Rotary Club of the University District, Seattle

Rotary Club of the University District, Seattle Welcome to the Friendliest Rotary Club in the Universe, because after all, we are University District Rotary!

Time: Friday at 12:15 PM - Meeting Place: Seattle Yacht Club 1807 E Hamlin St.Seattle, WA 98112

Please join us for our weekly meeting this Friday, 8/21. We meet at the Seattle Yacht Club at noon.Our Speaker will be D...
08/21/2026

Please join us for our weekly meeting this Friday, 8/21. We meet at the Seattle Yacht Club at noon.

Our Speaker will be Dawn Rains, CEO of Treehouse-
Dawn has more than 30 years of experience in nonprofit management, fundraising, program management and legislative advocacy. Prior to her current role as Chief Executive Officer, Dawn led Treehouse’s policy teams (2017–2022), program teams (2012–2017) and fundraising and marketing teams (2009–2012).
She co-founded Project Education Impact, a collective impact effort to achieve educational equity for children and youth experiencing foster care or homelessness in Washington state involving legislators, state agencies and statewide nonprofit organizations. Dawn is also a former foster parent.
Dawn holds an MPA in Nonprofit Management, a Certificate in Fundraising Management from the University of Washington and a
BA from The Evergreen State College. She was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to serve on the inaugural Washington State Women’s Commission and has dedicated much of her volunteer services to advancing economic and leadership opportunities for women and girls. Dawn currently serves as Vice President of The
IF Project Board of Directors.

Please join us this Friday, August 7th for our weekly meeting. We meet at the Seattle Yacht Club at noon.Our Program Spe...
08/05/2026

Please join us this Friday, August 7th for our weekly meeting. We meet at the Seattle Yacht Club at noon.

Our Program Speaker this week is Ryan Blethen, Publisher of The Seattle Times.
Ryan is a fifth-generation steward of the local family newspaper
established by Alden J. Blethen in 1896. He joined The Seattle Times full-time in 1997 and oversees the newsroom and the editorial page. Blethen has served as associate publisher and associate managing editor of business and strategic initiatives, and secretary of the Blethen Corporation.
Blethen’s career has been primarily as a journalist. Early in the digital transformation, he oversaw The Seattle Times’ digital news
operation. He was The Seattle Times’ editorial page editor from 2009 to 2011, specializing in writing columns about the free press.
Blethen previously worked at newspapers in Yakima, Spokane and Portland, Maine. He is a graduate of Washington State University and attended journalism school at the University of Kansas where he serves as a Trustee of the school’s foundation. Blethen was named Publisher in January 2026.

U District Rotary Volunteerism (by Marilee Fuller)Our club has a great tool to measure the volunteer hours our members a...
07/16/2026

U District Rotary Volunteerism (by Marilee Fuller)

Our club has a great tool to measure the volunteer hours our members are donating to the community through club projects—it’s called Member Engagement in our DACdb database.
This Rotary Year, we came so close to a milestone of 1,000 hours. Members bring along family members and friends to pitch in, too. Congratulations to all who helped achieve this!
Projects in the community include Husky football ushering (where volunteers also earn $$ for the Service Fund), sandwich-making at the YMCA, interviewing scholarship candidates, cooking dinners at Ronald McDonald House, and a great new activity restoring furniture rescued from the dump at the Furniture Repair Bank.
As they are out working to help make the world a better place, our volunteers are showing the community the value of Rotary. Top contributors from the club include Dale Hicklin, Judy Lovelace, Rick Jones, Angie Jimenez & Ezra Teshome.

Please join us for our weekly meeting this Friday, July 17th. We meet at the Seattle Yacht Club at noon.Our program spea...
07/16/2026

Please join us for our weekly meeting this Friday, July 17th. We meet at the Seattle Yacht Club at noon.

Our program speaker this week is Dan Wilson with Conservation NW.
Dan is the Community Partnerships Manager for Conservation Northwest, a nonprofit working to protect, connect, and restore wildlife and wildlands across Washington and the Pacific Northwest.
Conservation Northwest focuses on practical, community-driven conservation that includes restoring forest and shrub-steppe habitats, improving wildlife connectivity, and supporting collaborative stewardship of public lands. Dan works across Washington to build the partnerships that make this work possible, bringing together tribes, local communities, agencies, and the
decisionmakers who shape Washington’s landscapes.
His work centers on advancing wildlife habitat restoration, improving landscape connectivity, and developing cross-sector partnerships that balance ecological and community needs.
In Washington’s conservation community, Dan serves in a range of leadership and advisory roles, including chairing the state chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. He also contributes to state and federal advisory groups such as the Recreation and Conservation Office’s Land and Water Conservation Fund
committee, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Budget and Policy Advisory Group, the Colville National Forest Resource Advisory Committee, and the Northeast Washington Forest Coalition. Across these roles, he focuses on habitat restoration, wildlife connectivity, and collaborative stewardship of
Washington’s public lands.
Dan lives in Spokane with his wife and children and enjoys sharing Washington’s outdoor heritage with them through kayaking, fishing, and time spent in the backcountry.

Please join us this Friday, 7/10 for our first meeting of the new Rotary Year! We meet at the Seattle Yacht Club at noon...
07/08/2026

Please join us this Friday, 7/10 for our first meeting of the new Rotary Year! We meet at the Seattle Yacht Club at noon.

Our speaker this week will be Zulkiffly Sa (Zee) with Bright Scholars International. Here is his Bio in his own words-I’ve done many things that I’m proud of in my life, but Bright Scholars International has to be the one thing I am most proud of. My background is Combat Medic in the Army. During my military time I had the opportunity to participate in search and rescue missions during a major flood, fight fires in Yakima WA, search and rescue in Oso after a major landslide, taught the Royal Thai Army combat medic tactics, and many other things. But I would say my work with BSI has to be my favorite. The lives that are changed because of BSI makes this organization very special to me. I joined BSI because I saw how this organization can and has helped many students in Cambodia accomplish their dreams by giving them a chance to attend school. At Bright Scholars International, our mission is to break generational poverty through education support. Our students live in extreme poverty. Students as young as 5 years old have no option but to find work. Our mission is to take them out of the workforce and enroll them into school. Once a student is enrolled we walk with them until they graduate college. More info on our mission can be found on our website, www.brightscholarsint.org.

Please join us this Friday 6/12 for our weekly meeting. We meet at noon at the Seattle Yacht Club.Our speaker is Brandon...
06/10/2026

Please join us this Friday 6/12 for our weekly meeting. We meet at noon at the Seattle Yacht Club.
Our speaker is Brandon Bird- President & CEO of the Northwest African American Museum.
Brandon Bird leads one of the Pacific Northwest’s most important cultural institutions dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and sharing the histories, arts, and experiences of Black Americans. Appointed unanimously by NAAM’s Board of Directors in August 2024 following a national search, he previously served as the museum’s Interim Executive Director and Vice President of Operations.
Prior to joining NAAM, Brandon served as the Vice President
of Operations at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where he led a comprehensive program of capital planning, procurement, vendor management and leasing services throughout the Capitol Hill, South Lake Union and Uptown/Queen Anne neighborhoods. During his time at Cornish, Brandon completed several multimillion-dollar capital projects, including a state-of-the-art
performance venue, fabrication studio, art galleries and multidisciplinary studios.
Brandon also previously served as a Board Member of Mary’s Place, a nonprofit organization in Seattle and King County helping families experiencing homelessness, from 2010 to 2016.
A native of Tacoma, Washington, Brandon brings two decades of executive leadership experience in nonprofit, arts, educational, and cultural organizations.
Throughout his career, he has been recognized for building strong community partnerships and advancing institutional sustainability.
Since coming to NAAM, Brandon has led the museum to bring impactful exhibitions to Seattle for the first time, such as the award-winning exhibit, Emmett and Mamie Till Mobley: Let the World See, and most recently, the exhibit, Luther Vandross: Artistry & Elegance, which is currently showing at NAAM through July
19.
As President & CEO, Brandon is leading efforts to expand NAAM’s educational impact, deepen its community partnerships, strengthen its financial sustainability, and position the museum as a nationally recognized center for Black history, arts, and culture. His vision emphasizes the power of museums to foster dialogue, inspire civic engagement, preserve cultural memory, and create a more informed and connected society.

06/04/2026

Please join us this Friday 6/5 for our weekly meeting. We meet at noon at the Seattle Yacht Club.

