Archive: stories

Noelle Covarrubias left Eastern, but dreamed of returning. A new online degree program is making it happen. By Eastern Magazine She was a sophomore studying at Eastern when her family in the Tri-Cities decided to relocate to the Midwest. When Noelle Covarrubias, a talented vocalist and music performance major, got the news, she was torn.…

For more than half a century, Hank Steiner created a lasting legacy of service. By Leilah Langley Henry-York “Hank” Steiner, a revered professor of English at EWU, passed away Sept. 6, 2019. He was 87. Professor Steiner was born in Chicago, but moved with his parents to Portland, Oregon as a child. After high school…

A social work instructor’s sudden passing inspires a heartfelt tribute. By Eastern Magazine LuAnn “Lu” Brown, died suddenly last October, the senior lecturer and associate director of EWU’s field social work education program left a huge void. Senior students whom she counseled, advised, challenged and empowered were particularly bereft, and wanted to publicly assert how…

Jody Graves, a music professor and director of piano studies at EWU, in October was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame. By Eastern Magazine Applauding her “passionate commitment to teaching and inspiring young people,” Steinway CEO Ron Losby said that Graves’ dedication to her students was both “commendable and rare.” Eastern…

Augmented reality gives prospective students a window into all things Eastern. By Eastern Magazine Plopped down among EWU’s Cheney Hall, the Science Building and the Computing and Engineering Building is a small storage structure that in recent years has come to lead something of a double life: mundane maintenance facility on the inside, transformative student…

Can Eastern Restore a Long-Lost Patch of Prairie? By Charles E. Reineke In the days before the land was plotted, plowed and paved, the patch of Palouse prairie that EWU calls home was part of a wild, magnificent landscape; a terrestrial ocean of sun-kissed rolling hills carpeted by a vast, kaleidoscopic medley of native flora.…

A $25 million renovation project aims to transform Roos Field. Eastern’s Athletic Director Lynn Hickey explains the hows and whys. By Dave Meany They say things are bigger in Texas. But that doesn’t mean better. Just ask Lynn Hickey, EWU’s director of athletics and associate vice president since April 2018. After more than 20 years…

2019 Alumni Awards Gala showcases the extraordinary stories of amazing Eagles By Charles E. Reineke What does it mean to be an Eagle4Life? At its most basic, it means simply having had the good sense to enroll in, and earn a degree from, Eastern Washington University. On a deeper level, of course, it means living…

Earlier this year Marcos Monteiro, a molecular biology student at EWU, earned the university’s first-ever Goldwater Scholarship. Think of it as the start of something big. By Leilah Langley When he arrived in the United States from Brazil six years ago, Marcos Monteiro started down a winding path in search of his future. That road…

A recent Eastern grad is providing a feed for those in need. More than a third of Eastern undergraduates reported being “food insecure” during the previous academic year. Arick Erechar, ’18, knows we can do more to help. The veteran of the Eastern Cheer Squad is now using his abundant energy to lead a team…