Eastern celebrates a new home for learning and discovery.

When it opens for research and instruction this fall, Eastern’s new $68 million Interdisciplinary Science Center will advance EWU scientific exploration and discovery with state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms and spaces for collaboration. The stunning brick, glass and steel building, according to its designers at Seattle’s LMN Architects, aims to visually and functionally integrate itself into existing campus facilities — particularly the legacy Science Building it conjoins. Look for more images, along with full coverage of the Interdisciplinary Science Center’s grand opening, in our upcoming Fall/Winter issue.

A foundation’s benevolence means Jessica Scognamiglio, and dozens of other hard-working Eagle students, face a less burdensome path to graduation.

By Leilah Langley. Photos by Chris Thompson.

For decades, students have come to Eastern Washington University because it offers a uniquely attractive combination of access and affordability. But for many who matriculate at EWU, particularly first-generation and non-traditional students, staying in school is a quarter-by-quarter proposition, and the path to graduation is fraught with pitfalls.

Financial obstacles are among the most typical. Though Eastern consistently ranks as among the most economical universities in Washington, a sizable portion of EWU students must earn wages to stay in school. Most labor in part-time jobs, but many attend Eastern while working full-time, sometimes in more than one job. Why do they do it? Because overcoming such obstacles means securing a better future for themselves and their families.

For one pair of Eastern donors, these hard-working Eagles deserve a break. Late last year the Krumble Foundation, a Spokane charitable organization founded by Burke and Muriel Blevins, pledged $1.35 million in scholarship support to ensure that more Eastern students are able to persist in their studies.

The gift’s largest allocation will support the Soaring Eagle Scholarship, a new fund aimed at assisting financially challenged students who demonstrate the grit and perseverance to “take flight” at EWU. As part of the program, as many as 45 juniors and seniors will each be awarded $6,000 every academic year.

Jessica Scognamiglio is one of the first beneficiaries. Currently an EWU junior majoring in dental hygiene, she has been working since she was in high school. Because her family isn’t able to contribute to her college expenses, Scognamiglio is on her own when it comes to tuition and fees each quarter — as well as the rest of her modest living costs.

“I saved up quite a bit of money in high school from my job, and was able to pay for my first-year tuition with that savings,” she says. “Most of my funding for everything else was through me working, and I got a few scholarships and grants throughout the first couple of years.”

Before becoming a Soaring Eagle recipient, it was an EWU Grant — funding awarded to new students who are Washington state residents and demonstrate financial need — that got Scognamiglio in the door at Eastern. To save on tuition costs, she had originally planned to attend Spokane Falls Community College. But the grant, she says, pretty much erased the price difference between SFCC and Eastern. Excited to start at a four-year university, and eager to purse a career that would allow her to help people in a person-to-person way, she enrolled at EWU in 2017.

“I was kind of in between nursing and dental hygiene, but I really enjoy the amount of time you get with the patient as a hygienist,” says Scognamiglio, a self-confessed people person. “You have a patient who comes in usually every six months and you get a whole hour with them. I thought that was awesome, to be able to connect like that.”

The Spokane native has never had a job where she wasn’t connecting with people. Scognamiglio got her first paid gig at age 16, working as an associate at a clothing store in Northtown Mall. Her hard work impressed her supervisors, and the day Scognamiglio turned 18 she was promoted to assistant manager.

When she started classes at Eastern in the fall of her freshman year, Scognamiglio was working nearly full time. She says she quickly learned it was too much to juggle 40-hour workweeks with college courses. “It was a big awakening. I realized I couldn’t do that anymore,” she remembers. “So, I went on to work as an associate at a different clothing store, then as a hostess at Downriver Grill — that was really fun —and I currently work at the Milk Bottle as a server. It’s the most fun job ever.”

A Spokane icon, tucked neatly away in the artsy Garland District, the Milk Bottle has become an integral part of Scognamiglio’s story. Her dedication — always showing up for shifts and working extra hours when needed — has earned her the respect of coworkers and bosses. Scognamiglio says she’s been lucky: She was able to coordinate with her manager to make sure her schedule not only benefited the diner, but also her education.

