WSU Digest – for the week of Nov. 17 On the Calendar

Washington State University will urge students to quit smoking by launching the Great American Smokeout campaign, a week of informational discussions designed to help students quit smoking. Beginning Monday (Nov. 17), students will gather from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in the Compton Union Building, Room 214, for the annual Brown Bag luncheon series. Meetings include discussions from former smokers with helpful tips about their smoking cessation and tools for stress management. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week that tobacco use by teen-agers declined dramatically between 2000 and 2002. For more on WSU’s anti-smoking events, see https://wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=4226

As part of Apple Cup week, the Washington State University Board of Regents will hold its November meeting at 9 a.m. Friday in the Cascade Ballroom II of the Westin Hotel, 1900 Fifth Avenue, Seattle. The WSU regents will also hold a joint meeting with the regents from the University of Washington at 3:45 p.m. Friday in the Walker-Ames Room 300 of Kane Hall at the UW campus.

WSU will not hold classes the week of Nov. 24, the annual Thanksgiving holiday.

In the news

Re-examining prison policy: Many states are taking another look at the 1980’s trend toward building large, high-security Supermax prisons and are moving toward a flexible, “get smart” approach to corrections, focused more on rehabilitation and drug treatment. Clayton Mosher, an associate professor of sociology at WSU whose research areas include drug policies, criminal sentencing and racial issues in the criminal justice system, said that this positive trend is being driven more by economic, as opposed to purely humanitarian concerns. He points out that U.S. incarceration rates remain high, close to 700 per 100,000 population; the next closest western country is New Zealand, at about 150/100,000. Given the mandatory minimum sentencing legislation in several states and at the federal level, those figures aren’t likely to change dramatically in the near future. Mosher can be reached at 360.546.9439 or cmosher@wsu.edu.

A better Christmas tree: As the holiday season nears, so does the annual search for the perfect Christmas tree. For Gary A. Chastagner, professor of plant pathology at the WSU research and extension center in Puyallup, that search is more than a seasonal one. During the past 10 years, Chastagner has helped conduct post-harvest studies on over 15 species of true fir. Most species tend to shed green needles if they are allowed to dry, which has the potential to severely limit their use in the U.S. Christmas tree market. Working with Danish geneticist Dr. Ulrik Nielsen, WSU researchers have identified potential types and sources of Nordmann fir trees with superior needle retention. Because Nordmann fir is resistant to most of the diseases that limit the production of noble fir in the Pacific Northwest, it has the potential to be a suitable alternative for noble fir in areas where these diseases occur. Seed from clones of Nordmann fir with superior needle retention are currently being grown in the Pacific Northwest in a series of trials to examine the suitability of this material for regional production. Chastagner is available at 253.445.4528 or chastag@wsu.edu.