EVERETT — Kirk Schulz, president-elect of Washington State University, arrived in Everett Monday to visit his fifth WSU campus in two days.
Apparently, the weather was nice everywhere else in the state. “I would have been disappointed if I saw sunlight the whole time,” he laughed during a drizzle as he greeted umbrella-bearing staff at Everett Community College.
With WSU North Puget Sound holding its first classes in Everett in 2012 and a new four-story building scheduled to open in 2017, the youngest cub in Cougar nation was still finding its feet when president Elson Floyd died in June 2015.
Schulz’s visit included a short speech with faculty, staff and students on the community college campus, where WSU has been holding its local classes as part of the University Center consortium.
Schulz, who will begin transitioning to his new role at WSU in May, told the small crowd his priorities include continuing the momentum Floyd built up in pursuing higher academic standards and expanding WSU.
He said he also plans to reach out to the business community to find areas of congruence with WSU’s research efforts.
“The success we’ll have in working with industry and bringing that research to bear will depend on that connection,” Schulz said.
“My first six months in particular in the state of Washington will be going out and meeting folks,” he said.
Schulz didn’t rule out the occasional lecture in his field, chemical engineering. His wife, Noel Schulz, is likewise an electrical engineer with a focus on electrical power systems. WSU has announced she will join the faculty of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Schulz is filling out his final year as president of Kansas State University, another land-grant university where he’s credited with boosting the school’s research and turning around a money-losing athletic program while also bringing in more donations.
Schulz, who also is the chairman of the NCAA’s Board of Governors, will face a similar situation at WSU, which is expanding into medicine and boosting other STEM subjects, and whose athletic department is running a $13 million deficit.
Schulz said private donations will be the way to push the athletic program in what is essentially an “athletic arms race” in the Pac-12.
“We have some people with some means that are associated with Washington State,” he said.
Schulz also will find a challenge with the new Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, currently pursuing accreditation. The college will be based at the Spokane campus, but third- and fourth-year students will be able to take classes in Everett in 2017, with an emphasis on creating physicians to practice in rural areas.
The main area of focus in Everett will be expanding academic programs at the young campus. Five degree programs are offered now, with a sixth in data analytics starting up this fall and funding for a seventh, Organic Agriculture Systems, approved last week in the state budget.
“What kinds of things do land grant universities do that we can bring here?” Schulz said. The answers are engineering and agriculture, which support local industries.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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