Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: March 2005

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

Does any season flirt with us as shamelessly as spring? I'm sure there's still a little winter left in the tank, but in the final 10 days of February we saw nothing but sunny April weather. Although that period included my stumbling around in five different time zones, I'm back in balmy Spokane. I hope that these clement conditions prompt us to pray for those of you suffering from the wettest month on record in Southern California. Yesterday I biked my way back and forth between softball and men's tennis before spending the evening watching our basketball teams bid farewell to some incredible seniors. I witnessed five victories and zero defeats in absolutely glorious weather. Somehow I need to store the solar energy of such a good day and bring it out when I'm fighting the sleet. Too often I allow the sogginess to chill the warmth of those "perfect days." I could use an emotional fuel cell. Saturday I'm meeting with seniors to talk about life after Whitworth. We're going to think about healthy ways to bring the warm influences of Whitworth life into the challenges that await them upon graduation. I guess we could all do better at appreciating every moment of those times when life seems so good and God seems so near.

Academics

Visiting speakers allow us to import knowledge and perspectives. Sometimes we're inspired, sometimes we're surprised, and sometimes we're irritated, but we always learn more about our world and ourselves. So far this semester we've heard from the following folks:

Ron White, former chaplain and theology professor at Whitworth, spoke about his latest book, The Eloquent President, a study of Abraham Lincoln. Ron is one of America's leading historians on Lincoln, and he's a great friend. His lecture was excellent.
Jim Walvin, professor of history at the University of York, in England, demonstrated one of the reasons the world needed Lincoln by showing how slavery fueled the acquisition of western wealth. His talk was part of a series of presentations to recognize the opening of Weyerhaeuser Hall and was part of our Black History Month.
Elnour Hamad, a Sudanese who is professor of art education at Eastern Washington University, kicked off our Great Decisions series this spring with a lecture, Genocide in Darfur and U.S. Foreign Policy.
Jim H. Johnson, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, gave two very stirring presentations on Creating Sustainable Communities in an Era of Economic Uncertainty and Global Insecurity.
Robert Bullough, the author of several groundbreaking books on the development of teachers, gave a presentation titled Reconsidering Access to Knowledge. Professor Bullough described how certain segments of America's school population have greater access to knowledge than others, and how current policy influences the equality of access to knowledge. I wish I could have heard this!
Next week we will hear from a 1970 alum sporting a name one letter shy of perfect: William T. Robinson. W.T.R. is a Seattle lawyer who has lived in Japan and Russia; since 1990 he's worked with more than 150 clients and projects in eight republics of the former Soviet Union and in many regions of Russia. Fittingly, his talk about this work will take place in the Robinson Teaching Theatre in Weyerhaeuser Hall.
Miriam Adeney, professor at SPU, and Nabeel Jabbour, of Navigators, spoke at our missions conference about extending the love of Christ to Muslims.

Two interesting grants came in last month. Gordon Wilson (Art) received a $22,500 grant from the McMillen Foundation to help us host a visiting-artist series that will focus on new media in contemporary art. Gordon says the initial emphasis will be on video. Also, work on our Northwest Protestant Church Archives Collection, overseen by Whitworth Archivist Janet Hauck, got a financial boost from the National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation and Access Program. The grant will provide for a preservation consultant and a preservation plan and training.

The Weyerhaeuser Center for Christian Faith and Learning is bringing "shalom" to Spokane. Bridging theological traditions, Christian denominations, and the black and white communities in Spokane, the center is offering its new Certificate in Urban Congregational Ministry Program. Launched in October, the program includes six local congregations (each represented by one pastor and three lay members). Gathering monthly, these leaders are discovering ways to extend the peace, love and redemption of Christ to the urban community. Participating churches include Calvary Baptist, Westminster Congregational, Central Lutheran, First Presbyterian, Holy Temple Church of God in Christ, and Bethel African Methodist Episcopal.

