2009-2011 Milestone Timeline

Near Nature. Near Perfect. Near Knowledge.

2009 – 2011 University District Milestones

 

2010-2011

City of Spokane’s Targeted Area Development Program

• Ground was broken and phase one is under way on the Martin Luther King Jr. Way as of February 2011. Phase One is expected to be completed in November 2011 at a cost of $3.76 million. Funding for the first phase came from federal and local funds. University District Sprague Corridor Planning Study launched. Funded by an American Recovery and Reinvestment grant, the study is focused on implementing the UD Strategic Plan with energy –efficient transportation infrastructure and land use planning. In July, City Council approved moving forward to complete the University Pedestrian Bicycle Bridge Type, Size Location Study for the cable-stay type bridge design.
  
  
• Division Street Gateways project got underway in August. This project is funded by the University District Revitalization Area and is intended to enhance the appearance of Division St from I-90 to Sharp Ave, improving connectivity between UD and Downtown and increasing safety for all users. The project will also address any State requirements for Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Vehicle Miles Traveled targets. Phase I cost is estimated at $3 million. Second Ave was also repaved from Howard to Division wrapping up in September 2011 with a finished cost of $2.1 million.

Community Colleges of Spokane

• Under the leadership of Chancellor Christine Johnson, Community Colleges of Spokane completes a new comprehensive strategic plan for 2011-2021. Entitled “Charting the Course to a Winning Investment,” the CCS plan identifies four strategic priority areas – Student Success, Collaboration and Communication, Sustainability, and Innovation.

Eastern Washington University Spokane

• Eastern Washington University's College of Business and Public Administration (CBPA) is one of the outstanding institutions featured in the 2011 edition of The Princeton Review's annual guidebook, The Best 300 Business Schools, which is now available in bookstores nationwide.
  
  
• Eastern Washington University’s Dental Hygiene Program is all smiles after receiving a rare perfect score in a recent accreditation site checkup. The Commission on Dental Accreditation visited the dental hygiene clinic at EWU Spokane on the Riverpoint Campus to conduct its in-depth analysis. The commission serves the public by establishing, maintaining and applying standards that ensure the quality and continuous improvement of dental and dental-related education and reflect the evolving practice of dentistry. Also, As part of their Community Service Day for winter quarter, students in the Eastern Washington University Dental Hygiene Department spent Valentine’s Day providing dental care to EWU students who are veterans.
  
  
• Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis – Based at Riverpoint, the Institute – in conjunction with our College of Business and Public Administration – created the 2011Regional Economic Outlook. This was used by many community groups. The Institute, through its Community Indicators Project, also has a weekly Community Indicator published in The Spokesman-Review’s Business section, highlighting various trends in the community relating to the economy.
  
  
• EWU’s Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis also completed a study that reflected event spending in Spokane County. The study revealed attendees spent nearly $116 million at three venues operated by the Spokane Public Facilities District (PFD) during a 12-month period ending Jan. 31, 2010.
  
  
• Eastern Washington University’s College of Business and Public Administration (CBPA) also announced the creation of the Terry Novak Public Service Endowment in honor of one of the university’s most respected professors, who passed away in 2009. He also served as City Manager for Spokane before coming to EWU. The $25,000 endowment will provide an annual scholarship to an Eastern student who is pursuing a Master of Public Administration degree. Eligible students must intend to have a career in the public service sector.

Gonzaga University

• Dr. Thayne McCulloh inaugurated Gonzaga’s 26th president – and first lay president – on Oct. 22, 2010. President McCulloh was born in Los Angeles and attended Blanchet High School in Seattle. Before college, McCulloh completed a three-year enlistment as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. In college he served as president of the Gonzaga Student Body Association and the Jesuit honor society Alpha Sigma Nu, and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree (1989). McCulloh was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.) in experimental social psychology from Oxford in 1998. McCulloh has worked continuously at Gonzaga since 1993 and served as Gonzaga’s interim president since Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., departed in July 2009. He was named president by the Board of Trustees on July 16, 2010. McCulloh has served Gonzaga in a multitude of administrative and academic positions ranging from assistant dean of students to dean of financial services and interim academic vice president since his first job coordinating residence life. He shares with Harry H. Sladich the distinction of receiving Gonzaga’s Lindberg Loyalty Award.
  
