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What's English 101 Done for Me Lately?

Writing Instruction Support Sessions - English 101

Q: Why do upper-division students still struggle with writing conventions?

Q: I heard they're doing podcasts in ENG 101. Don't students need more instruction in writing

Q: What percentage of WWU students take English 101, or get any university writing instruction during their first two years?

Communication/Writing was one of three areas of weakness identified in the Faculty Senate 2016 General Education Task Force Report.  The Writing Instruction Support (WIS) program will host a discussion about English 101 and its place in Western’s curriculum on January 17 from 4 to 5 pm and January 18 from noon to 1pm in HH232.  Participants will include Director of Composition Jeremy Cushman, Assistant Director Shannon Kelly, English 101 graduate TAs, and English 101 students—including voices dissatisfied with the current 101 experience. Join us to learn more about these issues and bring your own questions for discussion.

Have questions, but can’t attend? Please send queries to Julie Dugger, Director of WIS at Western, julie.dugger@wwu.edu.

The WIS program provides direct assistance to faculty members who are teaching writing intensive courses within their disciplines, offering personalized consultations on a variety of topics, including writing course syllabi, assignments, response methods, and evaluation schemes.  WIS is a program of Western Libraries and a Learning Commons partner.  

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A Touch of Zen

Masters of Asian Cinema: “A Touch of Zen”  

The next film in the Masters of Asian Cinema series (formerly known as the “Masters of Japanese Cinema” series) is King Hu’s 1971 epic, A Touch of Zen. It screens Tuesday, January 10th at 6:30pm at Pickford Film Center, 1318 Bay Street.

King Hu (Hu Jinquan) is considered to be one of the most important innovators in martial arts cinema in Hong Kong, and also later in Taiwan.  He got his start as an assistant to Li Han-hsiang for The Love Eterne, a “yellow plum” opera film from 1963.  His second feature, Come Drink With Me (1966), helped solidify his reputation as a martial arts film director.  

King Hu exploits the editing and the vertical space of his films in fresh ways, lending a dynamism that became very influential.  Hu’s films often depict skilled fighters resisting corrupt government officials, and important roles were given to “nuxia,” or female knights-errant.  

Golden Swallow, the nuxia character from Come Drink With Me, was played by Chang Pei-Pei, who was later given the role of Jade Fox in Lee Ang’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), a film considered to be influenced by precedents established by Hu’s work.  According to series curator and WWU librarian Jeff Purdue, A Touch of Zen may be the film most directly responsible for the look and feel of Lee’s film, and many other martial arts films that followed from Hu’s masterpiece.  

Co-sponsored by Western Libraries and the Pickford Film Center, the Masters of Japanese Cinema series was one of the Pickford's longest running and most loved series, featuring some of the best films in World Cinema with movies that span both decades and genres. The Masters of Asian Cinema series promises to continue that rich tradition.  Each film in the series begins with an introduction from select speakers including local professors, artists, and educators. A Touch of Zen will be introduced by Dr. Li Wang, who teaches Chinese at Western.

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Barney Scout Mann & the Pacific Crest Trail

Barney Scout Mann to Discuss His Recent Book ‘The Pacific Crest Trail: Exploring America’s Wilderness Trail’

Pacific Crest Trail historian and avid backpacker Barney Scout Mann will speak about the history of the trail and the publication it inspired at Western Libraries at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 23 in the Reading Room (Wilson Library, 4 Central). The event is free and open to the public.
 

A backpacker for 50 years, Barney Scout Mann was 13 when he went on his first 50-miler – a week-long backpack in the Sierra Nevada. In 2007, he and his wife Sandy thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, spending more than five months walking a 2,650-mile continuous line from Mexico to Canada. The New York Times calls Mann “the informal historian for the trail” and Backpacker Magazine calls him a “geek for trail history.”

Earlier this year, Mann co-authored the Pacific Crest Trail Association’s new book, The Pacific Crest Trail: Exploring America’s Wilderness Trail, along with Mark Larabee. The book tells the gripping saga of this true American wilderness trail through a series of 250 historic and scenic photographs. It was recently named “Book of the Year” by Backpacker Magazine.

