In brief: Whitworth gets faculty endowment

A $3 million anonymous donation to Whitworth University will fund a new faculty position focused solely on preparing teachers for talented and gifted education, school officials said Tuesday.

“The landmark gift recognizes Whitworth’s commitment to preparing teachers who pursue a vocation in serving gifted and talented students and will support the university’s Center for Gifted Education and Professional Development, which is the only one of its kind in Washington state,” said Emily Proffitt, a university spokeswoman.

The new chair position will be named for Margo Long, a retired associate professor who founded and directed the Center for Gifted Education and Professional Development, officials said. This is Whitworth’s fourth faculty position funded through an endowment.

President Beck A. Taylor said, “We are so grateful for the generosity and vision of these wonderful donors.”

Idaho official takes position at NIC

Mark Browning, the chief communications and legislative officer for the Idaho State Board of Education, has been named the vice president for community relations and marketing at North Idaho College.

He was selected after a nationwide search to replace retiring Vice President John Martin. Browning has been with the state board since 2007; prior to that, he was news director for KBCI CBS 2 News Boise, where he supervised a staff of 40; he also worked at other news organizations in Southern Idaho and is a former president of the Idaho Press Club.

NIC President Priscilla Bell said Browning will serve as a “liaison between the college and the counties we serve,” and added, “His extensive experience in government relations will no doubt reinforce NIC’s legislative efforts as well.”

Browning will start his new job Jan. 2.

Tree to honor Nobel laureate

Reforest Spokane Day will conclude at 12:30 p.m. Saturday with the planting of a 6-foot pine in Finch Arboretum to honor the late Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan professor and Nobel Peace Prize winner who founded the Green Belt Movement.

“Dr. Maathai lived her life in the spirit of ‘harambee,’ which is Kiswahili for ‘Let us all pull together,’ ” said Kat Hall, the Lands Council’s conservation programs director. “The support we’ve had for Reforest Spokane Day, both in voting and volunteering, embodies that harambee spirit.”

On Saturday, the Lands Council and volunteers will plant 10,000 native ponderosa pine seedlings to provide shade, habitat and other ecological benefits.

A $20,000 grant from a Tom’s of Maine online contest is supporting the effort.

More than 700 volunteers have signed up for the Saturday morning planting.

For more information, visit www.landscouncil.org.