Category: Alumni Profiles

Faculty and staff runners from Eastern’s team ‘Red ’ continue to dominate Bloomsday’s Corporate Cup.   On May 1, after a two-year pandemic hiatus, the Bloomsday road race made its triumphant return to the streets of Spokane. Much to the chagrin of their competition, EWU’s Red team, a running force that has dominated the race’s…

Despite the odds, Eastern’s greatest-ever quarterback is ready to quiet the next-level doubters. By Dave Cook Turning heads is what Eric Barriere ’21 did best on the football field at EWU. It began during Eastern’s recruiting process, as Eagle recruiters watched him win championships as a high schooler in California. Then, upon arrival in Cheney…

EWU alumna Melodi Wynne, ’07, a citizen of the Spokane Tribe who has become a leader in the movement to restore “food sovereignty” to the Native peoples of the Upper Columbia Plateau.

Essays edited by Eastern alumna Summer Hess explore one of Spokane’s most interesting urban spaces. Just southwest of the University District, near the corner of N. Browne St. and Main, lies one of Spokane’s most trendy city blocks, a bustling pocket of once neglected, now mostly restored historic buildings.     The casual visitor might…

Erin Ross, EWU alumna and member of the Cowlitz Tribe, will guide Eastern’s Tribal Relations Office.   In July, Eastern named Erin Ross ’99, ’15, alumna and member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, its new director of tribal relations. For Ross, the job is all about extending and improving engagement with the Native communities upon…

Monica Jaenicke, athlete, alumna and sports communicator, will lead EWU Athletics’ outreach. Over the course of his 31-year career at Eastern, Sports Information Director Dave Cook became the omnipresent go-to for all-things Eagles. After Cook announced his retirement earlier this year, his long-time assistant, Monica Jaenicke ’14, stepped up to fill the void. This October…

  Once they were migrant and seasonal farm workers. Soon they’ll launch careers in health care.   CAMP, the College Assistance Migrant Program, is a federally funded program designed to help young people from migrant and seasonal farm worker backgrounds enroll in — and succeed at — the nation’s colleges and universities. Eastern’s program, led…

Kelsey Hatch-Brecek, EWU’s new director of alumni relations, shares her Eastern story.   I am thrilled to be back at my alma mater as the new director of alumni relations. And since every Eagle has a story, I’d like to share my Eastern journey with you.  Back in 1999, I was a senior in high school…

For one of the world’s most accomplished athletes, nothing has come easy. By Charles E. Reineke It was raining as EWU student and Team USA Paralympian Jaleen Roberts settled into the starting blocks at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium — a light but steady downpour, just like the PNW showers she’d trained in back home.  The 2020…

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…