Tuesday, February 15, 2022

The Ben Rabinowitz Award is given in honor of former Whitman College President Tom Cronin, a national expert in leadership and politics. The purpose of this award is to help students with demonstrated leadership skills implement new projects or learning opportunities that, broadly interpreted, promote compassion in medicine or politics and also enrich the Whitman community. The award is $3,000, and this year, the Career and Community Engagement Center (CCEC) plans to give more than one award.

Whitman students or groups of students are invited to apply. The recipient(s) of this award are required to present the outcome of their project to the Whitman community within one year of receiving the award.

Last year's winners include:

• Joy Nina Nampaso ’23 who created the website Whitman Our Home that aims to dissect some of the issues that international students face whilst also providing information on how to access mental health resources. 
• Annika Mayo ’23 created the Physical Activity Reaches Everyone (PARE) Program that partners kids with disabilities in the Walla Walla community with Whitties to promote physical health.
• Elea Besse ’23 and Jasmine Razeghi '22 created the Whitman So White! podcast that seeks to humanize and create a compassionate space for an important and vital part of Whitman's community, by covering topics such as race, gender, intersectional identities, sexuality, activism, immigration, cross-cultural experiences and more. 

You can download the application below to view all the details and read about the application process on the Ben Rabinowitz page. Project proposals are due by noon on Friday, March 4, 2022.

 

Questions about the award or proposals can be directed to Noah Leavitt, CCEC director, at leavitns@whitman.edu.  

COVID-19: Questions, Data and Decisions

The future of Washington state’s mask mandate, which Gov. Jay Inslee has announced he is reconsidering, is just one question among many about what types of rules, guidelines and restrictions may be in place as we learn to live with endemic COVID-19. Whether it’s for decisions by the government, school administrators or on an individual level, there is a variety of data to interpret if we are going to follow the science on public health—as well as the ongoing concern over what we still don’t know. In the New York Times editorial “When Do Masks Come Off? The Hard Truth About Lifting Covid Restrictions,” epidemiologist Jay K. Varma discusses quantitative metrics, risk evaluation and the need to make considered judgment calls adaptive to the multitude of situations in which we find ourselves.

It’s less than a month to Spring Break and we know you all are already making plans! Residence halls will close Saturday, March 12 at 9 a.m. and reopen Sunday, March 27 at noon. Any students needing on-campus housing during spring break must request it by filling out this form by noon on Monday, Feb. 28. 

Whitman’s online stationery portal is open for just one more day! This is a twice-yearly opportunity to get bulk pricing, so if you will need items for the rest of the academic year, now is the time to order. The deadline to order is Feb. 16 for delivery on March 15. Reminder: Your portal login is not the same as your Whitman login credentials and is not automatic. If you have ordered in the past, you created a password when you first opened an account and your login remains the same. 

Positive COVID-19 cases in our campus community are noted in Whitman Today in compliance with state regulations. We also update the data in our COVID-19 Dashboard every Monday.

 

In accordance with Washington state Labor & Industries employer requirements, we are notifying the campus community that in the past 24 hours, a person with Whitman access was confirmed positive for COVID-19. This person is now in isolation in accordance with our campus and CDC guidelines. Though the likelihood of transmission is low due to our campus COVID-19 protocols, it is possible that others may have been exposed to COVID-19. There is nothing you need to do at this time aside from following our campus COVID-19 protocols. Anyone identified through the contact tracing process as a close contact (within 6 ft. for at least 15 minutes over 24 hours) will be personally notified. 

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 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.