Eastern Magazine | Spring/Summer 2025

ALCHEMIST

DARBY MCLEAN’S Spiceology has become the nation’s newest culinary obsession.

Environment

for Exploration: Communication sciences and disorders grad students like Jenni Bissell [left] and Joy Thompson, pictured here sharing a classroom moment at the recently renovated SIERR Building in Spokane, are exploring ways to expand communication possibilities for people with speech, language, swallowing and hearing disabilities. This spring marked the close of Eastern’s second academic year at SIERR, a former inter-urban railroad building that is now a cutting-edge health sciences education center.

Rising to Challenges

Eastern Washington University is the region’s polytechnic. We are the region’s oldest university. And we remain, proudly, a place of possibilities. We’ve become all of these things because every day we ask one essential question: What will help our students succeed?

This past year has tested us: from Executive Orders that threaten our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, to uncertainty in financial aid, grant support and the state funding that helps us keep tuition the lowest in Washington.

Through it all, we have remained clear and united in our focus: the students who choose Eastern as their place to learn, grow and build a future.

Each spring, I’m honored to deliver my favorite speech of the year: my commencement address (at Reese Court!). I always send our graduates off with one final assignment — stay rooted in who you are. Don’t chase someone else’s version of success. Define it for yourself, and build a life that reflects your values, your purpose, your dreams.

That’s an assignment I take to heart in my own work. I define success by how I lift up those around me. My purpose is ensuring higher education is accessible to all — not just legacy students or those with perfect GPAs or deep-pocketed families. I want Eastern to serve the

Our impact isn’t just reflected in today’s students — it lives on in our alumni.

Every day, Eagles are out there improving communities, shaping policy, standing for what’s right and living out the dreams they began building here at Eastern.

dreamers and doers, the firstgeneration and the underserved, the artists and the scientists, and yes, the proud third and fourth-generation Eagles. That’s why I hold our faculty and staff — and myself — accountable for closing equity gaps, maintaining a student-ready campus, and preserving both affordability and academic excellence.

And our people rise to that challenge every day. Faculty are mentoring students through applied research that is already making a difference in our region. We’re graduating desperately needed new nurses. We’re boosting student success in critical computer science and math courses through proactive, tailored support. And we’re actively taking inventory of our applied learning efforts so that students have meaningful, hands-on experiences that prepare them for what’s next.

Our impact isn’t just reflected in today’s students — it lives on in our alumni. Every day, Eagles are out there improving communities, shaping policy, standing for what’s right and living out the dreams they began building here at Eastern. Alumni like Greg Deckard, Darby McLean, state Sen. Matt Boehnke and so many others that you’ll meet in this magazine remind us of what is possible when we stay focused on our mission.

I’m incredibly proud of the Eastern family — our students, faculty, staff and alumni. Together, we are transforming lives and shaping the future of our region. And we’re just getting started.

Shari McMahan, PhD EWU President

Alumna

EASTERN MAGAZINE SPRING /SUMMER 2025

EDITOR

Charles E. Reineke

ART DIRECTOR

Ryan Gaard ’02

CONTRIBUTING DESIGNER

Emily Ausere ’22

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Avery Knochel ’25

Melodie Little ’91

PHOTOGRAPHY

Luke Kenneally

Chris Thompson ’19

VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT

Barb Richey ’92, ’99

DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS

Kelsey Hatch-Brecek ’21

MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD

Joseph Haeger ’10

Nick Lawhead ’07

Lisa Leinberger ’98

Brian Lynn ’98

Kelly Naumann ’10

Robin Pickering ’97, ’03

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easternmagazine@ewu.edu

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Eastern Magazine 102 Hargreaves Hall Cheney, WA 99004-2413

Eastern magazine is published twice each year by University Advancement and is mailed free to alumni and friends in the United States. View this and previous issues of Eastern online at ewu.edu/magazine

the Cover: Spiceology CEO Darby McLean ’00. Photo by Luke Kenneally.

EWU geosciences students Basil Lund [left] and Cadence Meier-Grolman collect lake water samples near Spokane County’s West Plains. Photo by Chad Pritchard.

Chemical Hunters

Eagle students join the effort to measure local PFAS contaminations.

With grant support from the Washington Department of Ecology, an EWU professor and his team of student researchers are leading a project to measure the spread of potentially harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — the “forever chemicals” more commonly known as PFAS — to sources of drinking water on the West Plains.

The $450,000 grant covers the cost of testing private and public wells, and other water sources, for PFAS concentrations, says Chad Pritchard, the EWU professor of geosciences who serves as the project’s principal investigator. The grant has also helped the team acquire state-of-the art groundwater modeling software needed to create 3-D water flow maps, to fund student travel and to cover other expenses.

“If you go to most universities, these kinds of research projects would be given to master’s or PhD students,” says Pritchard. “But here, we push our students to the next level as undergraduates. And that’s why they get hired and have great futures.”

Polyfluoroalkyl substances were developed in the 1940s to repel oil and water while resisting heat, qualities that made them particularly valuable in firefighting. This was especially true at airports, where PFAS-containing foams were developed to extinguish flames and contain flammable vapors after crashes.

Unfortunately, in recent years the chemicals have been linked to harmful effects on humans and animals. And when media reports in 2017 revealed that PFAS foams had been used for decades at Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport, there was concern, soon borne out by testing, that forever chemicals might have compromised nearby water sources.

The work by Pritchard and his students is helping to discover the extent of that contamination, while providing a path to safe drinking water — and potential clean-up support — for residents of impacted properties.

Mapping contamination and conducting testing is ongoing. But so far the EWU team have collected samples from close to 150 private wells — along with water from local lakes, rivers and streams — and submitted them for evaluation. Most sites have tested within state limits. Some properties, however, especially those located closer to known sources of contamination, have not. For those households, the EWU team has been following up to help residents gain access to resources for water deliveries and filtration systems.

That has “brought a lot of people peace,” Pritchard says.

Eagle Care

EWU’s first class of nurses is ready to make their mark.

They support each other emotionally, they support one another academically and they seem to genuinely care about one another.

In the PNW and across the nation, a persistent shortage of nurses remains a big problem for hospitals, clinics and the patients who depend on them. According to recent data from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, this year more than 295,000 nursing jobs will go unfilled in the United States. Washington is among those states most impacted.

Eastern’s School of Nursing is just two years old, but it’s already doing its part to fill the gap.

In May, the school celebrated its first class of graduates, with all 40 students who entered the program — 37 of whom are from right here in the state of Washington — earning their BSN degrees.

The new graduates include many students who are the first in their families to attend college. Some come from rural farming communities, others are from large cities. This range gives them a unique perspective on the healthcare needs in communities throughout our region, says Donna Bachand, the EWU professor of nursing who was instrumental in establishing the school.

And that’s not all, Bachand adds. They are also, as a group, exceptionally strong in a quality essential to success in the nursing profession:

caring. “They support each other emotionally, they support one another academically and they seem to genuinely care about one another,” Bachand says. “That’s the culture that we wanted to build here in the School of Nursing — and I’m so pleased to see that.”

Shari McMahan, Eastern’s president, says that when the BSN program was launched university leadership envisioned a future where EWU-trained nurses would make a big difference in our region.

“Today, with the graduation of our first cohort, that future is here,” McMahan says. “I am filled with immense pride and gratitude for our students, our faculty, and the communities they will now serve.”

And, in fact, over the past two years, the students have already made meaningful contributions, even while successfully pursuing their studies.

This past semester, for example, students completed their capstone clinical work at facilities from the Tri-Cities to Coeur d’Alene, including all the major hospitals in Spokane and Spokane Valley.

Bachand liked the results.

“Everywhere we go in the community, we are welcome. And I think it’s because of the reputation that Eastern has,” Bachand says. “It’s not just because they need nurses, I think they really want Eagle nurses.”

School of Nursing graduates Mia Rogers (left) and Chloe Jones.

By 2032 WA state job growth is projected to be 12.8% 75% will require postsecondary degrees

2025

The Carnegie Foundation has now classified EWU as both a Research College and University and an Opportunity University. The latter designation recognizes the long-term value — and accessibility — of an EWU education.

Classification Boost

Eastern’s

new RCU status will open doors for grants, research collaborations.

For decades , innovations and discoveries from EWU faculty researchers have brought big benefits to our state and region. Now, for the first time, those contributions have earned Eastern’s inclusion in the Carnegie Foundation’s classification of research-intensive colleges and universities.

Since its introduction in 1973, the Carnegie Classification has become “foundational in a variety of research and policy uses nationwide,” according to a recent report by the American Council on Education.

Eastern is an institution that has long prized quality teaching. And in our STEM fields especially, we teach through doing research with our students: hands-on, engaged research.

82%

Eagles who graduate with professional experience.

301,000

The projected shortfall of jobs statewide. EWU is meeting that need with experienced students who will help employers grow their businesses.

But even as its prominence has risen, the report continued, so have concerns that the classification was failing to account for the important work done at regional institutions — particularly those, like EWU, that do not award doctoral degrees.

A classification line-up change aims to fix this. Instead of just including colleges and universities with “high” and “very high,” levels of research and PhDs awarded, this year a third category has been introduced: Research Colleges and Universities, or RCUs.

