A powerful pair
The Walkers, recipients of the 2024 Gates Volunteer Service Award, bring their unique blend of joy, advocacy and engagement.
By Hannelore Sudermann
To understand why Clyde and Sherrelle Walker have invested so much of themselves across the University of Washington, it might help to know that when Clyde left the UW with his business degree in 1977, he thought he’d never come back.
Sherrelle and Clyde Walker
As a student, when he wasn’t in class, he was working, and he’d been frustrated by the school’s administrative bureaucracy. So in 2007, when a friend urged him to accept a seat on the UW Alumni Association Board of Trustees, he was reluctant at first — until he began to see just how much he’d missed as a student. “All these services and resources were available, and I never knew,” he says.
Clyde and Sherrelle jumped into opportunities for service at the UW, recognizing the potential to help the institution live out its values. Deeply inspired to “pay it forward,” the Walkers saw that at the UW they could pursue their goals of furthering equity, supporting education and nurturing community.
“Doing good, hard, impactful work with people you enjoy — it’s a lot of fun.”
— Clyde Walker
By reconnecting with the UW, Clyde says, “my personal drive was to make the information I wish I’d had as an undergrad more available, accessible and visible to students today.” Besides, “Doing good, hard, impactful work with people you enjoy — it’s a lot of fun.”
How a one-year stint turned into lifelong connection
What Clyde thought would be just a year on the alumni board turned into 11, including a stint as president. Meanwhile, Sherrelle found the College of Education an ideal place to help young people of color reach their full potential. And that was just the start for the powerful pair.
Clyde joined the UW Foundation Board, where he chaired the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. Sherrelle has been president of the guild for the UW-affiliated Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic. Clyde serves on the dean’s advisory board at the Foster School of Business. Sherrelle is the College of Education’s Ambassador Board chair. Clyde served on the Chancellor’s Philanthropy Leadership Council at UW Bothell. Sherrelle is on the steering committees of the UW’s Brotherhood and Sisterhood initiatives. And the list goes on.
“Sherrelle and Clyde are servant leaders who are visionary, kind and compassionate,” says Associate Professor Joe Lott, who created the Brotherhood Initiative for men of color from underrepresented communities, providing a network of learning and support to improve the students’ college experience and graduation rates. The Walkers champion the program and bring in support. Seeing the program’s successes, Sherrelle catalyzed a similar Sisterhood Initiative, sharing her insights as an education leader with Lott and College of Education Dean Mia Tuan, and helping raise private support to create it. The Sisterhood Initiative welcomed its first cohort in 2022.
“Sherrelle and Clyde are servant leaders who are visionary, kind and compassionate.”
— Joe Lott, Associate Professor of Education
At the same time, Clyde deepened his engagement with the Foster School of Business, attending student events and sharing his expertise in panel discussions and as a guest speaker in classes. He also serves on the advisory board of the school’s Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking.
“The Walkers provide a great model for others trying to figure out how to serve the University in impactful ways,” Lott says. “What’s most amazing is that they are down-to-earth people.”
For their lifetime of philanthropic giving, volunteerism and impact, the University of Washington Foundation is honoring Clyde and Sherrelle Walker with the 2024 Gates Volunteer Service Award. The award is given annually to those who shape the University’s trajectory with their philanthropy and service, and encourage others to do the same.
The two met in 1978, when Sherrelle Jiggitts was visiting friends in Washington. She’d been teaching and working on her doctorate in Connecticut while innovating ways to engage children in learning. “But it was time to move on,” she says. “I saw Mount Rainier and I said, ‘Ah, this is where I need to be.’” Finding a life partner in Clyde cemented her plans.
Big returns from community engagement
The Walkers quickly settled into jobs and started their family. Clyde parlayed his UW business degree and a multiyear internship at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab into a 22-year career at the Rocket Research Company, eventually becoming vice president of human resources. He went on to lead HR for Continental Mills (now the Krusteaz Company). Sherrelle continued her leadership work in public education; as assistant superintendent for Federal Way Public Schools, she developed programs such as the Internet Academy, which was featured on CNN. After 30 years in public schooling, she joined a private brain research company focusing on software to improve student learning and achievement. Meanwhile, the couple raised daughters Tiffani, Allison and Adrienne.
Throughout and beyond their professional careers, both Walkers have given their energies and leadership to organizations around the region, including as board chairs for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound, United Way of King County and First Choice Health. But the UW hit the sweet spot, suiting their interests, expertise and personal missions.
In 2020, the pair established an endowment at UW Bothell in the names of their mothers, Beulah Shaw-Walker and Lula Hines-Jiggitts. Both mothers held the strong conviction that education brought opportunities, and they were powerful advocates for it in their families and communities. “As Sherrelle and I were thinking of paying it forward, we gravitated toward Bothell,” Clyde says, noting that campus’ smaller size and natural beauty, and appreciating its emphasis on supporting students of color. “We named it after our moms as an homage to their continued emphasis on the value of education.”
That homage is threaded throughout the Walkers’ deep engagement with the University. They come to campus for advisory board meetings, research symposia, building dedications, class visits and simply to show up for students. They’re also at alumni socials, football games and even Husky Marching Band celebrations.
“There’s so much to do, we could come every week,” Clyde notes. “As Sherrelle says, at the end of the day, you may come for the work, but you stay for the people.”
The Gates Volunteer Service Award honors those who shape the University’s trajectory with their philanthropy and service, and who encourage others to do the same.