PULLMAN, Wash. — Rafael Stone was selected by fellow board members Friday to serve as president of the Washington State University Board of Regents for 2004-2005. Elizabeth A. Cowles was named vice president of the board.
Stone is a partner in the law firm of Foster Pepper and Shefelman, and chairs the firm’s Institutional Pensions Investing and Operations Practice Group. Stone is a member of the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys, the Pension Real Estate Association, the American Bar Association and the Washington State Bar Association.
Cowles is chair of Cowles Publishing Co., where she oversees several divisions of the company, including three television stations, a film and television production studio, an insurance agency serving 10 states and a retail development in downtown Spokane.
William Marler was president of the board in 2003-2004, with Stone serving as vice president.
The board also set tuition for the university’s Doctor of Pharmacy and nursing programs. Tuition rates for residents and non-residents in both programs would increase by 7 percent in the next academic year. The 2004-2005 tuition rates for incoming PharmD students will be $9,673 for residents and $19,125 for non-residents. For resident graduate nursing students, tuition will be $7,020 with non-residents paying $17,423.
In other action, the board:
· Approved schematic design proposals for the NW Washington Research and Extension Center in Mount Vernon, for a multipurpose building for WSU’s Prosser facility and for WSU Vancouver infrastructure improvements.
· Approved the recommendation of the services and activities fee committees on each of WSU’s campuses that fees be increased by 2 percent, to $409.
· Approved a revenue bond proposal of up to $16.75 million to fund the completion of the campus dining master plan project.
· Approved an interlocal agreement concerning the future use of the 78th Street Research and Extension Center in Vancouver. The Clark County Commissioners approved the agreement April 20.
· Approved the sale of Fife Farm No. 3 contingent on the prospective buyer gaining approval on a rezone of the property.
Approved the university’s 2005-2007 capital budget request. This year, all of the state’s four-year higher education institutions have been asked to agree to a prioritized list of their capital projects. The top three priority items on that list from WSU are the next building for the biotechnology life sciences complex in Pullman, the Pullman wastewater reclamation project and a bioproducts facility for the Tri-Cities campus.
