In the Media

For Western Washington University students who have spent the recession in school, challenging times are ahead as they try to find their place in a job market that has been slow to recover.
Students who graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in 2008-09 had the lowest employment rate in almost 20 years, with fewer than 69 percent of students finding a job, according to a survey taken three months after graduation by WWU's Career Services Center.

Last year, people celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Outback farm at Fairhaven College.
This Saturday, Feb. 26, people are invited to a workshop to brainstorm the future of the college's back forty.
The Outback actually covers about five acres from the college south to Western Washington University's Buchanan Towers residence halls. About three of the acres are filled with gardens, greenhouses, ponds, a toolshed and other trappings of a small farm nestled in the narrow valley with southern exposure.

In the ballroom of the YWCA, 10 people sat in a circle and waited for choreographer Pam Kuntz to direct them in their next dance moves.
"Big expansive ... and small in," Kuntz said while sitting in a chair. She demonstrated by reaching up with her arms and stretching out with her legs, before curling into herself.
Sitting in their chairs, the students followed her movements in the dance class created for people with Parkinson's disease, multiple scleroris and other movement and neurological disorders.

Guard Amanda Dunbar had a game-high 13 points as Western Washington University won its 18th consecutive game, defeating University of Alaska Fairbanks, 68-44, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game Saturday, Feb. 19, at Sam Carver Gym.
The Vikings, who are tied for No.6 in this week's Women's Basketball Coaches Association/USA Today/ESPN/NCAA Division II Top 25 and No. 2 in the latest West Region rating, improved to 23-1 overall and are 16-0 in the GNAC, having already clinched the No. 1 seed and home court advantage throughout the GNAC Tournament which begins on Monday, Feb. 28.

Center Brian Barkdoll had game-highs of 20 points and 14 rebounds as Northwest Nazarene University snapped Western Washington University's six-game winning streak with a 75-69 victory in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball game Saturday, Feb. 19, at Sam Carver Gym.
The Vikings fell to 16-8 overall and are tied for second in the GNAC with Alaska Anchorage at 11-5. Guard Zach Henifin had 17 points to lead Western, which suffered its first home loss in 12 contests at Carver Gym this season.

Western Washington University's Ryan Brown won the men's pole vault for the fourth straight year and Sarah Porter and Jordan Welling were repeat winners in the women's and men's 5,000-meter events, respectively, at the eighth annual Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships which ended Saturday on Jackson's Track at the Idaho Center Sports Complex.

It's not your imagination. More people are coming down with the flu.
"We've seen a significant increase this week, with phone calls and clinic visits (about influenza-like illness) averaging over 50 students each day," said Dr. Emily Gibson, director of the Student Health Center at Western Washington University.

While still nowhere near the levels before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, local border traffic rose significantly in 2010.

Last year 11.8 million people traveled southbound into Whatcom County from Canada, an 8.3 per cent increase from 2009 and the highest annual total since 2001. The data was collected by the Center for Economics and Business Research at Western Washington University.

It's not "broken," so you could argue that it doesn't need to be "fixed."

The fact is, America's higher education system is still widely regarded as the best in the world. And that reputation certainly fits the nation's top research universities and liberal arts colleges, those with swelling endowments and shrinking admission rates.

But this vaunted reputation -- which draws students from all over the globe -- also masks what can only be described as some major flaws: spiraling tuition and fees. Yawning "graduation gaps" between students of different racial and ethnic categories. And nagging questions about how much today's college students actually learn.

The Jefferson Awards is Washington’s “Nobel Prize” for public service. The nominees have been nominated by their peers and fellow citizens for their outstanding service efforts and community involvement.