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History of University

Glenn Terrell
Winter 2013

Glenn Terrell, WSU President 1967–1985: Recollections

Glenn Terrell served as Washington State University’s seventh president, from 1967 to 1985. He passed away in August at his home in Sequim. He was 93.

 

Terrell earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Davidson College in North Carolina, his master’s degree in psychology from Florida State University, and his doctoral degree from the University of Iowa. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was one of the American soldiers who marched down the Champs-Elysee with Charles de Gaulle.

He began his academic career as an instructor in psychology at Florida State, later moving to the University of Colorado … » More …

Nature Boy at WSU
Fall 2013

The original story of Nature Boy

Washington State University’s sculpture “The Reader” made its first appearance on campus in 1949. The Powwow, the college’s alumni magazine, carried the following story in 1949, which showed the mixed response to the large ornament dubbed “Nature Boy” by the students.

What’s New on the Campus?

by Bonnie Wamberg
November 1949, Washington State College Powwow

Campus conversational piece de’ resistance this month concerned the 30-foot limestone figure which now adorns one corner of the new Ernest Holland Library. Student opinion and comment blew hot and cold, for and against the 40-ton ornament. Some say it is beautiful, … » More …

Bob Hanson
Winter 2012

Bob Hanson ’82—When bowling was big

Bob Hanson was just 18 when he bowled his first 300 game.

He remembers that day in 1977 when he threw 12 consecutive strikes on lanes 9 and 10 at Tower Lanes in Tacoma. At the time he was the third bowler to ever record a 300 game in the history of the Tacoma Junior League. The achievement, which made the front page of the Tacoma News Tribune, was just one of many milestones in Hanson’s 47-year career. But nothing has topped being part of the WSU men’s 1982 national championship bowling team, he says. “When you win something with the team, it is an … » More …

WSC Powwow from 1945
Fall 2012

Chinooks and Powwows at your fingertips

If you’re searching for a photo of a long-lost college friend or you want to dig into the rich history of Washington State, visit the WSU Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collection’s website to browse WSU’s yearbook The Chinook up to 1986 and most issues of The Powwow, the alumni magazine from 1910 to 1969.

All texts are searchable and can be printed, shared online, or downloaded to your own computer. You can also browse the books online and let serendipity guide you to unexpected corners of the University’s history.

“You can find not only pictures of family or friends, but what they did … » More …

Tom Brigham with Katy Fry and Herb Nakata at WSU
Fall 2012

Unfiltered history

Tom Brigham, the executive secretary of WSU’s Emeritus Society, stopped by the magazine office some time ago with a box full of interview transcripts, the results of one of the society’s major projects. Had I known how absorbing and distracting the contents would be, I might have been more hesitant to accept delivery.

Seriously, the oral histories contained in the box provide absorbing recollections of WSU history from the early 1950s on. At their best, the interviews combine engrossing storytelling and striking insight. Conducted and transcribed by history graduate student, now instructor, Katy Fry ’06, ’11, the histories provide unfiltered memories of WSU through five … » More …

First Words
Fall 2012

The spirit of the land grant institution

Had the intent of the land grant spirit been simply to produce homemakers or farmers or carpenters, Justin Morrill, the author of the act that established the land-grants 150 years ago, might have best looked for his model among the craft guilds of the fifteenth century, wrote Enoch Bryan in 1931, 15 years after he stepped down as the first enduring president of Washington State College. In one of four essays that make up The Spirit of the Land-Grant Institutions (reissued in 1961), Bryan argued that the curriculum prescribed by the land-grant legislation was academic rather than vocational. “It was far broader, far more fundamental,” … » More …

Spring 2012

The Lowell Elm

 

The Lowell Elm at WSU. Staff photo

Harriet Bryan, wife of Washington Agricultural College president Enoch Bryan, planted the Lowell Elm in 1893. She had brought the seedling to her new home from Elmwood, the estate of James Russell Lowell, near Harvard University, where her husband had earned his master of arts degree shortly before becoming Washington State College’s first long-term president. Staff photo