Wyatt Harrison and Jerry Kramer, both from Western Washington University's Facilities Management, will be singing and playing Irish pub tunes today at lunchtime at the 16th annual Employee Arts & Crafts Show.

Harrison will be playing bass guitar and the "green frog" bass, and Kramer will be manning the dulcimer.

The show closes this Friday, March 19, at 1:30 p.m.

Today through Thursday, the exhibit is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Friday, the show is open from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Western Washington University is offering a JavaScript workshop this spring called "jQuery Bootcamp."

A new generation of JavaScript framework has enabled even casual Web site authors to add an enormous amount of interactivity to their sites. Students will learn the basics of the jQuery JavaScript framework during a series of hands-on workshops.

Scott Miles, assistant professor of Planning and Environmental Policy at Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment and director of Huxley’s Resilience Institute, and Rebekah Green, associate director of the Resilience Institute, traveled to Haiti in late February to conduct impact assessments with the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.

Miles and Green will report on their findings in Bellingham’s City Council chambers at 7 p.m. today, March 17, as part of an event looking at disaster risk reduction in Haiti and Whatcom County.

Gifts come to Western Washington University for many reasons and from many supporters. Each week, in celebration of Western Wednesday, we will be providing just a snapshot of some recent gifts and quotes from the donors to answer the question "Why Western?"

A gift to the Parents Fund from a parent:

"...in support of a great school providing our daughter with a great education."

A gift to Men's Golf from an alumnus who works at Western:

Sodexo Global Chef Martin Yoba plans to visit Western Washington University, and he's bringing with him a selection of delicious options from Cameroon, West Africa.

Yoba will be on campus preparing food for residential students at the Viking Commons between 5 and 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 13.

Western Washington University staff and faculty members who are retiring during the period between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010, will be honored at a reception and dinner at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 11, in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room.

Information is requested on retiring employees so that invitations can be mailed to them and their supervisors in a timely manner. By March 30, 2010, those with retiring faculty and staff members in their areas should e-mail the following information to Fran Maas at fran.maas@wwu.edu:

Sodexo, Inc., which provides dining, catering, concessions and other food on the Western Washington University campus through University Dining Services, has been named the No. 1 company for recruitment and retention by DiversityInc, a leading publication on diversity and business founded in 1998.

The companies on DiversityInc's Top 10 list show the most progress in bringing in new talent that's diverse in every way, retaining that talent and promoting people of all races/ethnicities, genders, orientations and physical abilities.

The 16th Annual Employee Arts & Crafts Show officially kicks off today, March 15, with an opening reception from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Viking Union Room 565. The show will be open to the public beginning at 11 a.m. today.

Western Washington University President Bruce Shepard will make a few comments, and refreshments will be provided.

For more information on the show, visit http://www.wwu.edu/depts/artscraftsshow/.

Show hours: