Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: December 2005

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

It's getting tough to predict which experiences will stick to the walls of my memory bank. Most of the time the bank isn't even open. But it was open last weekend. This year we hosted the NCAA women's volleyball and men's soccer regionals, with Whitworth teams competing in both (see Athletics). After a bye on Friday and a big win on Saturday, our men's soccer team found itself in the final match on Sunday. I promise you that even those of us fans with more thumbs than brain cells will never forget these guys battling their way to a berth in the Final Four in what has to be one of the greatest matches and most inspired comebacks in Whitworth soccer history. But I'll remember one more incident from last weekend -- a little thing, really. That night, with 10 minutes left in our women's basketball game, a faculty member sitting next to me looked at his watch and said he had to go. When I suggested that most people leave after the game, he said he was headed for another game, his "little brother's" game. I know this faculty member and there is no way he has time to be a "big brother." But he makes time. He's typical of the great people who make up the Whitworth community. Along with hundreds of other Bucs fans, I will never forget being at an amazing game last weekend. Neither will I ever forget a faculty member who left a game last weekend. But best of all, there is a boy out there who will never forget his big brother coming to a game last weekend. It was a weekend to remember.

Academics

Physics is phun. This probably isn't the most important academic news item, but it's pretty cool. In Richard Stevens' (Physics) engineering-orientation class we found no weapons of mass destruction, but we did find projectiles of class instruction. In November, Richard's students applied basic physics and engineering principles to design simple machines that throw pumpkins as far as possible using only mechanical means such as counterweights and springs. The winning team sent a pumpkin more than 160 feet. The pumpkin did not survive the assignment.

The presence of late math-faculty member Howard Gage, '62, was felt on campus Nov. 22. More than 60 friends, family, former colleagues and students gathered to witness the unveiling of a lovely portrait of Howard painted by Pauline Haas (Art Emeritus). The portrait will hang in a place of honor in the Lindaman computer lab, a fitting location since Howard was the father of our computer-science program. He would have been a proud papa earlier in the month when three Whitworth teams matched wits against their peers and solved a series of complex programming problems during the annual Pacific Northwest Regional Computer Programming Contest. Seventy-three teams from the western U.S. and Canada took part in the competition at Western Washington University. The top Whitworth team -- seniors Nathan Backman and Thomas Wild and sophomore Stephen Ash -- solved four of 10 problems to beat 58 other teams and rank 15th.

The Whitworth Writing Rally was a big hit again this year. Lisa Laurier (Education) directed faculty, staff and students from the School of Education in hosting more than 750 children for a day of celebrating reading and writing with author-illustrator David Shannon.

Faculty members were active in November. Among their honors and activities:

• Margo Long was keynote speaker and presented a breakout session on intellectual character at the Washington/Oregon Conference for the Gifted.
• Nadine Chapman (English) read her own work from a jointly authored book, At Work in Life's Garden: Writers on the Spiritual Adventure of Parenting, that  features essays from writers who "tell their personal stories about how the wonder, the chaos, and the pain of raising children has led them to engage more deeply with the world, with themselves, and with other people." 
• Laurie Lamon, '78, (English) was selected as a 2005 Artist Trust Fellowship recipient for Washington state. Laurie will be acknowledged at a reception in Seattle at Northwest Film Forum later this month.
• Jim Edwards, '67, (Theology) spoke for the Murdock Charitable Trust to 100 parachurch executives on Christ-centered leadership.
• Dan Keberle (Music) found out that the University of Northern Colorado Jazz Press will publish five more of his arrangements. These pieces were originally composed for jazz quartet or quintet, and Dan arranged them for a full 17-piece ensemble. By the way, Grammy-nominee Kenny Garrett and the Whitworth Jazz Ensemble put on a fabulous show in November.

Usually I write the December Mind & Heart the morning after the first performance of our amazing music department's Christmas Festival Concert. This year I'm writing on the morning before, so I can't give my unbiased review. But I know that this year's six Great Tidings of Joy concerts will launch Advent in a special way for all of us. The concerts will feature the Whitworth Choir and the Whitworth Women's Choir, with the assistance of brass, string and percussion ensembles. "The theme is drawn from stories of hope from the biblical prophets, Christ's nativity, and His everlasting presence among us," says Marc A. Hafso (Music), our very able director of choral activities. The last three concerts are in Spokane, on Dec. 9 and 10, so contact Joan Lack (Music) at 509.777.3280 or jlack@whitworth.edu if you can make it.

