CAS in the Media | Washington State University

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NSF grant to study corporate influence on government

November 12, 2013

Sociologist and new member of CAS faculty Mikhail Balaev has received a two-year National Science Foundation award to study political and corporate ties in the American government. The grant will enable him to collect and analyze data related to the professional affiliations of presidential appointees since 1978 in order to create a network model of the ties between corporations and executive government.

Balaev is a macro-sociologist with broad academic interests in economic and political sociology. Growing up in Soviet Russia, he witnessed the massive socio-economic change brought by the collapse of the Soviet Union, which inspired his interest in sociology.

‘Frequent fliers’ rack up criminal convictions, frustrating officials

November 7, 2013

At any given time, Spokane-area police officers and sheriff’s deputies are monitoring between 40 and 60 repeat offenders—a.k.a. “frequent fliers” and “hall of famers.”

Zachary Hamilton, WSU assistant professor of criminal justice, is an expert on repeat-offender cases. On behalf of the Department of Corrections, Hamilton analyzes prisoners’ likelihood to reoffend.

Whatever prevents repeat offenders from staying out of trouble—usually a drug habit or mental problems—they figure the risk of committing a crime is far less than the risk of not committing a crime.

Literary Flight: A writer’s adventures at 3,000 feet

November 6, 2013

Author and editor W. Scott Olsen writes about things that scare him, flying a single-engine airplane across remote landscapes, tracking the lives of wildland firefighters, and other risky activities that capture his interest.

Olsen will read and discuss his literary work on Nov. 7 at 5:00 p.m. in the Museum of Art/WSU Pullman, as part of the 2013 WSU Visiting Writer Series sponsored by the Department of English. Author of several books and acclaimed essays, Olsen also edits “Ascent,” one of the oldest and best-established literary journals in the country.

“No matter what your discipline or academic specialty, having the tools to write about it for a wide audience is something we all want to know more about,” said Debbie Lee, professor of English and co-director of the Visiting Writer Series.

Olsen also will be part of a roundtable on publishing and editing across print and the web at noon Nov. 8 in Avery Hall, Bundy Reading Rm., at WSU Pullman. Other panelists are Rita Rud, Bryan Fry, and Jana Argersinger, with Peter Chilson moderating.

Arts and Sciences faculty webinars available online

November 6, 2013

The WSU Global Campus Digital Academy, a free educational resource open to the public, features hour-long webinars hosted by WSU faculty. Current offerings from CAS faculty (and a Ph.D. candidate) include discussions on mural making, dream analysis, home-brewed beer, and the role in history and literature of two iconic superheroes.

“College is about more than classes,” said Global Campus Vice President Dave Cillay. “It’s also about access to WSU’s wide range of extracurricular educational resources, whether it be the passion and expertise of our WSU faculty or the diversity of our cultural events.”

Learn more and register at open.wsu.edu

New insights into role of belief in learning

November 4, 2013

With support from a $1.6 million grant, a new CAS faculty member is studying people’s beliefs about whether intelligence can be increased and how these beliefs shape our attitudes, behaviors and expectations.

Joyce Ehrlinger, assistant professor of psychology, has begun working with teachers at Pullman High School to apply some of her research to improve students’ math skills. She is reaching out to other educators at WSU and in the surrounding community who can work with youngsters to help them develop “the mindset that they can become smarter.”

“We have tools that have been proven to improve kids’ performance on standardized tests, ultimately just by teaching them this idea that intelligence is changeable.”

Read the article at WSU News