2000-Present

2000
Crimson Company, the student show choir, one of WSU's most popular public relations vehicles for nearly a quarter of a century, was discontinued after its final tour in May due to budget cuts. The decision was made by the executive board of the WSU Alumni Association, the group's sponsor.

2000
The WSU baseball facility was renamed Bailey-Brayton Field, honoring Buck Bailey and Bobo Brayton, who coached the Cougars, 1927-41 and 1946-61 (Bailey) and 1962-94 (Brayton). Originally located near Hollingbery Fieldhouse, a new Bailey Field opened in 1980 near the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.

2000
Steve Wymer became the first person in WSU history who will serve three different terms as president of the Associated Students of WSU. He initially became president, upon succession while serving as ASWSU vice president, in 1998-
1999. He was elected, ASWSU president in 1999-2000 and reelected for 2000-2001.

2000
On June 8, V. Lane Rawlins became WSU's ninth president, succeeding eighth president, Samuel H. Smith, who served from July 1, 1985 to June 8, 2000. Rawlins, previously president of The University of Memphis in Tennessee, is a former WSU faculty member and administrator. He joined the economics faculty in 1968, later served as chair of the department of economics, and was WSU vice provost from 1982-86.

2000
WSU West moved from Westin Building to building on Pike Street, both in downtown Seattle.

2000
WSU created a new graphic identity. Unveiled in Spokane on Nov. 17 during a meeting of the WSU Board of Regents, the new crimson and gray on white logo is a variation of the famous Cougar head logo designed in 1936 by Washington State College student Randall Johnson. The new logo employs the Cougar head within a crest, an internationally recognized symbol for higher education.

2000
On Oct. 7, the WSU Veterans Memorial was completed and dedicated to honor 300 alumni, students, faculty, and staff who died during 20th Century military conflicts. James Quann, former WSU Registrar, and the WSU Class of 1949 each played key roles in creation of the memorial.

2000
Construction on the new $39 million Student Recreation Center neared completion; it is scheduled to open in January 2001.

2000
Enrollment 22,015, highest between 1997-2000. This is a System-wide enrollment, including students attending WSU at campuses in Spokane, the Tri-Cities and Vancouver.

2001
On March 28, 2001, V. Lane Rawlins, who took office June 8, 2000, was inaugurated as the university's president.

2001
Cougar women's volleyball received an NCAA Championship tournament at-large berth for the eighth time, hosting the first and second rounds of play.

2001
WSU officials report record fall enrollment numbers with total student numbers at four campuses increasing from 21,248 to 21,794, a 2.5 percent growth. The freshmen class on the Pullman campus is the second largest in the university's history and the most diverse ever.

2001
WSU and Pullman community members hold a vigil the evening of Sept. 12 in Pullman's Reaney Park, in wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. East Coast.

2001
During 2001-2002, Darren Eastman of Renton was the fourth WSU student to serve as a member of the WSU Board of Regents. He succeeded Matthew Moore. Starting with 1998-1999, the first student to serve as a regent was Jannelle Milodragovich, followed by Bernadett Buchanan.

2001
The university holds ground-breaking for a new building to house WSU's internationally recognized Institute for Shock Physics.

2001
A grand opening for Honors Hall, the new home of the nationally-acclaimed WSU Honors College -- celebrating its 40th anniversary - takes place.

2001
In a WSU history “first,” a fall Commencement is held Dec. 15. As with spring commencements in May, this event will be held annually in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.

2001
On the final day of 2001, the WSU Cougar football team beats Purdue, 33-27, in the Sun Bowl at El Paso, Texas. The Cougs finished the season with a 10-3 record and ranked 10th in two polls.

2001
WSU graduate and scientist Jack Gorski, a National Academy of Sciences member recognized for his discovery of the estrogen receptor, is the 30th recipient of the Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award.

2002
Robert C. Bates, a WSU alumnus and longtime Virginia Tech administrator begins service as WSU Provost and Academic Vice President.

2002
The Center for Undergraduate Education opens and, later, is named by the WSU Board of Regents for President Emeritus Samuel H. Smith.

