WSU Regents’ Professor Ralph Yount Retires

PULLMAN, Wash. — Ralph G. Yount, a Washington State University chemistry and biochemistry faculty member as well as teacher, researcher, adviser and administrator, retired from the university after 44 years of service, effective Aug. 15.

Chair of the WSU Department of Chemistry and a faculty member in the School of Molecular Biosciences, Yount is internationally recognized for his research on how myosin (the contractile protein in muscles) can change shape and lead to movement in an organism. One particular analog of ATP (the energy source for muscle contraction), which he created for his research, has been used for research reported in more than 4,000 publications and played important roles in two recent Nobel Prizes.

His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health without interruption for 40 years. This grant length is unparalleled at WSU and is one of the longest continually funded projects at NIH. Yount received a NIH MERIT award in 1986. As president of the 60,000-member Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology in 1997-98, he was a leader in the successful effort to double the NIH budget for biomedical research.  He also served as president of the Biophysical Society and vice president of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Yount was elected a fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science in 1988.  He is frequently invited to give speeches at conferences around the world, including numerous Gordon Conferences on muscle protein and a new Gordon Conference on contractile and motile systems, which he helped organize in 1986.

Yount came to WSU in 1960 as an assistant professor and assistant agricultural chemist. A graduate of Wabash College in Indiana, he earned a doctoral degree in biochemistry/chemistry from Iowa State University and received the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999 and an honorary doctorate of sciences from Wabash in 2003.

“Ralph Yount is what a faculty member should be,” said WSU President V. Lane Rawlins. “He questions every decision, is a tireless and brilliant researcher, loves to teach and is a superb colleague.  When we initiated the Eminent Faculty Award as our highest award for total faculty excellence over an extended period, I do not think anyone was surprised that Ralph was selected to be the first recipient.  It is people like Ralph who make me proud to be at WSU.”

According to his WSU colleagues, in scientific circles, Yount is known as “Mr. WSU.”  His compassion is renowned, and he is admired by his peers for his acts of kindness.  He was an active student recruiter and his success in this regard resulted more than once from his calls to the mothers of prospective students whom he convinced that WSU was the place for their son or daughter. 

Yount plans to continue at WSU on reduced hours following his official retirement. “We are very grateful that Ralph has generously decided to work part-time for us next year,” said Michael Griswold, dean of the College of Sciences. “Ralph will be sharing his secrets of successful grant writing by mentoring younger faculty members.  We expect he will be a great help to our newer faculty in their professional development and grant writing skills.”

Yount’s extraordinary achievements as an educator and scientist have been recognized many times throughout his career. In 2003 he was among the first three faculty members named to the newly established rank of WSU Regents’ Professor. In 2001, he received WSU’s first Eminent Faculty Award. He was the first College of Sciences’ Edward R. Meyer Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry.  He received the 1989 Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Research and delivered the 1983 WSU Distinguished Faculty Address.

A retirement dinner is being held in Yount’s honor Sept. 25. Friends and colleagues who wish to attend may contact the WSU School of Molecular Biosciences at (509) 335-9155 by Sept. 15.  Information about the event is available at https://molecular.biosciences.wsu.edu/overview/yount.htm.