Eastern Magazine | Fall/Winter 2021

Bright Lights, Big Game: Supplementary lighting from ESPN brightens a celebratory moment at Eastern’s Roos Field on Saturday, Oct. 2. The nationally televised rivalry game between the Eagles and the University of Montana Grizzlies was the highlight of Eastern football’s 2021 home campaign, featuring a boisterous sold-out crowd and a nail-biting finish. The Eagles, at the time ranked No. 6 in the Football Championship Series polls, topped the No. 4-ranked Griz, 34-28.

Photo by Chris Thompson

TAKING FLIGHT

Coming Back, Giving Back EWU’s new director of alumni relations shares her Eastern story.

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am thrilled to be back at my alma mater as the new director of alumni relations. And since every Eagle has a story, I’d like to share my Eastern journey with you.

Back in 1999, I was a senior in high school in my hometown of Matawa, Washington. I knew I wanted to go to college and, as a third-generation Eagle, I knew also that my choice would be Eastern.

Unfortunately, I didn’t put a lot of effort into my application. Early that winter, I opened the mailbox to find the dreaded thin envelope: “We regret to inform you that you have not been accepted at EWU,” the letter read.

I was devastated, but undaunted. I appealed the decision, explaining why Eastern needed me. I told admissions staff about my energetic involvement in high school extracurriculars, of the challenges my mom and I faced in a single-parent household, of how I was certain I would make a positive impact as an EWU student. In February 2000, I got a second letter. I was in. I was going to be an Eagle!

Transitioning to student life turned out to be tougher than I thought. Even though I was living in Cheney, where I had grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, it was my first time away from my mom. I missed my friends and small-town life. It even snowed on my first day of classes at Eastern, which I somehow interpreted as a sign that I didn’t belong. I wanted to quit literally every day. But I kept going.

I kept pushing myself. Soon, I was participating in Eagle Entertainment and EWU Softball. My circle of friends

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At Eastern I met my husband, made best friends and was inspired to find my passion for connecting with people.

The love I have for EWU is unmatched, and becoming the voice for Eag Nation is everything I could have ever wanted.

grew, and I found myself the happiest I had ever been.

I walked in the June 2005 ceremony, despite having a math class left to complete. I then landed a summer internship with a local event planning company, where I had ambitions to become the next celebrity wedding planner.

I didn’t become a celebrity, and I didn’t finish that math class. But I spent the next 16 years happily immersed in event management, helping my employer become the powerhouse it is today.

When the pandemic hit, events shut down and, like so many others, I started rethinking my career choices.

With the encouragement of my husband, Aaron Brecek ’03, and our 7-year-old son, Kameron, I reenrolled at Eastern to complete my degree. Then, fate intervened: the

university was looking for a new alumni relations director. I applied, got the job and here I am today, a proud recent alumna heading up an association of thousands of equally prideful EWU graduates.

So, why this career? Easy. I wanted to give back to the place that gave so much to me. At Eastern, I met my husband, made best friends and was inspired to find my passion for connecting with people. The love I have for EWU is unmatched, and becoming the voice for Eag Nation is everything I could have ever wanted.

I look forward to hearing from you. You’ll see me at just about every university event, and you’ll definitely hear me at football games. Come say hello to a fellow Eagle, and let’s talk about your own Eastern story.

Go Eags!

— Kelsey Hatch-Brecek ’21

EASTERN MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2021 EDITOR Charles E. Reineke ART DIRECTOR Ryan Gaard ’02 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dave Meany Melodie Little ’91 PHOTOGRAPHY Eric Galey ’84 Chris Thompson ’19

Here, at the start of 2022, you may be looking for ways to maximize tax savings and help EWU students create a better future for themselves. Instead of a cash gift, consider the potential tax benefits of making your gift to the EWU Foundation via: • A transfer of appreciated stock through your broker • Donating all or a portion of your required IRA distribution through your plan • Funding a Charitable Gift Annuity and receiving set income payouts for life

VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT Barb Richey ’92, ’99 DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS Kelsey Hatch-Brecek ’21 MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD Joseph Haeger ’10 Nick Lawhead ’07 Lisa Leinberger ’98 Brian Lynn ’98 Kelly Naumann ’10 Robin Pickering ’97, ’03

How you give can make a difference for you this year and for our students over their lifetimes. Please contact our office to learn more.

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! EMAIL easternmagazine@ewu.edu PHONE 509.359.6422

EWU Foundation Office of Gift Planning 509.359.6703 csusemie@ewu.edu ewulegacy.org

WRITE Eastern Magazine

102 Hargreaves Hall

Cheney, WA 99004-2413 Eastern magazine is published twice each year by University Advancement and is mailed free to alumni of record in the United States. View this and previous issues of Eastern online at ewu.edu/magazine.

CONTENTS

Dave Cook with his wife, Freida.

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CONTENTS Features 18 STEM Central

A gleaming interdisciplinary center for science ushers in a new era at Eastern.

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24 Together Again, At Last

After more than a year-and-half of online learning, students return to campus life.

28 Jaleen Roberts, Paralympian

For the recent Eagle alumna and Team USA Paralympics star, a Tokyo triumph.

34 Now He’s Just a Fan

Eastern’s long-serving director of sports information exits the press box.

Departments 04 Taking Flight 08 Eastern Etc. 38 Class Notes 41 In Memoriam 43 Back Story On the Cover: Eastern’s new Interdisciplinary Science Center.

Photo by Chris Thompson.

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Photo by Chris Thompson

Alternative Camping Travel restrictions fail to deter Eastern’s determined geologists.

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ovid-19’s disruptions over the past year-and-a-half haven’t just affected indoor learning at Eastern, they’ve also upended many of the outdoor experiences that make higher education in the magnificent Inland Northwest so rewarding.

Happily, organizers in EWU’s geosciences program found a way to preserve perhaps the premiere event of outdoor academe: geology field camp.

EWU’s Geology Field Camp is an intensive, hands-on capstone requirement that allows budding geologists to take to the hills (and gorges and valleys and lakes and rivers) to sharpen their problem-solving skills amidst some of the most dramatic features of our ever-evolving planet.

Because such camps typically require interstate travel and shared lodging, last summer universities across the nation cancelled their camps due to covid concerns. But EWU’s Chad Pritchard, associate professor and chair of geosciences, wasn’t ready to pull the plug on Eastern’s annual event.

Instead, Pritchard and his team put in long hours to create a 4-week camp that eliminated risky travel and adhered to best-practices for social

distancing. Camp organizers realized early on that keeping students safe would necessitate foregoing the trip to Eastern’s typical gathering place in Dillon, Montana. This year’s camp was thus held closer to home, where students successfully mountain biked, hiked, climbed and paddled to pursue investigations in semi-remote locations in their own backyard.

Staying local had the benefit of allowing other EWU organizations to pitch in. A mapping project on Bonnie Lake, a lovely lowland body of water just south of the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, involved EWU’s EPIC Adventures providing canoes. EPIC also provided transportation to projects conducted at Tower Mountain on the Cascade Crest and Spokane County’s historic Silver Hill Mine.

In addition to those activities, Pritchard’s students also used drones and legwork to map 200 acres of land recently acquired by the City of Cheney for wastewater treatment lagoons.

They afterwards submitted a report for faculty feedback.

“It was a professional-level report and they presented it really well,” Pritchard says.

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Inoculation With Benefits For one EWU pre-nursing student, vaccination comes with a big bonus.

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I always see other people win things. What are the odds?

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arlier this year, as vaccine availability expanded and Covid-19 cases declined, EWU pre-nursing student Erin Conroy was cautiously optimistic that the end of the pandemic might be near. Her hopefulness only grew this spring, when Eastern’s interim President David May announced the return of in-person instruction in the fall.

For Conroy, Covid-19’s demise couldn’t come soon enough. After balancing Zoom classes with a full-time job at Trader Joe’s in West Seattle, she was more than eager to get back to Cheney for face-to-face learning. Still, Conroy wasn’t fully convinced that vaccination was for her. Maybe, she thought, I’ll hold off until there’s more info on the shots’ risks versus benefits.

That all changed when, in early July, Conroy found herself infected. Thankfully, her case was relatively mild.

But it convinced her to get the two-shot Moderna vaccine as soon as possible.

Getting vaccinated proved to be a fortuitous choice. Not only did Conroy provide herself with a healthy dose of extra

immunity, her shots came with an additional, totally unexpected benefit. A few days after uploading her vaccination card to the verification service Med+Proctor — in compliance with EWU’s mandatory vaccination policy — she received an email saying she’d won a full-year’s tuition waiver through #EagsVaxUp, a prize-driven incentive program to ensure that “everyone in the EWU community who can be vaccinated will be vaccinated.”

“I always see other people win things. What are the odds?” said a grateful Conroy, a junior minoring in psychology and American Sign Language. She says she typically works year-round to help pay for college.

Interim President May presented the tuition voucher, valued at nearly $6,900, to Conroy at an outdoor media event at Eastern’s PUB. Conroy accepted the faux check, stood for several interviews and then headed out to celebrate with her best friend, Chloe Simmons, also a junior at EWU. The roommates, both fully vaccinated, went to Cheney’s Barrelhouse Pub & Pizza, where they shared a serving of the restaurant’s famously tasty-but-notat-all-healthy battered mac and cheese wedges.

Digital Combatants Eastern students take on the cyber crooks.

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ransomware attack shuts down Colonial Pipeline, largest fuel supplier to the East Coast; a cryptocurrency heist drains $600 million from the accounts of the PolyNetwork blockchain site; a data breach exposes the personal information of 50 million T-Mobile account holders: These brazen cyberattacks, all pulled off within the last six months, underscore the extreme vulnerability of America’s — and the world’s — digital infrastructure.

Faculty and students in Eastern’s computer science and electrical engineering department, led by Stu Steiner, an assistant professor of computer science, are at the forefront of training those who can blunt the threat. The program’s cyber defense initiative, for example, has created regional partnerships that not only

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assess and secure critical infrastructure, but also provide real-time monitoring for regional municipalities. Among their many real-world interventions, Eagle students have already blocked Russian hackers from infiltrating the city of Spokane Valley’s computer network and have worked with Washington’s Office of the Secretary of State to ensure election security.

Such efforts are about the get a big boost.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency designated Eastern Washington University as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense, a classification that will steer more federal resources into Eastern’s cybersecurity program.

EWU is the only four-year institution on the east side of the state of Washington to earn

this classification. It means the university will be a validated cyber defense program of study through 2026. Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, NSA director and head of the U.S. Army’s Cyber Command, will present a certificate recognizing Eastern’s national center designation in the coming year.

In recognizing EWU’s program, NSA cited the university’s ability to meet the demands of the cyber defense field, one that faces a critical shortage of professionals with the skills to combat the growing threat from often statesupported cyber criminals.

