Riverpoint campus in Spokane growing

EWU Riverpoint campus is the home of many special departments and extensive programs not offered in Cheney

By Mike Hantho, Staff Writer

The Riverpoint campus in Spokane hosts a select few specialty programs for EWU students that are not available in Cheney.

EWU’s College of Business and Public Administration (CBPA) and the Graduate Program in Public Administration is located on the Riverpoint campus, along with specialty programs such as Addiction Studies, Center for Entrepreneurial Activities and Decision Science.

Lee Knous, program coordinator at Riverpoint for EWU Spokane, said Riverpoint is home to both Eastern and Washington State University. Riverpoint also has programs with the University of Washington and a consortium with Washington, Wyoming, Arizona and Idaho.

“For the WSU side, most of their offerings are in the health-science-related fields such as pharmaceuticals, dental, physical therapy and occupational therapy,” said Knous. “On the Eastern side, we have a large business program, along with creative writing, communication disorders and social work.”

According to Knous, the Riverpoint programs can stand alone, but there are some course sections in Cheney as well as online, depending on the course.

“The College of Business [and Public Administration] has four departments, three that are located here on this campus,” said Jennings. “We have Accounting and Information Systems, Management and the Department of Urban Regional Planning.”

The College of Health Science includes Health Services Administration, Master’s in Public Health, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Communication Disorders and Dental Hygiene.

Jennings said there is also the Public Health Administration program, but it will have “Health” dropped from its name due to reorganization.

“Public Administration is completely in Spokane,” said Jennings. “[For] the business programs, students can take classes in both Cheney and Spokane, but the majority of the faculty is housed [at Riverpoint].”

Jennings said the schedules that are offered for the Business Administration, Urban and Regional Planning and Public Administration programs are geared toward students that have to work. The disadvantage of those programs being in Cheney is it would be a lot harder to attract students in Spokane to take those classes.

“For students that are working adults or have jobs, it’s easier for them to take classes in the evening [at Riverpoint] than to try to work in a schedule to go out to Cheney,” said Jennings.

According to Jennings, having majors and programs at Riverpoint presents better opportunities for internships in Spokane because the proximity to business and health constituents is greater.