During his presentation, Mann will present stories, photos and videos from the trail, followed by book sales and signings.

 

This talk is being offered as part of the Heritage Resources Distinguished Speakers program, which are events featuring presenters who are authorities in their respective fields and who have used Heritage Resources collections significantly in their research. 

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TLA Begins Jan 11 & 12

“How do we learn from one another through meaningful dialogue that addresses and creates active communities?”

That's the Teaching-Learning Academy’s BIG question for 2016-2017. Faculty, staff, community members, and more than 60 students worked collectively throughout fall quarter to create a shared question that addresses how we can better enhance the teaching and learning environment at Western. TLA participants will spend winter 2017 exploring and gathering data to address this year’s question, and all students, faculty and staff are invited to participate.

The TLA dialogue sessions begin January 11 and 12, and meets every other week for a total of five meetings for the quarter.

There are four group options:

  • Wednesdays from noon to 1:20 p.m. (Jan 11, 25; Feb 8, 22; Mar 8)
  • Wednesdays from 2 to 3:20 p.m. (Jan 11, 25; Feb 8, 22; Mar 8)
  • Thursdays from noon to 1:20 p.m. (Jan 12, 26; Feb 9, 23; Mar 9)
  • Thursdays from 2 to 3:20 p.m. (Jan 12, 26; Feb 9, 23; Mar 9)

 

While the sessions run for approximately 80 minutes, attendees are welcome to stop by based on their availability. All dialogue groups meet in the Learning Commons in Wilson 2 West.

Students can also participate for Library practicum credit. For more information, contact Shevell.Thibou@wwu.edu. Also contact Shevell Thibou to sign up for a TLA dialogue session.

The Teaching-Learning Academy (TLA) is the central forum for the scholarship of teaching and learning at Western Washington University and brings together a broad spectrum of perspectives from across campus. Engaged in studying the intersections between teaching and learning, TLA members include faculty, students, administrators, and staff from across the University, as well as community members.

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Climbing Mount Everest

Larry Nielson and Paul Madison to Discuss Historic Climb of Mount Everest Jan. 17

 
 
Western Athletic Hall of Famer Larry Nielson and Western Athletics Historian Paul Madison will speak at Western Libraries at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17th in Special Collections (Wilson Library 6th floor). The event is free and open to the public.
 
During this talk, Madison will interview Nielson about his historic ascent up the world’s highest mountain, and they will also discuss what motivated Nielson to pursue mountain climbing. On May 7, 1983, Nielson, along with three other Americans and a Nepalese Sherpa, summited the peak from the southeast ridge located on the Nepal-China border. Nielson was the first American mountaineer to climb Mt. Everest without using bottled oxygen. 
 
Besides Everest, Nielson has climbed Mount Lobouche and the northeast face of Mount Kangchenjunga in Nepal; Peak Lenin in the former Soviet Union; Denali (Mount McKinley) and Mount La Perouse in Alaska; and on numerous occasions Mount Rainier in Washington State. 
 
While a student at Western, Nielson was an outstanding runner in cross country and track and field, making national appearances in both sports. Nielson completed his teaching degree at Western in 1970, and earned a Master’s degree in psychology at Washington State University in 1976. He was inducted into the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000, and received an Alumni Achievement Award from Washington State University in 2010. 
 
Madison is serving his second year as Western Athletics Historian following nearly fifty years as Director of Sports Information at Western. He was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame in 2011, and received the WWU Athletics Lynda Goodrich Legacy Award in 2015.  Madison first met Nielson when they were both students at Western in 1966, and he was a member of the first journalism class to graduate from Western in 1971. He is the author of the online series “Carver Memories,” which shares stories and interviews with former Western student athletes, coaches, and staff. 
 
 
 
The talk is offered as part of the Heritage Resources Distinguished Speakers program, which are events featuring presenters who are authorities in their respective fields and who have used Heritage Resources collections significantly in their research. 
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Transfer Student Info Session Jan. 12

Are you a transfer student interested in learning more about services available to you at WWU?  

Join Western Libraries, the Learning Commons, and New Student Services on January 12 at 5:30 p.m. for a Transfer Student Info Panel where we will answer your questions about resources on campus, ranging from research and writing services to student employment opportunities.

