John Nathan Cobb the preeminent fishery scientist of the Pacific Northwest for nearly 40 years. Thompson had offices in the College of Fisheries where, since 1925, he was Director of the International Fisheries Commission (now International Pacific Halibut Commission) charged with the management of, and research on, the Pacific halibut, "Hippoglossus stenolepis", fishery. A Ph.D. from Stanford University, Thompson was appointed Research Professor and Director of the new department on a part-time basis, as he remained Director of the International Fisheries Commission. He remained Director of the School until 1947 when he resigned to establish and head the UW's new Fisheries Research Institute.
The Flat Hat as well as maintains the newspaper's social media presence. In October 2007, "The Flat Hat" won a Pacemaker award for excellence in the category of non-daily newspaper at a four-year university. The Pacemaker is an honor in collegiate journalism, and is awarded by the Associated Collegiate Press and the Newspaper Association of America Foundation. In 2017, "The Flat Hat" was recognized with a "mark of excellence" award from the Society of Professional Journalists for in-depth reporting. "The Flat Hat" derives its name from the public nickname of the F.H.C. Society, "the Flat Hat Club"; the Society was the first collegiate