June 2006 Stories

Thompson Exhibit Opens in Portland

Art Professor James Thompson will show a mixed media “Works on Paper” at the Mark Woolley Gallery in July.

“In this age of rapid, technological advancements, human beings are hard-pressed to imagine any kind of realistic future for themselves because so much of the technology introduced in this age is de-humanizing,” Thompson says. “Our tendency is to seek refuge in nostalgia — an imagined past — often seen through rose-colored glasses so that we might draw comfort when facing the ever-changing realities of future life.”

“As an artist I have addressed this incongruity by inventing a process of making art and images that reflect our inability to reconcile the technological age with this notion of nostalgia. The process I employ incorporates both the annihilating qualities of technology and the security found in the utilization of traditional or historic aspects of printmaking, painting and drawing techniques.

“In this way,” Thompson says, “the process making art demonstrates the disconnect between the imagined past and the unimaginable future that exists at the very intersection of nostalgia in the age of technology.”

Thompson has been at Willamette since 1986. He teaches printmaking, painting and drawing. The public is invited to a First Friday Opening Party for his exhibit at the Mark Woolley Gallery July 7 from 6-9 p.m. The James Thompson show will take place at the gallery’s Woolley at Wonder location at 128 NE Russell in Portland. (The event is held on Friday so as not to conflict with the First Thursday Art Walk openings in the Pearl District.)

The Woolley gallery exhibits paintings, sculpture, photography, prints, mixed-media works, installations and unusual ceramic pieces by artists from the Northwest, the United States and abroad. Thompson’s exhibition will run from July 7 to July 29.

Fleet-Footed Symmonds Fastest in Nation

There may be a good reason why Nick Symmonds ’06 chose the element mercury to study for his senior research project. Named for the fleet-footed messenger of the gods, Mercury, the liquid metal “quicksilver” fits Symmonds like a new running shoe. Quite simply, Nick Symmonds is the fastest man in Division III.

Less than 24 hours before receiving his college diploma in Salem, Symmonds capped his Bearcat athletic career by setting a Division III record in the 800 meters at the Tennessee Distance Running Solution. Racing against a field populated largely by professional runners, Symmonds sprinted past the competition and qualified for the United States Track Association championships in June, the first step toward making the national team.

An Academic All-American, the recent graduate is a seven-time national champion in the 800 and 1,500 meters, winning his final two races in late May at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships. Symmonds was named the 2005 Division III Track and Field Male Athlete of the Year, and early this spring won the prestigious Ad Rutschman Award, presented at the annual Oregon Sports Awards Banquet to the state’s top small college athlete.

Beyond his accomplishments on the short track, Symmonds was the surprise winner of the Northwest Conference cross country championship last fall, helping lead the Bearcats to another conference and regional championship, their fifth in a row, and a 16th place finish at nationals.

Symmonds won two national championships in the 800 and 1,500 meters as a freshman. An injury sidelined him his sophomore year; he raced only once, and won the 800. Last season, as a junior, the Boise, Idaho, native doubled up again, leading the Bearcats to a fourth place finish at nationals, their second consecutive top five national finish. The Bearcat senior beat two very tough fields to win the 800 and 1,500 at the 2006 championships—his final two races in his Willamette athletic career.

It’s more than just natural talent. Symmonds has always worked hard at his running, training last summer with two teammates in the thin air of Toluca, Mexico, 9,000 feet above sea level. The training paid off as Symmonds gained strength and endurance, turning last fall into his best cross country season and earning the Northwest Conference championship. His experience in Mexico, however, served a dual purpose for the student-athlete; he and his teammates refined their Spanish-speaking skills and spent invaluable time learning about the Mexican people and culture.

“My summer in Mexico was an awesome experience that helped me gain a lot of physical strength and learn a great deal about myself. It was a chance to log in some great miles at 9,000 feet, and to meet some amazing people,” said Symmonds.

