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President Emeritus Bill Robinson

  1. Whitworth University
  2. President Emeritus Bill Robinson
  3. Of Mind & Heart Newsletter
  4. Summer 2000

Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: Summer 2000

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

I can't believe it's time to write this letter. After spending the first two months of the summer whining about how fast it was going, I can now shift my focus to complaining about how fast it went. I'm taking a mini-sabbatical, spending about six weeks pretending to be a writer, and I've found that the life of an author would be great, except for the writing. Actually, I've had a great summer and I'm already revved up about the coming academic year. For those of you receiving Mind and Heart for the first time, this is a newsletter I write every month during the school year and once in the summer. Basically, I try to provide alumni, parents and friends of the college a taste (occasionally a tasteless taste) of campus life. I hope you enjoy receiving it. Greetings to you students reading your parents' mail. I've had warm thoughts of you as I've said my morning prayers this summer. We miss you and look forward to seeing you next month.

Academics

It's great to watch the college renew itself every fall as new students and faculty arrive. I thought you might be interested in hearing about some of the permanent full-time faculty members who will greet you in September. Microbiologist Frank Caccavo, from the University of New Hampshire, will join us in biology. Liz Hagen, who has been teaching for us as an adjunct professor in economics/business, will come on board full time. Scott Kolbo, from the University of Wisconsin, will take over in the Art Department for Spike Grosvenor (who reports that retirement has helped his golf game). Joining the School of Education as director of Graduate Studies is Sharon Mowry, previously the assistant superintendent of instruction for Spokane's West Valley School District. I'll include more new faculty in my September letter.

Dennis Sterner, dean of our School of Education, is one of 19 educators whom Washington Governor Gary Locke recently appointed to the state's Professional Education Standards Board. Created in the most recent session of the Washington State Legislature, the board is charged with establishing a statewide system for assessing teacher skills and knowledge. Dennis will be private higher education's lone representative on the board. Kudos, Dennis.

We've received several significant grants lately.

  • The Fluke Foundation, which has been wonderful to Whitworth, responded positively to Professor Kent Jones' (Math/Computer Science) request for $26,000 worth of equipment. They also gave equipment grants totaling approximately $10,000 to three other faculty members: Finn Pond (Biology), Karen Stevens (Chemistry), and Delbert Friesen (Physics). Thanks, Fluke!
  • The School of Education has received a $230,396 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help train teachers in bilingual education. This three-year grant is a collaborative project between Whitworth and District 81 schools in Spokane, as well as schools in rural areas surrounding Spokane. Among the limited-English-proficiency students to benefit will be a good-sized group from Russia and the Ukraine.
  • Thanks to the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Whitworth and Gonzaga will co-host faculty members from a dozen private colleges who will identify the best ways of assessing the effectiveness of our teaching. After they spend three days at Whitworth learning how to improve the assessment of student learning in the classroom, they'll return to their home campuses to help train their colleagues to implement these ideas at the departmental level. This $35,000 grant will be directed by Gordon Jackson (Academic Affairs) and a colleague from Gonzaga.
  • Doug Sugano (English) and Jim Waller (Psychology) received approval for a $75,000 grant from the Hewlett Foundation to help make Whitworth a more culturally rich and diverse institution. They'll examine curriculum, Student Life and various off-campus agencies to see how they can help our students become better world citizens while making Whitworth a more supportive climate for students from all cultural backgrounds.
  • Dan Keberle (Music) has received a grant from the Western States Arts Federation that will help fund guest artist Byron Stripling for our fall jazz concert. In addition to performing with the jazz ensemble, trumpet virtuoso Stripling will conduct several workshops, including one entitled 21st-Century Musicianship that teaches music majors how to design a future that assures life-long employability. (A job.wouldn't that be a nice touch?) By the way, the Whitworth Jazz Ensemble and the Whitworth Wind Ensemble are both releasing new CD recordings in August. Contact the Music Department (509-777-3280) for information on how to purchase these great new CDs.

Whitworth faculty members have authored a number of interesting books lately, and Jim Edwards (Religion) has just published one that you students of the Bible will surely enjoy. The Divine Intruder: When God Breaks Into Your Life (NavPress) is a series of studies on Biblical characters and the lessons we can learn from God's intervention in their lives. Jim sneak-previewed some of his material last summer at Whitworth Presbyterian Church, and it was very powerful. I'm definitely buying this book.