But still, as has been the case for so many students currently employed in the restaurant and hospitality industry, she says Covid-19 upended her already precariously balanced means of making ends meet. The pandemic lock-down, for instance, forced the Milk Bottle to close its doors for months.

At first, she thought of the closure as little more than a temporary setback. But as the weeks dragged on, and various stages of reopening came and went, Scognamiglio realized she would only be able to work, at most, one or two days a week.

“Right around the time [the pandemic] hit, I found out that I got into the dental hygiene program. My goal was to work full time during the summer and save up as much money as I could,” she says. “So, that was very stressful. Thankfully, I was able to work a little bit throughout the summer, and I did save some money.”

But even with the money she earned over the summer, Scognamiglio admits she had no idea how she was going to pay for tuition in the fall. And the dental hygiene program, like many professional programs, comes with additional student fees. Hygienists in training are required, for example, to purchase specialized gear like loupes — magnifying instruments that can run as much as $2,000.
But on a warm summer day last year — Scognamiglio recalls she was working a shift at the Milk Bottle when it happened — she received email notice that she was a Soaring Eagle recipient. “I was overjoyed!” she says.

The financial award covers most of Scognamiglio’s tuition for the year, leaving her to cover only fees, supplies, books and living expenses. She says she will likely resort to student loans to cover some of these costs, but that debt burden will be much smaller thanks to the generosity of her scholarship.

Scognamiglio is exactly the type of student the Krumble Foundation wants to help succeed. And she is proud that her determination caught their eye and earned for her one of the scholarships.
“I feel like I’ve demonstrated grit through my hard work in the dental hygiene program and my being able to hold a job while going to school,” she says. “A lot of my friends decided not to work and to take out more loans, just so that school is a little bit easier for them.”

The multi-tiered gift from the Krumble Foundation is not only helping undergraduates like Scognamiglio avoid potentially burdensome debt, it is also providing funds aimed at improving retention rates and encouraging job-creating internships.

Especially during the Covid-19 crisis, many EWU students have faced enrollment-threatening financial struggles related to unemployment and housing changes. Such pandemic-related problems don’t just hurt in the short term; they can also create issues down the road. Any student who owes more than $1,000 or more in unpaid tuition and fees, for example, cannot register for the next quarter.

To help, the Krumble Foundation stepped up to provide “micro-grants,” small-dollar supplements to students who are in good academic standing and likely to graduate.

Without scholarships,” Scognamiglio adds simply, “I would not be in college.

 

As long-time local business owners, the Blevins also know the importance of internships. Often, however, internship opportunities come with their own financial burdens. Interns typically have to pay for housing in a new city, and they must often forego, at least temporarily, wages they would have earned at their current place of employment. (As is the norm these days, most interns will not be paid for their contributions.)

Cash considerations shouldn’t derail opportunities for interns, the Blevins say. So, in addition to the scholarships and grants, the foundation is also backing a program that allows Eagles interning at nonprofit or governmental agencies to apply for a one-time stipend of up to $3,000.

Such programs underscore the passion the Blevins’ feel for helping striving students get the push they need to succeed. Theirs is a philanthropic vision that resonates beyond the university campus, benefiting the entire community by ensuring that a greater number of well-trained and ambitious employees will be available in the regional workforce.

The Blevins also hope they can inspire additional alumni, parents and friends of EWU to consider a gift to help support additional students like Scognamiglio who personify the grit and perseverance so common among Eastern Eagles.

“The scholarship money,” Scognamiglio says, “goes so much further than just giving me money to go to school. I’m thankful that the donors of this scholarship care about me and want me to succeed.”

“Without scholarships,” she adds simply, “I would not be in college.”

David May, Eastern’s Interin President, leans into challenging times.

By Dave Meany

It’s March 10, 2021. David May is sitting in the president’s office, his office, on the second floor of Showalter Hall. It’s been exactly 365 days since then-Provost May made what would be one of the most consequential recommendations of his professional life. We must take “immediate action” against this frighteningly contagious new virus, he told fellow administrators: Move finals up, extend spring break and start planning like crazy for an uncertain future.

