WSU College of Liberal Arts Names Annual Achievement Award Winners

PULLMAN, Wash. — The Washington State University College of Liberal Arts announced
the recipients of its 1999 annual achievement awards on Friday.
Rosannette Rimando, an English and comparative American cultures double major in the
WSU Honors College, received the Outstanding Student Award. Rimando, who is also earning a
teaching certificate, is noted for her contributions to the recruitment and retention of WSU
students of color.
She was elected chair of the Washington State Filipino American Student Alliance and is
active in the Filipino American Student Association, the National Filipino American Youth
Association, and the WSU Asian American and Pacific Islander Student Center. Her efforts won
her the Multicultural Scholars Award and the Multicultural Leadership Award from WSU’s
Council of Multicultural Student Presidents. She won the 1998 Emmet Avery Writing Award and
several scholarships, including the Basil and Ella Jerard and the Murray W. Bundy.
This spring she was named to the USA TODAY All-USA College Academic Team. The
daughter of Emma and Rodrigo Rimando of Bainbridge, Rimando is a 1995 graduate of Bainbridge
Island High School, and expects to begin teaching next fall in the Puget Sound area.
Psychology professor Thomas A. Brigham, noted for both his teaching and his research on
applied experimental psychology with emphasis on self-control, received the Distinguished
Faculty Award.
Brigham has been associate editor for the “Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,” the
primary journal in his field. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and won
the 1989 Henry Guze award from the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis for a paper
he co-authored on hypnosis. He has served as president of the Northwest Association of
Behavior Analysis and was the 1998 recipient of CLA’s William F. Mullen teaching award.
A program he designed to improve minority student retention earned Brigham the Outreach
Award of the Association for Behavior Analysis. His course on self-management skills, designed
to reduce the rate of HIV transmission, was selected by the American Association of Colleges
and Universities as a national model for AIDS education.
Brigham’s commitment to advising women and minority students is given primary credit for
the psychology department’s commendation from the American Psychological Association as
one of the nation’s leading programs in granting doctoral degrees to Chicano students.
Orlan J. Svingen, professor of history, won the William F. Mullen Excellence in Teaching
Award, which recognizes excellent teachers who are noted for their involvement with students
outside the classroom.
Svingen, a nationally prominent scholar in the fields of civil rights law, Native American
history and public history, joined the WSU faculty in 1989 as director of the public history
program. Under his direction the public history program has been included in the Western
Regional Graduate Program Consortium and granted Western Interstate Commission of Higher
Education status, allowing graduate students from 15 western states to pay in-state tuition to
attend.
His courses are highly ranked in student evaluations and, after graduating, his
undergraduate interns and graduate students have been successful in securing significant
positions at local, state, national and Native American agencies.
The Outstanding Staff Award was given to Lisa McMullen, administrative manager in the
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. She was nominated for her budgeting and
financial management skills and for her ability to supervise the department staff, all of which she
applied during a recent departmental reorganization. Her implementation of significant budget
savings was particularly noted.
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