want to be recognized by those around me, fitting into the 
spaces so that our homes intertwine, our bodies safe as well as our minds. I want to be 
found in a community that talks to one another and sustains the life of every one and 
every bit of nature. I want to be like a mushroom in that I live in harmony with the nature 
around me. But for now, I’ll settle into a little life of cultivating the kindred spirits around 
me, and once in a while, when the electrical signals fire in my brain, I’ll find some bit of 
nature worth holding onto.  
  
 
1 Mesa, N. (2022). Can mushrooms ‘talk’ to each other? The Scientist. https://www.the-scientist.com/can-
mushrooms-talk-to-each-other-69885 
2 Mesa (2022). 
3 Mesa (2022). 


To Be a Mushroom

Editors of the Spectator

Spectator 2025-04-17

Ahmed, Hadia Noor

Seattle University 
ScholarWorks @ SeattleU 
The Spectator Online Newspapers 
5-21-2025 
2025-05-21 SUPER UW Protests Aims to Disrupt UW Complicity 
Hadia Noor Ahmed 
Seattle University 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/spectator-online 
Recommended Citation 
Ahmed, Hadia Noor, "2025-05-21 SUPER UW Protests Aims to Disrupt UW Complicity" (2025). The 
Spectator Online. 1458. 
https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/spectator-online/1458 
This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Newspapers at ScholarWorks @ SeattleU. It 
has been accepted for inclusion in The Spectator Online by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ 
SeattleU. 
The Spectator • May 21, 2025 • https://seattlespectator.com/2025/05/21/super-uw-protests-aims-to-
disrupt-uw-complicity/
SUPER UW Protests Aims to
Disrupt UW Complicity
Hadia Noor Ahmed, Staff Reporter
The genocide in Gaza has been livestreamed on our phones
and media for over a year now, and students are still finding
ways to capture the attention of universities and larger
audiences. 
Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return, or
SUPER UW, is a pro-Palestinian student organization based
in Seattle. On May 5, their Instagram account announced
that University of Washington (UW) students were
occupying the newly built Interdisciplinary Engineering
Building (IEB) on the UW campus. The occupation was in
protest of the university’s partnership with Boeing, which is
a company that has sent, and is still sending, armed
weapons to the Israeli Defense Forces. Over 20 students
were arrested by the Seattle Police Department and have
now been released, but are facing suspensions by the university. 
Noah Weight is a fourth-year at UW and spokesperson for SUPER
UW.  
“The main demands were to get Boeing out of the IEB and get
Boeing off of campus because of Boeing’s role in manufacturing the
GBU 39s, the Apache helicopters and Hellfire missiles, the Joint
Direct Attack Munition, weaponry that the Zionist state Israel uses
in their genocidal onslaught in Palestine,” Weight said. 
Weight acknowledged that UW has deep ties to Boeing and
divestment isn’t something that will immediately be achieved, but
SUPER intended May 5’s action to re-energize the student
movement. 
Already a year ago, students took part in an encampment on the UW campus in protest of the war on Gaza and demanded that the
university divest from all complicit indentures—specifically from Boeing, which, at the time, had just donated $10 million to the
construction of what is now the IEB. 
Eve Labriola
The Husky Union Building reflects the sun's light.
A sign reading “YOUR VOICE YOUR UW” is planted on
UW campus.
After almost three weeks, the organizers of the encampment, which was led by the UW United Front for Palestinian Liberation, did
come to an agreement with the UW administration. While no progress was made on the front of getting the university to divest
from Boeing, the university committed to funding a minimum of 20 scholarships for students displaced in Gaza as well as working
on building committees to look at divestment proposals and work on tackling Islamophobia and hate against Palestinians, Arabs and
Muslim identifying students. 
In return, the students and organizers of the encampment had to remove themselves from campus and not re-establish another
encampment. 
Weight spoke for SUPER on how they viewed the deal that was made. 
“For us, the deal that was signed—it didn’t actually do anything to address any of the demands that people had as part of the
Liberated Zone. The demands that the Liberated Zone was set up under and that people thought they were there to uphold were