As he recalls the moment, May holds up that week’s issue of The Easterner, EWU’s student newspaper. Its cover is dominated by a giant rendering of the coronavirus “spike ball.” Inside, the copy reflects the bewilderment and anxiety of a student body that had yet to fully absorb the extent of the crisis.

Across the nation, higher education leaders were themselves struggling. Just how serious is this thing? Can we conduct classes safely? If not, then what? For David May, the choice was clear: Student safety first. We act now, and then figure out the rest. His boss, President Mary Cullinan, agreed.

“Boy, did we get beat up,” May says. “But it was the right thing to do.”

May’s decision last spring was just the first of many improbable challenges he — and faculty and administrators across the university — would be forced to confront over a year like no other. Among the more difficult of these hurdles involved implementing an early, and at the time controversial, decision to move nearly all instruction, and most other operations, to the virtual realm.

There were also tough calls involving twists and turns in campus governance, as circumstances unrelated to the pandemic led to Cullinan’s departure from the university’s leadership team. In this, too, May was ready to step up. On August 4 he was selected by Eastern’s Board of Trustees to serve as EWU’s interim president for a period of no less than two years.

“David May’s vision and leadership during this historical stretch gives the board the utmost confidence he will keep the university on the path to success,” Vicki Wilson, the board’s chair, said at the time.
For his part, May says he was “eager and excited” to lead, though he admits now it was all something of a whirlwind. Especially for someone who, until recently, had never really imagined himself as an administrator, much less a university president.

For an ‘Introverted’ Scholar, a Rapid Rise

“I was really happy in faculty,” May says. As a political scientist who relishes teaching subjects such as philosophy of law and the finer points of Constitutional interpretation, May had been perfectly contented as a professor for most of his 20-year career at Eastern. A self-described introvert — “I’m very introverted on any scale that exists in the world” — he taught his classes, mentored his students and counted himself fortunate to see how he was making a difference in their lives.

“The privilege of being in the classroom is that you see that transformation. It’s so much fun when you’re in that moment and the students are fully engaged. It’s just magical to watch.”
But as we’ve all learned over the last year, even the most stable-seeming situations can change quickly. For May, change meant recognizing that what was best for Eastern and its students was his acceptance of a series of administrative posts, each with more responsibility, as Eastern reeled from turnover in top positions. In a whirlwind 11-month stretch starting in March 2020, May served as vice provost for academic affairs, interim provost and then provost — this before being named interim president. When the Board of Trustees asked if he would step up to the president’s position, May says he was honored but somewhat ambivalent.

“I had never seen myself as a provost: not that I didn’t think myself capable of doing it, but it wasn’t my career objective,” May says. “So when Dr. Cullinan resigned and the board asked me to serve as the interim president, there were a lot of conversations with my wife and family. It was obviously going to be a big change, not just for me but for my wife especially, her being part of the public life of the university.”

May and his wife, Monica, a primary care physician, have been married for 26 years. Their daughter, Emily, is an undergraduate at Western Washington University in Bellingham. (“Currently going to Western in my dining room,” May joked to the InsideEWU digital newsletter earlier this year.)

“It is something that I feel very proud and privileged to be able to do, but I’m doing it because — as I have for the past 22 years — I want to be of service to the university and, more particularly, to its students,” May says.

 

After a lot of soul searching and discussion, May says, he and his family got to “yes.”

“It wasn’t something that I was aiming for in my life,” May says of becoming Eastern’s interim president. “It is something that I feel very proud and privileged to be able to do, but I’m doing it because — as I have for the past 22 years — I want to be of service to the university and, more particularly, to its students.”

Once situated in his new Showalter digs, Eastern’s new leader quickly came to realize the full scale and scope of what he had taken on: enough challenges and potential land mines to make even the most seasoned administrator want to head for the hills.

Funny thing, heading to the hills is exactly what May loves to do. He enjoys year-around outdoor activities like biking, hiking or backcountry skiing. It’s where an introvert can really find his groove. But like many of us, finding the groove didn’t come easy.

