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SCROLL PAGE ( IN ENLARGED VIEW ) 22 A crisis WEB LINKS in housing URLS IN TEXT & ADS CLICKABLE 28 A natural CLICK HERE TO EXIT understanding OR USE ctrl/cmd-Q 30 When the sky fell Summer20 vol19no3

Features Closing the gap between dreaming of a home and finally 22 holding a key to the front door.

Forty years ago Mount St. Helens blew. We revisit the memories. 30

Essay What we don’t know is immense. Natural history can be a profound catalyst for understanding. 28

UPfront Bringing medical knowledge and access to all corners of the state is at the core of WSU’s land-grant mission. 9

Below purple mountain majesties, farming the fruited, flooded plains. 11

Hearts in the darkness. If you accept their culture, they’ll really take you in. 17

COVER: A MORNING VIEW OF MOUNT ST. HELENS, JUNE 2017 (PHOTO DENIS & KIM HANG) LEFT: “LIGHTS AT THE FOOT” OF MOUNT RAINIER (PHOTO ROGER REYES) connecting you to WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY the STATE the WORLD Not being afraid anymore SHORT SUBJECT

12 Meet Kristian

The planet’s getting warmer—and chemical engineering student COURTESY Kristian Gubsch researches ways to

CARLA capture carbon emissions and convert

OLMAN them to liquid fuel.

PEPERZAK

Thematics Departments Marshall Scholar OUR STORY 14 5 Resilience in a changing world FIRST WORDS Celebrating 30 years of 18 New coach, new era SIDELINES Ernest F. Hollings WSU in Spokane, Tri-Cities, 20 Peppers IN SEASON Undergraduate Scholarship and Vancouver 39 Consider the butterfly 40 Stepping up her game 41 From covering the beat to on the beat 42 A new terroir ALUMNI PROFILES DOG WORLD 16 Barry Goldwater Scholarship 43 Labyrinth of Ice, Salmon Eaters to Sage Brushers, Back on Track A nation within NEW MEDIA and Excellence in Education our (human) nation 45 HONORARY DEGREES Program award 46 CLASS NOTES 46 Congressional Gold Medal—Steve Gleason ’00 wsu.edu 50 IN MEMORIAM 52 “Living with the Volcano” LAST WORDS Coug. Washington State Magazine is published quarterly by Washington State University. Editorial o!ce: IT Building 2013, 670 NE Wilson Road, Pullman, Washington. 509-335-2388 Mailing address: PO Box 641227, Pullman, WA 99164-1227. Printed in the USA. © 2020 Washington State University Board of Regents. All rights reserved. Views expressed in Washington State Magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect o!cial policy of Washington State University.

Washington State Magazine is distributed free to alumni, friends, faculty, and sta". Others can subscribe or gift the magazine for $15 yearly (magazine.wsu.edu/subscribe). Change of address: Biographical and Records Team, PO Box 641927, Pullman, WA 99164-1927; [email protected]; 800-448-2978.

Washington State University is an equal-opportunity, a!rmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication is available online as text-only and in other accessible formats upon request: [email protected]; 509-335-2388; 509-335-8734 (fax).

2 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 FIRSTwords

In our new backyard. The eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 battered the landscape and sent several hundred million tons of ash to the east. Trees for miles around the mountain were flattened like “one-hundred-foot matchsticks,” says WSU Vancouver biology professor John Bishop. But Bishop and his colleagues have found the devastation around St. Helens to be a tremendous laboratory to study the resur- gence of flora and fauna after a disaster. Led by a familiar purple flower, the lupine, and an array of other plants and animals, the formerly sterile land now houses significant biological diversity. It’s a portrait of resilience. Now we face a new and compelling need for adaptability and perseverance: the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re all adjusting to the challenge of things we probably had never heard of, such as social distancing and flattening the curve. Of course, we know Cougs are generous and resourceful, and we are already hearing stories of that spirit in action. Even before the pandemic and economic downturn, many people across Washington state, from Seattle to Pullman, faced a different crisis as they became overburdened by the high cost of owning or renting a home. The problem has a number of causes, including a lack of housing supply. Fortunately, we have WSU faculty, students, and Extension leaders coming up with possible solutions to ease the strain for people seeking a home. Life changes for all of us, sometimes quickly and sometimes over longer periods of time. Krist Novoselic´ (’16 Soc. Sci.) was bass guitarist of the iconic Northwest band Nirvana, but then moved to remote and rural Southeast Washington, got involved with the Grange, received his WSU degree, and grew to love conservation and the natural world. He connected with nearby author Robert Michael Pyle, one of America’s leading nature writers, and the two of them recently released a spoken-word album with poetry by Pyle and acoustic music by Novoselic´. The album celebrates the joy of the natural world and its direct experience, as does the essay by WSU environmental sciences professor Stephanie E. Hampton. Natural history, though, can do more than build appreciation; it can give us practical ways to adapt. As Hampton writes, “A resilient future requires us to be able to make informed predictions about how and why things change.”

EDITOR: Larry Clark ’94

ESTABLISH A LAND LEGACY ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Adriana Janovich ART DIRECTOR: John Paxson STAFF WRITERS: Rebecca E. Phillips ’76, ’81 DVM; Brian Charles Clark

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Josh Babcock ’15, Stephanie E. Hampton, Kate Lebo, RJ Wolcott PHOTOGRAPHERS: Carmen R. Andrews, Ricardo Gomez Angel, Megan Blackburn, Manuel Balce Ceneta, Geoff Crimmins, Ruslan Dashinsky, WITH WSU Karen Derby, Laura Dutelle, Kim Fetrow, Denis Hang, Kim Hang, Robert Haft ’71, ’75, Robert Hubner, Barry Kough, Douglas Miller, Nino Ortiz x’12, J. Bart Rayniak, Roger Reyes , Doug Samuels, Jim Shelton, Don Swanson, Jannis Tobias Werner ILLUSTRATORS: Catherine MacBride, Thanaphiphat Suanpan Your land represents years of hard work and dedication. WSU PRESIDENT: Kirk H. Schulz It’s more than acreage—it’s your heritage—and you want VICE PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS: Phil Weiler it to endure. Establishing a land legacy at WSU is a

well-planned charitable gift that provides long-term ADVERTISING: Contact Lowell Ganin, 206-717-5808 or [email protected] Advertising guide is online at magazine.wsu.edu/advertising. tangible benefits to you and others. When you donate Washington State Magazine is pleased to acknowledge the generous support of alumni and friends of WSU, land to WSU, it stays with WSU, and you secure a lasting including a major gift from Phillip M. ’40 and June Lighty.

resource for research, scholarships, and outreach. Washington State Magazine is printed at a facility (FSC® C006571 [Forest Stewardship Council®]) and on paper that is FSC® certified, using soy‑blended inks on 100% post-consumer-waste recycled paper. It is processed chlorine free. The paper is milled at a facility using Your property is managed by the Land Legacy Council, an 93% recovered biogas (remainder hydroelectricity) — using approximately 60% less water than the North American average. It has the lowest carbon footprint per metric ton in North America (no offsets used), and is UL certified for reduced environmental impact. organization of farmers, ranchers, timber experts, and agribusiness leaders.

For a fact sheet on ways to support WSU through gifts of real estate, including establishing a land legacy, 10 0 % please visit foundation.wsu.edu/land. post-consumer

WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 5 TALKback

A woman’s place Yes, I did get married and have two Pioneer (West) Hall moved into Kruegel daughters, two grandsons, and I continue to and McAllister. When I started my career at WSU in the fall slay slime (biofilms). of 1969, I knew I wanted to be a biologist. My One of my first memories from Neill all-girl high school had an excellent science Thank you, Dr. Hall. happened just after we moved in. One program. I spent the summer of ’69 working night, there was a brilliant display of aurora, at the WSU Extension Center in Puyallup LINDA (BLAU) ROBERTSON, ’69 reds and greens covering the entire sky. raising house flies and counting bark beetles BACTERIO. AND PUBLIC HEALTH Somehow we got a hold of a key to the in entomology. roof trapdoor (forbidden!), and many of us watched it from up there. We had to My assigned advisor was in the zoology More Neill Hall memories trudge up to Stadium Commons (southeast department. Apparently, he was pretty corner of Stadium Way and Wilson famous. His first question to me was, “Are Reading Cathy Higgins’ letter in the Spring Road) for meals, but Ferdinand’s then was you going into this professionally, or do you 2020 Talkback brought back a flood of conveniently close in the bottom of plan to get married?” Although I was a pretty memories from my time living in Neill Hall. Troy Hall. timid 18-year-old, I stared at him and found Mine was a much earlier period than hers; the presence of mind to say, “I didn’t think in fact, we opened up a brand new Neill in Neill Hallers had a strong sense of they were mutually exclusive.” February 1957. When I arrived at WSC(!) in pride in their dorm, and there was even the fall of 1955, I was placed in Esquire Hall, considerable competition between the He did steer me into good classes on what one of the “cardboard castles” (actually respective floors. I remember Neill’s choir I look back now as an insanely difficult plywood) built to accommodate the surge schedule. Midway through the semester, I of returning WWII vets. These old dorms coming in second campus-wide, as did found a new advisor, Dr. Elizabeth Hall. She had a high turnover rate; half the freshmen one of our homecoming floats. Although was one of the few female professors in the had flunked out by the end of my first we were (GD) Independents, for the more sciences and, for some reason, microbiology semester. Many of the survivors had our active members, it was kind of like being in was the only science where almost 50 percent own room, which we could connect with a fraternity. The only difference was that of the students were women. I graduated others by knocking out the closet panels. you didn’t have to participate, and we also in 1973 in microbiology, went on to work Esquire even had its own radio station had our share of less active types. for Weyerhaeuser in R&D, was recruited to (KRAP, the little brown spot on your dial) Nalco Chemical R&D (12 patents), and then using the fire warning wiring as an antenna. BILL BUCHAN, ’60 CHEM. ENG. started my consulting company controlling Things were pretty loose in Esquire. At complex industrial microbial issues in paper the start of the second semester in ’57, You can read Bill’s full letter at magazine.wsu.edu/ mills all over the globe. Esquire (North) Hall moved into Neill, while extra/May-2020-talkback

COVID-19 — W S U ’s actions The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 disrupted the lives of students, faculty, and staff at Washington State University, just as it did for people all over the world. Classes moved online for the last part of the spring 2020 semester, University operations adapted, and many measures were taken to protect the health of WSU communities.

For more information about WSU’s response and proactive efforts to prevent COVID-19, visit wsu.edu/covid-19

COVID-19 information WSU encourages all of the Cougar nation to stay safe and help contain the spread of COVID-19.

The websites below can keep you informed about the pandemic and preventing infection.

• Washington state’s coronavirus response: coronavirus.wa.gov • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov/coronavirus • World Health Organization: who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

6 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 OUR NEW BACKYARD

UPfront

Technology like telemedicine would help Resuscitate’ orders because I have a student I The State of ease some cases, but it hasn’t yet been widely have that order for,” Droter says. “In a small implemented. school we’re all completely invested in the healing Fortunately, when it comes to research, 360-degree well-being of our kids. The idea Droter’s needs are covered by HEALWA, that a student might not go home at the end BY KATE LEBO Washington’s digital library for health care of the day doesn’t sit well. I really needed practitioners. Through HEALWA.org, Droter HEALWA for looking at best practices and In years past when District can find authoritative clinical research on how things are handled from an ethical and Nurse Becky Droter (’94 the conditions and issues that impact her cultural perspective elsewhere.” Nursing) needed to research students. She uses that evidence-based The small size of her community requires complex medical issues that information to improve how the district Droter to educate everyone from volunteer a!ected her Colville School safeguards student health. emergency responders to the school board. District students, she’d call For example, thanks to Droter’s efforts, But Colville’s small size also makes that pos- the Spokane Educational the Colville School District was one of the first sible: as a rural nurse, Droter can nurture close School District to talk with districts in the state to make Narcan available relationships with all stakeholders. Grounding nurses there. They were at schools. Like many communities nation- her efforts in authoritative evidence she found helpful but finding resources wide, Colville is no stranger to the opioid through HEALWA’s website — no more need that fit the particular needs crisis. Droter set out to research how other to call Spokane — helps her educate everyone of her rural community school districts create policies around having she works with. In Washington state, equity remained di"cult. this life-saving medicine on hand in case of of access to care may still be a challenge, Droter’s students face different chal- emergency. Through HEALWA she discovered but thanks to HEALWA, equity of access lenges than students in urban and suburban there wasn’t an example in Washington for to evidence-based medical information is places. To start, distance poses a formidable her to follow; further searching in HEALWA’s already here. ¬ barrier to health care access. If a Colville online library yielded resources that helped student needs to see a specialist, they must her make the case to her school board to Kate Lebo is the HEALWA outreach coordinator drive ninety minutes (“on dry roads,” Droter write a new policy. for Eastern Washington, based out of WSU Health notes) to Spokane or six hours to Seattle. Then The legislature created HEALWA in 2007 Sciences Spokane. there’s the shortage of doctors and nurses to support evidence-based practice in health that’s endemic to rural Eastern Washington. care. Access to the library of online resources “We don’t have a pediatrician in our com- is tied to professional licensure — all nurses, Going to munity,” Droter says. “This creates problems doctors, and 25 other professions licensed for our kids getting access to care and helping in Washington can use HEALWA’s library to BAT in rural our families understand the importance of find full text articles, point of care references, seeing a specialist for special needs. And by and patient resources in multiple languages. Washington LIMITLESS special needs, I mean something as common “Just last week I spent a bunch of time as asthma.” on HEALWA looking up articles on ‘Do Not BY BRIAN CHARLES CLARK

When the Carpenter Road POSSIBILITY fire burned 64,000 acres in rural northeast Washington, the crew fighting the fire Like Cougs, we emphasize community. was without internet. In We understand the importance of helping order to understand how the fire was moving and others be their best. It’s the very principle on how to best position their which BECU was founded: people helping people. firefighting resources, they had to drive GIS maps on removable media an hour

BECU. Proud sponsor of Cougs and DASHINSKY from the county o"ce out bright futures everywhere. to the fire camp. RUSLAN

“When the fire ended, we said, ‘We’ve got to fix this,’” says Debra Hansen, director

PHOTO of Washington State University Extension in

Nadine S., BECU Member owner WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 9 OUR NEW BACKYARD

more about BAT and Range Health: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/range-health

Including, perhaps, a robust telemedi- PATROL) cine infrastructure that would, in times of STATE

health care crises such as COVID-19, enable doctors and patients to work together without risk of cross-contamination. ¬ WASHINGTON At home on (COURTESY

FIRE the range ROAD BY LARRY CLARK

Washington State University CARPENTER Elson S. Floyd College of Great floods from simple sources Medicine and partners are Stevens County. “So we created the Broadband what that building needs can be tapped to launching Range Health, a ABOVE: A FLOODED FARM (COURTESY WASHINGTON STORMWATER CENTER/WSU BY BRIAN CHARLES CLARK Action Team, the BAT concept, and have “open the doors for others to come in.” nonprofit academic health EXTENSION). BELOW: JORDAN JOBE VISITS A FARM (COURTESY JORDAN JOBE) been going gangbusters ever since. We need The power of the BAT is that it brings network designed to bring broadband for health care, education, busi- together constituents with local knowledge. health care to Washington’s FROM THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES, TO and gets mowed without being removed, it a much larger, region-wide collaboration. nesses, jobs — we’re way beyond cat videos.” “Local is important,” Babine says, “because, rural and underserved areas. THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE YANGTZE, creates a big pile of muck that traps water.” “I think people in the Puget Sound region Development of broadband infrastruc- one, it helps identify gaps in infrastructure; Last October, they also unveiled the William FLOODPLAINS ARE GREAT PLACES TO Maintaining a balance between devel- who are involved in the areas of agriculture, ture has been slow. As Hansen says, “Big two, it helps ensure we don’t overbuild; and A. Crosetto Mobile Health Care Unit, the FARM. The soil is generally fertile due to opment and agricultural and habitat needs conservation, habitat restoration, and more internet providers don’t care about us. There’s three, when you look at the folks involved in network’s first traveling health clinic. Intended silt deposition by rivers, and the land is flat. is challenging, too. But there are some good need to have better information regarding no business case to bring broadband to 16 Debra’s team, it’s health care, schools, librar- as a training ground for future doctors and Floodplains support rich biodiversity, too, reasons to think that viable farms should what to expect from climate change. Pre- people per square mile.” ies, economic development council members, health care providers while delivering needed and the ones in the Pacific Northwest have be part of the picture for the future. Well- cipitation changes, sea level rise, saltwater “It took 50 years to electrify the nation,” and emergency responders. So having those care around the state, Range Health will long been the hunting and fishing grounds managed farms can improve water quality. intrusion, groundwater level rising — there Microsoft president Brad Smith wrote in a people at the table ensures that we build the focus on communities where health care of Native Americans. But as development As Jobe says, farms can be part of fish habitat are so many potential impacts from climate 2018 blog post. “The millions of Americans infrastructure where it’s going to be used. And, is limited. The mobile unit — named for spreads, floodplains are often paved over and restoration. “When you compare farms with change and we need to know a lot more to waiting for broadband don’t have the luxury four, those folks at the table are the ones who Othello cattle rancher and philanthropist land-based productivity is lost. runoff from impervious surfaces like roads support agricultural resilience regionally. of time.” are helping provide the digital skills training.” Bill Crosetto — will travel to those communities For Jordan Jobe, that’s all part of the and parking lots, fish do better next to a farm.” “We all value agriculture,” she adds, “so It’s not just a matter of bringing infra- “And having all those folks at the table,” to provide comprehensive primary care, challenge of advocating for agriculture in the Farms also sequester carbon and provide we need to support resilience now, because in structure to rural America, Hansen says. adds Hansen, “allows them to share resources, urgent care procedures, and preventive Puyallup watershed. Based at Washington other ecosystem services such as healthy soils. 50 years it’s going to look very different. We Many people also need training in using so discussions that start with broadband screening for conditions such as diabetes, State University’s Puyallup Research and Jobe’s efforts at building community- need to be prepared to continue producing food email, smart devices, and the internet. “Our infrastructure branch out to economic de- cholesterol, pregnancy, STDs, asthma, and Extension Center, she works with a wide based consensus around local land use also for a region that is developing and going to be library district and economic development velopment and much more.” more. ¬ range of local partners to maximize mul- inspire her to look for ways to bring about experiencing stress from climate change.” ¬ council are very involved in our BAT. They tiple benefits from the rich promise of the offer classes in technology use and solve tech Puyallup River and other local floodplains. problems at the library.” Jobe is the manager of Farming in the Hansen describes a scene at the library Floodplain Project that seeks to mitigate flood in Colville where residents had a brief win- risk, restore habitat, increase the number of dow of opportunity to sign up for heating fish returning to streams, and, she says, “to bill assistance. “There were 100 people at keep agriculture viable, because we value the library,” she estimates, “trying to set up local food and we value that use of the land.” email accounts and log in to the assistance site One of the biggest challenges for Jobe on a first-come, first-served basis — and then and her partners is drainage and getting water the system crashed. It was heartbreaking.” off the land in time to plant crops. Monica Babine, a senior associate with COURTESY Part of the problem in the Puyallup wa- WSU’s Program for Digital Initiatives, says tershed is reed canary grass, “a fast growing,

that “what we’re doing is looking at ways difficult to eradicate invasive species,” Jobe WSU WSU’s resources can be an anchor for commu- says. “You can plant riparian buffers that shade nities.” Fiber into Extension offices, libraries, NEWS out reed canary grass, or you can spray it with and health care centers with capacity beyond limited success, but if it’s growing in a ditch