  
• Gonzaga hires Dr. Jane Korn as its new dean for the School of Law (started July 2011). Korn was previously vice dean and the John D. Lyons Professor at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. Korn, who has received numerous teaching awards and has held several key administrative posts at University of Arizona since 1986, replaces Earl F. Martin, who became dean in July 2005 and stepped down to become Gonzaga’s executive vice president.
  
  
• Electrical engineering Associate Professor Steve Schennum lands $1.1 million award from the National Science Foundation, Gonzaga’s largest federal research grant ever, to develop new ways to help meet demand for reliable and secure high-bandwidth wireless communications. Other important grants received by Gonzaga include the university’s first-ever National Endowment for the Arts award to support the Visiting Writers Series and The Kern Family Foundation planning grant to fund the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s continued participation in the Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) program. The KEEN program grant at Gonzaga envisions many changes in engineering education – to be accomplished in phases – including creation of a new Center for Engineering Design and Entrepreneurship (CEDE) to replace the Center for Engineering Design (CED), new professional elective courses in ethics and technology, student summer enrichment experiences, and improvements in students’ design competitions among other initiatives.
  
  
• Gonzaga women’s basketball reaches new level of national prominence, attendance and economic impact on Spokane region. Gonzaga women enjoyed their best home attendance in history, ranking 25th in nation among NCAA Division I schools; the NCAA said it was the sixth-largest increase in home attendance from the 2009-10 season. Coach Kelly Graves led the Zags to their first-ever appearance in the Elite Eight as the women ran the table and won every conference game and tore off 31 wins to 5 losses, the most wins any GU basketball team ever —men or women. All-everything guard Courtney Vandersloot became the only competitor in NCAA Division 1 basketball ever (men or women) to earn 2000 points and 1000 assists in a single season was drafted by the Chicago Storm as the No. 3 overall pick in the WNBA draft in April 2011. GU hosted the first and second rounds of the women’s NCAA Tournament, including two sell-out games at the Spokane Arena.
  
  

• Gonzaga debuted two new master’s programs, important to regional and global energy and health care sectors, respectively – Master’s in Transmission and Distribution Engineering (approved April 2011) and a hybrid model for the Master’s in Healthcare Management (approved Feb. 2011). The Master’s in Transmission and Distribution Engineering is designed to meet the need for more trained transmission professionals in an industry that is projecting substantial increases in transmission investments. Originally launched in 2007, the Healthcare Management Program was designed to serve an unmet need for professionals trained to manage area healthcare businesses. A task force of local healthcare professionals met with representatives of Gonzaga’s Graduate School of Business Administration for six months to create this program to meet the needs of the healthcare community and now offer an option comprised of 50 percent weekend classes and 50 percent online coursework.
  
  

Innovate Washington (formerly Sirti)

• Sirti, the Spokane-based Washington state economic development agency, has received final state clearance to move ahead with a major transformation. A bill signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire last week will abolish Sirti and a Seattle counterpart, the Washington Technology Center, and will transfer their functions to a planned new state agency, Innovate Washington. Plans call for that agency to take a statewide, sector-based approach to bolstering technology enterprises, starting with clean energy. It also is expected, though, to continue its predecessors' missions of providing a range of support services to young innovative technology companies in other industries.

Washington State University Spokane

• WSU Spokane launches the Project Lead The Way Biomedical Sciences Program with a conference for area school district personnel. WSU Spokane is the first West Coast affiliate for PLTW in the Biomedical Sciences curriculum, providing core training for teachers to implement the curriculum in their high schools.
  
