Alair MacLean, associate professor of sociology at WSU Vancouver, will join the 2020 class of the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS). The academy announced its newest members in July, including seven from WSU. The honor recognizes researchers for their outstanding scientific and technical achievement as well as their willingness to work on behalf of […]
Five CAS faculty members in four academic areas—chemistry, Spanish, humanities, and English—are creating free, open educational resources for their courses with the help of WSU Affordable Learning Grants. By shifting from traditional textbooks to openly licensed course materials, faculty have saved WSU students more than $1 million savings in textbook costs over the past four […]
Iridescent little fairywrens drew doctoral student Jordan Boersma to the grasslands of Papua New Guinea, but it was the unexpected generosity of the people that captured the researcher’s heart. “I’ve traveled all over Asia and never experienced this level of hospitality. If you accept their culture, they’ll really take you in and look after you,” […]
Buddy Levy, a longtime clinical professor in English, likes to make the trip. He specializes in historical narrative, paying meticulous attention to detail, writing cinematically, and traveling to the sites of the stories he’s researching—sometimes several hundred years after they’ve occurred. Travel, he says, is necessary for scene-setting and description, and can be more meaningful than […]
Stephanie Schendel caught the journalism bug in college, spending two years on the staff of The Daily Evergreen and observing Pullman police officers as they responded to calls related to drunkenness, domestic disputes, overdoses—even a stabbing. “I did maybe a half-dozen ride-alongs,” says Schendel (’12 Spanish, Comm). “They were very patient with me and answered all of […]
In the days after Mount St. Helens first erupted—sending some 540 million tons of ash over an area of 22,000 square miles—WSU ecology professor Richard “Dick” Mack was already thinking of its potential research value. “It wasn’t research that I intended to do,” Mack says, “but there was a unique opportunity and it would be […]
Cesar Munguia, student services coordinator/advisor for Cougs Rise, received a 2020 Crimson Spirit recognition. After earning his WSU undergraduate degree in sociology, Cesar joined the University as a full-time staff member in the Office of Academic Engagement. As a project coordinator for Cougs Rise, he is committed to providing support services to students with the […]
A new book co-authored by Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Laurie A. Drapela offers guidance on how autism research can inform and improve juvenile justice policies in Canada and the United States. Both countries rely on decentralized systems of governance to craft and implement law and policy, but their treatment of
Until there is a vaccine or effective treatments in place for COVID-19, public health experts are recommending preventative health behaviors such social distancing and wearing facial coverings in public to help stem the spread of the disease. But not everyone can or will enact these prevention behaviors. Based on her lab’s prior work linking economic […]
People in what is now Washington state were smoking Rhus glabra, a plant commonly known as smooth sumac, more than 1,400 years ago. The discovery, made by a team of WSU researchers, marks the first-time scientists have identified residue from a non-tobacco plant in an archeological pipe. “The research casts doubt on the commonly held […]