Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: April 2004
An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson
I've smiled a lot in the last month, but two grins stand out in particular. Contrary to my normal practice of manufacturing some moral lesson out of nothing, I just enjoyed this first moment. At a breakfast where I had the privilege to speak to the Pepperdine University Board of Regents, dumb luck dropped me into a seat next to Art Linkletter. An hour of laughter followed. I knew it would be fun when the subject turned to U.S. presidents. "Last month I was at the White House to get some kind of humanitarian award," Art begins. "So I call Barbara and tell her I'd like a little time alone with George W. Well, I get my award and they take me to his office. As I enter, he stands up, walks around his desk and says, ‘I hear you've been talking to my mother.'" I bet that doesn't happen every day. So I asked Art if he knew other presidents. "Oh, I've been tight with them all; why, I remember the first time I introduced Herbert Hoover for a speech...." Whoa! Linkletter is 91 and gives 70 speeches per year! I've used up my words here, so I'll tell you about my other smile at the end of this letter. Thanks to all of you for caring about Whitworth. I hope you are smiling often and feeling a special awareness of Christ's presence in this Lenten season.
Academics
Building a great faculty is one of the most important things we do. This year we need to fill 13 faculty slots, an usually large number. Five of these are new positions to help us cover the growth in our undergraduate enrollment. I meet with all the candidates, and I can say that this year's group is amazing. In a couple cases, we've hired folks who are passing up staggering opportunities for Whitworth's mind-and-heart mission.
Rose Sliger, '02, (Weyerhaeuser Center) has been awarded two grants, the first from the Washington Civil Liberties Project from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, for a joint venture with North by Northwest Productions to create a video and a website about Japanese Americans in the Northwest during WWII. (Check outwww.whitworth.edu/Coast&Camp.) The second is from Humanities Washington to develop a radio program on the role of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Northwest.
In a multitude of ways, former faculty members continue to support Whitworth. For example, over the past 13 years Religion Professor Emeritus Howard Redmond and his wife, Lois, have supported an annual literary reading program in honor of Howard's mother, who was a great lover of literature. Leonard Oakland (English) thanked the Redmonds at a Faculty Scholarship Forum in March, noting the wide range of great writers whom the Ada Redmond Readings have been able to bring to Whitworth.
The "thank you" to Howard and Lois came on the day when Keith Beebe (Religion) presented to his faculty colleagues a fascinating summary of his doctoral research on a major spiritual revival in Scotland in the 1700s. Our Faculty Scholarship Forum is supported generously by alumni Carol and Dave Myers, '64 and '65 respectively. (Dave's one of our trustees and a psychology professor at Hope College.) Other presentations this semester have been by Hans Bynagle (Library), Karin Heller (Religion), and Jim McPherson (Communications).
Speaking of great writers, this week we hosted Kathleen Norris, nationally known author of The Cloister Walk, Dakota, and other books on spirituality. She spoke to a group of faculty, staff and students on the question of vocation, visited classes, and gave our annual Simpson-Duvall Lecture; this year's title was Spirituality for the Real World, and Norris was humble, thought-provoking and poignant.
In March, the Whitworth Chamber Singers performed at the Northwestern Regional Convention of the American Choral Directors Association. Choirs were chosen last spring by submitting an audition tape with songs from the past three years. It's a great honor to be chosen, and the group's performance was cheered enthusiastically. Under the direction of Debbie Hansen (Music), the ensemble includes 25 members, from all class years and many different majors at Whitworth.
Artist Kathy Knowles, '66, has a clay exhibit in our Koehler Gallery. The exhibit runs through April 16. Kathy focuses on the personalities and characters of the subjects she sculpts, says Scott Kolbo (Art). Some of her figurative sculptures in this exhibit, says Scott, celebrate the solidarity of women from all cultures. I know the solidarity of the women in my house is more powerful than a locomotive and forms faster than a speeding bullet.
