Summer 2004
WSM Summer 2004
Summer 2004
Pathfinder Award winner recognized early in career
Washington State University alumnus Brad Rawlins has earned one of the nation’s top scholarly awards in public relations.
The assistant professor of communications at Brigham Young University received the Pathfinder Award November 20 in New York City. He was recognized by the Institute of Public Relations for “a whole body of work through a number of years.”
Rawlins’s research examines ethical practice in public relations, especially moral decision making. He hopes to use concepts such as authenticity, accountability, and responsibility to show the need for transparency in communications.
“If you can help an organization become more transparent, then that organization has to account for what … » More …
Summer 2004
The kid from Odessa
As he looked around the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room last June, Lonny Suko had not lost sight of how he got there.
At age 59, he had gone east to face questions about his ability to replace U.S. District Court judge William Fremming Nielson, who took senior status.
Did Suko have the personal and professional mettle to serve as judge for the Eastern District of Washington state?
His answer came July 15, when the Senate confirmed President Bush’s nomination of him by a 94-0 vote.
The trip to Washington D.C., a venture backed by the area’s Congressional delegation, capped what was a “tremendously … » More …
Summer 2004
Winter was Hard: Music in response to tragedy
Summer 2004
WSU Hall of Fame adds 5 who excelled
Carol Gordon
On February 21, the day of her induction into Washington State University’s Athletic Hall of Fame, Carol Gordon offered a silent prayer. That evening she shared her petition with 180 guests at the induction banquet in the Compton Union Building.
“Please let me speak before George [Raveling],” the longtime WSU professor, coach, and administrator said. Her comment drew a rousing ovation from the audience, including Raveling himself. The charismatic Cougar basketball coach from 1972-83 would speak later. Olympic gold medallist Julius Korir; Linda Williams Sheridan, Spokane prep coaching legend; and football All-America Mike Utley were the other honorees.
Gordon championed women’s athletics at … » More …
Summer 2004
Students to build a complete solar home
A group of students from the School of Architecture and Construction Management at Washington State University will compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon. Over the next two years, the students will design and construct a small, energy-independent home as their entry.
Sponsored by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the competition gives students two years to plan and build a 500- to 800-square-foot house that receives all of its energy needs from the sun. The competition aims to increase public awareness of solar energy and inspire innovative solutions in ecological design. As part of the competition, students have to provide a home with … » More …
Summer 2004
A Winner: Small-World Photomicrography
This photograph of a thin copper film surface by former Washington State University materials science student Megan Cordill won 16th place in Nikon’s 29th annual Small World Competition. The photograph is part of a touring exhibit.
The previous year, Cordill placed both first and third in the Cornell University Microscopy Image Competition. Cordill received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at WSU in 2002 and 2003, and is now working toward her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering at the University of Minnesota.
Summer 2004
Stories about growing up
Pamela Smith Hill isn’t one to forget her roots.
Born and raised in Missouri, Smith Hill set one of her novels, A Voice from the Border, in the Show-Me state, and another, Ghost Horses, in South Dakota, where she lived and worked for nearly a decade.
And her early training as a newspaper reporter-long ago in Springfield, Missouri-is part of the reason for her success today as a writer of award-winning books and short stories for young women and girls, she says. “As a reporter, I had the chance to listen to people, to the way they talk, and to observe details of their own … » More …
Summer 2004
Gardening on the Palouse
The area known to practically every Washingtonian as “the Palouse” is one of six large grassland communities in North America. The Palouse stretches from just south of Spokane to the Snake River valley, near Moscow and Pullman. Today, it is a fertile farmland, covered in wheat and other grain crops. But prior to the 1870s and the arrival of “new-world” settlers, these rolling hills were blanketed in perennial bunchgrasses and forbs, which had dominated the landscape for five million years. Those native plants are now found only in tiny pockets around old cemeteries, along creeks, and in other unplowable places.
Some gardeners in the area … » More …
Summer 2004
Wave of the Future
Hands-on training doesn’t get better than this. After six months of construction, Washington State University assistant professor of architecture Robert Barnstone and 10 architectural design students recently completed what is essentially the world’s first wood-plastic building.
The project is a demonstration for the U.S Navy to show that wood-plastic products can be used wherever wood comes into contact with the ground, Barnstone says. The result is a structure at WSU’s Wood Materials and Engineering Laboratory (WMEL) that represents the ultimate in “reuse and recycle,” built entirely by undergraduate students from the architecture and engineering programs. The overall project engaged students, professionals, and professors, who guided … » More …