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In the News
11.10.2009 EWU Students to Competing in World's Most Prestigious Computer Programming Contest
11.6.2009EWU's Community Indicators Project Extends North to Tri-County Region
10.27.2009NCAA Reverses EWU Post-Season Ban
9.28.2009Kauffman to Lead EWU Board of Trustees for Second Year
9.17.2009EWU Welcomes Edmund S. Muskie Fellows
9.8.2009Important Message on Flu
Announcements
EWU Employees Setting Up Fund For Fellow Employee
EWU employees are setting up a fund to benefit EWU employee Allison Curry and her family after the passing of her husband, Robert Curry. The "Robert and Allison Curry Fund" is set up at Cheney Employees Credit Union.
Gatos Pizza will assist with a Fund Raising Event and Silent Auction for the family. Gatos is donating a portion of their proceeds from their daily sales, from noon to 8 p.m., to the family on Dec. 13, 2009 and there will be a silent auction on that date at Gatos, as well.
Robert Curry suffered from extreme health issues over the last couple of years beginning with severe diabetes and kidney failure in 2005, which forced him to sell his Cheney business, Cheney Muffler and Complete Auto Repair. The family is suffering financially with all of expenses incurred through his extended stay in the hospital and now the funeral.
For more information, contact Barbara Boots at 359.4340 or Cindy Swank at 359.2397. International Week Gathers Steam
 With 14 feature events and expanded levels of student participation, Eastern's third annual International Week, which begins next Monday, Nov. 16, is primed to be a vibrant and successful celebration of worldwide culture.
Started a couple years ago to increase interaction and understanding between the university's international student population and the campus community at-large, the event has grown as the International Student Association participation has matured.
"We've seen that the longer this event continues on, the more the international students want to get involved," said Steve Schwalbe, of Eastern's International Education Office and Study Abroad manager.
International Student and Scholar Advisor Ken Capps pointed to the International Expo event on Thursday, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in the PUB MPR, as an example of the growing interest international students are taking in sharing their cultures with their fellow EWU community members.
"This year we have a very active International Student Association compared to the past three years," Capps said.
The International Expo will currently feature three student-created exhibits, one each from Saudi Arabia, Guatemala and Mayan culture. Capps said he is hoping international students from other cultures will also sign on to the expo event before the event. "If anybody else is interested in participating, we're still open to that," Capps said.
This year will be the first year Eastern's International Week lines up with the U.S. State Department's International Education Week, which is typically the third week in November. After getting the event established the first couple years, the International Education Office wants to take the celebration up a notch.
"The first one was just to see if we really could do it," Schwalbe said.
This year's event folds in the annual Asia University America Program's annual talent show and a new World of Music night -- both events that in the past were either held separate from International Week or wouldn't necessarily have been coordinated with the annual event.
Capps said he hopes the World Music night, which will be held in Streeter Hall, will be a hit. "We're pretty excited because this is kind of a newer thing for us to try," he explained.
The week also will feature some good academic discussions in the context of a wider worldview. The feature lecture event is Dr. Kristin Edquist's presentation on "Global Mental Health Governance and the Modernity of States," addressing current issues regarding mental health care in developing countries. Dr. Edquist's lecture starts at noon on Thursday, Nov. 19, in the new Hargreaves Reading Room.
The day preceding that, EWU professors Stephen Hoyt and Majid Sharifi will join Schwalbe in a panel discussion titled, "Cold War to War on Terror," at 10 a.m., in Tawanka 215.
In addition to the intellectual offerings, the celebration also includes culinary offerings. On Tuesday night, from 4:30-7:30 p.m., in the PUB MPR, attendees can partake in dinner offerings from Lebanon, India and the Pacific Rim.
Schwalbe also hopes International Week can increase the profile of the university's study abroad program. A study abroad fair is featured on Tuesday morning, from 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m., in front of the PUB and on Monday, from 1-2 p.m., Schwalbe will be on hand for a study abroad at home orientation in PUB 263.
The study abroad at home program is a unique opportunity for EWU students to receive two credits by sampling 10 course offerings related to international topics, throughout the EWU campus. Participating students receive a "passport" which gets them into several different lectures in classes across disciplines. After completing their "tour" of the classes, the students must complete a graded essay to receive their two credits.
Schwalbe said registration for the class, ITDS 397, is open and students can register for it anytime without incurring any late registration fees.
For a full view of the calendar of events for EWU International Week ,visit the event website at International Week Event Website Book Donations Needed for Hargreaves Reading Room
 The Hargreaves Reading Room has beautiful open airy space, a warm woody feel and plenty of natural sunshine lighting, but it is missing an essential ingredient -- books.
Recognizing this, the university's annual giving unit has started an effort to fill the room's empty library shelves with donated hardback books. The vision is to fill the shelves with good-quality books printed before 1967, which was the year Hargreaves ceded its place as the university library to JFK Library.
The hope is people will be able to come into the reading room and grab books off the shelves, as they would've been 40 years ago.
Pat Spanjer, assistant director of annual giving, is heading up the book donation efforts. Spanjer wants to make the process of donating books easy for donors and for the university. Spanjer said they recognize that some people want to keep track of their giving for tax purposes and others are more interested in donating books without much fuss.
