Eastern Washington University

Eastern Washington University

Former names	Eastern Washington State College (1961–1977) Eastern Washington College of Education (1937–1961) State Normal School at Cheney (1889–1937) Benjamin P. Cheney Academy (1882–1889)[1]
Type	Public university
Established	April 3, 1882; 142 years ago (April 3, 1882)[2]
Accreditation	NWCCU
Academic affiliations	COP[3]
Endowment	$32.1 million (2023)[4]
Budget	$223.3 million (2022)[5]
President	Shari McMahan
Provost	Jonathan Anderson
Academic staff	802
Administrative staff	830
Students	10,915 (2022)[6]
Location	Cheney , Washington , United States 47°29′29″N 117°34′59″W
Campus	Fringe town[7], 300 acres (120 ha)
Other campuses[8]	Spokane
Newspaper	The Easterner
Colors	Red and white[9]
Nickname	Eagles
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I FCS – Big Sky
Mascot	Swoop
Website	www.ewu.edu
Washington State Normal School at Cheney
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Showalter Hall at Eastern Washington University, viewed northwest from 5th Street
NRHP reference No.	92001287
Added to NRHP	October 1, 1992
Location in Washington (state) Show map of Washington (state) Eastern Washington University (USA West) Show map of USA West

Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington, United States.^[10] It shares its satellite campus in Spokane, Washington with Washington State University.

Founded in 1882, the university is academically divided into four colleges: the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences; the College of Health Science & Public Health; the College of Professional Programs; and the College of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics.

History

The city of Cheney, then known as Depot Springs, was surveyed in 1880 along the tracks of the Northern Pacific Railroad;^[11]: 3 expressman Benjamin Pierce Cheney was a member of that railroad's board of directors. Officials renamed the city for Cheney by October 1880,^[11]: 6 prompting him to donate $10,000 to establish the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy in 1882 on an 8-acre (3.2 ha) site at present-day Showalter Hall.^[11]: 8 At the time, the school was a private institution losing pupils to the competing public school district; after Washington was admitted to the union in 1889, the Enabling Act allowed the establishment of normal schools in the new state and in 1890 the school was renamed the State Normal School at Cheney to train future elementary school teachers.^{[11]: 22–24} The first class of teachers began their studies on October 13, 1890, under the administration of W. W. Gillette (principal) and William J. Sutton (vice principal).^[12]

Pomeroy Building, which served as the temporary home of Cheney Normal School for 1893–96 (photographed in 2015)

The campus was almost totally destroyed twice by fire in 1891 and 1912, but was rebuilt each time. On August 27, 1891, while the original 1882 Cheney Academy building was being expanded, the first fire destroyed the building and unfinished addition,^[11]: 9 and classes were moved to the Pomeroy building in downtown Cheney temporarily. Sutton took over as principal in 1892 and spearheaded an appropriation of $60,000 in 1895 from the state for a new building, completed in 1896 at the site of the former Academy building.^[11]: 30 Sutton resigned in 1897, and shortly afterward, Governor John R. Rogers vetoed funding for the fledgling school, forcing it to cancel classes for the 1897–98 school year. Locals provided enough funding to operate the school in 1898, and state funding resumed in 1899.^[12]

Noah D. Showalter was elected president of the Normal School in 1911, just before the second fire destroyed the 1896 building on April 24, 1912. Like Sutton before him, Showalter urged the state to pass an appropriation of $300,000 to pay for a new building; after Governor Ernest Lister vetoed the appropriation, the veto was overridden by the legislature under the leadership of Sutton, then serving as a State Senator.^[12]

Julius Zittel was selected to design the new administration building, which was dedicated on May 22, 1915, and later renamed to Showalter Hall in 1940. The Herculean Pillars, at the intersection of 5th and College, were also completed in 1915, using materials salvaged from the 1896 Normal School building, and served as the entrance to the school for those arriving from the downtown train station.^[12]

Cheney Normal School continued to grow, opening its first dormitories in 1916 (Monroe Hall), 1920 (Senior Hall), and 1923 (Sutton Hall); in 1929, it completed the President's House (now University House), to serve as the residence for the school's president. All were designed by Zittel.^[12] A new building to house the Training School for future teachers was opened in 1937 and named Martin Hall to honor Governor and local resident Clarence Martin.^[12] That same year, Cheney Normal School was renamed to Eastern Washington College of Education. On June 4, 1940, the new campus library was opened as Hargreaves Hall (designed by Rasque), and the former administration building was formally dedicated to Noah Showalter.^[12]

