WSU Spokane Campus Bulletin
Issue 2005-10 (May 18, 2005)
IN THIS ISSUE
Spokane
Commencement held May 6
Washington State University Spokane celebrated its 15th class of graduates May 6 when diplomas were handed out at 2 p.m. at the Spokane Opera House. The program included graduates of the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing and some Eastern Washington University programs. The ceremony honored 349 WSU graduates.
Schimpf receives WSU Spokane
2005 Faculty Excellence Award
Paul
Schimpf, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer
science, has been awarded the 2005 Washington State University Spokane
Faculty Excellence Award in recognition of his outstanding teaching,
research and community service.
Schimpf, who has been with WSU Spokane since 2000, brings both professional experience as an engineer and scholarly abilities as a researcher to his teaching. As a researcher, he explores the highest levels of mathematical computation and its application to the improvement of medical technology, with funding from the National Science Foundation. He works with collaborators around the globe, from China to Germany, sharing the new software tools he develops with the global research community.
Sterling Savings of Spokane is the sponsor of the annual award, which was presented at the WSU Spokane commencement ceremonies. Schimpf received an engraved pewter medallion and a check for $1,000.
- Read more about Schimpf in the news release online
-
Campus Bulletin article on Schimpf’s research:
"Do the Math: LORETA-FOCUSS"
World-class students
Students graduating from WSU Spokane this spring garnered a number of state and national honors and awards. If you know of others not listed here, please contact communications@wsu.edu and provide as much information as possible.
Undergraduate Interior Design
Heather Fields: Outstanding Senior, Department of Interior Design, in the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences
Nikki Jenkins: First place in lighting design for Herman Miller Project. ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) S-Works competition, 2004
Nicole Kelln: Dean's Honor Roll; Big Ten Senior Award Nominee; Consumer Scientist of the Year Award Nominee. 2005 IIDA National Sustainable Design Competition Grand Prize. Grand Prize for Overall Design, First Place for Perspective/Rendering, Second Place for Space Planning, in the ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) S-Works Design Competition, 2005. Second Place, Haworth Design Competition, 2004. First place for Brady Residence Project, IIDA (International Interior Design Association) Competition, 2004. First Place Scholarship Recipient, Portfolio of Work and Brady Residence construction documents, NWSID (Northwest Society of Interior Designers) Student Design Competition, 2004
Kristie (Krissie) Morrison: First place and honorable mention in the "Materials, Methods and Color" category; Honorable mention in the "Overall" category. ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) S-Works Competition, 2005
Darcy Yount: NEWH (Network of Executive Women in Hospitality) Scholarship Recipient, 2005
Graduate Interior Design
Kate Hauge: First Place for Space Planning, ASID (Associated Students of Interior Design) S-Works Design Competition, 2005. Grand Prize, International IIDA (International Interior Design Association) Sustainable Student Design Competition, 2004. Second Place, Herman Miller Design Lab, WSU Student Design Competition, 2004
Undergraduate Landscape Architecture
Yoshino Azami: WASLA (Washington chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects) Merit Award, 2005
Kristy Guhlke: ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) National Honor Award, 2005
Health Policy & Administration
Outstanding graduate students: Diana Loffgren and Dan Simonson
Washington State University President's Award recipient: Amy Johnson
ACHE (American College of Healthcare Executives) student chapter leaders: KC Nilsson, President; Cole White, Vice President; Diana Loffgren, Treasurer; Amy Johnson, Secretary
Recipients of nationally competitive ACHE (American College of Healthcare Executives) administrative residencies and fellowships: Ryan Rieger - Portland VA Medical Center in Portland, Oregon; Sean McCallister - Providence Health System Alaska in Anchorage, Alaska; Spencer McCallister - VA Hudson Valley Health Care System in Montrose, New York
Graduates to be commissioned (2004-2005) as officers in the U.S. Navy Medical Service Corps: Carlene Kennedy, Diana Loffgren, James Moss, KC Nilsson, Keith Quien
Speech & Hearing Sciences
Maya Hawkins: Outstanding graduate student in speech-language pathology. Hawkins just completed her internship at Northwest Hospital in Seattle. She is a graduate of the UW and did postbaccalaureate work at Portland State. She is from Camas, WA.