A Winding Road to Academe

“Very late” is how May describes his non-traditional route to college. The son of a college professor, he didn’t follow his father’s footsteps so much as chart a meandering path back to the paternal trade.
“I grew up farming and ranching and sort of transitioned into construction work. I went to Whitman College because it was in Walla Walla, and my dad was teaching there. But I was not prepared to do it,” he says.

May recalls going to class exhausted — or just skipping it altogether — after a day of pouring concrete. He once woke up to his father sitting at the edge of his fraternity house bed, staring him down, after another professor had told him that his son had not been in class for a week.

“I think that made it clear that I couldn’t keep doing things exactly the way I had done them,” May says with a smile.

Doing things differently meant transferring to WSU in Pullman, but he spent more time in Walla Walla courting his future wife, Monica. So it was back to Whitman to get that bachelor’s degree in political science. Marriage followed. So did master’s and doctoral degrees at WSU. After landing a faculty-in-residence position in Eastern’s Department of Government and International Affairs, May’s young family welcomed daughter Emily, and he settled in for a nice, steady career at EWU.

Ironically, this proud professor almost didn’t make the move into administration. When he first had an inkling he’d be offered a position, his first thought was “no way, it’s not worth it.” But after a conversation with then-Provost Scott Gordon, and some reflection, May decided to give it a go. And his commitment to Eastern made it even easier to say yes when asked to take over the presidency on an interim role.

“People wonder why I did it,” says May. He knew the university couldn’t really pull off a search in the middle of a pandemic, so he thought it would be in the best interest of campus to hold down the fort. “People know me, and there’s at least that level of trust. I hope that people can believe the decisions I’m making are not in my best interest, they’re in the best interest of Eastern.”

Those who worked alongside him agree.

“I would argue that no one knows Eastern as well as he does and his loyalty is, and always has been, to constantly improving the university,” says longtime colleague, Kevin Pirch, a professor of political science. “Perhaps more important than [his] experience, Dave has the character, intellect, patience, and creativity to lead at every level,” adds Jim Headley, professor and political science department chair. “His considered even-keel approach to everything is particularly helpful in these trying times.”

Oh yes, about those trying times.

Calm in a Crisis

Even before the virus shifted everything into crisis mode, higher education nationwide was already facing many challenges, and May began his tenure in the middle of the storm. Declining enrollments; looming state budget cuts; the loss of campus revenue-generating services; a sudden administrative overhaul; layoffs and furloughs; a deep-dive review of academic programs that would lead to resized and reduced offerings; and a contentious review of athletics. And all of this magnified by the devastating economic and mental health issues created by the pandemic, a crisis that pushed much of the campus community into a mostly uncharted virtual world of teaching, learning, meetings and events.

So what does an interim president do in the middle of six major crises, any one of which might exasperate even the most experienced administrator? Fortunately, those days of farm work and pouring concrete left May with some pertinent life lessons.

“I go back to where I started with farming and ranching, construction work. You get up in the morning, you put on your pants and you do what you can,” May says. “Maybe you start cutting that huge field of wheat with your combine, and you think it’ll never get done. And then you remember two things: It doesn’t have to get done today, and there are three other combines helping you.”

But May isn’t dwelling on all the storms swirling around him. Instead, he knows the university must remain focused on the best way to serve students in the future – a road Eastern was already traveling down before Covid-19. That future includes ‘right-sizing’ the university and the Academic Program Review is an essential component. The review, which includes stakeholders from across campus, is designed to evaluate all academic offerings to ensure that they align with student demand and the regional need for graduates, while also addressing budget shortfalls.

The bottom line, May points out, is that Eastern can’t simply resort to business as usual. “We will continue to teach art, we will continue to teach music, we will continue to teach philosophy, we will continue to teach political science, but we have to rethink how those things fit into the overall education of the student.”

May says this rethinking, while challenging, also presents an opportunity to evolve. For instance, the Catalyst in downtown Spokane — a state-of-the-art, smart, zero energy building — is now the centerpiece of some of EWU’s high-demand offerings such as computer science, design and electrical engineering. “Because in that reshaping, resizing, refocusing, we can move toward things like the programs in Catalyst. Catalyst is what the new university looks like,” May says.

