Valle Scholarship/Exchange: History of the Program

Henrik Valle, a Norwegian immigrant, quietly became a Horatio Alger in construction in Seattle. He literally began at the bottom - helping dig the basement for the first Frederick and Nelson store. Twenty-five years later he was the general contractor for a $10 million project to add five stories to the store. The 1950-51 project was so successful that Frederick and Nelson later named Valle the contractor for its Bellevue Square store without calling for bids.

Henrik Arnold Valle was born in Os, Norway on May 6, 1896. Os, meaning "mouth of the river", is near Bergen in Hordaland County and is situated in the southern part of Bergenshalvøya, where the fjord and the coast meet.

Os has always been a farming and fishing region, and is known for building the famous wooden Oselvar boats. This boat-building tradition has ancient origins in the Viking age and the trade is still practiced today.

Henrik, youngest of ten children to parents Henrikke Bolette Lunden and Ole Larson Valle, grew up on the family farm in Os with his two brothers and seven sisters. He went to gymnasium in Voss and received his college education at Norges Tekniske Høgskole in Trondheim, Norway (now NTNU) where he graduated in civil engineering and military science.

In 1925, Valle immigrated to the United States and settled in Seattle, Washington. Although he held a degree in engineering, he could not speak English and "knocked on contractors' doors" until he got a job as a laborer. Valle joined the Peder P. Gjerde Construction Company and remained with the company until he assumed ownership in 1936 and renamed it the Henrik Valle Company. That same year, Henrik married Ellen Stray, daughter of Norwegian immigrants who had also settled in Seattle.

The Valle's had numerous ties with Seattle's Ballard community where they lived for many years. They were active in local organizations including the Norwegian Commercial Club, the Leif Erickson Lodge #1, Sons of Norway and the Nordmanns Forbundet.

Henrik Valle was highly respected for his trade skills and integrity. Erik Prestegaard, a Tacoma engineer said of Valle, He was a fantastic estimator and that's where he made his money, particularly in Alaska. He built almost an entire town up there. He was a very dependable and generous man. His word was equal to a written contract. Valle was president in 1940 of the Seattle Northwest Chapter, Associated General Contractors. It was widely known that many of Seattle's construction companies were started by men who learned the business working for Henrik Valle.

William Jack Straith was a Seattle contractor who started his career by working for the Henrik Valle Company in 1942 while he was a civil engineering student at the University of Washington. Straith said there was no one like Henrik Valle in terms of his integrity in business dealings. Everyone loved and respected Henrik Valle. Jack Straith became Vice President and worked full-time for the Valle Company until 1960 when Straith bought much of the Valle business to form the Straith Construction Company.

Acording to Jack Straith, the Henrik Valle Company was involved in construction of Seattle's First Avenue South Bridge, the Seattle Art Museum in Volunteer Park (WPA project), Saint Thomas Seminary in Kenmore, Darigold Company buildings, several wings of Virginia Mason Hospital, and US military and Boeing Company buildings including the Boeing Wind Tunnel.

The Valle Company formed a partnership with Summers Construction Company in Alaska and built military housing at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, the Sitka Sanatorium in Juneau, housing and fire stations at Fort Richardson, oil warehouses in Whittier, and many projects for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Alaska. The Valle-Summers partnership disbanded in 1952.

Valle's construction projects also included landmark buildings in Washington State including the Pacific Northwest Bell Company building at Third Avenue and Seneca Street and the Nordstrom building (originally the Frederick and Nelson building) in downtown Seattle, and the Washington Correction Center in Shelton.

Buildings on the University of Washington campus built by the Henrik Valle Company included additions to Suzallo Library, Johnson Hall and the first unit of the Student Union Building (HUB).

In 1964, Valle retired and simply closed the door of his firm. Ellen Stray Valle died October 23, 1968.

Henrik had traveled extensively with Ellen and made frequent trips to Norway to visit his family. After his retirement, he traveled throughout the world, frequently visiting the family farm in Norway. His last trip was in August 1979.

According to Erik Prestegaard, during Valle's travels he met a diamond prospector in South Africa and became so intrigued by his work that Valle returned to Africa and "went into the bush with him" for several months prospecting for diamonds, but he didn't have any luck.

After Henrik sold his home in Normandy Park in Seattle, he lived in Lacey, Washington and in 1977 moved to the Norse Home in the Phinney neighborhood of Seattle where he died October 12, 1979.

The Gift

Henrik Valle's construction accomplishments were many, but his crowning achievement and living legacy was his gift to establish an international scholar exchange program between the University of Washington and institutes in the Nordic countries.

