The
Pullman campus of Washington State University is and is in the
Palouse region. The average
elevation of the campus is approximately above
sea level, and is west of the
Idaho border and
Moscow, home of the
University of Idaho, also a land-grant and R1 research institution. The university communities are connected by
Highway 270 and the
Bill Chipman Palouse Trail. The Palouse is defined by its unique rolling hills that were created by wind-blown soil, which supports one of the world's most productive dry-land agricultural regions. The main crops are wheat,
peas,
barley, and
lentils. Evenings are often highlighted by a spectacular blue-pink sunset, which the first Board of Regents decided to use as the college's colors (later changed to the current crimson and gray colors). Perched atop College Hill (one of the four main hills in Pullman), the campus overlooks downtown Pullman.
Built environment Campus architecture is diverse, but its prevailing image is perhaps best characterized by a handful of red-brick buildings in the older campus core designed in a neo-Georgian or Renaissance Revival mode, many of which were constructed between the world wars. Yet WSU was hardly immune to modernist, "international style" trends of the post-
World War II period, and features some notable examples of the type, particularly the
Regents Hill dormitory complex, designed by
Paul Thiry, on the north side of campus. By the 1990s, the university began to encourage eye-catching designs, including a 1994 addition to the old Holland Library (now called Terrell Library), by the Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership (now
ZGF Architects LLP) with a curving sweep of windows and a cone-shaped skylight above its atrium; an amenity-filled recreation center with a massive Jacuzzi and fireplace in 2001; and the Samuel H. Smith Center for Undergraduate Education, or "CUE," named for WSU president Smith, who served from 1985 to 2000. The latter two buildings were designed by Yost Grube Hall of Portland. The busiest part of campus is the
Glenn Terrell Friendship Mall, referred to as "the mall" by students. This walkway, which prior to the 1970s was a road with parking available along the sides, was named after Terrell, WSU's president from 1967 to 1985. His secretary was known to set meetings ten minutes behind schedule to make up for the time he would spend talking to students along the way. The library complex (Terrell and Holland Libraries), the student union (Compton Union Building), and three academic buildings surround the mall. The new crimson-colored cube that distinguishes the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art opened in the spring of 2018, just across from the club seating entrance to the football stadium. The
football venue,
Martin Stadium, named after Governor
Clarence D. Martin, also figures prominently on campus. It is situated near the geographical center of the campus with the south grandstands built into the Hill (the Information Technology building is part of the south grandstands), and Terrell Library and the Vogel Plant BioSciences buildings overlooking the west and east ends, respectively. Football has been played here since 1895, first as Soldier Field, later renamed
Rogers Field, rebuilt in
1936. After a fire to the main wooden grandstand in
1970, it was replaced with Martin Stadium, which opened in
1972. Even though it is the smallest in the Pac-12, it offers the most seating to students in the conference. After the
2006 season, Martin Stadium went under a massive renovation to expand the
seating capacity and offer greater amenities for players and spectators, as well as made improvements to the general facilities such as bathrooms and concession stands. The Cougar Football Project is the proposed renovation of Martin Stadium that consists of two separate projects. The first project, called the Southside Project, would replace the old press box on the south stands with a new structure that includes a new press box, club seats, loge boxes, luxury suites and a club room. The Southside Project is now finished and was completed in November 2012. The second project, originally called the "West End-Zone Project" and now the Football Operations Building, provides a home for the Cougar football program, and includes new weight, locker, equipment. and training rooms for players, in addition to meeting rooms and coaches' offices. It also features a WSU Football heritage area along the west side and a game-day home for Gray W former letter winners. (1909), the university's oldest surviving buildings which help enclose a sloping quadrangle featuring the "Lowell Elm," a large
American elm (
Ulmus americana) brought from
Elmwood in 1893 by Harriet Bryan, wife of newly appointed president Bryan. Thompson Hall, with its distinctive turrets and its resemblance to a chateau in the Loire Valley of France, was the original administration building, and "Administration Building" is still carved above the original west-facing entrance. Today, Thompson Hall is home to the foreign language department and also provides the administrative offices for the College of Arts and Sciences.
