Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: February 2003

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

It seems like my last few Mind and Hearts have been a little on the serious side. So after writing the last one, I decided I needed to get back to my president-lite roots. But this is a heavy hour. I'm sitting in Washington, D.C., one day after the Columbia Shuttle collided tragically with the atmosphere that so lovingly and, in this case, indiscriminately protects our planet. An American historian has written that our nation was built by explorers, pioneers and settlers. Today, most of us fall into the settler category, but we still need and exalt those explorers who inch to the very limits of imagination and technology. They define courage for us. They live on the sharp edge between failure and success, somehow fearing neither. For their unspeakable courage and sacrifice we salute our fallen astronauts. We admire them and thank them. Last night I sat on the floor with a 5-year-old cherub who squealed with innocent delight as she pounded me in game after relentless game of Candyland. This precious child could not have known that just hours earlier seven courageous explorers gave themselves for her tomorrow. I'm sure they were thinking more about 5-year-olds than about their own safety when they climbed into the Columbia. May God be with all their loved ones.

Academics

I've been gone for 12 days, but I hear that Jan Term ended successfully and all our traveling students have returned safely. The early reports are inspiring. For example, one student presented a paper just inside the same Wittenberg door where Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses in 1517. Later, this same class listened to one of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's former students tell of lessons learned from this great hero of the faith. I've also heard that our first art program to Kenya, led by Gordon Wilson and our former Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Nicholas Sironka, provided students with a great immersion in the world of the Maasai and other aspects of Kenyan culture. I'm anxious to get home and go to the HUB for more Jan Term accounts.

Dan Keberle (Music) handed the baton of the Spokane Jazz Orchestra to renowned conductor Gunther Schuller for a performance last month. After the concert, Schuller paid high praise to Brent Edstrom (Music), the featured pianist. "Spokane and Whitworth have a special treasure in Brent Edstrom," Schuller said. "I have tried to perform this music in many places around the world, and Brent is only the second pianist I know of who can play it so perfectly!"

Not to be outdone by our globetrotting students, two of our faculty members took Jan Term trips to opposite ends of the world. Kent McDonald (Religion) presented a paper at Oxford University to the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry. Drawing on his extensive experience in Kenya, Kent spoke about the loss of adolescent identity in the African urban home. Kyle Usrey (School of Global Commerce) presented ideas on business development and social transformation at a Youth with a Mission conference, International Business as Mission, in Thailand.

I have this annoying habit of looking off into space when I'm thinking. Well, that's exactly what our science students will be doing now that our Physics Department has received a $20,000 grant from the Johnston-Fix Foundation to complete the observatory and telescope project on the Science Building roof. Students will be able to use the telescope for both day and night viewing, and they will be able to access the telescope from the Whitworth website in their classrooms as well. Teachers in the region will also be welcome to use the telescope from the Whitworth site. Other funding for this project came from the Carl M. Hansen Foundation.

A couple of weeks ago we had a special visit from Washington Gov. Gary Locke. After I initiated him with 20 minutes of lobbying, we left my office to look over the real Whitworth. We talked with Betty Williams (Education) about the work she's doing with a $500,000 federal grant to study special-needs education; we met with Susan Mabry and Kent Jones (Computer Science), along with four of their students to discuss the high-level research our students are doing in bioinformatics; and we ended the time in a Human Ecology class taught by Professor Emeritus Dave Hicks (Biology). The students fired great questions at the governor. We're very grateful that our state's highest-ranking public servant could see the excellence that is a part of everyday life at Whitworth.

Over the past few years, we have converted the opening convocation of spring semester into a Founder's Day celebration as part of Heritage Week. This year's focus will be on the vital role that women have played in the college's history. At convocation, Dale Soden (History) will highlight the contribution women have made during the college's 113 years, and we will recognize the work of the Whitworth Women's Auxiliary -- a wonderful group of women who over the years have raised thousands of dollars to furnish our residence halls and make life more livable for our on-campus students. Other events include a panel discussion on women in ministry in the Presbyterian Church (led by recently retired education-faculty member Doris Liebert); a play, Mirror, Mirror: The Body Image Show, a challenging production by eight Whitworth students and one alumna about our culture's obsession with physical appearances; and an exhibit of recent work by Professor Emeritus Pauline Haas (Art). Pauline's show, The Big and the Small of It, celebrates her 80th birthday and features oil paintings, pastels, mixed-media creations and drawings; it runs through Feb. 28 in our Koehler Gallery. She refers to the works as "landscapes as metaphor," expressions of her response to the death of her husband, Gus, formerly one of our political science faculty, and of her recent personal development and growth.