“Earning this federal recognition demonstrates how EWU is leading the region in developing cybersecurity professionals to help protect the critical infrastructure of the nation,” says Steiner.

Where the Lichens Go A new, NSF-supported project aims to unravel one of nature’s enduring mysteries.

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or decades, biologists have grappled with questions involving nature’s way of distributing plants and animals: Why, in short, are some species found all over, while others barely budge from their ancestral homes?

The search for solutions is more complicated than one might think, particularly for the seldom-studied smaller species that make up the bulk of life on Earth. A new grant from the National Science Foundation will help EWU’s Jessica Allen, an assistant professor of biology, and her long-time research collaborator James Lendemer, a curator at The New York Botanical Garden, to provide answers — at least for lichens, one of the more ubiquitous, enigmatic and consequential of these smaller species.

Earlier this month, NSF awarded the two scientists more than $625,000 each to pursue their Central Appalachian Lichen Project, a wide-ranging investigation into how various factors, both natural and man-made, may have influenced the dispersal of various lichen species across the central Appalachian region, a beautiful but endangered biodiversity hotspot.

The project’s daunting first step, says Allen, involves field work to fix the locations and identities of as many of the multitudinous local lichens— those odd hybrids of fungus and algae — as possible.

“Having a decent grasp on a species’ prevalence and distribution is actually quite challenging,” she says. “Especially with lichens, because so few people study them.”

As part of the grant, student researchers, along with public volunteers who sign on to participate in what Allen has dubbed the “Great Appalachian Lichen BioBlitz,” will be deployed to help meet the lichen-location challenge by photographing and sharing their collected observations on a digital platform called iNaturalist.

The core research team will then take a deeper dive into documenting lichen occurrences by collecting and identifying “voucher specimens”

Lichens are suitable subjects for this level of scrutiny, EWU's Jessica Allen says, in part because they are uniquely effective as barometers of environmental impacts. Allen's new field guide, pictured above, is published by Yale University Press.

from hundreds of sites throughout the region. These specimens will help researchers capture detailed, in-depth site data and will also provide material for future study.

Next up will be genetic analysis, data analytics and other laboratory-based procedures to leverage the field findings and bioblitzing to build a comprehensive profile of the central Appalachian region’s diverse lichen population. Allen and Lendemer will then chart the locations of the species identified in this profile, and merge those data with genetic findings to unravel the how’s and why’s of the lichens’ dispersal patterns and distributions.

Lichens are suitable subjects for this level of scrutiny, Allen says, in part because they are uniquely effective as barometers of environmental impacts. The project, she adds, has the potential to provide an invaluable look at how decades of resource extraction, residential and commercial development and, more recently, climate change, have affected Appalachia’s ecology.

“Lichens are super sensitive indicators, compared to other groups of organisms,” Allen says. “They respond to air pollution in a clear way, for example, which other groups of other organisms do not.”

The bigger picture, she adds, is how lichens serve to remind us that species both great and small are necessary to maintain our increasingly fragile biosphere.

“Ecosystems need biodiversity to function properly; functions which are essential to providing, say, clean air and water for us,” she says. “My hope is that, long-term, we find a way as a society to live more sustainably; that we work to preserve as much biodiversity as possible right now, even those species that are on the brink.

Hopefully, in the future, we’ll create a little bit more amenable planet for these species, and we will be happy that we saved them when we had the chance.”

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Brave New Computing Along with his students, an EWU chemist takes his place among the quantum vanguard.

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ew recent scientific developments are as promising to contemplate, or as maddeningly difficult to comprehend, as quantum computing — a process in which the 1s and 0s of traditional digital processing are replaced with the exponentially more capable quantum bits, or “qubits.” Suffice it to say that, thanks to the work of a select group of international scientists, quantum applications represent a potentially game-changing breakthrough in data processing and storage.

Count EWU’s Jamie Manson, a professor of chemistry, as a member of the quantum cognoscenti. His ongoing work, funded by a newly renewed, three-year grant of more than $395,000 from the National Science Foundation, is helping to create the underpinnings for future quantum computing applications.

Manson’s contribution involves designing, building and testing molecular-level structures or “lattices” that host the electron arrangements he studies. Chief among these are “skyrmions,” intriguing but little understood phenomena first identified by the

An interior view of an IBM quantum computing system.

British scientist Tony Skyrme in the early 1960s.

“Skyrmions are a new class of spin textures or topologies wherein the electrons can adopt particular alignments that can be easily switched using external stimuli such as magnetic or electric fields,” Manson says. “This switching behavior is ideal for applications such as computing, memory storage and other device technologies.”

The NSF grant, for which Manson in the sole principal investigator, is his fourth consecutively

funded project from the agency. It will allow him to not only continue his own work, but will also fund participation of a number of Eastern undergraduate researchers; students whose daily activities will mostly be centered around tasks in chemical synthesis, optical spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. “Over the coming year,” he says, “I plan to attract at least six students to work on the project.”

Manson’s work with students was of particularly interest to proposal evaluators at NSF’s Division of Materials Research.

“EWU students have ample opportunities to participate in experiments; meet and interact with collaborators; assist in data analysis and prepare manuscripts for publication; help shape future research directions; and present their results at conferences and workshops,” the award abstract reads. “For this project, Professor Manson has established a diverse undergraduate research group that consists mostly of women, a group largely underrepresented in STEM.” Manson says an added benefit for students includes the likelihood of their working with him and other scientists at some of the nation’s most advanced research facilities.

Getting Lit, Virtually EWU’s Get Lit! festival goes digital, and earns accolades.

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astern’s annual week-long literary festival, Get Lit! — a gathering where authors both famous and up-and-coming participate in public readings, workshops and panel discussions — has long been a banner event on the Inland Northwest’s cultural calendar.

Given its ambitious scale and scope, organizing Get Lit! has always been a heavy lift. Making it pandemic-proof took the challenge to a whole new level. But EWU’s Kate Peterson, Get Lit! Programs director, Claire Walla, her graduate student assistant, and their team of undergrad interns got things just right. So right, in fact, that this year’s event was named 2021 Best Virtual Arts Event by The Inlander, Spokane’s popular alternative

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weekly newspaper. “It’s super exciting that we were able to win this year,” Peterson says. “It validates a lot of our hard work.”

The digital iteration of Get Let! included a mix of live events via Zoom and prerecorded offerings that attracted nearly 3,800 active participants from the U.S. and more than two dozen other countries. Another 400 or so people have dropped in post-festival to view Get Lit! videos on YouTube.

Among the most popular live events was an appearance by EWU alumnus Jess Walter, the Spokane-based author whose most recent novel, The Cold Millions, has earned both critical acclaim and international best-seller status.

Fledgling Trustee Auriana Mitchell brings a youthful perspective to Eastern’s 130-year-old governing body.

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eginning in the 1970s, the nation’s higher education governing boards gradually began to acknowledge that student voices deserved a place at the table. Though the state of Washington was a little late to the game, for just over two decades its regional university boards — among them Eastern’s Board of Trustees — have welcomed a student representative, approved by the governor, to “bring a student voice and perspective” to universities’ governing panels. This years’ EWU Board of Trustees student representative is Auriana Mitchell, a 19-year-old Cheney resident who, thanks to her participation in EWU’s Running Start program, is already nearing completion of a Bachelor of Science degree in data analytics. Her answers have been edited to fit this space.

What’s on the minds of your fellow Eastern students?

Every single person that you ask would probably have a different, if maybe similar, response to that. I personally have spent a lot of time trying to understand who we are as Eastern, academically speaking. One of the really important things for me as a student trustee is advocating for the programs that we students want and need; not only those programs that benefit us today, but also those that will help us be successful in the future.

Are you confident that we’re headed in the right direction?

After we made some program cuts last year, I had some concerns. But one of the things that Dr. May [Eastern’s interim President David May] is keen on is not only evaluating program offerings based on fiscal measures, but also what makes the most sense for us students. So that’s something I’ve really gotten on board with, and tried to learn more about.

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Seriously, I don't want anyone on campus to see me as someone who they can't approach... I know this place.

I love this place.

How do you see yourself interacting with your fellow trustees?

The public meetings are pretty structured… I do get involved in conversations, but I generally try to keep my comments to either, “How is this helping students?” or “Are we keeping students at the center of this?” As far as less formal interactions, there is a little bit of an age gap between me and the other trustees, so it’s not like we’re going to the bars together or anything. I do have their cell phone numbers.

What about your communications with campus groups, particularly those advocating for underrepresented students?

I think it’s my job to seek [underrepresented] students out to make sure they are getting what they need. It’s really about talking to people, hearing what they’re involved in and saying, “Hey, that’s really cool. Can I come to your next meeting?” Seriously, I don’t want anyone on campus to see me as someone who they can’t approach. This will be my fourth year here; I’ve had three on-campus jobs. I know this place. I love this place. Just generally being part of the family here is the best thing I can do, because then I can be sure I know what’s going on, and can be plugged in with everyone.

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EV

THE S

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s universities around the state of Washington began reconvening in-person this fall, the numbers showed that students returning to Eastern Washington University are benefitting from one of the best bang-for-the-buck deals in higher education.

52%

The ‘Buzz’ is Back

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n a near-perfect, end-of-summer Tuesday in September — less than 24 hours before the university’s much anticipated return to inperson instruction — Eastern’s interim president, David May, took the stage in Showalter Auditorium to deliver an emphatic message: “We are back!”

“There is a vibrancy on the mall that we have not had since March 2020,” May told a cheering, fully masked crowd. “Just take a moment and let that sink in: March of 2020. Today there’s a buzz. There’s a buzz that those of us who have been around this place know and love. It’s intoxicating to feel the energy of so many people back in this special place.”

May’s address came 18 months after students, faculty and staff last congregated on EWU’s Cheney campus, a virus-induced necessity that denied nearly two full classes of Eagles the often life-altering experience of full-on campus engagement. “Students have been awaiting this day perhaps more eagerly than any of us — and you can see it in the smiles on their faces,” May said.

EASTERN MAGAZINE

Alumni strong and growing

$2, 294

Tuition per quarter

After a year-and-a-half long pandemicinduced hiatus, Eastern’s interim president celebrates students’ return.

If we remain resolute, if we look for solutions rather than blame, if we are creative, if we are responsive, if we build together: Then we are Eagle Strong.

112,000+

Students who graduate debt free

89%

Graduates employed or in grad school within 6 months

A L U AT E

S TAT E ' S B E S T VA L U E

$ " . 1

29%

Student diversity

35%

10, 892

Fall 2021 enrollment

First-generation college students

75%

of applicants receive financial aid

“I know one thing we’ve learned in the last yearand-a-half,” he added to applause, “we are not an online university!”

