Of Mind & Heart Newsletter: November 2004

An update from Whitworth University President Bill Robinson

Ah, I'm sprawled in our family room's threadbare easy chair that accepts my creaking bones often and without complaint (and I don't have to feed it or let it out). Last night we set the clocks back, offering dopes like me an extra hour of work. It's not even light and I've already ground out my message for the next Whitworth Today. Having suffered the past few days from the inability to form a coherent sentence with either pen or tongue, I was shocked to discover both my brain and spirit in attendance when I flopped down to write. Here's how I started: Words from an old Beatles tune keep rattling around my memory chambers these days,"I read the news today, oh boy...." News has gotten scary. During my morning shave, it's all I can do to keep from cutting my lips off every time I hear the sound of that jingly prelude signaling the news. "Yikes," I worry to myself. "What today?" But lucky me: I work every day in a laboratory where we are creating a powerful antidote to doom. Worry stands no chance against the stunning promise I encounter in the lives of our students and alumni. So for the past couple hours I've been thinking about the bright future of a world led by the likes of our students. God could hope for no better agents in the great work of "Thy Kingdom come" than the high-minded, heart-driven students whom we join with you to support.

Academics

Last month I mentioned the opening celebration for Weyerhaeuser Hall as a part of our Homecoming festivities. Well, we finished the celebration by dedicating this beautiful new building at our October board meeting. Weyerhaeuser family members and representatives of the Stewardship Foundation enriched the occasion with their presence. The highlight had to be when Bill Weyerhaeuser rose from the seat next to his mother and spoke very movingly of how this edifice brought honor to his father, a man whose humility made a posthumous naming the only kind we could get away with. So we are done with all the dedicating and opening that any one building can take, but we are left with the enduring influence of Dave and Annette Weyerhaeuser, and that's just so good.

October's campus guests opened new registers in our minds and hearts:

• Yale University philosopher Nick Wolterstorff, whom I mentioned last month, spoke profoundly at the Weyerhaeuser dedication.
• Jan Bonnema, a registered nurse serving as a missionary in Haiti, spoke on Haiti and the Children in Crisis. She and her husband started an organization in 1998 to help meet the needs of orphans in that country.
• Robert Webber, emeritus professor of theology at Wheaton College, in Illinois, lectured on Worship: Where Has All the Justice Gone? He also preached in our midweek chapel service.
• Claudia Stevens, a concert pianist, actor and classical vocalist, gave a unique presentation about how inmates in Nazi concentration camps performed music so that their lives would be spared.

If you haven't read Leif Enger's Peace Like a River, you'll want to do so soon. Exquisite prose, a redemptive theme, and an engaging story make it a page turner that matters. When I wasn't coveting Enger's writing skills, I loved reading the book. I'm referring to this now rather than reporting it next month because those of you who get Mind & Heart electronically will get it in time to know that Enger is our 2004 Endowed English Reader. He will lecture on creative writing on Thursday, Nov. 11, and the next night he'll read from the novel. Both events are in the Robinson Teaching Theatre in Weyerhaeuser Hall, at 7:30 p.m.

I can't say that I felt the Apostle Paul and I had a whole lot in common when I first encountered his epistle to the church in Rome. From my spot over on the bunny slope, he seemed to be skiing the black diamonds of spirituality. But while plowing my way through the seventh chapter, I found just the woeful Paul for me: "I'm doing the things I don't want to do, and I'm not doing the things I want to be doing." The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. So where do we go from there? Eventually we get to the eighth chapter and the assurance that there's hope in Christ. But between now and then, we probably need a new book by faculty member Keith Wyma (Philosophy) to give us the answers. I can't wait to read Crucible of Reason: Intentional Action, Practical Rationality, and Weakness of Will.

Kudos to Mechelle Doughty (Modern Languages), who just completed her doctorate in Spanish at the University of Nebraska.

And more kudos to Emeritus English Professor Linda Hunt, '78 MAT, who was recently honored in two well-deserved ways for her book Bold Spirit. The book received national recognition, with the 2004 Willa Cather Literary Award for nonfiction (chosen by librarians and historians from around the nation), as well as a Washington State Book Award.

