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Ten Years in the Making: Transgenerational Epigenetic Study Leads to Journal Co-Publications for Honors Undergraduate and Alumna

Ten Years in the Making: Transgenerational Epigenetic Study Leads to Journal Co-Publications for Honors Undergraduate and Alumna

By Phyllis Shier, WSU Honors College, peshier@wsu.edu

A ten-year study in WSU’s Skinner Laboratory provided bookend undergraduate research experiences for two Honors College students, one recently, at the study’s culmination, and one at its inception.

Sarah De Santos knew WSU might be right for her when she was invited to join its National Institutes of Health program Motivating Innovation and Research Achievement (MIRA). MIRA offers unparalleled undergraduate research opportunities for Honors College students from underrepresented groups majoring in biomedical science and engineering fields. A Genetics and Cell Biology major in the pre-medicine track, Sarah dreamed of becoming a pediatrician since she was five. But, as college approached, she began to dream even bigger. “I wanted to find a way to be a little more proactive and thought, ‘maybe I’ll involve myself in research,’” she said.

MIRA offers financial support for up to four years of tuition and an initial summer bridge program. It introduces students to lab rotations and summer research opportunities and provides the opportunity to attend a national scientific meeting. While the two labs she toured initially weren’t in her area of interest (i.e., genetics or epigenetics), De Santos reached out to WSU Eastlick Distinguished Professor of Biological Science, Michael Skinner by e-mail. Skinner is the founding director of the Center for Reproductive Biology.

“He replied very quickly,” she said. She visited the Skinner Laboratory a few days later. “After that meeting, he basically said ‘Just send me your resume and consider yourself a part of our lab.’”

Wrapping up a decade of research

Now a sophomore, Sarah’s undergraduate research in the Skinner Lab led to her first co-authored research publication in the latest issue of

Environmental Epigenetics. The paper, Multiple generation distinct toxicant exposures induce epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of enhanced pathology and obesity, chronicles the ten-year study that culminated a year and a half into her lab experience. The study examined three

Sarah De Santos (left) and Eastlick Distinguished Professor Michael Skinner standing in front of De Santos’s research poster in Abelson Hall. Click/Tap to enlarge the photo. 

successive generations of gestating year-old female rodents, strategically injecting them with environmental pesticides and jet fuel during fetal sex determination, followed by three generations with no exposure. The final “F5” generation determined the transgenerational phenotype for pathology and disease using “Deep Learning” artificial intelligence-based histopathology analysis. Results showed “compounded disease impacts in obesity and metabolic parameters,” while other pathologies increased only minimally, leveling out by the transgenerational F5 generation.

“While there was a slight increase with other diseases, like kidney disease, ovarian disease, different cysts, obesity was the one disease that you could basically track a substantial increase in as the generations progressed,” De Santos said. The study is novel in its transgenerational approach. “We bred them out pretty far and we saw how, not the first or second generation after exposure, but their descendants in subsequent generations showed an increase in obesity and epigenetic markers for that,” she said.

Sarah worked with first co-author, Eric Nilsson on histology and pathology. “Eric really helped me understand not only how to do certain tasks within the lab but also the reasoning behind them,” she said. She took tissue cuts of reproductive organs, preserving them in various rinses so slides could be created, and worked with the Deep Learning AI analysis program checking for abnormalities detected and correcting for variables identified that weren’t necessary for the study. “I was learning while helping it learn as well,” Sarah said. Even with the learning curve she noted great benefit in using the AI. “Using the Deep Learning system, we were able to speed up our analysis process; instead of it taking weeks or months, it only took one or two weeks.” She also helped with slide quality control, looking for cut off specimens or out of focus images, and helped with statistical data generation.

“For a first experience I thought it was pretty incredible that I was able to tag along at the tail end of this project and learn all about what we were doing and assist significantly,” she said. “I was very happy about that.”

De Santos credits Professor Skinner for having an impact on her overall journey as a student. “Coming into college I was very focused on just the MD track…nothing else mattered,” she said. Having previously shadowed doctors, she’d seen the clinical side of medicine. Discussions with Professor Skinner helped her realize how conducting research would allow her to help pediatric patients both in “…identifying problems and potentially designing solutions as well,” she said.

“That helped me get a better understanding of what Dr. Skinner calls preventative medicine… instead of, as a physician, just reacting to a problem, we identify the problem and are already researching solutions for it,” she said.

Outside her interests in science and medicine, Sarah loves learning in general—something that’s supported in her honors education. She took a poetry course with Honors College Professor Colin Criss and discovered an interest in poetry. She joined Palouse Review, the WSU Honors College biannual arts and academics journal and was surprised to find a strong science contingent within the group.

“Honors gives you the opportunity to kind of branch out a bit—maybe do something you’re not really comfortable with or used to, but, once you kind of take a chance, it’s really rewarding,” she said. “With science, you’re focusing on facts and data…it’s still creative but a different sort of creativity from poetry, so I appreciated that,” she said.

