Centennial: Bellingham Downtown Rotary Speech

Karen W. Morse
January 31, 2000

Thank you for inviting me to talk about the centennial celebration of Western Washington University. I always enjoy talking about what Western has meant to this community – and what this community has meant to Western. The centennial celebration is a perfect vehicle!

Centennial celebration

Centennial celebrations are in full swing. We invite you to come and participate! We have put together a showcase for Western's history, which is an important backdrop for understanding where we are and where we're going as an institution.

Since we're already into the 21st century, I have to note that Western has a centennial web page that provides stories and pictures of our history at your fingertips. Western's web is found at www.wwu.edu Click on the centennial icon and check it out!

For those of you who prefer the old fashioned way -- something that can be left on a coffee table, a photographic history of Western has been published. Forms to order it are still available, on the web page and from the Alumni Association. Photographer Phil Schofield, whose credits include Smithsonian and National Geographic magazines, has captured Western beautifully.

We have taken the show on the road. This month, the showcase is in the State Capitol Museum in Olympia. The Western Tableaux provides a perspective on how far Western has come that is hard to replicate with words. The Whatcom Museum and the Art Gallery on campus also have centennial displays.
Also in Olympia, last week the Governor and both houses of the legislature saluted Western, especially recognizing the accomplishments of its alumni. The Governor proclaimed February 24, the day in 1893 that governor John McGraw signed legislation authorizing creation of the university, as a "day of celebration" in honor of our 100th birthday.

On February 25, we will formally recognize 21 distinguished alumni -- Alumni of the Century -- at a dinner in the Viking Union. On March 28, we host the Seattle Business Forum at the Four Seasons Hotel, with speaker Jerry Grinstein, the non-executive chairman of the boards of Delta Airlines and Agilent Technologies.
There are many activities scheduled throughout the rest of the year -- more than usual -- which we hope you will attend. We've brought a calendar of centennial events that serves as an open invitation to you all to come celebrate with us.

History

Western has become an important presence in Whatcom County. At last count (1997), our students, faculty and staff were bringing 150 million dollars a year into the economy of this region, $50 million in retail sales alone. And that figure grows yearly. We also contribute to the community through student internships, through collaboration on R&D between faculty and local businesses, and through public service of faculty, staff and student volunteers. Western has given back far more than a parking problem on Sehome Hill -- and we're working on that! It has contributed to the prosperity and attractiveness of the community on a grand scale. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Come back with me, for a moment, into our past, and you will see the birth of this phenomenon and how very well Western has matured!
When New Whatcom State Normal School opened its doors September 6, 1899, this area wasn't far from frontier days. The showdown at the OK Corral was in 1881 and the Northern Pacific Railroad was completed only 16 years before we opened, the year some of the freshman might have been born. The state was just four years old. In 1899, only one U.S. home in 13 had a telephone, probably fewer here in the Northwest Corner. A trustee refused to serve as chair because he didn’t have phone access to campus.

The four towns that would become Bellingham had a population of 14,000. Most of these people worked in lumber mills, canneries and coal mines. The young women (some just 15 or 16) who came to Bellingham to prepare to be teachers were met at the railroad depot or the steamer landing and escorted through a rough-and-ready town.

The school was one building – the center portion of what we now call Old Main (it was called the Normal Building -- wouldn't you think we could come up with better names?!). It opened, still unfinished, with 88 students and a payroll of seven. By the end of that first year, there were more than 200 students. By the middle 1900's there were four buildings, Old Main and the gym, the training school, Edens hall and Science Hall, all built and furnished for $250,000 -- about what it takes to fund one mediated classroom today.

Small as it was, the school made an impact on the town. Initially, there weren’t any dormitories so the students, most of them women, lived in rooming houses that had been carefully inspected and approved by solicitous normal school officials. For the women who ran the rooming houses, many of them widows, rent – even at $3 a week – meant a lot. Businessman C. X. Larabee said the boost to the Bellingham economy was “as good a business addition as a factory employing 75 men.”
Bellingham has grown and changed over the last century. Western has grown and changed too. In 1899 we were a teacher's college, very focussed on the mission of turning out teachers to serve the growing need in the state. One of the subjects taught was orthography. Do any of you know what that means? …..From a campus with a building called "normal", you'd think we could just say "spelling". In 1937, Bellingham State Normal School became Western Washington State College of Education. From 1961-1977 we were Western Washington State College. In 1977, we became recognized as a bona fide university with undergraduate and graduate programs.

Today, Western Washington University is recognized as one of the best public regional universities in the nation. US news and World Report acknowledged Western as 2nd in the West. Our six colleges offer over 250 degrees, including many graduate degrees. We teach subjects ranging from literacy education to environmental toxicology, from graphic arts to corporate information systems management. There are nearly 1,900 permanent employees, serving students who number over 11,700. And they're good students! Our entering freshmen's average GPA is about 3.5.

Western remains committed to educating the state's best teachers (ten percent of our graduates have education degrees) who can readily adapt to our changing environment.

