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Summer 2004 | Volume 26, Number 7 | Campus | |||||
| Honor Roles President’s Chapel Spotlights Five Faculty and Staff Award Winners At the annual President’s Recognition Chapel on May 4, 2004, Seattle Pacific University singled out five faculty and staff members for excellence. In fields as diverse as science and athletics, these employees had one thing in common: a commitment to SPU’s vision. As the academic year drew to a close, Response asked each of the honorees, “What are your current projects?” and “What keeps you passionate about your work at Seattle Pacific?”
PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE In the new Science Building, Fitch and her students study chromosomes, using fluorescent tagging. She sees tagging as a teaching tool and as a research technique for medical diagnostics and other wide-ranging applications. “The great thing is, the students and I get to work on tagging right here in our own labs, which keeps us completely current,” says Fitch. Her significant contributions to Seattle Pacific extend beyond the classroom. As pre-med and pre-dental program advisor, Fitch is instrumental in helping SPU students consistently achieve a 90-plus percent acceptance rate into medical school. She is advisory to Ivy Honorary; serves on the Undergraduate Policies and Evaluation Committee; and co-leads the weekly Biomedical Ethics Cadre. “I work with students who are hungry for challenges and eager to explore the world around them,” she says. “They make my job a pleasure.” PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE Eaton presented the President’s Award for Excellence, calling Box “the kind of person who has never met a stranger. Many of us have the privilege to call him friend. He is a mentor to both staff and students, demonstrating his faith in everything he does. ”What makes Falcon athletics stand out? “The character of our athletes is what we place a premium on,” says Box, who earned an M.B.A. at SPU in 1980. “We take great pride in ensuring our athletes get faith formation experience.” STAFF MEMBER OF THE
YEAR Officially, Gjerding works for SPU’s Electrical Engineering Department, but he takes care of the computer labs for all the sciences at the University. “My favorite part of this job is mentoring,” he says. “When students ask for help, I give them just enough information that they can discover the solutions themselves.” Gjerding offers a bit more information to those who aren’t as interested in computers as they are in teaching. When Staff Council President Kelley Unger presented him with the Staff Member of the Year Award, she quoted a faculty member: “Brad makes it possible for faculty to concentrate on teaching by making technology work for them instead of making them work for technology.” STAFF MEMBER
OF THE YEAR Recently, Westerman discussed her faith with a chemistry student whose friend had cancer. The student, who came to SPU from another country, was surprised to find a staff member so open in talking about Christianity. “I sometimes forget how great it is to be able to talk about God at work,” says Westerman. Working in new laboratories at the Science Building is quite a change, says the Seattle Pacific graduate of 2000. “The old building had one big open laboratory space; it’s wonderful to now have specialized labs and work spaces.” She likes working directly with students and faculty members, helping with experiments and ordering special chemicals for classes. “Every day, there’s always a new ‘problem’ to solve, and that keeps things interesting,” she says. FACULTY MEMBER OF THE
YEAR McDonald keeps office hours in the Student Union Building, so students can carry on a kind of Socratic dialogue with him outside of class. Because of this visibility for the philosophy program, he envisions more students taking philosophy classes and combining philosophy with another field in a double major. In class, McDonald engages students in asking fundamental questions, including those from the Book of Job: “Why am I here?” “Is God listening to me?” “Why do the righteous suffer?” When it comes to stem cells, abortion, pacifism and even watershed rights, his students learn that philosophy is a way of evaluating these issues. “They need to figure out which things are central to their lives and which things are on the periphery,” says McDonald. “Philosophy is abstract, but its questions hit close to home.”
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From the President Equipped for Success Three Faculty Say Good-Bye The 2004 Medallion Awards The Heritage Mile |
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