Randy Suess receives WSU alumni award

--Dean Hare, WSU Photo Services

From left: Rich Koenig, Ron Mittelhammer, Randy Suess, Laurie Suess and Tim Pavish stand together after Randy Suess received the Alumni Achievement Award from WSU's Alumni Association last week.

When Randy Suess was invited to attend a reception at Washington State University for people who had worked with the WSU Extension office, he started thinking about who else might be there. When he arrived, however, he noticed none of them were there, and some people seemed to be avoiding him.

“When I got there, no one would visit with me,” the retired wheat farmer said.

What Suess did not know was the reception was actually in his honor, and nobody wanted to let the secret out. He was being awarded the WSU Alumni Association Alumni Achievement Award – the highest honor bestowed by the association.

“It was a complete surprise,” he said. “My wife had known about it since July. Everyone had kept it a secret.”

Suess received the award Wednesday, Oct. 12, for the work he has done with WSU Extension and the Washington Grain Commission. Suess served on the commission for 11 years and in that time helped to fund six endowed faculty positions at WSU. He also helped to lobby for funding for the new WSU Washington Grains Plant Growth Facility, which he called a big success.

“It was pretty amazing,” he said, noting it only took about a year to gather all the funds. “That's unheard of.”

Suess' efforts helped to raise $5 million each from the USDA, WSU and the Washington Grain Commission to fund a new greenhouse.

Suess graduated from WSU in 1976 with a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education. He taught and was superintendent at Steptoe for nine years before going into farming.

“I went back to the family farm,” he said. “I'm living in my grandparent's house.”

Suess retired from farming after last year's harvest, and he now leases out the land. He said life has slowed down since his retirement, but he strives to keep up his involvement.

“I try to keep informed,” he said.

The Alumni Achievement Award was created in 1970. Suess is the 529th recipient of the award.