The new university also looks like the Interdisciplinary Science Center (ISC), another key addition to the rejuvenated Cheney campus. Both point to brighter days ahead, he adds.
But the university is not out of the woods yet. May believes the remaining barriers to better times, chief among them issues involving enrollment, can only be overcome with redoubled efforts toward greater inclusivity.

Such efforts, he argues, must center on resolving “access issues” that stand in the way of educational opportunities for our state’s and region’s lower-income families — particularly lower-income families of color. This is why, among other initiatives, Eastern is working toward earning a Hispanic Serving Institution designation – a step that will not only help attract and retain Latino students, but also provide federal resources to help students from all walks of life.

An Extended To-Do List

But there’s work to do. Despite a slight recent increase in the number of Washington’s high school graduates, the state’s number of potential enrollees out of high school will start to head downward. This means more competition for fewer students, a recruiting challenge that doesn’t appear to be easing.

At Eastern, enrollment and retention issues have been especially concerning in recent years, a trend exacerbated by the pandemic. This year’s calculation of what administrators call the “average annualized headcount” — a measure of turnover in enrollment — has shown a roughly 14 percent decline.

Lower enrollment stresses the budget in a normal year. But in 2020, of course, the early impacts of the pandemic rocked state revenues, resulting in an appropriations hit for all of higher education in Washington, including Eastern. State-projected reductions of 15 percent meant Eastern had to cut $10 million from its bottom line over the summer — part of a projected $22 million in pandemic-related losses that the university was forced to absorb during the previous and current fiscal years.

“A reduction in the budget of a place like Eastern — because of our student demographic; because of who we serve — disproportionately impacts minority students, low-income students, first-generation students, exactly the people that, at this moment in time, we need to be lifting up,” May says.

Fiscal hurdles are not limited to enrollment concerns. Perhaps the most highly fraught issue on May’s plate involves an often-passionate debate concerning the future of Eastern athletics.
As Eastern’s athletic programs have struggled with their own budget deficits, some faculty members have wondered aloud whether Eastern’s NCAA Division I status is sustainable in its current form. Others have questioned whether intercollegiate sports should be dropped entirely.

In late February, a consultant’s report commissioned by the university outlined multiple options for May to consider before offering a recommendation to the Board of Trustees. A period of public comment followed, and May has since been actively seeking input from a broad range of concerned individuals and groups.

As of press time, he had yet to make public where he stands. He acknowledged, however, that nothing he can recommend is likely to please everyone.
“Absolutely, we will come to a decision about athletics,” May says. “And it will be a decision that not everyone will be happy with, because there is no answer that will make everyone happy.”

The New, and Better, Normal

Acknowledging that this and other decisions will almost certainly disappoint, even anger, many of those whom he would very much like to win over, is, his colleagues say, key to May’s appeal. Even in disagreement, he wants to engage, to convince, to take seriously the alternative point of view.

This is evident even on Zoom. May is frank but never condescending, authoritative but not intimidating. He often leans slightly into an exchange, a posture that conveys an earnestness rare among wizened administrators.

It’s a demeanor that seems right for this moment, these challenges. His old political-science peers agree. “I really couldn’t imagine a better person to lead Eastern through this environment, he’s thoughtful, creative and respected,” says Pirch. “He has a great leadership quality of listening to a variety of different perspectives and then making a decision, but once he makes that decision, everyone knows why he did it and what his justifications were.”

Just as important, adds Headley, will be May’s sturdy hand at the helm. “We haven’t seen storms like this before, and Dave’s steady demeanor is helping us navigate the storms and get us through to a better place.”

May says he can’t wait for Eastern to be in a better place. He wants to walk the grounds and visit with students, say “Hi” again to staff and faculty, and make the rounds with enthusiastic alumni. Most of all he wants to feel that electric, youthful vibe that grips the Cheney campus each fall and spring.

