PULLMAN, Wash. – Nov. 8, 2016 – The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication has announced the establishment of a new annual scholarship has been established through a generous donation and pledge. The award will begin as a four-year, $18,000 scholarship and will increase over time, ultimately growing to fully fund the cost of tuition and educational expenses for students majoring in Communication. The Fred N. Hogg Endowed Scholarship in Communication is designed to recognize one Murrow student each year who has served our country and demonstrated formidable academic success.

Funded by Fred’s widow Diane Hogg, his son and daughter-in-law Wade and Emily Hogg and Hogg Davis Inc., this scholarship is a pledge over time, increasing annually. The first award of its kind at Murrow, the initial endowment will increase annually and once fully funded, will be the first full-tuition scholarship offered to students at the college.

“I am truly excited about this award, which reflects the importance of our Murrow Veterans, students active in the ROTC or serving in the National Guard,” says Interim Dean Bruce Pinkleton. “From being active in the ROTC while a student at WSU, to his reports from London throughout World War II, Ed Murrow’s legacy encompasses the ideals of this unique scholarship.”

 

About Fred Hogg

Fredrick Neil Hogg graduated at the top of his class for his undergraduate degree from Washington State University and went on to complete his Master’s Degree in communication before leaving what is now the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication for Vietnam. An active member of the campus community, Fred was a leader amongst his peers in the communications department, a star tackle on the football field and an award-winning stage actor. Fred appreciated the university experience to its fullest, with a sense of pride and duty to Country, as a committed member of the ROTC.

Fred worked on-air and behind the scenes at both KUGR and KWSC under the direction of Robert Mott and Cal Watson. Mott and Watson used these stations as a beta test for what would later become National Public Radio.  Fred was committed to his craft and played an active role in the success of the pioneering educational stations and concept. Fred served in leadership positions within Alpha Epsilon Rho, the national radio and TV honorary society. Fred was recognized for his contributions to the department his senior year with the Edward R. Murrow Award for Men, the department’s highest honor.

Although he did not pursue a career in broadcasting or radio, he always utilized his skills in the pursuit of giving. “Throughout his life, two things always stood out,” explains son Wade, who has been running the family business since his graduation from WSU in 1995. “The Palouse and Patriotism.”

 

About The Fred N. Hogg Endowed Scholarship in Communication

A pledge over time, the Fred N. Hogg Endowed Scholarship in Communication will begin distribution next year, with the first scholarship of about $18,000 for up to four years of academic study. The award will increase annually, and distributions from this fund will be used to provide a scholarship to cover the full cost of tuition and educational expenses for one undergraduate student majoring in Communication at The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. The award is renewable annually for up to four years.

Military veterans, students active in the ROTC or serving in the National Guard with a minimum GPA of 3.5 will receive primary consideration. If there are no applicants that meet the primary criteria, the scholarship gives secondary preference to a student with a minimum GPA of 3.5 who has directly transferred to the WSU Murrow College with an associate of arts or another transfer degree.

It is the ultimate goal for the Hogg family to grow the endowment and provide a full tuition scholarship to one deserving student per year.

Learn more about the Fred N. Hogg Endowed Scholarship in Communication here: https://murrow.wsu.edu/academics/scholarships-awards/fred-hogg-scholarship

 

News media contacts:
Camille Perezselsky, WSU Murrow College, 206-219-2406, c.perezselsky@wsu.edu
Corrie Wilder, WSU Murrow College, 516-660-8181, corrie.wilder@wsu.edu

EVERETT, Wash. – Nov. 7, 2016 – WSU Everett students took second place and won an $800 scholarship in a WSU Foundation video competition that asked students to answer the question, “Why WSU?”

“I love WSU because it provides us, as students, the opportunity to be involved in [the Mars rover] project and others like it,” WSU Everett mechanical engineering senior Mitch Elder said in the video. “Everything we do here at the Everett mechanical engineering program is entirely focused on making us the best qualified applicant for any job that we pursue after graduation.”

