Washington State University’s mission to improve global health flourished in large part to Jan and John W. “Jack” Creighton’s early commitment to research and education.
Jan and Jack, former president and CEO of Weyerhaeuser and retired chairman and CEO of United Airlines , became involved with WSU when their daughters, Julia (’83 Fine Arts) and Jennifer (’85 Bus. Adm.) were students at the university.
Through the Jan and Jack Creighton Endowed Chair in Global Health, the two held true to their goal to advance science, people, policy, and to discover novel approaches for disease intervention and delivery of preventative health care for animals and humans.
With the Creighton’s generosity, the Paul G. Allen School for Global Health was able to rapidly catalyze programs with non-discretionary funds that allowed the university to expand its international research footprint to what it is today.
Their support was key in forming relationships with international partners like the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Red Cross, and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.
Those relationships proved pivotal in the inception of WSU’s global health programs that have benefited countless communities in Kenya and Tanzania.
Over the past two decades, the Creighton endowment has evolved from a fund to get international research programs off the ground, to empowering people to address their community’s own global health threats.
In addition to financial support to catalyze new global health initiatives, the endowment covers part of the chairholder’s salary and money to recruit and support graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the Allen School.
In 2002, Jack received the Weldon B. Gibson Distinguished Volunteer Award, which recognizes an individual who has demonstrated sustained, exemplary service and achievement on behalf of WSU and the WSU Foundation. He passed away in 2020.