EXCEPTIONAL EAGLES

Each year the EWU Alumni Association holds a gala event to honor Eastern’s most impactful alumni. This year’s gathering was dubbed “1882: Honoring Outstanding Eagles” to commemorate the year of Eastern’s founding. It included an added bonus: a partnership with the EWU Foundation that celebrated our most generous benefactors, including a corporation and two individuals whose philanthropic contributions have been particularly helpful to Eastern and its students.

BENJAMIN P. CHENEY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

At Cheney and Wahluke high schools, Lori Wyborney ’86, ’92, ’95, the 2023 Benjamin P. Cheney Lifetime Achievement Award winner, made a name for herself as the educator and coach who spoke out against inequalities in women athletics (while bringing a tenacious style to building winning softball teams). But her true legacy was created at John R. Rogers High School, where she became principal in 2010. At the time, Rogers and its students were struggling, with graduation rates among the state’s worst. Wyborney turned things around. Graduation rates went up. Way up. “She was the right leader at the right time,” recalls Shelley Redinger, then Spokane School District superintendent.

Wyborney’s success at Rogers attracted national media attention and made her an in-demand speaker across the U.S. Since retiring in 2021, she has continued her strong commitment to community service. As a consultant with the Spokane Public Schools, she helps principals adopt innovative student-success strategies. Her work with the Gonzaga Family Haven project, meanwhile, is providing permanent housing for more than 70 unhoused families. At Eastern, Wyborney has for years volunteered as a speaker and lecturer. As if this weren’t enough, she is also a big booster of Eagle athletics, not just attending games but serving on the board of the Eagle Athletic Fund and working to support the Fast Break Club.

Eagle4life Spirit

Eagle alumni are famous for their pride and dedication, but among the Eastern faithful Kory Kelly ’16 stands out as a true Eagle4Life. At every home football game, for example, you’ll find him, in his time-honored parking spot, hosting a boisterous tailgate for fellow alumni and friends. Behind the scenes, meanwhile, his work with the Eagle Athletic Fund has helped grow financial support while expanding EWU Athletics’ fan base. Beyond sports, Kelly gives back to current Eagles as the president of the Alumni Volunteer Corporation of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, where he mentors undergraduates who often go on to serve in key student-leadership roles. In addition to all this, Kelly has taken on the broader role of alumni-involvement contact for EWU’s fraternity and sorority life staff, and has generously offered his time and insights as a member of the editorial advisory board for this magazine.

Sandy Williams Trailblazer

A friend, neighbor and activist collaborator with the late Sandy Williams, Barbara (Lili) Navarrete ’99 is the first recipient of EWU’s inaugural Sandy Williams Trailblazer Award. Like Williams, Navarrete is a powerful advocate for the underserved: In Navarrete’s case, immigrant communities, both documented and undocumented, and others who suffer from social marginalization and workplace exploitation. In her current position as director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood’s Raíz (Spanish for “root”) program, she works tirelessly to promote health equity and better outcomes for vulnerable immigrant woman.

As a community activist and volunteer, meanwhile, Navarrete has an extensive track record of effective engagement. She has served, for example, as vice president of Spokane’s Hispanic, Business, and Professional Association; is an active member of the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition and the Washington Immigration Solidarity Network; and is currently serving in her second term as a commissioner on the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs. Among the many ways she has given back to Eastern has been her service as the 2020 Women’s and Gender Education Center’s Activist in Residence, while her ongoing participation in university workshops has enhanced the reach and effectiveness of education and outreach programs related to race, gender and health outcomes.

Military Service

Our honoree for military service, Lt Col. (Ret.) Brad Liberg ’81, studied industrial engineering while serving in the EWU ROTC Corps of Cadets. Over the course of 22 years of service in the U.S. Army, Liberg earned numerous awards and citations while playing an integral role in developing and maintaining the readiness of some of our nation’s (and the world’s) most advanced missile systems. Among these were both the Stinger missile and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) that have proved decisive on the battlefields of Ukraine.