An honors English course with Professor Bryan Fry expanded her knowledge on literary and historical research.

“That was a very interesting class for me because whenever I hear research, I think scientific paper… and here’s this professor my freshman year saying ‘let’s go into the archives; let’s go to maps; let’s delve into these different first-person and second-person accounts… His class was very much about research but literary research and historical research.” Sarah’s project focused on early discrimination and exclusionary laws towards Asians, specifically Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and Korean immigrants. The project was of specific interest to her as her father and grandmother immigrated to San Francisco in the 1970’s from Manilla. While the Chinese Exclusionary Act was no longer in place, that change only occurred three decades earlier. “So, it was very interesting to see that contrast of my experience and my parent’s experience versus the experience of those who had to deal with such laws before they were finally done away with,” she said.

De Santos is quick to confirm how much she values the access her Honors College and MIRA experiences have provided her.

“Before getting into the Honors College and the MIRA program… I was very much considering just going to a local college, dealing with that, because I knew medical school was going to be extremely expensive,” she said. “Being able to come to WSU, especially since I’m one of the few people in my extended family who’s actually been able to go to college—was very, very rewarding; I’m very grateful for that opportunity.”

 The study from the start: An alumna’s perspective

 “It’s been a minute,” WSU Honors College alumna Margaux McBirney said with a laugh, about her role as Environmental Epigenetics second co-author in the 10-year transgenerational epigenetics study in the Skinner Lab. “I think I started in his lab the first week of college, so right from the beginning!” she said.

Margaux began by exposing test subjects to environmental toxicants, but also learned the research background of the project she’d be participating in. This differed significantly from a traditional lab experience, McBirney said, where students may be inserted into the process without fully understanding the scope of the project.

“I really appreciated that model because it helped you start to develop this understanding of the basis of our experiment… and then you could start to contextualize. It provided this foundation to build upon.”

Skinner (kneeling, in hat) and Margaux McBirney (blue tee) front row, last on right.

So, when Professor Skinner encouraged her to continue during the summer, she stayed, even though it deviated from her summer plans. “For context, during the school year I would be in the lab about 10 hours a week my first year; over the summer I was in the lab basically full time, so I think that’s really where things progressed.”

McBirney started working on histopathology analysis of tissues, helped to dissect animals, and helped to gear up for the paper on one of the biggest studies in the lab to-date. “It was absolutely worth doing it because…your rate of learning was so much higher,” she said.

One drawback of a long study meant significant data wouldn’t be available in time for her honors thesis, so Professor Skinner assigned Margaux to another study on the epigenetic effects of atrazine.

“That’s what was so amazing about Dr. Skinner and the Honors College is that they just worked in tandem so well,” she said. The atrazine study “paired beautifully,” with the timing of her thesis project. “Dr. Skinner and I reworked the plan to have me be more involved in that study and that ended with…another co-author publication and using that for my honors thesis.”

Margaux’s experience also included a summer in France via a connection the Skinner lab had there. She took an intensive French course onsite which helped with her honors language requirement. “That was a really fortunate opportunity as well—to go do that,” she said. An avid cycler, she got to see the Tour de France and do some cycling of her own.

McBirney progressed in the lab’s ten-year study to working with senior lab scientists on molecular techniques. “It was really an incredible experience where you got a whole lifecycle of these experiments; so often undergrads get a summer in a lab or a half a year… it was really amazing to have three and a half years of progressive experience,” she said.

“Ultimately, that’s really what got me my first job out of college, too, because that’s not so common,” she added.

McBirney’s first job at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Institute in Seattle eventually transitioned into a lab management role. “I applied to a lot of jobs there,” she said of her start at the Hutch. “I think what really stood out to their HR recruiters was the depth of my experience and specifically this niche area, which is working with animals in research settings.”

McBirney is currently Lab Operations Manager at Talus Bio, a cancer therapeutics company in Seattle.

Positioning students for success

The Skinner Lab has mentored honors and traditional students for more than twenty years.

“Mike is a super advisor,” said Honors College Dean M. Grant Norton. “Over the years he has mentored fifteen or more honors students, integrating them into his research projects in ways that often lead to undergraduate research publications and even career opportunities; students are grateful for those opportunities and real-world connections,” Norton added.

Training the next generation of researchers is vital to the research mission of the university and students in the Skinner lab are an essential part of his lab’s workforce. “I’m in the university because I believe that environment facilitates research activity,” Professor Skinner said. “I’m really looking for students who have a career goal that we can help facilitate.”

That trait is something he finds consistently in honors students.

“Honors students are far more serious about their academic futures,” Skinner said, noting that a high percentage of them often “tend to gravitate” to his lab rather than him having to seek them out. Often, he said, they already know they want to go on to grad or medical school. “Those students are committed to go on in their careers and to do further education and so those are the ones that really fit the best in a research environment,” he said.

