Established in 2015, the Husky 100 recognizes 100 outstanding undergraduate, graduate and professional students each year from all three UW campuses who are making the most of their time at the UW. This recognition celebrates UW students who actively connect what happens inside and outside of the classroom and apply what they learn to make a difference on campus, in their communities and for the future. 

The 2026 Husky 100 class includes two amazing students who have made significant contributions to UW impact and student success through their work with UW Libraries. 

Leo Freedman, ‘26

Leo Freedman will graduate this spring with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Ethnomusicology and International Studies and a minor in Environmental Studies. Leo works in the UW Libraries’ Ethnomusicology Archives. Throughout his time working with the Archives, Freedman led the restructuring of the Archives’ physical space, increased access to fragile archival materials, and developed social media campaigns to promote the Archives.

“I use global research, music and sound to connect the UW to the world, while connecting its own communities from within. From Brazil to Greenland to India, my experience navigating challenges faced by international communities has prepared me to support my communities at home with enthusiasm and humility. Music often serves as a powerful tool for fostering belonging and uplifting voices, whether through research into music-based memory care, the creation of place-based soundscapes, stewarding the UW Ethnomusicology Archives, or performing in the U District with my band.” – Leo Freedman

“What distinguishes Leo is his rare ability to integrate scholarship, leadership, creativity, and service into a coherent and deeply impactful UW experience. Many students excel in one area; he consistently bridges disciplines and communities in ways that extend the University’s mission far beyond campus. His academic work in ethnomusicology and international studies is exceptional, but what truly sets him apart is how he applies his learning to real-world contexts—locally and globally.”  

 John Vallier

In addition to his work with the Ethnomusicology Archives, Leo has led innovative projects around music-based memory care, international policy research, and created artistic soundscapes. Beyond his own research, he has dedicated much of his Husky experience to using music as a tool for community connection through performances, radio programming, and also working to build an inclusive, internationally diverse fraternity community.

Freedman is currently working on prototyping a product where individuals in late-stage dementia receive personalized soundscapes that document the sounds of their hometown, “bringing a sense of reassurance and reconnection with their identity.” 

While considering graduate programs in international studies, Freedman’s future goals center on a career in marketing and/or communications for a business, NGO, or nonprofit oriented around cooperative international aid and development. 

 Junseo Park, ‘26

Junseo is an interdisciplinary honors student graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Real Estate and two minor degrees in Entrepreneurship and Architecture. 

Throughout his Huksy experience, Junseo has built an extensive network via his participation in, and high-impact contributions to, numerous professional and student organizations on and off campus including  

ASUW, the UW Real Estate Club, the Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital Club , Urban Land Institute, NAIOP-WA Corenet Global.  UW Korean Student Association,  UW Center for Korea Studies among others.  

“When I first arrived at the University of Washington as a first-generation immigrant, I did not have a clear roadmap or the networks that often guide students toward opportunity. Through classes, mentors and leadership experiences across campus, I gradually discovered that the work that matters most to me is creating spaces and systems that connect people and expand opportunity for others. Those experiences taught me resilience, communication and empathy, and ultimately shaped my path toward venture investing, where I hope to support people and ideas that create lasting impact.” – Junseo Park 

While interning at the start-up  JIGO, he helped launch an AI-enabled commercial real estate platform.  In 2025, Junseo was awarded the Mary Gates Leadership Scholarship for demonstrating innovation, cross-cultural engagement and impact on campus community-building while working at the UW Tateuchi East Asia Library. Collaborating with staff and students, he established the Manhwa (Korean Graphic Novel) Café, a collaborative pop-up space developed in partnership with the Libraries, Korean Student Association and Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW) that celebrates East Asian graphic literature. 

“Junseo demonstrated remarkable initiative and leadership through the Graphic Novel Café, transforming an underutilized strength of our collection into an engaging, student-centered experience. His thoughtful collaboration, adaptability, and persistence ensured the project’s success and lasting impact on our community.”

After graduation, Junseo plans to continue working at GIGR, a San Francisco-based startup where he is currently building an AI-enabled ad generation and automation pipeline. 

Read the full profile of Jenseo Park on the BSRE blog. 

Congratulations to Leo and Junseo on all of their incredible work , well-deserving of the Husky 100 honor!  

See all 2026 Husky 100 recipients

…and What Typewriters Can Teach Us About Modern Communication

For more than twenty years, UW Librarians have co-taught LIS 508, the History of  Recorded Information as a course for the UW Information School’s MLIS program. With the retirement of longstanding instructors  David Levy and Sandra Kroupa, UW Libraries Associate Dean for Distinctive Collections, Julie Tanaka, was asked to take over as the instructor of record. Tanaka redesigned the course to align with current MLIS Student Learning Outcomes and taught the course this past Winter. Through a series of guest lectures and hands-on learning, the course explores the global history of recorded information, analyzing diverse formats and cultural contexts from preliterate to digital eras. The course is intended to equip students to critically analyze how recorded information is created, shaped,  preserved, and used and to develop ethical, nuanced approaches to acquiring, preserving, and stewarding recorded information as an information professional.

