Washington State University (WSU) is proud to have Alaska Airlines as both a supporter and partner. Its investments in the new Go Cougs aircraft, WSU Athletics, partnership with Bank of America and the WSU Alumni Association through the Alaska Cougar Visa Signature® Card, and title sponsorship of the Alaska Airlines Imagine Tomorrow competition have yielded meaningful benefits to both the company and the University.

The new Go Cougs aircraft celebrates the productive partnership between WSU and Alaska Airlines. WSU is proud to have Alaska Airlines as a continued supporter of educational programs and research pursuits, particularly in the development and adoption of sustainable aviation fuels. 

Alaska and WSU are partners in many more ways. The Airline is the lifeline of the University’s Pullman campus to the rest of the world. WSU students and faculty are aboard Alaska flights each and every day — and not just to and from Pullman. Cougars from all of the WSU campuses across the state use Alaska Airlines and its mileage plan partners to further education and research pursuits around the world.

Through its support of Washington State University, Alaska provides flight credits that allowed hundreds of students and faculty to take more than 300 flights to over 43 destinations around the country.

Hawai’i New Coug Orientation

Alaska Airlines proudly presented the 2024 Hawai‘i New Coug Orientation, an orientation session created for Hawai‘i and Pacific Islander Cougs and their families hosted on the island of O‘ahu. The program centers on student experiences as they prepare for the transition to college and life in Pullman.

Alaska Airlines Day 2022

Sustainable Aviation Fuel

In 2022, WSU became an academic partner in the airline’s corporate SAFE program, which aims to foster education and raise awareness of opportunity to enhance the sustainability of business travel. A critical partner in the work WSU is doing around sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. Alaska Airlines and WSU made history flying the first commercial flight using the world’s first renewable, alternative jet fuel made from forest residuals, the limbs, and branches that remain after the harvesting of managed forests. The alternative jet fuel was produced through the efforts of the Washington State University-led Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA).

Read the 2019 Academic Year Alaska Airlines + WSU impact report here.