Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: December 1999

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

Spending the past 13 years living with roughly 1,000 college students has left me with a hair-trigger neurosis. On the day students return to campus, I can always feel my stomach flip. The day they leave, it flips back. It's gotten so I don't know which flip gets it right side up. Today is the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so mostly my stomach is just groaning, but I can still feel the return of our students. For them, and for all of us, these next three weeks will be wild. Tests, papers, concerts, athletics events, and all the Y2K stuff will compete for our attention. This morning in church, we sang the advent hymn Of the Father's Love Begotten as our doxology. Feeling rather burdened, I found myself thinking that more accurate words this year would be Of the Father's Love Forgotten. But as I was touched by the second verse, my cynicism lifted. Oh, that birth forever blessed, When the Virgin, full of grace, By the Holy Ghost conceiving, Bare the Savior of our race. And the Babe, the world's Redeemer, First revealed His sacred face, Evermore and evermore. I'm sure that somehow His sacred face will shine through all the chaos. Thanks so much for your interest in Whitworth College. You are a blessing to us. I hope that the peace and joy of the world's Redeemer are yours in this milestone holiday season.

Welcome to some new readers. I send this newsletter monthly to parents, donors, and anyone else who wants it. For the next few months, it is going to all alumni. My main purpose in writing this newsletter is to keep friends aware of what we're doing here at Whitworth. I don't worry too much about being profound; I just look at the information and blaze away. Sometimes it shows. So, warm greetings to any of you alumni who have been out of touch for a while. Life is still good at Whitworth.

Academics

We are conducting searches for seven tenure-track faculty positions this year. We're hiring in art, biology, economics and business (two openings), education, Spanish, and our graduate program in international management. This is serious stuff. The heart of Whitworth is the faculty. After Ed Olson's death last month, I heard from one of his former students, who wrote, "Knowing him, and learning from him, was the highlight of the years I spent at Whitworth as student and teacher." Often our best faculty prospects come through referrals. Ben Moss, '61, a highly renowned artist on the faculty at Dartmouth, has been active in recruiting strong candidates for the art position. We'd love it if other alumni in higher education followed Ben's example.

I think Physics Professor Richard Stevens must have been a metal detector in a past life.He continues to find valuable scientific equipment out there. In his third bonanza of the year, he received multimeters (hi-tech thermometers) from Fluke Corp. of Everett, Wash. Our thanks go to Fluke. And if any of you are aware of other in-kind donations from which we could benefit, please let us know.

Eleven of our science students just returned from a conference in Portland hosted by the Murdock Charitable Trust. The students were part of a group making poster-presentations of the research projects they had conducted through special Murdock funding. These projects provide rich opportunities for our students to work with our faculty scientists, and we're grateful to Murdock for enabling this research.

In a couple of weeks, 26 students will return home after feasting on the art, theatre, literature, culture and geography of the British Isles. They began the fall semester in England and Scotland studying the visual arts with Art Professor Barbara Filo. They then spent a month in Ireland immersed in the performing arts with Theatre Professor Diana Trotter. The students are now culminating their exposure to things British by studying "things Leonard," as well as literature, while based in London with English Professor Leonard Oakland. This is the way to go to college.

When I walked in the door as I returned from my last trip, Bonnie started raving about the Whitworth Wind Ensemble concert before telling me that I'm a good-looking man or asking me to take out the garbage or anything. And at least one of those omissions leads me to believe that the concert must have been great. Under the direction of Professor Richard Strauch, the group tackled some wonderfully imaginative and ambitious pieces and executed them masterfully. I did go to the full rehearsal before leaving town, and I sat amazed and lifted by the beauty, expression and precision I heard.

Tomorrow I head for Seattle, where the Whitworth Choir, the women's choir and the handbell choir will make that city forget the World Trade Organization. Full sanctuaries at First Presbyterian Bellevue, University Place Presbyterian in Tacoma and First Presbyterian Seattle will hear Voices Resound, which incorporates a variety of languages, cultural traditions and musical styles to celebrate Christ's birth from a global perspective. In addition to singing classic Christmas hymns and spirituals, the choir will perform selections from Russia, Haiti, Brazil and South Africa. Producing this program is our gifted choir director, Bryan Priddy, whom many consider the "King of Mississippi Funk."

