PULLMAN,
Kolata will discuss “The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Does It Hold Lessons for Today?”
Her book, “Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It,” was selected in spring to be WSU’s first common reading book. This fall semester, more than 3,000 freshmen and their professors are using it in dozens of classes across campus. They examine stories about the 1918 flu from many perspectives and discuss how that pandemic impacted world politics, economics, science, research and history.
The Common Reading program is intended to expose freshmen to the value of research, the power of ideas, and the various ways in which disciplines across the institution approach similar problems. In addition to students and faculty, staff in residence halls, libraries and advising offices also joined the common reading effort.
Kolata has been a journalist at the New York Times since 1987and wrote for Science magazine previously. She writes about pressing scientific issues including the bird flu, stem cell research, cloning, disease prevention, use of drugs in sports and common household dangers. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in investigative reporting in 2000, and received the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s media award for reporting on women’s issues and breast cancer.
Her other books include “Clone: The Road to Dolly and the Path Ahead,” “Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth about Health and Exercise,” and “Sex in
Kolata earned her bachelor’s degree in microbiology and a master’s degree in applied mathematics from the
Kolata is the second guest speaker for WSU’s Common Reading program. In October, environmental historian, author and researcher Alfred W. Crosby came to campus for a lecture and to meet with students. Kolata will hold question-and-answer sessions with WSU faculty and students during the day of her visit to
More information on Kolata’s presentation and the Common Reading program is online at https://commonreading.wsu.edu.
