Police Investigating Death of Oregon State Professor

Dr. Sulzman, an associate professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Science, received the OSU Faculty Teaching Excellence Award in 2006.

Salem-News.com

(CORVALLIS, Ore. ) - Oregon State Police detectives are continuing the investigation into the death of an Oregon State University faculty member who became ill while inside her vehicle on the campus Sunday afternoon and later died at a Corvallis hospital.

An autopsy and toxicology tests will be pending to help confirm the cause and manner of death.

At approximately 5:20 PM, Oregon State Police troopers and Corvallis Fire Department personnel responded to a report of an ill woman in a car at 35th and Campus Way on the Oregon State University campus.

Upon arrival, fire and police personnel found Elizabeth W. Sulzman age 40, from Philomath, gravely ill as her conditioned worsened quickly.

Sulzman was transported to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis where she died Sunday evening.

Preliminary investigation indicates an apparent deliberate self ingestion of a chemical substance may have led to her death.

Troopers and Oregon State University Environmental Health and Safety personnel responded to her office area and determined that there was no chemical hazard for the University.

Dr. Sulzman, an associate professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Science, received the OSU Faculty Teaching Excellence Award in 2006.

According to the University, she was a beloved professor, known for her hands-on, highly interactive teaching style who was involved in many interdisciplinary research projects at OSU. She joined OSU in 2000 and held degrees in biology and ecology from Yale University and Colorado State University.

No further information related to the ongoing investigation will be released pending the autopsy results.