Alumni

Winter 2017

The #1 license plate

Driving around the state of Washington, Cougar license plates are impossible to miss. In fact, they are the number one specialty license plate on the road, dwarfing all others. What many do not know is that these crimson plates mean a lot more than just Cougar Pride; with $28 of each plate supporting WSU student scholarships, this program raised over $600,000 last year.

Since the WSU Alumni Association assumed responsibility for managing the license plate program and launching its cool crimson plate design, the program has exploded. Today, the Cougar plate is proudly displayed on nearly 23,000 vehicles (and counting!). The growth of this program … » More …

Winter 2017

Gene Conley x’50

Washington State baseball and basketball standout Gene Conley x’50, the only professional athlete to win both a World Series and NBA championship, died July 4, 2017. He was 86.

Conley was a pitcher with the Milwaukee Braves when the team won the World Series in 1957 and he helped the Boston Celtics to three NBA titles from 1959 to 1961. He played against sports legends such as Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, and Wilt Chamberlain during an 18-year dual-sport career that also included four All-Star appearances.

At Washington State, where he anchored both the baseball and basketball teams for two seasons before going … » More …

Winter 2017

Steve Gleason ’00

Former Cougar football and NFL standout Steve Gleason ’00, whose battle with ALS has become an international symbol of perseverance and determination, has been named the Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus for 2017.

“Steve Gleason epitomizes the essence of ‘Cougar Spirit,’” said Washington State University President Kirk Schulz at the August 10 ceremony. “His passion to persevere and succeed despite life’s challenges has inspired thousands, not only in the United States, but around the world.”

Gleason helped take WSU to the Rose Bowl in 1997 and in 2006 had a punt-blocking dive for the New Orleans Saints that rallied the hurricane-ravaged city’s down-but-not-out spirit. Five … » More …

Winter 2017

Medical research design that’s 24/7

Jason Chan ’99 had to travel roughly 10,000 miles to satisfy a childhood curiosity. “I grew up in Singapore and the rate of urbanization is incredible there,” explains Chan. Interested in engineering and design, “architecture felt like a natural step.”

Chan, who specializes in medical and research facility architecture, first pursued his passion in Pullman. “I definitely had to look at architectural history and design studies with critiques. (Being a Cougar) helped me develop design skills,” Chan says.

Now a principal and regional leader for the research sector at Perkins+Will in Houston, Texas, his design prowess is on full display in concrete ways.

The Texas … » More …

Winter 2017

Cougar twins

Fall 2017

Fabric of the university

The ornate Washington State University mace, a convocation and commencement fixture, is perhaps the most widely recognizable of artist Tim Doebler’s creations.

But his artwork is interwoven throughout the University. Commemorative and recognition placards in building lobbies. A stone monument on Terrell Mall. Finely crafted tokens of appreciation awarded to University leaders and supporters.

“I see this as part of the fabric of the University,” says Doebler ’84 MFA, who is retiring in November after 38 years as an engineering technician with WSU’s fine arts department.

A Vietnam veteran and survivor of the bloody Easter offensive, Doebler returned to the States in 1972 and … » More …

Fall 2017

Live from New York . . .

When Ana Cabrera ’04 first set foot on Washington State University’s Pullman campus in 2000, she had no idea she’d be live on national television in 17 years.

She didn’t know she’d go on to work as a weekend anchor for CNN and live in New York City. She was unaware that she’d cover major stories like riots in Ferguson, marijuana legalization, and immigration—or that her life would soon be at the 24/7 mercy of the “news gods.” And she certainly couldn’t predict that the president of the United States would call her and her fellow journalists the “enemy.”

What she did know was … » More …

Fall 2017

Class notes

1940s

Charlotte Wirth (’48 Phys. Ed., ’55 MAT) and Marda McClenny (’74 Phys. Ed.) were inducted into the Washington State Girls Basketball Coaches’ Hall of Fame. McClenny coached the Walla Walla girls basketball team to three state tournaments and Wirth coached Walla Walla prior to Title IX. Wirth is also known for working to get equal practice time and equipment for the developing girls sports programs during the 1960s and 1970s.

1950s

Paul C. Anderson (’55, ’60 MA Poli. Sci.) taught political science at Yakima Valley College from 1961-94 and then retired to Port Townsend. He was a Delta Chi and lettered in golf at … » More …

Fall 2017

In memoriam

1930s

Catherine C. Hyslop (x’38 Ag., Alpha Gamma Delta), 100, May 4, 2017, Spokane.

1940s

Leila B. Kayler (x’40 Pharm.), 95, February 25, 2017, Odessa.

Elma Ryan-Bornander Anderson (’41 Speech and Hearing Sci.), 98, April 10, 2017, Seattle.

Robert Arleth Stier (’42 Gen. St.), 95, December 21, 2016, Olympia.

W. James Wride (’43 Phys. Sci., ’46 MS Chem. Eng.), 95, March 17, 2017, Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Robert J. Beaubier (’46 Forest & Range Mgmt.), 99, September 17, 2016, Lewiston, Idaho.

Betty J. Sunofsky (’46 Home Econ.), 93, April 8, 2017, Long Beach, California.

Arthur R. MacKelvie (’47 Comm.), 94, April 10, 2017, Spokane Valley.

Eugene G. … » More …

Fall 2017

Bear watching

The headlines paint a dire picture: By the 2030s, global warming could completely melt Arctic sea ice, imperiling the 19 known polar bear populations that range across the United States, Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway.

Could, as some fear, the trend spell extinction for Ursus martimus?

For two of the country’s premiere polar bear researchers—wildlife biologists KARYN RODE ’99 MS, ’05 PhD, and DAVID C. DOUGLAS ’86 MS, both of whom work for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Science Center—the answer is a decided “No.”

But neither is the future rosy for the animals, according to Douglas, who uses satellite tracking to monitor their … » More …