Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: February 2004

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

I'm writing today from the same place I've celebrated the last 18 Groundhog Days -- Washington, D.C. Each year I come to this same conference to meet with lawmakers and to hear from higher-education prognosticators. I always leave D.C. thinking about how to prepare for the future. This year, however, it's hard not to look back. Perhaps I'm influenced by my new reflective nature (now just over a month old), but the contrasts between past and present are stark and growing. Just 15 years ago I had the privilege of attending President George H.W. Bush's first State of the Union address. I think I passed through one metal detector on the way into the House Chamber. Yesterday we were met by a police barricade before going through four security checkpoints and proceeding into a meeting with Sen. Murray in the Capitol Building, because the Senate office buildings were closed due to a toxic-substance scare. And those screenings were mild compared to the day before, when three other college presidents and I had a meeting in the west wing of the White House with George W. Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card. Granted, this avalanche of security is lamentable, but I think it's worth it. I find it barely imaginable that four small-college representatives were one voice away from the President of the United States. We set forth our case on behalf of America's neediest college students, and the chief of staff listened and cared. Like its citizens, our country stumbles and errs, as anguishing memories remind us during this Black History Month. But America self-corrects when the people speak, and freedom of speech is as powerful a security measure as the armed guards who protect it. We are certainly grateful for the protection you provide Whitworth through your prayers, advice and support.

Academics

Weather-related travel demons did their best to disrupt our Jan Term programs. Those flying to Europe out of Seattle were delayed up to three days, but our intrepid faculty leaders -- Rick Hornor, '70 (Theatre), Debbie Hansen (Music), and Susan Mabry (Computer Science) -- got their groups to London; Dan Keberle (Music) made it to Rome with his jazz students; and Forrest Baird (Philosophy) finally arrived in Athens. I hope you saw on our website the reflections and digital images that we got from Pamela Corpron Parker, '81 (English), Gordon Watanabe, '75, '85 M.Ed. (Education), Kyle Usrey (School of Global Commerce and Management) and their students, as they updated us on their trip to Thailand. Glitches notwithstanding, all Jan Term excursions went safely and well.

On the home front, Jan Term provided interesting courses such as Arthurian Literature; Sports, Money and Economics; Biology of HIV/AIDS; Grimms' Fairy Tales; and The Vices: Virtue and Evil. (I wish I could claim virtue as my most crippling vice.)

We have great speakers on campus this month. While I'm airborne (as usual) writing this newsletter, Laurie Lamon, '78, (English) is preparing to read her award-winning poetry to kick off our annual Heritage Week celebration. Laurie's work has appeared in such publications as The New Republic, Atlantic Monthly, and even Whitworth Today.

• Also featured during Heritage Week is one of our most distinguished alumni, Stephen T. Davis, '62, who will speak on Faith and the Human Condition. Steve, who holds the Russell K. Pitzer Chair in Philosophy at California's Claremont McKenna College, is an intellectual giant and the warmest of human beings. He will speak on the human condition apart from God and faith and will examine the state of contemporary secular academia in the U.S.
• Our featured speaker for Black History Month will be Samuel McKinney, who was a leading 1960s civil-rights activist in Seattle. Rev. McKinney, who stood on the front line of the battles to integrate the city's public schools, is the retired pastor of Seattle's Mount Zion Baptist Church. He will speak in the chapel on Feb. 17.
• At the other end of the experience spectrum, our own Lance Sinnema, '99, is lecturing and displaying his work in the Koehler Gallery. Lance admits that he's never outgrown his love for toys, and that will be clear from his exhibit, Busted, for which he has painted a sky, trees and shrubs on the walls of the Koehler Gallery to create a diorama effect, complete with oversized toys. Lance is as an adjunct instructor at Whitworth this spring, teaching sculpture and drawing classes. I remember him not only for his skill with a paintbrush but also as a very good runner. (I have admired sprinters ever since Coach Mehan told me he needed a stopwatch with a calendar to time me in the 100-yard dash.)

In partnership with School District 81, the Theatre Department will perform Cootie Shots: Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry for Kids, Parents, and Teachers in elementary schools around Spokane. The actors, including John Conley, Rachael Erickson, Kyle Genther, Anne Hitt, Sreyla Rim, Bobby Walston, and Ben White, spent fall semester rehearsing the project under the direction of adjunct theatre instructor and Whitworth alum Brooke Kiener, '99. What a great example of service-learning!

