Whitman Stories

Whitman College has joined 164 other colleges and universities across the nation in signing an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as the case heads to the Supreme Court.

Whitman College President Kathleen Murray announced the appointment of Steve Setchell as the college's new vice president for development and alumni relations.

After an article appeared earlier this week in The New York Times suggesting the president demanded a snake-filled moat to protect the southern border, Jackson, an associate professor of biology, explained that people who think they fear snakes "are actually afraid of the unknown."

Not everyone knows that Constitution Day shares the bill with Citizenship Day, an observance dating back to 1938. Whitman Professor David Schmitz, who specializes in 20th century American history and foreign policy, explains that a Polish refugee organized the first "I Am An American Day" celebration in New York, featuring patriotic speeches, songs, prayers and a parade from Walt Whitman's birthplace on Long Island.

His research team surveyed 379 Americans ages 18-65 on their musical preferences, movie interests, personality traits, and psychopathic tendencies.

First-year students at Whitman College have the opportunity to meet fellow incoming students

He conducted field work with Daniel Schindler, an aquatic ecologist at the University of Washington researching how the millions of fish that hatch in the freshwater lakes and streams along Alaska's Bristol Bay head out to sea and then return to their birthplace to spawn and die. A section of their anatomy called the otolith, a bit of calcium carbonate that sits within the salmon's inner ear and acts like an internal GPS, provides clues about their movements.

Sociology and geology major Kelly Katon '01 is the manager of events at Pokemon Company International in Bellevue. Katon found her passion for event planning the first day she stepped foot on Holland America Line cruise ship as crew staff and there was a sail-away party happening on deck.

The art of the 30-minute conversation is a skill Jake Harwood '14 mastered while working as an Admission intern during his senior year at Whitman. As part of his internship, Harwood interviewed prospective students trying to get to the core of the student's persona during a brief 30-minute window.

The pair co-authored a new peer-reviewed science publication in the journal Plant Direct.

Scholar-athlete Rebecca Johnston ’22 battles back from rare bone cancer with determination to study medicine.