Eastern qualified for RCU status after its annual research and development activities exceeded the $2.5 million spending threshold required by Carnegie. University research administrators say the recognition is a big step forward.

$$$

Greater access means higher earnings. Access at Eastern means 35% minority and 38% Pell-eligible enrollment. Grads’ median earnings of $52,481 far outpace our region’s $34,981 average.

“It’s so huge,” said David Bowman, dean of Eastern’s College of STEM. “In one sense, it’s an acknowledgement of what we already do — student-centered research that is based on the teacherscholar model. But more importantly, it opens up opportunities for us to obtain new resources, new grant possibilities, and new collaborations and research opportunities for our students.”

Eastern was notified of its RCU designation earlier this year. The official announcement came in April.

“We’re just so pleased,” Bowman added. “Eastern is an institution that has long prized quality teaching. And in our STEM fields especially, we teach through doing research with our students: hands-on, engaged research.

“That’s what the RCU classification means to us, an acknowledgement and endorsement of that work. It’s fantastic.”

Rave Reviews

The Prom earns accolades from a noted regional publication.

The Prom, a musical-theater production staged last year by EWU’s Theatre, tells a timely story any social media influencer could appreciate: a group of fading New York celebrities seek to revive their careers by glomming on to the plight of a young woman who is told she can’t bring her girlfriend to the high school prom.

The production’s run, with its powerful music, poignant messaging and artful choreography, was a big hit with audiences. It was also, as the student cast and its director, Angela Rose Pierson, learned later, deemed a triumph by BroadwayWorld Seattle. This spring the publication honored The Prom with five awards in their annual regional theater competition: Best Direction of a Musical, Best Choreography, Best Lighting Design, Best Music Direction and Orchestra Performance, and Best Theatre for Young Audiences.

on March 8. Staging the musical provided students working with sets, costumes, lighting, sound and other production essentials an opportunity to apply their skills and talents.

“These are amazing accolades for us,” says Aspen Cullen, the senior theatre major who starred in the play. “I think the award that meant the most to me was the one mentioning us being the best theatre for young adults. That is the truest thing! EWU Theatre allows for open discussion, success and a joy for theatre.”

The Prom was a part of EWU’s 2024 winter season, premiering

BroadwayWorld is a New York-based theater publication that recognizes theater productions across the nation. Its regional awards recognize productions, touring shows and other theater-related works based on votes cast by audiences and theater-community members.

This is the first time an Eastern production has been so honored. “The Prom was a very special production that was always timely,” says Sara Goff, EWU’s director of theatre. “We are proud of the artistry of the entire production team and honored to be recognized for telling the stories that need to be told.”

by

Photo

Chris Thompson

Giving Joy, National Parks Edition

A gift opens doors for students aiming to study ‘America’s best idea.’

Giving Joy Day is an annual fundraiser that — along with its other worthy goals — aims to encourage a joyful approach to building financial support for Eagle students. This year’s event, held on Eastern’s 143rd birthday, was its most successful ever, with donors committing more than $900,000 by day’s end.

Among the more notable contributions was that of EWU’s own Bill Youngs, a long-serving professor of history with a keen scholarly and personal interest in our nation’s public lands.

Youngs’ 2025 Giving Joy Day gift provided funding to establish the “Youngs Endowment for National Park Studies,” a program that will provide resources to students seeking to experience both work and study in these treasured natural landscapes.

Though the creation of the endowment was a closely guarded secret, the big Giving Joy Day reveal didn’t surprise Youngs’ friends and former students. Not only is Youngs’ philanthropic bent well established, his parks-related scholarship is respected across the nation. What’s more, in recent years he has become well known for an online history course that is often taught from inside the boundaries of the very parks he’s highlighting.

“I care about the National Parks because they are beautiful in their own right and because their founding is the result of some of the best instincts in American public life,” Youngs says. “It may sound corny, but when I think of the parks, I think of the reverential tone of America the Beautiful — of ’crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.’ ”

The endowment will take Youngs’ passion for national parks and experiential

Twice the Ride

learning a step further, says Shari McMahan, EWU’s president, opening doors for students of all backgrounds to gain knowledge and build careers — all while helping care for this precious public resource.

“Dr. Youngs has spent his entire career investing in our students, and this endowment is an incredible extension of that commitment,” McMahan adds. “Thanks to his generosity, more students will have the chance to learn by doing, whether in our national parks or other real-world settings. We’re so grateful for all he has done, and continues to do, for EWU.”

Double-Decker busses will add a second floor to the Cheney commute.

They’re sleek, futuristic and ready to bring the magic back to the commute from Spokane to Cheney.

“They” are seven shiny new Enviro500 double-decker busses, one of which made an introductory appearance in front of Eastern’s PUB in late April.

When the dedicated campus bus route debuted 55 years ago, grateful students soon dubbed the service “the Magic Bus.” Over the decades its charms have not waned. These days, in fact, both the main routes serving EWU— the 66 and 6 — are often standing-

room-only during peak hours. Hence the need for Enviro500s, which will join the fleet serving the university at the start of the next academic year.

According to the Spokane Transit Authority’s website, the Enviro500 “is the world’s best-selling three-axle double-decker bus,” dozens of which are already on the road “in major cities such as New York, Hong Kong and Dublin.” Here in our humble Cheney home, the busses’ biggest attraction may have nothing to do with their superior topfloor views: Each will seat 82 passengers, a

significant boost over the capacity of even the articulated 60-foot buses that now ply the route.

“One of the big motivators for the doubledecker is the second story is full of seating,” says Dainon Setzer, business development manager at STA. “Standing from Spokane to Cheney or back makes for a long bus ride.”

And those riders? Is he confident they’ll see the magic? “Oh yeah,” Setzer says, gesturing toward a group waiting to tour the bus’s interior. “We’ve got people coming out when the bus isn’t even moving!”

Serving Those Who Served

EWU earns national recognition for its support of veterans.

Showalter Hall’s Room 122 , home to the EWU Veterans Resource Center, is more than just an office. As Eastern’s home for student veterans, it’s a welcoming bridge between the military life and college, a place to come together to reestablish the camaraderie and common purpose that distinguishes those who serve in our nation’s armed services.

Now, the nation is taking notice. EWU has been named one of the Support Colleges of Distinction for 2025, an honor recognizing institutions that go above and beyond to support military-connected students. EWU is one of only three universities in Washington state to receive this recognition.

In their citation of Eastern and the other designees, the Colleges of Distinction organization said the recognition is meant to salute institutions working to overcome “the unique challenges military students face on college campuses” nationwide. “These institutions are proud to support and cultivate the skills that military students bring to the classroom, all while helping them achieve their personal and professional goals.”

At the heart of the center’s success are its experienced staff, who collectively have over 25 years of expertise in guiding students through the complexities of VA education benefits and Department of Defense tuition assistance.

The support goes beyond paperwork. EWU offers seven annual scholarships specifically for veterans and service members, along with

Stepping Up for Eastern

several state-supported tuition waivers and a policy of granting in-state tuition for military-connected students who are not state residents. Each of these areas of support aims to ensure that financial barriers don’t stand in the way of veterans’ paths to graduation.

“The transition from military to college life can be challenging, but EWU makes it easier,” says David Millet, a former commander of EWU’s Army ROTC program who, since 2012, has served as the center’s director. “The VRC isn’t just a place to get help with benefits — it’s a community where we connect, study and support each other.”

‘Build Our Future: The Campaign for Eastern’ tops $75 million… and counting.

In the few short months since EWU announced the public phase of its first-ever comprehensive campaign, Eagles everywhere have rallied to support the university.

To date, donors have stepped up to pledge more than $75 million of EWU’s $100 million goal, with more gifts arriving daily.

That willingness to “be there” for Eastern is not a surprise. Since the university’s earliest days, the generosity of its supporters has been woven into its DNA. “Build Our Future: The Campaign for Eastern” offers a unique opportunity for alumni and friends to cement their own Eastern legacy by adding their support to these already impressive totals. “Together, we are building a brighter future for our students and the communities we serve,” says EWU President Shari McMahan.

Such a future, she adds, will be transformative for both Eagle students and the communities they will serve as graduates. “Our goal is to make an applied learning experience the hallmark of an EWU degree, ensuring that every student has the opportunity to participate in hands-on learning that prepares them for a good-paying job and a meaningful career,” she says.

$75 MILLION

Seeding Success

Native grass plantings check an important box in EWU’s Palouse Prairie restoration.

After overcoming obstinate weeds and uncooperative weather, members of Eastern Washington University’s prairie restoration team earlier this year announced another milestone in the project’s development — the seeding of native grasses across the whole of its 120-acre restoration site.

It’s an important step, Prairie Restoration Project leaders say, in advancing the university’s plan to devote a third of its campus land to reestablishing a patch of natural Palouse Prairie — an ancient ecosystem largely lost to agricultural development. When completed, the restoration will become a “living laboratory” for interdisciplinary collaborations and research.

“We’ve learned a lot through this seeding process,” says project head Erik Budsberg, director of sustainability at EWU. “Living systems are very dynamic, and there are always going to be complications that come in, challenges that you weren’t expecting.”

Among those challenges was the persistence of invasive, broadleaf weeds that, in earlier testing, had proven lethal to native grasses. Taming the floral interlopers involved repeated mowing, tilling and, eventually, herbicide applications to completely clear the ground. Eventually, it worked. “I think we got the site looking about as pristine as you possibly can,” Budsberg says.

Sadly, Mother Nature then stepped up to offer a new complication: a warm, wet, early winter. Counterintuitively, prairie grass seeds require sustained cold to sprout in spring.

“What they need is called ‘cold moisture stratification,’ ” says Erin Endres, an EWU nursery services specialist whose work is crucial to helping the prairie bloom again. “That means they have to be planted in the cold to break their dormancy and germinate.”

Getting the timing right fell to Chris Fitzner, a local farmer with an interest in sustainable agriculture.

“Chris just had to sit and wait for the right conditions,” says Budsberg. “We needed it to get cold, and then to stay cold, so that the seeds wouldn’t germinate too early.” There were also issues with the soil not freezing sufficiently for the drill seeder — specialized planting machines developed for no-till farming — to operate effectively.

“So he had to wait until we got a good ground freeze,” Budsberg continues. “When it finally came, Chris went out at ten o’clock at night and seeded the site until three in the morning.”

That sort of dedication bodes well for the project’s future; a future that is increasingly coming into focus. “With getting these grasses in the ground, I think we’re truly at a turning point,” Budsberg says.

Seth McCullough loads a drill seeder during a previous prairie planting. McCullough, a biology major and McNair Scholar (see Page 35) earned a bachelor of science degree in 2022.

High-Flying Eagle Lands in New England

After signing with the Patriots, Efton Chism III will get an NFL audition.

Though he didn’t get a call on draft day, Efton Chism III, the superstar receiver whose senior season rewrote the Eagle record books, is ready to make his mark at the next level.

Just a day after the National Football League draft concluded, Chism ’24 signed as an undrafted free agent with the New England Patriots. There he will compete to join former EWU wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, a seven-year NFL veteran who is currently on New England’s roster.

Because only a fraction of the nation’s most talented players can secure a spot in each year’s seven-round NFL draft, the league’s teams often rely on undrafted players to fill spots on their 54-man rosters. In 2018, Bourne himself entered the league as an undrafted free agent.

Chism’s move to Boston comes on the heels of his remarkable 2024 senior campaign, one that saw him surpass Cooper Kupp’s single season reception record with 120 catches — an eye-popping total which led

both the Big Sky Conference and the entire FCS. During his final Eagle appearance at Northern Arizona, Chism notched his 53rd consecutive game with a reception, topping Kupp’s previous record of 52. “While the catch numbers might stand out, the real eye-opener is Chism’s blend of play strength and competitiveness,” wrote NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein before the draft. “He can make the first tackler miss, and will do whatever it takes to pick up yardage.”

That combination of power and determination was a Chism trademark during each of his five years on the Eagle’s roster. It was also a big reason why, over the course of that career, Chism earned 10 All-American awards and four All-Big Sky honors, two of them first-team selections.

The Patriots begin mandatory mini-camp for rookies in June, with their full-squad training camp in Foxborough, Massachusetts scheduled for July.

CALLING ALL EAGLE FANS!

Roos Field, Eastern’s cherished football stadium, was built in 1967 and is today in need of substantial updates. The goal of our planned improvements? To create a more welcoming experience for students, alumni and fans. Thanks to the support of the Eagle faithful, EWU’s Stadium Renovation Fund is almost halfway to achieving its goal of $13 million. Now, as we look forward to a winning season this fall, is the perfect time to share your pride in the home of Eagle Football. Use the code to donate today!

ewu.edu/buildourfuture/stadium/

Here at Eastern magazine, we’re always looking for new ways to keep you up-to-date and engaged with all things EWU.

Your participation in our 10-minute, online reader survey — offered in association with the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education — will help us do an even better job of delivering the content that matters most to you.

TAKE THE SURVEY!

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Photo by Braeden Harlow

Sp ice

Scientist

Ask Darby McLean about her childhood in Cheney, and you’ll hear her wax enthusiastic about the subtle beauty of its college-town setting, its quiet charm and its strong sense of community. How it was the kind of place where a kid could bike its streets without a care in the world. About how it pulsed with the energies and ambitions of very bright people, both young and old.

What you won’t hear her talk about are spices. At least not in the ways you might expect. McLean ’00 runs Spiceology, a Spokane-based purveyor of bespoke blends that has, seemingly overnight, set the nation’s spice scene on fire. Her company’s products, instantly identifiable thanks to their eye-catching “periodic table of flavors” design, are seemingly everywhere. They’re in grocery stores, both plain and fancy. On the sets of food shows and culinary competitions. In ads for ritzy kitchen remodels. And, of course, in the TikToks and Instagrams of food-obsessed cooking fans. They’ve even made a surprise appearance during last year’s Super Bowl — this thanks to an unsolicited placement in a Fox promo for the latest Gordon Ramsey-hosted chef spectacle.

Back in Cheney, none of this would have entered even the wildest imaginings of the younger McLean. In her mother’s kitchen, she recalls, spices were, at best, an afterthought.

“My mom was a middle school counselor for close to 30 years,” McLean says. “She cooked all the time, which was impressive for someone with a career. But I think she suffered from the exact reason why our spice company exists today — spices become boring and stale by the time they get to consumers.” (And perhaps even after they reach consumers. Not that any of us would leave our spice jars neatly arranged and mostly untouched for years at a time, only to wonder why they fall flat in that special dish.)

Celebrity chefs notwithstanding, it’s moments with folks like her mom, curious but spice-challenged consumers, that get McLean super excited. “It’s really fun,” she says, “to see people try our fresh spices and have their eyes light up when they realize that, ‘Wow, you can actually taste the difference!’”

Freshness is a big point of emphasis at Spiceology, but it’s just one of the features that has fed the company’s rapid rise. Just as important is its novel — some might suggest audacious — approach to blending.

Mixing spices is as old as cooking itself. Archaeological evidence has shown the Egyptians, for example, were blending as early as 3,500 BCE, using cumin and coriander, along with anise and fenugreek to enhance the savor of stews, breads and vegetable dishes. Cooks and traders in China and India were also building blends in the same era; spice combinations that, over the centuries, became foundational to culinary tastes and food-prep experiences of cultures across the globe.

At Spiceology, such time-honored flavor combinations are merely a launching point, an invitation to innovation. When it comes to mixing and matching, pretty much nothing is off the table. Unexpected combinations like Raspberry Chipotle and Black and Blue (blue cheese with blackening seasoning) comprise the norm. Versatility and flexible flavor profiles are the goal. “You can put Raspberry Chipotle on ribs, add a couple tablespoons to your brownie mix, or shake it on popcorn,” McLean says. “Black and Blue is amazing on steak, but mix it into a box of mac and cheese, and the whole thing’s upleveled. You could serve it to guests at dinner, and nobody would know it came from a box.”

Hence the “light bulb” moments when home cooks “taste the difference.” Even professional chefs, who now make up close to half of Spiceology’s rapidly growing food-service business, favor the company’s blends alongside traditional single-ingredient spices.

Like her company’s unique products, McLean’s route to Spiceology doesn’t follow the familiar path. A microbiologist by training, she spent almost two decades successfully working in biotech — a career choice for which she largely credits her time as an undergraduate at Eastern.

Even well before college, however, McLean knew science would be her thing. She remembers it was a middle school project working with fruit flies that “got me really fascinated with the concept of genetics.” After high school, she says, friends and family figured she’d head up

the street to EWU, precisely the kind of place that could provide her with the undergraduate research experiences she was looking for.

But McLean instead decided on a different direction, traversing the Cascades to attend Seattle’s Bellevue College. “I had an itch to have other experiences, like many young people do,” she says. “I played softball at Bellevue, a community college at the time. I was a lefty pitcher and had a great couple of years there.”

Still, she says, in spite of the many West Side higher-ed options, a return to Cheney was never far from her mind. EWU wasn’t just close to home, McLean says, it offered something unique.

“Eastern had one of the only biotechnology areas of study west of the Mississippi River,” she says. “And I knew it was a place where I would be able to do bench-science research as an undergrad, which is completely different from what you’d be able to do at a larger university like UW.”

And so McLean became an Eag, where she found the intimacy of Eastern’s biotech program, and the readiness of even senior scientists to work directly with undergraduates, to be transformative. She laughs now as she recalls her ravenous appetite for acquiring knowledge: “I had an insatiable thirst for learning, and I still do. That’s a core part of my personality. Always learning.”

She adds that faculty members such as Don and Haideh Lightfoot were particularly instrumental in encouraging this youthful hunger for knowledge. “Haideh was in the microbiology program, and Don was part of the biotech program. I worked closely with both of them. The size of the programs at EWU helped — you can’t have a close relationship if there are 100 people in the class. I got to know Don and Haideh very well. They even invited me and other students to their house for dinner.”

