The Cheney Depot, long the gateway to EWU, is on the move.

Even after the advent of the automobile, passenger trains remained the conveyance of choice for generations of Eastern students traveling to and from Cheney. As train travel was eclipsed by more modern forms of transportation, the rail depot fell into disuse and disrepair. When threatened with demolition, however, the Cheney Depot Society, a local organization dedicated to preserving the station and its legacy, launched a successful campaign to save the structure by moving it — in one 120-foot-long piece — to a new downtown location. You can learn more about their efforts at cheneydepot.com.

Another ‘Fighting Eagle’ instructor earns top honors

By Eastern Magazine

For the second year in a row, a faculty member serving with the Eastern Washington University Army ROTC “Fighting Eagles” battalion has received the U.S. Army Cadet Command Instructor of the Year Award.

Maj. Nicholas Carbaugh was selected for the award from among instructors in 274 ROTC units located across the country.

Carbaugh studied finance at Virginia Tech University before coming to Eastern. He is currently assigned to the field artillery branch of the EWU battalion, where he serves as lead instructor for third-year cadets preparing to attend Advanced Camp, a 31-day training event that is designed to assess cadets’ proficiency in basic officer leadership tasks.

Carbaugh also represents the Department of Military Science as its representative on EWU’s Academic Senate. As a senator, he is responsible for helping to formulate university policy and developing recommendations to be acted on by the Board of Trustees. Carbaugh also serves as treasurer of his local Montessori School Board.

“Maj. Carbaugh is clearly not only an outstanding instructor, but an important part of the university and the community,” writes Lt. Col. Jonathan Stafford, chair of the ROTC program, in an article on the EWU Army ROTC website.

Carbaugh’s award follows the Non-Commissioned Officer Instructor of the Year Award given to then Sgt. 1st Class Jason Henning in 2019. EWU Army ROTC is the only program in the nation that has won a total of three national Cadet Command awards for excellence in the past two years. Also in 2019, Human Resources Administrator Linda Moody won the award for the Top Cadet Command HRA.

Mary Cullinan announces retirement; David May will serve as interim

By Eastern Magazine

Eastern Washington University’s 26th president, Mary Cullinan, announced in early August she was stepping down from her leadership of the university. Cullinan will act as the “special assistant to the president for transition” through mid-September, after which time she will join the EWU faculty as a professor in the Department of English.

The announcement came during a special public session of the EWU Board of Trustees. During the meeting the trustees named David May, provost and vice president for academic affairs, as interim president.

“It’s been a tremendous honor to serve this great institution,” Cullinan said. “EWU is truly a remarkable university with exceptional students, faculty, staff, alumni and community supporters.”

In elevating May, the EWU Board said it was moving to maintain continuity. As provost, May spearheaded the university’s shift to online classes during the pandemic, and has been instrumental in working with faculty on an academic reorganization plan that will reduce Eastern’s seven colleges to four.

We’ll have more coverage of the leadership change, including an in-depth interview with interim President David May, in our next issue.

After George Floyd’s killing, university leaders call for ‘true social transformation.’

By Eastern Magazine

After video of the police killing of George Floyd shocked the nation and world, officials at Eastern joined the upwelling of voices that demanded justice and change.

As protests spread across the world, Deirdre Almeida, EWU’s director of American Indian Studies; Scott Finnie, director of Africana Studies; Nydia Martinez, director of Chicana/o/x Studies, and Judy Rohrer, director of Women’s & Gender Studies, co-signed a statement that endorsed demonstrators’ call for an end “to anti-Black police and state violence.”

“We are inspired by the outpouring of solidarity and resistance across the globe, the country, and right here in Spokane,” the statement said.
“As educators, we are particularly moved by the youth who are acting with brilliance and courage. We are at a tipping point and they are unrelenting in their demands for true social transformation.

“In this historic moment, we are putting all of our collective weight on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s long ‘arc of the moral universe’ to bend it more quickly toward justice.”

EWU’s president and its leadership team echoed these sentiments in an earlier message released at the end of May. “Eastern Washington University has been, and continues to be, committed to building this new normal,” it read.