“This year, I’m the president of the Engineering Club and the project lead for the Mars rover team – the same Mars rover that took second place in the international University Rover Challenge in June. Our sponsors, including the WSU Foundation, played a vital role in our success,” Elder said. “Thanks to the WSU Foundation, companies like Electroimpact, Janicki Industries, Metal Supermarkets and Pacific Power Batteries were able to donate materials and funding to help us build the country’s best Mars rover and compete in Hanksville, Utah.”

The scholarship will be applied to the WSU Everett Engineering Club as they prepare to compete in next year’s University Rover Challenge. Donors can make a contribution to the WSU Everett Engineering Club online here. The video, which was edited by mechanical engineering senior Amna Kahn, can be seen below:

 

EVERETT, Wash. – Nov. 4, 2016 – On Thursday, WSU North Puget Sound at Everett held its first Women in Engineering networking event. Engineers from Boeing, SpaceX, Vulcan Aerospace and Puget Sound Energy engaged in a panel discussion before students spent time networking with employers from the region.

Christina Jordan, a junior in WSU Everett’s mechanical engineering program, said that she attended the networking event to meet with potential employers.

“Even though we come from different places, we all encounter the same challenges and obstacles,” Jordan said. The panelists discussed many of the challenges they have faced in their careers and shared with students their most important pieces of advice on how to succeed in the field.

Sarah Davis, an electrical engineer at Puget Sound Energy, shared that a mistake students make is graduating without any kind of community involvement, internship or research experience. “The summers before you graduate you want to make sure you try your best to get an internship,” Davis said.

The event is one of a series of opportunities for engineering students at WSU Everett to engage with the industry. Students engage with science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM) industry professionals in class, through student organizations like the Society of Women Engineers, WSU Everett Engineering Club (which built the international award-winning Mars rover) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Club, and through a multitude of hands-on projects that are sponsored by local businesses.

“Women are underrepresented in STEM fields, and sometimes it’s as simple as students not knowing there are real opportunities, not seeing other women succeeding in those fields, or not getting the mentorship they need to take the first steps toward a career in STEM,” said Paul Pitre, chancellor of WSU Everett. “It’s important to expose our students to women engineers who are not only in the workforce, but who are excelling and who are leaders in their chosen field.”

The event featured a keynote address by Crystal Donner, president and CEO of Perteet, who also serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Economic Alliance Snohomish County and on the WSU Everett Advisory Council.

“I stand in front of you today because of a journey of perseverance and happenstance. Perseverance is steadfast in spite of the difficulty and delay of initiating success. And happenstance is things that happen to you by chance or by luck,” Donner told student.

Donner was on the verge of dropping out of college but said her summer internship helped her fall in love with engineering. She said, “that was key for me to stay in engineering.”

Cassie Lee, director of aerospace applications at Vulcan Inc., advised students to take advantage of their status as students. “You have so much more access to information, and everyone in the industry remembers what it was like to be a student and cares about helping the next generation of engineers” Lee said.

Dozens of students from WSU, Everett Community College, Edmonds Community College and local high schools attended the event.

EVERETT, Wash. – Nov. 4, 2016 – In June, WSU North Puget Sound at Everett engineering students earned second-place in the University Rover Challenge, an international Mars rover competition. Phil Engel, a mechanical engineering student on that team, demonstrated an incredible achievement, earning the only individual science award in the competition. This week, Engel received his award.

“This is quite an honor for Phil and the WSU Everett Mars rover team,” Dr. Xiaopeng Bi said.

Engel was recognized for his outstanding performance being the science sub-team lead for WSU. The award recognized his extensive knowledge on Mars-related geology, as well as his excellent display of teamwork, leadership and respect to the judges and other teams. He stood out from all competitors at the University Rover Challenge based on the presentation and Q&A on implementation of soil sample scientific analysis.

“This award means the world to me,” Engel said. “I already have plans on framing it and showing it to my kids when I have them.”

Engel prepared for this part of the competition since the beginning of the year.

“I needed to find out how I could determine if life would be able to survive in a barren environment at the competition in Utah and if we were on Mars,” Engel explained. “I talked to a geotechnical engineer on recommendations for soil tests I could perform as well as doing lots of online research on soil geology both on Mars and on Earth.”

Read more about the success of the WSU Everett Mars rover team here.

