Archive: stories

Even as EWU moves to embrace a new identity as “the region’s polytechnic,” it’s worth remembering that much of what makes Eastern special will never change. That’s especially true in the fall, when returning students bring the campus back to life, filling the autumn air with their laughter, excitement and eager anticipation for the coming…

  By Avery Knochel At the beginning of the 20th century, the United States was riding an extended wave of rapid industrialization and explosive urbanization — developments that, in a sense, created the modern nation we live in today. For millions of average Americans, however, our nation’s rise came at significant costs. Harsh working conditions,…

Text-based, generative artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool for creating content and exploring ideas across various domains, including education. Travis Masingale ’03, an EWU professor of design, is a nationally prominent authority on AI’s potential for advancing student learning. In a recent conversation with Open-AI’s Chat GPT 4o, he explored the potential benefits…

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, a professor emeritus of English and Native American studies at EWU, wasn’t just an influential novelist, short-story writer and poet — though her literary legacy speaks for itself — she was also a tireless advocate in support of research and instruction centered on tribal histories and cultures. Among her lasting contributions was a…

On July 30, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, signed Executive Order 7681 to create the Turnbull Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, a 23,000-acre, federally protected home for migratory birds and other wildlife in the Channeled Scablands near Cheney. Thirty-seven years later, after energetic lobbying by members of Eastern’s biology faculty, what is today known as the Turnbull…

View a complete PDF of the 2023-24 EWU Foundation Annual Report.    

  The frontier settlement that had recently become Cheney wasn’t yet 5 years old when a committee of concerned citizens convened an urgent meeting at the offices of the town’s first newspaper. The topic? Education, or the lack thereof. If their growing community was to thrive, the attendees agreed, it needed a place for the…

  EWU’s annual Senior Send-off procession — in which graduating seniors reverse course through the Herculean Pillars they traversed as incoming freshman — took on particular poignancy this spring. These seniors were members of the so-called “covid class” of 2024. Each began their Eastern journey during lock-down, a time when remote learning and event restrictions…

An EWU program helps school kids advance their literacy skills.   Reading may be fundamental, but it doesn’t come naturally. Learning to make sense of the written word takes patience, practice and, if you’re lucky, guidance from educators who care. Since its earliest days, Eastern has trained teachers who love sharing the gift of reading.…

Faculty and staff get a taste of what it takes to keep Eastern beautiful.   Keeping the Cheney campus beautiful requires a year-round effort, and every season has its challenges. Say what you will about fall leaves, winter snows and summer heat, it is undoubtedly spring — that wonderfully vibrant time of floral fecundity —…