Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Vol. CLIV, Issue 6
Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Whitman news since 1896

Whitman Wire

Catching up with ’09 transfers

Alex Jeffers May 18, 2009

Not everyone who entered Whitman as a first-year in fall of 2005 will walk across the stage at this month's commencement. As at most schools, students transfer into and out of Whitman for a variety...

Credit: Varonin

Commencement Weekend features array of events for grads and families

May 18, 2009
Friday, May 22 8-10 a.m. - The Class of 1959 invites seniors and their parents for a tennis outing in the Bratton Tennis Center. This fun event is for players of all levels; adults only, please. Interested in playing? Contact Gene Greenlee ‘59 at 360-412-4139 or [email protected]. 8 p.m. - Harper Joy Theatre production: “She Loves Me" - Book by Joe Masteroff, Music by Jerry Bock, Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Harper Joy Theatre, Alexander Stage. Tickets available for purchase beginning April 27; please call the box office at 527-5180. 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. - Bookstore open

Gearing up for the main review: programming highlights

Cindy Chen May 18, 2009

2005-2006 October 20, 2005 Author bell hooks comes to speak at Whitman. A cultural critic, feminist theorist, author, speaker, and professor, bell hooks' lecture was entitled "Ending Domination: What...

Board of Trustees expected to pass Maxey Hall renovations

Josh Goodman May 7, 2009

An entrance to Maxey on Ankeny? That could be a reality in less than two years if the Board of Trustees approves an overhaul of Maxey Hall to begin this summer. The Board of Trustees will meet this weekend...

Walla Walla Community College is one institution that Whitman will not accept academic credits from. Credit: Falltrick

Pre-approval urged for summer transfer credits

Maggie Allen May 7, 2009
The arrival of summer usually means no classes, no homework, and a break from academic pressure. For some, however, summer is the best time to catch up on credits. While some students take classes over the summer to compensate for a lack of credits earned during the semester, others do so in order to focus more exclusively on their senior theses and senior projects by taking a lighter load their senior year. “It can be someone in the sciences trying to leave all their time in their junior and senior years open for only science courses, so they take courses for their distribution requirements somewhere else over the summer," said Assistant Registrar Janet Mallen. To transfer credits, students need a Request for Approval of Transfer Credit (RATC). The student's adviser then checks the course to see whether the credits earned can be transferred or applied toward a particular major. “That process is perhaps the most crucial in the entire transferring series of events over the summer," registrar Ron Urban said, “When the student gets that processed, gets the adviser signature, and we sign off on it, I would say that is a 99.99 percent guarantee that the credit will transfer as advertised."

ASWC reviews senior voting

Alex Jeffers May 7, 2009
Graduating seniors may soon have the right to vote in Executive Council elections. In their meeting on Sunday, May 3, ASWC senate paved the way for an increase in future seniors' voting rights, passing an amendment to the ASWC constitution to allow all members of Whitman's student body to elect members of the Executive Council. Now the measure must pass a vote of the overall student body by a sixty percent majority to become an official ASWC law, and many senators speculate that this will be achieved. The issue of senior voting rights has remained ambiguous and somewhat unresolved as of late, with junior and senior senators providing varying recollections of how the issue was dealt with in previous years. “Institutional memory is not as strong in ASWC as it should be," said Senior ASWC Senator Aisha Fukushima.
Under the guidance of Bob Carson, professor of Geology & Environmental Studies, 23 students will travel to Yellowstone National Park this summer as the culmination of their semester-long class. Credit: Carson

Classroom experiences conclude with field work

Derek Thurber May 7, 2009
Many Whitman students will use the upcoming summer to relax, make some extra money or travel. But some students will take the summer to learn more in an academic program and to bring something back to Whitman. “This academic trip often transforms people's curriculums of study. It has inspired many theses and has also inspired many career paths," said Assistant Professor of Politics Aaron Bobrow-Strain and leader of the U.S./Mexico border trip. “Students often come back from a program like this more serious about their classroom work." Trips that are going this summer include the U.S./Mexico border trip, the Yellowstone geology trip and many self-inspired trips by students through study abroad. The trip to Yellowstone National Park will be led by Bob Carson, professor of Geology & Environmental Studies. On Tuesday May 26, 23 Whitman students of all years and majors will depart from Whitman on a bus bound for Northern Wyoming.
Credit: Johnson

Incoming first-years offered Scrambles alternative

Elana Congress May 7, 2009
We all remember The May Mailing. Chock full of papers to be examined and obsessed over. That stack of paper was our connection to our future, to the unknown world of college and the potential experiences that lay ahead of us. Some incoming first-years study the Scramble packet intently, choosing the trip they want to participate in. There are others of course, who look at the booklet with hesitation, nervous about their lack of “outdoorsiness" but still eager to meet students prior to opening week. This year, incoming first-years will be offered an alternative pre-orientation trip, focused not on outdoor adventure but instead on community service. The Summer Community OutReach Excursions (SCOREs) programs will pilot this summer. There are two separate trips, allowing only 16 first-years to participate. In comparison, 16 Scrambles will run this summer, with space for almost 140 incoming first-years. Lina Menard, the coordinator of the Center for Community Service (CCS), hopes that the program will grow in size in the future.
Credit: Vanderbilt

Finals frenzy? Experts advise best study habits, strategies to succeed

Chelsea Bissell May 7, 2009
In the days and weeks counting down to finals, study rooms in the library are impossible to get. Conversations center around a countdown of remaining pages and tests until the semester ends. Students frantically read books, articles and chapters they flippantly neglected during past few months. With this hectic and apparently studious environment creeping upon campus, it would seem that most students would spend finals week confident and well-slept. But this is a luxury available only to those mysterious and elect super-students. For the rest of us, tips on effective study habits are in order.

Programming Board Directors recently announced

Cindy Chen May 7, 2009

This fall, previous independent programming bodies such as Campus Activities Board (CAB) and Coffeehouse will be consolidated into one Programming Board, headed by recently elected Programming Board Chair...

Mariachi Sol de Michoacan performs in Reid Ballroom at Club Latinos annual Cinco de Mayo celebration. Along with musical performances and folk dances, the event featured authentic Mexican food and childrens activities.

Cinco de Mayo reaches community

Molly Smith May 7, 2009
Despite bad weather and a last-minute relocation to Reid Ballroom, Tuesday's Cinco de Mayo celebration went off without a hitch. “Cinco de Mayo was amazingly successful," said Club Latino President sophomore Diana Madriz. Cinco de Mayo, is not, as many Americans mistakenly believe, a celebration of Mexico's independence from Spain. Rather, it honors Mexico's surprise victory over France in the 1862 Battle of Puebla. “Cinco de Mayo has become a cultural celebration for all Latin Americans living in the United States," said Madriz. In fact, the holiday is more widely celebrated in the United States than it is in Mexico.
Dark grey: Confirmed cases of swine flu. Light grey: Suspected cases. Credit: Rasmussen

Swine flu hits Washington

Josh Goodman April 30, 2009
Though an outbreak of swine flu in Washington State has not yet been confirmed, on the evening of Wednesday, April 29, the Washington State Department of Health announced the identification of six probable cases: three in Seattle, two in Snohomish County and one in nearby Spokane County. Whitman's administration is taking steps to ensure that students are safe in the event that Walla Walla County is affected. Swine influenza, caused by the H1N1 virus, has now killed at least eight people in Mexico and the U.S. and sickened at least 148 people on four continents, according to the World Health Organization. Hundreds more cases and over 100 deaths, largely in Mexico, are suspected but not confirmed.
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