Washington State Magazine

Fall 2016

Victoria Tung ’96

Some traveled for three days through the humid air of Vietnam to get to the clinic offered by Victoria Tung ’96 and her colleagues.

“We were in one of the poorest regions of Vietnam,” Tung says. Over the course of a week, the all-volunteer Venture to Heal team offered two clinics, treating nearly 1,300 people. “We had a 67-year-old man who had never before seen a health care provider.”

“I have always been interested in global health issues and in serving people in underprivileged areas,” Tung says. That passion led her to her first jobs after graduating from WSU with a nutrition degree, working as … » More …

Fall 2016

Bob Olds ’64, DVM ’67

If you want to get to know Bob Olds ’64, DVM ’67, just ask Lizzy. Sure, Lizzy is a dog and can’t speak, but her story speaks volumes.

Found beaten on the streets of Tijuana, Lizzy’s jaw was so badly damaged she couldn’t close her mouth, and could neither eat nor drink. Rescued by members of a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, The Forgotten Dog, Lizzy got a complicated, pro bono surgery that repaired the damage to her jaw. The surgeon? Bob Olds. Lizzy is now a happy, normal dog.

Olds always wanted to be a vet. Kids love animals, he says, and he never had any … » More …

Fall 2016

In Memoriam

To read full obituaries or to post the obituary of a WSU alumnus, please visit the online class notes site, MyStory.

1930s

Evelyn G. Mitchell (’38 Busi., ’39 Ed.), 100, May 4, 2016, Oroville, California.

1940s

James Allen Gibson Jr (’41 Busi.), 95, March 22, 2016, Manchester, Vermont.

Jacob Joffee (’41 Agro.), 97, May 10, 2016, Rochester, New York.

Jack Pearson Meiners (’42 Agro., ’49 PhD Plant Path.), 96, April 24, 2016, Beltsville, Maryland.

Marjorie Eve Day (’43 English), 95, April 2, 2016, Olympia.

Dorothy Burnett Henry (x’43 Apparel, Merch.), 94, February 18, 2016, Albany, Oregon.

Margaret J. “Peggy” Morrison (’43 Home Econ., Kappa Alpha … » More …

Fall 2016

Class notes

To read more class notes or post your own, visit the online class notes site, MyStory

1960s

Verne D. Campbell (’61 Music) recently published his book, Encore Horns: Giving Wind Instruments a New Life for Young Musicians, which chronicles his efforts to acquire, refurbish, and donate used flutes, clarinets, trumpets, trombones, and other wind instruments to middle schools for the use of beginning band students.

Virginia (Franklin) Campbell (’61 Music) was elected president of the National League of American Pen Women, Inc. Comprised of professional writers, artists, and musicians, this is the oldest women’s arts organization in the United States, founded in 1897.

… » More …

Fall 2016

The music of life

In Yakima’s Garfield Elementary School, Principal Alan Matsumoto ’75 is hearing music ring through the halls after school. With 100 percent of the students facing poverty, the afterschool Yakima Music en Acción (YAMA) gives them the opportunity to transcend their circumstances with instruments.

YAMA, based on a Venezuelan program called El Sistema, brings professional musicians to the school to teach Garfield students how to play violins, cellos, and other instruments in ensemble groups.

The program launched four years ago with just seven students. Matsumoto says he first heard about El Sistema from Stephanie Hsu, who had recently graduated from training and now leads YAMA. … » More …

Fall 2016

The glassblowers

Glass is a snob, and that’s a good thing for science. For the most part, glass doesn’t interact with other substances. Essentially inert, glass is perfect for containing the otherwise uncontainable: strong acids, bases, and solvents.

Glass is, of course, also fragile. That’s why Norbert Kruse, a chemical engineer at WSU, had to take a glassblowing class when he was a chemistry student in Berlin in the early 1970s.

“We had to do our own repairs!” Kruse recalls. These days, researchers at WSU don’t have to know glassblowing to keep their labs running. Scientific glassblower Aaron Babino takes care of that.

WSU contracts with Babino, … » More …

Fall 2016

Talkback for Fall 2016

Another close encounter with outer space

Fifty years ago, 1966, I graduated from WSU and then went to work for NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California. I spent the next 40 years exploring our solar system. WSU gave me the “right stuff” to be a part of sending a “spacecraft where no spacecraft had gone before.” I was in the Pioneer Project and we sent the first spacecraft to the outer planets, Pioneer-10, to fly beyond the orbit of Mars through the asteroid belt and encounter Jupiter in 1973. After the flyby of Jupiter, Pioneer-10, on an escape trajectory from the Sun … » More …

Fall 2016

Fat furnace

Body fat has gotten a bad rap in recent years. It’s understandable given that 70 percent of American adults are reportedly overweight or obese, costing $190 billion per year in related medical bills. But new research shows not all fat is created equal.

Washington State University professor of animal sciences Min Du says our bodies are equipped with both good and bad types of fat that naturally work together to balance weight and metabolism. The process—along with a little help from diet and exercise— involves an intricate interplay between white, beige, and brown fat—or adipose tissue.

“When most people think of body fat, they’re … » More …

Fall 2016

Get out the tweet

Social media’s effect on political participation and civility

In the nonstop flow of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media, it’s hard to avoid comments and news about politics, especially in a presidential election year. Many worry the geyser of political rhetoric and uncivil comments might discourage some from participating.

That’s not always the case, says Porismita Borah, an assistant professor in the Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University since 2012. As a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin and at WSU, she researches emerging technology and how it affects politics. She coauthored a study in 2008 that found young people became … » More …

Summer 2014

Digital magazine

The SUMMER 2014 issue is available in the following digital versions:

Downloadable full-screen magazine-spread PDF (best viewed in Adobe Acrobat Reader, right-click link to download)

Downloadable tablet PDF — optimized for tablets and smaller screens

Cover photo: Milky Way galaxy over Mount Rainier from Sunrise Point—meteorites show up as streaks of light. Photo by Dave Morrow. This image was a winner in Smithsonian magazine’s 10th annual photo contest.