After his promotion to commander of the Army’s Combat Equipment Battalion in Hythe, England, Liberg was positioned on a solid track to further advancement. Instead, he chose to continue his service in a different way, moving into another high-pressure engagement demanding vigilance and unwavering dedication to duty — that of public educator. For the past 11 years at West Valley High School, he has served as the career and technical education director, a dean of students, assistant principal and, currently, as principal.

GOV. CLARENCE D. MARTIN EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR

From the very first time he set foot in a classroom, Marty Robinette ’76, ’07, the Gov. Clarence D. Martin Educator of Year Award winner, has been fiercely determined to see each of his students succeed. In his first teaching job, for example, Robinette developed a successful after-school academic support program so that struggling students might have a better shot at success. His next position also involved improving student prospects, this time as an assistant principal at Spokane’s North Central high School, a place that had never quite developed, as educators say, a “college-going culture.” Robinette changed that, bringing the GEAR UP program to North Central and so helping an entire cohort of seventh-to-twelfth graders get college-ready.

In 2011, he joined the staff of Principal Lori Wyborney, our lifetime achievement honoree, at Spokane’s Rogers High School. There he played a key role in administering the programs that helped turn around Rogers’ notoriously poor graduation rates, while at the same time advocating for better Advanced Placement options. “He never gives up on any student,” Wyborney says.

Tawanka Service

Giving back started early for Patricia Chandler ’57, the Tawanka Service Award winner. As an undergraduate at Eastern, she was active in the Tawanka service organization (while also serving as president of the 100-plus member Future Teachers Club). As Tawanka wound down, Chandler helped establish a scholarship fund so that former members might continue to participate in Tawanka-style service work. Her fundraising for that effort led to twice-annual Tawanka meetings on the west side of Washington (where Chandler worked at Brier Elementary as a classroom teacher, a specialist for staff development and, finally, principal).

Over the years Chandler has given generously to EWU while leading outreach efforts that encouraged other Tawanka alumni to do the same. More recently, Chandler and her late husband, Leo, established the Leo & Pat Chandler Leadership Scholarship endowment to assist Eagle students who, like them, aim to use their leadership skills to uplift people and communities.

Rising Eagle

As a communications studies student at Eastern, Isabella Robertson ’22, distinguished herself as an exemplary young scholar, community leader and advocate for campus diversity and multicultural activities, efforts that resulted in her receiving EWU’s Frances B. Huston Award for meritorious service. After graduation, she has wasted no time in bringing this spirit of service to the national stage. First she served as an intern with the office of Rep. Kevin McCarthy — now U.S. House Speaker — and, more recently, has entered the professional political ranks as an aide to Rep. Brian Mast of Florida’s 18th Congressional District, where she handles constituent services related to immigration.

What’s the next step up for this Rising Eagle star? Robertson says she hopes to complete a law degree, and then to continue to serve her country as a U.S. Armed Forces JAG lawyer. “Isabella embodies the spirit of an Eagle: loyal, tenacious and fiercely dedicated,” wrote one of her biggest fans, Robertson’s sister, Catherine ’21. “She has always sustained these characteristics — as well as a true heart of kindness, justice, and courage — for her entire life. It’s an honor to be her older sister and fellow EWU alumna.”

Alumni Philanthropist Of The Year

Barbara Shields ’92 found her professional niche right out of high school as a phone operator for Pacific Northwest Bell. Over the years, even as Shields’s career blossomed with promotions and additional responsibilities, one thing continued to bug her — her lack of a college degree. As she neared retirement, Shields did something about it. Taking advantage of a tuition reimbursement program offered by her employer, she enrolled at Eastern. It didn’t take long for Shields to accomplish her goal, graduating magna cum laude in general studies.

As a retiree, Shields decided she’d like to give a boost to others, who, like her, may have deferred their dream of a degree. “I decided to endow a scholarship while I’m still alive to see students benefit from it,” she told InsideEWU. In 2008, Shields established two separate endowments: One funds two undergraduate scholarships each year, the other provides two graduate-student scholarships. "There’s so many wonderful young people who just need a hand up,” she says.

