CAHNRS Connections June 2025
Newsletter brought to you by CAHNRS Student Success and Academic Programs.
June’s Main Event
Spring Commencement
CAHNRS students made us so proud in this year’s commencement, with creativity abounding in their hat decorations, and smiles stretching ear to ear.
Our very own Emily Libey graced the stage carrying the CAHNRS gonfalon, bringing to life the elemental spirit of our college with a big grin. She is just one of many students we are cheering on in their new adventures.
Our new president of WSU, Betsy Cantwell, made her first commencement appearance and honored our students as they stepped up to be recognized. Dean Wendy Powers experienced her last commencement roles as our dean, and we were so proud she was able to make one last special moment with the students and administrators on stage.
There were some incredible memories made – the fanciful appliqued design skills and funny phrases of some creative hat designers, and even a canine graduation gown made by one of our amazing AMDT graduates.
Thank you to the amazing administrators, staff, faculty, and students who made the day a special occasion, and to everyone who attended to support the students in their celebration of a long and fruitful journey. CAHNRS students are strong and persevering in any situation, and we are so blessed to see this generation of students’ work come to a gratifying close.
CAHNRS Spirit
Highlighted Event Dates to Mark on Your Calendar
June 17, 2025
June 19, 2025
July 4, 2025
July 17 – 19, 2025
August 14, 2025
August 27, 2025
September 4, 2025
Daniel Arinez Presents Three Outstanding Research Papers at WSU, Gonzaga University, and Central Washington University – Wins 2 People’s Choice Awards
Representing CAHNRS Cougs Around the Globe
Daniel Arinez waved the WSU Coug flag in his home country of Bolivia over the last break, and this summer had the chance to wave it once again at Gonzaga University.
Arinez, a junior in Economics – Policy and Law, represented CAHNRS this summer by presenting three research papers both here at WSU, and externally at Gonzaga University and Central Washington University.
The VTuber Market Case Study
Arinez presented “The VTuber Market Case Study – Hololive Production as a Business” alongside his mentor, Professor Mark Gibson, at SURCA at Washington State University, SIRC at Gonzaga University, and at SOURCE at Central Washington University. The research focused on the business practices of COVER Corp., a Japanese company that owns the VTuber agency focused on anime-style virtual music production and licensing, Hololive Productions. He noted that Gawr Gura, one of Hololive’s most successful virtual creators on YouTube, gained one million subscribers in only one month. Having observed Hololive’s booming success with anime-style VTubers, Arinez decided to investigate further into the data to “create a playbook of sorts to see how internet companies will operate in the future as to replicate their success”.
His poster presentation for this research won him his first People’s Choice Award for Best Poster at Gonzaga University, his first award of this summer.
The U.S. Dollar Supply Crisis in Bolivia
Presenting with teaching assistant Hector Botello, Arinez’s second research paper showcase focused on the current economic struggles in Bolivia, taking a deep dive into the decisions of the Morales Administration, who invested in Bolivian natural resource extraction during the U.S. dollar supply crisis in Bolivia. In his oral presentation on the paper, he highlighted the economic struggles of Bolivia maintaining a stable foreign reserve amount of USD, and shared the mistakes and government inaction of the Arce Administration while they were attempting to correct the crisis. Arinez was then able to offer some insights as to what Bolivia could do in the future to solve the U.S. dollar supply crisis.
The presentation took place at Gonzaga University’s SIRC, and Central Washington’s SOURCE. It was titled “The U.S. Dollar Supply Crisis in Bolivia.”
Another People’s Choice Award
Arinez earned himself yet another People’s Choice Award for Best Oral Presentation with his paper titled “The Economic and Geopolitical Implications of Turkey’s Rise as a Producer of Affordable Military Drones.” The presentation of the paper was with Professor Patrick Carlin at SIRC where he won the award, and also at SOURCE. He describes the paper as being focused on the production of the Bayraktar TB2 drone, which is an affordable UAV that has been extremely effective in the Ukrainian war against Russia. He investigated further into how Turkey used market segmentation during the Ukraine war as a means to overtake other countries, even the U.S. and China, and emerge as a leader in the drone market.
All of his research papers, his two People’s Choice Awards, his presentation and poster design skills, and his kindness and optimism make Daniel Arinez a great example of CAHNRS Excellence. We are so glad to have him represent us across different events, different universities, and across the globe.
Photos by Lucia Ackermann Tornee
FFA 2025
FFA T-shirt Giveaways
This year’s Washington State FFA convention was an absolute hit! We had nearly 3,000 middle and high school students visit the WSU Pullman campus to participate in career and leadership development. We think our shirts were a hit too! During the first day and a half, we handed out over 600+ t-shirts that promoted CAHNRS to the visiting students.
Blurry Photo, Best Memories
The Student Success and Academic Programs office had the opportunity to be on-stage during the Saturday morning Welcome Ceremony, and let’s just say the energy in that room was UNBEATABLE! We had the opportunity to not only welcome FFA students but engage them in a Tik Tok teaching them our WSU ‘Go Cougs’ tradition! Picture this, each student flashlight in hand, yelling ‘Go Cougs” together, and Colette waving the WSU flag. There is no match for the energy and spirit we created in the room that day!
