Eastern Magazine | Fall/Winter 2022-23

Eagle Eye View: Autumn’s vivid colors mark the midway point of fall quarter on the Cheney campus. Unlike the opening of the previous academic term, this year’s annual return to EWU occurred without the masking and social distancing requirements that, while crucial to preserving the health and wellbeing of the campus community, had altered the enduring rhythms of campus life. For students, faculty and everyone who cherishes the university and its traditions, it has been a second homecoming of sorts, a powerful reminder that our place among these golden hills will never be supplanted by a computer screen.

Photo by Chris Thompson

On Gratitude

One of my friends posted this quote on her social media as I was preparing to write this letter: “Gratitude helps you see what is there, instead of what isn’t.” Wow. For me, and I suspect for many of you, it’s easy to get sidetracked by things, particularly the little things, that are not going our way — a slow, snowy commute; an exasperating day at the office; a tough loss by your favorite team. But, in reality, there is so much to be grateful for. Especially when it comes to EWU.

I cannot even begin to describe how grateful I am to this university. Not only did Eastern help me pursue my passion for service, it also introduced me to my husband, life-long friends and, most recently, my dream job with the EWU Alumni Association.

Here at Eastern, “seeing what’s there, instead of what isn’t” is part of our DNA. As you’ll learn in this edition of Eastern magazine, that applies most specifically to our students. Eagle students, 32 percent of whom are the first in their families to attend college, never fail to embody our core values of grit, grace, greatness, and of course, gratitude: gratitude for the opportunity Eastern represents for them, and gratefulness for the generous support so many of you have provided.

Speaking of which, I hope you’ll take a moment to review our most recent EWU Foundation annual report that

Eagle students, 32 percent of whom are the first in their families to attend college, seldom fail to embody our core values of grit, grace, greatness, and, of course, gratitude.

we’ve bound into the center of this magazine. That report, included in the magazine for the first time, is designed to help all of us learn more about how our contributions have — and will continue — to provide crucial, long-term support to EWU and its students.

Rest assured that not one day goes by at Eastern where we aren’t striving to make this university and its students more successful. For those of us who also attended EWU, that means working to ensure our beloved alma mater becomes even better than how we left it.

I hope, in that spirit, you will consider either a first-time gift or renewing (or increasing) the generous support you have provided in previous years. There are so many ways you can

make a difference: Give to whatever you are grateful for or passionate about! For me, as you might have guessed, it’s providing a leg up to students who, like me, pursue their degrees well after reaching — ahem — a certain age.

Of course I can’t sign off without a quick reminder that we’re now just one year away from celebrating 100 years of homecoming. 100 YEARS! We’ll be sharing more about our plans for this big event in the months ahead. As always, thank you for your continued love and kindness.

— Kelsey Hatch-Brecek ’21

This winter especially, there is so much to be grateful for.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Eric Galey ’84 Chris Thompson ’19 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

At the Washington State Capitol, David Buri is on the job for Eastern.

Photo by Eric Galey

Passing Through

On a beautiful fall day, led by the Eagle Drum Corps and flanked by cheering faculty, staff and Greek Life members, hundreds of incoming students in September “passed through” EWU’s iconic Herculean Pillars to begin their university careers.

The annual event, now one of Eastern’s most cherished traditions, recreates the path generations of students once took from Cheney’s downtown train depot to their new collegiate homes. These days, their belongings safely stowed in residence halls, the newly arrived Eagles are encumbered only by red and white pom-poms and complimentary bar-b-que.

“I’m so excited for what’s to come!” said one happy undergraduate, Alana Zamora, a soon-to-be biology major from the Tri-Cities, right before the walk.

This year’s event was especially exciting given that it was “restriction free” — meaning that, unlike last year’s gathering, students could enjoy the day without pandemic-related health and safety requirements.

Passing through the pillars is one of a slew of Welcome Week activities designed to help new students seamlessly adapt to university life. Unlike some of the other entertaining activities, however, the pillars event signifies more than just a symbolic start, said Kelsey Hatch-Brecek, Eastern’s director of alumni relations. Constructed from granite salvaged from the ruins of EWU’s original Cheney Normal School building, the posts powerfully represent the perseverance and resilience of the university and its students.

“For 107 years, these gates of knowledge, these Herculean Pillars, have symbolized that the spirit of Eastern cannot be defeated,” Hatch-Brecek told attendees.

For the newly arrived members of the Class of 2026, however, the day’s focus was, understandably, mostly on the excitement of the here and now. “It feels good to be here,” said Grace Grubaugh, an outdoor recreation major from Medical Lake. “I’ve been on campus the last couple days and doing all the Welcome Week activities. It’s been awesome!”

A cherished link to Eastern’s past returns, this time without restrictions.

Left: ASEWU President Logan Becker heads up this year’s Pass Through the Pillars event.

Giving Back

With a new scholarship, an Eastern trustee and his family step up for students.

Uriel Iñigue z and his family left Michoacán, Mexico for Washington state when Uriel was just a boy. With hard work, tenacity and the support of his family, Iñiguez succeeded in school, earning a degree from tiny Connell High. He then enrolled at Eastern, where, in 1988, he became the first person among his 11-child family to earn a university degree.

Four of his ten siblings followed suit by earning their own degrees at Eastern. The other five did the same at other universities here in Washington.

Iñiguez, now the director of community relations for the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, since 2014

has been a member of EWU’s Board of Trustees. His service to EWU’s governing body is just one of the ways that he and the Eagle side of the family are giving back to the university that, as they see it, gave so much to them.

“To me, this university changed our lives,” Iñiguez says of Eastern. “This is not even a dream, because we couldn’t dream it. Could you tell me when I was in high school or even, you know, in Mexico growing up that ‘Oh, yeah you are going to be a trustee of a university that you graduated from?’”

More recently, Iñiguez and his sister, Alexia, have led the family’s drive to endow a scholarship that will help other hard-working Latinx youth begin their own Eastern

success stories. The first recipient of EWU’s Iñiguez Family Endowed Scholarship, Lizbeth Mendoza, is herself a first-generation college student who, like the Iñiguez siblings, possesses a single-minded determination to succeed.

Mendoza grew up in Pasco. She transferred to EWU from Walla Walla Community College last fall. As a student at WWCC, she maintained a 3.7 GPA while juggling full-time classes and a work schedule that, at times, exceeded 72 hours a week. That pluck and determination, plus Mendoza’s long history of volunteering in her community, made her a natural for their scholarship, the Iñiguez family says.

For her part, Mendoza, a 22-yearold business and accounting major, says the experience of the Iñiguez family makes the scholarship that much more special: “I feel like they are doing great work, just encouraging more first-generation students to keep pursuing their dreams. They give me motivation. I look up to them.”

The scholarship, she adds, will for the first time allow her to focus solely “on my education and being involved in school.”

You don’t need a fortune to make a similar difference in the life of a deserving student, Iñiguez says. “You can get a scholarship started with $5,000, that’s what we did,” noting that family members have also endowed a similar scholarship at Central Washington University and Columbia Basin College.

— Want to learn how you, too, can help? Visit us at ewu.edu/give

Above: Graduate student Morgan Henderson takes advantage of a quiet moment in EWU’s new Center for Inclusive Excellence.

The intent is that the center will create a stronger EWU culture through continuous learning, community and collaboration.

— Kim Davis

EWU Trustee Uriel Iñiguez with student Lizbeth Mendoza, the first recipient of the Iñiguez Family Endowed Scholarship.

Excellence and Inclusion

EWU introduces a welcoming new center for community and collaboration.

For years Kim Davis , the senior director for diversity and inclusion at EWU, envisioned the creation of a safe, welcoming space where campus professionals might come together to learn with, and from, one another.

Now, thanks in part to $150,000 in funding from the state legislature, that vision is a reality.

Following its completion in October, EWU’s new Center for Inclusive Excellence has established itself as what Davis has hailed as “a community space to foster and promote faculty and staff professional and personal development in relation to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

The center, located in Showalter Hall, features comfortable seating, a library of books and educational resources, movable tables for meetings and gatherings, a Zoom setup equipped with audio and video,

and beautiful art created by EWU student Ryan Van Meter. It will allow the university’s Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to continue to build on services that include reading and affinity groups, trainings, consultations and more.

During its opening ceremony, timed to coincide with the wrap-up of activities observing National Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month, more than 150 members of the Eastern community stopped by to enjoy an open house that included information sharing on the center’s mission, festive decorations and a lunch catered by Cheney’s Arturo’s Mexican Restaurant.

The event was a perfect way to emphasize the center’s role at Eastern. “The intent is that the center will create a stronger EWU culture through continuous learning, community and collaboration,” Davis says.

Ever Vigilant

University Police sweat the details of keeping students safe.

On a scorchingly hot day this summer, University Police — drenched in sweat beneath full tactical gear — cautiously but deliberately advanced through the narrow stairwells and tight corridors of EWU’s Morrison Hall. Thankfully, this hyper-realistic hunt for an active shooter was purely instructional.

