Recent Development News

Boeing & CLA Partner to Bring the Arts to Children

What do you do when the well runs dry? If the well is our nation's schools and water is money, the answer all too often is to cut funding for art programs.

Students who attend a school where arts programming has been cut or eliminated may suffer in multiple ways if higher education is their goal. Certainly they will not have the benefit of enrichment that comes from art, but on a more foundational level they may also lack essential skills in college and later in life.

The concern is strong enough that the Boeing Corporation is willing to invest $300,000 over a 5-year period to provide arts programming in the schools. The project is called ACE, which stands for Art for Children's Enrichment. ACE will target specific rural schools in western Washington selected in collaboration with Boeing.

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Roland Corp. Donates High-Tech Equipment to School of Music

It was like Christmas in spring at the School of Music as box after box of high-tech electronic equipment was unloaded at Kimbrough Music Building. The donation inventory list included everything from digital recorders to digital drum sets and totaled tens of thousands of dollars.

The gift, delivered in March 2007, was arranged by Mark Malbon, a 1977 WSU graduate with degrees in business administration and accounting. Malbon serves as executive vice president, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer of Roland Corporation U.S., a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of electronic musical instruments.

"This gift by the Roland Corporation U.S. is tremendous and will have a significant impact in many areas, including jazz studies, performing ensembles, the recording studio, and music library," said Gerald Berthiaume, director of the music school.

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Jack & Janet Creighton Make Transformational Gift to History

John W. (Jack) and Janet M. Creighton gave $3 million to create the Corps of Discovery Endowed Chair in the Department of History. This is the department's first endowed chair.

"We want to make the point to others that giving can be structured to fit any financial circumstance," said Janet Creighton. "People might look at the amount of our endowment and say, 'I could never do that,' but the point is, almost everyone is capable of doing something."

"We also want to motivate others who have a capacity similar to ours, or greater, to consider a transformational gift," said Jack Creighton.

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