Enrollment

On Nov. 13-15 our Great Escape welcomed 140 high school seniors from 14 states that ranged from Alaska to Georgia to New Hampshire to Arizona. These prospective students went to class, met with current students and faculty, attended the Caedmon's Call concert, were entertained by Cool Whip (our improvisational theatre troupe), and heard from and chatted with many of us. One highlight of the weekend was a presentation by the Whitworth students who participated in the Central America Study Tour. Our next big weekend is Campus Close-Up, Feb. 20-21.

Student Life

December festivities abound for our students. They'll be attending The Nutcrackerdowntown, the Whitworth Choir concert, the Winter Formal, the Last Coffeehouse of the Millennium, and countless parties. Christmasfest events include some traditional favorites, like the cookie-decorating party and the President's Christmas Reception (with wassail to die for). This year we are also hosting a new event, An Evening in December, featuring a performance of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, the women's chamber singers, Cool Whip, and the Christmas Story.

For the third consecutive year, our Black Student Union hosted the Gospel Explosion in Seeley-Mudd Chapel. Predominantly African-American churches in the area joined with our students in a grand evening of praise and worship. Unfortunately, this event took place on the same night that Whitworth sponsored the Spokane Symphony and Chorale's performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah. I was especially torn because classical and blues music are my two favorite genres, so both Elijah and Elijah Rock penetrate my soul. Thanks to the pastors and choirs who blessed our campus and who enrich Spokane with their ministries.

Resources

Friendly weather enabled us to complete the construction of the athletics fields project. Both the soccer field and the women's softball facility look great. In addition to the team building and the press box, we built a cupola at the top of the press box that will position us to film both softball and soccer. We also sold another one of the houses at the west end of campus. It will soon be removed from its foundation and transported to another location. How'd you like to be waiting for one of those car-wash vacuum cleaners behind a guy dragging a house? "Sorry, lady; I'll be done as soon as I finish the upstairs bedrooms." Our thanks to Northwest Architectural, Taylor Engineering and Walker Construction for their fine service on this needed addition to the campus.

I recently had an extraordinary conversation with the father of one of our students.After receiving a note from him saying that he and his wife were making a HUGE pledge to our Faith in the Future Campaign, I called him to express our profound gratitude. His reply was, "Oh, you're welcome, but can you imagine how gratifying it is for my wife and me to do this?" I think it is a spiritual law of nature that good people who give freely of their time and/or resources always consider themselves to be the principal beneficiaries. Deep thanks go to these good friends.

Thanks so much to those of you who made pledges in this year's Phonathon. I had the callers over for dessert, and they told me how much they enjoyed talking to you. With nearly $8,000 in new pledges that will be matched by a generous trustee and $3,000 in matching business gifts, the grand total given in the 1999 Phonathon is $181,500. This is our highest total ever, and an increase of more than 20 percent over last year. I must thank publicly the 26 students who spent 10 weeks making the calls: Lezlie Aano, Carmen Brauhn, Beth Buchanan, Heather Bupp, Julia Colgan, Marla Cordova, Stephanie Cotton, Bridgit Duvanich, Brooke Ellis, Sarah Fitch, Rebekah Fite, Stephanie Herndon, Clarissa Keinath, Michelle Kukes, Brett Lau, Kevin Lind, Laura Makowski, Elizabeth Polen, Carrie Moyer, Ryan Oelrich, Jenna Rasmussen, Laura Rivera, Josh Sherven, Kirk Sisson, Heather Skellie, Candice Stewart, Naomi Stukey and Brittny Zych.

If any of you are considering year-end gifts to Whitworth or any other charity, please remember you need a postmark by 12/31/99. Actually, Bonnie and I made our gift to The Whitworth Fund this morning through a stock transfer. We were shocked to find a stray stock in our lead-balloon portfolio that actually was up. Hence, we dodged the gains tax. Frankly, the last thing I want to do with this newsletter is harp on fund-raising. But it would be wrong for me to neglect thanking you for your support or alerting you to how significantly your gifts help us. So if you think about Whitworth in your giving plans, we deeply appreciate it.