If he is to be Eastern’s long-term leader, in other words, May believes he must earn it. He thus welcomes a national search for a new president.

So does this mean he also wants that interim tag removed?

“I do not,” May says emphatically. “I do not want to assume the presidency by default.”

If he is to be Eastern’s long-term leader, in other words, May believes he must earn it. He thus welcomes a national search for a new president. “I believe I have a vision for Eastern; I believe it’s a vision that is shared by a large number of people on this campus, but I don’t know if I’m the best person, and I think that the only way to know that is to go through this process.”

In late April, just as Eastern magazine was going to press, the EWU Board of Trustees voted to begin that process, announcing the formation of a Presidential Search Advisory Committee to head the hunt. As part of this effort, the board also announced it would hire a consultant to conduct a nationwide search for qualified candidates.

“One of the most important responsibilities of the Board of Trustees is to select the university’s president,” says chair Vicki Wilson. “We encourage the campus community to fully engage in this process.”
May says he has not yet decided whether he will declare himself a candidate for the permanent position. When pressed on the question, he adopts a mock-stern scowl, stares into the Zoom camera and says nothing.

Eventually, he laughs and says, “I’ve learned how to not react by years of serving in the Faculty Senate. But the honest answer to your question is that it’s a conversation that my wife and I are having, along with our daughter.”

In the meantime, May adds, his singular focus remains on the task at hand — or, rather, the tangle of tasks at hand. And there is good news on that front. Like the wider world, the university is finally inching closer to a return to pre-pandemic normalcy. More campus buildings will reopen in July, and plans are taking shape for a return to in-person instruction this fall. New federal relief appropriations — albeit in the form of one-time funding — are meanwhile helping EWU to extend its support for students facing their own financial challenges, while improving state revenues are providing hope that Olympia will do its part to sustain and expand our state’s investment in public universities like Eastern.

In short, better times appear to be on the horizon.

“We’ll get there, but the better we can do today, the sooner we’ll get there,” May says. “We also have to continue to give each other as much grace as possible. We’re all in a pressure cooker together.”

Eastern’s head basketball coach accepts the top job at the University of Portland.

By Charles E. Reineke

Following Eastern’s Big Sky Conference Tournament championship — and a spirited near-miss against the University of Kansas in the first round of March Madness — men’s basketball head coach Shantay Legans announced he was leaving EWU for the top job at the University of Portland.

Legans served at Eastern for 12 years, eight as an assistant and four as head coach. In addition to his 2021 successes, Legans last year led his Eagles team to a 23-8 record and a Big Sky regular-season championship, accomplishments that earned him conference Coach of the Year honors. In each of his four seasons at the helm, EWU men’s basketball boasted a winning conference record.

“This was my first job. I had two children here, I met my wife here,” Legans told KREM 2 television after going public with his departure. “It’s the best place I’ve ever lived in my life. Eastern is a special place, it will always have a special place in my heart and I’m going to miss this place dearly.”

Legans will lead a Portland Pilots program that has struggled in recent years, and last made the NCAA Tournament in 1996. 

A 10-year, $500,000 gift aims to encourage ‘experiential learning’ at the Catalyst.

EWU research to be conducted at Spokane’s new Catalyst building — the zero-energy engineering marvel featured in the Fall/Winter edition of Eastern magazine — got a big boost earlier this year.

The McKinstry Charitable Foundation, headquartered in Seattle, announced in February a gift of $50,000 each year for 10 years to establish the Catalyst Faculty and Student Research Fund. The $500,000 fund, to be managed by the EWU Foundation, will support Catalyst-based experiential learning.

“We are proud to be connecting research passions of EWU faculty and students with real-world applications at the Catalyst building,” says Dean Allen, chief executive officer at McKinstry.
“The South Landing Eco-District is a living laboratory fueled by public-private partnerships, and we’re excited that this grant program will allow more EWU faculty members and students to engage with that vision in a deeper way.”

“Catalyst is a game-changer for Eastern and the region, and by supporting research efforts this fund will allow our students and faculty to flourish in their work and provide more opportunities to connect with business and industry,” says David May, Eastern’s interim president.

