Esteemed international author and news commentator David Aikman will address Seattle Pacific University's annual Greater Seattle Community Breakfast on April 8, 1999. More than 900 Puget Sound business, civic and media leaders are expected to attend the event at the Sheraton Hotel.
Aikman, former senior correspondent for Time magazine, has covered such major world events as the wars in Indochina and Lebanon, and was an eyewitness to the massacre in China's Tiananmen Square. His interviews with news headliners have included Manuel Noriega, Mother Teresa, Boris Yeltsin and Billy Graham.
Oxford-educated with honors in Russian and French, Aikman holds a master's degree in Central Asian languages and a doctorate in Russian and Chinese history from the University of Washington. His several books include Gorbachev: An Intimate Biography (Time Books, 1988).
"He comes to his profession with a kind of learning you long for in a journalist," says SPU President Philip Eaton. "David is winsome, absolutely brilliant, and has an incredible grasp of history. His perspective on world events is penetratingly insightful."
A former chairman of the Foreign Press Association, Aikman is a senior fellow at Washington's Ethics and Public Policy Center, and has been frequently heard on CNN and the Voice of America. He was on-camera commentator for MSNBC's coverage of Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty in July 1997.
Also on the community breakfast program, Eaton will speak to the University's new vision for the 21st century. The SPU Concert Choir will perform.
Eaton is clear on the goals of the event. "The breakfast is designed to foster provocative discussion and critical thinking in the business community. This is a chance to do what we do best -- to lift up thoughtfulness about the issues of the day."
Steve Moore's eight-year tenure as Seattle Pacific University's vice president for campus life ended this fall when he left to take a position at Baylor University. The new job meant his return to Texas, where he was born and raised.
Moore's legacy at Seattle Pacific is far-reaching. "Steve made enormous contributions to the SPU community," says President Philip Eaton. "We will truly miss him."
Since his arrival at SPU in 1990, Moore's priority was watching out for students, from distributing ice cream during finals week to leading discipleship groups. Senior Kaalan Johnson, who was in a men's group led by Moore, treasures Moore's legendary sense of humor as well as his wisdom. "I didn't know what mentorship meant until Steve explained that it isn't just downloading wisdom on someone," says Johnson. "It's learning from each other."
As Baylor's vice president of campus life, Moore now presides over a student body of 13,000 and the construction of a new $25 million student life complex. While he looks forward to the new challenges, he also looks back on his accomplishments at Seattle Pacific. "I wanted to build a sense of community, and to give the University a face in Seattle as well as on Queen Anne Hill," he says. Programs like CityQuest, a day of volunteerism for new students, did precisely that.
Moore's own stature helped SPU, adds Dean of the School of Business and Economics Alec Hill. "There is no better networker in the world than Steve Moore," says Hill. "He has so many contacts. He gave us national visibility."
Moore also emphasized spiritual formation on campus as an important part of the University's mission, and worked to mesh learning inside and outside the classroom. "Steve understood our mission," says Eaton, "and was, for all of us, a truly charismatic leader. We wish him the very best for the future."
When the final pledge was tallied, the total for Phonathon '98, this year known as "Mission Possible," was an eye-popping $655,335. This set an all-time record and eclipsed the goal of $650,000 by more than $5,000.
"It is a great shot in the arm to see people respond so generously," says Alumni Director Doug Taylor, one of those who spearheaded the eight-night Annual Fund effort. "Without the pledges we receive over the phone every October, SPU could not remain affordable for students."
Similarly, without the efforts of scores of volunteers who made the calls and mailed pledge reminders, the Phonathon goal could not have been reached. Among the volunteers were 53 faculty and staff members; 62 alumni and friends of the University; and 11 students.
"It's just amazing how some of our volunteers come back year after year," says Taylor. "Some have been at it 15 and 20 years. The whole thing is a humbling experience."
When Hurricane Mitch mauled Central America in November, thousands of lives were lost and the development work of 50 years destroyed in a matter of hours.
Swift, too, was the mobilization of a campus-wide Seattle Pacific University relief effort that by Christmas break included a mountain of used clothing gathered by students; more than $8,000 in cash given by students, faculty, administrators, trustees and staff; and two defibrillators donated by the Virginia Mason Medical Center.
Two teams of SPU students, under the auspices of Seattle Pacific Reachout INTernational (SPRINT), spent part of Christmas break in Nicaragua and Honduras helping victims rebuild their homes and their lives.
"Entire classes got behind the effort with professors helping match what their students gave," says Tami Anderson Englehorn, interim director of campus ministries. "A lot of students feel connected to Latin America because past SPRINT teams have served in those cities hardest hit."
In all, 24 trustees, 23 classes, and scores of faculty, staff and administrators contributed to the relief push.