Soon the Lightfoot’s were more than just influential instructors. They became research collaborators who were eager to include McLean in something bigger.

That “something bigger” was the Lightfoots’ idea for commercializing a new technology developed by a student in Don's program, one that

made possible more efficient forms of rapid microbiological analysis. Along with their EWU colleague Jim Fleming, an adjunct professor of biology who had worked for NASA and the Linus Pauling Institute, the group approached the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute for seed funding. They got a green light, and soon their proposed start-up, GenPrime, was open for business. McLean, still an EWU undergrad, was one of their first hires.

“Our first products were in food science,” says McLean. “These were methods for rapidly enumerating, or counting, bacteria. Our niche was applications outside of heavily regulated industries like medicine; those turned out to be in the fermentation industry, especially cheesemaking and brewing. What a fun job as a college student to be eating cheese, drinking beer and doing science!”

After graduation, McLean began working for GenPrime full time. She says it was a great gig, one that allowed her to pick up a range of valuable skills. It wasn’t long before history intervened and her skill set, by necessity, grew even larger.

“September 11th happened,” McLean says. “And right after that came the anthrax attacks.”

Suddenly, government agencies urgently needed technology to quickly detect biological threats. Turns out GenPrime’s food-science applications could be adapted to do just that. “With some minor adjustments to the underlying technology,” says McLean. “we became one of a handful of devices in the world that could be used as a pointof-detection device for police, fire and hazmat agencies.”

Thus the company pivoted into government and military sales. McLean, ever the insatiable learner, soon found herself absorbing the intricacies of procurement, product development and supply chains. “It was a terrible event, but great timing for us,” she says.

McLean followed up her success at GenPrime with five years of navigating FDA clearances for Abbott Labs and Labcorp. Her career trajectory seemed set. “I was at a place where I really knew what the next five years of my life would look like,” she says. “That wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t super exciting. And I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to learn anything new by doing that.”

McLean with Ned Woodward ’10, Spiceology’s director of logistics and fulfillment.

Photos by Luke Kenneally.

That’s when she encountered a fledgling spice company called Spiceology. Founded by local chef Pete Taylor and food blogger Heather Scholten, the two started offering blends in area farmers’ markets just over 10 years ago. Their mission? Disrupting “a stale spice and seasoning market” while helping cooks “bring an extra dose of magic to their cooking.” Taylor was the tastemaker. His first blend, Smoky Honey Habanero, put Spiceology on the map, the company says, “with its smokysweet heat that brightens every dish.” (It’s still Spiceology’s biggest seller). Scholten, one of the nation’s most followed food bloggers, brought social media expertise and storytelling skills.

McLean, who over the years had made a point of staying connected to Spokane’s entrepreneurial scene, says she had first seen Taylor and Scholten doing local “pitch competitions.” She was intrigued. “They were getting really good traction, but struggling to scale,” McLean says. “All the operational procedures and efficiency gains they needed were things I thought I could help with.”

might never be filled. Now, 25-foot-high rows of product and packaging stretch from end-to-end, bottom to top. Other areas hold 18-wheeler friendly skids of ready-toship spices and blends bound for retail outlets like Costco, e-commerce customers ($10 million in sales through this channel alone), and, of course, larger restaurant operators and their distributors.

McLean brought characteristic precision to managing all this, introducing Six Sigma processes that transformed operations. The Six Sigma approach, pioneered by Motorola in the 1980s, is a set of tools and techniques for minimizing manufacturing “defects” by reducing processing variabilities — think of it as a high-tech analog to Henry Ford’s assembly lines. At Spiceology, Six Sigma translates into helping employees do their jobs with accuracy and efficiency. McLean credits Bryce Burchak, now vice president of operations, and fellow Eastern graduate Ned Woodward ’10, the company’s director of logistics and fulfillment, with making it happen. Woodward, in particular, has been “a pretty big reason why the company is so effectively growing,” she says.

We’re not just asking questions about trends, we’re helping to decide what those trends will be.

Before long McLean was all in. She officially joined the company in 2020 as its vice president of channels and distribution. When her boss retired two years later, she succeeded him as CEO. It’s since been a bit of a wild ride, she says, one supercharged by culinary media, with Spiceology products appearing regularly on shows like Hell’s Kitchen and MasterChef. “Growing from $1 million to $2 million is hard. Going from $2 million to $5 million is hard. Growing from $5 million to $10 million – oh my gosh — every level presents challenges,” she says.

During a conversation held over the hum of the canning line in Spiceology’s 45,000 square-foot facility, McLean, dressed for the occasion in an Eagle-red blazer, expands on the scope of that growth. Back when she came on board, she says, there were just over 30 employees. Today there are 84. When Spiceology moved to their current location in the months just after the pandemic, the cavernous space seemed like it

For his part, Woodward says, it’s McLean’s leadership, and the managers and creative talent she’s assembled, that makes it all come together. “Takes a village,” he says.

What’s next for McLean and Spiceology?

With characteristic passion, McLean says job one is keeping the company at the forefront of culinary trends. Her team of working culinary pros, led by Tony Reed, is continually engaging with consumers, chefs and the wider restaurant community to identify emerging flavor preferences.

“We’re not just asking questions about trends, we’re helping to decide what those trends will be,” she says, adding that their latest data on trends points to global flavors that tap into foodies’ yearning for cross-cultural comfort foods — think Korean barbecue chicken instead of buffalo chicken.

Through it all, McLean leans on her background in science for both grounding and inspiration. It’s a background that also leads her back to her roots in Cheney and at Eastern, where she is intent on helping today’s students have some of opportunities she did. She serves, for example, as chair of the College of STEM’s Advisory board, and will become a member of the EWU Foundation Board next year. She has also connected with other Eagle-run companies in Eastern’s Alumni Business Directory (ewu.edu/alumni/directory).

“I love this business and am excited by it, which I think comes through in our products,” McLean says. “I’m passionate about what I’m doing. Just like I was back there at Eastern.”

— Story by Charles E. Reineke

SAGEBRUSH

EASTERN STEPS UP IN THE FIGHT TO PRESERVE THE ENDANGERED PYGMY RABBIT.

BY CHARLES E. REINEKE PHOTOS BY LUKE KENNEALLY

Sometimes it’s the little things that inspire our greatest efforts. Consider the race to save the Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit, one of the nation’s most desperately endangered animals.

Weighing in at just under a pound, these impossibly cute creatures are North America’s smallest rabbit. Perfectly adapted to the austere but beautiful sage and grass shrub-steppe they call home, thousands of pygmy rabbits once gamboled about the seas of sagebrush that provided them with shelter and sustenance. No longer. These days, thanks mostly to the relentless pace of habitat destruction, slightly less than 150 individuals are left. Back in 2001, when the effort to save them began in earnest, there were 16.

NOTSO VERY LONG AGO, our nation’s “sagebrush sea” stretched for more than 500,000 square miles, from the Dakota’s high plains to coastal California. Today, according to data compiled by the Nature Conservancy, that vast swath of sage is a shadow of its former self, down to just 150 million acres. And it is shrinking still, conservancy researchers say. More than one million acres are lost each year to invasive plant species, catastrophic wildfires, development, improper grazing and climate change.

Washington’s share of this arid shrub-steppe is no exception to this worrying trend. What was once an immense, interconnected habitat for a stunningly diverse array of plants, birds and other wildlife is now a highly fragmented patchwork. Remaining fauna and flora have been left bruised and battered.

On a bitterly cold morning in December, EWU research scientist Charlotte Milling and her team of Eastern student researchers are slowly pushing through a semi-enclosed portion of this endangered landscape, carefully bushwhacking through chest-high stands of sage, each gnarled plant painted white with frost. Some carry metal framed gentle-trapping gear. Others wield ungainly, soft-mesh-netted PVC contraptions. The goal is to round up pygmy rabbits for their semi-annual checkup and blood draw. The rabbits, understandably, are eager to avoid this.

Milling, an assistant professor of biology, is one of a small group of university scientists and wildlife management professionals who are working tirelessly to help Washington’s pygmy rabbits stave off extinction.

The work is centered around a strategy of gradually increasing rabbit populations using semi-wild breeding enclosures. These twoto-six acre, fenced areas essentially serve as nurseries for future wild populations. The goal is to help rabbits mate and rear their young — called “kits” — in an environment that, while still wild, is mostly free from predators. “Everything eats pygmy rabbits,” Milling says. So far, the effort appears to be paying off. During the winter of

2023-2024, biologists estimated a population of 130 rabbits. This winter, the active count increased to 140.

Unfortunately, the researchers say, pygmy rabbits are in no way out of the woods. Setbacks can — and do — happen. Sometimes tragically so. A similarly successful growth spurt, one that Milling says had the potential to significantly advance pygmy rabbits’ shot at survival, ended in catastrophe.

On September 7, 2020, one of three enclosures housing roughly half of the then-existing pygmy rabbit population found itself downwind of a raging conflagration. In less than a day, the Pearl Hill wildfire, fueled by hurricane-force winds, roared across some 60 miles of shrub-steppe. The rabbits, hunkered down in their bone-dry sagebrush home, never had a chance.