The Tik Tok posted shortly after the on-stage welcome, soon reached over 76,000 views, 130 shares, and 59 saves. Our biggest video to date!
Crave is Coming – 2025
Come Visit the CAHNRS Tent
WSU CAHNRS will be participating in this year’s Crave! This year’s Northwest event in Spokane Valley on July 17th through 19th.
We will be serving some of CAHNRS’s top products including Cosmic Crisp® apples, Cougar Gold cheese, WSU wine, and Ferdinand’s ice cream! If you would like to attend, tickets are on sale now! We would love to see as many Cougs as possible support CAHNRS in this celebration of food, drink, and community.
Showing Our Administrators that We are the Whipped Cream of the Crop: a Celebration of 1000 Tiktok Followers
First Up in Line
A Celebration of the milestone of 1000 TikTok followers for CAHNRS, Emily Libey did the honors of pieing administrators and colleagues in the face with whipped cream. This special opportunity was agreed upon by Dean Powers, who likely had no idea what Emily was really baking up in her clever noggin, when she agreed to it.
Colette Casavant, Director of Student Success and Academic Programs, was the first person to ‘pies-and-shine’ that morning, probably ‘filling’ like a million bucks. When it came to pieing time, she was smiling her way through. Going first meant she had the least whipped cream thrown her way, and the jolliest time of the bunch.
Miguel Inzunza, Director of Recruitment and Retention, on the other hand, was doused in pie as our pie-er got more bold. He got his slice of revenge on Emily in a surprise attack at the end of the round.
Dean ‘Pie-wers’
Scot Hulbert, our soon-to-be Acting Dean, had a big grin on his face whilst asking to please be careful not to smash his nose, however he found himself wiping his eyes immediately as his vision was entirely clouded in whipped cream.
Dean Wendy Powers was the last to go, as all this was her doing for agreeing to be pied when the CAHNRS TikTok finally reached 1000 followers. She got a sweet hug at the end.
A special thanks for all the hard work of our pie-er, Emily Libey, and welcome to the SSAP team as our hourly Program Specialist for the summer.
Follow the CAHNRS TikTok to see the full videos yourself, and to witness the next creative (or devious) endeavor it will be serving up a slice of next.
CAHNRS Social Media
Washington State FFA
While chapters all across Washington were in Pullman for FFA State Convention, the CAHNRS Social Media team was hard at work ensuring students were engaged with our Tik Tok. In total 5 Tik Toks were posted during the 3-day period, reaching 107,000 views over Tik Tok and Instagram.
Pictured to the left is Emily Libey and Judy Hopkins sitting on a staircase, excitedly dancing with their feet, and waiting for all the FFA chapters to show up!
The Final Push for 1,000 Followers
On the last day of FFA, we were short about 100 followers from reaching 1,000. The Student Success and Academic Programs office had a few more chances to engage with students, one being an on-stage performance during their Welcome ceremony, and another by posting, you guessed it, a Tik Tok!
Pictured to the right is, Nancy Deringer, Colette Casavant, and Emily Libey, grouped together, holding CAHNRS cows, and ready to encourage students to follow our Tik Tok!
Did Somebody Say Advisors?
With New Coug Orientation (NCO) just around the corner, the CAHNRS Social Media team thought it would be awesome to showcase our advising team. They were showcased by lip-syncing and dancing to “Telephone” by Lady Gaga. Advisors included in this Tik Tok were JD Baser, pictured to the left on his motorcycle, Mariana Castro, Rich Giles, Kelli Gardner, Colette Casavant, Shanna Hiscock, and Scott Brown.
Trust me, you do not want to miss out on this!
Bumped into Our First NCO!
That’s right! Its New Coug Orientation season, and we are excited to welcome all the New Cougs to campus! Pictured to the right is Emily Libey and Miguel Inzunza jumping with excitement! Want to see where they land? Follow us on Tik Tok and see the whole video!
SOAR: Student Outreach and Retention
CAHNRS flies high above the status quo with SOAR, a mentorship program designed to foster meaningful connection between student mentees and their faculty, staff, or graduate student mentors. SOAR stands for Student Outreach and Retention, a testament to the CAHNRS mission of helping students who are seeking guidance and support.
Providing such collaboration allows CAHNRS to grow as a community and to ensure students are able to see through their entire degrees under the protective wing of a program that helps them glide steadily through troubling winds. With the opportunity for mentorship comes invaluable educational, social, and professional development opportunity for the students.
See a full list of the SOAR members, meet the SOAR team, explore frequently asked questions, read student experiences, and learn more about the SOAR mission at the What is Soar? webpage.
WSU’s New Dairy Barn Upgrades
Happy Cows
With upgrades complete, and the cows settled in, the dairy farm that was originally built 60 years ago is now sparkling with new life. It now features a new barn that includes different stages of pregnant, heifers, and dry cows for students to see all in one place, self-recycling compost waste, and more successful drainage systems to reduce mud build-up in rainy and snowy weather. Since the new structures are more consistent with modern dairy farm life, the students will get more realistic and automated experiences as part of their learning processes.
See the WSU CAHNRS TikTok visit the Dairy Farm with the chair of Animal Sciences, Gordon Murdoch, for a visual experience of the new barn.
Student and Academic News
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Boosting, retaining students key for newly named CAHNRS associate dean
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