The Whitworth Jazz Ensemble just returned from 12 swinging days in Rome. During the trip the group, under the direction of Dan Keberle (Music), performed three concerts, one with top Italian jazz saxophonist Maurizio Giammarco. You can catch some of the bandmembers performing in the lobby of the Spokane Opera House when Whitworth co-sponsors the Wynton Marsalis concert scheduled for Feb. 29 at 8 p.m.

In January, Gordon Wilson and Scott Kolbo (Art) had the first showing of their Collaborative Drawings, in Wenatchee Valley College's Gallery 76. Both continue to work on drawings representing environmental and social themes in the Inland Northwest.

Mark Slater, '95 M.A.T., received Spokane's Teacher of the Month award in November.Mark, a teacher at Linwood Elementary School, was featured in a Spokesman-Reviewarticle on Jan. 20. Great job, Mark!

Enrollment

The Financial Aid Office is beginning to review files for the 2004-05 academic year.New students who have applied by the March 1 deadline will begin receiving their financial-aid awards in late March's mail. Continuing students who meet the May 1 deadline for submitting the renewal FAFSA will receive their awards during May and June. If continuing students need summer aid (which is very limited), their renewal deadline is March 1.

Please remind any prospective students you know that March 1 is our application deadline. As we are again receiving a record number of applications, we'll make few exceptions to that cutoff point.

Student Life

Jan Term provided previously undiscovered student talent with a stage and screaming fans. Our second annual Pirate Idol (patterned after the show American Idol, which, like the Pirate version, I have never seen) took place this month, and our students were presented with a cavalcade of guitar and piano duos, full bands, comedians, and dance numbers, all vying for the $250 prize and the coveted Pirate Idol title. When all was said and done, "Sistas with Step" (Stephy Beans and Sha'Nay McQuirter) won third place for their step routine; Cory Siebe won second place for his original song; and first place went to a dance team comprising 11 of our talented exchange students from Japan. They'll have to split the $250, but they claim to be very proud of the title.

February will begin with the Winter Formal, in Graves Gym, which will be transformed into a snowy wonderland (a bit like putting makeup on a bloodhound); the annual Warren Peace concert will follow, and, finally, the annual Green with Envy Dance will conclude the month. (Green with Envy is when you set up your roommate with a date that makes you green with envy...or not.)

Resources

I hope you've been able to take a look at the updated photos of Weyerhaeuser Hall(click on the "Friends and Donors" section on our website, www.whitworth.edu). We're currently hosting a shot of the teaching theatre and how it's taking shape. Although progress has been slowed slightly by the weather, we're still on track for opening this wonderful new facility this fall. Right now, an average of 25 to 30 carpenters, plumbers, electricians and other workers are on site each day.

Your generosity continues to bless our students. December was a very good month, with more than $250,000 in gifts to The Whitworth Fund. This support puts us ahead of last year, and your timing couldn't be better. We have had several large, unanticipated expenses this year, leaving our expense lines ahead of last year's, as well. With your continued help, we should balance our budget on June 30. We'll tighten our belts and let you know if the budget starts to bleed.

Does check-writing bring you down? ¡No mas! We're now able to make your money disappear without you having to witness it. We've recently set up an electronic-giving program. You decide how much you want to give each month, and the gift is transferred to Whitworth directly from your savings or checking account. Call June Hanson, our gift processor, at (509) 777-4343 to get started. We give to Whitworth this way, and we find it very convenient.

Athletics

On Jan. 27, Bryan Depew became the leading scorer in Whitworth men's basketball history when he scored his 1,808th career point, surpassing the record set by All-American Rod McDonald (1964-67). Our new scoring champ received a standing ovation from the Bucs crowd when he broke the 37-year-old record. So far this season, Bryan has been named Northwest Conference Player of the Week three times, and he continues to lead the league in scoring (with more than 24 ppg). The Whitworth men are currently tied for third in the NWC.

