Monday, September 12, 2022

Convocation marks the beginning of the academic cycle, and also serves to welcome the incoming class of first-year students into our community. For those not able to attend the 2022 Whitman College Convocation ceremony on Monday, August 29, it is now available to watch online. 

Noteworthy

Mina Schwabacher Professor of English/Creative Writing and Humanities Katrina Roberts has published her seventh book, "LIKENESS,"  a bold, full-color lyrical meditation of interlaced verbal and visual images that explores what it means to be alive during fractured times. Navigating art-historical concepts and tropes, embracing kinship with the experimental tradition of comics, and engaging in conversation with wide-ranging articulations of poetry, "LIKENESS" wrestles with ideas about identity, responsibility, domesticity, home, violence, gender, and faith, enacting the unsayable in terms neither entirely visceral nor cerebral, revealing sense via poetic syntaxes most aligned with the music and gestures of architecture and dance.

Please note that smoke is causing unhealthy outdoor air quality in our region. Keep windows closed and minimize time spent outdoors if possible. As a reminder, the high-quality masks used to protect against COVID-19 (N95, KF94)  also protect against smoke particle inhalation. 

Whitman campus has returned to a mask-optional policy for indoor public spaces. With that in mind, please remember the following:

• Each person should consider their own risk factors to decide if masking remains part of their COVID-19 protective practices. 

• We will continue to provide COVID-19 self-tests and masks for students and employees.

  Please carry a mask with you in case you are asked to wear one.

• In classrooms, faculty may choose to continue requiring masks or making them optional.

We will continue to monitor cases, conduct contact tracing, and provide on-campus isolation space and support for students.

The Community Fellow Program supports organizations of the Walla Walla Valley to create part-time fellowships addressing some of the area's social, economic, and cultural challenges. Positions are posted on Handshake, and  applications are due today! Questions? Contact Abby Juhasz, director of community engagement.

Applications for the Fall Whitman Internship Grant are now open! The Whitman Internship Grant (WIG) is a competitive grant that provides funding to students who secure or build an unpaid internship opportunity at non-profit organizations, some for-profit organizations, and government offices. WIG info sessions are required for eligibility in the application process. More information on the WIG application, process and info session dates, is available online.

Whitman's employee wellness program Movement That Matters (MTM) will start up again with a Fall Sampler Session, Monday-Friday, Oct. 3-Dec. 16.  Look forward to five class options per week during the noon hour, including Pilates, yoga, cardio, stretch & strength and MELT.

Participants pay a $25 enrollment fee for the 10-week Fall Session (register online), and the college pays the rest, more than half of the costs of instructors' fees. Questions? Contact Laura Cummings, off-campus studies coordinator.

COVID-19 Updates

In accordance with Washington state Labor & Industries employer requirements, we are notifying the campus community that over the weekend, three people Whitman access were confirmed positive for COVID-19.

 

Please continue to follow all our campus COVID-19 protocols to help prevent transmission. If you have any symptoms that may be COVID-19 or know that you may have been exposed to coronavirus, please be tested. Additional masks and rapid test kits are available 7:30-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the Welty Student Health Center. 

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“Whitman Today” is produced by the Office of Communications and is emailed Monday through Friday to Whitman College staff, faculty and students. All times are listed in Pacific Daylight Time. 

 

Submissions are welcome! If you have a professional or personal accomplishment to celebrate, an event to publicize or other content to share with the Whitman community, email whitmantoday@whitman.edu. Submissions should be 125 words or less. The deadline for submissions is noon for the following day's newsletter, though submissions may be held for a later date according to space and editorial needs. By submitting to Whitman Today you also authorize use on Whitman's social media unless otherwise specified.

 

Previous issues of Whitman Today are archived on our website.