Videos
The Western Libraries at Western Washington University is reporting that an upcoming episode of Anthony Bourdain’s "No Reservations” show on the Travel Channel will incorporate a clip from one of the historic KVOS films housed at WWU’s Center for Pacific Northwest Studies. The show, which focuses on the U.S. desert, is expected to air on Monday, Aug. 8.
According to the Western Libraries:
The clip is drawn from Vancouver newsman Jack Webster’s 1964 interview with George Van Tassel, a California businessman who claimed to have been visited by aliens on flying saucers. During the interview, Van Tassel discusses his experiences and the formula for time travel taught to him by the visiting aliens.
A complete listing of KVOS Channel 12 Films is available here – select films are available online as part of Western Libraries’ Digital Collections.
TVW this week is airing the 2011 Ralph Munro Seminar that took place July 11 to 15 on the Western Washington University campus and at Padilla Bay.
Remaining television air times and topics for the week:
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7 p.m. Wednesday, July 20: “Challenging Times for Higher Education Financing in Washington State;” -
7 p.m. Friday: July 22 “Water Issues: The Case of Samish Bay.”
WWU President Bruce Shepard issued the keynote address on July 13 in the session on higher education financing. The full text of his comments is available online.
In addition to airing on television, the Munro Seminar sessions, including those from Monday and Tuesday, are available for viewing on TVW's website (to view all available episodes, perform a search for "Munro"). TVW is Washington State’s public TV network.
Elected officials, public policy experts, political scientists and scholars were among the speakers during the seminar, the topic of which was "Governing in Challenging Economic Times."
The seminar, sponsored by Western’s Ralph Munro Institute, is devoted to promoting civic literacy within secondary education and the public at large. It offers students, teachers and community members an opportunity to work with professors, activists and political leaders to learn how local, state and national politics develop. The institute and seminar are named in honor of Ralph Munro, a WWU alumnus and trustee and Washington’s former secretary of state.
Rich Van Den Hul, vice president for Business and Financial Affairs at Western Washington University, highlights WWU's commitment to sustainability and the environment during the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies Conference 2011, which took place on the WWU campus June 14 to 17.
Many more photos and videos from the event are available online on the BALLE website.
This film, produced 1n 1965-66 by the Women's Recreation Association at Western Washington State College (now Western Washington University), depicts various activities in which women could partake at Western.
Shown in the film are field hockey (see if you can recognize where the game is being played), basketball, badminton, hiking, skiing at Mount Baker and boating to the WRA's Viqueen Lodge on Sinclair Island in the San Juan Islands. Viqueen Lodge is now owned by the Associated Students of WWU.
The film comes from the records of the Physical Education, Health and Recreation Department at WWU. It was digitized from the original 16mm film in 2009.
For more information about this film, contact WWU Archives at university.archives@wwu.edu.
The Bellingham Festival of Music continues this week, with its last two performances slated for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 13, and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 17. Both will take place in the Performing Arts Center at Western Washington University.
On Wednesday, Michael Palmer, artistic director, will direct the festival orchestra in Rossini's Overture to La Scala di Seta, Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Liszt's Concerto #1 in Eb Major and Brahms' Serenade #2 in A Major. On Sunday, Palmer will direct the orchestra and chorus in the complete concert version of Beethoven's Fidelio.
Western Washington University’s College of Sciences and Technology presents its Wizards @ Western youth lecture series with “Creatures of the Salish Sea” on the WWU campus.
The Wizards @ Western events, free and open to the public, are geared toward children in grades 4-8.
Many bizarre marine animals are common but seem strange to most people because they are small and live in places that we rarely visit. At this event, children learn about some of these amazing marine animals and watch them feed and defend themselves from enemies. They see animals that are commonly confused with plants that turn into jellyfish. Using a microscope paired with high-definition video, they examine a variety of marine invertebrates that live in the Salish Sea.
“Creatures of the Salish Sea” is presented by WWU Assistant Professor of Biology Benjamin Miner. Miner’s primary research interest is evolutionary and ecological consequences of phenotypic plasticity with a secondary interest in marine invertebrate life-history evolution.
Miner earned his doctorate in Zoology from the University of Florida and his bachelor’s degree in Marine Science from the University of California.
For more information on WWU’s Wizards @ Western youth lecture series, contact Jennifer Mott, program coordinator of WWU’s College of Sciences and Technology, at (360) 650-2454 or Jennifer.Mott@wwu.edu.
Tim Wynn, director of Facilities Management at Western, is planning to retire this summer.
“It will be quite a challenge for anyone to follow in Tim’s footsteps as FM director because he has simply done a superb job and his leadership over the past 10 years has helped the university achieve many very noteworthy accomplishments,” said Richard Van Den Hul, vice president for Business and Financial Affairs.