10 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 11 watch and read more of Carla’s story: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/Carla-Peperzak SHORTsubject

she says, “I flirted with them. I’m not a flirt normally, but I flirted with them. I was the right age. And it got me out of some sticky situations.” Peperzak’s uncle had already been captured when she learned her aunt and five of her cousins would be passing through Amsterdam’s mostly-Jewish rowing club, rounding up about a half-dozen male Centraal Station on their way to Westerbork. Fewer than 5 percent athletes. of the people who were held at the Nazi dentention center — about Peperzak never saw them again. 5,200 of some 107,000 detainees, the majority of whom were Dutch As the occupation wore on, Nazis upped their restrictions, re- Jews — survived. Most were gassed upon arrival at concentration quiring Jews to register. There were 159,806 in all, including 19,561 camps throughout Europe. born of mixed marriages, like Peperzak. Her father was Jewish. Her Peperzak found their train car and asked her aunt if she could take mother was a Catholic orphan raised by a Jewish family. the youngest. She carried him off the train and was holding him when “You couldn’t go on the bus,” Peperzak says. “You couldn’t go German soldiers stopped her. She was wearing her German nurse’s on the train. You couldn’t go on the street car. You couldn’t go in the uniform and carrying her stolen medical identity card. In German, park. All Jewish bank accounts were confiscated. All Jewish safety she explained the child was ill and needed to get to the hospital. deposit boxes were confiscated.” They let her leave. But she never saw her aunt, uncle, and other Nazis required Jews to wear the yellow six-pointed Star of David four cousins again. ABOVE: CARLA OLMAN PEPERZAK WORKS AS A MEDICAL OFFICER A FEW MONTHS AFTER THE WAR. (COURTESY CARLA PEPERZAK) OPPOSITE: PEPERZAK, RAYMOND SUN and pitted neighbors against neighbors, encouraging the Dutch to “She’s 18 to 21 years old when she’s doing this,” Sun says. “She’s Keys of my life (COURTESY CARLA PEPERZAK AND WSU DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, RESPECTIVELY) identify Jews who were hiding or hadn’t registered. “You were paid,” this young woman, taking her life into her hands and making deci- Peperzak says, “for bringing in a Jewish person.” sions that I’ve never had to make — that most of us have never had to Her father managed to procure paperwork identifying his wife make in our entire lives. She’s doing this out in the open. These were BY ADRIANA JANOVICH He began interviewing Peperzak, a member of the speaker’s and two daughters as non-Jewish. “I know it cost him a lot of money,” gendered experiences. What she could do as a woman — because she bureau for Seattle’s Holocaust Center for Humanity, in 2016. He says Peperzak, who didn’t tell her parents or sister about her Resistance was a woman — was very different from a man.” For more than 50 years, she wouldn’t talk has since incorporated her experiences into his research, presented work. “I got a new ID. I didn’t have to wear the star, and that gave about what happened during the war. scholarly papers on her Resistance work at conferences, and appeared me so much more freedom. I was grateful. I wanted to help people.” “A LOT OF HOPE” As a teenage operative in the Dutch Resistance, Carla Olman with her on stage for Q&A sessions. Peperzak lived in south Amsterdam’s Rivierenbuurt neighborhood, Peperzak helped publish an Underground newsletter on Allied Forces’ Peperzak helped hide approximately 40 Jews. “I’ve looked a lot at the perpetrators, the bad guys,” he says. about a block from the Frank family apartment on Merwedeplein. activities. She listened to BBC News on a banned radio, duplicated “I tried to forget, but I could not and should not,” says Peperzak, “Her story really got me into looking at the people who rescued or The grassy square, which Anne Frank called “The Merry,” is now her notes on a banned mimeograph machine, then distributed copies. now 96 and the 2020 Washington State Person of the Year. “These helped Jews.” anchored by a statue of the young diarist, her face turned toward the “That was probably the most dangerous thing I did,” she says. “If you experiences showed me how fragile life is, but also the opposite — how Holland had one of Western Europe’s highest Jewish death rates home she left to go into hiding. Peperzak visited “once or twice.” She passed them to the wrong person that would be the end.” people can live through them.” in World War II, which ended 75 years ago in the European Theater. was in the same Hebrew class as Anne’s older sister, and their families She usually didn’t know the names of the people she was meet- By the time she met Raymond “Ray” Sun, an associate professor The Allies accepted Germany’s surrender May 8, 1945. Roughly a attended the same Reform temple. In 1939, Peperzak and the Frank ing. Peperzak explains: “I had a piece of paper that was cut a certain of history at Washington State University in Pullman, she had already quarter, or about 35,000 Jews, survived. In all, some 6 million Jews — sisters performed in the same Purim play. way, and the other person had a paper that was cut a certain way, and dedicated the rest of her life to telling her story. Sun first read about including about 75 percent of Peperzak’s family, about 18 people in Peperzak’s father owned a clothing and fur factory one canal they would fit, and that is how you would know.” Peperzak’s Underground work five years ago in The Spokesman-Review all — were exterminated. from Prinsengracht, where Otto Frank had the warehouse with the She kept the thumbprint-making machine she used for falsifying and arranged for her to speak to his World War II history class. Now “I never spoke about it,” Peperzak says. “It was too difficult. You Secret Annex. Of the eight who hid there for more than two years, documents in a small attaché case. It was sitting in plain view when two he’s working on weaving her wartime narrative into a manuscript that try to forget. You try to go on with life.” he was the only one to survive. Peperzak didn’t learn of their fate Nazis came to her home to interrogate her. “I passed the test,” she says. explores the history of Dutch Jews as well as gender roles — particularly She broke her silence after her granddaughter asked her to until after the war. But, as they were leaving, one offered to carry the case. Peperzak, women’s — during World War II. speak at her school. Since then, she’s shared her story from Seattle who was also heading out — to do Resistance work, no less — couldn’t In the meantime, he has a chapter about Peperzak — tentatively and Tacoma to Pullman, and points in between. She’s also finished a ADVANTAGE IN YOUTH say no. That would’ve been suspicious. “If it had fallen open,” she titled “Hiding in Plain Sight: Gender, Faith, and the Conflicted memoir, Keys of My Life, available on Amazon. She enrolled in a private medical technology college and started her says, “I would not be sitting here.” Legacies of a Dutch Rescuer” — due this spring for a forthcoming Washington legislature’s Resolution 8623 honors her “as a self- practicum in a local hospital, where she stole a German medical Every time she was stopped, she “was absolutely scared to death. compilation organized by the Finkler Institute of Holocaust less and brave hero, who saved the lives of many and is now using identity card and bought a German nurse’s uniform from a colleague. There was this pressure always on you. I was always scared. For five years, Research at Bar Ilan University together with the B’nai B’rith World her experiences to speak to new generations and educate us all about Both — along with her bicycle — became important to her Resistance I was scared. But I was young enough I also had hope. I had a lot of hope.” Organization. our history and the human capacity to care for others while facing work. Often posing as a German nurse and pedaling as far as The When liberation came, “it was a tremendous relief. That’s what I re- “Her generation is disappearing very, very rapidly,” Sun says. unimaginably difficult challenges.” Hague — about 40 miles away — she helped hide Jews in attics, base- member — the relief. Not being afraid anymore. Being able to do things.” “We’re really running out of these witnesses. There’s some sense of But, she says, “I don’t consider myself a hero. I could help, so I ments, and barns in rural Holland. She married a Dutch Catholic, moved to America, became a U.S. urgency to capture their stories as a powerful means to teach.” helped. I did what I could do.” She also checked on her charges — many of whom were friends citizen, and lived around the world — from Liberia and Thailand to Stories like Peperzak’s, he says, “make it so much easier to un- or extended family members — bringing food, medical supplies, stolen Hawaii, Washington, D.C., and now Spokane. But she hasn’t been derstand the big picture.” DESIRE TO HELP ration cards, and identity cards that she forged. “I made about 100 able to forget or forgive. “How can you forgive somebody who killed Sun specializes in Holocaust and genocide studies and modern When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, Peperzak was 16 false ID cards,” she says. “I was pretty good at it.” a family member?” she says. “To me, it’s impossible.” German and military history. He also studies how war affects societ- and preparing to graduate from high school. She ice-skated She was also good at hiding in plain sight. She was young, attrac- Instead, she speaks of the importance of respect along with ies and how societies remember war. He’s particularly interested in on frozen canals in winter and rowed on the Amstel River in tive, and fluent in German, which she had learned in school as well as her own personal revenge: her four children, 11 grandchildren and examining resistance and resilience. summer. Soon after the occupation started, Nazis raided her from her Austrian nanny. When she was stopped by German soldiers, 18 great-grandchildren — with one more on the way, due in May. ¬

12 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 13 OURstory

COURTESY WSU TRI-CITIES PHOTO LAURA DUTELLE/WSU VANCOUVER COURTESY WSU HEALTH SCIENCES SPOKANE

TRI-CITIES to help even their ripening. Then, nerves, generating electrical signals music studio in their home, carries Coffin and her colleagues and ones that we know don’t cause of cells, counting and sorting them assistant director of community BY For 27 years, Allan Felsot has concerns were raised that residues that our brains parse as sound. earplugs with her at all times. Ag- recently won a commercializa- loss, to classify developmental chem- as it goes. Building on that plat- engagement. “When this position intrigued Washington State from Alar could be carcinogenic.” Allison Coffin, a neuroscien- ing, too, often comes with reduced tion grant that funds their efforts ical structures one way or another.” form, Coffin’s goal is to develop a was created, there was a big focus ADRIANA JANOVICH University Tri-Cities audi- The scare grew into what is tist at Washington State University acuity due to cell damage. to design a system that should Coffin’s team is also collabo- fast, automated technology that on addressing needs in the local ences with tales of pesticide generally considered an overblown Vancouver, is especially interested Certain types of drugs—such be able to detect whether a drug rating with Athira Pharma, a WSU will help tune the drug develop- neighborhood first, and we’ve toxicity. Today, however, he is nightmare that eventually put many in those sensory “hair” cells be- as aminoglycoside antibiotics in development may potentially spinoff led by Leen Kawas (’11 PhD ment process and make it safer for developed our engagement activi- preparing to give a guest lecture not Washington apple growers out of cause if they become damaged, and platinum-based chemother- cause hearing loss. Pharm.). “Athira has an Alzheimer’s ears. And to that, hear, hear! ¬ ties based on that mission.” Taking on killing pests but on eating them. business. As a result, the legislature hearing loss is the consequence. apy drugs—can damage sensory Coffin explains that drug drug in clinical trials that we want a place-based approach helps “Amazon is supposed to be mandated the creation of the lab. Her lab focuses on hearing, hear- cells. development often starts with to test for hearing loss prevention. SPOKANE empower community partners, delivering some whole dried in- In a move meant to tem- Taylor Collins spends two hours says Puente, who also emphasizes REBECCA PHILLIPS sects today,” says the entomology per public fears, part of Felsot’s on Wednesdays at a Spokane nurs- student-driven projects. professor and WSU Extension spe- new job entailed the translation ing home, visiting a resident who Her office oversees the BY cialist. “I haven’t eaten live insects and communication of scientific doesn’t have much contact with Community Engagement

myself, but I’ve had cricket flour research for his Extension pro- From top : Allan Felsot, Allison Coffin WSU. Photos courtesy News . Taylor Collins. WSU Courtesy Health Sciences Spokane family. “It’s been really wonderful Fellowship Program, funded by in chips. I think the chefs making grams. In clear and understand- to be somebody she can talk to BECU and started in 2018. “Not them need to learn something able terms, he explains the toxic and share her life story with,” says only am I involving myself in the from Doritos, however, as they risks associated with pesticide use. Collins, who’s studying to become community but I’m learning how don’t taste very good.” Though he no longer works a speech therapist. “We’re taught to be a servant leader,” says Erika Bringing bugs to an anthro- in the laboratory, Felsot continues the importance of listening and Bautista, a doctoral pharmacy stu- pology class is typical of Felsot’s in- to carry a heavy teaching load on proper ways to facilitate commu- dent. She’s working to develop satiable curiosity and drive to share both the Pullman and Tri-Cities We celebrate nication, and I get to apply a lot of educational opportunities on information with the wider world. campuses. He also covers the Ex- 30 years what I’m learning when I see her. women’s health, particularly within Whether student or community tension pesticide safety program, I’m also able to get first-hand expe- Spokane’s Latinx community. She’s member, if you have a question, where one of his most popular talks of WSU in rience of what it could look like to also working with Project Beauty he’ll do his best to find an answer. concerns lawsuits surrounding use Spokane, Tri- work with the elderly population.” Share, providing personal hygiene It’s a mindset that character- of the herbicide Roundup. Cities, and Her visits are part of the and beauty products to nonprofits izes the entire Tri-Cities campus. Last November, Felsot’s exu- service-learning component of serving women. “I feel like I get out “The faculty are very accommodat- berant teaching style culminated Vancouver her senior capstone project in of it what I put into it,” she says. ing to students,” Felsot says. “It’s a in the Distinguished Achievement with stories the Department of Speech and Cougs in the Community friendly campus with teachers who Award in Teaching from the En- from each Hearing Sciences at the Elson S. brings together students from are super committed with serving tomological Society of America. Floyd College of Medicine. Service across campus through activities the needs of their students. It’s “That was a real honor for campus has been part of WSU’s presence in such as Hunger and Homelessness their priority.” me because I’m one of the few Spokane since the establishment of Awareness Week. Students also Felsot came to WSU in 1993 tenured professors who, at this the nursing program 50 years ago. participate in Spokane’s MLK Day to study agrichemical residues in point in my career, has mostly a WSU Health Sciences Spokane— Unity Rally and March, pack food the environment, and during his teaching appointment,” he says. “I housing the College of Nursing, at Second Harvest, cook meals tenure, has watched the campus love teaching—I like investigating the medical college, and College at Ronald McDonald House, evolve from a small upper-division- the raw data and pulling it into a of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical and provide free immunization only school to a full four-year col- story for people.” ¬ Sciences—established a new Office clinics and health screenings at lege that is now experiencing rapid of Community Engagement schools, health fairs, and homeless growth as a research institution. VANCOUVER & Service Learning in 2016 to shelters—among other projects. His first assignment at the For sound to get from the air around provide increased opportunities Jagandeep Sandhu, a doctoral newly created Food and Environ- us to our brains, it passes through a loss prevention, and even on sen- “This side effect was only dis- a chemical structure which is We already know that a former ver- for students to get involved in pharmacy student, volunteers at mental Quality Lab involved inves- kind of Rube Goldberg device, fun- sory cell regeneration—something covered when patients reported tweaked until it delivers the de- sion of that drug prevents hearing the community—and benefit monthly tabling events at Spokane tigating a local case of herbicide neling through a canal, stopping no mammal is known to be able not hearing as well,” Coffin says. sired result. The tweaking process loss in animal models,” Coffin says. from hands-on experience in their Public Library, sharing information contamination. to play a drum solo, then moving to do, unlike many birds and fish. “Hearing loss is never tested dur- might result in thousands of varia- Her lab is working with Re- prospective fields. about side effects of over-the-coun- “The lab was started as a through the cochlea where the Sensory cells can be dam- ing the drug development pro- tions on the original structure. wire Neuroscience, an artificial “Our number one service ter medications. “We represent the reaction to the Alar scare with vibrations tickle tiny cilia sticking aged in a variety of ways. Con- cess. There are over 100 drugs “Our goal is to develop ma- intelligence startup in Portland. area is health outreach, whether it’s community, and the community apples in the 1980s,” Felsot says. out of sensory cells. Once stimu- tinued exposure to loud noise, suspected of causing hearing loss. chine learning software that takes When CEO James Harkness was a educational or more clinical-based represents us,” he says. “It’s our “Producers were using the growth lated, the hairy bits pass ions down certainly. That’s why Coffin, who And there’s new drugs in develop- what we know about the chemical post-doc at WSUV, he developed such as immunizations or access duty to work within our commu- regulator on red delicious apples canals that, finally, bind to auditory is married to a drummer with a ment all the time.” structures that do cause hearing loss, software that can analyze images to care,” says Veronica Puente, nity to make it better.” ¬

