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TUESDAY EDITION
August 2, 2022
Insko stepping down as president at EOU
La Grande native leaving
position at end of
September after 7 years
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Eastern
Oregon University President Tom
Insko announced Monday, Aug. 1,
that he is leaving his post at the end
of September.
Insko has been
named president
and chief executive
offi cer at Collins,
a wood products
company based in
Insko
Wilsonville.
“This was a diffi cult decision
because serving as president, with
this outstanding community of
educators, students and profes-
sionals, has been among the most
challenging but fulfi lling experi-
ences of my career,” Insko said in
a release announcing his depar-
ture. “I am so proud of what we
have accomplished together over
the last seven years, and while I
will be serving Oregon in a dif-
ferent way, my goal is to continue
to support and advance opportu-
nities for the people in Eastern
Oregon — and that includes the
students and community at EOU.”
Insko was appointed Eastern’s
12th president in 2015 after more
than 20 years as an executive at
Boise Cascade. An EOU grad-
uate and lifelong resident of La
Grande, Insko brought his busi-
ness experience along with a pas-
sion for expanding opportunities
through education to his role as
president.
Under Insko’s leadership EOU
increased student access to higher
education and protected aff ord-
ability by keeping tuition fl at
during the pandemic in 2021-22.
EOU has had some of the smallest
increases in costs of all public
universities in Oregon during his
tenure while increasing its diver-
sity and growing student retention
rates.
See, Insko/Page A6
Governor
hopefuls
debate
for the
fi rst time
By COREY BUCHANAN
Oregon Capital Bureau
WELCHES — During
the fi rst general election
debate in a race for who
will become the next gov-
ernor of Oregon, the three
candidates empathized with
many Oregonians dissatis-
fi ed with where the state is
headed.
Each of the three
women, however, off ered
diff ering solutions to the
state’s myriad issues in
a 90-minute forum that
underscored the chasms
among their political philos-
ophies and leadership
styles.
Republican nominee
Christine Drazan, Demo-
cratic nominee Tina Kotek
and independent Betsy
Johnson — who are run-
ning neck-and-neck in
recent polls — shared the
stage in an event hosted by
Pamplin Media Group and
sponsored by the Oregon
Newspaper Publishers
Association at the Mt. Hood
Oregon Resort in Welches
Friday, July 29. The debate
was moderated by PMG
President Mark Garber
and included questions
from local journalists, as
well as the opportunity for
the candidates to confront
each other with their own
inquiries.
Drazan, a Canby resident
and former Oregon House
of Representatives minority
leader who won the Repub-
lican nomination, made
clear that she views her
PRACTICE
WITH THE PROS
Elgin Opera House
artistic director spends
time in New York as part
of fellowship
By TRISH YERGES
For The Observer
LGIN — Terry Hale is bringing
home some of Broadway’s best
tools after receiving special
training at the 11th annual Freddie G
Fellowship in New York City.
Hale, the artistic director of the Elgin
Opera House, was one of six theater edu-
cators chosen nationwide for the Freddie
G Fellowship, sponsored by Music The-
atre International, and the only one from
a small, rural community. The high-
ly-coveted honor recognized Hale’s work
with young performing artists through
the Opera House Youth Actors, the
Hale-Turner Theater, the Blue Moun-
tain Community College theater, Pend-
leton High School, summer youth theater
E
See, Governor/Page A6
See, Theater/Page A6
Contributed Photos
ABOVE: Terry Hale, a Freddie G Fellowship honoree, participated in Broadway production
workshops for four days in July at the invitation of founder Freddie Gershon, co-chairman of
Music Theatre International of New York. Hale was one of only six theater teachers selected
nationally for the 2020-22 Class and this prestigious training opportunity.
AT TOP: Hale and Krissy Brown, left — both members of the Freddie G Fellowship Class of 2020-
22 — are being coached by Broadway professional Jeff Calhoun at the iTheatrics studio at The
52nd Street Project building during their all-expense-paid training trip to New York in July.
Groups work to reassess safety in Oregon schools
InterMountain Education Service District
plans for August school safety summit
By SHANNON GOLDEN
The Observer
LA GRANDE — In
the wake of May’s deadly
shooting at Robb Elemen-
tary School in Uvalde,
Texas, American school dis-
tricts, government offi cials
and law enforcement are
searching for solutions to
school safety issues.
The InterMountain
Education Service Dis-
trict, in partnership with
local law enforcement and
regional school districts,
aims to address safety in
Oregon schools during a
School Security Summit on
Monday, Aug. 8.
“Uvalde rocked us, just
like Sandy Hook did,” said
Mark Mulvihill, IMESD
superintendent. “As we go
back to in-person instruc-
tion, we want the public
to be assured that we’re
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working hard to deal with
active shooter situations.”
IMESD serves almost
two dozen school districts
in four counties — Morrow,
Umatilla, Union and Baker
— and aims to have rep-
resentation from each one.
According to Mulvihill,
almost 150 people will be in
attendance at the summit,
from police offi cers and
sheriff deputies to educators,
superintendents and school
mental health providers.
The agency’s last school
safety summit took place in
2016. Mulvihill acknowl-
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edged the tremendous turn-
over of law enforcement and
district staff that may have
occurred in the six years
since as a motivation for
this year’s event.
He also noted the pan-
demic’s impact on school
safety issues.
“We’ve been so focused
on COVID safety proto-
cols that our active shooter
training has been on the
back burner,” he said.
For Mulvihill, the imple-
mentation of this common
For more information about
the summit, please email
IMESD Superintendent
Mulvihill at mark.mulvihill@
imesd.k12.or.us. To learn
about standardized protocol
terminology, visit www.
iloveuguys.org. To learn how
to report school safety threats,
visit www.safeoregon.com.
See, Schools/Page A6
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
MORE INFORMATION
The summit will be closed to
the public, but Mark Mulvi-
hill, IMESD superintendent,
encouraged community mem-
bers to look to their local law
enforcement and media out-
lets for more information
about the outcome of the
event.
Wednesday
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Issue 92
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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