Mind & Heart Newsletter: November 2014
An update from Whitworth University President Beck A. Taylor
Proud. If there's one word to sum up how I felt during and after Whitworth's incredible 125th Anniversary Celebration Weekend, that's it: proud. And if there's one word to describe the celebration itself and what it embodied as it reflected upon the university's storied institutional narrative and explored Whitworth's bright and exciting future, that word would be excellence. Exhaustedmight be the word to describe many of us after the weekend's incredible array of events, but our exhaustion was the best kind – the kind of exhaustion one feels after participating in something really big – something that matters profoundly to those who participated and that has brought people together from near and far, across generations of Whitworthians, to reflect upon the ways in which God has blessed this place we love.
You know what I'm talking about if you had the opportunity to participate in last month's extravaganza. Even if you couldn't be here, I hope you were able to watch online, or to read about it on social media, or to visit the Whitworth 125 website (whitworth125.com). I joked with a colleague that I wished there were some way to bottle it all up so that we could sip from it for the next 25 years until Whitworth celebrates its sesquicentennial. Thanks to so many of you who made the weekend special – it was truly one for the ages.
Amidst all the fanfare, Whitworth launched the public phase of The Campaign for Whitworth, the largest and most ambitious fund-raising effort in the university's history, with a goal of raising $100 million to support our students, faculty, staff and facilities. You can find out more about the campaign online, but you should know now that it will support everything that's important to Whitworth and its students through scholarships, world-class academic programs, and incredible teaching spaces. I also announced a companion effort, Whitworth Serves, which asks all Whitworthians to report their community service to the university, so that as we collect all-important funding for our campaign's goals, we also uplift Whitworth's mission to "serve humanity." Over the next three years, I will ask you not only to give to Whitworth, but also to give through Whitworth. You already do that so well, and for that I am grateful.
(If you'd like to see images from the 125th Anniversary Celebration Weekend, click here.)
Academics
Dale Soden (History) received a contract from Oregon State University Press for his new book, Outsiders in a Promised Land: Religious Activists in the History of the Pacific Northwest.
Todd Friends (School of Business) co-authored a paper, "Transformative Experiences in Teaching International Business: A Study Using An Online Blended Learning System Across Geographies and Contexts," in The Handbook of Experiential Learning in International Business.
Roberta Wilburn (School of Education) presented "Brown vs. the Board of Education for Better or Worse? That is the Question," at the Critical Questions in Education Conference.
Kathryn Picanco, Jann Leppien and Gail Hanninen (School of Education) presented recently at the Washington Association of Educators of the Talented and Gifted. Kathryn spoke on "Compacting Strategies to Enhance and Accelerate Instruction," while Jann and Gail presented "Identifying Students from Diverse/Underrepresented Populations."
Keith Beebe (Theology) delivered "George Whitefield in Scotland: Of Friends, Foes, and the Evangelical Divide" for the George Whitefield at 300 conference at Oxford, U.K. He also spoke on "Calvinist Conversion in the Scottish Evangelical Awakening."
A book by Jonathan Moo (Theology) and Robert White, Let Creation Rejoice: Biblical Hope and Ecological Crisis, was published by InterVarsity Press.
Whitworth was again recognized as a top undergraduate-degree-producing institution by the American Physical Society: www.aps.org/programs/education/statistics/upload/140907-Bachelor-s-in-Physics-at-BS-Institution_vertical.pdf.
Julia Stronks (Political Science) and her mother, Gloria Goris Stronks, have released another book, Teaching to Justice, Citizenship, and Civic Virtue: The Character of a High School Through the Eyes of Faith.
Whitworth's forensics team, coached by Mike Ingram (Communication Studies), took first (yep, No. 1) out of 55 schools in the debate sweepstakes at the recent Lewis & Clark tournament.
The Arts
Ten-time Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter, composer and pianist Arturo Sandoval performs with the Whitworth Jazz Ensemble on Friday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m. in Cowles Auditorium. Tickets are $20 regular admission and $15 students/ seniors (62-plus), available through Ticketswest.com, at the Whitworth Music Department website, www.whitworth.edu/musictickets, and at the door. Sandoval will also present a free jazz clinic in Cowles on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
The work of Gordon Wilson (Art) is displayed in the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture and is featured on the museum's webpage.
