President Elson S. Floyd announces WSU will hold “town hall” meetings in each of Washington state’s 39 counties starting in March to hear from stakeholders and discuss initiatives.
Elson S. Floyd was named tenth president of Washington State University on December 13, 2006 and took office on May 21, 2007. A native of Henderson, North Carolina, President Floyd holds a doctor of philosophy degree in higher education and most recently served as the president of the four-campus University of Missouri system.
R. James Cook, USDA plant pathologist and WSU professor, was elected into membership in the National Academy of Sciences.
On March 7, 1985, the Board of Regents selected Samuel H. Smith to serve as the eighth president of Washington State University. He took office on July 1, leaving his position as the dean of the College of Agriculture and director of both the Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station at Pennsylvania State University.
President Smith’s administration is best known for the establishment of the WSU branch campuses in Spokane, Tri-Cities, and Vancouver in 1989. In 1997 Smith chaired the NCAA Presidents Commission, the major governing body for college intercollegiate athletics. Smith served as president until January 8, 2000.
The Samuel H. Smith Center for Undergraduate Education, also known as the CUE, was named in his honor.
Washington State College officially becomes Washington State University.
The radio station begins broadcasting from the Mechanic Arts Building, thanks to financial support from the Agricultural Extension Service, the Associated Students, and the Pullman Chamber of Commerce.
Known today as KWSU, the station’s founding goals remain in place:
The station is one of the oldest and largest university-owned radio stations in the country.
The act links cooperative extension services to land-grant universities. The program is designed to keep citizens informed about developments in agriculture, home economics, public policy, economic development, and other subjects.
After an infestation of hops lice destroys crops in the Puyallup River region in 1891, the legislature decides to locate the state’s first experiment station in Puyallup instead of Pullman. The station is constructed on 40 acres of land donated by the Ross family, giving the facility its first name, Ross’s Station. Now called the Puyallup Research & Extension Center, the center continues to provide valuable services and information to the local community.
