Campus buildings to be named for Professors Marvin Oliver, Thaddeus Spratlen and Lois Price Spratlen
Two of the UW's newest student residences will soon be renamed to honor artist and teacher Marvin Oliver and professors Lois Price Spratlen and Thaddeus Spratlen.
Two of the UW’s newest student residences, Madrona Hall, right, and Willow Hall, left, will soon be renamed to honor artist and teacher Marvin Oliver and professors Lois Price Spratlen and Thaddeus Spratlen.
Recently, an item appeared on a UW Board of Regents agenda: “Approve Honorific Naming of Willow and Madrona Halls.” But instead of the names of major donors, illustrious alums or leaders in technology, the list held three names that were both powerful and familiar: Marvin Oliver, Thaddeus Spratlen and Lois Price Spratlen.
To the UW community, they bring up memories of three big-hearted people, distinguished emeritus faculty members whose influence on the University of Washington and the students they mentored and inspired has endured far beyond their time on campus, and their passing from this world. These individuals were more than faculty—they were visionaries, guides and fierce advocates for justice, education and the betterment of all students, particularly those from underrepresented communities.
Lois Price Spratlen’s story alone is a testament to the power of dedicated service. A trained psychiatric nurse, she earned her doctorate in urban social planning at the UW in 1976 and went on to serve as a faculty member in the School of Nursing. But her legacy extends beyond her academic contributions. For decades, she served as the University’s ombudsman—first in the area of sexual harassment and later for the entire UW. Price Spratlen’s work created spaces of support and accountability.
Thaddeus Spratlen, Price Spratlen’s husband, joined the faculty of the business school in 1972, becoming the first Black faculty member in the school’s history. His groundbreaking scholarship focused on social and economic issues around race and ethnicity. He worked tirelessly to understand and address inequities embedded in business systems.
Marvin Oliver (Quinault and Isleta-Pueblo), ’73, came to the UW to study Northwest Native American art and returned to teach in the Department of American Indian Studies and the School of Art. During his decades on campus, he was committed to fostering cultural understanding of Native identity. One of his most cherished legacies is Raven’s Feast (now Native Graduation), which celebrates Indigenous students’ accomplishments as they complete their UW studies. In a deeply personal ritual, Oliver would hand each graduate one of his framed artworks—a piece many valued at least as much as their diploma.
The UW Board of Regents’ guidelines state that naming “shall be conducive to an inclusive history of the University through recognition of the significant contributions, whether academic, philanthropic or professional, of diverse people and organizations to the University and its mission.” The decision to honor Marvin Oliver, Thaddeus Spratlen and Lois Price Spratlen is the very embodiment of this.
Their contributions to the university were not measured solely in financial terms, but in the gifts of wisdom, passion and commitment to students, to diversity and to the transformative power of education.
The residence halls—Willow and Madrona—beautiful new buildings on the quieter northeast side of campus, opened to students in 2018. In June, when they are renamed for Oliver and the Spratlens, they will become more than dormitories. They will serve as living monuments to thoughtful, generous engagement with the UW campus and its students.