Alumni

Winter 2018

From the horse’s mouth

When an international archaeology team needed to understand how an ancient civilization cared for its horses, they turned to Scott Bender ’95, a veterinarian with the Navajo Nation in Arizona.

Bender will be the first to admit that his career didn’t turn out like he expected—in fact, unforeseen twists are among his favorite parts. This particular turn got him involved in a research project that has changed our understanding of a pivotal point in human history: the emergence of horse domestication for war and transportation.

It started with a surprise phone call. Archaeologist William Taylor was examining horses exhumed from ancient … » More …

Winter 2018

Briefly Noted

Freedom’s Racial Frontier: African Americans in the Twentieth-Century West

Edited by Herbert G. Ruffin II and Dwayne A. Mack ’02 PhD History

University of Oklahoma Press: 2018

Between 1940 and 2010, the black population of the American West grew from 710,400 to 7 million. With that explosive growth has come a burgeoning interest in the history of the African American West—an interest reflected in the range and depth of the works collected in Freedom’s Racial Frontier that link past, current, and future generations of African American West scholarship. The West is revealed as a place where black Americans have fought—and continue to fight—to make … » More …

Stephenson Complex (Courtesy Stephenson South Residence Hall)

Winter 2018

Once upon a time in Stephenson South

In 1972, the tenth floor of the Stephenson South residence hall housed seven strangers. The stranger part didn’t last, as they soon became fast friends and poker buddies.

Today, those seven friends still meet and play cards, and have done so for the past 36 years.

“We just immediately bonded,” says Marc Anderson ’76.

Anderson was a sophomore when he lived in Stephenson while the rest of the group were freshmen. The friends hailed from all over Washington: Tonasket, Gig Harbor, Forks, Oak Harbor, and Seattle.

Most of the group still lives in the state while one is in Idaho and another in California. … » More …

WSUAA 2018–19 President Ashley MacMillan ’05

Winter 2018

WSUAA’s 40by20

Recently, the WSU Alumni Association announced its plan to achieve 40,000 members by 2020. The WSUAA calls its membership drive “40by20.” At a time when other alumni associations across the country are shrinking, Washington State Magazine wanted to know more about the association’s bold plan. Editor Larry Clark asked WSUAA 2018–19 President Ashley MacMillan ’05 about 40by20.

Larry: Hi, Ashley. Can you tell me a little more about the 40by20 membership drive? What is it, exactly?

Ashley: Over the summer, the WSUAA reached 32,608 members—an incredible new record for our organization. We decided to set a new goal for 40,000 members, … » More …

Winter 2018

Class notes

1960s

Al (’66 Civ. Eng.) and Sandee Kirkwood (’65 Speech & Hearing Sci.) received a Philanthropists of the Year award for their services to Clark County. The Kirkwoods met at WSU their freshman year and married when they were juniors. The couple has worked with several organizations in Clark County including the Boys and Girls Club of Southwest Washington and Clark County Food Bank.

Gordon Davis (’68 Ag., ’69 Ag. Ed.) received the Ruby C. McSwain Outstanding Philanthropist Award from the National Agricultural Alumni Development Association. A longtime agricultural educator at the high school and university level, Davis coached intercollegiate meats judging teams, including two … » More …

Winter 2018

In memoriam

1930s

L. Owen Clinton (’39 Fine Arts, ’40 Ed.), 100, January 30, 2018, San Diego, California.

1940s

Gordon A. A. Smith (’40 Elec. Eng.), 99, September 19, 2017, Spokane.

Jack McVicar Hayne (’43 Busi., Lambda Chi Alpha), 97, February 26, 2018, Conrad, Montana.

James Conrad Stover (’43 Civ. Eng.), 96, March 19, 2018, Richland.

Robert Pearse Gibb (’44 Pre-Med.), 95, July 16, 2018, Bellingham.

Dorothy B. Davidson (’47 Chem.), 92, June 5, 2018, Monroe, Wisconsin.

William F. Johnson (’47, ’70 MS Civ. Eng.), 94, January 10, 2017, Clarkston.

Donald R. “Don” Taylor (x’47, Alpha Tau Omega), 94, July 9, 2018, Kalispell, Montana.

Walter D. Buehler … » More …

Winter 2018

TalkBack for Winter 2018

Instrumental journey

The article written by Wenda Reed on the life of Gladys Jennings was excellent. I graduated in ’92, and had Gladys as an advisor in the Food Science & Human Nutrition Department. I transferred to WSU from the University of Alaska, Anchorage in the fall of ’89, and Gladys was instrumental in that process. After phone conversations and mailings, the transition from U of A to WSU was seamless. She would guide me in my course choices while in Alaska, and told me that these courses would directly transfer. She was instrumental in the success I had as a student at … » More …

Fall 2018

Cornfields to vineyards

“I quit working in 1996,” says master winemaker David “Merf” Merfeld ’13. That was the year he got a job at Bert Grant’s Brewery in Yakima—one of the early craft breweries in the region.

Merf’s passion for fermentation started in his kitchen a few years earlier. He’d driven west to Seattle from the family farm in Iowa. “Thirty, thirty-one hours straight through,” he says, with maybe an “hour stop for a rain storm in South Dakota.” He was in the ’79 Park Avenue his dad gave him: “a great ride, and everything I owned fit in that car.” The first thing he and the buddy … » More …

Fall 2018

Designer labels

Every wine has a tale and deserves a wine label that can tell that story

That’s what motivates Jim Carey (‘78 Comm.) and Jim Craig from Doubleknot Creative in Seattle, a branding and design firm that has carved out a niche crafting the artwork that graces many Washington vintages.

The designers have seen wine labels in Washington evolve along with the varietals and the state’s wine industry as a whole. Washington wines continue to build reputation and credibility, and going against big hitters like California’s Napa Valley, “world-class wine deserves world-class packaging,” says Craig, the creative director of the firm.

Most of all, … » More …

Fall 2018

Ask Caroline Heldman ’93

A leading voice on sexual harassment, Caroline Heldman ’93 has had a busy year. She coauthored the 2018 book Sex and Gender in the 2016 Presidential Election, and the 2017 book Women, Power, and Politics: The Fight for Gender Equality in the United States. And the associate professor of politics—who specializes in the presidency, media, gender, and race at Occidental College in Los Angeles—frequently appears in documentaries and on news programs to speak about the #MeToo movement and harassment—partly because of her own experience.

Heldman, who had been a regular guest of host Bill O’Reilly on The O’Reilly Factor, alleged in 2017 that … » More …