Academic Subjects

Shaking hands with the past

For artist Nathan Orosco (’02 MFA), the process of making art is an art in itself. From sculpting clays to melting bronze, “you’re collaborating with raw materials. You’re shaking hands with the past and the historic ways humans have traditionally dealt with those materials. And then I add in the content of my own personal […]

WSU scores big at 2019 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival

WSU music student soloists and ensembles won several first place awards at the 2019 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival this past weekend in Moscow, Idaho. Ensemble winners include WSU Jazz Big Band I, and WSU combos: Jazz Wires and God’s Harmony. Student solo winners include Raul Blanco, piano; Brandt Fisher, tenor saxophone; Joel Roeber, guitar and […]

Data analysis, text mining drives literary research

English major Matthew Jockers wasn’t always a computer whiz. The new dean of the WSU College of Arts and Sciences recalls a class in high school in which he struggled to program a mainframe to print out his name. “It was that tricky,” he says. A love of reading, writing, and literature led him to […]

Art for Social Change showcase and winners

The annual Art for Social Change Competition and Showcase shines a light on local artwork that express the significance of social justice, community building and black history. This year, accepted works were featured in a public exhibition in the Fine Arts Gallery 3 and awards presented by co-sponsoring departments across campus. Students from all campuses […]

Grad student discovers oldest tattoo tool in western North America

With a handle of skunkbush and a cactus‑spine business end, the tool was made around 2,000 years ago by the Ancestral Pueblo people of the Basketmaker II period in what is now southeastern Utah. Andrew Gillreath‑Brown, an anthropology PhD candidate, chanced upon the pen‑sized instrument while taking an inventory of archaeological materials that had been sitting in storage […]

Single mom earning degree while raising her son

For the average college student juggling school, classes and a job can be a difficult feat in itself. WSU Vancouver, however, is not a campus filled with traditional students. It is a commuter campus and sees everything from parents to long-distance commuters attending classes. Ana Betancourt is a WSU Vancouver junior majoring in sociology and […]

Powerful new microscope adds versatility to research

The WSU Franceschi Microscopy and Imaging Center has acquired a microscope so powerful and versatile that Michael Knoblauch, the center director, compares it to a pig capable of making wool, milk and eggs. Or, to quote his native German, an eierlegende Wollmilchsau. Technically, it’s an Apreo VolumeScope, and it brings a suite of imaging techniques, including the […]

Foreign language study leads to success

Kevin Simeon (’17 Chinese) has traveled to distant continents, made many new friends, and established an international business based around his knowledge of Mandarin Chinese. He attributes his success to enrolling in Chinese 101 at WSU. It wasn’t until my sophomore year on the Palouse when I decided to take on the daunting challenge of […]