Washington State Magazine webisodes

Washington State Magazine
  • 5.0 (2)
  • EDUCATION

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”

  1. APR 24

    Mind Strength: A Conversation with Luke Falk

    Send us Fan Mail 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. Elevate Your Game. (2025, Maison Vero). It’s a self-development guide that underscores the need for athletes to train not only their bodies but their minds.  But the lessons from Falk translate to anyone. “Mind strength is the ability to master your inner world so you can handle anything the outside world throws at you,” Falk says. “It’s not about perfection. It’s a tool in your toolbelt.” Falk talks to Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about the book, Coach Mike Leach, Coug football, and lessons that everyone can use to succeed no matter what the world throws at you. Learn more Coach Luke Falk’s Mind Strength Support the show ______________________________________________________________________________ Want more great WSU stories? Follow Washington State Magazine:         LinkedIn @Washington-State-Magazine        Bluesky @wastatemagazine.bsky.social        X (formerly Twitter) @wsmagazine        Facebook @WashingtonStateMagazine        Instagram @WashingtonStateMagazine        YouTube @WashingtonStateMagazine        Email newsletterHow do you like the magazine podcast? What WSU stories do you want to hear? Let us know. Give to the magazine

    32 min

  2. JAN 27

    Rain, Wind, Heat: 2025 Weather in Review

    Send us Fan Mail 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.  In this episode, Josh Ward and Jon Contezac discuss significant weather events of 2025. They are field meteorologists for Washington State University’s AgWeatherNet. The past year was the third hottest on record for the planet. It was the fourth hottest on record for the United States. However, damage costs from extreme weather events were lower than previous years. The year started with fires that razed 58-square miles around Los Angeles. Thirty-one people were killed and more than 16,000 structures burned during the January fires. Tornados killed 43 people in the central United States last year.  In the Pacific Northwest, the Bear Gulch Fire in Olympic National Park burned from July to November. Meanwhile, an unusually warm fall and early winter has hampered the region’s snowpack accrual. AgWeatherNet at Washington State University Support the show ______________________________________________________________________________ Want more great WSU stories? Follow Washington State Magazine:         LinkedIn @Washington-State-Magazine        Bluesky @wastatemagazine.bsky.social        X (formerly Twitter) @wsmagazine        Facebook @WashingtonStateMagazine        Instagram @WashingtonStateMagazine        YouTube @WashingtonStateMagazine        Email newsletterHow do you like the magazine podcast? What WSU stories do you want to hear? Let us know. Give to the magazine

    19 min

  3. 12/04/2025

    The Christmas tree doctor is in.

    Send us Fan Mail 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 years helping Northwest Christmas tree growers improve their product. For his work, Chastagner earned the nickname “Dr. Christmas Tree.”  In this episode, Chastagner talks about working on solutions to Swiss needle cast disease in Douglas fir and visiting tree lots in the Southwest to improve the hydration of displayed trees. He’s also visited other countries to scout out new Christmas tree varieties.  Chastagner was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the National Christmas Tree Association in 2018. He retired in April 2025 from the WSU Research and Extension Center in Puyallup, where he also worked on ornamental flower bulb, cut flower, and nursery stock research.  The Dr. Gary Chastagner Endowed Chair in Plant Pathology has been created and is raising money to continue research with the Christmas tree and horticultural industries.  Read more Northwest growers test new tree varieties as droughts threaten Christmas crop (NWPB, Dec. 2, 2025) Oh, Christmas trees! (Washington State Magazine, Winter 2022) Talkin’ around the Christmas tree: Stories, history and tips (Washington State Magazine, Winter 2022) Ask Mr. Christmas Tree (Washington State Magazine, Winter 2013) Support the show ______________________________________________________________________________ Want more great WSU stories? Follow Washington State Magazine:         LinkedIn @Washington-State-Magazine        Bluesky @wastatemagazine.bsky.social        X (formerly Twitter) @wsmagazine        Facebook @WashingtonStateMagazine        Instagram @WashingtonStateMagazine        YouTube @WashingtonStateMagazine        Email newsletterHow do you like the magazine podcast? What WSU stories do you want to hear? Let us know. Give to the magazine

    27 min

  4. 10/21/2025

    A coffee adventure

    Send us Fan Mail 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 Washington State University to running a successful micro-roastery. Meech, a 2000 WSU business alum, also gives some tips on brewing and tasting coffee. Read about Meech in “Coffee, community, calm” (Fall 2025 issue of Washington State Magazine). Learn more at Caffè Lusso. Check out some other coffee tasting tutorials on YouTube recommended by Meech: ·       A Beginners Guide to Coffee Tasting (James Hoffmann) ·       HOW TO TASTE COFFEE: A Lexicon for Coffee Lovers (Lance Hedrick) Support the show ______________________________________________________________________________ Want more great WSU stories? Follow Washington State Magazine:         LinkedIn @Washington-State-Magazine        Bluesky @wastatemagazine.bsky.social        X (formerly Twitter) @wsmagazine        Facebook @WashingtonStateMagazine        Instagram @WashingtonStateMagazine        YouTube @WashingtonStateMagazine        Email newsletterHow do you like the magazine podcast? What WSU stories do you want to hear? Let us know. Give to the magazine

