WSM Summer 2003

Summer 2003

George E. Duvall, gentleman scholar

George E. Duval, 82, a pioneer of shock physics research and professor emeritus at Washington State University, died January 3, 2003 in Vancouver. He was internationally recognized as a founder and leader in studies related to shock wave propagation in solids and liquids. Many colleagues regarded him as the dean of U.S. shock wave science.

The Louisiana native spent his youth in Oregon. His studies at Oregon State University were interrupted in 1941 when he joined the University of California’s Division of War Research to work on underwater acoustics problems. He returned to OSU in 1945 to finish his bachelor’s degree and completed a doctorate … » More …

Summer 2003

White gave students and colleagues “a sense of hope and pride”

More than half of Washington State University’s living pharmacy alumni graduated during Allen I. White’s 39-year tenure (1940-1979) as professor and/or dean of the College of Pharmacy. He was appointed dean in 1960, a position he held until retirement 19 years later. Last June, he and his wife, Edith, moved from Pullman to Fountain Hills, Arizona, where he died December 23, 2002 at age 88.

The Silverton, Oregon native and son of a Lutheran minister completed three degrees from the University of Minnesota-a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy (1937) and both a master’s degree (1938) and a doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry (1940). In 1983 he won … » More …

Summer 2003

Bhatia built Honors, International Programs

Career educator Vishnu N. “Vic” Bhatia was a builder. Not with bricks and mortar, but with vision, drive, and diplomacy. He demonstrated this during his 47 years (1951–98) at Washington State University as a teacher, administrator, innovator, and ambassador. His efforts were not limited to pharmacy, his chosen field, but were interdisciplinary, as well as international.

His greatest contributions were as head of the Honors Program (1964-93) and director of International Education (1973-90). Shortly after his arrival at WSU, he and other faculty colleagues, including mathematics professors Sidney Hacker and Donald Bushaw, began laying groundwork for an academic program that would rank among the very … » More …

Summer 2003

A tale of many cities

As a boy Clint Borgen dreamed of having an interesting life, radically different from the humdrum sleepiness of Anacortes, Washington, his commercial-fishing-oriented hometown. He played spy games with a seemingly fearless older brother and best friend. At 20, Borgen became a firefighter. No small wonder that the next year (1999) he hopped a flight to Macedonia for a month of volunteer service, simply because he had watched television images of Albanian refugees and wanted to see the war zone for himself.

Returning safely to another somnolent community, this time Pullman, Borgen (’03 Comm.) published a book late last year about his four-year, 13-country marathon of … » More …

Summer 2003

Adjusting to life during college and after

By the time he graduated from Washington State University, Terry Arndt (’93 Horticulture) had accumulated $20,000 in student loans, $5,000 in credit card bills, and car payments.

Fortunately, he found a job right away, and a financial advisor. She suggested he pay off his high-interest credit cards first. Then he began making extra payments on his student loans, some with a 10-year payback period. There were other budget considerations. Health insurance premiums. Income tax. A vacation. A year after marrying Melissa Segars (’94 Music), he enrolled in the University of Florida’s M.B.A. program. More expenses.

Adjusting to life after college was not the smooth transition … » More …

Summer 2003

Picha, Herrick, Murdock honored by WSU Alunmi Association

Washington State University created the Alumni Achievement Award in 1969 to honor alumni who have provided significant service and contributions to their profession, community, and/or WSU. In recent months, three individuals have been recognized.

Douglas T. Picha

Douglas T. Picha, founding executive director of the Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Children’s Hospital Guild Association, was honored at the November 23, 2002 Apple Cup rally on the Pullman campus.

Picha is responsible for planning, managing, and directing a comprehensive effort to attract volunteers and private financial support for Children’s Hospital in Seattle. Gifts in fiscal 2000-2001 totalled more than $36 million. The foundation has been listed … » More …

Summer 2003

Thriving in Rural America: Ochs uses computer technology to stay on family farm

Wanted: Person with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts to help design and create software programs; location: Dusty, Washington, population 10.

These are just the kind of person whom Jon Ochs, president, CEO, and founder of Eureka Software, Inc., may soon be looking to hire for the multimedia communications company he runs from his family farm in very rural Eastern Washington.

“We actually have four employees that are here all the time, so it is no longer a mom and pop business,” he says, sitting on the porch patio among his wife’s flowers and scratching the head of his large and rather relaxed dog, Amber. … » More …

Summer 2003

The best organizations are run by lovers

Counseling psychologist Allen Johnson has been called everything from a “headpeeper” and “bug doctor” to a “shrink.” He takes issue with the latter label. In reality, he says he’s “an expander.”

He believes in the human capacity to create a better, more joyful world. It’s a message he gladly shares with others in his conversations, seminars, and two books, This Side of Crazy and The Power Within: The Five Disciplines of Personal Effectiveness.

After completing a doctorate at Washington State University (’85 Coun. Psych.), he spent six years as the principal organization and leadership development consultant for ICF Kaiser, an international, 3,500-employee construction and engineering … » More …

Summer 2003

Eliminating chaos: “Organization isn’t about shifting things around”

Laura Leist Bishop is organized. She says she always has been. That’s doesn’t mean her office is tidy all the time. But ask her for anything, and she can find it. At home everything is arranged in her kitchen-canned food in one area, appliances in another. Clothes are in the closet. Garden implements line one wall of her garage, athletic gear another.

Because she is organized, she manages her time better. She knows what needs to be done tonight to be ready for tomorrow. Sometimes she plans three days ahead. “Because I do that,” she says, “I’m able to accomplish a lot.”

As president of … » More …

Summer 2003

Emerald winters, brown summers

How dry it is! Understanding the summer climate west of the Cascades baffles lots of residents. The “emerald green” attitude extends to believing that summer months wrap themselves in rain and mist just as winter does. However, our “modified Mediterranean” climate makes water planning as important in Seattle as it is in Spokane.

Summer of 2002 brought only 4.6 inches of rain at Sea-Tac (May 1 through November 1). September and October, usually good planting months, totaled only 1.08 inches combined. Another way to get perspective on this summer rainfall total-just imagine you’ve planted hybrid rhododendrons in April. They require about an inch per week, … » More …