Our own teaching is changing in breadth and depth as the world around us rapidly evolves. We are determined to develop analytical, communication, creative, writing and team building talents in our students. We are determined to provide all of our excellent students and faculty with the most advanced computer technology, state-of-the-art equipment, and sophisticated scientific instrumentation they need to excel. We actively engage in partnership with businesses, schools, and social service agencies to address critical social, economic and employment issues in the state and region. Our interaction with the community helps to keep us current and responsive. Some Examples:

• Over 170 businesses in Whatcom County offer Internships through our career services office, including ARCO, Georgia Pacific, Alpha Technologies, Hexcel, and others.
• 65% - 70% of the NetManage (former Wall Data) workforce are WWU graduates. That's why NetManage R&D is here in Bellingham.
• The Whatcom County Museum offers internships for students in Anthropology, Communications, Engineering Technology, Archives & Records Management, Journalism.
• Radio and TV stations KPUG, KGMI, KZAZ, KISM, and KVOS TV, and the Bellingham Herald all sponsor internships
• We have over 200 teaching interns and a number of school counseling interns in the Bellingham School District, Lynden School District, Meridian School District, Ferndale Schools District, Mount Baker School District
• Huxley College formally oversaw the work and research of over 60 interns in environmental fields, including work for the City of Bellingham, Whatcom County, Skagit County, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, and other worthwhile projects.
• We place interns with St. Joseph Hospital and Whatcom County Nursing Homes, YMCA, Big Brother/Big Sisters
• We partner with with BFM and work with the Economic Development Council to attract businesses to Whatcom County.
• We also connect with the community through conferences, programs and institutes. For example, last year:
• 33 conferences (4,775 participants);
• 15 Youth Program events (905 participants);
• 36 classes for seniors; and
• 7 non-credit Certificate programs for professional development. (approx. 75 participants).

Western is gaining recognition as a high quality, dynamic institution of higher education that serves the state and the community in which it resides. We are emerging in the West as a leading provider of well-rounded graduates prepared for employment in complex and rapidly changing markets. The January edition of Washington CEO Magazine highlighted Western in a special supplement. To quote the lead article:

"Ask a group of Northwest human resources managers for a list of the West Coast colleges they most want to hire graduates from and names like Stanford, UCLA, and the University of Washington will almost always be proffered......Increasingly, another name is appearing on even the shortest of short lists as firms such as Boeing, Microsoft, and Wall Data have discovered Washington's third-largest college, Western Washington University."

Through excellent instruction, student research opportunities, internships in industry, incorporation of the most current technology in the classroom, and involvement of corporate leaders on industry advisory boards, Western is helping to meet the need for a technically competent workforce that knows how to think, solve problems, and work in team situations.

One of our most useful economic development tools for the community, which we decided in December to move to downtown Bellingham, is the Small Business Development Center, a partnership among the City, the Chamber and Western. The existence of this center, which provides free service helping start-up businesses, is often a surprise to people. Of the key aspects of Western's mission -- which we take very seriously -- this is the service part! This center has been named one of the top ten SBDCs in the USA, out of over 1,100 SBDCs nationwide.

In the last 5 years, it has served 1500 existing and new businesses in Whatcom County. 23% of our local businesses have sought consultation. This year alone, we estimate that 150 new jobs and $6 million in new investments were influenced by the Center.

But Western’s contribution to Bellingham is clearly more than economic. Many of you know Dave Merrifield, the director of Western’s Center for Economic and Business Research. I think he put it best when he told Business Pulse that building a prison on Sehome hill might have as much economic impact as a university. But the impact on the quality of life in Bellingham wouldn’t be the same.

Consider Western's athletics. On field, court and course, exciting intercollegiate and intramural athletic competitions take place throughout the academic year. Western is in its second year in the NCAA, Division II. The heightened competition is raising our level of play -- Have you been watching our fantastic women's basketball team? They're 14th in the nation and rising! Season ticket-holders for men's and women's basketball now sit in comfortable arena chairs. Shuttle service is provided from remote parking to the door. But most important to me, our students continue to focus on what comes first. Our student athletes have one of the highest graduation rates in the country -- 83%, compared with percentages in the 50s in both Division I and II universities. I'm extraordinarily proud of our student athletes. As a member of the national President's Council of NCAA Division II, I will be able to share a few secrets of our success in the hope of positively affecting student achievement nationwide.

Western is a major regional resource for fine and performing arts and lectures. The outdoor sculpture collection now consists of 24 major works from the world's most recognized sculpture artists. The Performing Arts Center Series and Distinguished Lecture Series bring internationally known visitors to the community. Western's music, dance, and theater departments offer performances throughout the year, including the Summer Stock Theater productions.
Services to the Community.

What about Services to the Community? Among a wide range of services to the community, Western offers free psychological counseling, free taxpayer assistance, and of course, free small business consulting. Speech pathology and audiology services and special fitness programs for adults are available at a moderate cost. In 1998, over 7600 students -- over 65% of the student body -- volunteered almost 900,000 hours of service to the campus and local community, working with virtually every community service agency.

See why it's easy to talk about Western? We continually seek to improve the services we provide to our students and to the community. The support of this community has been tremendous. In our last capital campaign, we raised an unprecedented $23.1 million from 17,500 donors -- almost 3,400 donors from Whatcom County donated $9 million to strengthen Western and broaden the positive impact it has on peoples' lives.

I have more enthusiasm today for the future of this university than ever before in my 7 years at Western. We are quickly becoming a premier institution of our kind in the West -- and increasingly, are known nationally as well. This is your university, since you live in Bellingham, no matter what you call your alma mater. Thank you for your support as Bellingham citizens and as Rotarians, through your Rotary scholarship. You can take pride in your university.

On your tables, there are centennial souvenir sections of western's alumni publication, Window On Western. It has some historic photos that I think you’ll enjoy and a calendar of centennial events that the community is invited to participate in. I look forward to seeing you on campus this year!