Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: February 1998

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

Spring semester has arrived and it's at full throttle. I don't know whether there were shadows last week on Groundhog Day, but here in mild Spokane it might be difficult to tell the difference between an extension of winter and the arrival of spring. Our globetrotting students, as well as those who stayed on campus, report great January Term experiences. In the midst of our good feelings, we hold in prayer those of you who have been battered by severe weather. Whitworth has many alumni and friends in the California regions that have suffered tragic losses. Whether we're talking about financial markets, the weather or political popularity polls, we seem to be in a time of extraordinary volatility. The challenge for Whitworth, and I suppose for us all, is to identify those areas in which we should adapt and those in which we should remain firm. At Whitworth, our mission tops the "firm" list, while our pedagogies are under perpetual review. I hope this letter finds you well.

Academics

In the last Mind and Heart I featured our January Term classes. This month I thought you might enjoy highlights from a cross-section of our faculty members.

* Associate Professor of Theatre Rick Hornor is taking a well-deserved sabbatical this semester. He is spending the term teaching theatre at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Stillman, a historically black college associated with our denomination, is one of the schools with which we have an exchange agreement. I just ran across Dan Plies, a Whitworth senior who spent last semester at Stillman and found the experience both challenging and exhilarating.

* Assistant Professor of English Laurie Lamon has been publishing in a wide variety of periodicals. Her current and future publications include "Night," in the New Republic; "Husband and Wife," forthcoming in Southern Humanities Review; "Garlic," soon to be out in Parnassus; "Talk," in an upcoming issue of The Seattle Review; and "Moving Ground," to be published in Yarrow. And just today, I heard the great news that a section of Laurie's ten-part poem,"Like Praise," has been accepted for publication by the Atlantic Monthly.

* We welcome two new faculty members to our campus this term: David Holt just received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and 'BioDun Ogundayo holds a doctorate from the State University of New York. 'BioDun Ogundayo will teach French, and David Holt will teach in our History/Political and International Studies Department, filling in for Political Studies Professor John Yoder, who is on sabbatical and a Fulbright-sponsored leave of absence over the next three semesters.

* Speaking of John Yoder, I just received an e-mail from him yesterday. He has safely arrived at Daystar University in Kenya, where he will be spending part of his sabbatical.

* Associate Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages Pierrette Christianne-Lovrien is kicking off her final France Study Tour as I write. Bonnie and I received a phone call yesterday from our daughter, who is a student on the tour. She reported that Pierrette is wonderful and knows everybody in Southern France. Unlike her father, this young woman occasionally succumbs to hyperbole.

* Dean of the School of Education Dennis Sterner represented our teacher-education faculty in accepting a check for $5,500 from Seafirst Bank to be used toward the support of our School of Education's work with the Coeur d'Alene Tribal School. Special thanks to Director of Institutional Advancement for Community and Corporate Relations Elsa Distelhorst for her assistance in this project.

* Psychology faculty member and Vice President for Student Life Kathy Storm received word that she and Director of Student Employment and Institutional Research Gordon Jacobson are receiving a grant for $5,000 from the Western Region Campus Compact Consortium to fund a service-learning project at Whitworth.

* Associate Professor of English Doug Sugano has been asked to deliver a paper this summer at the International Medieval Institute at the University of Leeds, England. Whitworth is fortunate to have two top scholars in medieval studies. Doug has focused his work in medieval literature, and the medieval history research of Associate Professor of History Corliss Slack has also drawn national attention.

* Assistant Professor of Political Studies Julia Stronks is writing a book with her mother, Gloria Stronks, an education professor at Calvin College. The book examines the legal rights and responsibilities of Christian teachers in public schools. This should be an extremely interesting and important work. I will let you know the publication details in a future Mind and Heart.