Philanthropist Of The Year

Bill Youngs, a professor of history at EWU, has served the university — and the larger Eastern community — for more than 50 years. Over the course of this fruitful career, Youngs has written five books, published numerous academic papers and given countless presentations to audiences both in the United States and abroad. He has received research grants from the American Philosophical Society and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is a recipient of EWU’s Trustees’ Award. Beyond these accolades and accomplishments, however, it is his steadfast commitment to his students that has distinguished Youngs’ time at EWU.

Just over two years ago, two of these former students, Mike Clawson and Alicia KinneClawson, chose to honor Youngs by establishing the Bill Youngs Endowment. The fund helps undergraduate students in history, environmental science and/or interdisciplinary studies with the cost of tuition, research projects and publishing expenses. Since the endowment’s establishment, Youngs says he has been personally compelled to work to extend its impact: “If this young couple can dig deep to contribute to the university, so should I.”

Corporate Philanthropist Of The Year

For close to a century, STCU has been one of our region’s most generous corporate citizens, providing financial, in-kind and volunteer support to schools, colleges, universities and nonprofit organizations. At Eastern, STCU has long been a valuable partner, helping the university provide opportunities that help students in need reach their full potential. Over the years they have also lent crucial support to projects as varied as the installation of EWU’s iconic One-Room Schoolhouse and the founding of the Eagle Career Network, to support for the Innovation Hub at the Catalyst and funding for the electronic-reader board that greets students and visitors as they pass by Roos Field.

This is an especially apropos time to honor STCU with EWU’s Corporate Philanthropist Award. Recently the company and its CEO, Ezra Eckhardt (pictured above), formed the Here for Good Foundation, a philanthropy that will allow STCU “to double down” on its giving, ensuring that its tradition of service remains robust for decades to come.

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3. On a cold January day in west Texas, Joanne Wright ’87 and Kevin Semler ’87 celebrated reaching the summit of Guadalupe Peak in Guadalupe National Park. “We had to hike through snow and persevere in 40 mile-per-hour winds to reach the top with our Eastern magazine,” says Semler.

4. Angel L. Rios ’16, ’18, a support contractor for the United States Antarctic Program, was stationed on the Earth’s southern-most continent from October 2022 to February 2023. “I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to live and work here supporting the science programs,” she wrote from McMurdo Station.

1970s

’75 Edmond A Bruneau, BA journalism, is a Walla Walla-based poet, songwriter and music producer. His latest work, a collaboration with the Italian band Whistlewit, was released earlier this year. The CD, titled Sunflower 69, is a homage to 1960s-era musical magic, the best of which, Bruneau says, “embraced enormous innovation and genuine movement toward community, peace and love.”

1980s

’81 Scott Bockstruck, BA recreational administration, in June 2022 retired as the associate regional director for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Bockstruck had previously served, from 1983-2000, as staff director for EWU’s chapter of the InterVarsity ministry.

’84 Cal FitzSimmons, BA journalism, retired in January after a 40-years career in the news business. FitzSimmons, a former editor of The Easterner, got his start with The Spokesman-Review while still at EWU. He went on to work for six daily newspapers, including the Tri-City Herald and The Missoulian, before being named editor of The Daily News in Longview, Washington. He edited The Wenatchee World for nine years before finishing his career as the news and sales director at Wenatchee TV station NCWLIFE.

’84 James Ruzicka, BA radio and television, in April received the Elbert K. Fretwell Outstanding Educator Award from the Palmetto Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Ruzicka, after a long and successful military career, recently completed his first year as a Junior ROTC instructor at Union County High School in Union, South Carolina.

’85 Joe Harris, BA physical education, in July of last year was inducted into their Court of Honor by the National High School Basketball Coaches Association (NHSBCA), a distinction that recognizes members’ contributions to the growth of NHSBCA and positive impacts on scholastic basketball nationally. After coaching boys’ basketball at Chelan High School for 31 years, Harris stepped away from the court in 2016 with a 516-260 win-loss record and a state championship title. In 2011 he was inducted into the Washington State Basketball Coaches Hallof-fame.

