Our Place in Walla Walla: Jason Pribilsky ’93
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Feature by: Noah Leavitt, College Liaison for Community Affairs
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Name: Jason Pribilsky
Class Year: 1993
Current Role: Professor of Anthropology, Whitman College
Jason and I spoke in his Maxey office late last week as students were turning in final assignments in the rooms all around us. We reflected on the year and gazed out his window at a perfect early-May Walla Walla afternoon.
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How are you involved in the community?
It starts with being a product of what I call “Old Walla Walla”—I have family here for three generations. Of course, I moved away, from about when I left high school until 2003 when I came back here to start teaching at Whitman. Most of my community involvement has stemmed from my training as a medical anthropologist and a work background in public health. Over the years, I have worked a lot with the Cancer Center at St. Mary’s and then with Blue Mountain Heart to Heart, which I’ve been involved with since almost right after I returned, starting as a volunteer running groceries for clients and such, and now on the agency’s board on and off for almost a decade. A lot of my local connections have been through the courses I’ve taught that have a public health background to them—like with Medical Anthropology. I connected with lots of different practitioners in town, linking up what I teach in reproductive health, with the OBGYNs at St. Mary’s and also with midwives and doulas and other practitioners, and mapping that sector and making that legible to students.
A lot of my work was thinking about cancer in part because of my own bout and dealing with a rural cancer center and challenges that came from that, which led me to create a course on this—Anthropologies of Cancer. It had a big community-based component to it. What I didn’t realize in that class was that every student was somehow touched by cancer, and some students even enrolled specifically because of a personal connection. The class got students to think about their own family members’ care in the context of being here in Walla Walla. That class always had a research component—students developed surveys for early detection of cervical cancer within the Latinx population. One year, we did a caregiver survey for the Cancer Center. Then one year that course moved out of Walla Walla and worked more regionally with Downwinders both near Hanford and also nationally—people who traced their illnesses back to Hanford’s early history. That class brought me into so many different realms. That was powerful for students. They realized that they imagined oncology was all about being a high-tech medical practice but they didn’t understand how much cancer care is affected by how it’s provided to people.
Read more.
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Beyond the Interview:
Jason Pribilsky ’93 will be available for questions and further conversation this Wednesday, May 14, at noon in Reid Campus Center, Room 207. The Career and Community Engagement Center will provide lunch for the first 10 students in attendance. Questions or ideas or accommodation requests? Email Noah Leavitt at leavitns@whitman.edu.
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Sophomore Selected To Attend Summer Economics Immersion Program
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Economics major Ananya Mehrotra ’27 has been accepted and will attend this year’s Expanding Discovery in Economics+ (EDE+) Summer Institute, a nine-week economics immersion program hosted by The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution. EDE+ provides ongoing opportunities for program alumni to engage in research, networking and programmatic offerings as they pursue opportunities that further their development and study of economics.
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Mental Health Awareness Webinar for Employees
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May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Whitman employees are invited to attend an Active&Fit webinar on the topic on Monday, May 12, at 1 p.m. Advance registration is recommended.
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OCS & ISSS Candidate Presentation Today
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Off-Campus Studies (OCS) and International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) invite you to a public presentation by a candidate for the Senior Director of International & Off-Campus Programs position on Monday, May 12, at 4 p.m. in Olin Auditorium.
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Library Hours During Finals
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Penrose Library will operate with modified hours during finals.
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- Tuesday–Thursday, May 13–15, from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.
- Friday, May 16, from 8 a.m. to midnight
- Saturday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to midnight
- Sunday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.
- Monday, May 19, from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.
- Tuesday, May 20, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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Bookstore Hours During Finals
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The Whitman College Bookstore will operate on modified hours during finals.
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- Thursday, May 15, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Friday, May 16, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Closed Saturday, May 17, and Sunday, May 18
- Monday, May 19, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Tuesday, May 20, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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Book buybacks and rental book returns will take place through Tuesday, May 20.
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On Saturday, May 3, Whitman College hosted the second annual Pášx̣apa Powwow in the Sherwood Athletic Center. See this photo essay for more pictures from this event.
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Monday (Last Day of Classes)
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Stanton-Anderson-Cleveland Field
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Candidate Presentation: Senior Director of International & Off-Campus Programs
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Harper Joy Theatre, Lobby
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Reid Campus Center, All Faiths Room
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Penrose Library, Games Lounge
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Reid Campus Center, Coffeehouse
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Cordiner Hall [Community Event]
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Candidate Presentation: Senior Director of International & Off-Campus Programs
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Reid Campus Center, Room 207
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Reception for Dr. John Johnson, Vice President for Inclusive Excellence
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Reid Campus Center, Coffeehouse
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Reid Campus Center, Queer Resource Center
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Reid Campus Center, Young Ballroom
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Sherwood Athletic Center or Cordiner Hall, North Lawn
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Reid Campus Center, Room 207
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Would you like to share an event with campus? Submit the information to the Events Calendar.
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