Honors students recognize the reciprocity the situation provides.

“What’s really special and unique about Dr. Skinner’s approach is that he enables the undergrads and gives you so much room to learn and try things,” McBirney said. “It’s worth noting because when you do give that ownership and guidance—of course, with oversight—it’s really impressive what undergrads, as a general term can do,” she added. “You learn you can start to really contribute, make decisions, and be an asset to the lab.”

“If you’re looking for someone…to work in your lab, if they have aspirations to go on to the more professional degrees and stay in science, that’s how you select the better students,” Skinner said.

Students like Margaux and Sarah, for example. “There’s two of them… one at the beginning and the other at the end with no overlap,” Skinner said.

“Margaux was in on the very beginning several years ago. She basically got this project started with some other senior people in the lab. It took us forever to get all the generations and all the pathology and everything else,” he said. “She was one of my more productive honors students in the sense that she co-authored four publications.”

“Sarah played a significant role in helping us finish up all of the pathology over the last year and a half…summarizing a lot of the data, putting things together,” Skinner said. Once he learned she was an honors student who wanted to do an MD and a potential PhD, he knew she’d be a good fit for his lab. “Finding those people early in their careers is not common.”

Student Highlight: Andrew Davila

Andrew DavilaStudent Highlight: Andrew Davila

By Sophia Flippin, Honors Student Intern, sophia.flippin@wsu.edu

Meet Honors student Andrew Davila. Andrew is a senior majoring in economics with a specialization in financial markets and accompanied by a business administration minor.

He encourages underclassmen to say “yes” first and then worry later. Referring to his own experience, Andrew said students often let fears get in the way of their potential.

Andrew is deeply immersed within the WSU community and holds several leadership positions on campus. Last semester, Andrew worked as an Honors 198 facilitator. He worked with another Honors student, Matteya Proctor, to lead first-year students in topics pertaining to leadership, professionalism, and personal growth. He represents the Honors College as an Associated Students of Washington State University senator

Through the Honors College, Andrew has been able to strengthen his Spanish and mature academically. Most recently, you can find him researching firm resilience to demand shocks for honors thesis. The thesis process allows Andrew to pursue his interest in econometrics and its real-world applications. Andrew appreciates how diverse the Honors College general curriculum is and his ability to explore various topics. He fondly remembers Dr. Bill Smith’s Honors 370 class about the United Nations. Learning about the dynamics between various nations and their shared history made for an interesting class, Andrew said.

Outside of Honors, Andrew has worked within WSU Housing and Residence Life for three years and is now a senior resident advisor for the Stephenson East residence hall. He oversees 11 resident advisors, advises the building’s hall government group, and executes building-wide programs. Last year, Andrew channeled his love for chess into founding of Chess at WSU, a chartered organization that competes collegiately.

“My advice is to not place a perceived limit on what you believe is possible. Going back to freshman year, if I had told myself I would be involved in such lovely departments and balancing all my current work at once, my old self would not have believed it.”

Andrew is currently in the process of applying to graduate schools to earn his Master of Applied Economics. His ultimate goal is to become an economic consultant.

Faculty Senate Approves New Honors College HABILE Certificate Program

 

Faculty Senate Approves New Honors College HABILE Certificate Program  

By Phyllis Shier, WSU Honors College, peshier@wsu.edu

On November 16, 2023, WSU’s faculty senate approved the Honors and Business Innovation and Leadership Experience (HABILE) certificate, created by HABILE Director and Associate Professor of Accounting Sue Gill. The HABILE program began in 2016 and since then has provided special opportunities for Honors College students in the Carson College of Business (CCB). Students gain knowledge, skills, connections, and real-world exposure preparing them for outstanding careers in business-related fields.

The new certificate will require 15 credits consisting of four core courses and electives from an approved list, along with the co-curricular requirements associated with the Carson Career Amplifier Program. HABILE students earn the new credential by completing selected Honors and CCB courses along with co-curricular business activities in the CCB Amplifier Program (which includes “Meet the Deans” events, research and professional presentations, mentoring programs, and networking events).

The certificate program will allow students to leverage CCB capstone courses to jump-start their honors theses.

“A formal certificate will result in tangible recognition of the HABILE students on their WSU transcripts,” HABILE Director Gill said. “It will also assist in marketing the program and identifying a group of top business students to our external constituents.”

Honors College business majors who are invited to join HABILE benefit from exclusive sections of the Honors First-Year Experience course led by CCB faculty, early access to high demand Honors courses in economics and accounting, special co-curricular activities in CCB, and scholarship support from the Honors College and CCB.

“We are very pleased with the faculty senate’s addition of the HABILE certificate program. This certificate will provide recognition to students for the focused work they’re completing and increase the visibility of the exciting partnership between the Honors College and the Carson College of Business,” Honors College Dean M. Grant Norton said.