 

Dr. Ciera Graham, associate director of Student Services at WSU North Puget Sound at Everett, received a Young Alumni Award from University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences, where she earned her PhD in sociology in 2015.

While at UC, she was a McNair Scholar and received the Kunz Center Graduate Research Award, a Taft Graduate Enrichment Award and a Yates Fellowship. She not only taught sociology courses, she coordinated the department’s internship program.

“Ciera was highly involved during her collegiate years,” nominator Isatu Bah, a current student in the College of Allied Health Sciences, said.

Graham supported her fellow students both in and out of the classroom, as a teacher and as a leader. She served in numerous professional sociological organizations and as vice president of the Black Graduate Student Association. After her dissertation, she was selected to represent UC in a national social sciences dissertation competition.

 

SPOKANE, Wash. – The Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University today received preliminary accreditation—a major milestone that keeps the college on track to enroll its inaugural class of students in August 2017.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the accrediting agency for MD-granting medical schools in the United States and Canada, communicated news of the preliminary accreditation to Dr. John Tomkowiak, M.D., MOL, the founding dean of the Floyd College of Medicine, earlier today.

“This is a significant moment in Washington State University’s 126-year history,” said WSU President Kirk Schulz. “It puts us one step closer to educating physicians who will practice in Washington’s underserved communities and furthers the university’s land-grant mission to serve the needs of the state.”

The accreditation comes 19 months after Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill that changed state law to allow WSU to offer medical education. The Floyd College of Medicine is the second public medical school in the state—the first to be added in 70 years. Pacific Northwest University is a private medical school located in Yakima.

STATEWIDE PARTNERSHIPS KEY TO SUCCESS

“We are deeply grateful for the ongoing support of the health care community, our legislators, and community leaders in Spokane, the Tri-Cities, Vancouver, and Everett,” President Schulz added. “We wouldn’t have reached this milestone without these partnerships.” The president also credited the late WSU President Elson S. Floyd, the medical college’s namesake, for the vision necessary to create a medical school, and Chancellor Lisa Brown, for the efforts to gain approval legislation and initial funding.

“We’re absolutely ecstatic,” Tomkowiak said. “My team has worked so hard to get us to this point. Now we can move ahead with our work to begin recruiting medical students and preparing doctors to meet the state’s health care needs.”

The dean noted that the medical school will recruit talented students from rural and medically underserved communities, first-generation professional students, and those with a passion to serve and lead in medical care. These students will have the opportunity to train in varying clinical settings in communities across the state, increasing the likelihood that they will remain there to practice medicine.

“This is a momentous occasion,” said Lura J. Powell, chair of the WSU Board of Regents. “WSU’s mission is rooted in accessibility and service to diverse communities across the state. By training doctors to practice in Washington’s medically underserved communities, the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine embodies the university’s mission—and will improve countless lives.”

FOCUS ON HEALTH CARE GAPS IN RURAL AND MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED AREAS

Students will receive medical education across four of the WSU campuses—Everett, Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver—and will help fill critical health care gaps in rural and medically underserved areas of Washington state. The Floyd College of Medicine also makes a medical education more accessible to Washingtonians. Currently, about two-thirds of aspiring medical students from Washington must leave the state to go to medical school.

“We envision that our effort will significantly change the face of health care in Washington,” President Schulz said. In addition to the benefits to patients and aspiring medical students, he noted the medical school will create new research funding opportunities, provide economic stimulus, and boost the university’s overall reputation.

Over the next week, the University will be working to achieve membership to the Association of American Medical Colleges, which will provide access to the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS). Upon gaining membership, the College of Medicine will begin accepting applications in early November.

Bothell, Wash. – Every Monday after school, Washington State University student Brandon Clark finishes his electrical engineering classes at the University’s campus in Everett and drives to Fernwood Elementary in the Northshore School District. Standing before a group of 35 children from ages five to 11, he transforms from a student into a teacher.

Clark, who lives in Bothell, is a volunteer teacher for a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program though the YMCA called Kids University.

“It’s a true thrill to see science come alive for these young kids and for them to have fun with it,” Clark said. “I hope that this and other exposures to STEM will help ignite a curiosity which can help them into high school and beyond.”

