'IT DIDN'T REALLY MATTER WHO SAID NO'

PULLMAN, Wash., July 13 -- Washington State University issued the following news release:

Lois James grew up with a stellar role model for setting her own course.

Her mother, Naomi James, became the first woman to sail alone around the globe via the treacherous CapeHorn route, single-handedly guiding a 53-foot sloop that ordinarily required a crew of 10. She completed the journey in 272days in 1977-78, breaking the previous record by twodays.

The example stuck.

"I always, always believed that anything I wanted to do, I could do," said James, an associate professor of nursing and the director of WSU's Sleep and Research Performance Center. "It didn't really matter what doors were closed. It didn't really matter who said no. If I wanted s...