1960s
Governor Jay Inslee appointed Sam Hunt (’67 English) to serve on the WSU Board of Regents. Hunt recently retired after a 24-year career in the Washington state legislature. He served as state representative from 2001 to 2016, then state senator since 2017. He pushed for education and transportation improvements while serving on the House Appropriations, Natural Resources, Rules, Labor, and K-12 Education committees and Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education and Ways & Means committees. He’s also a former Pasco teacher and served on the North Thurston School Board in Olympia.
1970s
Bruce Amundson (’75 Poli. Sci.) received the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication 2025 Hall of Achievement Award. Amundson has spent nearly four decades shaping media relations in the telecommunications and forest products industries, holding leadership roles at CenturyLink and Weyerhaeuser. He retired from Weyerhaeuser in 2011 and now serves on the WSU Foundation and Murrow College advisory boards.
Paul Casey (’75 Poli. Sci.) received the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication 2025 Hall of Achievement Award. He is the founder and CEO of Casey Communications Inc., a Seattle marketing and communications firm. Casey also created Voices of Experience, a newspaper that evolved into a weekly radio show and podcast. He recently served as both a chairman and active member of the Murrow Professional Advisory Board.
Governor Jay Inslee appointed Howard S. Wright III (’76 Spanish) to the WSU Board of Regents. Wright was a member of the WSU Foundation Board of Governors in 2005-2011 and 2012-2015, helping lead the foundation’s first $1 billion capital campaign. Wright spent two decades as a commercial airline pilot before founding several travel and hospitality companies, including the Seattle Hospitality Group. He also cochaired the founding committee for the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at WSU Pullman.
Edmund O. Schweitzer III (’77 PhD Elec. Eng.) has stepped back from his role as president of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories to focus on mentoring, teaching, and inventing. Schweitzer founded SEL in 1982 in Pullman to research and manufacture digital relays and other products to protect electric power systems. He holds 100 patents, and his company has been recognized as a global leader in improving the stability and safety of electrical grids. Schweitzer and his wife, Beatriz, have invested nearly $25 million in WSU, with their most recent donation helping to fund Schweitzer Engineering Hall, set to open in fall 2026 at WSU Pullman.
Bill Swartz (’78 Comm.) received the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication 2025 Hall of Achievement Award. A veteran radio reporter and anchor, Swartz has worked in Seattle’s media landscape since the 1980s and hosts Puget Sound Now, a KNWN public affairs program. He was a sideline reporter for Washington Huskies football and a host for KOMO’s Thursday Night Dawg House. He received two Edward R. Murrow Regional Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association.
1980s
Jim Hall (’82 Comm.) has retired from Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, where he was the director of communication for most of his 30 years with the hospital. The last four, he was chief philanthropy officer. Hall was dubbed the “Voice of Kadlec” for his automated voice being the first people hear when they call the hospital. He launched Community Health Journal, a 25-year-long TV program sharing health information from Kadlec, and hosted a radio show and podcast. Before Kadlec, Hall worked for KEPR Action News as a sports reporter and news director.
Roberta Kelly (’80 MS Vet. Sci., ’83 Comm.) received the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication 2025 Hall of Achievement Award. Kelly, a professor emerita, worked at WSU for nearly 50 years, including 35 in the Murrow College. She taught science writing and reporting, and coordinated and taught COMM 300, the college’s basic writing course. She was a member of the WSU President’s Teaching Academy and earned the WSU Assessment Leadership Award, Faculty Member of the Year Arete Award, and recognition as a WSU faculty mentor.
Mari Watanabe (’81 Home Econ.) is the first Japanese American woman to serve in the Oregon legislature. She was selected by Multnomah and Washington County leaders to serve House District 34. Previously, Watanabe worked as executive director of the Japanese American Museum of Oregon and Partners in Diversity, as well as other nonprofit leadership roles in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Jim Parsons (’84 MS Genetics) received the Northwest Aquaculture Alliance’s 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award. Parsons is the CEO of Jamestown Seafood and president of the alliance, which advocates for the sustainable production of aquatic foods in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Hawaii. Previously, Parsons was general manager of Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, executive vice president at Troutlodge, director of research and development at Blue Lakes Trout, and a research geneticist at Clear Springs Trout.
