A superhero

I was thrilled to see that Ralph Yount was awarded an honorary doctorate. Ralph is one of my academic heroes. He taught me a great deal of biochemistry and provided wise council. I owe him a lot, starting from even before my VW bus and I pitched up in Pullman in the summer of 1977… After I was offered a place in the chemistry PhD program at Wazzu, Ralph made a recruiting call to the phone number on my application. He got my mother and talked with her for an hour! Ralph made an ally, and here I am.

Gary J. Pielak (’83 PhD Biochem.)
Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina

 

A very scary time

I enjoyed reading the article in your last magazine about Mount St. Helens. I was in graduate school at the time in the communications disorders department when the volcano erupted. I remember driving around downtown Pullman that morning and the announcer on the radio said, “It got so dark in Yakima that the streetlights came on.” And just then—around noon—the streetlights in downtown Pullman started to come on. I rushed over to Daggy Hall to be with my fellow graduate students up in our offices. It was a very scary time.

I recently came across a few photos of myself dealing with the ash. I thought I would share them with you.

Danielle Dorrian (nee McGlone) (’81 MA Speech & Hearing Sci.)

 

 

Note: You can read other WSU alumni and faculty memories of Mount St. Helens at magazine.wsu.edu/extra/where-were-you.