From the President – May 22, 2024

From the President – May 22, 2024

Dear EOU Community:

This time of year is crazy for all of us. We’re pushing to finish up a year of supporting students, who are in a mad dash to the finish line. I wish each of you moments of peace and serenity as we make our way to commencement!

I’m grateful for everyone’s efforts, which continue to wow me, including:

• The EOU Foundation celebrated a major milestone over Blue and Gold Weekend. Next year they will be able to deliver over $1,000,000 in scholarships to our students. As one student shared, gifts to the foundation “do more than fund education; they fuel dreams, they build futures, and most importantly, they change lives.” I’m grateful to all of our donors for their generosity, and our foundation board for effectively managing those funds.
• EOU was awarded second place for Most Meals Per Employee at the Governor’s State Food Employee’s Food Drive Awards. Contributions from Eastern Oregon University’s faculty and staff totaled 83 pounds of food and $3,984.00 equal to 12,014 meals. This translates to each participating employee helping to feed 34 people. Incredible!
• Coach Ben Welch achieved a major milestone in our already incredibly successful history of participation in track & field. Our team won its fourth consecutive men’s track & field championship and first ever for the women! The women have come in second 11 times. Ben was named “Coach of the Year” for both the men and the women, marking his twenty-eighth time receiving this honor within the CCC. Student Hunter Nichols was named “Track Athlete of the Meet.” 
• Congratulations to GO STEM for receiving an Oregon Community Foundation Oracle STEM Education grant of $65,000.00 for Eastern Oregon University. This grant will support the Mobile Maker Lab PreK-12 in-school STEM/STEAM and Career Connected Learning programming, curriculum, and outreach. Well done!
• We had an excellent Blue and Gold Weekend, with lots of activities for our alumni athletes, including golf, soccer and football! The Bleed Blue, Give Gold campaign to support EOU athletic teams in achieving their fundraising goals received such amazing support –  about $60,000 has been raised so far!  

Some updates on my efforts: 

On behalf of the Oregon Council of Presidents, I presented the 2025-27 Consolidated Funding Request to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s Funding and Achievement Subcommittee on May 8. As many of you know, Oregon continues to underfund higher education, with the latest SHEEO report ranking Oregon at 44th in the nation. I hope that in the coming years we can work together to increase investment. Afterall, higher education remains a fundamental driver of our democracy, our economy, our health outcomes, and our passions, enriching the state, nation, and our minds. 

EOU hosted the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) Chair, Ms. Sandy Rowe for a morning of meetings, which was quickly followed by our governing board meetings. Commissioner Rowe and EOU trustees had an opportunity to engage with students during Spring Symposium, which was really amazing. I’ve also met with our Foundation and Alumni boards to learn more about their work and to update them on the university, as well as some social time. VP Tim Seydel and I met with legislators in Salem and attended another OCOP meeting. Senator Merkely visited Cove over the weekend and we had the opportunity to meet with him as well. We like it when they come out East! After attending the NAIA Cascade Collegiate Conference for the Council of Presidents in Portland, Berenice Chavez, Kerry Thompson and I attended the Hermiston Hispanic Advisory Committee to continue making connections. 

The EOU Foundation’s Celebration of Scholarships event was packed! It was a room full of energized EOU donors and grateful students. We had another amazing evening at the Island Magic Lu’au & Show. I enjoyed listening to Dr. Colin Andrews’ research presentation on heme proteins and was impressed by the number of avid students who attended. Finally, I popped in on the InterMountain Educational Service District’s Crystal Apple Awards, and of course, we held our own Faculty Appreciation event—the testimonials from students were very moving. 

Thank you for continuing to support our students. We’re doing great work!!

Sincerely,

Kelly Ryan, Ph.D.
President