Innovation in Teaching and Learning

Sharon Alker Coordinator (English), M Acuff (Art); Tim Doyle (General Studies); Russ Gordon (Mathematics); Julia Ireland (Philosophy); Kazi Joshua (VP for Student Affairs and Dean of Students); Helen Kim (Sociology, Interim VP for Diversity and Inclusion); Chris Leise (English)

Assessment: Asinine or Aspirational  REPORT

Description:  The overarching goal of this ITL was to create ethical approaches to intellectual and/or creative appraisal at the course, department and program level, that involve the student in their own self appraisal and that affirms the joyful, metamorphic liminal space of the dynamic classroom, while recognizing and exploring ways to integrate into appraisal how the student (as a whole being) learns.  We also wish to discover how to connect these approaches to our specific accreditation agency on terms that benefit our students.

Sociology Department -Alissa Cordner, Michelle Janning, Helen Kim, Gilbert Mireles, and Álvaro Santana-Acuña
Enhancing the sociology Curriculum: Responding to an External Review  REPORT
Description: To Evaluate and redesign the structure of the department curriculum, to evaluate and redesign the senior thesis process, to evaluate and redesign methods and theory instruction, and to assess equity in advising and course workload. 

Arash Davari (Politics); Ben Murphy (Penrose Library)
Documenting Migrations 
Description: "Documenting Migrations" promises to create a rich collaboration in pedagogical innovation and community based archival research between Whitman students, faculty, and library staff. The project investigates and documents the complex, and often fraught, politics of migration into and through our region (the Inland and Pacific Northwest) over the course of the past two centuries and up to the present day. It does so through two separate courses rooted in a shared community-based research initiative.  One course, to be offered in the Fall of 2019 and taught by Ben Murphy, will introduce students to the techniques and politics of archiving. A second course, first offered in the Spring of 2021 and co-taught by Arash Davari and Ben Murphy, will introduce students to various conceptual frameworks for interpreting the politics of migration. For both courses, students will be required to produce material to be stored in a newly created digital archive housed at Penrose Library.

Sharon Alker (English; M. Acuff (Art); Julia Ireland (Philosophy); Tim Doyle (General Studies); Rebecca Hanrahan (Philosophy); Chris Leise (English); Helen Kim (Sociology); Russ Gordon (Mathematics); Kazi Joshua (Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students)
Intellectual Appraisal: Productive Evaluative Processes that Respond to Faculty Priorities  REPORT
Description: Assessment has been widely criticized by faculty, and not without reason.  The way it has often been applied has been deeply problematic.  David Eubanks, Assistant Vice President for Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness at Furman University has recently written an article, (quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, January 2018) that noted, "The whole assessment process would fall apart if we had to test for reliability and validity and carefully model interactions before making conclusions about cause and effect."  This is a serious problem nationwide, since faculty across the country are asked to spend a significant amount of time thinking about assessment in a variety of ways. We would like to ensure, in terms of Whitman College, that our recent emphasis on strengthening our assessment procedures will lead to a productive means of intellectual appraisal and will avoid some of the problems faced elsewhere. We want to ensure, first and foremost, that we are crafting processes and procedures that will benefit our students and designing ways to appraise our students that are valuable to us a faculty at Whitman College. The end result of this ITL should be beneficial across the curriculum as it is relevant to assessment in all divisions and disciplines.

Shampa Biswas (Politics); Aaron Bobrow-Strain (Politics); Jason Pribilsky (Anthropology); Rachel George (Anthropology); Erin Pahlke (Psychology); Jon Walters (Religion); Heidi Dobson (Biology); Susan Holme (Off-Campus Studies)
Post-Off-Campus Studies Course  REPORT
Description: Global Studies is seeking an ITL grant to design a new "Post-OCS course" as part of the Global Studies Concentration.