Led by Sgt. Nick Bickley, firearms and armor instructor, and Officer Greg Karlis, defense tactics instructor, the “incident response” exercise was one of many forms of training that Eastern’s finest use to keep students safe.

During this summer’s training event, the men and women in blue did their work while outfitted in bullet proof vests weighing 30-plus pounds. As they moved through the decommissioned dormitory, the air, stifling and still, weighed heavy. The lack of air conditioning was intentional — battling back against heat, exhaustion and adrenaline overload is often part of the challenge when responding to lifethreatening situations.

“We train to address the threat,” says Jewell Day, the university’s chief of police, adding that the officers not only learn to persevere in tough conditions, they gain the skills and confidence it takes to advance on their own without having to wait for the team.

That team, says Day, includes 13 officers who train throughout the year, typically going through every building on campus to become familiar with its layout. This summer’s training was designed to build foundational skills. Revisiting these skills was particularly important in the wake of Covid-19, which put a halt to these annual training exercises.

Additionally, the department has added five new employees over the past two years. Because of the pandemic, this is the first time that those officers have gone through active shooter training. “We wanted to make sure we are all operating from the same baseline,” Day says.

Unfortunately, “active shooter” emergencies are not uncommon. University campuses, while typically among the nation’s very safest of places, have in the past been targeted.

Day says that the department has trained for such threats for the entire 15 years he has been with the force. When, for example, the state of Washington implemented new use-of-force requirements for officers last year, the department was already following those procedures. “It’s not something that’s new to us. It’s just who we are,” Day says.

“We train to address the threat.” Officers not only learn to persevere in tough conditions, they gain the skills and confidence it takes to advance on their own without having to wait for the team.

Lichen Quest

On a trip to West Virginia, EWU students joined the lichen hunters.

One of the bonuses of federal research funding is that awards typically include dollars for student training and travel.

For a group of student researchers working with Jessica Allen, an EWU professor of biology whose work on lichen genomics and conservation has garnered substantial support from the National Science Foundation, this sometimes-overlooked benefit was very welcome indeed.

Thanks in part to Allen’s most recent NSF award, this summer an enthusiastic crew of ten student lichen hunters were able to join their professor at the Tuckerman Lichen Workshop, an annual field course for scholars and enthusiasts — both expert and amateur — held this year in a remote redoubt of Appalachia.

The trip involved two long travel days and four days of intensive study, with Jackie Coomes, an EWU honors program professor, handling the logistics and teaching assistants Bubba Pfeffer, Meaghan Petix, and Stephen Sharrett pitching in for on-site instruction.

Mornings, Allen says, were typically spent in species identification and specimen collecting in

My greatest hope is that the students, by traveling to a different ecosystem and being immersed in it, learn to slow down and become really acute observers. And that when they come back home they will bring that same level of attention to our local ecosystems.

— Jessica Allen ”

the Monongahela National Forest near Elkins, West Virginia. Afternoons often involved analysis work in a nearby laboratory.

For biology major Jodi Brandt, a sophomore from Spokane, the Tuckerman experience was a great way to experience the fullness of the ecosystems that lichens call home.

“It was really interesting because everyone loved lichen — which is why we were there — but everyone also had different interests such as mycology and botany,” Brant says. “As we were walking through the forest, people would stop, show us different things and give little mini lessons. It was a great experience and I’m so grateful I was able to go.”

Andrew Flaig, a senior from Seattle who, like Brandt, is also a biology major, says the workshop was the perfect “real world” culmination of his four years of classroom learning.

“I’ve taken a lot of classes throughout my undergrad journey,” Flaig says. “This trip was quite eye opening: I realized that, despite being thousands of miles away from Eastern, the information I’ve been accumulating for the last four years has followed me.”

Allen says the experience was a great way to help her students think about environments extending beyond the familiar (if undeniably stunning) mountains, forests and seashores of the Pacific Northwest. “My greatest hope is that the students, by traveling to a different ecosystem and being immersed in it, learn to slow down and become really acute observers,” Allen says. “And that when they come back home they will bring that same level of attention to our local ecosystems.”

Another plus of the trip, she adds, is that attending workshops such as the Tuckerman can open students’ eyes to the many career paths available to budding biologists.

“The more different biology paths that students are exposed to, and the more opportunities they have to interact with people doing various things, the better,” Allen says. “A biology degree is really flexible: It gives you so many opportunities to go in so many ways when you’re done.”

“

Photos courtesy of Jessica Allen

Making History

Throughout my professional life, what was missing was formal training as a historian. I want to approach future work with proper credentials, instead of ‘merely’ writing about the past, as would a journalist.

— Theresa Mitchell

History studies at Eastern has a long track record of success, placing graduates in important jobs across the Inland Northwest and throughout the nation. But in recent years lagging enrollment for graduate studies led administrators to make a little history of their own.

This November, EWU’s Department of History introduced an online-only master’s degree program, one of just a handful available nationwide. Already more than 100 graduate students from across the country have enrolled. “It’s been a tremendous success,” says Larry Cebula, an EWU professor of history and one of the founders of the online program.

The robust online enrollment numbers weren’t a surprise, says Cebula, given the ongoing interest of students looking to the past for their

professional futures.

“A master’s in history has always been a really valuable degree,” he says, adding that Eastern MA recipients, among other desirable jobs, are working as archivists (including at Spokane’s Museum of Arts and Culture), serving in state government and doing historic preservation.

Theresa Mitchell, a Massachusetts resident who works in environmental non-profit management and as a writer specializing in historical nonfiction, is among the program’s first class of students.

“Throughout my professional life, what was missing was formal training as a historian,” Mitchell says. “I want to approach future work with proper credentials, instead of ‘merely’ writing about the past, as would a journalist.”

Mitchell says she searched for a year before discovering EWU’s

online master’s degree program. She describes it as a “great fit,” and praises the diverse points-of-view she encounters. “The caliber of my fellow students inspires me to do my best,” she says.

One unique feature of the EWU’s online offering is its compressed classes. Typically graduate classes in history run over a 10-week period, but those for Eastern’s degree are only six weeks long. The shorter term, however, doesn’t mean less demanding requirements, Cebula says. “This is not less, this is more. These students work really hard.”

For students like Mitchell, the hard work is part of the attraction. “The curriculum perfectly suits my learning objectives. The coursework is challenging and I’m grateful for intelligent, kind and compassionate professors invested in their students’ success.”

Eastern’s new “online-only” master’s degree in history is attracting national interest.

“

Happy Birthday, Title IX

As Title IX turned 50 this year, EWU took time to reflect on the landmark federal statute.

This year marked a half-century since the adoption of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibited sex-based discrimination in education programs and other activities that received federal funding. At Eastern and around the nation, colleges and universities have used the anniversary to reflect on Title IX’s seismic impact in higher education and beyond.

“It wasn’t that long ago that your gender would have had a really big impact on what you were able to do and how much you could achieve,” says Annika Scharosch, JD, Eastern’s Title IX coordinator and associate vice president for civil rights, compliance and enterprise risk management. These days, she adds, students don’t have to worry about being denied admission to professional programs or held back due to their gender. That includes women who want to become doctors and men want to become nurses, as well as members of the LGBTQ+ community.

At Eastern, past enrollment numbers bring Title IX’s true

“Nationwide, U.S. Census Bureau data shows that in 1970, pre-Title IX, just 8 percent of women earned a college degree.

experienced this changing landscape firsthand, both as a pre-Title IX high school basketball player and a post-Title IX college athlete, coach and athletic director.

“I grew up playing half-court basketball in the state of Oklahoma,” recalls Hickey. Back then, she says, women’s basketball was a three-onthree, half-court game because male administrators thought females didn’t have the stamina to compete full-court.

Over the years, as Title IX’s impact on athletics created a battleground for women’s rights, thousands of women — and men — stepped up to champion equity. Hickey credits her father, who coached middle and high school sports for 47 years, with inspiring her love of

Hickey’s groundbreaking résumé includes becoming the first female athletic director at the University of Texas, San Antonio. At the time she was the only female Division 1 athletic director in Texas. When Hickey left the job 18 years later, her list of accomplishments included starting football, women’s soccer and women’s golf programs. She points to the experience of her daughter, Lauren, as evidence of Title IX’s generational sway.

Lauren not only grew up in a world where her mother was high-achieving in the male-dominated field of collegiate athletics, Hickey says, her aunts included a doctor, two attorneys and a social worker.

“Just think that in one generation how everything has changed,” Hickey says. “You have to give Title IX credit for that turnaround.”

EWU’s Aaliyah Alexander.

“

The redesign creates an easy-tonavigate, openconcept layout that is infused with natural light. ”

PUB Love

A Need for Nurses

When the renovated Pence Union Building celebrated its grand reopening in 2019, pretty much everyone in attendance agreed Eastern’s stunning new space was a winner. It didn’t take long for the architectural world to agree.

