To promote a healthy working environment and in compliance with applicable law, SPU has created a training presentation regarding COVID-19 infection and prevention that all faculty, staff, and student employees must complete by Feb. 11, 2022. The training can be accessed through Percipio, SPU’s online training platform for employees (formerly known as Skillsoft). The training is approximately 17 minutes long, covers both general COVID-19 information and specific SPU policies, has closed captions available, and contains links to websites with additional information.

Detailed information about how to find and access the training was included in an email on Jan. 13, 2022, from the SPU COVID-19 Decision Group. If you have any difficulty accessing the training, contact Audrey Kamemoto in the Office of Risk Management at kamemoto@spu.edu.

The COVID Decision Group has been working with campus departments and community organizations in our response to the current situation of rising COVID-19 infections. As is the case in the surrounding community, as cases are rising, we are unable to address every health issue for our students and employees related to COVID-19.

After reviewing our experiences with testing and examining other universities protocols for responding, we have adopted the following rubric that should provide guidance for our students and employees for three of our most common scenarios. More information was included in an email on Jan. 14, 2022, to the campus community.

From now through Monday, Jan. 24, faculty and staff will receive two bonus meals if they purchase a Faculty Staff Block 10 Meal Plan. That’s 12 meals for $91 (or $7.58 per meal)! (Limit one per person.) You can use the plan in Gwinn Commons anytime during service hours. Or you can use it to purchase Simply to Go meals at the Corner Place Market, Academic Perks (SUB), or Common Grounds (Weter). Meals can be used for guests, too. Plans can be purchased through Banner. Meal balances roll from quarter to quarter as long as you are employed at the University. Questions? Call Housing and Meal Plan Services at 206-281-2188 or email mealplan@spu.edu.

The CIS HelpDesk will close every Tuesday, 3–4 p.m. during Winter Quarter for a weekly team meeting. Please call the Office of Safety and Security at 206-281-2922 for network or classroom down emergencies during that time.

The History Department is hosting a virtual lecture via Zoom titled "Chinese Politics and U.S.-China Relations under COVID" on Thursday, Jan. 20, 10:10–11:20 a.m. The speaker is Dr. Zhenqing Zhang, associate professor of political science at Hamline University and author of Intellectual Property Rights in China. He will discuss the political and economic decisions behind the U.S. and China's handling of the pandemic, and what can be learned and avoided next time. 

The Zoom link for the lecture is: https://spu.zoom.us/j/8318009156

A message from the Student Counseling Center: The SCC is glad to again offer a series of workshops for students to provide them with tools and perspectives that will support their mental health amidst difficulty. There are three unique workshops — Mindfulness and Acceptance, Thoughts and Mood Management, and Coping and Calm— that will each be repeated three times during the quarter. Students can drop in any Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. by logging into Engage and finding the events. We very much appreciate the support you offer to students, and hope that you will keep these workshops in mind as a resource to share with them this quarter!

The lunch scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20, has been postponed.

The Office of Inclusive Excellence, in partnership with the Biology Department, invites you to the Faith, Diversity, and Science Lecture on Monday, Jan. 31, 4–5:30 p.m. in Upper Gwinn. The keynote speaker, evolutionary biologist. geneticist, and author Dr. Joseph Graves, will address the questions, "How should we understand inevitability in creation?" and "Is racism inevitable?" Learn more here.

The Office of Inclusive Excellence invites you to join us 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 27, for Diversity 101: Exploring the What, Why, and How of Diversity at SPU. This workshop is required for all new employees. Learn more and register online.

The Faculty/Staff Bulletin is published weekly during the academic year. The next deadline is Thursday, Jan. 20, and the next issue will be published Monday, Jan. 24.

If you have information or event news, send it as soon as possible with an image or graphic to Bulletin editor Tracy Norlen at fsb-editor@spu.edu. Submissions may be edited for clarity.

Each year, SPU's John Perkins Center is privileged to serve as part of Seattle’s MLK Prayer Breakfast Committee which hosted the 10th annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Prayer Breakfast on January 17. The event brings together community members from business, church, and nonprofit sectors to celebrate the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and honor leaders who model and emulate work and passion for unity, justice, and love. In a hybrid format, Monday’s breakfast introduced keynote Rev. Dr. Ottis Moss III and also featured the annual Vision from the Mountain Top Awards. For 2022, the MLK Prayer Breakfast was pleased to present this year’s Vision from the Mountain Top Education Award to Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil for her life’s work and commitment to reconciliation and Biblical justice. Visit the website to see photos from the breakfast and Dr. Salter McNeil. Congratulations!

An edited volume by Matthew Benton, associate professor of philosophy, titled Religious Disagreement and Pluralism, was published by Oxford University Press (co-edited with Jonathan Kvanvig, Washington University–St. Louis). The volume's cover image is of certain/uncertain, an exhibit from 2019 by Alison Stigora, SPU assistant professor of sculpture. The volume also included Matthew's opening essay, "Disagreement and Religion." The essays in the volume examine issues in the epistemology of religious disagreement, including the rationality of religious commitment given widespread disagreement, and how to think about evidence for or against particular religious views in an increasingly pluralistic world.

A poem, "Yellow Moon" and an essay, "The Alcove," by Jason Thornberry are scheduled for January publication in the newest print edition of In Parentheses Literary magazine. Jason is the receptionist for the School of Education.

Ed Bauman, professor emeritus of electric engineering, died on Jan. 2, 2022. Ed came to SPU in 1985 after 25 years of service in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as lieutenant colonel. He founded SPU's Electrical Engineering program that same year, as well as becoming the program's first professor and chair. He was named Advisor of the Year in 1995 and Professor of the Year in 1999. A short tribute to Ed appeared in Response magazine in 2000 when he retired after 15 years at SPU.

A memorial service was held Jan. 16. His obituary appeared in The Daily World (Aberdeen, Washington).

Elizabeth "Betty" Dickerson died on Dec. 16, 2021, at the age of 88. Betty was the wife of David Dickerson, former vice president of academic affairs at Seattle Pacific and also dean of the faculty from 1976 until 1990. David died in August 2020 at the age of 87.