Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: Summer 2002

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

Greetings to you from a place and condition quite foreign to my "normal" life. I'm sitting on the porch of a centuries-old villa, watching a setting Tuscan sun turn vineyards, olive groves and Siena, Italy, into a picture-book silhouette. My condition is probably the equivalent of a second-semester sophomore at the Betty Ford De-stress Center. Having spent a week of no contact with the world other than what my sensory equipment provides, my craving for adrenaline, stress, and the psychic rage of overstuffed days is starting to recede. I am on a month-long sabbatical in Italy. My prudent wife, Bonnie, chose this spot after gripping my cheeks, looking me in the eye and saying something about me needing a good bleaching. She would not be pleased to know I am writing the first paragraph of Mind and Heart, but I've been thinking today about Whitworth. Bonnie and I love art and have taken in much here in the cradle of the Renaissance. For me, art and literature have been the most exquisite couriers of great and durable truths. Today I have been feeling thankful and proud that Whitworth believes in truth. Since its founding, our college has resisted movements that worship the Baal of relativism. Admittedly, we are finite and our efforts to find ultimate truth will always be incomplete. But at Whitworth we believe truth has found us. Where the finite could not reach the infinite, the Infinite did the reaching. I pray that this new academic year will be one in which our students experience fully the exhilaration of seeking and being sought by truth.

(To those of you receiving this newsletter for the first time, welcome. Chances are that you have enrolled a new student at Whitworth. I will be sending you these updates on a monthly basis, except in the summer, when I write only one. Also, let me apologize in advance for the times I whine, brag or fail to mention your student when s/he surely deserves it. Send me a note (wrobinson@whitworth.edu) if there's anything we can do for you.)

Academics

Our faculty members have been very busy on research and scholarship projects over the summer, but I don't have a complete list of their activities in front of me. I do, however, have a roster of our great new faculty members and some recent grants we have received. Our new permanent faculty are:

Richard H. Bishop (Mathematics and Computer Science), who has an engineering background with Lockheed-Martin Co.; his doctorate is from the University of Utah.
Mechelle Doughty (Modern Languages) who will teach Spanish, comes to Whitworth from Indiana's University of Evansville. She received her doctorate in Hispanic literature from the University of Nebraska.
Kevin Heid (Education) is a psychologist at Sacred Heart Medical Center; his doctorate is from WSU. Kevin has previously taught for us as an adjunct professor.
Doug Laher (Economics and Business) did so well with us last year as a visiting professor, he'll now be with us permanently.
Michael Le Roy, '89 (Politics & History), comes to us from Wheaton College, where he's served on the faculty for the past eight years. His doctorate is from Vanderbilt University.
Barbara Loste (Modern Languages) will rejoin our faculty to teach Spanish after being in Washington, D.C., for a year. Her doctorate is from Gonzaga.
Brad Sago (Economics and Business) comes to us with extensive experience teaching marketing at Anderson University, in Indiana. His doctorate in business administration is from United States International University in San Diego.
Daniel G. Stewart (Economics and Business), originally from the Spokane area, is finishing up his doctoral work at Stanford.
Ann Teberg (Education) has taught at EWU since 1994, having earned her Ed.D. from WSU.
Michael Tidwell (Communication Studies) comes to us from the University of Kentucky. He received his doctorate from WSU.

Through the hard work of Dean Kyle Usrey and Assistant Professor Liz Peterson in the School of Global Commerce and Management, Whitworth has received a grant for $137,628 over three years to establish an entrepreneurship program for the campus and the community. Due to the generosity of Seattle's Herbert Jones Foundation, this grant will provide a bridge between the academic and business worlds through the development of a program and related curriculum through which students will have the opportunity to gain applied business experience. The grant also will help us set up a speakers' program in entrepreneurship.

Every day, death claims the poignant but unwritten stories of thousands who endured the terrors and triumphs of World War II. With that awareness, Janet Hauck, our archivist, applied for and received a $23,000 grant from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to create an oral history CD-ROM on Japanese-Americans who did not go to internment camps and were in this area during WWII. Many of them were students here at Whitworth. Once complete, the CD-ROM will be distributed to schools to be used in various curricula. Our archives program will also receive $17,000 from the Northwest Digital Archives Project as part of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to 13 participating Northwest institutions, and $15,000 as part of a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to six participating Northwest institutions. Thanks to Janet for her hard work in securing these grants.

