Category: Alumni

EWU alumna Kaela Dewan talks about her experience in the OT program, her career path, and the impact of her scholarships. Learn more about ways to give.

Dressed to the nines in their finest black and red, armed with champagne glasses and surrounded by the sound of a two-step jazz band, more than 200 EWU alumni filled a ballroom on May 18 at the Spokane Convention Center in celebration of the 2018 alumni awards. In March, a committee composed of previous winners,…

During the course of two decades, an annual boys’ trip for members of Phi Delta Theta transforms into a family affair. By Brian Lynn ’98 Eastern Washington University provided all of us with a foundation for the future. Our time in Cheney gave us an education, experiences and relationships that helped create our worldview and…

Many married students living on the Eastern Washington College of Education (EWCE) campus between 1946 and 1957 resided in Trailerville, a grouping of 75 war-surplus travel-type trailers. Most of the men were veterans. They had sacrificed much to be there, and they were excited to start the next chapter in their lives. Trailerville was a…

As Katie Gensitskiy, 25, sat down to reply to her emails, sweat poured from her head, and her clothing stuck to her skin. She and her husband, Alex, 28, were on the island of Malapascua (north of Cebu). The remote island has no roads. Chickens, goats and pigs roam freely. “There’s no AC,” she said. “And…

EWU alumna Mandy Manning ’98 was named the 2018 National Teacher of the Year, announced on Friday, April 20, on CBS This Morning. Manning teaches newly arrived immigrants and refugees at Spokane Public Schools’ Newcomer Center at Ferris High School. In September 2017, Manning was recognized as Washington state’s 2018 Teacher of the Year, awarded through…

A by-no-means-complete guide to Eastern alumni working to make every hour happy. This story has been fermenting for a while. We scoured and searched to compile a list of EWU alums paying the bills by making our beer.

I’ve always wanted to write a celebrity interview. You know, the kind that appears in Harper’s Bazaar: “On a clear Saturday afternoon, Sandra Bullock, dressed in a bright pink sundress, met me in the lobby of a Beverly Hills hotel. She’s as witty and self-mocking as a fan might expect.” I finally got my chance…

It would be easy to assume that baritone Thomas Hampson has moved on from his eastern Washington roots. The Eastern alumnus doesn’t need anyone new to mention that he’s distinctly gifted, naturally expressive, charismatic or good-looking (opera buffs call him “Thomas Handsome”). Audiences love him. Hampson (’92 BA government) packs opera houses on both sides…

Shawn Vestal ’08, ’05, MFA creative writing, BA interdisciplinary studies, won the Washington State Book Award for fiction for his debut novel, Daredevils (Penguin Press, 2016). The award, given by the Washington Center for the Book, honors “literary merit, lasting importance, and overall quality.” Winners were announced in Seattle in October. Vestal’s novel, set in the 1970s, tells…