Whitman Stories

Xiaobo Yuan first worked as an anthropologist as an undergraduate student while studying at Johns Hopkins University. Yuan received a research grant to do field work in coastal Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. She was investigating how faith-based organizations, specifically Christian organizations, intervened in the aftermath of the hurricane.

For Black caregivers who work with white families, the topic of race and racism may come up with children and sometimes their parents. One of the biggest hurdles when talking to white parents about race, especially for a Black nanny or babysitter, is addressing the myth that race isn’t something they need to acknowledge with their children. “A lot of white parents are steeped in colorblind ideology, and they really think their kid doesn’t notice race,” Pahlke explains.

This spring, Suzanne Morrissey was one of a handful of faculty participating in the faculty-student consultant program, organized and offered through Whitman College’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). Now entering its second year, the program connects faculty members with a student who will spend the semester evaluating a chosen course and giving direct feedback.

When nurse practitioner Carolyn Korfiatis ’05 gets to work at her small rural hospital in Mammoth Lake, California, she goes through “the car wash.”

Typically the Undergraduate Conference is a day of in-person presentations and poster sessions, where classes are canceled and the Whitman community interacts with student research. But when the college moved to online learning this spring in response to COVID-19, Keith Raether knew the conference format needed to change, too.

Comics aren’t just something Kathryn Frank enjoys reading in her free time. The newest faculty member in Whitman College’s Department of Film and Media Studies is a comics and new media forms specialist.

Inside Maxey Hall’s newly constructed Avian Communication Lab, Assistant Professor Nancy Day ’05 is fitting songbirds with tiny headphones.

In a new peer-reviewed study, Blagov found that psychopathic traits were linked to non-compliance with social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Drawing on her research on the subject, Pahlke cautions white parents that even very young children often display racial bias, and provides a framework for teaching anti-racist at every developmental stage, from toddlers to teens.

Whitman College art major Peter Leyden didn't have a studio to return to after spring break so he found a new space, and optimistic outlook to these unexpected changes, while he worked to complete his senior thesis.

Pahlke points out the dangers of colorblind socialization and argues that white parents who want to raise anti-racist kids should not remain silent on the subject of race.

Admitted students had the opportunity to take a one-credit course called "A Liberal Arts Approach to the Study of a Global Pandemic," a collaboration between 21 Whitman professors. Many of the talks are now available to the public.