Julia Stronks (Politics & History) has received support for her Street Kids Project from the Wasmer Fund at Foundation Northwest. These funds will underwrite student interns as they coordinate the various projects in which Whitworth students work with homeless teens. This project is an extension of the Lives of Commitment grant and will have our students working in the West Central neighborhood, partnering with the Cup of Cool Water ministry directed by Mark Terrell, '94.

Over the years, many of our students have studied in South Africa during Jan Term. Wanting to determine if formal connections would strengthen that educational experience, V.P. Tammy Reid (Academic Affairs), Rick Hornor, '70 (Theatre), Jim Hunt (History), and recently retired English prof Linda Hunt, MAT '75, went to South Africa in July with a group sponsored by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. We are hoping to enjoy the benefits of their work as early as January 2004, when we will again be offering the study tour.

I think what the U.S. economy needs to spike upward is for our business students to hit the marketplace. In this year's state competition of Phi Beta Lambda, a national business fraternity, 10 Whitworth students won first- or second-place honors in categories including business law, economics, accounting principles, and finance. Several Whitworth competitors won top honors in multiple events, including senior Nina Sidneva of Visaginas, Lithuania, who won four first-place awards, and junior Kathy Goligoski of Spokane, who won two first-place awards and a third-place award. Liz Peterson, assistant professor of business and economics at Whitworth, is our chapter advisor. Steven Shaw, a sophomore business-management major from Spokane, was elected president of the Washington State Chapter of Phi Beta Lambda for 2002-03. Congratulations to these winning students!

We're still a bit short on funds for breaking ground on Weyerhaeuser Hall, our new academic building, but planning committee chair Gordon Jackson (Academic Affairs) reports that we're doing site preparation work this summer, as well as working hard on the choices to be made in every area from furniture selection to audiovisual and computer needs. I think our faculty would rather get coal in their Christmas stockings than hear me announce that we don't have the pledges to start turning dirt for this project. Moreover, rising enrollment yield and retention numbers make the need for additional teaching space even more acute. So we're feeling a sense of urgency, but we will not take shortcuts. We're going to do this building right and we're going to do it without debt...so it would be nice if somebody out there has a rich uncle, or aunt, for that matter.

Enrollment

All-time highs in our applications count and retention rates, along with a very strong yield (percentage of accepted freshmen who matriculate) will bump our freshman class and overall enrollment to historic high points again this year. While this is great news and a tribute to our admissions office, faculty and student-life program, we want to be very cautious about growth. Until we have our new academic building and more campus housing ready to go, we will restrict the number of students we admit. Growth is exciting, but not if it threatens quality. In the long haul, we will be judged by how good we are, not by how big. Having said that, we thank God for every student we will greet this fall, and we'll provide them with great mind-and-heart educations.

Student Life

Assistant Dean Dayna Coleman and the entire student-life staff are busy preparing for our students' return. Orientation will begin Saturday, Aug. 31, for all new students and on Monday, Sept. 2, for all returning students. Of course, I have high anxiety about Orientation. As I write this, I have not yet made it back to campus from Italy (a wild story that has me getting off a plane, changing clothes in a Spokane Airport men's room, and jumping on another plane without going home), so I don't know specifically how Dayna is expecting me to shame myself this year. But you can find out when it will happen from the complete schedule of Orientation events on the college webpage (www.whitworth.edu).

Resources

The campus is more beautiful than ever, and all the projects I listed in the May Mind and Heart are going well. I'm especially pleased to be assured that the new fieldhouse roof will neither leak nor cave in on us.

Our most exciting news here relates to our Faith in the Future Campaign that ended on June 30. Unfortunately, I've been asked to keep the total number under my hat for the moment. But we'll make an announcement soon, and I know you'll be pleased. Thanks so very much to all of you who made this effort successful. Just an eyelash under 50 percent of our alumni made gifts. Campaign Director Stacey Kamm Smith, '86, and V.P. Kristi Burns (Institutional Advancement) did an incredible job. So much of their great work on this project was invisible to most people. Stacey, Kristi, the entire advancement staff and campaign co-chairs Harvey Bolton, '60, and John Scotford, '51, get huge hugs for their relentless effectiveness in orchestrating the campaign and encouraging all of you whose generosity made this campaign a success.

