A Lesson Lived Psychology Prof Who Trained Hundreds Of Counselors, Therapists Bids Goodbye To Ewu After 42 Years

After 42 years of teaching college, he’s like an aging husband still in love with his bride.

“I’m married to this institution,” said Professor Walt L. Powers.

On Thursday, Powers taught his last class at Eastern Washington University, a master’s level course in counseling theory and technique.

Now the senior faculty member, Powers is something of an institution himself.

“I don’t feel like this is the end,” he told his class. “If there’s any wisdom, ‘Keep the faith, baby.”’

After the session, the last student in the room said she was sad to see him go. Powers hugged her, then walked out the door.

It’s not hard to see why Powers has a reputation for caring about students.

“He’s very approachable. You can go and talk to him about anything,” said Mary Jeanne Marine, who wants to become a teacher herself.

“He is really one of the senior statesmen of the university,” said Dean Phyllis Edmundson.

When he arrived in 1954, the school was known as Eastern Washington College of Education. There were 54 professors. Now, EWU has 460 faculty members.

Some of them took classes from Powers and earned degrees from Eastern.

When he was hired, there were about 1,000 students. Enrollment now approaches 8,000.

He and his wife, Myrt, settled into a home they had built on the outskirts of town where they raised three boys. Myrt is a retired elementary school teacher in Cheney.

Today, their home is surrounded by several of the 28 campus buildings that have been built since they arrived.

Earlier this week, Powers arrived in class and told his students to follow him. Five minutes later, they were inside his home, looking at his collection of Norman Rockwell lithographs and talking about counseling.

The featured guest that day was Powers’ son, Tom, a psychologist in the Riverside School District in Spokane County. Tom Powers and school counselors at Riverside are trying some innovative approaches with their students, and professor Powers wanted his students to hear about the new ideas.

Powers said he doesn’t regret a minute of the time he’s spent at EWU.

He’s been granted leaves of absence to study abroad and help foreign governments develop school counseling programs.

He worked in South Korea in the early 1960s. Because of his success there, he became a Fulbright professor in Great Britain and trained school counselors in that country.

He was on a faculty exchange program with Russia.

He served on the Spokane board of Planned Parenthood.

He earned awards from his colleagues recognizing contributions to the field of mental health, including development of the Spokane County Mental Health Center.

Powers considers his greatest accomplishment the training of hundreds of counselors and therapists, and the fact that they are better qualified today than they were 40 years ago.

He officially retired his full professorship two years ago, and taught as a professor emeritus until Tuesday.

He and his wife are moving to Hawaii for the winter and will stay in a condominium they own.

Powers will continue his association with the university as president of the retired faculty group. He said he hopes to give seminars and short courses in the future.

He reminds his colleagues about one thing when working with students: “We are here to train them and to help them.”

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