Every year, students in the Seattle Pacific University School of Business and Economics (SBE) get the chance to nominate local businesses for five Pacific Northwest Good Works Awards. Sponsored by KCTS Television, these awards honor companies that demonstrate philanthropy and public service without doing it for promotional purposes.
One of the awards, the Environmental Award, went this year to Patagonia, which funds an internship program that offers staff members two months' paid leave to work for a nonprofit environmental group. Microsoft received the Corporate Citizen Award, in part for its dollar-for-dollar match of employee gifts of up to $12,000 each.
The winner of this year's Small Business Award was Gary.Manuel Salon in Seattle. Among their many volunteer activities, salon employees give free haircuts and manicures to the elderly in Heritage House, a congregate care facility. Salon co-owner Gary Howse sees a number of benefits to doing good, not just making money. "We get to help out a lot of people, and we get individual satisfaction. And this fulfills the company's mission: making people feel good. That's better than making people just look good."
Two Good Works Awards went to longtime local companies run by Seattle Pacific alumni. The Good Neighbor Award was given to Vitamilk Dairy, whose president is Gerald Teel '63. Vitamilk was praised for delivering free milk each week to Boys and Girls Clubs. And the Community Partnerships Award was handed to Oak Harbor Freight Lines, run by Edward VanderPol '72, for transporting an average of 28,000 pounds of food each day to food banks around the state.
In past years, the honors have gone to popular Northwest organizations such as the Seattle Mariners and Pagliacci Pizza. Students who nominate winners join the organization's representative at the annual awards presentation hosted by the Seattle Rotary. The KCTS television program "Serious Money" televised this year's winners in February.
Professor of Business Ethics Kenman Wong appreciates the chance to show undergraduates the good side of business. "We often study what not to do," Wong says. "This is a chance to applaud positive role-modeling in the community." "These are 'good' businesses," agrees SBE Dean Jeff Van Duzer. "While not as flashy as Enron, these companies mark the way out of the dead-end Enron model. This is where we should be going."
For the second year in a row, Seattle Pacific University's Response won the Grand Gold award for periodicals at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District VIII Conference. The Grand Gold signifies that not only did Response take first place in the "Tabloids" category, but it also surpassed all magazines, tabloids and newsletters from any public and private institution in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
The Conference took place February 23-26 in Portland, Oregon. SPU's Office of University Communications received nine other awards at the event, including one Silver and three Bronze awards in the "Publications" category; two Bronze awards in the "Design" category; one Bronze award in the "Special Projects" category; and two Silver awards in the "Electronic Media" category.
After a decade of planning and review, Seattle Pacific University recently filed a master plan for its 330-acre Camp Casey property with the Island County Planning Commission on Whidbey Island.
The master plan identifies existing facilities and proposed development projects that will allow Casey to meet its educational and conference services needs for this decade and beyond. Included in the plan is an application for 270 acres of the property to be designated as a "Special Review District (SRD)," a special zoning classification that establishes unique standards to protect lands and structures of historical or environmental significance like those at Casey.
"Input from alumni, students, faculty, staff, Whidbey Island neighbors, preservation and conservation groups, and others all had an influence on the plan's direction," says Don Mortenson, SPU's vice president for business and planning. "The plan, if successful, should also meet the economic viability objectives set by our Board of Trustees to ensure the Conference Center can be retained by the University."
The need for expanded meeting space, upgraded overnight facilities and funding for ongoing maintenance were all factors that convinced SPU to pursue the Casey master plan, which calls for new retreat housing and cabins, and a new educational center.
To implement the master plan, the University would seek to sell a few parcels of land, less than 10 percent of the current holdings, at the very northern boundary of the Casey property. Funds generated from the sales would allow initiation of the plan's building phase and fulfill SPU's goal of having Casey operate on a financially sound basis.
Approval of the plan by the county may take until 2003. Public hearings are anticipated to take place in June and July 2002.
Paul Barnes
On May 7, world-renowned pianist Paul Barnes presented a lecture-recital to a full house at Seattle Pacific University's Bach Theatre. The event was part of the Lawrence and Ruth Schoenhals Fine Arts Symposium.
Titled "Mysticism, Minimalism and Monasticism: Music as Contemplation," the program included a variety of music, from ancient hymns to post-modern opera. The pieces reflected each composer's decision to limit complexity.
"Our days are filled with a bombardment of images designed to get us to act," explains Barnes, who is co-chair of the Piano Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music. "And much of twentieth century music reflects this frenetic activity." To counter this bombardment, Barnes elected to perform meditative music, much of it inspired by Greek Orthodox chant.