The speech, May’s second official “state-of-theuniversity” address, wasn’t entirely celebratory.

Critical issues face the university, he said, and the to-do list is long.

Among EWU’s top priorities, May noted, is attracting additional state backing — along with private donor support — for critical student and institutional needs. The university must also, he said, continue to address its enrollment and retention challenges, while at the same time engaging with faculty in a comprehensive, collaborative discussion of how best to optimize Eastern’s academic offerings.

Such concerns notwithstanding, however, May’s address remained upbeat. “If we remain resolute, if we look for solutions rather than blame, if we are creative, if we are responsive, if we build together: Then we are Eagle Strong,” he said.

Marcella Godina ’21, a former EWU CAMP student who was selected for the Sea Mar internship in 2019.

Eagles Rising

EASTERN

C A M P WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

I S TA N C E C O L L E G E TA PS RS O GRAM MIGRAN

Once they were migrant and seasonal farm workers. Soon they’ll launch careers in health care.

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AMP, the College Assistance Migrant Program, is a federally funded program designed to help young people from migrant and seasonal farm worker backgrounds enroll in — and succeed at — the nation’s colleges and universities. Eastern’s program, led by CAMP alumna Rocio Rangel, is quickly becoming one of the region’s most successful.

Among its other accomplishments, earlier this year five undergraduates from EWU CAMP were selected to receive the Sea Mar Executive Internship, a prestigious 8-week program with the Sea Mar Community Health Centers in Seattle. The program will provide them with intensive, hands-on experiences in different areas of health care and management.

The students, CAMP participants Lizeth Tostado in dental hygiene, Lucia Cuevas Ramos in nursing, Maria Sedano in biology, Rebecca Covarrubias in criminal justice, and Zitlaly Cazares in nursing completed their internships this summer.

“We would like to formally congratulate our CAMP Scholars on this amazing achievement,” says Rangel.

The Sea Mar Health Centers were founded by Latino community leaders and health activists who worked to develop a comprehensive health center for the Latino community in Seattle, with satellite clinics in rural communities in Western Washington. Sea Mar is today one of Western Washington’s largest providers of community-based health and human services, including primary medical and dental care.

Eastern’s CAMP program has a distinguished history of sending students to the Sea Mar Executive Internship. Marcella Godina ’21, a CAMP alumna who was selected for the internship in 2019, says it was a great “opportunity to shadow so many providers, care coordinators, medical assistants, counselors, registered dieticians, health educators, clinic managers and echocardiogram specialists.”

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Student-Centered Leader Joddie Gleason, Eastern’s new women’s basketball head coach, aims to elevate a program in search of titles.

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elping student athletes flourish both on and off the basketball court is the goal for Joddie Gleason, who in November made her debut as head coach of Eastern’s women’s basketball team.

Gleason comes to Eastern from Seattle University, where she served as an associate head coach. She also has 12 years of head coaching experience with the Lumberjacks of Humboldt

State University in California, where she earned California Collegiate Athletics Association Coach of the Year honors in 2015. Gleason succeeds Wendy Schuller, who had served as women’s basketball head coach since 2001.

“I am very grateful for the opportunity to be the next women’s basketball coach at Eastern Washington,” she said after accepting the job in May. “Throughout the interview process, I have been

lucky to meet so many great people at Eastern and know that it is the right fit for me and my family…

[Eastern’s] student-centered approach aligns with my values as a leader and creates additional excitement to get started.”

Gleason’s new boss, EWU Athletic Director Lynn Hickey, said that she expects big things. “We look forward to working with her to help rebuild our program to be a dominant force in Big Sky women’s

An Eagle Steps Up Monica Jaenicke, athlete, alumna and sports communicator, will lead EWU Athletics’ outreach.

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basketball competition.”

At Seattle University, Gleason worked as the team’s offensive coordinator. As head coach at Humboldt State, the Lumberjacks qualified for the NCAA DII Tournament four times and won two California Collegiate Athletic Association championships. Her coach of the year honors came after guiding the Lumberjacks to a 23-6 overall record and a regular season title.

Gleason, who earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California State University, Chico, also served as the head coach at Butte Community College in Oroville, California, from 1999-2004.

“I can’t wait to start working with this group of young women and to build something special that the passionate Eagle fans can be proud of... Go Eags!”

ver the course of his 31-year career at Eastern, Spor ts Information Director Dave Cook (profiled in a Q&A on Page 34 of this issue) became the omnipresent go-to for all-things Eagles. After Cook announced his retirement earlier this year, his long-time assistant, Monica Jaenicke ’14, stepped up to fill the void. This October she was named Cook’s permanent successor.

Jaenicke’s new job will come with a new title, assistant athletic director for communications. In the role she will work under Todd McGann, who was recently elevated to interim deputy athletic director for external operations, in directing media and public outreach for all 14 of Eastern Washington’s athletics programs. Jaenicke has served as the assistant director for communications for the past four-and-a-half years.

“Monica is a very talented writer with a solid grasp on the various and ever-changing media platforms that intercollegiate athletics must address,” says EWU Athletic Director Lynn Hickey.

“She has established relationships with our local and Big Sky media partners, and as an EWU alum and former Eagle student-athlete, she will be a great asset as we continue to build our communications office.”

Before joining Eastern’s professional staff, Jaenicke — who, like Cook, is a talented distance runner — worked as an undergraduate student assistant in the sports information office. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in communications, and was a Big Sky Conference All-Academic honoree in each of the four years in which she competed with Eastern’s cross country, and track and field teams. Jaenicke also holds a master’s degree in sports management from Western Illinois University.

“I am looking forward to continuing to give back and publicize what our student-athletes and department are accomplishing in and out of competition,” Jaenicke said after accepting her new gig. “I would not be in this position today without my friend and mentor, Dave Cook. I am thankful for all he taught me and am committed to continuing his efforts.”

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BY CHARLES E. REINEKE PHOTOS BY ADAM HUNTER

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A GLEAMING NEW INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE CENTER PROMISES A NEW ERA FOR ‘TEACHING, LEARNING AND DISCOVERY’ AT EWU.

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n a rainy fall Friday in October, the kind of weather only a meteorologist could love, a small crowd gathered to witness David May, EWU interim president, join pre-med student Tayrn Wilson in cutting the ribbon on a new era for Eastern science and scholarship.

The pandemic-delayed opening of Eastern’s Interdisciplinary Science Center (ISC), a $67 million, 102,000 square-foot marvel, promises to be a seminal event for a university that has long recognized its need to boost research and development. And while Eastern’s foundational commitment to excellence in the humanities will not change, the capabilities unleased by the new ISC, along with the upcoming top-to-bottom remodeling of its companion Science Building, represent a transformational moment for the 139-year-old institution.

Championed by the late Mary Cullinan, EWU’s previous president, the ISC represents a key part of the university’s push for a greater emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, otherwise known as STEM. The idea, officials say, is to provide an edge for university researchers and students as they navigate these economically vital, and increasingly competitive STEM-related disciplines. And what’s good for the nation’s economy promises to be good for graduates’ employment prospects: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, recently projected that (the typically high-paying) jobs in the STEM fields will grow 8 percent by 2029, compared to 3.7 percent for all occupations.

“We have been eagerly awaiting this day, the opening of this building is special,” said May at the event. “Just one month ago our students were finally able to set foot inside what has remained mostly vacant for just over a year. They finally have the opportunity to learn in this dynamic, hands-on environment of teaching, learning and discovery.”

State lawmakers Sen. Jeff Holy, R-Cheney, and Rep. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, each of whom were instrumental in helping EWU secure state funding for the project, also spoke briefly to the crowd.

Holy, ranking member of the state senate's Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee, touted EWU as a “best value” in higher education, saying that Eastern has produced the highest percentage of STEM graduates of any other state college over the past 8 to 10 years. Eastern, he said, is a proven leader in higher education.

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As he gestured toward a gleaming wall of glass behind him, Riccelli offered that the ISC further distinguishes Eastern Washington as a force to be reckoned with among the state’s institutions of higher learning — even those powerhouses to EWU’s west and south. “We’re not the other Washington anymore,” Riccelli said to enthusiastic applause.

Dignitaries aside, perhaps no one deserves more credit for the ISC than David Bowman, a professor of geology and dean of EWU’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Bowman is an energetic Southern Californian whose disarming laugh and passion for learning make him an ideal ambassador for all things science. He arrived at Eastern from Cal State Fullerton, where the seismology specialist served for 12 years, including six as chair of the university’s geological sciences department. Before that — with a freshly minted doctorate from the University of Southern California in hand — Bowman completed a postdoctoral stint in tectonics at the Institut de Physique du Globe in Paris, where he was a Chateaubriand Postdoctoral Fellow.

Earthquake researchers are typically well-traveled.

Bowman is no exception, having led studies in remote, often challenging locales across the globe.

After landing in Cheney five years ago, he put aside the fieldwork and immediately set about making the ISC a reality. Getting to the ribbon-cutting was as demanding as any of those previous projects.

The process involved three stages, Bowman says.

The first, “predesign,” predated his arrival. “This is where you work with the architects to figure out what the need is, identify a location, and make a thumb-nail sketch of what you want to do,” Bowman says. “That took about two years.”

Next came the actual designing of the building, another two-year process that Bowman joined a year-and-a-half in. Coming up with the final design, he recalls with a chuckle, “involved a lot of detail and assessment of needs — assessments that typically involve endless meetings with faculty and facilities planners.”

Lastly was making construction of the building happen. “My job,” he says, “was to go to the legislature and make sure we actually got the money to build. A lot of my first year at Eastern was spent in Olympia.”

Luckily, most members of the legislature were eager to sign off on Eastern’s well-designed plan for giving STEM a boost. “For the most part, no, it wasn’t a hard sell,” Bowman says.

Now that the building is open and in-person

learning has resumed, EWU students are already reaping the benefits of the center’s four floors of laboratories, study areas and workspaces.

The ground floor entryway, with its display cases featuring exhibits from Eastern’s large collection of relics from studies past, features light-filled, personal-technology-friendly spaces for student study and collaboration, just one of many such spaces throughout the building.

Floor zero, as Bowman calls it — “it’s a European thing,” he says — is also home to two geology labs and a “smart” lecture hall which is large enough to accommodate public appearances by high-profile guest speakers.

The second story, floor one, is outfitted for upperdivision chemistry and biology instruction, with rows of well-equipped classroom laboratories. Despite years of retrofitting, labs in the old Science Building have had to rely on outdated technology for crucial systems such as fume hoods, exhaust venting and air-change systems. The ISC, on the other hand, is state-of-the-art.

“This building has a modern, high-energy, highefficiency air handling systems. It’s also really energy efficient for a science building, which helps us to advance our green-certification credentials,” says Bowman.

