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Incoming WSU President Schulz Kicks Off Statewide Tour

Angela Nguyen
/
Northwest Public Radio
Incoming Washington State University President Kirk Schulz addresses the media in Pullman as he kicks off a tour of WSU campuses statewide.

The incoming president of Washington State University, Kirk Schulz, is on his first official tour of WSU campuses. He kicked it off Friday morning in Pullman.

Schulz took the stage in front of students, faculty & staff with a nod to his new rivals: The University of Washington.

“One of the first challenges we had in getting ready for this trip is, you may know Kansas State is purple,” Schulz quipped.

And so are a lot of his clothes -- because Kansas State is the school where he’s currently president. But not for long.

Schulz is scheduled to take the presidency in Pullman in June. He told reporters, the new WSU medical school former president Elson Floyd campaigned for, is one of his top priorities.

“Man, I want to make sure that when we have that first graduating class of physicians that if [Floyd] was there he’d say, ‘Man. This is what I was dreaming about,’” Schulz said. “I want to respect the things that President Floyd did...at the same time, I got to be my own leader.”

Schulz has embraced the crimson and gray on his tour and on social media, where he is already actively tweeting under a WSU handle.