Over the past three years, the PUB has claimed no less than five state and national awards for design and usage. The latest came earlier this year, when the Society for College and University Planning, or SCUP, awarded the building its top award in the category of Excellence in Architecture for Building Additions, Renovation or Adaptive Reuse. Eastern and other 2022 award winners are featured on the SCUP website and this past summer’s issue of Learning By Design magazine.

“The redesign creates an easy-to-navigate, openconcept layout that is infused with natural light,” the Learning By Design citation says. “The renovated building maintains the traditional campus aesthetic of red brick but introduces modern elements of metal, glass and wood that connect the structure from the inside and out.”

Perkins+Will, a Chicago-based firm with offices in Seattle, created the design that rethought and repurposed the original 1960s “brutalist” building into a modern-day hub for university activities.

Built by Spokane construction firm Leone & Keeble, the 126,000-square-foot renovated building (featured on the cover of Eastern magazine’s Spring/ Summer 2019 issue) includes a welcoming, lightinfused atrium and trendy spaces for dining, shopping and learning.

In the Pacific Northwest and across the nation, a long-standing shortage of nurses is becoming even more dire. EWU will soon be in a position to help, thanks to recent state approval for Eastern’s first-ever Bachelor of Science in Nursing program.

EWU Provost Jonathan Anderson says establishing a four-year nursing degree program represents a pivotal moment for the university. “This program expands our offerings in the health sciences and continues Eastern’s mission as a driving force for workforce development of our region and our state.”

Donna Bachand, the EWU professor of nursing and program administrator who was instrumental in establishing the program, agrees, adding that the timing could not be better.

“There is a critical shortage of nurses in the region, and Eastern aims to help increase capacity by graduating up to 80 new nurses each year,” says Bachand.

Beginning this January, students can apply for admission, with an inaugural cohort of 40 students starting their studies the following fall semester. Another 40 students will be admitted in 2024. Most classes will be held inside the SIERR building in Spokane’s University District. It’s a location — squarely within the Health Peninsula hub for research, development and the advancement of health sciences — that will help to further strengthen EWU’s partnerships with other health education centers in the area, officials say.

The program got a big boost earlier this year after Washington lawmakers approved a two-year, $6.1 million appropriation to help the university cover some of the costs of expanding its current pre-nursing offerings. Bachand says the bachelor’s degree offering will open doors for Eastern’s 200-plus freshmen pre-nursing majors to potentially stay and complete their four-year degrees.

“Most of our pre-nursing students choose to come to Eastern for a reason. Now they will be able to complete their degrees in their university of first choice,” she says.

Eastern’s new degree program is poised to ease a critical nursing shortage.

Roundball on Wheels

In October, Eastern hosted the first of what it hopes will become an annual

Since its beginnings as a form of recreation for injured veterans returning from World War II, wheelchair basketball has been among the most popular — and competitive — of sports enjoyed by people who use wheelchairs.

Eastern’s wheelchair basketball team was founded in 2020 with the support of community partners like ParaSport Spokane and the Neilsen Foundation. With head coach David Evjen leading the way, EWU’s co-ed team played its first games in 2020 and soon became sanctioned by the National Wheelchair Basketball Association — the

first team to earn that distinction in the Western region. More recently, the Eagle’s program marked another milestone by hosting what Evjen hopes will become an annual wheelchair basketball tournament at EWU’s Reese Court. The event included three visiting teams, included a group from the University of Arizona along with local teams ParaSport Spokane and, the eventual champion, Team St. Luke’s.

Because wheelchair basketball games are regularly played in recreation centers, the opportunity to play the sport in a bigger arena

was welcome, says Eastern’s coach Evjen. “That was a big plus for this tournament.”

Another plus involved the event’s visibility, which included news coverage from a number of regional media outlets. “I think this could help with recruitment a lot, especially with athletes from our close neighboring states, like Oregon, Idaho, and even Nevada and Utah,” Evjen says.

There were also important financial benefits, he adds. Because collegiate wheelchair basketball teams are spread out across the United States — with the teams as far away as New York and

wheelchair basketball

event.

Alabama — getting in a full season of 25 or so games can strain travel budgets. To offset costs and improve competition, most programs try to host one annual tournament where teams can get in multiple games.

Evjen says a core of dedicated volunteers also helped provide logistics support, score keeping and other key functions. “It takes a lot of moving parts to be able to host a tournament like this,” he says, but all the hard work paid off. “There was a big crowd here, and we really got to show them what wheelchair basketball is all about.”

Maximize tax savings and help EWU students create a bright future for themselves. Rather than cash, consider the potential tax benefits of making your charitable donations to the EWU Foundation by:

• Transferring appreciated stock through your broker (and avoid capital gains)

• Making a qualified charitable distribution through your IRA if you are over age 70 (and reduce taxable income)

• Funding a charitable gift annuity (CGA) to receive set income payments for life (and receive a tax deduction for the gift portion).

The type of gift you make could generate a greater impact for you, as well as a brighter future for our students. Please contact our office to learn more.

EWU Foundation Office of Gift Planning

Courtney Susemiehl 509.359.6703 csusemie@ewu.edu ewulegacy.org

Shari McMahan , Eastern’s new president, describes her personal path to Showalter Hall.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Shari McMahan, Eastern Washington University’s 27th president, served as the student body president of her high school — after all, that seems like a logical path for any future leader. But as a young person growing up in Southern California, McMahan originally had other ideas…

She was interested in theater, and a possible acting career. It didn’t hurt that her father, a businessman with a side hustle as a professional bridge player, also happened to be close friends with a well-established Hollywood producer.

Those acting dreams were set aside when the producer friend, while recognizing her abilities, encouraged her to get a college degree. She took the advice, and, once enrolled as an undergraduate, she quickly discovered a new set of talents: a love for research and a passion for health and wellness studies.

Eastern magazine sat down with McMahan to help our readers get to know EWU’s new president, a firstgeneration college graduate whose student-centered leadership style promises a welcome surge of energy, enthusiasm and renewal.

You were raised in Downey, California, a city in Los Angeles County. What were your interests as a young person?

SM: In high school I was really active. I loved theater and was voted ‘most promising actress.’ Of course, I never went that route, but I did love being in the school plays. And I was student body president.

You told us earlier that it was your father’s Hollywood producer friend who encouraged you to consider college. How did that happen?

SM: He thought I had a lot more in me than acting, that maybe I shouldn’t pursue performing as a primary objective, and that a good college foundation would be important.

Once in college, it sounds like you quickly discovered your passion for research and health issues…

SM: When I was an undergraduate [at UC Irvine] I had an opportunity to do research with a faculty member and grad student. And, as part of the research process, I got really interested after discovering that what we were doing was groundbreaking — we were looking at lead levels, and would collect hair samples to determine the amount of lead in the body. I was fascinated that I could learn so much about somebody’s environmental exposure by simply looking at hair.

So, this sort of took you down that health/wellness path as you moved through your studies?

SM: Right. From there I was very interested in the environment in general, so after my bachelor’s degree I decided to go on for my master’s degree in health science. I did that out of Cal State Northridge — a university much like Eastern when you compare regional comprehensives — except instead of working with grad students I worked with faculty. I also at one point interned at Allergan Pharmaceuticals and Laura Scudder’s [a California-based snack food producer] doing environmental health and safety work. It was a great opportunity to get industry experience.

And this put you in good position for more noteworthy research?

SM: Yes. At UC Irvine we sort of shifted to an interesting area — exposure to electromagnetic fields — and I created my own research project which became nationally known. I was published, and from there I was granted my dissertation and they gave me an adjunct appointment at UC Irvine.

In addition to teaching and research, you eventually got on the leadership path at your next position on the faculty at Cal State Fullerton, correct?

SM: I stayed at Fullerton until I got tenure, and I held a variety of leadership positions there. Usually the leadership positions aren’t things you seek — it's because, ‘Oh, we need a chair, let’s have her be chair of this department or make her interim dean… ’ I served when asked, and eventually became deputy provost. I stayed about 16 years at Fullerton and then the provost position came up at San Bernardino.

You didn’t seek these positions, but you did see something in yourself that suggested it would be a good path…

SM: There’s part of me, like I said, that’s always the attitude that I had: ‘I’ll help lead, I’ll help do this.’

Shari McMahan [right] with members of the Alpha Phi women's fraternity on the opening day of the 2022 fall academic term.

REPORT ANNUAL

INVESTMENT

AND COMPARATIVE ENDOWMENT PERFORMANCE

ENDOWMENT POOL

Funds in the EWU Foundation endowment are managed as a single investment. Like an individual who invests in a mutual fund, an endowed fund purchases units in the endowment pool and participates in a per-unit allocation of investment pool earnings and distributions. This investment and comparative endowment performance report illustrates the performance of the pooled investment for the fiscal year July 1, 2021June 30, 2022.

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES

The EWU Foundation manages the investment pool with direct oversight provided by the EWU Foundation Investment Committee. The committee actively works with Northern Trust Institutional Investment Services to select asset allocations and achieve a well-diversified asset mix that balances maximum return with acceptable risk over time. Northern Trust, founded in 1889, has core principles of service, expertise and integrity.

