Mind & Heart Newsletter: January 2012

An update from Whitworth University President Beck A. Taylor

I'm writing this month's Mind & Heart from sunny Marco Island, Fla., where I am meeting with presidents from other independent private colleges and universities from across the U.S. If I've learned anything in my first year at Whitworth, it's to travel south in January! Topics of conversation here are wide-ranging, and it's good for me to connect with my peers and colleagues, if for no reason other than to reaffirm in my mind that Whitworth stands in a good place in the vast and diverse landscape of higher education. Sure, Whitworth faces challenges, and we have things to work on, but at events like this one, I am repeatedly reminded that I wouldn't trade those for the issues that so many of our sister institutions are facing. Our challenges and opportunities look quite reasonable in comparison.

Three things have struck me as profoundly important as I've listened to the issues facing higher education leaders this week. First, higher education is becoming more and more competitive – students have many great options. In my opinion, this compels Whitworth to remain distinctive. If we try to look just like other universities, we decrease our ability to stand out, and we could undermine our unique mission of combining faith and reason. Second, and related to the first, Whitworth must remain dedicated to the cause of Christ. So many campuses are struggling to find a firm foundation to teach values and ethics – components of a liberal arts education so desperately needed today. At Whitworth, our foundation is the rock of truth and grace found in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. And, finally, I've been reminded that in these volatile economic times, parents and students still demand an exceptionally high-quality educational experience, but at an increasingly affordable price. That's a tough value proposition to meet. We must, and we will, work harder to be great stewards of the resources we are blessed to have, to ensure that the broadest spectrum of talented students have access to Whitworth's transformative mind-and-heart education. I guess that makes for a good list of new year's resolutions for Whitworth. May God continue to bless the Whitworth family in 2012!

Academics

Jan Term began this week with students traveling to distant lands. Groups of our students are exploring international business in Southeast Asia with Todd Friends (Business); technology and culture in the British Isles with Susan Mabry (Computer Science); the arts in Christian worship in France with Ben Brody, '97 (Music); the Reformation in Germany with Jim Edwards, '67, and Adam Neder (Theology); contemporary South Africa with Larry Burnley (History), Jennifer Holsinger (Sociology) and Ron Pyle (Communication Studies); poverty, altruism and hope in Tanzania with Patty Bruininks (Psychology); and  advanced Spanish in Spain with Angeles Allér (Spanish).

Nineteen students spent fall semester in the inaugural Whitworth in China Program with Anthony Clark (History). Students dined on silkworms and scorpions (yes, really), visited teahouses, and spent 10 days in a village where they studied visual anthropology and culture. The group toured the Forbidden City, the Confucius Temple and Buddhist monasteries, where they discussed the teachings of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Emily Hanson, '13, wrote of one experience in the group's blog: "Walking into a city that visitors were forbidden to enter for so long was surreal. As we walked through this ancient city, I couldn't help but think of all the emperors who called this place home so many centuries ago. The Forbidden City was breathtaking and massive!" 

Three members of the Whitworth forensics team defeated Spokane Falls Community College in the Great Debates series' seventh contest. Rachel Busick, '12, Travis Walker, '12, and Jacob Wilson, '15, upheld the resolution "Faith and reason are not mutually exclusive." I'm not surprised that Whitworth students wouldn't have a difficult time arguing that case!

In service-learning news, last fall's Advanced Spanish live-lab students and office assistants translated more than 70 letters from Covenant United Methodist's sister church in El Salvador. The church's members were most appreciative of the students' and staffers' efforts in this service project. And ethics student Kent Ueland, '12, is helping a local woman, whose sister is a prisoner on death row in California, to sort through case and narrative materials for a book she's preparing on apparent injustices in the case. 

Our scholars are really pulling in the grant money! 

