The Les Bailey Writers Series at Saint Martin’s University returns for its fourth year with a reading and presentation from internationally-acclaimed novelist Jim Lynch, who will deliver a talk entitled “Call of the Wild: How Western Washington’s Natural Wonderland Inspires My Writing.” Jim Lynch is the author of four novels set in Western Washington with his latest creation, “Before the Wind,” released last year. The New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin picked his novel “Truth Like the Sun” as one of her 10 favorite books of 2012. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Join together with your fellow Saints to be in solidarity through reflection and vigil for the tragedies of the recent earthquakes in Mexico and the devastation from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. There will be a vigil service and then afterwards the opportunity to contribute money to relief efforts or contribute your voice through political action. Tuesday, October 3, at 4:30 p.m., on the TUB lawn (rain location is the TUB).

It's #NationalCoffeeDay! Saint Martin's Elisabeth Power, Ph.D., MBA, assistant professor of business and economics, recently spoke with WalletHub about the economics of coffee drinking and whether opening a coffee shop is a good business move for young entrepreneurs.

Here are two poems from Saint Martin's faculty for #nationalpoetryday: "Arsenic Dreams," by Nathalie Kuroiwa-Lewis, Ph.D., associate professor of English, and "Nighttime," a poem by Genrikh Sapgir, translated from the Russian by Jamie Olson, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the English department. "Arsenic Dreams" was published in the Spring 2017 issue of Dark Matter, and "Nighttime" appeared in "100 Poems about Moscow," an anthology of Russian poems and their English translations that recently won the prestigious Book of the Year award, in the poetry category, from Russia's Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications.

In this great article from ThurstonTalk.com, Sarah Salcedo, co-creator of Promised Land Documentary, speaks about the genesis of the award-winning documentary. Irina Gendelman, Ph.D., and John Hopkins, Ph.D., also discuss why the Oct. 6 screening and discussion of the film is important for the Saint Martin's community and for the Symposium on Teaching and Learning.

OLY ARTS has a great article about Promised Land Documentary and the upcoming screening and discussion of the film at Saint Martin's on Friday, Oct. 6.

Last spring, three Saint Martin’s biology professors, Aaron Coby, Ph.D., Sam Fox, Ph.D. and Mary Jo Hartman, Ph.D., and several Saint Martin’s students who are involved with the SMU Biology Club, led two educational trips for children from the Lacey Boys & Girls Club—one to nearby Woodland Creek, on the Saint Martin’s University campus, and one to the Nisqually Reach Nature Center. As Fox explained, the initiative could not have happened without the assistance of the Mountaineers Foundation.

Tim Moore, mega project bridge manager for Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), will deliver a presentation entitled “Digging Deeper into the Alaskan Way Viaduct Program” at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 27, at Saint Martin's University, on the third floor of Cebula Hall. The lecture will be preceded by a reception at 5:30 p.m., also on the third floor of Cebula Hall. The reception and the lecture are free and open to the public. Moore has 34 years of bridge design and construction experience with the WSDOT Bridge Office. His significant projects include: leading the design of the SR 509 Puyallup River balanced cantilever concrete segmental and the Foss-Waterway cabled-stayed bridge in the Tacoma Tideflats; serving as lead structural reviewer for the SR 16 new Tacoma Narrows suspension bridge; leading the bridge design effort for the two completed bridges on the SR 99 Holgate to King project and currently serving as the lead structural reviewer for the SR 99 Alaskan Way viaduct bored tunnel project. Moore’s areas of bridge design expertise include post-tensioned concrete, structured steel and cable-supported bridges. He earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Washington and he is a licensed professional and structural engineer in Washington state.

Saint Martin’s University’s Hal and Inge Marcus School of Engineering has established a speaker series focused on exploring topics in engineering. The first two speakers will be Tim Moore, mega project bridge manager for Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), who will deliver a presentation entitled “Digging Deeper into the Alaskan Way Viaduct Program” on Wednesday, Sept. 27, and Scott Wilcox, Ph.D., hardware integration engineer at Amazon.com, who will speak about his experiences at Amazon on Wednesday, Nov. 15.

Congratulations to Jamie Olson, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the English department, who contributed translations of five poems to "100 Poems about Moscow," an anthology of Russian poems and their English translations. "100 Poems about Moscow" recently won the prestigious Book of the Year award, in the poetry category, from Russia's Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications. A brief excerpt from the book, a Gavriil Derzhavin poem translated by Anne Fisher, is available to read through the link below.

The Les Bailey Writers Series returns for its fourth installment at Saint Martin’s University on Wednesday, Oct. 4, with a presentation from internationally-acclaimed novelist Jim Lynch in the Norman Worthington Conference Center at 7:00 p.m. Lynch will read from his work and present a talk, "Call of the Wild: How Western Washington's Natural Wonderland Inspires My Writing." The event is free and the public is invited to attend. The Seattle Times has said Jim Lynch “observes like a journalist and writes like a poet.” He is the author of four novels set in Western Washington with his latest creation, “Before the Wind,” released last year. The New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin picked his novel “Truth Like the Sun” as one of her 10 favorite books of 2012. That novel was also a finalist for the Dashiell Hammett Prize, given to the best literary crime fiction in North America. Lynch’s first novel “The Highest Tide” (2005) won the Pacific Northwest Bookseller Award, was performed on stage in Seattle, and became an international bestseller after it was featured on England’s “Richard and Judy” television show. His second novel, “Border Songs” (2009), was also adapted to the stage and won the Washington State Book Award as well as the Indies Choice Honor Book Award.

Michelle Gross, a senior majoring in criminal justice at Saint Martin’s University, was recently awarded a prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship (Gilman International Scholarship- Official Page) for a study-abroad project in the U.K. Gross will take criminal justice courses at London South Bank University in London, U.K., and will also attend cultural enrichment courses through CEA Study Abroad in London.