Margo Long, our specialist in gifted-and-talented education programs, was honored by the Washington Association of Educators of Talented and Gifted last month for her years of service in this area. While attending the conference at which she was honored, Margo and three experts in this area shared their wisdom with new program directors and teachers new to gifted education; they also met with Terry Bergeson, Washington's superintendent of public instruction, on the needs of gifted students in the state. Margo is on the national committee to examine national standards for gifted education. People who know her think not only of mind and heart but also of mind and mirth. She's hilarious.

Janet Hauck, our archivist, wrote three proposals resulting in nearly $25,000 in grants-- from the Ferris Foundation, for equipment needed to collect oral histories from the Nez Perce; from our state's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, for a project to teach teachers how to use a Whitworth-initiated CD and video on the Japanese American experience in World War II; and from the Washington State Library Preservation Initiative, to preserve our library copies of The Whitworthian, which turns 100 next year. Also, congratulations to Barb Sanders, '92 MIT, (Education) who received $20,000 for assessment consulting services from ESD 101 to assist with a large math/science partnership grant that they've received.

A team of three Whitworth computer-science students recently solved a series of complex programming problems to win a local competition at Eastern Washington University. The winning Whitworth team -- juniors Nathan Backman, Scott Otis and Thomas Wild -- solved six problems to beat 16 teams, from the Community Colleges of Spokane, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga and Whitworth. The members of the winning Whitworth team will byte and delete their opponents this week at a regional competition involving teams from throughout the Western United States and Canada.

Enrollment

All of you who know high-school seniors, please remind them that the early-action-admission deadline is November 30.

Parents of current students should know that we have gone almost completely to an online application for endowed scholarships. And the big change that students will see this year is in the application deadline, which is moving up to Dec. 31 from March 31, with the exception of scholarships for incoming freshmen. That deadline will remain March 31.

Student Life

Almost 600 moms and dads joined us for Parents' Weekend 2004. The beautiful Homecoming weather I gushed about gave way to gray drizzle. But as Assistant Dean of Students Dayna Coleman put it, "Although the weather was a little drippy, the parents weren't." Actually, I did see a few drippy eyes when we talked about the halting joy of watching parents and children let go of each other. About the time I started whining about the absence of sunshine, it struck me that not one parent was here for the weather. Classes, our fall theatre production, meetings, athletics contests and spontaneous gatherings all made for a great weekend.

October also brought Massive Monkeys, a break-dancing troupe; the on-campus viewing of Anchorman; Warren Hall's traditional Warren Peace concert (with the proceeds going to help Floridians recover from all the hurricanes); bigtime intramurals; Fall Break; and "Rock the Vote" efforts to encourage students to hit the polls this week.

Resources

I'm going to do something later this month that I've never done before, and I'm anxious about it. I'll be sending to you a Mind & Heart that focuses on our financial needs. Frankly, it will be a fund-raising letter. With pride and absolutely no apology I ask folks to support the important mission of Whitworth -- but in February 1990, while I was president of Manchester College, I wrote my first monthly newsletter because I got tired of hearing people say, "We only hear from you when you're asking for money." I don't think that was true, but people thought it was. So I've written more than 100 of these things while I've been at Whitworth, silencing my deep desire to request your financial support. I've tried to keep you posted on life at Whitworth and to thank you for your support more than to tell you how much we need it. Every year we send out an appeal to support The Whitworth Fund (that's our unrestricted annual fund), and I've never written the letter; but this year I want to do it because there are several very important reasons we need to strengthen giving in this area. So I've volunteered, and I'm going to use the M&H format that I've grown to enjoy. I'll still do a regular December Mind & Heart, but sometime toward the end of November you'll be getting a Mind & Heart & Pocketbook letter from me. I think you'll be very interested in finding how your support helps us so much.

Athletics

The Whitworth football team is 6-1 and making a real run at an NCAA playoff berth.The Pirates have already improved their wins total from last season, when they finished 4-6, and have clinched their fourth winning season in the last five. Sophomore quarterback Joel Clark is among NCAA Division III leaders in passing and total offense and had 502 total yards in a single game at Linfield. Junior kicker Cameron Collings leads the NWC in field-goal and PAT accuracy. He nailed a 53-yard field goal in our win over Eastern Oregon.

