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President Emeritus Bill Robinson

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  2. President Emeritus Bill Robinson
  3. Of Mind & Heart Newsletter
  4. December 2009

Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: December 2009

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

Ye Shall Have a Song is the title for this year's Christmas Festival Concerts. It's perfect. Songs have to be some of God's loveliest gifts. We can't imagine life without music. My wife makes her living making music, as did my mother. I just listened in, although this morning Bonnie tried to tell me that she likes it when I sing with her. She must like the concept; no self-respecting musician could like the sound. "Ye shall have a song" is taken from a specific promise God gave to Israel as part of an intense, three-part message recorded in Isaiah 30. The chapter begins with God's fury over Israel's unfaithfulness; it then shifts to God's tender promises of grace toward Israel; it ends with God's fiery wrath raining down on the enemies of Israel. Interestingly, Israel receives its promise of a song right in the middle of God's closing diatribe. The promise seems to be in the wrong stanza. But maybe it's where it belongs, where it's most needed – right in the middle of the chaos. God gives us a song when everything seems beyond our control. When things seem too bad to be true or too good to be true, God gives us a song. Just 20 years ago, world-renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich accompanied the destruction of the Berlin wall by sitting in its crumbling shadow playing Bach. For this exiled Russian, only music would do. We need a song to express the heights of our joy. We need a song to express the depths of our sorrow. With songs, God introduces the incarnate Christ, our savior: "Hark the herald...peace on earth....Glory to God in the highest." There's no better song than that. We at Whitworth wish you a joyful, music-filled Christmas.

Academics

This fall our faculty members are presenting their research to colleagues near and far. Some of the presentations include:

  • Charles Andrews (English): "Calling All Armed and Fanatical Pacifists: Shaw's International Peace-Building and 'St. Joan,'" to the International Shaw Society, in Washington, D.C.;
  • Martha Gady (Math): "Transcendental Function Applications" to the Northwest Mathematics Conference, in Whistler, B.C., Canada;
  • Jim McPherson (Communication Studies): "20th-Century Periods of Change in Journalism," to the American Journalism Historians Association, in Birmingham, Ala.;
  • Lindy Scott (Spanish), "Christians and Politics within the United States," to the Mexican National Congress on Religion, Society and Politics, in Puebla, Mexico;
  • Patrick Van Inwegen (Political Science), "The Limits of Nonviolence," to the Peace & Justice Studies Association, in Milwaukee.

More than 400 elementary-school-age children participated in this year's Whitworth Writing Rally. Lisa Laurier (Education) directed the event. Author Candace Fleming, who spoke on the theme "Everything Is a Story," is a recent recipient of the Orbis Pictus Award (for children's nonfiction, presented at the annual National Teachers of English Association Conference). The writing rally has blessed children since the 1980s. This year, one mother wrote, "My daughter has been writing stories since first grade, and it's programs like this one that encourage her."

Gordon Jackson's new book, 'Jesus Does Stand-Up,' and Other Satires: Parables, Pictures and Parodies for Today's Church, was published this month by Resource Publications. I love Gordon's ability to find humor and poignancy in the least-expected places.

A team of Whitworth students took third place at the eighth annual Northwest Regional Ethics Bowl last month in Seattle. This year marks the seventh time in eight years that a Whitworth team has placed in the semifinals or finals. Members of the Whitworth team include philosophy and theology majors Dan Herve, '10, and Jared Lollar, '11, philosophy and sociology major Benjameen Quarless, '12, philosophy and marketing major Mary Rupert, '10, and speech communications major Michella Sutherland, '12. The team is coached by Mike Ingram (Communication Studies/Academic Affairs) and Keith Wyma (Philosophy).

Eight Whitworth singers earned a total of nine awards in the classical voice and musical theatre categories at the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition. More than 160 students from universities across Eastern Washington auditioned for the Inland Empire Chapter of NATS. Senior Mollie McComb received two awards, taking first place in musical theatre and second place in classical voice. Senior Ellie VerGowe took first place in classical voice. Freshman MacKenzie Covington, junior Tyler Kruse, senior Mac Merchant and freshman Kirsten Mullen all earned second-place honors in classical voice. Sophomore Ira McIntosh took second place in musical theatre, and freshman Jordan Kingma earned third place in classical voice.

The Whitworth Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dan Keberle, will spend Jan Term traveling to New York City and New Orleans for performances at various universities and high schools. Joining them will be New York jazz artists Donny McCaslin, Lee Konitz and Ryan Keberle, and New Orleans legend Trombone Shorty. They will also have the chance to hear bands such as the Maria Schneider Big Band, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and the Pedro Giraudo Jazz Orchestra. By the way, the fall jazz concert at the Fox Theatre was dazzling.

