Our Crowdfunding Groups
What We Do:
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is Western’s largest academic unit, comprised of two divisions: social and behavioral sciences, and humanities. Students within this college are majoring in studies like Communication Sciences and Disorders, Modern and Classical Languages, Psychology, History and more! We provide students with a culturally inclusive education to best prepare them to study and build relationships within society. When you support social sciences and humanities through funding higher education, your gift continues to give for generations to come.
Your Impact:
Your gifts to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences can support:
Departments and Special Projects:
Anthropology
Your gift to the Anthropology Department Fund will provide much needed funding for student-faculty research, guest speakers, travel to conferences, career networking opportunities and most importantly, scholarships.
You can also choose to give in honor of your favorite professor or to one of our named funds:
Communication Studies
We teach communication studies that nurture inclusive civil discourse, critical thinking, and cooperative solutions in a diverse global community. We offer opportunities to develop strong communication skills within a challenging liberal arts program. Our major program prepares students to speak and write proficiently, think critically, apply communication concepts competently, work cooperatively in small groups, and reflect on ethical dimensions of their actions. We focus on interactive learning in a high quality communication studies curriculum. We assist planning so that students effectively manage time to graduation. We emphasize carefully guided, performance-based learning characterized by a low student-to-faculty ratio in the classroom. And we offer the opportunity to participate in a nationally recognized forensics program.
Funding Priorities:
Your gift to the Communication Studies Department will fund student-faculty research, guest speakers, travel to conferences, career networking opportunities and most importantly, scholarships.
Communication Sciences and Disorders
The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) offers engaging and challenging courses and clinical experiences for students studying at the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and graduate levels. Upon graduation, undergraduate students majoring in CSD will be well-prepared to pursue advanced degrees in speech-language pathology or audiology. Our Master's degree program in speech-language pathology and Clinical Doctorate in audiology provide exceptional academic, clinical, and research opportunities for students who intend to practice in educational or medical settings.
Funding Priorities:
Your gift to the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department will fund student-faculty research, guest speakers, travel to conferences, career networking opportunities, and most importantly, scholarships.
Health and Human Development
Your gift to the Department of Health and Human Development will fund student-faculty research, equipment needs for our new state-of-the-art labs in the Carver Academic Facility, travel to conferences for graduate and undergraduate students, student recognition awards, and most importantly, scholarships.
Community Health and Health Education
Western's Master of Arts in Rehabilitation Counseling program prepares dedicated and qualified rehabilitation counselors who will partner with individuals with disabilities to enhance their lives, including self-determination, independence, meaningful employment, and full community participation.
Help us accomplish our mission to foster critically reflective, scholarly practitioners in the field of adult and higher education and to socialize leaders to the discipline of adult and higher education as well as to apply principles of adult learning across diverse professional settings.
English
The English Department is committed to providing direct support to our students through scholarship gifts to help ensure that students continue their education during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Scholarships have always allowed the Department to recognize and encourage our students but are even more critical to inspire and sustain students during these uncertain times.
Journalism
Student success story:
In the 2019-2020 academic year, the endowment has provided financial assistance for one of the Department of Journalism’s rising stars, Lauren Gallup, who has proven to be a writing talent on top of being a highly motivated academic. Lauren hopes to write, edit, and produce stories upon graduation. Lauren has paid for part of her education through loans and grants, and the money the endowment provided eased her financial pressure and allowed her to focus on her story-telling skills. The research she produced about how addiction is treated in news and entertainment was included in Scholars Week 2019. Lauren has always been a lover of stories- in high school she created and organized four live storytelling events in her community. She then decided to pursue a News/Editorial, BA after encouragement from Professor Rosemary Vohs who understood Lauren’s bright future in writing. We have high hopes for her and her work.
Funding Priorities:
The department would like to make funding for internship stipends a priority for the next year. There has been a decrease in available paid internships as a direct result of COVID-19, which has directly impacted our students. Internships are a hallmark of what makes our program unique and the department would like to do what it can to ensure that our students are able to get competitive internships without the stress of financial instability.
History
Your gift to the History Department will fund student-faculty research, guest speakers, travel to conferences, career networking opportunities and most importantly, scholarships. A highlight of our academic year is the annual Phi Alpha Theta conference, held in different locations around the Pacific Northwest. Our students travel to the conference to present research and are almost always nominated for prizes. They leave proud of their accomplishments. Your gift helps ensure that any student, regardless of their financial background, can afford to go.
College is a time for students to make sense of an increasingly complicated and fragmented world. Studying history brings students out of themselves to reflect on how the experiences of the past can help us understand better the challenges of the present. That’s why knowledge of history is vital for our shared democracy.
Philosophy
The philosophy department offers a variety of courses in traditional areas of philosophical study, including ethics, epistemology, logic, metaphysics, and the history of philosophy. Through a collaborative study of these topics, our faculty helps students develop skills that we value as a department - skills like active reading, critical thinking, analytic writing, and effective speaking.
Your gift to the Philosophy Department this year will fund guest speakers, student travel to conferences, and Western’s own student philosophy conference.
