Thursday, April 8, 2021

The 23rd annual Whitman Undergraduate Conference (WUC) will take place online from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 13.

This year’s virtual WUC is a reminder that necessity affords opportunity. Poster presenters and audience members will gather in a simulated Cordiner Hall to share research interests. Panel session presentations in Zoom rooms will include live question-and-answer rounds after each prerecorded PowerPoint talk. 

This year’s WUC includes three full panel sessions on Race, Violence and Health themes as well as panel sessions dedicated to Computer Science projects and Psychology studies. Three prerecorded musical events complement the panel and poster sessions. 

Visit the WUC webpage for the full schedule, presentation links and a preview of the poster presentations.

Q: What are “breakthrough” cases of COVID-19?

A: Large-scale clinical studies found that COVID-19 vaccines reduced the risk of getting COVID-19 in vaccinated people by up to 95% compared to people that did not receive the vaccine. However, the vaccines are not 100% effective in preventing infection. This means a small percentage of fully vaccinated people can be expected to still get COVID-19. These are identified as breakthrough cases, which are expected with any vaccine.

On March 31, the Washington State Department of Health reported that out of one million fully vaccinated individuals in Washington state, epidemiologists report evidence of 102 breakthrough cases since February 1, 2021, which represents .01 percent of vaccinated people in Washington at that point.

TIAA offers a number of live webinars about financial retirement planning to Whitman employees on an ongoing basis. This month’s topics include:

• Paying Yourself: Income Options in Retirement  
• Making it Easier for You: Online Tools and Resources  
• Quarterly Economic and Market Update  
• The Power of Saving 
• W2W Attention to Detail: Financial Finishing Touches for Women 
• Making Gifts to Loved Ones and Charities

To register for a live TIAA webinar, visit the Live Webinar Lounge.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating salmonella infections linked to wild birds in Washington and Oregon as well as several other states. Please be sure to keep your bird feeders and bird baths clean and wash your hands after touching a wild bird or any pet that may come into contact with wild birds.

Have a virtual event you'd like to share with campus? Email the details to whitmantoday@whitman.edu.

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