WINDOW

TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Photo by Rachel Bayne
WWU news 6
Faculty and students explore the depths of space, study the future of alternative fuels and build partnerships
with a nearby elementary school; Western's new basketball coach is strengthened by adversity.
Voice with passion 10
Famed operatic soprano Heidi Grant Murphy ('87) blends the roles of performer, parent and teacher.
Picture-perfect medicine 12
Industrial Design grad and entrepreneur Jerimiah Welch ('08) helped build a telepharmacy system that could
reduce health care costs and improve safety for patients.
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Linked by language 14
Could a dying language in remote Siberia hold a clue to ancient North American migrations? Linguistics
Professor Edward Vajda listens for evidence in the sounds of the Ket language.
Bringing them home 18
Forensic anthropologist Bill Belcher ('84 and '85) travels the world helping the military search for thousands of
service members who never returned from war.
Building beautiful music 22
Millions of gorgeous guitars get their start in Steve McMinn's ('83) mill in the Cascade foothills.
More than words 24
Students and faculty at Western's Speech-Language-Hearing clinic help children and adults overcome
communication problems.
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Message from the President 4
Reader feedback 5
Message to alumni 29
Class Notes 30
Student Lens 36
On the cover: This great tiger moth, Arctia caja, was collected at Joseph Whidbey State Park in July 1995 by Lars Crabo and Jim Troubridge. It's
one of 1,200 moth species in Western's Pacific Northwest Moths website, pnwmoths.biol.wwu.edu. Photo by Biology Professor Merrill Peterson.
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2 WINDOW • Fall/Winter 2012 • Western Washington University www.wwu.edu/window 3