In the Media
A nationally recognized photographer and oceanographer will give a free presentation about South Pole penguins at noon Friday, Jan. 6. Chris Linder of the International League of Conservation Photographers and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will present "Science on Ice: Adélie Penguins," which examines how polar science research has evolved and how the penguins, and the researchers who study them, survive at Cape Royds and Cape Crozier, the southernmost penguin colonies in the world.
Beginning Jan. 17, graduate students in Western Washington University’s Psychology Department will provide individual counseling, under faculty supervision. These services are free.
Western’s Counseling Training Clinic has openings for individual counseling of adults, adolescents and children. Appointments for individual counseling are available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
THERE is a paradox in Washington around education and jobs. The state ranks among the highest in the proportion of the population with a college degree (14th), but among the lowest in the proportion of state high-school graduates who go to college (46th). The reason, of course, is that Washington has a lot of jobs that require a college degree, and is such an attractive place to live that people will move to the state to take them.
Washington has been a net importer of college graduates, especially at the baccalaureate level, for many years. But this paradox also means that many Washington residents do not have the opportunity to get the education they need for jobs in the state.
As our legislators return to Olympia, they must feel like the Bill Murray character in the movie “Groundhog Day.” Each year they show up at Olympia and find that – once again – revenue falls far short of expenditures. Let’s hope this year they find a way to awaken from this bad dream.
To start, legislators should begin distinguishing short-from long-term budget problems. Short-term, cyclical problems are caused by a weak economy. Once the cycle’s downside ends, this problem vanishes. While we still need to fix cyclical shortfalls, a temporary solution may be all we need.
In a highly anticipated court ruling released Thursday morning, the Washington State Supreme Court agreed the state is failing to meet its constitutional duty to fully fund education and said it would retain jurisdiction to make sure the Legislature does so.
But the court did not require the Legislature to take specific action to remedy the situation, as some education advocates had hoped. Instead, it ordered the state to provide updates on how it is addressing the problem.
Western Washington University's Associated Students presents a concert featuring Allen Stone, who grew up in Chewelah, near Spokane, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room, along with Bellingham natives Kris Orlowski and Eclecticity.
On the brink of achieving 500 career wins, it would be common-place for a coach to bask in individual accomplishments and rekindle each personal move made in order to capture such an extraordinary coaching milestone. But Western Washington University men's basketball coach Brad Jackson prefers to focus on all the working parts that enabled him to be where he is in his 38 years of coaching basketball and 27 years coaching with WWU.
Shirley Osterhaus, who organizes Western Washington University's World Issues Forums/Paths to Global Justice program, now in its 10th year, mailed me the schedule for winter quarter. The forums are dedicated to providing thought-provoking educational opportunities to the campus and Bellingham community that support an informed and engaged global citizenry.
The Western Washington University men's basketball team is ranked in the NABC/Division II Coaches Poll for Tuesday, Jan. 3. The Vikings (12-2) are ranked No. 23 in the poll after receiving 20 votes.
The University of Washington in Seattle ranks number 14 for public colleges that offer the best education for your money, according to a report released by Kiplinger's.
The college came in at number 18 for out-of-state students on Kiplinger's list of the 100 Best Values in Public Colleges for 2012.
Western Washington University in Bellingham was the only other Washington state school to make the list, coming in at number 81 for in-state students and 75th for out-of-state.