Pulitzer Prize-winning author Timothy Egan to speak at WWU May 15

New York Times best-selling author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize Timothy Egan will present the keynote address at WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment 40th Anniversary Celebration at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 15, at the WWU Performing Arts Center Main Stage, in conjunction with the university’s Back 2 Bellingham weekend.

Egan’s lecture, “Light on the Land: Can the Environmental Movement Survive the Caustic Politics of the Day?” is free and open to the public, but due to space constraints, reservations are required for tickets, and can be made by contacting the WWU Box Office at boxoffice@wwu.edu, by phone at (360) 650-6146, or via the web at http://www.tickets.wwu.edu.

Egan, a resident of Seattle, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 while at the New York Times for his contribution to the series “How Race is Lived in America.” He has written six books, including “The Worst Hard Time,” a nonfiction account of the Dust Bowl for which he won the 2006 National Book Award, and, most recently, “The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America,” about the Great Fire of 1910 that burned nearly 3 million acres and helped shape the United States Forest Service.

“We’re excited that Timothy Egan will be keynoting our Saturday celebration,” said Brad Smith, dean of WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment. “He’s an outstanding author and speaker whose work has helped shape the new definition of environmentalism, a definition we have helped shape here at Huxley College for the past 40 years.”

Co-keynoting this lecture will be U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee. As a political leader, Inslee has earned a reputation as an environmental steward, and he will share his thoughts and perspectives on the environmental movement over the past 40 years and his vision for a sustainable society.

For more information on Egan’s lecture or the Huxley College of the Environment’s 40th Anniversary Celebration, contact Manca Valum at WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment at (360) 650-6542 or go to www.wwu.edu/huxley/huxley/anniversary.html; ticket reservations can be made by contacting the WWU Box Office at boxoffice@wwu.edu, by phone at (360) 650-6146, or via the web at http://www.tickets.wwu.edu.

For more information on WWU’s Back 2 Bellingham weekend, contact the Western Alumni Association at (360) 650-3353 or go to www.wwualumni.com/b2b.

WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment is one of the oldest environmental colleges in the nation and a recognized national leader in producing the next generation of environmental stewards. The College’s academic programs reflect a broad view of the physical, biological, social and cultural world. This innovative and interdisciplinary approach makes Huxley unique, and the College continues to earn international recognition for the quality of its programs.