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President Emeritus Bill Robinson

  1. Whitworth University
  2. President Emeritus Bill Robinson
  3. Of Mind & Heart Newsletter
  4. May 2008

Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: May 2008

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

I always wait until after graduation to write the last Mind & Heart of the academic year. Campus life gets intense during the final days of school. It's so great. Last week's highlights included...

  • the arrival of spring at 8:15 a.m. on May 14.
  • the arrival of summer at noon on May 14. By 2 p.m. it looked like a campus fire drill -- everyone was outside in shorts. Temperatures shot into the 90s over Commencement Weekend.
  • an immensely moving senior-commissioning service. As part of a "sending" liturgy, Heather Rogers (Business & Economics) and Ashley Metcalf, '08, along with Vic Bobb (English) and Beth Carlson, '08, gave a glimpse of the rich relationships that emerge between students and their professors. The seniors were sent forth with communion and anointing. The world is about to get better.
  • Senior Reflections, on Saturday night, which showcased some of the talents, ideas, recollections and snapshots of this amazing graduating class. Another indication of the Class of '08's quality was the awarding of seven President's Cups to graduates with 4.0 cumulative GPAs.
  • superb addresses by 2008 Most Influential Male Professor Adam Neder (Theology & Philosophy) at baccalaureate and by Most Influential Female Professor Julia Stronks (Political Science) at undergraduate commencement. Also, Katie Skattebo and Cole Casey proved excellent choices as class speakers, as did Andrea Lloyd, Lynne Bolton and Nicholas Kolentse at the graduate ceremony.
  • my great privilege of handing diplomas (well, faux diplomas -- the real ones are mailed) to 102 master's-degree graduates and 559 bachelor's-degree graduates. Academically, athletically and relationally, this class proved to be one of the best ever. With grace-filled hearts and deep commitment to truth, they will enrich lives around the globe. May the strength and peace of Christ go with them.

Academics

Our journalism faculty is pleased to report that The Whitworthian won several awards from the Society of Professional Journalists Region 10 (Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Alaska). We took third in best all-around non-daily student newspaper; first in feature photography, for Urban Plunge, by Thomas Robinson; and first in sports photography, for Blocked, by Nate Chute

The senior art exhibit, Hard NOX, concluded May 17. The exhibit marked the final show in the Whitworth Fine Arts Building. In September, the art department will move into the new 20,000-square-foot Lied Center for the Visual Arts, which will house six studios and two galleries. Hard NOX featured works by Megan Baker, Maddison Colvin, Betty Gardner, Kara Hyatt, Amy Newton, Stefan Robinson, Cassie Swayze, Kaitlin Trott and Thayer Wild, all '08.

I ran into a smiling Tim Coughlin, '08, outside the chapel last week. He had reason to smile, having just won the $10,000 first prize in the student category of the Hogan Business Competition. Whitworth had four teams in his category and two in social enterprise, and our students performed very well. Also, a Whitworth team has advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" round of the University of Washington's Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition. Project Krochet Kids International was among 16 teams selected from 34 competitors to advance to the third round. Finalists and winners of the UW competition will be announced this week.

Pamela Corpron Parker, '81, (English) was recently selected to receive the inaugural Contributions to the Study of British Women Writers Award, presented by the 18th- and 19th-Century British Women Writers Association. Parker is currently president of the BWWA.

The music department was even busier than usual at year's end. The Whitworth Wind Symphony presented a concert featuring Staff Sgt. David Parks, '02, saxophonist, who was recently appointed to the U.S. Army Field Band, one of the armed services' premier touring ensembles. The Whitworth Women's Choir performed at St. Augustine Church, offering songs from Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, a 20th-century choral masterwork. The Whitworth Symphony Orchestra closed out the year with a concert at Spokane's Bing Crosby Theatre that featured music from TV and films such as Psycho and The Terminal. And the Whitworth Choir presented a concert at Spokane's St. John's Cathedral, featuring the work of J.S. Bach, Robert Schumann and others, that packed the house and elicited calls of "Encore!" The concert blessed us deeply. 