Heritage Week will conclude with the Music Department presenting its annual Women Composers Concert on Feb. 16, focusing on music for organ. Featured area organists include Barbara Top Rockwood, emeritus faculty member Michael Young, James Tevenan, and the dazzling Bonnie Robinson (I'll pay for that adjective). The concert is free and will take place at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 316 E. 24th Ave., in Spokane. For more information, call (509) 777-4583. I wouldn't miss this concert.

Enrollment

This will be another record-breaking year in applications, so encourage any potential applicant you know to meet our application deadline of March 1. I remember looking out my office window on March 1, 1999 and seeing one of this year's graduating seniors, application in hand, trudging over to the Admissions Office 10 minutes before it closed. When I commented to this boy, who shares my last name, that I saw him headed for admissions "at 4:50 p.m.!," he explained that you always want to give yourself a little margin. Alas, the sins of the father shall be visited upon the son.

The Financial Aid Office is beginning to review files for the 2003-4 academic year. New students who have applied by the March 1 deadline will begin to receive their awards in the mail in early April. Continuing students who meet the May 1 deadline for submitting the FAFSA form will receive their awards during May and June. If continuing students need summer aid (which is very limited), their renewal deadline is March 1. Merit scholarships are automatically renewed. Also, parents and students should check out our updated scholarship and financial aid information pages on our website.

Student Life

El Niño has been good for our heating bills but bad for skiing. So some of our students just headed for Canada over Jan Term break and skied four days in Banff. Jan Term basketball games were great, as always, and students who spent Jan Term on campus were able to watch as a Whitworth star was born. Skylar Gronholz was crowned a winner of Star Search this month and won $250 for his beat-box skills. I have no idea what this is about, but congratulations, Skylar.

Resources

We are sorry to report that a great Whitworth friend, Cliff Mollendorf, recently passed away at age 94. Not surprisingly, Cliff remembered our students in his financial planning. In 1993 he established a charitable gift annuity with The Whitworth Foundation and the balance of approximately $125,000 will be transferred to Whitworth's Cliff Mollendorf Scholarship Fund. We have also been notified that Whitworth will receive bequests from two estates. We will receive unrestricted funds from the estate of Helen Greiner, '55, and a substantial sum from the estate of Elaine Linden to establish the Gunnard and Elaine Linden Scholarship. I speak for our students in expressing profound gratitude for the generosity of these folks who created living legacies of student support.

Thank you for your many year-end gifts. This economy is battering gift revenues all over the country, and that includes ours. So we're behind where we need to be. I'm sure we'll be able to balance this year's budget, but we don't want to use any unrestricted bequest dollars to do it. Our practice is to put that money into the endowment for student aid. So we'll appreciate anything more you can do to support our annual fund. On the bright side, we are happy to report that we have 42 first-time President's Club members so far this year. The President's Club includes those who contribute $1,000 or more annually to the college. We are so grateful to all of you alumni, parents and friends who sustain us financially as we go about working on this great mission.

Athletics

(This info comes to you fresh from Sports Info Director Steve Flegel, who keeps us travelers in the know.)

Whitworth's swim teams concluded the dual-meet portion of the season with excellent records. The men finished 7-2 overall and 6-0 in Northwest Conference meets. The women were 5-4 overall, and 5-1 in the NWC. The Whitworth men are 24-0 over the last four seasons in dual-meet competition against NWC opponents. Cory Bergman, Ryan Freeman, Brandon Johnson, Loren Kilgore, Kevin Wang, Serena Fadel and Jillian Harbuz have all posted either provisional or automatic qualifying times for nationals. The NWC swimming championships will be Feb. 14-16 at Linfield College, and the Pirates expect to do very well at the meet.