INVESTMENT AND DISTRIBUTION

FOR THE PERIOD JULY 1, 2021

• EWUF endowment value: • The endowment fund distributed 735 scholarships to EWU

• Endowment received designated gifts totaling more than

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS FY 22

ASSETS

Cash and cash equivalents

2022 2021

$8,026,893 $5,225,368

Certificates of deposit 2,263,465 2,249,707

Promises to give, net 9,727,588 10,669,461 Accounts receivable 189,607Other assets 1,050 65,213

Property and equipment, net 257,927 261,581 Assets held under split-interest agreements 650,089 1,363,009

Beneficial interest in charitable trusts held by others 430,130 481,941 Beneficial interest in perpetual trusts 2,167,370 2,669,139 Investments 28,844,518 33,064,436

TOTAL ASSETS $52,558,637 $56,049,855

LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS

Accounts payable $13,721 $0

Program support payable 4,182,075 4,500,000 Liabilities under split-interest agreements 461,034 1,072,996

TOTAL LIABILITIES $4,656,830 $5,572,996

NET ASSETS

Without donor restriction

Undesignated $833,000 $815,176 Designated by the Board for endowment 129,720 151,624 962,720 966,800

With donor restriction 46,939,087 49,510,059

TOTAL NET ASSETS 47,901,807 50,476,859

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS $52,558,637 $56,049,855

REVENUE, SUPPORT, AND GAINS

Contributions $4,943,317 $6,022,471 Net investment return (4,190,234) 7,145,648 Marketing revenue 459,277 9,920 Gross special events revenue 130,368 111,021 Less cost of special events (144,507) (27,271) Net special events revenue (14,139) 83,750 Other revenue 13,337 19,361 Support provided by Eastern Washington University 1,631,833 1,772,480

Change in value of split-interest agreements held by the Foundation (100,978) 379,583

Distributions from and change in value of beneficial interests in assets held by others (415,015) 92,358 Net assets released from restrictions - -

TOTAL REVENUE, SUPPORT, AND GAINS $2,327,398 $15,525,571

EXPENSES

Program services expense

Support provided to/for Eastern Washington University $2,502,188 $3,293,219 Support services expense Management and general 1,249,833 1,056,551 Fundraising and development 1,150,429 1,288,523

TOTAL SUPPORTING SERVICES 2,400,262 2,345,074

TOTAL EXPENSES $4,902,450 $5,638,293

CHANGE IN NET ASSETS (2,575,052) 9,887,278

NET ASSETS, BEGINNING OF YEAR 50,476,859 40,589,581

NET ASSETS, END OF YEAR $47,901,807 $50,476,859

THE EWU FOUNDATION has a responsibility to be accountable to our constituencies; to our board of directors (who serve without remuneration and at their own expense); to EWU and its leadership, faculty, staff and students; to our donors; to our volunteers; and to the advancement staff.

EWU FOUNDATION FY22 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ALEXIS ALEXANDER (EWUF Treasurer)

KARINA BAUM (ASEWU President)

RON DALLA (EWURA Representative)

ROB DIETZ

CURTIS GRIFFIN KRISANN HATCH (EWUF Chair)

MARGO HILL

SEAN HOAGLAND MARC HUGHES CLAUDETTE KENMIR

MOLLY KIRKHAM (ASEWU University Advancement Representative)

JAY KIRKPATRICK RICH MARLL (EWUF Secretary)

RICHARD MOUNT

MIKE MUMFORD STACEY RASMUSSEN (EWUAA Representative)

COREY ROSS

YVONNE SMITH JEFF STANNARD STU STEINER (EWUF Vice-Chair)

TOM TIFFANY

VIN VU KAREN WEIS

BRETT WRIGHT

EX-OFFICIO (NON-VOTING)

DAVID MAY, PHD (Interim President, EWU, 2020-2022)

BARB RICHEY (Vice President for University Advancement and Executive Director, EWU Foundation)

JUDGE JAMES MURPHY (BOT Representative)

SCAN THE QR CODE TO GIVE TODAY.

You were serving successfully as provost at Cal State San Bernardino. What was it about the open president’s position at Eastern that made you feel it was right for you?

SM: Well, I had some experience working with underrepresented students [at both Fullerton and San Bernardino]. So that was the first thing that attracted me to Eastern; the opportunity to really change lives and make a difference for the students… So that’s what encouraged me to apply, and of course everything else fell into place. I found the people great, I was told, ‘Oh, there’s a ton of hiking, a ton of lakes,’ and other outdoor things that I really enjoy.

Speaking of the outdoors… the weather was mostly fantastic after your arrival in late June. But it has turned recently, and not in a Southern California type of way…

SM: I was a little wary of the snow, yes [laughs]. But I was excited too, because I had been here twice before [for her interview and post-search introduction to the campus] and it was snowing both times. Really, it’s been beautiful and exceeded all of my expectations.

So you’re ready for winter?

SM: Last week I bought snow tires and had them installed, so I’m good on that — and, I just ordered snow shoes that I am going to try out. So we will see!

The weather isn’t the only adjustment. Your children still live in Orange County; I can imagine it must have been difficult to move away from them?

SM: I have two kids. My son, Hunter, just got married over the summer, and my daughter, Sierra, is 21. When all of this came about [the EWU position], my idea was I would take the lead and try something new and different and tell them it’s ok to try something new and different. I look at it as ‘create your adventure.’ I never would have left my kids a year ago. This opportunity came and I really felt passionate about making a difference here.

You live in the University House on campus, was that always part of the plan?

SM: I was actually kind of relieved initially that there was campus housing because I was concerned about such a change in weather conditions [and driving]. But mostly it was about my ability to get out and see the students — to me it’s all about the students!

And living right on campus you are able to just walk to the PUB and visit with students, and attend all sorts of events…

SM: I tell myself, ‘Make sure to get out and walk over to the PUB, see what’s going on!’ Just recently I've had the opportunity to attend a powerful EWU Theatre production [26 Pebbles], and I’ve hit every sport that’s been played here so far — I’ve done football, hockey and women’s basketball. And soccer and volleyball. I’m really trying to be part of campus life, and I am so proud of all of our students.

You have talked about how your research influenced your interest in promoting a healthy lifestyle and exercise. Is that why, as a certified Zumba instructor, you have made it a priority to teach a class on campus when time allows?

SM: Well part of it is, I think, that it helps fulfill that ‘acting’ mission — getting out in front of people and doing something that inspires and excites them. We all laughed at the end, that’s the main thing: if you can get people laughing and they don’t think they’re working out. That’s brilliant, right? So that’s part of it. The other part of it is that my father died from cancer and my mom died from heart disease, so I’ve just always been motivated to live a healthy lifestyle.

As you’ve made the rounds meeting the campus community and alumni, what have you noticed to be EWU’s greatest strength?

SM: Pride. The strength of the Eastern community — the students, our alumni — is the pride in knowing that this campus has, and will continue, to serve them well.

What are the key issues you will be focused on as you continue to settle in?

SM: Besides working on a more inclusive campus, the budget is at the forefront, along with enrollment challenges. It’s really about making sure that we right-size as an institution, and that our next strategic plan is oriented around who we are as a university. And we’re starting those dialogues and discussions now.

You’re focused on Eastern now, but is there anything on your bucket list you’d like to eventually try?

SM: I would love to do one of those cruises where you go around the world. It would be so much fun to see the different countries. I’ve done the typical cruises, but I’ve never done something longer where you spend a few months at sea — I think I’d be good with that.

I was actually kind of relieved, initially, that there was campus housing because I was concerned about such a change in weather conditions (and driving). But mostly it was about my ability to get out and see the students — to me it’s all about the students!

A contemporary view of Spokane’s Loma Vista Park neighborhood. EWU researchers have determined that deeds for some homes in the city's older residential areas retain the decades-old language of racial segregation.

Photo by The Spokesman Review

just a few years after Homer Plessy was denied access to “White Only” streetcars in New Orleans, a new form of racial exclusion began to take hold across the nation, one that would become, in its way, a defining pillar of America’s segregationist past.

Racially restrictive real estate covenants — language forbidding the sale, transfer or use of a property to non-white buyers or renters — are today mostly forgotten. But during the early and middle years of the previous century, such covenants were used to enforce a segregationist status quo that pushed families of color, many of them fleeing Southern racial violence, into overcrowded, substandard housing throughout the North, Midwest and West.

The immediate effect of these covenants (and related restrictions) was to create a separate, unequal American housing landscape. Their legacy has been to deny millions of Americans a fair shot at gainful home ownership, a crucial avenue toward building multigenerational wealth and housing stability.

