{"id":36590,"date":"2026-05-19T10:26:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/?p=36590"},"modified":"2026-05-19T10:26:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:26:49","slug":"ipad-donors-mike-and-kathy-hambelton-recognized-with-top-wsu-foundation-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/19\/ipad-donors-mike-and-kathy-hambelton-recognized-with-top-wsu-foundation-award\/","title":{"rendered":"iPad Donors Mike and Kathy Hambelton Recognized with Top WSU Foundation Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Longtime Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine supporters Mike and Kathy Hambelton received the 2026&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/foundation.wsu.edu\/volunteers\/gibson\/\">Weldon&nbsp;B. Gibson Distinguished Volunteer Award<\/a>, the WSU&nbsp;Foundation\u2019s most prestigious distinction, at the Foundation&#8217;s annual Volunteer Awards Celebration last week in Seattle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The event spotlights individuals whose leadership, advocacy, and generosity have advanced WSU and strengthened its statewide impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCollectively, our volunteers play a critical role in advancing student success, empowering faculty, and expanding WSU\u2019s engagement with communities across the state,\u201d said Mike Connell, vice&nbsp;president for Advancement and CEO of the WSU&nbsp;Foundation. \u201cIt is fitting that we take a moment to acknowledge the incredible leadership, commitment, and dedication of these remarkable individuals for making WSU\u2019s impact bigger and better every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Named for the founding chair of the WSU&nbsp;Foundation, the Gibson Award recognizes Cougs whose sustained volunteer service has made a transformational difference for the university and the Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mike&nbsp;(\u201971) and Kathy exemplify lifelong service and philanthropy to WSU. With family ties to WSU since 1946, they\u2019ve advanced education and agriculture through leadership in Washington\u2019s tree-fruit industry and steadfast support of&nbsp;WSU\u2019s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences (CAHNRS)&nbsp;as well as the Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mike\u2019s extensive volunteer roles and campaign leadership, strengthened by Kathy\u2019s partnership, have supported scholarships, research, Cougar Athletics\u2014and the Elson&nbsp;S. Floyd College of Medicine, where&nbsp;the Hambeltons have for years supported a program to equip medical students with iPads.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-cta wsu-spacing-after--xsmall\" >\n\t<a \t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/tech.medicine.wsu.edu\/technology\/ipad\/ipad-initiative\/\"\t\n\t\tclass=\"wsu-button  wsu-button--size-small\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\tLearn More About the iPad Initiative\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Longtime Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine supporters Mike and Kathy Hambelton received the 2026\u00a0Weldon\u00a0B. Gibson Distinguished Volunteer Award, the WSU\u00a0Foundation\u2019s most prestigious distinction, at the Foundation&#8217;s annual Volunteer Awards Celebration last week in Seattle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25158,"featured_media":36592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":null},"categories":[5],"tags":[103,32],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36590"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36593,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36590\/revisions\/36593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36590"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=36590"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=36590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}