    35 min

  5. 09/30/2025

    Always educating: WSU Police Chief Dawn Daniels

    Send us Fan Mail 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 commitment to student success and community collaboration. “I’ve always viewed policing as teaching—just in a different way,” Daniels says. She talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about her unexpected path into law enforcement, the importance of community policing and student engagement, and memorable moments in her career. Support the show ______________________________________________________________________________ Want more great WSU stories? Follow Washington State Magazine:         LinkedIn @Washington-State-Magazine        Bluesky @wastatemagazine.bsky.social        X (formerly Twitter) @wsmagazine        Facebook @WashingtonStateMagazine        Instagram @WashingtonStateMagazine        YouTube @WashingtonStateMagazine        Email newsletterHow do you like the magazine podcast? What WSU stories do you want to hear? Let us know. Give to the magazine

    17 min

  6. 08/19/2025

    Facing opioids with facts and education

    Send us Fan Mail 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 University faculty and staff, including assistant professor Nicole Rodin at the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, have teamed up with colleagues across Washington to get accurate and useful facts out to people and try to prevent overdoses.  They’ve focused on rural communities hit hard by opioid use, often with limited medical facilities and support. Rodin talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about the scope of the opioid epidemic, effective education, reducing stigma, and how we can all lend our support. There’s a need to treat substance use disorders as health care, Rodin says. “It is a disorder. It is a medical condition, and we have yet to treat it that way as a society.” Read more about WSU efforts on curbing substance use and addiction in the Spring 2024 issue of Washington State Magazine. Other resources: Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Collaborative (Northwest Region 10) Opioid Overdose Prevention, Recognition, and Response (Washington State Department of Health) How to talk about substance use (Washington State Magazine, Spring 2024) WSU PEAR—Program of Excellence in Addictions Research WSU APPL—Analytics and PsychoPharmacology Laboratory Support the show ______________________________________________________________________________ Want more great WSU stories? Follow Washington State Magazine:         LinkedIn @Washington-State-Magazine        Bluesky @wastatemagazine.bsky.social        X (formerly Twitter) @wsmagazine        Facebook @WashingtonStateMagazine        Instagram @WashingtonStateMagazine        YouTube @WashingtonStateMagazine        Email newsletterHow do you like the magazine podcast? What WSU stories do you want to hear? Let us know. Give to the magazine

    17 min

  7. 06/16/2025

    The art of baseball: Dick Perez, Marq Evans, and The Diamond King

    Send us Fan Mail 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 most iconic pastime. In this episode, Evans talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about Perez’s life, making the documentary, baseball, and art. Find out more The Diamond King official website Trailer for The Diamond King Dick Perez’s website “Collecting the Diamond Kings” (Summer 2025, Washington State Magazine) Support the show ______________________________________________________________________________ Want more great WSU stories? Follow Washington State Magazine:         LinkedIn @Washington-State-Magazine        Bluesky @wastatemagazine.bsky.social        X (formerly Twitter) @wsmagazine        Facebook @WashingtonStateMagazine        Instagram @WashingtonStateMagazine        YouTube @WashingtonStateMagazine        Email newsletterHow do you like the magazine podcast? What WSU stories do you want to hear? Let us know. Give to the magazine

    28 min

  8. 04/10/2025

    Rock on: Digging into the history of rock ‘n’ roll

    Send us Fan Mail “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 through the WSU School of Music. He talks with magazine associate editor Adriana Janovich about the class, why it matters, and what students get out of it. They cover everything from The Beatles to Beyoncé, Bob Dylan to Kendrick Lamar. And along the way, Miller introduces a six-step process for examining songs. -- Read more about the class in “School of rock” (Washington State Magazine, Spring 2025). A.J Miller is also assistant director of the Washington State University Cougar Marching Band. Read about the band and watch a video of them in action at Washington State Magazine. Support the show ______________________________________________________________________________ Want more great WSU stories? Follow Washington State Magazine:         LinkedIn @Washington-State-Magazine        Bluesky @wastatemagazine.bsky.social        X (formerly Twitter) @wsmagazine        Facebook @WashingtonStateMagazine        Instagram @WashingtonStateMagazine        YouTube @WashingtonStateMagazine        Email newsletterHow do you like the magazine podcast? What WSU stories do you want to hear? Let us know. Give to the magazine

    36 min
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About

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”

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