While few can catch up with Symmonds on the track, it would have been easy to find him in the Olin Hall chemistry laboratories. In May, Symmonds wrapped up his final research project, studying how mercury cations bind to the digestive enzyme chymotrypsin, causing the enzyme to unfold and precipitate out of solution. The combination of academic and athletic success means a great deal to Symmonds and his coach, Matt McGuirk.

“Nick is the kind of athlete who comes along once in a lifetime at a Division III school,” says Track and Cross Country Coach Matt McGuirk. “He’s got the ability to run against the best athletes in the country, and yet he still chose Willamette because it gave him a broader experience as a student-athlete.”

Beyond his place in the national record book, Symmonds leaves a lasting legacy in Bearcat athletic history: Seven national championships; three school records; state, regional and national athlete of the year honors and recognition as an Academic All-American. Now he’s betting on the 2008 Olympics.

So while this decorated student-athlete still faces the same questions as his classmates about life after college, the key to this chemist’s future might very well exist on the periodic table of the elements—look just left of mercury to find gold.

This story first appeared on April 18, 2006 in this venue. This edition has been updated to reflect Symmonds's further successes after that date.

Scholarship Winner Aspires to Help Her People

When Nurnigar “Noonie” Sawir ’09 thinks about her future, she returns to her roots. Sawir grew up in Idaho, but her family comes from Urumqi, China. While most Americans have never heard of her people, there are about 8 to 10 million Uighur in the world.

The Uighur people, a minority in northwestern China, have a long history and distinctive culture related to the Turkish in central Asia. Many of them struggle with difficult living conditions and yearn for more opportunities, Sawir says. Sawir’s strong ties to her culture, as well as her concern for the future of her people, are her inspiration for studying business management or international business and returning to China.

“I grew up in the United States, but at the same time, it’s my heritage,” she says. “I have a lot of ties to there. I want to help them improve their living conditions because I feel so lucky to have grown up in the States.”

Sawir will further her knowledge of business through an opportunity she earned this spring. She was one of two Willamette University students to be named a Kemper Scholar by the James S. Kemper Foundation. The program prepares students for leadership and service in administration and business. Willamette is one of 15 small colleges that can nominate students for the award. In a typical year, the foundation chooses one student from each college, but this year, the foundation gave two Willamette students awards.

Sawir will receive a $3,000–$8,000 yearly scholarship for three years, as well as $2,000–$6,000 for internships during the summers after her sophomore and junior years. The first one will be in Chicago working for a major nonprofit organization, the second in whatever location she chooses. She also will be able to attend the annual Kemper Scholar Conference in Chicago.

Business has long been an interest for Sawir, who was active in Business Professionals of America during high school. She hopes to participate in the five-year combined BA/MBA program offered at Willamette’s Atkinson Graduate School of Management.

“I want to study business because I think that through the power and connections a successful businessperson gains, I could have the most influence in bringing about positive change anywhere in the world,” she says. “I’d love to help create that positive change for my people.”

Karen Hamlin: Evolution of a Teacher

Karen Hamlin’s life changed while reading an email four years ago. A message from Willamette’s International Education Office advertised a few vacant seats with a Willamette student tour of the Galapagos Islands.

“It took me about 30 seconds to respond,” the education professor says. She had visions of sparkling aquamarine waters and white sand. And of course, there were Darwin’s species, which include prehistoric-looking iguanas, giant tortoises unique to each island, and the flightless cormorant, with wings that swim rather than fly — Darwin called it evolution in progress.

Hamlin began a serendipitous evolution of her own when she met Miguel Mosquera, president of the Albatross Foundation and guide on the boat. The community foundation, he told her, wants Galapagos children to have an understanding of what’s unique about their islands and wants to prepare them to have a voice in determining their future.

