WWU Chemistry's Spencer Anthony-Cahill retires after 28 years at Western
The end of this academic year marks the 18th of my career at WWU, meaning it has reached adulthood. While this may sound silly, it also seems appropriate: my longtime mentor, Professor Spencer Anthony-Cahill, is retiring. It’s finally time for me to fledge.
Spencer grew up a kid of the Pacific Northwest, spending much of his youth in Issaquah and exploring the Kittitas Valley. He graduated from Whitman College with a degree in chemistry, where he met his wife, Yvonne. From Walla Walla, Spencer attended graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was one of Peter Schultz’s first graduate students. After receiving his PhD, also in chemistry where he focused on a bioorganic chemistry approach to incorporate non-natural amino acids into proteins, he joined Bill Degrado’s group at Dupont in Delaware, where he was introduced to Aikido, which would serve as an enduring part of his life, as both student and teacher. After several years working in the biotechnology industry in Boulder, Colorado, Spencer and Yvonne moved to Bellingham in 1997, where Spencer would begin his academic career in the chemistry department at WWU.
Unbeknownst to Spencer, I chose him as a mentor long before I joined the faculty in 2007. Spencer and I first met while I was just starting my graduate studies in Seattle, where we both attended the Volcano Conference in Bioorganic Chemistry in 2001. I recall not only talking with Spencer about science and life, but also simply observing him interact with his undergraduate research students. The energy and curiosity of these nascent scientists struck a chord with me, and seeing how Spencer led them through the nuances of their first conference was perhaps the first time I could see myself taking on a professorial role. I had taken notice of WWU Chemistry, and when I finally felt prepared to apply for an academic position, the opening for a biochemist in our department was the only job I applied for; I wanted to work with Spencer, so I could continue to learn and grow as a scientist and teacher with him as my mentor.
Perhaps it is a bit of a selfish indulgence for me to reflect on Spencer’s impact on me when his academic career has been singularly focused on one motivation: teach, train, mentor, and care for his students. Of course, Spencer’s influence at WWU was campus-wide, where he served several different roles in leadership, most notably as Chemistry Department Chair from 2016-2020 and a preceding role as the President of the WWU Faculty Senate. To be sure, all the roles Spencer engaged with would have an underlying motivation to sustain and improve the educational environment we have here at WWU and in the chemistry department, specifically. When Spencer joined WWU Chemistry, it was during a time of great transformation for the department. He established a vibrant research program in protein engineering with a focus on hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers for blood replacement and led an overhaul of the biochemistry curriculum to eventually incorporate a full year of biophysical chemistry to the curriculum.
What cannot be overstated was the substance and style of Spencer’s student mentorship. It is my belief that his philosophy of enlightening students was rooted in his experience in Aikido, where he teaches to live by three values: courage, wisdom, benevolence. No matter where his students came from to join his lab or his classroom, he has always met them where they’re at, helped them define and achieve their own goals, and ultimately strived to teach them to think critically and independently. It is not hyperbole to state that the impact Spencer has had on his students is deep and lasting. Yvonne also played a large role in his students’ lives, bringing them to her dinner table for nourishment, laughter, and a sense of belonging. This year, Spencer will be given the 2025 WWU Alumni Outstanding Faculty Legacy Award; I cannot think of a more deserving mentor to receive this honor.
One may wonder where the roots of Spencer’s motivation and qualities as a teacher and mentor come from, and I suspect his mother, Toby Cahill, played a large role in that. Spencer and his sister, Leslie, grew up in a single parent household, where Toby taught them the values of service and compassion. To celebrate her life, Spencer and his family have endowed a scholarship in her name, with this being its inaugural year. The Toby Cahill Memorial Scholarship celebrates students who are engaged in some level of service to their community and is renewable for a second year for scholarship recipients.
To conclude this soliloquy, I was struck by attending Spencer’s last lecture course at the end of Winter quarter. As a tradition, faculty members from our department attend the last minutes of our colleagues’ last lecture as a congratulatory sendoff. Always mindful of significance in the moment, Spencer shared a poignant one with his class. He showed them a photo that he took of his very first class as a WWU professor, talking about where some of his students were now, 28 years later. He then asked for permission to take a photo of his very last class. To me, if these photos serve as anything, perhaps they’re bookends to a long and impactful career, and each book, volume, or paper held together on this shelf represents a student who learned to be courageous, wise and benevolent through their experience working with Professor Spencer Anthony-Cahill.
All staff and faculty are invited to join the chemistry department in celebrating Anthony-Cahill’s retirement on Friday, May 30 from 5-7 p.m. in SL 220.