Jowan Lee: Outstanding graduate student in audiology. Lee
is a graduate of UBC and studied in Korea as well.
Faculty honored by students
Mark
Garrison, associate professor, was selected Teacher of the Year
by students in pharmacotherapy. See the
Campus Bulletin article on Garrison's research into
antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Fredrick Peterson, professor of education, received the Students' Choice for Excellence in Teaching award, presented at the Commencement brunch Friday, May 6, by ASWSU Spokane. They noted his enthusiastic and engaging teaching style, and mastery of a wide range of knowledge that brings his graduate course in leadership to life. The class is a popular elective for all the graduate degrees offered at WSU Spokane, and he will be teaching leadership classes in the BA Professional Development.
Other faculty nominated were Fevzi Akinci, health policy &
administration; David Brody, criminal justice; Kerry
Brooks, landscape architecture; Nancy Clark Brown,
interior design; Lenore Schmidt, education; Winsor Schmidt,
health policy and administration; Judy Theodorson, interior
design; and David Wang, architecture.
Speech-language pathologists enter a hot job market
Across the nation, school districts, hospitals, and other employers are head-hunting aggressively for speech-language pathologists. They resort to luring clinicians out of retirement and paying students during their internships in return for a promise to stay on for a permanent position.
According to Chuck Madison, professor of speech and hearing sciences and graduate program coordinator, the situation is no different in the state of Washington in either education or health care. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction reported at the January 2005 meeting of the Professional Educator Standards Board that there were 187 advertised vacancies in the 2003-2004 school year. According to the Hode's Health Care Metrics Survey for 2004, 15.6 percent of vacancies for SLP's in rehabilitation go unfilled. SLP's are in the "hardest to fill" category for open positions.
The need will not diminish any time soon, either. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, speech-language pathology is among the 30 fastest growing professions nationally. The number of SLP positions is expected to grow by 39 percent through 2010. In Washington state it is projected that employment in speech-language pathology will increase by 340 positions 2002-2012. In Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Alaska another 370 will be needed.
The state legislature even took up a bill in the 2005 session to reduce the requirement for school-based SLPs to have a master’s degree. The Washington Speech and Hearing Association's Task Force on the Use of the Conditional Certificate to Fill the Need for Speech-Language Pathologists in the Public Schools was chaired by Leslie Power of WSU Spokane. However, the clinical experience vital to professional certification is taught at the master’s level, not the undergraduate, and the bill died.
This spring, 30 graduates with the MA Speech and Hearing Sciences enter this red-hot job market. Another 13 with the EWU MS in Communication Disorders, taught jointly with the WSU degree, do the same.
Amy Williams, who received her MA Speech & Hearing Sciences this May, explained why she chose speech-language pathology as a career: “I wanted a job where I could work with kids in need. Working as an SLP seemed so rewarding -- you have the ability to help people communicate, and communication is a critical factor in every aspect of daily living.” Krista Nance, who received her master's degree from EWU this year, said she liked the mix of sciences and service, and the flexibility it would allow her as a mother who wants a career.
Williams said she knew the profession was in high demand, but did not realize how needed SLPs were until she began her master's degree at WSU Spokane. She adds, “It wasn't a factor in my decision to enter the field, but it is a definite bonus of being in the field at this point in time.”
Williams completed a paid clinical internship in the public school setting, in the heavily bilingual Pasco School District. They were very interested in hiring her, even continuing to recruit her after she accepted another position in western Washington. Nance also completed a paid internship, in the Post Falls School District, and was subsequently hired there.
Community involvement characterizes classroom captioning pilot study
If you’ve ever watched a TV program with closed captioning, you
may have wondered how they can keep up with the pace of the
dialogue. Take that question, add in the give and take of the
classroom setting, and you have a challenge for hearing-impaired
students and their teachers that technology can help to address.
