PULLMAN, Wash. — Kathi Goertzen, news anchor for Seattle’s KOMO-TV; Jack Creighton Jr., former president and chief executive officer of Weyerhaeuser Co., and Jerry Quinn Lee, chief executive officer of MulvannyG2 Architecture, will deliver addresses during Washington State University’s 107th spring commencement, set for May 10 in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.
Goertzen, a WSU graduate, will speak as part of the 8 a.m. ceremony for the College of Liberal Arts.
Creighton’s address will be during the 11:30 a.m. ceremony for the College of Business and Economics and College of Education.
Lee’s speech will be during the 3 p.m. ceremony for the colleges of Agriculture and Home Economics, Engineering and Architecture, Nursing, Pharmacy, Sciences and Veterinary Medicine.
Scott Dickinson, president of the Associated Students of WSU, also will speak, and WSU President V. Lane Rawlins will preside at each of the ceremonies.
A total of about 2,250 students — 2,000 undergraduates and 250 graduate and professional — are expected to take part in the three ceremonies, said WSU Commencement Coordinator Teri Nelson of the university’s registrar’s office.
Goertzen of Seattle is an award-winning news anchor for KOMO-TV, the ABC television affiliate in Seattle. She came to WSU from Seattle and joined KOMO-TV in 1980, the same year she received a bachelor’s degree in communications cum laude. She has earned a number of honors, including two Emmy Awards, for excellence in broadcast journalism. A winner of a WSU Alumni Achievement Award and a WSU Foundation Outstanding Service Award, Goertzen served on the WSU Foundation Board of Trustees and is now a WSU Foundation Trustee Ambassador. She was a member of the Campaign WSU communications committee and served on the WSU College of Sciences and Arts Advisory Board.
Creighton of Bellevue led Weyerhaeuser from 1991-97. He is strategic director of the Madrona Venture Group in Seattle and vice chair and director of Unocal Corp. He is also former chair and chief executive officer of United Air Lines Corp. Creighton is the 2002 recipient of the Weldon B. Gibson Distinguished Volunteer Award from the WSU Foundation. He was national steering committee co-chair for Campaign WSU, a successful drive for private gifts to WSU. He has been chair and vice chair of the foundation board of trustees. He and his wife, Janet, became involved with WSU when their two daughters, now graduates, were WSU students. The couple endows a WSU scholarship and a graduate fellowship for students of Native American descent.
Lee, like Creighton, serves on the Washington Education Foundation Board of Directors. Lee, of Bellevue, joined MulvannyG2 Architecture, the country’s 10th largest architectural firm, in 1975. The firm has offices in Portland, Ore., and Washington D.C. A registered architect in 22 states, his affiliations include the National Council of Architectural Boards, Building Officials and Code Administrators International, American Institute of Architects, International Conference of Building Officials, Northwest Minority Business Council, Nisei Veterans and the American Legion. He is a Communities in Schools (Seattle) board member and past board president of Seattle’s Kin On Nursing Home. He and his wife, Charlene, are members of the Children’s Hospital Circle of Care and are trustees for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Gala.
The ceremonies will help commemorate the commencement venue’s 30th birthday. The first event held in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum was WSU Spring Commencement on June 3, 1973.