’86 Todd Metter, BA management information systems, retired in February after a 32-year career as a firefighter/ paramedic with the Bellevue (Washington) Fire Department. Says Metter: “After countless calls and sleepless nights, I will be snow skiing at destination resorts, completing endless home-improvements projects and travelling to Southeast Asia to discover amazing flora and fauna.”

1990s

’91 Lisa Parks, BA urban and regional planning, in May won confirmation from the Tumwater (Washington) City Council to serve as the city’s new administrator. She had previously worked as executive services director at the Port of Olympia.

’91 Karl Scarborough, BA education, in June retired after 32 years of service as a music educator with the Winlock (Washington) School District. For most of his career, according to The Chronicle newspaper in Centralia, Washington, Scarborough was the district’s only music teacher, serving as band and choir director for both middle school and high school students. He was inducted into the Washington State Educators Hall of Fame in 2020.

’94, ’95 James Jewell, BA, MA history, published his latest book, Agents of Empire: The First Oregon Cavalry and the Opening of the Interior Pacific Northwest during the Civil War with the University of Nebraska Press. The book, wrote one reviewer, is “a welcome addition to the growing body of work on the Civil War in the Far West, adding new dimensions and richness to our understanding of the war’s impact on the entire nation.” Jewell is a professor of history at North Idaho College.

’94 Rick Walk, BA urban and regional planning, at press time was in contract negotiations to become the next city manager in Lacey, Washington. Walk has served as Lacey’s interim city manager since December 2022.

2000s

’04 Randi Holm, BA communication studies. In March, Holm’s candy company, Holm Made Toffee Co., earned three top prizes at the 19th annual Oregon Chocolate Festival in Ashland, Oregon: People’s Choice Award, voted by festival attendees; Best Chocolate Candy, voted by festival judges; and Best in Show.

’04 Ashlie Beal, BA interdisciplinary studies. As the founder of The Light Factory, a Spokane company creating bespoke lighting fixtures, Beal has spent the last decade building a national customer base. Her work was featured in the Dec. 13, 2022 issue of The Inlander.

’05 Tyler Doupe', BA English, has written for The Fandango Movie Blog, The Syfy Channel’s website (SyFyWire), and several prominent digital and print publications in the fantasy and horror genre. He now serves as the editor of the website Wicked Horror, while also curating several of the site’s ad-supported VOD streaming channels.

’06 Carmell Engebretson, BA business administration, is the director of communications for the Bristol Bay Native Corporation. In April, she was honored as one of Alaska’s “2023 Top Forty Under 40” by the Alaska Journal of Commerce and the Anchorage Daily News, an award that recognizes young professionals who have demonstrated both excellence in the workplace and a commitment to their communities.

’06 Micah Rieke, MS physical education, is a PE teacher at Icicle River Middle School in Leavenworth, Washington. Earlier in 2023 he was named the school’s certificated employee of the year.

’09 Cathrene (Cat) Nichols, BA English, is a senior director for Spokane County Community Affairs, an agency dedicated to building communities while helping vulnerable local residents maintain healthier, more independent lives. Nichols work was recently featured in the book, Governing on the Ground: The Past, Present, and Future of County Government

2010s

’16 Nate Peters, BA visual communications, earlier this year was named vice president of marketing and communications at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington.

’19 Madyson (Mady) Rigg, BA communications studies, was awarded the title of Miss Montana USA during a competition held in Lewistown, Montana on May 7. She will represent her home state at the 72nd Miss USA pageant to be held later this year at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada.

2020s

’21 Eric Barriere, Jr., BA communications studies, this spring signed with the New Jersey Generals of the USFL. Barriere, one of the most successful quarterbacks in Eastern football history, joined the Generals after beginning the 2023 USFL season with the Michigan Panthers.

’22 Carly Bair, MM piano performance, has joined the music faculty at Whitworth University as an adjunct professor.