EWU president search: Interim President David May touts ongoing projects and ‘the identity Eastern should embrace’

The second day of campus visits for candidates vying for the job of Eastern Washington University president centered on a familiar face.

Interim President David May made the rounds Wednesday as the university seeks public feedback from the EWU community on the four finalists competing to serve as the university’s 27th president.

May was selected as a finalist alongside Monroe Gorden Jr., vice chancellor of student affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles; Dr. John Tomkowiak, founding dean of the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine; and Shari McMahan, provost and vice president for academic affairs at California State University, San Bernardino. The first day of meetings with university leadership and public forums started Tuesday with Gorden.

May participated in open forums at the Showalter Auditorium on the Cheney campus and the Catalyst Building in Spokane. Public feedback about the candidates is due no later than 5 p.m. Friday.

Here are some of the highlights from Wednesday’s forum in Spokane:

Meeting May, again

May – who has worked at EWU for 23 years, including 18 months and counting as interim president – spent a better part of the forum reintroducing himself.

Part of his presentation summarized various opportunities he’s pursuing in his interim role.

Modeled after the University of Washington’s “Dream Project,” the Aspire Project will place EWU students in local high schools not to serve as recruiters for EWU, May said, but to serve as mentors for high schoolers and promote postsecondary pathways. May said the university is planning to pilot the program this spring.

Other priorities May highlighted were his desire to foster emerging programs at EWU such as cybersecurity and nursing, work toward increased diversity and inclusion with faculty and staff recruitment, and take a more active approach to helping to address climate change issues.

He also said administrators are discussing ways to possibly institute tuition discounts or waivers for students who confirm their attendance by certain deadlines.

“There’s a cliché about hitting the ground running. I’m not going to use that cliché because I don’t think it’s apt in this case,” he said. “What I think I can say is that I’ve been on the grounds. I’ve been running for 18 months, and I want to continue to do that in a leadership position at Eastern Washington University.”

Athletics

In light of financial losses in the athletics department, May has helped spearhead the reimagining of the department’s budget with sustainability in mind.

Asked whether athletics funding would ever return to pre-pandemic levels, May declined to say, citing the ongoing presidential search.

“We’re really close to having a number, but here’s the reality of my position right now: I’m not going to walk out right now with that number,” he said, “because if I’m not the successful candidate, the next president may have a different philosophy on how to approach that.”

May did say the university needs to upgrade several athletics facilities, such as the replacement of the Reese Court basketball floor.

“We are in active discussions with individuals and corporations about how to move those things forward,” he said.

Spokane priorities

Asked what his top three priorities would be specifically related to EWU’s presence in Spokane, May listed the following:

• Expanding partnerships, such as those with Avista and McKinstry, to enhance university programming, particularly cybersecurity and nursing
• Finding ways to better partner with the City of Spokane, similar to the university’s relationship with the City of Cheney
• Raising EWU’s profile in Spokane

May said he hears “disturbingly often” from Spokane business leaders and others in the community that while they’re aware EWU probably does good things in Spokane, they “don’t really know what those good things are.”

“That’s part of my service on a lot of volunteer boards,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to drive conversations and insert Eastern into those conversations and explain to people the identity that I believe Eastern has and that Eastern should embrace.”