Another feature of the spaces, on floor one and throughout the building, are sight lines both out to the corridors and from lab-to-lab. These “windows on the work” represent the type of unexpected ISC design element that is both arresting visually and potentially game-changing for student learning. They may also help with recruitment.

“All of the labs have these glass walls, so that

A NEW HOME FOR SCIENCE AND LEARNING

4 FLOORS LABS 27 TEACHING 102,000 $67 $45

SQUARE FEET

MILLION TO CONSTRUCT MILLION APPROVED FOR OLD SCIENCE BUILDING

GROWTH, 8% PROJECTED STEM JOBS GROWTH, 20% PROJECTED STEM ENROLLMENT FALL/WINTER 2021

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A new building

is a wonderful thing,

you can see what’s going on,” Bowman says. “The old Science Building, as you know, looks in the building, kind of like an ICU or a morgue — or both. It’s dark, it’s dreary, and the people it it’s scary. The ISC rooms are meant to be light and airy. I just touches, that can’t wait to have prospective really matter. students going on a tour through here. They will be able to see a class going on; actually see the exciting classroom experience that they could be a part of.”

The next floor up is reserved for geology and physics, including a new home for Eastern’s extensive collection of fossils. Bowman holds up a particularly well-preserved plant impression and explains how a new generation of researchers are making use of these “postcards” from our distant past. Because they helped locate potential oil reserves, he explains, investigations of fossilized plants used to be the provenance of Big Oil. “Now,” Bowman says, “they’re really important to us as we seek to better understand climate change. We can only know what might happen in the future if we know what happened in the past.”

There certainly is nothing “past” about the building’s exterior, a gleaming mash-up of brick, steel and glass set at jutting angles that seem to propel the structure forward. Designed by Seattle-based LMN Architects

but it’s the activities

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and constructed by Spokane Valley-based Lydig Construction, Inc., the ISC makes a powerful statement about the nature of the activities taking place inside. Perhaps not unintentionally, it also gives a visual shout-out to Bowman’s particular area of expertise, geosciences.

When viewed the right way, he says, the building resembles a geode, complete with angular crystals and glistening surfaces. Gesturing toward the colorful rock facings of the complex’s retaining walls, Bowman adds that these, too, have useful analogs to the natural world. “You can see that the walls have different shapes cut into them? These are meant to simulate geological cross-sections, so that we can go out with students and show them what, say, a fault looks like in the geological cross-section of the Earth.”

Even the plantings provide a landscape for learning. “They are all actually part of the intentional design — each of the different landscaping areas represents unique biozones in the state of Washington,” says Bowman. “Our goal was that even the plant material would become part of the teaching.”

Fusing instruction and research is, in fact, central to the ISC mission.

Since its founding as a Normal School for teaching teachers, undergraduate instruction has been at the core of Eastern’s identity. And while that proud tradition won’t change, the new ISC represents a bridge to new forms of learning, methods that bridge research and instruction to give students hands-on experiences in rapidly evolving STEM fields.

Given this change, it’s fitting that a more literal bridge comprises one of the ISC’s most striking features — two, glass-enclosed walkways linking it to the original Science Building, which recently got the legislative nod for a $45 million makeover. When fully renovated, the Science Building

Right: Top to Bottom An inviting, outdoor space on the ISC's top floor.

Students gather in the “smart” lecture hall, a space also designed to accommodate appearances by high-profile guest speakers.

A look into the light-filled STEM Student Senate Chambers, located on the center's third floor.

will join the ISC as part of a “science-innovation complex” aimed at advancing faculty research and giving students a leg-up on future academic and professional careers. As home to advanced labs and research workspaces, the renovated building will usher in a new era of scientific investigations at EWU, work that will not only expand Eastern’s role as a regional center for innovation and discovery, but will expand student opportunities.

“The ISC really starts with the Science Building,” Bowman says. “The Science Building is old. It’s a Sputnik-era building for Sputnik-era science.”

Over the decades, Bowman continues, the university has struggled to adapt spaces in the building to the needs of research faculty. “It’s just not designed for modern stuff; it’s really, really challenging to do contemporary science in that building. It wasn’t even a lab building to begin with! I mean, there used to be a theater in there!”

“It’s been bubble gum and Band-aids,” he adds. “And that has been a major constraint on faculty and student research. For the College of STEM, engaging students in faculty research is key.

Our faculty have to do research for their tenure, obviously, just like anywhere. But one of the things that distinguishes us is that we have undergraduates working with faculty on those projects.”

When the reimagined Science Building opens its doors four years from now, beginning science students will take core classes in the ISC, while advanced undergraduates will round out their degrees with the participatory research experiences that Bowman deems so crucial. Together, he says, the linked buildings will allow STEM students near boundless opportunities to futureproof their careers.

At the rainy ISC ribbon-cutting, Bowman used his turn at the microphone to remind the crowd that the moment was about more than brick and mortar, circling back to that commitment to education that has defined Eastern since its days as the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy.

“A new building is a wonderful thing, but it’s the activities in the building, and the people it touches, that really matter,” Bowman said.

“From the geology labs on the ground floor, to the STEM Student Senate Chambers on the third floor, this building is for students — a place where future scientists, business people and community leaders can build a fabric together while learning about the sciences and technologies that have, and will continue, to shape our world.”

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Together

Again

By Melodie Little

The pandemic isn’t over, but Eastern is celebrating its return to ‘near normal.’

B

ack in March 2020, just a week after the EWU men’s basketball team learned its appearance in the NCAA Tournament had been canceled, the university announced there would be a one-week extension of Eastern’s typical week-long spring break.

The pause in students’ return wasn’t about providing extra time for cavorting in Cabo. Eastern’s leadership was instead trying to “flatten the transmission curve” of the novel coronavirus — a scary new contagion spreading rapidly across the globe.

It was a sensible step to keep students safe, just an extra week to ensure safety measures were in place. At the time, few would have predicted that the temporary closure would extend to an 18-month pivot to remote-only learning; a pivot that emptied dormitories, shuttered laboratories and classrooms, and created an eerie emptiness in Eastern’s once bustling common spaces.

Though countless students, faculty and staff rose to meet the challenge of pandemic-related

I think the students were just genuinely excited to be back in person. And even though we’re still living with some of the pandemic protocols, it still felt so good for all of us to be together.

closures and disruptions (see, for example, the exemplary achievements chronicled in #Eagle Strong stories from recent issues of this magazine), the slow-motion evacuation of the Cheney and Spokane campuses was a dispiriting development for the Eastern community.

All that changed this fall, as Eastern welcomed students back to in-person learning and campus activities.

Nothing symbolized this return to “near normal” more than Eastern’s annual move-in

event, a two-day celebration of residence-hall habitation that saw close to 1,000 students hauling packed-to-the-brim storage containers and trendy dorm furnishings to their new homes-away-from-home.

Among them was Rhon Miller, an 18-yearold from Aberdeen, Washington, who plans to study business. Fortuitously, Miller’s move into Pearce Hall was assisted by move-in volunteer Christian Proctor, a 20-year-old junior majoring in business management and marketing. The jump-start in making campus connections wasn’t lost on Miller, but he admitted he was mainly just psyched to be finally joining the ranks of live-in collegians: “I wasn’t sure this moment was going to happen,” he says. “I’m just happy to be here.”

To ensure a safe environment for new residents like Miller and the rest of Eastern’s newly arrived campus dwellers, Housing and Residential Life staff worked tirelessly to bring EWU’s five dorms and two apartment complexes into compliance with EWU’s Covid-19 safety protocols. Acquainting students with Eastern’s requirements for vaccines, antigen testing and social distancing was chief among the safety efforts.

EWU’s Move-In Days, coming as they did a

couple of weeks before the campus vaccination deadline, was particularly challenging. To prevent overcrowding in outdoor walkways, indoor hallways and elevators, for example, incoming freshmen were asked to sign up for 30-minute time slots before moving into their assigned rooms.

Still, none of these pandemic-related necessities dampened the mood. Incoming Eagles, accompanied by proud parents, grandparents, siblings and other family members, were greeted with Swoop sightings, fresh-baked cookies and lot of smiles.

In all, 25 staff and 70 student volunteers worked multiple shifts to ensure that everyone was properly situated. This volunteer team, dubbed the Movers and Shakers, helped unload vehicles and packed a mountain of possessions — including mini-refrigerators and big-screen TVs — onto hand-trucks and carts before escorting students onto elevators and up to their assigned rooms.

Emily Thomas, an 18-year-old freshman from Colville, Washington, says coordinating furnishings and sleeping arrangements for the shared room in snyamncut took weeks of backand-forth text messaging.

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Thressa Coffey, also 18, is also her best friend. Coffey, who plans to pursue a career in forensic science, says she spent her senior year of high school in virtual classrooms while living at home in Spokane. Not so great, she says.

Attending in-person classes and doing laboratory work in the new, state-ofthe-art Interdisciplinary Science Center will be a welcome change.

“It feels good because I don’t learn as well online,” she said. “I’m excited to be here.”

A few days later, from a podium in Showalter Auditorium, David May, Eastern’s interim president — the campus leader who guided the university through the dark days of closures — echoed Coffey’s sentiments during his annual “State of the University” speech.

“I don’t know about you but I’m really excited to be here today, and to see what we’ve all been working toward for so long actually happen,” May said.

“It’s arrived. We’re back on campus in Cheney, Washington. We’re back in classrooms. We’re back in labs. We’re back in studios, fields, courts — all of the places where learning and living take place.”

Without a doubt, “being back” was the informal theme at Eastern’s academic year kick-off event, the annual Pass Through the Pillars. The event, attended by many of the same freshman who had moved into Eastern’s dormitories days earlier, involves newly arriving Eastern students — accompanied by the EWU marching band — congregating together on College Avenue before passing through the iconic Herculean Pillars of Eastern’s formal entryway.

EWU’s Director of Alumni Relations, Kelsey Hatch-Brecek ’21, spoke at

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David May, Eastern's interim president.

the event, telling today’s new students that, odd as it might sound, soon they’d be the ones creating lifelong memories and lasting traditions at Eastern. She says she couldn’t help but be inspired by the moment.

“There was a ton of energy,” Hatch-Brecek says. “When there’s a lot of energy around me, I just get super ramped up. I think the students were just genuinely excited to be back in person. And even though we’re still living with some of the pandemic protocols, it still felt so good for all of us to be together…just for us to be around people again.”

Hatch-Brecek also played a key role in another cherished tradition that had been put on hold: Eastern’s annual Homecoming events.

Despite persistently cool, rainy weather, the 2021 Eagle Family Homecoming brought alumni, staff, faculty and, of course, students together for several days of unfiltered fun.

