President Jon called the Seattle Rotary Club #4 meeting to order at 12:30 p.m. on January 22, 2025 at the Plymouth Congregational Church in downtown Seattle.
Washington State University president Kirk Schulz was the main speaker. He is serving his ninth year as president and said that he has been involved in a very dynamic time at WSU and public higher education.
What is the question he is asked most? What will he be doing next? His wife Noel is a faculty member at WSU-Tri-Cities, so for the foreseeable future they plan on staying there and retiring in the state of Washington. They have a retirement home in Spokane. He said he is looking forward to the next chapter.
He announced two new members to the WSU Board of Regents: Sam Hunt and Howard Wright. President Schulz made the point that many WSU president’s stay a very long time in that position.
President Schulz went on to describe the location and roles of WSU campuses that are located in Pullman, Spokane, Tri-Cities, Everett, and Vancouver, WA.
Because of the residential nature of WSU Pullman, he described how WSU was really hurt by Covid and outlined some of the reasons why. He said the campus has bounced back and has had more requests for admissions than the university has ever had. He described a new effort called: “Enrollment on the spot.”
He also said that WSU is committed to do more marketing.
He pointed out that the University of Washington, Gonzaga and WSU are all going to welcome new presidents this summer.
President Schulz described the role of some of the colleges at WSU that included the Medical College in Spokane, Paul G. Allen’s School for Global Health, and the Veterinary College.
In terms of the demise of the PAC-12 he said that he certainly didn’t like it but “all that is important now, is where does WSU go from here.”
WSU has found that student athletes do not want to be traveling across the United States over several time zones to participate in games. Flying to the east coast and expecting to perform at an elite level against somebody who slept in their bed at home, then turning around and coming back, only to do it again, will make it hard on the athlete.
President Schulz said that the WSU community and athletes are committed to the following:
Competing at the highest level possible.
Rebuilding the PAC 12
He said that college football is out of control. He cited the National Championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame.
$40 million between the two schools was raised through NIL for those two teams. He said the danger is that only a few schools will be able to compete for the national championship year after year. He did mention that federal legislation is being considered that would put guard rails in place to control the spending.
President Schulz was asked about wind generation and cooperation between the University of Idaho and WSU. Regarding wind generation, he said that people want their lights to work when they turn the switch on. It will take many forms of energy producing sources of energy to achieve that goal. Regarding the relationship between WSU and the U of I, he observed that it is unique in the United States to have two land grant institutions eight miles apart. There's nowhere else that's like that. He said there are allot of WSU’s faculty and their faculty doing joint research. He mentioned that Scott Green is the President of the University Idaho, and has done an amazing job. But he said the political environment President Green has to deal with in Boise, and what he has to deal with in Olympia are very far apart.
There are a number programs coming up this month and into February. …please consult the Rotary web site and newsletter for dates and times.
Meeting adjourned at 1:32 p.m.
-Thank you Paul for the great report and have a nice weekend!
