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Faculty use funding to improve education

Thanks to grants from the Smith Teaching and Learning Endowment, thousands of undergraduates are benefiting from new or revised classes and teaching innovations at Washington State University.

“We are very pleased by the innovations developed by these skilled and thoughtful educators with the funding from the Smith grants,” said Mary F. Wack, vice provost for undergraduate education and dean of the University College. “They each made a great difference to academic experiences of the undergraduates in their classes and programs. And they serve as models to other faculty at WSU and nationally.”

The most recent six $5,000 grants allowed seven faculty members to implement their ideas to improve educational programs, including David Leonard (critical culture, gender, and race studies), Pamela Lee (fine arts), Allyson Beall (environment), and Tom Dickinson (physics and astronomy). They addressed either of two issues of importance at WSU today: improving student engagement in large classes and integrating environmental sustainability concepts into courses. Continue story →

Holocaust work informs professor’s race studies courses

C. Richard King
C. Richard King

By Phyllis Shier, College of Arts and Sciences

Research by a Washington State University professor last summer at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies (CAHS) has changed his teaching and his approach to culture and racism.

It also resulted in the recruiting of a lecturer who will speak in collaboration with WSU’s 2012 Common Reading Program in November.

C. Richard King, a professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies, spent a month at CAHS conducting research and incorporating themes of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism into his WSU courses. » More …

Governor names new WSU student regent

By Darin Watkins, WSU News

Washington State University’s Rafael Pruneda has been appointed as the student member of the WSU Board of Regents for the 2012–2013 academic year. His selection as WSU’s fifteenth student regent was announced this week by Gov. Chris Gregoire. The appointment runs through June 30, 2013.

“I’m extremely proud to have the opportunity to serve the WSU,” Pruneda said of his appointment. “Being involved in student government and various student organizations has given me the knowledge and ability to communicate with my constituents. I look forward to voicing student concerns and ideas to the current board of regents.”

Born and raised in Othello, Wash., Pruneda followed his two sisters to WSU: Iliana in animal science, and Ana Maria in chemical engineering. Awarded a bachelor’s degree in history, Pruneda is working on a second degree in comparative ethnic studies, with minors in English and global studies.  Continue story →

Presidential award goes to neuroscience researcher

Brendan Walker
Brendan Walker

Washington State University Department of Psychology neuroscience researcher Brendan Walker has been selected to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), which is the highest honor the federal government awards scientists and engineers who have recently initiated independent research careers.

Walker was selected for his work in developing new therapies for alcohol addiction. The Presidential Awards are intended to recognize and nurture some of the finest scientists and engineers who, while early in their research careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge during the twenty-first century.

“This is a tremendous honor,” said Walker. “It is wonderful to see this area of research recognized for its importance at the highest levels.” » More …

Financial support for young adults can strengthen family ties

By Hope Belli Tinney, WSU News

When parents support their children financially well past the point that they themselves became financially independent, the resulting parent-child relationship is:

A. Fraught with tension and resentment.
B. Detrimental to the child’s leap into adulthood.
C. Closer and more loving than before.

While individual results may vary, Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson, a sociologist at Washington State University, has looked hard at the data from more than 11,000 surveys of young people ages 18 to 34 and says the answer is a qualified C.

“What parents are doing today is different than what parents were doing 20 or 30 years ago,” she said. Baby boomers might remember putting themselves through college, or supporting themselves with their first full-time job, but that isn’t the world their children have inherited. Continue story →