Whitworth has the only center for gifted education in Washington, and we're celebrating its 25th anniversary. In an era when the emphasis in education is on students who are not making expected academic progress, Whitworth has held on to programs that challenge the most able learners. Director Margo Long is on the Washington State Advisory Committee for Gifted Education; in May she'll attend an invitation-only national conference, Defining the Field of Gifted Education.
J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls will be this year's spring production. The play involves the suicide of a young woman and explores how the members of the family for whom she worked each have reason to feel responsible for her death. Rick Hornor, '70, (Theatre) says he has wanted to direct An Inspector Calls for many years because the play reminds us that our actions have consequences and our words can hurt or help others. The play is in Cowles Auditorium on April 16, 17, 18, 23 and 24.
Enrollment
The Financial Aid Office has sent out awards to all new freshmen and transfer students who applied by the March 1 priority deadline. The deadline for renewing students is still May 1, so there's time to get your taxes done first. Also, it's now time to begin reviewing all endowed-scholarship applications. Because so many applications were submitted, the Financial Aid Office will notify only the recipients. (Thanks to all of you who provide funds for these special scholarships. They make a huge difference in our students' lives.)
This year we have -- again -- the most applications in our history. As I write, we're nearing the end of the scholarship-competition weekend. It has been great spending time with a stunning group of high-school seniors. Yesterday, Bonnie and I hosted for breakfast 147 bright, warm, inquisitive students whose cumulative SAT score I computed to be right at 200,000. (I remember explaining to my parents that you were supposed to divide your SAT score by 100, and if your age exceeded the quotient, you were considered a genius.)
Student Life
Student-leadership hiring for the 2004-05 school year is concluding right now, and we're gearing up for the election of ASWC leaders. Within another week about 100 new student leaders will begin training for their fall leadership responsibilities.
Returning from Spring Break has given us a chance to hear from our SERVE students, just back from their Habitat for Humanity trip in California. Outdoor Rec is taking advantage of the final snow days by going to local ski resorts offering cheap spring rates. Yesterday, some of our students played tennis in the morning and skied in the afternoon -- both in shirtsleeves. In April, ASWC will focus on preparations for Spring Fest, its annual fair sponsored by various campus organizations. All proceeds from this event will go to Cup of Cool Water, a ministry to teenage street kids.
Last night's luau was one of the best ever. Great food, great dancers, and some great new dances were the product of more than 75 of our Hawaiian Club students working all year, not to mention a ton of support from our Hawaiian parents, who brought over more than a ton of foliage, flowers and food.
Resources
In a world of spam (not to be confused with the favorite food of congealed-fat-and-salt lovers) and telemarketing, we are so grateful to all of you who have been kind enough to chat with our phonathon students. They're now in the home stretch. Special thanks to the 35 students who have spent the semester "smiling and dialing." Thanks to so many of you who have made pledges and gifts to support us this year. If we haven't reached you yet, you should be getting a call in the next few weeks.
Speaking of pledges, we're experiencing an amazing record of timely payments from all of you who made commitments to support Weyerhaeuser Hall. Thank you so much. We calculate a cash flow that depends on the schedules you provided, so your faithfulness really helps us. The building is looking great!
Athletics
The Whitworth softball team is rolling through its most successful season ever. The Pirates are 17-4 overall and 9-3 in the Northwest Conference behind the best 1-2 pitching combination in the NWC. Junior Alana Klaus is 11-1 with a microscopic 0.48 earned run average. Sophomore Jo Sonnett is 6-3 with a very strong 1.24 ERA. The Pirates swept through a trip to the Sun West Tournament in California, winning all five contests. Most impressive was a win over perennial powerhouse Williams College.
Our baseball team is 8-13 overall and 4-8 in conference. One week they're errorless world-beaters; the next week they're taking it on the chin. Junior pitcher Dan Lundeberg is 3-0 with a 3.71 ERA, and senior Brian Moser and junior Casey Thomas are both hitting above .400. My baseball karma has been good this season. I've seen five games (all of three and part of two), and I've yet to see the Bucs trail.