Honors College Student Fosters Community Through ASWSU

Honors College Student Fosters Community Through ASWSU

By Sophia Flippin, Honors Student Intern, sophia.flippin@wsu.edu

Honors College senior Luke Deschenes, a construction management major, hadn’t planned on heading Washington State University’s student government until a pivotal experience lobbying at the state capitol on behalf of WSU students, coupled with a nudge from his boss, led him to reconsider. Deschenes’ passion for serving students and extending his learning beyond the classroom led him to get involved with the Associated Students of Washington State University at the beginning of his junior year.

During Luke’s first semester on ASWSU, business senator Maccabee Werndorf approached him about running together for president and vice president for the 2023-24 school year. Initially he declined. ASWSU presidents begin their term over the summer, and Luke planned to return to the construction company where he previously had interned. He gave the offer more thought over winter break after his boss at the construction company encouraged him to explore the opportunity. That coupled with his experience at “Coug Day at the Capitol,” the annual student lobbying event organized by ASWSU, finalized his decision to run just weeks later.

Experiencing the legislative aspect of ASWSU made Deschenes realize student government extends far beyond planning campus events. “It honestly is changing students’ lives and changing their ability to go to college, to have an experience and grow as a person,” he said.

Deschenes put his name on the ballot shortly after, and he and Werndorf ran unopposed. Now, as president, he leads ASWSU’s executive staff and senate.

His administration’s goals are centered around what students want, Deschenes said. They have dedicated efforts to improving parking and transportation and to increasing drug and alcohol awareness amongst the student body.

Luke sits on two university transportation-related task forces and advisory groups. One focus is offsetting the loss of 90 campus parking spots caused by building construction. He hopes to relax some of the parking permit requirements in the area and to find alternative student parking spaces. Within these groups, he is also advocating for expanding bus routes and operating hours.

Enhancing the vibrancy of green space around campus and sustainability efforts are also primary pillars of Deschenes’ presidency. “Catastrophe of Man,” an honors course discussing ecologically conscious lifestyles and humans’ impact on the environment, ignited his passion for environmental sustainability.

Luke is working with WSU landscape architecture students to make Ruby Street Park more community-oriented. Possible plans include constructing a stage to allow for performances or building a parking area to increase access to food trucks. The goal is to maintain a park in an area that is primarily for student residences.

Deschenes is also collaborating with ASWSU’s director of campus sustainability, Kassandra Vogel, to create a new executive position centered around organizing monthly campus clean-up initiatives, undertaking beautification projects, and working alongside various Pullman organizations to keep campus clean. His experience planning a collaborative Earth Day event last year inspired him to create the new position, he said.

In his role as ASWSU’s Director of Community Affairs during his junior year, Luke served as the liaison between ASWSU, Pullman City Council, and the Pullman Chamber of Commerce. He focused on city issues, especially those impacting WSU students, and increased student engagement within the Pullman community, working to become a familiar face to Pullman city leaders by regularly attending city government meetings. Cultivating relationships with Pullman city officials was the most beneficial part of this experience.

“Being connected with the community greatly eased the transition into my presidential role,” Deschenes said. “Any time somebody reached out regarding something in the community, I already knew that person.”

Luke sees value in thinking critically about issues impacting his community and discussing them with a diverse group of students. The discussion-centered nature of honors classes helped broaden his worldview and created an openness to new opinions.

“When I get to hear students talk through their beliefs on certain things, it helps me change my perspective and put myself in their shoes,” he said.

The best part of his ASWSU position is seeing his team engaged in issues they are passionate about. “Seeing our executive staff and senate pursue things they genuinely care about is something that I cherish and appreciate every day.”

Much like learning to assemble effective student team leaders and uniting the executive staff, Luke will soon be leading a construction team on job sites. He recently accepted a job with a general contractor in Seattle and looks forward to beginning his career in construction upon graduation.

“I feel like all the things I’ve learned from this year and the skills I’ve developed from being involved in ASWSU, I’ll carry that with me for the rest of my career,” he said. “Even though I’m not going into politics, the things I’ve learned this year will still be very relevant in my life.”

Combining Research and Practice in a Global Society: Stevie Fawcett Draws on WSU Honors College and Microbiology Experiences to Envision an Innovative Future

Combining Research and Practice in a Global Society: Stevie Fawcett Draws on WSU Honors College and Microbiology Experiences to Envision an Innovative Future

By: Phyllis Shier, WSU Honors College, peshier@wsu.edu

Stevie Fawcett believes taking a global approach to virology and immunology research makes good academic sense. It’s a path he’s forged as an Honors College student in the WSU STARS program, which provides undergraduate students with three research rotations. Fawcett is a senior microbiology and Spanish major, minoring in German and jazz studies. He presented the West Nile virus research results he completed during his rotation in Dr. Alan Goodman’s lab at the European Virology Conference last May in Gdańsk, Poland. Fawcett’s trip was funded by the Honors College and is just one of the international experiences that has enriched his WSU education.