I was in Washington, D.C., last week and I heard a media person talking about how college faculties have become more interested in research than in learning. The falsehood of this dichotomy at Whitworth College was made clear to me the day after I got home, when I heard Physics Professor Lois Kieffaber respond to the question, "What would be a distinctive of physics at Whitworth?" Lois responded immediately that "The extent to which our students do research with our faculty" distinguishes us from most institutions. Faculty research and scholarship at Whitworth thoroughly involves students and deepens, rather than distances, their relationships with professors.

Enrollment & Admissions

We're slightly behind last year's application numbers, but it's pretty early to draw conclusions. March 1 is our application deadline, so please encourage any prospective students you know to apply ASAP. There will likely be grace on this year's deadline date. This is a great place!

More than 100 prospective students and parents will be on campus this weekend for Campus Close-up, one of the visitation programs that we hold each year. Most of our visitors will be fall '98 applicants taking a closer look at Whitworth before making their final decisions. FINANCES The 1997-98 budget seems to be pretty much on target. Our utilities expense line has been in especially good shape due to higher temperatures and lower natural gas consumption. The campus feels very different from a typical Spokane winter when I look out my window in early February and see shorts-and-shirtsleeves-clad students engaged in ultimate Frisbee games while Physical Plant staffers find themselves raking instead of shoveling.

The weather has also helped us catch up completely on the Campus Center Phase II project. In fact, the exterior brickwork is almost a month ahead of plan. I'm hoping we make commercial construction history and complete the project early and under budget.

Completion of the Campus Center will mark the point at which we will be able to focus our capital efforts on strengthening academic resources. In addition to the Johnston Science Center renovation (to which SAFECO just generously contributed $25,000), we will focus on renovating existing teaching stations and creating new classroom spaces. This will be an exciting period as we focus on academics, the core of what we do and the bull's-eye in our strategic plan.

The Whitworth Fund continues its steady climb to our goal of $1,250,000. We are right on pace, so let this item serve as a thank-you and a reminder.

John and Judy Scotford have given us permission to identify them as the anonymous donors of a large gift that I mentioned a couple of months ago. The Scotfords have come forward with a gift of $1 million for capital projects at Whitworth. John has served as a trustee for more than eight years and has been an important member of the Development Committee and the Buildings and Grounds Committee. Look for a story in the current issue of Whitworth Today about John, '51, and Judy and their love and support for Whitworth.

Student Life

February is a short month at both ends, with planned activities being cut back while students resettle on campus. A number of students did enjoy the ASWC's hosting of "Tune In," a professional game show in which student contestants had to name tunes in various musical categories in order to win cash. Our students won more than $250. Paying homage to the aphorism "Money won is more fun than money earned," students made sure that Pipeline Pizza was the ultimate beneficiary of their good fortune.

Our Student Life staff is busy taking applications for various student leadership positions as they prepare to select next year's student-leadership team. Whitworth's training, selection, development and use of student leaders is the most extensive I have seen in a college or university.

February will end with a playwrights' festival, featuring plays written, directed and performed by Whitworth students. In addition, students will enjoy "Star Search," a campus talent show at which winners in the areas of vocal music, instrumental music, and novelty acts will each win $100. In this last category, we require students to forfeit all rights afforded them by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Athletics

It is 9:50 on Tuesday night, February 10, and I just watched our men's basketball team win its 41st consecutive home game. Leading by just four points at halftime, the Bucs (who are ranked eighth in the nation in this week's NAIA Division II poll) pulled away from Whitman in the second half to win 92-82. Senior Jeff Mix had a season-high 22 points, and 5'8" senior Sean Weston was huge - but good ball movement and tenacious defense got everybody in on the success. This weekend the Pirates put their streak on the line against a very tough PLU team and then against Lewis and Clark, currently number 12 in the NAIA rankings.

