Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Spring 2024

Business Leaders

Land Expressions - class note thumb
Spring 2016

A grand gathering place

Cougar-owned landscape architecture and design firm Land Expressions in Spokane won a top national award in December for work on Spokane’s Huntington Park and the Spokane Tribal Gathering Place.

This project won over much larger design build projects from all over the country. The Grand Award from the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) “is the biggest award we can receive in our industry,” says Dave Nelson ’83, president and owner of the company.

 

The Land Expressions team—which includes senior landscape architect Clayton Varick ’00 and landscape architects Nicholas Hamad ’10 and Fernando Camargo ’10—had a very good year in 2015.

They won the … » More …

Winter 2015

Liberty Ciderworks

What are trained architects doing making hard cider?

“It’s a great beverage with a great legacy,” says Austin Dickey ’00, who tasted his first cider while visiting Europe after graduating from high school. He and colleague Rick Hastings share a passion for traditional hard cider.

After experimenting with homemade batches for years, the two began comparing notes and decided in 2012 to transform their hobby into a commercial venture.

“For us it’s all about the apples and yeast,” says Dickey.

Liberty Ciderworks, located in downtown Spokane, became the state’s first urban craft cidery and was among the initial wave of artisanal cider producers to … » More …

McCarty thumb
Winter 2015

Michael and Virginia Jessemey McCarty

Philanthropists, business leaders, and WSU supporters Michael and Virginia Jessemey McCarty received the WSU Alumni Association Alumni Achievement Award in September. Virginia graduated in 1974 with a broadcasting degree, and Michael earned his degree in recreation in 1975. He recently retired as chief executive officer of the Association of Washington Cities. She is the owner of McCarty & Associates marketing firm, which she founded in 1986.

Michael has been manager of the Thurston Conservation District, administrator for the City of Shelton, past president of the Washington City Management Association, and board member for the National League of Cities. He was appointed by former Gov. Chris … » More …

Bubbling cider
Winter 2015

The drink that built a nation

Bubbling a revolution in Washington State

It’s canning day at Tieton Cider Works in Yakima. Tall, red cans of Rambling Route cider pass through a pasteurizing unit as they come off the conveyor belt of the mobile canning truck. Sold in four packs, the company’s first canned product is intended to reach the masses, perhaps even enticing craft beer drinkers with a moderately-priced, portable cider.

The label on a can of Rambling Route cider describes the journey apples made across the country to Washington: “When it reached the land that would be called Washington, the apple knew.” It knew it had found a home in … » More …

Summer 2014

Machine in the classroom

New tech tools engage young scientists

In a familiar classroom scene, lab partners take turns squinting into a microscope. They spy a wriggling paramecium, if the organism doesn’t swim away from the field of view. These days they also peer into an iPad to watch videos and access digital textbooks. Engineer and entrepreneur Jeff Stewart sees a happy marriage between these old and new technologies in science classrooms.

Stewart and his colleagues at Exo Labs have enhanced that connection with an accessory that connects any microscope to an iPad, where students and teachers can take pictures and videos, measure objects, and quickly share … » More …

Summer 2013

Something Old Something New—A history of hospitality

When Washington State College introduced its hospitality program in 1932, no one had yet imagined an airport hotel, a drive-through restaurant, a convention center, or the boom of international travel. Eighty years later, as the industry grows in new and unexpected ways, the School of Hospitality sends its graduates out to meet its evolving needs.

» More ...
Spirits rising
Winter 2012

Spirits on the rise

The morning is cool on Samish Island, with a fog hanging over the water. But inside an old chicken coop, it’s steamy and sweet. A beer of barley mash is bubbling not too far from the door, tall copper stills stand like sentinels on the left, and the back is layered with metal shelves stocked with small white oak barrels.

During Prohibition, boats loaded with whisky from Canada would slip through the San Juan Islands and land just down the beach from here. According to family lore, Mary Lou Caudill’s uncle was often on board. “He worked on the boats bringing alcohol in from Canada,” … » More …