Homecoming and Family Weekend is February 1–3. Faculty and staff are invited to participate in this fun weekend for the entire SPU community. Purchase a single ($20) or family ($45, up to six passes) All-Access Pass and enjoy Homecoming events, including reunions, art, music, and theatre performances, and the Student Talent Show. Plus, don’t miss the Alumni Awards Dinner recognizing six outstanding alumni and the Falcon Hall of Fame Dinner celebrating eight distinguished athletes. Events include:

Academic and Activity Reunions: The Office of Alumni, Parent, and Family Relations is hosting 15 events, including academic department and activity reunions. Faculty and staff are encouraged to attend and invite current students to meet and network with alumni. See the full list of academic reunions and activity reunions.

Alumni Awards Dinner: The Seattle Pacific University Alumni Association annually presents alumni awards to individuals who stand out in the areas of vocational accomplishment, leadership, community service, and Christian commitment. Join us for this year’s inspiring event as we honor Alumna of the Year Jenette Ramos MBA ’94, Alumnae of the Year Natalie Closner Schepman ’09, Allison Closner ’11 and Meegan Closner ’11 (The Band Joseph), and Medallion Award Honorees Philip Jacobs ’08 and Allie Griffith Roth ’03. The dinner is Saturday, February 2, and tickets are required.

Staff Council and Campus Dining Services are pleased to offer on-campus $5 dinner options for faculty and staff during the Alaskan Way Viaduct closure. Please show a valid SPU Faculty and Staff Falcon Card to the cashier to redeem this special. One per person per day. Add-ons and extras are not included. This deal cannot be combined with other specials or discounts. The deals are available on weekdays in January from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m.

• Bertona Street Grill in the Student Union Building: One burger and a fountain drink
• Cocina del Sol in the C-Store: One rice bowl or one salad

A message from the Center for Career and Calling: Do you have students looking for jobs or internships in places that allow them to use their gifts of compassion? The Peace, Justice, and Human Services Mega Meet-up on Wednesday, February 6, 2:30–5 p.m. in Weter Lounge, hosted by the Center for Career and Calling, is the place for students to connect with organizations looking to hire people with those exact skills. Encourage your students to attend, and drop by to say "hello" to some of our alumni hosting employer tables.

SPU’s Engineering and Computer Science Department will offer a new summer program for youth titled "Game Creation Studio for Beginners." This one-week summer camp introduces ninth to 11th graders to the world of game development. No coding experience necessary! Participants will learn basic development techniques, explore computer science as a career, and hear from professionals in the entertainment software development industry. Each camper will create a game of their own, complete with a storyline and graphics editing, guided by SPU students and professors. Participants also will qualify for a $1,000 SPU tuition scholarship and one University credit ($753 value). Find out more and register.

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) invites you to a viewing reception for Remembrance & Witness: A Seattle Pacific Diversity Timeline on Thursday, January 31, in the Weter Student Lounge. Come by between 3 and 4:30 p.m. to grab a snack and spend an afternoon break networking with colleagues and viewing key moments in Seattle Pacific’s history that inform our current diversity efforts. ODEI staff will be available to answer questions about the project.

Disability Support Services presents the annual No Limits, No Boundaries event on Tuesday, February 5, 6:30–8 p.m. in Nickerson Studios. This evening is focused on increasing campus and community awareness of disability and honoring an individual whose life, spirit, and work reflect their commitment to access, inclusion, and reconciliation.

This year’s speaker and recipient of the No Limits, No Boundaries Award is local architect Karen Braitmayer FAIA. Since 1989, Karen has been at the forefront of the disability civil rights movement  and has been a pioneer in inclusive and universal architectural design. As a policymaker, advocate, and wheelchair user herself, Karen has made a unique contribution to the built environment. Her leadership as an accessibility consultant is recognized both regionally and nationally, as is her vision to find creative ways through design to give people of all abilities access to their full potential, their communities, and the greater world at large.

Admission to the event is free. Seattle Pacific University is committed to providing equal access and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation, please contact Disability Services in advance of the event at 206-281-2272, TTY 206-281-2224, or dss@spu.edu.

