Whitman Stories

To the south and east of Walla Walla are the Blue Mountains, a long anticlinal ridge composed of basalt flows. Unlike the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon, the Blue Mountains are not tall enough to have been glaciated. They consist of upland plateaus cut by deep V-shaped canyons.

Whitman College’s annual Undergraduate Conference is bringing a variety of student-led and produced research to the Whitman community on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. In its 21st year, the conference has grown to a record 69 students presenting 57 posters in Cordiner Hall, three unique sessions of panels and music performances by the Chamber Ensemble, and Jazz Ensembles I and II.

People interested in exploring the history of Whitman College from a student’s perspective have a new avenue for research: This spring, the archivist at the Penrose Library finished a yearlong effort to digitize archives of the Whitman Pioneer and Whitman Wire newspapers.

Assistant Professor of Sociology Álvaro Santana-Acuña writes that just as the announcement that Netflix will turn One Hundred Years of Solitude into a series has reverberated throughout the world, the global distribution of the streaming giant may give new life to the stories of Macondo and the Buendía family.

Whitman College senior Caroline Evan “Cello” Lockwood ’19 will spend the year after graduation studying the ways that different cultures interact with horses, thanks to a $30,000 grant from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation.

With nine alumni currently serving in countries around the world, Whitman is No. 23 among small schools on the agency’s 2019 roster. It has appeared on the list for the last three years, and is one of nine top schools in Washington this year.

This spring, Whitman again welcomes Paula Boggs to campus as the speaker for the 2019 Women in Leadership Lunch at noon Friday, March 29, 2019, in the Reid Campus Center Ballroom.

Psychology and computer science major Kimberly Taylor '20 is measuring different components of resilience in students who participate in afterschool programs at local elementary schools in a one-year fellowship with Walla Walla Public Schools 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

On Thursday, April 11, 2019, Whitman College welcomes distinguished historian Samuel Moyn as the visiting speaker for the 53rd Sivert O. and Marjorie Allen Skotheim Lecture in History.

The environmental humanities major from Minnesota has set up shop in a space he named The Walnut Schoolhouse, located in the town of Marshall outside Asheville. His new business offers weekly bread deliveries and will sell baked goods at the local farmer's market this summer. Soon he hopes to also host workshops for community members to learn how to bake bread, cakes, croissants, bagels and other items.

Beatty, who is studying neuroscience at Whitman, lobbied for students with learning disabilities on Capitol Hill last month as part of the National Center for Learning Disabilities' #StandWithLD event. She spoke out against the recent admission fraud case, calling it "deeply unsetting and upsetting." Since part of the scam allegedly involved exploiting test-taking accommodations meant for students with special needs, advocates like her fear it could become tougher for applicants who actually need such accommodations to get them.

Derek Slone '18 is a project engineer for Studio 151, a consulting company for the San Francisco International Airport. Slone talks about how some of the lessons he learned at Whitman and how they've helped him in his current role.