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Fall 2003

Designing for dementia

A common clothesline can make a difference in preserving the dignity and self identity of Alzheimer’s patients, says Keith Diaz Moore, Washington State University professor of architecture and landscape architecture.

At Sedgewood Commons in Falmouth, Maine, a backyard clothesline engages residents of the 96-bed care facility in daily household tasks. It also represents how designers now are considering cultural aspects in building new and remodeled assisted-living facilities, explains Diaz Moore. “An outdoor yard, including a clothesline, historically has been an important part of New England family culture. Here it helps promote resident autonomy, and the ritual of maintaining the landscape encourages awareness and orientation.”

Diaz … » More …

Fall 2003

The benefits of mustard

Remember your first encounter with classic Chinese mustard? Your seared sinuses? Your cheeks washed with involuntary tears?

What you tasted was the indelicate reaction of the mustard plant’s chemical compounds, probably enhanced by the wetness of your mouth.

That same volatile reaction is being applied by Columbia Basin farmers to control pests and weeds, improve the productivity of their soils, reduce the use of chemicals, and improve air quality for downwind communities.

Mustard is becoming the crop of choice as a green manure grown in the rotations of many potato producers. Research is showing that in addition to improving the physical and chemical characteristics of … » More …

Fall 2003

WSU Mom of the Year supports family, community

Chris Rettkowski learned firsthand the positive impact his mother has on other people’s lives, including his own. When his father died of a brain tumor four-and-a-half years ago, Chris and his sister, Lynne, were left looking for answers.

Their mother, Becky Rettkowski, became “the glue that held the family together,” he said in a letter nominating her for the 2003 Washington State University Mom of the Year award.

She and four other finalists for WSU Mom were recognized April 12 during the Mom’s Weekend Brunch on campus.

Nothing could replace the love his mother has provided, Chris said. Her constant support allowed him to focus … » More …

Fall 2003

The first casualty

Vietnam was the last conflict in which reporters could speak and write with prudent freedom.

During one of the nation’s many wars, I wrote of a patrol that came under fire and killed an enemy soldier. Before continuing, the GIs cut off the dead man’s genitals, and forced them into his mouth, leaving also a playing card-Ace of Spades-on his body. The soldiers said that such were enemy superstitions, that they would not cross over a dead man so festooned, thus it was required to keep the other side effectively tethered if the patrol was to complete its mission.

It was a poor excuse for … » More …

Fall 2003

Wings to fly

Mia Song Swartwood hovered over the Gladish Auditorium stage on pointe, adorned in vibrant plumage of gold, teal, and purple, arms stretched skyward, joyous in flight. Cast in the lead role of The Sparrow Queen, the May 10 inaugural production of Pullman’s Graham Academy of Contemporary Ballet, Swartwood embodied the free spirit that ultimately unites two estranged sisters in the ballet based on a Japanese fairy tale.

Swartwood’s own life is something of a fairy tale that began in South Korea. Left at a local Catholic Children’s Services Center in Inchon the day she was born, Swartwood was adopted a year later by Jim and … » More …

Fall 2003

Learning through collaborative research

In the world of research things aren’t always what they seem, or are supposed to be. Psychology students at Washington State University learned that last spring while working together, interpreting data, and writing up results. At an undergraduate research symposium in April, a dozen student presenters used large poster boards to explain their semester-long projects. Seven of the 12 received small research grants.

The purpose of the one-day symposium was to “encourage hands-on, face-to-face learning though collaborative research between psychology majors and faculty mentors,” says coordinator Samantha Swindell, who oversees undergraduate instruction in psychology at WSU.

The projects were varied. Some used animals in fundamental … » More …

Summer 2003

George E. Duvall, gentleman scholar

George E. Duval, 82, a pioneer of shock physics research and professor emeritus at Washington State University, died January 3, 2003 in Vancouver. He was internationally recognized as a founder and leader in studies related to shock wave propagation in solids and liquids. Many colleagues regarded him as the dean of U.S. shock wave science.

The Louisiana native spent his youth in Oregon. His studies at Oregon State University were interrupted in 1941 when he joined the University of California’s Division of War Research to work on underwater acoustics problems. He returned to OSU in 1945 to finish his bachelor’s degree and completed a doctorate … » More …

Summer 2003

White gave students and colleagues “a sense of hope and pride”

More than half of Washington State University’s living pharmacy alumni graduated during Allen I. White’s 39-year tenure (1940-1979) as professor and/or dean of the College of Pharmacy. He was appointed dean in 1960, a position he held until retirement 19 years later. Last June, he and his wife, Edith, moved from Pullman to Fountain Hills, Arizona, where he died December 23, 2002 at age 88.

The Silverton, Oregon native and son of a Lutheran minister completed three degrees from the University of Minnesota-a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy (1937) and both a master’s degree (1938) and a doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry (1940). In 1983 he won … » More …

Summer 2003

Bhatia built Honors, International Programs

Career educator Vishnu N. “Vic” Bhatia was a builder. Not with bricks and mortar, but with vision, drive, and diplomacy. He demonstrated this during his 47 years (1951–98) at Washington State University as a teacher, administrator, innovator, and ambassador. His efforts were not limited to pharmacy, his chosen field, but were interdisciplinary, as well as international.

His greatest contributions were as head of the Honors Program (1964-93) and director of International Education (1973-90). Shortly after his arrival at WSU, he and other faculty colleagues, including mathematics professors Sidney Hacker and Donald Bushaw, began laying groundwork for an academic program that would rank among the very … » More …

Summer 2003

A tale of many cities

As a boy Clint Borgen dreamed of having an interesting life, radically different from the humdrum sleepiness of Anacortes, Washington, his commercial-fishing-oriented hometown. He played spy games with a seemingly fearless older brother and best friend. At 20, Borgen became a firefighter. No small wonder that the next year (1999) he hopped a flight to Macedonia for a month of volunteer service, simply because he had watched television images of Albanian refugees and wanted to see the war zone for himself.

Returning safely to another somnolent community, this time Pullman, Borgen (’03 Comm.) published a book late last year about his four-year, 13-country marathon of … » More …