The Theatre Department will present Before the Eclipse, January 31–February 2, and February 7–9, in McKinley Hall Theatre on campus. Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m., with the addition of one matinee performance Saturday, February 2, at 1 p.m.

Under the direction of Professor of Theatre Andrew Ryder, a small group of actors revels and rails at the comedy of life as they portray characters from some of Anton Chekhov's funniest short plays. From proposals to town meetings, from family squabbles to ceremonies and celebrations, these "jokes," as Chekhov called them, capture the foibles and frustrations of the modern world.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors (age 60 and over) and students (age 25 and under) with a valid I.D. Tickets are available for purchase at the door, online at the Theatre Box Office or by calling 206-281-2959.

A message from Computer and Information Systems: Thank you to the 56 percent of faculty and staff who have already secured their account by enrolling in Duo Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). As announced last month, all faculty and staff will be required to enroll in Duo early this quarter. The enrollment deadline is Monday, January 28. If you have not enrolled by the end of the day on January 28, you will be automatically enrolled, and your next login will require you to complete the account setup process. You are strongly encouraged to self-enroll prior to that date.

CIS is once again offering several options to help you and your colleagues get 2FA set up before the deadline:

• Self-Service: DIY enrollment using these step-by-step instructions (including a video walkthrough), with the CIS HelpDesk just a phone call away if you have any questions.
• Department house calls: We’ll come to your department! Coordinate with CIS to schedule someone to come to your area before, during, or after a department staff meeting or at another time so people can get enrolled at their own desks. CIS can be onsite to walk folks through the process and answer any questions.

For more details on why 2FA is being required, see our blog post describing the impact. For more details on 2FA, see our blog post announcing this service.

Bloodworks Northwest will host a blood drive on campus January 24–25, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. near the entrance of Tiffany Loop. Schedule an appointment online.

A message from Campus Dining: This week, Academic Perks and Common Grounds are holding a happy hour from 4 to 5 p.m., which includes 15 percent off all hot, iced, and blended beverages. On Thursday, January 24, come get a taste of summer at our "Southern Grill" dinner in Gwinn Commons Dining Hall, 4:30–7:30 p.m. 

Ellen F. Davis, Amos Ragan Kearns Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School, will deliver this year’s Palmer Lecture on Monday, February 4, at 7 p.m. in Upper Gwinn Commons. Her lecture is titled “The Land as Kin: Renewing Our Imagination.” More information about the lecture can be found at spu.edu/palmer.

The annual Palmer Lecture is hosted by the School of Theology. SPU faculty are invited to a free luncheon with Dr. Davis from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., February 4, in Upper Gwinn Commons. Please RSVP to Nate Hoover at hoovern@spu.edu by January 28.

More than 3,000 SPU parents and family members received the January 2019 In the Loop parents’ e-newsletter, which included an SPU Voices article about Professor of Old Testament Frank Spina’s upcoming retirement, information about a new course surrounding SBGE’s Faith & Co. documentary series, the Autumn Quarter Dean’s List, 2019 Homecoming news, and more.

In the January issue of the SBGE Shareholders e-newsletter, three retiring professors who have served at SPU for a total of 33 years are featured. The newsletter also includes student reflections on the retiring faculty, study abroad notes, and details on the upcoming Downtown Business Breakfast. Read the latest issue.

The Faculty/Staff Bulletin is published every week during the academic year. If you have information or event news, send it as soon as possible to Bulletin editor Tracy Norlen at fsb-editor@spu.edu. Submissions may be edited for clarity. The next deadline is Thursday, January 24. The next Bulletin will be published on Monday, January 28.

A new book by Associate Professor of Biblical Studies Sara Koenig titled Bathsheba Survives: Studies on Personalities of the Old Testament was published by University of South Carolina Press, 2018.

In December, Jeffrey Overstreet, assistant professor of English and writing, appeared as the special guest on an episode of the FORMA podcast, a show produced by the CiRCE Institute. He talked about the genius of Madeleine L'Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time, and how she influenced his faith, his teaching, and his own fiction writing. He was also the guest on Libromania, a podcast for book lovers produced by the CloseReads Podcast Network. Host David Kern invited Jeffrey to talk about his 10 favorite films of 2018, along with a bunch of  "honorable mention" titles.

