Whitman Stories

Whitman College’s 2023–2024 Visiting Writers Reading Series (VWRS) is closing out the academic year by hosting award-winning author and poet Maggie Nelson.

In a major step toward the Upward Together campaign’s goal of meeting the full financial need of every student, Whitman will provide a 1:1 match of college funds to scholarship-designated gifts of $50,000 or more.

Cat Posey ’05 uses her background as a Whitman College History major to tell the stories of women in technology. As the founder of Tech by Superwomen, Posey is a trailblazer who has made changes at CapitalOne as the Senior Director of Machine Learning and worked for the U.S. Digital Service, President Obama’s tech startup.

Two Whitman College juniors accepted into the Public Policy & International Affairs Program. They will spend the summer studying at top graduate schools. Kate Moe '25 is headed to Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and Meron Semere ’25 will attend Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.

Associate Professor of Sociology Alvaro Santana-Acuña is one of the world’s foremost experts on Gabriel García Márquez, having written a study of the author’s most famous book (“One Hundred Years of Solitude”) as well as curated an international exhibition from García Márquez’s archives. This week, The New York Times published his guest essay discussing the controversy surrounding García Márquez’s new posthumously-published novel.

Whitman College is pleased to announce the selection of Cecilia Kang as speaker for its 138th Commencement Ceremony. Kang, a distinguished alum of the Whitman College Class of 1994, is known for her award-winning technology reporting for The New York Times.

Thanks to gifts to Upward Together, construction is officially underway on a new residential village that will change the way students live and learn at Whitman College. Set to open in August 2025, the apartment-style living community will be home to more than 200 students—in three new residence halls designed specifically for juniors and seniors.

As part of two joint performances with Carthage College from Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Whitman Orchestra will perform in Chism Hall on March 8 and at Portland State University on March 9. Both performances explore the composers’ relationships with their homelands and are free and open to the public.

Three Whitman College alums are being featured in the college’s 2023–2024 Visiting Writers Reading Series (VWRS).

For the second year in a row, the Power & Privilege Symposium brought Sounds of the People, who’s mission is to showcase Pacific Northwest talent and highlight black and brown voices. The concert was free and students and locals gathered to enjoy the show in the Reid Campus Center on Whitman’s campus.

On Feb. 22, 2024, classes were canceled at Whitman College so the campus community could attend Power & Privilege Symposium sessions—and more importantly, engage actively in the social justice topics at hand. Activist, community organizer and author Linda Sarsour delivered the keynote address.

When their 2024 seasons open, the Whitman Blues and Walla Walla Sweets will have a new home. The 3,300-square-foot clubhouse will feature a team locker room, a training room, team spaces and more! See how the clubhouse is coming together.