Each year, the state of Washington needs thousands more people prepared for jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) than our state’s universities can produce. Western Washington University is addressing this need by expanding specialized programs in key STEM fields.
As many Western students and alumni can attest, summer internships can be a mixed bag – some are incredibly rewarding and offer great experience that translates directly into their career after graduation, others, well … not so much.
There’s no question about the internship experience that Alexia Suarez, a senior Journalism/Public Relations major from Puyallup, had, however.
“It was the most amazing summer of my life, no doubt about it,” she said.
Western's annual President's Report is an effort to bring to campus important stories and information about the state of the university, its many successes, and an evaluation of its current efforts to meet the goals laid forth in its strategic plan, and how progress on those goals is being measured via the plan's strategic pillars: Advancing Inclusive Success, Increasing Washington Impact and Enhancing Academic Excellence.
Donald Judd’s “Untitled 1982,” a cornerstone piece of Western Washington University’s renowned Outdoor Sculpture Collection, is returning to campus on Oct. 29 after more than five years in storage and nearly $200,000 in restoration work.
Western Washington University Professor of Modern & Classical Languages Edward Vajda will give a talk titled “Firelight on the River: Siberia’s Ket People and Ancient North America” from 7-8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8 in the Bellingham City Council Chambers, 210 Lottie Street.
The capstone project for any cohort in Western’s Industrial Design program, called the Senior Design Studio, is historically the crucible through which all graduating seniors must pass: intense, grueling, and the ultimate challenge of their four years on campus, the project never fails to be something that the new alumni look back on with a mixture of pride and relief.
Western Washington University Assistant Professor of English Stefania Heim recently published “Geometry of Shadows,” a collection of translated poems from early 20th-century surrealist Giorgio de Chirico.
A galvanizing rite of passage for students seeking a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Geology at Western Washington University has always been Field Camp, a capstone experience of five to six weeks spent entirely in tents – mapping, sampling, categorizing rocks and interpreting the landscape across a variety of terrain throughout the West, from 11,000 feet up in the Sierras to the dry basins of Nevada.
Western Washington University has just launched its new minor in Salish Sea Studies, with a multidisciplinary curriculum spanning all seven of the university’s colleges.
The Salish Sea Studies program develops students’ sense of place by deepening knowledge about the complex ecologies and human experiences of our shared ecoregion. Students will learn how the international Salish Sea is governed by the US, Canada, and over 60 sovereign Tribes and First Nations.
The pinto abalone once ranged in large numbers from Alaska to Baja California, but overfishing, poaching and other factors have caused them to become functionally extinct in the Salish Sea; according to figures from the Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, the species has experienced a 98 percent drop in numbers since 1998 in local waters alone.