Enforcement of racial covenants was ended by the Supreme Court in 1948, and all forms of racial restrictions on property

were made illegal by the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968. But, surprisingly, the onerous language of these legal barriers remains alive to this day, buried deep in the wording of deeds, plat maps and the property titles of unsuspecting homeowners — both across the nation and right here in Eastern Washington.

morning in October, and a small but determined team of researchers with EWU’s Racial Restrictive Covenants Project are ready to hit the road. Today’s trip will take them from their rendezvous point in Spokane some 160 miles west to Ellensburg, Washington. There they will spend a long day examining property records at the Central Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives.

Once on site, the team — including student workers and volunteers — set up their gear and prepare themselves to navigate a sea of records. Though many of their sources are decidedly analog — covenants located in decades-old bound volumes of records are common — much of the team’s analytical work is done in the digital realm.

Tara Kelly is the director of research for the Racial Restrictive Covenants Project.

Optical character recognition (OCR) programs, for example, are a critical part of the process, allowing the researchers to scan hundreds of property records looking for key words, such as “white” and “Caucasian,” that typically accompany racially restrictive covenants. When they get a hit, the team flags the document for further review.

“It’s like finding a needle in a haystack, except in this case it’s like finding a hundred needles in 10,000 haystacks,” says Tara Kelly, a sociocultural anthropologist who is the project’s director of research. Kelly is leading archival activities alongside project head Larry Cebula ’91, an EWU professor of history who himself has long experience in archival research.

For the past several months, Kelly, Cebula and the rest of the EWU team have been focused on unearthing racial covenants in 20 counties east of the Cascade Mountains. Their work, part of a state-mandated and funded effort, is being done in partnership with the University of Washington, which is handling the research on the state’s west side.

The current project was preceded by the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project at the University of Washington. That project’s initial 2005 investigation focused on racially restrictive covenants and other tools of segregation in Seattle and its suburbs. It was a groundbreaking effort, the first of its kind in a major metropolitan area.

A direct result of the project’s eye-opening findings — and the media attention they generated — was that the Washington State Legislature passed two new laws intended to bring added attention to restrictive covenants, and outlined ways to help concerned homeowners remove them.

Despite these initial successes, funding

to expand the work was in short supply. Passage of SHB 1335 changed that. For the first time, the state has “allocated funds and authorized teams” at UW and EWU to “review existing recorded covenants and deed restrictions to identify those recorded documents that include racial or other restrictions on property ownership.” When the university researchers discover properties “subject to such racial and other unlawful restrictions,” the legislation adds, the teams will notify property owners and county auditors so that action can be taken to modify or expunge them.

Although it can be hard to grasp how these remnants of segregation had gone largely unnoticed for 70-plus years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled them unactionable, Cebula has a theory: “The vast majority of people have no idea that there is a racist covenant on their property. Have you ever looked at your plat map? Most people never have,” he says. Cebula hopes that will be changing. of Eastern’s project team are a cadre of dedicated covenant sleuths. Senior staff member Logan Camporeale, ’15, ’17, is an historic preservation specialist with the city of Spokane’s Historic Preservation Office. Camporeale was the first archival researcher to identify racist covenants on the east side of the state and, since 2016, has been a driving force in working with the legislature to help get the project off of the ground. Nicholas Boren, a professional IT specialist, has also been hired to support the project, and student workers are a critical part of the effort. Spokane native Colton Schons,

a freshman history major at the University of Washington, is a bridge between the EWU group and the researchers at the UW, while Zachary Welsh, an EWU history major in his senior year, is a key student researcher for the local team. Rachael Low, also an EWU senior, has just joined up as a research assistant.

Thus far, EWU’s project researchers and their student helpers have reviewed full deed collections for Adams, Asotin, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille and Whitman counties, with two additional counties nearly completed. Their online research of property documents has uncovered some 76 plat maps (covering neighborhoods with 10-100 lots)

‘The vast majority of people have no idea that there is a racist covenant on their property. Have you ever looked at your plat map? Most people never have.’

Cebula hopes that will be changing.

with racially restrictive covenants applying to about 4,290 houses. An additional 506 restrictive covenants have been discovered in their analysis of deeds and other documents. Several counties were free of racial covenants in their plat maps or deed records; they included Garfield, Okanogan, Pend Oreille and Columbia.

Tracking down covenants in so many different areas has required ingenuity and persistence. Many of the smaller towns lack digital records. In those cases, the team piles into cars and vans and drives out to courthouses and archives, where they often end up wrestling heavy, awkwardly-sized deed

books from high storage shelves down onto counters for scanning and review.

Flagging digital files has helped Schons determine that an entire Washington town, Airway Heights, was covered by a single plat map from 1946 that imposed restrictions in the following language: “No persons of any race other than the white race shall use or occupy any building upon these premises, except that this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race domiciled with owner or tenant.” Cebula says it’s unlikely any of the current residents were aware of the racist plat maps, so the team opted to give the town’s mayor advanced

notice before making their discovery public.

Elsewhere in Spokane County, meanwhile, EWU’s researchers determined that barriers to inclusion were also common. Spokane’s use of restrictive property covenants began in the early 1920s, mostly via legal language enforcing the segregation of cemeteries. In the 1940s, discriminatory language began appearing, in both overt and more subtly worded forms, in real estate documents restricting access to both single homes and entire neighborhoods.

The densest concentrations of restrictive covenants, the researchers say, mostly surfaced in neighborhoods such as Comstock,

EWU Professor Larry Cebula [left] in October joined members of the Racial Restrictive Covenants Project team in reviewing documents at a regional branch of the Washington State Archives.

Photo by Chris Thompson

on Spokane’s South Hill, along with scattered developments in northwestern Spokane and parts of Spokane Valley.

Camporeale says the phrasing of restrictive covenants was often a form of bigoted boilerplate that was shared among local developers who were platting new neighborhoods. Language such as this example, from a property covenant in Spokane, was common: “No person other than the white or Caucasian race shall own, use or occupy any building or lot in said addition; except this document shall not apply to domestic servants of a different race except in the employ of an owner or tenant.”

The team originally estimated

that

Questions arise in front of us as we flip through these books. We want to know: ‘What prompted these racially restrictive covenants to appear in some cities and counties, and not others?’ Or, ‘Why, in a county otherwise devoid of racial covenants, do we find just one? Why here?’ and ‘Why at this location?’

Above: Converting documents into digital files. Below: Plat maps of a Washington neighborhood. Photos courtesy of the Racial Restrictive Covenants Project team.

properties in about 50 subdivisions in Spokane County might contain such language, he said. Turns out the actual number was double that, closer to 100.

In many cases, however, Camporeale says the syntax of exclusion was less than obvious. He recalls, for example, in his earlier research happening upon an advertisement for a 3-bedroom ranch home that boasted its location in a “highly restricted neighborhood” — typically code for “whites only.”

“In Spokane, it seemed like people needed to keep their segregation a little more behind the veil,” Camporeale says.

For his part, Welsh says he was stunned when he first happened upon racist phrases such as, “No race except members of the white race shall live here,” and words like “exclusive,” “blood” and “colored” buried in digital records.

“I didn’t think these things existed. I had absolutely no idea,” says Welsh, who plans to pursue a career in archival research after graduating. This project work, he adds, has been a meaningful addition to his résumé, one that will carry weight in his field.

Team members say there has been a lot of learning as they go. For instance, the OCR sometimes flags a “false positive,” Welsh explains. One time, the flagged word “white” referenced a white heifer in Chelan County that was part of the payment for the property. White and Black were also falsely flagged when the terms were found in people’s last names. In another document, “red” popped up as a flagged word. Upon further inspection, the researchers found it described the color of train cars being sold by a railroad.

In fact, finding covenants is anything but predictable. While a given developer may have added racist restrictions for one development, they might have skipped it when building another.

“These were not just standard operating procedures. Most documented records don’t have it,” says Cebula. A lack of restrictive covenants doesn’t necessarily mean communities were welcoming to all races,

he adds: Abhorrent treatment by neighbors was a depressingly common extralegal tactic for excluding people of color.

doing and generally lack the time to research. As historians, however, they are very much interested in learning more about the “hows” and “whys” of restrictive policies.

ALTHOUGH

WASHINGTON WASN’T the first state to identify restrictive covenants, Camporeale says it is the first state to take broad action to remedy it — including committing $250,000 in funding to each university to cover the cost of student staffing, travel to physically review documents and other project-related expenses. The work was initially estimated to take two years. There’s an understanding now, however, that it will likely take longer.

The American Land Title Association has long been a key driver in removing racist covenants from property documents. Over the years the association has energetically lobbied lawmakers in Washington state, urging them to help remedy a wrong that was, ironically, championed within its own industry.

“It’s bad for business these days,” Cebula says. “It is a historical wrong that they sincerely want to right.”

Of course the legwork required to remove restrictive covenants will not be completed by a lobbyist. Typically, the onus for discovering and remedying anomalies and irregularities in deeds, titles and plats falls to already overworked auditors in county recorder offices. Because EWU and UW are now taking the lead in doing the discovery work, auditors can support rooting out restrictive covenants without scrambling to find the staff hours and funds to cover the effort. For this the state of Washington is to be commended, says Kelly. In nearby California, she says, the state legislature recently passed a law that requires county recorders to do the work.