Some of the projects completed under Wynn’s leadership include the major renovation of Miller Hall, construction of buildings such as the Academic Instructional Center, Communications Facility and the Wade King Student Recreation Center. During his tenure, damaging ivy also was removed from the façade of Old Main. And Wynn also actively assisted several notable campus efforts on sustainability, including Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (or LEED) designation for the AIC, Communications Facility and the Rec Center, and his strong support for a student-led initiative to buy 100 percent of Western’s electricity from renewable sources. Wynn also has been active in campus and community activities, including administration of the Sehome Hill Arboretum and appearing in local theatre productions.
AASCU, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, celebrates its 50th year in 2011. This video celebrates AASCU colleges and universities as places of public purpose and their mission of educational access and opportunity.
“Emerald Bay,” an original ballet about the forced removal of the Chinese community from the Puget Sound region based on a story by WWU Professor of English Christopher Wise, debuted May 15 at the University of Washington and will continue its local run at McIntrye Hall in Mount Vernon on June 4 and 5 and Bellingham’s Mount Baker Theatre June 11, 12, and 13.
“Emerald Bay” features original choreography by Western’s Associate Professor of Computer Science Jianna Zhang, and WWU Associate Professor of English Ning Yu served as the ballet’s cultural and artistic advisor.
Staged by the Northwest Ballet Theater, “Emerald Bay” is a romantic ballet set in the Puget Sound region in 1885. At this time, not long after the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese immigrants were driven from the area. A modern variant on Shakespeare’s classic tale “Romeo and Juliet,” “Emerald Bay” recounts the tragic love story of a Chinese sea captain, Li Puo, and his lover, Julie O’Connor, a young woman of Scots-Irish ancestry. Prominent historical figures in the ballet include Dirty Dan Harris, Goon Dip, and Mark Twain.
Shuai Chen of San Jose Ballet performs in the principle role as Li Puo, and Christina Stockdale of Ballet Bellevue performs the role of Julie O’Connor. The ballet also includes representative dancers and character actors from the region’s diverse communities, including Chinese, Irish, and Scottish dance traditions.
“Emerald Bay” features original choreography by artistic director John Bishop, formerly of American Ballet Theater, who recently directed Northwest Ballet’s “Aladdin” and “The Little Mermaid.” Allison Kahl, an alumna of Western’s Dance program, choreographed the ballet’s Irish and Scottish dancing. She also appears in the ballet as the character Reilly Doyle.
The ballet is sponsored by Western Washington University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Western’s English Department, Women’s Studies, the Office of Student Affairs, and the university’s Classical Ballet Club. It is also sponsored by numerous community organizations, including the Northwest Chinese Cultural Association, the Old Fairhaven Association, Dirty Dan Days, Ski to Sea, the Whatcom Museum, the Lummi Nation, Village Books, and the Chinese Expulsion Remembrance Project.
Wise, who plays the role of Dirty Dan Harris in the ballet, said, “This ballet is a collaborative effort involving multiple individuals and organizations. It offers a good example of what Western is doing in the local community.”
Prior to the ballet’s premiere in Bellingham, The Whatcom Museum of History of Art will host “Emerald Bay and The Chinese Expulsion: 125 Years Later.” The event will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 26 in the museum’s Rotunda Room. A brief clip of the ballet will be shown, and Dan Pike, the mayor of Bellingham, will issue a formal apology to the Chinese community.
The Old Fairhaven Association will also unveil a new historical marker commemorating the “Chinese Deadline” that existed in Fairhaven in the late 19th Century. The deadline is featured prominently in the choreography of the ballet, and the rededication of the marker was inspired by the ballet. At noon on Wednesday, June 8, the new marker will be laid in a formal ceremony in Fairhaven, also with the mayor in attendance, as well as representatives from Western, Northwest Ballet, the Old Fairhaven Association and the Northwest Chinese Cultural Association.
Wise’s book, “Emerald Bay: From the Lost Archives of Mark Twain,” is available for purchase at Village Books. For more information about the ballet, contact Christopher Wise at Christopher.Wise@wwu.edu (or 650-3237) or go to http://www.northwestballet.org/.
Western Washington University’s Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment will host its annual Innovative Teaching Showcase Learning Event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, June 3, in College Hall 310 on the WWU campus.
The theme of this year's showcase is “Teaching for Tolerance.” On June 3, community members are invited to meet the featured instructors, view videotaped interviews with those instructors and find out more about how instructors at Western are incorporating inclusive practices in their courses.
Each spring, the CIIA publishes a new online edition of its “Innovative Teaching Showcase,” detailing innovative teaching practices of several WWU faculty members.
The 2010-11 Showcase features Nicole Brown (Department of English), who teaches a visual rhetoric class focusing on social justice issues; Jill Heckathorn (Department of Physical Education, Health, and Recreation), who focuses on social justice by using experiential and service learning throughout her curriculum; and Carolyn Nielsen (Department of Journalism), who incorporates diversity and representation issues in her newswriting and reporting classes.
For more information on the 2010-2011 Innovative Teaching Showcase, visit http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/showcase2010/ or contact Justina Brown at (360) 650-7210 or via e-mail at Justina.Brown@wwu.edu.