Enrollment

I know Whitworth seems wicked expensive. I wish it weren't. It has gotten very costly to provide high-quality education. But in relative terms, we look pretty good. Whitworth is No. 30 in Kiplinger's 2008 rankings of the 50 best private university values -- a list that includes California Institute of Technology (No. 1), Yale (No. 2), Princeton (No. 3), Stanford (No. 13), University of Chicago (No. 31), USC (No. 36), and Santa Clara (No. 37). Whitworth was the top-ranked school in the Northwest. The complete rankings, which are based on academic quality and affordability, are available online at www.kiplinger.com/tools/privatecolleges. 

Student Life

We were delighted to receive word that senior Katie Skattebo put Whitworth in the spotlight by winning this year's Church-College Partnership Award, given annually to a Presbyterian student by Presbyterian Outlook magazine. Katie competed with students from across the country who submitted essays about how their Presbyterian university education prepared them for service and leadership.

The very deserving Andrea Naccarato received Whitworth's Servant Leadership Award, given each year to a member of the graduating class. There's not enough room here to begin to list all of the ways in which Andrea has given her time and energy to others. She and Katie represent hundreds of students who have added hands and feet to the mind-and-heart education they received.

This year's Hawaiian Luau was one of the best ever. With a late spring, it was great to have the students' parents haul a couple of tons of Hawaiian foliage (along with incredible food that I simply attacked) to campus. April was also Sustainability Month, and students worked hard at recycling. I'm pretty sure none of the guys in BJ changed their clothes, giving "green" a new meaning. Our incredible Whitworth magician, sophomore David Kuraya, won this year's Pirate Idol competition with several mind-boggling card skills. Relay for Life was a huge event, with Whitworth students and friends raising more than $18,000 for cancer research. Springfest featured the annual Mr. Whitworth contest and deep-fried everything, with all proceeds going to Second Harvest Food Bank. Finally, congratulations to newly elected 2008-09 ASWU officers Obe Quarless, president; Kalen Eshoff, V.P.; and Kendra Hamilton, financial V.P. 

Resources

Thanks to you, and kudos to our students! The Whitworth Fund Phonathon completed a record year with nearly $242,000 in pledges and gifts. We are so grateful to alumni, parents and friends who supported Whitworth so generously and spent time talking to our students. If you made a pledge to The Whitworth Fund, you still have until June 30 to turn it into a gift. You can pay your pledge online at www.whitworth.edu/give or send a check to the Whitworth Office of Annual Giving.

Gift annuity rates are going down on July 1. If you're considering an annuity (an irrevocable gift that will return cash to you for as long as you live), please contact us soon to get the higher interest rates. It's a great way to help future students while generating fixed income. For more information, call Joe Dinnison at 509.777.4363 or visit the foundation website at www.whitworth.edu/foundation.

Athletics

Whitworth brought home the Northwest Conference McIlroy-Lewis All-Sports trophy,which recognizes the best all-around athletics program in the conference. In the summer issue, I'll write more about this impressive accomplishment and how the Bucs earned the trophy.

Men's track won the 2008 Northwest Conference championship. Senior Ben Spaun, who is headed to Harvard to pursue a Ph.D. in physics, was named NWC Men's Athlete of the Meet after winning the 110 high hurdles and the 400 intermediate hurdles. He also led off Whitworth's winning 4x400 relay and finished second in the NWC decathlon. Cody Stelzer broke the meet record in the high jump, Jeff Kinter won both the shot put and discus, and Joey VanHoomissen won the javelin. Brandon Howell and Emmanuel Bofa finished first and second in the 800 run, and Toby Schwarz was named NWC Men's Coach of the Year for the third time in his career.

The Pirate women took third place at the NWC championships. Kristen Dormaier scored in six different events, finishing second in the long jump and third in both the triple jump and the heptathlon. Elizabeth Mattila took second place in the 400 hurdles, an event in which she has an NCAA provisional qualifying time.

Men's and women's golf finished in second place at their respective NWC tournamentsand wrapped up the season at second overall in the conference. Sophomore Kristal Pitkonen earned All-NWC honors while leading the Pirate women to their highest-ever finish in the conference. Senior Jordan Carter earned all-conference honors for the second time in his career and led the men back from fourth place after the first day of competition at the NWC tournament.

The Whitworth women's tennis team finished second in their Northwest Conference tournament, falling to seven-time champion Linfield 5-4 in the championship match. Rachel Burns, Lexy Harrington and Katie Staudinger earned All-NWC honors in the women's best season since 2003. And Rachel and Katie beat up on my buddy and me after we stole a couple sets from them earlier in the year. So much for their financial aid.

