Message From the Dean, Innovation 2014

Dean Candis Claiborn

Dear alumni and friends,

We are honored to introduce you to the newly named Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture. On behalf of our college’s faculty, staff, and students, I want to publicly thank the Voilands for the honor of bestowing their name to our college. Gene and Linda Voiland have been involved in WSU and this college for many years and truly exemplify excellence in all they do. We so appreciate their long-time dedication, philanthropy, support, and passion for WSU from which we have all greatly benefitted.

Like the Voilands, we are truly passionate about demanding excellence in the Voiland College, and we’re proud that our caring and supportive community can provide students with the opportunity to create their own success.

We provide the hands-on student experiences that allow our students to graduate work ready, day one. Our land-grant mission remains more important than ever, and we’re proud to give our students practical experiences that prepare them for industry. Our programs, such as the Harold Frank Engineering Entrepreneurship Institute, undergraduate research experiences, student clubs, and the new Frank Innovation Zone provide our students with unique opportunities for industry collaboration, hands-on work, and support from world-class faculty that are unmatched. Our students are truly part of a close-knit, vibrant, diverse, and immersive learning community that allows them to soar.

We’re also proud that our researchers are meeting real industry needs while addressing critical global challenges. Our transformational research is solving practical problems and moving from the lab into industry for maximum impact in areas such as bioasphalt, new fuel cells, and wireless computer chips. We have also recently received several new awards through the Joint Center for Aerospace Technology and Innovation to continue important work that directly benefits the aerospace industry in Washington state.

Our college has seen dramatic and exciting growth in the past several years. I’m pleased to report that the college is thriving and through our strategic planning, we are developing a bold vision for our future. Our new PACCAR Environmental Technology Building is under construction, and the state’s commitment to high demand fields such as engineering and computer science continues to help us provide for unprecedented growth. Our first graduates received their degrees from our new mechanical engineering program in Everett this spring, and a new electrical engineering program got underway there this fall.

None of this would be possible without the support of our friends and supporters, like the Voilands, who help to make these extraordinary research and teaching opportunities possible. I am so thankful to the Voilands and to all of you, our alumni and friends, for the support you provide that is making such a difference for so many students.

Thank you, and Go Cougs!

Candis Claiborn - full signature
Candis Claiborn