Alumni at Microsoft Donate Software

Several months ago, e-mail about Seattle Pacific University began to fly at Microsoft Corporation. Alumni working for the software giant were gearing up to help SPU's Computer Science Department. The department needed to upgrade the software on approximately 150 machines in its computer labs. Since Microsoft employees receive software discounts and the company matches charitable donations, asking this group of young alumni for their help was a natural. A drive began to raise funds for Windows NT 4.0 and Office '97 software. "Our goal was to keep SPU up to the latest standards in Microsoft software," says Ryan LaBrie '91, a database training specialist. "We do this so they can focus their budget on hardware and non-Microsoft-related products." The drive exceeded expectations: Alumni raised enough to buy the equivalent of $70,000 in software at retail prices. "I wouldn't be where I am in my profession if it hadn't been for SPU," says Larry Hanson '93, a software design engineer/tester. Donating software, he adds, seemed like an appropriate way to say thanks. At a March 7 luncheon held on Microsoft's main campus, Seattle Pacific Vice President for University Advancement Robert McIntosh and other University officials expressed their appreciation for the gift. Said Mike Tindall, chair of SPU's Computer Science Department, "It's unique to have young graduates, out of school less than 10 years, which contribute back to the University like this." The software upgrades will be implemented over the next several months. "SPU has been a leader for our size of institution in the use of technology for instruction and administrative purposes," says Dave Tindall, executive director of computer and information systems. "The Microsoft group has played an important part in that because they've allowed us to leverage limited funds to accomplish more."

Pastors Breakfasts Feature Symposium Speakers

Two special breakfasts that addressed key issues of ministry drew 130 pastors and parachurch leaders to the Symposium on Evangelicalism and Higher Education held at Seattle Pacific University in February. Kenneth Kinghorn, dean of the School of Theology at Asbury Theological Seminary, delivered an address to the pastors titled "God's Central Plan" on February 11. Alister McGrath, principal of Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford, spoke about "Refreshing Our Vision for Ministry" on February 13. The breakfasts were part of an ongoing initiative to serve local clergy from a variety of denominations. Once each quarter during the academic year, area pastors are invited to campus for a continental breakfast and to hear from a Christian scholar. The majority of speakers have been respected members of SPU's own faculty. "Several pastors have agreed to serve on a task force to determine how they and the University can best support each other," says Robert McIntosh, vice president for university advancement. "I think this is in keeping with the spirit of the Symposium: that spiritual growth and intellectual growth go hand-in-hand."

Fitch Among the Presenters at National Science Conference

The Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle recently hummed with 5,000 physicists, chemists, biogeneticists, astronomers and other scientists taking part in a conference on "Engaging Science, Sustaining Society." The mix of conference presenters and attendees included Microsoft's Bill Gates, several National Medal of Science winners - and Seattle Pacific University Assistant Professor of Biology Cindy Fitch. The conference focus on issues of biotechnology suited Fitch, a geneticist, to a "T." She joined several colleagues in a panel presentation discussing ways to parlay expertise in animal and human genetics into a career outside a standard research track. "They wanted to know what my week as an educator is like, if I use teaching assistants, how my time is divided between teaching and research," says Fitch. Questions from the audience also provided her with an opportunity to share her Christian faith in a strictly scientific community. "I was able to reflect on the mission fit of a small college. The audience needed to know that mission is a very serious matter, a part of my everyday teaching." Fitch's role as a conference presenter meant that a handful of her undergraduate students attended the conference for free. The chance for them to engage so many brilliant minds was, she says, "absolutely transforming."

The Modern Novel Has Ancient Roots, Says Roseman in Marston Lecture

The novel has a long history - perhaps originating in the first century B.C. - and modern novels are more deeply influenced by books of antiquity than has often been acknowledged. These were some of the observations of Seattle Pacific University's Marston Professor of the Classics, Christina Roseman, during the annual Marston Lecture on February 27. Titled "Travel! Adventure! Romance! Imaginative Fiction in the Classical World," the paper focused on three works from approximately the second century A.D.: two swash-buckling romances and a fantasy-satire. Roseman noted that new research shows that at least 19 ancient books were widely read by large, urban audiences. Of those novels, five have always been known; the rest have been recovered from papyrus finds. The work of some modern authors, including Racine, Swift and Fielding, shows the influence of these old stories in plot and characterizations. Now literary critics are taking another look at the ancient books. With this stamp of legitimacy, says Roseman, perhaps "the novel - this poor cousin of comedy and epic - has a classical pedigree after all."