MILLING,

WHO GREW UP IN WASHINGTON, describes herself as a “classically trained wildlife biologist with a deep appreciation for natural-resource management.” Pygmy rabbits, she says, first captured her attention at the University of Idaho, where she completed both her master’s and doctoral work.

“My PhD research was on the behavior and thermal physiology of pygmy rabbits in Idaho, where I gained a considerable amount of experience with pygmy rabbits in various habitats, places where they’re more numerous,” Milling says.

She briefly put that experience aside to work with larger mammals while a postdoctoral researcher at Ohio State University. But after accepting a position with Eastern’s biology faculty just over two years ago, Milling eagerly rejoined the pygmy rabbit community.

“When you spend so much time, intimately connected with something like that, as you do in a PhD program, it’s hard to just let it go,” Milling says. “Pygmy rabbits are not pets, of course. But they become an important part of your life. I have always said that I work in systems, and not with species. But pygmy rabbits are a really interesting species in a really phenomenal system.”

For their part in the race to preserve Washington’s pygmy rabbits, Milling and her students are chiefly interested in investigating the types of places that make for successful rabbit homes. “What does the habitat structure look like? What does the sagebrush look like? What’s the thermal environment? Is it really hot in some places and really not in others? Those are the sorts of questions we’re asking.”

The answers she says, will help project managers zoom in on what’s working and what’s not for the rabbits. As of now, Milling says, “we’re just not capturing that micro level, as we measure some of these larger-scale variables.”

Doing better for bunnies, in other words, means getting up close and personal with soil and sage. With wind and water. With blazing sun and blinding snow. It means learning to see things from the perspective of a furry animal not much bigger than the palm of your hand. The job is especially challenging because, while Milling and the other scientists on her team know a lot about the nature of rabbits’ habitat, their understanding of the creatures themselves is scant — especially in the Columbia Basin, where populations were uprooted before anyone started to study them.

What scientists do know is that pygmy rabbits’ survival rates are incredibly low. Though they have as many as three litters a year — they do, in fact, breed like bunnies — in reality less than half of kits born in the wild survive to the next year. This, of course, adds to the difficulty of establishing them in new areas.

Still, project scientists are learning a lot about what works and what doesn’t. “We’re out there to identify the characteristics that lead to increased success,” Milling says. “Once we know those, then we can go out and find them on the landscape, both for new enclosure sites, and, ultimately, new reintroduction sites.”

FINDING

SUCH SUITABLE SITES IS KEY, in no small part because Washington’s pygmy rabbits occupy a unique ecological niche. They have, after all, been isolated from potential breeding

partners for at least 10,000 years — possibly as long as 115,000 years, according to some estimates.

This separation explains why the Columbia Basin population is not only genetically distinct, but uniquely positioned to thrive in the challenging environment of central Washington.

Biologists call pygmy rabbits “sagebrush obligates,” meaning they depend on the brush for survival. Washington’s portion of the sagebrush sea is home to perennial grasses and forbs that deliver meals in summer and fall. And as the only North American rabbit species known to dig their own burrows, pygmy rabbits also rely on the sagelands’ soft, crumby soils to excavate the tunnels they use to obtain shelter, to achieve body temperature regulation, and, crucially, to find safety from predators.

During a conversation in Milling’s EWU laboratory, one of her research assistants, Toby Eddy ’25, describes gaining a deep appreciation for this landscape after methodically trudging through it on many sweltering days in the height of summer. His role? Checking burrow locations for signs of rabbit usage.

“It was dry and hot, for sure,” Eddy says with a laugh. “A lot of fighting through the sagebrush, trying not to destroy habitat, to be

EWU’s Charlotte Milling, center, joins a team of wildlife managers during a springtime evaluation of sagebrush health.

gentle as possible as I was going along. It can get monotonous, because you’ve got to look as closely as possible to spot potential burrows under each bush. But you kind of get a sense for it as you’re out there, and eventually you start seeing where those burrows are.”

Eddy came to Eastern after the conclusion of his service as an airman at Fairchild Air Force Base. He said working with veterinarians on the pygmy rabbit team was particularly rewarding, given his own interest in a career in vet med.

Beyond the actual undergraduate research experience, which has yielded him conference papers, poster-session presentations and admission to the highly selective veterinary medicine program down the road at WSU, Eddy emphasizes how his experience has driven home the stark contrast between value of a healthy sagebrush ecosystem and most people’s perception of it.

THEEFFORT TO PRESERVE both

sage and rabbit, led by the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, began in earnest after a federal judge in 2001 ruled that Washington’s genetically distinct Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbits, officially known as Brachylagus idahoensis, qualified for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

That status paved the way for Washington’s rabbits to join the ranks of our state’s “Species of Greatest Conservation Need,” a designation that, in turn, opened the door to participation in a wider, national initiative “to develop conservation action plans for fish, wildlife and their natural habitats.”

“None of it works if you’re not supporting the habitat, or making decisions that allow for the continued persistence of the animal, right?” Milling says. Unfortunately, she adds, the barriers to maintaining, much less restoring, that habitat can at times seem insurmountable.

People

look at the sagebrush and they see nothing, they see a wasteland... But pygmy rabbits, by virtue of their existence, counter that. People love them. And you only find them in sagebrush.

“People see it as wasteful or useless,” he says. “When I interact with people, I try to impress upon them how vitally important sagebrush is to the survival of so many species. Going out and seeing the fragmentation of the sagebrush in the pygmy rabbit’s natural range, just the declining health of the overall sagebrush habitat, was the most discouraging thing for me, for sure.”

“It’s invasion by non-native species. It’s habitat destruction and loss associated with expansion of the human footprint,” says Milling. “In some areas it can be irresponsible grazing management. It’s wildfire. And then the weeds that follow wildfire. Finally, and perhaps most consequentially, it’s a completely disrupted, climatological regime where you’re getting these massive snowfalls and then massive floods, followed by heat domes and drought.”

There are other challenges as well, adds Miranda Crowell, the wildlife biologist who currently heads up the pygmy rabbit project at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Without a doubt, habitat loss is the primary reason they’re endangered in the first place,” says Crowell. “Large-scale conversion to agriculture and overgrazing in the Columbia Basin has really fragmented their habitat. Thankfully, it’s getting a bit better now, partly due to the Conservation Reserve Program [CRP, a federal program that helps farmers remove environmentally sensitive land

EWU biology graduate student Samantha Kennel, one of Milling’s team of student researchers, releases a newly vaccinated pygmy rabbit.

from production to protect soil, water, and wildlife habitat]. A lot of habitat has been replanted to sagebrush, which is helping the connectivity between suitable stands. The rabbits can use the CRP habitat too, which is great. They love it for some reason.”

She says that within the enclosures, breeding must be carefully managed to combat inbreeding, a significant concern given the small founding population. All of Washington’s surviving pygmy rabbits, in fact, share some genetic information with their counterparts in Idaho, this because the 16 survivors from 25 years ago were too few to avoid ruinous inbreeding.

For today’s population, helping the bunnies make good matches means rigorous DNA sampling to track parentages, then scrambling individuals to, hopefully, create suitable love connections.

Another looming threat is disease. Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus serotype 2 (RHDV2) is a scourge among wild rabbits of all species, one that has devastated populations nationwide. Typically, it kills 90 percent of those infected. “I’ve seen three different outbreaks in pygmy rabbit populations in Nevada,” Crowell says. “It was devastating.”

While Washington’s pygmy rabbits have so far avoided the disease, the team isn’t taking chances. “Last year,” Crowell says, “we were also conducting a vaccine trial against RHD-2. We were using Filavac, which is the vaccine from France, and now there’s a domestically made vaccine, Medgene. We wanted to test the efficacy of both vaccines because we didn’t know how our rabbits would respond to Medgene.” Trapping last year to collect blood samples and check antibody responses — and subsequent followups — went well. But it will take time to monitor the vaccines’ effectiveness over time.

AFTER NEARLY A QUARTER - CENTURY

of intensive conservation work, the outlook for Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits is cautiously positive.

“ We’re 14 years in,” Crowell says, “and we’ve learned things that have definitely helped the project a lot.”

“Overall, I think we’re headed in the right direction,” she continues, ticking off the names of the many scientists and wildlife professionals who have played a role in turning things around, including Charlotte Milling, who served as a mentor to Crowell back when Crowell was an undergraduate at WSU.

For her part, Milling is also keen to emphasize just how many people have dedicated a significant portion of their careers to the pygmy rabbits’ cause. People like Lisa Shipley, a professor of mammalian ecology at Washington State University, who, back at the project’s beginning, was instrumental in leading Washington’s entire wild population out of the sage-steppe and into the captive breeding that saved them from extinction.

And there is Janet Rachlow, professor and former department head for the University of Idaho’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences. Over the years, her large fleet of students (Milling included) has greatly expanded scientists’ understanding of the species across its range. Also, Lisette Waits, a conservation geneticist at Idaho whose laboratory does the molecular work; the tracking of ancestry, parentage, and effects of locally adapted genes (for Washington’s pygmy rabbits, more genetic material from the Columbia Basin is better). With the help of these “OGs” and others, Milling says, the team continues to refine their methods, improving the data needed to improve recovery areas and discover more advanced approaches for strengthening existing populations.

