When Gary Chastagner was a kid in the 1950s, his parents typically displayed their Christmas tree for about a week. The tree went up on December 24—often after he went to bed—and came down after New Year’s Day.

Now, consumers want fresh-cut trees that can be displayed for weeks without losing their needles. Chastagner, a professor emeritus of plant pathology at Washington State University, has spent more than 40 years helping Northwest Christmas tree growers improve their product. For his work, Chastagner earned the nickname “Dr. Christmas Tree.”

In this episode, Chastagner talks about working on solutions to Swiss needle cast disease in Douglas fir and visiting tree lots in the Southwest to improve the hydration of displayed trees. He’s also visited other countries to scout out new Christmas tree varieties.

Chastagner was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the National Christmas Tree Association in 2018.

He retired in April 2025 from the WSU Research and Extension Center in Puyallup, where he also worked on ornamental flower bulb, cut flower, and nursery stock research.

The Dr. Gary Chastagner Endowed Chair in Plant Pathology has been created and is raising money to continue research with the Christmas tree and horticultural industries.

Read more

Northwest growers test new tree varieties as droughts threaten Christmas crop (NWPB, Dec. 2, 2025)

Oh, Christmas trees! (Washington State Magazine, Winter 2022)

Talkin’ around the Christmas tree: Stories, history and tips (Washington State Magazine, Winter 2022)

Ask Mr. Christmas Tree (Washington State Magazine, Winter 2013)

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Philip Meech and Caffè Lusso take people on a coffee journey around the world. A coffee roaster and entrepreneur for over 25 years, he wants coffee drinkers to slow down, taste the roasted beans and enjoy the rich variety.

In this episode, Philip talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about enjoying coffee, his lifelong love of coffee, the art and science of coffee roasting, and his journey from Washington State University to running a successful micro-roastery.

Meech, a 2000 WSU business alum, also gives some tips on brewing and tasting coffee.

Read about Meech in “Coffee, community, calm” (Fall 2025 issue of Washington State Magazine).

Learn more at Caffè Lusso.

Check out some other coffee tasting tutorials on YouTube recommended by Meech:

· A Beginners Guide to Coffee Tasting (James Hoffmann)

· HOW TO TASTE COFFEE: A Lexicon for Coffee Lovers (Lance Hedrick)

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Dawn Daniels was appointed as Washington State University’s police chief in August 2025. Daniels shares her journey from WSU student to leading the university’s police department.

Over the years, she has served in various WSU roles including community policing officer, sergeant, and firearms instructor. With nearly three decades of service, she reflects on her career, the evolving role of campus policing, and her commitment to student success and community collaboration.

“I’ve always viewed policing as teaching—just in a different way,” Daniels says.

She talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about her unexpected path into law enforcement, the importance of community policing and student engagement, and memorable moments in her career.

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Opioid misuse and overdoses are a serious public health crisis across Washington state and nationwide.

From 2019 to 2021, the annual number of opioid drug overdose deaths in the state nearly doubled. About 55 people in America die each day from an overdose of prescribed or illicit opioids, including fentanyl and heroin.

It’s crucial to get real information and education on opioid use to communities. Washington State University faculty and staff, including assistant professor Nicole Rodin at the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, have teamed up with colleagues across Washington to get accurate and useful facts out to people and try to prevent overdoses.

They’ve focused on rural communities hit hard by opioid use, often with limited medical facilities and support.

Rodin talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about the scope of the opioid epidemic, effective education, reducing stigma, and how we can all lend our support.

There’s a need to treat substance use disorders as health care, Rodin says. “It is a disorder. It is a medical condition, and we have yet to treat it that way as a society.”

Read more about WSU efforts on curbing substance use and addiction in the Spring 2024 issue of Washington State Magazine.

Other resources:

Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Collaborative (Northwest Region 10)

Opioid Overdose Prevention, Recognition, and Response (Washington State Department of Health)

How to talk about substance use (Washington State Magazine, Spring 2024)

WSU PEAR—Program of Excellence in Addictions Research

WSU APPL—Analytics and PsychoPharmacology Laboratory

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For over 20 years, Dick Perez was the official artist of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, painting the game’s history and every Hall of Fame ballplayer—a project he continues into his 80s. Marq Evans (Claydream, The Glamour & The Squalor) directed The Diamond King, a documentary that tells the fascinating story of Perez, the “Picasso of Baseball,” whose portraits transformed the commemoration of America’s most iconic pastime.

In this episode, Evans talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about Perez’s life, making the documentary, baseball, and art.

Find out more

The Diamond King official website

Trailer for The Diamond King

Dick Perez’s website

“Collecting the Diamond Kings” (Summer 2025, Washington State Magazine)

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“It’s only rock n roll, but I like it,” is not really a good answer in Washington State University’s popular history of rock music class.

Hundreds of WSU students learn how to really dig into the tunes. They study how rock ‘n’ roll is tied into American society, history, and culture, by analyzing lyrics and music styles from over the decades.

A.J. Miller is the main instructor of the rock ‘n’ roll history class through the WSU School of Music. He talks with magazine associate editor Adriana Janovich about the class, why it matters, and what students get out of it.

They cover everything from The Beatles to Beyoncé, Bob Dylan to Kendrick Lamar. And along the way, Miller introduces a six-step process for examining songs.

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Read more about the class in “School of rock” (Washington State Magazine, Spring 2025).

A.J Miller is also assistant director of the Washington State University Cougar Marching Band. Read about the band and watch a video of them in action at Washington State Magazine.

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Farming life and the essential work of producing food for the world has long been celebrated in art, literature, and essays.

Richard Scheuerman, an educator, author, and 1972 history graduate from Washington State University, wrote three books that take a deep dive into art and books about farming. He covers a huge span of time and geography, from the Bible to modern literature.

In those three volumes—Hallowed Harvests, Harvest Hands, and Harvest Horizons—Scheuerman calls for all of us to keep farms and agrarian work top of mind. Our very existence depends on a part of our society, where our food comes from, that often gets forgotten or ignored.

He talked with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about the themes of the books, how we need to appreciate food production, and more about art and literature that speaks to the nature of farming, harvesting, and the agrarian life.

Read more about the books in a Washington State Magazine review (Spring 2025).

Buy the books at Triticum Press or Palouse Heritage Farm.

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Students, teachers, and schools learned a lot during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of the challenges and opportunities were already there, just emphasized by the global health emergency, says Johnny Lupinacci, associate professor at the Washington State University College of Education.

Lupinacci teaches future teachers and education researchers, and he was a high school teacher himself. He points out how many ideas and issues within schools—like different learning styles and the digital divide—were already there. The pandemic brought them to the forefront.

In this episode, Lupinacci talks with magazine editor Larry Clark about lessons learned during and after COVID-19, from the need for scientific literacy to improving how we teach kids.

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