By the time they touched land, Hamlin had an idea. She co-directs the Oregon Writing Project at Willamette University, which improves children’s reading and writing skills by increasing instructional expertise among public school teachers. Thanks to Hamlin’s initiative, the project at Willamette now takes school teachers to San Cristobal Island—the capitol of the Galapagos Islands — for three weeks each summer, where they teach English to school children and learn Spanish from local teachers, creating a circle of learning and teaching. “Teachers get a first-hand sense of how it feels to learn a second language while immersed in a foreign culture,” Hamlin says. “They tell us that the experience not only helps them understand the needs of their immigrant students, but gives them skills in how to teach Oregon students who are learning English as their second language.”

Project teachers use the natural setting of the island to teach science — exploring tidal pools, writing field journals, and looking through microscopes that have been donated for the project. Last year children and teachers planted more than 700 trees on the island, helping to restore endangered plant species.

Hamlin and her group also use technology to teach. “One of our goals is to develop techniques to connect children from around the world in learning together,” Hamlin says. San Cristobal students exchange emails with students from Salem schools, trading information about music tastes, schools and conservation efforts in each location. Hamlin’s biggest challenge is the unreliability of Internet service on the island. “They rely on phone service, which frequently goes out,” she says. “Students on both sides experience frustration.”

The school also struggles with basic supplies, due to a paper shortage. “We work hard to model teaching that doesn’t require resources they don’t have,” Hamlin says. The Oregon Writing Project has sent books and paper and would send more, but postage is prohibitively expensive since San Cristobal is 600 miles from the Ecuadorian mainland.

Island children call “Teacher! Teacher!” and bestow hugs when they see their Oregon teachers in town. “The school and community have embraced the project,” Hamlin says. “I’ve been there four years now and I know the kids, the parents, the grandparents, and the aunts and uncles. We’ve been welcomed.”

Many parents work in the fishing industry, an economy whose future is uncertain due to depleted resources and limits on fishing. Struggling with economic disruption, parents are hoping to steer their children into alternative career paths, such as ecotourism. The wildlife of the Galapagos Islands — made famous by Charles Darwin — continues to fascinate tourists, and although San Cristobal is isolated, that isolation is an attraction for people wanting to get off the beaten path. Only 5,400 people live in the capitol city. A small bank, hospital and post office nestle among the pastel-colored houses stretching up the lush, green hillsides, and bicycles thread the narrow streets. Swaying boats fill the marinas, pinnacles of volcanic rock jut up out of aqua waters, and boisterous sea lions clamber on the shell-strewn beaches.

The English, science and conservation skills taught by teachers with the Oregon Writing Project will help San Cristobal children evolve to meet the challenges of a changing economy and ecosystem. Hamlin, who is learning Spanish in order to facilitate communication, says, “In order for the Galapagos children to have an effective voice in the future of the islands, they need to be able to speak English and understand why their island home is unique and needs protection.”

The thought was echoed by a young boy, who wrote, “We have many expectations for our future. We want to be better citizens of our country and change its destination.”

The student also put in a plug for Galapagos tourism. “We wish someday you could come to Galapagos and visit us.”

The Oregon Writing Project at Willamette is directed by Carol Long and co-directed by Steve Jones and Karen Hamlin.

Andrew Thomson: Buried Treasure

The bus trundles along the dirt track sending clouds of dust up into the morning sky. Andrew Thomson ’06, one of 13 volunteers on this archeology dig, covers his mouth with a bandana to keep from sucking in the fine dust that streams in through the window. It’s only 6:45 a.m., yet it’s already hot. By afternoon, temperatures will soar to 120 degrees in the shade. But there’s little shade in the deserts of south Jordan.

The bus rattles and creaks as it winds down the steep highway from the Bedouin military school 45 minutes away to the Humayma dig site located in a vast, barren escarpment, a giant valley carved millions of years ago out of rock and sand. It was here that the ancient Romans chose to build a fort to protect the easternmost edge of their empire. It is also here –– halfway around the world from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon –– that archeology major Thomson chose to test himself with backbreaking research field work.

