Philanthropist Paul G. Allen helped kick off the WSU Foundation’s billion-dollar campaign in December with a $26 million gift for the School for Global Animal Health. The donation, the largest single gift in WSU history, will support both programs and construction. Photo Robert Hubner
“It is impossible to imagine a world-class university without an arboretum. It reconnects you to the earth and is an important place for a university community to find peace and balance in a high-stress environment. Im particularly proud that this arboretum will be part of the legacy that my administration will leave for Washington State University, its faculty, students, alumni, and friends, and all those who value the joys of nature.”
—WSU President Elson S. Floyd
Phase 1 of the Washington State University Arboretum and Wildlife Conservation Center project celebrates the first peoples of the region and the striking Palouse prairie landscape … » More …
Over the coming years, 170 acres east of Airport Road in Pullman will be transformed into an arboretum, which will include a new bear center, a biodiversity center, a gathering circle, and a series of walking trails and gardens.
The land fits neatly amidst the WSU Organic Farm, USDA research plots, and College of Veterinary Medicine facilities. While the project is still in its infancy, many pieces are falling into place to make it happen.
By mid-July, the first trails were visible, tiny paths of hot pink flags climbing up and around the hills. A grand opening is loosely planned for fall 2011, but … » More …
Two years ago, Lou Pepper watched the bank he once managed become the largest bank failure in U.S. history.
Pepper, a former Washington State University regent, had retired from Washington Mutual in the early 1990s when the bank was sound. But then a pattern of rapid growth and risky lending led to the collapse.
The former CEO felt helpless as each day brought more negative news. “People had been building this bank for 115 years, damn good people,” says Pepper, leaning forward in his chair in the small first-floor office of his home on Skagit Bay. And many of them were losing their savings, their … » More …
A gallery of selected images, items, and memorabilia from Xerpha Gaines’ trunk.
From “The Love Letters” by Hannelore Sudermann:
…Summer 2008 the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Edward and Xerpha Gaines returned to eastern Washington. They talked and laughed, piecing together their own memories of Edward and Xerpha, and mentioning the bundle of letters that gave them the details of their grandparent’s romance.
At the end of the reunion, they delivered to Washington State University an astonishing gift–Xerpha’s steamer trunk which holds nearly a century of private papers detailing the life of a woman whose story is not only threaded through the University’s, but … » More …
Every school has its myths and legends. Washington State’s include miles of secret underground tunnels, a ghost, giant cows, and an icon of the psychedelic 60s. We decided to define, dispel, and debunk these stories. The results may surprise you.
False. For years, freshmen have been driving by the cattle enclosures on the east side of campus and marveling at the enormous bovines that graze there. Rumors have spread around the world about the “giant cows” on Washington State’s campus. But there’s nothing aberrant about them.
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First, six months of planning. Then, over the summer, came the actual moving of laboratory equipment, chemicals, papers, and all the rest. Finally, faculty, students, and staff from four separate science buildings are now under one roof in a gorgeous new facility beside Stadium Way.
“Our unit is large, with over 150 students, faculty and staff,” says John Nilson, director of the School of Molecular Biosciences. Previously, the school was fragmented, with bits of space in Fulmer Hall, Abelson (old Science), Eastlick, and Heald. “Moving from four buildings to one has already allowed unprecedented social and intellectual interactions that form … » More …
The 1909/1910 Chinook yearbook devoted a full page to “The Installation of the Kappa Sigma.” In the text W.M. Coulter, a founding member of the first national fraternity at Washington State College, notes that the event “marks a new epoch in the fraternal life of the College.”
Indeed, according to William Stimson’s student history of WSU, Going to Washington State, by 1918 there were seven national fraternities on campus and four national sororities, in addition to a handful of local fraternal groups. Concerned that students were spending more time on their social lives than their studies, the faculty created a committee in 1911 “to regulate … » More …
The soaring ceiling, room-length fireplace, and glass doors that open to the outdoors give the lobby the flavor of a ski lodge crossed with an open-air café. However, the ambience of Olympia Avenue—Washington State University’s new residence hall—masks its eco-friendly bones: the exposed wood comes from old buildings, a retractable screen shades the lobby when it’s too sunny, and the floors are polished decorative concrete.
“I love the space. It’s just so exciting to live in a brand-new hall,” says sophomore Hannah Donaldson, one of about 230 residents of the new building. Donaldson, an animal sciences major from Sultan, points out that information throughout the … » More …