Valle, having become a multimillionaire building contractor, wanted to promote and enhance his profession and provide for meaningful exchanges of scholars and faculty with his Scandinavian home. Erik Prestegaard said that Henrik was a man of few words, but he thought a lot about how to promote and enhance his profession. He wished for a meaningful exchange of students and scholars.

To this end, Henrik gifted more than $3 million to the University of Washington to establish a scholar exchange program which became the Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program. Henrik and Ellen's estate specified that the gift be used for student exchange programs in civil engineering, architecture, and building construction between the UW and Scandinavian schools.

The seeds for the establishment of the Valle Program were sewn in April of 1975 when Dr. Dale A. Carlson, then Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Washington, submitted a proposal to Henrik Valle entitled, "Enhancement of Learning Exchanges between Scandinavia and the University Of Washington Department Of Civil Engineering". It was proposed that the funding would provide for the possibility for student and faculty exchanges with Scandinavia, which invited visions of a major opportunity to maintain the strong cultural bonds that have existed between the regions in the past. The educational exchange would provide an outstanding vehicle for maintaining information exchange through direct contact, program exchange, lectures, and joint research projects.

Dr. Carlson stated in 1980 that Valle's gift was 'by far' the largest such given the University's College of Engineering and one of the largest given to the University of Washington. The Northwest will benefit from the exposure of our people to the world-renowned expertise of the Scandinavians in the fields of pulp and paper technology and cold-regions engineering. Conversely, their participants will benefit from our strong programs such as those in environmental control and structures engineering.

From the desire to establish interchanges of students and faculty with institutions in Scandinavia, particularly with Henrik's alma mater, the Technical University in Trondheim, the Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program was launched in 1980. Dr. Dale A. Carlson served as Director until 2002 when Dr. G. Scott Rutherford, UW professor and former Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, became the Valle Director.

Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program

Unparalleled in the United States, the Valle Scholarship Program has a dual mission: 1) To promote and fund the exchange of graduate students between the University of Washington and programs in the Nordic countries. Funding is restricted graduate students in the civil and environmental engineering department and closely related fields such as architecture and urban planning. 2) To support outstanding graduate students in civil and environmental engineering and architecture and urban planning.

The original Valle trust funded exchange scholars to and from Nordic countries Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland. And in 2005, exchanges with the Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were added to the Valle Program. As of 2008, the Valle endowment for the Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program has grown to $15 Million and has funded over 600 scholars.

The far-reaching value to the future of the Valle Program has been demonstrated in the careers and lives of hundreds of Valle scholars world-wide. Many are highly skilled professionals engaged in some of the world's most significant building and environmental projects.

The Valle Program continues to advance the vision of Henrik and Ellen Valle by "preparing people for life-long learning, leadership and service through cooperative international education." The Valle Program conducted a survey of former Valle scholars in 2001 and the overwhelmingly positive responses were inspiring.

In 1983, I was a Valle Scholar in Uppsala, Sweden where I conducted a portion of my doctoral research. My experience as a Valle Scholar was personally and professionally rewarding and had a major effect on the quality of my graduate work.
Jean Jacoby, Chair, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seattle University

Living abroad and working in another culture has made a life-long impact in my life and view of the world. While the exchange of technical information is important, it is the cultural exchange that makes the Valle Program unique.
Dr. John Olson, M.D.

I was among the first US students to go abroad on the Valle scholarship in 1981. My time in Sweden was certainly one of the most important experiences of my life. I still keep in contact with my friends there and often look back with fondness at my project and experiences in that part of the world.
David Roberts, Watershed Planning Supervisor, Washington Department of Ecology

The Valle year was really decisive in my development as an architect. Research at the U.W. was the first major turning point in my professional life, and resulted in a prize- winning entry in an international design competition.
Kirsi Leiman, Acting Head of Exhibitions, Museum of Finnish Architecture

There is little doubt in my mind that the Valle Exchange Program offers an incredibly good opportunity for students from both the University of Washington and Scandinavia to continue studies in very different and stimulating environments and gain experiences which will help them for their entire careers.
Jay Lund, Professor, Civil Engineering, University of California, Davis



	Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program Historical Background Henrik Valle, a Norwegian immigrant, quietly became a Horatio Alger in construction in Seattle. He literally began at the bottom - helping dig the basement for the first Frederick and Nelson store. Twenty-five years later he was the general contractor for a $10 million project to add five stories to the store. The 1950-51 project was so successful that Frederick and Nelson later named Valle the contractor for its Bellevue Square store without calling for bids. (Svein Gilje, The Seattle Times, January, 1980) Henrik Arnold Valle was born in Os, Norway on May 6, 1896. Os, meaning "mouth of the river", is near Bergen in Hordaland County and is situated in the southern part of Bergenshalvøya, where the fjord and the coast meet. Os has always been a farming and fishing region, and is known for building the famous wooden Oselvar boats. This boat-building tradition has ancient origins in the Viking age and the trade is still practiced today. Henrik, youngest of ten children to parents Henrikke Bolette Lunden and Ole Larson Valle, grew up on the family farm in Os with his two brothers and seven sisters. He went to gymnasium in Voss and received his college education at Norges Tekniske Høgskole in Trondheim, Norway (now NTNU) where he graduated in civil engineering and military science. In 1925, Valle immigrated to the United States and settled in Seattle, Washington. Although he held a degree in engineering, he could not speak English and "knocked on contractors' doors" until he got a job as a laborer. Valle joined the Peder P. Gjerde Construction Company and remained with the company until he assumed ownership in 1936 and renamed it the Henrik Valle Company. That same year, Henrik married Ellen Stray, daughter of Norwegian immigrants who had also settled in Seattle. The Valle's had numerous ties with Seattle's Ballard community where they lived for many years. They were active in local organizations including the Norwegian Commercial Club, the Leif Erickson Lodge #1, Sons of Norway and the Nordmanns Forbundet. Henrik Valle was highly respected for his trade skills and integrity. Erik Prestegaard, a Tacoma engineer said of Valle, He was a fantastic estimator and that's where he made his money, particularly in Alaska. He built almost an entire town up there. He was a very dependable and generous man. His word was equal to a written contract. Valle was president in 1940 of the Seattle Northwest Chapter, Associated General Contractors. It was widely known that many of Seattle's construction companies were started by men who learned the business working for Henrik Valle. William Jack Straith was a Seattle contractor who started his career by working for the Henrik Valle Company in 1942 while he was a civil engineering student at the University of Washington. Straith said there was no one like Henrik Valle in terms of his integrity in business dealings. Everyone loved and respected Henrik Valle. Jack Straith became Vice President and worked full-time for the Valle Company until 1960 when Straith bought much of the Valle business to form the Straith Construction Company. Acording to Jack Straith, the Henrik Valle Company was involved in construction of Seattle's First Avenue South Bridge, the Seattle Art Museum in Volunteer Park (WPA project), Saint Thomas Seminary in Kenmore, Darigold Company buildings, several wings of Virginia Mason Hospital, and US military and Boeing Company buildings including the Boeing Wind Tunnel. The Valle Company formed a partnership with Summers Construction Company in Alaska and built military housing at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, the Sitka Sanatorium in Juneau, housing and fire stations at Fort Richardson, oil warehouses in Whittier, and many projects for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Alaska. The Valle-Summers partnership disbanded in 1952. Nordstrom building Valle's construction projects also included landmark buildings in Washington State including the Pacific Northwest Bell Company building at Third Avenue and Seneca Street and the Nordstrom building (originally the Frederick and Nelson building) in downtown Seattle, and the Washington Correction Center in Shelton. Buildings on the University of Washington campus built by the Henrik Valle Company included additions to Suzallo Library, Johnson Hall and the first unit of the Student Union Building (HUB). In 1964, Valle retired and simply closed the door of his firm. Ellen Stray Valle died October 23, 1968. Johnson Hall Husky Union Building (HUB) Suzzallo Library Henrik had traveled extensively with Ellen and made frequent trips to Norway to visit his family. After his retirement, he traveled throughout the world, frequently visiting the family farm in Norway. His last trip was in August 1979. According to Erik Prestegaard, during Valle's travels he met a diamond prospector in South Africa and became so intrigued by his work that Valle returned to Africa and "went into the bush with him" for several months prospecting for diamonds, but he didn't have any luck. After Henrik sold his home in Normandy Park in Seattle, he lived in Lacey, Washington and in 1977 moved to the Norse Home in the Phinney neighborhood of Seattle where he died October 12, 1979. The Gift Henrik Valle's construction accomplishments were many, but his crowning achievement and living legacy was his gift to establish an international scholar exchange program between the University of Washington and institutes in the Nordic countries. Valle, having become a multimillionaire building contractor, wanted to promote and enhance his profession and provide for meaningful exchanges of scholars and faculty with his Scandinavian home. Erik Prestegaard said that Henrik was a man of few words, but he thought a lot about how to promote and enhance his profession. He wished for a meaningful exchange of students and scholars. To this end, Henrik gifted more than $3 million to the University of Washington to