“We are partners for change. While we may occasionally stumble and fall short in these efforts, we will relentlessly pursue the goal of a campus and a country defined by equality, equity, and inclusion.”

A recent EWU grad is poised to make his mark on biochemistry

By Leilah Langley

John Vant ’18 would be the first to admit that his decision to attend Eastern Washington University had little to do with academics. The Montana native, now 26, says he enrolled at Eastern mostly because the university’s rec center had an ice rink.

Hockey helped Vant make new friends and immerse himself in the university community. But it didn’t take long for the gifted undergraduate to be crossed-checked by a passion that transcended the puck: research in biochemistry. Now a standout doctoral student in biochemistry at Arizona State University’s School of Molecular Sciences, Vant was recently awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The fellowship will allow him to continue working with some of the world’s top biochemical experts.

Vant is no stranger to academic awards. At Eastern, he was the recipient of the Daniel and Margaret Carper Foundation Scholarship, a full-tuition award for his senior year. In part thanks to that financial assistance, Vant says, he was able to fully focus on his time with Eastern’s faculty scientists, an experience that was invaluable to his progress as a young researcher.

“The thing that sets Eastern apart from other schools is its size and its focus on teaching students,” says Vant. “By the time I left, I personally knew every single chemistry professor in the department. You wouldn’t get that at a lot of big universities.”

Vant’s research at ASU involves molecular dynamics, a method that involves using computers to simulate the motion of atoms in biological molecules, in Vant’s case protein molecules. “A lot of my science is focused on bio-energy,” he says, “but it’s not too much of a stretch for me to solve problems related to human health.”

Human health is exactly what Vant has been up to this spring and summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In collaboration with the Mayo Clinic, he’s part of a team developing a model for disrupting the virus’ “envelope protein,” a molecular structure that is crucial in preserving its genetic material as it travels between hosts. By disrupting the envelope protein, the thinking goes, researchers could interrupt transmission.

When Vant completes his doctoral and post-doctoral work, he says he aspires to work in one of the federally run national laboratories. No matter where his career takes him, Vant says, he will always appreciate the education he received at Eastern, and the scholarship donors whose generosity helped him to succeed.

“Even now, when I’m going through a rough time and things aren’t working out, I can think back and remember that people believed in me,” he says.

Give back to EWU on your own terms, while helping next-generation professionals.

By EWU Alumni Association

For Eastern students and recent alumni looking to embark on a new career, few assets are more rewarding than the advice of someone who’s successfully accomplished this goal. That’s why EWU’s Office of Alumni Relations and the Career Center have partnered to create the Eagle Career Network, ECN, a new online networking community that will provide powerful, on-demand career mentoring opportunities.

This “Eagles helping Eagles” model relies on alumni and friends to serve as resources to current students and fellow grads who could benefit from learning about the professional experiences and career journeys of seasoned business people. Eagle mentors drive how they want to be involved. It might be one-time support, such as reviewing a resume or sharing advice via an online chat or phone call. It could involve an ongoing series of conversations or email exchanges. Or it might entail allowing individuals to chat with — or job shadow — you or other professionals in your organization who are doing what they would like to do.

For those helping out, their generosity will come with rewards: By interacting with ECN participants, you will be able to make direct connections with other Eagle professionals and enhance the strength of your organization by identifying talent within the EWU community.

We need you, Eagles! Signing up is easy – you can even merge your LinkedIn profile with one click. Visit ecn.ewu.edu to learn more.

H. George Frederickson, former EWU president, led dramatic advancements in academics, athletics and fundraising.

By Eastern Magazine

George Frederickson, the revered former president of Eastern Washington University who led dramatic advancements in academics, athletics and fundraising, died on July 24 in Lawrence, Kansas. He was 86.

Over the university’s long history, few individuals have had a greater impact than Frederickson. During his decade-long tenure, he was instrumental in transitioning Eastern Washington State College into the thriving regional university today known as Eastern Washington University. He helped create the university’s schools of health sciences, public affairs, and mathematical sciences and technology. And because he saw a need for a fundraising vehicle to help Eastern students succeed long into the future, Frederickson also helped establish the EWU Foundation.

