Washington State Magazine

Washington State Magazine showcases the achievements and stories of Washington State University, its alumni, and the wider community of Washington State. It links readers to groundbreaking research, intriguing individuals, and engaging subjects, not only from WSU but from across the entire state. The magazine is published four times a year—February/Spring, May/Summer, August/Fall, and November/Winter—by the Washington State University Board of Regents. The issues released in February, August, and November are distributed to all WSU alumni, faculty, staff, and certain donors. Meanwhile, the May edition is reserved for WSU Alumni Association members, faculty, and paid subscribers.

Student/Alumni

English

Magazine

Outlet metrics

Domain Authority

Ranking

Global

N/A

Country

N/A

Articles

Writing the wilds

2 months ago | magazine.wsu.edu | Adriana Janovich

Rob Phillips has been an outdoorsman his entire life. “I started hunting and fishing with my dad and always enjoyed it,” he says, noting those activities continued through college. “My roommate and I liked to hunt pheasants on the Palouse.
Trapped in the Cascades

2 months ago | magazine.wsu.edu | Adriana Janovich

Rob Phillips ’78 Comm. Latah Books: 2024Luke McCain is back. Stranded hunters and a fugitive killer looking for shelter from a blizzard in the Central Cascades make for McCain’s most challenging 72 hours as a Washington State Fish and Wildlife enforcement officer. The Yakima-based McCain, who also just happens to be a WSU alum, as well as his trusty sidekick Jack, a yellow Labrador retriever, work overtime to help get everyone safely out of the mountains.
Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History’s Greatest Arctic Rescue

2 months ago | magazine.wsu.edu | Adriana Janovich

Buddy LevySt. Martin’s Press: 2024Arctic exploration takes to the sky in Buddy Levy’s latest look at polar expeditions in the early twentieth century, when airship aviation was all the rage. Rather than telling one thrilling narrative of the dangerous quest to be the first to navigate the way to the North Pole, Realm of Ice and Sky shares three epic, icy sagas, each a meticulously researched work of historical nonfiction by the Washington State University professor of English.
Cool as a cucumber

2 months ago | magazine.wsu.edu | Adriana Janovich

Cucumbers are inherently refreshing. The mild green fruit that’s treated like a vegetable is 96 percent water. Straight from the crisper, cukes will not only cool you off but help hydrate you. With temperatures rising around the world⁠—2024 was the warmest year on record since 1850, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration⁠—cucumbers could be just the ingredient to help handle the increasingly hot weather.
Erased

2 months ago | magazine.wsu.edu | Adriana Janovich

Joan BurbickRedbat Books: 2024The narrator of this spellbinding, fictional memoir obsessively researches her husband’s past in hopes of uncovering the truth about her mother-in-law, a woman she’s never met, a woman who disappeared in the war. Joan Burbick unravels the mystery over the course of three decades, pulling one thread at a time. A dress. A painted portrait. A packet of handwritten letters written a long time ago.
Wheeling out a good life

2 months ago | magazine.wsu.edu | Adriana Janovich

The plan was simple: snowshoe, sled, and spend quality time together just before Christmas 2012. Jessica “Jessie” Owen had new snowshoes and a new puffy coat. “I was pumped about it,” she says. “I was ready to go and have some family time.”The Owens were headed to Leavenworth for a fun weekend when a 125-foot snow- and ice-laden grand fir snapped, crushing the cab of the SUV in which they were traveling⁠—and forever changing their lives. Parents Tim and Cheryl Owen died at the scene.
Diary excerpts from the Robert Shields Papers

2 months ago | magazine.wsu.edu | Adriana Janovich

Sample photos by Adriana Janovich except where noted. Archival photos courtesy WSU Libraries: Manuscripts, Archives, and Special CollectionsRobert Shields, a high school English teacher, minister, and manuscript editor, was born May 17, 1918, in Seymour, Indiana. He died at 89 on October 15, 2007, in Dayton, Washington. In 1935 and again in the 1940s, he started and then stopped a couple of diaries. He also wrote poetry and short stories.
At home in the Pacific Northwest woods

2 months ago | magazine.wsu.edu | Adriana Janovich

After many years of service, wildlife biologist Betsy L. Howell (’87 Wildlife Mgmt.) wrote about her calling in Wild Forest Home: Stories of Conservation in the Pacific Northwest (The University of Utah Press, 2024). Howell talks with Washington State Magazine about her career, conservation, and time at Washington State University. Talk about your time at WSU. How well did it prepare you for your career? Who were your mentors? What are your favorite WSU memories?
The constant diarist

2 months ago | magazine.wsu.edu | Adriana Janovich

The diarist spared no details. He documented his dreams and bodily functions, what he ate and when he ate it, when he slept and how well he slept, what he read and what he watched on TV. He discussed the weather and where he went: the post office, the park, the bank, the gas station, Safeway, church, McDonald’s on his fourteenth wedding anniversary.
A pursuit of answers: Q&A with author Joan Burbick

2 months ago | magazine.wsu.edu | Adriana Janovich

Joan Burbick spent 30 years searching for her mother-in-law. The result is a spellbinding fictional memoir about sifting through family secrets and lies, unearthing the truth, and seeking justice. Erased is her second novel. Here, the retired Washington State University professor of English and American studies discusses her relentless and perhaps obsessive pursuit for answers.