How many of you boomers out there pretended you had a voice while you crooned Day by Day in your car or in your shower or, worse yet, in the presence of another human being? That tune definitely brought out our vocal fantasies. Well, I hope hearing it sung well will bring out your attendance. Godspell is coming to Cowles Auditorium. Set aside April 8, 9, 15 or 16 in the evening, or 2 p.m. on April 10 for a matinee. Diana Trotter (Theatre), the director, says, "This creative retelling of the teachings of Jesus is filled with humor, warmth, and theatrical exuberance." If you join us, please don't sing along.

And speaking of fine singing, those of you who live in Southern California are in for a treat. The Whitworth Choir will be making exquisite music, starting March 13, in Los Angeles, Westlake Village, Montecito, La Cañada, Hollywood and La Jolla. The choir, whose theme for this program is Music for the Seasons of the Church, will conclude its spring concert tour at St. Augustine Church, 428 W. 19th Ave., Spokane, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. Check our website for details. This will be a great concert.

Here's a great note from the music department (Whitworth is definitely the school of swing, where jazz is king!): This year's Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival winners include the following: first place, combos: Whitworth Jazz Combo (Erik Hjelt, Brendan O'Melveny, Chris Parkin, Liz Pempe and Chris Teal); first place, alto saxophone solo: Chris Parkin; second place, ensembles: Whitworth Jazz Ensemble I (just behind first-place University of Washington, and ahead of Washington State, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Boston College, and Whitman College).

Enrollment

Our registrar, Gary Whisenand, reports that our 10-day count for total enrollment this spring is a record 2,330 -- up from 2,174 this time last year. The biggest jump comes from our full-time undergraduate population, whose total increased nearly a hundred, to 1,936. Although we're focused on limiting growth, we always love high retention.

We ended February a couple of hundred applications ahead of the last year's record-breaking number. Also, the grade points and scores of these applicants have hit new heights. We'll probably end up with 200 more applications -- for less available space than we had last year. This is all good, but it is not all easy.

Student Life

Missions Week followed by Gender Awareness Week -- that's vintage Whitworth in March. The first week, students will be tweaked from their comfort zones by the Holy Spirit of God calling them to meet the needs of this world for which Christ died. The second week they'll be tweaked from their comfort zones as they grapple with important and sometimes embarrassing topics that have been perilously taboo. February brought comedians, poets, bands and first-run movies. Students also were delighted with the annual Gospel Explosion, which featured music, dance and poetry. The Dating Game concluded the month, and two lucky couples won a dinner-and-movie night out based on their dumb answers to stupid questions. (Just jesting.)

Resources

I'm sure I've talked about the rather wacky but enormously generous Icho guys, all late-'70s and early-'80s survivors of Carlson Hall. They were on campus this month to enjoy some time with the students whose educations they put within financial reach. These guys add fun to truth and grace. The truth is that many of our students couldn't afford Whitworth without financial aid. The grace is that the Icho boys ("Icho" is Japanese for either gingko or friendship; they're not sure, but both definitions work), have set up a scholarship in excess of $50,000 to allow students to enjoy the same Whitworth experience that blessed them. The fun is that they make this gathering an annual reunion, often ratcheting back their maturity levels to enable authentic reenactments of those dubious activities that bonded them as college students.

Athletics

Our sports information director, Steve Flegel, '89, has been frantically trying to wrap up winter sports and launch the spring seasons. So students and parents, please forgive me if I leave anything out. I'm just reporting what I remember. Incidentally, we finished winter sports on top of the conference for the NWC All-Sports Trophy. If we have a good spring, we'll bring home the hardware.

Women's basketball ended the season 22-3 overall and 13-3 in conference (in second place). Seniors Tiffany Speer, Sarah Shogren, Dani Bielec and Wenchi Lui broke too many records (as did the team) to be included in a letter with only 2,450 words. But Sarah and Tiffany were named to the All-NWC first team, and Dani received honorable mention. And they are just great human beings. I urge you to read about their amazing careers on our website. Unfortunately, the team was not selected for the NCAA postseason tournament. Of all the teams excluded from the tournament, only Whitworth was mentioned by a national online publication as deserving inclusion. Kudos to Coach Helen Higgs and the rest of the team for this amazing season that brought pride and joy to Whitworth.

