Volunteer to read scholarship applications

Student Financial Services expects upwards of 800 scholarship applications this year. The department needs at least 50 volunteers to read and score that number of applications. There will be morning and afternoon reading/scoring sessions on April 7 and 8. All volunteers are expected to participate in at least one three-hour session—one hour of training followed by two hours of reading/scoring. You can attend more than one session if your schedule allows (only one training hour is required). Snacks and/or lunch will be provided.

If you would like to volunteer, contact April Tovar at 6-9103. Detailed information will be sent to volunteers.

NSF grant will fund summer research experience for undergrads

The National Science Foundation has funded a Research Experience for Undergraduates titled “Landscape Ecology and Ecosystem Dynamics: Integrating Terrestrial and Aquatic Perspectives” for $260,000 over three years. Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens, associate clinical professor, is the lead principal investigator and Steve Bollens, professor, is the co-principal investigator.

Over the next three summers this project will provide 24 undergraduate students with financial support to undertake hands-on, independent scientific research working face-to-face with School of the Environment and affiliated faculty mentors.

The project will target undergraduates in the Vancouver/Portland metropolitan area who may not be able or willing to leave their homes for a traditional 8 – 10 week residential research project, but who are otherwise highly qualified and wish to participate in an immersive summer research experience. This group includes many students who are historically underserved by STEM educational programs—veterans, first-generation students and students with backgrounds often underrepresented in STEM professions. These students will be good candidates for future upper-division undergraduate courses and graduate programs at WSU Vancouver.

Wellness incentive available for PEBB subscribers who qualify by June 30

If you are a PEBB medical plan subscriber, it’s time to start working on your $125 wellness incentive for 2016. The incentive is available through SmartHealth, Washington State’s voluntary, confidential wellness program. Here’s how to qualify:

1. Visit www.smarthealth.hca.wa.gov and select Get Started to walk through the activation process. Once you log into the SmartHealth website, you can set up and track your individual health-improvement plan.
2. Take the SmartHealth Well-being Assessment. Earn 800 points if you complete it by June 30, plus 100 bonus points if you complete it by March 31.
3. To earn more points, complete activities on SmartHealth’s website. It’s easy. For example, did you know you can earn points simply by attending a group class or working out at the Fitness Center?
4. To earn the $125 wellness incentive, you must earn 2,000 points by June 30, assuming you are PEBB-eligible on January 2016. Learn more on the PEBB website.

Children’s art on view through May 15

Art created by children in the Child Development Program is on display in the Library and Multimedia Classroom Building through May 15. Works in the Library are by preschool children ages 3 – 5, while those in the Multimedia Classroom Building (basement level) are by kindergarteners ages 5 – 6. Children in the CDP use a variety of techniques, tools and materials to create work that may be inspired by a famous painting or may exemplify the free expression of their own thoughts, feelings and expressions.

Take your taste buds to Ireland

11:30 a.m. through lunchtime March 10
Dengerink Administration Building Café

Dining Services’ Culture Café takes you to Ireland Tuesday for corned beef and cabbage served with boiled potatoes and carrots for $5.39. The soup will be golden potato leek and bacon sold separately for $1.89 a cup and $3.69 a bowl.

Enrollment management consultants on campus this week

WSU Vancouver’s enrollment management consultants, Jim Black and Arlene Cash of SEM Works, will be on campus March 9 – 11.  They are coming to conduct a best-practices audit and will meet with faculty, staff and students as part of that process. Following their visit, Black and Cash will review data provided by the university and work with the Enrollment Management Task Force to formulate an enrollment management strategy.

To keep you informed, the task force has launched an Enrollment Management Planning Sharepoint site. You can also find it on the Academic Affairs landing page under Initiatives. Feel free to visit any time. If you have questions, please direct them to the task force co-chairs, June Canty and Laurel Rea-Bullion.

Faculty, order regalia by Wednesday

The deadline to place an order for regalia for this spring’s commencement is Wednesday, March 11. Go to The Bookie to place your order.

Buy a hat, or two

The Bookie is having a hat sale March 11 – 13. All headwear will be buy one, get one for 50 percent off.

Women’s Studies offers lecture

12 – 1:15 p.m. March 12
Multimedia Classroom Building, Room 22

The Women’s Studies program will present Oluwakemi M. Balogun, professor of women’s and gender studies and sociology at the University of Oregon. She will present a talk titled, “Cultural and Cosmopolitan: Idealized Femininity and Embodied National Nigerian Beauty Pageants.”

Be ready for a lockdown drill Thursday

1:30 p.m. March 12

WSU Vancouver will test the mass notification and public address systems during a 15-minute lockdown drill Thursday afternoon. During a lockdown, you should:

• Find a space with a lockable door and lock it
• Turn off lights
• Cover the windows as well as possible
• Silence all audio devices such as cell phones
• Quietly form a plan to attack an intruder who enters your space with hostile intent

During the lockdown drill, expect exterior doors to automatically lock, and for staff to be checking areas for drill compliance and mechanical systems operation. Your participation is encouraged. This is an opportunity for the entire campus community to practice procedures and learn the expectations of a lockdown. An “all clear” message will signal the end of the drill just as it would in an actual incident.

Faculty & Staff Giving Campaign kicks off this month

The annual WSU Vancouver Faculty & Staff Giving Campaign kicks off March 23 and runs through April 3. With an outstanding giving history, WSU Vancouver is once again aiming for high participation. Sixty-five percent of WSU Vancouver faculty and staff participated last year—way above the national average of about 23 percent for institutions like ours.

Pullman colleagues will show their support for the Faculty & Staff Giving Campaign by serving treats from 2 – 3:30 p.m. March 23 in the Dengerink Administration Building, Room 130. Take a break, visit with friends and grab some goodies.

Visit the Annual Faculty & Staff Giving Campaign website to learn more and see the funds you may choose to support. If you have questions, please contact Lisa Abrahamsson in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at 6-9600.

Cougs in the Community helped Habitat for Humanity

Thirty Cougs in the Community volunteers helped out at the Habitat for Humanity store Feb. 28. They organized inventory, helped beautify the store and helped customers load their vehicles. Last year the store did enough business to support the construction of three houses.