Thursday, June 6, 2024

Nikki Brueggeman, recipient of the David Nord Award and Assistant Director for Career Readiness & Employer Engagement, was featured in a recent Northwest Public Broadcasting article for her oral history exhibit “Sweeter Than the Onions: Narratives of Resilience in Walla Walla’s Queer Community.”

The publishing date coincides with Pride Month—a celebration and commemoration of LGBTQIA+ pride.

The article highlights the overwhelming support Brueggerman gained while working on the project. Whitties Holly VanVoorhis ’26 and Abby Main ’24 assisted Brueggeman in exploring how queer people have thrived and contributed to the Walla Walla Valley. At her presentation, the Stevens Gallery was overflowing.

“It kind of made me feel validated in a way of like, ‘I told y’all we were here.’ The community showed up and they wanted to hear the stories. They wanted to feel represented," says Brueggeman.

Read the full article.

The exhibit is on display at the Stevens Gallery through the end of June. Brueggeman plans to expand the project statewide.

Two Whitman baseball players were recently named to the ABCA/Rawlings Division III All-Region Team. Blues pitcher Julien Hernandez ’24 garnered first team honors and catcher Halen Otte ’26 received third team honors. Two Whitman baseball players were named to the D3baseball all-region team. Jack Bickerton ’25 garnered second team honors and Garrett Runyan ’25 received third team honors.

Assistant Professor of Politics Andrea Sempértegui and the environmental collective Comunálisis (Ecuador) won a Social Actions Initiative Award (SAIA) from Sociologists for Women in Society. The SAIA will support Comunálisis’s co-labor project with the Indigenous organization CASCOMI and its fight against the expansion of the mega-mining project Mirador in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon.

Reminder: Campus offices will close at noon on Friday, June 7, as one of several discretionary half days scheduled this summer.

On Friday, June 7, the Boyer House Printing and Mailing services will be closed. The Reid Campus Center Post Office will close at 11:30 a.m.

Due to the discovery of a failing domestic water mainline, the Boyer Avenue closure will be extended through the first week of July so that the City of Walla Walla can make needed repairs. Updated schedule:

The Whitman project team and the City of Walla Walla are working together to minimize impacts and expedite the installation process. Thank you for your continued patience!

The east side of Olin Hall will be closed next week due to the replacement of piping. Crews will also replace the sidewalk from the Jewett Parking Lot to the south set of doors at Olin Hall along Isaacs Avenue as part of Whitman’s accessibility improvements.

The Whitman College calendar is quiet at the moment. If you are looking for something to do in the community, explore the Visit Walla Walla calendar of events.

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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