Students have the opportunity to observe and engage with a variety of formats of recorded information and the methods used to create them, including 

• Manuscripts (clay and wax tablets, scrolls, codices, maps) with styluses, pencils, pens, chalk, brushes
• Printed works (scrolls, codices, maps) created by printing presses, typewriters, computers
• Audio-visual recordings (wax cylinders, reel-to-reel, digitized, born-digital) recorded with phonographs, tape recorders, mobile phones, webcams
• Online media (digital newspapers, news, images, multimedia) with software, digital recorders

Students also have the opportunity to produce their own records using a variety of methods they examine in class.

One of the guest lectures, “Slow Media: Typewriters”, was taught by Richard Lewis, Associate Dean of University Libraries, UW Bothell & Cascadia College. Lewis has collected typewriters as a hobby for many years, cultivating a diverse collection as well as extensive expertise. He became interested in the machine and its history while living overseas in Brussels, working on his PhD in the philosophy of technology and media, & communication studies.

“It began with a 1938 Italian typewriter with a French keyboard. I even started writing my dissertation on that machine,” says Lewis.  

Lewis is a guest lecturer for several courses, bringing his typewriters to classes such as creative poetry and textual studies. He enjoys sharing his knowledge with students, and seeing how interaction with such a humble machine (by today’s standards) can elicit such thought-provoking insights from his students, which he shares with us here. 

How did students respond to the “Typewriter Assignment”?

As one of the assignments, students were asked to write a personal letter on one of the 24 typewriters brought to the classroom. 

“Writing on a typewriter is immediately physical in ways that digital writing is not. Striking the keys takes a specific motion to ensure the type bars don’t get entangled with each other and enough force is used to transfer the ink to the paper. The carriage return uses a deliberate gesture at the end of every line to both return the carriage and advance the paper. Most of my typewriters do not have the number “1” or an exclamation mark (though both can be typed). 

Students noticed the sound filling the room, the smell of ink and metal, the way they had to commit to each word because there was no delete key waiting to rescue them. 

After warming up with typing exercises, they each composed a letter to someone who would be happy to hear from them. I brought envelopes and stamps to ensure the letters would be mailed, and I asked them to reflect on a simple question: how are you a different writer on this machine?

That question was the point of the session. The first hour had been spent building the philosophical scaffolding to make it meaningful. Drawing on existing research, including my book, I walked students through the idea that communication technologies are never neutral instruments we simply pick up and use. Every medium transforms both the writer and the reader. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato worried about this with writing itself, arguing that words on a page strip away the lived context of the speaker. Walter Ong, a renowned priest, scholar, and educator, traced how the shift from oral to literate culture reorganized human cognition. I extended that trajectory through the typewriter, asking students to consider how each change in communication technology reconstitutes who we are as thinkers and writers. By the time they sat down at the typewriters, they had a framework for paying attention to their physical and cognitive experience in writing, not just to the words they were producing.”

video: Students in LIS 508 working with typewriters in the Special Collections classroom. Julie Tanaka talks with students, while a vintage printing press can be seen on the left side of the classroom.

What were some of the surprising discoveries students made while typing? 

Students didn’t type with the same speed as they would on a digital device. Any mistake was not easily fixed. And, when students typed too quickly or without the precise finger movement, the typebars could get stuck and tangled, forcing them to work at a much slower pace. One student sat down to a typewriter with a cursive font, a surprise that required a bit of adjustment, but resulting in a beautiful, all-cursive letter that feels especially unique today given the decline of hand-written communication.

What do you enjoy most about teaching, and this course in particular?

I love how students get swept up in the embodied experience of writing with typewriters. Their cell phones are forgotten for an hour, and they become enchanted with the experience of writing.

The typewriters cut through the typical way we communicate and students suddenly see the medium of communication for what it is. It is a wonderful experiential learning moment. 

I am also happy that students don’t rush through the exercise to get it done and leave. They took advantage of the full hour of typing and seemed to really enjoy the experience.  Those who finished their assignment started another letter and others moved to try out different typewriters to see how those typed.

And, teaching gives me a good reason to collect typewriters!

Beyond the typewriter: A range of perspectives

Lewis is one of many Librarians who teach nearly 700 instruction sessions annually including their own classes like the History of  Recorded Information, and as guest lecturers covering a wide range of topics across disciplines. In this course, students had the opportunity to learn from many different experts and explore a wide range of topics including: 

• Indigenous community archives (Filipino American National Historical Society community archive), presented by Digital Preservation Librarian, Mariecris Gatlabayan
• “From Oracle Bones to Print–History of Information Recording in China”, presented by Lucy Li, China Studies Librarian
• Recording Information in Art, presented by  Juliet Sperling, Assistant Professor, Art History; Kollar Endowed Chair in American Art
• Western Codex, presented by Geoff Turnovsky, Professor of French and Co-Director, Textual Studies Program
• Sound recordings on various formats and equipment for recording, presented by  John Vallier, Ethnomusicology Archives Curator
• Intellectual property, rights and protections pertaining to recorded information, presented by Maryam Fakouri Copyright Librarian
• Working with Indigenous materials
  • The roles of information professionals working with Indigenous materials, Indigenous data sovereignty, negotiating western archival principles and practices with Indigenous protocols and understandings of knowledge, presented by Assistant Professor, Information School, Sandy Littletree 
  • Practical examples of stewarding and caring for recorded information created by Indigenous peoples, work at UWB with their collections of Indigenous materials) presented by Sena Crow,  DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) and Student Engagement Librarian at UW Bothell 

The course LIS 508 is offered once per academic year, during winter quarter. If you are an MLIS student interested in taking this course, bookmark it here for next winter quarter.

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