Winter 2025

In this issue:

This special calendar edition of the Mountaineer Magazine celebrates Eastern Oregon University month by month, highlighting the people, programs, and generosity that strengthen Oregon’s Rural University and expand opportunity across the region.

• Celebrating Possibility: The EOU Foundation announces a record $1.3 million in scholarships, bringing students and donors together to demonstrate how generosity expands access, fuels achievement, and transforms lives.
• Hope Has a Hometown: EOU’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling program prepares graduates to meet urgent rural behavioral health needs, empowering professionals like Kate Gekeler, ’22, ’25, to serve the communities they call home.
• From ’55 to Forever: Alumnus Bob Peshall, ’55, turns gratitude into legacy through a planned gift that will strengthen music programs and create new scholarships for future Mountaineers.
• No Place for Hunger: Campus and community partners rally to address food insecurity, ensuring students have the stability and support they need to thrive academically and personally.

And more: reflections from emeritus faculty, a proud military leadership tradition, student voices shaping university governance, Homecoming celebrations, and stories of alumni and donors investing in EOU’s future.