The Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) held its 2024 Graduation & Awards Ceremony on the morning of Friday, June 7, in the Husky Union Building Ballroom.

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In 2024, the Department awarded 79 students Bachelor of Science degrees, 125 with Master of Science degrees, and 11 with doctoral degrees.

2024 Graduation Address
Trish Milines Dziko

The 2024 Graduation speaker was Trish Millines Dziko, a change agent, mentor, and advocate for children of color. Trish is the cofounder, Executive Director, visionary and strategist behind the Technology Access Foundation (TAF) — one of the leading education non-profits educating children of color to their full potential. Through Trish’s leadership, TAF transitioned from out of school programs to become a statewide leader in public education, operating TAF Academy (a 6th to 12th grade, award-winning public school co-managed with the Federal Way Public School District), created TransformED that partners with public schools to transform them to create healthy and safe learning environments that center student voice and cultivate students into socially conscious and self-aware critical thinkers, problem solvers, ideators, creators, and leaders. In addition, Trish led TAF through the creation of the Network for EdWork designed to recruit, retain and develop teachers of color for our Washington State public schools.

View text of the graduation address

Awards of Excellence

HCDE faculty annually recognize outstanding students with Awards of Excellence. These awards honor students who have distinguished themselves by demonstrating greatness in Academic Excellence; Leadership and Engagement; Innovation; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Research; and Teaching and Mentorship.

2024 Mikey Award
Andrew Davidson

Each year, the HCDE faculty select a recipient of the Myron L. White (aka "The Mikey") Award. The Mikey Award, named after a founder of the department, is given to a leader in the field and a dedicated friend of HCDE. The HCDE faculty unanimously voted to award Emeritus Associate Teaching Professor Andrew Davidson the 2024 Mikey Award, thanking him for his years of support of the Department. Davidson retired from HCDE in June 2023, after teaching in the program for eleven years. In HCDE, he taught a wide variety of courses, specializing in physical computing and prototyping. He served as the faculty director of the HCDE Bachelors Program for four years. He also founded and directed the department’s K-12 Outreach Program, which he continues to support in retirement.

Congratulations to the HCDE Class of 2024! View the two hour ceremony on YouTube below: