In the first of a two-part Q&A, WWU's Doug Clark (Geology) and John Rybczyk (Environmental Science) talk about their research and how their fieldwork is increasingly tied to some aspect of climate change. Clark, a glacial geologist, witnesses firsthand the world's shrinking glaciers (see picture above from his ice coring work on BC's Mount Waddington).
Student-actors met Thursday evening, Jan. 30 in the Performing Arts Center to do a dress rehearsal of "The Imaginary Invalid," which opens tonight at the DUG Theater in the PAC. The run-through gave the actors, staff and faculty staff an opportunity to run through the entire play, which is a comedy written by Molière during the 17th century and provides commentary on the pseudo-science that ran rampant in the medical industry during that time.
Professors of English Christopher Wise and Kristiana Kahakauwila are currently taking 14 English students on a study abroad tour of Senegal for three weeks, including stays in Dakar, Saint Louis, and M’bour. Western Today caught up with Wise to find out more about the trip, how it coincides with his research, and what kind of experiences the students are having.
Western Today recently chatted with Laural Ballew, who just started her job at Western as the university's first executive director of American Indian/Alaska Native and First Nations Relations & Tribal Liaison to the President. Ballew most recently served as department chair of Tribal Governance and Business Management at Northwest Indian College, a program which she created. Ballew was hired following a national search, and she started at Western on Monday, Jan. 28.
In his final year at Western in 2018, Industrial Design student Scotty Paton received the prompt from Professor Del King for his capstone project: “Act like an entrepreneur and design something that matters.”
The Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival will feature 18 short and full-length films on Western Washington University’s campus between Feb. 22 and March 2 at Fairhaven College Auditorium (FCA), Academic West 204 (AW) and Communications Facility 115 (CF).
Free and open to the public, these films will explore critical human rights issues with the goal of promoting thoughtful dialog about the dilemmas facing us today.
Friday, Feb. 22
Disaster Capitalism (52 min) 7 p.m. (FCA):
In this edition of Tuesday Q&A, Western Today chatted with WWU historian Hunter Price and political scientist Todd Donovan about one of the most divisive features of our Democracy: the Electoral College. Only five presidents have been elected even after losing the popular vote, but two of those are since 2000: George W. Bush and Donald Trump.
Is the Electoral College an archaic remnant of our post-Revolution past or a vital cog in our election process? Read on, and decide for yourself.
Western Washington University is embarking on a new brand campaign, called “Make Waves,” which launched on Jan. 22 with billboards, print and digital media concentrated in the Seattle metro area.
Western Washington University students Celida Moran (San Francisco, California/Environmental Science) and Samara Almonte (Bothell/Urban Planning) have been awarded prestigious two-year Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program fellowships.
Moran is completing her fellowship at the University of Washington, while Almonte is completing hers at the University of Michigan.
In this edition of Tuesday Q&A, Western Today talked with WWU Assistant Professor of Computer Science Michael Tsikerdekis about Russia's cyber attacks on this country during the 2016 election and afterwards, how they did it and were eventually caught, and how the nation's voracious appetite for social media and willingness to spread disinformation contributed the the attack's success.
