Fall 2024 at CSSS, Letter from the Director

With Seattle experiencing first few days of Autumn-like weather, we are excited to start the new academic year 2024-25!

We extend our gratitude to the students and many affiliate faculty who helped us celebrate CSSS’s 25th anniversary in May. It was fantastic to see everyone and to feel the impressive energy at the event. The celebration was a bittersweet occasion for us as we said goodbye to Professors Adrian Raftery and Katherine Stovel, each influential and instrumental to the success of the Center in their own way, as they have retired from UW teaching over the summer. 

We are pleased to welcome new affiliate faculty who joined us last academic year: Karen Chen, Department of Urban Design & Planning; Isabelle Cohen, Evans School of Public Policy and Governance; Elizabeth Sanders, College of Education; Katie Wilson, Department of Biostatistics; Alex Luedtke, Department of Statistics and Department of Biostatistics; and Emilija Perkovic, Department of Statistics. We look forward to connecting with new affiliates at CSSS seminars and other activities throughout the upcoming year! 

We are also excited to welcome Katie Malloy Spink to CSSS leadership team as the Graduate Student Representative! Katie is a 4th year Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology interested in building community and collaboration around the broader reach and mission of improved statistical and data science methods. 

The Center’s seminars will continue to take place on Wednesdays 12:30-1:20 in SAV 409. We are thrilled to introduce the new seminar committee this year which includes Sasha Johfre, CSSS core faculty and Assistant Professor of Sociology; Benjamin Mako Hill, Associate Professor of Communication; and Emanuela Furfaro, Assistant Teaching Professor of Statistics as the seminar committee this year. The committee will be led once again by Tyler McCormick, CSSS core faculty and Professor of Statistics and Sociology. Please check out our webpage for the exciting lineup of talks this Fall!

Finally, faculty advisors and current students may find the addition of a new webpage presenting current year CSSS courses handy for their advising and academic planning. 

As we kick off a new academic year, if you have any thoughts on how CSSS can further support your work at the intersection of statistics and the social sciences, please do not hesitate to send me a note.  

Elena Erosheva
CSSS Director