On August 21, 1944, the Board of Regents selected Wilson M. Compton to serve as the fifth president. Compton accepted the position in October, leaving his position as an administrator and lobbyist for the lumber industry in Washington D.C.
President Compton’s administration is well known for equalizing teaching loads, allowing faculty time for research, allowing students to declare majors after freshmen year, and establishing modern budgeting system. Compton served as president through 1951. The Compton Student Union Building (CUB) was dedicated to him after its construction.
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:
To provide information and cultural service to a wide area of population
To draw on the expertise of the faculty and present their findings
To provide a vehicle for further research in broadcasting
To train young people in the use, operation, and “human service” of radio
The station is one of the oldest and largest university-owned radio stations in the country.
Homer Dana with the first of four microphones that KFAE (later KWSC and KWSU) used. Dana, along with Hubert Carpenter, founded KFAE in 1922.
C.C. Todd, professor of chemistry, serves as the founding dean. Although authorized in 1917, the school doesn’t get under way until 1922, after a few of the best researchers voluntarily organize themselves into a research council.
In June 1917, President Holland announces that the institution will reorganize into 5 colleges (Agriculture, Mechanical Arts and Engineering, Science and Arts, Veterinary Science, and Home Economics) and 4 schools (Mines, Education, Pharmacy, and Music and Applied Design), with deans as administrative heads. The College of Home Economics is to be one of the first of its kind in the nation. However, World War I interrupts these plans, delaying implementation of the new structure to the 1919-1920 school year.
The new president is 41, a former instructor in the English department at Indiana University who is serving as superintendent of schools in Louisville, Kentucky, when he is hired by the college.
Holland goes on to become the longest serving of WSU’s presidents. He reorganizes the administrative structure of the institution, establishing five colleges and four schools, a key step in the college’s pursuit of university status. He also encourages the recruitment of national fraternities and sororities to Pullman and signs an agreement with students to ease conservative social rules.
Holland serves as president until 1945. Holland Library is named in his honor after its construction in 1950.
Van Doren Hall is built to house the domestic economy department. The building name honors Nancy Van Doren, an English instructor and the campus librarian.
The Board of Regents grants the president 3 months of sick leave to recover. He returns to campus feeling refreshed from his first extended vacation since arriving in Pullman in 1893. The incident forces Bryan to realize he needs to share major administrative responsibilities, so he appoints faculty member O.L. Waller as his first vice president.
The state legislature approves changing the name of Washington Agricultural College and School of Science to State College of Washington in recognition of the college’s expanding mission. President Bryan has worked tirelessly to fend off political forces that were trying to limit the college’s offering to just agriculture and science. The president believes students need to study liberal arts and science as well as professional fields to be more effective leaders.
The Washington Legislature creates the office of State Veterinarian specifying that they also be the Professor of Veterinary Science at the college and a member of the State Board of Health. Sofus Bertelson Nelson, a native of Denmark, an Iowa State College graduate, and Spokane practitioner, is appointed to the post by the Board of Regents. Nelson later serves as Dean of the College of Veterinary Science and in 1919 he resigns to assume the post of Director of Agricultural Extension. In 18 years of service, records show he personally examined 149,182 animals. Cost of the services rendered is $45,000 total. The initial curriculum consists of a series of courses intended to supplement agriculture classes and to provide initial training to students who intend to transfer to another school. The veterinary labs are housed in (old) College Hall and a shed is constructed for $60 on the south end of campus to house the operating rooms.
Bryan leaves his position as president of Vincennes University in Indiana to become the third president of the fledging institution on the Palouse, beginning a 22-year tenure as its leader.
One of the most influential of WSU’s presidents, President Bryan believes that students must study liberal arts and sciences as well as basic professional skills to become better leaders. He pushs to have the college renamed the State College of Washington and to expand its academic offerings. Early in his presidency, President Bryan operates with no staff: he personally manages enrollment, record keeping, public relations, and parent relations—on top of teaching history and political economics.
In 1916, Bryan Hall is named in the president’s honor. The building’s clock tower, which glows crimson at night, is one of the most iconic landmarks on the Pullman campus.
The Board of Regents ends the tenure of the president after just eight and a half months on the job. Charles Munn, one of the first six faculty members, also leaves in the wake of political turmoil. The position of Chair of Veterinary Science is abolished.
Students pelt Heston with rotten cabbages, plucked from icy fields nearby, as well as eggs and snowballs, marring the day he is introduced as president. The president of the Board of Regents, Andrew Smith, is also pelted as he walks with Heston across campus. The new president spends more time in Olympia and Seattle than tending to campus matters, fueling accusations around the state about unruliness in Pullman.
From the first issue of The College Record, the predecessor to The Daily Evergreen, absolving former-President Liley for any involvement in the attack on Heston
The new institution, Washington’s land-grant college, is a product of the 1862 Morrill Act signed by President Abraham Lincoln. The act gives the state 90,000 acres of federal land to support its agricultural college and 100,000 acres to support its school of science.
The Board of Regents holds its first meeting on April 22, 1890.