Students in the 12-week course meet to explore STEM learning by planning, designing and building a number of projects. Subjects include exploring density, building bridges and exploring electricity. The final project is a two-liter bottle rocket launch powered by water and air.

“In two- or three-week increments, we spend a class exploring a scientific subject to influence a project and design it. The following week we build and test those designs,” Clark said.

The first major project was designing and building a bridge with popsicle sticks. In groups of five, the children came up with unique ideas about what would work best. Some were clearly based on bridges they had seen. Some designs came only from their imagination.

Now Clark is looking for a couple more WSU Everett students willing to volunteer to keep the program growing.

“I really feel a need to give back. There are so many people that have helped and been a role model for me in my life. I want to pass it on to the next generation,” Clark said. “I look at this class like I looked at my time with Cub Scouts: fun with a purpose. The more fun we have, the more fun the kids have. The other important aspect is to give them an opportunity to learn something.”

Before studying at WSU in Everett, Clark was a commercial diver. “I loved it, but it was dangerous and took me away from home for most of the year which was hard with a young family,” Clark said. He says he chose to study electrical engineering because, “I wanted a secure future for my family, for my kids to know that they can do hard things, and I want to make the world a better place than I found it. Engineers have the training to tackle problems and do exactly that.” He chose to focus on electrical engineering thanks to the job outlook in the region and because he was fascinated by the subject matter.

Families can sign up for Kids University programs through the YMCA. Students who are interested in volunteering should contact Clark at brandon.s.clark@wsu.edu.

EVERETT, Wash. – October 5, 2016 – This week, Washington State University’s (WSU) newest campus in Everett hosted a symposium for the Joint Center for the Deployment and Research of Earth-Abundant Materials (JCDREAM).

The symposium focused on the future of using earth abundant materials instead of rare earth elements, precious metals and so-called ‘conflict minerals,’ which are essential to nearly all of the electronic devices people use each day. That includes your car, computer and all of your lights.

“One of the reasons the colors are so bright on your computer screen is because of rare earths — Europium in particular,” said Chris Keane, vice president of research at WSU.

According to Dr. Alex King of the Critical Materials Institute, who was the symposium’s keynote speaker, modern mobile phones contain about 75 elements alone. That’s up from 30 when the first mobile phones reached consumers. That trend will continue and demand will increase for limited rare earth resources, according to King, especially as the world’s population sees greater economic prosperity and more people have the financial capacity to buy such devices.

The Daily Herald reported that 90 percent of rare earth production in the world is controlled by China. “One of the impacts of JCDREAM could be to make that statistic irrelevant,” said Dr. Dave Field, associate dean for research in the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture, who serves as the acting director of the center. “The center’s research will focus on alternatives to various rare earth elements and better methods of recycling them from common electronic devices.”

The center, headquartered at WSU North Puget Sound at Everett, was funded by legislation championed by Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton. Kicking off the symposium, Smith said, “I’m so excited to learn how we can partner with you to propel these issues forward. If we harness the intellectual horsepower at our research institutions, and we help to educate a generation of young men and women who long to create economies that are sustainable, then we can lead this nation.”

Smith added, “The second part is to be able build it here, to deploy it here, to raise up jobs that have the opportunity of not only being a benefit to our economy, but to the world.”

Research will be a collaborative effort led by WSU, the University of Washington and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL). Community colleges will also become partners, as well as several local industry leaders.

“It was critical to launch our research with strong partnerships from local industry. We had a tremendous reception from leaders from Modumetal, PACCAR, The Boeing Company, EnerG2, Kaiser Aluminum, and so many more,” said Field. “This symposium brought the right people together and clarified our purpose. It was exactly how we wanted to move this research forward.”

“We are thrilled to be launching JCDREAM as our first research initiative at our campus in Everett,” WSU Everett chancellor Paul Pitre said. “Community leaders in the North Puget Sound region are looking for growth in research from WSU and opportunities for that research to seed a series of new companies in the region. This is where that begins.”

Looking to the future of the burgeoning research, Smith said, “Let’s take this toddler and do something with the amazing potential of JCDREAM. I know each and every year it’s going to be so exciting to see it grow and flourish. With your help we will indeed help lead this nation and lead this world.”