Threads of history and royalty are woven throughout the Whitworth Orchestra's fall concert program, Majestic Music. And this Dec. 7 concert will not only reflect history; it will make history. Until this year, the orchestra, now under the direction of Philip Baldwin (Music), has never been led by a full-time faculty member; hence, it has been primarily a string orchestra. But Philip says of his first Whitworth concert, "I'm very proud of the orchestra members' talent and the level at which they're playing this difficult program. I think this concert will be outstanding." We're delighted to have him bringing his spirit, skills and leadership to our music department.

Enrollment

We have received more than 1,300 early-action freshman admission applications for the Class of 2010. All applicants will be notified of their admission status by the end of December. The "regular-decision" admission deadline is March 1. Students interested in transferring to Whitworth who would like to be considered for on-campus housing should also apply by the March 1 deadline. Duvall Hall will give us more housing, so transfer students can be guaranteed a bed. Such a deal!

Student Life

A student could stay busy 24/7 without spending one academic moment. I'm sure a few of you parents are thinking, "Hey, Bill's finally writing about my kid." I doubt it. Somehow, students keep dozens of social balls in the air while working feverishly on their studies. But here are a few of the balls that fly around above the books:  November began with the Whitworth Jazz Concert, followed by the men's soccer and women's volleyball teams winning Northwest Conference titles and entering the NCAA playoffs, which drew hundreds of cheering students. Midnight Madness, the opening event for basketball season, featured the "awarding" of Fieldhouse Fanatics shirts to the first 500 students. The Black Student Union presented In Living Color, an evening of African dance, rap, and steel-drum playing, for Half-Past-Nine. The Hawaiian Club put on Kanikapila, with tons of great food, dance and music, not long after an International Club dinner that was so good. SERVE took students to Union Gospel Mission overnight for Urban Plunge and raised enough money in a residence-hall competition to purchase more than 100 turkeys to give to the needy for Thanksgiving. Finally, intramurals produced champions in soccer, basketball, ultimate Frisbee and volleyball. Add to all this a large dump of snow in the mountains, providing great November skiing, and you have a pretty busy month.

Resources

A couple of months ago I paid tribute to our board chair, Chuck Boppell, '65 ("The Bopper" to those of you who joined him in traumatizing this campus 40 years ago).Well, he and his way-better half Karlyn, '67, just paid more than a tribute back to Whitworth. In yet another act of generosity, they set up a $1 million charitable-remainder trust. Tomorrow night I'll have dinner with Annette Weyerhaeuser, and, inevitably, we will talk about the amazing legacy her husband, Dave, left at the college. Fifty years from now, a Whitworth president will have dinner with one of Chuck and Karlyn's heirs and they'll have the same kind of conversation. Not a day goes by without Whitworth benefiting from the wisdom, effort and support of Chuck Boppell.

Thanks so much to those of you who have made year-end gifts to Whitworth. We always need monstrous giving in December, but I know it's already an expensive month. We're getting crushed by tuition bills and plane tickets in our family. Sound familiar?  But yesterday, the board chair of the National Automobile Dealers Association presented Whitworth with a very generous gift to be used in student emergencies. As I talked to him and the other representatives about some of our students' needs here, I reminded myself that we have students in desperate situations who need my support a lot more than I need an iPod in my stocking. I just want you to know that we need and appreciate your support immensely. Thanks. And if you do make a gift, you might want to try our secure online form at www.whitworth.edu/give.

Athletics

(Thanks to Sports Information Director Steve Flegel, '89!)

Men's soccer concluded a remarkable season by making the NCAA Division III Men's Final Four. Almost 400 DIII teams began this season, but only four made it as far as Greensboro, N.C. Quite a few of us trekked east to see a tough 2-1 loss in the semifinals. But it was a great year. The Pirates won their second consecutive NWC title, set school records for wins (19) and winning percentage (19-2-1, .868) and recorded impressive NCAA tournament victories over Redlands, Wartburg and Trinity (Texas). Jon Carlson and Ali Seyedali were named to the All-Final Four Team. Todd Sabrowski earned his second consecutive recognition as NWC Defensive Player of the Year and was joined on the All-NWC first team by Seyedali and Niko Varlamos. Carlson, Trevor Osborne and Skye Henderson made second team. Sabrowski retires as Whitworth's all-time assists leader, with 34. And Osborne, Chris Johnson and Adam Loeffler made Academic All-District. In the final rankings, Whitworth finished third in the nation.

