Friday, April 29, 2022

In celebration of National Arbor Day today, the Tree and Landscape Committee would like to announce the campus Whitman College Tree Information Website. The project was initiated and nurtured over the years by Landscape Supervisor Bob Biles ’74 (retired), Landscape Technician Kirk Huffey ’95, Grounds Supervisor Jeff Jensen and Casey Doe ’20, who have gathered much important data while caring for these many trees.

 

Last fall, the initiative evolved into a website developed as a capstone project by senior computer science majors Spencer Van Koevering, Marco Thompson, Colin Aslett and Tristan Chung, supervised by Associate Professor of Computer Science William Bares and in cooperation with members of the campus Tree and Landscape Committee. 

The website allows anyone to input a tree code (all of our trees are labeled with a coded metal tag on their trunk at breast height) to find information about the tree. New tree information is being added on an ongoing basis; the Spring 2022 ES120B Intro to Environmental Studies class with Susanne Altermann, senior lecturer of biology, is currently populating the site with informational text and photos that on individual trees that they have adopted for the semester.

 

The site is also designed to encourage crowdsourcing, and we are excited to see what photos and information people will share!

Fun Facts About Whitman’s Trees

The campus has labeled and monitors more than 1,867 trees across 35 plant families. There are more than 165 species and hybrids plus many cultivars within those species.

 

Our most common trees are maples, dogwoods, birches and pines (372, 240, 104, and 102 trees, respectively).

 

Trees for which we only have a single individual include the shagbark hickory (D116), the umbrella pine (O36), the bald cypress (S54), the hackberry (E1) and the spindle tree (D96).

 

The campus includes several trees that have been nominated as either the largest or among the top three largest individuals of their species in Washington state. These “champion” trees include the hackberry at the south end of the Maxey breezeway (E1), a golden rain tree south of the tennis courts (E74), the weeping cherry in front of Marcus House (J47) and the burr oak at the northwest corner of Douglas Hall (O39).

Six members of the Whitman College baseball team earned Northwest All-Conference baseball honors with junior economics major Ben Parker and sophomore Julien Hernandez named to the first team and junior economics major Garrett Runyan named to the second team. Sophomore biology major Beck Maguire, senior sociology major Leo Rivera and junior economics major Teague Conder earned honorable mentions.

Following last weekend's Northwest Conference Championships, first-year Alexander Knox was named Second Team All-Northwest Conference for Men's Golf and first-year Katya Kurkoski was named Second Team All-Northwest Conference for Women’s Golf.

Pavel S. Blagov, associate professor of psychology, was featured in “What is Heteroflexibility?” on Mashable. Discussing this relatively recent (and still evolving) concept of sexuality, Blagov says people seem to use the term differently, and its use is being studied by scholars in gender studies, sociology and public health.

Michelle Janning, professor of sociology, discussed naming traditions in “The Parents Creating New Last Names for Their Children” for the BBC. Saying, “We’re seeing increased diversity of family structures that stem from various global locations where practices differ from Judeo-Christian patriarchal practices,” Janning shares about cultural and systemic changes that are opening up new options for parents in Western countries.

In accordance with Washington state Labor & Industries employer requirements, we are notifying the campus community that in the past 24 hours, one person with Whitman access was confirmed positive for COVID-19. This person is 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.

 

If you have any symptoms that may be COVID-19 or know that you may have been exposed to coronavirus, please be tested. Employees should email Human Resources (hr@whitman.edu) to schedule a test. Students can be tested at the back door of Welty from 9:30–11:30 a.m. and 2:30–4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and home test kits are available on the weekend from Residence Life staff or Security (509-527-5777).

Celebrating President Murray

Board Chair Joseph C. Davis ’80 and the Whitman College Board of Trustees cordially invite you to an all-campus celebration honoring President Kathleen M. Murray.

 

Friday, May 6 at 11:30 a.m.

Cleveland Commons & Stanton Hall Lawn

 

A buffet lunch will be provided.

Please RSVP today if you plan to attend.

Contact Lauren Riker (rikerle@whitman.edu) with any questions.

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