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Teaching Academy inducts 32 new members

The Teaching Academy at Washington State University added 32 new members to its membership roster at its first induction ceremony since 2020.

“The organization is made up of educators from every college and campus who provide advocacy, expertise, and the resources to enable faculty to engage students in transformative learning experiences and achieve academic success,” said Kara Whitman, academy chair and faculty member in the School of the Environment.

“New members infuse energy and ideas into the group and make valuable contributions to teaching and the scholarship of teaching across WSU. “We are very pleased that so many talented and qualified educators applied for membership this year.”

Induction ceremonies were held April 13 in Pullman, led by Whitman and Ashley Boyd, vice chair and faculty member in the English department.

The roster of new members includes from CAS:
Lisa Carloye, Biological Sciences; Blythe Duell, Psychology; Robin Ebert Mays, English, WSU Tri‑Cities; Brigit Farley, History, WSU Tri‑Cities; Leeann Hunter, English; Sergey Lapin, Mathematics and Statistics, WSU Everett; Yimo Liu, Biological sciences, WSU Tri‑Cities; Allison Matthews, Psychology, WSU Tri‑Cities; and Michael Pieracci, Languages, Cultures, and Race, WSU Tri‑Cities.

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Big Country News

History graduate to speak at World War II conference in Washington, D.C.

History scholar and 2023 WSU graduate Alicia Callahan’s Honors College thesis about the heroic efforts of World War II soldiers has drawn national attention, earning her a summer speaking engagement in Washington, D.C., and a trip to Normandy, France.

Callahan, who was honored as this year’s Department of History Outstanding Senior, will present her thesis about the U.S. Army’s heroic 6th Armored Division’s service at the Friends of the National World War II Memorial’s annual teachers conference in July. She is one of eight presenters selected to speak at the conference and the only presenter not already working in academia or a similar field. Her presentation will occur at the Military Women’s Memorial.

Callahan’s undergraduate research efforts also gained the attention of the Best Defense Foundation, a non-profit organization created in 2018 to honor and commemorate veterans, often returning them to battlefield sites. She has been invited by the foundation to join military veterans who survived the D-Day invasion in 1944 for a special week-long trip to Normandy, to mark the invasion’s 79th anniversary.

“It’s exciting. I’m honored,” said Callahan, who is from the rural central Washington community of Royal City and whose own great-grandfather fought in World War II. “I know it’s going to be emotional. Hearing their stories is going to bring me to tears.”

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WSU undergraduates receive Udall scholarships

Jessalyn Swanson is one of two Washington State University students to receive a prestigious, nationally competitive Udall Undergraduate Scholarship award this spring.

The Udall Foundation awards scholarships to college sophomores and juniors for leadership, public service, and commitment to issues related to Native American nations or to the environment. From 46 institutions a total of 55 Udall scholars were chosen nationwide this year, with 37 in the environmental category, nine in tribal public policy, and nine in Native health care.

Swanson is the fifth Udall recipient in the Native American health care category, bringing WSU’s total of Udall awards to 12 since 2015.

A rising junior and biology/pre-med major minoring in human development, Swanson plans after spring 2025 graduation to study medicine and become a pediatrician or family doctor and provide health care for her rural community. A Native Alaskan and member of the Iñupiaq tribe, she was raised in Kotzebue in the state’s northwest.

“I was raised to believe that I can make a difference as long as I worked for it. My Iñupiaq culture taught me to be strong and resilient and to overcome the obstacles we face every day being an Alaskan Native. My community has pushed and supported me to accomplish all that I have done throughout the years.”

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Bear burnout: Officials expand bear-resistant products program as grizzlies tire of testing

Grizzly bears use a wide variety of techniques to break into containers. Sometimes, they’ll finesse a claw into a lid to pry it open. Often, they’ll slam a container into a wall, or chew on the corners and weak points until it breaks.

Chelsea Davis’ favorite technique is the “CPR” method. A bear will place its front paws on a container, then press down with all its brawn. As soon as the material flexes, the bear will focus on that area, pushing harder and harder until the container cracks.

On Wednesday, a 19-year-old grizzly named Luna spent an hour hammering away at a cooler at Washington State University’s Bear Research Center. Staff safely pulled the item from the yard while Davis distracted Luna with a spoonful of frosting.

Through her work with bears, Davis has learned how fragile humans are in comparison. Bear-resistant coolers are heavy, and it can be difficult for a person to move one around. But in a single swipe, a bear can slide it across the ground with ease.

“They’ll do this brute force thing for the first few minutes, and then you just see them stare at it and start picking it up,” said Davis, the research center’s animal care facilities manager. “You’re like, ‘Not only is there strength, but there’s great intelligence behind it.’ That can be intimidating.”

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Billings Gazette

Sharing American political and judicial expertise overseas

Cornell Clayton.
Clayton

Cornell Clayton, director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University, is helping developing democracies thrive.

Recipient of a Fulbright Senior Specialist award for a three-week visit to Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, Clayton held a series of lectures for graduate and undergraduate students focusing on contemporary American politics, constitutional law and politics, and social science methodology. He also met individually with junior faculty to help advise on their research and publication efforts.

“Whenever one teaches students in other countries it always brings fresh perspective to familiar ideas and concepts,” said Clayton, the Claudius and Mary Johnson distinguished professor of political science at WSU. “Working with scholars and judges who encounter similar issues in this central European region will enrich my research and teaching about courts and justice.”

In a separate series of events funded by the U.S. State Department, Clayton and David Campbell, senior U.S. district judge for Arizona and chair of the U.S. Judicial Conference’s Committee on International Judicial Relations, conducted workshops for Slovakian judges and law professors.

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