  

• City Council approves renaming of the future Riverside Avenue Phase I extension to Martin Luther King, Jr., Way. Construction work begins on the street project in February. Funding for the $3.76 million Phase I project came from federal and local funds. US Sen. Patty Murray worked to obtain federal funding for all three phases of the Riverside Extension project as well as a future traffic-calming redesign of Spokane Falls Boulevard.
  
  

• State legislature appropriates $35 million, roughly half the construction cost for the Biomedical and Health Sciences Building at the Riverpoint Campus. The #1 WSU capital budget priority, the building breaks ground in October. WSU and Spokane community leaders plan to go back to the legislature and ask for the rest of the funding for Phase I in the upcoming session.
  
  

• Gary Pollack, dean of the WSU College of Pharmacy, named WSU Vice Provost for Health Sciences. WSU Spokane receives a grant from the Health Sciences and Services Authority of Spokane County to begin planning a multidisciplinary, multi-university health care clinic for underserved populations on or near the Riverpoint campus.
  Groundbreaking ceremony for the Biomedical and Health Sciences Building will occur on October 5, celebrating a significant milestone for the entire community.

Whitworth University

• Whitworth University secured space in the Riverfront Office Park building for two more classrooms and a conference room, bringing the total to five classrooms and one conference space in the Whitworth U-District facility. This growing presence in the University District confirms Whitworth as an exciting new partner contributing to the overall success of the area.
  
  

• Whitworth University confirms its long-term intentions in the University District by constructing the Whitworth University District monument sign on Spokane Falls Boulevard.
  
  

• Whitworth University celebrates the completion of the William P. and Bonnie V. Robinson Science Hall, which officially opens in fall 2011.

University District Development Association

• The University District Development Association completed the University District Comprehensive Database which will help drive development and investment interests by identifying opportunity sites, existing centers of activity, business and employment trends, as well as other information important to growth and economic development in the area. UDDA staff worked with Eastern Washington University’s Urban & Regional Planning graduate students to create a detailed analysis of the information contained in the database. The report is titled “Spokane University District Assessment: A Search for Patterns.
  
  

• The University District Development Association completed an analysis of alternative organizational structures best suited to drive revitalization and economic development throughout the district. The report, “Organizational Options and Opportunities for the University District Development Association,” is currently being utilized to implement a fast-paced strategic development process to most efficiently implement the goals and vision of the 2004 University District Strategic Master Plan.
  
  
• The University District Development Association partnered with other local agencies to make the Central City Mobility Open House a biannual event, occurring each October and April. The event brings together all mobility and transportation related projects from multiple agencies that affect Downtown Spokane and the University District. Combined, the two events brought in nearly 300 local residents to learn about the UD Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge, the Central City Transit Alternatives Analysis, the Division Street Gateway study, among many others.
  
  
• The University District Advisory Council (UDAC) completed its first full year of public participation. The grassroots group, which meets quarterly, was instrumental in creating the 2004 Strategic Master Plan. The UDAC consists of business owners, residents, and employees and is open to any Spokane resident interested in University District progress. Members of the UDAC frequently give feedback to the University District Development Association regarding current and future projects.

October 2009

• In round one of the State Energy Program awards, the Washington State Department of Commerce awarded the Sirti Foundation $250,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for a loan fund for early-stage & established companies with innovative clean energy technology.
  
  

• Riverpoint Advanced Mathematics Partnership (RAMP) receives $850,000 grant to continue its professional development project for three more years. 43 teachers and 17 principals are partnered with ten college math faculty from WSU, EWU, Spokane Falls Community College and Spokane Community College to help them prepare students for college.

•  A grant from the EPA funded Gonzaga’s School of Engineering research in ways to use briquettes from agricultural residue in biomass syngas-fueled power generators.

• Gonzaga received grants of nearly $1.8 million to support diverse, rigorous and transformational student learning programs.

