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WSU boasts record fall enrollment

WSU had a record fall enrollment with total student numbers increasing from 21,248 to 21,794. The freshmen class on the Pullman campus was the second largest in history and the most diverse ever. This university-wide total includes students at WSU campuses in Pullman, Spokane, the Tri-Cities, Vancouver, and in Distance Degree Programs.

WSU unveils its new graphic

On November 17, WSU unveiled its new graphic identity at a WSU Board of Regents meeting in Spokane: the new crimson and gray on white logo employs the Cougar head within a crest, now an internationally recognized symbol for higher education. The famous Cougar head logo was designed in 1936 by then Washington State College student Randall Johnson.

Enrollment at WSU reaches 17,912

Enrollment on the WSU Pullman campus in the fall of 1998 reaches 17,912. System-wide WSU registration totaled 20,998. The 2,877 new freshmen comprised the largest incoming class since 2,970 enrolled in 1980.

Cougar pride hits the road with the launch of WSU Cougar license plates

Cougar pride hits the road with the launch of WSU Cougar license plates. Money from each Cougar plate supports student scholarships.  By the first anniversary of the state of Washington collegiate motor vehicle program, more than 5,119 plate featuring the WSU Cougar logo will be sold–more than all the other public schools in the state combined.

Internationally renowned WSU faculty member receives 28th Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award

John Gorham, internationally renowned veterinarian and WSU faculty member, received the 28th Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award. Gorham was the first student to earn a graduate degree from the College of Veterinary Medicine and contributed heavily to the study of feline and canine disease.

WSU alumnus receives 27th Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award for service during the Gulf War

U.S. Air Force General (ret.) Robert D. Russ received the 27th Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award for his service as Commander of Air Force Aviation during the Gulf War. Russ graduated from WSU in 1955 with a B.A. in business administration and entered the Air Force in 1955 as a second lieutenant, serving until 1991 when he retired as general.

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Remodeled Carpenter Hall opens as home to School of Architecture

The remodeled Carpenter Hall opens as home to the School of Architecture, now the School of Design and Construction. The cost of renovation was $9 million.

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Barry Serafin receives the 26th Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award for his career in journalism

Barry Serafin receives the 26th Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award for his career in journalism. Serafin started his career at KWSU and later transferred to the CBS Washington D.C. bureau. He won an Emmy for his contribution to the documentary “Watergate: The White House Transcripts.” He then joined ABC in 1979, covering the Iran hostage crisis, and became a national correspondent in 1981.

Barry Serafin
Barry Serafin

Allen C. Wilson receives the Regents 25th Distinguished Alumnus Award for his work in molecular evolutionism.

Allen C. Wilson receives the Regents 25th Distinguished Alumnus Award for his work in molecular evolutionism. Wilson received an M.A. in Zoology in 1957, studying under bird physiologist Donald S. Farner. Wilson came to WSU from his birthplace in New Zealand. During his career, his work was recognized with many prestigious awards, including the MacArthur Fellowship.

Allen Wilson
Allen Wilson

Gary Larson, syndicated cartoonist and creator of the Far Side, receives the Regents 24th Distinguished Alumnus Award and is the Centennial Commencement Speaker.

Gary Larson, syndicated cartoonist and creator of The Far Side, receives the Regents 24th Distinguished Alumnus Award and is the Centennial Commencement Speaker.  His talk is titled “The Importance of Being Weird.”

Gary Larson, 1990
Gary Larson, 1990

 

Neva Martin Abelson receives the Regents 23rd Distinguished Alumnus Award for her work in pediatric medicine.

Neva Martin Abelson receives the Regents 23rd Distinguished Alumnus Award. She is the wife of famed-chemist Phillip Ableson, and co-founder of the global test for Rh blood factor which has saved millions of babies’ lives.  Neva was one of the first women to earn a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University, and the first woman to be in charge of the hospital’s nurseries there. Later she was a professor of pediatrics and pathology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work in pediatrics piqued her interest in the Rhesus factor and its relation to blood disease in tiny infants, which at the time was a likely cause of death or mental retardation.

Neva Marten Abelson
Neva Marten Abelson

WSU dedicates McEachern Hall in honor of former Regent Robert and his wife Margaret McEachern

WSU dedicates McEachern Hall in honor of former Regent Robert and his wife Margaret McEachern, both long-time benefactors and alumni. McEachern Hall was originally known as the Graduate Residence Center and was built in the early 1970s.

Roger and Margaret McEachern at McEachern Hall dedication.
Roger and Margaret McEachern at McEachern Hall dedication.

Mary Turner DeGarmo, known for transcribing musical compositions into braille, and William Julius Wilson, sociologist, receive the Regents 21st and 22nd Distinguished Alumnus Awards

Mary Turner DeGarmo, known for her work in transcribing musical compositions into braille, and William Julius Wilson, sociologist, receive the Regents 21st and 22nd Distinguished Alumnus Awards. DeGarmo, who graduated in 1926 with a B.A. in Education, developed the first and only detailed, comprehensive teaching text on transcribing musical compositions into Braille for blind musicians, a volume used worldwide. DeGarmo, the second woman honored with the Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award, passed away in 1995.  Wilson received his Ph.D. in Sociology in 1966 and is known for his research and scholarship on the black underclass. He authored articles and books including, “The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass and Public Policy” and “The Declining Significance of Race.”