The bus jolts to a stop in front of an abandoned schoolhouse that’s now used to store tools for the site. The volunteers and eight staff members, most from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, tumble off the bus. Thomson stretches, easing the kinks from the bus ride.

The volunteers grab the tools they’ll need for the day and pile them onto wheelbarrows. All around them are neat, square holes and piles of dirt. The area looks as though some gigantic gopher has been at work. A short trek across the site takes them to their respective worksites. Thomson scans the horizon and spots a cloud of dust moving rapidly toward them. It’s a small truck packed with a dozen Bedouin workers. Within minutes, the volunteers and Bedouins are shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries, a vital part of the morning ritual before getting down to work.

When he first arrived in Jordan five weeks ago and learned he’d be working with Bedouins, a nomadic people indigenous to these Middle Eastern deserts, Thomson felt apprehensive. He’d heard the Bedouins were lazy, difficult to work with, choosey about the kind of work they would do. He has found none of that to be true. The half dozen or so Bedouins in the group, working on the praetorium or commander’s residence that Thomson has been assigned to, have proven themselves to be hardworking and easy going. Many of them, veterans of other archeology digs, speak some English. They often help Thomson and his teammates with Arabic. Thomson has become close with the two Bedouins he supervises.

He and three other volunteers walk to a series of large open squares bordered by a low wall. “This is the fort commander’s residence,” he explains, hefting a shovel full of dirt into a wheelbarrow. “The site of this fort used to be an old Nabataean settlement. The Romans came in and built the fort to house their troops and control the area. Our job is to clean out the rooms and try to figure out what went on here.”

The sun rises steadily along with the temperature. Thomson and his team fill and unload wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of rocks and fine dirt. The work is backbreaking. “When people think of archeology, they think about dental tools and carefully picking around bones. In classical desert archeology, it’s nothing like that. There’s a lot of digging with picks and shovels until you get to lower levels where you work with trowels. It’s basically landscaping in the desert.”

Thomson’s fascination with archeology came from tramping around dinosaur digs as a kid in his home state of Montana. When he came to Willamette University there was no archeology department, so he crafted his own archeology major. This dig –– his first field experience –– is part of his senior thesis required to complete his degree. While he could have joined a local dig in Oregon, his interest in Greco-Romans made him want to come to Jordan. To fund his trip, he won a prestigious Carson Undergraduate Research Grant. The $3,000 Carson stipend is designed to encourage Willamette students to conduct original research or to study outside the classroom. This Jordanian desert is certainly outside the classroom.

At 8:30, the team pauses for a tea break. The Bedouins scurry about offering tea and soft flatbread. At 10 o’clock, they will make everyone a second breakfast of beans and eggs. Out here where the sun is relentless and the work physical, it’s important to drink lots and eat plenty of salt and protein. The Bedouins ensure that happens for everyone.

After the breakfast break, the wind rises, filling the sky with clouds of fine dust and obscuring the surrounding mountains. Thomson pulls his cap down over his eyes and covers his mouth with a bandana. He crouches on all fours, scraping his trowel along one of the room’s outer walls. Suddenly the tool scrapes against something hard and shiny. Thomson’s heart races as he brushes away the fine dirt. It’s a Roman coin, a rare and wonderful find. It’s the fifth coin he’s found at the site. There’s a flurry of activity as other members of his team vie to examine Thomson’s treasure.

In addition to the coins, Thomson and his teammates have found shards of pottery and plenty of charred chicken and sheep bones from ancient Roman meals. Some team members have found individual stones from mosaics, intact pottery vessels and even Roman oil lamps.

One of the questions Thomson wanted to investigate was how the Romans got water to this arid place. The answer came when one of the volunteers discovered sections of ancient pipe, aqueducts Romans were famous for, that brought water from springs in the mountains. “The Romans built a large water reservoir in the Northwest corner of the fort,” says Thomson, his eyes shining with excitement. “They used pipes and pressure to get the water around the site. They even had a fountain right in the middle of the fort.”

