Western's South Campus Goes Green

"If you haven't been back on the Western campus recently you will be happy to know that some things never change," said Keiosha Williams, a senior who has spent the last four years watching Western grow-up around her on her morning walk into class. "In the spring, students still gather on the Old Main lawn to study or just soak up the sun, the tree by Edens Hall still gets an adornment of lights for the Holidays, and from campus you can still see the waters of Bellingham Bay."

However, as you walk across campus today there is one big change you would be sure to notice, the area just south of Parks Hall and the Environmental Studies Building has become Western's NEW south campus center.

If "Red Square" is the brick area surrounding Fisher Fountain … then the "Green Circle" would describe the eco-friendly developments on the south side of campus. Standing in the middle of a field that just a few short years ago housed only the Stadium Piece (or as everyone I know calls it, "The Steps"), the same place today is occupied by a manicured green lawn with three new buildings featuring their own "Green" attributes.

The Wade King Recreation Center and Communications Facility, completed in the fall of 2003 and 2004 respectively, were the innovators of LEED construction on campus. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the recognized standard for measuring building sustainability and the best way to demonstrate that a building project is truly "Green."

Opened on January 6, 2009, the newest addition to the area is the 120,000 sq. ft. Academic Instructional Center; the AIC is comprised of two wings (a departmental building wing and an academic wing) linked by a glass skybridge. Featuring such LEED concepts as solar shading, natural ventilation, energy and water efficiency, and the onsite use of excavated materials, the AIC accommodates the consolidation and growth of the departments of Psychology and Communication Sciences and Disorders. It also provides much needed university classroom and lecture hall space, as well as additional campus computer labs. With a courtyard flying the flags of the nation, state and university, the AIC now serves as the unofficial entrance to the "Green Circle," and the reminder of campus beyond.

The tennis courts once housed in this area are a memory of the past, replaced with a new series of courts down off Bill McDonald Parkway. In their place a new covered campus bike shelter greets every student accessing campus from the south. "One of the other key parts to successful LEED certification is promoting sustainable transportation" said Tim Wynn, WWU Director of Facilities Management. "The bike racks were built in partnership with Western Industrial Design students and have been a great success in providing a safe and dry place for sustainable bike commuters."

"Western has always prided itself on having the open areas available for students and staff to enjoy the little things in life," said Williams, "and to this day on a sunny afternoon the field behind the Chemistry building is occupied by people playing soccer, the Ultimate Frisbee team practices down by the new tennis courts, and a group of slack liners show off their balance in the grassy area next to the Carver Gym. However, with the development of the south campus, and the facelift many other buildings around campus are getting too, it is comforting to know the green spaces are moving inside the classrooms as well."

For more information on the new Academic Instructional Center CLICK HERE

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President Shepard's Mid-Year Report Summarizes Listening Sessions, Looks to Western's Future

Western Washington University President Bruce Shepard on Thursday delivered his mid-year report to campus. The topic of his report is "Preparing the Future," which synthesizes the results of his listening sessions. Based on those sessions, he outlines 15 common themes, or possible initiatives, Western can be pursuing, even in difficult economic times, as it seeks to become the best university of its kind in the nation.

For Bruce, leading is always best done by listening. It began this summer with introductory meetings and a widely circulated "stakeholders' survey." At opening convocation, Bruce reported "preliminary findings." He promised to expand, sharpen and correct those first impressions through a process of listening. That process took all of fall quarter, as well as January. He met with all offices and departments across campus – meeting with 2,200 faculty and staff – in those listening sessions. In addition, there were opportunities to listen and learn from meetings with alumni, student groups, neighborhood associations, community organizations, university boards, electronic forums, newspaper editorial boards and even one call-in radio show. He also held about 200 smaller, usually one-on-one meetings, with alumni leaders, donors, elected officials, colleague presidents, union leadership, and leaders in various sectors at the state level.

His report summarizes more than 90 campus listening sessions and more than 100 meetings around the state. A copy of his report, as well as a video of his speech, is available in an online format at Presidential Addresses.

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A Western Campus Love Story…Set in 1947

There are currently over 12,000 Western graduates out there married to other Western graduates…a number that means about one in ten of you reading this met your spouse while on the crooked brick and green lawns that we all celebrate as WWU. And in that spirit, perhaps no one can tell you better than Arthur and Meredith Runestrand, a couple which in the fall of 1946 first met on the grounds of a school then known as Western Washington College of Education, that true love can be found on campus.

The truth is even though he was born in Bellingham, Art never intended to go to Western…in fact, college never entered his mind until his return from World War II when a friend asked him why he wasn't going to the university up on the hill. When he couldn't give an answer, and with the backing of the newly implemented GI Bill, Art soon found himself a student of the college that would one day grant him two Bachelors degrees and his Masters in Education.

