• Shira Broschat, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, has been named a fellow of the Institute of Physics, cited for her “status in the physics community and … contribution to the institute (as a member of an editorial board).” Broschat’s research regarding the way light or energy scatters off rough surfaces has been recognized at the national and international levels. She has received numerous research and teaching awards.
• John Irby, clinical associate professor of communication, is one of 12 journalism professors nationwide selected to participate in the Associated Press Managing Editor’s 2004/2005 National Credibility Roundtables project to improve journalism.
• Sue Armitage has been named the new director of the Center for Columbia River History, a regional partnership supported by WSU Vancouver, the Washington State Historical Society and Portland State University. Armitage is the Claudius O. and Mary W. Johnson Distinguished Professor of History at WSU, where she has taught for 25 years. She is the author of numerous books and articles on western women’s history.
• Botanist Maurice Ku, professor of biological sciences and member of the WSU Center for Integrated Biotechnology, is one of 50 foreign experts who recently received the annual National Friendship Award from the Chinese government for outstanding contributions to China’s economic and social progress.
Ku has worked to develop a strain of rice with increased yields of up to 35 percent. The genetically altered plants, which are being grown in field trials in China and other Asian countries, could eventually provide a much-needed boost in food supply for the world’s rapidly growing population. Ku also believes the technology used to improve the rice yields could be applied to other crops such as wheat, barley and potatoes.
• Nancy Blossom, chair of the interior design program and director of the interdisciplinary design program, has been named director of the Interdisciplinary Design Institute at WSU Spokane. Blossom has served as assistant director of the institute since 2002, when she joined WSU Spokane.
Recognized as a leader in national and international interior design associations, Blossom is a Fellow of the Interior Design Educators Council. She chairs the board of directors for the Journal of Interior Design, the only scholarly publication in the interior design discipline, and was instrumental in bringing the management, editing and publication of the journal to WSU.
Under her leadership, the interior design program became a department and moved its administrative headquarters from the Pullman campus to Spokane as the first fully co-located department. The university recently approved the creation of a doctorate of design program, only the second such degree in the nation. It is offered through the interdisciplinary design program headed by Blossom.
• Linda Arthur, professor, Department of Apparel Merchandising Design and Textiles, recently was named associate editor of the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, the top journal in the field (13% acceptance rate). She will work with about half of the manuscripts sent to CTRJ — those that focus on the cultural, social, psychological and consumer issues related to textiles and clothing.