The women also walked away from tonight's contest with a win. The Pirates are now 8-6 in the NCIC. Andrea Sherer is leading the team in scoring with 15 points per game, and the Bucs are getting superb play from freshman Jamie Wakefield, who's averaging 10 a game. With starting point guard Emily Stuenkel out with stress fractures in both legs and Kristin Davis battling a shoulder injury, Kristi Pentzer has taken over the point guard position and is playing extremely well. Also, Star Olson, Katie Warner, and Cindy Viall are making strong showings. The Pirates will probably need to win both games this weekend if they are to move into fourth place and the final playoff spot in the conference.

Last weekend I had a chance to see the Whitworth swimmers pummel Evergreen State on Friday night, followed by a men's victory and a women's defeat against Willamette on Saturday. We were excited to learn that Jeremiah Pappe and Alison Eckenroad, who each won four events in the two days, were named the NAIA Swimmers of the Week. Great performances were also turned in by Mindy Galbraith, who won three events over the weekend, and Brian Rice, who won four races including the 1,000 freestyle, the 500 freestyle, and the 100 breaststroke against Willamette on Saturday. Athletics Director Scott McQuilkin, '84, and I marveled as we watched Head Coach Tom Dodd's swimmers excel at what would have been a Titanic experience for the two of us. This weekend, Lewis and Clark will host the conference championships, and we have high hopes for both our men's and women's teams.

Don't forget the Whitworth College/Wendle Motors golf outing on May 29 at the Spokane Country Club. This is a great opportunity for alumni and friends to gather and support Whitworth College Athletics while having great fun in the Florida scramble format. In the spirit of egalitarianism, this year we will be leashing a rabid pit bull to one leg of each member of the Tikker foursome. We feel this could reduce the number of strokes by which they beat the rest of us.

Miscellaneous

Whitworth College, Whitworth Community Presbyterian Church and the Inland Northwest Presbytery are hosting "Mission 2000," a global mission conference, February 20-22.Many of our students have expressed interest in participating in the conference. Staley Lecturer John Perkins, one of our nation's greatest champions of racial reconciliation, is coming up from Mississippi to head a list of leading missions experts who will make presentations at this event.

If you live in the San Francisco area, you won't want to miss the Whitworth Wind and Jazz Ensembles' Spring Break tour (March 21-29). For schedule information, contact our Alumni Office at (509) 777-3799. Both groups are outstanding and will be recording CD's this year. The jazz ensemble performed by invitation last Sunday at the Washington Music Educators' All-State Convention in the Yakima Capitol Theatre - a significant honor for our student musicians.

On May 3, the Whitworth College Choir will be performing at St. John's Cathedral with members of the Spokane Symphony. Between this performance and Bloomsday, the city is expecting an additional 200,000 people downtown that day. More than half of them will be there for Bloomsday - way more than half, actually. But I'm sure that many of these folks will want to head over to St. John's to hear Spokane's great symphony and the finest collegiate choir in the Northwest.

Don't forget two important upcoming alumni dates. On February 28, Associate Professor of Religion Jerry Sittser and Associate Professor of History Dale Soden will be in Los Angeles making a Core 650 presentation at Brentwood Presbyterian Church, 12000 San Vicente Boulevard. Then, for you local alumni, March 12 is Whitworth hockey night with the Spokane Chiefs. For registration information regarding these events, please call (509) 777-3799 or (800) 532-4668.

Dates to Remember

Closing Thoughts

We had a great time in Asia. Bonnie joined me in Thailand, and after a wonderful alumni meeting in Bangkok, we went on a trek with alumnus Vira Aroonvatanaporn, '68. It was exhilarating to hike the mountains and jungles of northern Thailand. Of course, being with Vira during the trek, then joining his family, along with Whitworth Trustee Franklin Ott and his wife, Margie May, was a joy. We also had a very productive time at our sister school, Payap University, in Chiang Mai. My best-learned lesson on this trip was found in the pure pleasure of escaping the pressure cooker to spend time with Bonnie and simply to enjoy God. We shouldn't have to go to the other side of the world for such immanent blessings. I hope this Lenten season will be one of glorifying and enjoying God for each of you.