Athletics

The football Bucs finished at .500 for the second year in a row, ending the season with a blowout victory (52-zip) over Lewis & Clark. Season highlights included senior Damian Putney breaking Charlie Reed's all-time single-season rushing record with 1,293 yards. This year we'll say goodbye to a great group of seniors - Josh Parbon, Ivan Gustafson, Matt Stueckle, Harry Suzuki, Pono Lopez, Chris Wilson, Mitch Ellard, Andy Clark and Damian Putney, among others - who've helped Coach John Tully and his staff to bring the Bucs back into strong conference contention after some very lean years.

The Pirates concluded their cross-country season at regionals last Saturday. The women finished in 8th place, led by Annie Scott's 20th-place individual finish.The men finished 12th. Puget Sound won the men's portion of the meet, while UC San Diego won the women's. Both of our teams had excellent seasons and look very strong for next year.

Our swim teams return to action this week at the Northwest Invitational. Most of the top teams from the region, along with the University of Redlands (from California) will be competing. Whitworth's swimmers had a brief respite last week after a busy early-season dual-meet schedule. Both the men and women are undefeated in Northwest Conference action (3-0) and boast records of 4-2 overall. In an enormous stroke of bad luck, two of our top men swimmers suffered broken arms in separate biking accidents last week. Condolences to Ben Swinehart and Brent Rice.

The men's basketball team beat Whitman to start off the conference year 1-0. The men struggled in their first three non-conference games, losing an overtime thriller to Carroll College and two games to Eastern Oregon. But last Tuesday the guys came back and smoked the Missionaries (that's Whitman's team name), pulling out a tough five-point victory in the Fieldhouse. Our guys are really young, but they worked hard behind lone senior Kevin McDaniel, who tossed in 25 points.

Women's basketball is 2-0 in non-conference games. The women meet Lewis-Clark State next week, then head down to Salt Lake City for a game against the Division I Utah Utes. They won their season opener over Chapman, then defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps behind a 29-point effort from senior Star Olson and 23 points from junior Jamie Wakefield. The Bucs have gained both experience and height this year, and after their 14-4 record in conference last year, they're looking good for '99.

Alumni

Alumni gatherings move indoors with the start of basketball season. Westside alums can look for two events in January, one in Tacoma and one in Portland. We'll support the Pirates on Jan. 8 at Pacific Lutheran, or you can join us farther south at Lewis & Clark, in Portland, on Jan. 21. Westside alums, watch your mailboxes for postcards with details.

On Jan. 29, Spokane-area alumni can get a good vicarious workout watching the basketball game; then you can wolf down non-vicarious ice cream sundaes. That's during Jan Term break, so come fill the seats while the students are gone. We'll have raffle prizes, (temporary) Pirate tattoos and other less body-defacing activities for the whole family. Additional information will arrive in local alums' mailboxes next month.

Misellaneous

2K ALERT: We have done all the testing deemed appropriate for our systems, and we believe the campus is ready to begin the new year. However, we are asking students to call 1-888-258-1278 (as of Jan. 5) to confirm the status of the campus before returning after the holidays. You can also check our website (www.whitworth.edu), clicking on the Y2K link for information. I'll be here on Jan. 1, 2000, presiding over an empty, and, I hope, boring campus.

Closing Thoughts

All the good news at Whitworth pales in comparison to the news of peace in Ireland! Wouldn't it be great if Christians decided to celebrate the millennium by reconciling rather than fighting with each other? That's probably way too Christ-like for us Christians who are helping God by being right all the time, but it's worth consideration. In a couple of days, I will be giving Advent reflections with the Jesuits at Gonzaga University. (No doubt St. Ignatius will be turning over in his grave.) Last week Gonzaga's president, Fr. Bob Spitzer (who's doing a superb job) and I prayed together for our city. And in Northern Ireland, folks are pinching themselves as a unified Catholic-Protestant government seems to be emerging. These things amaze me. I'd love to think our pride is melting. Every Advent season my own pride comes under attack by the lowliness of Christ's birth and the grossly inaccurate expectations of those who awaited His arrival. I hope Whitworth offers a chilly climate to pride and arrogance. My millennium wish for our students is that they will enter this new century with wisdom and knowledge tempered, and even enriched, by humility. Thanks to you for all of your help in our mission. May the peace of God be yours in this momentous season.