By 1:00 p.m., the sun is high overhead and the temperature has climbed to well over 100 degrees. The heat and the hard physical work have taken their toll and Thomson and his teammates are spent. Sweaty and dirty, they gather their tools and scramble back onto the bus. After lunch at their temporary school-home, they willl spend the afternoon sifting through their treasures, cleaning and cataloging the pottery, bones and coins that tell the story of this Roman site.

As the bus pulls into the schoolyard, Thomson rubs his forearm. It’s a bit sore, but it’s also hard and firm. He’s built muscle landscaping in the desert. He’s also made some new friends. In a few weeks, he’ll board a plane and return to Oregon and his final semester at Willamette University. “This project has been so interesting. I’ve discovered that there are so many facets to archeology. When I go to graduate school, I have a ton of options for what to study. I may not want to always be the guy digging in the trench, but I know I want to work on archeology digs.”

There’s no question that Thomson has discovered true buried treasure –– his own passion.

Darrell McGie: Paving the Hydrogen Highway

Darrell McGie ’06 has big ideas. He believes Oregon’s energy future lies in producing limitless hydrogen from what is now river-polluting waste water.

McGie, who is pursuing a double major in politics and environmental science at Willamette University, was working on his environmental studies thesis when he came up with the novel concept of producing hydrogen from wastewater. “My idea is to produce hydrogen for fuel through electrolysis. However, instead of using subsurface water, I want to use wastewater.”

The benefits of using wastewater, a potential polluter, versus fresh water, which is becoming increasingly scarce, are many. “Wastewater is a waste that has a theoretical zero cost for producing energy. Wastewater treatment plants in Oregon have a lot of wastewater that the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) doesn’t like returning to the rivers. If we could electrolyze that wastewater to produce hydrogen, it would decrease our dependence on oil and help move to a hydrogen economy.”

There are currently two methods to produce hydrogen. One, employ a reformation process using natural gas or other non-renewable petroleum product or, two, use electrolysis for molecule separation. In electrolysis, low-voltage electricity is passed through water, which separates the water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. “The reformation process produces a lot of carbon dioxide that contributes to greenhouse gases and global warming. Electrolysis is the green way to go because there are no residual pollutants.”

McGie wanted to explore his wastewater-hydrogen idea further, so he applied for a Carson Undergraduate Research Grant. The $3,000 stipend encourages original research or work outside the classroom. “Producing hydrogen from wastewater has never been done before. I wanted to explore the limitations and barriers to the technology of using wastewater.”

He began by visiting wastewater treatment plants and talking to managers who work on the frontlines of wastewater management. He found both exciting potential and vexing limitations. “Wastewater treatment plants, especially larger urban plants, are cogeneration plants that produce methane gas as part of their process. Instead of burning the gas, which is a greenhouse gas, they could use it to run a generator to produce electricity to offset their costs. If I could piggyback onto their process and use some of that electricity to electrolyze the wastewater, we could cost-effectively produce hydrogen.”

On the downside, McGie found that wastewater contains contaminants that can interfere with producing electricity for electrolysis and creating clean hydrogen. “As a fuel, hydrogen has to be combusted or used in a fuel cell. If you combust hydrogen in an internal combustion engine, you can burn dirtier hydrogen, but it produces nitrogen oxides that aren’t good for the air. If you use it in a fuel cell, there are no pollutants, just water vapor. However, the hydrogen has to be 99.9 percent pure or it contaminates a very expensive membrane in the cell.”

In his search for answers, McGie visited Humboldt State University where they are researching the process of electrolysis. “Unfortunately, hydrogen technology is so hot that everyone wants to protect their data. The researchers at Humboldt were willing to talk with me in general about the scope of their research and its limitations, but they weren’t willing to share any data.”

