Press Releases

VANCOUVER, WASH. –Avantika Bawa, assistant professor of fine arts at Washington State University Vancouver, won the 2013 award for Early Achievement in Scholarship/Creative Activities from the College of Arts and Sciences. This was a system-wide award encompassing all four campuses that make up Washington State University.

Fourteen individuals received awards and certificates. Bawa, was the only faculty in liberal arts and the only faculty from the Vancouver campus to receive an award for scholarly activities.

Bawa is an artist, curator and academic. She has a master’s of fine arts in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a bachelor’s of fine arts in painting from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. Since joining WSU Vancouver in fall 2010, Bawa has had six major solo shows and participated in 10 curated/juried shows. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States, Russia, Canada and India. Bawa’s work can be viewed at www.avantikabawa.net

The WSU College of Arts and Sciences was formed in July 2012 by bringing together the College of Liberal Arts and the...

The U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the Electronic Literature Organization a Digital Humanities Start Up Grant for $52,003 for an innovative historical effort involving the first generation of modern digital writing.

The Pathfinders project, proposed by Dene Grigar, associate professor and director of the creative media and digital culture program at Washington State University Vancouver, and Stuart Moulthrop, professor in the department of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will build an archive of readings in which the authors and volunteer readers explore the textual possibilities of early digital texts. Readings will be carried out on the early computer systems for which the works were originally intended.

Recorded sessions will be made available through the Electronic Literature Database, and will also form the basis for multimedia presentations developed by the investigators and other colleagues. Using innovative software such as Scalar, a free, open-source authoring and publishing platform, these publications will explore strategies for representing and preserving computer-mediated writing.

Among the works chosen...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Washington State University Vancouver will graduate 906 students at its 2013 commencement ceremony at 1 p.m. May 11 at the Sleep Country Amphitheater. Chancellor Mel Netzhammer will preside over the ceremony. Tony Rojas, president of Slalom, LLC, and member of the Washington State University Foundation Board of Governors, will deliver the keynote address.

BACKGROUND ON THE CLASS OF 2013

The graduating class of 2013 is represented by 13 doctoral candidates in the areas of anthropology, education, environmental and natural resource sciences, and psychology.

The 133 master’s candidates will receive degrees in accounting, anthropology, business administration, computer science, education, engineering and technology management, environmental science, history, mechanical engineering, nursing, psychology, public affairs and teaching.

The remaining 760 bachelor’s candidates will receive degrees in anthropology, biology, business administration, computer science, criminal justice, digital technology and culture, education, electrical engineering, English, environmental science, history, human development, humanities, mechanical engineering,...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Washington State University Vancouver announced today it is issuing a Request for Proposal for off-campus student housing. The university seeks to establish a master lease agreement for use of an existing or newly constructed facility within walking distance of the Salmon Creek campus.

WSU Vancouver expects to house up to 125 students beginning fall 2014. In reviewing proposals, WSU Vancouver will take into consideration proposed property (hotel, apartment complex, other), attributes, amenities, location/access to campus and other services, cost, contract terms, safety, security and other items.

A copy of the RFP may be found online at http://admin.vancouver.wsu.edu/student-housing-rfp. Proposals are due May 15. Questions may be directed to Dave Hurt, procurement specialist, 360-546-9245 or dnhurt@vancouver.wsu.edu.

WSU Vancouver currently serves almost 3,000 students with ambitious plans to grow. Nearby student housing will allow the university to recruit students from a greater distance including international students.

WSU...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – In response to the national call for more and better mathematics teachers, current and future educators are invited to Washington State University Vancouver to learn more about the middle-level math endorsement. An information session will be held at 4:30 p.m. May 7 in the Dengerink Administration Building, room 129. This event is free and open to the public.

Math Endorsement Information Night will describe the program goals, course requirements, timelines for completion and provide an opportunity for participants to ask questions. Current teachers who want additional mathematics professional development as well as individuals who wish to be certified to teach math are encouraged to attend.