• Kerry Breno (Chemistry) was awarded a $25,000 grant from the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust to use as start-up money for a new faculty position in chemistry. This grant will provide funds for equipment and two summers of research for the new faculty member.
• The Murdock Trust has also awarded Terry McGonigal (Theology/Chaplain's Office) a $52,800 grant to fund two-year positions for three graduate assistant ministry interns. The interns, who will be enrolled in the M.A. in theology program, will coordinate small-group Bible studies, campus worship, and a student-athlete ministry.
• Deanna Ojennus (Chemistry) and Kent Jones (Computer Science) have received a $15,000 grant from Empire Health Foundation to conduct research that pairs students in an innovative biomedical track at North Central High School with faculty and students at Whitworth. The research focuses on celiac disease, which affects one in every 133 people in our community.
• Scott Kolbo and Gordon Wilson (Art) have been awarded a $27,150 grant from the McMillen Foundation to fund equipment for their department's photography and video programs. The grant will also fund a program to provide Whitworth with four visiting artists over a two-year period. Each artist will work extensively with art students in a hands-on learning environment.
• Brooke Kiener, '99, (Theatre) received a $4,223 grant from the Inland Northwest Community Foundation to update and stage the play The Wisdom of SpokOz, a collaboration between Whitworth students and VOICES, an advocacy group for low-income individuals.

A peer-edited essay by Jonathan Moo (Theology) has been published as a book chapter, "The Few Who Obtain Mercy: Soteriology in 4 Ezra," in This World and the World to Come: Soteriology in Early Judaism (ed. Daniel M. Gurtner; Library of Second Temple Studies 74; London: T&T Clark, 2011), 98-113. Jonathan co-authored (with Robert White, a University of Cambridge professor) an essay published as "Environmental Apocalypse and Christian Hope," in Ethics in Brief 17.1 (2011) and in Bioethics Research Notes 23 (2011): 37-40. And summer 2011 saw the release of Jonathan's book Creation, Nature and Hope in 4 Ezra (Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments 237; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht). Es ist gut!

A Grace Disguised, by Jerry Sittser (Theology), was recently translated into Albanian, a process spearheaded by Gail (Burger) Lilo, '01, who is serving as a missionary in that country. Jerry's book is now available in more than 20 languages and has sold more than 400,000 copies worldwide. Reviews of the book on amazon.com and other sites rank it among the best available resources on the inevitable human journey through grief.

The Arts

Marc Hafso (Music) will serve as guest conductor for the Peninsula School District Choir Festival this month at Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, in Gig Harbor. Marc will work with district elementary, junior high, and high school choirs during the day, and will conduct a mass choir performance in the evening.

Student Life

Even though the time between Thanksgiving Break and finals was short, students packed in a lot of holiday celebrating. Each residence hall had a Christmas party with seasonal food and decorations, and the halls were beautifully decked for a scrumptious Christmas dinner, hosted by Julie and me, at which students "ate hearty" from the main dishes and sampled all the wonderful baked delights that the Whitworth's Women's Auxiliary lovingly created. But our students didn't just partake of holiday bounty; they provided it for others. Boxes in the HUB spilled over with winter coats, toiletry items, books and canned foods that various student clubs collected for folks in Spokane and beyond during the season of giving.

Alumni & Parents

Alumni can enjoy free Pirate basketball in the fieldhouse throughout January. Home games on Jan. 13, 14 and 17 are free to alumni and their families. Start times and matchups are available at www.whitworthpirates.com. On Feb. 4, join us for refreshments in the Scotford Fitness Center during halftime of the men's game (the Bucs take on PLU) as part of our annual Alumni Night in the Fieldhouse festivities. 

Registration will be open soon for regional On the Road events. Join us in Portland, with Forrest Baird (Philosophy), on Feb. 22; in Denver, with Kathy Storm and Dick Mandeville (Student Life), on March 3; in Los Angeles, with Leonard Oakland (English), on March 10; in the Bay Area, with Ron Pyle (Communication Studies), on March 17; and in Seattle, with Julia Stronks (Political Science), on March 31. These dessert receptions will feature laughter, Whitworth trivia, meaningful connections, and campus updates. All alumni, parents, and friends of the university are welcome.

Mark your calendar now for Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 5-7. All alumni are invited to campus for a weekend of celebration and reconnection with friends. We'll celebrate five-year, 10-year and 20-year class reunions, and several groups will gather for special reunions. More information soon.

Admissions & Financial Aid

Late this month we'll host 21 amazing students from Tacoma and Spokane who are semifinalists in the Act Six Leadership and Scholarship Program. These students have emerged from the most competitive application/screening process in the program's history and are competing for a spot in Whitworth's 10th cadre of Act Six scholars. Since 2002, Act Six students have provided extraordinary and courageous leadership on campus and have contributed a great deal to our efforts to be an interculturally competent community.

