V. Lane Rawlins
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Veldon Lane Rawlins is the current President of Washington State University (WSU). Born on November 30, 1937 in southeastern Idaho, United States, he graduated from Brigham Young University in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 1969, Rawlins obtained his doctoral degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1968, Dr. Rawlins became part of the faculty of the Department of Economics at WSU. He served as the chair of the department from 1977 to 1981 and was WSU's vice provost from 1982-1986. He served as the vice chancellor of the University of Alabama for five years before assuming the presidency of the University of Memphis. In June 2000, Rawlins returned to Washington State where he has served as president up to the present day. Rawlins created some controversy in the WSU community in 2002 when he tried to phase out the popular nickname "Wazzu" from usage. The change proved a firestorm of protest from students and alumni and he relented.
Rawlins is a labor economist by training and much of his research work focused on the effects of education on earnings in people's lives. His books include "Public Service Employment: The Experience of a Decade," co-authored with Robert F. Cook and Charles F. Adams, published in 1985.
He and his wife Mary Jo Rawlins have three children and 11 grandchildren including a current undergraduate at Washington State.
Rawlins is an avid fan of WSU Cougar Athletics and the Cougar Marching Band, but he also enjoys fly-fishing, golf, history, and literature.