Born in Twin Falls, Idaho, Frederickson held faculty positions at the University of Maryland, Syracuse University, Indiana University and the University of Missouri. In 1977, at age 42, he became Eastern’s president. 

Frederickson was by all accounts a dynamic leader, one whose vision for what Eastern could become sometimes clashed with those reluctant to embrace change. Among his more controversial moves was one that generated perhaps his most high-profile success — transitioning EWU Athletics from membership in the NAIA to the NCAA and the Big Sky Conference. Frederickson left EWU in 1987 to become the Edwin O. Steen Distinguished Professor of Public Administration at the University of Kansas, but made a point of attending the 2010 FCS National Championship Game, where he cheered his beloved Eagles on to victory.

Frederickson was unable to watch the Eagles face North Dakota State in their return to the national championship game. “I don’t drive anymore, and my wife doesn’t see very well,” Frederickson told Cheney Free Press and Eastern magazine writer Paul Delaney at the time. But, he added, “I think that it’s been a blessing to me to live long enough to see some of the results of our hard work.”

A student mask-maker boosts critical efforts to contain the coronavirus

by Eastern Magazine

Even as the coronavirus pandemic has upended business as usual for millions, Nichole Speaks, a senior studying psychology at EWU, went all in on a new enterprise: working to ensure that some of our region’s most vulnerable persons — and the people that care for them — got the face masks they needed to stay safe.

In addition to her studies, Speaks is employed full-time as a member of the management team at an acute medical detox facility in Lynnwood, Washington. It’s a rewarding but challenging job. COVID-19 has exacerbated those challenges, particularly for nursing staff who risked exposure to the virus on a daily basis.

Early on in the crisis, Speaks, a can-do person who in February received Eastern’s 2020 President’s Student Civic Leadership Award, recognized that her facility’s stock of face masks and other PPEs wasn’t going to cut it.

“I was anxious about the fact that my nursing staff would soon be left without proper personal protective equipment, including but not limited to masks,” she says. “I thought there was no better way to help than to provide them with handmade masks. I wanted to do something, and that was the ‘something’ that I could do.”

Speaks figured about 100 cloth masks would do the trick. Unfortunately, she admits, she’s a far-from-expert seamstress.

“As an inexperienced sewer, I knew that it would take me quite a bit of time to sew 100 masks, so I reached out to my community for assistance,” Speaks says.

Within minutes, community members were volunteering to help. So many reached out, in fact, that Speaks soon realized a more formal way to manage the mask making was required. Thus the Gratitude Masks Facebook page was born.

“The name Gratitude Masks came from the gratitude I felt from the outpouring of support, the gratitude put into the masks as we make them for the heroes who are on the front lines and the gratitude from the recipients who wear them,” she says. “My attempt to reach out for a ‘few helpers’ has turned into well over 200 members.” Those members have since produced thousands of masks.

Speaks says she was so impressed by her community’s response—and the scale of ongoing need—that she thought her experience might be useful at the regional level.   

After connecting with the founder of stopthebug.org, a larger effort to provide PPEs for first responders, health-care professionals and others who need them, Speaks became the lead in the organization’s mask division. “Our masks are not only being delivered to local hospitals, EMS, local police, fire departments [and] other front-line heroes, we are also setting a standard for the rest of the country to follow, and they are coming to our group for assistance,” she says. 

Not all students were equipped for distance learning. The EWU Foundation was there to help.

by Eastern Magazine

Early in the pandemic, when Eastern was forced to shift to virtual learning, many students were left without the technology they needed to continue their educations. Fortunately, the EWU Foundation and the university’s Student Care Team recognized the need and quickly utilized the Student Emergency Fund to purchase Chromebooks. Two hundred were distributed at the beginning of spring quarter.

Since then, the “thank you” notes from students who applied for and received the laptops have been streaming in. Janastasia Jackson-Stiller is one of those students. She says the support meant a lot to students who, like her, were feeling overwhelmed with online learning.