More recently, Cebula engaged his online students this fall in a digital history project looking into the back stories behind the covenants. [You can read about their findings on the website and smartphone app of the Spokane Historical Society.] Such back stories are something the team isn’t charged with

“Questions arise in front of us as we flip through these books,” Kelly says. “We want to know, ‘What prompted these racially restrictive covenants to appear in some cities and counties and not others?’ Or, ‘Why in a county otherwise devoid of racial covenants do we find just one? Why here?’ and ‘Why at this location,’”

The team recently presented their work at the Pacific Northwest History Conference, in Kennewick, Washington. Their session, “Identifying Racist Property Covenants in Washington State: A Progress Report” brought the community of Northwest historians up to date on this project.

Audience engagement was lively. “I think everyone in the room had a question — some asked more than one,” says Kelly.

“In my decades in this profession, I have never fielded so many questions from the audience,” adds Cebula.

Though he admits there is much work yet to be done, Cebula says he couldn’t be prouder of his team, crediting them with pioneering archival research methods that will likely be adopted by other states and communities that are working to expunge offensive covenants of their own.

Their research findings will also have the potential for published papers and, perhaps, a book or two.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Cebula says he occasionally encounters people who accuse the team of “erasing history” by removing covenants. He says he is emphatic in his response. “I tell them we are not erasing history, we are making history.”

Want to help? The University of Washington has made a call for volunteers to participate in a crowd sourcing project to review digital property records flagged as potentiality discriminatory. Learn more: go.ewu.edu/covenants

OUR MAN IN OLYMPIA

BY CHARLES E. REINEKE

FOR THE PAST 15 YEARS

, David Buri, a former representative in the Washington legislature, has served as Eastern’s point person in Olympia. His job title is executive director of government relations, a role his office’s website describes as “identifying, coordinating and advancing the university’s interests to elected officials.”

To put it in simpler terms, Buri is an oldschool influencer. A voluble, outgoing guy in a tastefully appointed suit and Eagle red tie. The guy who shows up in Olympia and patiently explains to lawmakers, over and over, why Eastern matters. Why it matters to its students, thirty-five percent of whom are first-generation college enrollees who will, overwhelmingly, use their degrees to land well-paying jobs. Why it matters to the state of Washington, which directly benefits from the experience and expertise of the more than 84,000 EWU graduates who currently reside in the state. And why it matters to the entire Inland Northwest,

EASTERN

state politicians understand the potentially transformative nature of their investment. Mary Cullinan, then Eastern’s president, was enlisted to make a similar case, while other senior administrators, faculty researchers and standout students sold the value proposition. The full-court press paid off, and the finished ISC building, dedicated just over a year ago, is now Eastern’s most prominent calling card to a new generation of our region’s brightest science, technology, engineering and mathematics students.

STILL , AS STRAIGHTFORWARD

which for decades has relied on Eagle alumni to power its regional economy.

When EWU’s interests are on the line, its Buri’s job to use his experience and influence to move things along. Sometimes this means personal interactions with lawmakers. But just as often it involves helping others make their cases. He smooths the path to conversations, helps prep administrators for public hearings and drafts talking points around legislative priorities. These activities and appearances often involve Eastern’s president, the obvious public face of the institution. But steering lawmakers toward other voices — faculty, staff, students and friends of the institution — is also vital.

Just under a decade ago, for example, when EWU sought state funding for its new Interdisciplinary Science Center — along with millions more for the first phase of its long-overdue renovation of its Science Building — Buri worked to ensure that College of STEM dean David Bowman was front and center in helping

as Eastern’s case for support might seem, it’s not always an easy sell. State revenue goes up and goes down. Priorities shift even as needs change. Competing interests stake their own claims for funding. Advocating for Eastern, Buri says, begins with an appreciation of just how central the state’s backing of public higher education remains. “It’s an extraordinary process,” he says. “These are state institutions. We are on state grounds; all the buildings are state supported and state built.” Such funding for Eastern’s physical footprint — those structures where teaching, research, campus living and administration take place — are part of the so-called capital budget, Buri explains.

Over the past decade, Eastern has seen a string of successes in this area. Among the more notable projects: the aforementioned $67 million for the Interdisciplinary Science Center, $45 million for its ongoing Science Building renovations (with a projected $58 million more to come) and $65 million for Patterson Hall’s high-tech makeover in 2014. Such appropriations, along with the tens of millions of dollars allocated to maintain these and other campus buildings and infrastructure, have been key in ensuring that EWU and its students will continue to be a “driving force” for innovation and economic development in Washington.

AT THE WASHINGTON STATE CAPITOL, DAVID BURI IS ON THE JOB FOR

Equally, if not more important, however, is the other side of the state support coin: funds appropriated as part of the “operations” budget. These include salaries for faculty and staff, purchased goods and services (things like maintenance gear and laboratory equipment) and, perhaps most critical for EWU, student financial aid and support.

“Financial aid is certainly among the important things that are dealt with on that side,” says Buri. “Fortunately, Washington state has one of the most benefit-rich financial aid systems; it’s the envy of many others states, and hugely helpful to our students. This is true especially for the students we serve, our first-generation students and our Pell [grant] eligible students.”

The state typically ends up covering about 50 percent of operational expenses. Most of the rest comes from students in the form of tuition and fees. Here, too, the state plays a key role: Washington law allows its legislature to determine roughly how much state-supported colleges and universities can charge.

Concerns surrounding the cost of higher education have long guaranteed that tuition, whenever it comes up, is going be a hot topic. During the last major round of tuition- and fee-setting eight years ago, Buri recalls, he and Rodolfo Arévalo, Eastern’s president at the time, worked the Capitol Building hard. Our students should not be expected to cover a greater percentage of operating expenses, they argued, because the financial challenges faced by much of EWU’s student body are more acute than perhaps any other institution in the state. “It was, basically, ‘Ok, how do we make sure this makes sense for our students?’” Buri says. Their arm-twisting had the desired effect, and Eastern remains Washington’s best value in higher education.

Making sense for students, of course, doesn’t just involve keeping Eastern affordable for the current students. It also means opening the door for future Eagles. On this score, during the previous legislative session Buri worked with Eastern’s former interim president, David May, as part of a broad coalition of advocates working to boost access for students from across the region. Successes included new laws that provided funds to help prospective students complete financial aid forms; support for community partnerships aimed at encouraging post-secondary education; new grants and low-cost loans for those with financial needs; and expanded access to programs, like Eastern’s popular Running Start, that allow students to earn college credits while still in high school.

TWO ADDITIONAL BIG WINS

came with legislative support for EWU’s new bachelor’s degree program in nursing, and funding to support an expansion of its offerings in cybersecurity studies. Long home to a successful (and popular) pre-nursing program, university officials had for years recognized that the obvious next step was a four-year program. In cybersecurity, EWU’s Stu Steiner, an assistant professor of computer science, has been carving out a niche for Eastern in this increasingly in-demand field.

“During the last session, we wanted to be especially thoughtful about workforce needs,” Buri says. “We saw, for instance, that there was a great shortage of nurses, but we just didn’t have the funding to say ‘Hey, let’s expand the nursing program.’ So we had to go to the legislature. The same for cybersecurity. I was able to go to Dean Bowman and Stu Steiner and ask, ‘Are we turning away qualified students?’ Their answer was, ‘Yes, yes we are.’”

From there it didn’t take much convincing to help lawmakers recognize that funding Eastern’s growth in these areas was a winwin for both EWU and the state. This is not to suggest it’s always so uncomplicated. Not every good idea moves forward, and not every critical need gets funded. Having served himself, Buri is more than a little sympathetic to the push and pull that characterizes life for an elected official.

“It’s hard,” he says. “A very difficult job. I remember when I first got to EWU somebody came up to me and said, ‘Why aren’t they funding higher education better?’ And I said, ‘Well, higher education is a priority for almost everybody, but not necessarily among their top five priorities.’ Sometimes in higher education — and I think we all have this tendency — we only talk to people who think like us. We think: ‘Higher education is the most important thing to me. How can it not be the most important thing for you?’ For legislators, it sometimes comes down to really tough choices: ‘Well, do we put additional dollars in higher education, or do we limit how many kids qualify for health care?’”

There are certain things that are in the state constitution that you have to do, Buri adds, such as funding K-12 education at a mandated level. “One thing you hear a lot: the state ‘educates, incarcerates and medicates.’ And the ‘incarcerate and medicate’

Joe Schmick ’80, R-Colfax, with David Buri and Buri's son, PD (Paul David), in the House chamber.

parts are also mandated. So by the time you get down to the portion of the budget that’s discretionary, it’s smaller. Higher education fits in that bucket, as do social services. So it’s a tug of war, in a way. A challenge.”

away from the presidency! And here he is, and we’re sitting here visiting.’”

