Alumni Stories
News articles
Mounties, Alumni, and Friends show their support for EOU
“Maya and I support the EOU foundation because we know how important the success of the university and its students are to our local communities. As alumni, EOU has had a huge impact on both of our lives and we feel an obligation to pay it forward to help current and future students develop and...
Welcome Home Mounties
Two new members of University Advancement returned to their alma mater to further engage alumni and enhance student experiences through the EOU Foundation. Michelle Mudder, ’14, Assistant Director of Annual Giving & Alumni Engagement Q: What’s something you are working on that you’re excited about? A: Growing our Alumni social media presence and continuing to...
An Ambassador for Change
How an EOU education instilled a sense of belonging and inspired social consciousness Doctor Abio Ayeliya, ’08, was selected by the EOU Alumni Association as the 2022 Distinguished Alumni for his work helping others and he continues to affect change years after his graduation from Eastern Oregon University. The young man, who once went to...
The Ripple Effect of a Musical Legacy
Only recently has Duane Boyer started thinking about his legacy after five decades in the classroom. After graduating from Eastern Oregon College cum laude in 1969 the Eastern Oregon University guitar and banjo instructor was hired in 1973 to teach music. Eastern Oregon State College would not change its name until 1997 when it became...
Far From Home
Two EOU alumni, each with their own stories, found themselves teaching at the same school system in the remote Alaskan Bush Conrad Woodhead, a 2002 EOU alum, was looking for a one-of-a-kind experience and found it in remote Alaska. “I was in this village, a remote whaling community with a totally subsisting lifestyle. You can...
Every room a classroom
Room 214 in Inlow Hall is not a classroom, but it’s where two recent graduates learned critical skills, discovered mentors and applied theoretical knowledge. Briana Rosenkranz, ’20, and Samantha Wegermann, ’20 and ’21, earned degrees in business from EOU, while gaining real-world experience through on-campus jobs and internships with the university’s marketing team. After graduation,...
A student’s teacher, and a teacher’s student
Jose de Jesus Melendez went to college at the age of 27 in order to expand his career opportunities. By the time he graduated, education was both the journey and the destination. Born and raised in a remote village in Mexico with no electricity or services of any kind, Melendez said he was barely literate...
Kindergarten Queen
Katy Nesbitt Somewhere between a miscommunication and the eagerness to start a new career, Lynette Longchamps found herself teaching kindergarten, a job she vowed to never have. After graduating from EOU with a bachelor;s degree in education Longchamps interviewed for a third grade position in Shoshone, Idaho. “After the interview I was told the job...
A legacy of care
Caring professors and coaches made a lasting impact on Wilda Stratton, ’72, and now she’s determined to pay it forward. Stratton and her husband Marcus Watt have set up a $2 million estate gift to the EOU Foundation that will benefit women in STEM fields and student-athletes. Adding this legacy to their will ensures a...
Never give up
Never losing sight of the meaning of college education, Robert ‘Bob’ Stubbs was recognized for his lifelong pursuit of a degree with the title of 2021 Honorary Alumnus.
55 by 55
EOU Alum Joan Gilbert, a graphic artist who lives in Enterprise, is seeking to expand her artistic ability while completing a major project that will be three years in the making.
Stepping up
When Wandering Dragon Productions set out to make a horror movie in 2019, founder Amanda Rae Jones, ’01, knew the horror genre and community was ready for something different.