The program's focus on meditation came about as Barnes visited Greek Orthodox monasteries. For several days, he lived the life of a monk in deserts outside Jerusalem and in Greece. In that environment, he understood that Christians are called to pray more and talk less. "Much of the contemplative music I played at SPU seeks the same goal," he says.
Last month, Canadian artist Erica Grimm-Vance also came to campus as part of the Schoenhals Symposium, exploring what it means to be a Christian artist speaking the truth today.
Funding for the Symposium comes from a grant made by Lawrence R. Schoenhals and his wife, Ruth Boyd Schoenhals. Lawrence Schoenhals served 28 years at Seattle Pacific in various administrative positions, including chair of the Music Department. The grant enables Free Methodist colleges to bring Christian artists of national stature on campus to interact with the student body.
"Exchange" by Roger Feldman
Walking through a sculpture — not just viewing it from outside — can be a transforming experience. That's the premise of noted sculptor Roger Feldman, professor of art at Seattle Pacific University. Says Dean of the Chapel Tim Dearborn, who invited the artist to create an on-campus sculpture, Feldman's works "require people to enter into a piece in order to explore its meaning."
With funding from the Office of the President, Feldman and 15 of his sculpture students installed a maze-like temporary sculpture in the center of Martin Square last month. Twenty feet by 15 feet by 8 feet 6 inches, the sculpture, titled "Exchange," could be viewed from all angles, including a bird's-eye view from the library, cafeteria and campus offices surrounding the square.
The sculpture's concept came from Romans 6, where Paul describes moving out of the past toward a future with Christ. Viewers walked through passages made with imaginative materials. Cement-painted walls accentuated sounds inside the sculpture. Corrugated blue plastic roofing material let in colored light.
"In most cases," says Feldman, "you were aware of the understruc-ture. Appearance on the outside or inside is only half the story. What's underneath it?" Feldman says he hopes visitors experienced through their senses what it means to make the transformation from an old life to a new one.
On May 14, Feldman speaks in a special Chapel titled "Art, Faith and Recycled Connections."
Two teaching journals with new ties to Seattle Pacific University recently earned top awards in their fields. Pedagogy, a 1-year-old national academic journal geared toward college English professors, won "Best New Journal" from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals. And Curriculum in Context, a journal for Washington grade-school educators, won "Acknowledgment of Merit for Outstanding Journal" and "Outstanding Article" honors from its parent organization, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
Pedagogy's tie to SPU is Assistant Professor of English Chris Chaney, who as one of the journal's three founders also serves as an associate editor. "Our radical thesis here," she says, "is to talk about teaching at a scholarly level, to write about teaching as if it deserved that kind of attention."
Published by Duke University Press, Pedagogy received start-up funds from SPU and Calvin College, where the journal is based. Joyce Erickson, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, says Seattle Pacific's connection with Pedagogy is "an exciting example of our faculty's national involvement in their disciplines."
Greg Fritzberg, Curriculum in Context editor and associate professor of education, finds the ASCD awards particularly satisfying since the journal faced stiff competition. In its first year based at SPU, Curriculum in Context was chosen among many other journals nationally and internationally. Seattle Pacific's work with the publication is "an example of the University's commitment to the educational community," says Dean of the School of Education Mark Pitts.
The University Fund can be likened to the heartbeat of Seattle Pacific. Strong and steady giving is one indicator of overall good health.
As of February 1, total unrestricted giving to the Fund for the fiscal year (July 1-June 30) was nearly even with last year's record pace. That means that critical areas like student scholarships, academic programs and faculty enhancement are receiving robust support.
Dean Carrell, associate director for development and The University Fund, also reports that a record number of donors lent their support to SPU in the first half of the year. The 2,745 donors outstripped last year's record number by 14.4 percent.
A new reunion giving program was launched at this year's Homecoming class reunions. "It's a program we hope will significantly increase the number of alumni donors," says Carrell. If you want to help SPU top last year's giving record, please visit advance.spu.edu/ways/donation.asp.
Now details about the arts at Seattle Pacific University are as close as your e-mail inbox. Response has teamed with the Alumni Office and Fine Arts to produce SPU ArtsGuide, an electronic guide to arts events on campus. Alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends who subscribe to this free, quarterly (except summer) e-newsletter will receive information about upcoming concerts, art shows, plays and literary events.
The premier issue of ArtsGuide this winter drew 600 subscribers. To subscribe or to view the current issue, visit www.spu.edu/news/artsguide. Or send an e-mail to response@spu.edu.
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