2000
Steve
Wymer became the first person in WSU history to serve
three terms as president of the Associated Students of
WSU. He initially became president in 1998-1999, upon
succession while serving as ASWSU vice president. He
was elected ASWSU president for 1999-2000 and
re-elected for 2000-2001.
2000
The WSU baseball facility was renamed Bailey-Brayton
Field, honoring coaches Arthur B.
“Buck” Bailey (1927-41 and 1946-61) and
Charles “Bobo”
Brayton (1962-94). The original Bailey Field
near Hollingbery Fieldhouse was replaced in
1980 by the modern facility adjacent to Beasley
Performing Arts Coliseum.
2000
The Crimson Company student show choir, one of WSU's
most popular public relations vehicles for nearly 25
years, was discontinued after its final tour in May due
to budget cuts. The WSU Alumni Association was the
group's sponsor.
2000
On June 8, V. Lane Rawlins became WSU's ninth
president, succeeding eighth president, Samuel H.
Smith, who served from July 1, 1985 to June 8, 2000.
Rawlins, previously president of the University of
Memphis in Tennessee, is a former WSU faculty member
and administrator. He joined the economics faculty in
1968, later served as chair of the department of
economics, and was WSU vice provost from 1982-86.
2000
WSU West moved from the Westin Building to a building
on Pike Street, both in downtown Seattle.
2000
On Oct. 7, the WSU Veterans Memorial was dedicated to
honor 300 alumni, students, faculty, and staff who died
during 20th century military conflicts. Former WSU
Registrar James Quann and the WSU Class of 1949 each
played key roles in its creation.
2000
WSU
unveiled a new graphic
identity at a WSU Board of Regents
meeting on
Nov. 17 in
Spokane. The new crimson and gray on white
logo employs the Cougar head within a crest, an
internationally recognized symbol for higher
education. The
famous Cougar head logo was designed in 1936 by then
Washington State College student Randall
Johnson.
2001
The $39
million Student Recreation Center opened in January
2001.
2001
On March 28, 2001, V. Lane Rawlins, who took office
June 8, 2000, was inaugurated as the university's
president.
2001
Ralph
Yount, chair of the Department of Chemistry and
professor in the School of Molecular Biosciences, was
honored as the first recipient of the WSU Eminent
Faculty Award.
2001
Cougar women's volleyball received an NCAA Championship
tournament at-large berth for the eighth time, hosting
the first and second rounds of play.
2001
WSU had a record fall enrollment with total
student numbers increasing from 21,248 to 21,794.
The freshmen class on the Pullman campus was the second
largest in history and the most diverse ever.
This university-wide
total includes students at WSU campuses in Pullman,
Spokane, the Tri-Cities and Vancouver and in Distance
Degree Programs.
2001
WSU and Pullman community members held a vigil the
evening of Sept. 12 in Pullman's Reaney Park, in the
wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. East
Coast.
2001
During 2001-2002, Darren Eastman of Renton was the
fourth WSU student member of the WSU Board of
Regents. He succeeded Matthew Moore. Starting with
1998-1999, the first student regent was Jannelle
Milodragovich, followed by Bernadett Buchanan.
2001
The university held a ground-breaking for a new
building to house WSU's internationally recognized
Institute for Shock Physics.
2001
A grand opening was held for Honors Hall, the new
home of the nationally-acclaimed WSU Honors College,
celebrating its 40th anniversary.
2001
In a WSU history “first,” a fall
Commencement was held Dec. 15 in Beasley Performing
Arts Coliseum.
2001
On the final day of 2001, the WSU Cougar football team
beat Purdue, 33-27, in the Sun Bowl at El Paso, Texas.
The Cougs finished the season with a 10-3 record and
ranked 10th in two polls.
2001
WSU graduate and scientist Jack Gorski, a National
Academy of Sciences member recognized for his discovery
of the estrogen receptor, is the 30th recipient of the
Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award.
2002
Robert C. Bates, a WSU alumnus and longtime Virginia
Tech administrator, began service as WSU Provost and
Academic Vice President.
2002
The Center for Undergraduate Education opened and,
later, was named by the WSU Board of Regents for
President Emeritus Samuel H. Smith.
2002
The 31st recipient of the Regents’ Distinguished
Alumnus Award is WSU graduate and sociologist James E.
Blackwell, a leading scholar in the areas of
minorities in higher education and social movement in
black communities.
