November 2019 

Greetings alumni and friends. Happy holiday season! Have you had any snow where you’re at yet? We have not had any here yet but it’s been darn cold at night, we’ll see what the next few months bring. All of our trees have basically shed their leaves so our grounds department has been busy blowing leaves, picking up limbs and keeping our campus pristine. They work hard to keep WOU beautiful, shout out to our Facilities team! October was a super busy and super fun month. Read below to get recaps on events and happenings from October.

Hood River/The Gorge Alumni Gathering

It’s always a joy to return to The Gorge to host a WOU alumni event. On Oct. 1, alumni and friends gathered at the Hood River Best Western, where we enjoyed beautiful views of the unusually calm Columbia River, and visited while having great food and tasty drinks. Many of the folks were former or current educators and it just so happens that I am an alum from the Hood River County School District so it was so fun seeing former teachers and coaches. President Rex Fuller and Susan Fuller welcomed guests and President Fuller shared “What’s new at WOU” and answered questions from the audience. All attendees were engaged and energized and ranged in age from 2016 grads to 50 year+ grads. It was truly a fun evening, we can’t wait to come back! Thanks for coming, Gorge folks, we look forward to seeing you again in the future. 

“What’s new at WOU- Eastern Oregon” 

Following the Hood River/Gorge alumni gathering, we headed up the road to Hermiston where we hosted another “What’s new at WOU” event with our alumni. The event was held at Maxwell Event Center on Oct. 3, where more than 20 guests enjoyed an evening of great food, open bar, wonderful discussion, networking, and hearing from President Fuller. The room echoed with conversations from guests and the service we received from the event staff was excellent. This was the second event we’ve held in Hermiston in the last four years and it was so great seeing some familiar faces and meeting new friends. Thank you for coming out on a Thursday night, we enjoyed our time with you and look forward to seeing you again in  the near future.   

Homecoming and Wolves Reunion Weekend 

What a weekend it was! More than 100 people attended Homecoming weekend events and enjoyed laughs, sharing memories, walking down the hallways of their former residence halls and classrooms and so much more. Our Golden Wolves- the class of 1969- had a great time wearing their Golden Wolves gear and looking at pictures of themselves and former classmates. President Fuller spoke at the luncheon and and answered questions from the audience. He also attended the Athletics reunion and the breakfast on Saturday, where he and Athletic Director Curtis Campbell said a few words on the state of our athletics and university. Thank you to all our volunteers who helped make this weekend fun and a huge success and for all of the alumni who returned to campus to celebrate with us. It was truly a treat to spend time with you and see your smiling faces at the Homecoming events. Be sure to check out the videos in the e-news for recaps and more.