Contributions were used to purchase tools and building supplies, and a third of the cash donations was given to the Red Cross to help bolster depleted disaster relief funds. With the aid of Northwest Medical Teams, the defibrillators were taken into the Nicaraguan capital of Managua.
"My prayer is we can keep working on this throughout the [academic] year," says student Vice President of Campus Ministries Joy O'Neil. "The need won't stop."
Those wishing to join the SPU relief effort may contact the Office of Campus Ministries at 206/281-2966.
Are you constantly running just to keep up with your too-long "to do" list? If the members of a church's congregation are time-starved, is the same also true of their pastor?
Believing the answer to these questions is often "yes," Seattle Pacific's Office of University Advancement is hosting a complimentary luncheon for area pastors on January 19. The featured speaker is noted author and clinical psychologist Gary Collins, who will speak on "A Life Well Lived."
The luncheon is one of several special SPU events for pastors in 1998-99, and part of an ongoing series of stimulating speakers designed to aid the clergy in effective ministry. In September, more than 500 pastors attended a complimentary breakfast with Les and Leslie Parrott, co-directors of SPU's Center for Relationship Development. The subject was "What Every Pastor Needs to Know About Saving Marriages Before (and After) They Start." A spring event is scheduled for April 29, and though the details have not been finalized, the speaker will be of particular interest to youth pastors.
Les Parrott, coordinator of this year's pastors' events, says the University wants to be a valued resource for the church. "It's a pleasure to bring pastors together for education and enrichment. These are men and women who face countless challenges, and it's an honor that we at SPU can play a small role in ministering to them."
For more information about upcoming events, please call 206/281-2108.
The Society of Fellows spring event will be held April 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the Robert M. Fine Center at First Free Methodist Church (on campus). Hors d'oeuvres and beverages will be served prior to a performance of Marvin's Room in E.E. Bach Theatre. Watch for your invitation this spring, or call 206/281-2131 for more information.
They share the same last name, and the same good looks, red hair and bright smiles. Now they share a campus. Three members of one family are attending Seattle Pacific University this year, two of them in the same discipline.
Marcia Hoover is earning her doctorate in the Clinical Psychology program; her 24-year-old son, David, is completing his master's degree in the Marriage and Family Therapy program; and Paul, 19, the youngest Hoover son, is a freshman with a penchant not for psychology but for art and computer sciences.
Proximity doesn't bother them at all. "It's fine," says Paul, who likes taking video game breaks with his brother. He doesn't feel squeezed with his mother so often nearby. "No, it's nice," he says, "as long as they don't come up to my dorm all the time."
They all laugh.
Sharing a discipline turns out to have advantages as well. "She's a good resource," David says about his mother. "She's in private practice now and I can call her and ask questions." He adds that her consulting comes "at no charge."
After graduation, Marcia hopes to work with families affected by Multiple Sclerosis. Her own family has been shaken by it, ever since Marcia's husband, Rick Hoover, was diagnosed with the crippling disease seven years ago.
The need for support is great for MS families, she says. "The divorce rate is very high. People have few tools to deal with it. It's hard, so they just run."
Not this family, whose members stick together even in college.
Where does artist and Seattle Pacific University Professor Michael Caldwell go when classrooms are still and students have been graded? Often as not, he slips away to Montana or eastern Washington to feast his eyes on big sky and open space, and to consider how to commit unlimited vistas to limited canvas.
Thirteen Caldwell landscapes formed a showing this fall at the Ballard Fetherston Gallery in Seattle. Several were images of a place 60 miles east of Missoula, Montana; several others of a place a half mile or so from the artist's vacation property in Washington's Methow Valley.
The paintings drew an enthusiastic crowd of collectors and art reviewers. "I'm very pleased," says Caldwell, whose style has shifted in recent years from abstract to realism.
To the landscape artist, place is paramount. "I'm constantly surprised when inspiration chooses to sneak up on you," Caldwell explains. "The place near Missoula was a momentary recognition; the scene in the Methow Valley is a place I'd been a zillion times before it revealed itself to me. That's a magical moment."
Seattle Pacific art students caught Caldwell's show during their first week of classes Autumn Quarter. Barbara Korner, associate professor of theatre, took her entire University Seminar class for an on-site mini-lecture from the artist himself.
"The focus it takes to put a show together reinforces the value of making art," Caldwell says. "It's about growth, renewal, commitment -- a very personal thing. Although sometimes I stop in the middle of painting and ask myself, 'What am I doing?'"
A little self-doubt can be a healthy thing on the way to sharpening an artist, even one as accomplished as Caldwell. "You become aware of the energy, commitment and skill it takes to make a painting," he says.
Food and nutrition. Apparel and interior design. Product development and merchandising. Housing and family life education. All these and more comprise the complex professional field of family and consumer sciences (FCS).