2002
WSU graduate Dr. Robert W. Higgins, former U.S. Navy
Deputy Surgeon General and Navy Medical Corps chief, is
32nd Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award
honoree. Recipient of the Distinguished
Service Medal, the highest military peacetime award, he
is former
president of the American Academy of Family
Physicians and of the World Organization of Family
Doctors.
2002
Entertainer Bill Cosby performed before a "packed
house" in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum during Mom's
Weekend.
2002
Don
A. Dillman, Thomas S. Foley Distinguished Professor of
Government and Public Policy and
social scientist in the Departments
of Sociology and Rural Sociology, was the second
recipient of the WSU Eminent Faculty Award.
2002
WSU's 2002 football team was Pacific 10 Conference
co-champions and played Oklahoma in the 2003 Rose Bowl.
See 2003.
2003
The WSU Regents give chief executive officers/deans of
WSU urban campuses in Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver
"chancellor" titles and expanded
their responsibilities.
2003
U.S. News and World Report ranked WSU as one of the top
50 public research institutions in the nation.
2003
Anjan Bose, College of Engineering and Architecture
dean, and Jim Asay of the Institute for Shock Physics,
were named to the National Academy of Engineering, the
most prestigious honor in the engineering field.
2003
WSU alumnus Tim Pavish became WSU alumni relations
director/WSU Alumni Association executive director,
succeeding Keith Lincoln, who retired from the post
after 26 years of service.
2003
A
three-quarter size replica of WSU’s historic
entryway arch was built on the walk behind the WSU
President’s House, near the original arch’s
location -- a gift from the Class of 1947, as part
of its 50th reunion, and the Class of
1997.
2003
Julia Pomerenk became WSU registrar, succeeding Dave
Guzman, who retired. Previously WSU assistant
registrar, she returned to the university after serving
as registrar of Pacific Lutheran University.
2003
WSU faculty members James Petersen and Howard Grimes
became the university's vice provost for research and
Graduate School dean, respectively.
2003
The new building housing WSU's internationally
recognized Institute for Shock Physics was
inaugurated.
2003
Construction began on the new Plant Biosciences
building, the first of several new buildings that will
create a new research and education complex along
Stadium Way.
2003
Rodney Croteau, Eisig-Tode Distinguished Professor of
Forest Biotechnology in WSU's Institute of Biological
Chemistry, was honored as the third recipient of the
WSU Eminent Faculty Award.
2003
The best prepared freshman class WSU ever enrolled in
the fall included 15 National Merit Scholars and 24
Distinguished Regents' Scholars.
2003
As part of WSU's commitment to supporting Pullman, the
WSU Foundation moved its offices from campus to
downtown's new Pullman Town Centre. The Foundation
raised more than $48.5 million, the second highest
fund-raising total in its history.
2003
The 2003 season was the 15th year Cindy Frederick
served as Cougar volleyball head coach. She is the most
successful volleyball coach and the most successful
coach of any woman's sport in university
history.
2003
WSU Cougar athletic team successes in 2003 started with
the 2002 football team, Pacific 10 Conference
co-champions, playing in the Jan. 1, 2003, Rose Bowl
football game against Oklahoma, losing 34-14. For the
2003 season, former assistant Bill Doba became the
Cougars' new head coach, succeeding Mike Price. The
Doba-led team played in the 2003 Holiday Bowl football
game. Held Dec. 30, 2003, in San Diego against Texas,
the Cougars won, 28-20. The 2003 season marked WSU
football's third straight 10-win season, the first
Pac-10 team to achieve this feat in 70 years.
2003
Athletic highlights: women's golf making its first NCAA
appearance, a WSU swimmer competing in the NCAA
championship, rowing making its first team NCAA
appearance and Whitney Evans winning NCAA, NCAA
regional and Pac-10 high jump titles.
2003
WSU graduate Sherman J. Alexie Jr., award-winning poet,
author, screenwriter and film director, became the 33th
Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award
recipient.
2004
WSU's renowned Edward R. Murrow School of Communication
was strengthened by the opening of a 24,000-square foot
building that includes communication research and
teaching labs, TV news studio, faculty offices and
auditorium.
2004
A test developed at WSU was used to diagnose the
nation’s first case of "mad cow" disease.
Credited were researchers from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service at
WSU and from WSU’s Department of Veterinary
Microbiology and Pathology. The USDA chose WSU for one
of seven laboratories nationwide to conduct tests for
the disease.
2004
Frances
K. McSweeney, professor of psychology and vice provost
for faculty affairs, was honored as the fourth
recipient of the 2004 Eminent Faculty
Award.