Sociology
Student Success Story:
Alexis Martinez, Hannah Bryan, and Brandon Huston worked with Professor Kristin Anderson on a study of the effectiveness and implications of Lethality Assessment and Domestic Violence High Risk Team monitoring in cases of domestic violence. Hannah and Brandon were both scheduled to present findings from this research at the Pacific Sociological Association Meeting during Spring quarter 2020, although the conference was unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic. A paper that examines how these programs are associated with prosecution outcomes is currently in review for publication in an academic journal.
Funding Priorities:
Scholarships to support our students in our major.
Psychology
Donations to the Department of Psychology will be used to support student research and travel to present research at professional conferences.
Psychology holds active student participation in research as one of its central values. This is a point of pride for our department. Last year, 38 students were co-authors of peer-reviewed journal articles and 71 were co-authors of presentations at a wide variety of regional, national, and international professional conferences. Conferences give students the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise and to see, first-hand, the impact that their work has on the larger scientific community.
Your contributions to the Department of Psychology will allow us to continue providing financial support to students conducting research and presenting their research at professional conferences.
Behavioral Neuroscience Program
With the support from donors like you, we are fundraising to continue providing student scholarships and undergraduate research opportunities that are important in preparing students for post graduate employment and graduate school. The funding priorities this year include scholarships, travel funds for conferences and networking opportunities and paid assistant research positions.
Political Science
Student success story:
Piper Tolbert is the recipient of the Political Science department’s 2019-2020 Outstanding Graduate award and a WWU Presidential Scholar. Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, Piper was drawn to Bellingham and Western because she wanted to be close to the water and mountains. As a Political Science major she formed an independent study group with three of her fellow students under the direction of Professor Lisa Beard in Winter 2019. Piper loved studying Political Science at Western because of this group, and because students brought in varied knowledge from other disciplines that helped to enrich her own understanding. With this group, Piper co-presented a paper at the 2019 Political Science Association Annual Conference and then, in Fall 2019, at the National Women’s Studies Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA. In nominating her for the Presidential Scholar award, Lisa Beard notes that “Piper Tolbert is an intellectually curious and highly engaged student who has contributed greatly to the department and campus community. Her study of politics has bridged Political Science; Womxn, Gender and Sexuality Studies; and law courses offered through Fairhaven College.” Reflecting on the award and her studies, Piper observes that “Political Science is a deeply complex and powerful field of study that pushes us to examine our position in the world and imagine solutions to create a more just and equitable society”. In the future, she hopes to use her studies in Political Science to do non-profit work at the cross-section of law and gender equality, local politics, or both. Piper’s story reflects the strong connections Political Science students make with faculty, the ability to creatively explore academic interests within the discipline, and the opportunity for majors to participate in and present at national conferences.
Funding Priorities:
Modern and Classical Languages
Our department has many scholarship opportunities for students to apply, thanks to your generosity! We are very proud to award scholarships to students that are named in honor of our faculty, alumni, and community supporters: Eunice D. Faber, Golden & Li Family, Herbert L. Baird, Jr., Ingrid Stahlbrand Kassler, Karen L. Freeman, Everett and Vernon Loomis, and Martha Hanley. During the 2019/20 academic year, over $15,000 was awarded to our students! On behalf of our students, thank you for your contributions and generosity! We would like to continue the ability to provide these crucial scholarships to our students!
East Asian Studies
The Program serves as a focal point for Western Washington University's interaction with East Asia, and an arena for vibrant intellectual cross-pollination from a variety of disciplines. From an academic perspective, it helps promote rigorous training in the study of East Asia and Inner Asia. With Asian economies, languages, cultures, and political realities continuing to rank high in global importance, diverse expertise in this region is an essential asset for any university. The opportunity for students to receive degrees in East Asian Studies represents an important aspect of the university curriculum.
Your gift to East Asian Studies will fund student-faculty research, guest speakers, travel to conferences, career networking opportunities and most importantly, scholarships.
Linguistics
Your financial support can help the new Linguistics Department offer scholarships and awards to our outstanding and deserving students. Last year our students attended and presented at conferences in Tempe, Arizona; New Orleans, Louisiana, and Seattle. We would like to be able to fully fund this travel and the costs associated with attending academic conferences and events outside of Western. This opportunity makes all the difference as our students’ prepare to launch their careers.
You can choose to make a gift in honor of your favorite faculty member or another loved one who has supported you through your educational journey. We appreciate your support as WWU Linguistics continues to grow and receive national attention for the quality graduates we are known for.
Global Humanities and Religion
Gifts to the Department of Global Humanities and Religions are crucial in helping us fund guest speakers, including our annual distinguished speaker, a tradition now in its eleventh year, as well as our Alumni Weekend & Annual Liberal Studies Department Reception (formerly Back2Bellingham and Scholars Week Symposium), in addition to student research opportunities and, most importantly, scholarships.
Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Western Washington University’s Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) program draws on interdisciplinary research and teaching to analyze the formation of sex, gender, and sexuality as they intersect with race, class, ethnicity, nationality, religion, age, and ability. Our program encourages theory and praxis that critically considers global and local communities in efforts to revise, re-envision, and reimagine social change.
We’d love to be able to offer our students a scholarship, increased programming, and more resources!