Parole: The 2014 Whitworth Faculty Exhibition opens Nov. 11 and runs through Jan. 30. The opening reception will take place Nov. 11, 5-6 p.m., in Lied Art Center, Bryan Oliver Gallery. A panel discussion will follow the reception
at 6 p.m., also in Lied Center. "Parole" is the actual linguistic behavior or performance of individuals, in contrast to the linguistic system of a community. The gallery will be closed Nov. 26-30, Dec. 17-Jan. 4, and Jan. 17-19.
Jasmine Pallwitz will perform her senior project, What's in a Dream, on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 3 p.m. in Cowles Auditorium, Stage II. $2 admission.
Stage II Shorts: A Festival of Short Plays will take place Dec. 3 and 4, at 7 p.m., in Cowles Auditorium, Stage II. $2 admission. Student directors select plays, audition and cast the players, arrange the technical support, and rehearse and present the plays.
Sometimes Fs are a good thing, especially when they come along in a piece of music like Jack Stamp's Divertimento in "F."You can hear this terrific piece, along with music by Percy Grainger, Fisher Tull, Michael Daugherty, and others, at the Whitworth Wind Symphony's fall concert, Flow, on Sunday, Nov. 16, at 3 p.m. in Cowles Auditorium. General admission is $5; free for students and seniors (62-plus).
Student Life
During Fall Break, a group of students from the International Club enjoyed the beautiful (and rainy) city of Seattle. With the generous help of the Whitworth Auxiliary, ASWU and others, they visited the Space Needle, shopped at Pike Place Market and the Chinatown Asian market, enjoyed an unusually sunny Argosy cruise, toured the Underground, explored Pioneer Square, ate a variety of ethnic foods, and so much more! One student said that she felt as if she were at home, since she was able to see skyscrapers and eat her favorite foods, just as she does in Hong Kong.
The Health-Education Action Team (HEAT) has hosted its second program this year. The topic for this round was sexual health and safety. HEAT invited panelists Robin Pickering, Cris Tietsort and Emily Soucinek to discuss several TED Talk videos and give insight into this often-difficult-to-discuss subject. The turnout was great, and students had many engaging questions. We look forward to bringing more health-education programs to students at Whitworth.
The Student Success Team has 10 coaches trained and meeting regularly with a variety of students to cover a wide range of topics, including time management, stress, test anxiety, etc. If you are interested in knowing more, please navigate to the SST website at www.whitworth.edu/studentsuccess.
Alumni & Parents
We're taking Whitworth faculty On the Road again! All alums, parents and friends are invited. We have events with Gordon Jackson and Erica Salkin (both Communication Studies) in Denver on Jan. 31 and in San Diego on Feb. 1, while Forrest Baird (Philosophy) and Bendi Benson Schrambach (World Languages & Cultures) will be in Spokane on April 11 and in Orange County, Calif., on May 2. Visit www.whitworth.edu/ontheroad for more information and to register.
Next year's Core 650 tour is open for registration! Richard Strauch (Music) will lead us on a musical journey through Munich and Salzburg on our way to glorious Vienna. All of the details for this June 18-29, 2015, tour can be found at www.whitworth.edu/2015tour.
Parents and families, order a Final-Exam Survival Kit for your student today! Students love getting goodies from their loved ones, and the office of alumni & parent relations is taking orders for Finals Week treats until Nov. 16. The cost is $25 for a fresh-fruit bag and $20 for a snack kit. To order online, visit www.whitworth.edu/examsurvivalkits. Kits will be delivered on Dec. 4.
Admissions
Our Nov. 30 early action (non-binding) application deadline is just around the corner. Students who apply through this program and are admitted can submit their enrollment deposit to get priority status for housing selection and class registration. Deposits are fully refundable through May 1, so it's a no-lose proposition for students. The application is free. Go to www.whitworth.edu/apply.
Prospective freshmen are encouraged to join the Whitworth Class of 2019 Facebook group; it's a great way to connect with other students looking at Whitworth as well as with current students.