BY BRIAN CHARLES CLARK

14 fun facts and stories from the three campuses: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/30 15 DOGworld BY REBECCA PHILLIPS Hearts Sni!ng out the “Human Relations Area Files,” a Yale ous utilitarian role, if it’s a very visible part Iridescent Boersma says it was the study of elaborate spears at each other. Per tradition, any University-based ethnographic database. of the people’s economy, an anthropologist little male color traits that led to Darwin’s theory warrior hit by the spear had to submit to being patterns Searchable by keywords, Chambers is sniffing is more likely to mention it, as in Siberia, for fairywrens of sexual selection. The theory, however, does dragged off for dinner. It was considered for patterns across 186 cultures. sledding, hunting, and food.” drew not translate well to females. dishonorable to run away, he says. BY BRIAN CHARLES CLARK So far, she’s uncovered “over 8,000 para- Although her analysis is just beginning, doctoral “As scientists, we’ve been so male ori- Boersma also undertook a challenging graphs of dog-related content, including patterns are emerging. Hunting, not surpris- student ented over the years — so chauvinistic,” says field expedition to Fergusson Island. Dogs and humans have myths, examples of dogs being interacted ingly, pops up a lot in the data. Jordan Schwabl with a smile. The expert in physiology “It’s a few hours travel by small boat and been inseparable for many with, dogs in ceremonies.” “I think scavenging is also very common. Boersma to devotes much of his research to the study the sea is really rough in August,” he says. millennia. Dogs eat, sleep, Chambers has been curious about Either descriptions of dogs milling about and the grasslands of Papua of female avian reproduction and behavior. “Then, local criminals discovered a cache of in darkness play, and work with us in the variety of human-dog relationships for getting their own food, rather than being New Guinea, but it was the He and Boersma decided to investigate American World War II weapons and began relationships so intimate years. For Americans, she says, “dogs are provisioned by humans, or humans having unexpected generosity of whether or not female fairywren variation was patrolling the ocean area we planned to cross. that we call them people, companions, child surrogates.” But as a Peace to take measures against their dogs taking the people that captured tied to testosterone levels, a hormone present They would steal dinghies and tell the owners family members, and, as Corps volunteer in Malawi, she saw something the humans’ food.” the researcher’s heart. in both sexes. This was not an easy task to to jump and swim for shore. novelist Spencer Quinn different. There, dogs “are shown affection, Another is personhood, “this idea that “I’ve traveled all over Asia and never carry out in a largely undeveloped country. “Luckily, my friend’s extended family puts it, members of “a but there’s more distance, and there’s a greater you don’t have to be a human to be a person.” experienced this level of hospitality. If you “I was a bit guarded my first time in New was respected by the top pirates, so they nation within a nation.” level of risk, because of rabies.” Among the Konso of Ethiopia, for accept their culture, they’ll really take you in Guinea — the economy is poor, there are few helped escort us across the rough seas — we Or so it would seem to your typical From the Area Files, she’s discovered that example, it is taboo to buy or sell dogs because and look after you,” he says. jobs, and you can’t buy much there,” Boersma almost flipped from massive waves but we American dog owner. “play is uncommon, maybe a couple dozen of their personhood, while a Toraja myth Hubert Schwabl, professor in the says. “It takes a lot of preparation. You need made it.” COURTESY In fact, says Washington State University appearances.” But “is it actually uncommon or from Sulawesi states that dogs are equal Washington State University School of to anticipate your needs for 3–5 months, Once safely back at WSU, Boersma anthropology graduate student Jaime is play just rarely noted by the ethnographer?” to humans because they descended from a Biological Sciences, says Boersma is one of especially your research equipment. determined that indeed, elevated testosterone

Chambers, “the ways we interact with dogs That’s the big caveat about studying human ancestor. JAIME the rare students who is able to do field work “But once I get into the rhythm of life levels are responsible for the female fairywren are extremely varied” once you start looking dogs through the lens of human cultures. While filling a gap in scholarship is under difficult tropical conditions. there, it’s great,” he says. “There’s not much developing white wing patches. In turn, those at the relationship across cultures. “Anthropology is the study of people, so in important, Chambers’s dogged exploration CHAMBERS “Jordan has worked in Australia and cell signal in our research areas, so we spend a females with flashy wing patches defend To look at the dog-human relationship the ethnographies, when dogs are mentioned, of this ancient relationship is a real treat for Borneo and is now part of WSU’s collaborative lot of time having conversations with the local their territory more aggressively than do in a global context, Chambers is delving into it’s almost as an aside. If a dog serves an obvi- the rest of us, too. ¬ ornithology project with Cornell and Tulane people and becoming part of the community.” unadorned females. It’s a piece of information Universities.” In order to study the birds, Boersma that cements his dissertation and adds to Boersma, who joined the project in 2015, had to make arrangements with the local Darwin’s theory. says white-shouldered fairywrens are good landowners. He also hired and trained people But Boersma’s not done yet. He hopes models for mate selection studies. The sparkly to assist with his research and gave community to someday return to his friends in Papua birds, found only in Papua New Guinea, are presentations on conservation. New Guinea. easy to observe as they hop around in the “One of our biggest challenges is just “Early on, I wanted to provide some grass looking for insects. getting to the field sites,” he says. “There are sustainable long-term opportunities for the “We’re studying this particular bird as only a couple roads and there’s no running local people to study biology, so they can the females within this single species show water or electricity.” benefit from their natural resources without variation in ornamentation,” he says. “A lot Along the way, Boersma learned about having to sell or lease their land to palm oil of female birds are colorful but it’s rare to the local culture, including witchcraft and or logging companies,” he says. “I really want see substantial variation in one species. The cannibalism. One day, he happened to jog to build a research station — to stay commit- males are the same across their range but the through a historical battlefield where 100 years ted for decades, until they can carry it on females vary.” ago, rival tribes lined up to throw poisoned themselves.” ¬ PHOTOS

COURTESY

JORDAN

BOERSMA

16 photos from Papua New Guinea: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/Boersma 17 tales from Rolovich’s recruits: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/Rolovich

SIDElines

THEY CALL NICK ROLOVICH WSU’s recent bowl game suc- not afraid of putting himself out of scoring. It’ll be an up-tempo A PLAYER’S COACH. cess—six appearances in the last there and laughing at himself.” attack, Rolovich says, marked by Sitting in his o"ce looking seven years—is mentioned to him. Rolovich has won fan loyalty tactics that are sure to divide old out on Martin Stadium, the head “Rose Bowl,” he counters. with his deft use of social media, school football diehards. coach of the Washington State Appearing isn’t enough, winning and during gatherings. A request “We’re going to be very ag- University football team considers is the ambition. on Twitter for the best Coug bar gressive on fourth down,” Rolovich the designation bestowed by his He’s been known to chal- in Seattle netted 20 odd recom- says. “Punters are fine, I just hate assistants. lenge opposing coaches who mendations, and two packed bars giving the ball up.” “I care about my players very are former quarterbacks with on back-to-back nights. He smiles The goal is 35 points a game, much,” he says. “I’m a people’s what Rolovich calls The Rusty while recalling a Marco Polo chick- with hundreds of yards both in New coach coach. I like to see people have Arm Challenge. He fell to Colo- en thigh left uneaten the second the air and on the ground. It’s an success in life, and if I can, I try rado State Coach Mike Bobo a night because of the demands attack that, much like Leach’s Air to help.” few years back, and his challenge on his attention from WSU fans. Raid, seeks to take advantage of Willingness to help others went unanswered by University of Rolovich learned to be com- a defense by overwhelming them runs in the family. You’d be hard Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh. fortable with living authentically with potential downfield threats. pressed at a Rolovich family gather- Rolovich also takes all chal- from one of his best coaching Rolovich has installed a ing to find someone who wasn’t lengers in Portuguese horseshoes, friends, Mike Leach. The pair have countdown clock for the Apple a firefighter or law enforcement a lawn game similar to corn hole spent hours talking about football, Cup because even in his short time o"cer. where players score points by toss- their life philosophies, and the in Pullman, fans have impressed After being benched during ing washers into holes of di!ering topics that pique their curiosity. upon him the importance of that his senior season at the University sizes on a small sloped board, like A few years ago while at- game. of Hawaii, Rolovich made plans to his handcrafted set from Maui. tending a coach’s conference in “The passion among fans is take the San Francisco firefighter’s At first glance, Pullman and Charlotte, North Carolina, Rolovich incredible,” he says. “It’s not just, exam. He planned to drive down Hawaii seem to have little in com- decided to pay his friend in Key ‘Hey I like Cougar football,’ it’s a the day after the Rainbow Warriors mon. But Rolovich sees the rela- West a visit. Rolovich’s wife, Analea real, deep a!ection for the team, played the University of Nevada. tively isolated locations as similar. Donovan, advised her husband to and for winning.” ¬ Rolovich thought his days in foot- “What I learned living on an reach out to Leach beforehand. ball were over. island is that everyone is reliant on Rolovich didn’t, hoping to He didn’t make the exam. each other,” he says. “You may maintain as much of the surprise The events of September 11, 2001, not know the guy on the dock as possible. caused the game between Hawaii who is unloading your milk, but Upon arriving in Key West, and Nevada to be delayed. he is doing that so I can buy milk he texted Leach. No answer. So Next thing he knew, the for my family.” Rolovich took in the sites. He starter was injured and he was Reliance breeds strong com- visited some of Leach’s favorite once again leading the Rainbow munity ties, something Rolovich haunts, but no one had seen him Warriors o!ense. He finished his hopes his players can do, along recently. A call to Leach also went

senior season 8–1 as a starter. with class or football responsi- unanswered. Like the mythical DETAIL Rolovich saved his best for bilities. Sasquatch he’s often discussed,

the last game of the season: a Craig Stutzmann, WSU’s Leach couldn’t be tracked down. FROM 72–45 routing of the twelfth-ranked co-offensive coordinator and That evening, as Rolovich was

PHOTO New era BYU Cougars in which he threw a quarterbacks coach, remembers prepping to call it a night, Leach

record eight touchdown passes. Rolovich making sure leftover texted back. He was on his way to BY

It’s the kind of Senior Night team meals were donated during a movie with his wife, but could DOUG BY RJ WOLCOTT he wants for all of his players at his time as Hawaii’s head coach. meet up after. The pair spent eight

SAMUELS/FOOTBALLSCOOP WSU. Stutzmann caught passes from hours on a historical trip through As the former college quar- Rolovich for two seasons. Key West, visiting shipwrecks and terback talks, flashes of his com- “Everyone asks for a word other favorite sites. petitive spirit strike like lightning. that describes Nick, and what I Casual fans of WSU football “I probably hate losing more say is eccentric,” Stutzmann says. will notice similarities between than I like winning,” Rolovich “He is di!erent in a good way. He’s Rolovich’s and Leach’s teams. admits. humble, he likes to have fun, he’s Expect lots of passing, and lots

18 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 19 INseason Betsy Burlingame’s go-to pepper recipes: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/peppers

of melty cheese. Dried poblanos, known as cultivated and traded as early as some 6,000 Nesbitt, a retired University of California stays between 65 to 70 degrees. “They don’t ancho peppers, pair with chocolate to make years ago in areas of the Americas — predating San Diego biology professor who lives in like to grow when their feet are cold,” says a rich molé sauce. the invention of pottery in some places. Port Angeles and has been a WSU Extension Burlingame, who grows most of her pepper Piquant varieties — such as jalapeños and Peppers are native to Central and South Clallam County Master Gardener just over Peppers plants in her greenhouse. cayennes — pair especially well with creamy, America, and their use can be traced from an- a decade. “The capsaicin interacts with a “Our summers are short,” she explains. soft, mild cheese, says John Haugen (’93 Civ. cient Mexico and Peru to the Bahamas — where neuroreceptor that is also used to detect harm- BY ADRIANA JANOVICH And she really enjoys jalapeño poppers. She Eng.), manager of WSU Creamery. Its Hot Columbus landed and tried what the natives ful levels of heat. It sends a message to the also likes to infuse tequila with jalapeños. Pepper flavor was already popular 30 years called aji. He was taken aback by the spicy brain that says we’re being burned. It’s a Jalapeños were the gateway. “The longer you leave them in there, the ago when he started working there as a stu- bite and introduced aji as an alternative to false perception. After that came habaneros, serranos, cay- hotter it will be,” she notes. “It doesn’t take dent. The cheese features diced jalapeños black pepper when he returned to Spain in “Most mammals aren’t willing to eat ennes, poblanos, red Anaheims, and Hungarian very long — just a couple of hours — and it in Viking cheese, which Haugen describes 1493. After that, explorers and traders — first peppers,” Nesbitt says. “Humans seem to purples. Betsy Burlingame loves them all for makes great margaritas. It just adds a nice as “similar to Monterey jack.” But, he says, Spanish and Portuguese, then Dutch and be the exception. We somehow find the pain “their intense flavor,” which ranges from her- zing to your drink.” “People were still asking for something hotter.” British — helped spread peppers around the pleasurable — or, some of us do. I’m a bit of a baceous and vegetal to sweet and spicy. Of course, some like it hot. And others And their requests led to Crimson Fire! (Yes, globe from Europe to India, West Africa, East wimp when it comes to Scoville Heat Units.” Peppers, she says, “just add spice to like it even hotter. the exclamation point is part of the name.) Asia, and beyond. The slave trade expanded If, like Nesbitt, you can’t take the heat, your life.” The Scoville scale — named for Wilbur L. “I was here when we started develop- the use of pepper in North America, where the don’t reach for water or beer. “The secret is Burlingame (’72 Psych., ’94 Bus.), a WSU Scoville’s 1912 test — measures the concentra- ing it,” Haugen says, recalling, “There was a woody-stemmed plants grew easily in warmer oil,” she says. “Capsaicin is an oily substance. Extension Clallam County Master Gardener tion of capsaicin, the chemical compound that contest for naming it.” Since then, the award- for nearly a decade, spices up her life with produces piquancy sensations in people. The winning cheese has become one of the cream- peppers she grows herself. She puts them in more capsaicin, the hotter the pepper. The ery’s top sellers — along with classic Cougar eggs and on sandwiches — and has pickled her Carolina Reaper, for example, averages just Gold. Crimson Fire! features both jalapeño and own peppers “for years now.” She also makes over 1.5 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU). By cayenne peppers and remains the creamery’s her own blackberry-habanero marmalade — a comparison, habaneros — considered fiery by only reduced-fat cheese, offering a third less PHOTO particular favorite — as well as salsa and hot most palates — range from 100,000 to 350,000, fat than regular Viking cheese.

ROBERT sauce, saving the leftover pulp and freezing while jalapeños generally rank from 2,500 to If it’s still not hot enough, there’s an

it in small scoops — “I call them hot flavor 8,000. Red cayenne peppers typically register aged Ghost Pepper cheese made with either HUBNER bombs” — to add to soups, stews, and chili. around 30,000 SHUs, while poblanos fall in Cougar Gold or Smoky Cheddar — depending And she uses her homemade dried chile the 1,000 to 2,000 range. on availability — and only for sale on a limited powder for flavoring poblano cream sauce, Bell peppers, which don’t produce capsa- basis in person at Ferdinand’s Ice Cream tamales, tacos, and enchiladas. icin, are perhaps most approachable — landing Shoppe at WSU Pullman. WSU Creamery also Her advice: “Pick your favorite and grow at the bottom of the scale with a score of zero. makes a seasonal Red Pepper Garlic cheese that. You’ve got to start somewhere. Why These sweet peppers are among the most featuring cayenne pepper in Viking cheese. not start with your favorite, what you buy well-known and commonly used members Most heat seekers — including fans of most at the store? I started with jalapeños, of the nightshade genus Capsicum. WSU Creamery’s spicy cheeses — largely have areas. Thomas Jefferson cultivated cayenne, It’s not water-soluble, but will dissolve in oils then I branched out. Now, I grow six or eight Peppers come in a rainbow of col- fifteenth- and sixteenth-century traders and bell, bullnose, and Texas bird peppers in his and fats. If you have cream cheese or bacon varieties every year.” ors — from green and yellow to orange, red, explorers to thank. They introduced peppers famed garden at Monticello in Virginia. grease that will help dilute it a bit.” (Think Peak pepper season in the Pacific and even harder-to-find purple and chocolate- to the Old World and helped spread them Low in calories and rich in vitamin C, jalapeño poppers.) A glass of milk or spoon Northwest runs July through October. But brown. Raw bell peppers of any color are around the globe. By Christopher Columbus’s peppers are also good sources of vitamins A of yogurt or ice cream will also help. Sequim, where Burlingame has lived for nearly crisp, refreshing, and a bit grassy in flavor. 1492 journey, black pepper was literally worth and B-6 as well as potassium. They’re widely Look for peppers that are bright, shiny, two dozen years, is “so far north that we don’t Red, the most ripened, is sweetest. Chop its weight in gold. The rise of the Ottoman available and relatively cheap — one of the firm, and free from cuts and soft spots. They really start getting going until September. The them up for a pop of color and crunch in Empire and fall of Constantinople to the things that made them become so popular shouldn’t have moldy stems or wrinkled skin, temperature does not stay above 50 degrees salads, salsas, and guacamole. Because of Turks had disrupted trade routes and sent so fast hundreds of years ago. either. For less heat, Burlingame and Nesbitt at night here until July or August, and that’s their boxy shape, they’re perfect for stuffing its price skyrocketing. King Ferdinand and In general, the smaller the pepper, the recommend removing the seeds and white one of the key factors. If you can control the and roasting. They’re also great for grilling. Queen Isabella asked Columbus to bring hotter it will be. But climate also affects a pith where most of the capsaicin is stored. temperature and keep things warm at night (Think kebabs.) back both black pepper and gold — along pepper’s pungency. Long hot days prompt Nesbitt enjoys jalapeños and grows some you can have better success.” Elongated poblanos — spicier than bells, with a westward route to the East Indies. peppers to produce more capsaicin, which red and purple peppers, but that’s where she Peppers grow best where it’s warm. but still mild — are also great for stuffing. Con- Instead, he bumped into Caribbean islands triggers the body’s pain response system. draws the line. “If you ever try a Carolina They like six to eight hours of sunlight per sider beans and rice, shredded meat, sweet where chile peppers were a long-established “If you take a bite of a habanero pepper Reaper,” she says, “call me up and tell me day and prefer well-drained, fertile soil that corn, diced tomatoes and onions, and plenty dietary staple. Evidence shows they were you feel like your mouth is on fire,” says Muriel how it was.” ¬

20 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 PHOTO RICARDO GOMEZ ANGEL/UNSPLASH 21 BY REBECCA PHILLIPS feature