"People can either give us an estimate of what they think the value of the gift is, for their tax purposes, or they can simply give as a 'gift in kind,' in that case the value of the books are figured at $1," Spanjer explained. "Some people are donating and just telling us to not worry about value."
Donors also have the option of having their books stamped with their name inside to memorialize their gift or the inside tag can be left anonymous.
Spanjer said there are just a few guidelines about the types of books are best for donation. Foremost, the books should have a publish date earlier than 1967, second they should be hardbacks and third, they should be in good condition.
Spanjer also is asking that people avoid bringing in text books. "Some people have asked about text books, but we've specifically asked that people not bring them in because they weren't considered library books," she said.
Books can be dropped off at Hargreaves 102 on weekdays, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Assistance with carrying the books in Hargreaves can be arranged on Tuesdays or Thursdays between noon and 4 p.m.
Spanjer said that donors should be aware that the Hargreaves Reading Room is open to the public and there won't be any security to stop people from "borrowing" the books. "We're totally going to be on the honor system," she said.
The initial ask for book donations in the recent Eastern Magazine resulted in the donation of over one hundred books so far, most of which are now on the shelves in the reading room.
Reading room visitors can now peruse through "The Problems of Philosophy," by Bertrand Russell, "The Bridges at Toko-Ri," by James Michener, both volumes of DeTocqueville's "Democracy in America," and J. Orlin Oliphant's "History of the State Normal School."
You will also find books from the collection of former EWU professor Richard Miller, whose daughter Marcia brought in several of his books to grace the shelves of Hargreaves.
Spanjer expects that the donations will come in a steady stream, especially as the university starts holding more events in the reading room and people see the partially filled shelves. "I think people will say, 'You know, I have some books that I think might fit in here,'" she said.
For more information on how to donate books or to arrange for a drop-off, contact Pat Spanjer at 509.359.4557. EWU Employee Annual Giving Campaign Begins
 With the overarching idea that there is not one EWU employee who would not give the shirt off his/her back for a student, Eastern's annual giving efforts are focusing on the just-starting "Give the Shirt Off Your Back" EWU faculty and staff annual fund campaign. The fundraising drive is designed to encourage EWU employees to contribute to student success through annual giving.
The campaign is hoping to take inspiration from EWU faculty and staff that have found ways to enrich student's lives in non-monetary ways, as well, like the story of longtime EWU Senior Lecturer Alan Basham, from the Department of Counseling, Education and Developmental Psychology, who has helped hundreds of students succeed academically and professionally.
A few years ago, while teaching an undergraduate statistics class, Basham was faced with a dilemma: How do you teach a completely visually impaired student the concepts of correlation and a normal curve if he can't see the illustrations? His solution was to go home and build two three-dimensional samples out of plywood, nails and string. As the bright student eagerly traced the shapes with his fingertips, he understood the concepts -- he understood that his professor cared about his success at Eastern.
There are hundreds of stories like that around Eastern, and the campaign is intended to show that EWU employees will commit to supporting student success not only with their actions, but with their pocketbooks.
Employees can make immediate gifts at a convenient campus location, the EWU Bookstore, or through a simple payroll deduction. Both of the university's bookstore locations -- Cheney campus in the PUB and Spokane center (Schade Towers, lower level) -- will accept donations of any amount in cash, check, credit or debit card.
Donors complete a gift slip to indicate amount of gifts and where they would like to see their donations used (specific scholarship, department, program, Eagle Athletics Association, EWU Libraries, Eastern Fund or other area of need). The annual giving department will mail a gift receipt to each donor to recognize the tax-deductible donation.
To recognize those who give, all donors who make an immediate gift at one of the EWU Bookstores will write his or her name on a paper T-shirt for display on the bookstore walls for all students to see that employees support their success. The names of employees who contribute through payroll deduction will also be written on paper T-shirts for display.
All donors who make immediate gifts at the EWU Bookstores or through payroll deduction, Oct. 15-Dec. 18, 2009, will have their names entered in weekly drawings for bookstore prizes. All entries collected Oct. 15-Dec. 18 are eligible for a grand prize (a $109 EWU jacket) at the end of the campaign.
Employees who made payroll deduction contributions since July 1 and those who have standing indefinite payroll deduction contributions are also eligible for the weekly and grand prize drawings.
The campaign started last Thursday, and the winner of the first weekly drawing is Gabor Zovanyi, PhD, professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Riverpoint. This week's prize is an EWU mug and Craven's Eagles Blend coffee. To qualify for Friday's drawing, you must make your contribution before 3 p.m., Thursday, at the Spokane bookstore or by payroll deduction, or by 3 p.m., Friday, Oct. 23, at the Cheney bookstore.
In order to expedite transactions and contributions at the Cheney bookstore registers, donations to the "Give the Shirt Off Your Back" campaign are now being taken at the customer service counter only.
Donating employees also receive an "I gave the shirt off my back" button. The annual giving department is encouraging people to wear them every day as a badge of honor that shows students and colleagues that they support EWU.
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