2004
The first "Celebrating Excellence: An Evening Honoring
Our Faculty and Staff" banquet in Beasley Performing
Arts Coliseum honored WSU award-winning faculty and
staff.
2004
The WSU College of Veterinary Medicine was granted
seven years of continued full accreditation by the
American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council
on Education. It is the highest level of accreditation
any veterinary college can attain.
2004
A bronze memorial in Holland Library is dedicated to
honor the "Grandfather of Chicano poetry," Ricardo
Sánchez, celebrated poet and a WSU creative
writing and Chicano studies faculty member from 1991
until his death in 1995.
2004
Peter Jennings, ABC-TV news anchor, received an Edward
R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in
Broadcasting during the WSU Edward R. Murrow
Symposium.
2004
John N. Abelson, 1960 B.S. Physics, a distinguished molecular biologist and member of the National Academy of Sciences, was honored as the 35th recipient of the Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award.
2004
WSU President V. Lane Rawlins created a Commission on
Race and Ethnicity and a Council for the Advancement of
Women.
2005
Motivational speaker and actress Yolanda King, daughter
of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., gave a
presentation in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum as
part of the University's MLK Celebration.
2005
Early in 2005, students, faculty and staff participated
in relief efforts for Asian countries struck by a
tsunami. Later, efforts took place for victims of two
hurricanes which hit the U.S. Gulf Coast. WSU admitted
some students displaced by the hurricanes and more than
7,000 Backpacks for Hope, filled with school supplies,
were collected for school students in the affected
areas.
2005
Yogendra
M. Gupta, professor of physics and director of the
Institute for Shock Physics, was honored as the fifth
recipient of the WSU Eminent Faculty Award.
2005
Clarence A. Ryan Jr., emeritus professor, plant
biochemistry researcher in WSU's Institute of
Biological Chemistry, and first WSU professor in
National Academy of Sciences, received WSU's honorary
doctoral degree at spring commencement. More»
2005
During the summer, WSU student Danielle Fisher, age 20,
became the youngest person in history to conquer the
highest mountain on each of the seven continents. She
was the youngest American to stand atop Mount
Everest.
2005
A solar home constructed on campus in Pullman by WSU
engineering and architecture students was part of the
U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon
competition in Washington, D.C.
2005
Honored as 35th recipient of the Regents' Distinguished
Alumnus Award was WSU alumnus Dr. Irwin
“Ernie” Rose, Nobel Prize winner in
chemistry. A graduate of Spokane's Lewis and Clark High
School, he attended WSU in the mid-1940s and was
influenced by Herb Eastlick, a prominent WSU zoology
teacher.
2005
"Good Night, and Good Luck," a new motion picture,
depicted WSU alumnus and
broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow taking
on U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American
Activities Committee in the 1950s. Murrow's legacy
continues in the WSU Edward R. Murrow College of
Communication and the Murrow Symposium.
2005
More than 52 percent of student voters approved
renovating the Compton Union Building. Renovation will
close the CUB for two years, starting in fall
2006.
2005
Opening events were held for the new Plant Biosciences
Building and for the new Education Addition, adjacent
to Cleveland Hall, home of the WSU College of
Education.
2005
WSU Regents named the new library adjacent to Holland
Library as the Terrell Library in honor of W. Glenn
Terrell, former WSU president. WSU President V. Lane
Rawlins said the naming of the new building, which
opened in 1994, was suitable acknowledgement of
Terrell’s love of learning and his close
connections with students. The Terrell Friendship Mall
on campus also honors WSU’s seventh president,
who served from 1967 to 1985.
2005
Work by WSU molecular
biologist Michael K. Skinner and his research team was
chosen as one of the top 100 science stories of 2005 by
Discover magazine. The researchers found that exposing
fetal rats to environmental toxins can affect their
sexual development in a way that shows up in subsequent
generations as well. The mechanism was an epigenetic
one.
2005
Glenn Johnson celebrated his
25th year as public address “Voice of the
Cougars” for WSU football and men’s
basketball. He is a member of the WSU
Murrow College of Communication faculty.
2006
The College of Business and
Economics was renamed the College of Business by the
WSU Regents. Changing the name reflects the impact
of business on society. It also recognizes that, in
2005, the new School of Economic Sciences gained its
academic home in the WSU College of Agricultural,
Human, and Natural Resource Sciences.
2006
In 2005-2006, the WSU
Cougars had a football-men’s basketball
“sweep” of rival University of Washington
Huskies. In fall 2005, WSU beat the UW in the annual
Apple Cup football game. In the winter of 2006, the
Cougars beat the Huskies in both basketball games. The
last time the Cougars had such an academic year
“sweep” of the Huskies was 1968-1969.
