Retirement party for Gayle Shipley is Dec. 11

Gayle Shipley, director of the Office of Environmental Health and Safety at Western Washington University since 1992, will retire at the end of December.

A celebration will be held in Shipley's honor from 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, in Viking Union Room 565. Refreshments will be provided.

“On behalf of the entire campus, I would like to thank Gayle for her outstanding efforts and service to Western. Because of Gayle’s commitment to the welfare and safety of our campus community, Western is a much safer and better place,” said Rich Van Den Hul, vice president for WWU Business and Financial Affairs, when Shipley first announced her retirement.

As director of EHS, Shipley has overseen office responsibilities ranging from risk management and workers’ compensation to a wide set of health and safety areas including ergonomics, First Aid/CPR, construction safety, hazardous materials management and disposal, radiation safety and emergency management planning. The EHS office now has six full-time and one quarter-time staffers.

For 13 years prior to working at Western, Shipley was responsible for chemical safety, hazardous waste management, and emergency response for hazardous materials at the research and medical laboratories for Northwestern University.

She also has 20 years of experience in environmental consulting. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University and a master’s degree in Environmental Health Engineering from Northwestern University.

Sue Sullivan has been named to replace Shipley. Sullivan has worked as a safety officer within EHS for the past 11 years, where she has managed Western’s hazardous waste program.