WSU Vancouver Faculty Receive Tenure, Promotions

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Washington State University has granted tenure and promotion to five WSU Vancouver faculty members.

Mike Morgan, faculty member in psychology and director of research and graduate education, was promoted to full professor. Dawn Doutrich, nursing, and Paul Thiers, political science, both received tenure and were promoted to associate professor. Jackie McReynolds, human development, and Janet Spuck, nursing, were promoted to senior instructor.

Three WSU Vancouver faculty members also have been promoted. They include Bruce Romanish, who will assume the title of vice chancellor of academic affairs, Lynn Valenter, vice chancellor for finance and operations, and Nancy Youlden, vice chancellor for student affairs.

The tenure and promotion process evaluates faculty research, including grants and scholarly publications, the individual’s accomplishments in teaching, and in service to the discipline, the campus and to the community. Evaluations are conducted by the faculty members’ peers on the Vancouver campus, their respective department, which includes faculty at all WSU campuses, the cognizant academic dean, as well as the WSU provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Morgan’s research focuses on the neural mechanisms responsible for pain modulation. These studies include trying to understand the changes in the brain that underlie tolerance–a loss of effect with repeated administration of drugs used to block pain. His recent work has revealed that tolerance to the pain inhibitory effects of opioids are mediated by a change in a specific set of neurons in a brain structure called the periaqueductal gray. Understanding these changes may allow the development of drugs that block pain without developing tolerance.

Doutrich’s research interests include cultural competence in nursing, workforce diversity and cross-cultural nursing ethics, specifically in the area of values differentiation. Currently, she is involved in the Nurse Educator Grant and in a collaborative research project, “Professional Values of Hispanic Nurses Practicing in the United States.”

Thiers teaches comparative politics and international political economy.  His research focuses on the political, economic and environmental issues relating to agricultural production and international food trade, with a particular emphasis on the politics of globalization in rural China and elsewhere in the Pacific Rim. Recent and ongoing research projects include investigations into the global and local politics of pesticides, international trade in organic food and the re-negotiation of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture. 

McReynolds’ expertise is in the areas of family policy, family poverty and child maltreatment.  She was the recipient of the WSU Vancouver Student’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2001.  Her current educational outreach efforts are focused on the relationship between methamphetamine usage and child abuse and neglect. She has served as a member of several local boards, including the Human Services Council (two years as president), the Clark County Community Action Advisory Board (two years as chair), the Council for the Homeless, and is chair of policy committee for the YWCA of Clark County.

Spuck’s research examines value conflict and stress in the work place with data provided by registered nursing students. She and faculty member Renee Hoeksel are involved in a research project that surveys critical care nurses’ knowledge of pain management of elders. The goal of the project is to assess the pain treatment elders receive from their care providers.

Additional information on faculty research can be viewed at https://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/research/. WSU Vancouver offers 15 bachelor’s and eight master’s degrees in more than 35 fields of study. The campus is located at 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave., east of the 134^th Street exit from either I-5 or I-205.