• Eastern Washington University welcomes two new international students to its EWU Spokane campus as part of the U.S. Department of State’s Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program. The pair will be studied in the University’s Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) program, located at Riverpoint.

 November 2009

• Eastern Washington University’s Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis, based at EWU Spokane’s Riverpoint Campus, announces it will create a data-based website for three northeast counties in the state of Washington – Stevens, Ferry and Pend Oreille. As part of its Community Indicators Initiative, the institute has created similar websites for four other counties around the state, including Spokane. Each website serves as sort of a data bank that provides analytical information on relevant community topics such as business, health, crime, transportation, education and housing.

• Revita Institute Northwest, a new and innovative rehabilitation clinic, opened in the Sirti Building on Riverpoint Boulevard.

• WSU Spokane is honored with the 2009 Excellence in New Communications Award for Academic Micro-blogging by the Society for New Communications Research for the @WSUSpokane account on Twitter.

• National and state agencies renew accreditation for Washington State University’s College of Education, which earns praise as "a standout institution." The college’s educational leadership program headquartered at WSU Spokane produces over half the state’s school superintendents.

 December 2009

• University District Development Association (UDDA) is formally created as a 501 c (3) non-profit intending to advocate and facilitate urban development and revitalization within Spokane’s University District.

• Eastern Washington University celebrates the Silver Anniversary of its Computer Science Department. The department offers a graduate course in software engineering at Riverpoint, and department personnel have been involved with the Eastern’s computer science roots go back to 1969, when Computer Science Studies were first brought to the university.

 January 2010

• WSU College of Nursing partners with Air National Guard in human patient simulation training. The first of its kind in the country, this partnership enables local military branches to train their units without expensive travel and allows for military training money to stay within the local community.

• Through an IRS grant, Gonzaga’s Low Income Taxpayer Clinic helped citizens eastern Washington

• A discovery by scientists at WSU Spokane’s Sleep and Performance Research Center published in the journal SLEEP calls into question the findings of a large body of sleep research; conclusions may have been drawn incorrectly because of a misunderstanding about the elements of cognitive performance and what is really tested under conditions of sleep deprivation.

 February 2010

• For the first time in the state of Washington, more than 50 applicants to the University of Washington WWAMI program offered in collaboration with WSU Spokane undergo medical school admission interviews in Spokane—not Seattle.

• Students in Eastern Washington University’s Dental Hygiene Program provide dental cleanings for kids and young adults at the EWU Dental Hygiene Clinic on the Riverpoint Campus. Eagle Kids’ Health Day is for Washington state residents who are under-served, low-income children who are not on DSHS, or do not have any other kind of dental insurance.

• WSU Veterinary Specialty Teaching Clinic celebrates its grand opening on the Riverpoint Campus.

• Eastern Washington University and Washington State University co-host the American Mock Trial Association’s (AMTA) Regional Qualifying Tournament. This is the first year the tournament is held in Spokane. Mock trial tournaments provide students the opportunity to take on the roles associated with actual legal proceedings in a simulated situation.

• The state of Washington’s U.S. Senate delegation helps Eastern Washington University’s Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis secure a $250,000 federal appropriation for its efforts to foster economic development in rural counties of the Inland Northwest. Combined with a previous appropriation of $200,000, the Institute has been awarded $450,000 over the last year to help support rural communities. The money will allow the Institute to continue its Community Indicators work, and to initiate a thorough economic analysis of business opportunities in rural counties, providing a richer and more meaningful base for local businesses.

 March 2010

• Gonzaga’s Women’s basketball team not only made the NCAA Tournament, but advanced to the Sweet 16; men’s basketball made its 12th straight trip to the NCAA Division I tournament.

• As the result of collaborative efforts between WSU and EWU, the Phase I Building on the Riverpoint Campus receives new classroom technology which includes high-end projectors, document cameras, and media players, along with interactive touch screens to operate the technology. Each of these classrooms also has in-class computers as well, eliminating the need for faculty to carry more than their notes and a flash drive to class.