divest materially and academically from Israel, cut ties with Boeing and stop their repression of pro-Palestinian students, faculty
and staff. The deal that was signed did none of that. Divestment has not happened,” Weight said. 
Part of the deal was for UW’s Board of Regents to decide whether an Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing
(ACSRI) was eligible to convene and work on addressing the divestment proposals students were coming to the administration with.
The Board of Regents met this past March and voted overwhelmingly against the committee. This reflects SUPER’s frustration at
the UW admin for not taking the students seriously. 
A Palestinian student at UW who wished to stay anonymous spoke about their thoughts on the May 5 IEB occupation, specifically
referencing the deal made with the UW admin. They acknowledged that SUPER’s intentions were to bring awareness back to the
Palestinian cause and that anyone’s anger towards the complicity of UW is justified; however, in this instance, it needed to be
directed in a different direction.  
“It wasn’t a strategic action either when you consider the context, that many students are supposed to come here on scholarships
given by the university. Although the university has been disappointing in taking a strong stand, going against them in this way only
gives them an excuse to further jeopardize the terms of the agreement that they came to following last year’s encampment,” the
student said.
Weight did recognize that there is a chance the administration uses
this as a way to divide the student movement and go after the
student scholarships, but hopes that, because no encampment has re-
established, UW has no grounds to go back on their word. 
Associate Professor of History and International Studies Nova
Robinson is a modern Middle Eastern historian at Seattle University.
She discussed how movements in the past have used property
destruction to bring awareness to a cause, but the actual damage
ends up overshadowing the cause itself.
“In this instance, I think that the students felt that their actions were
necessary, but I also think that choosing to target that building
might’ve had some negative consequences for their larger cause
because I don’t hear people talking about Palestinians. I don’t hear
them talking about starvation. I don’t hear them talking about
genocide. I hear them talking about the dumpster fires,” Robinson said.  
Reign Riley is a fourth-year sociology major and the co-president of the Direct Action Coalition (DAC) at Seattle U, a club dedicated
to mobilizing students to bring about change. Riley reflected that the DAC stands with the statement made by Seattle University
Students for Justice in Palestine, who supported the actions of SUPER and condemned both UW and the Seattle Police
Department. 
Riley talked to us further about the role of the media in portraying actions like that of the May 5 building occupation.
“Media plays a huge role in shaping how people see these protests,” Riley said. “Most coverage focuses on the spectacle—students
occupying buildings, breaking university code, disrupting campus life.”
Students study in the Interdisciplinary Engineering
Building. (Eve Labriola)
But Riley emphasized that there’s more beneath the surface.
“What doesn’t get enough coverage is why students are taking those actions. These universities are deeply entangled in unethical
investments and institutional partnerships, and students want them out of it. If you’re not someone who’s already sympathetic, or a
student yourself, it’s easy to just see a group of 20-year-olds causing trouble,” Riley said. 
The IEB occupation by students brings about a conversation focused on intention, follow-through and ultimately questioning the
role of students, faculty and everyone else in breaking the silence on genocide. 
The actions and ripple effects of the May 5 occupation aren’t over. SUPER shared that the 33 students and community members
who occupied the IEB building are still facing suspension and other charges by UW. With a toolkit to “Defend UW33” and a
GoFundMe, SUPER is calling on the community to show up for the students facing retaliatory charges. 
Students have proven throughout the country that they are willing to risk arrest to disrupt the complicity of universities and
companies to the genocide in Gaza, but how do we sift through the noise of protest to find the heart of the cause? 
It starts by choosing to really listen, because behind the noise, lives are being lost. 


