WSU Spokane Campus Bulletin
Issue 2005-3 (February 2, 2005)
IN THIS ISSUE
Spring semester shows continued enrollment growth
According to the official 10th day enrollment statistics released by the university, the largest rise among the WSU campuses was recorded at WSU Spokane. Spring enrollment is 1,448 headcount, up by 299 students or 26 percent, over comparable figures from last spring.
The number of FTEs at Spokane is 1,177, up 13.4 percent from spring 2004. Those numbers reflect strong growth in enrollment in the nursing programs at the Intercollegiate College of Nursing, which is now counted in the WSU Spokane figures, as well as increases in a broad range of programs offered on the Riverpoint campus.
For more information on the 10th day enrollment figures, click here.
Successful aging: Place matters for the third stage of life
Having a child heightens your interest in the local school system. When a loved one goes through treatment for a disease such as cancer, it attunes you to the need for research. When your parents and other close relatives get older, you start paying attention to the barriers in their way.
It’s
this kind of personal “aha!” that inspired Bob Scarfo’s work
in successful aging (SA) and its spatial implications. His in-laws
moved to Spokane from the coast, where they had been able to get out
and exercise year-round. Here—no matter how much sidewalk-shoveling
he did—they were fairly housebound.
Wondering about other healthy older people whose circumstances trapped them unnecessarily, he discovered that people crossing the loss of independence threshold only represented 8 percent of the elder population. He wondered what was being done for the other 92 percent who are living longer, staying healthier, and are the best educated ever.
This population currently represents 13 percent of the U.S. population. In 2030, 71 million U.S. citizens will be 65 or older and comprise 24 percent of the population, and in 2050 they will make up 33 percent of Americans.
Scarfo, an associate professor of landscape architecture, will conduct five national workshops on successful aging, funded with the assistance of the WSU Spokane seed grant fund. These will bring together gerontological and healthcare professionals, landscape architects and urban designers.
The workshops will enable him to gather input for design of a national survey to support geographic and land-use research on successful aging, and will provide participants with spatial definitions, criteria and processes they may use to adapt their own unique community environments in support of their existing and potential SA populations.
Kerry
Brooks, associate professor of landscape architecture and
director of the GIS lab, and Scarfo hope to be able to show that
there is a correlation between successful and productive living and
the built environment. Once they do that through their national
survey, they hypothesize that they can use land use data and
identify landscapes of three types: those that can foster vital and
vibrant aging, those that can with some modification contribute to
vital and vibrant aging, and those that just aren’t good places to
retire to.
Such a predictive model could lead to use of the GIS-SA database to shape local, regional and national policy regarding community planning related to SA. It could also result in the identification of expanded research topics that will build inter- and multidisciplinary partnerships within WSU Spokane and the community.
Plugging a gap in understanding
Early in the 1980s, researchers realized gerontological research focused on disability, disease, and chronological age, rather than the positive aspects of aging. The recognition that Americans were living longer healthier lives, and that the health sciences needed the input of a long-range research program that identified factors responsible for people’s ability to function well later in life, resulted in a decade of funding from the MacArthur Foundation.
Dozens of research projects, and many others funded by other private and federal sources, are supporting a still growing number of publications, highlighted by Successful Aging (John Wallis Rowe, MD, and Robert L. Kahn, 1997). Gerontologists, geriatricians, community psychologists, economists, and political scientists have identified successful agers, along with their physiological, psychological, social, and spiritual characteristics, and have recommended changes that would foster more people achieving their potential. International conferences touting interdisciplinary research have explored the scientific and practical aspects of SA.
However, Scarfo’s review of 45 years of related data and literature found only eight instances of attention given to the spatial attributes of SA.
Thus, what currently constitutes SA, and is used to recommend policy, institutional, and economic changes, is incomplete. Absent is data on proximity to family, friends, and food, residential density and diversity, time spent in travel fulfilling daily needs, and the character of active-living environments supportive of paid and volunteer activities.
As Robert Kahn, co-author of Successful Aging, noted in an e-mail to Scarfo, “You and your colleagues are quite right in pointing out an important and relatively neglected aspect of well-being in old age.”
The WSU Spokane Seed Grant Fund
The central purpose of the WSU Spokane faculty seed grant program
is to encourage faculty to develop research programs in Spokane that
have the potential for extramural support, in particular from
significant federal agencies. Their research will provide
preliminary data to support applications for such funding.
