Notices and Announcements

The Cougs are headed to Tempe! Join Cougar fans, friends, and supporters from the greater Phoenix area for “An Evening with WSU.” Enjoy this special opportunity to meet and engage with WSU leadership at Culinary Dropout. Learn about recent events and receive a OneWSU update that will make you proud of your beloved university. You’ll hear from WSU System President Kirk Schulz, Vice Provost of Enrollment Management Saichi Oba, and other university leadership.

A $25 admission fee includes one complimentary beverage and Coug swag. Additional drinks can be purchased at the cash bar.

Registration Deadline: Monday, Oct. 23, at noon. A precise count allows us to provide the best experience for all guests. RSVP is required. All registered attendees will receive Coug swag.

Get out your best Coug gear. We can’t wait to see you!

Interested in other WSU events happening in Tempe? See all the events happening Oct. 26–29!

Tuesday, Oct. 10
10:10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

The Center for Institutional Research Computing’s (CIRC) hands-on introductory workshop introduces basic High Performance Computing (HPC) concepts including job submission and file transfer. Learn to utilize the freely available computing resources on WSU’s Kamiak HPC to power your research!

This workshop will be held online, advance registration is required.

More details are available at hpc.wsu.edu/training.

Mark Banned Books Week 2023 with the David G. Pollart Center for Arts and Humanities (CAH) and a talk on banned books from around the world.

Our speakers are:

• Colin Criss
  Assistant Professor at the WSU Honors College and Editor of the Palouse Review
• Gabriella Reznowski
  Faculty and Business and Economics Librarian WSU Libraries
• Andrei Smertenko
  Associate Professor, Institute of Biological Chemistry
• Jessie Padilla
  PhD Candidate in Rhetoric and Composition Department of English
• Sezin Zorlu
  PhD Student in Literary Studies, Department of English

We look forward to seeing you at this event, in the Atrium of Terrell Library on the Pullman campus from 6 to 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 3. Refreshments will be served.

Researchers in the Media Mind Lab in the Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University are recruiting participants for a lab experiment investigating the role of mindfulness in safe driving. The study is located in Goertzen Hall on the Pullman campus. We’re looking for participants who meet the following criteria:

• Age 25–35
• Have a current valid driver’s license
• Drive a vehicle at least three different times in a typical week

Participants will need to attend a scheduled appointment to complete the study at the Media Mind Lab in Goertzen Hall on the WSU Pullman campus. This study involves the collection of physiological measures. This will involve placing sensors on your hand, forearms, and scalp. During the experiment, you will view a video clip, listen to an audio recording, and complete a driving experience in a virtual driving simulator. The entire session will last approximately one hour. Participants will be given a $35 electronic gift card as compensation for participation.

Please complete a brief questionnaire to verify eligibility to participate and sign up for an appointment to participate.

Please contact Dr. Paul Bolls (pbolls@wsu.edu), the lead researcher for this study if you have any questions.

The Office of Research and Office of the Provost support the annual New Faculty Seed Grants to help junior faculty develop research, scholarly, or creative programs that lead to sustained professional development and extramural funding. This program supports projects that will significantly contribute to the PI’s long range goals by kick-starting a more complex project or idea. Projects with a strong potential to lead to significant external funding and/or PI portfolio development are encouraged.

Awards may not exceed $25,000.

The 2024 application cycle begins Nov. 1. A notice of intent is required and must be submitted by 5 p.m. Dec. 1 in order to be considered for this program. Full proposals are due Feb. 9 by 5 p.m.

Join us via Zoom to learn more about the program on Tuesday, Oct. 17, at 10 a.m.

Learn more

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2023–24 President’s Employee Excellence Awards. The award is presented annually to recognize outstanding contributions by WSU administrative professionals and classified employees. Staff at all WSU locations are eligible to be nominated for this award. Award criteria include outstanding contributions made by the employee regarding the productivity of the university; innovative problem-solving; positive working relations, and university and community service. Award recipients each receive $2,500 and will be recognized at the annual Showcase event to be held in the spring of 2024.

The nomination form can be found at hrs.wsu.edu/employee-excellence-award/.

Nominations will be accepted through Wednesday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m.