For now, these tiny survivors continue to burrow through Washington’s shrub-steppe, each successful litter bringing the species one hop closer to recovery.

“I was literally screaming and crying,” says Crowell, describing her elation at seeing this year’s first enclosure-born litter. “I was freaking out that we hadn’t seen them yet.”

She’s not alone. For the scientists and students who crouch in the heat and cold to study them, every flash of fur in the sagebrush remains cause for celebration. And just maybe, says Milling, the adorable look of the plush-toy-esque, Disney-film-worthy pygmy rabbits — perhaps the most charismatic mini-fauna ever — has a role to play in preserving them. “It is hard to maintain professionalism with those animals," Milling admits with a smile. Unlike other rabbit species that develop to grow large and ungainly, with buggy eyes, “pygmy rabbits retain their Disney features. They just stay precious.”

“People look at the sagebrush and they see nothing,” she adds. “They see a wasteland... But pygmy rabbits, by virtue of their existence, counter that. People love them. And you only find them in sagebrush. So, you might say, as the pygmy rabbit goes, so does the sage. I really want to believe we can save both.”

— Learn more about faculty/student collaborations, and Eastern’s approach to experiential learning, at ewu.edu/polytechnic

Grace Barthelmess, another EWU biology graduate student, scans for rabbits among the frozen sage plants.

Deckard

E GLE Excellence C

EWU recently celebrated its 2025 Alumni Award winners. As always, the stories of our inspiring honorees made it an occasion to remember.

BENJAMIN P. CHENEY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

When it comes to Greg Deckard ’86 , the 2025 Benjamin P. Cheney Lifetime Achievement Award winner, it is pretty much impossible not to be a little bit in awe of his long roster of success: his distinguished work in the banking industry; his lifelong commitment to community service; and, of course, his generosity to his alma mater. Deckard has been a passionate advocate for community banking throughout his 40-year career. As CEO and chairman of State Bank Northwest for the past 24 years, his leadership has played a key role in building and sustaining the continued prosperity of our state and region.

Deckard’s professional influence extends well outside of the bounds of the PNW, however, thanks to his service with the Independent Community Bankers of America, his testimony on key banking issues before Congress, and his time as chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America Board of Directors. His fervent support for Eastern, meanwhile, spans decades, including his 11 years of service on the EWU Foundation Board, 13 years with the School of Business Advisory Board, and his longstanding support for Eagle basketball’s 6th Man Club. His generous financial support, totaling over $110,000 from him and State Bank Northwest, has helped the university fund everything from athletic facilities to business scholarships.

Beyond banking and university service, Deckard has held leadership positions with the Union Gospel Mission of Spokane, Sacred Heart/ Providence Hospital Foundation, and the Spokane Country Club.

“Greg has been a leader in his own bank and a leader in community banking within the state and nationally for decades,” one of his admiring colleagues said. “He has provided a lifetime of service to his community, his profession and to EWU — a true role model for other Eagle alumni to follow.”

Carney Munguia

GOV. CLARENCE D. MARTIN EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR

Over his almost three decades of service, Shawn Carney ’97, ’98, our Governor Clarence D. Martin Educator of Year Award winner , has made “immeasurable contributions” to Spokane’s Rogers High School, having, as one of his nominating letters put it, a “profound impact on his students, colleagues, and the broader educational community.”

Carney doesn’t just teach physics. In his classroom, every lesson represents a broader opportunity to ignite curiosity and build confidence, particularly in students who might never have envisioned themselves in STEM careers. Year after year, his understanding of, and compassion for, the challenges many Rogers students face infuses his teaching with greater purpose and relevance. In short, every lesson opens doors.

This same level of compassion and concern extends to his fellow teachers. As Science Department lead, Carney cultivated a culture of excellence through collaboration and genuine respect. His guidance honors individual teaching styles while elevating effectiveness throughout the department. As an instructional coach, this gift for mentorship truly shines. For 15 years, educators at all stages of their careers have trusted Carney with challenges ranging from classroom management to technology integration.

Beyond academics, Carney coaches wrestling and golf, arguably the two most dissimilar sports imaginable. But Carney has long used both to help his young athletes do more than just succeed on the mat and greens; he helps students absorb the far more consequential lessons of perseverance and dignity.

“He is one of the most passionate and kind educators and coaches I have ever worked with,” wrote another of Carney’s admiring colleagues. It’s a combination of passion and kindness that defines Carney’s approach to both coaching and teaching — demanding excellence while providing the support his students need to achieve it.

TAWANKA SERVICE

During her time as an Eagle undergraduate, Ana Munguia ’13, our Tawanka Service award winner, already stood out for her passionate commitment to service, student advocacy and cross-cultural relationship building.

Now, as the community connections manager for the Pasco School District, she’s making an even greater difference for students in the Tri-Cities.

At EWU she showed off her remarkable leadership skills when, in 2009, she founded Eastern’s chapter of the Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority. With Munguia’s guidance, the sisters of Lambda Theta Alpha actively served the university community by “adopting” streets in Cheney, supporting local Relay for Life events, and organizing fundraising drives for St. Jude’s Research Hospital.

These days, Munguia’s work for the Pasco School District is building on the commitment to community she established as an EWU student. Every day, her colleagues say, Munguia works to empower students and foster opportunities for their personal growth, providing guidance and mentorship that impacts both students’ career readiness and self-assurance.

Munguia’s community involvement extends beyond her professional obligations. From 2014 to 2017, she contributed to the Hispanic Academic Achievers Program, a scholarship committee promoting higher education opportunities for Hispanic youth. In addition, she has served as the vice president for membership in our state’s chapter of the Public Relations Association, where she led recruitment efforts and helped organize two annual conferences for public relations professionals.

Through her journey from campus leader to community connector, Munguia has been a shining example of how EWU alumni can continue to make meaningful service impacts long after commencement.

Boehnke Jones Jackson

SANDY WILLIAMS TRAILBLAZER

Angela Jones, our Sandy Williams Trailblazer honoree, has forged a laudable career dedicated to transforming educational landscapes for underrepresented students across Washington state.

Jones began in Yakima’s Wapato School District, where, as a substitute teacher, she first recognized — and worked to alleviate — the unique challenges faced by Black and Brown students as they strove to break the cycles of poverty that too often affected them and their families. This commitment to equity eventually propelled her through successive leadership positions at Spokane Public Schools, Washington State University, and EWU, where she served for a time as a member of the university’s executive leadership team.

Today, as director of the Washington Initiative for the Gates Foundation, Jones leads efforts to create clear pathways for posthigh-school success for students. Her team focuses specifically on communities facing the highest barriers, providing crucial support systems where resources are often scarce.

Her current position is just the latest in her three-decades-long quest to improve outcomes for students and other community members of color. These efforts are not just restricted to education. During the height of the pandemic, for example, she co-founded and launched the Black Future Co-Op Fund — a resource designed to support the recovery and sustainability of Black-led organizations and businesses across Washington.

Through all this, Jones’ commitment to Eastern has remained steadfast. In 2022, for example, she and her family made a transformative gift that led to the establishment of the JLR Multicultural Center at EWU. Today that center is a vital space where students receive the support they need to successfully complete their journeys to degree completion. “Dr. Jones’ contributions,” wrote one of her nominators, “exemplify the qualities sought for recipients of the Sandy Williams Trailblazer award. She is an educator, storyteller and author who aspires to leave impactful and sustainable change for students pursuing their education beyond high school.”

LT. COL. DANIEL M. CARTER MILITARY SERVICE

As an elected representative, an educator and a businessperson in his hometown of Kennewick, state Sen. Matt Boehnke has amassed a long and distinguished list of contributions in service to our state and region.

But at this year’s Alumni Awards Gala, EWU celebrated Boehnke, the Lt. Col. Daniel M. Carter Military Service Award winner, for a different form of service: his 21-plus years as an officer in the U.S. Army, where he never failed to exemplify an exceptional dedication to duty.

His devotion to duty began as an Eagle. At Eastern, Boehnke was recognized as an ROTC-Distinguished Military Graduate before graduating in 1990 and receiving his active-duty commission. He spent the next two decades as both a proud U.S. Army aviator and a pioneer in military cyber operations, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

During his years of service, Boehnke quickly built a reputation as a natural leader. At the Fort Sill, Oklahoma-based aviation battalion where he served, Boehnke piloted the formidable CH47D Chinook, a medium-lift assault helicopter crucial for tactical transport operations. His final post was at the Network Enterprise Technology Command, where he played a significant part in helping to establish the U.S. Army Cyber Command.

What distinguished Boehnke most among his peers wasn’t just his technical proficiency, but his leadership philosophy. In a nominating letter, one fellow service member described him as “dedicated, compassionate, and capable” – a leader who “consistently embodied selfless service by supporting his subordinates while readily shouldering more than his share of responsibilities.”

Boehnke’s commitment to service now extends far beyond his active-duty years. According to those who know him best, Boehnke has “devoted his entire adult life to the service of his country and the American people.”

