Skip to main content Skip to navigation
CAS in the Media Arts and Sciences Media Headlines

Inspiring the next generation of musicians

WSU continues 28-year tradition with youth camp

Thirty-four adolescent musicians, adorned in matching red T-shirts, invaded the Washington State University Pullman campus on Sunday for the university’s week-long Summer Keyboard Exploration. They came from as far away as Singapore and as close as the Palouse.

The program, now in its 28th year, allowed the 7th- through 12th-grade performers the chance to improve themselves musically as well as worldly by working with the university’s School of Music faculty, studying classical and jazz piano, improvisation and organ.

Jeffrey Savage
Jeffrey Savage

WSU music professor Dr. Jeffrey Savage said the students had the opportunity to work with a different instructor each day of the camp, individually and together in a group setting during several master classes, concentrating on solo performance literature, technique and ensemble playing.

“I think they come away from the camp really inspired,” Savage said. “To get to know them as young students and then to help them develop as college students is really a treat.”

Find out more

Moscow-Pullman Daily News (login required)

Pullman Arts Commission to seek funds to build WSU-designed bus stop

During its regular meeting Tuesday, the Pullman City Council authorized—via head-nods—the Pullman Arts Commission to move forward with fundraising for a new bus stop designed in part by members of the WSU Department of Fine Arts.

The bus stop is to be built in front of Safeway grocery store and designed by the WSU Collaborative, a team of WSU art, architecture, design and engineering students and professor Ayad Rahmani.

In April, the commission chose the “Magnificent M” as its favorite design out of four presented by WSU Collaborative.

Now called Rolling Hills, the modified design shows previously sharp points of the “M” have been softened to mimic the hilly Palouse landscape. The design has also been modified to incorporate bike parking and add an anti-graffiti clear coat for wood and metal parts of the structure.

The project was originally estimated to cost $2,500. With the modifications, that estimation jumped to $5,000.

WSU is donating its time and manufacturing resources, the commission’s interim chair, Joanna Bailey, told the council. Crowd-sourced fundraising may also be utilized.

Find out more

Moscow-Pullman Daily News (login required)

Republican Handel wins Georgia House election

Republican Karen Handel won a nationally watched congressional election Tuesday in Georgia, and she thanked President Donald Trump after she avoided an upset that would have rocked Washington ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Cornell Clayton
Clayton

Both U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Washington State University professor of political science Cornell Clayton said it’s too early to tell what the results of the election will mean for the 2018 midterm elections.

Clayton, the Thomas S. Foley distinguished professor at WSU’s Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service, said the race became symbolic for both parties but may not be a bellwether for the 2018 midterm elections.

“I think it was overhyped,” Clayton said.

The fact that it was close in a traditionally Republican district could mean generic GOP candidates will have trouble next year, he said. On the other hand, the fact that a Democrat couldn’t win in a swing district where Trump didn’t do so well might mean 2018 won’t be a wave election.

Find out more

The Spokesman-Review

Axon Announces Intent to Partner with Washington State University to Further Groundbreaking Research on Police-Community Interactions

Washington State University Researchers Offer First Analyses of Use of Force in Body-Worn Camera Video

At the annual Axon Accelerate User Conference, Axon (Nasdaq: AAXN), the global leader in connected law enforcement technologies, and Washington State University (WSU) announced their intent to form a strategic partnership for further research that may improve law enforcement training and police-community relations.

David Makin
Makin

In a set of landmark studies published in 2017, researchers at WSU’s new Complex Social Interaction (CSI) laboratory, led by Dr. David Makin, assistant professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, have analyzed body-worn camera footage to gain a more thorough and complete understanding of police use of force and police-community interaction. To aid the CSI team in their ongoing research, Axon will provide the researchers with body-worn cameras and access to its digital evidence management solution, Evidence.com, free of charge.

The donated technology will allow researchers to generate their own research footage via cadets enrolled in WSU’s Police Corps program and analyze it along with other data that local agencies choose to share with them. This partnership will provide them with the necessary tools and information for WSU to develop new algorithms for understanding use of force videos. » More …

‘When you close your eyes and think of Clark County’

Diverse group shares what Clark County, Washington, is to them and how it shaped their lives.

The exhibit, “I Am Clark County,” is an oral examination of Clark County that looks at 12 unique lives. The subjects—or “narrators” as they are called by their interviewers—represent a diverse group through a variety of religions, races, jobs, ages and personal histories.

Donna SinclairThe exhibit is the brainchild of Donna Sinclair, instructor of history at Washington State University Vancouver. Sinclair laid the groundwork for the exhibit during WSU Vancouver’s spring semester by teaching a group of her history students how to interview and put together an exhibit.

The goal, as Sinclair describes it, was to talk with “ordinary Clark County citizens. Through the lens of their experience we can learn something about this place,” she said.

The physical exhibit itself features a descriptive poster of each subject, with various aspects of their lives highlighted, an assortment of graphics of both the subject and things pertaining to their life and three to five ways the subjects identify themselves. Next to each poster, hanging on the wall with headphones, are the interviews.

Find out more

The Reflector