Japanese Emperor Akihito addressed the nation on Monday, releasing a rare video message to the public in which the 82-year-old strongly suggested that he wished to abdicate but avoided using that word directly.
Noriko Kawamura
The emperor’s suggestion that Japanese politicians need to revise the Imperial Household Law may also be his way of slowing down a push to revise Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution, said WSU professor of history Noriko Kawamura, author of “Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War.” » More …
Voters are weighing in on dozens of races across Washington on Tuesday as they winnow their choices for offices ranging from Congress to the Legislature in the state’s primary election.
Cornell Clayton
The fact that of the nine statewide offices on the ballot, five have open seats—without an incumbent—injects a different dynamic into the election, said Cornell Clayton, a political science professor at Washington State University.
“You have so many more candidates from both parties than you would normally have,” he said. “When you have incumbents, it tends to dampen the competition.”
A distinguished professor in the Department of Sociology is among four WSU faculty named to the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS) today. New members are accepted in recognition of their outstanding record of scientific achievement and willingness to work on behalf of the academy in bringing the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.
Monica Johnson
Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson, professor of sociology and Honors College distinguished professor, studies work, family and education across the life course, with a particular focus on well-being and achievement in adolescence and the transition to adulthood.
The newest members of WSAS will be inducted during the ninth annual meeting at the Seattle Museum of Flight on Sept. 15.
A gene-editing technology developed at Washington State University is being licensed to Genus plc, a global animal genetics company, to develop cattle that are more resistant to bovine respiratory disease (BRD).
The outcome of a discovery by WSU researcher Subramaniam Srikumaran, the new technology and its translation to disease-resistant animals is an example of the WSU expertise behind the recently launched Functional Genomics Initiative (FGI). FGI was developed by the College of Veterinary Medicine in partnership with the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences to address grand challenges around health and global food supply.
The goal of this initiative is to use gene-editing approaches and advanced reproductive technologies to produce livestock that will increase food production, enhance disease resistance and allow livestock to thrive as global demand for food increases. Funding for the initiative and a center dedicated to this work will lead to additional important discoveries.
For the fourth year, the Daylight Creek Gathering near Virginia City, Mont., welcomed the Shoshone-Bannock people back to their ancestral homelands. Coordinator Leo Ariwite said, “Being up here we can see everything. These are the same mountains that our ancestors saw.”
Orlan Svingen
Ariwite has been collaborating with Washington State University Professor of History Orlan Svingen to gather historical evidence and documentation of areas inhabited by the tribal people before white settlement. Their research uncovered a land cession document signed in 1870 which allowed Chief Tendoy’s people a land claim that the U.S. government never honored. Since the finding, Svingen and Ariwite have been trying to bring the truth to light.
With cooperation from the townsfolk of Virginia City, last year Tendoy Park, an eight-acre area was dedicated to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. This year proposed plans for a future Interpretive Park were presented by WSU students Alicia Woodard and Allison Bremmeyer, who were a part of a group of nine students who brainstormed ideas from the John and Janet Creighton Public History Field School. The discussion was meant as a public consultation with the tribal people and to gather their input.