Bryan Hall is perhaps the most noticeable building on campus, with its tall four-sided tower enclosing a carillon and displaying a clock that lights up neon-red in the evening. Stevens Hall, to Bryan Hall's northwest, is reputed to be the oldest surviving all-women's dormitory west of the Mississippi although it is now closed. Stevens Hall and Thompson Hall are on the
National Register of Historic Places, and both were designed by the Seattle firm of Stephen & Josenhans. • Beef Barn, now the Lewis Alumni Centre, 1922 • Carpenter Hall, which was not finished until 1927. • Community Hall. 1921 • McCroskey Hall, 1920 • President's House, 1912. • Stimson Hall, 1922 • Wilson-Short Hall, 1917, first used, but not finished until later.
Residential campus is the oldest national fraternity at WSU with a founding date in 1909 and
Alpha Delta Pi was the first sorority at WSU with a founding date in 1912. The average chapter size of the community organizations is 64 members. Between 25 and 30 percent of undergraduate students are in the
Greek community annually. Greek affiliates have the highest GPA on WSU's campus, averaging 3.2 for sorority women and 2.97 for fraternity men based on figures from Spring 2018. Individuals join chapters by going through recruitment, often a week at the beginning of one or both semesters where chapter members hold events to meet potential new members. Washington State University has a zero tolerance policy on
hazing both potential new members and current members. Each year Greek chapters submit 6 Pillars of Excellence, each pillar representing a value of Greek Life at WSU, and do reports at the end of the year as a self-evaluation for each chapter. Washington State University "recognizes the right of each fraternity and sorority to create policies and regulations of internal governance, as long as said policies do not conflict with those described in this document or any of its appendices."
College Hill Greek Row is situated on College Hill just downhill from Bryan Hall and the Hill Halls (the historic single-gender dormitories) on the WSU campus, and among the homes of faculty, Greek live-outs, and apartment buildings. The Greek Row and College Hill area is a diverse community of students, faculty members, and families. College Hill is supported by The College Hill Association, whose mission envisions a vibrant, diverse, and improving community that welcomes all residents and values the historic character of the neighborhood. Restaurants, thrift stores and various bars line Colorado Street, the main street on College Hill. The bars on College Hill include Cougar Cottage (informally, the Coug), currently in its 90th year of operation, Valhalla (informally, V-Hall), and The Emporium; all boast a large number of customers on the weekends as well as many themed weekdays.
Recreation and the outdoors The university has the Student Recreation Center (SRC), which was the largest student recreation center in the United States when it was opened in 2001. The SRC contains a elevated indoor track, four basketball courts, two volleyball courts, roller hockey rink, four racquetball courts, swimming pool, 50-person Jacuzzi, free weights, weight machines, cardio equipment, exercise instruction rooms, outdoor sand volleyball courts, and a low to high ropes course. The campus also has several other basketball courts, dance rooms, a climbing wall, and the Outdoor Recreation Center where students can check out equipment or register for various events and trips. The
Bill Chipman Palouse Trail links
Pullman with
Moscow and links to the Latah Trail to
Troy, from WSU. Another bike trail wraps around the Pullman campus (about long). The school has an intramural program, and club sports are also very popular on campus. The university also has The Chinook, a 69,000 square foot space designed for students. It features fitness facilities, study spaces, social spaces for events, and Freshens Fresh Food Studio. The campus added a championship golf course in 2008; Palouse Ridge, a $12.3 million project, opened on August 29. It intends to improve the school's golf teams, provide a laboratory for students in turf grass courses, and give boosters and alumni a new reason to visit the campus. From the back tees (Crimson), the course rating is 75.9 with a slope rating of 140. It replaces a sub-standard 9-hole course that was built in 1923 and was mostly unimproved. It closed in 2006 for the redesign to create Palouse Ridge, on the same site and adjacent land. The
UI Golf Course in Moscow also offers student rates. It opened in 1937 and added its second nine in 1970; the back tees are at , with a course rating of 72.4 and a slope rating of 135. Within , many students have the option to hike at
Kamiak Butte and
Steptoe Butte. Moscow Mountain, at in the Palouse Range in Idaho, provides opportunities for hiking and mountain biking. For aquatic adventures, students can cliff jump or boat at the
Snake River. Farther out, white-river rafting, downhill skiing, and hiking in the nearby foothills of the
Rocky Mountains are available. WSU formerly operated its own alpine ski area in Idaho, the
North-South Ski Bowl, which was sold in the early 1980s.
