Photo of Bacteriophage T4 – a virus that infects the e.coli bacteria. Taken with an electron microscope.

August 1963, Rochester, NY. Second-year graduate student Betty Kutter fell in love with a bacteria-eating bug. It happened like this: a visiting professor showed her a picture, similar to the one seen here, (left), of a virus that consumes bacteria. He captured Betty’s imagination with the comment that when we understand phage, we will understand the essence of life. Betty was hooked.

Fifty years later, faculty member emerita Betty Kutter works within an international community of scientists, researchers and physicians, all focused on the study of and uses for phage.

This August 4-9, about 200 people from 35 countries will be on the Evergreen campus for the 20th Biennial Evergreen International Phage Meeting.  They will share research, form working partnerships and track the future of phage. One possibility, using phage as an naturally occurring antibiotic. Other applications already in use for this miraculous virus:

Phage fights Listeria in Agriculture in the Netherlands
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2012/05/13/electricity-from-viruses/

Betty came to Evergreen in 1972 in the second round of faculty hires at the new college.  In 1993, she and her scientific team completed the sequencing of the phage genome. Today in the international phage community, Betty is royalty, known for her seminal research and her and tireless work with physicians around the world to optimize the medical possibilities of phage. Back home at Evergreen, Betty evinces a joyous scientific evangelizing spirit. It’s that spirit that has made her an inspirational educator who has pointed countless students toward careers in scientific inquiry.

Fun phage facts:
There are 168,904 “letters” in the genome of the bacteria phage.
The name phage comes from the Greek “phagos” which means “to eat.”

(Editor’s Note: This is reposted from the EVERGreat Inside Evergreen web log by Evergreen Photo Services/Photoland.)

Each year, one of Evergreen’s photo students gets to sample the life of a working photographer in a nine-month staff photographer internship. The student works with the  staff photographer to document the classes, groups and events that make Evergreen unique. It’s a full-time job and takes an eye for storytelling as well as the versatility to walk into any situation and find a way to capture it.

This year, we had the pleasure of working with Andrew Jeffers, who’s been a regular in Photoland for a while. He brought some great classroom experience with him, and really took this internship as an opportunity to expand his skills. He produced thousands of photos for the archive, and several video pieces for our One Minute Evergreen series. He was truly a pleasure to work with over the course of the school year.

The 2013 music release from The Evergreen Student Music Project coming soon.

The 2013 music release from The Evergreen Student Music Project is due any day now.  Stay tuned to the ESMP web log for release iniformation as well as sneek previews of artwork and maybe even a leaked song or two.

The Evergreen Student Music Project is the newest name of  a 33-year musical collaboration between Evergreen faculty and students.  Begun in 1980 as The Evergreen Album Project, it was renamed The Evergreen CD Project, and as of a few years ago adopted it’s present title.

Today’s group consists mostly of students from three programs: Advanced Audio Recording program taught by Peter Randlette and Terry Setter, Introduction to Audio Recording Class taught by Zena Vergara, and interns from Electronic Media.

Did music shape your Evergreen experience?  Let us hear from you.

May 9, 2013 edition of the Cooper Point Journal

Evergreen’s student newspaper The Cooper Point Journal has a new look both in print and online.  In print, the tabloid has a crisp look and feel, enhanced by full color on the front and back covers and a middle spread. (The “Best Of” issue, May 9, 2013, was full color!) Longtime readers will not be unpleasantly startled; it’s still the CPJ, but sharper, easier on the eyes (a boon for aging Greeners), nicer to the touch and a bit more …. maybe “professional” is the word.  Chime in and let us know what you think. The PDF version is still available for download on line. Continue reading →

Think critically or die tryin’

Once again, the Evergreen’s  Photoland folks have captured magic moments at Evergreen, this time it was June 14, Graduation Day! Take a minute, take a look. It’ll take you back.

You know how, sometimes, you get tired and cranky and cynical? The daily round is so…daily!  Work, family, social obligations, deadlines, ringing cell phones, pinging emails… Here are four minutes guaranteed to shake the dust off your heart and fuel your hope for the future. Peek behind the magic green curtain at Evergreen’s Annual Fund and hear the voices of tomorrow.

Show your support for the next generation with your year end gift to Evergreen.  Give now!

Senior Celi Tamayo-Lee conducts a series of performance pieces, offering active listening to members of the Evergreen community on the topic of combating racism. The piece was a project for Celi’s fourth-year program Video in/and Performance Art. — Andrew Jeffers photo

Celi Tamayo-Lee is one of those Evergreen students who seems to have more than 24 hours in her day. She has designed an intense curriculum for herself of full-time programs in Political Economy and Media studies; and rounds out her class work with involvement in a variety of other activities. She is an active member of the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition student group, a performer in the annual production of the Vagina Monologues, and can often be seen leading campus tours for prospective students and their families. She inspires those she meets with her intelligence, enthusiasm and energy.

The Admissions office asked us if we could sit down with Celi and document a little bit of her experience here, and we were happy to oblige. Celi spoke articulately about what drew her to Evergreen and how the unique curriculum model helped her develop both critical reasoning skills and confidence. We saw both qualities as we documented her this year; and we think that you will, too.

Allow us to introduce you to Celi Tamayo-Lee:

Originally posted in Inside Evergreen

The third place photograph, created by Andrew Chard, Dakota Barnard, and Stacie Feldman in the Color and Lighting class, winter 2013.

One of the best blogs on campus is Photoland’s Inside Evergreen. This issue features the winners of the first-ever photography competition for Evergreen students. Take a look, and while your at it, please note you can subscribe to Inside Evergreen and be visually delighted all year around.

Faculty member Jose Gomez

Students in Jose Gomez’s Equality and the Constitution program will give oral arguments relating to six cases before The Evergreen Supreme Court this spring. Although not a public event, we thought alumni would like to know what issues are being critically examined on campus this spring.

The Court will hear oral arguments in the following six cases. Each case involves controversies that implicate equality, primarily equal protection under the Fifth and Fourteenth  Amendments to the United States Constitution. These are real cases recently decided by various circuits of the United States Courts of Appeals and one state supreme court. Three of the cases (two involving same-sex marriage and one involving affirmative action in higher education) were argued before the United States Supreme Court earlier this year, and decisions from that court are expected any day now.

1. Case No. S2013-05:  United States and BLAG v. Edith Windsor, on a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit – 9:40 to 10:40 a.m.  Issue: Whether the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines the term “marriage” under federal law as a “legal union between one man and one woman” deprives same-sex couples who are legally married under state laws of their Fifth Amendment rights to equal protection under federal law.

2. Case No. S2013-04:  Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, on a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit – 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.  Issue: Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment permits the consideration of race in undergraduate admissions decisions.

3. Case No. S2013-02: City of Arlington v. Frame, on a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit – 12:20 to 1:20 p.m.  Issue: Whether Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. (and their implied private right of action) extend to newly built and altered public sidewalks.

4. Case No. S2013-06: Hollingsworth v. Perry, on a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit – 9:40 to 10:40 a.m.  Issue: Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the state of California from defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

5. Case No. S2013-01:  State of Iowa v. Mootz, on a writ of certiorari to the Iowa Supreme Court – 11:00 a.m. to 12:0 p.m.  Issue: Whether a state district court erred when it denied a defendant a peremptory challenge during the jury selection process on the basis that he was using the strike to engage in purposeful racial discrimination.