OP strives for more than just financial accessibility

Rosa Woolsey, News Reporter
November 18, 2019
Due to a lack of campus-wide accessibility, Whitman College's Outdoor Program (OP) has been taking steps to cater their programs to a wider audience than just a largely white, upper-class population experienced with outdoor recreation. Using data from the Office of Institutional Research, OP staff f...
The Evolution of the Whitman Outdoor Program
Alex Brockman, Feature Reporter
April 6, 2017
One of the most common walks across Whitman College takes students from Reid Campus Center to Ankeny. Along the way, one might see busses loaded with kayaks for a weekend trip, students ascending Whitman’s famous climbing wall or even skiers moving through campus in the winter. These common sights are ...
Unpacking Whitman’s Outdoor Program

Kathleen Daly-Jensen, Sports Reporter
October 27, 2016
“The outdoor program fosters personal growth, facilitates learning and creates recreational opportunities through skills and risk management training, leadership development and environmentally sound trips in a supportive community.” This is the Whitman College Outdoor Program’s mission and...
Outdoor Program plans for future
Lane Barton
February 19, 2015
The staff of Whitman's Outdoor Program are developing and implementing a new strategic plan to help guide the program's focus through 2020. The new strategic plan will take into account student, staff and alumni feedback via survey, and it includes goals such as enhancing collaboration with departments...
Glacier Mountaineering Trips
Natalie Berg
October 19, 2014
This piece was contributed by Henry Samson. The Fall 2014 semester for Glacier Mountaineering students at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington began with a twist. Throughout the first week of introductions to new classes and settling into living spaces, we geared up for an ice-climbing trip to ...
Whitman Outdoor Program Wins David J. Webb Award
Hannah Bartman
November 21, 2013
On Nov. 9 at the Association Outdoor Recreation and Education (AORE) conference, Whitman's Outdoor Program (the OP) won the David J. Webb Program Excellence Award. Whitman is the smallest college to ever receive this award, a testament to the accomplishments of the OP. "We have a vibrant outdoor...
Bob Carson Fund opens outdoors to new students

Evan Taylor
September 20, 2012
A new fund was created this year in the name of Professor of Geology Bob Carson to boost the Outdoor Program. The fund's stated goal is to allow students who wouldn't usually go on outdoor trips to experience education outside of the classroom. Starting this year, each incoming student is granted $150...
Climbing wall opens to community

Sam Chapman
November 10, 2011
In the summer of 2009, Whitman's outdoor climbing wall was built over in order to enlarge the Sherwood Athletic Center. The center later re-opened that fall and students, faculty and staff got to take advantage of the newly opened indoor rock climbing wall. However, the new center was cold comfort to...