News at WWU

Contact: Paul Cocke, Director, WWU Office of Communications and Marketing, (360) 650-3350; Paul.Cocke@wwu.edu                                                                                                                         

BELLINGHAM – Western Washington University plans to test its emergency building enunciation system at 10:45 a.m. on Friday, June 21.

On June 21, a test voice message via the fire alarm system will be repeated several times in many campus buildings as well as some outside speakers at the university tennis courts, the south campus oval at the Communications Facility and at the Old Main lawn. 

Amber fire alarm strobes also will flash in some of the main corridors of academic buildings and some bathrooms.

Building enunciation is part of the university’s emergency notification system known as Western Alert, which is a group of ways to reach students, faculty and staff with important safety information.

Other Western Alert elements – which will not be tested on June 21 – include the Big Ole steam whistle for outdoor alerts, text messages, emails, social media messages and university homepage alert messages.

Through a U.S. Department of Education grant, Western has created a new video to help students, faculty and staff be more ready for an emergency. A link to Western’s new emergency management video is here.  Western's Emergency Management Committee recommends that members of the campus community view this eight-minute video.

Contact: Eric Leonhardt, director of Western’s Vehicle Research Institute, at (360) 650-7266 or eric.leonhardt@wwu.edu

BELLINGHAM – Western Washington University student Joe Meyer (Economics and Environmental Studies, Seattle) was a member of a team that won “Best Cleantech Idea” and $2,500 in the University of Washington’s Business Plan Challenge.

“The project is a lot of what Huxley [College of the Environment] has been teaching in classes on making environmental and social benefits,” Meyer said. “It shows promise that business leaders are taking time out of their day to review and judge these plans as potential business models.”

The team, led by Western alumna Kathlyn Kinney, brought together students from three different schools.  Kinney is currently a graduate student at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Seattle.  The team also consists of Meyer, Colby Ochsner (Bainbridge Graduate Institute), Jessica Anundson (Bainbridge Graduate Institute) and Branden Audet (UW).

The team’s project created a plan that would make biomethane useable for vehicles, which could earn up to five times as much in profits as it does when turned into conventional electricity.

Biomethane is a gas released from biological waste, such as animal manure.  Kinney said there are 700 biomethane collection centers in Washington.

At the UW Business Plan Challenge, teams pitched proposals to judges in a trade-show-like situation.  Teams were judged on how well the business idea was thought out, if the team demonstrated knowledge of the industry and potential customers, if there was a real opportunity for a business and how well teams answered the judges’ questions.

The team presented a 15-minute pitch of their project to a group of seven judges. The round was open to teams and judges only. 

For more information about the biomethane team or the UW Business Plan Competition contact Eric Leonhardt, director of Western’s Vehicle Research Institute, at (360) 650-7266 or eric.leonhardt@wwu.edu.

Contact: Jack Keith, Western Washington University senior instructor of Journalism, at (360) 650-6244 or jack.keith@wwu.edu

BELLINGHAM – Students from Western Washington University received awards at the Washington Press Association awards ceremony on April 20 at the Museum of Flight in Tukwila.

Western students won 14 awards given to four-year college students, for their work at three of Western’s student-produced publications, The Western Front, The Planet and Klipsun.  The Western Front also won four awards for advertising.

The Western Front won a sweepstakes award for being the publication with the most winning entries. Western students, awards won and hometowns are:

News - General

First Place: “Rental licensing law stuck” by Nathan Dalla Santa (Kent); published in The Western Front

News – Investigative/Watchdog
First Place: “A border without a fence” by Mindon Win (Burien); published in Klipsun

News – Social issues/religion/minority affairs

First Place: “A chosen commitment” by Hannah Leone (Bothell); published in Klipsun

Second Place: “Cloth shields” by Charmaine Riley (Olympia); published in The Western Front

Third Place: “Three out of 13 for AS are Women” by Brianna Kuplent (Lynden); published in The Western Front

News – Consumer Affairs

First Place: “Infections and Infestations” by Chelsea Poppe (Issaquah); published in The Western Front

News – Agriculture/environment

First Place: “Ghost in the soil” by Carla Galland (Spokane); published in The Planet

News - Sports

First Place: “Title hopes ripped from Vikings” by Alex Peterson (Edmonds); published in The Western Front

Editorial/Commentary – Features

First Place: “Table tennis club” by Paul Grzelak (Arlington); published in The Western Front

Editorial/Commentary – Arts and Entertainment

First Place: “PlanetSide 2 review” by Paul Grzelak (Arlington); published in The Western Front

