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Alumni Achievements

Additional Alumni Achievements


Featured Alum
Katie Stephens, '06
Majors: Sociology and Cross Cultural Studies

Current Position: Recently stepped down as United States Coordinator for Children With Hope, a nonprofit organization based in Australia that trains people to work with children at risk worldwide. Plans to earn a master's degree in family therapy/counseling and work with youth in her community by starting an after-school program at her church.

Worked as a lead trainer in Thailand in fall 2007; took part in the "Impact Uganda" training team last spring in Kampala, Uganda.

Why Whitworth? Whitworth provided three things I was looking for in a university: a Christian environment, strong academic standards, and a tight-knit community. Whitworth was my last stop on a string of campus visits, and as I hurried to meet my tour group, the guide reached out his hand and said, "You must be Katie." From that moment on I knew Whitworth was my new home.

Whitworth Activities: Cup of Cool Water homeless-youth ministry, Amnesty International, Jubilation, intramural volleyball, member of a small group, helped coordinate Festival Shalom

Quote: "Through my sociology and cross-cultural studies majors, I was able to study in South Africa, Central America, and inner-city Chicago. These experiences, and volunteering with Cup of Cool Water, a ministry to homeless people in downtown Spokane, gave me a new perspective into who God is, who I am, who my neighbor is, and the struggles and hopes that are in constant tension in the world. Along with the practical and theoretical knowledge I learned in the classroom, my off-campus experiences prepared me leave Whitworth ready to bring positive change in a hurting world."

Influential Whitworth Experience: Taking part in the Central America Study Program. I have never been more challenged, broken and at the same time truly content as I was at various times during this journey. Through four months of studying in other cultures and living side by side with the people, I saw their daily struggles and heard their heartaches. I also experienced an indescribable joy that went beyond circumstances and pointed to a God who cares. I realized how we live worlds apart, but more importantly, how interconnected our worlds become through the decisions I make every day. My experience in Central America influences why I do what I do and it will continue to shape me for the rest of my life. I now see the world through a different lens.

Here's what some Whitworth graduates are doing with their sociology degrees:

• Lora Burge, '06, works in Guatemala as part of a Presbyterian Church (USA) women's-group ministry; she also has served as a translator and helped teach a course on non-violent alternatives.

• Alicia Hooten, '05, is completing a master's degree in social work at the University of Southern California and helps adolescents in foster care transition successfully into adulthood.

• Tamotsu Iwaishi, '05, is a dorm director and part-time physical-education instructor at Kamehameha Schools, in Hawaii.

• Katherine Smith, '02 (sociology and international studies double major), is a judicial law clerk with the United States Department of Justice.

• Jennifer Nelson, '07, works with the Asha House ministry for orphaned children, in Delhi, India.

• Colleen Smith, '06, works for Youth for Christ in a ministry for girls from low-income neighborhoods, in Spokane.

• Julie Barshaw, '07, is earning a master's degree in cross-cultural ministry at the ACTS Seminaries of Trinity Western University, in Langley, B.C.

• Jamin Palmer,'04, earned a master's degree in criminology/criminal justice from Washington University-St. Louis and undertook a mission trip to Uganda, Africa.

• Brittany Hilker, '07, is enrolled in the master of arts program in social work at Eastern Washington University.

• Brian Nissen, '01, did social work with Native American populations and now works as a member of the Business Council of the Colville Confederated Tribes.