Recognizing leaders in the field is a key mandate of the Washington Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (WAFCS). The 1998 recipient of the WAFCS Professional of the Year Award was Barbara Bovy, SPU's director of family and consumer sciences, and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. She was selected on the basis of four criteria: dedication, contribution and leadership in the profession, and service as spokesperson and advocate for FCS.
WAFCS President Sharleen Kato, associate professor at Seattle Pacific, gave tribute to Bovy at a recognition dinner where the award was presented. Kato spoke of Bovy's national leadership among FCS administrators, her service as faculty chair at Seattle Pacific, and her skillful grasp of what students need. "Her vision and objectivity in problem-solving, as well as her understanding of how to develop people and concepts to achieve a desired goal, have made her sought-after...."
Bovy holds a master's degree in family and consumer sciences and a Ph.D. in education from the University of Washington. At SPU since 1978, the former junior high and high school teacher believes FCS graduates work to improve the human condition. "Our mission is to enhance the relationships among individuals, families and communities, and the environments in which they function," she says.
Those who supported Bovy for the award testified to her enthusiasm and tireless efforts to enhance her department on campus. "No one is safe from her marketing skills," says Kato with a smile. "In fact, she has extolled, praised and lauded the attributes of family and consumer sciences to more people, in a more convincing manner, than anyone I have ever known."
The enormity of the questions doomed the possibility of answers that fully satisfy: Why do terrible things happen? Why would a kind and loving God create a world in which pain plays such a central role?
And yet just such profound queries confronted those in attendance at "Science and Suffering: Genetics and the Problem of Evil," a conference held on the Seattle Pacific University campus this fall. The event was sponsored by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, and by Counterbalance, an educational foundation devoted to exposing a wider audience to current research on complex issues.
SPU Associate Professor of Religion Rick Steele and Assistant Professor of Biology Cindy Fitch played key roles at this singular gathering of theologians, philosophers and geneticists. The papers the Seattle Pacific scholars presented provided powerful examinations of issues and ethics, both religious and scientific, that swirl around the brave new world of genetic science. During the opening plenary session, Fitch delivered a formal response to a discussion of "pastoral genetics" by Ron Cole-Turner of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and author of several works on the Christian understanding of genetics.
"I appealed to the pastors in attendance to become more 'genetically literate' and for the scientists to become better listeners and collaborators with pastors/counselors," says Fitch. "It's the clergy and the counselors who will deal with the devastating news that a genetic test might bring to a family. We as Christians (scientists and pastors) should work together to help people better understand the tool of genetics and its impact on our lives."
Steele presented a paper titled "Unremitting Compassion: The Moral Psychology of Parenting Children With Genetic Disorders." He told the powerfully personal story of his 13-year-old daughter, Sarah, who lives with two rare and catastrophically debilitating genetic disorders that require around-the-clock care.
"I've spoken to several classes besides my own about our family experience," says Steele. "I'd like to develop a course on caring for the disabled and their families." He has written on the subject and is currently at work on an article about the moral and spiritual nurture of special needs children.
Kingswood Books, 1998
Edited by Randy Maddox
That there is a "back to Wesley" movement stirring among professional theologians in modern Methodism might come as a surprise to many in the church. The thought that his works might have slipped into neglect and his teachings been ignored may seem a strange notion to the wider Seattle Pacific University community where the John Wesley name is synonymous with spiritual formation and the vital Christian life.
But just such a "rather rapid dismissal of Wesley" by Methodist theologians forms the basic premise of Rethinking Wesley's Theology for Contemporary Methodism, edited by Randy Maddox, SPU professor of theology. The collection of essays by theologians on five continents deals critically with various issues of import to the Christian faith including evangelism, prayer, justice and mercy, ecumenism, and Wesley's relevance to people and cultures beyond the English/American experience.
"Various Methodist and Wesleyan traditions descended from John Wesley decided he was a preacher, not a serious theologian, and that they needed to develop a serious theology drawing on other resources in order to defend Wesleyan viewpoints against their critics," says Maddox, who was recently appointed the Paul T. Walls Chair of Wesleyan Theology at Seattle Pacific.
Uniquely, the book, including the Maddox essay on "Reclaiming an Inheritance," features leading Methodist theologians who engage Wesley as a serious theological partner to develop their doctrinal stance. The religious thinkers -- including some from Argentina, Germany, Korea and South Africa, as well as those from North America -- demonstrate, says Maddox, that reclaiming Wesley is not just "a U.S. thing."
Of particular value to teachers and pastors, Rethinking Wesley's Theology will also appeal to the lay person with theological interests. "In an editorial role, I don't necessarily agree with every argument in the book," cautions Maddox. "But because a lot of my academic work has been geared to helping my colleagues reengage Wesley, I take some satisfaction from the dialogue that the book embodies."
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