Experienced researchers say that in order to be competitive for
federal funding, this pilot data is critical. The seed grant fund
will enable researchers to obtain initial data and then apply for
funds to explore their research questions in larger populations.
More information on the 2005 faculty seed grant program is available
on the
GRDS website.
Eastern Washington Partnership in Employment Career Fair Feb. 17
Looking for a post-graduation job or internship this year? If so, plan to attend the Eastern Washington Partnership in Employment Career Fair. The fair is in its 11th year, and has annual attendance of more than 500 students and 90 employers. There is no fee for attending and the fair is open to students and alumni from Washington State University, Gonzaga University, Eastern Washington University and Whitworth College.
This year’s fair will be held on Thursday, February 17 from 3-7:00 p.m. on the first floor of the Red Lion Hotel at the Park, West 303 N. River Drive in Spokane. For information, an employer list, advice, and a map, go to career fair website.
For additional information, contact WSU Spokane Career Services at 358-7537 or by email at severing@wsu.edu.
The fair is sponsored by WSU Spokane, EWU, Gonzaga, and
Whitworth.
Feb. 25 deadline for WSU Academic Showcase abstracts
Feb. 25 is the deadline for on-line submission of abstracts for WSU's second annual Academic Showcase.
Organizers are calling for abstracts from faculty, staff and students for the April 1 event's 9 a.m.-noon juried poster session in the CUB, WSU Pullman. Each abstract must represent ongoing research or creative endeavors. At least one author must be a WSU faculty member. The Web site includes complete guidelines for abstract submission.
Submitters will be notified of acceptance by March 7. Newly tenured and promoted faculty are particularly encouraged to submit an abstract for consideration.
Academic Showcase is Washington State University’s day-long
celebration of the achievements of its faculty and staff. This
year’s events include an Academic Showcase Juried Poster Session, a
luncheon presentation of the 2005 Distinguished Faculty Address, and
the Celebrating Excellence Recognition Banquet. For events detail,
see the Web site.
Volunteers needed!
Local college and university international student advisors are collaborating with the Internal Revenue Service to provide a free tax workshop for international students. This workshop will be held on Saturday, February 26 at 10:30 a.m. on the Riverpoint campus.
If
you would like to volunteer to assist with this event, please
contact Liz West at 358-7534 or
weste@wsu.edu. The IRS will
provide training at 8:30 that morning.
Research First Friday Feb. 4
Please join us for the Research First Friday presentation on February 4, 2005, 3:10 - 4:30 p.m. at the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing.
Mel Haberman, Associate Dean and Professor at ICN, will present “ICN Involvement in UW Center for Gender and Women's Health Research Grant”, and Deana Molinari, Assistant Professor at ICN, will present “Online Learning Stress”. There will also be recognition of faculty and staff awards.
For more
information and the location of the seminar, contact Kathy Bridwell
at (32)4-7258 or bridwell@wsu.edu.
Sleep over for science a success
The Eastern Washington
Area Health Education Center (EWAHEC) has
embarked on new territory! After talking with several health science
students and professionals AHEC discovered that many students and
practitioners made their career choices as early as elementary
school.
While interviewing one student, Bonnie Wagner asked, “When did you decide you wanted to be a nurse?” The response was, “I knew when I was in the first grade after my grandmother got sick. I watched as the nurse took care of her and decided that some day I was going to help people the same way she was helping my grandmother.”
As EWAHEC staff searched for programs serving elementary students, they realized there were no programs serving this age group, especially programs relating to health career education. In response to the need for these programs, EWAHEC decided to offer the Sleep Over for Science camp held January 21-22 at WSU Spokane.
The camp’s main focus was to excite
and educate youth about the many health career opportunities
available. Sleep Over for Science was offered to 4th, 5th and 6th
grade students.
Students learned about careers in dental hygiene,
occupational therapy, physical therapy, exercise science, pharmacy,
nursing, and speech-language pathology.
With the recent requirement for Washington students to begin career planning in the 8th grade, this camp aimed at preparing students—prior to their middle school years—to be able to make appropriate selections of associated courses. This experience provided each student with a strong basis for understanding the high demands of both high school and college when choosing a career in the health professions.
