Department of community and rural sociology, eliminated as of July 2010
•Don A. Dillman, still at Washington State U.
Professor in the department of sociology and the department of community and rural sociology and deputy director of the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center, saw his partial appointment to the sociology department increase, along with his appointment to the research center.
•José García-Pabón, still at Washington State U.
Assistant professor and Latino-community-development specialist who worked out of the institution’s Tri-Cities campus. He lost his tenure-track position but is still doing the same type of work in a new location, at one of the university’s extension offices near Seattle: “I wasn’t happy about losing my tenure-track job on the one hand, but on the other hand, I was happy to have a job.”
•Jessica Goldberger, still at Washington State U.
Assistant professor, moved to the department of crop and soil science in 2009, where she is now an associate professor: “It was rough there for a while, wondering what was going to happen to our department, but I’m very pleased with how it all worked out in my case.”
•Marcia Ostrom, still at Washington State U.
Associate professor, is still director of Washington State’s small-farms program, but has a new faculty home in the School of the Environment.
•Raymond A. Jussaume Jr., new job at Michigan State U.
Professor and department chair, served as the university’s ombudsman and a professor in the department of natural-resource sciences and then left in August 2011 to take a job as chair of the department of sociology at Michigan State University: “I was very, very fortunate.”
•Emmett P. Fiske, retired
Professor and associate director for outreach, Center for Environmental Research, Education & Outreach, retired.
•William H. Gray, retired
Professor who was the founding dean of the university’s campus in Spokane, retired after more than three decades at the institution: “This was not as consequential for me as it would be for a younger faculty member. I was going to retire when I did or the following year anyway.”
•Annabel Kirschner, retired
Professor, worked as director of one of the university’s county extension offices before retiring.
Department of theater and dance, eliminated as of July 2011
•Terry J. Converse, retired
Professor, retired and now a Fulbright visiting lecturer in India, where he is leading a series of workshops that will develop into a play that he will direct at a theater there.
•Laurilyn J. Harris, retired
Professor and department chair, retired and living in Cincinnati, after working at Washington State for 37 years: “I left town because I knew perfectly well that if I just stayed there and simmered it wouldn’t be a good thing.”
German as a major, eliminated as of July 2011
•Rachel J. Halverson, still at Washington State U.
Associate professor of German, remains at Washington State, where German is still offered as a minor. She is the associate chair of the department of foreign languages and cultures but now teaches fewer upper-level courses. “When you have a situation like this it affects your productivity. I’m fortunate to have a job, but it’s been very hard to believe that anything I do means anything.”