M Acuff (Art); Nicole Pietrantoni (Art) 
"Art in the Anthropocene" course development  REPORT
Description: Create a shared syllabus for the new "Art in the Anthropocene" class. This is a 300-level studio-seminar course designed to bridge current scholarship in Environmental Studies and Art.  We will conduct substantial research into how artists conceptualize, engage and respond to the concept of the Anthropocene.  We will develop the following: projects, reflection prompts, and activities; a required reading list; river trip pedagogy/learning objectives/opportunities for reflection. Plan and execute a river trip on the Wallowa/Grande Ronde River.

Maria Lux, Coordinator (Art); Jakobina Arch (History); Eunice Blavascunas (Anthropology and Environmental Studies); Zachary Campbell (Film and Media Studies); Eva Hoffman (German and Gender/Women's Studies); Adeline Rother (General Studies and Foreign Languages and Literatures), Ana Maria Spagna (English)
Animals and the Future  REPORT
Description: "Animals and the Future," focused on the potential future presence or absence of nonhuman animals on the planet, in particular through issues such as extinction, overabundance/population explosions, invasive species, and conservation. Fields such as creative writing/literature, film, and art are often adept at speculation about and imagining these (often dystopic) futures, so these forms, as well as empirically-based predictions/case-studies, and scholarly analysis, formed the basis for our exploration.  What can creative production tell us about the future for animals, or about the present?  How do imaginative fictions relate to research-based studies? How can scholarly analysis guide us in interpreting various forms of predictions?  And ultimately, how can we incorporate these examples into our teaching in order to help students engage with animals as subjects in an interconnected, cross-disciplinary way?

Adeline Rother (Comp/General Studies)
2019 Yellowstone Writing Project Summer Invitational Institute  NO REPORT
Location: Montana State University in Bozeman, MT

Stan Thayne (Anthropology & Religion)
Anth 246: Indigenous Ecologies
Description:  Anth 246: Indigenous Ecologies will focus on the practice and discourse of First Foods in the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.  Funding will be used for field trips, honoraria, and research related to the course.

Sharon Alker, Co-Coordinator (English/General Studies); Emily Jones, Co-Coordinator (German Studies/Environmental Humanities); Amy Blau (Penrose Library); Rachel George (Anthropology); Sarah Hurlburt (FLL-French); Colin Justin (WCTS); Justin Lincoln (Art); Lydia McDermott (General Studies/Writing Center); Benjamin Murphy (Penrose Library); Mike Osterman (WCTS); Nico Parmley (Spanish); Melissa Salrin (Penrose Library); and, David Sprunger (WCTS).  
Thinking Digitally REPORT 
Description: The course will be broken into units and would meet twice a week for 50 minutes. We also, as outlined above, have a solid sense of what the first unit will be (fundamentals of digital work).

Stanley Thayne, Coordinator (Anthropology/Religion)
Politics of Salmon 
Description: Fund field trips, to conduct summer field research in preparation for the courses and to produce course content, and to purchase course materials.

Politics Department -Paul Apostolidis, Susanne Beechey, Shampa Biswas, Phil Brick, Aaron Bobrow-Strain, Melisa Casumbal, Arash Davari, Jack Jackson, Jeanne Morefield and Centime Zeleke
Reimagining the Politics Senior Program REPORT
Description: To collectively rework our senior program and reach a new consensus on the structure of our senior seminar and senior thesis process. 

Penrose Library - Amy Blau, Julie Carter, Lee Keene, Ben Murphy and Melissa Salrin
Information and Society - Library 120 REPORT
Description: Libraries in the United States and around the world have historically promoted the values of equal access to information, patrons' rights to privacy, and preservation of the cultural and historical record. At present, information is increasingly created, disseminated, and preserved online, and new models for corporate or public ownership of information are being tested. With these changes, many issues and challenges arise for information access, privacy, and preservation.

Sarah Davies, Juli Dunn, Courtney Fitzsimmons, Kurt Hoffman, Delbert Hutchison, Helen Kim, Libby Miller, Adeline Rother, Jenna Terry and Devon Wootten (Departments in order corresponding with the list of faculty: History, Student Affairs, Religion, Physics, Biology, Sociology, General Studies, General Studies/FLL, General Studies/English, General Studies)
Inclusive Pedagogy in Encounters: Addressing Sense of Belonging and the Problem of Exclusion among Students and Faculty REPORT 
Description: To centralize the importance of belonging in Encounters by reading, researching, and defining our own definition of belonging and by operationalizing this definition through various programmatic efforts and interventions for faculty and students who participate in the Encounters program.