RISING EAGLE

Jackson Mumford

After earning a health services bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business administration, Kori Jackson ’22, ’23 — our Rising Eagle award winner — could have pursued any number of opportunities. Instead, she chose to return to the Colville Reservation, where she has stepped forward with determination and vision to serve where she’s needed most.

When she started her new job as the business services manager and accountant for the Paschal Sherman Indian School, for example, Jackson was determined to do more than just crunch numbers. After seeing that her school, like so many across Washington state, was dealing with post-pandemic behavioral challenges, Jackson quickly set to work channeling her education and leadership experience from the Native American Student Association at EWU into creative solutions.

Because she recognized that the reservation’s kids needed a boost in inspiration and motivation, Jackson orchestrated back-toschool nights featuring speakers who could ignite young minds with possibility. She also began working directly with students — most notably girls participating in fast-pitch softball and volleyball — becoming the sort of role model whose active presence demonstrated, for both girls and boys, the power of education and engagement.

In the larger tribal community, Jackson has also been invaluable. When families are in crisis, she helps find safe spaces. When basic needs go unmet, Jackson mobilizes resources. Such practical compassion earned her recognition from the Colville Tribal Tribune and others. But public recognition has never been Jackson’s motivation. Instead, she has focused on amplifying attention to urgent causes, working with tribal leaders and businesses to pursue solutions that honor both tradition and progress.

In true Eastern fashion, Jackson’s recent graduation from EWU marked not an ending but a beginning in her commitment to creating positive change. Her Rising Eagle journey has always been about more than just personal growth. It’s about lifting up others.

EAGLE4LIFE SPIRIT

During his student days, Mike Mumford ’81, our Eagle4Life Spirit award winner, studied finance and economics while playing defensive back for the Eagle football team. Mumford was a solid defender and hard worker, but it was his commitment to fair play that illustrated the essence of his character.

During the spring practice window preceding Mumford’s senior year, a freshman walk-on showed up to compete for a place in the defensive backfield. Instead of seeing competition, Mumford took the young player under his wing, mentoring him and pushing him to succeed. After spring ball concluded, the next season’s starters were announced. That freshman was named to Mumford’s position, relegating him to the bench for his senior year.

What did Mumford do? Rather than harbor resentment, he continued to support, encourage and work with his replacement. That freshman, Mark Puyear, nominated Mumford for the Eagle4Life Award, and their friendship has endured for more than four decades.

This selfless spirit has always been a hallmark of Mumford’s relationship with Eastern. Now the senior vice president of wealth management at UBS in Spokane, where he’s worked since 1988, Mumford has long channeled his professional success back into his alma mater. You’ll find his name quietly supporting fundraisers. You’ll see “sponsored by UBS” signs at events because of his influence. You’ll spot him at games—both home and away—always proudly sporting Eastern gear. You’ll find him rallying fellow alumni to attend events, contribute to causes, or to simply gather to show their Eagle pride.

Mumford also serves on numerous committees and organizations, including the EWU Foundation Board, that are vital to the university’s future. He never seeks recognition for these efforts. His fulfillment comes not from accolades, but from goals attained.

There’s something else Mumford’s friend Puyear shared: “He is involved in many things, but what stands out is his ability to get things done. His fulfillment in this comes not from getting recognized, but in seeing the goal achieved.”

1. During a 5-day trip filled with “lots of outdoor activities,” Michele Starostka, ’97, and her husband, Chris, hiked Iceland’s Sólheimajökull glacier in celebration of Michele’s 50th birthday.

2. Intrepid Eagle Mitch Swenson ’82 and his wife, Kris, braved temperatures as high as 110 degrees while visiting the pyramid complex at Giza. The couple traveled to Egypt to see the sights and to visit family in Alexandria.

3. Carl Combs ’87 joined students from the EWU Study Abroad program as they gathered outside Charles Darwin’s house in London’s Borough of Bromley. Darwin, who moved to the house in 1842, wrote On the Origin of Species in the home’s study.

4. During a springtime sojourn along Italy’s Amalfi Coast, “On the Road” Hall of Famer Doug Kelley ’83 enjoyed a luminous afternoon in the ancient port city of Positano, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

5. Andrew ’15 and Kristen Landeza ’15, with their daughters, Kaisley, 5, and Koah, 7, display their Eastern magazine, and Eagle pride, while sharing a perfect, sunshiny day on the beach in Maui.

6. While on a three-week visit to Australia, Gary Wilson ’75, and his wife, Pimei, brought their magazine to a viewpoint near the Twelve Apostles, a series of limestone stacks off the coastal boundary of Port Campbell National Park.

Where will Eastern magazine be spotted next?

Share a photo of you, our latest issue and the details of where your travels have taken you. We’ll print as many as we can, with extras appearing on our website. Send to easternmagazine@ewu.edu.

1970s

’75 Edmond Bruneau, BA English, is a writer, poet and musician in Walla Walla. His latest work, Soul of the Song, is a collection of lyrics written for more than 90 original works. Bruneau also recently released Singles and Jingles, an album featuring both new songs and advertising jingles he composed for his marketing agency, Creative Consultants.

’79 Rick Becker, BA wellness and movement sciences, a former two-time All American with EWU track and field, won three gold medals in the 70-74 age group at the 2025 World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships in Gainesville, Florida.

1980s

’85 Shawn Claypool, BA clinical psychology, earlier this year was named chief administrative officer at KSPS PBS. A three-decades-long staff member at the station, she previously served as outreach and projects manager.

1990s

’90 Trudi Keck, BA communications, a Los Angeles-based director, writer, producer and editor for television and film, has been with the Hallmark Channel for the previous eight years. Among Keck’s current projects is production of a documentary film chronicling the exploits of her band, Whole Lotta Rosies, which she describes as “the first all-female AC/ DC tribute band ANYWHERE.”

’93 Corey Williams, BA education, will serve as the new principal of Sacajawea Middle School in Lewiston, Idaho. Williams, who previously served as the school’s assistant principal, is known “for his dedication to fostering a positive learning environment and supporting students, staff and families.”

’94 Amy L. Friemel, BA business administration, in March was named senior vice president for loan operations at STCU. Friemel joined STCU in 2018 and, previous to her most recent appointment to its senior leadership team, had served as the credit union’s vice president and director of continuous improvement.

’94, ’95 James Jewell, BA, MA history, in April celebrated the release of his latest book, Waging War for Freedom with the 54th Massachusetts: The Civil War Memoir of John W. M. Appleton. The historic memoir, which Jewell edited with Eugene Van Sickle, was published by the University of Nebraska Press/Potomac Books.

’96 Jennifer Hansen, BA education, in January was named one of Spokane YWCA’s Women of Achievement winners. Hansen was honored with the Education award.

’98 Tracy Ballard, BA business administration, in March was named vice president for human resources and organizational development at STCU. Ballard joined STCU in 2012. In addition to her work with the credit union, Ballard serves on the boards for Spokane Workforce Council and Spokane Angels, a non-profit supporting children and families in the foster care community.

’98 Justin Guillory, BA wellness and movement sciences, in May became president of Bellingham, Washington’s Whatcom Community College. Guillory, whose distinguished record includes more than 20 years of experience in higher education, had previously served for 12 years as president of Northwest Indian College.

2000s

’03 Timothy Ohms, MFA English, one of Eastern Washington’s longest-tenured federal prosecutors, retired at the end of last year. For more than 33 years, Assistant United States Attorney Ohms served as a trial lawyer for the United States Attorney’s Office, bringing his expertise to bear on complex cases involving mental illness, international affairs and extradition, natural and cultural resource crimes, as well as violent crime.

’04 Randi Holm, BS communication studies, this spring earned the “People’s Choice” award for her Holm Made Toffee at the 2025 Oregon Chocolate Festival. The annual festival, held in Ashland, Oregon, featured some 50 exhibitors, artisan chocolatiers and confectioners from throughout the West Coast. It was Holm’s 16th award in 12 years.

’06 Chelsea Gallagher, BA education, in March was named 2025 Secondary Principal of the Year by the Association of Washington School Principals. Gallagher, who serves as principal of Mt. Spokane High School, was recognized for her “dedication to fostering a school culture of inclusivity, academic excellence, and student engagement.”

’08 Mark Lathrop, MBA business administration, and Sarah Lathrop ’07, MBA business administration, are the owners of Liberty Lake Wine Cellars. At the 2025 Seattle Wine Awards, Liberty Lake earned 13 gold medals, the best showing of any winery in the competition.

’09 Matthew Kenna, MPA public administration, late last year was selected to serve as a city council member for the city of Sumner, Washington. Kenna also works as a senior planning and policy analyst for the Washington Department of Transportation.

2010s

’12 Susan Ashe, BA Interdisciplinary Studies, is a longtime public relations executive and former executive director of Spokane County’s Health Sciences and Services Authority. Earlier this spring she was one of four recipients of the Spokane Journal of Business “Icons” award. The awards, according to the Journal, “honor legends of the Inland Northwest business community.”

’12 Leyna Krow, MFA English, in January Krow’s new book of short fiction, Sinkhole, and Other Inexplicable Voids, was published by Penguin Random House. People magazine called her stories “gripping, magical tales [that] span time travel, portals, menacing butterflies, and more.” Krow currently teaches creative writing at Eastern.

