Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Pitcher takes job at WSU Spokane

The second-highest ranking official from the University of Idaho will now head up the Spokane campus of Washington State University.

UI provost Brian Pitcher will be the next WSU Spokane chancellor. He starts Jan. 17.

Former chancellor Rom Markin, a 40-year WSU veteran in Pullman, served as chancellor in Spokane for 18 months following the stepping down of Bill Gray. A dean served as interim chancellor the last four months while a search was conducted for the best applicant.

“There is a unique opportunity here from my point of view,” said Pitcher. “This is a place where Washington State University has made a commitment to expand its research and graduate programs, where the community is stepping forward with the University District concept.”

The Riverpoint campus, located just east of downtown Spokane, has been steadily growing with more programs and buildings in the last several years. The business community has rallied behind the idea of developing a University District surrounding the campus, saying it would likely attract a zone of retail stores and apartments.

Under construction now at the Riverpoint campus is the 106,000-square-foot Spokane Academic Center set for completion in fall 2006. The structure will anchor new allied health programs.

“In Brian, we think we have found the strong academic leader and excellent consensus-building that we need to keep WSU Spokane moving forward,” said WSU President V. Lane Rawlins in a released statement.

Like other higher education centers around Washington, the Spokane campus has been growing. Enrollment at WSU Spokane, including nursing students at the Intercollegiate College of Nursing, grew to record highs with 1,427 students this fall.

Now WSU will seek state money to build a new nursing building on the Riverpoint campus, the hub of the planned University District.

“I see this as an opportunity to help be an architect in that (University District) process,” Pitcher said.

Pitcher came to UI in 1997 from Utah State University where he served a number of positions from 1978 to 1997. He had been a dean, associate dean, associate provost and director of the international education program.

Pitcher had also served as head of Utah State’s department of sociology, social work and anthropology; director of the sociology graduate programs; and coordinator of the gerontology certification program. He helped create and expand Western American studies and women’s studies programs and coordinated planning for a renewed emphasis on international education at Utah State.

Pitcher earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology from Brigham Young University in 1973 and 1974, respectively. He received a doctorate in sociology from the University of Arizona in 1978.

In recent years, Pitcher said, he began a search for other positions, but made a decision to stay and help UI during tough times.

UI President Bob Hoover resigned amid controversy in 2003. That was after a University of Idaho Foundation multimillion-dollar real estate venture failed to build a satellite campus in Boise. The failed venture triggered a federal investigation and a $28 million loss.

Pitcher served as interim president and recruited President Tim White, who suffered a minor heart attack before taking his position this summer, a month later than planned.

Pitcher was instrumental in establishing the UI Post Falls research park.

In a released statement, White described Pitcher as “the glue that has held the University of Idaho together through some of the most tumultuous and challenging times in its history.”

By Dec. 6, UI will appoint an interim provost who will serve until the summer of 2005, giving the university time to conduct a national search, according to a UI press release.