BURI

GREW

UP in Colfax, a picturesque town of 3,000 located on State Highway 195, about 18 miles northeast of Pullman. Situated in the heart of one of the world’s most productive wheat-growing regions, pretty much everybody in Colfax is connected to agriculture. Buri’s family is no exception. His relations have cultivated wheat in the area’s rich Palouse soils going all the way back to the 1880s.

As a young person, Buri resisted the pull of nearby Washington State University and instead chose to attend a small college in Arizona. “I thought I needed a little distance from mom and dad,” he says with a laugh. After college he settled in Northern California, just across the bay from San Francisco. But rural Washington remained close to his heart. “I was in Marin County for a few years — it was great living there, such a beautiful place. But I really wanted to get back home. I loved Palouse country; just really loved the people of Eastern Washington.”

So back to Colfax he came. At first, in the early 1990s, Buri worked as a banker. But it wasn’t long before the lure of public service drew him in. He first began serving on the local Chamber of Commerce, eventually becoming its president. Next, with his two eldest children attending public schools, he turned his attention to education policy, winning election to a seat on the school board.

Colfax may have been small, but, as the county seat of an important center of agriculture, it attracted the attention of both sitting and prospective state and federal lawmakers. Buri quickly discovered he enjoyed interacting with the political set.

“It was just amazing to me,” he says. “I was coming from California, where I never met anybody in office — not the school board, nothing. One meeting in particular really stands out to me. Congressman Tom Foley, who happened to be Speaker of the U.S. House at the time, came to a Chamber of Commerce dinner. I was involved in the chamber at the time, and I remember sitting at a table with Foley — in a room with maybe 20, 25 people. I’m thinking, ‘This guy is two heartbeats

A short time later, an opportunity arose for Buri to serve as a legislative assistant for Larry Sheahan, who, at the time, served as a Republican state senator representing Legislative District 9. The job involved countless hours driving to face-to-face constituent meetings across the vast district. Buri loved it. A few years later, in 2004, a seat on the House side opened up. Buri threw his hat in the ring and won.

District 9’s boundary pushes right up to the southern border of Cheney, but doesn’t include EWU. The district does, however, encompass Pullman and WSU, so Buri often immersed himself in issues related to higher education, earning, in the process, a seat on the legislature’s Higher Education Committee. As a politician, Buri was something of a rarity: the moderate Republican. But through his work ethic, familiarity with the issues and genial manner, he earned the respect of both those in his own party — he served as the GOP’s minority floor leader after winning reelection to just his second term — and the Democrats who controlled the chamber.

Buri left elected office and headed to Eastern for that most familiar of political motives — focusing more on family. In his case, however, he wasn’t using his near relations as an excuse or euphemism. His wife, herself a former assistant to a Democratic representative, had just given birth. It was time, he felt, to shift priorities.

THESE DAYS, BURI admits working both sides of the aisle, even on once broadly supported issues like higher education, is tougher.

“I do think that things have changed over time, and it’s an unfortunate change,” he says. “Part of it has always been the natural tension between competing interests I talked about earlier. But a newer phenomenon involves higher education starting to be seen as landing on one side or the other in our culture wars.”

Buri pauses before continuing. “That makes it difficult. I don’t know how else to say it: It makes it difficult. In our region in particular… [another pause, and then a laugh] Ok, let’s just stop at ‘difficult.’ But I really want to emphasize how fortunate we are to have great support from both parties.” Those supporters, he says, include alumni and former university staff members such as Drew

Shirk, executive director of legislative affairs for Gov. Jay Inslee, who attended Eastern’s graduate program in public administration, and Alicia Kinne-Clawson ’07, a former ASEWU president who is now the influential coordinator of the state senate’s higher education and workforce development committee. There’s Joe Schmick ’80, R-Colfax, now representing Buri’s old district, who studied accounting and economics at Eastern, and Matt Boehnke ’90, R-Kennewick, an EWU ROTC graduate who majored in government. And this is just the short list, Buri says.

“Higher education historically has been a nonpartisan issue, and we really work hard to keep it that way,” Buri says. “We’ve got some really good friends in both parties who champion Eastern Washington University. That’s important. We’re a nonpartisan school that serves the entire region. And I can tell you that our current president, Dr. McMahan, really wants to make sure that we are welcoming to any student who comes to Eastern, and she’s going to share that message with the legislature.”

Going forward, Buri says, ensuring that Eastern continues to serve its students and the region remains his top priority. And though a projected softening of state revenues may signal a reluctance to fully fund Eastern’s list of priorities, he’s as bullish as ever about the university’s prospects.

Buri says he’s always psyched before getting down to business in Olympia, but this year he’s especially excited. It’s the first truly face-to-face meeting of the legislature since the pandemic began, and for Buri, that signals “game on.”

“So last year I was over there, but we didn’t have open, in-person hearings, legislative visits and that sort of thing. But this year there is every expectation that we’ll be doing them again. And that’s essential. A lot of the work is done in formal meetings, but a lot depends on the informal stuff, walking between committee hearings and chatting with members. Saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got this bill — we know you’re supportive, are you hearing about anybody with questions? Other members we should be talking to?’”

In other words, working the halls to influence the influencers. “I always get excited,” says Buri. “There’s just so much energy, and with Covid being wrapped up — or at least in a new phase — I think this session is going to be really exciting, and really productive for Eastern.”

1970s

’72 Dick Zornes, MA physical education, was inducted into the Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame during a ceremony held on Oct. 25 at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. A former safety and fullback for the EWU Eagles football team, Zornes went on to serve as head football coach from 1979 to 1993, compiling an 89–66–2 record. He also served two stints as the university’s athletic director, from 1990 to 1993, and again from 1997 to 1999.

’73 David Sutton, BA journalism, published The Grandpa’s Manual. Sutton, a former military journalist who served in the U.S. Army, describes the manual as “Not a ‘how to’, but an encouragement for Grandpas’ to develop a relationship with their grand kids: Something you can read, pause, and say, ‘Hmm, I never thought of that!’”

1980s

’81 Melissa Hodgson, BA communication studies, has recently joined the Spokane office of the SCJ Alliance, a Lacy, Washingtonbased consulting firm. SCJ specializes in regional projects involving civil engineering, transportation planning and design, environmental and urban planning, landscape architecture, cable-propelled transit, construction management and public outreach. As the firm’s Spokane office coordinator, Hodgson manages general administration, project support and public relations.

’84 Wendell Wheeler, BA physical education, in April was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Wheeler, a multisport athlete, was a member of the EWU baseball team under coach Jim Wasem. As a basketball coach back in Illinois, Wheeler has won seven regional titles, including one at each of the four schools where he has coached. In his most recently completed season at Cobden (Illinois) High School, Wheeler’s No. 1 ranked Applekockers finished 18-0.

1990s

’97 Karen Champagne, MBA business administration, completed her Juris Doctor degree this spring with magna cum laude honors at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. While at Mitchell Hamline, she also served on the law review.

’98 Matthew Spaur, MFA creative writing, has published Making a Small Fortune, an account of his experience as the co-owner and editor of The Local Planet Weekly newspaper in Spokane from 2000 to 2004.

’98 Kimberley McCollim, MA in urban and regional planning, in October was nominated by Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward to serve as the city’s Neighborhood, Housing and Human Services director. McCollim, previously served for nearly 20 years with the Seattle Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

2000s

’00 Jeff Fearnside, MFA creative writing, in August celebrated the release of his latest book, Ships in the Desert, a collection of linked essays exploring “universal issues of cultural intolerance, environmental degradation, and how the unnatural disaster of the Aral Sea — a man-made environmental crisis that has devastated the region — impacts the entire world.”

’06 Frank King, BA education, was named associate provost for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Minnesota State University, Moorhead. He is the first to hold the position. King, a U.S. Air Force veteran and former Ronald E. McNair Scholar at Eastern, earned his doctoral degree from Washington State University. At Minnesota State, Moorhead, he will also lead the university’s Faculty Development Center.

’07 Amanda Landreth, BA business administration, in July was recognized as a

“rising star” by the Spokane Journal of Business Since June, Landreth has served as director of lending administration at STCU. She is also the president-elect of Executive Women International’s Spokane chapter, where she advocates for the greater participation of women in leadership roles.

’07 François Rivard, MA education, in November was named director of education for the Greater Saskatoon (Canada) Catholic Schools. Rivard is currently a superintendent of learning services with the school division. His new role began on Jan. 1.

’09

Kavitz, BA education, in November received a 2022 Milken Educator Award for her work with kindergarten students in Buffalo, Wyoming. Kavitz was one of 40 professional educators nationwide to receive the $25,000 award, often hailed as the “Oscar of teaching.” Kindergarten is a big transition for kids, reads the Milken Family Foundation’s award citation, but Kavitz “eases them into the school year with movement-as-learning, colorful and creative exercises to engage their young minds, and social-emotional learning tools to build confidence.”

2010s

’15 Jackson Marchant, BA international affairs, in 2020 completed his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Washington. More recently,

Jessica

A student wraps Jessica Kavitz in a congratulatory hug. Photo by the Milken Family Foundation.