Our Speaker this week is our own member, Dr. Wolfgang Klug.
Retired cardiologist, Dr. Wolfgang Kluge, has been a member
of our club for almost 22 years. He has completed a memoir
describing his varied experiences growing up and becoming
an adult in Germany. He describes life under the N***s, the
Soviet occupation, life in East Germany and his eventual
escape to the West. Wolfgang was a medical student in
Germany, continuing his medical training in the United States,
and he eventually began his cardiology practice in Seattle.

Please join us this Friday for our weekly meeting. We meet at the Seattle Yacht Club at noon.Our Program will be the Ann...
05/27/2026

Please join us this Friday for our weekly meeting. We meet at the Seattle Yacht Club at noon.
Our Program will be the Annual Scholarship Award Luncheon which is always a highlight every year for our Club!

Our Scholarship Committee, chaired by Linda Fukuda, has
awarded 17 scholarships to students in the UW Professional and Continuing Education Program this year. The scholarship budget for the year is $60,000.
In addition to Linda, members of the Scholarship Committee are Dave Spicer, Hugh Brannon, Jacksen Lund, John Caner, Judy Lovelace, Julius Debro, Lawrie Payne, Paula Williams, Peter Schroeder and Ruth Huwe.
The 2025-26 UDRC scholarship recipients are:
WINTER 2026:
Kriss Jackson-Harper Editing
Carolyn Tompkins- Professional Technical Writing
Monica Caraway- Software Product Management
Molly Nelson- Museum Studies
Elizabeth Bahena- Private Investigation
SPRING 2026:
Ellie Petersen- Editing
Hannah Swartos- Professional Technical Writing
Bailey Ryan- Digital Marketing
Peter Rogers- Digital Marketing
Emma Brown- Editing
Adrienne Litman- Digital Marketing
AUTUMN 2026:
Wakjira Tesfaye Beriso- Paralegal Studies
Jiyoun Kim- Nonprofit Management
Aldo Martinez- Wetland Science and Management
Krista Larrison- Project Management
Kristen Angelo- Nonprofit Management
Kelly Ewing- Wetland Science and Management
Information on our club’s Rotary Scholarship program at the UW can be found at:
University District Rotary Club Scholarship - UW Professional & Continuing Education - UW Professional & Continuing Education. The scholarship covers up to
80% of the cost and amounts to a maximum of $4,000.

Please join us this Friday, April 24th for our weekly meeting. We meet at noon at the Seattle Yacht Club.Our Program Spe...
04/22/2026

Please join us this Friday, April 24th for our weekly meeting. We meet at noon at the Seattle Yacht Club.

Our Program Speaker this week is BJ Cummings on The River that Made Seattle-
BJ Cummings has worked in the environmental field in Seattle for 25 years, serving as the director of Sustainable Seattle, Duwamish River Community Coalition, and Puget Soundkeeper Alliance. She is author of The River That Made Seattle: A Natural and Human History of the Duwamish, and has been awarded the River Network’s national River Hero award for her work leading community based clean up and restoration of the Duwamish River.
Cummings is currently an advisor on community engaged environmental health research for the University of
Washington.

Please join us for our weekly meeting this Friday, April 10th. We meet at noon at the Seattle Yacht Club.Our program spe...
04/08/2026

Please join us for our weekly meeting this Friday, April 10th. We meet at noon at the Seattle Yacht Club.

Our program speaker will be Clark Mather, Executive Director of Northwest RiverPartners.
Clark was appointed Executive Director of Northwest RiverPartners in 2024. As Executive Director, Clark reports to the Board and leads the Northwest RiverPartners team to educate communities and
advocate for clean, reliable and affordable hydropower.
Clark joined Northwest RiverPartners after 11 years with Tacoma Public Utilities (TPU), serving the last 7 years as the organization’s government affairs officer.
Prior to his time at TPU, Clark served in senior advisory
roles for U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (WA) and Former Congressman Norm Dicks (WA-06). Throughout his congressional service, Clark focused on important regional issues including energy, defense, veterans, water, public lands, economic development and agriculture.
Mather earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in both communications and political science from Washington State University, graduating Summa Cum Laude. He is a past chair of the National Hydropower Association.

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Seattle, WA
98103

Opening Hours

12pm - 1:30pm

Telephone

+12065427070

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