Men's tennis took fifth at their NWC tournament. The men finished the season with a 14-11 record, and Josh Steele was named second team All-NWC. The guys had some great early-season matches.

Whitworth softball pulled off a split at Pacific to finish 13-12 in the NWC and 16-21 overall. Joe Abraham has been named to coach the softball team. He takes over for Fuzzy Buckenberger, who announced his retirement last fall and finished his three-year coaching stint with a 72-41 record. Five Pirate seniors concluded their careers at Whitworth, including Halley Cey, who batted .407 this spring.

In baseball, the Pirates finished with a record of 13-27 overall and 12-20 in the NWC.Senior Jon Whiteside anchored the infield at shortstop, while senior Chad Flett was the top pitcher. Baseball coach Keith Ward, '81, who faithfully served the program for 11 seasons as head coach, resigned at the end of the season. Dan Ramsay has been named to succeed Keith. 

Alumni

Commencement Weekend was also reunion weekend for the graduates of 1958 and earlier. It was one of the largest 50-year reunions we've had, with 30 class members returning to campus. Everyone had a great time, beginning with an ice-cream social Friday evening and culminating in the class being recognized at our commencement ceremony, with 1958 alums Marilyn and Duane Van Der Werff leading the processional of 2008 graduates.

The Class of 1958 Endowed Scholarship is off to a great start. If you are a member of the Class of 1958 who would like to help your class reach the $50,000 goal, please contact Holly Norton at 509.777.4362 or at hnorton@whitworth.edu.

As its gift to Whitworth, the Class of '08 voted to build a veterans' memorial in recognition of Whitworth alumni who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Much of the money is in the bank, and participation from members of the Class of '08 and their families is needed to secure the last several thousand dollars. To view the proposed design, visit www.whitworth.edu/students/seniorclass.

Whitworth is working to build alumni participation, that most important indicator of graduates' satisfaction with their alma mater. Any alumni gift counts as participation; married alum couples' gifts count twice. You can make a Whitworth Fund gift online at www.whitworth.edu/give, or call 800.532.4668. We'd love to count you among our partners this year.

Miscellaneous

Whitworth got some great press in the May 2 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, which is by far the most widely read periodical among college and university professors and administrators. The paper did an article about Whitworth's approach to hiring Christian faculty and staff members; editors found it interesting that we require our faculty members to write a faith statement rather than sign a doctrinal statement that we write. To view the article, go to www.chronicle.com/free/v54/i34/34a00104.htm. Coincidentally, Whitworth's Walter Hutchens (Business & Economics) was quoted in that same issue in another front-page article about American college programs that are struggling in China.

We hope you can join us July 7-11 for the 33rd annual Whitworth Institute of Ministry.We're pleased to welcome back two WIM veterans, Craig Barnes and Steve Hayner. I spent some time with Craig a couple days ago, and I'm really excited about this program. It's going to be a superb year at WIM. Check online for all the details: www.whitworth.edu/wim.

Closing Thoughts

This has been a hard newsletter for me to write. I know I speak for our entire community in saying that we would trade all the above-reported joy to have back our dear freshman Dan Burtness. Dan died May 5, when he and four other students were involved in an auto accident en route to help a student's grandmother in Montana. As we gathered to cry and laugh over Dan's memory, many of us wondered if Whitworth ever had a student who enriched and enlivened more lives in such a short period of time. After an amazing memorial service, about 40 of Dan's friends gathered in our living room to tell Dan-stories to his remarkable parents and two younger siblings. Even his family was taken by the depth and breadth of Dan's joyful presence in so many lives. ASWU President Scott Donnell wrote, "We grieve the loss of one of our dearest freshmen, Dan Burtness. Dan loved everyone around him, but he loved Jesus more. He is an inspiration to all of us about what it means to follow Christ and serve humanity." In an act of immense grace, Dan's family came to campus before returning to Denver after his death. They ministered to us all, especially to the guys who were in the car with Dan. And our community ministered to them, too. Somewhere Dan's heart now gives life to one of the recipients of this strong young man's organs. And this wasn't the first time Dan had given his heart to someone. He gave it to Christ and he gave it to us. Thanks be to God -- for Dan, and for a good year.