2.23

Marchant joined the firm of Inslee Best in Bellevue, Washington, where his practice will encompass a variety of areas, including municipal law and civil litigation.

’16 Cally King, BA communication studies, earlier this year was recognized as a “rising star” by the Spokane Journal of Business. After a successful stint with the Davenport Hotels, King now serves as the director of marketing at Coeur d’Alene-based Hagadone Marine Group and Lake Coeur d’Alene Cruises, where, she told the Journal of Business, “Every day is like a new adventure.”

’17 Kacy Tellessen, BA creative writing, last year published, Freaks of a Feather: A Marine Grunt’s Memoir, based in part on his experiences during two deployments to Iraq as an infantry machine gunner with the Second Battalion, Third Marines.

’19 Lauren Schubring, MPA public administration and MA in urban and regional planning, has recently joined the Spokane office of the SCJ Alliance, a Lacy, Washingtonbased consulting firm, as a planner. SCJ specializes in regional projects involving civil engineering, transportation planning and

design, environmental and urban planning, landscape architecture, cable-propelled transit, construction management and public outreach. Schubring’s previous experience includes community engagement work for the city of Spokane’s Parks and Natural Lands Plan.

2020s

’21 Areielle White, BA accounting, in 2022 accepted a position as an auditor with the Office of the Washington State Auditor, an agency that examines the use of public funds and develops strategies to make state government more efficient and effective.

JOIN EWU FANS ON THE ROAD for the first away game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis against North Dakota State University! Come see our Eags play in the Vikings’ NFL stadium, enjoy a pre-game tailgate and utilize our alumni hotel block!

Cherished Colleague

For nearly 40 years, Walt Powers served as a professor and department chair in psychology and applied psychology at EWU. Over the course of that long career he became widely recognized as a pioneer in the development of elementary school counseling in the U.S. and abroad, while personally shaping the professional development of hundreds of his students.

Powers and his late wife, Myrtle, a longtime teacher for the Cheney School District, also left a lasting legacy of giving at EWU. The light-filled reading room in Hargreaves Hall — now named for them — is today home to a collection of original lithographs by Norman Rockwell that were donated by the couple. (Beginning in the late 1960s, they amassed one of the nation’s foremost collections of Rockwell’s signed lithography.)

That donation was just one of the many ways the Powers’ have supported Eastern over the years, including, most notably, creating several scholarships and endowments aimed at advancing student success.

Powers’ dedication to teaching and service was captured by this magazine during our coverage in 2011 of the reading room naming ceremony: “It has been most gratifying over the years to spend time with the students who I have had the opportunity to help grow into mature professional school and mental health counselors,” Powers told us at the time. “Most important is to know that my contribution had a multiplier effect, as they have gone on to help hundreds of others.”

Powers retired in 1993, but his influence has never waned. Following a celebration of his life and career held in November, EWU Psychology

tweeted a sentiment undoubtedly shared by the whole of the university community. “Today,” the announcement read, “we celebrated the life and memory of Dr. Walt Powers, who showed us how to live with unconditional positive regard. We love, love, love you Dr. Powers, and will always carry your memory.”

Walter Lee Powers died on Sept. 19, 2022. He was 97 years old.

2000s

’08 Ana Berube, age 46, died Sept. 4, 2022.

1990s

’97 Robert “Rod” Williamson, Jr., age 69, died Oct. 19, 2022.

’95 Sharon Cross, age 74, died Oct. 28, 2022.

1980s

’82 Denise “Dee” Schilling, age 63, died Sept. 19, 2022.

’84 James “Jim” Garrett, age 60, died June 17, 2022.

’89 Pesamino Pele, Jr., age 56, died April 7, 2022.

1970s

’70 Jim Knauss, age 74, died June 11, 2022.

’72 Alvey Pratt, age 78, died Sept. 26, 2022.

’73 Leslie Tadlock, age 76, died Nov. 12, 2022.

’75 Richard Harris, age 70, died Nov. 23, 2022.

’75 John “Jay” Moyer, age 72, died Dec. 29, 2021.

’76 Deborah Dill, age 70, died Sept. 22, 2022.

’76, ’82 Susan Marchant, age 65, died Dec. 12, 2019.

1960s

’63, ’68 Barry Hill, age 81, died Sept. 30, 2022.

’63 Ronald Miller, age 81, died Sept. 10, 2022.

’65 Jenise Eskridge, age 78, died Oct. 29, 2022.

’66 Jim Gilman, age 81, died Oct. 25, 2022.

’68 Fay Lybecker, age 77, died Aug. 17, 2022.

’69 Trina Johnson, age 77, died Sept. 28, 2022.

’69 Kenneth W. Kirstein, age 76, died Aug. 14, 2022.

’69, ’78 David Rapp, age 75, died Nov. 10, 2022.

1950s

’55 Darlene Caviness, age 89, died Oct. 3, 2022.

’55 Dorothianne McDowell, age 95, died Oct. 18, 2022.

’57 Jack Hill, age 93, died Oct. 11, 2022.

Faculty and Staff

William Barber, died on Aug. 31, 2022. An emeritus professor of psychology at EWU, Barber retired in 1999 after 30 years of service.

Chad Bodnar, died on July 18, 2022. During his seven seasons as

Even in retirement, Walt Powers, an internationally respected authority on school counseling, never stopped giving.

Walt and Myrtle Powers.

head coach of EWU women’s soccer, Bodnar amassed a record of 73 wins, 44 losses and 18 draws. His Eagles in 2016 became the first team in program history to earn an NCAA Tournament berth.

John Brooks, died on July 5, 2022. Brooks retired in January 2012 after 34 years of service with EWU Sports and Recreation. A talented actor, director and stage manager, Brooks was a cherished member of the Spokane theater community.

David Cornelius, died on Sept. 21, 2022. During his 21 years of service, Cornelius served as a professor and chair for the Communictions Department, and associate dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. In 2004, he was awarded the Trustees’ Medal, the university’s highest accolade for faculty achievement.

Joanne Craner, died on Oct. 16, 2022. Craner served the university for 24 years before retiring as manager of the EWU Bookstore (now the Eagle Store) on July 1, 1995.

Alice Emerson, died on Oct. 18, 2022. Emerson, a noted archaeologist at WSU, returned to the classroom in the early 2000s to earn a doctorate in counseling psychology. She then joined EWU’s Counseling and Wellness Services in 2007, where she served for 11 years.

Robert “Bob” Herold, died on Nov. 12, 2022. After joining the EWU faculty in 1969, Harold served as a professor of government for three decades. A prominent public intellectual, he influenced the political and cultural life of Spokane throughout the whole of his career. “A curmudgeon, perhaps, but always teaching. He challenged us to think with care about who we are, where we live and what we can be,” wrote Ted McGregor, publisher of The Inlander, where Herold contributed columns for close to 25 years.

Lawrence “Larry” Kraft, died on Aug. 30, 2022. An emeritus professor of communications studies, Kraft began his EWU career in 1966. Following his retirement in 1991, Kraft contributed to the founding of the EWU Retirees Association and served for a term as its president.

Tom McCracken, died on June 30, 2022. McCracken retired in October 2018 after serving with the university’s custodial services for 31 years.

John Neace, died on Oct. 28, 2022. Neace was the director of interdisciplinary studies at EWU. During his many years of service, Neace served as a “consummate professional” whose guidance and support helped countless students, said EWU Provost Jonathan Anderson.

Walt Powers, died on Sept. 19, 2022. A former department chair and professor of psychology, he retired with emeritus status in 1993 after 38 years of service. Story on Page 33.

Adam Raley, died on Dec. 16, 2021. A former Benedictine monk, Raley, a professor emeritus of philosophy and humanities, retired in 1998 after serving for 28 years. He passed away at Hospice of Spokane, an organization he had helped to found.

Robert Smith, died on Aug. 27, 2022. After serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII, Smith earned a doctorate in English from the University of Washington. He joined the EWU faculty in 1958 and served for 28 years.

Ivan Zarling, died on April 10, 2022. In 1968, Zarling joined the EWU staff as director of human resources and the vice president for business and finance. He retired in 1988 after 20 years of service.

Doug Kelley ’83 stands in the foothills below Nepal's Annapurna massif.

If You Let Me Play:

Passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is today recognized as a major breakthrough in ending discrimination based on sex. At Eastern and elsewhere, Title IX had the immediate effect of putting women and girls on equal legal footing in areas as wide ranging as admissions, academic programs, financial aid, campus housing and access to facilities (see our story on Page 12). Still, when most Americans consider the impact of Title IX, they think not incorrectly — about its game-changing effects on college athletics. Athletes competing in the National Intercollegiate Track and Field Championships for Women, hosted by Eastern in 1971, were among only 15 percent of college athletes nationwide who were female prior to Title IX. Today, according to a Rutgers University study, some 44 percent of athletes participating in college sports are women, with another 3 million women and girls participating at the high school level.