Eastern is the primary tenant in the Catalyst building, located on the South Landing of the University District. Catalyst is Spokane’s first zero-energy building and the first office building in the state constructed out of environmentally friendly cross-laminated timber, or CLT. The innovative new space is the result of a unique collaboration among cross-industry partners McKinstry, Avista and Katerra. It will allow Eastern to easily connect students to the regional business community.

“We are very grateful for this significant gift from our partners at McKinstry,” says EWU interim President David May. “Catalyst is a game-changer for Eastern and the region, and by supporting research efforts this fund will allow our students and faculty to flourish in their work and provide more opportunities to connect with business and industry.”

Funding from McKinstry’s first gift installment was used to support student projects related to the building’s grand opening. Two groups of Eastern students and their faculty advisors worked with representatives from McKinstry to develop an interactive installation with an accompanying digital information piece.

“We created a visual data feed of the energy the building and occupants consume and how much energy the building produces to offset that value,” says student team leader Danielle Flinn. “We also created an illustrated animation to show the importance of how the [South Landing] buildings work together and benefit the greater community and construction industry in general.”

Additional work by Eastern students produced other “deliverables” to promote the grand opening. Under the direction of EWU faculty, students collaborated with marketing professionals from Catalyst partner firms to develop copy and videos for a website dedicated to promoting the building: catalystspokane.com.

Mindy Breen, professor and chair of Eastern’s Department of Design, says the project has been a tremendously rewarding experience for both the students and the faculty members who worked with them.
“Real world student projects, like this one, are effective learning experiences, and they help connect students with industry partners,” Breen says.

With cautious optimism, Eastern plans for resuming in-person instruction this fall.

More than a year has passed since the onslaught of Covid-19, a year that has brought unprecedented heartbreak and hardship to people across the globe. From the beginning of the pandemic, Eastern has worked diligently to protect the health of its students, faculty and staff.

Among the most high-profile, and painful, of the safety protocols adapted has involved temporarily suspending most forms of in-person learning, a measure that has fundamentally altered students’ collegiate experience in ways great and small. Thankfully, a return to some form of normalcy appears near.

Earlier this spring, David May, Eastern’s interim president, announced EWU has begun planning for a return to mostly in-person instruction this fall. There remains a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the future course of the pandemic, but with the progress of vaccinations — and continued diligence in masking and social distancing — May says he is optimistic that campus life will soon be making a comeback.

“I’m excited to announce the university is planning for the possibility of returning to mostly in-person instruction this fall,” his statement read. “Using our Max-Flex approach, we are developing a comprehensive plan to prepare us for the goal of normal or near-normal operations. This plan will include checkpoints along the way and ongoing assessments of state guidelines and public health measures.”
Max-Flex, as detailed in the last issue of this magazine, provides EWU students with the choice of living on- or off-campus, while taking classes online or in person when it is safe to do so.

May cautioned that unexpected twists and turns could still derail the homecoming. “Getting to [our] goal will depend on how things progress with the pandemic, and the rollout of vaccines in the coming months. I pledge to everyone we are not going to be fully back on campus until it is safe to do so.”

Eastern students and alumni are used to attacking rims at Spokane Hoopfest. Now they’re bringing the backboards.

Hoopfest, the massive three-on-three basketball gathering that modestly bills itself as the “Best Basketball Experience on Earth,” now counts EWU as a major sponsor. To celebrate, three university design students, Matthew Barden, Tannor Glumbick and Delaney Umemoto, created special backboards meant to show their Eagle pride

Though last year’s cancelation meant nobody was banking balls off their creations, Hoopfest organizers say they’ll for sure be hanging rims from them this September.

Interested in attending or, even better, participating in Spokane Hoopfest? Visit spokanehoopfest.net.

Since 2016, Eastern admissions staff members have partnered with Spokane Public Schools and local-business donors to bring red and black Eagle sweatshirts — and big, beautiful smiles — to local fifth graders.

The hoodie project, started five years ago by an anonymous EWU alumnus, involves Eastern staff and students visiting regional elementary schools, handing out hooded sweatshirts and talking about the possibilities of college. This year, of course, the events had to be reimagined.

