Announcements

 

News 

CURRENT STUDENTS

Post-Bac student Summer Satushek presented preliminary findings from her research on Islam in America at the Pacific Northwest Regional Conference of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) which took place at Gonzaga University in Spokane Washington on May 14th 2011. She presented a paper entitled "Endeavors towards Unity in a Frontier Muslim Community" which explored the intersection of religious and communal dynamics in a small town in northwest Washington.

Summer was also awarded 1st prize in the Undergraduate Student Paper Competition for "Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd's Quest for Justice in the Qur'an," a paper written for the seminar ‘Renewal and Reform in the Islamic World since the 18th Century’ (LBRL 478) offered by the department.

 

FACULTY

~ An article by Professor David Curley - "The 'World of the Text' and Political Thought in Bengali Mangal-kãvya, 1500-1750" - has just appeared in a journal special issue, entitled "Literary Cultures at the Frontiers: Literature and Identity in the Early Modern World" and edited by Sumit Guha, Medieval History Journal 14(2) (October, 2011).

 

FORMER STUDENTS

~Congratulations to Chris Crowe, double major in Humanities—History of Culture and Business.  Chris received a US State Department Critical language Scholarship, and spent this summer on the island of Java studying Indonesian.  Last spring he was selected as runner up for the Paul Woodring Scholarship from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and arrived back this fall to learn the very good news that he will receive two quarters of support in 2010-2011 from this scholarship.  Here is the description from his letter of application about how he discovered the Liberal Studies department:

              'I eventually decided to go back to school to study international business, and that was that… until I stepped into the student bookstore. Within minutes I found myself on the other side of the store from the business section, surrounded by what was possibly the most enticing array of texts I had ever seen in such a small space. There was literature, philosophy, and history, from the ancient world to the post-modern, all right there to touch and smell and read. The sign above the aisle read ‘Liberal Studies.’ Again my curiosity won the day, and I soon registered as a double major. It was much later that I learned that this particular double major is one of a handful of ideal combinations to undertake in preparation for what has become my intended career.  After graduation, I plan to pursue a career in the US Foreign Service as a political officer, combining my love of international adventure with the fulfillment of service to a cause greater than myself.'

~Alex Kelly and Chris Crow traveled to Copenhagen to report on the Climate Summit

For an account of some of their experiences there, click here

~Grete Martinson, who graduated in 2008, spent some of the summer hiking in California on the Pacific Crest Trail.  She shares some of her experiences here.

~Shardé Mills, Selected Outstanding Graduate and University Presidential Scholar for 2008-2009

~Chad Robertson Screened his Film - "Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye - Knowledge is that which Liberates" - at WWU on 10/21/09