Arboretum and Botanical Garden The WSU Arboretum Committee continues to develop an Arboretum and Botanical Garden on a hilltop adjacent to the Lewis Alumni Center. In addition, about on the east edge of campus has been identified for a more expansive Arboretum and Botanical Garden, including a wildlife center. Students interested in contributing to the development of the WSU Arboretum are working with the Native Plant & Landscape Restoration Nursery to help establish tree plantings, future habitat restoration sites, or native plant displays that may be part of a campus green belt design.
Environmental record and sustainability initiatives Energy use on campus WSU has one LEED-silver certified building on campus, and two more buildings that meet LEED-silver standards but are not certified. The university has also encouraged the use of energy efficient lighting, energy management systems, and insulating steam lines, to reduce wasted power.
Energy profile WSU's energy is generated in part by an on-campus steam plant, powered by natural gas with diesel fuel back-up. This accounts for 38% of carbon emissions, or 53,922 metric tonnes e out of 136,166 metric tons total. The remaining carbon emissions is predominantly the result of purchased electricity (52%), with less than 10% the result of commuting, air travel, refrigerant leaks, and waste incineration. The university has committed to lowering carbon emissions 36% below 2005 levels by 2035, though thus far emission levels have remained relatively flat. WSU is active in clean energy research, though the campus does not currently have any renewable energy installations. The university is exploring investing in renewable energy, but otherwise is focused on optimizing investment returns. Proxy voting is not possible due to the fact the endowment fund is entirely invested in comingled investment vehicles. and the ASWSU Environmental Task Force. Undergraduates who have an idea to improve campus sustainability can apply for funding from the Cougar Green Fund, which is funded by an optional $5 student fee. WSU also provides a free
bikeshare system through its Greenbike program.
Museums and collections The Museum of Art/WSU has several permanent collections, including the Ernest O. Holland Collection given by the university's fourth president and the Charles Orton Collection, given by a former regent. Others are the Goya and Daumier Collections, Chaplin Woodcuts, Consortium Collections, Meyer Shapiro Print Collection, Elwood Collection and Marian E. Smith Collection of Northwest glass art. Other permanent collections contain works by Northwest artists D. Griffin, Mark Tobey, Kenneth Callahan, Margaret Tomkins, and former faculty members from WSU and the University of Washington. The university also has an extensive collection of
outdoor art on its Pullman campus. Pieces range from a life-size bronze book-figure "Bookin by Terry Allen to "Palouse Columns" (2003) by Robert Maki to "The Technicolor Heart," a fourteen-foot painted bronze work by
Jim Dine. A large part of WSU's public art collection is made possible by the percent-for-art Art in Public Places program of the Washington State Arts Commission. Beginning in 2005 the Museum of Art began organizing its own traveling exhibitions. These exhibitions, including works by
Roy Lichtenstein, Gaylen Hansen, and
Chris Jordan, have been seen across the country. Between 2005 and 2011, exhibitions organized by the Museum of Art will have traveled to 20 museums in 11 states, and will have been seen by more than 300,000 people. The Museum has also published 6 trade books since 2004. The Museum of Art's latest exhibition publication,
Running the Numbers, an American self-portrait, features essays by Chris Bruce,
Paul Hawken and
Lucy R. Lippard. Several other museums and collections are found on the WSU Pullman campus. One of the largest is the Charles R. Conner Museum of Natural History, exhibiting more than 700 mounts of birds and mammals, and possessing more than 65,000 research specimens. The Connor Museum has its roots in an 1894 gift of the state of Washington's exhibits from the Chicago's World's Fair, encouraged by then President of the Board of Regents Charles R. Conner. Located on the first floor of Abelson Hall, the museum is open 8 a.m.–5 p.m. daily except major holidays. The Museum of Anthropology, with archaeological and ethnographic collections, also draws visitors. Open 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Monday through Friday during the school year, the museum has varied exhibits and special events. It also has a collection of objects representing the culture of Native American tribes in the Inland Northwest, and is an official repository for archaeological collections from Eastern Washington. Also at WSU are the Harold E. Culver Collection, with fossils of pre-historic animals; the Lyle and Lela Jacklin Collection of Silicified Wood & Minerals; and S. Elroy McCaw Fluorescent Mineral Display. Research collections include an Historic Costume and Textiles Collection, the Maurice T. James Entomological Collection, the Marion Ownbey Herbarium, the
Mycological Herbarium, and the Henry W. Smith Soil Monolith Collection. ==Organization and administration==