In the Media

Wednesday, May 31, 2023 - Daily Journal of Commerce

On Saturday, crews from Mortenson broke ground on Kaiser Borsari Hall, a new building for electrical engineering, computer science, and energy science and technology programs at WWU's Bellingham campus.

Wednesday, May 31, 2023 - Cascadia Daily News

Fifty years ago, the Western Washington University women’s basketball team played its first-ever game on the main floor of Carver Gymnasium. This weekend, the team returned with nearly 200 other women to receive decades-awaited varsity letters. 

Western’s May 20 Title IX award ceremony honored female student-athletes who competed from 1968 to 1981 — an era when lettering in women’s sports was still largely unheard of. The event was a part of Western’s Title IX 50th anniversary celebration, and its Back2B’ham Alumni and Friends Weekend.

Monday, May 22, 2023 - New York Times

A New York Times book review of Jane Wong's new memoir, "Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City." Wong is a faculty member in Western's English Department.

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 - Literary Hub

Jane Wong is the author of the poetry collections How to Not Be Afraid of Everything and Overpour. An associate professor of creative writing at Western Washington University, she grew up in New Jersey and currently lives in Seattle, Washington.

Thursday, June 29, 2023 - Skagit Valley Herald

A new study is underway to identify the number — and types — of bumblebees in Skagit and Whatcom counties.

The study, which is led by Western Washington University graduate student Annie Jolliff, will also provide information about when the bees emerge from their nests each year.

Survey sites in the two counties are diverse. They include parks, a clear-cut forest area, the Western Washington University campus and Blanchard Mountain Farm in Bow.

Wednesday, June 14, 2023 - Scientific American

Headlines about workplace sexism regularly bring us men sharing social media posts and retweets with hashtags like #GenderEquality. Yet, many of their female colleagues read those posts and think, “That guy? An ally? Really?”

The skepticism may be deserved. I study allyship—the idea of someone from an advantaged group supporting the professional and personal well-being of someone who is typically marginalized in society, such as women or people of color. Despite widespread beliefs that gender bias is not really a problem or that supporting women in their workplaces goes against men’s own self-interests, more men are starting to express an interest in being allies; in recent research from my group, 76 percent, or 1,342 of 1,751 participants, said that they wanted to be allies for underrepresented and marginalized people in their organization. But new research has questioned whether that interest is largely performativemirroring the skepticism that women often express.

(column by WWU Associate Professor of Management Meg Warren)

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 - Cascadia Daily News

For the better part of the last 20 years, Western Washington University environmental science professor Marco Hatch has had his hands in the muddy shores of the Pacific Northwest and Canada, digging for clams. 

Specifically, Hatch has dedicated his life's work to clam gardens and the cultural importance to the Indigenous people of the region. For centuries, they would place heavy rocks at the low tide line to build a short wall. The high tide would deposit sediment, creating the ideal habitat for clams to grow and thrive, and for other small marine species, like crabs and young fish, to find safe harbor. They managed and harvested the gardens, before colonization. 

Monday, May 8, 2023 - Associated Press

“Just like humans, dogs get characterized for what they can do, but more importantly what they can symbolize,” says Cameron Whitley, a Western Washington University sociology professor and the chair-elect of the American Sociological Association's Animals and Society section. Whitley argues that breeds' popularity depends less on their traits than on their portrayal in media and pop culture.

Thursday, May 4, 2023 - Salish Current

Op-Ed by Derek Moscato, an associate professor in the Department of Journalism at Western Washington University and a research fellow with the Border Policy Research Institute.

Wednesday, May 3, 2023 - Columbia Gorge News

Eric DeChaine is the curator of the Pacific Northwest Herbarium and a professor of biology at Western Washington University, but he says that at heart he is a naturalist.

DeChaine was one of two presenters at the April 21 Wild About Nature presentation held at the White Salmon Grange.

Bothered by bugs while researching in tropical rainforests, he had the bright idea: “I’m going to the arctic!” The audience laughed as he confirmed, “Yes, mosquitoes!” He now researches in the area of the Pacific Rim, the “Ring of Fire,” which consists of an arc of volcanoes stretching from south of Japan north through Russia, across to Alaska, and down the west coast of the Americas.