Whitworth's women's basketball team has won seven consecutive games to improve to 14-5 overall and 8-2 in the NWC. The Pirates are tied for first place and are looking good to make (and maybe host) the conference playoffs. Sophomore forward Tiffany Speer has been named NWC player of the week four times this season. She leads the conference in scoring average (15.4 points per game) and is in the top five in rebounding (7.4 rpg) as well. Another super sophomore, Sarah Shogren, is second in the NWC in rebounds (8.1 per game).

Whitworth's men are ranked 14th in the nation and are 17-2 overall and 8-2 in the conference. The Bucs continue to hold down first place in the NWC and are looking to win their first conference title since 1998. Junior Bryan Depew keeps moving up the list of all-time scorers at Whitworth. He is currently 10th all-time, with 1,233 career points. Another Pirate who is nearing the 1,000-point plateau is Chase Williams, who has reached 924 points. And guard Scott Bierlink has been a defensive monster for the Pirates, leading the conference in steals (2.2 per game) and leading all NWC guards in rebounding (5.7 per game).

Finally, congratulations are in order for Kristen Shields, who became the first Pirate woman to qualify provisionally for the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 7.35 in the 55-meter dash.

Alumni

Whitworth Today Editor Terry Mitchell asked me to let you know that you'll be receiving the next issue of our alumni magazine in late March or early April. (For a variety of good reasons, we've changed the W.T. schedule to early spring and early fall.) Our upcoming issue will explore the changing face of scholarship at Whitworth.

Only three spaces remain for this summer's educational tour of Germany, Backroads of the Reformation, with Jim Edwards (Religion) and his wife, Janie. Call Alumni Director Tad Wisenor at 800-532-4668 or visit the alumni web pages for more information.

On Friday, March 14, alumni, parents and friends will gather for dessert and discussion with director Diana Trotter (Theatre) in the HUB prior to the performance of our spring production, Waiting for Godot.

During the weekend of March 22-23, plan to join long-time professor Dick Evans (Music) for a Core 650 presentation, Humor in Music. Saturday evening, the program will be in the Los Angeles area, moving to San Diego for a Sunday-afternoon gathering. Brochures have been mailed and online registration is available.

The acclaimed Whitworth Choir is coming to the Bay Area, Northern California and Western Oregon this spring. Watch for information in your mailboxes and on the Whitworth website (www.whitworth.edu), where we'll be posting dates and venues.

Jim Waller (Psychology) will offer a lecture for New England-area alumni, parents and friends before a Whitworth dinner on Saturday, March 22, at Gordon College, outside Boston. Information has been mailed and online reservations are being taken.

During Spring Break (March 22-30), our instrumental groups will make their way to the Bay Area on tour. Look for information about specific venues in the near future.

The Office of Alumni and Parent Relations is currently accepting nominations for the 2003 Alumni Awards. For more information, call the office or visit the alumni awards pages of the alumni website.

Closing Thoughts

In the spirit of our upcoming Heritage Week tribute to the women of Whitworth, I must tell you that our women's football team finished in the Top 10 nationally at this year's tournament in Las Vegas. As near as I can determine, 11 teams entered and we finished 10th. We would call this a rebuilding year, but there is no "re" since we've never done this before. A group of our Powder-Puff football players simply asked that wonderful college-student question, "Hey, why not?" So they gathered, they practiced, they went, and they got their brains beat out. But they were college students through and through, and you just have to love that. If you subtract the contributions of Whitworth women of yesteryear and today, this college would be diminished beyond recognition. They have been faithful, smart, tough, tender and truthful -- and they still are. Currently, three of our four vice presidents are women. And on the student side, from our ASWC president and vice president to our senior-class president and a group of fun-loving female football players, Whitworth women provide great leadership. Thanks for your friendship. Pray for peace.

P.S. I'm back home now and a few hours ago the FedEx man handed me a package in the distinctive shape of a Candyland box. Sure enough, the trash-talking 5-year-old had sent me the game and a note in her own distinctive printing: "Plumpy: Better luck next time. Love, Queen Frostine." Talk about tough women!