Margaret Mortz of WSU Spokane and Barb Gale of CopyCat Captions are finishing the last stage of a research pilot study of "voicewriting" using automatic speech recognition (ASR) software and collaborative text editing, as a lower-cost alternative to real-time captioning with a court reporter’s machine. The project yielded fairly good results, and suggests opportunities for future research and development.
The project emerged as a collaboration founded on community partners: Barb Gale, of Washington State's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR); her husband John, an assistive technology specialist for Spokane Public Schools; and Mortz, who has a severe hearing loss and is a founding member of the Spokane chapter of Self Help for the Hard of Hearing.
Mortz holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and pursues a special research interest in speech enhancement. The Gales were providing real-time captioning at SHHH meetings, and Mortz invited Barb to join her in preparing a proposal to the Northwest Academic Computing Consortium (NWACC) for a pilot study in college classrooms.
The NWACC grant allowed Spokane Public Schools to test the technology in college classrooms before using the results for younger children. SPS loaned the NWACC project $20,000 worth of software and hardware equipment.
Steve Simmons, EWU computer science professor, and Chuck Madison of WSU Spokane’s speech and hearing sciences program made their classes available for captioning. Simmons’ graduate software engineering class was the principal testbed for evaluating captioning quality.
The Virtual Possibilities Network (VPnet) adopted this project, seeing the potential for new telework employment opportunities for people with disabilities as an economic development payoff. Steve Trabun of Avista Corporation witnessed the key test when VPnet allowed remote links between a SIRTI classroom and captioning team members working at other nodes of WSU and EWU. The network performance was outstanding, resulting in clear speech with no apparent delays or dropouts.
Although the student surveys indicate satisfactory results, the study found a need for certain technology improvements, particularly in automatic vocabulary updating and ASR speed. Finding effective means of dynamic adaptation to subject matter may be the next research project.
A novel aspect of the project is its goal of training people with disabilities as voicewriters. Barb Gale is currently providing Saturday afternoon training for eight trainees, using special software temporarily set up in the WSU Spokane engineering lab in the SIRTI building. All of them have disabilities—four are blind. After becoming proficient with the software tools, their first projects will be in captioning archived videotapes, moving into real-time captioning later.
CopyCat Captions, the business the Gales have established to provide the service, expects to pay the voicewriters by the hour, and as their proficiency increases their hourly rate will increase as well. The end product is a transcript with timecode tags in a specific format that can be fed into a captioning machine between two digital videotape recorders. The television station will own the captioning machine and the digital videotape recorders.
Taste Washington Spokane June 5
Washington State University Spokane cordially invites you to join us on Sunday June 5 at the Davenport Hotel from 5 to 8:30 p.m. for the fourth annual Taste Washington Spokane event. This premier wine event is sponsored by the Washington Wine Commission and features wine from more than 100 Washington wineries and 30 regional restaurants.
The event sells out early. Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased online at www.tastewashington.org or locally at:
Arbor Crest Wine Cellars
4705 N. Fruithill Road
Spokane, WA 99207
(509) 927-9463
Latah Creek Wine Cellars
East 13030 Indiana Ave.
Spokane WA 99216
(509) 926-0164
Peters & Sons
170 S. Lincoln, Spokane, WA 99201
(509) 624-4151
Vino!
222 S. Washington St
Spokane, WA 99201
(509) 838-1229
Proceeds from ticket sales benefit the Davenport District Arts
Board. A silent auction featuring large format Washington wine will
benefit the Washington State University Viticulture and Enology
Program and the WSU School of Hospitality Business Management.
Epley to start real estate program in Alabama
Don Epley, Victor C. Lyon, CCIM, Distinguished Professor
of Real Estate, says he is "retiring, but not quitting."