Contact: Dave Field

EVERETT, Wash. – A $250,000 gift from the Boeing Company means Washington State University’s new building in Everett will be equipped with state-of-the art technology when it opens its doors next fall.

In recognition of the generous gift and the Boeing Company’s long-standing support for the university, WSU President Kirk Schulz said the university will designate the Fabrication Lab on the first floor of the new 95,000-square-foot building in Everett as the Boeing Innovation Studio.

The Boeing gift will allow the 900-square-foot lab space to contain an array of state-of-the-art equipment, including a 3D printer and scanner, concept CNC mill, laser cutter and more, providing students with the opportunity to learn and create using the very tools that they will work with when they enter the workforce in Washington’s aerospace and other cutting-edge industries.

“Boeing will be a significant jobs provider in Washington for decades to come. Our hope and goal is that those future jobs will continue to be filled by kids who grow up right here in the state,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Ray Conner. “We are working hard today to give Washington students opportunities for employment within aerospace, manufacturing and other STEM-related fields when they graduate. Despite the always dynamic aerospace industry, Boeing remains consistent in its investment in our future here in Washington.”

“WSU established a presence in North Puget Sound to be able to deliver ready-to-work employees directly to the aerospace industry and other advanced manufacturing industries in our region,” said Schulz. “This generous gift from The Boeing Company will allow us to equip our new building in Everett with the type of sophisticated technologies our students will be working with once they enter the workforce.”

The new building will house existing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Software Engineering and Data Analytics, as well as Integrated Strategic Communication and Hospitality Business Management. All of the building’s lab spaces, including the Boeing Innovation Studio, are designed to showcase innovation at its finest, as the engineering students work on challenging capstone projects, club projects, and hands-on coursework. The spaces will serve to bring together students from multiple disciplines as they tackle open-ended, challenging problems.

”The curricula offered and student activity in the building will be enhanced by such unique infrastructure, as a wind tunnel, devices such as a robotic arm, as well as all the basic equipment necessary to teach the fundamentals of mechanical, electrical and software engineering,” said Paul Pitre, chancellor of the WSU North Puget Sound at Everett campus.

More broadly, the engineering labs serve to fulfill three of WSU’s strategic plan goals of providing a transformative student experience (with emphasis in improving retention through an enriched set of student experiences), building a stronger support structure to recruit and retain transfer students, and facilitating student engagement in high-impact learning experiences.

WSU’s newest campus in Everett uniquely serves the local population by providing a seamless pathway for transfer students as well as maintaining a strong collaboration with community colleges in the region, including Everett Community College, Edmonds Community College and Skagit Valley College. WSU North Puget Sound at Everett has also participated in the WSU Boeing Mentorship program for several years, received Boeing scholarship support, and will be participating with its first interdisciplinary Boeing Scholars cohort this coming year.

Media contact:

Robert Strenge, WSU News, 509-335-3583, rstrenge@wsu.edu

WSU Everett chancellor Paul Pitre has named North Puget Sound entrepreneur Tom Hoban and Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center Director Maggie Bagwell to the campus advisory council.

“Tom and Maggie have both made important, entrepreneurial contributions to the North Puget Sound region in business and education,” Pitre said. “Their voices and ideas will be a boon for our growing Washington State University campus in Everett.”

Hoban is co-founder for Coast/Sperry Van Ness, a multispecialty brokerage and leasing firm linked to the Coast Group of Companies, and serves as a Managing Director in Washington state. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business finance in 1984 from the University of Notre Dame, and spent three years in banking before starting the first of the Coast Group of Companies.

“One of our founding values at WSU Everett is entrepreneurship. Tom has lived that value and I’m excited to bring his wealth of business experience to bare for Washington State University’s newest campus,” Pitre said.

Bagwell, of Mt. Vernon, is Director of the Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center, a public school that prepares high school students to be successful in a high-tech work force and go on to further education and training. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology and Agriculture Education and master’s degree in Education Administration from Western Washington University.

“Maggie’s insight working with students from the region and preparing them to further their educations to enter our growing, high-tech workforce is perfectly aligned with our industry-focused position,” Pitre said.

They join a roster of more than a dozen regional business, education and elected leaders serving the Everett campus.