Eastland Family

Dr. George Eastland arrived at Saginaw Valley State College in 1969 to join the faculty in the Department of Chemistry at the rank of assistant professor. By 1978, he achieved the rank of full professor and served the University for almost 51 years until his retirement in 2020, when he was recognized with Professor Emeritus status.
As an early pioneer in the SVSU Chemistry Department, Dr. Eastland helped the department achieve important certification from the American Chemical Society. As an inorganic chemist, he performed scientific research at the top of his field and was a noted expert in ESR spectroscopy, having worked with leading scientists in the field with very notable contributions to cancer research. Despite his prolific research and publication activities (he has written over 40 publications in the field of chemistry), Dr. Eastland always kept his focus on providing students with opportunities to learn, consistently mentoring research students and inspiring them to pursue careers in chemistry. He is remembered by his former students for his high energy and dynamic lectures and exciting class demonstrations. His door was always open to his students, who would frequently line up to learn more.
Dr. Eastland was recognized with several prestigious honors, including the SVSU Franc A. Landee Teaching Excellence award, the Terry Ishibara Co-Curricular Involvement Award, Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tom Donahue Service Award and the Midland ACS Section Outstanding College Chemistry Teacher award. SVSU also named their state-of-the-art indoor golf practice center the George W. Eastland Golf Center, and established the George W. Eastland Student GPA Award in his honor, recognizing the student athletes with the highest GPA’s.
In addition to his outstanding teaching and scholarly activities, he provided distinguished service to all areas of the University, including serving as Assistant Dean for the College of Science, Engineering and Technology, multiple terms as Chair of the Chemistry Department, National Collegiate Athletic Association faculty representative and Interim Athletic Director.
The Dr. George W. Eastiand Endowed Scholarship in Chemistry is established by Dr. Eastland’s daughter and son-in-law, Isa and Kelly Reynolds, and his daughter and son-in-law, Cara and Todd Hart, to honor their father and celebrate his powerful impact on Saginaw Valley State University and generations of Chemistry students.