• A study prepared by representatives of the University of Washington, Washington State University, the Spokane County Medical Society, Greater Spokane Incorporated, area hospitals, and other businesses and health care providers recommends the expansion of medical education in Spokane to help address the critical shortage of physicians in rural and eastern Washington.

• Sirti hosts the Washington State Department of Commerce division of International Trade for International Trade week 2010.  The theme of the event was Global Competitiveness for small and medium sized businesses.  Dr. Edmund O. Schweitzer III was the keynote speaker.

 April 2010

• Sirti partners with Eastern Washington University’s Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Computer Graphics departments on internships to match students with Sirti clients to provide support on specific projects.

• Planning efforts and construction projects begin this spring to address transportation, connectivity, and neighborhood vitality on and around the Riverpoint Campus: 

• East Sprague Redevelopment Plan
• University District Bicycle & Pedestrian Bridge
• Central City Transit Alternatives Analysis
• Division Street Corridor Planning

 

• Gonzaga Nursing students and faculty provide patients at Spokane hospitals and care centers with more than 2,000 hours of care per week.

 May 2010

• Pacinian, an on-campus Sirti client, receives a coveted Frost and Sullivan 2010 Innovative Haptic Technology of the Year Award, which benchmarked Pacinian’s technology against key competitors.

• Gonzaga received a $340,000 grant from the Department of the Air Force for discovery of high-performance biomaterials for defense applications.

• WSU Spokane celebrates their 20th class of graduates since the campus’s establishment in 1989.

• Washington State University is recognized as one of the nation's most environmentally-friendly schools for its commitment to sustainability by "The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges," published in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council

June 2010

• Tripp Umbach study calls the Riverpoint Campus “America’s next great academic health center” and reports an annual economic impact of $1.6 + billion in the region and over $2.1 billion statewide, projected on the basis of buildout of a research-intensive comprehensive academic health sciences center at Riverpoint including expansion of medical education and research and growth in other health sciences/professions.

• Riverside Extension road construction project is officially renamed Martin Luther King, Jr. Way during a dedication ceremony.

• Gonzaga University’s PACCAR Center for Applied Science received Gold LEED certification this environmentally sustainable building.

• A Gonzaga University School of Education team conducted research on how to improve graduation rates in Spokane Public Schools.

• President Rodolfo Arévalo names Rex Fuller interim provost at EWU. Fuller will also continue his current responsibilities as executive dean of the Riverpoint Campus. He has been dean of the College of Business and Public Administration (CPBA) since 2006, and as executive dean of the Riverpoint Campus since 2008. With Fuller’s move, Neil Zimmerman assumes the interim dean position for CBPA. Zimmerman has held a number of administrative positions on campus, most recently as the associate dean of the college.

• Eastern Washington University announces that Meryl Roth Gersh, PT, PhD, professor of physical therapy (at Riverpoint), is the recipient of the 2010 Trustees’ Medal Award. The Trustees’ Medal Award is the university’s highest form of recognition for faculty achievement. Because of her service, the Physical Therapy Association of Washington named her “Physical Therapist of the Year” and she also received the American Physical Therapy Association’s Lucy Blair Service Award for 2010 for her contributions to the profession of physical therapy.

 

July 2010

• Weihang Chai, assistant professor in the medical program at WSU Spokane, makes national news with her team’s discovery of a mechanism to help cancer cells age and die, which could ultimately lead to treatments that slow or stop tumor growth. 

• Students participated in five summer programs in Africa working in biology, education, engineering, leadership, nursing, psychology and other disciplines.

• Through a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Gonzaga business students and faculty partnered with local and federal law enforcement officials to assist fraud victims

• Dr. Thayne McCulloh was named Gonzaga’s 26th president on July 16, 2010.