2002
Forty-seven WSU students from the Middle East return after leaving early fall semester because of the events of Sept. 11. "Their reasons for coming back are the reasons they came to WSU to begin with: WSU has programs they are interested in and a good reputation," said Paul Svaren of WSU International Programs.

2002
The 31st recipient of the Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award is WSU graduate and sociologist James E. Blackwell. He is a leading scholar in the areas of minorities in higher education and social movement in black communities.

2002
WSU graduate Dr. Robert W. Higgins, former U.S. Navy Deputy Surgeon General and Navy Medical Corps chief, is 32nd recipient of the Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award. Recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest military peacetime award, he is a former American Academy of Family Physicians president. As World Organization of Family Doctors president, he supported rural health and helped developing nations adopt health systems based on primary care.

2002
Entertainer Bill Cosby performs before a "packed house" in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum during Mom's Weekend.

2002
WSU's 2002 football team was Pacific 10 Conference co-champions. The Cougars played Oklahoma in the 2003 Rose Bowl. See 2003 listing for details.

2003
Part of a reorganization, WSU Regents give chief executive officers/deans of WSU urban campuses in Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver "chancellor" titles and expanded responsibilities.

2003
U.S. News and World Report ranks WSU as one of the top 50 public research institutions in the nation.

2003
Anjan Bose, College of Engineering and Architecture dean, and Jim Asay of the Institute for Shock Physics, named to the National Academy of Engineering, the most prestigious honor in the engineering field.

2003
WSU alumnus Tim Pavish becomes WSU alumni relations director/WSU Alumni Association executive director, succeeding Keith Lincoln, who retired from the post.

2003
Julia Pomerenk becomes WSU registrar, succeeding Dave Guzman, who retired. Previously WSU assistant registrar, she returned to the university after serving as registrar of Pacific Lutheran University.

2003
WSU faculty members James Petersen and Howard Grimes becomes the university's vice provost for research and Graduate School dean, respectively.

2003
The new building housing WSU's internationally recognized Institute for Shock Physics is inaugurated.

2003
Construction begins on phase 1 of the new Plant Biosciences building, representing the first of several new buildings that will create a new research and education complex.

2003
The best prepared freshman class WSU ever enrolled in the fall includes 15 National Merit Scholars and 24 Distinguished Regents' Scholars.

2003
As part of the university's commitment to supporting Pullman, the WSU Foundation moved its offices from campus to downtown's new Pullman Town Centre. The foundation also makes news by raising more than $48.5 million, the second highest fund-raising total in its history.

2003
The 2003 season was the 15th year Cindy Frederick served as Cougar volleyball head coach. She is the most successful volleyball coach and the most successful coach of any woman's sport in university history.

2003
WSU Cougar athletic team successes in 2003 started with the 2002 football team, Pacific 10 Conference co-champions, playing in the Jan. 1, 2003, Rose Bowl football game against Oklahoma, losing 34-14. For the 2003 season, former assistant Bill Doba became the Cougars' new head coach, succeeding Mike Price, who left WSU. The Doba-led team played in the 2003 Holiday Bowl football game. Held Dec. 30, 2003, in San Diego against Texas, the Cougars won, 28-20. The 2003 season marked WSU football's third straight 10-win season, the first Pac-10 team to achieve this feat in 70 years.

2003
Athletic 2003 season highlights includes women's golf making its first NCAA appearance, a WSU swimmer competing in the NCAA championship, rowing making its first team NCAA appearance and Whitney Evans winning NCAA, NCAA regional and Pac-10 high jump titles.

2003
WSU graduate Sherman J. Alexie Jr., award-winning poet, author, screenwriter and film director, is the 33th Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient.

2004
WSU's renowned Edward R. Murrow School of Communication is strengthened by the opening of 24,000-square foot building addition, which includes research and teaching labs, TV news studio, faculty offices and auditorium.

2004
A test developed at WSU is used to diagnose the nation’s first case of "mad cow" disease. Credited with the development are researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service at WSU and from WSU’s Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology. WSU is chosen by the USDA to have one of seven laboratories nationwide to conduct tests for the disease.