2025-05-21 SUPER UW Protests Aims to Disrupt UW Complicity

Scott, Tristan

Seattle University 
ScholarWorks @ SeattleU 
The Spectator Online Newspapers 
4-30-2025 
2025-04-30 Q&A With Dan Turner, New Dean of the Albers School 
of Business 
Tristan Scott 
Seattle University 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/spectator-online 
Recommended Citation 
Scott, Tristan, "2025-04-30 Q&A With Dan Turner, New Dean of the Albers School of Business" (2025). The 
Spectator Online. 1473. 
https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/spectator-online/1473 
This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Newspapers at ScholarWorks @ SeattleU. It 
has been accepted for inclusion in The Spectator Online by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ 
SeattleU. 
The Spectator • April 30, 2025 • https://seattlespectator.com/2025/04/30/qa-with-dan-turner-new-
dean-of-the-albers-school-of-business/
Q&A With Dan Turner, New Dean
of the Albers School of Business
Tristan Scott, Staff Reporter
The search for Seattle University’s new dean for the Albers
School of Business and Economics came to an end March
26, as former Associate Dean of the University of
Washington’s Foster School of Business Dan Turner was
selected for the role. The Spectator was given an
opportunity to sit down and talk with Turner about his past
experiences and future goals. The following article contains
excerpts from this interview, originally conducted on April
24. Initials have been used to indicate the speaker.
TS: Tell me a bit about yourself and your background.
DT: I’m a 26-year Seattle resident. UW [University of
Washington] was my first academic job after graduating from [the]
Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. An important thing
to know about me is that I’m a first-generation college student. I
believe tremendously in the transformative power of education. I’m
also a product of a Jesuit undergrad. I’m from St. Louis, Mo. I had an
amazing four years at St. Louis University. Please do not look up my
academic transcripts, the first two years are fine, but I was definitely
finding my way as a first-generation student. I just believe
tremendously in the power of values-driven, Jesuit education and
educating the whole person.
TS: What’s a fun fact about you that people may find surprising?
DT: I would humbly place myself as a candidate for world’s slowest but most consistent long-distance runner. I run every day,
sometimes against medical advice. It’s my time to do something positive for my body, but also to think, reflect, unpack and
transform. 
TS: What drew you to work in education?
DT: There’s lots of things that people can enjoy in the world, that are sustaining, that literally keep them alive. And for me, given the
experience I had as an undergraduate, it’s fundamentally education. The Jesuit backdrop that I had helped my understanding not
just of how the world works, but feeling like I now sort of understood my place in it. I did pursue a corporate career, an MBA, that
route, but I kept just being called back to education. I saw it as my best opportunity to live my values, and the way to positively
impact others. It was just this love of always being a student. Always learning that the world has lessons for us to discover. 
Image courtesy of the University of Washington.
TS: How has being a first-generation college student impacted your experience working in higher education?
DT: I hope that I’m more open than someone without that experience would be. The challenges faced are high for folks who don’t
have the framework or the same kinds of resources going in. That impacts how I think about presenting these fundamentally
transformative programs and experiences to students. If I had a brand, it would be “Dan, the structurally inclusive guy.”
I’m not going to bash the experience that I had as an undergrad. It was very welcoming, but I have this pivotal experience that I
remember in a class I took on macroeconomics. The professor posed a question to the group and asked for volunteers. As a first-
generation college student, what I was most comfortable with was sitting in the back, being quiet, not saying anything. I knew that if
I could keep things under wraps, I wouldn’t feel exposed. I thought the question was kind of obvious, so I must have rolled my eyes or
something, and the professor saw that and called on me. I was petrified. I knew the answer. But it took five calls in succession for me
to even get my name out. I was just so paralyzed by the fact that the attention would be centered around me.
As I got a little older, I started looking at the literature on education and how you can address this. The pedagogy has really revolved
around creating developmental experiences that are structurally inclusive, like creating a space that leverages peer-to-peer
conversations in small groups as a starting point for being able to express yourself. Hopefully, at some point, we all reach a stage
where that kind of structural inclusion isn’t necessary, but that’s not the world today. It certainly wasn’t the world I experienced.
TS: What drew you to Seattle University?
DT: I think the two most important things to me are culture and the composition of that culture. One of the things I think I would
appreciate students knowing about their own community is that, for an outsider, the culture is very cohesive. Every person is
individual, they all have their own experience. There’s always this common thread that pulls through. There are things that unite the
community in a way that I think I haven’t seen in many other institutions. At the same time, there’s clearly strength in our
differences.
TS: What’s something you learned during your time at UW that you hope to bring with you to Seattle U?
DT: One of my favorite concepts in marketing can absolutely be applied to leadership. I’ve done this exercise with many groups of
students before. Essentially, you take a group of people who have experience working in some kind of team setting. You give them a
list of leadership characteristics and ask them to rank the three or five most important characteristics. Then, have people rate their
current leaders on those same characteristics. Marketers do this all the time: if affordability is ranked as important but our product
isn’t affordable, that gap is an issue. The percentages vary, but one of the top three items is always that leaders should be inspiring.
In one study I read, 55% of people stated that having an inspirational leader was important to them. I’ll let you guess, what do you
think the percentage of followers who rate their leaders as inspiring is? 
TS: I would assume lower, maybe in the 30s?
DT: That’s very generous, you must have had some great leaders! It was about 11%, the biggest gap across all characteristics. Any
time I’ve replicated this, it always comes out that the biggest gap is on this inspirational dimension. How do you address this? By just
authentically living your values. Leaders are human. They make mistakes. But you can trust when they say something or do
something, that they’re doing it in pursuit of their goals. You have to be authentic in that process. You have to listen to folks as much
as you can.
TS: What are some goals you’re hoping to accomplish next year?
That’s a very exciting question! I’m not quite ready to spring a plan
just yet. When you join an institution, which I haven’t done for a
while, you suffer this challenge that you don’t know what you don’t
know. In finance, we call these “unknown unknowns.” It’s helpful to
think a lot about what your interests are and what you’re hoping to
achieve, but in those first 100 days as a leader you need to be able
to listen to the community and understand what they think is
important. 
There are, of course, some things I can’t give up on. Structurally
inclusive learning, thinking openly, asking questions. Currently, the
impact of climate stressors on human well-being is important for
Alan Behar
me to think about. The way that we are living is not very sustainable. Business has helped create that challenge, but I also think of it
as a pathway to addressing those challenges. Making sure that academic enterprises, including business, are prepared to address
the challenges of the day. 
In a more long-term sense, I would love to elevate Seattle University’s reputation in the local business community, regionally, on the
world and perhaps global stage. The Albers School has had a really successful, phenomenally long-serving impact. I’d love to be able
to help share that story.
TS: Do you have any closing thoughts to share with the people of Seattle University?
DT: The most impactful thing that I can share with students is congratulations. You’ve made the decision to play the long game. Your
short-term performance matters, but remember why you’re here. You’re here for a developmental experience, a network of lifelong
individuals that elevates your ability to impact the world, not just at your summer internship or at graduation, but over the next five,
10, 20 years.
The other thing that I would say to folks in general is the institution you’re in, whether it’s Seattle U or not, is really competitive. It’s
hard to get in. It’s really hard to be here, but everybody experiences that challenge. We have this beautiful ability to lean on one
another. We have the chance to offer support to other members of the community. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it is a
sign of strength. It’s important to me that we’re all students, whatever level we’re at.
Turner will begin his time at Seattle U July 1, 2025.


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