Eric Benevich (’88 Busi.) was appointed to the board of directors for aTyr Pharma, a clinical stage biotechnology company in San Diego. Benevich has been chief commercial officer at biopharmaceutical company Neurocrine Biosciences in San Diego since 2015. He has more than 30 years of commercial experience in the pharmaceutical industry, holding sales and marketing positions at AstraZeneca, Amgen, Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, and Avanir Pharmaceuticals.
Cheryl Ainoa (’89 Elec. Eng.) was appointed to the board of directors for Builders FirstSource, a supplier of building products, components, and services. Ainoa recently retired from Walmart, where she served as chief technology officer for Sam’s Club. She joined Walmart in 2020 as senior vice president of core retail services and emerging technology, and was promoted to executive vice president for new businesses and emerging technology in 2023. Previously, she was chief operating officer of software service company D2L and held senior roles at Intuit and Yahoo.
1990s
Marty Dickinson (’91 Gen. Stu.) received the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication 2025 Hall of Achievement Award. Dickinson is the chief marketing officer at Spokane Teachers Credit Union and a member of the WSU Board of Regents. During her 27-year career, she’s held leadership roles with Umpqua Bank, the Downtown Spokane Partnership, and the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce. Catalyst Inland Northwest Magazine honored her as one of its Most Influential Leader six consecutive times. She also received the 2015 YWCA Women of Achievement Award and recognition as one of Spokane’s Power 40 Most Influential People.
Scott Hallock (’91 Comm.) received the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication 2025 Hall of Achievement Award. Hallock is founder and president of LikeMineDid Media and was the creator, writer, and executive producer of the SYFY hidden camera series Scare Tactics. He was also an executive producer and writer for NBC’s Betty White’s Off Their Rockers and Howie Do It and a staff writer for The New Mickey Mouse Club.
Sean Tresvant (’92 Comm., ’93 MA Comm.) is an independent director on Marriott International’s board of directors. Tresvant is CEO of Taco Bell and a member of the Black Executive CMO Alliance. He also has more than 15 years of experience at Nike, where he served as chief marketing officer for the Jordan brand.
Kim (Harper) Voile (’92 Elem. Ed.) is the superintendent of Annex School District in Oregon.
Chad DeGrenier (’96 Phys. Ed.) is head coach of the Arizona Bandits, an Arena Football One indoor football team based in Tempe. DeGrenier earned All-American honors as WSU quarterback, and played for the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League from 1998 to 2002. DeGrenier was head coach and general manager of the Utah Valley Thunder, an American Indoor Football Association team, in 2009. From 2004 to 2010, he was head coach of the Cactus Shadows High School Falcons in Cave Creek, the first football team in Arizona history to win 15 games, go undefeated, and win the state championship. DeGrenier was named Arizona Republic Coach of the Year in 2006. He also coached for Mountain View and Mesquite High Schools in Mesa and Gilbert, Arizona.
Todd Murray (’96 MA Entom.) was elected chair of the Washington Invasive Species Council. The council has representatives from 22 federal and state agencies, tribes, and nonprofits, with Murray representing higher education institutions on the council. Quick action from the council helped eradicate the invasive northern giant hornet in Washington and nationally. Murray is director of the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center.
Governor Bob Ferguson appointed Marcus Glasper (’97 MA Eng. Mgmt.) as director of the Washington Department of Licensing, a role Glasper has held since April 2023. Glasper has more than 30 years of experience in the public sector, including director of the Washington State Lottery, deputy director of the Department of Revenue, and assistant deputy secretary of the Department of Corrections. Before working for Washington state, Glasper spent a decade at the US Department of Energy.
Cheryl Oliver (’99 Elem. Ed., ’09 MEd) is secretary of the Pullman Regional Hospital Board of Commissioners. Oliver has been associate dean of professional programs in the WSU Carson College of Business since 2018 and leads the Office of Graduate and Online programs. The longtime Pullman resident joined the hospital board in 2023.
2000s
Claire Burbick (’00 Biol., ’08 DVM, ’14 PhD Vet. Sci.) received the Award for Excellence in Diagnostic Veterinary Microbiology from the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians in 2023. Burbick is a voting member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, which provides advice, information, and recommendations to the US Secretary of Health and Human Services. She is an associate professor in the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine and supervises the bacteriology lab at the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Pullman.
