Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universi ...

in Cheney, Washington. It also offers programs at a campus in EWU Spokane at the Riverpoint Campus and other campus locations throughout the state. 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;Alternative link, transcribed to HTML
/ref> expressman Benjamin Pierce Cheney was a member of that railroad's board of directors. Officials renamed the city for Cheney by October 1880, prompting him to donate $10,000 to establish the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy in 1882 on an site at present-day Showalter Hall. 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 school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

s in the new state and in 1890 the school was renamed the State Normal School at Cheney to train future elementary school teachers. 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). Pomeroy Building - Cheney Washington

The campus was almost totally destroyed twice by fire in 1891 and

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ** German geophysicist Alfred ...

, 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, 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. 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. 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 Ernest Lister (June 15, 1870June 14, 1919) was an American politician who served as the eighth governor of Washington from 1913 to 1919. Biography Born in Halifax, England, Lister immigrated with his family in 1884, to be near his uncle, who w ...

vetoed the appropriation, the veto was overridden by the legislature under the leadership of Sutton, then serving as a State Senator. 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. 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. After Zittel's retirement, Charles I. Carpenter and George M. Rasque were hired to design a replacement for the Training School, where student teachers would practice teaching; the new building, dedicated on April 9, 1937, was named Martin Hall to honor Governor and local resident Clarence Martin. Also 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. Hargreaves Hall - Eastern Washington University

Hargreaves Hall - Eastern Washington University

The school grew quickly in size 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 for the final time to Eastern Washington University by the Washington State Legislature. In 1992, the core of the campus was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as the Washington State Normal School at Cheney Historic District..

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 Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

. EWU also offers degree programs located in Bellevue, Everett,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

, Longview, and Vancouver (Washington).

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. 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 A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or 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.

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.

Research institutes & centers

Eastern Washington University is home to a number of research institutes and centers, including the following: *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." Headed by Patrick Jones, Ph.D. *Women's & Gender Studies Center—

Women's Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

programs at EWU empower women to achieve dignity and justice through education, scholarship, and social change. *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.

Student life

Pence Union Building (PUB)

The Pence Union Building, or PUB, is the community center for Eastern Washington University.

University Recreation Center (URC)

The University Recreation Center, or URC, is a Three-Level Recreational Facility that was opened on campus in 2008. The facility has a multi-purpose arena that can operate as an ice rink and general purpose sports floor, Indoor Climbing Wall with 11 routes (1 simulated Ice Climbing) & 2 bouldering walls, Indoor Parking Garage (40 Metered Spaces), fitness Center & gymnasium, campus dining facility known as "The Roost" and a 2-Lane 200 Meter Running Track. The cost to build the URC was $26.3 million, an amount which was jointly funded by the university and by students through a $65 per quarter activity fee. $28.6 million in revenue bonds were issued by the university in order to build the facility and pay the costs of issuance. The university funds the center's annual operating costs as part of its general operating budget.

Campus housing

Eastern Washington University has eight residence halls. Brewster Hall was built in 2002 and houses students 19 years of age and older. Brewster is located on second street in downtown Cheney. Dressler Hall was built in 1966. It is located behind the Pence Union Building (PUB) and is the closest hall to the Phase and Athletic Center. The majority of residents are freshmen. This hall and Pearce Hall, located adjacent to each other, hold a prominent and unique place in the EWU skyline. Built similarly to one another, though not identical, these twin halls are thirteen-story cylinders that rise prominently over the campus and the Cheney community. Dryden Hall was built in 1965 and is located one block from the Pence Union Building. This hall caters to residents 21 and over. This hall is not currently operational. Louise Anderson Hall, also known as LA Hall is centrally located directly across from the Pence Union Building (PUB) along Elm Street. The building was remodeled in 1999. Morrison Hall was built in 1970 and is located about one block from the center of campus. Morrison Hall is not currently operational, as of the 2020/21 educational year. Pearce Hall was the first of the twin circular towers to be constructed in 1964, and is the largest residence hall on campus. Pearce Hall is a community which is composed primarily of first-year students. snyamncut (pronounced ) is EWU's newest residence hall. The name is the Salish word for ''place of gathering'' and was adopted to honor the Spokane Tribe. Streeter Hall opened in 1968; on the north side of campus, it is near three other residence halls and approximately one block from the Pence Union Building. EWU also has apartments. The two apartment complexes are Anna Maria and the Townhouses Apartments.

''The Easterner''

''The Easterner'' is the student newspaper of Eastern Washington University. ''The Easterner'' provides the latest campus news, sports and opinions to students, faculty, alumni and the surrounding community. All content in ''The Easterner'' is either produced or chosen by students from the university. ''The Easterner'' is distributed in print form during the fall, winter and spring quarters on a weekly basis throughout the Cheney campus, Cheney business district, and the Riverpoint Campus. ''The Easterner'' maintains a website and Facebook page, both independent from the university. The first student newspaper, "The State Normal School Journal", was published on October 10, 1916. The weekly publication changed its name to "The Easterner" in 1951.

Student organizations and Greek life

The student body's government, the Associated Students of Eastern Washington University, has been in existence since 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. EWU is the only regional university in Washington that has an active Greek system on campus. As of the 2015–2016 school year, there are five IFC Fraternities, four NPC Sororities, five NPHC Chapters and eight NALFO Chapters that are currently active. The five IFC Fraternities are Beta Theta Pi, Pi Lambda Phi, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Kappa Sigma and

Phi Delta Theta Phi Delta Theta (), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, along with Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. ...

. The four NPC Sororities are

Alpha Omicron Pi Alpha Omicron Pi (, AOII, Alpha O) is an international women's fraternity founded on January 2, 1897, at Barnard College on the campus of Columbia University in New York City. The main archive URL iThe Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage "AOI ...

