Two years ago, Lou Pepper watched the bank he once managed become the largest bank failure in U.S. history.
Pepper, a former Washington State University regent, had retired from Washington Mutual in the early 1990s when the bank was sound. But then a pattern of rapid growth and risky lending led to the collapse.
The former CEO felt helpless as each day brought more negative news. “People had been building this bank for 115 years, damn good people,” says Pepper, leaning forward in his chair in the small first-floor office of his home on Skagit Bay. And many of them were losing their savings, their … » More …
During Spring Break 2010, a group of Washington State University students volunteered on the “Spring to Action Break for Change” program, sponsored by WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Center for Civic Engagement. WSU students Cindy Ola, Ian Chittle, and Vanessa Balch describe the spring break program.
Read about other young WSU alumni and humanitarians giving back in Time Out in the World, Summer 2010 issue.
Particles moving faster than the speed of light. Elements transmuted from one to another. A million watts of power. Hands-on practice controlling a nuclear reactor.
These are some of the selling points of Chemistry 490, a specialized elective class offered by Donald Wall, director of WSU’s Nuclear Radiation Center, which houses the university’s research and teaching nuclear reactor. The course, which has been filled to capacity both times it’s been taught, gives students of all backgrounds a chance to learn enough about nuclear reactors to pass the formidable exam to become a federally licensed nuclear Reactor Operator (RO).
Washington State University women’s rugby team members explain the basics of the game. In the 2008-09 season, the Cougs took third in the nation for Division II women’s rugby after going undefeated in league play and regionals.
Can trumpet players improve by changing the position of their feet and body? At Washington State University, honors student Leah Jordan and music professor David Turnbull measured trumpet students’ breathing and playing to analyze the difference a change of posture can make.
“Anyone who has taken music lessons has probably absorbed enough instructions about posture to feel like a raw recruit at basic training: Stand straight! Head up! Toes forward!
Leah Jordan, who is starting her senior year at Washington State University, says not to worry about forcing yourself into the “proper” position for playing an instrument. In fact, she says you’ll probably play better … » More …
The 1909/1910 Chinook yearbook devoted a full page to “The Installation of the Kappa Sigma.” In the text W.M. Coulter, a founding member of the first national fraternity at Washington State College, notes that the event “marks a new epoch in the fraternal life of the College.”
Indeed, according to William Stimson’s student history of WSU, Going to Washington State, by 1918 there were seven national fraternities on campus and four national sororities, in addition to a handful of local fraternal groups. Concerned that students were spending more time on their social lives than their studies, the faculty created a committee in 1911 “to regulate … » More …
There’s more than one way to be Coug, as our gallery of student styles demonstrates. If clothes could talk, they’d speak volumes about the lifestyles and affiliations of their wearers.
And, in fact, they do, according to Linda Arthur, who teaches in Washington State University’s apparel merchandising, design and textiles department. She and Mark Konty, formerly of the sociology department, summed up their students’ research on student subcultures at WSU to see how people were communicating their identity through dress.
Of the 1,200 students and alums surveyed, 65 percent fit into the collegiate subculture. Within that group there are the Greeks, who are well dressed … » More …
Toren Volkmann and his mother, Chris Volkmann '70 have co-authored a book about their family's experience with Toren's alcoholism. What they learned through direct experience dovetails with what counselors and researchers are discovering at WSU and beyond. » More ...
