EWU Army ROTC Faculty and Staff

The Eastern Washington University (EWU) Army ROTC faculty is extremely experienced with over 100 years of combined military service with assignments across the nation, multiple deployments, and overseas duty. Faculty members in the past year were awarded the U.S Army Cadet Command 2019 Instructor of the Year, the Cadet Command 2019 Human Resource Assistant of the Year, the 2020 Instructor of the Year2021 Instructor of the Year, and 2023 Instructor of the Year. EWU ROTC was the only faculty out of 274 ROTC programs to receive five national awards in the past five years.  We also had a faculty member awarded the 2019 Spokane Armed Forces Person of the Year.  The EWU ROTC faculty was also named the 2019 Team of the Year within the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Our mission is your success, and these accolades show that we will accomplish that mission!


Lieutenant Colonel Ben Van Meter
Professor of Military Science / Dept. Chair
Benjamin J. Van Meter
Lieutenant Colonel, Signal Corps
203 Cadet Hall
Phone: (509) 359-6109
Fax: (509) 359-6108

Master Sergeant Frank Cantu

Senior Military Science Instructor
Frank Cantu
Master Sergeant, Infantry
206B Cadet Hall
Phone: 509-359-2350
Email: fcantu1@ewu.edu


Assistant Professor of Military Science 

Colton Crawford
Major, Logistics
206A Cadet Hall
Phone: (509) 359-6128
Email: ccrawford10@ewu.edu


Assistant Professor of Military Science
Zachary Ferry
Captain, Field Artillery
206C Cadet Hall
Phone: (509) 359-6117


Training and Operations Support Officer

Frankie Topasna

Captain, Signal Corps


Military Science Instructor
Jon Stone
Sergeant First Class, Combat Engineer
206 Cadet Hall
Phone: (509) 359-6266
Email: jstone24@ewu.edu



Supply Technician
Abraham “AJ” Rivera Perez
202A Cadet Hall
Phone: (509) 359-6112
Email: ariveraperez@ewu.edu


Enrollment and Scholarship Officer
Mr. Chris Ford
201 Cadet Hall
Phone: 509.359.6110
Fax: 509.359.6108
Email: rotc@ewu.edu


WAARNG Opportunities Advisor

Daisy Palencia

Second Lieutenant, Signal Corps

Phone: (509) 359- 2319

Email: dpalencia@ewu.edu


Human Resource Assistant
VACANT
203B Cadet Hall
Phone: 
Email:


EWU ROTC Program Coordinator
Katie Brown
202 Cadet Hall
Phone: 509-359-2386
Fax: 509-359-6108
Email: ROTC@ewu.edu