In any fund-raising campaign, the buckets don't always fill up exactly the way they are supposed to. While we had some overflow, others did fall short. So we will continue to seek funds for Weyerhaeuser Hall, technology improvements, and faculty endowed chairs and professorships.

I'd like to express special thanks to those of you who joined the President's Club this year. Last year we had 285 households listed, and this year that number has grown to 367. In addition, 20 of the 367 are new donors to Whitworth. We're going to have a great celebration in October.

Athletics

To no one's surprise, Scott McQuilkin, '84, has been selected by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics as the 2001-2002 Athletic Director of the Year for the west region (14 western states) of Division III. When Scott left coaching at Whitworth 13 years ago, his pursuit of a Ph.D. at Penn State put him on the path to scholarship in sports history. When, in 1995, I asked him to be our athletics director, he agreed on the condition that we would structure the position so that he could continue his teaching and research in his field. And it is from that "academics first" perspective that Scott has led the success of Whitworth's student athletes on the field and in the classroom. He has also accomplished much in recruiting and retaining excellent coaches and in fund-raising. Beyond Whitworth, Scott serves as president of the Spokane Rotary Club North, as a YMCA board member, as a Spokane Youth Sports volunteer, as a member of the national DIII baseball committee and as AD liaison for NWC committees on men's and women's soccer.

Alumni

For the third time in five years, three guys from Whitworth's 1996 national runner-up team beat some of the finest three-on-three basketball players in the country (whose rosters were peppered with Division I stallions) to win the open division of the biggest three-on-three tournament in the world -- Spokane's Hoopfest 2002. Nate Dunham, Jeff Arkills and Nate Williams teamed with Shann Ferch (Gonzaga prof and great Whitworth friend) to bring home the hardware. Dale Soden (History/Weyerhaeuser Center), Ron Pyle (Communication Studies), Ken Pecka, '83 (Instructional Technology), and I had plenty of time on our hands to watch these guys, as we exited the tournament a bit earlier than usual this year. On Sept. 14 we are inducting the 1996 men's basketball team, along with Doug Larsen and Mark Linden, into the Pirate Hall of Fame.

Join Northern California alumni for a pre-game BBQ and football as the Pirates take on Menlo College in Atherton on Saturday, Sept. 21. Invitations are in the mail. Contact the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations for more information at 1-800-532-4668 or check out the alumni calendar on the college website.

Homecoming is just around the corner, so mark your calendar for the weekend of October 19-20. The Whitworth website is live with all of the details (www.whitworth.edu/alumni/homecoming.htm), and brochures will be in the mail by the end of the month.

The Office of Alumni and Parent Relations is recruiting volunteers for the new Parents' Council. If your student will be a sophomore, junior, or senior this year, and if you'd like to help with programming and communications for current parents, please contact Karen Habbestad, '62, assistant director of alumni and parent relations, at 509-777-3732.

Closing Thoughts

I have finally made it back to our beautiful campus, only to find it diminished. Our dear, dear friend and physics professor of 17 years Delbert Friesen passed away this week. We know very few details other than that he died while camping in Yellowstone National Park. Delbert will be missed terribly. He loved his subject and his students. Profoundly and quietly, Delbert lived in the assurance of Jesus' promise that peacemakers would be blessed. Last night as I was plowing through unopened e-mails, I found one from a student asking me whom I considered to be Jesus-like. As I think about it, Delbert Friesen came closer than most of us.

Rushing to get this letter written, I have left no room for closing thoughts. It's probably a good thing. My brain atrophied under that Tuscan sun, and is further numbed by sadness. But even in a fog, I do know one thing. There is no salve for my soul nor stimulant for my mind like students. Soon they will arrive, and we will all be gloriously reminded that they are God's calling for us, as they surely were for Delbert. God's blessings to all of you in your final days of summer.