“Instead of us visiting the schools and being a part of an assembly, we did a virtual visit on Microsoft Teams with the classes and teachers, myself, Mandy Lee — our Spokane admissions advisor — and a few current EWU students,” says Crystal Medina, Eastern’s admissions events manager.

At the virtual event, Medina says she and her team talked to kids about college and fielded questions. The reward came later, during an outdoor sweatshirt-distribution event. At the pick-up, the fifth graders were not only able to claim their personal hoodie, but also pose for a photo against an EWU backdrop while standing on a patch of the university’s iconic red turf.

While the hoodies are the star attraction, project organizers say the real payoff is getting elementary students excited about the possibility of attending college. Of the lucky students selected to receive a sweatshirt, many don’t know that higher education might be an option for them. Some admit they have never heard of EWU.

“Most students are so excited about receiving their hoodies,” says Medina. “This year it was a little harder to tell, since everyone was wearing masks and social distancing. But you can still notice a smile when their eyes slightly squint.”

An EWU program pairs mathematics-education students with the children of health workers.

Eastern students studying to be teachers have had a unique perspective on the upheavals wrought by the coronavirus. They’ve experienced pandemic disruptions both as students and as educators.

This double whammy is an unfortunate but potentially profitable experience, says Carlos Castillo-Garsow, an associate professor of mathematics education at Eastern. Especially when it comes to the instruction part.

“Teaching online can be very challenging, but it’s something I would recommend for everyone,” Castillo-Garsow says. “You don’t really get a sense of how important feedback is from students, and knowing how students are performing in the classroom, until it’s hard to get that information.”

“Teaching online can be very challenging, but it’s something I would recommend for everyone,” Castillo-Garsow says.

To help his students gain such insights, Castillo-Garsow partnered with local healthcare providers to pair EWU students with the children of their frontline workers. Eastern students started hosting virtual math tutoring sessions last spring, with many continuing through the current academic term.

“There are a lot of doctors, nurses and psychiatrists who are working in hospitals right now who can’t be home to help their children with home schooling,” says Castillo-Garsow. “And we have a lot of math education students here at Eastern who need some practical experience spending time with students.”

The student teachers have received high praise from employees at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute, who say they are thankful they’ve had the extra help during this challenging time.

“Teaching my son has been so hard; math is the only thing that is going well,” wrote one parent. “His tutor explains things in an understandable way and works so well with him. I don’t understand math. I wouldn’t have known what to do.”

Earlier this fall, Castillo-Garsow also got additional campus groups involved, such as the Women in Science at EWU (WiSE) club. He hopes to continue matching kids with math tutors as long as it’s helpful to those who need them. “It really is a perfect opportunity for us to help out and provide support for the community in this time,” he says.

When Madison Flint, a senior English major at EWU, sat down to fill out the Winter 2021 Student Satisfaction Survey, it occurred to her that Eastern’s anticipated post-pandemic reopening would likely not come soon enough for her to benefit. “I wish that students who have been enrolled at EWU for the past year could continue to use the university services we have paid for — at least for a year after we graduate,” Flint wrote.

Eastern administrators not only heard Flint’s suggestion, they acted on it. EWU students enrolled during pandemic-affected quarters —and not enrolled during terms in the 2021-2022 academic year —will be allowed to continue to access to the University Recreation Center, athletic events and musical and theatrical performances through the end of the Spring 2022 term. In addition, the university will also extend these students’ access and borrowing privileges at university libraries, as well as special student pricing for equipment rentals through EPIC.

Flint is scheduled to graduate this spring. She says she was pleased to learn that university officials not only read her comment, but were implementing her suggestion. She plans to take advantage of the services after she graduates.

“I’m especially excited about the proposed access to the library for post-graduates, since I have some topics I would like to continue studying and the EWU databases allow access to a lot of research material,” Flint says. “I have unfortunately not been able to visit the URC since I started attending EWU in January 2020, but once I get my vaccine I would like to try out the climbing wall and the other equipment there.”