Two women whose actions and advocacy have made a lasting impact within and beyond the borders of the state received honorary doctoral degrees from Washington State University.
Carla Peperzak risked her life helping Jews during Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Patricia Whitefoot is a lifelong champion of Native American culture and advocate for Indigenous women. The pair were honored this spring after unanimous approval by the WSU Board of Regents.
Each year, members of the WSU community nominate candidates who are considered by the Honorary Doctoral Degree Committee. Just 21 people have received honorary doctorates from WSU, with the most recent being emeritus professors William Lipe and Ralph Yount in 2021.
Carla Peperzak
The daughter of a Jewish father and a Catholic mother raised by a Jewish family, Peperzak was in high school when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940.
After her father secured papers identifying Peperzak as non-Jewish, she used her freedom to advance the Dutch resistance’s cause. A stolen German medical identity card and procured German nurse’s uniform proved invaluable in her efforts to secure hiding places for Jews, produce false ID cards, and distribute copies of underground newsletters detailing the successes of the Allied forces, she told Washington State Magazine in 2020.
Peperzak kept her work as a Dutch resistance operative a secret for more than five decades, but has spent much of her time in recent years sharing her experiences in classrooms across Washington. She talks with WSU students enrolled in a World War II history class taught by associate professor Raymond Sun, who nominated Peperzak for the award.
“Carla Peperzak’s unfathomable courage, lifelong determination and continuing generosity make her a role model and inspiration for our faculty, staff, students, and beyond, exemplifying the mission and strategic plan of Washington State University,” former co-provost Erica Weintraub Austin, who chairs the honorary doctorate committee, told regents in January.
Patricia Whitefoot
For more than five decades, Whitefoot, a citizen of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and Native Elder, has served as a visionary leader, advocate, teacher, and mentor for cultural preservation, tribal sovereignty, education, health, and human justice rights of Native peoples. Among those who have benefited from Whitefoot’s mentorship is her nominator, Zoe Higheagle Strong, vice provost for the Office of Tribal Relations and Native American Programs, and tribal liaison to the WSU president.
“Patsy not only mentored me on many nuances of Native education, but she also taught me the heart and humility behind the work,” Higheagle Strong says.
“[Patricia Whitefoot] has helped to protect Indigenous women from violence, and has ensured previously unheard voices have been heard to great effect,” Austin said to the regents. “She has helped to shape and inspire curriculum, policy, opportunities for cultural engagement, and the arts. Ms. Whitefoot’s work has saved lives; it also has enriched lives and communities.”
In addition to serving on the university’s Native American Advisory Board and the Native American Health Sciences Tribal Advisory Board, Whitefoot was appointed by the Obama administration to the US Department of Education’s National Advisory Council on Indian Education in 2009.
Her work on behalf of Native American education has taken her across the region and beyond, including serving as the state supervisor of Indian education for Washington. She is also an elder member of the Iksiks Washana’lama—or little swans—girls’ dance group, a Yakama Nation group that travels nationally spreading the message of healing and wellness while also advocating for missing and murdered Indigenous women.
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Courage: Carla’s story (video)