‘If you are interested in making a difference in students’ lives with a gift to the emergency fund, please visit the Giving to EWU webpage: ewu.edu/give.‘

“I just wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude and appreciation,” Jackson-Stiller wrote. “I was blessed with a laptop grant and that was great news. It gave me the confidence I needed to tackle this quarter of online classes. When I picked the laptop up and took it home, I expected it to be [just] a tool to get me from point A to point B in my academics. I was brought to tears when I got home and opened it up: It was absolutely beautiful. It may seem like a small thing, but in the midst of all this upheaval and uncertainty I was truly blessed by this.”

Judy Miller in EWU’s Student Accounting Department helped with the ordering and distribution of the Chromebooks. Miller says that every student she’s spoken with has been appreciative and thankful.

“I heard things like: ‘Thank you so much, you saved my life!’ ‘Please tell whomever gave us these, thank you!’ ‘I appreciate you so much!’ ‘OMG, I have been using my phone for all my assignments, this is amazing!’ Lots more comments like that,” she says.

Donor gifts make the Student Emergency Fund possible. On Giving Joy Day, which occurred April 3, EWU faculty and staff raised more than $29,500 to help cover immediate student needs. Additional Eastern supporters gave almost $13,000 to the fund that day.

]]> https://www.ewu.edu/magazine/news/staying-strong/ Tue, 13 Oct 2020 00:32:40 +0000 https://www.ewu.edu/magazine/?post_type=stories&p=556 As the pandemic progressed, Eastern stepped up By Eastern Magazine In early march, as the first cases of COVID-19 started appearing in the Seattle area, EWU began to mobilize its resources to keep students, faculty and staff safe. Surfaces were disinfected, hand sanitizer stations were filled, and expert panels and other information sessions were convened...]]>

As the pandemic progressed, Eastern stepped up

By Eastern Magazine

In early march, as the first cases of COVID-19 started appearing in the Seattle area, EWU began to mobilize its resources to keep students, faculty and staff safe. Surfaces were disinfected, hand sanitizer stations were filled, and expert panels and other information sessions were convened to help the campus community better understand the nature of the threat, and how to protect themselves from it.

By the middle of the month, it was clear these measures would not be enough. On March 11, the university announced that, in a way never been seen over EWU’s long history, campus life was essentially shutting down.

‘Faculty, students and their families rethought the nature of higher education to make remote learning not just viable, but vibrant and rewarding.‘

“All academic operations, to the fullest extent possible, will be moved online through the remainder of the current academic year,” President Mary Cullinan’s letter read. “This includes classes, academic advising and educational activities.”

The months that followed have seen heroic efforts to adapt to the new normal. Faculty, students and their families rethought the nature of higher education to make remote learning not just viable, but vibrant and rewarding. Staff members rallied to create a virtual commencement that rivaled the joyous pomp and circumstance of the in-person event. And Eastern employees have doubled-down on their dedication as telework and CDC-recommended safety measures have transformed the way they served the institution they love.

Going forward, there will be a continued need for out-of-the-box thinking and resilience. As it became clear, for example, that the suspension of most face-to-face instruction would need to be extended, EWU announced an innovative “Maximum Flexibility” model for instruction and campus operations this fall.

The approach, developed with the advice of faculty experts in public health and science, calls for a continuation of online-first modality for most courses. Courses that can’t be offered online, such as some labs, are — for now at least — slated to go forward following public health guidelines aimed at minimizing health risks to students, faculty and staff.

The “flexibility” part kicks in if public health restrictions ease: online offerings, for instance, could be switched to face-to-face instruction or a hybrid model. Likewise, if health concerns increase, all courses can shift back online.

The idea is to help students mitigate, in so far as is possible, any disruption in their progress toward a degree.

Other adaptations include waiving the live-on-campus requirement for first-year freshmen. For those students who do want to live on campus, residential halls and dining operations will be open. Only one student per room will be permitted. Housing staff will assist residents with social distancing practices and guidance on how to follow other public health measures.

Such planning will ensure that this fall, although in no way normal, EWU will unite to proudly advance excellence in learning and service.