While traditional events surrounding the Oct. 22 football game provided the core of activities, newer happenings gave participants a peek at what a fully post-pandemic EWU might look like. The 2nd Annual Red Turf Royalty gathering, for instance, featured a full line-up of “insider” activities, including a tour

Right now I think it’s okay — actually I think it’s necessary — to really enjoy this moment of return.

of the new Interdisciplinary Science Center and a catered dinner. Guest speakers included interim President May, Eagles Head Football Coach Aaron Best and Director of Athletics Lynn Hickey, who all shared their unique perspectives.

Still, things were decidedly old-school when student-driven events stole the show.

“Special shout-out to our students,” HatchBrecek says. “They turned out in force for the bed races and bonfire. They truly showed what it means to be an Eagle.”

And, especially in that moment, what it means to be an Eagle on campus. As May emphasized in his speech, Eastern will never — and could never — be an “online-only institution.” Its purpose, he said, is too tightly bound to its place.

Monroe, Senior, Patterson, Hargreaves, Showalter — these and the other hallowed halls of Eastern’s historic campus are more than just monuments in brick and mortar. They’re repositories of memories, spaces resonant with emotional and intellectual connections stretching across generations. For all of its timely uses, Zoom is no substitute for being on campus, for engaging with mentors and peers, and creating one’s own Eastern moment in time.

“I believe, I know, that those of you who will have your first day of classes here at Eastern Washington University, will one day be able to sit down in the mall, maybe on a beautiful fall morning, and think about your long career here,” said May in his September speech. “We’ll get back to academic plans, we’ll get back to budgets and legislative agendas; we’ll circle back to strategic plans and fundraising.

“But right now I think it’s okay — actually I think it’s necessary — to really enjoy this moment of return. To think about all of the positive things around us. We are together again, and the students are back.”

— Charles E. Reineke contributed to this story.

FALL/WINTER 2021

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,

For one of the world s most accomplished athletes, nothing has come easy.

By Charles E. Reineke

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

I

t was raining as EWU student and Team USA Paralympian Jaleen Roberts settled into the starting blocks at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium — a light but steady downpour, just like the PNW showers she’d trained in back home.

The 2020 Summer Paralympic Games — so dated due to a year-long pandemic delay — had already yielded Roberts a medal, silver, for her North American record-setting leap in the long jump. But now she was lining up for the 100 meters, arguably track and field’s most storied event.

Roberts was ready, confident. The prelims had gone exactly as planned.

Here in the final she was in Lane 5, almost dead center in the nine-woman field, right where she wanted to be. The rain, too, was welcome, familiar, calming. She felt any pre-race anxieties melting away with every drop.

Roberts, who completed her bachelor’s degree in Eastern’s Department of Wellness & Movement Sciences in December, is one of the world’s top para athletes. Before arriving in Tokyo, she had proved her mettle in the two most recent World Para Athletics Championships, claiming a total of five medals, including gold in 2019’s 4x100 universal relay. Earlier this year she was ranked as the planet’s No. 1 long jumper.

But none of it had come easy: Not physically, not mentally. Her appearance in Tokyo for example, the culmination of nearly four years of focused, intensive training, almost ended before it began, a casualty of a cycle of depression so severe that Roberts, for a time, thought she would not survive it.

Born with cerebral palsy, Roberts has nonetheless excelled in competitive sports since childhood. Back in Kent, Washington, the Seattle suburb where she grew up, Roberts says she almost always found herself teamed up with, and competing against, “able-bodied athletes.” Never bothered her, she says.

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I was initially hesitant because I had never competed against other athletes with disabilities, I had only competed against ablebodied athletes.

It wasn’t something I necessarily wanted to do; I never really wanted to highlight my disability — I’ve always seen that as a part of me that was ‘normal’ and ‘able.’

“I started playing sports with the able-bodied kids when I was 4 years old,” says the now 23-year-old Roberts.

“I began with soccer, then a bunch of sports.”

By high school, again competing against able-bodied athletes, she excelled not only in soccer, but in wrestling and track. Especially track. It was at a state-level track meet that she first heard the pitch for para-sports from her eventual Paralympic coach, David Greig, development director and head coach for track and field at ParaSport Spokane, a local adaptive-sports organization with an impressive record of training champions.

Greig, who has been coaching female athletes with cerebral palsy for two decades, immediately recognized Roberts’ breakthrough talent. “The first time I saw her run and long jump — I still have it on video — I pulled out my phone and called the director of the USA Paralympic track and field program and said, ‘We’ve got something here. She’s functional, she’s fast, and she’s aggressive. She’s got the whole mix.’”

Though he was pretty much ready to sign her that day, Roberts wasn’t so sure she was buying what Greig was selling. “I was initially hesitant because I had never competed against other athletes with disabilities, I had only competed against able-bodied athletes,” Roberts says.

“It wasn’t something I necessarily wanted to do; I never really wanted to highlight my disability — I’ve always seen that as a part of me that was ‘normal’ and ‘able.’ But after learning more about it, and understanding how competitive it was, I decided to try it out.”

Just six months after “trying it out,” Roberts was competing with Team USA in London.

“It was interesting how much of a sense of belonging it gave me,” she says of those first international meets. “I was surprised at how much it made me feel like I was part of something, just because there were so many people around me who were just like me — whether with my same disability, or a different one.”

After high school, Roberts made the decision to leave her hometown and move to Spokane, where she and Greig could more fully develop her potential. This meant being away from her mom, Kathleen, and her sister and brothers: Kaitlyn, Austin and Jordan. Roberts says her family have always been close, and leaving was tough.

“It really took me out of my comfort zone,” Roberts recalls. “I knew myself, and I knew my level of discipline.

If I didn’t have a coach, I wouldn’t have just trained on my own. So I had to make the sacrifice.”

Difficult as it was, moving to Spokane offered Roberts an advantage beyond proximity to training: It made attending Eastern an easy call.

“It’s true I didn’t initially move to Spokane to attend Eastern,” Roberts admits with a laugh, “I chose Spokane

for training, and Eastern was there. I mean, I never heard anything bad about Eastern! It was just never a school I thought about attending because I didn’t want to be so far away from my family and friends.”

As it turns out, EWU was a great fit for Roberts, who, at the conclusion of her track and field career, plans to become an educator. During the school year Roberts says she was required to do a lot of traveling. Her instructors, she says, were not just understanding, they were also incredibly encouraging.

“I was really scared about how my professors were going to deal with me being away, as far as me completing my academic course requirements. But they’ve always all been very supportive… I remember I had a final exam for my rhythms and games class: We had to, like, come up with our own dance and do it at the end of the quarter.

But I was competing in Europe, so I couldn’t be there to perform it in front of the class. She just had me submit it digitally: and there I was, out with my phone on our hotel balcony in Italy, doing my dance.”

And it wasn’t just the travel-related classroom accommodations that impressed Roberts, it was the love they showed toward this accomplished Eagle: “They would send emails out to all the other students keeping them updated on what I was doing, which I think is really cool,” she adds. “It shows how proud they were to have a student who is doing this; who is in the Paralympics and traveling for Team USA.” Perhaps even more consequentially, Roberts says Eastern’s faculty were also instrumental in helping her stay on track after she found herself struggling mentally — a dark period in her personal life about which Roberts has been courageously forthcoming.

She had begun her para-athletics career just a few months after the conclusion of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since that time the travel, the competitions, the intense training schedule — hours each day, six days a week, while juggling a full-time schedule at Eastern — were all geared toward preparing Roberts for her Paralympic debut in Tokyo.

Then came Covid-19.

As a dazed world struggled to understand what was happening, things went from bad to worse with stunning speed. In January, rising international case numbers made clear the “novel coronavirus” was rapidly spreading from person to person, and would not be confined to China. In early February, global transportation restrictions began stranding travelers, and within weeks many international borders shut down completely. By mid-March the WHO had declared a global pandemic.

For a while, Japanese and Olympic officials put on a brave face, saying, as one news account put it, that the

Joe Kusumoto/U.S. Paralympics Track & Field

Games “would be the balm the world needs to show victory over the coronavirus pandemic.” But then, on March 23, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan announced that the Games were off, supposedly postponed, though many in Japan loudly advocated for their outright cancelation.

The news hit Roberts hard. The punishing workouts, the endless training, the exhausting travel, the separation from family and friends: suddenly it all seemed like a cruel joke, a virus-concocted mockery of everything that defined her. She felt her ambitions dissolving into air; her dreams vanishing before her eyes. Then came word that one of her closest friends was dead at age 23, apparently from suicide. For Roberts, who had long battled anxiety and depression, it was almost too much to bear.

At a particularly low moment, afraid that she might harm herself, Roberts checked into a psychiatric hospital. “At some points, I genuinely didn’t think that I would make it,” she confided to reporter Danamarie McNicholl of Spokane’s KREM2 during a February interview.

Coach David Greig pauses, then gives a heavy sigh when he recalls Roberts’ ordeal. During the four years leading up to the Games, he says, the focus had always been on what Greig calls “the plan” — “Tokyo, medaling, executing what needed to be done when that gun went off, or when that long jump commenced… With Covid-19, with Tokyo disappearing, all that stuff, things changed.”

Greig says he tried to help by “peeling back the layers,” digging deep to identify the sources of Roberts’ destructive stress. “I remember there was text conversation we had. I was on the coast, trying to get some R&R. She was really struggling.

I asked her, ‘Why? Why do you want to do this?’ It basically got down to her saying ‘I want to be that girl, that woman, that other girls with disabilities can look up to. Because I didn’t have that.’ I’m, like, okay. Let’s go from there.”

At Eastern, Carri Kreider, an associate professor and program director for health and physical education, also remembers Roberts’ battle as something of a milestone along her road to something greater. “Our Health and Physical Education Program is like one large family,” Krieder says.

“While Jaleen’s Paralympic success is amazing, so is her ability to overcome the struggles she has had with mental health…

We would not give up on her. And, more importantly, we would not let her give up on herself.”

It was, thankfully, a short, successful hospital stay. Roberts emerged more determined than ever to keep training hard for Tokyo, willing herself to believe the Games would eventually be held. But the frightening episode has stayed with her, adding yet another incentive to succeed: Using success not only to encourage others with physical disabilities, but also those who may be struggling with mental health challenges.

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more normalized, especially in the athletics community,” Roberts says. “People think that athletes in some way are exempt from mental health issues — suicide, depression, anxiety — and we’re not. I hope that my experience might help other athletes, and everybody in general, understand that it’s OK to struggle.

It’s OK to reach out and speak up when you need help.”

The Tokyo Games did, of course, go on.

And as she boarded the jumbo jet bound for Japan, Roberts knew she was ready.

Convinced, she says, that she had left nothing on the table in preparation for track and field’s biggest stage.