2004
The first "Celebrating Excellence: An Evening Honoring Our Faculty and Staff" banquet in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum honors WSU award-winning faculty and staff.

2004
The Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine is granted seven years of continued full accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education. It is the highest level of accreditation any veterinary college can attain.

2004
A bronze memorial in Holland Library is dedicated to honor the "Grandfather of Chicano poetry," Ricardo Sánchez, celebrated poet and a WSU creative writing and Chicano studies faculty member from 1991 until his death in 1995.

2004
Peter Jennings, ABC-TV news anchor, is presented an Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcasting during the WSU Edward R. Murrow Symposium.

2004
WSU President V. Lane Rawlins creates a university Commission on Race and Ethnicity and a WSU Council for the Advancement of Women.

2005
Motivational speaker and actress Yolanda King, daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., gave a presentation in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum as part of the University's MLK Celebration.

2005
Early in the year, students, faculty and staff participated in relief efforts for Asian countries struck by a tsunami. Later in the year, efforts took place for victims of two hurricanes which hit the U.S. Gulf Coast. WSU admitted some students displaced by the hurricanes and more than 7,000 Backpacks for Hope -- filled with school supplies, books and other items -- were collected for school students in the affected areas.

2005
Clarence A. Ryan Jr., emeritus professor, plant biochemistry researcher in WSU's Institute of Biological Chemistry, and first WSU professor in National Academy of Sciences, received WSU's honorary doctoral degree at spring commencement on May 7. More»

2005
During the summer, WSU student Danielle Fisher, age 20, became the youngest person in history to conquer the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. She was the youngest American to stand atop Mount Everest.

2005
A solar home constructed on campus in Pullman by WSU engineering and architecture students was part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competition in Washington, D.C.

2005
Honored as 35th recipient of the Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award was WSU alumnus Dr. Irwin “Ernie” Rose, Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. A graduate of Spokane's Lewis and Clark High School, he attended WSU in the mid-1940s and was influenced by Herb Eastlick, a prominent WSU zoology teacher.

2005
"Good Night, and Good Luck," a new motion picture, depicted the journalist challenge of WSU alumnus Edward R. Murrow, taking on U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s. Murrow's legacy continues in the WSU Edward R. Murrow School of Communication and the Murrow Symposium.

2005
More than 52 percent of student voters approved renovating the Compton Union Building. Renovation will close the CUB for two years, starting in fall 2006.

2005
Opening events were held for the new Plant Biosciences building and the new Education Addition, adjacent to Cleveland Hall, home of the WSU College of Education.

2005
WSU Regents named the new library adjacent to Holland Library as the Terrell Library in honor of W. Glenn Terrell, former WSU president. WSU President V. Lane Rawlins said the naming of the new building, which opened in 1994, was suitable acknowledgement of Terrell’s love of learning and his close connections with students. The Terrell Friendship Mall on campus also honors WSU’s seventh president, who served from 1967 to 1985.

2005
Work by WSU molecular biologist Michael K. Skinner and his research team was chosen as one of the top 100 science stories of 2005 by Discover magazine. The researchers found that exposing fetal rats to environmental toxins can affect their sexual development in a way that shows up in subsequent generations as well. The mechanism was an epigenetic one, rather than a DNA mutation.

2005
Glenn Johnson celebrated his 25th year as public address “Voice of the Cougars” for WSU football and men’s basketball. He is a member of the WSU Murrow School of Communication faculty.

2006
The College of Business and Economics was renamed the College of Business by the WSU Regents. Changing the name reflects business’ impact on society and the environment at the state, national, and global levels. Also, it recognizes that, in 2005, the WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences became the academic home of the new School of Economic Sciences.

2006
In 2005-2006 academic year, the WSU Cougars had a football-men’s basketball “sweep” of the rival University of Washington Huskies. In fall 2005, WSU beat the UW in the annual Apple Cup football game. In the winter of 2006, the Cougars beat the Huskies in both basketball games. The last time the Cougars had such an academic year “sweep” of the Huskies was 1968-1969.