We took a giant step in our thriving science programs by breaking ground in early November on the new $32 million biology/chemistry building. The building is the first phase of a planned $53 million project to expand and renovate the university's science facilities; this is in response to a 50 percent increase in the number of Whitworth science majors in recent years. We were pleased to have U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Washington State Rep. Kevin Parker, '96, and Marcus Riccelli, from U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's office, attend the ground-breaking ceremony along with the lead architects and contractors on the project and Whitworth science faculty and students. To learn more about the project or to make a needed donation, please visitwww.whitworth.edu/scienceinitiative.
View the biology/chemistry building groundbreaking ceremony

Three teams of Whitworth computer science students outmaneuvered their peers and solved a series of complex programming problems during the 34th annual Association for Computing Machinery Pacific Northwest Regional Computer Programming Contest. Eighty teams from the Western U.S. and Canada took part in the Nov. 7 battle of the brains at the U. of Idaho. The top Whitworth team – seniors Timothy Bull, David Jackson and Josh Simmons – solved five of 10 problems in 428 minutes to beat 62 other teams and rank 18th. The top two Whitworth teams finished above those from Whitworth's peer schools in the region and beat many teams from larger schools, including Gonzaga, Stanford, Cal Berkeley, U. of Oregon, U. of Washington and WSU. "The standings say a lot about the high caliber of students that Whitworth attracts," says Kent Jones (Math & Computer Science). "Teams who rank well in the regional competition are looked on favorably by corporate recruiters."

The Third Annual International Teacher Education Symposium was held last month at Whitworth. The symposium is a collaboration among Whitworth, Mukogawa Women's University, in Japan, Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute, Gonzaga and EWU; it is designed to promote a greater understanding of international issues in teacher education and appreciation of other cultures. This year's theme was "Building Bridges and Breaking Down Barriers." The symposium was the kickoff event preceding the Whitworth School of Education's celebration of International Education Week, which aims to build international understanding, foster programs that prepare Americans for life in a global environment, and attract future leaders from abroad to study in the United States. 
Listen to Ken Wrye, Ph.D., present the concluding lecture 

Three of our faculty members are engaged in sabbatical research this fall. Donna Pierce (Math) is examining strategies, methodologies and resources being used by universities across the nation to support vocational and career preparation for math majors. Mike Sardinia, '86, (Biology) is researching the optimal molecular structure needed to increase the production of matrix metalloproteinases in the hippocampus, as part of an effort to battle Alzheimer's disease. Ginny Whitehouse (Communication Studies) is developing an intercultural communication textbook for journalists.

Student Life

November was packed with great events.

  • Mancation and Feminight retreats focused separately on issues facing women and men and were designed and led by groups of student leaders with faculty and staff speakers.
  • Midnight Madness, organized by Collin Gibbs, welcomed in the men's and women's basketball season with faculty vs. student competitions, slam-dunk contests, the distribution of this year's Midnight Madness T-shirt and a contest for a lucky student to win $25,000 by shooting 5 three-pointers in a row. (No one won.)
  • Up 'til Dawn, a student-run extravaganza that featured informational sessions, music and entertainment kept students up all night, with all proceeds going to St Jude's Children's Research Hospital.
  • Cultural Awareness Week, organized by ASWU Cultural Events Coordinator Jacquette Easterlin, included dinners, discussions and performers and ended with the traditional International Banquet, which featured the homeland cuisine of Whitworth's international students.

Arend Hall cleaned up in our second annual Sustainability Challenge, during which students, faculty and staff had fun learning how individual decisions they make about recycling, food, energy, transportation and water affect the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The challenge pitted each of Whitworth's residence-hall communities, off-campus students, and faculty/staff against one another to determine who could do the most to learn about and promote sustainability. Details of the challenge, including Arend's awesome dominance, are available at www.whitworth.edu/sustainabilitychallenge.

Resources

This month's Whitworth Fund fact is brought to you by Dan, Mollie, Ariella and Jeff, four students being featured as part of the Whitworth Fund's annual e-mail campaign. (If you haven't been receiving these e-mails, visit www.whitworth.edu/whitworthfund for a recap.) December usually gets the prize for our biggest Whitworth Fund month. So, of course, we rely heavily on this month in building our budgets. Anything you contribute will be deeply appreciated. Thanks for your faithfulness in providing tax-deductible contributions that help to make Whitworth academically rigorous, beautiful, and more affordable for our students in 2010 and beyond. Visit www.whitworth.edu/give to make your gift online, or call our advancement office toll-free at 800.532.4668.