Likewise it was another mere turn of fate that landed Meredith at the pillars of Edens Hall where she lived as a student during her time on campus. With the intention of attending college down south in Oregon, her father's last-moment decision to move their possessions north in search of a new job led her to Bellingham, and drew her closer to the man she would someday marry.

While putting these two in the same place at the same time didn't guarantee they would meet, let alone fall in love, the start of fall quarter, and a subsequent trip to the bookstore that followed (the north end of the Old Main basement served as the Co-op Bookstore at that time), led to a chance encounter like something out of a movie. "I was standing there with a few of my friends," Art recalled, "when I saw her walk through the door; I noticed her right away. I turned to my buddy and said right then-and-there that I was going to marry that girl!"

But young love is fickle, and apparently so was Art's watch, because on one of their first dates his inability to bring her home before curfew almost ended their relationship before it began. "I got ‘campused' because of that night," Meredith said in a tone that implies she may not have forgiven him even after all these years – and a term that this writer only later learned meant her headmistress in Edens Hall confined her to campus as punishment for her tardiness.

But fate wouldn't let these two separate, and even though the next few months went by without it getting too serious, their participation in the choirs of both the university, as well as Saint James Presbyterian Church, kept them together. Meredith's talent for singing, combined with Art being in the right place at the right time when the director was looking for another voice, kept them in contact as they ironically got placed next to each other on the stage.

"I was really enjoying being at college at that time," Meredith confessed, "I loved to dance, and ‘stag' dances were a big part of the social scene. People could show up without dates and have a great time dancing all night; then maybe at the end of the night you could go out for a cup of coffee."

Art watched Meredith dance with other men, but he stayed driven and hopeful for the future…and then the ultimate fate of these two collided on February 14th, 1947…Valentine's Day.

As Art's mother handed him a card that arrived in their mailbox, a card from Meredith, he knew his opportunity to get the girl of his dreams had arrived…he had to seize the day. "I'd say that within an hour I had cleared my mother's garden of Daphne Odora and was at her doorstep with them in hand…since then, we have always been together."

Nearly two years later, as they were walking through campus during the midst of their December break, they strolled past the lawn in front of Old Main (now known as the bird sanctuary, the area across from where the VU sits). With Meredith sitting on a bench at the top of the lawn's knoll, and Arthur down on his knee, he proposed…she accepted.

Married in 1949, both graduating in 1950, Art and Meredith's six children, and more than 30 grandchildren, mean the Runestrand's have so far accounted for 12 Western graduates and 17 degrees. They remain active in the community, love the arts (including dancing and music), and stay committed to the school that brought them together.

"I owe a lot of what I have become to Western. It built me up in ways I couldn't even imagine," Art recalled, "and I was there with a lot of great people…names most students would recognize from the buildings around campus like Woodring, Haggard and Buchanan; Goltz and Murray …and even Bill McDonald kept me out of a lot of trouble."

"I am so proud of that school," Meredith continued. "I'm glad I am a graduate of Western Washington University!"

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Alumni Travel: Escape to the Arizona Sun

"I love going to Arizona this time of year, it has it all," said Maureen Christman, a 1988 graduate of Western's Recreation Program. "If they didn't offer this trip, chances are I would be down there anyway…but since they pack such a variety of great events into three days, I can't pass it up."

If you are looking for a way to escape the winter blues, we have just the solution. With a variety of activities for grads of all ages, and the opportunity to get great rates on great places to stay, this is your chance to enjoy some time in the sun!

"This will be my third trip, and I've loved all of them," said Maureen, "and this year there is a particularly great lineup of events."

"As with all spring trips to Arizona, baseball fans can catch a Cactus League game! You get to hang out with other alums; some graduated around the same time as me, but some are graduates of 50-plus-years ago and have fascinating stories about Western. This year I'm also really looking forward to the guided tour of the Dale Chihuly glass exhibition, it sounds awesome."

Known for his uniquely innovative and colorful works of glass, Dale Chihuly, and his exhibit at the Desert Botanical Gardens entitled The Nature of Glass, will treat our Western group to his first exhibit placed against an outdoor desert environment.

Create the Arizona get-away package you want. Pick only the activities that you like, or just enjoy your free time to explore, shop, relax with a spa treatment, hit the links, or soak up the sun poolside.

"The main reason I go is because I love to golf – and as a golfer, the opportunity to tour the Ping factory on this trip is really intriguing and a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"I've played a lot of golf in Arizona and enjoyed every single round…well, except for one. I broke my driver on the first tee a couple years back and didn't have another wood in my bag." Maureen said with a chuckle, "not only did I have to go the rest of that round teeing off with a 4-iron, but I also had a tournament afterwards… luckily it was a short course and I play fairly long."

Escape to Arizona, recharge your battery in the warm sun, catch-up with your old friends, and meet new ones like Maureen!

For more information on the Western-in-Arizona weekend, or to sign-up online, CLICK HERE

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