Heather Hayes (Rhetoric) 

Developing Pedagogical Approaches to Collaborate between Whitman and Incarcerated Students: Building Resources for Rhetoric, Incarceration, and Civic Engagement courses  REPORT
Description: This project focuses on developing pedagogical techniques to support higher education collaborations between Whitman College and the Walla Walla State Penitentiary education initiative. It also facilitates a pilot semester of teaching a course, with Whitman students and incarcerated students, within the Walla Walla State Penitentiary.

Michelle Jenkins, Coordinator (Philosophy); Barry Balof (Mathematics & Computer Science); Janis Breckenridge (Spanish); Rachel George (Anthropology); Justin Lincoln (Art); Lydia McDermott (General Studies and Writing Center); Lauren Osborne (Religion); Jenna Terry (English and General Studies)
Innovative Class Activity Laboratory   REPORT 
Description: This ITL would fund a semester-long working group focused on developing and honing innovative class activities, with the goals of continuing our development as teachers, cultivating a community of peers for support, and creating a handbook of activities for others to use. 

Eunice Blavascunas (Anthropology/Environmental Studies); Rachel George (Anthropology); and Lee Keene (Penrose Library). 
Pedagogy of Board Games as Primary Sources and Simulations  REPORT 
Description: An exploration of board games, including Monopoly, Candy Land, Queue (a contemporary board game created by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance), and others, as ways to teach core concepts in Anthropology and Source Literacy. Anthropology tells us that games are an important part of cultural heritage, and have served in that role for millennia. Indeed, they are as important as literature, art, and music, in terms of what makes us human, but rarely do we think of them as primary sources, as raw material for study and analysis. 

Helen Kim (Sociology) and Susan Prudente (Student Engagement Center)
Teaching about Race and Racism in the Walla Walla Public Schools.  REPORT 
Description: Our project will lay the groundwork for the design of an experience-based curricular offering and co-curricular opportunity linked to the Student Engagement Center's Whitman Teaches the Movement (WTTM).

Janis Breckenridge (Spanish)    REPORT

Visual Memory/Memorias visuales: Collective Memory & Visual Media in Spain and Latin America
Description: This project involves designing a new visual media course. A primary goal is to create a lending library of required course materials so as to ease the economic burdens posed by costly imported visual texts in order to make the course equally accessible to all interested students. 

Phil Brick (Politics), Nick Bader (Geology), Tim Parker (Biology), Delbert Hutchison (Biology), Frank Dunnivant (Chemistry), Bryn Kimball (Geology), Kurt Hoffman (Physics), Don Snow (Environmental Studies), Scott Elliott (English), Kate Shea (Environmental Studies & Classics), Nicole Pietrantoni (Art), Michelle Acuff (Art), Matt Reynolds (AHVCS), Patrick Frierson (Philosophy), Jan Crouter (Economics), Aaron Bobrow Strain (Politics), Alissa Cordner (Sociology), Eunice Blavascunas (Anthropology), Jakobina Arch (History), Emily Jones (German Studies), Jason Pribilsky (Anthropology), Amy Molitor (Environmental Studies), Leena Knight (Biology), Tom Knight (Biology) and Lyman Persico (Geology).
Environmental Studies Workshop and Retreat 
Description: Although our program is strong, our most immediate challenge is to find new ways to teach and staff Environmental Studies 120, the gateway to our major and a course that should be widely available to every student who wants ecological literacy to be part of their liberal arts education. This course was conceived by Bob Carson and Jan Mejer in the mid 1990s, it was team taught for many years and has proven to be one of the most difficult courses to teach and staff. The course is highly interdisciplinary; team teaching is the ideal way to staff it but we have been unable to do so as demand for the course has grown over the years. For years ES faculty have contributed guest lectures to the course as an overload. The course is unique in that it attempts to introduce students to environmental learning in all three divisions. 