Trevor Wyckoff (’00 Const. Mgmt.) is executive vice president and general manager of building operations in Oregon and southwest Washington for Skanska, a construction and development firm. Wyckoff has worked for Skanska for almost 25 years, starting as an intern. He most recently served a senior vice president and account manager for Skanska in Portland, Oregon.
Erica (Perkins) Jasper (’01 History, ’03 MEd) is a member of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Women’s Hall of Fame Committee. She was the first WSU player to compete in the NCAA singles championship, the first tennis player inducted into the WSU Hall of Fame, and the first WSU player to compete in four NCAA team championships. Jasper was an Academic All-American and received the Pac-10 Conference medal. She was chief operating officer for the ITA before serving as the William B. Arce Director of Athletics, Physical Education & Recreation and George R. Roberts Fellow for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athletics in 2019. She was also the head women’s tennis coach at the University of New Mexico, Michigan State University, and Georgia Southern University.
Katie Hultin (’05 Biol.) is head women’s soccer coach at the University of Illinois. She was head coach at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, where she led them to two Division II NCAA tournament regional titles. At Washington State, Hultin was captain of the team from 2003 to 2005 and was named the most valuable player in 2004. She later played for the Seattle Sounders Women and was named to the W-League’s All-Western Conference team.
Jake Montero (’05 Mech. Eng.) is vice president of Paccar and general manager of its subsidiary, Peterbilt. Previously, Montero was Peterbilt’s assistant general manager for sales and marketing. He has worked for Paccar for 19 years.
Jeff Elbracht (’06 MBA) resigned as president from the Pullman Regional Hospital Board of Commissioners after 18 years of service. Elbracht is the director of finance for the city of Pullman and previously directed University Recreation at WSU.
Jacob Schlosser (’08 Busi., ’10 MBA) is vice president of human resources at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman. Schlosser has worked at SEL since 2004, starting as a human resources intern while studying at WSU. Most recently, he served as senior manufacturing director.
Quynh Le (’09 Biochem.) is codirector of the Breast Cancer Program at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Cancer Center in Bellingham. Le was accepted to the breast surgical oncology fellowship at the University of Southern California and trained at Keck Hospital, Los Angeles County Hospital, and Hoag Hospital. After working at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Le noticed patients were traveling to Seattle from Bellingham for specialized care, leading her to relocate to Bellingham, where she is the only surgeon fellowship-trained in breast surgical oncology in Whatcom County.
2010s
Jason Butcherite (’12 Hosp. Busi. Mgmt.) is director of Dining Services at WSU Pullman. Butcherite had been associate director of residential dining at WSU since 2022. He was also an adjunct faculty member in hospitality management at Lake Tahoe Community College, assistant director in the Marriott Hospitality & Culinary Innovation Center in WSU’s School of Hospitality Business Management, and executive chef in WSU’s Hillside Café and Pullman’s South Fork Public House.
Stephanie Burke (’15 Busi.) is chief accounting officer for VGXI, a contract developer and manufacturer specializing in biopharmaceuticals. Burke started at the company in 2015 and held multiple leadership roles in accounting, finance, and materials.
2020s
Andrew Gerow (’20 Viti. & Enol.), Gabriel Crowell (’21 Viti. & Enol., Chem.), and Matthew Doutney (’21 Viti. & Enol.) are the founders of Tirriddis, a winery specializing in sparkling wine made with traditional methods. They recently opened a tasting room in Prosser.
Anthony Gordon (’20 Soc. Sci.) was inducted to the City of Pacifica, California, Sports Hall of Fame. As WSU quarterback, Gordon set WSU and Pac-12 single season records for passing touchdowns, passing yards, total offense, and completions. He was second in the nation behind 2019 Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow.
Nam Nguyen (’20 Busi.) is one of 150 graduate students from 38 countries to be named a Schwarzman Scholar. The fellowship grants graduate students the opportunity to attend a one-year, fully funded master’s degree program in global affairs at Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Nguyen works at BP, overseeing the gift card program across more than 7,000 gas stations nationwide. He founded the Bach’s Wish Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting Vietnamese students in education.
Nyah Metze (’24 Comm.) is a social media producer for Nevada Sports Net in Reno, Nevada.