El Hadj Djitteye will speak Tuesday, Oct. 3, about the twin crises of environmental disaster and migration as part of the Foley Institute’s fall series on climate. El Hadj Djitteye is the executive director of the Timbuktu Center for Strategic Studies on the Sahel.

The talk is from noon to 1 p.m. in Bryan Hall 308.

Pizza and soft drinks provided for those attending in person. YouTube link: www.youtube.com/c/FoleyInstitute/video. Hosted by the Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service.

For more information, contact Professor Peter Chilson (Department of English) at pchilson@wsu.edu.

Exploring the role of information systems within business organizations is the topic of the annual Business Technology Symposium “Information Systems: The Backbone of Business” hosted by the Carson College of Business Department of Management, Information Systems, and Entrepreneurship. Top executives from leading enterprises will discuss how information systems — tools organizations use to collect, manage, and analyze data — are critical to business success.

Presenters include: Jasmyn Bearly, product security engineer at Boeing; Jason Mayer, engineering manager at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories; and Andrew Pirie, a principal in intelligent automation at Slalom. The symposium will be livestreamed on Zoom.

For more information, contact Angie Senter, events coordinator, WSU Carson College of Business, 509-335-7042, angie.senter@wsu.edu.

With this new offering, we hope to help CAHNRS reach prospective students, communities, customers, stakeholders, industry leaders, alumni, and donors, meeting them ‘where they are now’ with the right message, at the right time, via the right medium. When executed effectively, marketing can increase acquisition and retention, foster loyalty, drive revenue, increase competitor advantage, educate communities, build relationships and brand awareness, improve social impact, and deliver measurable results.

Our core advisory services are provided at no cost. Paid services are bespoke, tailored and available, depending on our project workload.

One of the free services is a weekly ‘Ask Me Anything’ online one-to-one clinic. To book this service, please visit Ask Me Anything Clinic.

For more information on the Marketing Service Center, see communications.cahnrs.wsu.edu/marketing-services.

On Oct. 18, Motor Pool will be switching our smallest tank of unleaded fuel to diesel fuel. This tank is currently pump 1. The current diesel tank will become off-road diesel on pump 2 and pumps 3 and 4 will remain unleaded.

To prepare for this change, Motor Pool needs to deplete pump 1’s tank. For Motor Pool to do this we are going to shut down pump 3 and 4 until pump 1 is not longer able to pump unleaded fuel.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call 509-335-9090 and speak with Jeremy Hansen.

Oct. 18 changes:

• Pump 1 – Diesel
• Pump 2 – Off-Road Diesel
• Pump 3 – Unleaded
• Pump 4 – Unleaded

Linda Broadbelt, the Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Associate Dean for Graduate Research and Education of Engineering at Northwestern University, will present the 2023 Ensor Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 5, at noon in the CUB Junior Ballroom on the WSU Pullman campus.

A 10:45 a.m. reception in the CUB Senior Ballroom will precede her lecture, titled, “Developing Strategies for Polymer Redesign and Recycling Using Reaction Pathway Analysis.”

Cougs, join us for a day of self-care on Oct. 4 at the CUB. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., you can enjoy a Sound Bath, hear about another Coug’s journey to bettering their mental health, grab a free lunch, and more. Learn more about workshops and this opportunity to focus on your wellbeing.

Learn more about the event

Which federal and non-federal sponsors are interested in funding your idea? Learn the ins and outs of searching the Pivot database for funding opportunities specific to your area of research. Office of Research Advancement and Partnerships Pivot expert, Emily Brashear, will help you set up notifications, track funding opportunities, find collaborators, and share opportunities with your coworkers.

This session will be targeted for Graduate Students but will be open to anyone who is interested.

Join us at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 10.

Receive a calendar invite and Zoom link

WSU faculty system-wide are invited to learn about an innovative opportunity — the Peer Observation and Co-Mentoring Program designed to boost teaching and learning — at a PIT Stops professional development session at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4, over Zoom. The hosts are the Transformational Change Initiative (TCI) and the Teaching Academy.

Leading the information session will be Theresa Jordan, WSU Pullman history professor, and Kathleen Cowin, WSU Tri-Cities educational leadership professor. Both are fellows in the Teaching Academy. They piloted the Peer Observation and Co-Mentoring Program there over the past two years.

