Winter 2004
Education
Spring 2003
Eldridge sees WSU as a tight-knit family
Ray Eldridge doesn’t usually recommend hitchhiking. However, he didn’t have many options a few years ago, when his car gave out near North Bend enroute to Pullman from Seattle. Not to worry. From the back seat, he retrieved a Washington State University sweatshirt and cap, slipped them on, and thumbed a ride.
The “good Samaritan” who picked him up proved to be a Seattle-area veterinarian traveling to WSU to join his daughter for Dad’s Weekend.
“That’s the kind of tight-knit family we are in. Some people don’t understand that about Washington State University,” the 2002-03 WSU Alumni Association president says.
Eldridge’s own WSU ties are … » More …
Winter 2004
Hazy, crazy days of summer… science
In the chemistry laboratory in Fuller Hall, Cougar Summer Science campers are either making bouncy balls through cross-linking polymers or figuring out the generation properties of oxygen. Tossing her laboratory-produced ball in the air, Kyleigh Kake of Spokane says that she has always wanted to be a doctor. Her lab partner, Elizabeth Perez of Grandview, Washington, attends Cougar Summer Science Camp through an award from her local science fair.
A camper from the next group, slightly less successful with his bouncy ball, says he “did some science at his house.” His description of his experiments make it clear he is better off in the hands … » More …
Winter 2004
Guiding Student-Athletes to Academic Success
Balancing academic and athletic commitments in college can be a tough. On top of classes, labs, assignments, studying, and tests, student-athletes devote an enormous amount of time to conditioning and practice, plus travel and competing. Some 450 Washington State University athletes face the challenge every year.
“If you don’t establish priorities, you may be staring at the top of the mountain and wondering how to get there,” says Adam Hawkins, captain of the 2001 Cougar football team.
Hawkins cherishes his five years on the team and his degrees in management information systems and in marketing. “I couldn’t be happier with the toolbox and the personal … » More …
Winter 2004
Ideas, Buildings, and Mirrors
Torn between respect for its natural surroundings and a desire for
cosmopolitan sophistication, Spokane lends a unique perspective to the
notion that works of architecture reflect what a community thinks of
itself. » More ...
Winter 2004
Our Kind of Town
Spokane is undeniably a beautiful place to live and raise a family. Its
downtown is once again vibrant. But it takes more than attitude and
livability to drive an economy. That's where higher education comes in. » More ...
Fall 2004
The art of communicating by signing
Fingers flew at a rapid pace for Nancy Kikendall during the 2002-03 academic year at Gallaudet University for the deaf and hard of hearing in Washington, D.C. She was among only a few hearing students accepted into the school’s graduate program. The experience, she says, greatly improved her American Sign Language (ASL) skills.
“Anyone in the deaf community knows Gallaudet is the top of the top. It was an honor,” said Kikendall, while relaxing at her Liberty Lake home near Spokane last November. About 98 percent of Gallaudet’s 2,000 students are deaf or hard of hearing.
“Most classes are taught in sign, so you have … » More …
Fall 2005
Camp Larson—a heritage reclaimed
For the first time in maybe a century, ceremonial songs of the Coeur d’Alene tribe floated across Cottonwood Bay on Lake Coeur d’Alene last spring. The Coeur d’Alenes were reclaiming a portion of their ancestral lands, a place where they can connect with their past and create a future of education and counseling programs for their children and families.
The site, Camp Larson, was an educational venture started by a group of Washington State University instructors nearly 50 years ago, when Roger Larson and several colleagues found the picturesque property for sale at the south end of the Idaho lake. Through the University they created … » More …
Summer 2006
Can America compete in a 'Flat' World?
Many of you are familiar with Thomas Friedman’s argument, in The World is Flat, that technology has eliminated many barriers to competition and thus created today’s globally competitive economic environment. His dramatic examples of outsourcing show that key services, including high-level engineering and scientific tasks, can be effectively accomplished without regard to the workers’ physical location. This allows imaginative businesses to tap talent from around the globe, often at considerable savings.
Friedman, a foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times, uses this evidence to reach some alarming conclusions about how America will fare in the future. After establishing the central thesis that location is … » More …
Summer 2002
School superintendent recognized on state, national levels
R. Stephen Rasmussen capped two-plus decades as a school administrator by being named Washington Superintendent of the Year for 2001 and one of four finalists for National Superintendent of the Year.
Rasmussen, 51, has been superintendent of the 7,900-student Franklin Pierce School District since 1992. The district south of Tacoma serves a growing community with increasing ethnic and linguistic diversity.
When he was hired, the district faced a $600,000 deficit. In 1998, the district became the first in the state to pass a four-year school levy. The same year, voters approved a $25.6 million bond for construction.
The superintendent gladly shares his recognition. “It is … » More …