I was excited to learn that we will have a new lichenologist at a PNW university beginning this August: Jessi Allen has accepted a position as assistant professor at Eastern Washington University in Cheney. She received her PhD at the NY Botanical Garden with James Lendemer.
You can see some of her work in Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tjpeMikAAAAJ&hl=en
Jessi has roots in the PNW including going to school at EWU, working in my lab for a while, and working on the lichens of Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge.