Provost wears bees to raise awareness of bees and research
Washington State University Provost Dan Bernardo didn’t break a sweat as a few thousand honey bees formed a beard on his face for a good cause.
The event was part of a kick-off to the campaign to raise awareness of honey bee health and funding for a new Honey Bee and Pollinator Research Center at WSU. Also donning bee beards were Department of Entomology chair Steve Sheppard and Paul Stamets, founder and president of Fungi Perfecti.
Catch the Tidal Leadership Wave: Courses begin Aug. 29
Developed by CAHNRS faculty, Tidal Leadership is becoming a catalyst for positive change in the workplace. Many CAHNRS staff, faculty, alumni and strategic partners have already caught the Tidal Leadership Wave. See what all the buzz is about for yourself!
The 16-week, online certificate course is different than other leadership programs. You’ll learn tools that you can apply at work right away, setting yourself apart and getting noticed as an effective leader. Twelve modules presented by skilled facilitators through videos, online group discussions, and engaging activities deliver the principles of Tidal Leadership in an interactive format. Applied learning and reflections make it real.
Graduate students can also take the course for credit by signing up for HD 505.
Tidal Leadership is presented through the WSU Center for Transformational Learning and Leadership.
Research on crops, livestock featured
at Mount Vernon Summer Field Day
The WSU Mount Vernon Research and Extension Center Summer Field Day is 3 p.m. Thursday, July 7.
Featured at the field day is current research on potatoes, seeds, weeds, vegetables, cider, small fruit, grains, and dairy and livestock produced in the Skagit Valley.
Also part of the event: Graduate student-led tours of research plots; In-depth discussions with researchers; posters and exhibits; Master Gardener-led Discovery Garden tours; Children’s art contest; tours of the center; and a barbecue and gathering. Pesticide credits are available.
The Center is located at 16650 State Route 536, Mount Vernon. To learn more, call (360) 848-6120 or send an email to ams.mountvernon@wsu.edu.
The workshop will be held in the park behind City Hall, 10 Western Ave., Electric City.
The city and community members are planning improvements to downtown, including playgrounds, sidewalks, streets, bicycle and hiking trail systems, and connections to regional parks.
SDC faculty Kathleen Ryan and Bob Krikac, and students in architecture, landscape architecture and interior design are working with the City of Electric City, the National Park Service and the Grant County Health Department on the project. Students involved in this project are Krisandrah Crall, Tyler Reid, Zochil Castro, Chucky Vallejo and Taylor Lynch.
RCDI provides a written and visual summary of the community’s vision, to prepare for the next step of hiring qualified design, planning and construction firms.
Hosts include Rural Communities Design Initiative, the City of Electric City, the National Park Service and Grant County Health Department.
SDC students Krisandrah Crall, Chucky Vallejo, Tyler Reid, Zochil Castro and Rattanak Leng worked with RCDI on Mattawa concepts.
RCDI also presents conceptual design results of two community workshops on a Government Road project to the Mattawa City Council at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 7, at Mattawa City Hall.
Bob Krikac, School of Design and Construction associate professor, will present designs developed with a team of architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design students. The project will move forward with support from Berger Partnership, who is adding Alfredo Rosas, a fourth-year landscape architecture student, to their design team to refine and expand design documents.
Large-scale canola trials showcase options for farmers
WSU’s Washington State Oilseed Cropping Systems (WOCS) project has partnered with Viterra, Inc., to conduct large-scale spring canola variety trials at three locations in eastern Washington.
Emtman Brothers Farms, east of Fairfield, Wash.; Eriksen Farm, west of St. John; and the WSU Wilke Research and Extension Farm at Davenport are hosting the trials with a range of soil types, soil pH, rainfall, and elevation between the farms.
Pushing canola: Pre-harvest method captured in WSU video
Swathers and a pusher were in full gear in late June in the deep-well irrigated area near Odessa, as winter canola nears harvest.
WSU Oilseed Extension & Outreach Specialist Karen Sowers took a video of canola being pushed on the Weishaar, Inc., farm north of Odessa, Wash. View it here.
Pushing canola does not cut the canola stalk like a swather, but instead crimps the stalks into tightly woven rows and allows for more gradual ripening. With hot weather the last week of June, combines are already in the field picking up the swathed windrows. The pushed canola is harvested in early July. Record or near-record yields are expected.
Awards and Grants
Distinguished Teaching Award for Kris Johnson
Kris Johnson, professor and interim chair of the WSU Department of Animal Sciences, will receive the Distinguished Teaching Award this month from the American Society of Animal Science.
Johnson, a respected teacher, student advisor and researcher in ruminant nutrition, has worked at WSU for 26 years. She currently teaches Animal Sciences Orientation to freshmen, Beef Production and Ruminant Nutrition.
“I am honored to receive this award,” said Johnson, who thanked her colleagues for their support. “It is probably the highest teaching honor one can win in my field, and the list of past winners is incredible!”
Wheat scientists Carter, Pumphrey named co-Vogel Chairs
Arron Carter, director of the WSU winter wheat breeding and genetics program, and Michael Pumphrey, director of the spring wheat breeding and genetics program, were named June 16 to the O.A. Vogel Endowed Chair in Wheat Breeding and Genetics by Kim Kidwell, CAHNRS executive associate dean.
Carter and Pumphrey are both associate professors in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.
Funded by the Washington Grain Commission, the joint endowment supports their work to solve emerging issues and breed better wheat for Washington growers.
