The Winter 2026 Arctic Task Force brought Jackson School students together to examine Arctic geopolitics, environmental change, and Indigenous rights amid shifting regional leadership in the Arctic Council. Through collaborative research and engagement with expert evaluators, students developed policy recommendations centered on Indigenous knowledge, self-determination, and international cooperation. Michelle Koutnik, shares her experience as the

On February 19th, the Center for Canadian & Arctic Studies hosted a Greenland Roundtable featuring Simon Lynge, John Johnson, Michelle Koutnik, and Jose Miguel Roncero Martin. Simon Lynge, a featured speaker, was interviewed for The Seattle Times. Read the article here. Greenland is an autonomous and self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark which is

Corbett Exchange Program alum Kendall Hutchison Acker (2019-20) graduated this spring from Claremont Graduate University with a master’s degree in American History and Museum Studies, and was selected as the student commencement speaker for 2025. Her thesis, The Price Tag of a 5-Star Culture: Cultural Performance and the Politics of Luxury in Oʻahu Hotels, examines how

Longtime Corbett Exchange Program manager and program coordinator for the Center, Marion Ferguson, has accepted a new position at the University of Washington. On June 16, Marion will begin serving as assistant director for undergraduate programs at UW CIRCLE (Center for International Relations and Cultural Leadership Exchange), overseeing the programming and services that CIRCLE provides

A public event will celebrate the launch of Ice Geographies: The Colonial Policies of Race and Indigeneity in the Arctic, by assistant professor Jen Rose Smith (American Indian Studies). The June 6 on-campus event will feature discussion of the book with four UW scholars: Shannon Cram (Interdisciplinary Arts, UW Bothell), Radhika Govindrajan (Anthropology), Dian Million

This spring, Center director Nadine Fabbi launched two new undergraduate Arctic courses — ARCTIC 210: Inuit, the Arctic, and Global Change; and ARCTIC 410: Self-determination in Canada and Beyond: Inuit Rising. These classes, which count towards the Arctic Studies Minor, introduce students to the history of governance in the region, the role of Inuit leaders

This spring, students took part in an international negotiation simulation focused on Arctic security. The course, taught by Robert Pekkanen, provided hands-on experience in the fast-moving, fast-evolving world of global affairs and international hotspots. This year’s negotiation explored the international consequences of the continued melting Arctic and the rush for mineral and fossil fuel exploitation.

Former Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellow Samantha Farquhar was recently awarded her doctorate in integrated coastal sciences by East Carolina University. Her dissertation, “The impacts of industrial fishing on household food security: insights from the Canadian North,” explores the intersection of industrial fisheries and food security in Arctic communities, providing key insights into

Ava Moore (Global and Regional Studies, 2024) has spent this spring as an intern at the Center for Maritime Strategy (CMS) in Washington, D.C. During her time at UW, she participated in the 2024 Transnational Task Force on the Arctic and contributed to a student-led policy report. The Task Force’s expert evaluator, Whit Fraser, suggested

A proposal from Emma Elliot (assistant professor, College of Education) has been selected for a Global Innovation Fund research award from the UW Office of Global Affairs. Fostering Equitable University-Tribal Collaborations: An International Education Initiative in the Pacific Northwest employs Participatory Design Research (PDR) to co-develop a land-based education initiative that centers Indigenous Knowledge Systems