Rachel Chacko (Music) and Ben Murphy (Penrose Library)
Information Literacy Instruction in the Music History Classroom 
Description: Our primary goal is to rethink how information literacy and musicological research are incorporated into Music 299: Music Since 1900, a history survey course on 20th-21st century music. This course often serves as music students' first experience with a significant writing and research assignment. By devoting a significant amount of time to in-class peer editing, including a collaborative writing project, students are exposed to new challenges and experiences that improve their writing and research skills. The method of library instruction that we are exploring moves beyond a single-session model to incorporate new teaching and learning activities. Specifically, this course is an example of situating information literacy instruction within a discipline. Rather than teach the mechanics of searching library resources, it attempts to integrate information literacy instruction into a program of students becoming participants in knowledge creation in the discipline of musicology. 

Keith Farrington (Sociology), Michelle Janning (Sociology) and Kristen Erskine (Institutional Research) 
The Tools, Ethics, and Applications of Data Visualization Using Tableau Software 
Description: This project enables faculty members in sociology and a research analyst in institutional research to hone skills in Tableau data visualization software, which will lead to on-campus trainings for faculty, staff, and students, enhanced incorporation of data visualization and infographic design (including discussion of ethics and concepts associated with these skills) into the Sociology curriculum, and improved collaboration and communication between campus constituencies on data-driven projects and questions.

Moira Gresham (Physics), Doug Juers (Physics), Greg Ogin (Physics), Fred Moore (Physics), Mark Beck (Physics) and Kurt Hoffman (Physics) 
Ubiquitous Implementation of Computation into the Physics Curriculum 
Description: A workshop will be conducted to facilitate training in computation and curricular development to implement computation across all courses in physics. 

Michelle Janning (Sociology) and Erin Pahlke (Psychology) 
Finalizing an Interdisciplinary Global Childhoods Syllabus, Projects, and Assessment 
Description: Our primary goal is to finalize an interdisciplinary Global Childhoods class that will be taught in Spring 2016. The ITL Grant will allow us to attend an interdisciplinary conference on global childhoods, which will allow us to create a finalized syllabus and course design (including projects, lectures, and assessment techniques) for the Global Childhood course. 

Lydia McDermott (Writing Center), Ginger Withers (Biology), Dan Vernon (Biology), Arielle Cooley (Biology), Susanne Altermann (Biology), Frank Dunnivant (Chemistry), Bryn Kimball (Geology), Chris Wallace (Biology) and Nancy Forsthoefel (Biology).  
Writing in the Sciences    REPORT
Description: Science education is in the midst of a revolution, spurred by our rapidly evolving fields and by current research on how students learn. Thus far, substantial attention has gone into updating content and developing active learning in the classroom, while teaching effective writing has received little attention in the science education field. Our working group seeks to enhance writing instruction in the science curriculum. We hope to: 1. identify our common writing goals; 2. share and develop our best practices for incorporating writing instruction while not sacrificing important course content; 3. develop specific assignments in participants’ current courses that build on these best practices and work toward our identified writing goals; and 4. develop a publishable study of the pedagogical model(s) we develop. 

Nick Bader (Geology); Angela Cota (Geology); Kirsten Nicolaysen (Geology); Kevin Pogue (Geology); and Grant Shimer (Geology)  REPORT

Modernization of common lab activities for introductory geology classes.
Description: Our goal is to update the now decades-old laboratory activities that are common to all of our introductory geology courses, incorporating current technology and techniques. 

Barry Balof (Mathematics); Susanne Beechey (Politics); Nathan Boland (Chemistry); Jan Crouter (Economics); Andrea Dobson (Astronomy); Doug Hundley (Mathematics); Michelle Janning (Sociology); Leena Knight (Biology); Thomas Knight (Biology); Timothy Machonkin (Chemistry); Erin Pahlke (Psychology); and Brooke Vick (Psychology)
Strengthening Liberal Arts Education Through Interdisciplinary Quantitative Reasoning and Literacy
Description: Our working group seeks to revitalize current curricular practices focused on developing quantitative reasoning and literacy (QRL) skills and to create academic resources for both students and faculty geared toward boosting QRL. Our goal is to promote effective critical thinking skills in our students campus-wide while building infrastructure to support our underrepresented minority and first generations students. 

