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Catherine Matthews Friel: lifetime proponent and friend

Catherine Matthews Friel is born in Colfax, Washington, in 1901 to Pullman attorney and one-time mayor John W. Matthews and his wife, Serena. Growing up in Pullman, she is dedicates much of her next 101 years to the institution, forming close connections to six presidents, starting with Enoch A. Bryan, and their families.

Friel enrolls at Washington State in 1919 and joins Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. She holds several house offices and is inducted into the Mortar Board and Phi Kappa Phi scholastic honoraries. She also serves as president of the Army ROTC Women’s Auxiliary or “Sponsors.” During her freshman year, she meets Jack Friel, future famed Cougar men’s basketball coach, who at the time aspires to be a teacher.

The Friels’ three eldest children are WSU graduates: Charlotte (’51 Speech), a former CBS administrator; Wallis (’53 Polit. Sci.), retired Whitman County Superior Court judge; and internationally known artist John (’62 Fine Arts). Catherine Friel receives numerous awards and honors during her lifetime, including the WSU Foundation’s 1999 Outstanding Service Award, and she is credited for saving Stevens Hall from demolition due to her personal activism. Stevens was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Herbert Eastlick passes away at 94

Herbert Eastlick, a devoted mentor and self-described “taskmaster and autocrat in the classroom” who taught at WSU for 33 years, passed from complications to Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 94.  Eastlick came to then-WSC in 1940 as an assistant professor in zoology from the University of Chicago where he earlier became acquaintances with President Holland.  He was chairman of the Department of Zoology from 1947 to 1964 and chaired the Faculty Executive Committee in 1955-56.

He also helped create WSU’s nationally ranked Honors Program and presented the University’s eighth Faculty Invited Address on his research in 1961. In 1979 the new Eastlick Biological Sciences Building was dedicated in honor of the Herbert and his wife Margaret Eastlick.

 

Gary P. Brinson receives 41st Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award

Gary P. Brinson (69′, MBA), a nationally recognized leader in investment management renowned for his intellectual contributions to the financial investing world, is the 41st Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award honoree.

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Three faculty members inducted to the Academy of Sciences

Faculty members Thomas Besser, School for Global Animal Health; Don Dillman, Department of Sociology and Community and Rural Sociology; and B.W. Poovaiah, Department of Horticulture are elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences.

B. W. Poovaian
B. W. Poovaian
Don Dillman
Don Dillman

Ralph Yount receives the President’s Eminent Faculty Award

Ralph Yount, a distinguished chemist and Regents Professor Emeritus, receives first WSU Eminent Faculty Award, granted for distinguished lifetime service at WSU. His research was funded through National Institutes of Health without interruption for 40 years, one of the longest continually funded projects at NIH.

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The Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges recognizes water conservation efforts on the WSU campus

The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges recognizes reduced water consumption on the WSU campus and water conservation efforts. In another announcement, WSU is ranked 10th among national universities for its development in clean technology by CleanTech.com, a prominent sustainability organization.

Robert Nilan receives President’s Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service

Robert Nilan, WSU professor emeritus and former College of Sciences dean, received the WSU President’s Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service. Nilan is a leading international authority on barley genetics who came to WSU in 1951 as an agronomist and geneticist.   While at WSU he served as chair of genetics, and his worldwide recognition as a plant geneticist earned him an appointment to the Danish Academy of Science. He trained more than 75 graduate students during his career at WSU and, as dean, he oversaw development of programs in statistics, environmental science and plant physiology; laboratories in bio-analysis and biotechnology; and centers of electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance.

Nilan and his wife Winona have given generously to the arts and sciences at WSU. Attracting students to WSU’s Department of Genetics and Cell Biology was at the center of their decision to create the Robert A. and Winona P. Nilan Graduate Fellowship in Genetics.

Bob Nilan, 1963
Bob Nilan, 1963

Scientific American names Patricia A. Hunt one of the top 50 researchers in the world for her research into plastics

Scientific American named WSU reproductive biologist Patricia A. Hunt to their “SciAm 50” list, identifying her as one of the top 50 researchers in the world. Her research showed a potential threat to human health posed by bisphenol A (BPA), a component of the polycarbonate plastics used to make food and beverage containers.

Architects David Miller and Robert Hull receive the 37th and 38th Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award

David Miller and Robert Hull, members of the class of 1968 and founding partners of Seattle-based The Miller|Hull Partnership, LLP, were honored as the 37th and 38th recipients of the Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award.  In 2003 the Miller Hull Partnership received the 2003 American Institute of Architects Architecture Firm Award, the AIA’s highest honor.

David Miller, left, and Robert Hull, right.
David Miller, left, and Robert Hull, right.

Guy Palmer elected to the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine

Dr. Guy Palmer, a veterinary pathologist at WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, was elected a member of the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine, one of the highest honors for those in biomedical research and human health care.

 

WSU molecular biology research featured in “Discover” magazine

Work by WSU molecular biologist Michael K. Skinner and his research team was chosen as one of the top 100 science stories of 2005 by Discover magazine. The researchers found that exposing fetal rats to environmental toxins can affect their sexual development in a way that also shows up in subsequent generations. The mechanism was an epigenetic one.

Dr. Irwin “Ernie” Rose receives 35th Regents’ Distinguished Alumni Award

Nobel Prize winner in chemistry Dr. Irwin “Ernie” Rose received the 35th Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award. A graduate of Spokane’s Lewis and Clark High School, he attended WSU in the mid-1940s and was influenced by Herb Eastlick, a prominent WSU zoology teacher.

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R. James Cook receives President’s Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service

R. James Cook received the WSU President’s Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service. Prior to becoming interim dean of the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, he was a plant pathologist with the USDA-ARS at WSU and later held an endowed chair in wheat research at the university.

Spokane Chancellor Rom Markin receives first President’s Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service

WSU Spokane Chancellor Rom Markin received the first WSU President’s Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service. His WSU service included 15 years as the dean of the College of Business and Economics.

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Distinguished professor Don A. Dillman wins Eminent Faculty Award

WSU named Don A. Dillman the second recipient of the WSU Eminent Faculty Award. Dillman was the Thomas S. Foley Distinguished Professor of Government and Public Policy and a social scientist in the Departments of Sociology and Rural Sociology.

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Dr. Robert W. Higgins wins 32nd Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award

WSU graduate Dr. Robert W. Higgins, former U.S. Navy Deputy Surgeon General and Navy Medical Corps chief, received the 32nd Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award. Also the recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest military peacetime award, he was former president of the American Academy of Family Physicians and of the World Organization of Family Doctors.

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