LA GRANDE — Oregon Governor Kate Brown visited Eastern Oregon University Saturday morning to sign the bill allocating $9 million toward building a field house on campus.
The field house will be the first new campus building in 30 years that is fully funded by the state, according to a press release from EOU.
“When I came to EOU a few years ago, the field house was part of our master plan, but it was just a small project (that) was only focused on athletics and was ultimately about bringing wrestling back to EOU,” said Tom Insko, EOU president. “As we looked at (the field house plans) we felt we had the opportunity to do something significantly more.”….
…Brown also introduced the Oregon Solutions project with EOU and Portland State University. Oregon Solutions brings businesses, government and nonprofits to the table to agree on what role each can play to address a community need.
“Educators, local leaders, legislators and businesses are all at the table working on a strategy focused on people, place and prosperity,” Brown said. “That’s why we’re focused on launching ‘Future Ready Oregon,’ a new initiative to make sure our students and our adults have hands-on learning opportunities to prepare them for the jobs our growing businesses need at every single corner of the state. To help make this vision a reality in La Grande and throughout the region, I am very happy to announce the launch of the Urban Rural Ambassadors program. This is a new partnership with EOU and with PSU and Oregon Solutions. It will challenge students, whether from Pendleton or Portland to provide creative solutions to meet the needs of our diverse communities and support our local thriving economies.”