Monday, November 18, 2024

Feature by: T

Eyleen Menchu Tuy ’25 during off-campus studies in South Korea.

In honor of International Education Week (a joint initiative by the US Department of State and US Department of Education to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn and exchange experiences), we want to share some updates on recent growth in global education programming at Whitman College. This week also reminds us why global learning and international exchange is so vital in today’s challenging world: it helps us create a more just and peaceful world through global exchanges that increase mutual understanding and collaborations. 

Off-Campus Studies/Study Abroad Off-Campus Studies/study abroad semester program participation rates for the Class of 2026 are expected to reach 43% (127 students) this year, not including the 21 students currently attending the Whitman faculty-led Semester in the West. This follows the all-time high off-campus studies student enrollments in Spring 2024, when 124 Whitties traveled for study in 30 locations worldwide, including less-common destinations such as Cameroon, Ghana, Iceland, Morocco and Peru.

International Students & Scholars
In Fall 2024, we welcomed the highest-ever number of international students to Whitman, with a total 226 international students from 82 countries enrolled. Additionally, the Center for Global Studies continues to bring international educators to campus, such as recent visitors from Otavalo, Ecuador who taught workshops about Andean worldview and its expressions in Kichwa Otavalo practice.

Global Returns: Critical Engagement After Study Abroad 
Launched in fall 2023, this 2-credit mini course is now taught every semester to help returning study abroad students reflect upon their experiences away and their understanding of the world, and identify skills they may have gained.

Global Studies Concentration 
Launched in 2018, this concentration helps students engage rigorously with difference and challenge their assumptions about the world as well as seeing their community as part of a web of natural, economic, cultural and social connections that defy geopolitical borders.

Questions about Off-Campus Studies? Email offcampusstudies@whitman.edu.

Questions about International Student & Scholar Services? Email isss@whitman.edu.

Questions about the Center for Global Studies? Email Professor Nicole Simek at simeknj@whitman.edu.

Stay tuned! Each day this week Whitman Today will feature something new related to the college’s international programming.

Emily Jones, Associate Professor of German Studies and Environmental Humanities, has published an essay in the new volume “Nuclear Futures in the Post-Fukushima Age.” Her chapter, entitled “Quantum Narratives and Zen Moments: Thinking Nuclear Pasts and Futures After Fukushima,”reads Ruth Ozeki’s novel “A Tale of the Time Being” alongside and through Karen Barad’s theories of material-discursive practices and quantum entanglement.

Last Friday’s announcement about the Murdock College Science Research Conference awards inadvertently failed to recognize one recipient. Denzel Chinyemba ’26 was co-recipient with Aneel Al Fatayri ’25 for the 2024 Murdock Poster Prize for Biochemistry for the poster “Investigating the Significance of Epoxyketone Stereochemistry in the Mechanism of Inhibition of the 20S Proteasome.” Associate Professor of Chemistry and Paul Garrett Fellow Marion Gotz mentored Chinyema and Al Fatayri in their research. Congratulations, Denzel!

While Whitman College has no confirmed cases of Pertussis (Whooping Cough), Walla Walla County Department of Community Health has issued a notice that cases in Washington State are increasing. Persons at high risk for severe symptoms include infants, pregnant persons and health care workers, and it is important that everyone be responsible for protecting these vulnerable populations. Please make sure your TDAP (Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis) vaccine is up to date; it should be administered every 5 years until age 16, then boosted at least every 10 years. The Health Center can provide testing and support for students who have known exposure or who have suspicious symptoms (sustained, paroxysmal cough that has a "whoop" when inhaling after a coughing fit, often followed by vomiting). 

You can make this holiday season special by providing presents for a Walla Walla family in need. You and your friends, office, sports team, or any group can get matched with a family and pick out presents and gift cards to bring some warmth to a local family’s holiday celebration. Email communityprojects@whitman.edu for more information. (Flyer attached.)

Friday was the Rock Your Mocs social media event, an annual part of Native American Heritage Month. Whitman participants gathered at Cleveland Commons to take this photo of their moccasins. 

Noon–12:50 p.m.

Movement That Matters: Pilates

Sherwood Athletic Center

12:10–12:50 p.m.

Grieving at Whitman

Reid Campus Center, All Faiths Room

4:30–5:30 p.m.

ZFit!

Reid Campus Center Side Lawn

4:30–5:30 p.m.

Homo for the Holidays

Reid Campus Center, Queer Resource Center

5–6 p.m.

Tap Dance Weekly Jam

Sherwood Athletic Center, Room 106

6–7:30 p.m.

Overview of the Blue Mountains Land Management Plan Revisions Process

Reid Campus Center, Room 207

7 p.m.

Powwow Education Showcase

Maxey Auditorium

10–11:30 a.m.

Grounded Practice: Guiding Principles for Making Decisions Regarding Access and Accommodations

Virtual Event

Noon–12:50 p.m.

Movement That Matters: MELT

Sherwood Athletic Center

Noon–1 p.m.

President Bolton’s Open Office Hours for Students

Reid Campus Center

3 p.m.

Moving Forward with Social Anxiety

Welty Student Health Center

4–5 p.m.

OCS First Step Meeting

Hall of Science, Room 151

5–6 p.m.

AAUW Speaker Series - President Bolton and Thinking about Women as Leaders: Pathways, Challenges, Strengths and Opportunities

Reid Campus Center, Room 207

6–7:30 p.m.

“Richland” (2023) Film Screening

Olin Hall, Room 233

6–7:30 p.m.

Simply Mysterious: On Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Evil Does Not Exist

Olin Hall, Room 129

Noon–12:50 p.m.

Movement That Matters: Strength & Stretch

Sherwood Athletic Center

3–5 p.m.

Zotero and Citation Drop-in Hours

Penrose Library

4:30–5:30 p.m.

ZFit!

Reid Lawn or Sherwood 114

5:30 p.m.

Strangers, Murderers, Laborers: Homicide Law and the Rights of Subordinates in Ancient Athens

Olin Hall, Room 301

8–9:24 p.m.

Dracula Club Mystery Movie Night

La Maison (French House)

8–10 p.m.

Open Kayak

Harvey Pool

Noon–12:50 p.m.

Movement That Matters: Step Aerobics

Sherwood Athletic Center

4 p.m.

Art & Soul

Reid Campus Center, All Faiths Room

7 p.m.

Wind Ensemble Fall Concert

Hall of Music, Chism Recital Hall

8–9 p.m.

Soirée Cinéma

La Maison (French House)

Noon–1 p.m.

French Table

Cleveland Commons

Noon–12:50 p.m.

Movement That Matters: Yoga

Sherwood Athletic Center

2–5 p.m.

Study & Sip @ the QRC

Reid Campus Center, Queer Resource Center

7–10 p.m.

Whitman Chess Club

Reid Campus Center, Room 240

Would you like to share an event with campus? Submit the information to the Events Calendar.

Produced by the Office of Communications, Whitman Today is emailed to Whitman College staff, faculty and students each weekday during the academic year and twice a week during breaks. An archive of previous issues is available online.

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