If you or someone you know has received an honor, please e-mail the information to Cynthia King at cynking@wsu.edu.
• Connecting at-risk youth with the natural environment and the life skills that go along with that has earned WSU Extension’s 4-H eco-stewardship program recognition as a 4-H Program of Distinction in the natural resource education category for 2008 from national 4-H headquarters. The program is directed by WSU Chelan County Extension educator Kevin Powers.
• The Palouse Ridge Golf Course recently was ranked the ninth best new course in the world for 2008 by Travel + Leisure Golf, a bi-monthly magazine published by American Express. Last month, the course was ranked 15th among the 50 best new courses for 2007 and 2008 by Golf Week magazine.
• Pharmacy student Lindy Wood is among a handful of students nationwide selected for a Wal-Mart/Pharmacy Times award for service in pharmacy. She was honored for her volunteer work with people with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
• Mel Haberman, professor in the College of Nursing and associate director of WSU’s Cancer Prevention and Research Center, recently received the Power of the Promise Award from Susan G. Komen for the Cure® national headquarters, the highest recognition given by the national breast cancer foundation for volunteer service.
• Criminal justice Ph.D. student Jacqueline van Wormer has been honored as a Models for Change Champion for Change in juvenile justice reform for her work in Benton and Franklin Counties to improve the lives of court-involved kids, their families, and communities. Models for Change is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s $120 million national initiative to reform juvenile justice.
• Viji Murali, vice president for Information Services and chief information officer, is one of the “Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2009” selected by the magazine Computerworld in its Dec. 8 issue for leading their organizations by “testing new technologies, executing new strategies and trying on new roles.”
• WSU’s mock trial teams earned second place and honorable mention at the recent regional Creighton Bluejay Invitational 26-team competition. In their sixth season, the teams turned in “WSU’s best showing ever at a tournament,” said Mitch Pickerill, professor of political science, who started the program and leads it with political science graduate student Denise Mowder.
• WSU Extension and the University of Idaho recently shared in receipt of the Partnership Award from Inland Northwest Partners, a regional, non-profit, economic development organization. They were honored for participation in the Horizons leadership program, which seeks to reduce poverty in rural and reservation communities through education, communication, leadership and development.
• Four WSU professors — Anjan Bose, James Cook, Guy Palmer and Diter von Wettstein — have been inducted as members of the founding class in the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS), a nonprofit entity providing scientific analysis and recommendations to policy makers and legislators.
