Whitman Magazine

A Conversation with Bertine Lakjohn ’23.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Shampa Biswas, the Judge and Mrs. Timothy A. Paul Chair of Political Science and Professor of Politics, knew it was a historic moment in global politics—and she wanted to give students a space to learn, think and talk about it.

Brit Moss, Associate Professor of Biology and Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology (BBMB) at Whitman, conducts student research in the Moss Lab. Moss is a non-traditional, first-generation college student who says she enjoys having a front-row seat to young people discovering their passion for science.

For Kanesha Johnson ’23, Whitman College initially felt completely out of reach. After spending her teenage years in foster care, dropping out of college and taking community college classes while juggling multiple jobs and a family, she knew she needed her bachelor’s degree but saw herself enrolling in an online program.

Aaron Lefohn ’97 discovered the then-emerging field of computational chemistry and computer science while at Whitman College. He followed that passion and today is the Vice President of Graphics Research at a cutting-edge technology company where he uses the knowledge base and skills he learned at Whitman.

Just 44 miles southeast of Walla Walla as the crow flies, a place called Maxville is about a two-hour drive from the Whitman campus. In the early 1920s, it was a burgeoning logging community. The Bowman-Hicks Lumber Company, which owned the town, recruited experienced African American loggers to relocate there. Whitman faculty and students, in collaboration with Maxville staff, have been working to tell the story of a forgotten place.

Whitman College students volunteer at the local SOS Health Services Clinic to gain valuable experience in the medical field. The SOS Clinic provides health care services to individuals with inadequate health insurance in the Walla Walla Valley, regardless of citizenship status.

The artwork of Whitman College alum Roger Amerman ’80, enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, may soon be featured in one of the largest movie and television franchises in the world. Echo is an upcoming Marvel television show about a Choctaw superheroine. Amerman beaded a piece that may end up on Echo’s costume.