 

William Julius WIlson
William Julius WIlson
Mary T DeGarmo
Mary T DeGarmo

Dean Emeritus of the College of Veterinary Medicine receives the 20th Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award

Leo K. Bustad, Dean Emeritus of College of Veterinary Medicine and internationally recognized speaker, humanist, and founder of People & Pet Therapy programs, receives the 20th Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Leo K. Bustad
Leo K. Bustad

Washington Higher Education Telecommunications System begins transmitting live courses around the northwest

The Washington Higher Education Telecommunications System, or WHETS, transmits its first live interactive course, originating on the Pullman campus and reaching both Vancouver and Spokane.  The University of Idaho, UW, Gonzaga, and Tri-Cities all also take part in the initial project.

 

WSU dedicates science building to James H. Hulbert, 50-year advocate of Washington agriculture and WSU.

Agricultural Science Phase II Building, built in 1971, is dedicated to former Regent, Skagit County farmer, and 50-year advocate of state agriculture and WSU, James H. Hulbert.

James H. Hulbert
James H. Hulbert
Agricultural Science Phase II (now Hulbert Hall) shortly after construction in 1972
Agricultural Science Phase II (now Hulbert Hall) shortly after construction in 1972
Dedication of James H Hulbert Agricultural Sciences Building
Dedication of James H Hulbert Agricultural Sciences Building

Hein, Stevenson, and Bigeleisen receive Distinguished Alumnus Awards.

The Regents 16th, 17th, and 18th Distinguished Alumnus Awards are respectively awarded to Mel Hein, the “greatest all-around player the game of football has seen;” Robert Stevenson, the former head of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co.; and world-renowned chemist Jacob Bigeleisen.

Mel Hein
Mel Hein
Robert S. Stevenson
Robert S. Stevenson
Jacob Bigeleisen
Jacob Bigeleisen

Gibson, Shroeder, Neill receive the Regents Distinguished Alumnus Awards

Weldon B. “Hoot” Gibson, Charles Schroeder, and Marshall Neill receive the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth Regents Distinguished Alumnus Awards.

Hoot Gibson
Hoot Gibson
Marshall Neill in 1955, while serving as a special assistant AG for WSC
Marshall Neill in 1955, while serving as a special assistant AG for WSC
Schroeder
Charles Schroeder

Orville Vogel, developer of the world’s most productive wheat strains, receives Regents ninth Distinguished Alumnus Award

Orville Vogel, developer of the world’s most productive wheat strains, receives Regents Ninth Distinguished Alumnus Award. Vogel received his Ph.D. at WSU in 1939 and stayed as faculty for several decades. His work helped start the “Green Revolution” in agriculture. He led the research team that produced the first commercially successful semi-dwarf wheats and was known for his inventions of scientific research equipment. He received the National Medal of Science, presented by President Ford in 1975, as well as the State of Washington Medal of Merit in 1987.

Orville Vogel on a on is a small plot combine (designed by Dr. Vogel himself). It was used to harvest small wheat plots.
Orville Vogel on a on is a small plot combine (designed by Dr. Vogel himself). It was used to harvest small wheat plots.

Regent Michael Dederer becomes Board of Regents President for a third time

Regent Michael Dederer becomes Board of Regents President for a third time. Dederer, a Seattle philanthropist and president of the Seattle Fur Exchange, was originally appointed in 1955 to fill the unexpired term of John C. Scott, who resigned. Dederer started as a janitor at the Seattle Fur Exchange in 1922, and just 17 years later was president of a rapidly growing fur empire. In public service, Dederer not only served as first member, then president of the WSU Board of Regents, but he was also a regent for Pacific Lutheran University and headed the WSU Foundation. Dederer died on June 24, 1995.

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Old Ferry Hall burns down

The facility, a five-story brick-and-wood building vilified by President Bryan for its lack of looks and efficiency, burns after a kitchen fire spreads out of control.

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In 1900, the new Ferry residence hall opens. A four-story brick structure topped with a four-sided cupola, it houses between 100 and 180 students. Ferry serves as the only men’s residence hall on campus for three decades. The hall also houses the first campus fraternity, which starts as a club before moving off campus.

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Despite an effort by alumni, students, and staff to preserve it, Ferry is demolished in the late-1960s—but not before the cupola was saved. In 1975 it’s relocated to the Glenn Terrell Friendship Mall, near Murrow Hall. Construction in the Murrow Yard in 2008 sparks the cupola’s relocation to its present site in the new arboretum near the Lewis Alumni Center.

MASC - 100103515
MASC – 100103515

Matsuyo Yamamoto is presented with the Regents Eighth Distinguished Alumnus Award, the first woman honored

Matsuyo Yamamoto is presented with Regents Eighth Distinguished Alumnus Award and is the first woman honored. After receiving her degree in home economics in 1937 at then Washington State College, Yamamoto returned to Japan where she pioneered home economics extension programs, eventually overseeing a staff of 3,000 home advisors that served the rural populations of Japan and other Asian countries. The College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Studies offers the Matsuyo Yamamoto Endowed Scholarship in her honor.

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Internationally acclaimed scientist receives the seventh Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award

Karl Sax, internationally acclaimed scientist, receives the seventh Regents Distinguished Alumnus Award. Sax attended then-WSC from 1912 to 1916, earning a bachelors of science in agriculture, and while at WSC he met and married his cytology teacher, Dr. Hally Jolivette. Sax is perhaps most well-known for his research in cytogenetics and the effect of radiation on chromosomes.

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