Washington State Magazine webisodes
We connect you to stories at Washington State University, from meaningful research to fascinating people and campus life. Each month we’ll have an episode where Cougs from all over talk with us about research and outreach, and another episode that spotlights a WSU alum or happenings on one of WSU campuses. Do you have any WSU story ideas for the podcast? We’d love to hear them. Email us or send a note through our contact form. If you like the Washington State Magazine podcast, please like us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Formerly “Viewscapes”
Episodes
Former Washington State University quarterback Luke Falk (’17 Soc. Sci.) was the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week six times, started in 40 games, and set a WSU record with 27 wins. In 2017, his final season with Coug football, Falk won the Burlsworth Trophy, awarded to the nation’s top former walk-on.
Falk shares the secrets to his college-ball success in his new book, The Mind Strength Playbook: Master Your Mind....
December 2025 was a wild month for weather across Washington.
An atmospheric river dumped historic amounts of rainfall on northwest Washington in early December, leading to flooding, landslides, and power outages.
A few days later, a windstorm swept across eastern Washington. Gusts of 83 miles per hour were recorded in Pullman, accompanied by an unusual winter thunderstorm.
When Gary Chastagner was a kid in the 1950s, his parents typically displayed their Christmas tree for about a week. The tree went up on December 24—often after he went to bed—and came down after New Year’s Day.
Now, consumers want fresh-cut trees that can be displayed for weeks without losing their needles. Chastagner, a professor emeritus of plant pathology at Washington State University, has spent more than 40 year...
Philip Meech and Caffè Lusso take people on a coffee journey around the world. A coffee roaster and entrepreneur for over 25 years, he wants coffee drinkers to slow down, taste the roasted beans and enjoy the rich variety.
In this episode, Philip talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about enjoying coffee, his lifelong love of coffee, the art and science of coffee roasting, and his journey from Was...
Dawn Daniels was appointed as Washington State University’s police chief in August 2025. Daniels shares her journey from WSU student to leading the university’s police department.
Over the years, she has served in various WSU roles including community policing officer, sergeant, and firearms instructor. With nearly three decades of service, she reflects on her career, the evolving role of campus policing, and her co...
Opioid misuse and overdoses are a serious public health crisis across Washington state and nationwide.
From 2019 to 2021, the annual number of opioid drug overdose deaths in the state nearly doubled. About 55 people in America die each day from an overdose of prescribed or illicit opioids, including fentanyl and heroin.
It’s crucial to get real information and education on opioid use to communities. Washington State ...
For over 20 years, Dick Perez was the official artist of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, painting the game’s history and every Hall of Fame ballplayer—a project he continues into his 80s. Marq Evans (Claydream, The Glamour & The Squalor) directed The Diamond King, a documentary that tells the fascinating story of Perez, the “Picasso of Baseball,” whose portraits transformed the commemoration of America’s mos...
“It’s only rock n roll, but I like it,” is not really a good answer in Washington State University’s popular history of rock music class.
Hundreds of WSU students learn how to really dig into the tunes. They study how rock ‘n’ roll is tied into American society, history, and culture, by analyzing lyrics and music styles from over the decades.
A.J. Miller is the main instructor of the rock ‘n’ roll history class throug...
Farming life and the essential work of producing food for the world has long been celebrated in art, literature, and essays.
Richard Scheuerman, an educator, author, and 1972 history graduate from Washington State University, wrote three books that take a deep dive into art and books about farming. He covers a huge span of time and geography, from the Bible to modern literature.
In those three volu...
Students, teachers, and schools learned a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many of the challenges and opportunities were already there, just emphasized by the global health emergency, says Johnny Lupinacci, associate professor at the Washington State University College of Education.
Lupinacci teaches future teachers and education researchers, and he was a high school teacher himself. He points out how many ideas and ...
Weatherwise, July 2024 was a doozy.
Palm Springs hit 124 degrees. Alaska had the wettest July on record. Washington DC tied its record for the most consecutive days with temperatures over 100. Hurricane Beryl became the earliest category five hurricane in history. And a Chicago derecho spawned 32 tornadoes in single day.
“All of that happened just in July, which is just astonishing,” says Josh Ward, field meteorologi...
The stories of Washington State University are stories of the state, covering agriculture and architecture, geography and geology, history and industry, people and places, and a lot more from the Puget Sound to the Palouse.
Many of those stories are gathered in The Evergreen Collection: Exceptional Stories from Across Washington State, an anthology to celebrate 20 years of Washington State Magazine. No matter where ...
If you listen to Washington State University sports, you’ll hear calls from a Coug who’s returned home: Chris King. Chris graduated in 2009 from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, returned to WSU when he took over radio broadcast announcing duties from Matt Chazanow in fall 2024.
King came back to Pullman after announcing for minor league baseball and Division I broadcasting experience with the University...
Coho salmon in urban areas were dying from stormwater runoff, but scientists didn’t know why until a few years ago.
A team of researchers from Washington State University and University of Washington identified a chemical found in tires as the culprit.
Tires contain 6PPD, which keeps the rubber from cracking after exposure to ozone in the atmosphere. But 6PPD also reacts with ozone, forming the organic chemical 6PPD-...
As the Pac-12’s remaining members—Washington State University and Oregon State University—began rebuilding the conference, WSU President Kirk Schulz announced in June 2024 that Anne McCoy was the new permanent athletics director.
McCoy hit the ground running earlier in the year as interim AD, since she has worked for WSU Athletics since 2001 in almost every department. She faces a lot of challenges in her new role…al...
Remembering to perform a future action is a critical part of daily life.
Psychologists refer to this as our “prospective memory,” and some examples include remembering to pay bills on time, returning library books when they’re due, or getting to doctor’s appointments.
Brooke Beech is a Washington State University doctoral student specializing in clinical neuropsychology. She works with older adults to examine how agi...
In this episode, new Cougar Marching Band director Jon Sweet takes magazine associate editor Adriana Janovich behind the scenes. He talks about the music, the marching, the fans, and the incre...
Young people have lots of questions about diet, exercise, and sexual health. TikTok is one of their most trusted venues for finding out information.
“They’ll go to TikTok and ask questions,” says Nicole O’Donnell, assistant professor at Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. “They’re learning about health mostly through other people’s stories rather than some of the traditi...
2023 was a year of weather extremes, with damaging floods, fires, and storms unfolding across the globe.
The United States logged a historic number of billion-dollar weather disasters, while smoke from Canada’s wildfires choked parts of the country.
“It’s kind of odd to be talking about our neighbor just to the north, but they really did have such a big impact in North America and also globally,” says Nathan...
“Food is interesting because it touches so many other communities,” says Samantha Noll, an associate professor of bioethics in the School of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs at Washington State University. “When we decide that we're going to eat that falafel sandwich, or that burger, or that sal...
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