Men's basketball ended the year 13-11 and 9-7 in conference. They finished the year winning their final five contests (and eight of their last 11). Seniors Mike Larkin and Kevin Wyatt were feted in the final home game, a thriller forced into overtime when Jon Young hit a contested three-pointer from the third row of the grandstands that set up Bryan Williams, who calmly dropped in two free throws to tie the game with 1.6 seconds on the clock. Bryan then made a monstrous 3-pointer to win it in OT. I'm out of breath just writing about it. Bryan, Jon, Lance Pecht, George Tucker and Mike Larkin had excellent seasons, leading the Bucs.

Our swim teams hosted the conference meet this year. It was great to watch the championship men win the conference in their own pool while the women took second to UPS. We've come to take the excellence of our swim teams almost for granted. The national cuts were faster this year, but we still expect seniors Cory Bergman and Serena Fadel to repeat as All-Americans. And look out for freshman Samantha Kephart. She could bring back a national championship.

All the spring sports are under way. We don't have many results yet, but I've been able to see track, softball and men's tennis. They all look strong. The baseball guys staff our basketball games, and they were all stoked about the season. I don't know much yet about our women's tennis team, and golf gets started this weekend at Whitman.

Alumni

The 2005 alumni directory is still in process. Data collection is now complete and the company is working to get all of the new data entered and prepared for printing. A late-spring mail date is still on target. Thanks for your patience, and if you have questions, please contact Tad Wisenor, '89, in the Office of Annual Giving, Alumni, Parent and Church Relations (twisenor@whitworth.edu or 509.777.4401).

I mentioned that Whitworth's spring production, Godspell, is coming up soon. Alumni, parents and friends are invited to join our director, Diana Trotter (Theatre), at 6:45 p.m. for a pre-play dessert on Saturday night, April 9, before the play begins at 8 o'clock in Cowles Auditorium. Tickets are only $10 for dessert and an evening of great musical theater. Contact Annie Severino for more information at 509.777.3772 or check out the alumni events website.

Join Professor of English Leonard Oakland and Director of Development Tad Wisenor for upcoming Core 650 lectures and desserts. They'll be in Colorado Springs on Saturday evening, April 30, and in Denver on Sunday afternoon, May 1. Leonard will present A Life in Film: How We Experience the Movies. More information and online registration will be available soon.

Miscellaneous

I botched up two things in last month's Mind & Heart. I misspelled Dorine Weber's name and that bugs me for three reasons. First, I know how she spells her name. Second, she's just a wonderful person (and, fortunately, a forgiving one). Third, it's a good rule of thumb not to misspell the name of someone who's giving you a generous gift. Sorry, Dorine.

I convoluted the other item so badly that I'm not going to try to explain it. But here's the correct version: Our adjunct faculty members contribute enormously to the quality of teaching at Whitworth. Recently, Norman Thorpe, an adjunct professor in international business and an expert on Korea, is principal author of a new book, 1904: Korea through Australian Eyes. The book focuses on important photos taken in Korea in 1904 by Australian photographer George Rose, using Rose's century-old original glass negatives. Norm uncovered the photos in an archive in California and the book grew out of an exhibition of Rose's photos that Norm curated in Seoul in 2002.

Closing Thoughts

We're drawing near to the completion of our long-range plan. Our potential seems limited only by our courage and our resources. Admissions applications are off the chart, the quality of both students and faculty keeps rising, the annual fund has spiked upward this year, and we have been deemed the best Christian workplace among colleges, universities and seminaries. In the next five years we could step forward as one of the very finest institutions of higher education in the Northwest. Aren't we there now? No. We're very good, as indicated by our 5th-place "Best Colleges" rankingamong 126 comprehensive master's-level colleges and universities in the West. But we could be great. Our five-year strategic plan will provide a formula for achieving our high aspirations. First, we cannot compromise our commitment to keeping Christ at the center of our identity and doing so with a faith that is unafraid to examine non-Christian and even anti-Christian ideas. Second, we have to work like dogs (sorry, PETA; it's just an expression). Third, we need a boatload of money to enhance our science and arts facilities. Fourth, we need you to believe in and support our mission. Bright days await us, in no small part because you care about Whitworth. For that we are grateful, and we believe your confidence will be rewarded over the next five years.