The Whitworth Institute of Ministry has just concluded a great week. Our main speakers this year were pastor (and Whitworth trustee) Heidi Husted, musicologist Harold Best, and biblical scholar Bruce Metzger. It was a huge thrill for me to spend time with Dr. Metzger. He was a professor of mine at Princeton seminary 28 years ago. (They called me "Curvebreaker" back then. Unfortunately, the name referred to a curve I failed to negotiate by Hodge Hall, not to my academic prowess.) A number of Whitworth faculty, staff and alumni also offered seminars, led worship and provided administrative support. We learned a great deal and felt deeply God's holy presence.

Student Life

I'm sure it's no news flash to you students that we're short on residence hall space. It makes me sick to hear about excellent first-year and transfer students who can't attend Whitworth because we don't have housing space on campus. We're attacking this problem in several ways. First, we are converting the Schumacher Health Center into a small residence hall that will provide an additional 22 beds. We'll make it a very cool place to live. The Health Center and Publications Office staffs have been very flexible in adapting to this move: The Health Center will now move to temporary quarters, while Publications has relocated in Hawthorne Hall. Our other plan for adding beds is to build another dorm. We do not wish to increase our enrollment, but as a residential college we really want to accommodate students who choose to live on campus. It makes for a better education. We have three months to identify funding sources that we can present to our board of trustees for their consideration in October. Our hope is to have the new facility open by fall 2001.

Students, here's a note to you from Assistant Dean Dayna Coleman: "Orientation Week will be packed with all kinds of important information and fun. The week will end with the traditional Stewart Lawn Dance and with comedian and juggler Ron Pearson hosting our first coffeehouse of the year. As a reminder, freshmen and new transfer students arrive on Saturday, Sept. 2, and dorms will open at 10 a.m. Then on Sunday, Sept. 3, all on-campus freshmen will be boarding buses from Whitworth for the three-day Starting Line Retreat. All you'll need for this outing is a sleeping bag and grubbies. Any questions on the retreat or orientation schedule, call 509-777-3276. Returning students won't arrive on campus until Monday, Sept. 4, with room keys available in the HUB beginning at 10 a.m."

Resources

Head Groundskeeper Janet Wright and her crew have the campus looking like a country club these days. Alumni just rave about the obvious TLC, the beautiful flowers, and lush green grass. We are so blessed to have such a resplendent place to work and study.

Grieve Hall, the World War II barracks building that had long ago outlived a reasonable lifespan, is history. Some (but not very many) experienced mixed emotions at its recent demolition.

Other renovations, conversions and demolitions have folks on the move:

  • The Modern Language Department, which occupied Grieve in recent years, has now moved to Hendrick Hall.
  • The Continuing Studies Department will take up residence this fall in Hawthorne Hall. We hope that this location, at Division and Hawthorne, along with generously sized and well-equipped classrooms, will be convenient and effective for busy commuter adult students.
  • As I mentioned, our Publications staff has moved from Schumacher to Hawthorne Hall. Now a student will be bunking in the very spot where Managing Editor Terry Mitchell used to fall asleep reading my Mind and Heart prose.

Speaking of all these buildings, we are pleased to welcome to campus Steve Thompson, our new director of facilities. Steve comes to us from the Community Colleges of Spokane and will assume responsibilities for all campus building and grounds, safety, security and capital projects.

Summer is not an overly active time for gifts and pledges, but we are very grateful for the many folks who have supported Whitworth in the past several months.

  • We received a $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation in San Francisco to add to their scholarship endowment.
  • Trustee John Carlson and his wife, Marie, established an endowed scholarship with a pledge of $25,000.
  • Chud Wendle and Kristin Goff surprised their mother, Whitworth Trustee Carol, at our board meeting with the Carol Wendle Endowed Scholarship in Education to benefit a Spokane area student who will become a teacher.
  • Whitworth employees made contributions in June that pushed employee-giving totals over $75,000 for the year.
  • You finished the fiscal year generously, contributing to our annual Whitworth Fund. Because we fell short of our ambitious Whitworth Fund goal, we really got a boost from those of you who made a special gift at year's end. You helped our overall budget to finish in the black. Thanks to all of our careful budget directors for their discipline, and to Vice President Tom Johnson and the Business Office for monitoring the financial operations.

