Anna Plemons named WSU’s 2019 Woman of the Year
Anna Plemons, a clinical assistant professor of English, has been selected as the 2019 WSU Woman of the Year.
Plemons and five other 2019 WSU Women of Distinction will be honored at the 2019 WSU Women of Distinction Celebration, 6 p.m. Monday, March 4, in the M.G. Carey Senior Ballroom of the Compton Union Building on the WSU Pullman campus. This event is free to those that RSVP prior to March 1.
This year’s event shifts from the traditional afternoon luncheon to an evening reception and awards ceremony. The theme for the celebration, “Let Equality Bloom,” is reflected in the event’s artwork by California botanical artist and women’s rights activist, Brooke Fisher, as part of the Amplifier Foundation’s traveling exhibition, “Hear Our Voice.”
As part of the new event format, the planning team also is testing out a no‑cost event with voluntary donations supporting the celebration of women across WSU and the local community. Registration is still requested to assist with planning needs and can be done on the following WSU Qualtrics site.
Other 2019 WSU Woman of Distinction honorees include:
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Kelly Ward
WSU Pullman Office of the Provost
Lifetime Achievement Award -
Dedra Buchwald
WSU Spokane Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Faculty Woman of Distinction -
Abby Howard
WSU Pullman Cougar Health Services
Staff Woman of Distinction -
Yadira Pérez Páramo
WSU Spokane College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Graduate Student Woman of Distinction -
Kathy Dahmen
WSU Pullman Veterinary Teaching Hospital
Alumna Woman of Distinction
Plemons teaches classes on the WSU Pullman campus in composition, rhetoric, and digital technology and culture. Additionally, she is the director of the Critical Literacies and Achievement and Success Program (CLASP) for the College of Arts and Sciences.
She works with WSU faculty, staff and and students on issues of retention and persistence, paying particular attention to the relationship between pedagogy and retention for underrepresented students. Since 2009, she has also held a grant‑funded teaching position with the California Arts in Corrections Program. This allows here to teach creative nonfiction classes at multiple prisons in northern California and oversee a research‑based literacy project aimed at empowering incarcerated students to be literacy mentors in their respective families.
CLASP partners with existing student services to support retention and degree completion goals. CLASP is designed to address the retention and degree completion rates of first‑generation, multicultural, low‑income, or otherwise underrepresented students. The program began in Pullman and expanded to WSU Vancouver in 2016.
To make a donation in support of this important annual event and to read about the awardees, see the Women Recognition Celebration website.
Join the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, the WSU Women’s Center, and President Kirk Schulz, in congratulating this year’s honorees by attending this wonderful celebration of outstanding women within our university community.
