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Alumni
Recent Alumni News
“I made the decision to leave everything I knew behind.” -Emma Jane MurphyI am drawn to stories. As a kid, I was constantly reading, watching movies, and going to the theatre—completely fascinated by how a story could sweep you away into another world. That sense of immersion stayed with me, and I knew early on that I wanted to be part of bringing stories to life. I thought acting was my path, but I quickly realized the auditioning lifestyle wasn’t where I thrived. Still, I knew I belonged in…
Yuta Kaminishi has been appointed assistant professor at the School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University! Kaminishi is teaching courses such as introduction to film studies, the history of Japanese cinema, and avant-garde and documentary film. The link below leads to their introduction article:Introduction of New Faculty Member: Kaminishi, Yuta, Assistant Professor
Last week, CMS 470 was visited by Levi Bond, a CMS alumni, who shared his experience post-grad!Harper Ellison-Berg, a student in the class, writes:Levi Bond, a graduate of the University of Washington, returned to Warren Etheredge’s Advanced Screenwriting class on Wednesday, February 25th, giving students the opportunity to hear from someone actively involved in the film and television industry. Since moving to Los Angeles after his graduation, Bond has found disparate but consistent work, from…
Amal Eqeiq (PhD 2013), Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and current Chair of Arabic Studies at Williams College, has published a new book, Indigenous Affinities: Toward Solidarity Across the Global South, due out this December from Fordham University Press.
On October 22, the Department of Communication recognized outstanding alumni who have made a difference in their communities at our annual Alumni Hall of Fame and Alumni of Distinction awards dinner.
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We received news from CMS alumni Shea Formanes (BA, 2023) who won a 2025 Project Arts Grant through 4Culture for her upcoming short film, DIWATA. The film is a Filipino-American fantasy drama about a grandmother who ditches her 80th birthday (and toxic family) to resurrect her dead granddaughter, only to discover that her granddaughter has transformed into a diwata, a Filipino supernatural nature spirit that now guards the place where she died. Now reunited, both granddaughter…
Writer and poet Lena Khalaf Tuffaha (UW Comparative Literature alumna) was longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award for poetry for her latest collection, "Something About Living". Her recent interview with the Seattle Times is available here.
CMS graduate Mawahib Ismail (BA in CMS, 2023) was recently featured in an article on Real Change. Read about her project here: “A very unequivocally Somali story”: “Hooyo Macaan” depicts a tale rarely told on the silver screen.
Alumna Kenna Fojas (BA, CMS) wrote about her experience directing her first short film, "Peach Fuzz", and how it ignited her passion for filmmaking as a conduit for self-discovery in an article published in the November issue of Lifestyle Asia. An excerpt of article is available on the Lifestyle Asia site.
We received an update from Nobuko Yamasaki (Ph.D., Comparative Literature) that she has been appointed to a 5 year term on the executive committee of the LLC Japanese since 1900 forum for the Modern Language Association. Congratulations Nobuko!
Yamasaki is currently faculty at Lehigh University.