The panel will feature representatives from the Libraries and the Learning Commons, Financial Aid, Student Employment, and the Student Business Office. Light snacks will be provided. This event is being offered as part of transfer student orientation. Event location is Western Libraries, Haggard Hall Room 222. 

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Benjamin Madley to Speak @WWU

Historian Benjamin Madley to Discuss his Research on Native American Genocide in California

Benjamin Madley, associate professor of History at the University of California at Los Angeles, will discuss his research on Native American genocide in the United States at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at Western Washington University’s Academic West room 204. The event is co-sponsored by Western’s Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity, the Department of History, and the Western Libraries.  The presentation is free and open to the public; free public event parking will be available in Lot 12A – (formerly the “gravel lot,” but now paved) - on South Campus.

Between 1846 and 1873, California’s Indian population plunged from approximately 150,000 to 30,000. This is the subject of Madley’s new book, An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873, for which he received the 2016 Heyday Books History Award from Heyday Books Publishing House.

Madley’s presentation will explore the rise of a state-sanctioned killing machine and the broad social, judicial, and political support for genocide. He will describe precursors to the genocide and explain how the Gold Rush stirred vigilante violence, the involvement of state and federal officials, the taxpayer dollars that supported the violence, indigenous resistance, who did the killing, and why the killings ended. Besides evaluating government officials’ culpability, Madley considers why the slaughter constituted genocide and how other possible genocides within and beyond the Americas might be investigated.

Madley is a historian of Native America, the United States, and colonialism in world history. He writes about American Indians as well as colonial genocides in Africa, Australia, and Europe, often applying a transnational and comparative approach. Madley's current research explores Native American labor in the making of the western United States. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Yale University, his master’s degree at Oxford University, and a doctorate at Yale. He then served as an Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral fellow at Dartmouth College before joining the faculty at UCLA where he is now associate professor of History and interim chair of the university’s American Indian Studies program.

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Right Now, Wrong Then

Masters of Asian Cinema: Right Now, Wrong Then

The next film in the Masters of Asian Cinema series (formerly known as the “Masters of Japanese Cinema” series) is Hong Song-soo’s 2015 Right Now, Wrong Then.  It screens Tuesday, December 6 at 6:30 pm at Pickford Film Center, (318 Bay Street).  

Hong Song-soo is a prolific director, having made 18 feature films since his debut in 1996. Making on average one film a year, he has also created a distinctive body of work in contemporary cinema. His characters are often filmmakers, painters, or writers, engaged in the ordinary business of life, love, and friendship.

Right Now, Wrong Then features a film director who goes to another city to present his work and meets someone there in whom he becomes romantically interested. The film explores how subtle variations in how we present ourselves to others can produce significant changes in our relationships with them.

Co-sponsored by Western Libraries and the Pickford Film Center, the Masters of Japanese Cinema series was one of the Pickford's longest running and most loved series, featuring some of the best films in World Cinema with movies that span both decades and genres. The Masters of Asian Cinema series promises to continue that rich tradition.  

Each film in the series begins with an introduction from select speakers including local professors, artists, and educators. David Gray, who is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Film Studies in the English Department at Western Washington University. Gray completed his PhD in 2015 in the Film and Media Studies Department at the University of California Santa Barbara, where he wrote a dissertation on post dictatorship documentary from the Southern Cone. He has published in Media Fields Journal, Studies in Documentary Film, and WideScreen (forthcoming). His research and teaching interests include documentary, Latin American Cinema, spatial studies, trauma and memory studies, and the essay film.

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Campus History with Heritage Resources

The Fall 2016 edition of Heritage Highlights is now available! In this issue we explore Western's 620 High Street, circa 1950, University Archives.campus history, including a timeline of past presidents, the development of the university's physical and built environment, and recollections and reminiscences of former faculty and staff told through oral histories.

Heritage Resources is a division of Western Libraries which includes the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Special Collections, and University Archives & Records Management.

Image: 620 High Street, circa 1950, University Archives.

