Welcome to the 2020-2021 winter weather season!
As if we didn’t already have enough to grapple with, we also have to plan for the almost inevitable snow and ice we will see over the next few months. If 2020 is any indication, we should expect something unusual this season! In the “for what it’s worth category," NOAA predicts a cooler and wetter winter, due in large part to a La Niña that’s expected to strengthen into 2021.
What can looking into the past tell us about the future? Western Washington University Anthropology Research Associate Mike Etnier and his colleague, Boston University Research Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology Catherine West, are hoping that digging deep into Alaska’s past can shed light on how to move forward to conserve and protect one of the region’s most important commercial fisheries: the Pacific cod.
The Western Washington University student chapter of Society of Professional Journalists was named 2020 Outstanding Campus Chapter of the Year for Region 10, which includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.
The announcement was made at an online event, the SPJ Student Summit, on Nov. 19. The Western SPJ chapter was last recognized as Outstanding Campus Chapter for Region 10 in 2016, and the chapter celebrated its 40th birthday in 2019.
Western's Neuroscience Research Driven Students club, more commonly known as the NeRDS, is making the most of the pandemic, and while its efforts to teach local elementary-school children about the wonders of the human brain can't currently happen in the classroom, like all other educators in the state, they are continuing to teach remotely.
Western Washington University Associate Professor of Secondary Education Verónica N. Vélez, founding director of the university's Education & Social Justice minor, is handing over the program’s reins to Nini Hayes and Angela Fillingim, who will act as co-directors.
Fillingim has already started as co-director and will be joined by Hayes this spring.
Western Washington University is now receiving energy from the Skookumchuck Wind Facility as part of Puget Sound Energy’s Green Direct program, a ground-breaking initiative designed to provide PSE corporate and governmental customers the ability to purchase 100 percent of their energy from a dedicated, local, renewable energy resource, while providing them with a stable, cost efficient solution.
Dear Campus Community,
WWU Incident Command continues to monitor the increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases locally, regionally and nationally. Our top priority is keeping students, staff and faculty at WWU safe in the face of the surge of COVID-19 activity.
The start of the winter quarter will require continued diligence, including the testing of any students who will have a regular on-campus presence. This includes students living in campus housing, participating in face-to-face classes or working on campus. Testing will be held at Fraser Hall.
Western’s Art 306 class, led by Professor of Art Cara Jaye, have submitted their class work to the Penticton Art Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, and joined the international group of artists participating in the gallery’s “You Are Not Alone” COVID-themed exhibition.
WWU's Center for Community Learning is organizing two new opportunities for members of the Western community to help fulfill Strategic Goal 2, which directs us to advance a deeper understanding of and engagement with place.
As Western’s brand-new Marine and Coastal Science (MACS) program nears its first-ever major-application deadline on Dec. 31, Western Today thought it would be helpful for the campus community – and especially the second-year students now on campus who might be considering applying to the major and be part of its first official cohort -- to meet the program’s newest faculty.
