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

WSU gets $25 million gift

Washington State University will announce a record $25 million donation Monday to help create what President Elson Floyd envisions as a kind of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for animal health.

WSU announced Thursday that it would hold a news conference in Seattle to discuss the gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The school would not release the grant amount or details, but characterized it as the “largest private gift in the university’s history.”

However, a WSU lobbyist discussed the $25 million donation at a legislative budget hearing in February.

The School for Global Animal Health, expected to be formally established today by WSU regents, would expand WSU’s research on animal diseases, with a focus on research and treatment of diseases passed from animals to humans.

Such “zoonotic” diseases, such as rabies and tuberculosis, make up about a third of infectious diseases in humans worldwide and take a huge toll on developing countries. WSU hopes to build an $83.5 million building for the school, though its initial request for state funding was not included in the new state budget.

In late February, testifying before the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Larry Ganders, an assistant to the university’s president, told lawmakers that WSU was about to announce a $25 million donation for animal health work. Ganders was trying to persuade legislative budget writers – unsuccessfully, it turned out – to provide at least $2 million for predesign work for the animal health school in Pullman.

The school will focus on veterinary medicine and animal health. It’s part of an overall strategy to develop more narrowly focused “centers of excellence” throughout the university – and to cut back in some other areas.

Floyd has asked deans to cut their budgets by 2.5 percent, and plans to direct 1.5 percent of that toward areas of highest priority, as determined by a committee reviewing WSU programs. He could not be reached Thursday for comment, but in his State of the University speech last month, Floyd talked about the “reallocation” process.

“This is not easy work and there will be both disappointment and disgruntlement among some. However, we simply can no longer afford to be all things to all people,” he said.

Floyd has said WSU’s expertise in veterinary medicine and animal health put it in a position to become a worldwide leader on research and treatment of infectious diseases between humans and animals.