To ensure competitive fairness, athletes at the Paralympics are classed according to the nature of their impairments. Track and field athletes such as Roberts, who live with co-ordination conditions involving hypertonia (muscle tightness and reduced stretching capacity) ataxia (a loss of muscle control affecting voluntary movements) and athetosis (muscle contractions that sometimes cause involuntary movements) compete in “Running Tracks and Jumps,” categories T35-38.

Roberts is a T37 athlete, a category where, according to World Para Athletics, competitors have “moderate hypertonia, ataxia or athetosis in one half of the body. The other side of the body may be minimally affected but always demonstrates good functional ability in running.”

After the long flight, Roberts settled in to her accommodations at Yokota Air Base, the U.S. Air Force facility in Tokyo where the 70-member Team USA would spend the week before the Games. The extra time at Yokota allowed Roberts to recover from jet-lag and get acclimatized before getting down to business.

Heat 1 of the 200-meter sprint was to be Robert’s first event, held on the third day of the 12-day-long Games. She was highly ranked, but wasn’t a favorite against the talent-stacked field. She ran well, however, finishing third in her heat. It was good enough to qualify for the final, but with a time that put her well behind the eventual

Joe Kusumoto/U.S. Paralympics Track & Field

medalists. She wasn’t in the least bit disappointed.

In fact, Roberts says, getting that first race in the books provided a big boost of confidence. It also didn’t hurt, jitters-wise, that the stands of the enormous stadium were largely empty due to Japan’s strict Covid-19 protocols.

“With a big competition like that, you’re obviously used to having people in the stands,” she says. “But as I’ve reflected back on the whole Games, I think it made me a little bit less nervous than I would normally be, just because it made it all feel like a smaller event.”

More important than the lack of fans, however, was simply feeling comfortable.

Feeling like she belonged, not just at the Games but on the podium. Roberts says that as she entered the stadium for the T37 long jump, the second of her three scheduled events, she was more than relaxed. She was psyched.

“After the 200-meter, most of my nerves were gone,” she says. “Obviously, you still get the stress that happens right before your event — like, ‘Woo, I’m about to go out there’ — but no, seriously, I was probably in my best head-space going into the long jump that I’ve ever been in for any event at any competition.”

Reaching that level of comfort was no small achievement. In the long jump, athletes sprint down a 40-meter-long “runway” (the approach) which terminates in a 20 cm (7.8 inch) wide “take-off board.” As they near the board, longjumpers must quickly condense their stride and heave themselves airborne before reaching the foul line at board’s end. Because even a toe on the line disqualifies the jump, the temptation is to launch early. Leaving sooner, of course, prevents disqualifications. But it shaves crucial inches off a jumper’s final distance.

Roberts says that previous to the Games, she had been struggling to bring her approach and launch into sync — perhaps the most crucial part of this demanding event — and it had weighed on her mentally.

“I had been working on it for years,” she says of her approach, “just getting on the board; taking off from the board: I would always take off behind the board. But over the last couple of months I finally got it down. In practice I was consistent with it; at a competition before the Games, I was consistent with it. That helped me feel more confident going in. I was able to have fun, instead of thinking so much that: ‘You’re not going to get on the board;

you’re not going to get on the board.’”

“I just focused on talking really positively to myself,” she adds. “I really, really, really try to have that voice between my ears to be my friend and not my enemy.”

And so it was on Day 5 of the Games, as Roberts’s perfect technique on the second of her five jumps set a new North American record of 4.65 meters (15.25 feet) and earned her a silver medal. It was an exultant moment, but there was little time for celebration.

The 100-meter was on the horizon. She was determined to make the most of it.

Roberts says that before the long-jump, she was so pumped that Greig urged her to chill. “He’s like, ‘Jaleen, please go over there and sit down. You’re wasting too much energy!’” She recalls feeling more ambivalence headed into the 100.

“To be completely honest, I was not super confident going into it. I just wasn’t super happy with the times I had been running during the season… I knew my ranking [No. 3 in the world], but I was, like, ‘I’m not even sure I’m going to place here. I’m just going to run it; see what happens.’”

That changed after her qualifying race.

Roberts finished second with a time of 13.41 — just .15 seconds behind China’s Xiaoyan Wen — easily qualifying for the next-day’s final. “After that, I felt really good,” says Roberts. “I was glad that it was the next morning. I think the adrenaline was carrying over.”

When that rainy morning dawned, Roberts remembers she was again in the “positive head space” that bodes well for elite athletes. “It’s weird, because the races where I feel the most relaxed are the races that I run the fastest. But in your head, you actually feel like you’re running slow. It’s because you’re not tensing up.” (Tensing up isn’t good for any athlete, but for those with cerebral palsy it’s especially troublesome. “It’s just the nature of cerebral palsy,” says Greig. “If you’re stressed out, your body reflexively tightens.”)

Video clips from NBC Sports show Roberts looking intensely focused as she approached the blocks. Runners in the 100 typically internalize a litany of technical points that will help propel them forward. Feet set, body aligned. React to—don’t anticipate — the gun. Keep long out of the blocks, ease into the upright position, stay low and efficient over the first 25 meters.

For Roberts it was all about keeping positive, trusting her abilities. “I was ready to go. I was ready to medal.”

Crouched in the blocks to her right was Wen, two-time 100-meter gold medalist and the world record holder. To Roberts’ left was Jiang Fenfen, another Chinese athlete with a reputation for speed and efficiency. Greig was in the stands above the track, peering down nervously.

“Honestly, I was thinking bronze,” he says, “because Jaleen had never touched the Chinese girls.”

Roberts settled into the blocks, head down, hair draped across her face like a veil.

The gun sounded. Roberts got away clean and fast. “One of her best starts ever,” Greig says. Still, after the first couple of strides she found herself looking at the backs of her two closest rivals.

“Jaleen Roberts has some work to do!” said NBC’s Bill Spaulding during his call.

“I had thought through the race going in: get out of the blocks hard, but stay low, and then transition up instead of standing right up. So I just worked it through. And as soon as I got to my top end, I think I just got a little push. I don’t know…

I just felt some burst of energy kicked in.”

Indeed. By the 50-meter mark the race had become a three-woman event: Wen leading, Jiang a half-stride behind her with Roberts in third but closing fast. At this point, with all three runners at peak speed, the race became a contest of attrition: Who could maintain the pace?

As the finish approached, it was clear that Wen would not be denied another gold medal. But Roberts kept powering forward; pushing, gaining ground. “I’ve learned over the years not to tense

In the stands, with 10 meters to go, I just started screaming, ‘GO! GO!’ It just came out of nowhere. ‘I was, like, Gooooooo! GO J!’ I could see she was closing. It was awesome.

up when I see people passing me — that used to be one of the areas I struggled with,” Roberts says.

“I knew they were going to go out hard, because they’re phenomenal athletes. So I just stayed calm and relaxed.”

At 75 meters, Roberts says she knew she would be medaling, “because I couldn’t see the field in my peripheral vision,” she says. But the color of that medal was very much up in the air.

“I could see one of the Chinese athletes in front of me, but I didn’t think there was enough time left in the race for me to catch up to her,” she says. “But then I saw the other Chinese athlete on my left. I thought, ‘We are way too close. There is no way I’m going to lose to her.’”

The finish could not have been tighter, but Roberts inched ahead at the end.

“When I saw my name and ‘silver’ on the board,” she says, “I freaked out. I started bawling.”

Greig’s voice catches with emotion as he recalls the race’s finish, one he says was “the highlight of my coaching career.”

“In the stands, with 10 meters to go, I just started screaming, ‘GO! GO!’ It just came out of nowhere, I was like ‘Gooooooo! GO J!’ I could see she was closing. It was awesome. People around me were, like, ‘What is wrong with this guy?’”

Wen’s time of 13-seconds flat was a new world record. Roberts second-place time of 13.16 set the American and North American records.

After the race the two competitors, who count themselves as friends off the track, joined up with Jiang to pose together, smiling.

It was a classic moment of sporting solidarity, a reminder of how the Olympic spirit is meant to bring rivals — both personal and political — together in shared appreciation. It also speaks of the power of sport to encourage, to motivate, to inspire. For Jaleen Roberts, an Eastern student whose Paralympic dreams were seemingly upended by a global pandemic, a young person who experienced the tragic death of her best friend and depression-shrouded days where she could not will herself out of bed, this was the true power of standing on the podium.

“It means that there are girls around the world watching on TV, and that I didn’t disappoint them,” Roberts says. “It means that I was able to show that you can move beyond all this adversity and still come out with success.”

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Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

or more than 30 years, a vow to Eastern and myself that I was the name Dave Cook has still going to be involved; especially to been synonymous with EWU assist in the transition and anything to Athletics. Some would say, keep the Eastern historical legacy alive.

These days, despite his understated style, I knew a lot was already on the plate I can spend a that he was the most influential of our Assistant Sports Information person in the department. As EWU’s Director Monica Jaenicke [now the good portion of Sports Information Director, Cook permanent SID], so I wanted to help the game in the supplied reporters with endless stats where I can with football and men’s and data before and after games, setup basketball. Although I now get to be a stands, where interviews and coordinated hundreds fan, my love for Eagle Football and our the rule, ‘No of behind-the-scenes details. He also other programs will never ever waver. proved to be a steadying influence for Cheering in nervous administrators, coaches and When you announced your the Press Box,’ athletes who found themselves exposed retirement, many former and to the occasionally uncomfortable glare is not in play. current coaches and players of the sports-media spotlight. chimed in on what a great Over the years, Cook witnessed the experience it was working with you incredible rise of a football program – how did that make you feel? Did once denied entry into the Big Sky it make it harder to walk away?

Conference — a program that would avenge that slight by becoming a perennial conference DC: It was definitely overwhelming and appreciated, title contender and 2010 FCS National Champion. and most certainly there was a part of me that regretted Cook also served to advance the interests of Eastern’s retiring about four years before I planned. I still have other competitive sports, including a men’s basketball a lot of energy and passion for work, and I did enjoy program that has made three NCAA Tournament greatly being sports information director at Eastern appearances. for 31 years. However, once I was able to spend more Cook, who grew up in Yakima, retired in June. But time with my wife, Freida, in the summer instead of stepping back doesn’t mean he’s stepping away entirely. answering a barrage of emails and preparing for another In the months following his retirement announcement, sports season, I understood just how very valuable my he’s often been back at Roos Field to help Monica time was to me. We went to five music festivals this Jaenicke, his replacement as SID, transition into her summer – two of them I wasn’t ever able to do because new role. Eastern magazine visited with Cook about his of the job. And what was crazy about those two festivals years at EWU, his retirement, and what lies ahead for the was the fact I ran into people with connections to self-proclaimed “stats geek” who will always be a part of Eastern. the university’s sports history: So I guarantee that sweaty old red Eagle cap will be with me on our trips forever. Although Freida continues What has it been like so far, being away from to work, we’ll also enjoy life — through running and EWU Athletics, during what is typically a music primarily — and cherish every moment. super busy stretch of the year for the sports information director?