“The Honors College is a huge motivator for me because they really encourage their students to go abroad and have those experiences,” Fawcett said.

In the Goodman lab, Fawcett studied how the West Nile virus replicates by examining the mechanisms that inhibit the immune response in insects. He compared two West Nile virus strains, Kunjin, a less dangerous version from Australia, and NY-99, the deadliest form found in the United States.

“Stevie has a passion and commitment for research, and science. This is exemplified by his eagerness to rotate among labs with diverse research interests as a STARS student and his enthusiasm to present his work at national and international scientific meetings,” Goodman said.

Fawcett studied genes in the JAK/STAT pathway, which is broadly conserved in most species, to learn if the viruses were stopping flies from mounting an immune response. He saw that the Vago gene and same named molecule, for instance, weren’t upregulated as much when flies were infected with NY-99 as with Kunjin virus, where upregulation inhibits virus replication.

“What I thought was happening was that NY-99 had a way of stopping insects from mounting this immune response and producing Vago,” Fawcett said.

Seeing Europe and North America as the largest powerhouses in immunology, Fawcett searched for and found the virology conference in Gdańsk. “I thought it would be a really good opportunity to go abroad and present work and talk with folks who are doing that research over in Europe.”

Last summer, Fawcett received a Fulbright-Mitacs Program Scholarship to the University of Toronto, where he was introduced to research that directly impacts human health. He helped to optimize the way that T cells upregulate a transcription factor that leads to the formation of immunity “memory cells,” with an end goal of increasing the body’s ability to produce more of these cells.

“These cells are very important for identifying and eliminating pathogens and things that are not supposed to be there, like cancer cells,” Fawcett said. That experience inspired him to switch his focus from zoonotic virology to using oncolytic viruses to specifically kill cancer cells.

“You take the concept of a virus, which is incredibly deadly as we’ve discovered in the last few years and…(create) this new treatment option, which I think is incredibly interesting… for me, going forward, that might be a really nice combination,” he said. Fawcett hopes to become an oncolytic researcher while working simultaneously as a medical clinician.

“I changed my focus because the whole experience was just so incredible that I couldn’t picture myself doing anything else.”

In addition to his experience in Dr. Goodman’s lab, Fawcett’s first and final STARS research rotations are with Dr. Michael Letko and Dr. Stephanie Seifert, studying hantaviruses. “The idea of the STARS program is to prepare you to pursue a PhD,” he said.

For Fawcett, that includes building on the international collaboration gained through his WSU experiences. When he graduates in May, he hopes to attend the University of Glasgow’s program in cancer research and precision oncology that looks to breakdown the barrier between medical practice and research.

“If I’m successful in my career path, I’m going to be doing both sides; I’m going to be a physician but I’m also going to be in a lab. Washington State University has been amazing in terms of helping me develop research skills… I have this really nice skillset that is designed to address and study viruses and I can take that and apply it to viral oncolytics.”

New Appointments

New Appointments:

By Phyllis Shier, WSU Honors College, peshier@wsu.edu

The Honors College is pleased to welcome the following individuals this fall. We look forward to working with them and to employing the talents and skills they bring to the Honors team!

Tekla SchmausAssistant Professor, Tekla Schmaus, received her PhD in Anthropology from Indiana University in 2015. She comes to the Honors College from the University of Pittsburgh where she was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology. Schmaus conducts research on social organization in nomadic groups during the Bronze and Iron Ages. She previously studied people’s mobility patterns and their relationship to the environment in Kazakhstan and is beginning a new project on community organization in Armenia.

Currently, Tekla teaches a section of Honors 390 on global issues in the sciences, examining the various ways societies have engaged with scientific research on heredity and genetics, and whether those relationships have changed through time. The course begins with scientific movements and advancements from the late 19th century and proceeds to the consequences of human genome sequencing today. Schmaus hopes students can learn from past pseudoscience and apply those lessons to critically evaluate scientific claims being made about genetics today.

In addition to teaching and research, Tekla enjoys hiking and road biking, and is looking forward to exploring trails in and around the Palouse.

 

Gary HyattDirector of Development, Gary Hyatt, comes to the Honors College from Central Washington University where, most recently, he served as the Deputy Director of Athletics. He has twenty-five years of experience in higher education administration and operations in areas pertaining to fundraising, athletics, finance, and compliance. As CWU’s Deputy Athletic Director, he was a member of the senior executive staff, setting the direction, policies, strategic planning, budget, and goals for the NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletic program.

Gary has significant expertise in higher education development, administering university athletics annual giving and scholarships, donor cultivation and events, and solicitation and stewardship activities.

“I’m truly honored to be a part of this esteemed institution and a member of the Honors team,” Hyatt said. “I hope to use my experiences to facilitate ways for our accomplished alumni and friends to have an impact on Honors students as they become leaders in their fields and within the communities where they live and work.”

