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TACOMA, Wash. – University of Puget Sound is pleased to announce two new members of the board of trustees: Bruce W. Hart P’09, vice president at Parsons Corporation in San Francisco; and Lyle Quasim ’70, Hon. ’05, president of Bates Technical College in Tacoma. The new trustees were elected at Puget Sound’s board meeting in May.

In addition the board has recognized the exemplary service of two departing trustees, William D. McCormick P’97 and Deanna W. Oppenheimer ’80, P’11, P’14, by electing them trustees emeriti.

Bruce Hart joins the board of trustees following six years of engagement with Puget Sound. With his wife, Liz, he has supported Puget Sound students and other campus members through the Hart Family Library Fund and gifts to the Parents Fund. Hart has also been deeply involved in the San Francisco community, where he works for Parsons, a builder and developer focused on work for municipalities, schools, and governments.

His many civic roles include director and board secretary for the Herbst Foundation, trustee for Golden Gate University, and lifetime trustee for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is a former member of the board of overseers at Stanford University’s Hoover Institutution on War Revolution and Peace, and has volunteered with his wife for the Proctor Academy. Hart graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973 and a Master of Business Administration degree in 1977. His son Bruce Hart ’09 graduated from Puget Sound with a major in science, technology, and society.

Lyle Quasim, president of Bates Technical College, has been a member of Puget Sound’s Alumni Council Affinity Groups Committee since 2010 and has been engaged with Puget Sound for 15 years. His career has spanned a wide spectrum of public service, including roles as chief of staff to Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg (2001–2008); executive and then secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services; director of the Tacoma Safe Streets Campaign; and as a counselor at Western State Hospital. He also served as a medic for the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam.

Quasim is currently co-chair of the Pierce County Black Collective, and president of the board of the Safe Streets Campaign. His community and volunteer work within Pierce County has been substantial, including former roles at the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation and American Leadership Forum. Quasim, a 1970 graduate of Puget Sound, was presented with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the university in 2005.

Trustees emeriti William McCormick and Deanna Oppenheimer have each contributed decades of service to Puget Sound. McCormick, professor emeritus of physics at The University of Texas at Austin, joined as a trustee in 1978. Among his many important roles, he was co-chair of the Science Center Committee that steered the renovation of Thompson Hall and development of Harned Hall, creating a world-class science center at Puget Sound.

Oppenheimer, immediate past chair of the board and a trustee since 1998 (in addition to a previous term (1987–93) played a guiding role in creating Puget Sound’s strategic plan and 20-year campus master plan. The first woman to chair the board at Puget Sound, she has

volunteered in many capacities for more than 30 years, encouraging alumni engagement and strengthening the academic and co-curricular experience of students.

The responsibilities of the University of Puget Sound Board of Trustees include setting the university’s mission and reviewing its major policies, appointing and supporting the president, overseeing strategic planning and the educational program, and approving financial priorities and the annual budget. Trustees also serve as public ambassadors for the university and act as a bridge to the community, to alumni, and to the public at large.

Photo credits: Bruce Hart, by Jason Forman; Lyle Quasim, courtesy of Bates Technical College; William McCormick and Deanne Oppenheimer, by Ross Mulhausen.

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