Robert Nilan with his daughter and son at the Showcase banquet Friday, March 27. (Photo by WSU Photo Services)
Robert Nilan, WSU professor emeritus and former dean of the College of Sciences, received the President’s Award for Distinguished Lifetime Service at the Showcase Celebrating Excellence recognition banquet Friday, March 27.
The award recognizes WSU faculty or staff who have demonstrated great personal and professional commitment to the university and community and who have had a profound influence on the direction and progress of the university throughout their career.
Nilan is a leading international authority on barley genetics who came to WSU in 1951 as an agronomist and geneticist. He served as chair of genetics, and his worldwide recognition as a plant geneticist earned him an appointment to the Danish Academy of Science. He was the coordinator of the North American barley genome mapping project.
He trained more than 75 graduate students during his career at WSU.
As dean, he oversaw development of programs in statistics, environmental science and plant physiology; essential laboratories in bio-analysis and biotechnology; and centers of electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance.
“The 1980s were years of real progress in the College of Sciences,” recalled Michael Griswold, dean of the college, in 2006. “Dean Nilan understood and promoted excellence in teaching and research. He took chances, he invested in people and the results were impressive.
“I had several chances to leave WSU and carry my program to other institutions where the professional opportunities were undoubtedly superior. The geographical location, work environment and leaders like Dean Nilan kept me at WSU.”
Nilan became the first Nilan Distinguished Professor in Barley Research and Education, a position created in his honor by the Washington Barley Commission.
In 2007 Nilan received the annual College of Sciences Legacy of Excellence award, which honors a retired faculty member who has contributed as researcher, teacher, mentor and sometimes administrator.
In 2008, Nilan was invited to be an honored guest at the 10th International Barley Genetics Symposium in Alexandria, Egypt. This symposium series was developed by Nilan and two international colleagues while he was on sabbatical in Sweden in 1959-1960. He is the only barley scientist to attend and present reports at all the symposia to date, and his role in the series has helped bring worldwide attention to the WSU barley genetics and breeding program.
Nilan and his wife have given generously to the arts and sciences at WSU.
“I chose to give back to WSU because of all the opportunities I received as a faculty member,” Nilan said in 2004.
Attracting students to WSU’s Department of Genetics and Cell Biology was at the center of Nilan and his wife, Winona’s, decision to create the Robert A. and Winona P. Nilan Graduate Fellowship in Genetics. The fellowship has provided for travel and operational expenses for graduate students since it was established in 1996.
“I have been blessed with the opportunity to have a significant scientific career at WSU,” Nilan said. “I found almost continuous encouragement from our administration and my colleagues to help develop academic and research excellence. This is just a great place to work and to live.”