Gary began his professional career as a high school chemistry and biology teacher and as a football assistant coach, roles that prepared him to help shape the future of the next generation. “I look forward to the opportunity to enhance the incredible work being done by our students, faculty, and staff.”

 

Students from Kristin Becker’s Honors 280 course work with Walla Walla artist Keiko Hara making and printing with stencils in the Fine Arts Printmaking Studio. Photo credit: Kristin Becker

Kristin Becker Challenges Honors College Students to Live Life Through Art

By: Phyllis Shier, WSU Honors College, peshier@wsu.edu

Kristin Becker is familiar with teaching outside of her discipline. She taught digital technology and culture through an art and design lens for ten years before coming to WSU’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in 2020. “It was really valuable to me as an instructor teaching in the digital realm to think about my fine art training and to try to relate it to what I was teaching to the students about technology,” said Becker, the museum’s Curator of Education and Programs.

Using the museum as her classroom, Becker teaches contemporary fine art from a humanities perspective in her Honors College course “Contextual Understanding in the Arts and Humanities.” The course introduces elements of art, art history, and curation with the goal of demonstrating how the arts inform and impact lives. It even provides students with opportunities to create art.

“It made a lot of sense to teach the humanities section with that focus; it happened very naturally once I kind of understood what the overarching goals for the course were; I felt like it was something I was already always doing,” Becker said.

Even with her experience, the position provided new challenges. “They’re bringing a diverse range of interests to the classroom,” she said of the Honors College students. “It’s outside of my comfort zone to think about students who are studying STEM topics like engineering—especially students in the hard sciences—to see how they might relate to art in regard to their own worlds and their own day to day lives.”

Becker’s students, including those from her Honors course, contributed “Common Reading Connections labels” that help to curate the exhibit. Some of those are on display at the museum beginning this month in the “Here in a Homemade Forest: Common Reading Connections” exhibition which runs through March 9, 2024. The exhibition draws inspiration from the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and includes prints from the well-known Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts on the Umatilla Reservation in Pendleton, OR.

Becker, a printmaker herself, introduced Honors College students to relief printing using linocut, the process of cutting images or designs into a block of linoleum, leaving raised images to be inked. Their work was printed in WSU’s printmaking studio.

“They’re different in the studio space,” Becker said of her students. “You see them come to life in a different way, working with messy materials like ink; some people come out of their shells in ways that you’re not expecting!” she said. “We did printmaking last semester, partly because it was very relevant to the Keiko Hara exhibition that we had on view in the museum.”

The Hara exhibit ran until June 2023, overlapping with the course. Environmental concerns are a very big part of Kimmerer’s book, Becker said, and of Hara’s work.

“Keiko Hara is very influenced by a strong connection to landscape and place and that’s made very clear in the exhibit’s labels; the idea about how place affects us—how it holds stories and history.”

Becker first challenged students to write alternate labels for the Hara’s exhibit after they read Braiding Sweetgrass, connecting ideas from the book with Hara’s art.

“The book weaves together scientific ways of knowing and indigenous ways of knowing,” Becker said. After much research and many paragraphs, students winnowed their prose to its essence, garnering a better understanding of the work involved in the curation process.

Honors student labels in the current museum exhibition are from another project that connects to the common reading book, this one drawing from the museum’s permanent collection. Becker devoted about four class periods to the museum’s permanent collection storage where students chose from about twnty selected works for one piece each that they could relate to the book.

“They’re in the museum a lot and then they’re over in our permanent collection and it’s a very different experience,” Becker said. Without the benefit of curation, they were left to devise their own connections to the selected works. “The time that we’ve spent in the museum for most of the semester that is preparing them for thinking about the choice that they’re going to make and the way that they’re going to write about the work,” she said. For some students making those connections was quite personal.

“One of the important things that comes up in Braiding Sweetgrass is that you learn about the author’s history, and how her Native American ancestors were displaced multiple times and ended up very far from their original homelands on a reservation in Oklahoma,” Becker said. Kimmerer focuses on that loss of Native culture in her childhood and relearning it as an adult. Two of Becker’s students chose to write about similar experiences from their own families. One student’s great great grandfather was incarcerated in Hawaii during WWII, an experience that led to his family hiding their Japanese history. Another student related how it felt to learn about his Jewish heritage only after his grandfather had died, something he would have loved to have known more about while growing up. While they weren’t asked to reveal private history, combined material from the book and the Hara exhibit resonated.

“Those two examples made me cry,” Becker said. “They had the option to choose many things, and they chose to write about those difficult, difficult experiences,” she said. “There was a connection to the art and what they learned about the artists, but also to the subject matter of the book that they were being asked to write about; they were obviously being thoughtful and making connections.”

The museum’s recent and current exhibits, Becker said, are at least in some part focused on social justice concerns. Access to visiting artists further enhances the cultural experiences the museum provides. Renowned artists like master printmaker and sculptor Alison Saar had an exhibition at the same time as a Black Lives Matter exhibition two years ago, and Jeffrey Gibson, an artist of Cherokee and Choctaw heritage and 2019 MacArthur Fellow, will visit this year.