SPU Religion Professors Deliver Paper at Point Loma

"What Happens to 'Person' in a Postmodern Era?" That was the question Seattle Pacific University Professors Les Steele and Robert Drovdahl were invited to ponder in preparation for a January conference sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene College. "They've just opened a Wesleyan Studies Center there," explains Professor of Religion Steele, "and the conference was the inaugural event." The two SPU professors presented their response in a paper titled "The Self: Fashioned by God." The paper reveals ways in which the "self" develops in differing contexts: modern, postmodern or Christian. Modernism, notes Steele, is "hopeful," believing in a "master story" that has meaning for all persons, made possible through science and humanistic pursuits. Postmodernism, on the other hand, takes a more "suspicious" stance and denies that there is a common human story. Christianity, the professors assert, shares the best of both while transcending both, offering a universal story and hope through Jesus Christ. "What I try to tell my students," says Drovdahl, "is that it's possible to have modernist certainty - faith - as well as postmodernist humility." Steele agrees. "As Christians, we know truth, but we also recognize that we 'see through the glass darkly.'"

Faculty Bookshelf

The following are among many faculty volumes available in the Seattle Pacific University Bookstore. To order a book, or to request a full listing of SPU faculty books, call 206/281-2136.   New Just Business: Christian Ethics for the Marketplace InterVarsity Press, 1997 Alexander Hill Is a Christian ethic possible in business? With that probing query, the dean of Seattle Pacific University's School of Business and Economics, Alec Hill, launches an exploration of how best to conduct business with integrity. He demonstrates how three keys to God's character - holiness, justice and love - are likewise the keys to sound Christian business ethics. In the process, Hill draws vivid case studies of such timely business issues as employer-employee relations, discrimination and affirmative action, and environmental damage. He then uses discussion questions and scripture portions to urge a high moral standard in life and work. "There are a lot of human-centered ethical systems in business today based on the premise that results are the important thing and how you get there doesn't matter," notes Hill. "But our calling is to imitate the character of God. Good theology leads to good ethics." The book finishes on a note of grace. Grace, says Hill, is the divine provision that bridges the gap between high moral aspirations and the day-to-day realities of the marketplace. "This is why even our ethical failings can have a silver lining," he writes. "Recognizing our imperfections, we are drawn to the grace of God, which in turn leads us to assess ourselves modestly and to treat others with tolerance."   Classic Word Biblical Commentary: Hebrews 1-8 and Hebrews 9-13 Word Books, 1991 William L. Lane "Hebrews is a sermon in actual life, a sermon reduced to writing." With that thought in mind, Bill Lane, professor of biblical studies at Seattle Pacific University, spent a humbling 12 years in a "sustained dialogue" with the book of Hebrews. The result is a highly acclaimed two-volume commentary for students, clergy and scholarly investigators. Its publication was warmly received by a widely diverse audience, and the work won not only Christianity Today's Critic's Choice Award for 1993 in its category, but was hailed as a "fundamental resource" and an "excellent achievement" by The Catholic Biblical Quarterly. "It takes a particular call of God to write a biblical commentary," says Lane, also the author of a volume on the Gospel of Mark. "Most people don't understand what a very lonely task it is to go into a room and shut the door and wrestle with the text." Nor did the project require only a massive amount of writing. Lane also had to read everything on Hebrews written in Western languages in the last 75 years. Lane was drawn to Hebrews because he believes its value is profound. He says it sounds a call for ultimate certainty and ultimate commitment. Its intent is "to breathe new life into men and women who suffer a failure of nerve because they live in an insecure, anxiety-provoking society."   Classic Confronting Malpractice: Legal and Ethical Dilemmas in Psychotherapy SAGE Publications, 1990 Mary E. Moline, Kenneth M. Austin, George T. Williams "We live in a litigious society and those in the mental health profession need to know about the law," says Seattle Pacific University Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy Mary Moline. Educating her students and colleagues on lawsuit risk was one of Moline's motives for co-authoring Confronting Malpractice. Along with co-authors Kenneth Austin and George Williams, Moline studied more than 150 cases of malpractice in psychotherapy, including problems in record-keeping, confidentiality and wrongful release of patients. "Sometimes therapists are in a legal dilemma and they don't know it until later," Moline notes. "One needs to understand these issues to provide proper client care and prevent malpractice." For instance, Moline says having strong policies in place, adhering to those policies and documenting incidents along the way can significantly reduce legal threats. This fall, she publishes a follow-up book with the working title, Record-Keeping and Psychotherapy.