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Summit to Salish Sea in Western CEDAR

New Journal Featuring the Work of WWU Huxley College Graduate Students

Open Access Week may be over, but we still have news to share of how Western is contributing to Open Access every single day. Did you know that Western’s Master Theses collection is the most highly-used collection in  Western CEDAR? And now the addition of a brand new journal, Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays, demonstrates yet again how WWU graduate students are actively supporting Western’s commitment to enrich academic inquiry and strengthen communities by sharing their work in CEDAR.

This new journal, hosted by Western Washington University's Huxley College of the Environment and the North Cascades Institute, showcases the work of the students in the Masters of Environmental Education program. Articles are based on the final capstone presentations from the end of the graduate students’ programs, and cover a wide range of subjects related to environmental education.  Submissions in the journal are separated into two formats: speeches and essays, and some are enriched with multimedia.

“Currently, the journal is oriented around the theory and practice of environmental education with a focus on personal stories and revelations arising from teaching and study of the field,” explained journal founder and editor-in-chief, Nick Stanger. “Topics are as diverse as the student body, including forest-based schools, queer theory and environmental education.”

Graduate students from the M.Ed. residency program whose work is featured in S2SS: Inquiries and Essays / photo courtesy of Nick Stanger

 

Stanger is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Education in the Department Environmental Studies. He came to Western two years ago from the University of Victoria, where he recently received his doctoral degree examining transformative experiences and places. He decided to start this journal when he was searching for a way to document, celebrate, and share the tremendous work that his students put into their culminating projects, which are not finalized in the form of traditionally-defined theses. CEDAR seemed like a perfect fit for a number of reasons, including its capability to support a variety of content formats.

“CEDAR gives me the opportunity to include many of my students’ media, including audio, video, and still photographs,” explained Stanger. And as for what inspired the journal’s title? Recognizing the invaluable relationship between the environment and one’s own learning experiences, the title pays homage to both.  As described on the journal site:

 “The students' experience ranges from the summits of the North Cascades to the Salish Sea, a binational location, long recognized for its ecological and cultural diversity. Hosted within the traditional territories of many Coast Salish First Nations, this educational experience influences a rich inquiry into the nuances and complexities of environmental education. Whether students are tackling early childhood environmental education, environmental or education philosophy, or cultural explorations in education, their submissions represent a distinctly powerful Masters experience.”

Graduating students on the day of their capstone presentations ‘Passing the Paddle’ to the incoming cohort.

 

Western currently publishes two journals in CEDAR, (the other one being the Journal of Educational Controversy, hosted by Woodring College), with anticipated growth in this area in the near future. Part of a global movement promoting access to scholarship and creative works, Western CEDAR (an acronym for Contributing to Education through Digital Access to Research) officially launched in the fall of 2014,  as a service of Western Libraries and in partnership with Western's Graduate School, Office of the Provost, and Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

CEDAR serves as a platform to disseminate and promote the research, scholarship, and creative works of Western faculty, students, staff, departments, centers, units, institutes, and programs. There is a social-equity component to Open Access publishing that aligns nicely with the field of environmental education, as barriers which could prevent access to potentially beneficial information are removed, which means research and scholarship shared in CEDAR and created by students, faculty, and staff at Western are made freely available to everyone. By showcasing Western’s scholarly and creative works, CEDAR facilitates their global discovery and promotes sustainable scholarly communication.

“My students are very aware of the limitations of traditional publishing system - and with that - the limitations of environmental education and environmental justice as taught within a university setting,” explained Stanger. “This approach to including their voices within the landscape of environmental education and beyond is an enabling opportunity,” adding that their reactions to the journal have been very positive. 

“It has been surprisingly well-received by the students,” said Stanger. “I think it enhances the quality of their work, knowing that their documents will be seen beyond me and the audience that hears their work during the capstone.”

You can find the latest issue of Summit to Salish Sea: Inquiries and Essays, here:  http://cedar.wwu.edu/s2ss. While there is currently only one published volume available, Stanger is currently co-editing volume two, due out March 2017, with an alum from the program.

For more information about the M.Ed. in Environmental Education program, please see https://huxley.wwu.edu/med-environmental-education. Questions about Western CEDAR? Please contact westerncedar@wwu.edu.

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