Whitworth's track & field teams are gearing up for the NWC championships April 24-25. Senior sprinters Kristin Shields and Ben Rorem have set the early pace. In a meet at Azusa Pacific, Kristin set a new school record and provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships in the 100 with a time of 12:11. Yesterday, we added several more national qualifiers in our own invitational. I especially enjoyed watching the running of the Steeplechase -- a race in which the legendary Ben Robinson, '03, found need for a swimsuit, kneepads, and a mouthguard in addition to his track shoes.
The women's tennis team returned from California with a pair of wins under their belts.The wins, over Mills College and Cal Tech, evened Whitworth's record at 5-5. Sophomore Sandy Fujitani has a match record of 7-2 this spring; freshman Rachel McCoola is 7-3 in singles play. The Bucs will play in the NWC tournament in Yakima on April 16-17.
The men's tennis team also picked up a win in California, defeating Dominican College.Whitworth is 7-6 going into today's match with Pacific. Freshmen Michael Carlson and Isaac Lanctot are playing well. The guys are 7-1 in their last eight matches as they gear up for the conference meet.
Our new golf teams are doing great. The men took 2nd in the conference spring tournament --amazing considering that this is the first year of our resurrected program. The women also did well, with a 6th-place showing.
Four Whitworth swimmers came back from the NCAA swimming and diving championships as All-Americans. Junior Serena Fadel earned two All-America finishes when she took third in the 400 individual medley and sixth in the 200 breaststroke. Senior Kevin Wang, junior Cory Bergman and sophomore Loren Kilgore were All-Americans at the men's championships. Kevin just missed his goal of a threepeat championship in the 400 I.M., finishing second. Cory finished fifth in the 200 breaststroke, setting a new school record, and Loren earned fourth in the 1,650 freestyle. Serena scored enough points by herself for Whitworth to finish 29th in the women's meet, while the Pirate men finished 11th overall.
Finally, senior Bryan Depew and junior Tiffany Speer were named Third Team All-Americans by D3hoops.com. Bryan finished his career as Whitworth's all-time leading scorer in men's basketball and the first player in Whitworth history to earn First Team All-NWC honors all four years of his career. Tiffany was chosen Northwest Conference Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Alumni
The Class of 1954 will celebrate its Golden Reunion during Alumni Family Weekend, June 18-20. Plan now to join them or one of the other eight reunions that weekend. Register online at www.whitworth.edu/alumni/familyweekend2004.htm.
Plan now for Core 650 lectures by Professor Leonard Oakland (English) May 22 in Bel Air, Calif., and May 23 in San Diego. Brochures will be mailed soon.
The Parents Council met recently to discuss its work with the admissions and alumni and parent relations programs. We are so grateful for their work. If you're the parent of a current student and you'd like more information on becoming involved in the council, please contact Assistant Director of Alumni and Parent Relations Karen Habbestad at 800-532-4668 or khabbestad@whitworth.edu.
Closing Thoughts
The other memorable smile crossed my face last Tuesday when I saw first-year professor Peter Tucker, '91, sprinting across The Loop to screams of "Get it, Pete!" in a game of Ultimate Frisbee. Pete was a bigtime Frisbee rat as a student here 15 years ago. After roughly 10 years in business, he left the Seattle/Portland corporate world to get his doctorate in computer science. He is now back in Spokane with his wife and four kids. I thought about my interview with him for this job. He never knocked his corporate life. He said he just wanted to pursue something different. Was he talking about Frisbees? Yes, I think chasing a Frisbee amidst hollering students, some of whom he had taught earlier that day, is exactly what Pete had in mind. Well, you may have noticed that I've worked on this letter over a four-day stretch. It is now Palm Sunday and I am about to go celebrate Christ's kingly entrance into Jerusalem and drop to my knees in thanksgiving for his humble descent into my heart. And I will pray for you, S.H. To all of you, I wish the rich blessings of the triumphant suffering servant.
