By Kathy Barnard, WSU News
PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University features a new College of Medical Sciences as a result of a unanimous vote by the WSU Board of Regents meeting here Friday morning.
The College of Medical Sciences will bring together the faculty of the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) medical education program and the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences (SHS) in Spokane with a common mission of educating clinicians and clinician scientists.
Creation of the college adds to the health sciences capacity of WSU Spokane – the colleges of nursing and pharmacy also are headquartered there.
WSU has contracted with MGT of America to study the feasibility of creating a separately accredited medical school at WSU Spokane; results of that study should be completed this summer.
In other business, the board approved WSU’s Strategic Plan for the next five years to position the institution as “one of the nation’s leading land-grant universities, preeminent in research and discovery, teaching and engagement.” The plan reinforces the teaching, research and outreach aspects of the university’s land-grant mission with approximately 55 benchmarks to measure progress.
The plan includes new language regarding job readiness for students as well as resource stewardship and accountability. It also integrated language regarding diversity and global education throughout. The planning committee has developed an implementation strategy.
The regents also unanimously approved the renaming of two colleges to reflect the lifetime contributions of WSU alumni Scott and Linda Carson and Gene and Linda Voiland to these colleges, to the university and to their respective industries.
Scott Carson—a 1972 graduate in business administration—retired as executive vice president of Boeing and president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He is in his second term as a regent of WSU and also serves as chair of the $1 billion Campaign for Washington State University.
Carson and his wife, Linda, have made several significant gifts to benefit WSU, with most supporting programs in the College of Business, such as the Carson Center for Student Success, the Carson International Business Scholars Fund, and the Boeing/Scott and Linda Carson Endowed Chair in Marketing.
Gene Voiland received a B.S. in chemical engineering from WSU in 1969. He worked for Shell Oil Company for nearly 30 years in a variety of positions. He later became President and CEO of CalResources LLC and Aera Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil. He retired in 2008.
He serves as principal of Voiland Enterprises, LLC, is chair of the board of Valley Republic Bank in Bakersfield, Calif., and continues to be a sought-after consultant to the oil industry.
In 2008, Voiland and his wife, Linda, made a $17.5 million commitment to transform the Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering into one of the nation’s best programs and to attract top faculty.
The board also approved:
• A proposal to extend the bachelor of science in electrical engineering, bachelor of arts in communication and bachelor of arts in hospitality business management programs to the University Center of North Puget Sound in Everett
• Purchase of a building and land owned by Synod of Alaska-Northwest Presbyterian Church located adjacent to the WSU Pullman campus for $1.2 million
• Phase 1 of a $1.25 million “Gateway Improvement Project” to enhance and address maintenance concerns at the Stadium Way and Main Street/Hwy 270 entrances to the Pullman campus
• A $3 million design and construction plan for an 11,000-square-foot addition to McCluskey Services Building
• Election of Regent Mike Worthy as the new board chair to succeed Regent Connie Niva. Regent Ryan Durkan was elected to replace Worthy as vice chair.
Contact:
Kathy Barnard, WSU University Communications, 509-335-8055, kbarnard@wsu.edu