A SIX PACK OF FUN FACTS
Big ideas. Bold moves.
A bronze medal.
A SIX PACK OF FUN FACTS
Big ideas. Bold moves. A bronze medal.
Like our iconic EMU Water Tower Power, this Six Pack is crafted with a whole lot of Eagle Pride. Each of these six accomplishments, whether it be research breakthroughs or historic milestones, adds its own bold note. Raise a glass to the achievements that keep EMU bold and always brewing something remarkable.
EVERY TREE TELLS A STORY
The beauty of Eastern’s campus extends well beyond brick pathways and historic buildings. It lives in the leaves, rings and roots of thousands of trees and shrubs that shape its 200-acre landscape. Undergraduates Jacob Richardson (biology), Rosemary Kendall (environmental science) and Biology Professor Margaret Hanes took on a project of remarkable scope by surveying and analyzing all trees and shrubs across the entire campus (that’s 4,851 plants, in case you’re counting). Their work blossomed into TreEMU, an interactive digital map that enables users to explore the campus by zooming in on any planting (with a stem diameter larger than 1.5 inches) to uncover the ecological attributes and learn more about the species that define EMU’s living landscape.
BRINGING BACK THE BRONZE
Jasmine Jones, a former EMU women’s track and field standout, became Eastern’s first Winter Olympian when she represented Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics. And she didn’t just make history—she brought home some hardware. Competing in the 2-Woman Bobsleigh alongside pilot Kaillie Humphries, Jones (pictured above, right) powered through three high-speed heats over two days of competition in Cortina d'Ampezzo. The duo surged to a third-place finish, earning bronze behind two German teams in a sport decided by fractions of a second. Jones adds a new chapter to Eastern’s proud Olympian legacy. The last EMU athlete to medal for Team USA was Earl Jones (no relation), who captured silver in the 800 meters at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
THAT'S A WRAP!
Some summer research projects remain in the lab. Others travel 3,000 miles and 2,000 years back in time. EMU chemistry undergraduates Jaime Williams and Avi Dragun joined Chemistry Professor Ruth Ann Armitage on an extraordinary academic journey to the World Congress on Mummy Studies, held last August in Cusco. There, they presented groundbreaking textile research that quite literally unwrapped history. The team analyzed yarn samples from a 2,000-year-old mummy (talk about vintage threads!) using advanced techniques like mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy. Their findings revealed which plants and animals were used to create the textiles, offering vivid clues about the culture, environment and daily life of the individual wrapped within.
A PIONEERING PROGRAM
EMU recently celebrated the graduation of 12 students from its groundbreaking College in Prison program, expanding the reach of higher education beyond the traditional campus and into spaces where opportunity can be transformative. Based at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, Michigan’s only women’s prison, the program offers the same in-person instruction delivered on Eastern’s campus, taught by EMU faculty and grounded in the same academic rigor. Students engage in research, contribute to scholarly conversations and build critical thinking and communication skills that foster personal growth and future reintegration. The results speak volumes. All 12 graduates earned Bachelor of General Studies degrees, each achieving an extraordinary 3.93 GPA.
WINNING WAYS
In March, Eastern Athletics named Billy Donlon as the 31st head men’s basketball coach in school history. He arrives from Clemson University, where he has served as an assistant coach since 2022. Overall, Donlan has 26 years of collegiate coaching experience, including nine seasons as a head coach at Wright State University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City (with an overall 155-133 record) and multiple deep postseason runs. Known for cultivating tough, disciplined players with a hard-nosed defensive style, Donlon brings a proven winning mentality to the George Gervin GameAbove Center. Perhaps Oakland University Head Coach Greg Kampe summed it up best: “Playing against Billy's teams has always been like going to the dentist office. Not sure what's going to happen, but you know it's going to hurt. Eastern fans, he's a winner whose teams will compete their butts off.”
NEW DIGS FOR A TRUSTED VOICE
For more than 60 years, WEMU 89.1 has been the steady, soulful soundtrack for the Ypsilanti area and beyond—a trusted source for public radio news and the cool currents of jazz. After experimenting with various formats in its early years, then-Station Manager Art Timko (pictured below) made a bold call in 1977: devote the station’s programming to jazz, one of America’s great musical art forms. The decision gave WEMU a signature voice that has since become deeply rooted in community. Now, the station has a new home with a new name: The Timko Broadcast Center at Halle Library. With its new state-of-the-art digs that allow for podcasting, video recording, in-studio interviews and live performances, WEMU is even better positioned to keep your fingers snappin’ and toes tappin’.