I assume you were watching the opening game at UNLV. What was it like to finally be a ‘spectator’ DC: I haven’t been away; far from it! I still have the like the rest of us? same commute to campus — consisting of one mile and two stop signs — so I’ll be a frequent visitor. From DC: I did go on that trip, and was in the press box — the day I announced I was retiring in late June, I made and the same with the home game versus my alma

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As far as the real strangeness of missing an Eastern game, that will come in the playoffs because I’m the only person who has been at each and every playoff game in EWU’s history as a member of the Football Championship Subdivision.

And the first Eagle home game I miss will be even more surreal — I’ve seen them all since 1990.

Cutting down the net after Eastern's 2020-21 Big Sky Conference tournament championship. Photo by Brooks Nuanez/Big Sky.

mater, Central Washington. So the answer to your question really came on Sept. 18, when I watched the Western Illinois game on ESPN+. It was definitely weird, but not unprecedented, since I had missed football road games before because of basketball home-game conflicts. It was certainly memorable, with Eastern scoring 55 firsthalf points, Eric Barriere throwing for more yards in a half than any other FCS player in history and the Eagles scoring touchdowns on their first six possessions.

I remember sending countless texts to Monica, [game announcers] Larry Weir and Paul Sorensen alerting them to my observations about records broken and potentially broken — with a whole lot of ‘Unbelievable!’ comments about what we all were witnessing. I promised them I would not be so irritating the next time I watch an Eagle game.

As far as the real strangeness of missing an Eastern game, that will come in the playoffs because I’m the only person who has been at each and every playoff game in

36 EASTERN MAGAZINE

EWU’s history as a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA).

And the first Eagle home game I miss will be even more surreal — I’ve seen them all since 1990.

So, are you able to watch an EWU game without subconsciously wanting to take notes or write down stats for your post-game release?

DC: I’ll always take a big gander at the stats during and after games, as well as read the recap and the comments that coaches and players make before and after games.

It’s just a relief to know it’s no longer my responsibility to navigate technology we needed to get those stats and information out to the masses. I’ll still try to discover notes as well, and pass them along when I think of them — particularly historical tidbits. I’ve been helping Monica with that, and hopefully she’ll continue to let me visit her office on Sundays!

These days, I can spend a good portion of

the game in the stands where the rule, ‘No Cheering in the Press Box,’ is not in play.

Most importantly, I’m always available, or a text away, to help Monica. She’s already been marvelous at the job, and I look forward to celebrating HER tenure when she retires in 30 or so years!

I know you’ve got a lot of great memories. But what do you miss least?

DC: I enjoyed most of the job, most of the time — especially interactions with coaches, players, media and game staff. [Toward the end] I just couldn’t keep up with a never-ending flurry of requests, technology changes and the workload on nights and weekends. So, despite my love for EWU, I felt it was time for me to hang it up. But by no means did I leave bitter or have any animosity towards others.

It’s just the way most jobs, professions and organizations operate these days, and I made the choice to retire a bit earlier than most [Cook is 58].

Looking back at your years at EWU, which season stands out as the most memorable?

DC: Honestly, it would have to be my first, when I served as an interim SID during the 1985-86 school year. Eastern had just been denied admission into the Big Sky Conference, so the year and my career started on a somewhat somber note. But that year the football team won nine games, beating Idaho in the playoffs. And the men’s basketball team won 20 games. My memories and experiences working alongside Ron Raver, John Johnson, Dick Zornes, Judy Crabb and Kerry Moxcey shaped my professional life ever since. It was an amazing group of people that I got to learn from, and much of that I used while at Idaho as SID from 1986-90 before returning to EWU. Two years later the Big Sky admitted Eastern. The growth trajectory since then has been nothing short of amazing, so I’m equally as proud of seasons such as 1992 [first Big Sky Conference title in football], 1997 [playoff semifinals], 2004 [first NCAA Tournament berth in basketball], 2010 [FCS National Champions], 2015 when beating Montana in Missoula to win the Big Sky tournament title [and an NCAA Tournament birth] and 2018 [FCS football national runner-up]. To cap it all off, I was able to spend a week in the “bubble” in Indianapolis at the NCAA Tournament, followed by a berth in the spring football playoffs — making EWU the only school in the nation to qualify for the playoffs in NCAA Division I in both sports. I could go on and on, and of course I’d have a list. Making lists was essentially my life for 35 years.

Do you plan to stay involved with the university?

DC: As much as I can! But what I didn’t anticipate was how much I’d enjoy working at Michael Anderson Elementary, a part of the Medical Lake School District on Fairchild Air Force base. My wife is in her 31st year there, and is now an instructional coach for the school of 377 students. She convinced me this summer to complete paperwork to become a substitute para-educator on occasion and

Cook with his daughter, Olivia, in the Roos Field press box.

receive base access, and I looked forward to joining my wife at her workplace for a change. She has long been a staff worker at EWU football games, and has helped us when needed, but I never had the military clearance to visit her on a regular basis.

From that first day on, I’ve tried to be a willing servant and that ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ type of sub for the school.

I’ve been able to work with the kids in classrooms, which is by far my favorite task.

But I’ve also helped in the library, monitored recesses, assisted with bus-loading duty, labeled new books and classroom curriculum, handed out breakfasts and took on myriad of other duties as they arose.

I even spent a full day substituting in PE, and nearly a week working in the kitchen helping to prepare and serve breakfast and lunch. What I thought would be a glimpse at K-12 education has turned into an “eyeswide-open emoji” — multiplied by 100. My experience and amazement at the school has given me and an incredible appreciation for what educators do each day for these kiddos.

And the corn dogs and mac-and-cheese is mighty good too!

How about your passion for running — is that continuing? Or did you also hang up the running shoes when you retired from Eastern?

DC: God-willing, the running shoes will NEVER be hung up. My daily run — three miles a day for more than 10 years — will always be the most important part of my day.

But with an earlier wake-up call to serve at the elementary school, I’ve had to navigate running in darkness earlier than expected.

In fact, recently I was blinded by the lights of an early-morning bus, and as I tried to shuffle from the road to the sidewalk, I ran smack dab into a garbage can on the curb and knocked it down. Neither myself nor the can suffered injury, thankfully. Now I think of that garbage can as an apt characterization of my retired life: Whatever comes before me, just knock it down, laugh it off and live to run another day.

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CLASS NOTES 1970s ’73 Kirk West, BA education, is poised to complete a law degree at Griffith University Law School in Brisbane, Australia. Now 70, West worked as a teacher in Australia for more than 40 years. He came back to the United States after retirement, only to return to Australia to enter law school in 2019. ’78, ’84 Rick White, BA, MA music education, was inducted into the Washington Music Educators Association Hall of Fame, Class of 2020. White retired last year after a 40-year teaching career that included service in several school districts in the state of Washington. ’79 Betty Mobbs, BA communications, last year celebrated her eighth year of “regenerative ranching” at the grass-fed cattle and pastured poultry operation that she runs with her husband, John, in Hauser

Lake, Idaho. The Mobbs’ Lazy M Ranch, family owned for three generations, aims to use regenerative practices to produce less resource-intensive food while revitalizing previously depleted soils. ’79 Kathie Webber, BA history, this summer retired after a 41-year career as a science teacher with the Snohomish School District.

“I don’t know where the time went,” she says.

“It seems like just yesterday that I graduated from EWU.”

1980s ’84, ’89 Lee Williams, BA, MEd, education, in December retired as CEO of CommunityMinded Enterprises, a Spokane-based organization working to assist marginalized populations in Washington state. ’88 Tawny Buck, BA business administration, is the executive director of

the Girdwood Health Clinic in Girdwood, Alaska. Under her leadership, the once financially troubled clinic has become a vital community resource. It will soon break ground on a new, $7 million state-of-the-art facility.

1990s ’90 Peter C. Zahorodny, BA general studies, recently retired after 21 years as a senior software test engineer in the NetPlus division of Ventraq Corp., a data collection and analysis firm headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. ’92 Kim Reasoner-Morin, BA education, in October was named executive director of the Spokane Humane Society, a private, non-profit agency providing care, shelter, and placement for neglected and unwanted animals. As executive director, Reasoner(Continued next page, below.)

People-Friendly Places Essays edited by Eastern alumna Summer Hess explore one of Spokane’s most interesting urban spaces.

J

ust southwest of the University District, near the corner of N. Browne St. and Main, lies one of Spokane’s most trendy city blocks, a bustling pocket of once neglected, now mostly restored historic buildings.

The casual visitor might be forgiven for imagining that this hipster-friendly assortment of businesses is simply a funky shopping and entertainment hub. But as Summer Hess ’12 points out in a new account of the area, the minidistrict collectively known as the Community Building Campus is, in fact, merely the latest phase in a two-decades-long attempt to create a more socially conscious, community-driven form of urban development. The idea being, as one civic leader puts it, to help “good people and good organizations [do] great things for our world.”

38 EASTERN MAGAZINE

The book, One-Block Revolution, is a collection of 19 essays that reflect on the campus and its wider impact — both in Spokane and around the country. Hess says she first encountered the campus as an EWU work-study student in 2009. She later became an assistant and project manager for its founder, Jim Sheehan, a former public defender and activist. Hess says the essays’ aim is to provide “on-the-ground examples of experimental and non-traditional philanthropy and community-centered development.”

“Most private developers put profit first,” she explains, “and some try to make accommodations for sustainability or human happiness in order to make their projects more marketable or desirable.

The Community Building Campus, on the other hand, puts people and the environment first.”

Putting people before profit is at the core of the “revolutionary” aspect of the one-block campus. “This book provides an alternative framework for how wealth can be shared and used for a more collective good,” Hess says.

One-Block Revolution, which best-selling novelist Jess Walter ’87 has called “a fascinating collection of pieces about my favorite neighborhood in Spokane,” is available at major retailers and through its locally owned publisher, Latah Books.

CLASS NOTES

Building Relationships Erin Ross, EWU alumna and member of the Cowlitz Tribe, will guide Eastern’s Tribal Relations Office.

I

n July, Eastern named Erin Ross ’99, ’15, alumna and member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, its new director of tribal relations. For Ross, the job is all about extending and improving engagement with the Native communities upon whose ancestral lands Eastern resides.

“I know first-hand that Eastern does great work, meaningful work, for tribal governments,” she says, citing her own time as a student in urban and regional planning. “Our students have completed projects ranging from providing planning services and tribal transportation support, to saving lives by completing research and providing solutions that have significantly reduced traffic fatalities within reservations.

Additionally, we collaborate with local school

districts and organizations to bring Native American students to Eastern. We want students to understand that they are capable of attending college and pursuing their goals.”