2006
Carnegie Classification of institutions of Higher Education ranks WSU as one of 95 public and private research institutions nationwide with very high research activity. Recognition brings attention to WSU research and Ph.D. educational programs. More»

2006
WSU’s women’s rowing team captured fourth place at the 2006 NCAA Championships in May on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J. In the Cougars’ best finish since the NCAA first awarded an intercollegiate rowing national title in 1997, the varsity eight and varsity four each finished fourth. Earlier, the Cougars finished second overall at the Pac-10 Championships on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. WSU's Jane LaRiviere was named “Coach of the Year” for Pacific-10 Women's Rowing and for the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association West Region.

2006
The Spillman Stone, a two-ton granite rock with William Jasper Spillman’s name engraved on it, was rededicated October 21 at Clark Hall Plaza on the Pullman campus. WSU’s first wheat breeder from 1894 to 1902, Spillman was the only American to independently rediscover Mendel's Law of Heredity. He was also influential in early agricultural economics. More»

2006
On Dec. 13, WSU Regents named Elson S. Floyd, 50, as WSU’s 10th president, succeeding V. Lane Rawlins, who will retire in late May 2007. Floyd is president of the four-campus University of Missouri. A former Western Michigan University president, he has been an administrator at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Floyd is a former Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board executive director and an Eastern Washington University executive vice president.

2006
Dr. Guy Palmer, a veterinary pathologist at WSU's College of Veterinary Medicine, was elected to membership in the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the highest honors for those in biomedical research and human health care.

2007
During a national college football telecast on Jan. 1, WSU’s Butch the Cougar was announced as Capital One Mascot of the Year. Butch edged Testudo, the University of Maryland mascot, in the championship round.

2007
For the first time since the 1993-1994 season, the WSU men’s Cougar basketball team, coached by Tony Bennett, made the NCAA men’s national basketball tournament. In Sacramento, Calif., the Cougars won their opening-round game over Oral Roberts, but lost to Vanderbilt in the second-round. WSU finished second in the Pac-10 Conference and had a 26-8 season win-loss record. Tony Bennett, who won numerous Coach of the Year honors, succeeded his father, Dick Bennett, who coached the Cougars for three seasons.

2007
WSU Regents renamed two Pullman campus buildings. Wilson Hall became Wilson-Short Hall, honoring James F. Short, Jr., influential sociology professor, now emeritus. This building was first named for James Wilson, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1897-1913.The Plant Biosciences Facility I became the Orville A. Vogel Plant Biosciences Building, named for one of WSU’s great agricultural researchers. Under construction adjacent to the Vogel building is the Biotechnology/Life Sciences Building, the next in a multi-building bioscience complex.

2007
Elson S. Floyd took office May 21 as the 10th president of Washington State University. He succeeded V. Lane Rawlins who was named iterim director of the William D. Ruckelshaus Center, a joint enterprise of WSU and the University of Washington. More»

2007
Patricia G. Butterfield became dean of the Washington State University Intercollegiate College of Nursing. She had been a professor and chair of the Department of Psychosocial and Community Health Nursing at the University of Washington.

2007
George Mount, WSU civil and environmental engineering faculty member since 1997, became director of a new university system-wide interdisciplinary Center for Environmental Research, Education, and Outreach (CEREO).

2007
Jay Starratt became dean of the Washington State University Libraries. He had been associate vice chancellor for information technology and dean of library and information services at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.

2007
In research, a WSU team of physicists successfully completed the first experiments using the nation’s premiere synchrotron X-ray facility to detect shock wave-induced changes in a crystalline material.

2007
Work continued on major projects on campus in Pullman, including extensive renovation of the Compton Union Building (CUB) and Martin Stadium, home of WSU Cougar football. Another project was transforming the 9-hole WSU Golf Course into WSU’s Palouse Ridge Golf Club featuring a new 18-hole championship course and practice facility. Martin Stadium continues in use during phased construction. The CUB and golf course will to open for use during 2008.

2007
Testing of an emergency siren and public announcement system on the Pullman campus took place. The system was created to alert and provide information to students, faculty and staff in the event of a campus-wide emergency.

2007
Distinguished architects David Miller and Robert Hull received the Regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award on Oct. 19. More»