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V. Lane Rawlins
2000-2007
V. Lane Rawlins was chosen by the Board of Regents on
February 3, 2000, to serve as the ninth president of
Washington State University. At the time, he was
president of the University of Memphis.
On June 8, 2000, he came home to WSU where he had
previously been an economics professor and academic
administrator. Throughout his presidency, h advocated the
vital connections between outstanding undergraduate
education and world-class research.
Soon after his arrival, President Rawlins appointed
faculty and staff to nine “design teams” to
develop key goals and major objectives for the next five
to 10 years. Noteworthy outcomes include enhanced
undergraduate education, substantial growth in research
funding, increased enrollment of high ability students
and a more diverse student body. New units such as the
Office of Undergraduate Education, the Center for
Integrated Biotechnology and the Office of Equity and
Diversity were established.
President Rawlins strengthened WSU’s relationship
with the University of Washington, and improved public
understanding of WSU and UW as the state’s two
research universities. To modernize WSU’s public
reputation as one of the nation’s leading public
research universities, a communication campaign was
carried out with the theme “World Class. Face to
Face.”
WSU’s regional campuses gained greater flexibility
to serve their individual areas, their executive officers
became chancellors, and the Pullman and Spokane campuses
were designated as co-located, recognizing close linkages
in their educational and research programs. WSU Vancouver
welcomed its first freshmen class in fall 2006 and WSU
Tri-Cities prepared for its first freshmen to enroll in
fall 2007.
Important new facilities were opened during the Rawlins
era. On the Pullman campus, research buildings for shock
physics and plant biosciences, as well as the
student-funded Student Recreation Center, opened. New
offices for the WSU Foundation opened in downtown
Pullman. In Spokane, the new Health Sciences Building
opened early in Rawlins’ tenure with the Academic
Center opening in fall 2006. WSU Vancouver saw the
opening of its Multimedia Classroom Building and start of
construction on a Student Services Center, while a
Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory got
underway at WSU Tri-Cities.
President Rawlins also established new traditions.
December commencements were added and Cougar Pride Days
launched. The Regents Scholars program was created to
attract Washington’s top high school graduates. The
first Eminent Faculty awards were presented and first
Regents Professors named, honoring exceptional faculty
members. Showcase, a day to celebrate faculty and staff
achievement, was started.
“For us the destination is becoming increasingly
clear. We want to be and can be one of the elite
institutions in the world” in both education and
research,” President Rawlins said in his final
State of the University Address in September of 2006.
Congruent with his vision was the selection of several
more WSU professors to the National Academies and the
designation of WSU as a top-tier research university in
key classifications and rankings during his
administration.
V. Lane Rawlins started his academic career at WSU in
1968 as an assistant professor of economics, fresh from
earning his Ph.D. in economics from the University of
California, Berkeley. A native of southeast Idaho, he
completed his bachelor's degree in economics at Brigham
Young University in Utah. He published widely in major
journals and co-authored books on labor economics and
public policy. He served as chair of the Department of
Economics from 1977-1981 and as vice provost from
1982-1986.
He left WSU to serve as vice chancellor of the University
of Alabama System for five years, and then as president
of The University of Memphis from 1991 to 2000.
Inaugurated as WSU’s ninth president on March 28,
2001, he was the first WSU president to have been a
member of the university's faculty earlier in his
career.
Rawlins received recognition for his leadership and
communication. He served as a member of the Governor's
Global Competitiveness Council and the Technology
Alliance Board of Directors. He also served as the Pac-10
representative to the NCAA. In the spring of 2007, the
WSU community recognized Lane and his wife Mary Jo for
their exceptional service to the University.
In June 2007, he retired from the presidency and returned
to the faculty in the WSU School of Economic Sciences. He
subsequently was appointed interim director of the
William D. Ruckelshaus Center, a joint program of
Washington State University and the University of
Washington that fosters collaborative problem-solving in
the region.
While President V. Lane Rawlins will long be remembered
for his visionary and strategic leadership, he will also
be remembered for his interest in the successes of
individual students, faculty and staff members; his
desire for the campuses to always look their best; his
sense of humor; and his affection for Washington State
University.
President Rawlins: Additional Resources
President Rawlins announced his retirement plans
President Rawlins honored by the Prosperity Partnership
Resolution, Washington House of Representatives, April 2007
President Rawlins featured in Washington State Magazine
V. Lane Rawlins, William D. Ruckelshaus Center