“Those pressing social concerns in many ways are very present, I think, in our landscape, in our country right now,” Becker said. Last semester’s students also met with Juventino Aranda, who gave a public talk at the museum. “He’s a young artist who talks about searching for identity at the intersection of Mexico and of America, and about being second generation American,” Becker explained.

Both Aranda and Hara, a retired professor from Whitman College, live in the region and were able to visit the university multiple times. “One of the great things that we do is we bring in artists from all over the country; that’s a good opportunity for the students and the community here to engage with those artists,” Becker said.

Becker hopes the art experiences of her students will continue to resonate with them. She plans to invite last semester’s students back to the museum for the current exhibition. “I’ll let them know and I hope they’ll come back,” she said. “I’m pretty excited that we were able to include some of them in this professional exhibition.”

WSU Honors Student accepted to England’s Royal Veterinary College

Alea Dews with her cat “Sir” and dog “Khaleesi” at WSU’s Honors College.

WSU Honors Student accepted to England’s Royal Veterinary College

By: Phyllis Shier, WSU Honors College, peshier@wsu.edu

Alea Dews appreciates how her Honors classes established a foundation for the challenging curriculum she faced with WSU’s Pre-Veterinary Medicine program, even when some courses felt like a stretch.

“I took a course in technology, and, initially going in, I thought ‘Why do I care about this? It’s nothing related to my major!’” said Dews, who will graduate this May with a bachelor’s degree in Animal Sciences and pre-veterinary medicine. Next September Dews begins coursework at the prestigious Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in England, with the goal of becoming an equine veterinarian.

Today, Dews looks at courses like the one in technology a bit differently. “It opened my eyes that there are a lot of approaches to things, and I really need to be aware of that especially since I’ll be studying abroad next Fall,” she said. Additional honors courses, including one that examined social and political issues through film, and a current course taught by Honors Dean Grant Norton that compares plastics and recycling practices in different cities, helped to broaden and nuance her worldview.

That nuance helped her to challenge and expand her views on caring for and training horses in courses she took with CAHNRS lecturer, Angie Reitmeier. Dews has been riding and showing horses since she was seven. She joined the WSU Equestrian Team as a freshman and continued with it through her junior year. Yet, Reitmeier’s approach to rearing and caring for horses was very different from what Dews had experienced.

“I don’t know if more ‘natural’ is the word but the way she trains is very different from what I’ve grown up with in the show horse world, so that helped me a lot,” Dews said. “After I get out of vet school and I have to actually go and deal with different clients I’ll have to be open-minded to different methods, having to adapt myself to how to do things differently but still get the job accomplished.”

Dews also benefitted greatly from an internship with Dr. Dana Westerman, a mobile veterinarian she shadowed and assisted for two summers in Monroe, Washington. “I’d help her set things up then I’d watch and ask questions,” Dews said. She also helped to hold and calm horses when Westerman conducted procedures. “She’d kind of teach me ‘this is the problem, and this is how you’d go about it,’” Dews said. Westerman partners with a program called “Heartstings for Horses” an organization that “grafts” orphaned foals onto adoptive mares. Dews became interested in this procedure, pursuing it further for her thesis project with Reitmeier.

“I have had the pleasure of knowing Alea as a student in my equine classes, as a teaching assistant in horsemanship, and as her honors thesis advisor. Every step of the way, she demonstrated her passion and commitment to becoming an equine veterinarian, and now she takes a giant step into the Royal Veterinary College in London,” Reitmeier said. “I couldn’t be more proud and have no doubt she will shine as brightly there as she did during her undergraduate years at WSU.”

As Dews prepares for England, she does so with confidence and a new appreciation of the synergistic efforts that led to her degree. “As far as people, I don’t really know anyone there so that will be a full fresh start,” she said of RVC. Dews was drawn to the college for their facilities and research program. “They have a CT machine for horses, state-of-the-art operating theatres, and do more extensive surgeries than you see in other places,” she said. Dews is also interested in research into Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID). Also known as equine Cushings, PPID is caused by overproduction of pituitary hormones causing a variety of ailments in horses and ponies of advanced age. Dews saw cases of PPID while shadowing Dr. Westerman. “I thought it would be really cool to be at the university that’s at the forefront for some of this research,” she said.

The process for getting into the Royal Veterinary College was arduous. It included a second application to accompany the veterinarian common application, supplemental essays, and, once she was invited to interview, a group activity with four other applicants and a series of six individual interviews in Dallas, Texas.

“It was nerve-wracking!” Dews said. But she’s also quick to point out how the presentation-based nature of her honors courses prepared her for the process.

“Coming out of high school I was definitely a lot more shy than I am now. Public speaking helped me to come out of my bubble a bit and that ultimately helped me with my interviews to vet schools,” she said. “Honors College professors teach really specific issues in their classes but the concepts behind what they are teaching relate to a lot of different things.”