Shampa Biswas (Politics); and Bruce Magnusson (Politics)
Decolonizing International Relations    REPORT
Description: Our primary goal is to rethink the structure and readings for the introductory International Politics course away from the implicit Eurocentrism in its existing form toward a more "global" approach. Our secondary aim is to explore the use of simulations in the teaching of international politics. 

Dana Burgess (Classics); Heather Hayes (Rhetoric Studies); and Lydia McDermott (General Studies/Writing Center)
Written and Oral Communication Center
Description: We plan to develop an oral component for the existing Writing Center.

Sarah Hurlburt (FLL-French); Jen Mouat (General Studies); and Susan Babilon (FLL-German)
Languages4Kids: language and culture in after-school programs  REPORT
Description: Since January 2013, French4Kids and its sister program German4Kids have introduced over a hundred Walla Walla Campfire kids to French and German language and culture through songs, games and crafts. Each 12-week session provides eight hours of language instruction in half-hour segments. Whitman College student volunteers gain experience in lesson planning, classroom management, and leading large and small group work. We have 3 semesters of unfunded experience in our pilot and seek to develop a sustainable model for coordination and continuity of the program.

Julia Ireland (Philosophy); Kaitlin Justin (WCTS); and Wyatt Thomas (Student) 
"Philosophie auf Deutsch" Languages Across the Curriculum" Course
Description: This proposal aims to create a course template for "Philosophie auf Deutsch," which is 1-2 credit Language Across the Curriculum overload that will be regularly taught by Julia Ireland. The proposal has two main goals: To research content for this Spring's iteration of the course ("German Moral Thought") with the goal of making it more intellectually rich and varied; and to create a technological infrastructure that makes course materials easily accessible and the posting and revising of assignments interactive and collaborative. The inclusion of a collaborative 'rolling' translation is a particularly innovative aspect of the proposal. 

Justin Lincoln (Art); and Albert Schueller (Mathematics)
Makerspaces   REPORT
Description: A faculty course development project to introduce students to methods of Makerspaces. 

Kaitlin Justin (WCTS); Lydia McDermott (General Studies/Writing Center); Ben Murphy (Penrose Library); and Melissa Salrin (Penrose Library)
GenS 3xx: Advanced Composition with Primary Sources
Description: This project involves designing and teaching an upper-level Composition course that focuses on archival research.

Reports for ITL Grants are posted on-line starting with the 2014 grants.

Susanne Beechey (Politics), Melisa Casumbal (Politics), Bruce Magnusson (Politics), Helen Kim (Sociology), Suzanne Morrissey (Anthropology), Nicole Simek (FLL-French), Lisa Uddin (AHVCS) and Zahi Zalloua (FLL-French)

Race and Ethnic Studies Foundations Course Development
Description: Develop a syllabus for a new, interdisciplinary foundational course for Race and Ethnic Studies (RAES).

Donghui He (FLL-Chinese)
Walk the Walk: Translation Workshop
Description: Develop a one-credit Chinese/English translation workshop to advance Chinese language study in upper level division Chinese language classes and beyond.

Leena Knight (Biology), Thomas Knight (Biology) and David Sprunger (Technology Services)
Exploring Science at the Cutting Edge - using electronic lab notebooks and innovations in technology to push biology teaching labs into the 21st century.
Description: The goal is to implement innovative technology (e.g., ELNs, iPads and multi-user server system) in biology teaching labs to: promote peer-based learning; improve data management, analysis and presentation; and, to enhance hands-on science exploration.

Sharon Alker (English), Patrick Belanger (Rhetoric & Media Studies), Bob Carson (Geology), Denise Hazlett (Economics), Donghui He (FLL-Chinese), Sarah Hurlburt (FLL-French), Jack Iverson (FLL-French), Christopher Leise (English), Mary Anne O'Neil (FLL-French) and Dean Snider (SSRA)

Canada: An Interdisciplinary Course (for 2012-2013)
Description: This project involves designing and teaching an interdisciplinary course centered on Canadian Studies in the 2012-2013 year.

