EWU Board of Trustees held their first open session meeting on Sept. 26, 2014 .

The meeting centralized around recent achievements and future goals for the university with each trustee highlighting various accomplishments.

Trustee Jim Murphy talked about one of the most recent accomplishments in which ESPN broadcasted the football game against Sam Houston State.

He said this was an achievement not only for the team, but also for recognizing the school itself.  Trustee Robert Whaley said 15 million viewers watched the game.

This type of recognition is something that all the board members are hoping to see more of.

Both Chairman Paul Tanaka and President Dr. Mary Cullinan repeated the three main goals throughout the meeting that the board has for Eastern students this year, including student success, innovation and community involvement.

Introducing herself, Cullinan noted that she had “been here for about 57 days” and it has so far felt like a “whirlwind.” She referenced herself from the first issue of The Easterner saying she “still felt like a freshman.”

She spoke positively about the recent accomplishments of EWU including the Strategic Planning Initiative, the Vet Center and the new EWU anchor building at the Spokane Riverpoint campus.

President Cullinan presented an idea about mentorships where a student and teacher would team up. This mentorship would potentially provide students with more workplace experience with the hopes that by graduation students have a résumé that would aid them in their endeavors of finding a career.

She said she hopes that EWU will soon be nationally recognized for student success and seeing how the school is already turning heads in the athletics department, this seems like a feasible goal.

The board members said they hope to see further movement in innovation at EWU.

Cullinan and the other board members spoke about working towards being a “greener campus” and continuing working on new sustainability projects such as the “Snow Melt System” put in place during the construction of Patterson Hall.

The Snow Melt System is way to recycle excess heat from the building and divert it under the sidewalks that lead to the entrances. According to the EWU website, this process will also “eliminate the need for de-icing chemicals and traction sands keeping floors inside cleaner, dryer, and lasting longer with less maintenance.”

Several speakers presented reports on student and faculty success.

President Dahir “D.J.” Jigre presented a report that detailed the goals of ASEWU.

This year the student government hopes to extend library hours and focus on the PUB remodel.

Last year the PUB remodel was put on hold and Jigre said he wants to show the student body the importance of the remodel this year.

Community involvement was another key point of discussion during the board meeting.

The members said they hope to see a continued outreach from the students to their community. EWU has already proved their worth when giving to charity. Eastern’s summer food drive brought in over $5,000 in student money, alone.

The final emphasis of the meeting was on the availability of scholarships. Trustee Uriel Iniguez noted the recent success of receiving several hundred dollars worth of grants and scholarship money, some of which came from the military.

Jo Ann Kauffman also commended the recent scholarships that are now available for future American-Indian students.

The board said they hope to see an increase in money coming in to help students reach their graduation goals.