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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, he 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, Interim Director, William D. Ruckelshaus Center