Winter 2025
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.
Featured Stories
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No Place for Hunger
Across Oregon, nearly 600,000 people face hunger. On college campuses, that need often hides in plain sight: behind backpacks, in late-night study sessions, in students quietly stretching groceries to make it through the week. At EOU, where many students are first-generation, rural, working part-time, or raising families, meeting basic needs isn’t occasional. It is a…
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Celebrating Possibilities – $1.3 Million in Foundation Scholarships
The Eastern Oregon University Foundation’s annual Celebration of Scholarships was a highlight of Blue and Gold Weekend, bringing students and donors together in a show of gratitude, community, and academic achievement. The event also featured a major announcement: the Foundation would be offering more than $1.3 million in scholarships to EOU students in the 2025-26…
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Stepping Up to the Plate
March arrives with the rhythm of spring training—a season of sharpening skills, finding your footing, and stepping back onto the field. For former Mountaineer Steve Carter ’08, that spirit mirrors the way Eastern Oregon University shaped his life, defined his friendships, and inspired his desire to give back. Carter first arrived in La Grande on…