The lament housing, with subsequent dif- faculty researchers, students, and Ivory’s first competition was ficulty affording food, clothing, community partners, Smith is held at the University of Utah in is laced with transportation, child care, and reshaping our vision of hous- 2018 and focused on solutions for medical care. Severely burdened ing with solutions ranging from the Salt Lake City area. Smith, confusion households dish out more than exciting modular construction previously a professor at Utah, 50 percent of income on rent. concepts to high-efficiency was asked to take part. The event and angst. Seattle has some of the Habitat for Humanity homes. was so successful, Ivory decided highest rates of cost burden in the The story begins last to expand to other universities “I’ve got a nation according to The Harvard November at an all-night in 2019, including WSU last Joint Center for Housing Studies’ hack-a-thon. November. decent job. 2018 State of the Nation’s For Pullman’s hack-a-thon, Housing Report. More than a Smith invited graduate and un- Why can’t third of Seattle families with It was five dergraduate students from both incomes under $75,000 struggle o’clock and WSU and the University of Idaho I a"ord to pay the rent. It’s a number already dark. to submit ideas for innovative surprisingly similar to sparsely A few stubborn housing solutions in the Palouse to buy a populated Whitman County, leaves rattled in area. where the Palouse Regional the wind outside “We put them into teams house? Housing Assessment estimates the entrance to of 4–5 students,” Smith recalls. 37 percent of area residents are Carpenter Hall “Each team was assigned their Or even cost-burdened. on the WSU own private room to brainstorm Though cost burden can Pullman campus. and create a slide presentation. rent a nice lead to homelessness, today’s Inside the classy We provided food, coffee, and housing crisis is also about low- old architecture snacks, and also had speakers, apartment?” and middle-income citizens building, the lights including Jennifer Wallace from It’s not an isolated com- holding down two or three jobs were bright, and Palouse Habitat for Humanity, To dream plaint. From the Seattle-Tacoma and still not being able to make corridors filled who helped frame the problem. the impossible dream area to Spokane, the Palouse, and ends meet. It’s about teachers, with the excited “The next day, the students other cities across Washington firefighters, and full-time staff voices of nearly made three-minute business state, the clamor for affordable at Washington State University 100 students who pitches which were judged by a housing has risen to the break- priced out of finding a safe, com- gave up their panel of local jurists,” he says. Ten ing point. fortable, and secure house — or Friday night to thousand dollars was awarded in According to a recent report even apartment — of their own. partake in WSU’s prizes including $5,000 to the by Up for Growth, a Washington, The housing crisis is funda- first Hack-A-House overall winner — a team of WSU D.C., nonprofit research firm, the mentally a crisis of affordability, competition. graduate architecture students Evergreen state logged a shortfall which, after many years in the Smith organized the who proposed building modular of 225,600 homes between 2000 making, has grown to the point event with the help of housing on Palouse farmland that and 2015 — eighth worst in the that it threatens middle class Matthew Melcher, associate is too steep to cultivate. nation for housing underpro- stability. The solutions, unfor- professor of architecture. It was Coleman Coddington, and In an unstable economy, Washington duction. tunately, are extremely complex sponsored by Ivory Innovations, teammates Ezekiel Nelson, Gabe Indeed, housing for low- and difficult to implement. The a housing affordability incuba- Hernandez, and Jake Monroe residents struggle to find a!ordable housing and middle-income families is best estimates are it will likely tor at the University of Utah. designed a “housing unit that in short supply in many areas take decades to produce enough The center was started by Ivory could be prefabricated and rep-

ILLUSTRATION of the United States. Add that homes to meet projected needs. Homes, Utah’s largest develop- licated to cut down on cost. The to rising construction costs, stag- Ryan Smith, however, ment firm. units could potentially be stacked nant wages, and a complex set of doesn’t want to wait that long. “Hack-a-thons are tradition- and would fit right next to each other factors, and America is now As director of the WSU School of ally idea competitions or ‘sprints’ other,” Coddington explains.

CATHERINE facing its highest population of Design and Construction in the where people get together to hack “We inserted these units on cost-burdened and homeless citi- Voiland College of Engineering a problem,” says Smith. “In this steep farmland and extended the zens since the Great Depression. and Architecture, he is boldly case, Ivory Innovations had the adjacent farmland over the top,

MACBRIDE Cost-burdened means taking steps to tackle the af- idea to do a 24-hour competitive giving farmers more useful land having to spend more than 30 fordable housing problem. sprint centered on solutions to than they had before. The owners percent of family income on Working with a diverse team of affordable housing.” of the units would rent their roof

22 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 23 TO DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

THE MODULAR KIRKLAND AVENUE TOWNHOMES low-cost foldable homeless shelters designed by WSU architecture students: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/folding-homes IN RENTON WERE COMPLETED 90 PERCENT OFFSITE. (COURTESY GRACE KIM/SCHEMATA WORKSHOP, INC.) space back to the farmer allow- The MODX program in- the same labor force to build unit In the big- this California model every- any given night in King County. population who are on a fixed ing them to lower their cost of cluded a visit to Katerra’s cross- after unit, the crew grows increas- picture view, where — to provide housing where That number is at least 1,000 for income, who may have health rent. The farmer would also gain laminated mass timber factory in ingly skilled and efficient. the housing crisis people can’t afford single-family Spokane County. or mobility issues, is going to subsidies from the government Spokane Valley. There were also As for cost savings, Smith can be traced to homes. “We’ve got our work cut out be a significant factor of what based upon the number of these talks by Seattle architects and says they are still trying to calcu- the 2008 Great “The reason modular is tak- for us,” Kooistra says. “People are we have to deal with as a com- units they built on their land.” industry leaders. Smith says their late exact numbers, but a recent Recession when, ing off right now is because of getting physically displaced in munity,” says Martha Aitken, Smith says all of the teams goal is to introduce local builders study was revealing. His team after years of this low-rise, multi-family real our metro area here. There is also Metropolitan Center assistant came up with innovative ideas. to offsite modular construction, analyzed 17 modular projects artificially inflated estate market,” says Smith. cultural displacement — people director. “The students just raved about including ways to manage the and reported an 11 percent cost home prices, loose It’s a market that includes of color are disproportionately The study team, which in- the competition and I really hope industry’s inherent challenges. savings on average. The greater lending practices, many millennials who, thanks impacted. cluded Season Hoard, assistant we can do something like it again “Modular construction is a finding, however, was that proj- “That number is quite stag- and subprime to the recession, can’t afford “The harsh reality is professor at the WSU Division next year. really good solution for afford- ects were completed 42 percent gering and if you project it out, mortgages, the down payments on homes. solutions are not that easy to of Governmental Studies and “The winning team was so able housing because it is fast faster. it gets worse,” he says. “We will housing bubble And, baby boomers who are come by. We’re going to have to Services, and Cory Bolkan, excited, in fact, they wanted to and cost-controlled,” he says. “That’s a big thing for con- need to build at least 45,000 collapsed in downsizing — selling their energy- hunker down over the next decade associate professor in human keep going,” he says. “So, we’re “Also, if you can buy in bulk, struction,” says Smith. “Finishing homes that are affordable to stunning fashion, inefficient homes and moving and work together if we’re going development at WSU Vancouver, working with some of the same you can potentially get the cost sooner means you get rent money low-income households every causing millions of into a multi-family housing to have any meaningful impact.” targeted solutions for aging in students on a home design for to come down.” sooner. So, even if the project five years until 2040 to catch up. Americans to lose complex that offers attractive place and equity, especially for Palouse Habitat for Humanity Smith says offsite construc- goes over budget, they’ll get a “In the greater Puget Sound jobs and default on amenities. the older LGBTQ+ population. that will be built this summer. tion is defined as any project that schedule savings.” region, the population is project- home loans. Kooistra says after the A recent study Their strategies ranged from We plan to monitor the proj- uses elements built in a factory Though the national mar- ed to grow by another 1.8 million “Going into the recession, recession, housing prices rose looked specifically updating land use policies to ect for energy efficiency and and then brought in and installed ket for modular homes is still in people by 2050. So, however you we had a surplus of single-family dramatically in Seattle. at the e!ects on allow cottage clusters and acces- affordability.” on the job site. There are two the early stages, Smith says we’ll slice it, a lot of the housing here houses because it was all based “Without a construction older adults. WSU’s sory dwelling units to increasing types of offsite construction and likely be seeing more of them in is no longer affordable to lower on speculation,” says Smith. work force that could keep up Metropolitan funding for home delivery ser- the first is called panelization. the near future. income households.” “When the recession hit, build- with demands, pricing went even Center for Applied vices. They also recommended The building- “Instead of framing a home “I think modular is still seen Kooistra lays the blame on ers stopped producing product higher. We’ve really underpro- Research and building senior housing units block concepts with sticks — 2x4s or 2x6s — we’re as a risky proposition because it’s a laundry list of causes such as until about 2012. But we still had duced while we grew and it’s led Extension in near established services to pro- in the winning making panels and then bringing unknown, but I don’t see a way to high land costs, a regressive state population growth so there’s a to significant costs, whether rent- Everett joined vide for daily needs, socialization, Hack-A-House them to the job site,” he says. build the amount of housing we tax structure, lack of public fund- lot of pent-up demand. ing or buying, for consumers. forces with King and transportation. design are familiar “These can range from open need in this country in the time ing, and constantly increasing “Then, coming out of the “And, we know when rents County and the Similar challenges are play- to Smith, a modest panels to those enhanced with we need it without using more rent costs. recession, when developers increase significantly, say about City of Seattle ing out in eastern Washington. man who is sheetrock and insulation, prein- productive and faster methods “Incomes haven’t risen com- started building again — if you $100 per month, it has huge im- Aging and The 2019 Palouse Regional widely recognized stalled windows, or pre-wired.” to deliver it.” mensurately with rent hikes,” he look at the numbers from Freddie pacts on the numbers of people Disability Services Housing Assessment found as a leader in The second type is modular. Kooistra and the Housing says. “It’s a problem that extends Mac and Fannie Mae — it’s pretty who become homeless,” he says. to assess the area’s housing expenses in Pullman the emerging “Here, the factory builds three Development Consortium statewide, including rural areas. clear that we will likely not return “There’s solid data showing projected needs for are 44 percent higher than the field of o!site dimensional boxes that when recently organized an offsite For a lot of people, the economic to the single-family housing there’s a direct correlation.” senior housing. national average. construction and stacked like Legos on the job site construction task force, which revenue coming into the house- production levels that we had Indeed, a 2017 Zillow report The 2018 report, “Moving Smith says Pullman suffers modular housing. make up the entirety of the proj- is testing five modular pilot proj- hold just doesn’t meet the high prior to the recession. That shows that even a five percent Toward Age-Friendly Housing from artificially inflated housing Recently, he and ect,” Smith says. “Those boxes ects in the Seattle area. Smith is cost of living anymore. was an unhealthy speculative increase in rent would force an in King County,” found that the prices due to a concentration of Ivan Rupnik of usually contain one unit and also on the team and hopes to “On top of that, the con- market that the government has additional 3,000 people into number of older adult-led house- high-salary professionals working Northeastern can be completed up to 60 to 90 publish the outcomes as a how- struction industry is experiencing developed regulations around, homelessness in New York City, holds is on track to outpace the in a rural area. As a consequence, University formed percent in the factory.” to guide to help other builders a shortage of workers, which and we just won’t return to that. 2,000 more in Los Angeles, and supply of accessible and afford- a consulting Theoretically, offsite con- successfully incorporate modular drives up contractor and subcon- “So, many developers 260 in Seattle. able housing in King County.

company called struction delivers a higher level of techniques into affordable housing tractor costs. A couple years ago, moved into the multi-family Seattle already claims the Half of senior households who ILLUSTRATION MODX which holds quality control and consistency projects. we were at least 300 carpenters home market,” he says. “What we nation’s third highest homeless rent are already cost-burdened, events all over the than can be achieved by building The sooner the better for a day short in Seattle. see, especially in California, and population with about 12,000 as are 40 percent of those with world. a home at the job site. By using Kooistra, who says King County “So, we need strategies to in mid-size cities like Spokane, individuals seeking shelter on a mortgage.

Last February, MODX is suffering a shortfall of about develop the workforce or use Salt Lake City, and Denver, “The challenge of finding THANAPHIPHAT held a Northwest conference 156,000 affordable homes. methods like cross-laminated are low-rise, light wood-frame places to live for a diverse aging in collaboration with Seattle’s timber, modular, and other apartment buildings like Evolve Housing Development offsite construction,” Kooistra in downtown Pullman. You see

Consortium, a nonprofit says. “We can change building SUANPAN organization led by executive methods to decrease costs.” director Marty Kooistra.

24 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 25 TO DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

How widespread is the affordable housing crisis? NATIONAL HOMEOWNERSHIP RATE (%) magazine.wsu.edu/extra/affordable-housing

lower-income families are forced “Our typical mortgage is to heat. I’m not going to know to move to outlying areas, which, $500-600 per month and you what to do with myself.” in turn, displaces residents of get the entire house plus the ben- other small towns — similar to efit of home ownership, which what’s happening in Seattle. can hopefully break the cycle of The Habitat And, while the Palouse has poverty by passing some wealth project is a high number of multi-family down to future generations,” just the kind student apartment buildings, Wallace says. of community there is a significant shortage Standing quietly off to involvement of single-family homes. It’s es- the side, the new homeowner and a!ordable timated that roughly 270 will Rick Kruger says, “My daugh- housing that Smith need to be built every year for a ter actually applied for us and champions. decade to catch up. I never dreamed it would hap- Now, thanks to Jessica In the meantime, the 2019 pen, that’s for sure. I was very Perone, faculty consultant report proposes that Pullman and surprised.” for the WSU Center for Civic Moscow partner with outlying “Rick’s whole focus is to Engagement who negotiated communities to set up rural hous- have something better for his a meeting between Smith and ing transition zones. Other ideas wife Roberta, who has mul- Wallace, WSU and University of are allowing tiny home neighbor- tiple sclerosis and depends on Idaho students will get a chance hoods and utilizing land trusts a wheelchair for mobility,” says to take part. such as the Moscow Affordable Wallace. “Together, they’ve put Smith says the School of Housing Trust. in over 400 hours of sweat equity Design and Construction and Source: Harvard JCHS tabulations of US Census Bureau, Housing Vacancy Surveys Above: Searching “How to live in your car” on YouTube can return over with Rick helping build the WSU’s Rural Communities 10,000 results. Below, clockwise from top left: Ryan Smith, Director, WSU house while Roberta worked on Design Initiative have joined School of Design and Construction. Photo WSU News. Palouse Habitat for On a drizzly newsletters.” forces with Palouse Habitat for WASHINGTON STATE HOUSEHOLDS BURDENED BY HOUSING COSTS Humanity Director Jennifer Wallace and homeowner Rick Kruger. Staff photo. January Rick, 55, a U.S. Army vet- Humanity. Their first project will 20–30% OF INCOME TO HOUSING 30–40% OF INCOME TO HOUSING Housing Development Consortium director Marty Kooistra. Courtesy Marty afternoon, eran and Moscow city employee, be helping with Habitat’s 2021 • • Kooistra. Hack-A-House winners Gabriel Hernandez, Ezekiel Nelson, Jacob I pull up to explains that their rented house house to be built in Uniontown. Monroe, and Coleman Coddington. Courtesy Coleman Coddington a muddy in Troy, Idaho, has long narrow Winning Hack-A-House construction hallways and 1910 newspapers in team members Coddington site in the tiny the walls for insulation. “Roberta and Nelson will be on hand to town of Palouse, can’t get around with her wheel- offer design expertise and install Washington. As chair, so we set up a hospital bed energy-efficient building mate- I make my way in the living room and she lives rials. The partnership will also toward a new there with no personal privacy,” provide long-term opportunities house on the he says. for faculty research and energy corner, the door Their new home was spe- use monitoring. opens and a cifically built to be ADA acces- It’s one example of the woman in pink sible with 36-inch-wide doors small steps that, multiplied waves a cheery throughout. There is a front- throughout the state and hello. loading washing machine, and nation, are helping thousands Wallace, executive director the kitchen has been modi- of people close the gap between Households who pay more than 30% of their monthly income for housing (either owning or renting) of Palouse Habitat for Humanity, fied with lower cabinets and a wistfully dreaming of a home and are considered cost-burdened. Many financial planners suggest spending no more than 28% of has agreed to give me a tour stronger floor. finally holding the key to their gross monthly income on housing expenses. Source: Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies tabulations of of their current project. The “Roberta’s so excited to own front door. ¬ the US Census Bureau 2006–2017 American Community Survey 1,200-square-foot, soft-green be able to do her own laun- house has three bedrooms and dry again,” Wallace says. “It’s From 2000 to 2015 Washington state underproduced housing by approximately 225,600 units. The two baths including a roll-in the little things that give you current growth pattern [67% low density | 29% medium density | 4% high density] at the current growth shower for a wheelchair. It’s en- dignity — it’s nice to give that rate would not make up for this supply and demand imbalance. An accessible growth pattern [8% low ergy efficient and airtight — and back to her.” density | 54% medium density | 38% high density] likely would. Source Up for Growth, 2020 number nineteen for the agency, Rick says it truly is a fresh which has built homes in the start. “You have no idea — our old low density = single-family homes | medium density = accessory, duplex, triplex, quad homes, courtyard region since 1992. place was so cold and expensive apartments, podium apartments | high density = apartment towers

26 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 27 natural history resources and full acknowledgments: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/natural-understanding Essay