Through a very generous donation to the College of Business, the University of South Alabama, Mobile, wants to create a new Real Estate Program. Concurrently, the new Center for Real Estate Studies will initiate its education and research program into local urban problems. Epley will serve as the new director of the center and the first Ben May Distinguished Professor of Real Estate. His charge is to establish the necessary classes and conduct research into urban issues along the Gulf coast.
Epley says of his new academic home, "The campus is about 15
miles from the Gulf of Mexico, very close to the path of Ivan when
it came ashore last fall. One interesting date on the academic
calendar is an official holiday in February for Mardi Gras. And most
important, we are about three hours from our only grandchildren."
He adds, "My experiences at WSU have been a very rewarding
experience. We have truly fine faculty and motivated students, and I
have enjoyed working with both. Spokane is a beautiful place to
live. We have enjoyed the community and the many activities.
Hopefully, the real estate profession will benefit from the
graduates of our classes and the professionalism they bring to the
Washington real estate community."
Faculty Senate committee selected
Following the recent Faculty Senate election on campus, Dennis Ray joins Sally Blank, Chuck Madison and Paul Schimpf as a representative to the Faculty Senate steering committee.
Feel free to contact any of them with regards to any academic
matter: dray@wsu.edu, phone
358-7913; seblank@wsu.edu ,
phone 358-7633; madisonc@wsu.edu,
phone 358-7588; schimpf@wsu.edu,
phone 358-7937.
Community connections
It’s time to expand your horizons May 21
Expanding Your Horizons™ (EYH), a math, science, and technology career conference, will be held on May 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Spokane Falls Community College. EYH encourages girls, grades 6-12, to experience the excitement of scientific discovery and the career opportunities available to women in the fields like forensic pathology, computer technology, architectural engineering, and emergency room medicine.
Jennifer Hogan, head of Laboratory Operations at Washington State University in Spokane and EYH volunteer, states “It is really important to do this for the girls. It’s important to show the girls that there are more science careers than being a doctor or veterinarian.” EYH also enables the girls to see and be inspired by female role-models in these careers.
For more information about Expanding Your Horizons™ 2005, please visit www.gsiec.org. You can also contact Shawna Sampson at 747-8091 ext. 206 or Stacie Davis at 747-8091 ext. 217.
Many WSU volunteers are helping make this event more interesting and exciting for attendees:
Jennifer Hogan, WSU Spokane HREC – Facilitator Coordinator
for Event
Caron Glotzbach, WSU Spokane Genetics – “Weird Science”
Facilitator
Sylvia Oliver, WSU Spokane HREC/CityLab – “Weird Science”
Facilitator
Vicki Bradley, WSU Pullman USDA – “Zoo Tycoon” Facilitator
Leslie Elberson, WSU Pullman USDA – “Zoo Tycoon” Facilitator
Bonne Wagner, WSU Extension AHEC – Volunteer
Carrie Holliday, WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing
Clinical Coordinator – “ER” Facilitator
Jena Ponti, WSU Spokane interior design alumna – “SIM City”
Facilitator
Anne Hanenburg, WSU Spokane interior design alumna – “Extreme
Home Makeover” Facilitator
Brandy Singer, WSU Spokane Pharmacotherapy – “Weird Science”
Facilitator
Terry Levien, WSU Spokane Pharmacotherapy – “Weird Science”
Facilitator
"Building a Vibrant, Youth-Oriented Spokane” city panel discussion May 24
The next session in the City of Spokane’s “Spokane Building Blocks” citizen education series will be held on Tuesday, May 24, at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers in the lower level of Spokane City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. The session is titled “Building a Vibrant, Youth-Oriented Spokane” and will be moderated by Joanne Benham, Spokane Regional Youth Director, and Susanne Croft, City of Spokane’s Office of Economic Growth & Redevelopment.
The City of Spokane is focusing efforts on economic development. A quality, diverse, dynamic community is important to economic development. This May 24 panel discussion will address the question: What role can Spokane’s youth and young adults play in achieving this goal?