Dana Burgess (Classics)
Innovations in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, With Emphasis upon Instruction in Writing
Description: Support for training toward an Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), with an emphasis upon instruction in writing.

Scott Elliott (English)
Walla Walla Whitman   Imaginative Writing Partnership
Description: This project will give a number of talented Whitman writing students the opportunity to combine the knowledge and skills they gain in creative writing courses with the experience of teaching imaginative writing to younger students in Walla Walla public schools.

Kurt Hoffman (Physics), Peter Crawford (Music), Keith Farrington (Sociology), Wally Herbranson (Psychology) and Matthew Prull (Psychology)
Interdisciplinary Seminar: What is Music?
Description: The project will focus on developing an interdisciplinary seminar for students majoring in the fields represented by the participating faculty. The seminar will be organized around the theme of music with students tasked with developing a sophisticated answer to the question, "What is music?" This project is an outgrowth of the work completed through a CDLTI grant.

Sarah Hurlburt (FLL-French)
Making it up as we go Along: Theater Sports and Foreign Language Teaching
Description: Develop a one-credit foreign language course that uses the theatrical improvisation principals of theater sports to improve oral communication skills.

Michelle Janning (Sociology), Robert Street (Admissions) and Jennifer Mouat (Language Learning Center)
Creating a Sociology of Education Course and Pre-Education Advising Program
Description: The two central goals are to develop a course in the Sociology of Education and to build a framework for an advising program in Pre-Education that would fit into the liberal arts mission of the College.

Justin Lincoln (Studio Art) and Lynn Vieth (Penrose Library)
Increasing Visual Literacy Through Data Visualization
Description: The primary goals of this project are to incorporate the theory, practice, and technology central to the emerging field of "data visualization" into Lincoln's New Genre Art Practices courses while simultaneously increasing Penrose Library's instructional and research capabilities to better support the study of new media and visual culture, as well as digital humanities initiatives across campus.

Allison Calhoun (Chemistry)

Mathematical, Graphical & Molecular Modeling Techniques
Description: To Integrate the use of mathematical, graphical & molecular modeling techniques into Physical Chemistry course (CHEM 345/346)

Patrick Frierson (Philosophy)
Climbing Towards Autonomy
Description: The project involves getting students in my Education and Autonomy course to participate in climbing clinics and learning experiences on Whitman's new climbing wall in order to incorporate a physically demanding and new sort of learning process for reflection during our more text-based class discussions.

Jim Hanson (Rhetoric & Film Studies) and Nick Robinson (Rhetoric & Film Studies)
Debating in the 21st Century: Multimedia & Teleconferencing
Description: To develop instructional materials and programs for debate training using multimedia and teleconferencing. 

Lee Keene (Library) and Michael Paulus (Library)
Primary Sources Seminar
Description: To design this newly added course (Primary Sources Seminar) and its syllabus in addition to providing stipends to team-teach this class in Spring 2011. 

Timothy Parker (Biology)
Student driven scientific ecological research in a teaching laboratory
Description: To purchase equipment to implement a long-term ecological field study so that I can provide the students in my Ecology course with an authentic and intellectually challenging research experience that develops their abilities as scientists & ecologists. 

Deborah Wiese (Psychology)
Shinrigaku: Psychology in Japan
Description: To create a three week summer course on cross-cultural psychology that focuses on Japan and includes field-study in Japan.

Kurt Hoffman (Physics), Peter Crawford (Music), Keith Farrington (Sociology), Wally Herbranson (Psychology) and Matthew Prull (Psychology)
Interdisciplinary Seminar: What is Music?
Description: The project will focus on developing an interdisciplinary seminar for students majoring in the fields represented by the participating faculty. The seminar will be organized around the theme of music with students tasked with developing a sophisticated answer to the question, "What is music?". This project is an outgrowth of the work completed through a CDLTI grant.