It was gratifying to see Whitworth listed again among the top-10 universities and top-five values in U.S. News' ranking of regional universities in the West. These rankings largely affirm what we already know – that Whitworth offers an outstanding education at a great price after financial aid is factored in. But we don't mind if U.S. News, Forbes, Kiplinger's, The Princeton Review's 2014 Best Colleges: Region By Region guide and other publications want to help share the news with their readers.
Resources
As Whitworth celebrates 125 years, we remember that throughout the university's existence, generous alumni and parents have helped generations of students experience Whitworth by giving back. Beginning Nov. 24, we're asking you to Light the Match. If 2,300 alumni and parents make a gift – one for every traditional undergraduate student on campus – by Dec. 19, a group of Whitworth trustees will match that effort with a $125,000 gift to The Whitworth Fund! These gifts will honor Whitworth's 125 years and celebrate the generous donors who have kept it going. Help Whitworth reach 2,300 donors and fuel the flames of excellence in our students. Please use the attached envelope or go online to www.whitworth.edu/give. Thank you so much!
Each November we attach an envelope to this newsletter in the hope that you'll consider contributing to The Whitworth Fund, which is one of the initiatives in The Campaign for Whitworth. The Whitworth Fund supports student aid and other institutional needs. Thanks for considering this extra gift, which will be much-appreciated and well-used.
Sports
Football heads into the final game of the season with a 6-3 record. The Pirates have set several team records already this season, both offensively (passing touchdowns) and defensively (tackles for loss). The Bucs earned a dramatic Homecoming victory over previously unbeaten Willamette on Oct. 11.
Volleyball is closing in on a Northwest Conference championship. The Pirates have won 12 NWC matches in a row to improve to 12-2 with just two conference matches left. Brenna Bruil, '17, was recently selected NWC Volleyball Student-Athlete of the Week for her outstanding performance in Pirate wins at Whitman and Pacific (Ore.).
Men's soccer is at the top of the Northwest Conference. The Pirates are 9-1-3 in conference, and they control their own destiny with one match to play, against Whitman, in the regular season. Micheal Ramos, '16, continues to lead the league in points, goals and assists.
Women's soccer has played 11 matches that ended 1-0 this season. Eleven! The Pirates are 7-11-1 overall and 6-9 in the NWC with just one game to play. They have quality wins over Puget Sound, Whitman, Pacific and Lewis & Clark this month, all by that 1-0 margin.
The cross country teams performed well at the recent NWC Championships. The women's team finished in second place, and the men's team ended up fourth. Next up are the NCAA West Region Championships and the NCAA Division III Championships.
Men's golf closed out with a win in the NWC Fall Classic, which will count as 25 percent of the final regular-season standings. Oliver Rudnicki, Andrew Dodge and Tyler McQuilkin, all '16, finished in the top 10 of the individual standings at the tournament. The team will resume play in March.
Women's golf took third place at the NWC Fall Classic behind a strong performance by Nicole Lomax, '15. Saturday's first round was suspended due to heavy winds in Oregon, but the Pirates played through the conditions to a strong finish. The women, too, will resume play in March.
Men's basketball got the chance to "play up" when the Pirates met the University of Montana in an exhibition game in Missoula. The Bucs acquitted themselves admirably in a 94-79 loss to the Div. I Grizzlies. The season officially gets under way at home on Nov. 15 against New York's D'Youville College.
Women's basketball will also open the season on Nov. 15. They'll be at home against Eastern Oregon.
The Whitworth swimming teams opened the 2014-15 season with a pair of strong performances. In the only competition on the schedule where the men's and women's teams compete for a combined score, the Pirates tied for first place at the NWC Relays, hosted by Willamette University.
Closing Thoughts
Our students are so much fun. On Halloween, Julie and I have a tradition of opening up the president's house for trick-or-treating and a costume contest. Hundreds of students, dressed in creative costumes and eager to have a cookie and a cup of hot apple cider, paraded through our living room last Friday night. To see the smiles on their faces and to hear their laughter is all the fuel I need. As we enter the month of thanksgiving, please know how thankful I am for each of you.
