Photo Galleries

Western senior Lahaji Thomas helps the crowd light their candles during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. candlelight vigil; an event co-sponsored by the Ethnic Student Center and the Minority Employee Council, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011 in Red Square. Photo by

A crowd of Western Washington University students, faculty, staff and community gathered in Red Square on Thursday, Jan. 13, for a candlelight vigil in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

After listening to King's "I Have a Dream" speech in Red Square, the crowd moved into the Viking Union for a community panel, reception and community fair.

Other MLK Day events:

The Wright's Triangle sculpture by Richard Serra became an impromptu message board after a recent snowfall blanketed the structure. Photo by Becky Tachihara | University Communications intern

The snow that came down Saturday night in Bellingham is still around, but conditions have allowed Western Washington University to remain open.

Snow falls on Old Main on the WWU campus Wednesday, Dec. 29. Photo by Matthew Anderson | WWU

Snow fell for an hour or so Wednesday morning on the Western Washington University campus but quickly melted away. But that doesn't mean the winter weather is gone. Forecasters have predicted a few chilly days ahead for Bellingham, with low temperatures dipping into the 20s through Friday.

Matt Bell sings with Western's a capella club in the Fairhaven Commons. Photo by Brooke Loisel | University Communications intern

During finals week on campus, Western Washington University’s A capella Club has been caroling in each of the residential dining halls.

The student-run club has just over 30 members. Although members have to undergo a rigorous audition to join the club, the lunch performances are optional because most students are preparing or taking finals.

A capella began four years ago at Western with Undefined, a men’s group that Caleb Clapp now directs.

Western Washington University student Megan Benson ('10) receives her cap and gown from senior celebration volunteer Larry Simkins ('71). Larry is also a WWU Alumni Association Board member. Courtesy photo

Commencement is right around the corner (it's Saturday, Dec. 11), and the Western Washington University Alumni Association is helping students pick up their caps and gowns for commencement and their grad packs, which cost $35 and are stuffed with Western gear and an Alumni Association membership.

More info is available on the Alumni Association website.

<p>
	In the offices of Student Financial Services on the third floor of Old Main, Mary Nichols salvages office supplies from water-damaged areas while student Samantha Gunderson and staff member Rian Barnes remove damaged papers from a storage closet. Ph

At approximately 6:10 p.m. Tuesday night, Nov. 23, a 2.5-inch sprinkler pipe on the fifth floor of Old Main burst, flooding many office suites in the central section of the building that faces the Old Main lawn.

Cleanup efforts are underway. Initial mitigation will involve stripping sheet rock off of affected areas and drying these areas out to remove the threat of mold. Carpet will be removed where necessary.

<p>
	Photo by Brooke Loisel | University Communications intern</p>

Western Washington University students, faculty and staff and community members attended a Veterans Day Ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 10, in Western's Viking Union Multipurpose Room.

Featured speakers included WWU President Bruce Shepard, WWU student and WWU Vet Corps Navigator Christopher Brown; WWU Student and Western’s Veterans Community President Jordan Linayao; and Doris Kent, former WWU employee and gold-star mother of the late Cpl. Jonathan Santos.

Fifth graders make their way across campus during the Compass 2 Campus tour day Oct. 26. Photo by Matthew Anderson | WWU

Close to 900 fifth-graders from Skagit and Whatcom counties are visiting Western Washington University today, Oct. 26, to see firsthand what a university campus is like.

The tour kicks off the second year of Compass 2 Campus, a proactive effort that sends trained WWU student mentors into schools in order to get more kids to see themselves as future college students.

Jason Morris, an associate professor of engineering technology at Western Washington University, pushes the truck across a bridge built by Sehome High School students Abby Cybula, Stephanie Taylor and Sequoia Meyer. Photo by Matthew Anderson | University

Engineering students from Western Washington University competed in a cardboard bridge-building competition with ninth-grade students from Sehome High School in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room this morning.

The WWU students, in a surprise set up by associate professor Jason Morris, did not know the Sehome students would be at the competition.

Roughly 60 WWU students (21 teams) and 100 Sehome students (10 teams) entered bridges in the contest. Each bridge had to span 4 feet and support a rolling toy truck from one end to the other without collapsing.