The WSU Vancouver College of Education offers a number of endorsements for certified teachers to add to their credential. Endorsements can be helpful in opening new doors of opportunity to teachers within their school districts or to help new teachers get their first jobs.

To learn more about math endorsements, visit http://education.vancouver.wsu.edu/endorsements

For more information,...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Washington State University Vancouver announced today that Jane Lanigan, associate professor of human development, is 2013 recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence. The award is WSU Vancouver’s highest research honor.

Lanigan was selected as the 2013 honoree for her research relating to children’s health and family well-being. Her primary areas of focus include supporting the professional development of family home child care providers, researching the role of technology in family interaction, and addressing childhood obesity through early intervention in childcare and family settings.

Lanigan’s research projects are often integrated with projects from WSU Extension. She spends 75 percent of her time working in conjunction with academic programs at WSU and the other 25 percent directly involved with WSU Extension. Through the extension office, Lanigan co-directs professional development opportunities for educators, partners with Just in Time Parenting and...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – A panel of four accomplished women of different faiths will gather at Washington State University Vancouver to discuss intersections between traditions as they speak to morality and respond to the difficulties women have had in these religious traditions. Moderated by Wendy Dasler Johnson, associate professor of English at WSU Vancouver, this interfaith seminar will be held from 7 – 10 p.m. April 24 in the Dengerink Administration building, room 110. This event is free and open to the public.

Johnson will lead the panel through a series of questions such as: Are moral codes and morality faith-dependent? Is morality a product of nature or nurture?  Is there a difference between morality and spirituality?

Panelist will include:

Reverend Domyo Burk – A Soto Zen Buddhist priest and spiritual director of the Bright Way Zen Community in Portland, Ore., Burk...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Students and faculty at Washington State University Vancouver will present a showcase of their research, scholarship and artwork at the 10th annual Research Showcase April 18 in the Firstenburg Student Commons. More than 70 posters and exhibits of research projects, digital artwork and scholarly publications will be on display from 8 – 11 a.m. Douglass Rushkoff, author of “Program or be Programmed: Ten Commands for the Digital Age,” will give the keynote address at 1 p.m. in the Dengerink Administration building, room 110. The all events are free and open to the public.

For his keynote talk, "Program or Be Programmed: Play, Participation and Power in the Digital Age," Rushkoff will discuss his premise that we must learn the...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – The American Council of Learned Societies has awarded Sue Peabody, professor of history at Washington State University Vancouver, a research fellowship to complete her book “Slavery and Emancipation in the Indian Ocean World: A Family Biography.” The $65,000 ACLS fellowship will allow Peabody to write during her 2013-2014 sabbatical leave.

One of 65 scholars to be selected for the fellowship out of more than 1,100 applicants nationwide, Peabody was chosen for her scholarly record, the potential of her project to advance her field of study and the quality of her proposal. Research for this project has already taken Peabody to archives in Paris, London, and the Indian Ocean islands of La Réunion and Mauritius. She will travel this spring to Paris and Aix-en-Provence, France through WSU’s Edward G. Meyer Professor of Liberal Arts fellowship.

Peabody’s book collects the life stories of Madeleine—a woman sold into slavery in 18th century Bengal—and her children living in...

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Washington State University Vancouver closed out Women’s History Month, observed each year in March, by celebrating women who inspire, mentor and empower others. The fifth annual Women of Distinction event, held March 28, recognized McKenna Smith, a senior at Camas High School, as the high school student Woman of Distinction; Stephanie Holt, a human development major, as the WSU Vancouver student Woman of Distinction; and Deanna Green, program manager for the “I Have a Dream” Foundation of Southwest Washington, as the non-student Woman of Distinction.

High School Woman of Distinction

McKenna Smith (pictured right, top) is a senior at Camas High School. She has been on the yearbook staff since her sophomore year and is editor-in-chief this year. McKenna has been a teen volunteer and mentor at the Humane Society for Southwest Washington for two years and regularly babysits for four families. She plans to study nursing at WSU and become...