Take human health. About 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases share part of their life cycle with animals. Understanding the life cycles of host organisms is essential to managing outbreaks of disease. Cholera, Vibrio cholerae, is a great example. We now know that V. cholerae associates with zooplankton. That discovery led to a startlingly simple prevention technique: filtering polluted water through cloth. The cloth doesn’t trap individual cholera cells, but it does block the zooplankton they are attached to. With food production, too, we can quickly see the benefits of natural history. Innovative techniques such as biological pest control (bringing good bugs to deter the bad ones) or multispecies cropping (to likewise encourage the presence of good bugs) reduces reliance on pesticides (and thus decreases a farmer’s costs) and, simultaneously, increases biodiversity at the local level. Overlooking the critical role played by local natural history knowledge and the traditional ecological knowledge of indigenous people can have negative consequences. Forest fire suppression in western North America, for example, based on practices that work in the hardwood forests of eastern North America and Germany, has proved very costly in lives, homes, habitat, and money. So, too, with salmon habitat in northwestern North America. Tree debris in creeks and rivers provides habitat for fish but hinders navigability. Removing debris improved navigability but now millions of dollars are spent to reintroduce such habitat-building debris. Taking local natural history knowledge into account often inspires scientists’ efforts. The Alaskan Iñupiat’s traditional ecological knowledge of bowhead whales helped establish hunting quotas — knowledge that was later confirmed by researchers using a variety of technological methods. Even more recently, an interdisciplinary team of scientists verified what people of the Haida Nation have known for years. Younger Haida Gwai herring learn from older fish where spawning grounds are. That traditional knowl- edge has improved computer models of herring stocks, potentially improving fishery management. I think revitalizing the study of natural history, not only among professional scientists in research universities but at all educational and societal levels, will bring such benefits to all of us. I can hear an objection already: I live in the city, far from nature. But nothing could be closer to A natural understanding you than nature! Nature is not confined to wild places — or, put another way, you can find wild places on your own BY STEPHANIE E. HAMPTON person. Using an inexpensive smartphone microscope like the Diple, you can explore the microbiome of your belly button lint or your showerhead. Such activities are not only fun, engaging, and inspiring, they potentially add to the kinds of big data sets that professional researchers can use to improve life Natural history played a central role in the sciences for centuries. for all concerned. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, among many others, From sourdough to sauerkraut, there’s plenty of wild in the kitchen, too. Citizen scientists recently were natural historians whose ideas not only changed the course shared samples of sourdough starters and startled the professionals who, after sequencing microbial of science, but of society as well. Thanks to their work, the concept DNA in the dough, found an amazing diversity of microbes. of evolution drives thinking in biology but is also a metaphor for Using smartphones and social networks, apps like Seek, iNaturalist, and eBird empower dog walk- social change and economic development. ers, bird watchers, and kids in parks to record their observations, share them with others, and get a STAFF In the past century, though, what most people think of as natural history — museums, expeditions, sense of what nature’s up to in their neighborhood, rural or urban. Some of that data is of high enough

taxonomy — has experienced a steep decline in research and education support. This decline runs parallel ILLUSTRATION quality that researchers can use it to help make informed decisions about conservation — and the citizen to a decline in the direct experience of nature. While both are signals with troubling implications for scientists who collected it get kudos and the satisfaction of having helped make the world a better place. society and science, new technologies provide novel insights into organisms and ecosystems that were All sorts of technology also enable citizen scientists to engage with nature. Drones can be used

not previously available — and also create new opportunities for public involvement in natural history. to capture photos and video of changes in landscapes and develop 3D maps useful to fire managers, BASED In 2014, my colleagues and I, in a paper in BioScience, defined natural history as “the observation scientists, and policymakers. Camera traps and even simpler tools can be used to understand the ecolo-

and description of the natural world, with the study of organisms and their linkages to the environment ON gies of backyards, those overlooked sources of wonder and wilderness that few people actually study.

being central.” While this definition is unlikely to satisfy everyone, what it does do is put an emphasis on PHOTO What we don’t know is immense, and there is plenty for all of us to do. We need to learn the basics natural history being multidisciplinary. It also emphasizes the idea that natural history is multiscaled, of natural history because it contributes to our ability to assess the changes our planetary systems are

BY

from the micro to the macro, from microscopic algae to entire forest ecosystems. undergoing. A resilient future requires us to be able to make informed predictions about how and why JANNIS I want to emphasize that the study of natural history opens doors for non-scientists to contribute things change. Our ability to build computational models that do precisely that is immense and steadily

to biology, conservation, and resilience in the face of global change. You don’t have to be a specialist TOBIAS improving — but those models are worthless without basic natural history knowledge to inform them. ¬ with a doctoral degree to contribute meaningfully to our understanding of nature and natural systems,

including the many ways humans impact these systems. WERNER Stephanie E. Hampton is a professor of environmental sciences and director of the Center for Environmental Natural history knowledge also benefits non-biologists. Understanding the ways organisms have Research, Education, and Outreach at Washington State University. She acknowledges and thanks her adapted to local conditions can teach us important lessons about resiliency and sustainability. coauthors on the BioScience paper.

28 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 29 BY ADRIANA JANOVICH

Forty years ago, on a fateful day in May, a volcanic eruption unprecedented in modern times—etched itself on the memories of Washingtonians from Vancouver to Pullman

STUDENTS FROM A SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL, ON A BIOLOGY FIELD TRIP TO VANTAGE, WATCH ASH CLOUDS APPROACH. (PHOTO CARMEN R. ANDREWS)

30 31 WHEN THE SKY FELL

on Swanson agreed to fill in. The Colfax firefighters help control traffic on volcanologist would man the US 195 the day after the eruption. Photo forward observation post for a Barry Kough/Lewiston Morning Tribune few days, replacing a geologist who was traveling. But Swanson himself studying for finals and doing everyday needed a replacement — for that night. chores like laundry. Don A. Dillman, His colleague at the U.S. Geological now a Regents Professor in sociology, Survey, David A. Johnston, agreed. But was roller skating with his wife and he wasn’t really looking forward to two young children. Glenn Johnson, spending the night near the mountain. in his second semester of teaching “He, more than the rest of us, probably broadcast journalism, decided to use had a better understanding of how the disaster — and time provided by explosively Mount St. Helens could canceled classes — as an opportunity erupt,” says Swanson (’60 Geol.). to report the news.

Sunday morning, Swanson was at The 8:32 a.m. eruption blew 1,314 feet the U.S. Forest Service building in o! the 9,677-foot peak and marked Vancouver — readying to drive to the most devastating volcanic event the mountain — when monitoring in U.S. history. Fifty-seven people — instruments began showing major including Johnston — were killed. So activity. He ran to the radio, but there were some 7,000 big game animals, was no answer. By then, Swanson such as deer and elk, as well as countless later learned, Johnston had already fish and birds. The resulting avalanche of reported the eruption, transmitting debris, mudflows, and flooding caused the now famous lines from that fateful damage in 230 square miles. The lateral day: “Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!” blast knocked down trees as though they were matchsticks, wiping out the Forty years later, the angry-looking landscape in an 8-mile radius. ash cloud billowing above Mount St. Helens remains one of the most iconic Ash darkened the sky and fell heavily images in state history. Those living in in Yakima, Ritzville, Spokane, Pullman— the state of Washington at the time of even Billings, Montana. Prevailing winds the May 18, 1980, eruption all have a carried a fine dusting to the East Coast. where-were-you-when-it-blew moment. Within two weeks, ash from Mount St. Helens circled the globe. Within an hour, Swanson was documenting the cataclysm from an Swanson observed the billowing ash airplane, flying in figure-eights on the from a Forest Service plane. “As soon south side of the volcano to film and as we lifted o! the ground I could see take photos. On the other side of the that the top of the volcano was missing,” state, students at WSU Pullman were he says. “I could see the giant plume. When we got up closer, I could see the mud flows on the south side of At top: Mount St. Helen erupts May 18, 1980. Aerial photo Don Swanson/USGS. At bottom: the volcano, but it was obvious most Ash cloud as seen from Silver Lake, Cowlitz of the activity was north. We couldn’t County. Copy of archival print—source get around to see it. It was simply out unknown—courtesy Steve G. Bisig/Flickr of the question.”

32 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 33 WHEN THE SKY FELL readers’ stories and videos of that fateful day: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/where-you-were

At top: Steaming water flows under of a thunderstorm. The drive home the I-5 Toutle River bridge, eventually let them watch the “eeriness” unfold. closing it. The SR 504 Saint Helens bridge also on the Toutle River was “The western horizon was pitch black. washed away by a lahar. At bottom: Yet the far eastern sky remained an Downtown Yakima is dark at 3:00 p.m. undisturbed blue . . . It would have Associated Press photos been easy to imagine that we were on another planet,” Dillman writes. For the next three hours, he watched The family stopped to buy film, then roiling, cauliflower-like clouds of ash went home and turned on the TV to spew from the volcano. “It was a wait for news. At some point, Dillman front-row seat,” he says. “It was such writes, “I stick my head out the patio a powerful event that was happening, door, take a whi!, and decide I’m not yet it was soundless. We couldn’t hear going anywhere for anything tonight. anything. It was like watching a silent The smell? A little like holding your movie. It was certainly the most unusual head inside of a cold fireplace while experience I had in my career.” somebody stirs the ashes.”

Swanson, now 81, went on to become Monday morning, Pete Butkus (’70 the scientist-in-charge of the Cascades Crim. Jus., ’85 MA Ed.), the 31-year-old Volcano Observatory and, later, the newly elected mayor of Pullman, called Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on the a directors’ meeting. That evening, he rim of the Kilauea Caldera — where he still appeared on a special broadcast on serves as scientist emeritus. But Mount KWSU. “There were obviously health St. Helens has never left him. He knew concerns,” he says. “We tried to keep three people who perished in the blast people from breathing the stu!. You saw zone and dedicated his career to better everything from masks to bandanas. A understanding eruptions in order to few students called me, and they had prevent similar tragedies. “I think about asthma. I remember kind of talking them it almost every day,” he says. through it: stay inside, wear a mask if you

Dillman wrote a detailed account, go outside, call your doctor. Basically, which the Manuscripts, Archives & limit your exposure to this stu!.” Special Collections at WSU Libraries keeps for posterity. A faculty member The newscast was anchored by since 1969, he was chairperson of the Johnson, who became “the Voice of the Department of Rural Sociology when Cougs,” announcing men’s basketball he wrote his 35-page paper, “After and football games for 40 years and Mount St. Helens: Seven Gray Days in counting. He’s now serving his fifth four- May.” His wife, Joye, now a professor year term as mayor of Pullman. When emeritus in the Department of Human classes were canceled midway through Development, was an assistant professor in the Department of Child and Family At top: Four to six inches of ash fell in Studies. They were in Lewiston, roller- Ritzville, with drifts as high as two feet. skating with their two children along the Photo Jim Shelton/The Spokesman-Review. confluence of the Snake and Clearwater At bottom: Keeping emergency vehicles rivers, when they noticed — around 12:30 running in Moses Lake required creative p.m. — what they thought was the onset solutions. Wide World Photos

34 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 35 WHEN THE SKY FELL Mount St. Helens research stories: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/msh-1980

his 8:00 a.m. session, he encouraged his broadcast students to seize the day. “I BY ADRIANA JANOVICH said, ‘We’ve got an opportunity here,’” Johnson recalls. “‘This is a huge story. You’ve got all day o! now, so let’s go REMAINS OF THE DAY do something. Let’s learn from this.’ J. Lewis Payne pops the lid on one of the vintage barrels — a mix of surplus military And they were all for it.” metal and heavy-duty cardboard — stacked in a WSU barn that once housed moose, elk, and woodland caribou. The drums look rather dusty and nondescript, but Johnson and his students started they hold an unusual treasure: ash from the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. brainstorming angles and sources for Helens — and left largely untouched for the past 40 years. interviews: health, agriculture, public

safety. They also went outdoors to The ash is quadruple-bagged and tagged with hand-written labels noting collection shoot B-roll of the campus and try to sites. Most came from the rooftops of Eastlick and Heald Halls. But there’s some from get interviews with people on the street. Pullman’s Lincoln Middle School, too, as well as at least one bin simply described “That didn’t last long because” — despite as coming from “Yakima.” their precautions — “the ash got into the camera’s telephoto zoom mechanism,” Payne — the caretaker of the ash as well as the 800-acre Hudson Biological Reserve Johnson says. “We had to regroup. We at Smoot Hill, where the cache is stored — reaches down into one of the drums and couldn’t continue to shoot outside scoops up a handful. “It’s like there’s no weight in my hand,” he marvels. The ash because of the ash. So we decided to feels powdery and fine, like pastry flour or powdered sugar, but is very light gray bring the interviewees into the studio. in color. It’s soft, cool, and dry, and smells faintly of wet cement and — oddly — dried

Then we went on-air live. I anchored, mushrooms. STAFF and we cut to the di!erent interviews.

PHOTOS Students” — including the late longtime Today, nearly 100 barrels of Mount St. Helens ash are stacked in two kennels of the KOMO 4 anchor Kathi Goertzen (’80 barn, which — Payne points out — used to be home to Morty, the moose featured Comm.) and Dave Wike (’80 Comm.), in the opening credits of the CBS series Northern Exposure. the longest-serving TV photojournalist at KING 5 — “got a heck of an experience Payne’s lived at Smoot Hill since 1994, when he was a research assistant at WSU. out of that.” He came to Pullman as a doctoral student, studying under Richard “Dick” Mack, now a professor emeritus of ecology in the School of Biological Sciences. Shortly after the eruption, Mack and his graduate students worked quickly to gather ash Track stand-out Karen (Blair) Troianello for future research projects. “There was a prediction of rain,” Mack says. “And (’80 Comm.) had recently run her last I knew we needed unadulterated ash.” race as a Cougar and was looking

forward to graduation when it started One of his students, Stewart Higgins (’80 MS, ’84 PhD Sci.), a now-retired senior raining ash. “Since 1980, there’s always scientific assistant with WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural been a jar of ash on my bookshelf,” she Resources, collected samples in Yakima. Mack used some of the ash for research reflects. “I watched as the ash along through the mid-1980s, particularly studying its e!ects on vegetation. The rest has various Eastern Washington highways been stored, tightly sealed, for safekeeping — and largely without much interest. became another layer of the earth, ready The fact that it’s here and available is “not widely known,” Mack says. to tell a story to later generations of geologists.” ¬ In fact, “To the best of my knowledge, only two people in the last 20 years have come to look at the ash,” Payne says, noting both were from the United States At top: Ash arrival in Spokane brought Geological Survey. “It’s a resource that needs the right project.” ¬ venues and services to a grinding halt. Photo J. Bart Rayniak/The Spokesman- Review. At bottom: Mammatus lobes on the volcanic cloud viewed from Ephrata. Photo Douglas Miller/Courtesy USGS

36 magazine.wsu.edu 37 Q&A with Robert Michael Pyle: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/Robert-Pyle ALUMNIpedia PHOTO

MEGAN

BLACKBURN

Consider the butterfly BY ADRIANA JANOVICH

Krist Novoselic´ was a fan. He lepidopterist and legendary bassist contin- vanishing of the trees. I think it kind of cuts had read Wintergreen and ued to get to know each other through the both ways. We’re not going to have forests wanted to meet the author. grassroots, fraternal organization. if we don’t take care of them, but we’re not Robert Michael Pyle, one of Planning a program for a Grange meeting going to have jobs if we don’t take care of America’s leading nature led to the lengthy endeavor that became them. We want listeners to think about these writers, was nearly a neighbor. Butterfly Launches from Spar Pole. The album things, and we want to present these ideas in Novoselic´ enjoyed several of his other features poetry by Pyle and music by Novoselic´. a way that’s entertaining.” titles, too — Sky Time in Gray’s River, Where Ray Prestegard, who’s in the band Giants in The collaboration grew out of a radio Bigfoot Walks, Nabokov’s Butterflies — and the Trees with Novoselic´, also contributes. show Novoselic´ used to host. “I’m really into introduced himself at a book-signing in The project is a departure from the the guitar player John Fahey,” Novoselic´ says. Skamokawa, near both of their homes in down-home Pacific Northwest groove-pop “I did this reading — basically, there were two southwest Washington. Not long later, they of Giants and the raw, distorted, power chords turntables going — with some John Fahey on 39 alumni profiles bumped into each other again. of guitar-heavy grunge. This folksy, acoustic, guitar and the other would be like Orson 43 new media “By coincidence,” Novoselic´ says, “I went spoken-word album celebrates the natural Welles reading the Gettysburg Address or to a Leo Kottke concert — he was playing in world. Climate change, natural selection, and somebody reading Walt Whitman. And it 45 honorary degrees Longview, Washington — and Bob was there.” evolution are all addressed. But the artists just had a nice feel.” 46 class notes They ended up at Pyle’s home, sharing stories don’t aim to preach politics. Rather, Novoselic´ Pyle, a friend by then, heard the show, in memoriam and beers and bonding over the common says, “It’s up to the listener to decide.” and it sparked an idea for the Grange pro- 50 values of conservation and community as The title comes from the anchor point gram they were planning. “Bob gave me well as an affinity for rural America. in early logging setups in the American West. a call and said, ‘Why don’t you play some This was in the early aughts, right around A spar tree, or spar pole — since replaced by guitar and I’ll read some Walt Whitman?’ the time Novoselic´ (’16 Soc. Sci.), bass guitar- portable steel yarders — was chosen for its And I said, ‘No, why don’t you come up with ist of the iconic grunge band Nirvana, was strength and height. “The spar pole is a kind your own poetry and I’ll play some guitar?’ I getting involved with the Grange. Pyle was of symbol of a forest that’s in production for thought it’d be more interesting,” Novoselic´ a longtime member, and the Yale-educated timber,” Pyle says. “It’s also a symbol for the says. MEMORY PHOTO BY NINO ORTIZ/FLICKR