The 2012-13 FAFSA website is now available for new and returning students who wish to apply for need-based or federal financial aid. Families can file the electronic pre-filled FAFSA at www.fafsa.gov. Our priority deadline is May 1 for returning students who seek financial aid for 2012-13. For new freshmen and students who wish to apply for summer work-study, the deadline is March 1; for transfers, it is July 1. Families who file their tax returns prior to completing the FAFSA may be able to load the IRS data into the FAFSA electronically. This saves time and ensures accuracy of the data. Students who receive only a Whitworth academic scholarship do not need to file the FAFSA. Help for students and parents filling out the FASFA is available through College Goal Sunday events; visit www.collegegoalsundayusa.org.

New this year: The 2011 1098T Tuition Tax Form will be available electronically at the end of this month. It's easy: Just go to the Student Account Information section of Pirate Port (or WhitNet) and click on 1098 Electronic Consent. By electing to receive the form electronically, you'll ensure that it's available earlier and can be viewed and printed any time. And you'll be helping Whitworth to "go green." This form will support your request for educational tax credits on your tax return. Please consult your tax advisor or go to www.irs.gov for more information on available educational tax credits. You may also want to access the Worksheet for Reporting Scholarships/Grants on Federal 2011 Tax Return, found on the financial aid office's forms webpage, www.whitworth.edu/financialaid, to determine whether any of the financial aid you/your student received in 2011 is taxable.

Resources

Thank you to all who made a calendar-year-end gift. Contributions from alumni of the past couple years as well as from alums of the 1950s, church congregations throughout the West, parents and grandparents of current and former students, faculty and staff, Pirate fans, trustees and foundations have all helped to set us on a strong course to carry through the remaining six months of this fiscal year. In December we received our first gifts from members of the Class of 2012, who are raising funds for their class gift: a fountain courtyard at the heart of campus. I look forward to sharing more about these and other fund-raising efforts in the coming months.

Costa Rica

"The new year is bringing a lot of new events to the Costa Rica Center," writes CRC director Lindy Scott. "Jan Term will find 33 freshmen and nine health science majors enjoying the CRC weather and studying Shalom, with Terry McGonigal (Theology), or Medical Spanish, with Mel Larson and Yeimy Rojas (Kinesiology/Athletic Training). During this new year, the art, economics/business, and political science departments will each "adopt" a semester and send down professors to offer upper-division courses with a Latino flavor for their majors. The Whitworth Wind Symphony will be here during Spring Break to offer several music workshops and four concerts. Finally, during fall semester 2012, CRC students will have the opportunity to take a one-week field trip to Cuba."  I'm personally looking forward to visiting the CRC March 18 to formally dedicate the center.

Sports

Whitworth's swimming teams trained hard during the break at California Lutheran University, in Thousand Oaks. The swimmers put in somewhere between 60,000 and 80,000 yards of training during their week in California, building the basis for a strong finish to the season over the next couple of months.

The men's basketball team is 9-2 and looking strong. After a big victory over Calvin College (Mich.) in a game played on Mercer Island, the Pirates have completed non-conference play and will focus on Northwest Conference action the rest of the way. The Bucs' NWC season picks up once again this weekend in Tacoma against PLU and Puget Sound, who currently share first place – and 2-0 conference records – with Whitworth. Post Felix Friedt, '12, is having an All-NWC type of season so far, averaging 17.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.

Women's basketball is 4-7 heading back into conference play. Lexi Belcher, '12, leads the team in scoring and rebounding, while Emily Guthrie, '13, has resumed her place as the NWC's most dangerous three-point shooter after tying a school record with eight threes made in a recent win over Lancaster Bible College.

Closing Thoughts

One sign of an exceptional organization is that great employees are occasionally tapped to move on to new and important responsibilities. Michael Le Roy, '89, Whitworth's provost and executive vice president, was recently elected Calvin College's ninth president. Although I am saddened to lose Michael's leadership and presence among us, it speaks volumes that a quality institution such as Calvin would find its next leader at Whitworth. We are doubly proud of Michael since he is also a Whitworth alumnus who represents so well what Whitworth thinks is important. I am confident that Michael will be a great president for Calvin, and I know you will join me in praying for him, along with his wonderful family, as they prepare for their next exciting journey.