Washington State Magazine

Summer 2016

Class notes

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

1950s

William Minshall (’51 Geog.) worked as a cartographer for 25 years with an aerospace firm in Glendale, California, where he also met his wife. After owning and operating an RV park near Tillamook, the Minshalls are now retired in Cloverdale, Oregon.

1960s

Northwestern Mutual honored Albuquerque financial representative William E. Ebel (’65 Ag. Econ.) with membership to its 2015 Forum Group in recognition of his helping clients plan for and achieve financial security. This is the fifteenth time Ebel has received the Forum honor.

Utah State … » More …

Summer 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

Emilie V. Brannfors (’38 Microbio.), 98, January 3, 2015, Seattle.

Margaret Grace Logen (’39 Busi.), 97, December 8, 2015, Stanwood.

1940s

Buel Laud Sever (’40 Gen. St.), 95, February 4, 2014, University Place.

Barbara Cole (’42 Socio.), 94, December 31, 2015, Spokane Valley.

Clarence L. Helgeson (’42 BPH), 97, February 18, 2016, Ellensburg.

Hazel E. Locklier (’42 Phys. Ed.), 94, July 5, 2014, Marlin, Texas.

Dorothy E. Smith (’43 Phys. Ed.), 94, February 24, 2016, Shoreline.

Lewis John Campbell (’44 DVM), 98, September … » More …

Summer 2016

What is the Kuiper Belt?

Winter 2015

Digital magazine

The WINTER 2015 issue is available in the following digital versions:

A MagCloud webviewer version for online reading

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

Print-on-demand and iPad app from MagCloud

Spring 2014

A dose of reason

Pediatric specialists advocate for vaccines

AS THE CHIEF OF PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES at the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital, Ken Alexander ’82 is no stranger to the measles, pertussis, or chicken pox.

He also works with children with HIV-related illness, pneumonia, and respiratory infections. He and his colleagues identify and treat infections caused by the typical viruses and bacteria as well as the little-known parasites and even fungi.

But when we sit down to visit near his offices on the north end of UC’s campus, Alexander wants to talk about something that isn’t a children’s disease at all.

He leans a little forward, … » More …

Spring 2015

After the war: Mud, floods, and modernization

After World War II, Bill Fitch left the Army, packed his duffel in Seattle and, with the U.S. government’s guarantee of free college tuition, headed to Pullman. When he and Al Smith, a fellow veteran and high school classmate, arrived at Washington State College, they found themselves on a campus crowded with thousands of GIs.

Spurred by unprecedented growth in student numbers from the “GI bulge” in the late 1940s, the small rural state college was becoming a modern higher education institution, and a decade later would bloom into a full-blown university. Wave after wave of student-veterans, a faculty newly empowered to govern itself, and … » More …

Spring 2016

How do leaves make themselves?

Ask Dr. Universe answers the question.

Spring 2016

Take a walk…and call me in the morning

The U.S. Surgeon General wants YOU to get off the couch and start moving. In the new Step It Up! program, Dr. Vivek Murthy urges walking or wheelchair rolling for all Americans. He’s not alone—the Centers for Disease Control touts walking as the closest thing to a wonder drug without any side effects, says April Davis ’97, ’09, ’12 MS, clinical assistant professor in the WSU Spokane Program in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. Like Panacea, the mythical Greek goddess of universal remedy, walking has something for everyone.

Since Kenneth Cooper first popularized aerobics in 1968, millions of Americans have taken up running, cycling, and … » More …

Spring 2016

Memories of light

Our brains are structured so smells conjure vivid memories. For me, though, a change in light evokes recollections as much as a scent. The clear and soft sunlight waking up the daffodils in spring. The doomsday orange haze over the Okanogan valley during last summer’s wildfires. The pearlescent moonlight and stars over Priest Lake on a camping trip. My anxiety when I saw police car lights behind me after I drove a little too fast near Tacoma. The red glow of the Bryan Hall clock as I walked past it a hundred times with friends.

These memories come into even greater contrast when … » More …

Spring 2016

Daughters of Hanford

Sue Olson, 94, came to Richland in 1944 and worked throughout Hanford as an executive secretary. She also worked in the labs at Hanford, calculating the numbers from radioactive samples. Eventually, she landed a job working for the assistant general manager of Hanford, Wilfred “Bill” Johnson. She says back then, “It was all business to win World War II. And afterward, during the Cold War it was that way too.” She had top-secret clearance and locked her filing cabinet each night before going home.

Olson’s story is part of the “Daughters of Hanford” multimedia project, in which radio correspondent Anna King ’00, photographer Kai-Huei … » More …