We raised the roof of the fieldhouse as the volleyball team came within one match of reaching the NCAA Division III finals, losing to sixth-ranked La Verne (Calif.) in the regional final. Whitworth finished the season with an overall record of 22-4 and won the the conference title by three games, with a record of 15-1. Natalie Danielson was named Northwest Conference Player of the Year, as well as first-team AVCA All-American. She was joined on the NWC first team by Bekah Hornor, who was also named first-team All-Region and Academic All-District. Steve Rupe was named AVCA Regional Coach of the Year, Brittney Bower joined Hornor on the Academic All-District team, and Julie Marsh was named to the All-NWC second team.

Three Whitworthians represented the college at the NCAA Division III cross- country championships. Kristi Dickey finished 42nd overall in the women's race, covering the six kilometers in 23:11.9. It was Dickey's best individual finish in three appearances at the NCAA championships. Julie Lauterbach performed very well in her first NCAA championship race, finishing 64th in 23:30.5. Doug Blackburn earned his best-ever finish at the championships, finishing 45th with a time of 26:42.3 in the men's competition.

Bucs football narrowly missed the NCAA playoffs after a heartbreaking overtime loss to Willamette University. But the Pirates concluded the season by running over longtime conference power Pacific Lutheran, 54-35. Joel Clark and Michael Allan broke venerable offensive records, despite playing only eight games (Lewis & Clark cancelled all of its NWC games this fall). Clark broke the record for touchdown passes, with 29. The previous record of 26 was set by Denny Spurlock in 1961. Allan, our 6'6" tight end, who caught 15 TD passes this season, broke Doug Long's 1976 record of 13 and tied John Murio's record of 15 total touchdowns in a season. The All-NWC team included 17 Pirates, including seven on the first team. Jon Erlenmeyer, Steve Honeyman, Nick Kuntz, Austin Richard and Nick Portrey were named to ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-District Team.

After suffering crucial injuries during the season, women's soccer ended the year with a record of 8-8-3 after a rousing 3-0 finale at Whitman. Two seniors, Ashley Fisk and Jody Rucinski, were named first-team All-NWC for their efforts in 2005.

The women's basketball team, with five new starters this winter, is off to a 3-1 start.The Pirates set a school record by making 18 three-pointers, including five each by sisters Holly and Amy Ridings, in a win over Montana Tech. The Pirates open NWC play this weekend with games against 2004 NWC champion George Fox and currently undefeated Linfield.

Men's basketball is 2-1 so far. The team's season-opening win over Wisconsin Lutheran was a 19-point second-half-comeback victory. Bryan Williams continues to run the offense effectively at point guard, while Lance Pecht is averaging 18 points per game. Whitworth opens conference play at George Fox and Linfield in just a few days.

The Pirate swimming teams are off to another outstanding start. Samantha Kephart leads the NWC in nearly every freestyle event. She's also No. 1 in both butterfly distances. Katelyn Erickson is the conference's top backstroker this fall, and David Dolphay has been the NWC's best men's distance swimmer so far, while Bryan Clarke leads the NWC in both breaststroke events. The Pirates will compete early this month at the annual Husky Invitational, against the best collegiate and age-group swimmers from throughout the Northwest.

Alumni

If you're in the Washington, D.C., area, I'm hosting an alumni deal on Tuesday evening, Feb. 7. I don't know exactly when or where, but I'll send more details soon.

Closing Thoughts

We wish for all of you the blessings and peace of Christ in this season of Advent. This is a special year for our family. On December 16, Bonnie will play organ with the Spokane Symphony in a performance of Saint Saëns' Organ Symphony, and she will also play one of four harpsichords in Bach's Concerto for Four Harpsichords (clever title). On the night before the concert, our son, Ben, will arrive from Egypt, where he has been fulfilling his ministry commitment while his wonderful new bride, Emily, stayed in Spokane to finish up Whitworth's intercollegiate nursing program. No offense to the baby Jesus, but Ben and Emily can probably be forgiven this Advent season if their sense of anticipation veers off toward each other. So our whole family -- now seven -- will be here for Bonnie's special occasion. She is a remarkable musician but an even more remarkable person. I hope all of you get the presents you want most this year. Like every other year, Bonnie is ours. Merry Christmas to you from all of us at Whitworth!