• Eastern Washington University’s Riverpoint Campus hosts the 41st International Simulation and Gaming Conference (ISAGA). Attendees include academics, professionals and students from Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. ISAGA holds this annual conference to explore, design, use and assess the latest gaming, simulation and experiential learning techniques from a variety of cultures and disciplines.

 August 2010

• Whitworth University opens its new U-District location in the Riverfront Office Park building, across from the Riverpoint campus.  Having outgrown its initial start-up space in the Sirti building, Whitworth expanded its evening degree program offerings in response to student demand.  With over 100 students enrolled in fall, 2010, Whitworth will continue to assess degree program needs for working professionals in the downtown area.

• Project Lead the Way designates WSU Spokane as the first Biomedical Sciences National Affiliate on the West Coast; WSU Spokane will provide the core training for high school teachers to offer a sequence of courses that prepare students for college study and careers in the field.

• WSU Regents Professor James Krueger and his research group move to WSU Spokane from WSU Pullman, consolidating the majority of both basic and applied sleep research in Spokane and providing a significant expansion to the medical sciences research portfolio.

• U.S. Sen. Patty Murray announces that $2 million for soil remediation on the site of the Biomedical/Health Sciences Building phase I at Riverpoint, and $1 million for Division Street Corridor safety/design improvements, are included in the Senate Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations bill. The bill will advance to the Senate floor for future consideration.

• The Health Sciences and Services Authority announces a grant to Greater Spokane Incorporated with WSU Spokane as lead partner to conduct regional outreach in support of the expansion of health sciences at Riverpoint.

• The Washington State Department of Commerce, State Energy Program awarded the Sirti Foundation an additional $1,250,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for a loan and grant fund for early-stage & established companies with innovative clean energy technology.

• Community Colleges of Spokane welcomed new Chancellor Christine Johnson on August 2, 2010.  Chancellor Johnson brings extensive higher education experience to the district from her work as president of the Community Colleges of Denver, which she led out of a budget deficit while it faced the greatest reduction in state funding in Colorado history.  President of Metropolitan State College of Denver and former president of Eastern Washington University, Steve Jordan said, “I have never met a more student-focused president in my experience. I have admired the extent to which Christine aligns programs to meet students’ needs. That ability will serve Spokane well.” CCS Board Chair Greg Bever said, “Dr. Johnson is a change master and problem-solver, who is unafraid to take on challenges and looks for opportunities to build consensus.”

September 2010

• Eastern Washington University’s Urban & Regional Planning Program received recognition for outstanding performance in the University category at the joint Planning Association of Washington/ American Planning Association Washington Chapter’s Annual Awards. EWU Planning Graduate students partnered with the University District Development Association to inventory and assess land use strategies to achieve urban revitalization within Spokane’s University District.

• Sirti announced a $1.5 million grant and loan Sirti Foundation Energy Innovation Fund to stimulate jobs and accelerate energy production and efficiency in Washington State.

• Gonzaga University Fall enrollment surpassed all previous high marks. The successful increase resulted from an extraordinarily high retention rate of 92-percent of its students from the previous year. The incoming freshman class in fall 2010 has a cumulative high school grade point average of 3.72, and 18.2 percent are from diverse ethnic backgrounds

• Sirti client, ReliantRx, relocates 40 jobs to the Sirti Technology Center in order to support their growth strategy.

• WSU Spokane and Sirti agree to a lease arrangement to establish an interim location for a vivarium in support of research activities for WSU Spokane health sciences campus.

• WSU Regents adopt a proclamation designating WSU Spokane as the university’s health sciences campus.

• The capital funding request for construction of the Biomedical Health Sciences Building phase I on the Riverpoint Campus is approved by the WSU Board of Regents as the university’s top legislative priority in the capital budget. An operating request for development of plans to begin expanding medical education in Spokane is also approved, to go forward in partnership with the University of Washington.