Hargreaves Hall (photographed in 2015)

The school grew quickly following World War II and became Eastern Washington State College in 1961. During this era, Eastern added various graduate and undergraduate degree programs. In 1977, the school's name was changed to Eastern Washington University by the Washington State Legislature.^[13]

In 1992, the core of the campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[14][15]

In July 2024, amid a continuing drop in enrollment and inability to differentiate itself with the other regional universities in Washington (Western Washington University and Central Washington University), university president Shari McMahan announced that EWU would rebrand to a polytechnic university, emphasizing applied and experiential learning over theoretical discussions. The change drew criticism from students and faculty in the humanities, fearing that arts-related programs would be reduced or overlooked in the change.^[16] The university plans to expand internship opportunities and work with employers to offer more degrees for in-demand fields.^[17]

Campus locations

The main campus of Eastern Washington University is located in Cheney. A branch campus, known as the Riverpoint Campus is located nearby in Spokane and is shared with Washington State University.^{[citation needed]}

EWU also offers degree programs located in Bellevue, Everett, Seattle, Longview, and Vancouver (Washington).^[18]

Academics

EWU offers over 100 fields of study, 10 master's degrees, seven graduate certificates, 55 graduate programs of study and an applied doctoral program of physical therapy.^[19] A master's in social work is offered in Everett and Vancouver, and a master's in education is available in Kent. A creative writing Master of Fine Arts, Interdisciplinary Studies, Child & Family Outreach Program, Communication Studies, Social Work Program (part-time Master's), Journalism, Alcohol & Drug Studies, and Counseling Education & Developmental Psychology programs are offered in Spokane.^{[citation needed]}

Admissions

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifies the university as Inclusive, since the university admitted eighty-two percent of those who applied to be freshmen in 2010. The average incoming freshman had a combined SAT score of 970 and a high-school weighted grade-point average (GPA) of 3.17 in 2010. 86% of freshmen in 2010 were from Washington.^{[citation needed]}

Rankings

Academic rankings
Regional
U.S. News & World Report[20]	53

Research institutes & centers

Eastern Washington University is home to a number of research institutes and centers, including:

• Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis—created in 2002 to "provide data and analysis about a variety of factors in the region that will be useful for businesses, communities and others as they plan for the future."
• Women's and Gender Education Center—The Women’s and Gender Education (WAGE) Center supports the Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies (GWSS) program’s efforts in offering students the skills to critically and actively engage with the world.^[21]
• Eisenhower Center/International Field Study—A program designed for students to travel abroad while earning college credit.
• English Language Institute—ELI.
• Center for Farm Health & Safety—Conducts research and demonstration programs involving Health and Safety of Farm-based population groups.
• Fisheries Research Center— Performs a great variety of salmonid restoration studies including but not limited to: diet studies, population modeling, telemetry, bone regressions, bioenergetic modeling, water quality assessment, ecosystem modeling, surgical implantation of radio, acoustic and ultrasonic tags, and tributary sampling.^{[citation needed]}

Student life

Student body composition as of May 2, 2022

Race and ethnicity[22]	Total
White	58%	58
Hispanic	19%	19
Other[a]	13%	13
Black	4%	4
Asian	3%	3
Foreign national	3%	3
Native American	1%	1
Pacific Islander	1%	1
Economic diversity
Low-income[b]	43%	43
Affluent[c]	57%	57

Pence Union Building (PUB)

The Pence Union Building, or PUB, is the community center for Eastern Washington University.^{[citation needed]}

University Recreation Center (URC)

The University Recreation Center (URC) is a three-level 117,699-square-foot (10,934.6 m²) recreational facility that was opened on campus in 2008. The facility has a 19,455-square-foot (1,807.4 m²) multi-purpose arena that can operate as an ice rink and general-purpose sports floor, 30-foot (9.1 m) indoor climbing wall with 11 routes (one simulating ice climbing) and two bouldering walls, an indoor parking garage, 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m²) fitness center and gymnasium, campus dining facility known as "The Roost" and a two-Lane 200-meter running track.^{[citation needed]}