Sarah Hurlburt (FLL-French)
Making it up as we go Along: Theater Sports and Foreign Language Teaching
Description: Develop a one-credit foreign language course that uses the theatrical improvisation principals of theater sports to improve oral communication skills.

Michelle Janning (Sociology), Robert Street (Admissions) and Jennifer Mouat (Language Learning Center)
Creating a Sociology of Education Course and Pre-Education Advising Program
Description: The two central goals are to develop a course in the Sociology of Education and to build a framework for an advising program in Pre-Education that would fit into the liberal arts mission of the College.

Justin Lincoln (Studio Art) and Lynn Vieth (Penrose Library)
Increasing Visual Literacy Through Data Visualization
Description: The primary goals of this project are to incorporate the theory, practice, and technology central to the emerging field of "data visualization" into Lincoln's New Genre Art Practices courses while simultaneously increasing Penrose Library's instructional and research capabilities to better support the study of new media and visual culture, as well as digital humanities initiatives across campus.

Sharon Alker (English) and Theresa DiPasquale (English)

Experiencing the Virtual Archive
Description: Two-year subscription to the ProQuest database Early English Books Online (EEBO). This subscription will allow us to expand and deepen existing assignments in our courses, to introduce new assignments, and to design a new course on the History of the Book. We will also take steps to inform our colleagues in all three divisions about the pedagogical potential of EEBO and to encourage its use across the curriculum.

Brien Garnand (History) and Brian Dott (History)
Ancient Empires/Old World Encounters
Description: A digital text initiative for comparative history.

Michelle Janning (Sociology), Gilbert Mireless (Sociology), Noah Leavitt (Sociology), Bill Bogard (Sociology), Keith Farrington (Sociology), Helen Kim (Sociology) and Kari Norgaard (Sociology)
Public and Applied Sociology in the Curriculum Community
Description: Year-long series of events that would assess, unify, and enhance curricular offerings in applied and public sociology.

John Kitchens (Education) and Bryan Lubbers (WCTS)
Incorporating GIS in the Classroom
Description: Develop and administer workshops to integrate GIS (Global Information Systems) into student and faculty research.

Rogers B. Miles (Religion)
Sampling the Religious Soundscapes of the Pacific Northwest 
Description: To build a field studies component that will enable students to capture sound in the field and to incorporate that sound as audio annotations to their ethnographic investigations of the aural worlds created by religious traditions.

Deberah Simon (Chemistry), Mare Blocker (Art), Charles Timm-Ballard (Art) and Kirsten Nicolaysen (Geology)
Enhancing the Collaborative Hands-on Experience of the Chemistry of Art
Description: This grant will expand the scope, depth, and collaborative nature of CHEM 102 (The Chemistry of Art) by offering more opportunities for hands-on study of the influence of the chemistry of materials on the production of art. It will foster a greater collaboration between the Chemistry, Art, and Geology departments at Whitman, as well as bringing in experts and artists in both chemistry and art from the community. The study of bronze patinas, which are already a topic of the class, will be enhanced by a field trip to the Walla Walla Foundry and by interviews with local sculptors. Native American pottery and petroglyphs of the Columbia River and Eastern Oregon region will be analyzed through instrumentation and expertise shared by the departments.

Phil Thompson (Communications), Kyle Singer (WCTS), David Schmitz (History) and Polly Schmitz (Alumni)
Distributing Digital Learning via iTunes U
Description: Support the digital distribution of historical lectures and visiting speakers, as well as major college events via the iTunes U service. This will enhance the learning experience by making available content that now is not easily accessible to students and the public.

Phil Brick - Politics and Semester in the West

Kinetic Media and Integrative Learning on Semester in the West
Description: This grant supports an initiative to enhance Semester in the West final projects, which must integrate knowledge from courses and experiences in ecology, politics, and environmental writing.  Funds will support expertise and equipment to create sound and image podcasts that students will work on throughout the semester, with the aim of integrating soundscapes and visual images into powerful spoken narratives.