More than 40 enthusiastic students attended
this first-time camp, and EWAHEC is looking forward to doing Sleep
Over for Science again.
New position created to disseminate cancer information
A new position, reporting in part to the Cancer Prevention & Research Center (CPRC) at Washington State University, has been created in eastern Washington to help the National Cancer Institute (NCI) disseminate the latest cancer information. The CPRC is an umbrella organization for WSU faculty from all disciplines doing research in cancer.
Sharlynn Rima, a native of the Spokane area, started work Jan. 10 as the coordinator of the NCI’s Partnership Program between the CPRC and the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “The goal is to get cancer information to the medically underserved and minority populations,” Rima said.
Her office is in the SIRTI building at WSU Spokane and her
territory is the nine counties of eastern Washington, five counties
of eastern Oregon and all of the state of Idaho. One bonus of the
new position is that she will be able to obtain larger quantities of
pamphlets, brochures and other materials from the Cancer Information
Services division of the National Cancer Institute for the CPRC.
Wellness news
Get ready to walk! The March of Dimes WalkAmerica event will be held in Spokane on April 23. Caron Glotzbach, research assistant in Lisa Shaffer's lab in the Health Research and Education Center, serves as the WSU Spokane team captain.
Shaffer notes that she had March of Dimes funding for 6 years while at Baylor College of Medicine, and she currently serves as a grant reviewer for the Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar award. She adds, "MOD funding will become increasingly important to WSU Spokane as we grow the genetics effort here."
Get the latest information on safe exercise from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) site, recommended by associate professor of exercise science Sally Blank, a Fellow of the ACSM. The latest issue of the Fit Society Page® features special articles on exercise for women, safe cycling, avoiding common injuries, and warming up/cooling down.
Brought to you by the Riverpoint Campus Wellness Collaborative,
working to foster a thriving culture of wellness. For more
information on the Collaborative, contact Kelly LaGrutta,
lagrutta@wsu.edu.
Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award nominees sought
The highest honor bestowed upon a WSU alumnus is the Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award. Past recipients include, among others:
- Molecular biologist John N. Abelson
- Broadcaster/reporter Edward R. Murrow
- "The Far Side" cartoonist Gary Larson
- William Julius Wilson, sociologist known for his research on the black underclass
- Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft
- Mary DeGarmo, pioneer in working with music and Braille
- Orville Vogel, the wheat breeder whose findings sparked the world's "Green Revolution"
For more information on past recipients, see the Web page.
Nominations are due by Monday, Feb. 28, and should be strictly confidential--nominees should not be notified of their nominations. The committee reviews nominations, with final approval by WSU Pres V. Lane Rawlins and the Board of Regents.
The committee is unable to consider nominees currently holding public or political office; they may be nominated after concluding their terms in office.
Provide the following information to Sonia Hussa, Director, University Events, PO Box 641040, Pullman WA 99164-1040, hussa@wsu.edu. If you have questions, contact her at (33)5-1990.
- Name, address, day/evening phone numbers of nominee
- Statement of why this person is being nominated, review of distinguished accomplishments
- Academic degree information
- Complete and current resume and any other supporting information
- Current title/affiliation
- Names/addresses of references who could speak on behalf of the nominee
- Nominator's day/evening phone numbers and email address, in case there are questions about the nomination
Community Connections
- U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell are sponsoring
'Federal
Funding 101' workshops to help local government agencies and
non-profit organizations improve their chance of success in the
competitive federal grant process. Representatives from the
senators’ offices will discuss with groups how to identify
federal grants they may be eligible to receive, and how to apply
for those funds.
The workshop will be held on Tuesday, February 8, 2005 from 9 - 11:00 a.m. at the Avista Auditorium, E. 1411 Mission Avenue (Parking available across the street at Mission Park). If interested in attending, RSVP to either Seana Ormsby from Murray’s office at (509) 624-9515, or Ce’cilia Valley from Cantwell’s office at (206) 220-6400 or ce’cilia_valley@cantwell.senate.gov.
- YOU'RE INVITED!
Join KYRS for a
“Loud & Proud” party to celebrate the 92.3 translator! The party
will be on Sunday, February 6, 2005 at CenterStage (1017 W. First),
6 - 10:00 p.m. Admission is $15 (kids free) and includes great food,
drinks and music by Thin Air DJs. Advance tickets available at the
station (35 W. Main, Suite 340) and CenterStage (box office open
noon to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday). Call 747-3807 for more
information or check their
website.