2006
The new Carnegie Classifications ranked WSU as one of
96 public and private research institutions nationwide
with very high research activity. This recognition
brings attention to WSU research and Ph.D. educational
programs. More»
2006
Jack D.
Rogers, professor in the Department of Plant Pathology
and the Department of Natural Resource Sciences, was
honored as the sixth recipient of the WSU Eminent
Faculty Award.
2006
WSU’s women’s
rowing team captured fourth place at the 2006 NCAA
Championships in May in New Jersey. In the
Cougars’ best finish ever at the NCAA
level, the varsity eight and varsity four each
finished fourth. Earlier, the Cougars finished second
overall at the Pac-10
Championships in California. WSU's Jane
LaRiviere was named “Coach of the Year” for
Pacific-10 Women's Rowing and for the Collegiate Rowing
Coaches Association West Region.
2006
The Spillman Stone, a
two-ton granite rock with William Jasper
Spillman’s name engraved on it, was rededicated
October 21 at Clark Hall Plaza on the Pullman campus.
WSU’s first wheat breeder from 1894 to 1902,
Spillman was the only American to independently
rediscover Mendel's Law of Heredity. He was also
influential in early agricultural
economics. More»
2006
Phyllis
J. Campbell, 1973 B.A. Business Administration,
president and CEO of the Seattle Foundation, was
honored as the 36th recipient of the Regents'
Distinguished Alumnus Award.
2006
On Dec. 13, WSU Regents named Elson S. Floyd, 50, then
president of the four-campus University of Missouri, as
WSU’s 10th president, succeeding V. Lane Rawlins
who retired in May 2007. A former Western Michigan
University president, Floyd has also been an
administrator at his alma mater, the University of
North Carolina Chapel Hill. He is a former
Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board
executive director and an Eastern Washington University
executive vice president.
2006
Dr. Guy Palmer, a veterinary pathologist at WSU's
College of Veterinary Medicine, was elected to
membership in the National Academy of Science's
Institute of Medicine, one of the highest honors for
those in biomedical research and human health care.
2007
During a national college football telecast on Jan. 1,
WSU’s Butch the Cougar was announced as Capital
One Mascot of the Year. Butch edged Testudo, the
University of Maryland mascot, in the championship
round.
2007
For the first time since 1993-1994, the WSU men’s
Cougar basketball team made the NCAA men’s
national basketball tournament, coached by Tony
Bennett. The Cougars won their opening-round game over
Oral Roberts, but lost to Vanderbilt in the
second-round. WSU finished second in the Pac-10
Conference with a 26-8 season win-loss record. Tony
Bennett, who won numerous Coach of the Year honors,
succeeded his father, Dick Bennett, who coached the
Cougars for three seasons.
2007
WSU Regents renamed two Pullman campus buildings.
Wilson Hall became Wilson-Short Hall, honoring James F.
Short, Jr., influential WSU sociology professor, now
emeritus. This building was first named for James
Wilson, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1897-1913.
The Plant Biosciences Facility I, part of a
multi-building bioscience complex, became the Orville
A. Vogel Plant Biosciences Building, named for one of
WSU’s great agricultural researchers and wheat
breeders.
2007
Thomas J.
Dickinson, Regents Professor in the Department of
Physics, was honored as the seventh recipient of the
WSU Eminent Faculty Award.
2007
Elson S.
Floyd took office May 21 as the 10th
president of Washington State University. He succeeded
V. Lane Rawlins who was named iterim director of the
William D. Ruckelshaus Center, a joint enterprise of
WSU and the University of Washington. More»
2007
Patricia G. Butterfield became dean of the Washington
State University Intercollegiate College of Nursing.
She had been a professor and chair of the Department of
Psychosocial and Community Health Nursing at the
University of Washington.
2007
George Mount, WSU civil and environmental engineering
faculty member since 1997, became director of a new
university system-wide interdisciplinary Center for
Environmental Research, Education, and Outreach
(CEREO).
2007
David
Miller and Robert Hull, both 1968 B.A. in Architecture
and founding partners of Seattle-based The Miller|Hull
Partnership, LLP, were honored as the 37th
and 38th recipients of the Regents'
Distinguished Alumnus Award.
2007
Jay Starratt became dean of the Washington State
University Libraries. He had been associate vice
chancellor for information technology and dean of
library and information services at Southern Illinois
University in Edwardsville.