TCI is supporting the scaling up of this successful pilot program over the next three years, offering it to faculty on all WSU campuses, said Erika Offerdahl, TCI director.

The Peer Observation and Co-Mentoring Program will accept 20 educators for each of the three years, with 10 per semester actively engaged in the process. Jordan and Cowin are project coordinators.

Hosted by TCI in partnership with Academic Outreach and Innovation (AOI) and the Teaching Academy, PIT Stops are offered monthly. “PIT” is the acronym for pedagogy, innovation, and technology. Events are designed to support instructors as they fulfill the university’s instructional mission.

Join Zoom session

Please join us on Tuesday, Oct. 17, from 3–4 p.m. for three short talks that showcase the wide range of research underway by faculty in the Arts and Humanities. Robert Bauman will describe his work with the Tri-Cities Latinx Community Oral History Project. Dean Luethi will present on his research to commission and perform original choral works of Washington composers. Finally, Patty Wilde will speak on how Black women are remembered in the context of the American Civil War.

RSVP online

WSU is now a part of the GitHub Campus Program. All WSU research/teaching GitHub organization can now receive many premium GitHub features for free. A list of all the benefits can be viewed at education.github.com/benefits.

Please let AJ know if any of your GitHub organizations need enterprise benefits. AJ can add your organization to the WSU Enterprise on GitHub. If you use GitHub organizations frequently in your courses/research, please let AJ know and he will add you as an enterprise administrator.

The program is not limited to VCEA/Pullman, but is applicable to the entire university system. Please feel free to forward this note to any university colleague that could benefit from GitHub organizations.

Ananth A. Jillepalli
ananth.jillepalli@wsu.edu
509-335-0393

WSU AAUP, a chapter of the national organization American Association of University Professors (AAUP), welcomes all persons on faculty appointments (tenure, pre‑tenure, career track, full‑time, part‑time, etc.) at all university campuses and research stations to join our meetings even if they are not members. Our meetings are held every Friday at 12:10 p.m. via Zoom. Meetings end promptly at 12:55 p.m.

The next meeting will be on Friday, Sept. 29.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Siler (mejia@wsu.edu or 509‑595‑1736).

The WSU Horticulture Department invites you to come and buy fresh locally grown apples and Italian plums this Friday and Saturday. We have this tasty, already picked fruit at the Horticulture Center located at 1452 Johnson Road inside the WSU Spillman Farm on the Pullman campus.

• Friday: noon–6 p.m.
• Saturday: 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

In addition to our delicious Italian plums; apple varieties that we will have are: McIntosh, Gala, Jonagold and Golden Delicious.

Our website is under construction so no updates are available there at this time. Sales of our locally grown fruit go directly to supporting our operations. Thank you in advance for your support of our facility!

By Washington State University — Department of Translational Medicine and Physiology

Dong Yan, PhD, — Associate Professor in the Departments of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Neurobiology, Cell Biology at the School of Medicine, Duke University — will be visiting WSU Spokane. His seminar, entitled “Molecular mechanisms of neuronal aging in C. elegans,” will be in person in the Spokane Center for Clinical Research and Simulation room 250 and through Zoom on Tuesday, Oct. 10, noon–1 p.m.

Dr. Yan received a B.S. in Biology from Nankai University in 2001. Following an interest in neuroscience, he joined the Institute of Neuroscience, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he discovered the role of AKT local degradation in neuronal polarity. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego, he demonstrated the essential role of a conserved MAP kinase pathway, the DLK-1 pathway, in axon regeneration and synapse regulation. Dr. Yan joined Duke University in September 2013. His lab focuses on addressing the molecular mechanisms of undying neural circuit formation during development and neurodegeneration in aging.

We look forward to you joining us in person (SCCRS 205) or through Zoom!

Questions/Zoom link? Contact Michelle Sanchez at michelle.r.sanchez@wsu.edu.

Under the leadership of Vice Provost Saichi Oba, WSU will be hosting an enrollment management summit for system‑wide university employees Nov. 1–2. Topics will range from recruitment, data, financial aid, technology, national trends, retention and the state of higher education in the enrollment context. The summit will include presentations from a variety of campuses and departments, and will be presented both online and in‑person. Please save the date. For questions please contact Michelle Lewis at michelle.d.lewis@wsu.edu.