The Easterner

The Easterner is the student newspaper of Eastern Washington University. The paper is distributed in print form during the fall, winter, and spring quarters on a weekly basis. The Easterner maintains a website ^[23] and Facebook page,^[24] both independent from the university. The first student newspaper, The State Normal School Journal, was first in 1916. The weekly publication changed its name to The Easterner in 1951.^[25]

Student organizations and Greek life

The student body's government, the Associated Students of Eastern Washington University, dates to 1919–1920, and organizes the work of a wide range of student committees. The Office of Student Activities oversees more than 100 student clubs and organizations on campus that cater to a wide variety of interests and activities.^{[citation needed]} EWU is the only regional university in Washington that has an active Greek system on campus.

Athletics

Roos Field

Main article: Eastern Washington Eagles

Eastern Washington University offers club, intramural, and varsity sports. Its twelve varsity men's and women's sports teams compete in the Big Sky Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as the Eastern Washington Eagles. The most-prominent athletics facilities on campus are Roos Field, Reese Court and the Jim Thorpe Fieldhouse. EWU has three national championships, including football (2010 – NCAA Div. I FCS), wrestling (1977 – NAIA) and men's cross country (1982 – NCAA Div. II).^{[citation needed]}

FIRST Robotics Competition events have been held there, including the Pacific Northwest District regional, since 2014.^[26] The venue has since been switched to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum (Portland, Oregon).^[27]

Notable alumni

Main article: List of Eastern Washington University alumni

References

1. "A History of Eastern Washington University". ewu.org. Eastern Washington University. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
2. "EWU – Facts at a Glance". ewu.edu.
3. "About -Council of Presidents".
4. As of July 31, 20223. Asset Class Performance (PDF) (Report). Retrieved December 9, 2023.
5. "2022 FINANCIAL REPORT" (PDF).
6. "Student Enrollment & Demographics (Old Factbook)".
7. "IPEDS-Eastern Washington University".
8. "Locations".
9. EWU Identity Standards (PDF). Retrieved September 1, 2023.
10. "Eastern Washington University is The Region's Polytechnic". ewu.edu. Eastern Washington University. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
11. Oliphant, J. Orin (1924). History of the State Normal School at Cheney, Washington. Inland-American Printing Company. Retrieved December 30, 2019. Alternative link, transcribed to HTML
12. "National Register Information System – Washington State Normal School at Cheney Historic District (#92001287)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
13. Davis, Hugh (June 14, 1977). "Eastern changes few". Spokane Daily Chronicle. p. 19.
14. Emerson, Stephen (April 1992), National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Washington State Normal School at Cheney Historic District (PDF), retrieved February 5, 2015.
15. National Park Service (October 9, 1992), Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 9/28/92 through 10/08/92 (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on May 14, 2009, retrieved February 5, 2015
16. "EWU rebrands itself polytechnic, while shifting its definition | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
17. Coenjaerts, Nick (September 24, 2024). "Eastern Washington transitions to polytechnic model for workforce readiness". KXLY kxly.com. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
18. "EWU Off Campus". Retrieved November 1, 2018.
19. "EWU – Programs by College/School". ewu.edu.
20. "2024-2025 Best Regional Universities Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. September 23, 2024. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
21. "Women's and Gender Education Center | Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies | College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences | Eastern Washington University". Retrieved May 26, 2024.
22. "College Scorecard: Eastern Washington University". United States Department of Education. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
23. "The Easterner: The independent, student-run news site of Eastern Washington University". Retrieved May 12, 2024.
24. "@TheEasterner". The Easterner. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
25. Perry, Rosie (October 6, 2016). "Editor's Note". The Easterner Vol. 100. No. 2. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
26. "The Blue Alliance". The Blue Alliance. February 28, 2014. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
27. "2024 Pacific Northwest FIRST District Championship". The Blue Alliance. April 3, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2023.

Notes

1. Other consists of Multiracial Americans & those who prefer to not say.
2. The percentage of students who received an income-based federal Pell grant intended for low-income students.
3. The percentage of students who are a part of the American middle class at the bare minimum.

External links

• Official website
• Eastern Washington University Athletics website