38 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 39 ALUMNIprofiles

That first guitar-poem, “Notes from the band formed as he was preparing to graduate. Stepping up From covering Edge of the Known World” — full of references Prestegard, vocalist Jillian Raye, and drum- to flora and fauna—became the cornerstone mer Erik Friend met at Skamokawa Grange, her game the beat to on of the album. “It took ten years,” Novoselic´ answering Novoselic´’s call for a jam session. says. “We’d come together and have these Their second album, Volume 2, came out last BY JOSH BABCOCK the beat flashes of activity, then I’d go back to school — I year following their self-titled offering in 2017. was doing WSU online — and in between I’d Novoselic´’s Deep River roots go back As a young child, Sylvia BY ADRIANA JANOVICH perform with Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl nearly 30 years. He bought his place in Omulo, often one of the and Pat Smear. That was Sirvana. We won a 1992 — the same year Nirvana’s Nevermind first picks on the playground Stephanie Schendel caught Grammy. We had Hervana, too, at the Rock displaced Michael Jackson’s Dangerous at at Kenya’s Nairobi South the journalism bug in college, and Roll Hall of Fame (with Joan Jett, Kim number one on the Billboard charts and the Primary School, lived to play. spending two years on the Gordon, St. Vincent, and Lorde). Or I’d do band won MTV Video Music Awards for Best Her favorite game was kati, sta! of The Daily Evergreen a show with Beck and Dave and Pat.” New Artist in a Video and Best Alternative a Kenyan form of dodgeball, and observing Pullman When they found time, they “record- Video for Smells Like Teen Spirit. Deep River using an improvised ball police officers as they ed in a Grange hall, at my house, at an old reminded him of Aberdeen, where he spent his of wet, wadded-up paper responded to calls related creamery — with whatever equipment we had high school years — only more remote. “I like the stu!ed into a sock. to drunkenness, domestic around,” Novoselic´ says. “And, finally, last rain. I like big trees. I like space and quiet. And When she missed her chance to attend disputes, overdoses—even year we had enough material. We took it to I like Deep River because that’s what it offers. the high school of her choice, she realized a stabbing. Sylvia Omulo ’17. Photo Geoff Crimmins/Moscow-Pullman Daily News Jack Endino — he produced Mudhoney and It’s really a luxury to live out here like this.” she would never make it to a university if she “I did maybe a half-dozen ride-alongs,” Nirvana — and he put it all together.” When he isn’t traveling for Nirvana didn’t switch her focus from fun to school- use, and exposure to animals or health care especially inside the hospitals involved in says Schendel (’12 Comm., Spanish). “They Novoselic´, already a licensed pilot and reunion shows, Novoselic´, who turns 55 in work. She also realized she loved biology. facilities. The end goal: to ensure people the study. were very patient with me and answered all published author — his 2004 book, Of Grunge May, sticks close to home and the Grange. From there, science took over. with bacterial infections have access to an- “It’s hard when you see children who of my questions. It really impressed me. That and Government, is part memoir, part political He’s master of Grays River Grange and owns “I became fascinated with how the hu- tibiotics that work when they need them have their whole future ahead of them and was the beginning of it.” tract — went back to school on a whim. His the old creamery where Giants practices and man body works,” Omulo says. “The reason most. know they may not live to see the next day,” Her real-time reporting experiments, nephew was heading to community college, parts of Spar Pole were recorded. you have a pulse is because your heart valves For Omulo, the research is personal. After says Omulo, who hopes her work will serve or “tweetalongs,” were popular reads, and and he decided to enroll, too, commuting Spar Pole, Novoselic´ says, is “an invita- open at a certain pace — no other subject gives high school, she suffered frequent bouts of as a critical component to solve the antibiotic they helped launch her career — first as an about an hour each way from his homestead tion. I’ve always felt that good art invites you you that. Biology is very real.” tonsillitis. She had been accustomed to using resistance problem. award-winning crime reporter for the Centralia in Deep River. into its world, and that’s what we’re trying Fast forward 20 years later, Omulo (’17 a self-prescribed antibiotic for her recurrent She says one major piece of that problem Chronicle, then as a detective with the Bellevue “I was driving home one day,” Novoselic´ to do: capture the mind’s eye. Come inside. PhD Immunology & Infectious Diseases) is infections: amoxicillin. But, on one occasion, is no one knows for certain how many people Police Department. says, “and there was a billboard. ‘Earn your It’s really different. It’s not rock. It’s litera- an assistant professor in the Paul G. Allen the infection was so severe that her usual die from infections due to antimicrobial- The job at the Chronicle opened during degree in your pajamas.’ And I was like whoa, ture. It’s geology. It’s the natural world — life School for Global Animal Health, specializing dose proved ineffective. Her uncle, a clinical resistant bacteria. the spring she was finishing college, and wait a minute. I had no idea. I looked at the down to the barest cell in terms of time and in antimicrobial resistance and infectious officer, gave her an injectable antibiotic. This “Antimicrobial resistance is a silent the paper held the position for her until she website [for WSU Global Campus], and I was the environment and mortality. We’re here disease in her home country. worked. Looking back, she says, that may be killer,” Omulo says. “When patients die in a graduated. “I really wanted to be a newspaper like oh man, yeah. I submitted an application now, and this is an invitation to the world In partnership with WSU and the the first time she experienced antimicrobial hospital, they just say someone was sick and reporter,” says the Edward R. Murrow College and I got accepted and I signed up for classes we made with this work — the rest is open for University of Nairobi, Omulo is leading a resistance. died. The fact that antibiotics were unsuccess- of Communication 2011 Undergraduate of and I just started studying. I’d be backstage interpretation.” ¬ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- Omulo hopes her research will prevent ful against an infection doesn’t make it onto the Year and 2012 Graduate of the Year. “I reading. I really got into it.” funded antimicrobial resistance study. This children from enduring what she did, or worse. death certificates.” really wanted to do cops and courts.” But make no mistake: “Online school,” research project explores the prevalence To that end, she sometimes struggles to turn Despite this, the World Health She covered breaking news, criminal jus- Novoselic´ says, “is no cakewalk. It’s a lot of of, and relationships between, some of science off. Her computer screen often glows Organization recognizes antibiotic resistance tice, and emergencies such as flooding — and work. I’m very confident and happy with the World Health Organization’s priority into the early morning hours until she “guilts” as a threat to global health and estimates 10 loved it. After a couple of months on the job, the skills I developed through WSU online — antibiotic-resistant pathogens, including herself into going to sleep, her upcoming million deaths worldwide by 2050 if no ef- an arrest was made in one of the most noto- researching skills, critical thinking, writing, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus workday often the only reason her head hits fective interventions are made. rious unsolved Lewis County murder cases. the scientific method.” (MRSA), extended spectrum beta-lactamase the pillow. “I really feel my work matters,” Omulo says it was important for her to Schendel produced numerous stories — from Classmates seemed to “not really” know (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae, and she says. “It impacts the life of people. I know return to Kenya to improve public health on a arrest to trial. Her coverage helped her win they had a rock star in their midst. And, Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae even if I can make a small change, I will have global scale. “I want to contribute to science,” the 2014 new journalist of the year award Novoselic´ says, “it didn’t really matter. I was (CRE). done something for humanity.” she says. “They say, ‘Leave the world better from the Western Washington chapter of the what they call a non-traditional student, and it The study, in its second year, builds The work can be grueling. It involves than you found it.’” Society of Professional Journalists. seemed like most people were, too. We were all on Omulo’s doctoral work and takes place looking for antimicrobial-resistant pathogens She hopes to leave a similar mark on Being a reporter “helped me grow up a managing our time. It’s our biggest resource, in the communities of Kibera and Asembo by collecting and analyzing hundreds of her 21-member research team as well. “I lot,” Schendel says. “I definitely enjoyed it and isn’t it? And I have so much going on.” as well as the hospitals that serve them. The stool samples every week from urban and want to impact them, so they become bet- wouldn’t change that life experience and pro- It took six years to get his degree. After- research aims to provide insight into what rural settings. ter people and scientists,” Omulo says. fessional experience for anything. Every day ward, he thought about law school. Instead, Review of Butterfly Launches from Spar Pole: drives antibiotic resistance in the African Omulo and her team have seen the “It all goes back to the impact I want to was an adventure. And it helped me improve he says, “I got into Giants in the Trees.” The magazine.wsu.edu/extra/Spar-Pole nation, such as sanitation practices, antibiotic devastating impacts of infectious diseases, leave.” ¬ my writing skills and my interviewing skills.”

40 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 41 Q&A with author Buddy Levy: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/labyrinth-of-ice

ALUMNIprofiles NEWmedia

But, after about two years at the small- want to learn about everything. You go into Twenty-five men, mostly soldiers, town paper, she says, “I was outgrowing my each investigation with an open mind. And started Greely’s expedition. They were job.” Schendel found herself more and more they’re very satisfying cases to solve.” dropped off in the summer of 1881 more drawn to the other side of the police beat. One of the most satisfying was that of than 1,000 miles north of the Arctic Circle “Being a reporter is a lot of fun. But police a ride-share driver charged with four sexual and some 250 miles from the last known work is one of the few professions that’s more assaults in four cities. “He preyed upon indi- settlement. When no one came to collect fun than being a reporter.” vidual intoxicated women,” says Schendel, them or drop off additional provisions as Schendel was hired by the Bellevue Police who’s interested in someday maybe working previously planned, Greely retreated south Department in late 2014, following extensive major crimes. Nicole “Coco” Umiker ’11. Photo Kim Fetrow from the refuge of Fort Conger to seek background checks as well as written, oral, She finds many parallels to newspaper reinforcements and try to connect with and physical tests. Next came the four-and- reporting in police work. “As a police officer, Achievement awardee. “We always believed rescuers. a-half-month police academy, followed by you need to interview people,” she says. “You we could produce wines that were every bit Levy balances their travails with the three months of field training. Schendel went have to write reports. You interact with people as exceptional as the wines we admire.” Labyrinth of Ice: The stories of ships that attempted to reach their Salmon Eaters to Sage- on patrol alone for the first time in October you normally wouldn’t. You have to treat “It’s validation for all our hard work,” Triumphant and Tragic camp as well as the work of Greely’s wife, brushers: Washington’s 2015, working ten-hour days on third shift— people fairly.” ¬ her husband says. “When we first started, Greely Polar Expedition Henrietta, who toiled tirelessly to get the Lost Literary Legacy 4:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. there was nobody doing this in Lewiston. We BUDDY LEVY ST. MARTIN’S PRESS: 2019 government to send another boat. He also PETER DONAHUE WSU PRESS: 2019 Three years later, she became a training were in no man’s land. The AVA was really Lt. Adolphus W. Greely, commander includes historical photographs from the In the introduction to his marvelous collection officer. “You become a better cop by training instrumental in adding credibility to what of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, as- expedition, helpful reference maps, and a of biographical essays, Peter Donahue writes other people,” she says. A new terroir we do and gave so much added value to the sessed the situation from the edge of the six-page bibliography. that he thought he could produce a dozen or That same year, she tested for a specialty grapes grown here.” ice floe upon which he and his men were Levy became interested in the expedi- so vignettes on “lost” writers of Washington position. In January 2019, she started her new BY ADRIANA JANOVICH The Umikers — he manages vines, she stranded. tion after learning about it during a trip to state. Writing a “Retrospective Review ”column role as a detective assigned to special assault makes wine — grow about half of the grapes It was dire. Greenland in 2003. But he had been fascinated for Columbia Magazine for 13 years, he ended in the violent crimes unit. This includes sexual Nicole “Coco” Umiker started they use at their estate vineyard, now six-and- They were adrift on a raft of ice, and it by the Arctic ever since reading Jack London’s up writing 55. He “kept finding more” — i n assault and domestic violence. “It’s a heavy sub- young, so young—in fact— a-half acres. Umiker’s grandfather, the late was 11 degrees Fahrenheit — cold for the time works as a boy growing up in Idaho. His used bookstores, archives, old newspapers. If ject,” she says. “I’ve learned to compartmental- that when she and her hus- Ralph E. Nichols, was just a year old when of year but not as low as the sub-zero tempera- Labyrinth of Ice is a haunting page-turner with the book met his basic criteria (a Washington ize, which is really, really key. I have a role and band, Karl, began planting his parents purchased the wheat and cattle tures they regularly experienced during their present-day relevance. Greely and his crew writer, working in a “basic literary genre,” and a place as an objective investigator. I focus on their first wine grapes on her ranch in 1916. Today, Nichols Family Farm two years of exploration and data collection, went north as part of the first International of literary merit), he’d track down a copy and what my role is. I’m not here to save everybody.” family’s century-old Idaho spans 60 acres, including Umiker Vineyard including a new record for farthest north. Polar Year, a coordinated approach to explore read it — and another essay would join the pile. Exercise helps her cope with stress. “I farm she was only 21. She was and a 5,000-square-foot winemaking facility, But their resupply ships never reached the Arctic by a coalition of countries. Theirs Salmon Eaters to Sagebrushers col- definitely have days when I’m emotionally ex- still in college — studying microbiology, mo- completed in 2016. them. Rations were dwindling. And an- was the most northerly post. Not only did lects these essays, and they are wonderful. hausted,” she says. But, “I have a good work-life lecular biology, and biochemistry — when she The Umikers and two employees now other winter at the top of the world — with their observations help prepare future expedi- Donahue’s measure of “literary merit” is broad balance. I exercise at least six days a week. I main- convinced her grandfather to let them plant produce 4,500 cases of wine per year. Seventy- no connection to the rest of it — was fast tions, but the data they collected provide a and generous, and includes ballad (Mary J. tain a healthy diet.” She’s also a regular at her a quarter-acre of Merlot at his ranch. five percent of the grapes they use comes from approaching. How long would they be baseline for today’s scientists studying climate Elmendorf ) and historical romance (Zola neighborhood dog park. And, she’s engaged to a “We were nerds trying to be farmers,” the Lewis-Clark AVA. “Our goal is to celebrate able to ride this floe? Would they find the change. Ross), on the grounds that their “quality of Kent police officer; they plan to wed in autumn. she says. “I was barely old enough to drink.” the terroir of this area,” says Umiker, who caches of food left by boats that had come Levy, who’s taught writing at WSU expression transcends” the “sentimental or Meantime, she’s working multiple cases. The couple launched Clearwater Canyon enrolled at WSU in 2005, a year after their first before? Would they perish in the harsh polar for 31 years, spent two years working on romantic value” of the particular genre in “That’s what I like: the variety,” she says. “I Cellars in 2004 with four barrels. Since then, vintage. “Every year, we looked to see how we climate? this superbly told, action-packed story of which the writer worked. He especially cred- they have helped put Lewiston on the wine could make our wines more interesting and Buddy Levy uses this dramatic survival. His writing — exciting, extensively its representations of the Pacific Northwest map, working for nearly a decade to estab- creative. We have no aspirations of getting moment — and its questions of life or researched, and poetic — helps readers feel that go beyond mere description to explore a lish an American Viticultural Area (AVA) for big so that we can really focus on creativity death — as the entry point to his latest as if they, too, are experiencing the long “mentally bounded place . . . that rest[s] at the Lewis-Clark Valley. The wine grape-growing and quality.” offering, a gripping narrative of the ill-fated winters and harsh landscape, feeling the border . . . between geography and history.” region, which straddles the Washington- This isn’t the first time Wine Press Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, its successes, bone-chilling temperatures, and hearing While the place of Washington and the Idaho border, received the federal designation Northwest has acknowledged Clearwater and its setbacks. Labyrinth of Ice is an intense the howling winds and grinding ice. His rest of the Pacific Northwest is secure because in 2016. Canyon. The publication named it the 2015 and riveting read. Levy writes cinematically, engaging account covers the depths of of “big L” literati such as Theodore Roethke and This year, Clearwater Canyon is Wine Idaho Winery of the Year. expertly crafting this harrowing true tale human suffering and lengths men will go Ken Kesey, Donahue dives deeper to recover Press Northwest’s 2020 Pacific Northwest In all, there are about 2,000 wineries and masterfully making history come alive. to stay alive when they are largely unpro- women writers who, he writes, dominated Winery of the Year. The award, which a in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, His thoroughly researched account relies tected from the elements, living in a half- memoir during the mid-twentieth century, as winery can only win once, honors not only and Idaho. “We’re inspired by so many of heavily on Greely’s own volumes for direct collapsed tent, boiling leather, scaveng- well as genre writing that was rated second class the Umikers’ exceptional wines but their ef- them,” Umiker says. “To be honored at the quotes and devastating — sometimes ing lichen for some kind of sustenance, when originally published. This is not only a forts in establishing the AVA. It also marks top of that list is kind of mind-boggling. It’s horrifying — descriptions. Of constant and going mad from starvation, scurvy, great act of preservation, but a fascinating read the first time an Idaho winery has received only going to feed our fire. I can’t wait to see danger. Of rising tensions. Of frostbite, exposure — or a combination — all for the that adds historical depth to our experience the regional award. “It’s very exciting,” says what other wines we’re going to come up with fear, heroism, hunger, bravery, discovery, sake of science. of the Northwest. Stephanie Schendel ’12. Photo Karen Derby Umiker (’11 PhD Food Sci.), a WSU Alumni in the future.” ¬ longing, and loss. —Adriana Janovich — Brian Charles Clark

42 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 43 BY REBECCA PHILLIPS NEWmedia

Wodnik examines the events that led first learned of Tolmie’s letters in 1983, then WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY to be the first recipient of the Eminent Faculty namic, reliable, and environmentally friendly to the agency’s survival and the major play- spent decades locating and transcribing AWARDED T WO HON ORARY Award, the University’s highest award for commercial vehicles. ers in the room when key decisions were them. The introduction by Tacoma historian DOCTORATES IN 2019 AND 2020, faculty excellence over an extended period. Pigott believes business success works made. Those people have since had time Jerry V. Ramsey provides additional ONE TO A DISTINGUISHED CHEMISTRY “Ralph Yount is what a faculty member in tandem with companies giving back to to reflect on how Sound Transit remained context. PROFESSOR AND THE OTHER TO A should be,” said Rawlins. “He questions every society. He has personally, and as president solvent. Joni Earl (’75 Bus.) emerges as the PHILANTHROPIST WITH A PASSION decision, is a tireless and brilliant researcher, of the PACCAR Foundation, supported re-

heroine. The Eulogy degrees FOR EDUCATION. loves to teach, and is a superb colleague.” search and education facilities, scholarships, She discovered — at the tail end of DEBRA YERGEN ’92 COMM. In 2003, he was among the first three social services, and the arts, including a gift 2000, just months after becoming Sound WHOLE HOUSE PUBLICATIONS: 2019 faculty members named to the newly- to WSU for the construction of the PACCAR Transit’s chief operating officer — that the Isabelle, a self-proclaimed progressive, aims established rank of Regents Professor. Environmental Technology Building. agency’s cost estimates were several years to make peace with her aunt, a staunch He was also the first Edward R. Meyer PACCAR has supported the Indepen- and close to a billion dollars off base. conservative. Aunt Harriet raised Isabelle Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and dent Colleges of Washington for over 60 Several months later, she took the Seattle and her brother, Zach, after their parents Chemistry. years and has donated to the Seattle Art Back on Track: Sound Post-Intelligencer to task for a story alleging died in a car crash when Isabelle was eight When it came to teaching, Yount of- Museum, Children’s Hospital, and United Transit’s Fight to Save costs had been concealed and helped Sound and Zach was ten. At the beginning of the ten went the extra mile to recruit talented Way. Pigott served on the board of directors