, Alpha Phi, Alpha Xi Delta, and Gamma Phi Beta. The eight NALFO Organizations are

Lambda Theta Alpha Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. () is a Latina-based sorority, established in 1975 at Kean University by seventeen women of Latin, Caribbean, and European descent as a support system for women in higher education. According to their websit ...

Kappa Delta Chi Kappa Delta Chi Sorority, Inc. (), also known as K-D Chi (pronounced Kay-Dee-Kie) is a Greek letter, intercollegiate Latina founded sorority in the United States. KDChi is a 501(c)(7) organization that prides itself on graduating all of its membe ...

Gamma Alpha Omega Gamma Alpha Omega () is a Latina-founded Greek letter intercollegiate sorority, established in 1993 on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. The sorority has 28 collegiate chapters and 13 alumnae chapters. History Gamma Alpha ...

, Sigma Lambda Gamma, Alpha Pi Sigma, Sigma Lambda Beta, Lambda Theta Phi, and Omega Delta Phi. The five NPHC Organizations are Delta Sigma Theta,

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved in ...

Phi Beta Sigma Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1914, by three young Afr ...

, Zeta Phi Beta, and Iota Phi Theta.

Athletics

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 The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

's Division I as the

Eastern Washington Eagles The Eastern Washington Eagles are the intercollegiate varsity athletic teams that represent Eastern Washington University, located in Cheney, southwest of Spokane. A member of the Big Sky Conference, EWU's athletic program comprises five men's ...

. The most-prominent athletics facilities on campus are

Roos Field Roos Field is an outdoor college football stadium in the northwest United States, on the campus of Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington, southwest of Spokane. It is the home venue of the Eastern Washington Eagles of the Big Sky ...

Reese Court Reese Court is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Cheney, Washington, on the campus of Eastern Washington University. It is home to the EWU Eagles basketball team and replaced Eastern Washington Fieldhouse in 1975. It was the host venue of th ...

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). The

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

held the majority of their summer training camps at EWU, from 1976 to 1985 and again from 1997 to 2006, from late July to mid August.

Notable alumni

* Tom Ackerman, former NFL center *

Ernie Afaganis Ernie Afaganis (born ) is a Canadian sports broadcaster, known for his work at CBC Sports. He was born in Lethbridge, Alberta. Career After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Eastern Washington University, Afaganis returned to Alberta where ...

, Canadian sportscaster, particularly for

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...

Lamont Brightful Lamont Eugene Brightful (born January 29, 1979) is an American football player. Prior to attending Eastern Washington University, Brightful graduated from Mariner High School in Everett, Washington, where he was a standout defensive back, wid ...

, former NFL

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

* Demitrius Bronson, former NFL running back for the

* R.W. Buzzard, judge * Jesse Chatman, former

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Th ...

for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

of the

* Dave Christensen, offensive coordinator at the

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* Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Native American activist and writer *

Colin Cowherd Colin Murray Cowherd (born January 6, 1964) is an American sports media personality. Cowherd began his broadcasting career as sports director of Las Vegas television station KVBC and as a sports anchor on several other stations before joining ...

, host of The Herd with Colin Cowherd on FS1 and I Heart radio *

Chris Crutcher Chris Crutcher (born July 17, 1946) is an American novelist and a family therapist. He received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2000 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens. Biography Crutcher w ...

, author of young adult novels * Dan Curley, former NFL tight end and fullback * Terry Davis, author * Ramsey Denison, documentary filmmaker, director, producer, editor * Wendy J. Fox, author * Thomas Hampson, Grammy-nominated opera singer * Taiwan Jones, NFL running back for the

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* Brandon Kaufman, former NFL wide receiver for the

* Edward Kienholz, installation artist * Cooper Kupp, NFL wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams *

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, former CFL All-Star * Austin McBroom,

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star * Jim McElwain, former head football coach at the

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* Todd McFarlane, creator of the ''

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series and former co-owner of the NHL's

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* Launi Meili, gold medalist in women's three-position smallbore rifle shooting at the 1992 Summer Olympics *

Erik Meyer Erik Meyer (born December 28, 1982) is a former professional American football quarterback. He was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at Eastern Washington. He was also a member of th ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

for Spokane Shock * Aaron Olson, former Australian NBL player for the New Zealand Breakers *

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, former NFL wide receiver * Ryan Phillips, former CFL All-Star * Margaret Rayburn, educator, member of the

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, former NFL offensive tackle for the Tennessee Titans * Kendrick Bourne, NFL Wide Receiver for the

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* Kevin Sargent, former NFL offensive tackle * Kurt Schulz, former NFL player * Ed Simmons, NFL offensive lineman for 11 years for the

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, 2x

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champion *

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, former race car driver,

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winner in 1983 *

Rodney Stuckey Rodney Norvell Stuckey (born April 21, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player. He played seven seasons for the Detroit Pistons and three seasons for the Indiana Pacers and played college basketball for Eastern Washington Unive ...

, former NBA player for the Indiana Pacers * Isaiah Trufant, former NFL cornerback for the

, younger brother of former

cornerback, Marcus Trufant * Raul Vijil, former AFL player for the Spokane Shock * Gary Volesky, Lieutenant General U.S. Army, Corps Commander * Jess Walter, #1 ''New York Times'' best-selling author * Lee Watkinson, professional poker player

References

Notes

External links

*
Eastern Washington University Athletics website
{{authority control Public universities and colleges in Washington (state) Universities and colleges accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities Educational institutions established in 1882 National Register of Historic Places in Spokane County, Washington University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) 1882 establishments in Washington Territory