Student outcomes aren’t the only focus of the position, she says. Tribal relations outreach also encompasses efforts to shore up connections with tribal governments in the region.

“Federally recognized tribes are in effect sovereign nations, so my primary responsibility is to facilitate the relationships between EWU and tribal governments,” Ross says, adding that her job also involves providing EWU with advice and assistance for these partnerships.

It’s a role for which Ross, who has worked as a tribal activist, planning manager and professional

Morin says she will join with staff and supporters to “lay the groundwork for the future of animal welfare in the Spokane area.”

’02 Trent Hansen, BA education, in May was named superintendent of Jurupa Unified School District in Jurupa Valley, California.

Hansen began his leadership of the district on July 1.

’96, ’09 David Henderson, BA liberal studies, MA public administration, retired in June 2020 after 47 years of working in public service related fields, including service in the U.S. Army and 39 years with the state of Washington. “It is time to venture into new and exciting journeys, and begin my second career as a traveler,” Henderson says.

’05 Craig Dias, BA business administration, was named general manager and vice president of finance at Clean Copack, a comanufacturing division of BumbleBar, Inc., a Spokane Valley-based maker of organic energy bars.

2000s

2010s

’02 Heather Elder, MA English. Elder, who is also an alumna of Gonzaga’s School of Law, this summer began serving as a hearings judge for Washington’s Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals. The board hears appeals resulting from decisions made by the state’s Department of Labor and Industries, among them workers’ compensation claims.

’13 Greta Underhill, BA, MSC communication studies, in November was awarded the inaugural Graduate Teaching Award at the 107th National Communications Association Convention in Seattle. Underhill, a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Kansas, is pursuing a doctoral degree in KU’s Department of Communication Studies.

political advisor, is particularly well suited.

She says these experiences and others give her a “deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities governments face... Having this knowledge allows me to properly advise EWU in its efforts to build stronger relationships.”

And what about her years as a student? Might that help?

“Yes!” she says. “I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve Native American communities and students, and to play an active role in my alma mater. Go Eags!”

’15 Joshua Lindberg, BA music, earlier this year earned a doctorate in educational leadership from Concordia University-Chicago.

His dissertation explored how music teachers judged the effectiveness of the training they received as undergraduates. He is currently director of bands and orchestra at Southridge High School in Kennewick, Washington. ’19 Rani Duffey, BA business administration, joined NAC Architecture, a design firm with offices in Spokane, Seattle and Los Angeles, as a marketing coordinator. ’19 Dehonta Hayes, BA communication studies, in December signed a contract to play with the Green Bay Blizzard of the Indoor Football League. Hayes, a standout safety who led the Eagles in tackles during the 2019 season, has also developed a substantial following as a comedian and sports commentator on social media.

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CLASS NOTES

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Save the date for the 2022 EWU Alumni Awards Gala, the first in-person Gala in two years!

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IN MEMORIAM

Man for All Seasons Bob Quinn, a geography professor with a passion for the weather, died on Oct. 10.

I

n 1967, Robert “Bob” Quinn, a newly minted assistant professor of geography at Eastern Washington State College, arrived in Cheney to find himself confronted by the coldest, snowiest winter in the city’s recorded history. His new colleagues no doubt thought it odd that Quinn, who grew up in balmy Southern California, seemed right at home.

Over the next 49 years, faculty, students and staff at what became Eastern Washington University would learn that Professor Quinn was, in fact, a scientist who could make his home in an impressive array of scholarly environments. Among these was predicting weather, snowy or otherwise.

“I’m not sure that I can spell meteorologist, but I want to be one” a youthful Quinn once told his mother. He would go on to become one of the nation’s premiere long-range forecasters, and today there is a weather station outside Isle

Hall named in his honor.

By the time he retired in 2016, Quinn had used his amazing range of talents to guide hundreds of students through coursework in geography, oceanography, climatology and, of course, atmospheric science. He also pursued a passion for riparian ecology, founding a program in wetlands study at EWU and serving for years as the go-to wetlands consultant for Spokane County.

Teaching and field work weren’t the only things that sparked Quinn’s enthusiasm and loyalty. As both a faculty member and retiree, he never waned as a faithful booster of Eastern Athletics. For many years he served as the faculty advisor for EWU’s club hockey team, while rarely missing the chance to attend Eagles football, basketball and volleyball games in person — no matter the weather.

Bob Quinn was 79 years old.

2010s

’96 Sam Wood, age 74, died Sept. 18, 2021.

1970s

’17 Sativa Transue, age 26, died Nov. 27, 2021.

’94 Nancy Marshall, age 52, died June 13, 2021.

’13, ’15 Elizabeth Clanin, age 42, died June 23, 2021.

’92 Carol Poster, age 65, died Oct. 22, 2021.

’78 Raymond Johnson, age 67, died June 21, 2021.

’13 Sydney Filan, age 32, died Nov. 5, 2021.

’90, ’92 Nadine Van Stone, age 63, died Sept.

9, 2021.

2000s

1980s

’75 Robert Wayt, age 68, died Oct. 29, 2021.

’02, ’11 Dustin Crowe, age 42, died Oct. 19, 2021.

’88 Thomas Carlson, age 68, died Sept. 18, 2021.

’73 Jeffrey E Andrus, age 71, died July 5, 2021.

’83 Renée deWolf-Gibbons, age 60, died Oct. 24, 2021.

’72 Arthur Eshe, age 67, died March 25, 2021.

1990s ’99, ’01 Susan Alling, age 74, died Sept. 7, 2021. ’96 Tracy Erdmann, age 62, died Oct. 15, 2021.

’76 Joseph Adams, age 67, died Nov. 6, 2021. ’76 Dwain ‘Dee’ White, age 78, died Oct. 8, 2021.

’80 David Siderits, age 66, died Aug. 31, 2021.

’71, ’77 Lawrence Hussey, age 89, died March 20, 2021.

’80 Lynnette Dennis, age 76, died Dec. 06, 2021.

’71, Stephen ‘Willy’ Williams, age 72, died Oct. 2, 2021.

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IN MEMORIAM

1960s ’69 Larry Curtis, age 76, died Nov. 8, 2021. ’69 All Evans, age 77, died July 18, 2021. ’69 Larry Giffen, age 75, died Sept. 27, 2021.

Lonnie Christensen, died Sept. 11, 2021.

Christiansen joined Eastern’s staff in 1967, eventually becoming a heavy equipment operator. He retired in 1999 after 32 years of service.

’64 John O’Neil, age 84, died June 23, 2021.

R. William (Bill) Clark, died Nov. 27, 2021.

Clark, a professor emeritus of computer science, began his career at Eastern in 1987. He retired on Jan. 1, 2015 after 28 years of service.

’64, ’67 Gordon Wallace, age 79, died Sept. 6, 2021.

Dixie Crabb, died Nov. 16, 2021. She served for nine years, 1987-1996, in EWU Dining Services.

’66 Steve Hecker, age 77, died Nov. 12, 2021.

’63, ’69 Jim Frye, age 87, died Sept. 15, 2021. ’63 Roger Kugler, age 82, died Sept. 6, 2021.

’60, ’65 Daniel Miller, age 84, died Sept. 18, 2021.

’58 Neil Robertson, age 85, died Nov. 29, 2021.

Ray Osterberg, died Oct. 9, 2021. Osterberg ’79, ’80 served at EWU as a systems analyst and programmer for nine years. He retired in 1994.

’58 James Speer, age 88, died Sept. 13, 2021.

1940s ’46 Doris K. Huffman, age 96, died Nov. 29, 2021.

John Berdis, died Nov. 20, 2021. A former officer with the Washington State Patrol and the Cheney Police Department, Berdis worked as a supervisor for EWU’s Parking & Transportation Services from 1998-2021.

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EASTERN MAGAZINE

Elroy C. McDermott, died Nov. 14, 2021.

During an EWU career that spanned more than three decades, McDermott, a professor of management, served as a nationally prominent instructor and administrator in the university’s College of Business and Public Administration.

In 1993, he received the Trustee’s Medal, Eastern’s highest faculty honor.

Karen Ocheltree, died July 8, 2021. She retired in 2000 after more than 30 years of service with Eastern’s Department of Dental Hygiene.

1950s

Will Bascus, died Sept. 12, 2021. After playing basketball at the University of Montana for legendary Head Coach Jud Heathcoat, Bascus began a long career as an educator and coach, including a three-year stint from 1988-1990 as an assistant at Eastern.

Norma Juarez, died Aug. 7, 2021. She served for nine years in the university’s Division of Business and Finance.

Gary Ocheltree, died Jan. 5, 2021. He retired in 1992 after 27 years of service in Eastern’s paint shop.

’63 Lynn Miller, age 82, died Nov. 2, 2021.

Faculty and Staff

Karyl Ernsdorff, died April 1, 2021. She served for 23 years with EWU Student Financial Services.

Mary Cullinan, died in May 2021. Eastern’s 26th president and the second woman to lead the university, President Cullinan served from 2014-2020.

Maxine Davis, died Oct. 28, 2021. Davis, an emerita professor of physical education, health and recreation, coached EWU gymnastics from 1970-1978, with each season concluding in an appearance in the AIAW Small College National Championships. Despite her success, Davis stepped away from coaching to focus on teaching and research. She retired in 2000, and was inducted into the EWU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.

Bob Quinn, died Oct. 10, 2021. Quinn, a professor of geography, was a noted climate scientist and authority on wetlands ecology (See story on Page 41).

Arne Stueckle, died Sept. 3, 2021. For more than three decades, Stueckle served as a professor in EWU’s College of Education, where he specialized in teacher preparation classes and student-teacher supervision. He retired in 1997.

Jerry Uppinghouse, died Nov. 9, 2021.

Uppinghouse ’85 served in University Advancement at Eastern until his retirement in 2012. As a retiree, he continued to contribute to the university community as a valued member, and past president, of the EWU Retirees Association.

BACK STORY

Paper’s End: Back in 1951, the publication that launched 35-years before as the State Normal School Journal changed its name to The Easterner. (The image at left depicts newsroom staff members in 1962. The photo below, circa 1960, shows the paper being printed on presses owned by the Cheney Free Press.) The Easterner newspaper today remains the voice of EWU's student body, but with a twist — the “paper” will no longer appear in print. Print publication was suspended at the onset of the pandemic, explains editor Randy Kinswa, then pulled indefinitely this past summer. “The decision was made to go online due to budget restrictions for this school year,” Kinswa says. “Print media’s decline in popularity was a secondary factor.” Easterner staff weren’t happy about the move, he adds, but acknowledged its necessity. Will print return? Not likely, Kinswa says. “New media is increasingly becoming more electronically centered, and it is a top-down economy in the U.S.”