Wetstein Receives Montana State University Honorary Doctorate

Willis J. Wetstein, P.E., a Morrison-Maierle, Inc. employee since 1957 and an engineer who has been at the forefront of designs that improve the environment and aid humanity, and Gary Stoner, a Montana-born biochemistry researcher who has identified natural compounds that might prevent certain types of cancer, received honorary doctorate degrees from Montana State University during the university's 114th commencement ceremonies on May 8, 2010.

"We are pleased to honor these two remarkable individuals with the highest commendation MSU confers," said Waded Cruzado, MSU president.

Wetstein also gave the MSU College of Engineering's commencement address where he said:

People who know me understand my enthusiasm for the work that engineers do. And also the enjoyment I receive in working with young engineers and engineering students to help them advance their careers. I have always believed that people who choose engineering as a profession are special people. They not only possess a high interest in, and an understanding of the sciences and math, they also have a great interest in helping people. That is what engineers do. They help people by improving the quality of life and being better stewards of the world around us.

Wetstein is a specialist in water resources engineering who is recognized for his work on projects that have improved the natural environment and those that have brought clean drinking water to rural communities throughout the world. After he graduated from MSU in 1957 with a degree in civil engineering, Wetstein went to work for Morrison-Maierle, Inc. He has worked for the company for 53 years in Helena and Phoenix, serving as company president for a time, before he retired to become a director emeritus. His domestic projects include water/wastewater improvements from Glacier National Park to Big Sky, and on Indian reservations in Montana, North Dakota and the Southwest.

Wetstein has also worked on projects throughout the world, including Sudan, South Africa, Mexico and Central America. One of his most honored jobs was a United States State Department project for USAID to bring potable water to 250 villages in Lesotho, Africa. He recently played a key role in establishing a civil engineering program at Carroll College in Helena, Montana. He is a recipient of the George Warren Fuller Award from the American Water Works Association and the Arthur S. Bedell Award from the Water Environment Association. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the WEA and AWWA and was recently inducted into the Montana Society of Engineers' Professional Engineers Hall of Fame.

MSU annually confers doctorates on friends of the university to honor achievements and service to the state of Montana.

(Some text originally from MSU News Service.)