The volleyball squad has a chance to double last season's win total. The Pirates are 17-5 and have come close to sitting atop the conference. Junior Bekah Hornor has posted a pair of triple-doubles this season, hitting double figures in assists, digs and kills in a single match. Junior Julie Marsh leads the team in kills and digs, and senior Katy Schrader is the team leader in blocks.

Women's soccer is having an outstanding year, with a record of 12-4-1. The Bucs are the only team this season to defeat sixth-ranked University of Puget Sound. Senior Mary Hultgrenn leads the team with nine goals, and sophomore Jael Hagerott, the NWC's 2003 Offensive Player of the Year, has seven goals and eight assists.

Men's soccer sits in first place in the NWC with a conference record of 10-1-1 and an overall mark of 12-2-1. The Pirates are charging hard; they've been especially tough in the second half of matches this season, outscoring opponents 23-7 after halftime. Sophomore Niko Varlamos leads the NWC in scoring, with 12 goals and four assists. Junior Todd Sabrowski has the most assists in the conference with 10. (Late note: The Whitworth men won the NWC championship!)

The men's and women's cross-country teams finished third and second, respectively, while hosting the NWC championship meet at Wandermere Golf Course. Juniors Doug Blackburn and Kristi Dickey were named first-team all-conference, with Doug finishing second overall and Kristi finishing seventh. It was just great out there. I timed myself in a swift 33:55, which lacks a little significance in that I have no idea how far I ran. The team and individual berths for the NCAA championships will be decided at the NCAA West Region meet, to be held Nov. 13 at Prado Park, in Chino, Calif.

Alumni

All alumni and their families are invited to the men's and women's basketball doubleheader against George Fox University on Saturday, Jan. 8, at 6 and 8 p.m. Door prizes will be awarded and post-game refreshments will be served.

Parents, don't forget to order your Finals Survival Kits. The FSK program not only provides snacks to starving students; it also supports the alumni endowed-scholarship fund. Contact aseverino@whitworth.edu or call 509.777.3772 for details.

Miscellaneous

The Whitworth Wind Symphony will present a concert on Sunday, Nov. 14, at 4 p.m. in Cowles Memorial Auditorium. Included on the program will be the world premier of A Festive Tribute, composed by Emeritus Professor of Music Michael Young in honor of Richard Evans' retirement. Admission is free, and a freewill offering will be taken.

Don't miss the Christmas Festival Concert, Magnificat: We Magnify the Lord. The Whitworth Choir, Trouvères (women's chorus), instrumental ensembles, and Emeritus Professor of Theatre Pat Stien will come together to perform Jean Berger's wonderful Magnificat for soprano solo, mixed chorus, flute and tambourine; the concert will also include readings and congregational carols for Advent and Christmas. I love the canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Luke 1:46-55) known as the Magnificat. I hope you can join us at one of these venues: Dec. 4, First Presbyterian, Bellevue, 7 p.m.; Dec. 5, First Presbyterian, Seattle, 3 p.m.; Dec. 10, First Presbyterian, Spokane, 8 p.m.; Dec. 11, First Presbyterian, Spokane, 3 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be reserved at 800.532.4668 for the west-side concerts and 509.467.9397 for the Spokane events. Tickets can also be purchased through TicketsWest (509.325.SEAT) or ticketswest.com, or at the door if seats are still available.

Our Parents' Council keeps growing in its value to Whitworth. At our Parents' Weekend meeting, 33 of our 43 members were able to attend. This group of volunteers is working hard on behalf of admissions, assisting with college fairs and calling families of accepted students, as well as helping our advancement staff with the new Parents' Fund. They are even weighing in on the college's next strategic plan, which is currently in draft form. Thanks so much to all of you for your service.

Closing Thoughts

I only have 50 words left and I'm late for a meeting. So let me offer a couple sentences from Psalm 46 that keep visiting me these days: "Come, behold the works of the Lord...He makes wars to cease...He breaks the bow...Be still and know that I am God...The God of Jacob is with us." Peace and joy to all of you.