In the Spotlight is an opportunity for the campus community to get to know one another better. The goal is to build Eastern’s community by becoming familiar with the faces of faculty and staff members.
Date: Aug. 3, 2011
Name: Ashely McSpadden
Title: Secretary
Department: President’s Office
Number of years at Eastern: I started working at EWU in 2007, with the Asia University America Program. Since then, I’ve worked with the GEAR UP Program as an office aide, and with EPIC Adventures as a student trip leader and a rock-climbing instructor. I was recently re-hired and am now part of President’s Office staff. I am also a student, working towards a BA in anthropology.
Brief personal/professional description: I joined the President’s Office this past May, and I am concurrently finishing my senior year at EWU. Two pursuits that are shaping my direction are anthropology and outdoor education. By engaging these two disciplines, I hope to become a more conscientious and responsible global citizen, to explore the world around me while helping the underserved, and inspire others to do the same. Secretly, I just want to be a socially and environmentally conscious climbing bum.
Favorite book: The Happy Isles of Oceania, by Paul Theroux. Favorite children’s books are The Little Prince, Ferdinand the Bull and The Phantom Tollbooth.
Favorite movie: Amelie and Lost in Translation. Apologies to the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings trilogies, you’re still in my top five.
Favorite restaurant: Locally? The Scoop on the South Hill – yummy coffee and sandwiches and the best ice cream in Spokane. Plus, they are very supportive of the cycling community.
In the world? Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store Cafe in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. This tiny corner café is on Columbus and Union, and is a few minutes from City Lights books. It’s the best place in the world to enjoy a focaccia sandwich while listening to overheard conversations.
Favorite quote: This is part of my favorite quote: “One final paragraph of advice; do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forest, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space.” –Edward Abby
Favorite vacation: You’d think it would be something extravagant or exotic. But, when it comes down to it, I like “no fuss” getaways. For short weekends, I love getting out to Mazama with my husband and dogs, finding a nice place to put a tent, and a crag to play on. When I have more time, my favorite vacation is road-tripping it down to California to visit my family and friends, and spending quality time along the coast.
Volunteer activities: I recently conducted an English Conversation Workshop for school-aged children in Altan Bulag, a rural town in Mongolia. Locally, I volunteered as a hike leader with Conservation Northwest.
Awards received within the past five years: Instructor of the Year (2011), EPIC Adventures Climbing Wall
While not a conventional distinction, in the spring of 2010, I was awarded the opportunity to participate as a research assistant in a National Science Foundation funded project, entitled, ‘Wildlife Monitoring and Human Diversity in China and Mongolia,’ and completed an international fieldwork practicum in Xinjiang, China.
If I could do anything today I would: I just got back from two months of undergraduate fieldwork in Mongolia, so I’d be happy just to stay put for a while, work on my blog (http://koshep.wordpress.com), and enjoy a beautiful Spokane summer with my family, friends and dogs. I’m easily swayed by plane tickets and the promise of adventure, though. Go ahead, make me an offer.
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