Nobel Prize Winner Rose to Receive Distinguished Alumnus Award

PULLMAN, Wash. — Irwin “Ernie” Rose, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, will be the 35^th recipient of the Washington State University Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award.

The award was approved by the Board of Regents at its meeting Friday (May 6). The university hopes to present Rose with the award during a ceremony at the Pullman campus this fall.

Rose, an enzymologist and emeritus researcher at the University of California, Irvine, attended Washington State College in the 1940s. He has said that his years at WSC were influential in his path toward a scientific career, especially citing Herbert Eastlick, a prominent zoology teacher and mentor to many aspiring health care professionals during a career of more than three decades at the university.

Established in 1962, the Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award honors alumni who have made a distinguished contribution to society or who, through personal achievement, have brought distinction to WSU.

In other action, the regents:

• Approved several modifications, developed as a result of the environmental review process, of the original proposal to build an 18-hole golf course on the site of WSU’s current 9-hole course. The steps include development of a wetland mitigation plan, providing and enhancing a trail system around the outside of the course, providing a 100-foot buffer and farm fence around the Palouse Prairie to preserve that area for biological study and other measures.
• Approved a $120-per-semester student fee, enacted by WSU students in a vote this semester, to fund the renovation of the Compton Union Building. The fee will be collected beginning fall 2008.
• Began the process of selecting a general contractor/construction manager of the CUB project. Construction is slated to begin spring 2006 and be completed no later than fall 2008.
• Approved construction of a 12,000-square-foot teaching barn and a 10,000-square-foot research barn at a site near the existing Veterinary Teaching Hospital. The total budget for the two buildings is $2.2 million; they are scheduled to be ready for occupancy by this fall.
• Approved construction of a consolidated storage building on Dairy Road to provide general storage for facilities operations. The 14,400-square-foot building has an estimated cost of $1 million.
• Approved a written agreement between the university and the WSU Research Foundation, spelling out the process by which patents are transferred from the university to the foundation and creating a technology transfer fund within the foundation. The WSU Research Foundation is a non-profit corporation that facilitates the transfer of research and technology from the WSU campuses statewide into the private sector.
• Selected Elizabeth Cowles of Spokane to serve as president of the board for 2005-2006 and Kenneth Alhadeff of Seattle to serve as vice president.
• Revised the bylaws for the board of the Student Book Corp., which owns the Bookie. Among other changes, the revisions increase the term limits for student directors from two to four years and would provide scholarships of $1,000 per semester for student directors.

Related Links:
Nobel Prize Winner Has WSC, Spokane Roots: http://www.wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=4882