Tri-Cities campus building dedicated to former WSU President

A building on the Tri-Cities campus has been dedicated to the former President of Washington State University, a branch which many say held a special place in his heart.

Academic Affairs Coordinator Jana Kay Lunstad says Elson Floyd encouraged WSU to grow, reach out to the community and help build the wine science center.

"I think he believed in our potential even more than we did and he had such a strong belief that a campus should serve its community and he wanted us to reach out to students in this community and give them access to education," says Lunstad.

The former West building on campus is now named the Elson S. Floyd Building in bright red letters and a large sign has also been posted at the entrance of campus detailing his life and contributions. The idea for renaming the building came from a former WSU alumni and now a clinical associate professor of anthropology, Mark Mansperger, who said he wanted to make the change in honor of all Floyd's contributions to the campus.

Floyd served as the President of WSU from 2007 to 2015, when he passed away from complications with colon cancer.