2007
In research, a WSU team of physicists successfully
completed the first experiments using the
nation’s premiere synchrotron X-ray facility to
detect shock wave-induced changes in a crystalline
material.
2007
Work continued on major Pullman campus projects,
including extensive renovation of the Compton Union
Building and Martin Stadium, home of WSU Cougar
football. Transforming the 9-hole WSU Golf Course into
WSU’s Palouse Ridge Golf Club with a new
18-hole championship course was also underway. Martin
Stadium continued in use during phased construction.
2007
Testing of an emergency siren and public announcement
system on the Pullman campus took place. The system was
created to alert and provide information to students,
faculty and staff in the event of a campus-wide
emergency.
2007
Johnnetta Cole, former WSU
faculty member and administrator, President Emerita,
Spelman College (Atlanta) and Bennett College (North
Carolina), received WSU's honorary doctoral degree at
fall commencement on Dec. 6. More»
2007
In December, Paul Wulff, WSU graduate and former Cougar
football player, was named WSU football coach,
following eight years as head coach at Eastern
Washington University. He succeeded Bill Doba who
was at WSU for 19 years, the last five as head
coach. In late November, Doba’s coaching career
concluded in Seattle in the 100th Apple Cup football
game where WSU defeated the University of Washington
Huskies, 42-35
2008
Scientific American named WSU reproductive biologist
Patricia A. Hunt one of the top 50 researchers in the
world. Her research shows a potential threat to human
health posed by bisphenol A (BPA), a component of the
polycarbonate plastics used to make food and beverage
containers.
2008
The largest grant in WSU history — $25 million
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation —
will help construct a $35 million building that is to
become the centerpiece in the WSU’s new School
for Global Animal Health.
2008
Roger O.
McClellan, DVM, an expert in toxicology and human
health risk analysis, was honored as the 39th recipient
of the Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus
Award.
2008
In April, pop music icon Elton John performed in two
WSU Mom’s Weekend concerts at Beasley Performing
Arts Coliseum.
2008
Anjan
Bose, Regents Professor in
electrical engineering and computer science, was
honored as the eighth recipient of the WSU Eminent
Faculty Award.
2008
Named for WSU’s illustrious graduate Edward R.
Murrow, the university’s Murrow School of
Communication became the Murrow College of
Communication on July 1. It had long been part of the
College of Liberal Arts.
2008
Provost and Executive Vice President Robert Bates
stepped down on July 1 after six years as WSU's
academic leader. A WSU master's graduate in
bacteriology, he joined WSU Vancouver as Director of
Research and Graduate Education.
2008
The initial class of WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming,
Alaska, Montana, Idaho) medical program students began
classes at a new site, WSU Spokane. WSU’s Pullman
campus first had WWAMI students in 1972.
2008
The newly-renovated Compton Union Building and Martin
Stadium opened for the fall semester.
2008
Palouse Ridge Golf Club, an 18-hole championship golf
course on the Pullman campus, opened in August,
replacing the 9-hole WSU Golf Course.
2008
Warwick
Bayly, WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine dean.
began service as the university’s provost.
2008
WSU
received nearly $156 million in new research grant
awards during the 2007-08 fiscal year, up about 16
percent from the previous year.
2009
For the
20th annual Festival of Contemporary Art Music, WSU
Music faculty member Charles Argersinger, FoCAM’s
founding director, was guest
composer.
2009
Douglas
Epperson, formerly of Iowa State University, began
service as dean of the WSU College of Liberal
Arts.
2009
Michael
D. Griswold, Regents Professor in the School of
Molecular Biosciences and dean of the College of
Sciences, honored as the ninth recipient of the WSU
Eminent Faculty Award
2009
Former
White House Bureau Chief Helen Thomas and CBS
News’ Chief Washington correspondent Bob
Schieffer received Edward R. Murrow Awards for Lifetime
Achievement in Journalism and in Broadcast Journalism,
respectively, during the WSU Edward R. Murrow
Symposium.
2009
On July
1, WSU campuses in Spokane, the Tri-Cities and
Vancouver celebrated 20th anniversaries. They
officially began July 1, 1989, by legislature act,
although WSU had academic programs in each area well
before that date.
2009
Wilson-Short
Hall rededicated in honor of James F. Short Jr.,
influential sociologist and WSU professor
emeritus.
2009
Dr. Dwight
Damon, 1962 B. S. Zoolology, an orthodontic dentistry
innovator, is the 40th Regents’ Distinguished
Alumnus Award honoree.