Light Rail Transit secure an above-the-fold front-page book, set in 2015, Aunt Harriet suffers HONORARY prospects and help them succeed. One for the United Kingdom’s Royal Shakespeare BOB WODNIK correction. She also helped secure millions a life-threatening stroke, and Isabelle bickers of his doctoral students, James Wells, be- Company America from 2000 to 2010. He RESEARCHGATE WSU PRESS: 2019 in federal funding for the project. with both her brother and her estranged came a member of the National Academy also funded a project to replace historical In the early years, it was like working at a Wodnik lauds her for rebuilding husband, the father of their daughter, of Sciences and was awarded the Regents’ Armada paintings in Parliament’s House of

startup. Sound Transit’s credibility and getting the Grace. The story about learning to accept COURTESY Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2017. Lords and helped restore St. Paul’s Cathedral “We had no policy guidelines, no HR organization back on track. He doesn’t differences continues in the other two “Yount’s career at WSU—as well as in London. The Pigott Education Center at (human resources department) to turn delve deeply into the lawsuits that plagued volumes of the trilogy: The Bench and RALPH G. YOUNT his kindness and compassion—have left an the National Gallery in London welcomes to. We were like throwing tracks out in the agency during this tumultuous period The Gathering. Ralph Yount has given hope to millions indelible mark on the institution,” says Michael more than 80,000 schoolchildren each year front of a runaway locomotive,” says Paul but does list them briefly. of people who will never know his name. Griswold, Regents Professor and director of to nurture their appreciation for art. Matsuoka, deputy executive director of This slim volume also features other Lights Up: A Collection of 20 During his 44-year career as a profes- the School of Molecular Biosciences. A self-proclaimed bibliophile, Pigott Sound Transit, in Bob Wodnik’s latest of- prominent WSU alumni, including U.S. Ridiculous Scenes for Young Actors sor of chemistry and molecular biosciences “Ralph demanded excellence of ev- understands the importance of libraries for fering from WSU Press. Senator Patty Murray (’72 Kinesio.), WRITTEN BY JOSHUA EVANS ’03 at WSU, Yount’s study of muscle function eryone, including himself. WSU is a better preserving the cultural record and educating Back on Track describes the beginnings Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling (x’65), and THEATRE ARTS advanced medical understanding of dis- institution because he was here.” the next generation of readers. His love of of Sound Transit’s battle for light rail in Ahmad Fazel (’81 Mech. Eng.), executive ILLUSTRATED BY SEAN HALL ’02 eases such as muscular dystrophy, ALS, and Yount is currently professor emeritus Elizabethan theater is reflected in his sup- Seattle and the central Puget Sound region. director of design and construction for THEATRE ARTS myasthenia gravis. in chemistry. The Ralph G. Yount Distin- port of the Folger Shakespeare Library in The young agency, laden with controversy, Sound Transit. 2019 His work focused on the way mus- guished Professorship in Sciences has been Washington, D.C., and the British Library public ridicule, and unfavorable headlines, This round-up of short scenes for child cles contract, specifically the relationship established in his name. in London. came close to collapse, as Wodnik explains. —Adriana Janovich actors features characters such as Old Man between a muscle protein called myosin Pigott’s professional accomplishments Wodnik was an agency insider with Raisin, Mascot One, and a time-traveling and ATP, the molecule involved in energy MARK C. PIGOTT and community service have earned royal a background in journalism. He served as teen. Evans, who began writing for children’s transfer. His creation of an ATP analog was Mark Pigott is a genuine Renaissance man. titles in France, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Sound Transit’s senior communications BRIEFLY NOTED theater programs in 2004, says young actors critical to work that eventually led to two The former CEO and current executive the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. specialist from 1999 to 2017 after working prefer lively characters to heavy, dramatic Nobel prizes and has been cited in more chairman of PACCAR Inc. oversees his fourth- In 2012, he was awarded the prestigious as a reporter and columnist at the Everett William F. Tolmie at Fort Nisqually: plots. His mantra: “Write characters, and than 4,000 papers. generation family business while supporting honorary knight commander of the Order Herald, among other regional newspapers. Letters, 1850–1853 have fun.” The National Institutes of Health (NIH) education, libraries, Shakespearean theater, of the British Empire. ¬ Here, he goes behind the bureaucracy of EDITED BY STEVE A. ANDERSON funded Yount’s work for 43 years without and other arts. one of Sound Transit’s most crucial and WSU PRESS: 2019 A Nadie le Importa el Cielo interruption and awarded him a MERIT grant Founded in 1905 as the Seattle Car dramatic years. Scottish-born William Fraser Tolmie served as Nocturno in 1986, the first year the grants were estab- Manufacturing Company, PACCAR originally In 2001, the organization faced back- chief trader for the Hudson’s Bay Company’s MARIA ADARE ’78 LIB. ARTS, ’79 ED. lished. This is one of the longest continually made railway and logging equipment as well lash from prominent politicians and com- fur trading post Fort Nisqually, the first white 2019 funded projects at the NIH. as Sherman tanks for the Allied forces during munity leaders as well as the press. One settlement on Puget Sound. Hand-written When someone decides to end a relationship, He also served as vice president and World War II. The family later expanded into editorial in The Seattle Times encouraged letters to and from Tolmie—sometimes sent it’s often a unilateral decision. This slim chairman of the postdoctoral fellowship the design and manufacture of heavy-duty people to “Face Reality; Pull the Plug on by canoe—present a British perspective on volume of poems, written in Spanish, committee for the Muscular Dystrophy trucks, eventually acquiring the Kenworth, PHOTO Light Rail.” Naysayers included former the region in the early 1850s. Tolmie State explores feelings of loss and pain—and the Association for 15 years. Peterbilt, and DAF lines, now sold in more

Governor Booth Gardner, former state Sen- Park near Olympia is named for him. So is ambiguity of looking for answers—after the Yount’s extraordinary achievements as than 100 countries. WSU ator Dino Rossi, and former King County Tolmie Peak in Mount Rainier National Park. end of a friendship. The title translates to an educator and scientist have been recog- President George W. Bush present-

NEWS Councilmember Rob McKenna, who had Steve Anderson, who managed the Fort “Nobody Cares About the Night Sky.” Poems nized throughout his career. In 2001, former ed PACCAR the 2006 National Medal of held a seat on Sound Transit’s board of Nisqually Living History Museum at Point are divided by years. Maria Adare is a pen WSU President V. Lane Rawlins chose Yount Technology for its leadership in aerody- directors. Defiance Park in Tacoma from 1980 to 1990, name.

44 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 45 CLASSnotes

PHOTO MANUEL BALCE CENETA/AP

STEVE GLEASON, the former in the 2016 film simply titled WSU football standout who Gleason. started a charity to empower In 2017, Gleason received those living with ALS following WSU’s highest alumni honor his own 2011 diagnosis, recently with the Regents’ Distinguished received the highest honor the Alumnus Award. United States Congress can be- Gleason helped WSU reach stow on a civilian. the Rose Bowl in 1998 and went Gleason (’00 Bus.) received on to play seven seasons in the the CONGRESSIONAL GOLD NFL — all with the New Orleans MEDAL on January 15, 2020, Saints. His electrifying 2006 in Washington, D.C. punt-blocking dive at the start of 37,633r His Team Gleason charity works to raise awareness about the Saints’ first game in the newly rebuilt Superdome boosted morale Members Thus Fa ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which causes the death throughout the hurricane-ravaged city. Outside the stadium today, the of neurons controlling voluntary muscle movement. There is no play is immortalized in a 9-foot bronze statue called “Rebirth.” ¬ Help us known cure. So far, the foundation has provided nearly $10 million in BY ADRIANA JANOVICH al! technology, equipment, and other services to more than 15,000 people reach our go living with the disease. His own struggle with ALS is documented read more and watch videos: magazine.wsu.edu/extra/gleason Join us at

alumni.wsu.edu/40 b y20 DOUGLAS R. BOHI (’67 PhD Econ.) after 24 years as a state lobbyist. He was than 30 years. He and his wife, Helena, live 60 won the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime the government affairs director for the in Olympia with their two sons, Alex and Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Snohomish Public Utility District from Carson. ∞ DENA YBARRA (’87 Hort.) was Who. ∞ KIM HERMAN (’67 Poli. Sci.) has 1995 to 2006 and senior vice president at named “Cherry King” at the annual Cherry retired after 35 years as the first executive Strategies 360 until he retired in summer Institute of Northwest Cherry Growers. director of the Washington State Housing 2019. ∞ TERENCE “TERRY” STEVENS She serves on the board of the Washington Finance Commission. During his career, (’76, ’80 MS Env. Sci.) retired in 2019 after Tree Fruit Research Commission, chairs the commission helped more than 81,000 36 years as director of the Padilla Bay the commission’s cherry committee, and families buy their first homes and financed National Estuarine Research Institute in serves on the Cherry Breeding Program the development of more than 141,000 north Puget Sound. Advisory Committee. multifamily apartments statewide. MIKE GALLAGHER (’80 Ag. Eng.) was IP Infusion has hired RAKESH DUBEY PATRICK TUCKER (’72 Ag. Econ.) is80 recognized as an American Society of 90 (’91 MS Comp. Sci.) as vice president 70 the founder of Water from Wine, a Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning of engineering. ∞ Baker Boyer Bank has nonprofit winery with a tasting room in Engineers Fellow. ∞ SUSAN BLACKBURN promoted CATHY SCHAEFFER (’91 Ag. Leavenworth and mission of generating (’81 Lib. Arts), chief executive of Bus., ’95 MA Ag. Econ.) to vice president. revenue to fund clean water and sanitation Providence St. Mary Medical Center, has She also serves on the board for the projects. ∞ DENNY HAYDEN (’73 Bus.) joined the board of the Walla Walla YMCA. Touchet School District. ∞ The Adventist was inducted into the Mid-Columbia ∞ AMY FREEMAN (’82 Const. Mgmt.) Development and Relief Agency has Agriculture Hall of Fame, winning the was awarded the Presidential Award for appointed ANNETTA “ANN” GIBSON organization’s Stewardship Award. ∞ Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and (’92 PhD Bus.) as vice president for finance. DENNIS MUNDEN (’73 Ag.) was inducted Engineering Mentoring. She serves as ∞ CHERIE DAVIS (’93 Soc.) is a new board into the Mid-Columbia Agriculture Hall director of the Penn State Millennium member for the Rainier School District. ∞ of Fame, winning the organization’s Scholars Program. ∞ JAMES “JIM” H. MARIO MARTIN (’93 MS Hort., ’06 MS Agriculture Advisor Award. ∞ The WELCH (’82 MBA Fin.) has been appointed Land. Arch.) has joined Shapiro Didway, Muscular Dystrophy Association has chief financial officer at Cognoa. ∞ ROB a Portland landscape architecture firm. named DONALD S. WOOD (’73 PhD RICE (’85 Const. Mgmt.) has built more ∞ SCOTT SAMUEL (’93 Hotel & Rest. Zool.) as vice chairman of the board. ∞ than 3,000 homes in 43 different new Admin.) has joined Rouxbe as director of AL ALDRICH (’76 Comm.) has retired home communities during a span of more culinary enterprise. ∞ JOZEF BOSMAN

46 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 CLASSnotes

(’94 Hotel & Rest. Admin.) is the new FREDRIK AMUNDSEN (’01 Bus.) is the Green Park Elementary School. The is the new, full-time veterinarian at the executive director for Summit Place 00 new chief financial officer at TGS. He appointment begins July 1, 2020. Mendocino Coast Humane Society. ∞ Assisted Living in Bellingham. ∞ RICK comes to the position after 16 years ∞ CRAIG DAMMEIER (’12 Poli. MATTHEW GLOVER (’17 MA Music) CAMPBELL (’94 Ed.) has been named head with the company, most recently as Sci.) has joined Holland & Hart’s was recently named executive director of coach of the BC Lions football team. He executive vice president for TGS Europe. corporate practice as an associate the Billings Youth Orchestra. ∞ GRIFFIN started his coaching career at the University ∞ STEPHEN ZIEGLER (’01 MA, ’03 PhD focusing on mergers and acquisitions, PLENERT (’17 Civ. Eng.) has joined the of Oregon before making the leap to the Poli. Sci.) recently founded the Center corporate governance, financing, and Portland office of KPFF Consulting Canadian Football League. He was head for Effective Regulatory Policy and Safe general business matters. ∞ SATIVA Engineers as a civil designer. ∞ TOM coach of the Ottawa Redblacks and has Access, a nonprofit research organization RASMUSSEN (’12 Crim. Jus., Poli. MURGATROYD (’19 Mech. Eng.) has also worked for the Calgary Stampeders, in Colorado that seeks to improve the Sci.) has joined the Seattle office of the joined Colmac Industries as an applications Edmonton Eskimos, and Winnipeg Blue way governments control drugs through international law firm Dorsey & Whitney engineer. Bombers. ∞ STEVE KING (’95, ’97 MS research, education, and outreach. ∞ as a lawyer in the firm’s cannabis practice Civ. Eng.) is the new public works director BRANDON DULLY (’02 Civ. Eng.), vice group. She’s also the chair-elect for the Greater Spokane Incorporated has for the city of Port Townsend. ∞ HENRY president of Guy F. Atkinson Construction Cannabis Law Section of the Washington 20 hired TYLER PARCHEM (’20 Poli. Sci.) SAYLOR-SCHEETZ (’95 Bus.) is the new in Renton, has been named one of ten State Bar Association. She founded the as public affairs coordinator. ∞ The principal of San Tan Heights K–8 in San Tan of ENR Northwest’s 2020 Top Young section in 2016. ∞ KYLE RYDELL (’13 Portland Thorns selected MORGAN Valley, Arizona. ∞ CHRIS FIGGINS (’96 Professionals. ∞ ALEX FRANCIS (’02 Supt. Cert.) is the new superintendent of WEAVER (’20 Soc. Sci.) as number Hort.), president and winemaking director Hum.) is the new general manager of Spokane’s West Valley School District. ∞ two overall in the National Women’s for Figgins Family Wine Estates, has joined Radisson Blu Minneapolis Downtown. ERICA IVERSON (’15 MS Eng., Arch.) has Soccer League draft. Weaver tallied 43 the board of the Walla Walla YMCA. ∞ ∞ Nintex has named BEN BREWER joined indieDwell as a design engineer. ∞ goals and 12 assists in 85 appearances HIRAL CHANDRANA (’97 Mech. Eng.) (’03 Comm.) its chief revenue officer, ALLISON (BANNAR) ZAGER (’16 Civ. as a four-year starter at WSU. During is the new president of SuneraTech. ∞ overseeing the company’s global sales Eng., ’18 MS Env. Eng.) is a staff engineer her senior year, she helped guide the TIMOTHY COMPTON (’97 Microbiol.) operations. ∞ SCOTT DICKINSON at ALLWEST’s Lewiston, Idaho, office. ∞ Cougars to the semifinals of the 2019 is the chief commercial officer at Avid (’03 Poli. Sci.) has been named principal CLARE BARTHOLOMEW (’17 DVM) College Cup. Bioservices. ∞ GREG FRICHETTE (’98. managing broker for Coldwell Banker Lib. Arts) and his wife, Shae, of Frichette Bain’s South Snohomish offices. ∞ JEFF Winery were inducted into the Mid- PIERCE (’03 Bus., Fin.) is the new chief Columbia Agriculture Hall of Fame, winning executive officer of Wipfli Financial. ∞ the organization’s Rising Star Award. ∞ MEGAN WICKERSHAM (’03 Ed.) is the 80+ 150+ JAMES M. MALCOLM JR. (’98 Crim. Jus.) new education program assistant for Hood WINEMAKERS WINES TO TASTE has joined Skagit County as its director of River County OSU Extension Service probation services. ∞ JOHN MUSELLA and coordinator of its Master Gardeners (’98 Comm.), president and chief strategist Program. ∞ CASEY PARVEY (’04 Soc. of communications and public affairs firm Sci.) is the new vice president at Alliant, 30 10+ The Musella Group has been accepted a Portland-based property and casualty BARREL LOTS GUEST CHEFS into Forbes Agency Council, an invitation- insurance company. ∞ SAM HOLDEN only community for owners of and (’06 Const. Mgmt.), a project executive THURSDAY | AUGUST 13 | 4PM - 8:30PM | CHATEAU STE. MICHELLE | WOODINVILLE, WA executives in successful public relations, with Skanska in Portland, has been named media strategy, creative, and advertising one of ten of ENR Northwest’s 2020 agencies. ∞ AARON EDWARDS (’99 Top Young Professionals. ∞ Integrated Comm., ’17 MHPA), chief executive officer Tax Services has hired MEGAN DIXON of Ferry County Public Hospital District, (’07 Hum.) as its new business manager. has been appointed to the Washington ∞ TODD DOWNING (’08 Digi. Tech. State Hospital Association Rural Health and Cult.), president and co-owner of Committee for the second consecutive Waterland Estate Sales, has joined the year. ∞ The new Roundtop Public House Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices at Palouse Ridge Golf Club is operated by Northwest Real Estate team in JW Links, co-owned by WSU associate Burien. professor JIM HARBOUR (’99 Hotel & Rest. Admin.) and WADE DISSMORE Fourth-grade dual-language teacher (’97 Hotel & Rest. Admin.). They also 10 CESAR HERNANDEZ (’10 Compara. own and run Fork in the Road Catering Ethnic Stu.) has been promoted to FOR DETAILS AND TICKETS, VISIT: AuctionofWaWines.org and Southfork Public House in Pullman. assistant principal at Walla Walla’s

WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 49 INmemoriam Idaho. JANET RAE EISENMAN HOLLOWAY LOIS ANN JOHNSON ( ’60 Ed., Delta Gamma), JAMES IRWIN SHORT ( ’67 Forest & Range 2018, Lake City, Michigan. JOSEPH ARTHUR KEVIN LEE BECK ( ’80 Const. Mgmt.), 61, ( ’55 Nursing), 85, November 25, 2019, Spokane.60 81, January 21, 2020, Bellevue. DAN L. SMITH Mgmt.), 75, November 9, 2019, Renton. SOLDATI ( ’72 PhD English), 80, December 31,80 February 15, 2019, Spokane Valley. BRENDA RODNEY W. BITTNER ( ’41 Bacterio.), 102, MARY JANE OLSON ( ’55 Socio.), 86, January ( ’60 Math.), 81, December 19, 2019, Sunnyvale, VANCE VERNON VALL ANDIGHAM ( ’67 2019, Portland, Oregon. JO ANN WASHAM GAIL SHEEHAN ( ’80 Comm.), 60, December 25, 40 January 1, 2020, Roanoke, Virginia. MILDRED 8, 2020, Port Angeles. H. THOMAS “TOM” California. VERNON LEE STEVENSON ( ’60 Gen. St.), 79, October 30, 2019, Lake Worth, ( ’72 Kinesio.), 69, December 6, 2019, Auburn. 2019, Tampa, Florida. LON CARLYLE UDY ( ’80 M. HENDRICSON ( ’42 Home Econ., ’46 Ed.), NORRIS ( ’56 Pre-med.), 84, November 20, 2019, Socio.), 85, January 9, 2020, North Chili, New Florida. PATRICIA H. CUDE ( ’68 Math.), 73, JOY ELLEN DUGGAN ( ’73 Poli. Sci.), 65, June Const. Mgmt.), 64, December 19, 2019, Ogden, 100, December 4, 2019, Whidbey Island. LILY Mercer Island. SHIRLEY LANTOW WEGNER York. THEODORE JAMES “TED” CARRATT October 7, 2019, Stephenville, Texas. PATRICIA 23, 2016, Goldendale. JANET ANN FIX ( ’73 Utah. JEFFREY A. GETTMANN ( ’81 Acc.), 64, K. (OLSEN) TICHENOR ( ’42 Home Econ.), ( ’56 Comm.), 85, August 21, 2019, Bellevue. ( ’61 Psych., ’66 Biol.), 80, November 1, 2019, JUNE (HARBOUR) JENSEN ( ’68 Busi.),73, Gen. St.), 66, July 24, 2016, Arlington. RODERIC November 4, 2019, Kirkland. PETER GEORGE 100, February 14, 2020, Waynesboro, Virginia. Grandview. WILLIAM F. MANN ( ’61 Physics), WALTER WENDLER BUSH ( ’57 Soc. St.), 88, December 27, 2019, Tualatin, Oregon. JOHN ALAN PERRY ( ’74 Wildlife Biol.), 68, June 13, SNELL ( ’82 PhD Kinesio.), 80, December 12, MARJORIE E. KILLINGSWORTH ( ’43 Home 80, January 5, 2020, Cambridge, Massachusetts. December 7, 2019, Hillsboro, Oregon. EUGENE CHARLES PENNY ( ’68 Biol., ’72 Wildlife Biol.), 2019, Everson. RONALD I. GREEN ( ’75 Gen. St.), 2019, Dallas, Texas. STEPHEN SCOTT FORD Econ.), 98, November 19, 2019, Spokane. R. DIXON ( ’57 Busi.), 91, May 3, 2019, Clarkston. LYNDA DONACA WIENK ( ’61 Music), 80, 73, September 22, 2019, Wenatchee. PATRICIA ( ’83 Elec. Eng.), 59, October 26, 2019, Portland, WILBUR F. WILHELM JR. ( ’43 Mech. Eng.), 81, December 9, 2019, Palm Desert, California. RITA ANNE MAZUR ( ’57 English), 84, February February 14, 2020, Lake Oswego, Oregon. JEAN SCOTT ( ’68 Ed.), 72, February 14, 2019, Oregon. CRAIG STUART OLSON ( ’84 Busi., 96, December 11, 2018, Canoga Park, California. WESLEY L. APKER ( ’62 MEd.), 83, December THOMAS F. FLANAGAN ( ’75 Police Sci.), 66, 6, 2020, Richland. ARCHIE EUGENE NEAL ( ’57 Shelton. DENNIS A. CLINKENBEARD ( ’69 Econ., ’04 MS Eng. Mgmt.), 58, August 20, 2019, JANE LOREN HALVER ( ’44 Gen. St.), 97, 21, 2019, Sacramento, California. GORDON November 27, 2019, Cle Elum. KATHLEEN L. Mech. Eng.), 85, February 9, 2020, Pullman. Mech. Eng.), 78, October 15, 2019, Wenatchee. Auburn. MICHAEL RAY RETTER ( ’84 Hort.), December 4, 2019, Lake Forest Park. S. IRENE D. MORGAN ( ’64 PhD Socio.), 88, December “KATIE” FREI ( ’75 Nursing), 66, November JAMES EVERETT NORRIS ( ’57 Pharm.), 85, 71, September 4, 2019, Spokane. GREGORY SEARS ( ’44, ’46 MS Ag.), 98, November 19, 17, 2019, Fayetteville, Arkansas. RICHARD 11, 2019, Longview. MARK RAYMOND August 6, 2019, Mesquite, Nevada. FRANCIS HARRY RUSSELL “RUSS” HUEBEL ( ’70 PhD ANDREW ZIUZIN ( ’84 Acc., Kappa Sigma), 59, 2019, McMinnville, Oregon. JACK BURTON WOLFE SPANER ( ’64 Hotel & Rest. Admin.), SNOW ( ’75 Mktg.), 70, November 5, 2019, EUGENE “GENE” SCEARCE ( ’57 Civ. Eng.), Amer. St.), 75, March 17, 2018, Kingsville, November 27, 2019, Bellevue. DAN R. NELSON WATKINS ( ’44 Chem.), 98, November 13, 87, May 24, 2018, Phoenix, Arizona. DAVID 70 Bremerton. STEPHEN CRAIG WECKER ( ’75 86, January 5, 2020, Brea, California. JOE E. Texas. MICHAEL LEE LANE ( ’70 Ag. Eng.), 75, ( ’85 Busi.), 82, February 4, 2020, Bellevue. ERIK 2019, Post Falls, Idaho. RAYMOND L. BETTS DEAN DEMEYER ( ’65 Mktg., Phi Delta Theta), Bacterio.), 66, December 11, 2018, Wauna. TREMBLY, JR. ( ’57 Phys. Ed.), 87, September December 14, 2019, Arvada, Colorado. DAVID RAY “WACK” WIITALA ( ’85 Soc. Sci.), 57, ( ’45 Arch.), 97, November 25, 2019, Spokane. 76, September 16, 2019, Mount Vernon. JOSEPH MARK ZEHNDER ( ’75 Police Sci.), 5, 2019, Liberty Lake. ARLO CUBIT ACTON ROY NEFF ( ’70 Gen. St.), 70, July 30, 2018, August 29, 2019, Seattle. KATHERINE M. REINWAND ( ’45 Busi., Chi STANLEY GORDON KING ( ’65 Mech. Eng.), 69, November 5, 2019, Everett. GEOFFREY ( ’58 Fine Arts), 85, December 13, 2018, Nevada Bellevue. WILLIAM D. PARSONS ( ’70 MAT Omega), 95, July 17, 2016, Folsom, California. 77, September 3, 2019, Lewiston, Idaho. HARRIS GOSS ( ’76 Arch.), 65, October 29, County, California. GEORGE F. BRADSHAW Math.), 80, January 7, 2020, Rawlins, Wyoming. KIRSTEN “KITTY” BRODERSON HINTON SALLY LOU JOHNSON ( ’47 French), 93, MARLAN KVIGNE ( ’65, ’67 MS Elec. Eng., 2018, Tacoma. STUART RANDOLPH JONES ( ’58 Busi.), 87, November 28, 2019, Edmonds. JANIS CLARKE WALEY ( ’70, ’82 PhD Speech & ( ’90 Anthro.), 52, August 9, 2019, Las Vegas, September 24, 2019, Ephrata. MARILLYN ’71 Eng.), 76, September 5, 2019, San Diego, ( ’76 Gen. St.), 71, December 24, 2019, Seattle.90 MAURICE J. HOOD ( ’58 Arch., Sigma Phi), Hearing Sci.), 71, September 16, 2019, Spokane. Nevada. ERIC PETER SKANSGAARD ( ’94 MS KILPATRICK ( ’49 English, ’51 Ed.), 92, September California. STEPHEN W. “STEVE” HOLLAND PETER J. LANDOLT ( ’76 MS, ’78 PhD Entom.), 84, November 17, 2019, Clinton. GLEN A. ( ’66 Wildlife St.), 78, January 26, 2020, Corvallis, LAURA J. BLOXHAM ( ’71 MA, ’75 PhD English), Psych.), 58, November 8, 2019, Wenatchee. 16, 2019, Pullman. NANCY JEAN LOWERY ( ’49 67, December 22, 2019, Vancouver. DIANE RICHARDS ( ’58 Civ. Eng.), 83, January 8, 2019, Oregon. SI ROGER JOHNSON ( ’66 Pharm.), 76, 72, November 18, 2019, Spokane. ROBERT PHUONG VAN TRINH ( ’95 Busi.), 46, August Gen. St.), 92, August 23, 2019, Everett. LESTER ELIZABETH NYMEYER ( ’76 Speech & Hearing H. NORDLUND ( ’49 Elec. Eng.), 95, July 9, 2019, Oregon City, Oregon. GAIL HELENE BENDIX February 4, 2020, Seattle. JAMES MEEKER ( ’66 JAMES HOLMES ( ’71 Math.), 70, November 19, 2017, Sandy, Utah. Sci.), 65, January 18, 2020, Lynden. HARVEY Seattle. DORIS JEAN SHERRILL ( ’49 Phys. Ed., ( ’59 Apparel Merch.), 82, January 10, 2020, DVM), 80, January 3, 2020, Hobart, Tasmania, 23, 2019, Pullman. EYOUNGSOO PARK ( ’71 C. BROOKS ( ’78 MA Socio.), 74, December 24, ’52 Elem. Ed.), 92, December 3, 2019, Tacoma. Bellevue. CHARLES ARNOLD MAYER ( ’59 Australia. GREG NEUMANN ( ’66 Gen. St.), 76, PhD Psych.), 81, January 4, 2020, Yuba City, CARIMAY MADAYAG SIYAM ( ’01 Nursing), 2016, University Place. DOLORES I. DINNEEN DVM), 85, November 26, 2019, Fond du Lac, May 23, 2019, Kirkland. RONALD PATRICK California. KACEY CHARLES COOPER ( ’72 41, March 21, 2018, Daly City, California. KELLY Wisconsin. RONALD M. MCKITRICK ( ’59 Busi.), 73, January 3, 2020, Pullman. WILLIAM ( ’78 PhD Ed.), 81, March 21, 2019, Portland,00 F. A. “BUGS” CHAFFEE ( ’50 Econ.), 92, “PAT” ROWE ( ’66 Comm.), 75, September 3, ANN KEIGWIN ( ’09 Hum.), 51, July 19, 2019, Oregon. NED LEON FACE ( ’78 PhD Ed.), 88, September 1, 2019, Helena, Montana. GLADYS Pharm.), 83, January 9, 2020, Yakima. EDWARD 2019, Bellingham. LARRY JOEL WISEMAN ( ’66 M. GASSERT ( ’72 EdD), 96, October 13, 2019, Vancouver. 50 March 16, 2019, Issaquah. KIM MAUREEN M. CRANE ( ’50 Comm., ’53 Ed.), 82, October LEE PETERS ( ’59 Elec. Eng.), 87, January 14, 2020, DVM), 77, June 29, 2019, Colorado Springs, Ogden, Utah. SUSAN L. KLINE ( ’72 Elem. Olympia. ROGER M. WING ( ’59, ’64 MAT Ed.), Colorado. HOWARD CRAIG HOTCHKISS Ed.), 67, May 28, 2017, Bellevue. DONALD MELINE ( ’79 Ed.), 62, December 5, 2019, Gig 18, 2018, Walton, New York. RAYMOND O. CHARLES WILLIAM “CHARLIE” DAHMEN 82, June 12, 2019, Issaquah. ( ’67 Arch.), 79, December 22, 2019, Yakima. F. SCHWAGER ( ’72 MFA), 70, March 21, Harbor. DORBOLO ( ’50 Busi.), 94, October 8, 2019, 10 ( ’11 Hum.), 30, November 1, 2019, Spokane. Salem, Oregon. LEROY ROBERT MAKI ( ’51, ’52 DAKOTA JAMES WOODARD ( ’15 DVM), MS Bacterio.), 91, September 9, 2018, Laramie, 31, January 17, 2020, Dorris, California. COLE Wyoming. MELVIN O. RASMUSSEN ( ’51 ASHTON BONVALLET ( ’17 Poli. Sci.), 24, Ed.), 97, November 16, 2019, Pasco. NONA HIEVEM AC EN December 22, 2019, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. T E LEE WINIARSKI ( ’51 History), 87, March 13, M A I W T E A 2018, Tumwater. ELEANOR MARY “ELLIE” F R I D FACULTY AND STAFF ADAMS ( ’52 Socio., Chi Omega), 89, October L EVERETT C. BURTS, 88, WSU Wenatchee, 25, 2019, Spokane. CAROLYN M. CANDEE 1958–1994, November 17, 2019, Wenatchee. ANDERSON ( ’52 Busi.), 89, December 19, W S Y ∞ SUSAN BUTTS, 60, Student Involvement 2019, Boise, Idaho. OSCAR JOHN FERRIANS U AC PHARM & Leadership, 1999–2020, January 4, 2020, JR. ( ’52, ’58 MS Geol.), 91, December 19, 2019, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. ∞ KACEY COOPER, Moses Lake. JAMES H. HAWKINS ( ’52 Pharm.), WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE 73, Mailing Services, 1972–1999, January 3, 91, December 19, 2019, Littleton, Colorado. 2020, Pullman. ∞ BEVERLY DOW, 66, Physical ROBERT ALLEN “BOB” OLSEN ( ’52, ’54 MS 2020 R. KEITH CAMPBELL LIFETIME Bacterio.), 88, November 17, 2019, Everett. ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT Plant, 1982–1998, March 8, 2020, Pullman. JOHN LE NARD WEEKES ( ’52 Pharm., Phi ∞ STEPHANIE FICCA, 51, Mechanical and Kappa Tau), 91, December 1, 2019, Spokane. John Oftebro, class of 1965 Materials Engineering, 2012–2020, February ROBERT JOHN DAHLIN ( ’53 Gen. St., Sigma During the Crimson Gala on October 2 in 27, 2020, Moscow, Idaho. ∞ KELVIN LYNN, Alpha Epsilon), 87, December 18, 2019, Spokane. Spokane, John Oftebro will be honored for 71, Materials Science and Physics, 1996–2020, RALPH H. KOLSTOE ( ’53 PhD Psych.), 93, his outstanding commitment and service to January 2, 2020, Salt Lake City, Utah. ∞ January 1, 2020, Grand Forks, North Dakota. the college and the pharmacy profession. LLEWELLYN “AL” PINGREE, 88, Physical Plant, CLARENCE ECKMAN MILLER JR. ( ’53 1976–1994, February 16, 2020, Pullman. ∞ Socio.), 89, July 22, 2017, Vancouver. DALE E. Learn more: pharmacy.wsu.edu/homecoming SUSAN WALLEN, 76, Electrical Engineering and SCARBROUGH ( ’53 Busi.), 92, February 5, 2020, or call 509-368-6675 Computer Science, 1990–2007, February 28, Camas. EVERETT C. BURTS ( ’54 Entom.), 88, Here to Help 2020, Salem, Oregon. ∞ JOE C. WATSON, 74, November 17, 2019, Wenatchee. LYLE ELMER Integrated Media Services, 1967–2011, February RILEY ( ’54 English), 88, December 27, 2019, 11, 2020, Spokane. ∞ STEVEN WEBER, 65, Phoenix, Arizona. PATRICK GARY DAMIANO 150 E. Spring Street, Pullman visitor.wsu.edu (509) 335-INFO WSU Vancouver Anthropology, 1994–2019, ( ’55 Pharm.), 84, July 18, 2018, Coeur d’Alene, Monday – Friday 7 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. January 14, 2020, Vancouver. 50 Visitor and campus information • WSU daily parking permits 51 BY LARRY CLARK LASTwords

CARRY ON THE COUG LEGACY WITH A GIFT FROM YOUR WILL

James and Marilyn Hyde left an estate gift to Washington State University to help fund student researchers, like Megan Asche, doctoral candidate in entomology and ARCS scholar. Their gift doubled the number of high-quality entomology students

ARTWORK and brought in expert researchers in pollinators, pests, and insect science.

PHOTO

BY YOU HAVE THE POWER TO HELP

ROBERT STUDENTS LIKE MEGAN.

HAFT Did you know that through a gift from your will, revocable living trust, or beneficiary designations, you can continue your partnership n the aftermath of the 1980 explosion of Mount St. Helens, Patricia Grieve Watkinson, then director of the with WSU and make a Washington State University Museum of Art, organized a nationwide competition for artists to express their I reactions to the eruption. significant and lasting Titled “Living with the Volcano: The Artists of Mount St. Helens,” the exhibition traveled to about 20 impact on students who venues in Washington, Idaho, Utah, Oregon, and Montana from 1983 to 1987. One of the artists represented was Linda Okazaki (’71 Fine Arts, ’75 MFA). perform life-changing Watkinson wrote about the exhibition and Okazaki’s work: research? Your investment in WSU opens doors for As one would expect, it was the cataclysmic results of Mount St. Helens’ eruption — the uncontrollable power of nature and the unleashing of chaos — that affected many artists. In this chiefly pessimist view, learning, outreach, and nature is seen as indifferent, negative, destructive, fearful or awesome — yet not without moments of discovery, and helps attract the beauty. Humankind is an impotent and hapless sufferer, frequently unaware of its helplessness and lack of control. . . . best and brightest to WSU. Animals and birds also fell victim to the volcano... . In Linda Okazaki’s watercolors Birds of a Feather Fall Together and Night Explosion, brightly colored finches, the embodiment of life, tumble dead from a bleak night sky onto the bare rock below. Mount St. Helens, the assumed instrument of Learn how you can make a difference at WSU: foundation.wsu.edu/estate. death, puffs unheeding in the background.

— “Mount St. Helens: An Artistic Aftermath” (Art Journal, Fall 1984, p.260)

After teaching at the WSU Fine Arts department for seven years, Okazaki moved to Port Townsend in 1980, built a studio and house with her husband, Ray Weber, reared three children, and maintained a studio practice, which continues today. Her son Miles, then six years old, was also represented in the Mount St. Helens exhibition. ¬

52 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2019 WASHINGTON STATE MAGAZINE PO BOX 641227 PULLMAN WA 99164-1227

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