{"id":86761,"date":"2026-06-10T19:51:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/?post_type=stories&p=86761"},"modified":"2026-06-10T20:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T20:46:18","slug":"creative-energy-shared-vision","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/news\/creative-energy-shared-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative Energy, Shared Vision"},"content":{"rendered":"
Eastern brings on board a \u2018strong advocate\u2019 to head its new graduate studies office.<\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

This July<\/span>, EWU will open its first Office of Graduate Studies and Research, a move that aims to grow graduate enrollment, promote more research funding, boost industry collaborations, and better position students to contribute to our region\u2019s workforce needs.<\/p>\n

\"Sushma
Sushma Krishnamurthy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sushma Krishnamurthy, currently graduate dean at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, will serve as the office\u2019<\/span>s inaugural dean. At ULM, she manages a $3.6 million budget and oversees centralized graduate admissions, assistantships, degree certification and regulatory compliance. She will join Eastern\u2019s faculty on July 1.<\/p>\n

Krishnamurthy says her goals for the new office include advancing Eastern\u2019s graduate programs while strengthening bonds between EWU\u2019s campus researchers and the broader university community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to building a strong and vibrant Office of Graduate\u00a0Studies & Research at EWU. This exciting work involves harnessing the creative energy and shared vision of the campus community to reach its aspirations,\u201d she says. \u201cFrom my campus visit, I immediately gathered that the aspirations are many \u2014 developing new degree programs, grant support, professional development and services for students. I am ready to meet all the stakeholders and begin my work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lorenzo Smith, provost and vice president for academic affairs at EWU, said Krishnamurthy will be \u201ca strong advocate for workforce-aligned graduate education\u201d and that her leadership will promote \u201cinnovative curricula, graduate policy, international partnerships and sustained graduate-student success.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Smith went on to highlight Krishnamurthy\u2019s many accomplishments in her current position, including her proven track record of success as a graduate dean. Under her leadership, graduate enrollment at ULM more than doubled. She also implemented a strategic plan for its graduate school, and strengthened its academic quality and compliance.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, Krishnamurthy is a noted biological sciences researcher who, with over 30 years of experience in aquatic-systems studies, has contributed important findings related to heavy-metal pollution. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Bangalore University\/St. Joseph\u2019s College, and earned both master\u2019s and doctoral degrees from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe is a respected leader, and we know EWU will be better with her as part of our team,\u201d Smith says.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eastern brings on board a \u2018strong advocate\u2019 to head its new graduate studies office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":484,"featured_media":86764,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-86761","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-science","stories_tags-spring-summer-2026"],"acf":{"subheading":"","featured_image_format":"cover","display_byline":false,"display_featured_image":false,"display_date_published":false,"featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"page_override_title":"","page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false,"page_persona_bar_default_tab":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/484"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86915,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/86761\/revisions\/86915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}