Two provocative projects that are currently underway in two Spokane High Schools will be discussed and used to highlight how young people themselves can be engaged in research and planning that results in increased vitality for neighborhoods and the community as a whole. These two projects are the Youth Empowerment Project at Rogers High School, and the “Bringing Life to Spokane” (BLTS) Project at Lewis & Clark High School.
The BLTS project focuses on young adults between the ages of 18-28. In recognition of the important role that young professionals play now in growing vital, diverse, creative economies, research for this project spans from survey results of market demand for specific businesses in the proposed University District, to identification of the components of a “cool community” likely to attract this age group, and recommendations based on other cities’ targeted website-based programs that market their city to this age group. The results from the BLTS research project will be applied to revitalization of specific Spokane neighborhood business districts.
Audience members will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the presentation.
For more information, contact Suzanne Croft, (509) 625-6967,
scroft@spokanecity.org.
Spokane Public Schools board opening deadline May 26
After 20 years of service to Spokane Public Schools, School Board Director Terrie Beaudreau will be resigning from the school board effective June 15, 2005.
Terrie's term ends in November 2005. The vacancy created by her resignation will be filled by appointment until the next regularly scheduled election in November. It is the board's goal to select a candidate for appointment by June 22, 2005.
Applicants must live in the school district, be at least 18 years of age, and be a registered voter. They will need to write a letter describing their personal background and a statement of interest, and provide a current resume. The application deadline is May 26 at 5 p.m.
More information on the application process is available by calling 354-7364 or by cutting and pasting this address into your web browser: http://www.spokaneschools.org/Welcome/Board.stm.
KYRS-Thin Air Radio Film Night May 28
"Orwell Rolls in His Grave" will be presented by
KYRS Thin Air Radio on Saturday, May
28, 7:30 p.m. at the Community Building, 35 W. Main. "Orwell Rolls
in His Grave" is a provocative film that draws parallels between
George Orwell's classic novel of Big Brother totalitarianism,
"1984," and the current relationship between media and government in
the United States. A $5 donation is requested.
Personnel & staffing changes
Goings:
Lorri Bays, Spokane Office of Research/Spokane Alliance for
Medical Research, effective 5/15/05
Jan Wright, Criminal Justice/WRICOPS, effective 6/30/05
Promotions:
Dodi Rode, Associate Director, Small Business Development
Center, effective May 2, 2005
Searches:
Assistant/Associate Professor, Construction Management, 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
Director of Finance & Budget, WSU Spokane, open until filled
Bulletin on summer publication schedule
The WSU Spokane Campus Bulletin continues its summer publication
schedule. The next issue comes out Wednesday, June 8. It
will publish every 3 weeks until the end of August, when we return
to the academic year two-week schedule.
Way to go!
A big THANK YOU goes out to all those who made Commencement 2005 a success!
Glynis Hull; Jon Schad; Mike Reitemeyer; Al Pignataro; Joan Kingrey; Dodi Rode; Patti Peterson; Joel Lohr; Teresa Kruger and Parking Operations; Vivian Knapp and Crew; Diane Davis; Jaime Rice; Luke Rice; Kelly Lagrutta; Dori Roberts; Karen Erp; Denise Palmen; Pam Medley; Gretchen Eaker; Terri Rothwell; Diane Wick; Marlene Spencer; Jane Rudd; Jane Kinkel; Lisa Martin; Katie Herzog; Liz West; Nancy Oberst; Kathy Bridwell; Tracey Whybrow; Susan Lyons; Julie Breshears; Debbie Holdren; Julie Shapori; Tami Kelly; Jeanne Wagner; Renae Richter; Pat Rossini; Kristie Wardrop; Rachel Young; Kiley Schenk; Joan Menzies; Barb Chamberlain; Laura Scholtens; Sicco Rood; Jo Ann Thompson; Anne Hirsch; Doug Stephens; Lonny Waddle.
"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 Research News: The latest on research news from WSU.
- 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.
- WSU Today online: Links to past print editions, plus breaking news briefs
- 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