March 31, 2007
The Tri-Citian of the Year Keynote Speech
Distinguished guests, past Tri-Citians of the Year, Tri-Citian of the Year 2007, and honored nominees, thank you so much for the privilege of joining you this evening. It is truly an honor to be here to share in this most prestigious event. As a relative newcomer to the area, 6 months now, I would like to begin by taking a moment to share with you one of my earliest impressions of the Tri-Cities. As I began meeting with members and leaders of the community, I was immediately struck by the tremendous energy and commitment exhibit for improving the quality of life in this region. As I’ve continued to meet with many of you here tonight, I’ve encountered a spirit of cooperation and an authentic ‘can-do’ attitude, a desire propels this community into the future, a fire in the belly to make a difference. I have quickly discovered that people here aren’t waiting around for positive changes to happen on their own, they are in active pursuit. I have also realized that I find myself in a community that really knows how to take on a challenge. And ladies and gentlemen, I cannot think of a better example of taking on a challenge than your successful proposition to transform WSU Tri-Cities into a full-fledged four-year university.
You demonstrated extraordinary resolve and determination in this endeavor. After virtually failing to convince the Washington State Legislature that the Tri-Cities was ready for a four-year university, you didn’t give up, you rallied. Public forums were held, people from all sectors of business and education met. Tireless hours were spent—by many of you in the room tonight - developing a unified vision and voice to take back to Olympia. The result? Nothing short of phenomenal. Because of your cooperative effort and unified vision, Washington State University Tri-Cities will admit its first freshman class this August. And let me tell you—the response has been astounding. We have received more than 260 freshman applications to date—far exceeding our expectations.
This kind of response plainly demonstrates the need for continued support from our State Legislature as well as private funding to meet the demand. Without a doubt, the leadership exists in this community to accomplish this. When WSU Tri-Cities set the goal of admitting 50 freshmen in 2007, we knew we would need to raise $300,000 to support those students. And I’ll admit, when we first began, I wasn’t sure how the community would respond. Would people really step up and make a financial investment in the program? The answer has been a resounding YES. In just a few short months, contributions from businesses and individuals have exceeded $230,000 in support of our freshman class. We are well on our way to achieving our fiscal goal.
This is a historic time, to be sure. WSU Tri-Cities is now the only four-year public university in southeastern Washington. As such, our commitment and our sphere of influence must extend well beyond the campus. Our dedication to education must be broader and more expansive. It is essential we become an active participant and an integral part of this community’s future—as a driver for economic development, a partner in cultivating a highly trained workforce, a resource from which the entire region can draw. I feel incredibly fortunate to be here—at this time—with this dynamic group of people, working now, today, this moment toward a prosperous future. And as Anne Frank wrote in her diary, while facing her future amidst so much fear and uncertainty: “How wonderful it is…that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
WSU Tri-Cities is poised to play a vital role in our region’s economic development. We know from research data that people with bachelor’s degrees earn 80% more than people with a high school diploma. That is a significant statistic to consider. We have a real responsibility as educators to provide a means for greater opportunity and a better life for every individual.
Studies and analysis, time and time again, show us that businesses choose to locate in towns where they can tap into an educated workforce. WSU Tri-Cities is committed to educating and training the sort of highly skilled workforce that acts like a magnet for new business development—that is a draw for companies looking to relocate or expand into new territories. It is critical that we foster opportunities right here at home. That no one need leave the Tri-Cities for an educational or employment opportunity is the ultimate goal we should strive to attain.
To that end, the campus must identify and develop niche programs—Centers of Excellence for which the campus is recognized on a regional, national and international level. We must respond, for example, to the burgeoning wine industry with Viticulture and Enology programs—to the mounting demand for alternative energy research by bolstering our science and engineering programs. These are areas in which we have the prospect of distinguishing ourselves as true leaders.
To accomplish this, we must work together with our partners in K-12 and higher education. Collaboration and joint degree programs with Columbia Basin College and other regional community colleges are already paving the way. Statewide, we recognize that we need to do a better job of K-12 science and math education. Governor Chris Gregoire has acknowledged that this issue is critical and has expressed her commitment to fully funding K-12 science and math programs. We know we can’t wait until high school to get our kids enthusiastic about math and science. We need to foster that excitement when they are young. Our campus seeks to increase its role in this by developing programs such as a Certification in Science and Math for Middle School Teachers.
That our collaborative efforts extend to businesses and organizations is crucial, and those endeavors are underway. One example of many, is the Tri-City Regional Chamber’s commitment to providing an internship or service experience for every student in the new freshman class. This is about getting students out of the classroom and into real life situations. This is about the opportunity to work in a business or agency, about being mentored by professionals. I know that many of you in this room have already volunteered to be a mentor or provide a business internship. For that, I thank you. Because of your commitment, every student from this class will graduate having had a real life experience in the community in some way. What a profound impact you are making. What a tremendous investment in our future.
Higher education is a powerful mechanism for community growth and development. This fact was articulated by a dear friend of mine. Many of you here tonight remember one of your own, a former Tri-Citian of the Year, Kelso Gillenwater. He was a truly inspirational man who played a pivotal role in bringing Washington State University to the Tri-Cities and believed in its power to galvanize and elevate its self-image.
