Whitman Stories
![Image of two Whitman College graduates from the Class of 2024.](/images/whitman-stories/stories/2024/May/whitman-college-commencement-2024-600x400.jpg)
June 4, 2024
Featured Video: ‘Greatest Comeback Kids In History’
Award-winning technology journalist, Cecilia Kang ’94, urges Whitman College graduates to “be human.”
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![Kate Greenberg smiling.](/images/magazine/2024-spring/spring-2024/Colorado-Commissioner-of-Agriculture-Kate-Greenberg-600x400.jpg)
June 3, 2024
Kate Greenberg ’09 Leads With Purpose as Colorado’s First Female Ag Commissioner
Kate Greenberg’s path to becoming Colorado’s Commissioner of Agriculture has been one of exploration and service. Her Whitman College experience gave her a love for the West and informs how she thinks of her work.
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![Friends Julia Ireland and Joanie Lucarelli holding hands and laughing.](/images/magazine/2024-spring/spring-2024/julia-ireland-joanie-lucarelli-600x400.jpg)
May 24, 2024
Julia & Joanie: A Life-Changing Connection
In the fall of 2022, Professor Julia Ireland ’90 was facing a health crisis. She found not only a supporter and friend in fellow Whitman colleague Joanie Lucarelli but the gift of a lifetime—and a new joy and lease on life.
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![Sharon Alker in front of a bookcase.](/images/magazine/2024-spring/spring-2024/English-Professor-Sharon-Alker-600x400.jpg)
May 24, 2024
Professor Sharon Alker Feels ‘More Alive When I’m Inside a Book’
English Professor Sharon Alker shares her love of literature with her Whitman College students—and her academic interests have taken her around the world to research. She writes academic text with her sister, who is also an English professor. Alker is also an inaugural faculty member for Whitman's innovative Human-Centered Design program.
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![Mwamba Mutanga smiling.](/images/magazine/2024-spring/spring-2024/Mwamba-Muntanga-600x400.jpg)
May 24, 2024
Mwamba Muntanga Helps Fellow African Students Pursue Their U.S. Dreams
Mwamba Muntanga ’25, a Sociology major from Zambia, is driven by personal experience. Using that experience and a desire to be of service to others, he relentlessly advocates for accessible education for all with his nonprofit Education24. During his first year at Whitman, Muntanga’s efforts secured more than $2 million in student scholarships for his nonprofit by winning the prestigious Mwape Peer Education Excellence Award.
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![Frank Dunnivant in their office surrounded by plants.](/images/magazine/2024-spring/spring-2024/Professor-Chemistry-Frank-Dunnivant-600x400.jpg)
May 24, 2024
Q&A: Fast 5 with Chem Professor Frank Dunnivant
Professor Frank Dunnivant shares why he has spent his career focusing on environmentalism, conducting research with students, and why he isn’t retiring anytime soon.
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![Whitman College student gardening outdoors.](/images/magazine/2024-spring/spring-2024/Native-Plant-Class-600x400.jpg)
May 24, 2024
Landscape Course Encourages Students to Reenvision the Whitman Campus
As a student, recent graduate Quinn Miller ’24 created a biology course, Campus Landscape: A Living Laboratory that was offered to fellow students in Spring 2024. The course and lab focused on developing projects that helped reintroduce native plants and Indigenous culture into the Whitman College campus.
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![2024 Whitman College Commencement Graduates](/images/whitman-stories/stories/2024/May/2024-Whitman-College-Commencement-Graduates-tn.jpg)
May 19, 2024
Finally, Their Moment—Whitman’s Class of 2024 Receives Diplomas
More than 300 graduates—and their families and friends—had their moment to celebrate well-earned diplomas at Whitman College’s 138th Commencement. Cecilia Kang, Whitman alum and award-winning National Correspondent at The New York Times, delivered the Commencement speech.
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![Group photo of students in a Human-Centered Design (HCD) class at Whitman College in 2024.](/images/whitman-stories/stories/2024/May/hcd-600x600.jpg)
May 14, 2024
Human-Centered Design Program Gets Boost From Major Grant Funding
The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded Whitman College nearly $150,000 to develop new curricula for the Human-Centered Design concentration. The NEH grant will provide two years of support for faculty to design, refine, enhance and implement the core components of the program.
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![Whitman College students at commencement.](/images/whitman-stories/stories/2024/May/whitman-graduate-at-commencement-600x400.jpg)
May 10, 2024
Celebrating the Class of 2024: Whitman College’s 138th Commencement
A preview of how graduates, families and the Whitman community will commemorate this joyous occasion, and celebrate the exceptional accomplishments and bright futures of its Class of 2024.
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![Three Whitman College Baseball teammates in front of the NWC Tournament logo.](/images/whitman-stories/stories/2024/May/whitman-college-baseball-team-600x400.jpg)
May 9, 2024
Whitman Baseball Set To Host NWC Tournament
The Whitman College baseball team accomplished greatness by winning its first Northwest Conference regular season title since 1952 and will host its first NWC Tournament.
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![Image of a Mayo Clinic entrance.](/images/whitman-stories/stories/2024/May/mayo-clinic-600x400.jpg)
May 7, 2024
Whitman College Students Head for Mayo Clinic Summer Research Fellowships
Whitman College students will perform potentially life-changing research in Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science facilities through the 2024 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program.
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