Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: January 1999

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

Greetings from the friendly skies of United. I'm on my way to San Antonio for the NCAA convention. I need to attend because I serve as chair of the President's Committee of our athletic conference (a very prestigious office to which I rose because "Whitworth" comes after "Whitman" in the alphabet). We send you enthusiastic greetings for a great 1999. You blessed us with many expressions of support in 1998 - your thoughts, prayers, children, good words and generous contributions. Thanks, and New Year's blessings to you! I trust by the time you get this letter, you'll still be hanging in there on at least one or two resolutions. I usually celebrate Epiphany (Jan. 6) by nullifying all those ill-conceived resolutions I haven't kept, and if somehow I've kept one for six days, I declare it a habit, then nullify it too. I hope the joy of Christ's birth has launched you well into 1999.

Academics

It is with congratulations and gratitude that we celebrate the 50 years of service to Christian higher education given by business professors George Weber (a/k/a "the swimming-pool baron" to some of you alumni) and Charles McKinney, both of whom will retire at the end of this year. These men are well known on campus for their dedication to students and for their deep Christian commitment. We are now searching in earnest for their successors.

After countless hours of paperwork and a decade spent building their program into one of the most vibrant majors on campus, our Sports Medicine/Athletic Training folks await a final decision on accreditation.
The visiting evaluation team concluded its report and submitted it to the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs for a final decision in April. We owe much to Sports Medicine faculty members Russ Richardson and Melinda Larson and to Kinesiology Department Chair Daman Hagerott for their work on this process. The visiting accreditation team commended the college on numerous points, including its "obvious, genuine care and concern for Whitworth's students," whose placement rate at graduation is about three times the national average. We're feeling pretty good about the odds of approval, which would make our program one of fewer than 100 accredited programs in the country.

Susan Bratton, our Lindaman Chair of Science, Technology and Society, maintains a very productive publishing and speaking schedule. Among her latest contributions are major presentations on biblical ethics and the environment, given at Princeton Theological Seminary and at Intervarsity Christian Fellowship's seminar for graduate students. Susan has also produced a book chapter, several refereed articles published in science journals, and a number of environmental research projects with Whitworth students.

Another active Whitworth scholar, Religion Professor Roger Mohrlang, got word of the dedication on Jan. 2 of the revised version of the New Testament that he translated into the Kamwe language. Roger has spent six years reworking the original version, which he completed in 1974 after spending several years among the Kamwe people in Nigeria. He has given much of his professional life to this painstaking process that gives the Kamwe precious words of life.

Almost 300 students departed campus for January Term destinations around the world.: One of the Core 250 students called us today from Athens and told of being inspired on Mars Hill as her professor read St. Paul's classic address, "Men of Athens, I perceive you are very religious in all things…." What a classroom!

Theatre Department Chair Rick Hornor,'70, has been invited by Kern County Schools in Southern California to present a series of teacher in-service programs on using theatre in character-values education. Theatre students from Whitworth will get good professional exposure as the actors in a series of videotapes that Rick will use in these presentations.

Vice President for Academic Affairs Tammy Reid and the faculty have begun taking a close look at our educational goals this fall. The eight goals that have shaped our curriculum since the early 1980s have served us well, but much in our world has changed since then. A task force has been formed to review these goals as a first step in looking at possible changes in our general education requirements.

Music lovers, the trifecta selection of the Whitworth Wind Ensemble, jazz ensemble and choir to perform at the Music Educators All-Northwest Conference is your gain. If you live in the Seattle-Tacoma or Portland areas, you can see the groups perform at Tacoma's University Place Presbyterian Church on Feb. 11 and at Lake Grove Presbyterian Church in Lake Oswego, Ore., on Feb. 12. Call 1-800-532-4668 for details. Also, the Whitworth Jazz Ensemble is currently performing for two weeks in Rome, Italy. They will be appearing in concert at one of Rome's top music clubs, Big Mama's, with Italian guest artists Enrico Pieranunzi, Claudio Gianmarco and Roberto Gatto.

Student Life

January is a fun month. For most of the students on campus, one three-hour class in the morning allows larger chunks of time for both study and play. This month's activities include an appearance by Kermit Apio, from Hawaii, who does a comedic bit about the many uses of Spam (what's funny about getting your stomach pumped?); trips downtown for hockey fans to see the Chiefs play; Trash for Cash, a trivia game in which students win money for their mastery of worthless information; Karaoke Night in the HUB (I'll make it a point to be gone); concerts featuring local Christian bands; a ski trip to Schweitzer; and cross-country skiing at Mt. Spokane. For our more rabid competitors, this month offers 3-on-3 basketball, a Ping-Pong tournament in the HUB, and an exhibition match in our Fieldhouse by two nationally ranked ping-pong players, with prizes awarded to any Whitworthian who can return a serve from one of these dynamos.