establish a scholar exchange program which became the Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program. Henrik and Ellen's estate specified that the gift be used for student exchange programs in civil engineering, architecture, and building construction between the UW and Scandinavian schools. Henrik Valle(1st on the left) and Ellen Valle (3rd from the right) at Valle family reunion 1967, Os The seeds for the establishment of the Valle Program were sewn in April of 1975 when Dr. Dale A. Carlson, then Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Washington, submitted a proposal to Henrik Valle entitled, "Enhancement of Learning Exchanges between Scandinavia and the University Of Washington Department Of Civil Engineering". It was proposed that the funding would provide for the possibility for student and faculty exchanges with Scandinavia, which invited visions of a major opportunity to maintain the strong cultural bonds that have existed between the regions in the past. The educational exchange would provide an outstanding vehicle for maintaining information exchange through direct contact, program exchange, lectures, and joint research projects. Dr. Carlson stated in 1980 that Valle's gift was 'by far' the largest such given the University's College of Engineering and one of the largest given to the University of Washington. The Northwest will benefit from the exposure of our people to the world-renowned expertise of the Scandinavians in the fields of pulp and paper technology and cold-regions engineering. Conversely, their participants will benefit from our strong programs such as those in environmental control and structures engineering. From the desire to establish interchanges of students and faculty with institutions in Scandinavia, particularly with Henrik's alma mater, the Technical University in Trondheim, the Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program was launched in 1980. Dr. Dale A. Carlson served as Director until 2002 when Dr. G. Scott Rutherford, UW professor and former Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, became the Valle Director. Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program Unparalleled in the United States, the Valle Scholarship Program has a dual mission: 1) To promote and fund the exchange of graduate students between the University of Washington and programs in the Nordic countries. Funding is restricted graduate students in the civil and environmental engineering department and closely related fields such as architecture and urban planning. 2) To support outstanding graduate students in civil and environmental engineering and architecture and urban planning. The original Valle trust funded exchange scholars to and from Nordic countries Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland. And in 2005, exchanges with the Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were added to the Valle Program. As of 2008, the Valle endowment for the Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program has grown to $15 Million and has funded over 600 scholars. The far-reaching value to the future of the Valle Program has been demonstrated in the careers and lives of hundreds of Valle scholars world-wide. Many are highly skilled professionals engaged in some of the world's most significant building and environmental projects. The Valle Program continues to advance the vision of Henrik and Ellen Valle by "preparing people for life-long learning, leadership and service through cooperative international education." The Valle Program conducted a survey of former Valle scholars in 2001 and the overwhelmingly positive responses were inspiring. Valle Alumni wrote... In 1983, I was a Valle Scholar in Uppsala, Sweden where I conducted a portion of my doctoral research. My experience as a Valle Scholar was personally and professionally rewarding and had a major effect on the quality of my graduate work. Jean Jacoby, Chair, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seattle University Living abroad and working in another culture has made a life-long impact in my life and view of the world. While the exchange of technical information is important, it is the cultural exchange that makes the Valle Program unique. Dr. John Olson, M.D. I was among the first US students to go abroad on the Valle scholarship in 1981. My time in Sweden was certainly one of the most important experiences of my life. I still keep in contact with my friends there and often look back with fondness at my project and experiences in that part of the world. David Roberts, Watershed Planning Supervisor, Washington Department of Ecology The Valle year was really decisive in my development as an architect. Research at the U.W. was the first major turning point in my professional life, and resulted in a prize- winning entry in an international design competition. Kirsi Leiman, Acting Head of Exhibitions, Museum of Finnish Architecture There is little doubt in my mind that the Valle Exchange Program offers an incredibly good opportunity for students from both the University of Washington and Scandinavia to continue studies in very different and stimulating environments and gain experiences which will help them for their entire careers. Jay Lund, Professor, Civil Engineering, University of California, Davis Credits: History: Dr. Dale A. Carlson, founding Valle Program Director, Dean Emeritus, UW College of Engineering Dayna Cole, Valle Program Administrator Bobbie Nelson Greer, founding Valle Program Coordinator William Jack Straith, Straith Construction Company Photos and Valle family history: Vivi Haraldseid, grand niece of Henrik Valle Erling Andersen, Valle family historian,"The Family of Paulina and Abraham Halseth"
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Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange ProgramHistorical Background

The Gift

Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program

Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program
Historical Background