Cynthia Croot - Theatre
US/Syria Theatre Exchange
Description: This planning grant will be used to explore the possibility of establishing a relationship with the University of Damascus, Syria.  The eventual aim of the project is to create a joint translation and performance project with theatre students in Syria and here at Whitman.  The initial funding for the US/Syria Theatre Exchange will cover research and travel to Syria.

Heidi Dobson and Brian Dott - Biology and History
History and Ethnobiology of the Silk Roads
Description: We propose to offer two interdisciplinary courses on the History and Ethnobiology of the Silk Roads, starting in Spring 2009:  a lecture course (2 credits each in History and Biology) that explores the different trading routes across Asia known as the silk roads, addressing why certain goods, animals and technologies were traded and how they impacted the agriculture, animal and plant uses, and local biota of the different peoples; and a two-week (Spring break) field course in Asia (1-credit), where students will visit sites of historical importance and agricultural/biological trade centers, and view the production, processing and use of biological items discussed in the lecture course.

Frank Dunnivant - Chemistry
Redesigning CHEM361 and Creating CHEM420
Description: In the spring of 2009, the Chemistry Department will offer a new instrumentation course with the objective to train science students who plan to use our new Instrumentation Center. This grant will support the development of student laboratory exercises for various applications in chromatography and mass spectroscopy. The developed exercises will also be published as a series of Internet-based Ebooks co-authored by Jake Ginsbach and future students.

Sarah Hurlburt and Mike Osterman - FLL-French and Technology Services
Interactive Timeline Tool for the Sakai Learning Environment
Description: This grant will support the creation of a graphic, interactive timeline application for Whitman's online course management system (CLEo/Sakai) in collaboration with staff and faculty from Pomona and Claremont-McKenna Colleges. The new application will expand upon an open-source timeline tool developed at MIT Libraries and MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, making it possible for students and instructors to add and edit information as they encounter new material throughout the course.  As the overall shape and emphasis of the timeline evolves through student and faculty contributions, it will also promote student awareness of their critical responsibility in the creation as well as the consumption of information. The resulting learning tool will have the potential to enhance visual & kinesthetic learning in almost every discipline taught at Whitman.

Kari Norgaard - Sociology and Environmental Studies
Klamath Field Study Program
Description:  Students will visit the Klamath Mountain region, learn about current issues in environmental conservation and policy, regional natural history and develop a rich understanding of the present day issues faced by Native people and conduct research of interest to the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources. Where appropriate, this research will form the basis of the students' senior theses. 

Jason Pribilsky and Suzanne Morrissey - Anthropology and Latin American Studies
Support for development of a summer ethnographic field school - "Whitman in the Andes"
Description:  "Globalized Livelihoods: Exploring Health, Culture, and Migration in Highland Ecuador."  Living for seven weeks in a rural community of the Ecuadorian Andes, students will learn how to use ethnographic research methods to study the multifaceted relationship between health and social change in the developing world.  Students lodge with local families, participate in their daily lives, contribute to the community, and build an appreciation for the complexities of what it means to be indigenous in the 21st century.  Facilitated by coursework and one-on-one faculty guidance, the end goal of the program is for each student to produce an ethnographic report of their research with results applicable to the needs of the local community.

Albert Schueller - Mathematics
Programming with Robots
Description:  This project will provide the Mathematics Department with a classroom set of Lego Mindstorm robotics kits which will be used to teach introductory, and eventually, advanced topics in computer science and control theory.  The goals are to develop a fun and robust curriculum that may be used nationally and to provide new avenues of computer science exploration for students here at Whitman.

Ginger Withers, Chris Wallace and Dan Vernon - Biology and BBMB
Building new science courses and labs around discovery: integrated inquiry-based instructional unites and "clabinar" courses.
Description:  A new class and laboratory structures that emphasize inquiry-based learning will be developed and, if widely adopted, allow the Biology and BBMB programs to offer a larger number of smaller, modular elective courses.  For classes, an adaptable "clabinar" structure will be developed that combines hands-on learning with class instruction and seminar-style analysis of primary literature.  For labs, an extended inquiry-based laboratory exercise will be developed in neurobiology, to serve as a prototype that can be adapted for other upper-level teaching labs.