On and Off the Ave

A Lighter Look at Life at the "U"

by Jon Marmor

Party Pig

Rachel, the venerable bronze pig at the entry to Pike Place Market, was in hog heaven on Aug. 16. That's when the creation by Georgia Gerber, '82, celebrated its 10th birthday. Gerber is also the sculptress of the "Husky Sprit" monument near Husky Stadium. Photo by Jon Marmor.

Planet Hollywood

No, you weren't hallucinating if you walked into Husky Stadium one August morning and thought you stepped back into the 1970s. Approximately 6,000 folks--wearing their bell bottoms and other '70s fashion--were on hand as Husky Stadium was made up to look like Munich's Olympic Stadium during the 1972 Olympics. The reason: the filming of the motion picture Prefontaine, about the late, famous runner Steve Prefontaine, who went to a Pac-10 school south of here.

It wasn't the first time the campus of a thousand years has been a set for movies, television shows, commercials and advertisements. Here's a look at some other star turns on campus from the past few years:

Movies
"The Sixth Man" (filmed 1996)
"Unforgettable"
"Sunchaser"
"Eden" (shown at 1996 Seattle Film Festival)
"Georgia"
"Kate"
"Mad Love"

TV shows
"Pandora's Clock" (mini-series)
"Bill Nye the Science Guy"

"Under One Roof" (starring James Earl Jones)

Commercials, fashion
(Kane Hall's facade with a setting sun is a background fave)
Acura
Lincoln
Cadillac
Eddie Bauer
Washington State Lottery

What a Year

The beautiful UW campus is featured on many a calendar, but now a new calendar celebrating scientific achievements has been unveiled. "Pathbreakers: A Century of Research and Scholarly Achievements at the UW" marks the 100th anniversary of the UW Board of Regents resolution calling for "each member of the Faculty endeavor to themselves perform some original work such as inventing, discovery or writing, in their respective departments." Above, George (Pinky) Nelson, a NASA astronaut (and current associate vice provost for research) is shown here repairing the satellite Solar Maxiumum with James van Hoften in 1984. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Soundbite:

"I think that medical students need to be reading ... works of imagination that involve people in the position of playing God."
--James Fallows, editor,
U.S. News & World Report, addressing a School of Medicine audience at Hogness Auditorium on Oct. 4.
Send a letter to the editor at columns@u.washington.edu.

Table of Contents