- Brighten a
child's day with your smile! Have your teeth whitened
for only $99, all of which goes to the
Spokane Guilds' School
Foundation. The fundraiser runs February 1-March
31. Local dentists donate their time to support the Smiles
program that benefits children, birth to three, with
developmental disabilities who attend the Spokane Guilds' School
& Neuromuscular Center. Call TODAY for an appointment: 218-KIDS
(5437).
Personnel & staffing changes
Comings :
Rit Kunthapisal, database administrator, WSUS & ICN
Information Technology Services, effective 1/31/05
Searches:
Assistant/Associate Professor, Construction Management, open until
filled
Assistant/Associate Professor, Interior Design, open until filled
Assistant/Associate Professor, Pharmacotherapy, open until filled
Clinical Assistant Professor, Pharmacotherapy, 7 positions full- and
part-time, open until filled
Research Associate/Research Scientist, Washington Institute for
Mental Illness Research & Training, open until filled
Way to go!
Nearly 200 representatives from local businesses, agencies, and organizations gathered at The Davenport Hotel on January 20, 2005 to honor outstanding Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) performances at the eighth annual Way to Go Awards Luncheon. Highlighting the event was the presentation of awards recognizing efforts by local employers in reducing the number of drive alone commutes in Spokane County. The EWU/WSU Riverpoint Campus CTR committee was presented with a certificate of recognition for their progress toward their 15% goal. Committee members are Teresa Kruger, Dori Roberts, and Joyce Harbison from WSU and Cy Parker, Susan Lopez, Rose Morgan and Donna Shaffer from EWU.
“A super ‘Way to Go’ to Bonnie Wagner for organizing EWAHEC's first "Sleep Over for Science" January 21 and 22! Forty-two 4th, 5th and 6th graders checked out PT, OT, Nursing, Dental Hygiene, Speech and Hearing; did science activities; enjoyed a science movie and actually got some sleep before a pancake breakfast.” (from Charlotte Hardt, EWAHEC)
"Way to go" is the place for you to recognize a co-worker's extra effort, outstanding contribution, or all-around good nature that makes your work day go a little more smoothly.
Send your “Way to Go!” comments to Laura Scholtens,
scholtens@wsu.edu,
and watch for your thanks to be published in an upcoming issue of
the
Campus
Bulletin!
Find it on the Web
- WSU Today online: Links to past print editions, plus breaking news briefs
- News Releases: Recent news releases and links to news releases organized by subject for WSU Spokane.
- WSU News Service: Breaking news from WSU, links to all news releases, and other information sources.
- World Class Faculty: Check out the online profiles featured as links from our home page. The images rotate randomly on the home page, but the profiles are always available from this central profile page. You can also navigate to this page by choosing "About WSU Spokane" from the home page, "People" in the lefthand navigation, and "Profiles" in the lefthand navigation there.
- Bulletin archives: Links to past issues of the Campus Bulletin from Oct. 2003 forward.
- In the News: Media coverage of campus programs and people
- Events Calendar:
What's going on around here, anyway?
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The Bulletin is usually published on Wednesday biweekly during the
academic year, every three weeks during breaks and summer session.
Publication date may shift due to holidays. Deadline is Friday,
the week before publication.
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The Bulletin covers news of interest to the faculty, staff, and friends of Washington State University Spokane, and associates on other WSU campuses and on the Riverpoint campus.
Regular columns cover personnel changes, upcoming events, professional accomplishments, opportunities for involvement in the campus community and the Spokane community, notices of new developments on campus, and other news.
The Bulletin also serves as a source of information for external communications directed to alumni, future and current students, and friends of Washington State University Spokane. You'll read it here first!
Subscribers welcome! Also available: WSU Spokane News & Events Update, an irregular email newsletter with brief excerpts from news releases and articles, and links to more information online (some duplication of Bulletin content). Send an email to Barb Chamberlain, chamberlain@wsu.edu, to request the WSU Spokane Campus Bulletin and/or the News & Events Update.
Editorial staff
- Barb Chamberlain, chamberlain@wsu.edu, (509) 358-7527
- Laura Scholtens, scholtens@wsu.edu, (509) 358-7540