He also traveled to Sacramento, Calif., to the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a collaborative research center where auto manufacturers, hydrogen producers and air quality regulatory agencies work together to advance hydrogen technology. “This was my second visit to the Fuel Cell Partnership and I went there this time to examine the structure of their organization to see how we could bring a project like it to Oregon.”

The politics major is well aware that bringing hydrogen production to the state using wastewater treatment plants will require overcoming political as well as technological hurdles. He talked with officials at the Department of Energy and in the cities of Salem, Eugene, Corvallis, Albany and Portland. He was encouraged by the response. “The cities are interested in advancing technology and getting the Department of Environmental Quality off their backs. Several cities, especially Eugene and Corvallis, expressed keen interest in maximizing their ability to produce energy and reduce waste while offsetting their costs.”

For now, McGie is working on a model that will demonstrate how his wastewater hydrogen idea might work. He’s invited representatives from the state and from interested cities to his upcoming Carson presentation. He’s hoping to work in hydrogen production when he graduates next spring. “One of the cities might be able to get a grant for a demonstration project. We could give it a couple of years and see what happens. California is working on a hydrogen economy; Western Canada already is building for this new economy. If we could produce hydrogen from wastewater here in Oregon, we’d be in the market to help extend the hydrogen highway. I want to build a pathway to show us how to get there.”

Suzanne Torre: Wild for Wetlands

Playing in the mud makes her happy. That’s what Willamette University biology major Suzanne Torre found out when she traded her calculator and dress shoes for a shovel and rubber boots.

Five years ago, Torre made a difficult decision. After 12 successful years in the business world working in benefits and payroll administration, she decided to return to school. “I didn’t feel that I was doing the work I was put here to do,” she says. “I was good at what I did, but, in my heart, I’m an environmentalist. It sounds corny, but I wanted to make a difference.”

She’d always been interested in wetlands, so she was delighted when one of her biology class labs studied a wetland in a Salem, Ore., industrial site that formerly housed the old Fairview Training Center. “Wetlands are a vital part of the Willamette Valley,” she explains. “They are important because they help prevent floods, purify water and provide many ecosystem services we tend to take for granted. This whole region was wetland and wet prairie before settlers came in and developed the land for homes, businesses and agriculture.”

The Fairview wetland, which runs along Pringle Creek, is a mitigated wetland. That means a developer or government agency drained or filled in a natural wetland and built a wetland to compensate for the habitat lost to development. “The mitigated wetland we’re working on was degraded agricultural land. Ten or 12 years ago, the City of Salem bought the land to encourage business development. As part of that sale, they agreed to take on the responsibility of mitigating for the wetland.”

Mitigated wetlands are built using original soil from a natural wetland that is planted with traditional wetland plants –– grasses, sedges and rushes. While these plants are important for the hydrology of the wetland habitat, oftentimes flowering plants – what biologists call “forbes” –– are overlooked. “Flowering plants are a big component of natural wetlands, but they usually don’t get planted much in mitigated wetlands. They’re not considered as important. However, reintroducing these native plants increases the biodiversity of the site, which increases the invertebrates and food for animals like birds and other vertebrae predators. Wetlands with flowering plants are more complete, functioning wetlands.”

Torre wanted to find out if a native flowering plant could be successfully introduced into a man-made wetland like Fairview. To fund her research, she applied for and received a Carson Undergraduate Research Grant. The $3,000 Carson stipend supports original student research or study outside the classroom.

She introduced two species of camas, a bulb traditionally used by native tribes in the valley for food. “Camas is a staple of intact wetlands,” says Torre. “This wetland plant was here before the settlers. Lewis and Clark drew pictures of camas and took samples of it when they came here. The plant has historical importance in the Willamette Valley.”

Braving wet, cold February days, Torre and volunteers planted 672 camas bulbs. She came back the following October and planted another 800-plus, for a total of 1500 bulbs. In the fall, she slogged back out into the wetland to see how many of her spring bulbs had survived. She was thrilled with the results. “The survival of the camas is high. Of those bulbs that survived, the reproduction rate is high too. Our preliminary results suggest that camas can be reintroduced into mitigated wetlands. ”

She also found a number of the bulbs were being eaten by moles and other animals, but she’s philosophical about finding holes instead of bulbs. “We’re also contributing to the diet of these animals.”

One of the biggest challenges Torre found in restoring a mitigated wetland is controlling invasive plant species like tansy, Canadian thistle and Himalayan blackberry. “If these invasive plants aren’t controlled, they can take over and destroy the wetland. The question is, do you weed or control the strongly invasive species so the wetland can continue to be functional? Or does the wetland then become a park? Of course, once the invasive species are removed and the wetland and wet prairie plants are more established, hopefully the invasive plants become less of an issue.”

Another challenge for Torre was the large size of her research project. “I always knew that research was going to be time consuming. However, until you design a research project and are out there in the field 12 to 16 hours a day, you don’t know how it can consume your life.”

Her Carson project has also taken on dimensions Torre never expected. One of the most enjoyable has been introducing school age children to wetlands. “I brought 35 kids from the Heritage School out to the wetland site. They saw a gopher, found a couple of snakes and a bunch of birds, and got to get dirty and wet. They loved it.”

Torre and Willamette biology professor, Susan Kephart, have also won a City of Salem environmental grant to continue and expand work on the Fairview Mitigation Wetland. Torre hopes to continue working in wetland restoration when she graduates this spring and would like to see a hiking trail and an interpretative center built at the Fairview wetland. “It’s a slow process, but maybe we can get the kids and the community involved. This project is like throwing a rock in a pond; it just keeps rippling outward.”

Ilan Vertinsky: Chasing Storms Around the Globe

Five years ago two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, leaving fiery towers of smoke and flames, and thousands dead. Two years ago a tsunami slammed into Southeast Asia, leaving 200,000 bodies strewn along beaches or missing. Just last summer, Hurricane Katrina smashed into Louisiana, leaving moldy ghost towns and tens of thousands of refugees in her wake.

Business Professor Ilan Vertinsky is somewhat of a storm chaser; he looks into the eye of each storm as it sweeps through and tries to understand how governments and organizations respond to crisis. He was one of the first to analyze crisis management in the context of business organization, and the landmark paper he wrote about the topic in 1977 is still quoted today.

Vertinsky keeps a pair of running shoes in his office to sprint across campus in between classes. They could be a symbol for the pace of his life; he now consults for organizations and governments around the world.

The Eye of the Storm
“Crisis brings out the best and the worst in organizations,” Vertinsky says. “It can become a focal point for renewal and reform, or influence organizations to act in ways that appear pathological.”

It’s not surprising that organizations sometimes fall apart. Crises are characterized by a high degree of uncertainty, intense time constraints and high stakes. For example, SARS affected 28 countries in just a few months, blindsiding health and government officials. “Business as usual” didn’t work, Vertinsky says, so authority structures were forced to change, and harsh measures, including the suppression of civil rights, were legitimized.

Some crises, he says, bring people together. Think 9/11. Others, such as epidemics, often push people apart. And sometimes people react to disasters in habitual ways, patterning responses on past experiences, even though the magnitude of the disaster requires a new and novel response. Think Hurricane Katrina, which swamped rescue organizations in much the same way it swamped New Orleans.

“Often, there is a centralized response, where all the information goes to a small group of individuals who are far from the frontlines,” Vertinsky says. Information overload leads to the screening of information and “group think” can take over. But centralization is usually necessary for efficient coordination, and strong, charismatic leadership is critical in mobilizing resources, breaking through constraints and reassuring the public.

“Global communications, including the Internet, have given individuals unprecedented power to bring an issue to the top of the world’s agenda,” Vertinksy says. China didn’t respond to SARS — even as fatalities mounted and the disease migrated to other countries — until a retired Chinese physician sent a press release to the media. After the story was picked up worldwide and had begun to threaten Chinese prestige, the country responded with a vigorous about-face.

