Whitman Stories
July 31, 2020
Psychology Senior Partners with Professor to Study Attention and Memory
Professor Matthew Prull has been fascinated by the mental processes associated with aging and memory for as long as he can remember. This summer, Prull teamed up with psychology senior Nikita Adhikari to test theories about the psychological phenomenon known as the attentional boost effect.
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July 31, 2020
Professor of History Elyse Semerdjian Examines Ties Between Police Tactics Against BLM Protesters, Middle East Violence
Semerdjian argues that police tactics and technologies recently deployed in U.S. cities were developed in the Middle East to suppress dissent, and calls for both ending police violence at home and ending America’s wars abroad.
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July 30, 2020
Ibram Kendi’s “How to be an Antiracist” Selected for 2020 Common Read
Like much of the nation, Whitman College students, staff, faculty and alumni are joining together this summer to dig deeply into issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. As part of that conversation, in mid-July President Kathy Murray announced Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to be an Antiracist” as the summer 2020 common read.
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July 29, 2020
Beckman Scholars Keep STEM Community Connected
The Whitman College campus may be largely closed, but dozens of students are still spending their summer engaged in meaningful research, though it may not look like they expected. Keeping that group connected and working to build a community among student researchers are the college’s three Beckman Scholars — new graduate Alexandra Moore ’20 and rising seniors Silas Miller and Hunter Hansen.
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July 29, 2020
Vice President for Enrollment and Communications Josh Jensen Reflects on Higher Ed Response to COVID-19
Jensen, who is also chair of the college's coronavirus task force, explained how Whitman and other schools around the country reached their decisions about remote learning after seeing virus cases continue to rise this summer. “How fortunate we feel that we had the ability to say to our students we’re going to go remote and we’re going to manage and weather the financial challenges that come with that and Whitman will be financially strong,” he said. “I don’t know that every college is able to say that quite as confidently.”
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July 28, 2020
First Year Seminar Program Opens New Possibilities
What is childhood? What is the process of othering? How do we differentiate between humans and animals? How do humans experience time? How do we conceive of community and solitude outside of the boundaries of the ordinary? This fall, new students will engage these questions and more while they sharpen their critical thinking, writing and reading comprehension skills in Whitman College’s new First Year Seminars program.
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July 28, 2020
Physician Tanny Davenport '98 on Preventing COVID-19: "Masking Works"
Davenport, an internal medicine doctor at Virginia Mason Memorial Hospital in Yakima, Washington, a national hotspot for coronavirus cases, tells Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep how encouraging everyone in the community to wear masks helped cut transmission of the virus in half.
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July 27, 2020
Associate Professor of Politics Jack Jackson Discusses Constitutional Principles, Protests
Jackson is the author of “Law Without Future: Anti-Constitutional Politics and the American Right."
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July 21, 2020
Into the Woods: Senior Clara Hoffman Studies the Impact of Predators in the Pacific Northwest
On a late spring day, Clara Hoffman is creeping through the woods, as quietly as possible. She and her fellow researchers are using radio signals to triangulate the location of a cow elk in the area. Somewhere near her, a calf is hidden in the woods. Their mission is simple: Find the calf, blindfold it to keep it calm, fit it with its own radio collar, take measurements, and then clear out.
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July 20, 2020
Seattle Mariners CEO John Stanton '77 on Bringing Major League Baseball Back Safely
As teams are set to kick off a shortened, 60-game season, the Mariners are following strict guidelines for testing, tracing, cleaning and more. Even though fans won’t be in T-Mobile Park, the safety of players, coaches and ballpark personnel is paramount.
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July 19, 2020
Campaign Manager Katharine Gillen '20 Finds Creative Solutions During COVID-19
The politics graduate is serving as campaign manager for April Berg, a Democrat and Everett, Washington, school board member vying for a 44th District open seat in the House. After attempting to work remotely together on the campaign, they recently combined households.
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July 17, 2020
Emily Brucia ’11 Launches Telehealth Service When Americans Need it Most
In April 2020, Emily Brucia '11 launched Elemental Telehealth — a health tech company focused on connecting people with psychologists in private practice who provide holistic, evidence-based care. The business was always designed to exist in the telehealth space, but launching it during a global pandemic was never her intention.
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