Global Frontiers: Weter Lecturer Hopes To "Shake Up" Common Cultural Assumptions

In the mid-nineteenth century, three influential European thinkers found themselves on different frontiers of the Western world during a pivotal point in history. Seattle Pacific University Professor of History Don Holsinger will bring the differing experiences of these three frontier eyewitnesses into focus for the 1997 Weter Lecture on April 10. His paper is titled "Livingstone, Darwin, and Tocqueville on Global Frontiers: Southern Africa, Argentina, and Algeria at the Birth of the Modern." "What all three men have in common," says Holsinger, "is an analytical approach to their subject and a passion to record what they experienced - although in different ways." By examining and comparing some of the observations of these important figures, Holsinger hopes to shake up a few of our assumptions about what is considered "West" and "non-West." "Some historians blame the West for current global problems," Holsinger notes, "while others say the West gave the world the blessings of modernity. I'm trying to go beyond that simplistic debate, to illuminate the complexity of cultural identity and of cross-cultural encounters." Holsinger illustrates with a dialogue between David Livingstone and a southern African "rain doctor." The two doctors explained and defended their world views, "each trying to persuade the other about what's right." Curiously, says Holsinger, Livingstone comes off more the mystic and the African more materialistic. Holsinger, who has lived and taught in Africa, says the lecture grew from his wish to offer students a broader understanding of the world rather than one too narrowly focused on a single viewpoint. To that end, he has developed courses which seek to inspire a global view of history, courses which look for "common themes." The Weter Lecture is free and open to the public. It will be held on Thursday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m. in Demaray Hall 150.

"Life- Changing" Works Cited by Faculty

"Have you seen the film It's a Wonderful Life?" asks Mike Macdonald. "It's a goldmine." Indeed, for him, the movie is a "life-changing work." Curious to know what works other than the Bible had influenced his colleagues, the Seattle Pacific University professor of philosophy and European studies sent out a survey to faculty members. He asked, "What books, films, dramas, paintings and sculpture have had the most significant impact on you?" Macdonald collected responses from more than 50 professors and printed a small brochure which contains several different category listings of the "informal research." One list shows "life-changing works" most frequently mentioned by faculty: The Lord of the Rings (book trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien), The Chronicles of Narnia (book series by C.S. Lewis), Mere Christianity (book by C.S. Lewis), David (sculpture by Michelangelo), Guernica (painting by Picasso), The Ninth Symphony (symphony by Beethoven), A German Requiem (requiem mass by Brahms), Babette's Feast (film by Gabriel Axel) and Crime and Punishment (novel by Dostoyevsky). Artists and authors most frequently mentioned by faculty were: C.S. Lewis, Johann Sebastian Bach, Michelangelo, Dostoyevsky, Picasso, J.R.R. Tolkien, Beethoven and Mozart. "I wanted to be of help to people looking for works which have influenced others," says Macdonald, who plans to conduct the survey again next year. For a copy, call 206/281-2036.

Student Quartet Competes Inter- nationally

During Seattle Pacific University's Homecoming Talent Show in 1995, a hastily organized barbershop quartet called "The Acafellas" won first place. A year later, the quartet was competing at the international level. It's been quite a ride for students Adam Rohler, Tad Beckwith, Brian Mittge and Ryan Colburn. Actually, Colburn is a latecomer, auditioning in the fall of 1995 as a replacement for one of the original members. A singer and performer since the age of five, he was snapped up by the group. "After Ryan came, we got serious about the group," says Mittge. Perfecting their technique, the quartet found jobs here and there, and steady work singing at First Presbyterian Church in Seattle. "The music director there gave us lots of professional help," says Colburn. Eventually The Acafellas won the Evergreen District Contest, a competition which brings together singers from five Western states and two Canadian provinces. This entitled them to go on to the international competition, held last July in Salt Lake City. Now busy with their studies, the four men aren't competing, but they do get together once a week for Bible study. "That's been excellent," says Mittge. "It's the enduring thing about this group."

SPU Receives Communi- cations Honors

The Seattle Pacific Office of University Communications won five awards at the recent Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District VIII conference in Vancouver, B.C. - including a Gold Award in tabloid publishing for Response. SPU also took a Grand Gold Award in the electronic media category for its Inaugural Year Video, a Gold Award in promotional copy for the SPU Viewbook, a Silver Award in alumni publications for the 1996 Alumni Weekend Brochure, and a Bronze Award in student viewbooks for the SPU Viewbook. Winners are selected from the entries of colleges and universities in nine Western states and Canadian Provinces.

