WSU Honors College Hosts Regional Conference in March in Spokane; Norton Keynote Speaker
PULLMAN, Wash.—The Washington State University Honors College will host the 36th annual Western Regional Honors Council conference March 5-7, 2009 at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Wash. Registration for the event opens today (Oct. 27, 2008).
“We are deeply honored to welcome honors students and faculty from 126 universities in 13 Western states to this event,” says Libby Walker, interim dean of the WSU Honors College. WHRC members are from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
“We have chosen the theme of ‘Pathways to Preservation, Sustainability, and Renewal,’ and we expect that many of the students attending will present posters or make oral presentations on that broad subject. Perhaps they will relate their presentation to the environment or to an aspect of their own honors program. It will be exciting to see how they run with the topic.”
The three-day event will feature up to 64 concurrent sessions and a concluding keynote address by M. Grant Norton, associate dean of research and graduate programs in the WSU College of Engineering and Architecture.
Norton is a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, and the vice president for product development for GoNano Technologies, Inc., which develops core technologies for emerging and existing clean-tech energy markets, focusing on renewable energy solutions.
It is the second time WSU has hosted the event. Several students from the WSU Honors College will participate in the poster and oral presentations as well as serve in various hosting roles at the conference, says Walker.
CONTACT: Beverly Makhani, Communications Director, Undergraduate Education, 509-335-6679, Makhani@wsu.edu
Libby Walker, Interim Dean, Honors College, 509-335-4505, walkerl@wsu.edu
Peggy Perkins, Administrative Manager, Honors College, 509-335-4507, perkins@wsu.edu