From the President – May 28, 2025

From the President – May 28, 2025

What we do is worth celebrating!

Faculty and staff are excelling at teaching, researching, and providing services. Here is the report we sent to the Board of Trustees this week that outlines many of these achievements. I am proud of all the amazing things we’ve been doing! Take a look and send a celebratory note to one of the amazing people or units making progress!

EOU has been “event-tastic” the last few weeks. Some highlights included our Celebration of Scholarships – an event to honor the EOU Foundation’s donors and the student scholarship recipients. This year, the EOU Foundation will offer over $1,300,000 in scholarships for the first time. Good news for all of our students! We had an incredible production of Fiddler on the Roof. I loved seeing our students grow in their performances, and our community members enjoyed the show both on and off stage!  We held the ribbon cutting of the restored Grand Staircase, the All Student Juried Art Exhibit, and celebrated Blue and Gold weekend. Among our larger events was the 50th Annual Powwow. The Spring Symposium was particularly inspiring, especially talking with students about their projects, showcasing all the fine work they do.

A tremendous amount of work goes into each of these events. I’m grateful to everyone who was behind these moments, creating memories and wonderful experiences.  

Of course, it wouldn’t be May without a ton of meetings! We held our Alumni and Foundation Board meetings, and our Board of Trustees met, all to plan and make substantial decisions for EOU’s future. I met with the Council of Presidents for the Cascades Collegiate Conference and learned about NAIA’s new “Right Way to Play Campaign.” Check it out! I had a lovely meeting with the Adler Foundation, a charitable organization that has donated over $3,000,000 in scholarships to Baker City and North Powder students attending EOU since 1999. Wow! We held our most recent University Updates Town Hall to discuss the Great Colleges to Work For results and actions we’ve taken to improve the university.  And I had the opportunity to meet with a few superintendents, our Eastern Oregon community college presidents, and our shared governance bodies. 

At present, we are predicting 60 more graduates walking in Commencement this year than last.  I cannot think of any better news than that. Thank you to everyone. All of us make this possible! 

I am grateful for all the support Coach Christian and her staff provided to our softball team during the NAIA World Series. They faced some tough competitions in high heat and humidity, and stayed focused during an ever-changing schedule due to more severe weather. Despite the challenges, they finished strong and represented EOU with pride. Congratulations on placing third at the NAIA Softball College World Series (highest finish in program history)!

The men’s and women’s track & field teams had a strong showing at the NAIA National Championships, held in Marion, Indiana. In the team standings, the men’s team finished tied for seventh place, and the women’s team placed tied for 17th. The Mounties had seven All-Americans! Congratulations to the team, and thank you to Coach Welch and his staff for all your work with our student-athletes.

Sincerely,