PULLMAN, Wash. — Samuel Smith, Washington State University president, has received an honorary doctoral degree from Russia’s Far Eastern State University.
He was presented the degree May 19 during an academic ceremony at the university in Vladivostok, as part of a nine-day university trip to Russia, Korea and Japan. During the trip he met with university officials in all three countries and WSU Korean and Japanese alumni groups.
In comments during the ceremony in Vladivostok, Smith praised FESU and WSU cooperation. In 1989, the two universities signed an agreement for the exchange of students and faculty. A follow-up agreement was signed in 1993. Creation of a joint environmental science degree program is an example of the cooperative effort between FESU and WSU.
Smith said as part of WSU’s effort to be a “global land-grant university,” new partnerships between WSU and the Russian university are desirable.
During the trip, he signed an agreement between WSU, the Republic of Korea Rural Development Administration and the National Veterinary Research Institute of Korea; met with Korean advertising executives who took part in two summer institutes at the WSU Edward R. Murrow School of Communication; met with officials from Japan’s Nihon University and Keio University; and met with Korean and Japanese WSU alumni groups.
Since Smith became WSU’s president in 1985, “internationalization” has been one focus of his administration. Smith, who earned his doctoral and bachelor’s degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, received an honorary doctorate in 1989 from Nihon University.
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