The names of potential recipients of honorary doctoral degrees from WSU are being accepted by the Honorary Doctoral Degrees Committee until Jan. 8. The honorary doctoral degree is the highest award that WSU can confer upon an individual is an honorary degree.
The nomination process requires completion of the nomination form, which can be found at www.wsu.edu/president/presidential-committees/NominationForm.pdf
In addition to the form, nominations include a detailed letter addressing that person’s:
* eminence in his or her field
* literary, artistic or scientific contributions that have enhanced the intellectual climate of the university
* the nominee’s resume or vita
Nominees should not be informed that they are under consideration. Recipients of honorary degrees may not hold a degree from WSU and may not receive the degree in consideration of monetary payments or giving of any type of
property according to RCW 28B.30.150 (15).
Following the submission deadline, the Honorary Doctoral Degree Committee will review the materials and request additional information if necessary. Materials for nominees recommended by the committee are simultaneously forwarded to the Faculty Senate and President for consideration. If both the Faculty Senate and President recommend a nominee, the materials are submitted to the Board of Regents for a final decision.
Past WSU honorary doctoral degree recipients include:
* 2005 — Clarence A. Ryan Jr., emeritus professor and plant biochemistry researcher in WSU’s Institute of Biological Chemistry; first WSU professor in National Academy of Sciences
* 1995 — Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, “Green Revolution”
* 1991 — Carolyn Kizer, Pulitzer Prize winning poet
* 1990 — Howard Nemerov, U.S. Poet Laureate
* 1966 — C. Clement French, WSU president
* 1951 — Edwin H. Burgess, Class of 1910, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad former vice president and general counsel
* 1950 — Joel E. Ferris, Spokane civic leader, and Charles Glen King, Class of 1918, word nutrition authority who isolated and identified Vitamin C
* 1949 — George Fredrick Jewett, timber industrialist and Potlatch Corp. founder
* 1947 — William Edward Boeing, Boeing Co. founder and retired chairman of the Boeing Co. board. Eric Allen Johnston, Motion Picture Association of America president and former Spokane business leader and former U.S. Chamber of Commerce president.
* 1946 — Edward R. Murrow, Class of 1930, broadcast journalist. Al G. Sparling, Spokane
KGA Radio chief engineer (honorary degree of communication engineer)
* 1945 — Lewis B. Schwellenbach, U.S. senator from Washington serving as U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Washington.
* 1944 — Frank A. Banks, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation engineer, headed Grand Coulee Dam project. William J. Coulter, Climax Molybdenum Co. president. Arthur E. Drucker, dean, WSC School of Mines and Geology. Richard E. Fuller, Seattle Art Museum founder. Ceylon S. Kingston, retired Eastern Washington University vice president. William C. Kruegel, WSC comptroller. James C. Thomson, University of Saskatchewan president.
* 1943 — Henry J. Kaiser, American industrialist, worked in Spokane, helped build Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams, in World War II built “Liberty Ships” on West Coast, including in Vancouver, Wash., and Portland, Ore.
* 1929 — Enoch A. Bryan, WSC president; and O.L. Waller, WSC vice president.