’16 Cooper Kupp, in March signed a three-year, $45 million contract to join the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. Perhaps Eastern’s greatest-of-all-time football player, Kupp, a Yakima, Washington native, was formally a first-team All-Pro receiver with the Los Angeles Rams. He earned MVP honors in Super Bowl 56.

2020s

’23 Amy Washington, science, in January was named one of Spokane YWCA’s Women of Achievement winners. Washington was honored with the Science, Technology & Environment Award.

’24 Ben Reich, communication design, in April earned a promotion to the position of social producer for the Seattle Seahawks. He had previously served as a video production contractor with the team.

CHEERS TO 5 YEARS!

Raise a glass and celebrate the 5th anniversary of Eagle Flights—the official EWU Alumni Association Wine Club!

JOIN

THE

EAGLE FLIGHTS WINE CLUB

Enjoy award-winning wines made by Eagles, for Eagles, delivered to your door twice a year (fall and spring). Every sip supports EWU Alumni Legacy Scholarships – over $31,000 raised so far!

Join today: ewu.edu/eagleflights

An ‘Idiosyncratic Genius’

EWU’s Gary Krug was that rare public intellectual who could make his classroom come alive with learning.

GARY KRUG, professor emeritus of communication studies, joined Eastern’s faculty in 2002 and, over the next two decades, served the university with distinction, passion, integrity and humor — all qualities which underscored his success as both an educator and scholar.

Krug’s intellectual curiosity was boundless. He taught undergraduate and graduate courses in media and technology, political communication, cultural studies, global communication, and integrated social science theory. He created dynamic classroom environments where learning came alive.

In addition to teaching, Professor Krug held leadership positions in both his department, where he served for many years as chair, and the United Faculty of Eastern, which he led

2020s

’22, Joseph Spencer, age 42, died on January 27, 2025.

2010s

’16, Patrice Frazier, age 32, died on Dec. 30, 2024.

2000s

’02, Chardelle Carter, age 46, died on Feb. 21, 2025.

’06, Brandon Blair, age 46, died on Dec. 9, 2024.

1990s

’99, Marlene Todd-Lippert, age 72, died on Nov. 22, 2024.

’97, Beverly Jeannot, age 73, died on Dec. 21, 2024.

’94, ’02 Martin Miller, age 69, died on April 20, 2025.

as president and vice president for labormanagement affairs. In both roles he was a tireless advocate for fairness, collaboration and faculty empowerment.

Outside of campus, Krug gained a reputation as a quintessential public intellectual. As the popular voice of the shows “Eat the Press” and “Long Waves” on KYRS Thin Air Community Radio, his commentary brought historical and cultural context to current events.

“Gary was an idiosyncratic genius, wired to cut against the grain and question everything,” says Peter Shields, Eastern’s current chair of communication studies. “He was a gift to those students who were prepared to open their minds.”

Krug was often described as a Renaissance soul: a painter, a guitarist and singer, a lover of

’92, Kay Branch, age 72, died on Jan. 11, 2025.

’90, Keith Humphrey, age 58, died on May 2, 2025

’90, Craig Larsen, age 64, died on Jan. 11, 2025.

1980s

’89, Bob Massong, age 83, died on March 5, 2025.

’88, Chris Fife, age 61, died on Feb. 8, 2025.

’88, Mary Maxson, age 85, died on March 10, 2025.

’86, Karin Stringer, age 60, died on March 29, 2025.

’85, Lynn Zahniser, age 65, died on April 9, 2025.

’84, Dan E. Eyman, age 65, died on Feb. 7, 2024.

nature, a bird watcher, a connoisseur of beer and whiskey, an amateur astronomer and a voracious reader with astonishing recall. “I so enjoyed Gary as a person,” said EWU’s Provost Jonathan Anderson. “His warmth, humor, and that spark of curiosity in everything he did. He was also a truly gifted musician, and I will always remember his love for sharing music as one of the many ways he connected with others.”

Gary James Krug died on March 18, 2025. He was 69 years old.

’84, Denise Whitten, age 62, died on Aug. 18, 2024.

’83, Maria Peeler, age 75, died on Feb. 16, 2025.

’82, George Anderson, age 69, died on Feb. 25, 2025.

’81, Judith Swannack, age 81, died on March 18, 2025.

1970s

’79, Richard Gay, age 77, died on March 23, 2025.

’79, Sharon Mellis, age 69, died on April 25, 2025.

’79, Susan McPike, age 67, died on March 14, 2025.

76, George Moon, Jr., age 71, died on Dec. 9, 2024.

’73, ’93, Christie Anderson, age 73, died on Jan. 15, 2025.

’73, ’78, Mike Dowling, age 73, died on Feb. 7, 2025.

’73, Michael Baker, age 73, died on April 18, 2025

’70, Gary Fisher, age 80, died on April 14, 2025.

1960s

’68, Ray Bradley, age 78, died on April 17, 2025.

’63, Frank Demiero, age 84, died on Feb. 19, 2025.

’63, Frederick Neumann, age 85, died on Feb. 16, 2025.

’62, ’67, Marjean Scheele, age 84, died on Nov. 30, 2024.

’61, ’78, Irene Clise, age 84, died on Feb. 5, 2025.

’61, Robert Rubenser, age 81, died on July 18, 2024.

1950s

’59, ’62, Dick Harris, age 87, died on Jan. 16, 2025.

’58, Frank A. Treibel, age 91, died on Nov. 12, 2024.

’58, ’67, Ray Tupling, age 93, died on April 4, 2025.

’52, Neal Gmeiner, age 94, died on Feb. 15, 2025.

Faculty and Staff

Jim Besse, died on April 28, 2025. Besse served EWU for 26 years in facilities planning. While still in his 20s, Besse was injured in an accident that left him permanently disabled. He refused to let any physical disability hold him back, living a life of notable professional and personal achievement, including work on Spokane’s Expo ’74 Management Group and service on Washington’s Governor’s Committee for the Handicapped.

Shirley Dacey, died on July 19, 2024. After joining the university as a secretary with EWU’s School of Psychology, Dacey worked with students to ensure that their Eastern experience was the best it could possibly be. She retired in April 1998 after 20 years of service.

Larry Davis, died on Feb. 2, 2025. Already a nationally prominent business consultant, Davis joined Eastern’s faculty in 2003 as a senior lecturer in management. During his subsequent 20 years of service, Davis’ passion for teaching and student success influenced the lives and careers of countless young people. He retired in 2023.

Ernie Gilmour, died on Dec. 14, 2024. An emeritus professor of geology at EWU, Gilmour was an internationally respected paleontologist. “He was a great teacher and scholar who stayed active in research long after his retirement,” said David Bowman, dean of Eastern’s College of STEM. “But most importantly, he was a warm, friendly person who welcomed everyone to join his passion for the Earth sciences.” Gilmour retired in 2011 after 43 years of service.

Dolores “Dee” Martin, died on Dec. 14, 2024. At a time when few women held academic positions in the business schools of universities, Martin rose through the ranks at the University of Nebraska to become that institution’s first female full professor of economics. She joined EWU’s faculty in 2001, serving as dean of the College of Business & Public Administration for nine years. She retired in July 2010.

Tom Trulove, died on Dec. 2, 2024. Trulove, an emeritus professor of economics, joined EWU’s faculty in 1969. His more than four decades at Eastern were distinguished by both noteworthy scholarly achievements and selfless public service. As an educator and a multipleterm Cheney mayor, Trulove “profoundly impacted students, colleagues and the community,” said Germán M. Izón, a professor and chair of economics at EWU. During his long career, Trulove, who retired in 2013, received both of the university’s highest honors: its President’s Medal and Trustees’ Medal.

YEAR REUNION CELEBRATION

Nurturing Talent: Created to honor Ronald E. McNair, the heroic astronaut and physicist who perished in the 1986 Challenger disaster, for the past 30 years EWU’s federally funded TRIO/McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program has helped dozens of talented first-generation, low-income and otherwise underrepresented undergraduates prepare for graduate programs that lead to careers as professors and professional researchers. This image, made in the early 2000s, shows McNair Scholar Yolanda Valencia ’02 during a student research presentation. Valencia, now a professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, completed her doctorate at the University of Washington.

Photo Courtesy of EWU TRIO/McNair.

JULY 20 EWU DAY AT THE MARINERS

AUG. 2 EWU NIGHT AT SPOKANE VELOCITY

AUG. 8 EWU DAY AT SILVERWOOD

AUG. 14 RED TURF TAKEOVER @ ONE SPOKANE STADIUM

AUG. 30 RED TURF NATION ON THE ROAD @ INCARNATE WORD (SAN ANTONIO, TX)

SEPT. 5 RED TURF NATION ON THE ROAD @ BOISE STATE

SEPT. 23 PASS THROUGH THE PILLARS

SEPT. 29 - OCT. 5 EWU HOMECOMING OCT. 17-18 50-YEAR REUNION

Eagles! Connect with us, near and far! Keep up-to-date on all events: ewu.edu/alumnievents