Enrollment

Our early numbers for fall 1999 new-student enrollment look good:.

Please encourage any prospective students you know to contact us soon. This is a great place.

Resources

In December, the college completed the sale and issuance of $14 million in long-term, tax-exempt bonds. This transaction allowed us to reduce significantly the interest expense on our previous long-term financing. It also gave us funding to purchase the former Whitworth Elementary School (now being used as Mead School District administrative offices) and to accomplish several needed projects, including the total renovation of Dixon Hall, one of our primary teaching buildings. The Dixon renovation will include the addition of an elevator, replacement of all mechanical systems and reconfiguration of classrooms.

The bond proceeds will also allow us to complete a significant expansion of athletics facilities, adding a women's softball field (our team currently plays home games at Franklin Park, five miles from campus), a new soccer field and all the associated amenities. The new fields will be located west of the Pine Bowl, handy for all the future Pirate teams that will compete there.

Speaking of building projects, the renovation work to the Johnston Science Center continues as I write, but will be complete by the time you read this. Our contractor is busy preparing the building for reoccupancy for the spring term. Biology Professor Lee Anne Chaney has done a wonderful job of coordinating this project, and she and her colleagues anxiously await the move into their new digs. Our thanks to all of you who have helped us with this project.

Finances at the midpoint of our fiscal year are on budget, and we are elated that your generosity has put us on a record-setting pace in annual (unrestricted) giving. In December alone, more than $500,000 was received for The Whitworth Fund. Strong annual giving helps keep a college affordable to students, improves the quality of its programs, and indicates to external funding agencies that alumni and friends have confidence in the school. So you really help us with this kind of support, and we are deeply grateful.

Here are a few other items of interest regarding donor support:

Athletics

After starting the season like world-beaters, our men's basketball team suffered injuries, inexperience in a couple of key positions and frigid shooting, which sent the reigning conference champs into a wicked slump. But led by seniors Greg Jones and Tyler Jordan, they look like they're battling their way back with wins in their last three games, including an overtime thriller against previously undefeated George Fox. The guys' current record is 3-4 in conference, 6-8 overall.

Our women hoopsters also feature a number of new players, and their contributions, along with the excellent play of veterans Jamie Wakefield, Katie Werner and Emily Stuenkel, have been instrumental in the team's great play so far. The women, who stand at 5-2 in conference and 9-5 overall, are enjoying their most competitive season in the last few years, and the future looks good for Head Coach Helen Higgs and her players.

Our swim teams have gotten into the habit of running through the Fieldhouse and recruiting spectators. on nights when both they and the basketball teams are competing. Last time they ran around the court, several of us followed them back to the Aquatics Center, where we were impressed not only by their usual excellent efforts, but by the new scoreboard purchased with proceeds from Pirate Night. Now our great swimmers have a scoring system that's worthy of them - a system that, according to Sports Information Director Steve Flegel, stacks up against the best in the West.

Miscellaneous

We're hard at work planning for our showdown with Y2K and trying to determine its impact for next Jan Term - and beyond. A task force is leading us through the steps to make sure that both we and those with whom we conduct business are Y2K compliant. We had a few thrills Dec. 28, when we set all of our computers to 11:55 p.m., 12/31/99, and let them roll over to 2000. We didn't see any signs of an apocalypse, but my computer went nuts when it thought I was late for a year's worth of appointments.

Graphic Designer Arvita Mott's project, The CommuniQue - A Newsletter for Positive Change, has been accepted by Spokane's Health Improvement Projects as a "New Discovery." This classification entitles Arvita, a member of our Publications Office staff, to the support and wisdom of many people involved with SHIP who can help her get the project off the ground. CommuniQue is a newsletter that will "assist low-income/poverty-level persons by allowing them access to resources and providing information that will empower them." Kudos, Arvita.

Dates to Remember

Closing Thoughts

I'm writing from the friendly skies again, but this time I'm headed northwest. Having spent the last three nights talking with our alumni, I feel overwhelmed by the enduring effect of the college years. It is astonishing to hear our graduates trace their deepest values concerning family, career, serving others and serving God back to their formative days on the Whitworth campus. I know it's judgmental, but when I hear parents say that a school like Whitworth isn't an option because they don't want to incur educational debt, I shudder. The influence of a place like Whitworth on character formation, recounted again and again in the stories I heard, is immeasurably more important than the newer cars and bigger houses that so many Americans rack up debt to buy. And then, after I step off my self-righteous high horse, I know the message to me is a call for careful stewardship and diligent fund-raising that can provide access and financial aid for our students. I guess this is a job that can be accomplished only as supporters, parents and Whitworth administration, staff and faculty work together, trusting that God will bless our efforts to serve students of today and tomorrow.