January 2025

Dear Eagle Family and Friends,

Winter quarter and semester sessions are underway at Eastern, with students hustling to classes to escape the cold and filling up our cozy indoor spaces to study with friends during their free time. There hasn’t been enough snow for students to turn cafeteria trays into sleds, but they’ve still had fun attending events and activities taking place — including a Bingo Bonanza!

And speaking of indoor spaces, during finals week in December we opened our new MESA Center (Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement) with help from campus leaders, state MESA executives, EWU students and a few talented youth from our local public schools. The center is a state-funded initiative to help diversify the STEM workforce by providing resources, support and access to applied learning opportunities that will ensure underrepresented and underserved students can thrive academically and succeed in STEM career fields. We are the only four-year institution in the state to have a MESA Center, and it was a thrill to help cut the ribbon and open the doors of opportunity for our EWU students.

On Monday, clad in my EWU cold-weather gear, I joined fellow Eagles in downtown Spokane to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the annual rally, march and service fair. This “Day On” brought passionate people together under the shared commitment toward ending racial discrimination. It was certainly a meaningful Day On, not a Day Off. I’m grateful to the organizers of this annual event, one that keeps our region moving forward toward a more just society for all.

Additionally, for the second year in a row, our faculty and students held a MLK Service Day Conference, an event co-sponsored by EWU’s Africana Studies Program, the Office for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Black Student Union, and a grant from the Washington Campus Coalition for the Public Good. Taking place at Spokane’s Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, a diverse line-up of speakers and various workshops inspired those in attendance to adopt principles of inclusiveness and promote social change in our region. It was a great opportunity for our students to apply their educational and personal experiences toward making our community a better place.

The 2025 legislative session is underway — in fact, I’m at the Capitol right now jetting from meeting to meeting with legislators from both sides of the aisle to advocate for Eastern and our unique needs (thank you to my staff for hitting the send button!). David Buri, our executive director of legislative affairs, has moved to Olympia for the session and is busy meeting, testifying and strategizing to ensure our students, faculty and staff have the support from the state that is necessary to keep us moving forward. Prior to the session, Gov. Ferguson released a proposed budget that calls for a 3% cut in state appropriations to 4-year higher education institutions. As the region’s polytechnic, we are a driving force for the economic vitality and workforce development needed in our communities, and though we understand the state’s budget shortfall, we will continue to promote our contributions and support the success of our students.

I can’t say often enough how proud I am of the work we do. Because of our dedicated faculty and staff, our students continue to excel in the classroom, in their research and in their co-curricular pursuits. As you may have heard from AD Tim Collins, our student athletes extended “The Streak” of their academic excellence to 52 straight quarters with a collective GPA above 3.0! And just recently, Kevin Taylor, who will graduate this quarter with a Bachelor of Science in Geosciences degree, received the Tobacco Root Geological Society Gibson Geology Field Course Award of Excellence for his achievements at the 2024 EWU Geology Field Camp capstone. In addition, Jeff Schell, who returned to college after a 15-year break, was awarded the Ecology-Evolution-Biodiversity Murdock Poster Prize for his research presentation, “A Novel Case Study for the Biotic Resistance Hypothesis in a Host-Parasite System at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge.” Every day, our talented students overcome obstacles, persevere and reach their goals as Eastern Eagles.

Such achievements in student learning and research are among the many reasons why I’m always so proud to shout, Go Eags!

Shari McMahan, PhD
President
Eastern Washington University