Leslie Holt (M.F.A. '03) is currently an adjunct professor teaching 3 classes in the St. Louis area. She is curating a show in the St. Louis area called Nervous Laughter, about artists who use humor as a device to discuss serious issues. She has 2 solo shows, one in Grants Pass, Oregon, and the other in the St. Louis area.
Andrew P. Duffin (Ph.D. '03, history)
has published Plowed Under: Agriculture and
Environment in the Palouse with University of
Washington Press. In this book, he traces the
transformation of the Palouse region of Washington and
Idaho from land thought unusable and unproductive to a
wealth-generating agricultural paradise, weighing the
consequences of what this progress has wrought. During
the 20th century, the Palouse became synonymous with
wheat, and the landscape was irrevocably altered. At the
dawn of the 21st century, native vegetation is almost
nonexistent, stream water is so dirty that it is often
unfit for even livestock, and 94% of all land has been
converted to agriculture. Commercial agriculture also
created a less noticeable ecological change: soil
erosion. While common to industrial agriculture
nationwide, topsoil loss evoked different political and
social reactions in the Palouse. Farmers all over the
nation take pride in their freedom and independence, but
in the Palouse, Duffin shows, this mentality—a
remnant of an older agrarian past—has been taken to
the extreme and is partly responsible for erosion
problems that are among the worst in the nation. In the
hope of charting a better, more sustainable future,
Duffin argues for a candid look at the land, its people,
their decisions, and the repercussions of those
decisions. As he notes, the debate is not over whether to
use the land, but over what that use will look like and
its social and ecological results.
Kenneth Boulton (B.Mus. '84) has been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Instrumental Soloist Performer (without Orchestra) category for his work on the 2-CD anthology Louisiana: A Pianist's Journey. Learn more
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Adam Donohue
Adam Donohue (M.A. '07, music) was featured in Jazziz magazine's recently released Educational Issue. The magazine, a leading international jazz publication, includes a CD recording featuring students from the top jazz studies programs in the nation. This CD includes a recording of Donohue's composition "Ofuscato" as performed by the WSU Jazz Big Band, directed by Meyer Distinguished Professor Greg Yasinitsky (music). The issue also includes the 2007 Jazziz Education Guide, which lists Washington State University among its "best educational institutions for jazz."
The Chronicle, College of Liberal Arts, Washington State University