Outsourcing to AI: New Honors Bornander Chair Tackles Ethics of Chat GPT

Photo taken by Bob James

Outsourcing to AI: New Honors Bornander Chair Tackles Ethics of Chat GPT

By: Phyllis Shier, WSU Honors College, peshier@wsu.edu

When students in Samantha Noll’s Honors College course on philosophy and technology raised the issue of Chat GPT and academic cheating, she knew she had to address it. Noll, associate professor in the School of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs, is the newly appointed Elma Ryan Bornander Honors Distinguished Chair. Recipients are outstanding WSU faculty at the forefront of research, pedagogy, and scholarship, and spend two years in residence at WSU’s Honors College developing courses and teaching and mentoring students.

Teaching for Honors

Chat GPT, the AI program introduced late last fall, caused widespread concern among educators at all levels. Capable of scouring the Web and compiling information, it produces plausible essays even at the college level. Noll had her students ask the chatbot itself about the dangers it might pose and discuss their findings. “One of the things I love about teaching a class on technological innovations is that they’re coming fast and furious and have huge impacts on what we do.” Noll designed her course around another technology with profound impact, the cellphone, using it to illustrate philosophical concerns about outsourcing mental capacity. “Socrates worried that if we used writing as a crutch to put down all of our stories, we would no longer have the capacity to create or remember them,” Noll said. “Fast forward to today and we still confront the question of what capacities we want to outsource.” To help address this issue, Noll turns to the Extended Mind Theory of current philosophers David Chalmers and Andy Clark who argue that technologies like smartphones have essentially become extensions of our minds. “Lose your phone, and your contacts, pictures, and navigation tools are gone,” said Noll. “It’s like you are literally unplugged from a part of your capacity.” She is also designing a new honors course on food movements or on philosophy of food and agriculture, using the plate as her starting point. “Philosophy can be very abstract and even intimidating for students,” Noll said. “Using something they are incredibly familiar with like their phones or the food on their plates provides a touchstone to begin thinking philosophically about our lives.”

Research funding

The endowment provides salary enhancement and research support for the recipient. Noll’s highly interdisciplinary research focuses on philosophy of food, environmental ethics and emerging technologies. Her work has been published in dozens of peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and in two co-authored/edited books. Her next book “What should I eat?” will focus on the ethical omnivore movement. Based on a pluralist food ethic, it recognizes the importance of honoring thoughtful, diverse food choices. “This is about producing food in more sustainable, thoughtful ways that improve animal welfare, soil health, etc. without necessarily taking anything off the plate so to speak,” Noll said.

Catalyst for Student Support and Community Outreach

The endowment also supports Honors College students working with the recipient. Noll is planning a public-facing project with students called “Philosophy Eats,” examining food-related issues from humanities perspectives. It will include a journal of short, publicly accessible articles on timely food-related issues and a podcast featuring guest speakers. “I want to use this as a platform to share the work we’re doing with the public,” she said. “Samantha is an exceptional scholar, teacher and author, and the Honors College is delighted to bring her into our classrooms and help support her research through this endowed chair,” said M. Grant Norton, Honors College dean.

WSU Honors Alum’s New Album Transforms Poetry to Music

Photo taken by David Fisher

WSU Honors Alum’s New Album Transforms Poetry to Music

By: Phyllis Shier, WSU Honors College, peshier@wsu.edu

Honors College alumnus Eric McElroy’s (‘13 Music) debut album, Tongues of Fire, released by Somm Recordings this March, includes songs that he says draw connections to his student days at WSU. Financial support from the Honors College allowed him to study abroad in Vienna before he graduated in 2013.“That incredible experience was only meant to be a six-month adventure, but I’m still in Europe ten years later,” McElroy said.

The album features McElroy on piano for four connected song-cycles and a single song. Each of the song cycles explores distinct introspective themes inspired by modern day poets, including former US Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin, transforming their ideas and meanings from the written word to music. Performing with McElroy is the celebrated English tenor, James Gilchrist.

The album takes its title from the third song cycle, which is based on the works of poet Grevel Lindop. McElroy credits his Honors English professor Robert Eddy with introducing him to Lindop’s work. That introduction and the education and encouragement he received from WSU music professor Gerald Berthiaume continue to influence his work as a performer, teacher, and researcher today.“Simply put, none of my subsequent achievements would have been possible without the support of WSU,” McElroy said.

In 2014, McElroy completed a master’s degree at The Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna. He earned an Advanced Diploma in Professional Performance with distinction at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2017 and is currently a doctoral candidate at Oxford University. He has written for solo piano, voice, choir, orchestra, and various chamber ensembles and his works have been performed across Europe and the United States.

Read more about his debut recording and sample the new album in Opera Today here. An interview with McElroy will appear in an upcoming issue of BBC Music Magazine.