Let me take you back to a graduation ceremony in May of 1995. Kelso Gillenwater, Publisher of the News Tribune in Tacoma and former Publisher of the Tri-City Herald, stood before 230 WSU Tri-Cities graduates and their family and friends. He evoked the past economic hardships experienced by the Tri-Cities in the early 1980s. He recalled the collapse of Washington Public Power Supply’s building program and the closing of the N Reactor, bringing plutonium production—and an era—to an end. He described that economic downturn as the forge in which a stronger community had been tempered. In his words: “The Tri-Cities was isolated and unloved…but somewhere in that time, we came of age as a community.” He went on to impress upon the students that WSU Tri-Cities was one of the greatest achievements to arise out of those hard times. Bringing a full university education to the Tri-Cities was a local and statewide project that redefined the community. He told the graduates “This is a milestone for you. But it is also a milestone for your community. Your community needs you.” As the Tri-Cities finds itself again seeking to redefine itself and its place in the world, this campus and the graduates of WSU Tri-Cities are needed just as urgently as they were that day in 1995.
We take seriously our value as a resource, as a benefit to the community. As we continue to reach out, we foresee our business students assisting start-ups with their marketing plans. Nursing students performing outreach and volunteer services at La Clinica, Liberal Arts students working in social service agencies and non-profit organizations. We envision our world class staff contributing their wealth of knowledge and expertise to projects vital to our community’s growth and future.
We have a very rare opportunity to leverage one of the most exceptional and important partnerships in the country. Our joint relationship with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the new Bio-products Science and Engineering Laboratory (also known as BSEL) is one that only a very few universities have. The facility is the only one of its kind in the nation with Department of Energy scientists and university professors and staff working side by side on bio-products and bio-energy solutions. This unique partnership is one that is going to take some time to develop but its potential is vast. Reduction of dependence on foreign energy through alternative energy sources is of enormous importance on a State and National scale. Governor Chris Gregoire is committed to manifesting the vision of Washington State as a leader in bio-fuels and bio-energy research as an advocate for the full funding of BSEL. The physical building alone represents a 24 million dollar investment on the part of the State. As the building is equipped and scientists begin their work, an additional 20 to 25 million dollars will be necessary for operations. It is imperative that we communicate to our State Representatives to continue support of this significant investment in our long-term prosperity. For the payoff will be tremendous, with the lab drawing in dollars for research from around the world. It won’t happen overnight. Indeed, it won’t be this year, or the next year, but it will happen.
Up to this point, I’ve spoken about service from an organizational standpoint. I’d like to shift the focus now to service from an individual standpoint.
The Tri-Citian of the Year award honors an individual who embodies the idea of service above self. But for one to truly offer service above self, one must be able to stand outside one’s self. For in standing outside, the mind looks upon the Self and others with equal measure. From this vantage point, one better perceives the need of fellow human beings, finding those not so different from one’s own. And in that moment, it is possible to rise above the demands of the ego with a real desire to reach out to others. And we learn to give. And that the desire to give is noble and good.
Barbara Bush may have put it best when she said: “Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others.”
I learned this lesson back in the late 1980s working as the Dean of Health Sciences at the University of Nevada. I was involved in building the first ever AIDS in-patient care center and hospice in the country. This was at a time when AIDS was a death sentence. The life extending drugs we have today didn’t even exist. Research on the disease had just begun and we didn’t really know yet what we were dealing with. Victims of the disease were marginalized by society and experienced intense discrimination. There was no place for them to get comprehensive care. The University’s Care Center and Hospice offered dignity to these individuals—a place where they would be cared for as people—not outcasts. This work was by far the most emotional and difficult in my life. But I can tell you, it was also the most satisfying and rewarding work I’ve ever done.
For my generation there will never be another disease like this in terms of its social, emotional and scientific impact. I had never seen in my lifetime a disease that resulted in such discrimination. I became acutely aware of how fear and fear of the unknown affects how people relate to one another—even how we care for one another. People were afraid to shake hands, to eat in restaurants. Physicians didn’t want people with AIDS in their waiting rooms because it might scare off other patients. We just didn’t know then how the disease was spread, and because it did carry a death sentence, it really brought out the worst in many people.
And yet, it also brought out the best in others. This was exemplified most by the people who had the disease. Think for a moment what they were going through. They were facing a death sentence, being ostracized by their families, seeking help from a medical community that didn’t want to treat them, being fired from their jobs because of a positive HIV test. Yet, somehow, these people still found it possible to think beyond their own needs, to reach out and support each other, to find ways of rallying together and fighting for a better tomorrow. I remember attending several conferences on AIDS at that time. These people, (and please, don’t call them “victims”) were the ones to demonstrate the most activism. As sick as they were, they got on airplanes, testified in congress, petitioned for research and funding for drug development. They were activists lobbying for shortening the time trial period before new and potentially life saving drugs could go to market. All of this has had a profound impact on the health care industry as a whole. They didn’t do it for themselves. For them, it was too late. So many people with AIDS dedicated their last weeks and days on earth to a more hopeful future for others. This experienced taught me the lesson of service above self.
In the words of the French philosopher Albert Schweitzer: “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” That, ladies and gentlemen, is why we are here tonight. We are here to honor all of you because your example shows us all the way to becoming better people.
We are standing at the threshold of a new era. It is an exciting time, a time full of promise. A window exists now as in no other time in the history of this region to build a vibrant community, to be part of a dynamic, changing, wondrous time of medical advances. It is our strength of character as individuals, as students, as nurses, that we must call upon in order to realize the promise the future holds. You have accomplished so much while studying at Washington State University Tri-Cities. You have much work to still do. How honored I am to undertake this work with individuals like you—in a truly collaborative effort for improving the quality of life for all. Thank you.
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