Amid a crowd of WSU administrators, friends and family, a colorful portrait of former President Kirk Schulz was unveiled Monday afternoon.
The portrait is oil on canvas and portrays Schulz, without a tie, holding the book ‘Leading the Crimson and Gray,’ standing at the WSU Tri-Cities campus.
“It turned out amazingly well, I love it,” Schulz said after the unveiling. “Very nice.”
Along with the book, there are other items on Schulz’s person including a Virgina Tech class ring to symbolize land-grant universities and an Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch that symbolized “that aspiration to want to be really good in something, to want to excel.”
“When they were doing a portrait, they wanted some things that were personal to me that should be part of my leadership or a hallmark of my presidency or things that made me the person I am today,” Schulz said.
The portrait was commissioned for $55,000 to Seattle-based artist Grace Flott, who painted former Governor Jay Inslee’s official portrait. The portrait was entirely funded by donors and will hang in the Terrell Library atrium.
Flott was selected by a committee of WSU faculty and staff, including Department of Art chair Squeak Meisel and Schnitzer Museum of Art Executive Director Ryan Hardesty.
“[The committee was] interested in an artist that has their own style,” Flott said. “I think in traditional portraiture, there’s definitely history, they all look the same, right? I think they were looking for someone that had their own practice.”
The portrait took around seven weeks to complete, Flott said.
The unveiling was also a celebration of Schulz, with WSU President Betsy Cantwell speaking.
“You can go to any university, and the ending of a presidential term is celebrated in a variety of different ways,” Cantwell said. “Very few ensure that every single president has a phenomenal painting with a phenomenal artist who’s produced that painting and that we honor all of our presidents that way.”
Schulz served as president from 2016 to the end of March 2025. Schulz announced he would retire in April 2024, amid system-wide calls for him to step down. He is slated to receive $765,000 during his yearlong sabbatical, which began in late June.
