Regents: More ‘Gold?’ Too Cool!

The WSU Board of Regents approved an honorary doctoral degree, expansion of the creamery and establishment of benchmarks to measure university progress at its regular meeting in Pullman Jan. 28.

Clarence A. “Bud” Ryan, a pioneer researcher in plant biochemistry and the first Washington State University faculty member to be admitted to the National Academy of Sciences, will receive an honorary doctoral degree during spring commencement ceremonies in May. The university has not awarded an honorary doctorate since 1995 and has awarded only four such degrees in the last half-century.

“Bud has made such an impact on the world and is so much a part of the fabric of WSU that this honor seems especially appropriate,” said President V. Lane Rawlins. “It is awarded only to those whose work is truly significant in a global environment.”

Ryan, an emeritus faculty member in the Institute of Biological Chemistry who has continued an active research effort well into his “retirement” years, is internationally known for his discoveries that plants produce natural insecticides to protect themselves from predation by herbivores. These natural insecticides, known as protease inhibitors, prevent insects and microorganisms from digesting food proteins.

• In response to steadily rising sales of Cougar Gold and other cheese varieties, the regents gave the go-ahead to a 6,300-square-foot addition to the WSU Creamery Annex on Dairy Road on the Pullman campus.

The addition will be a cooler to be used entirely for cheese storage. It will cost $1.31 million and will be paid for by the creamery, which is a self-supporting operation. The projected completion date is September 2005.

In 2004, the creamery produced 166,000 cans of Cougar Gold cheese and 221,000 cans of cheese overall, according to manager Russ Salvadalena. That represents a 23 percent increase in production of Cougar Gold and a 22 percent increase in all cheese varieties since 2000.

• In other action, the regents approved the establishment of benchmarks to measure the university’s progress in a wide range of areas. President Rawlins and other administrators have been working on a series of goals for the university and will report back to the regents regularly on the progress that has been made.

Among those goals are: continued controlled enrollment growth, if necessary funding is available; continued gains in academic quality of the incoming student body; increased diversity among faculty, staff and students; more competitive salaries for faculty members; increased graduate school enrollment; increased fundraising through the WSU Foundation, and maintaining a balanced budget for athletics while fielding a competitive PAC-10 program.

• The regents also approved two additional capital projects — a $1.3 million exterior restoration for Wilson Hall on the Pullman campus and a $2.5 million project to extend Loop Road and expand the north parking lot on the Vancouver campus.

The regents’ next regular meeting is scheduled for March 4 at WSU Vancouver.

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