By Christine Texeira
I started my position as a graduate program advisor in March of this year. I had recently moved back to Seattle (my hometown) after living in the near permanently summer city of Lisbon, Portugal. Luckily, my return to Seattle evolved into a welcoming position with Applied Mathematics. In the past I’ve worked with dance students, theater students, and music students. Though I am not a dancer, actor, or musician I have loved learning about varied disciplines and understanding new vocabularies and ways to interact with the world. Here, I have truly enjoyed hearing students talk about their coursework, about their research, and about their career goals – welcoming a whole new (to me) strategy for engaging with the world. As a lover of graphic design, Gaussian is no longer just a type of blur in Photoshop!
Through the remainder of Spring and into Summer I was able to learn from those students already moving through their degrees and into their final quarters. Their kindness and curiosity helped me prepare to meet our 2025 incoming students. Like the new cohorts, I feel like I am embarking on a truly new start in my first Autumn at UW.
As special as summer in Seattle is, warm and dry and beautiful, Autumn is the true star of any year. The rain has come, but the evergreens are ever green and just a bit moodier with the pillowy grey sky behind. Our days are no longer in devoted service to the sun, so we have space to reassess, to renew, to, of course, return for a new academic year.
I love Autumn, and it is full of some of my favorite round and fascinating things I hope you will enjoy this quarter and beyond, as well:
Dahlias: These are the ultimate floral bridge between summer and fall. Yes, the leaves change and that change is, basically, stunning and the best thing. But we cannot forget about Dahlias! Some in the shape of perfect balls and others large like dinner plates. The colors are varied and perfect, and Pike Place sells six stems for $10. The Dahlia is the official flower of the city of Seattle, so bring the fading image of Seattle summer into your home before we lose them to the first frost.
Pumpkins & Pumpkin Pie: Visit a farm and pick a wonky round pumpkin (ideally one that's just far too tall, or completely flat on one side, or still ripening with mottled green spots). And a pumpkin pie is impossible to resist.
Harvest Moon: Don't miss the moon at its finest on October 6. Everybody look at the moon!
Ghosts: Ok, just give me this one. Orbs count and are very round, so keep an eye out. Or, just make sure to allow some space in your busy Autumn to read a good, haunting book.
Let us enjoy this fleeting season because it will be summer again before we know it. I look forward to talking all about degree requirements and UW policy in the quarters to come, and hope you stop by with all your academic questions! But, if you just want to chat about a book you’re reading or try to convince me that pumpkin pie is disgusting – I’d love to have those discussions, too.