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CAS in the Media Arts and Sciences Media Headlines

Tuba student wins at regionals, prepares for nationals

Matthew Tatz playing tuba
Tatz

Matthew Tatz, graduate student in tuba, won first place recently in the young artist brass division at the Northwest Regional Music Teachers National Association Competition.

He advances to the national competition in Baltimore on March 20.

“Matt has worked diligently over the past few months in preparation and will undoubtedly bring distinction to the School of Music and Washington State University,” said WSU clinical assistant professor of music Chris Dickey.

WSU News

Spokane judges have a new tool to decide whether the right people are in jail

Judges in Spokane County will soon have an easier time deciding whether to send people to jail before trial. The city and county court systems are rolling out a new risk assessment tool designed to free up space in the aging jail by making sure people aren’t held there simply because they’re too poor to pay a low-cost bond.

Zachary Hamilton
Hamilton

The tool called Spokane Assessment for Evaluation of Risk, or SAFER, was developed by Washington State University criminal justice professor Zach Hamilton, who looked at 13,000 Spokane County cases to determine which factors were correlated with greater risk.

“One of the hardest jobs we do as judges is making that release decision,” said Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno. Looking at a defendant’s criminal history to try to figure out if they’ll show up to court can be “sort of like a Ouija board,” she said. “Having a risk score from the SAFER tool “allows me to make that decision much more confidently.”

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Spokesman-Review

Online psychology degree ranks among nation’s best

Washington State University recently was recognized for excellence in psychology education among colleges and universities nationwide.

Affordable Colleges Online (ACO) ranked WSU’s online degree program in psychology among the 12 “Best Online Psychology Degrees for 2016.” Only one other Pac-12 school made the list of 50 top programs among the thousands of colleges offering online psychology degrees.

Lee Daffin
Daffin

“I am especially proud of the ranking because it reinforces for our students that they are in one of the premier programs in the nation, getting a quality education at an affordable price,” said Lee Daffin, clinical assistant professor of psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences and the program’s director for WSU Global Campus.

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WSU News

WSU’s online bachelor’s degree program earns high ranking

Washington State University has again ranked highly in a list of the best online bachelor’s degree programs in the country. In U.S. News & World Report’s ranking, WSU came in 15th among all bachelor’s programs in the U.S. Last year, it ranked 34th.

Four of the six most popular majors for WSU online students are in the College of Arts and Sciences: social sciences, psychology, criminal justice, and political science. Last fall, more than 2,000 undergraduate students, and nearly 1,000 graduate students, were enrolled.

The university plans to add three online degrees this summer, including a bachelor of science degree in data analytics with specializations offered through CAS.

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Seattle Times

Moscow-Pullman Daily News

WSU News

WSU Professor Hikes Mountains with Cello to Play Music in Nature

Ruth Boden
Boden

WSU associate professor Ruth Boden from the School of Music has been hiking up mountain trails with a full-size cello on her back and playing music to the sky. This has given Boden some unique perspectives on the nature of music and life.

As part of her research project “Music Outside Four Walls,” Boden, who teaches cello, bass, chamber music, and music theory at WSU, has carried her 12-pound instrument to Northwestern mountaintops, along the Appalachian Trail, and deep inside other spaces.

She will present a public concert and talk about her research on Thursday, January 19th, at 8:00 p.m. at the Kimbrough Concert Hall.

Through Music Outside Four Walls, Boden aims to create “transformative experiences in music that transcend the commonplace,” she said. To that end, she has hiked with her cello more than 400 miles during the past three years and sent at least 100 hours of music into forests, meadows, mountains, rivers and clouds.Ruth Boden backpacks with her cello across the historic Potomac River railroad bridge on the Appalachian Trail in Harpers Ferry, WV. Photo credit: Dean Luethi

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The Daily Fly
WSU News