Second Place: “Halo 4 game review” by Paul Grzelak (Arlington); published in The Western Front

Features – General

First Place: “What’s in the bag” by Alex Rumbolz (Yakima); published in The Planet

Second Place: “From the battlefield to the classroom” by Michael Lydon (Covington); published in The Western Front

Third Place: “King rats” by James Rogers (Renton); published in The Planet

Features – Personality Profile

First Place: “Living with Huntington’s” by Osa Hale (Deming); published in Klipsun

Features – Arts and Entertainment

First Place: “Interactive storytelling: Dungeons and Dragons” by Mindon Win (Burien); published in The Western Front

Columns – Sports

First Place: “Women’s athletics given stage to shine” by Alex Bigelow (Tacoma); published in The Western Front

Photography – Feature

Second Place: “Tesla coil shocks subdued city” by Nick Gonzales (San Jose, Calif.); published in The Western Front

Photography – General

First Place: “Sentimental Journey” by Nick Gonzales (San Jose, Calif.); published in The Bellingham Herald

Graphic Design – Page Layout

First Place: “Silent Spring” by Susan Good (Redmond) and Sarah Morris (Tumwater); published in The Planet

Advertising – Sales

First Place: “Taco Lobo ad” by Marlies Hornberger; published in The Western Front

Second Place: “Grand Avenue Alehouse” by Marlies Hornberger; published in The Western Front

Advertising – Campaign or series

First Place: “Diego’s series” by Marlies Hornberger; published in The Western Front

Second Place: “Mi Shoes series” by Marlies Hornberger; published in The Western Front

For a complete list of the Washington Press Association winners, see: http://www.washingtonpressassociation.com/Files/2013%20Winners.pdf.  For more information contact Jack Keith, Western senior instructor of Journalism, (360) 650-6244 or jack.keith@wwu.edu

Contact: Alisyn Maggiora, Western Washington University Extended Education, (360) 650-3717 or Alisyn.Maggiora@wwu.edu.

BELLINGHAM – This fall, Western Washington University’s Extended Education will offer “Professional Editing: For Print and Online,” a nine-month program that gives participants a broad knowledge of techniques used in a variety of editing positions.

The program will benefit those who want to work as freelance editors, publication staff members or authors of their own print and online projects.

The courses will cover copyediting, proofreading and editing visual components such as page design. Spring quarter culminates the program with an advanced editing course. Participants will incorporate the text and visual editing skills they have learned and progress to help envision a publication and work with writers to fill holes in stories, use accurate grammar or reshape their writing.

Join us for an information session at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 26 at Village Books in Fairhaven.

For program details and registration information, visit www.wwu.edu/forwriters, e-mail ExtendedEd@wwu.edu or call (360) 650-3308.

Contacts: Seth Vidaña, WWU Office of Sustainability, (360) 650-2491, Seth.Vidana@wwu.edu, or Mike Olinger, Maintenance Superintendent, City of Bellingham Public Works Department, (360) 778-7725 or molinger@cob.org

BELLINGHAM – Western Washington University and the City of Bellingham are partnering to sponsor the sixth annual “WWU Moveout Madness” event in several neighborhoods near the university on June 10 through 14.

This program will target neighborhoods with high student populations, including Happy Valley, Sehome, York, South Hill and Samish. One collection point will be set up in each neighborhood and students will be encouraged to bring their reusable household items, recyclable materials, and landfill items to that point for collection and disposal at no charge.

The neighborhood collection sites, which will be monitored by City of Bellingham staff to ensure that no hazardous or garden/yard waste is disposed of in the dumpsters, will be operational from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, June 10 through Friday, June 14 at the following collection sites:

• Happy Valley Neighborhood – gravel parking lot, 26th and Douglas streets
• Sehome Neighborhood – Laurel Park, Indian and Laurel streets
• York Neighborhood – Franklin Park, 400 block of Whatcom Street
• South Hill Neighborhood – Armory Building, N. State and Pine streets
• Samish Neighborhood – Lincoln Creek Transportation Center parking lot

In the past, neighborhoods with high densities of student residents have been littered with improperly discarded items at the end of each academic quarter and the close of spring quarter when many students leave the area for the summer. The WWU Moveout Madness program provides an opportunity for students to donate reusable items, recycle materials, and dispose of landfill waste properly. Reusable items will be donated to a local non-profit organization. Because of the success of the program the past several years, the university and city are once again offering this service. This program is a part of the WWU Office of Sustainability’s Zero Waste Western program.