On Jan. 24, Tiffany Speer scorched the nets for 48 points in a win over Linfield,leaving in the dust the previous single-game scoring record of 39 points that she shared with Annette Sweeney (who set the original mark in 1995). The previous night, against Pacific, Tiffany became the tenth woman in Whitworth history to surpass 1,000 career points. She has been named NWC Player of the Week five times this season and leads the conference in scoring average (at more than 22 ppg). The Pirate women are currently in fourth place in the NWC.

The Pirate men's swim team completed its first-ever undefeated dual-meet season with a win over Puget Sound. The Bucs finished 9-0. The men also extended their winning streak against NWC foes to 30 consecutive meets. Whitworth heads into the conference championships (Feb. 13-15) on a high note, led by NCAA and NWC record-holder Kevin Wang.

Whitworth's women's swim team finished the season with a record of 8-2 and a conference mark of 6-1. All-American Serena Fadel will lead the Pirates into the conference championships, where they will excel. Our swim program is absolutely superb and has not lost a second under new head coach, Steve Schadt, '96.

Spring sports get rolling in February. The track-&-field team has already competed in a couple of events. Baseball (Feb. 13) and softball (Feb. 29) will begin their seasons in Arizona. The men's tennis season begins Feb. 14 in Walla Walla, while the women start Feb. 21 in Idaho.

Alumni

Join Professor of English Pamela Corpron Parker, '81, and alumni, parents and friends for a Whitworth weekend in Ashland, Ore., Aug. 6-8. You'll see three plays at the world-famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival, enjoy wonderful meals, and share in group discussion. Information is available through the Alumni Office or via the website, www.whitworth.edu/calendar/alumnicalendar.htm.

English Professor Leonard Oakland will present the introductory lecture for the first annual City of Destiny Film Festival at 7 p.m. on March 3 at Tacoma's Museum of Glass. The event is free, and we encourage all area alumni, parents and friends to attend.

Brochures are in the mail and web registration will be available soon for 2004's Alumni Family Weekend, so plan now to attend this festive event featuring eight different class reunions and the first all-era choir reunion. See the complete schedule for June 18-20 at www.whitworth.edu/alumni/familyweekend2004.htm.

Mark your calendars now: Oct. 1-3 is the date for Homecoming 2004. Friday evening will feature the second annual George F. Whitworth Honors Banquet, and we'll celebrate the grand opening of Weyerhaeuser Hall Saturday before the football team takes on Eastern Oregon. This will also be the 10-year reunion for the Class of 1994.

Miscellaneous

Upcoming theatre events include senior Adam Critchlow presenting The Invention of War: Shakespeare in Conflict, on Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. on the Cowles Auditorium Main Stage. And seniors Sarah Larson and Nick Preuninger will direct Theatre as Life March 6 at 7 p.m. on Cowles' Stage II.

The 29th annual Whitworth Institute of Ministry will be great. This year's program of worship, continuing education, and spiritual development for clergy and laity and their families (sponsored in part this year by the Lilly Foundation) will focus on the theme The Church and the Marketplace: The Relationship between Work and Christian Faith. Featured presenters at the July 12-16 institute include Vic Pentz, Sr. (pastor of Atlanta's Peachtree Presbyterian Church), and Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary. Contact Michelle Seefried at (509) 777-3275 or mpace@whitworth.edu, or visit www.whitworth.edu/wim for information.

The Whitworth community celebrates with Viktor and Tatyana Slyusareva (Custodial Services) and their family. In January, the Slyusarevas attained U.S. citizenship. They are thrilled, and we are thrilled for them. Whitworth has been greatly enriched by a wonderful group of Eastern European immigrants who have joined our staff.

Closing Thoughts

My two favorite Whitworth alumni, Brenna Robinson,'00, and Ben Robinson, '03, have launched new life chapters in the past month. Ben has gone to Cairo to spend a couple of years working with youth in an Anglican church. And Brenna just left for a mission project in Venezuela (which includes an excursion to see her younger sister, who is studying in Argentina, and a final leg to help out her brother in Egypt) before she begins seminary next summer. Bonnie and I are a bit dazed. You spend the first 20 years of your kids' lives teaching them to be independent. Then, when they are, it's a bit sad. But what is not sad is that when our children left home it was with a mission -- the Whitworth mission to honor God, follow Christ and serve humanity. So we are thankful beyond words for this college, and for all of you who uphold it.