MONDAY, MAY 23, 2022

On a beautiful Walla Walla spring day, Whitman College’s 136th Commencement included more than 340 graduates and family members in the crowd there to celebrate them—an entirely in-person commencement ceremony for the first time since May 2019.  

President Kathy Murray opened the festivities by welcoming graduates to what is "both an ending and a beginning"—and acknowledging all they had gone through to get to this day, particularly the resilience it took to complete college during a global pandemic.

As she closed her remarks, she reminded the Class of 2022 of the good things to come from this personal and shared hardship.

“We are certainly changed by all of this, and I hope we are changed for the better. That we are more empathetic, better able to understand, even to share the feelings of others, to experience life as if we were standing in someone else’s shoes. That we are less cynical, less willing to believe that people are generally dishonest and motivated solely by self-interest and that we are more responsible for and to each other.”

The special commencement speakers of the day told their unique and highly personal Whitman stories while challenging the graduating class to go out into the world and make a true difference—drawing standing ovations from those in attendance.

Check out the full recap in our Newsroom.

Noteworthy

Besse and Wood Receive Civic Leadership Award

Elea Besse (junior, art and rhetoric, writing and public discourse) and Lucy Wood (junior, psychology) are the recipients of the 2021-2022 President’s Student Civic Leadership Award, which recognizes outstanding student leaders in Washington state for their work in civic engagement and social entrepreneurship. Read more in our Newsroom about these outstanding student leaders and their contributions to Whitman and the Walla Walla community.

Whitman College Men's Basketball are back with our summer basketball camps! We have multiple sessions for Boys in Grades K-8 (Youth) and Boys in Grades 9-12 (Prospect)! Registration for our camps can be found at whitmanbasketballcamps.com. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Ethan Engeman at engemane@whitman.edu.

Beginning today, the Whitman campus will transition to summer building access and schedules. All campus buildings with the exception of Reid and Penrose Library will return to being swipe-access-only during their business hours.

To accommodate summer working hours, administrative buildings will be open by swipe access from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Academic buildings will be open by swipe access Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Other buildings and offices will be open as follows:

BFFC (closed May 23 until June 6): Monday–Thursday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m.; Friday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 6 p.m.

Bratton Tennis Courts (closed May 23 until June 1): Monday–Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Boyer House Mailing Services: Monday–Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., closing at 12 p.m. on Fridays

Boyer House Print Shop: Monday–Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., closing at 12 p.m. on Fridays

Glover Alston Center: daily 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Human Resources: Monday–Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Friday, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

Reid Campus Center: Monday–Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Reid Post Office: Monday–Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

OP Rental Shop: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m.

Penrose Library: Monday–Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sherwood (closed May 23 until June 1): main doors Monday–Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; lower ramp door Monday–Thursday 7 to 9 a.m., 12 to 1 p.m., 5 to 7 p.m.; Friday, 12 to 1 p.m., 5 to 7 p.m. 

Whitman Bookstore: Monday–Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

COVID-19 Cases on Campus

In accordance with Washington state Labor & Industries employer requirements, we are notifying the campus community that from Friday through Sunday, 11 people with Whitman access were confirmed positive for COVID-19. These people are now in isolation in accordance with our campus and CDC guidelines. 

The risk of viral spread is lower for people who are properly masked and following social gathering restrictions. Please continue to follow all our campus COVID-19 protocols to help prevent transmission.

This will be the final Whitman Today report on daily COVID cases. Throughout the summer, notices of COVID-19 cases in the campus community will be sent as needed by covidtesting@whitman.edu.

THURSDAY

Have an event you'd like to share with campus? Submit the information to the Events Calendar.

“Whitman Today” is produced by the Office of Communications and emailed weekly throughout the summer to Whitman College staff, faculty and students.

All event 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 Thursday for the following week'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.