Athletics

The women's cross-country team finished its best season ever by placing sixth at the NCAA Division III Cross-Country Championship Meet. Their accomplishment capped a season in which the Pirates won their first Northwest Conference title and captured the NCAA West Region championship for the second time in school history. Joy Schufeldt, a freshman, and Dana Misterek, in her second season, both earned NCAA All-America honors by finishing among the top 35 runners in the 280-runner field. Toby Schwarz was named Women's West Region Coach of the Year by the USATFCCCA.

Men's soccer capped a third straight trip to the NCAA DIII National Tournament by reaching the Elite Eight. The Bucs earned a 2-0 first-round win over Chapman, a 2-1 second-round win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, and a 1-0 win over Hardin-Simmons in the round of 16. All four games were played on the road – the first two in Santa Cruz, Calif., and the final two in Dubuque, Iowa. Whitworth finished the season 16-3-3 and is now 9-5-2 all-time in six NCAA tournament appearances under Head Coach Sean Bushéy.

Women's soccer concluded one of its best seasons in school history with a record of 17-3, finishing second in the NWC with a 14-2 record.That sterling record was not enough, though, for the women to win an at-large bid to the NCAA DIII Tournament. (Naturally, I think we got shafted.) Senior Lindsey Oakes concludes her Whitworth soccer career as one of our all-time leaders in total points and goals scored.

The Pirate football team won its final two games to finish the season 5-5. The final home contest was a dramatic come-from-behind win in overtime against PLU. In postseason honors, senior defensive tackle Brandon Martin was named First Team All-Northwest Conference for the third straight season.

The volleyball team swept Pacific (Ore.) in its season finale to finish the year 10-17 overall and 6-10 in the NWC. We should be very strong next year.

The women's basketball team is 2-2 so far this season. The Pirates have beaten Macalester (Minn.) and Colorado College, with the two losses coming to nationally ranked NAIA opponents. The women's first home game is Dec.11 against the College of Idaho.

Men's basketball is 1-1 after opening the season at the Puget Sound Tipoff Classic with a loss to 10th-ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a win over UC Santa Cruz. The men's first home game is also Dec. 11, with a return game against the Banana Slugs.

The swimming teams are doing well once again. Both the men and women are undefeated in meets against NWC opponents. Natalie Turner, Rory Buck and Michael Woodward will all compete this month at the U.S. Senior Nationals in Federal Way – the highest level of competition in the United States this year.

Alumni & Parents

Doug Bocaz-Larson, '93, and his wife, Kim, recently won an Emmy!Read about their triumph at www.whitworth.edu/whitworthtoday, and see their award-winning short documentary at http://www.warveterans.tv.

Alumni can enjoy free Pirate basketball from Dec. 27 to Jan. 30. We'll hold our annual Alumni Night at the Fieldhouse (free admission, snacks, and door prizes) on Jan. 22, when the Bucs take on Linfield. All other home games (Dec. 27 and 29, Jan. 8, 9, 19, 22, 29, & 30) are also free to alumni and their families. Start times and matchups are available on the athletics website at www.whitworth.edu/athletics.

In January, I'll be joining the Whitworth Office of Alumni & Parent Relations for receptions in Honolulu and Washington, D.C. In addition to providing a university update, I'll share some thoughts on what I've learned about leadership over the past 17 years as Whitworth's president. We would love to see alumni, parents and friends. We'll be in Honolulu Jan. 9 and in Washington, D.C., at the beginning of February. Register online at www.whitworth.edu/presidentsreceptions.

Miscellaneous

If you can join us at the Christmas Festival Concerts in Spokane, we'd love to see you: Friday, Dec. 11, 8 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 12, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., First Presbyterian Church. Tickets ($18 regular admission; $15 students/seniors [62-plus]) are on sale now at 800.532.4668 andwww.whitworth.edu/musictickets.

Closing Thoughts

I'm at an "emerging leaders" conference in Portland right now. Tonight, I encountered at least a half-dozen alumni who graduated within the last 15 years. I remember most of them as idealistic students who thought they could change the world. Now, they are idealistic alumni who think they can change the world. And in big and small ways, they're doing it. They are loving and serving and nurturing and showing Christ's love to people the world seems to have abandoned, or worse. If in any way you are a stakeholder in Whitworth, you can be confident that your investment is rippling through neighborhoods, villages and nations. Your support and prayers never stop mattering. In this season of giving, you are a gift to our students and to all the people they will serve and lead. Thank you.