The Aftermath
“Finger pointing immediately after a crisis can interrupt reform,” says Vertinsky. “After Katrina, people began blaming FEMA, city officials and the federal government rather than looking for the larger lesson, which might be that it’s not wise to build in flood plains.”

As the impact of the catastrophe is absorbed, people allocate resources toward “fixing” the problem, but the public has a short attention span. Within a year or so people often forget about their commitment and move on. “If two or three years go by and avian flu doesn’t hit, there will be nothing visible for the money spent and people will say that resources should go to fix ‘real’ problems.”

Allocated resources should be managed wisely, with future response plans carefully targeted, Vertinksy says. “Homeland Security is oriented toward terrorist and biological attacks while overlooking the threat of an attack in the form of a pandemic. And the solution is sometimes in the details. If a pandemic occurred, a key hospital employee might be the janitor with the set of keys to emergency supplies.”

Domestic politics can hamper a response, and international organizations add another layer of politics. During the SARS crisis, the World Health Organization issued a Canadian travel ban, which turned the health crisis into an economic crisis. Canada put forth a tremendous lobbying effort, which resulted in the ban being lifted — too early, as it turned out. Unusual situations requiring unusual strategies are tricky for politicians. Decision-makers who impose quarantines or close airports need to understand the social and economic implications of their actions — avian flu has sometimes been called the “economic flu” — but they need to take strong measures when necessary. And ethical questions must also be debated in the aftermath of a crisis to determine trade-offs between individual rights and collective safety.

On a Personal Note
Vertinsky himself would be stymied if a travel ban were instigated. He logs hours on planes around the globe, interspersing international teaching and consulting with exploration of far-flung cities. “I love old cathedrals, art galleries and scenic drives in the mountains,” he says. “I’ve probably seen more of the Alps than the Cascades.”

But Vertinsky always likes coming back to Salem. “When I first came to Willamette I fell in love with this place. It’s inspirational to walk to campus, with its river and sense of preservation. There is a display of good taste here.” In other words, it’s a peaceful refuge for someone who analyzes catastrophe on a daily basis.

Willamette Student Earns Datatel Scholarship

Emily Houle ’07 went to high school in Portland, but she did not live the fast-paced urban life. That’s because she grew up on Sauvie Island, an agricultural and rural area along the Columbia River about 10 miles northwest of Portland’s downtown.

When you reside on an island connected to the mainland by just one bridge, life is a bit different. For Houle, that meant raising sheep on her family’s farm, eating produce grown by farmers who lived on the island and being involved in 4-H since childhood. And her experiences have shaped what she hopes to do when she starts her future career in medicine. “I would like to do something with rural medicine,” she says. “Sauvie Island is a rural community, and I liked being around that.”

Houle, who is majoring in biology at Willamette University, is one of two students on campus this year to receive a $2,400 scholarship from the Datatel Scholars Foundation. The award goes to students who show academic excellence, leadership and service, and who attend an eligible Datatel client college or university.

During her time on campus, Houle has prepared for her future career by working for Willamette Emergency Medical Services. WEMS provides quick-response emergency medical care to Willamette students and guests 24 hours a day while school is in session. Houle, who is a certified Wilderness First Responder, often is on call at night or on weekends, responding to calls from students who need help. Her job is to do basic first aid or assess the situation to determine if more assistance is needed. “We are able to provide some care, but sometimes it’s frustrating because what I have been medically trained to do is not the same as what a doctor can do,” she says. “I want to fix someone, but I can’t always provide the care that I would like.”

Houle’s other passion in life is her Christian faith. She is on the leadership team for Willamette’s chapter of Campus Ambassadors, a Christian student group. The organization meets weekly for worship services in the Hatfield Room of Willamette’s Mark O. Hatfield Library, and also holds retreats and mission trips. “It’s a really fun community,” Houle says. “They’re great people to be with.”