Helping Teenage Parents Stay in School

As a teacher, Joanne Patrick doesn't have the luxury of telling teens to "just say no." For her students, it's a little late for that. Pregnant or already parents, her students need practical help now. "My goal is to help these students graduate from high school," Patrick says, "and to support them as students and parents." A 1969 graduate of Seattle Pacific, Patrick received the Washington State Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher of the Year Award in 1996. This month, she will receive the 1997 Outstanding Alumna of the Year Award from SPU's Family and Consumer Sciences Alumni Board. What's causing people to take notice is Patrick's work at John Marshall High School in Seattle, where she oversees a national curriculum called GRADS (Graduation, Reality and Dual Skills). GRADS gives teen parents information on child care and independent living, with an emphasis on personal responsibility. On-site daycare allows some to attend their GRADS sessions while continuing regular high school classes. The teens also explore careers through a new program called "Job Shadow." "We ask students to think of their dream job," Patrick explains. "They shouldn't limit themselves by circumstances, but instead imagine the possibilities." Patrick then matches each to a mentor with whom the student spends a day on the job. The teens also ask their mentor pointed questions, such as: "What kind of a student were you in high school? What barriers did you overcome?" The answers give them hope. Working with teens in crisis can be difficult, especially as the young women go into labor. That's when Patrick truly appreciates her comrade-in-arms and fellow SPU grad, Karson Bennett '87. "I go to the births sometimes," says Patrick, "but Karson, a public health nurse, always tries to be there." Patrick also relies on her faith for guidance. "No matter what, I show the kids compassion," she says. "Love was one of Jesus' biggies. Maybe they didn't make the best choices, but they're not terminating their pregnancies. Why condemn them? I feel strongly about that." And while the teenagers have her unflagging support, their babies have a special place in Patrick's heart. "They didn't ask for this - to be born, to be poor. I hope what I do makes a difference for them." This year alone at Patrick's school, more than 60 young mothers and mothers-to-be hope so too.

Alum's Poem Finds National Audience

On June 22, 1996, the popular broadcaster Paul Harvey printed a poem in his syndicated newspaper column. Called "Metamorphosis," the poem was written by 1975 Seattle Pacific University alumnus Greg Sawatzky, and dedicated to his teenage daughter, Trish. The poem evoked an outpouring of response from Harvey's audience and even now Sawatzky receives requests for copies of his creation, often from fathers who have daughters getting married or going away to college. "I have even heard from families who have lost their daughters," says Sawatzky. A writer at the Boeing Company in Seattle, Sawatzky says he wanted to celebrate his daughter's 16th birthday in a special way. He prayed, asking God to "open my eyes to something of lasting value I can give to Trish, something that will put into words what is bursting from my heart." The poem is a result of that prayer.   Metamorphosis Little butterfly - How beautiful, all poised for flight, Wings a-shim'ring in the light. Stretching, balanced, feelers out For food or dangers 'round about. I could never make you stay - One so busy on your way - Flowers beckon, nectar sweet, Each one promising a treat. Once, before you had your wings, You and I shared many things. Trapped on Earth, you deigned to stay - To grow, to learn - 'til came that day Your cocoon burst, and there you were, So elegant, so sleek and sure. You couldn't wait to try those wings, To break away from earthly things. If I put you in a jar, Took you places near and far. Kept you safe from heavy showers, Showed you meadows filled with flowers, Still, you'd wilt despite my care. There's only so much I can share. We've grown apart now, you and I. I'm of Earth, and you of sky. So I stand, content to wait, As you flutter 'bout my gate. On my shoulder for a while, You touch my heart and make me smile. I protect you when I can, Offer you a helping hand Or a temporary place For you to rest amid your race. I guard my words, my movements too So I don't hurt or frighten you. Just a gentle, loving soul Accepting of his changing role. I do not wish you back on Earth. You've longed for freedom since your birth. Just let me watch as you fly, And I'll endeavor not to sigh - as you fly away. Copyright © Greg Sawatzky, February 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Please read our disclaimer. Send any questions, comments or correspondence about Response to jgilnett@spu.edu or call 206-281-2051. Copyright © 1999 University Communications, Seattle Pacific University. Seattle Pacific University Office of University Communications 3307 Third Avenue West Seattle, Washington 98119-1997 United States of America