One of the reasons we fell short on The Whitworth Fund is the pretty significant number (254) of people who didn't get their Phonathon pledges in. I'm fairly sure that money still spends, so we'd be delighted if some of those funds came in now.

Our Faith in the Future Campaign is closing in on $40 million, 80 percent of our goal, so thanks to all of you who represent a piece of that number. We have our campaign giving website all set up so you can give to Whitworth on the web, using your VISA or MasterCard. Maybe you'd like to visit www.whitworthfuture.com and see if it's really possible to make a gift that way.

Athletics

The 1996 men's basketball team must not have liked losing the national championship in overtime. Two out of the last three years, Nate Dunham, '96, Nate Williams, '97, and Jeff Arkills, '96, have combined (with John Beckman, '96, in 1998 and Matt Williams of U. of Montana this year) to capture the championship of the largest 3-on-3 tournament in the world, Spokane's Hoopfest. This year the boys opened up a can of whuppin' on a field that included Team Grainger, the world champion team from Atlanta, and the champs from both Chicago and L.A. It's a double-elimination tournament, but the guys never lost. My team of three teenagers and Methuselah now sports "King Loser" T-shirts, the ignominious destiny of those who stink in their first two games, then drop into a consolation bracket with other rotten teams.

Heritage Gallery Weekend is scheduled for September 16. Prior to the football game against Simon Fraser, three former Whitworth greats will be inducted into the Heritage Hall of Fame: Rod McDonald, '68, two-time first team All-America basketball player and holder of the Whitworth career and single-game point records; Charlie Reed , '65, First Team All-America running back; and Tommy Stewart, '85, NAIA national triple-jump champ and professional basketball player in Europe. The induction ceremony will be held in the HUB. Please call Susan Meyer (Athletics) at (509) 777-3224 for reservations.

Alumni

Saturday, Oct. 14, the Pirates will take on Willamette in football at 1:30, and the Class of 1990 will celebrate its 10-year reunion. In addition, all Education alumni will be invited to come home to Dixon Hall and see the renovations that have brought that building into the 21st century. Look for more information in the next month, but mark your calendars now.

Now that Whitworth is in the NCAA, we will probably travel each year to Southern California for a football game. This year we're taking on the University of Redlands on Saturday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m. A pre-game barbecue on the Redlands Quad will be held for alumni, parents and friends. More information will be available soon. Also, I'll be preaching the next morning in a strong Whitworth church, Trinity Presbyterian in Santa Ana, where one of our student's father, Alan Landes, is senior pastor.

Closing Thoughts

For the past month we have been engaged in a huge role reversal on the Whitworth Campus. We find ourselves ministering to the one who has provided this college with wellsprings of spiritual nourishment. On June 28, I sent the following message to the campus: It is with great pain and even greater hope that I send you this message about our dean of the Chapel, Terry McGonigal. On June 2, some discomfort Terry had experienced in his stomach became flat-out pain. After a battery of tests, doctors have diagnosed the source of the pain to be a small tumor outside of the stomach. Biopsy results indicate lymphoma, and Terry will begin chemotherapy on Monday, July 3... I'm not very good at finding good news in cancer, but there is some. First, God is provident, and God loves Terry. Second, this is a treatable disease with quite high cure rates. The list of cancers with lower recovery odds is a long one. Third, it is significant that the tumor is outside of the stomach and can be treated with chemotherapy. Fourth, we're talking about Terry here. His faith, will, and physical condition form an extraordinarily sturdy triangle of strength. Fifth, Suzette and the children will lead all of us in supporting Terry. His base will be massive. Terry's tolerance for the drugs appears exceptionally high, and his oncologists are optimistic. Please pray for Terry and his family: We need him, and right now he needs us. I include information on Terry's situation as representative of other wonderful members of the Whitworth community battling disease and other challenges. I single out Terry partly because his work touches so many, but more because his need reminds us that frailties of body and soul visit even our spiritual leaders. God's best to all of you. Thanks for your interest in Whitworth.