Fall 2024 - Winter 2025

Drawn to the Ocean

Meet retired teacher Joyce Block, a grad student with a voracious mind and the work ethic of a South Dakota farm kid. She’s set her sights on an invasive crab intent on wrecking the Salish Sea.

Joyce Block stands in the doorway of a small building, surrounded by woods.

Making space for 90 million people

If you haven’t spent dozens of hours (or hundreds, we won’t judge) immersed in the work of alum Alison Lührs, you probably know someone who has.

Video game image of a four-eyed, six-limbed creature, draped in scarves, standing next to tanks, pipes and planters of flowers and greenery.

Tony's Coffee x WWU

The caffeinated collaboration is a blend that's uniquely Western

two bags of Tony's All Nighter coffee sit on a table next to a roll of package labels

Moving Up

Western’s supply chain program, among the best in the country, prepares grads with acumen in business, science and analytics.

Adventure is for everyone

The WWU alums at Vamos Outdoors Project have helped thousands of youth try out adventure sports.

A young boy, hands covered in chalk, climbs to the top of the climbing wall.

Consistently Sharpe

Either Phil or Sue Sharpe sat on Western’s Board of Trustees for almost all of the 21st century.

Sue Sharpe looks at Phil Sharpe, who smiles for the camera on a sunny afternoon on Western's campus,

Maria Sigüenza joins Board of Trustees

'Maria brings a wealth of experience in management, policy development, and community service.'

Window magazine wins regional honors

Window’s print edition was honored among general-interest university magazines.

Window magazine cover featuring a lemur sitting on its rump in a human-like position.

Zero-energy Kaiser Borsari Hall nearing completion

The building will house energy studies as well as electrical and computer engineering

A new creative space for sound

The Salish Sea Studio is open in Fairhaven College

close up of a sound board in the Salish Sea Studio

You might be the Viking they're asking for

Ask a Viking helps students ask alums about careers

$10 million XPRIZE: Rainforest win goes to Team Limelight

Neal Digre, '16, contributed his expertise in computer science and linguistics

Neal Digre smiles and stands next to the Limelight, a collection of sensors, bug collectors, and prongs to keep the equipment aloft in a treetop.

A Look Back to 1450: French book of hours

Western Libraries Special Collections owns 34 hand-written leaves from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.

hand-painted flowers and vines fill the margins of an ornately hand-written prayer in Latin.

Bridget Doherty-Adams - 2000

Obituaries

Bridget Teresa Doherty-Adams, 46, who worked in logistics, on May 6, 2024, in Tacoma.

Rebecca Chapman - 1995

Class Notes (General)

Rebecca (Vicars) Chapman, B.A., political science, has worked for the Pierce County Council for the last seven years, after spending almost 10 years in the UK. She is a policy analyst, focusing on budget. She and her supervisor, also a WWU grad, like to reminisce about Bellingham. Rebecca has dual citizenship and hopes to retire in the U.K. with her British husband.

Wayne Lee - 1972

Class Notes (General)

Wayne Lee, B.A., English, M.A., speech communication, has two books coming out in early 2025. His memoir, "Service Husband: A Caregiver’s Journey Through Disability, Suicide and Recovery," is forthcoming from Mercury HeartLink Press in late January, and his sixth poetry collection, "Dining on Salt: Four Seasons of Septets," is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press, in April.