An article by Professor of European History Alberto Ferreiro titled "Potamius of Lisbon" (4th century) was published in the Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. The article is an in-progress online resource to be completed in 2021 and  will be published later in print in five volumes. This article is one of six articles that Alberto was invited to contribute. Potamius was the first bishop of Lisbon and a prolific writer. His writings are the earliest theological texts from the Iberian Peninsula. Each article, in addition to the biography, includes a historiographical essay of the major scholarship.

The Office of Human Resources would like to welcome Dani Andrews as a new residence life coordinator in Residence Life.

The Office of Human Resources would like to congratulate Kate Barker as the new program coordinator in the Center for Applied Learning.

From SPU Master Gardener Jeff Daley: With the cold and wet weather we have this time of year, there are many gardeners who have put their gardens to bed for the winter and won't have much to do with them until next spring. Now is a great time for gardeners to give some attention to their indoor houseplants.

What to do first: ​
Take inventory of the room where you might like to place your indoor plant. Knowing just a couple things about the room in which you would like to display the plant will determine the variety of plant you will want to choose. Just like gardening outside, light, temperature, location and water requirements are the four keys to growing successful houseplants.​ Ask yourself, how much light does the room receive during the day? Is the light direct from a window, or indirect from interior lighting? Every plant has its own light-dependent requirements. Most houseplants do not require direct sun. For temperature concerns, is there a heat register nearby that could potentially dry out the plant's soil quicker than usual? You may need to provide additional water so that the plants won't dry out. Will the plant be next to a window during the cold winter months? Some tropical plants are susceptible to cold damage from being in a cold or drafty location. Little things like this can be terribly important to take into consideration. The big thing to keep in mind with regards to houseplants is that people have a tendency to over water them. So don't overdo it, but do make sure they get some water before their leaves begin to wilt.​

​In my past monthly garden features, I mostly discuss plants and trees outside on campus. For this month's edition, I took a look at what kinds of plants we have inside. Granted, most of the campus indoor plants are professionally maintained by an off-campus horticultural service company. But not only do the three plants I'm introducing this month require very little attention, they can easily brighten up any room in your home or office.​

​Here are my three choices for almost fool-proof plants that you can grow indoors.​

​Pothos, (Epipremnum aureum), also called Golden Pothos, Money Plant, or Devil’s Ivy, is one of the easiest plants to grow indoors, primarily because of the small amount of light required for the plant to function. It is native to Mo'orea (an island in French Polynesia), and the South Pacific. You can't get any more tropical than this one. The growth is more vine-like although pruning will keep it more compact. Any cuttings made from a pothos will grow roots in just a glass of water if you would like to experiment with propagation. The heart shaped, bright yellow-green variegation on the leaves will brighten up any room or office. You will never see its flower if you grow this plant indoors. Rumor has it that the plant won't produce a flower until it's 40-feet long!​

If you're more interested in flowering plants, consider Spathiphyllum, commonly known as the Peace Lily, from the rain forests of South America. This is a great mid-sized plant for beginner houseplant enthusiasts. I prefer the variegated leaf variety, mainly because its foliage is brighter than the plain green one. Here is a plant that doesn't need a lot of light or water to survive, and will occasionally reward you with its fun little white flags rising above the foliage. The white leaf-like curved bract flag is known as the spathe, hence the name spathiphyllum. Not to bore anyone with horticultural talk, but interestingly enough, the flowers are actually borne along the tubular spike shape in the center called the spadix. Spathiphyllum will always produce a white or slightly green colored spathe. ​

One more plant pick: ​
Everyone needs a palm tree, and you can't beat the Kentia Palm, Howea forsteriana. It grows very slow and adapts to growing in a container very well. The one I have at home is only 2 1/2 feet tall and I've had it for about four years. And yes, you can purchase them bigger if you like. There is a really nice Kentia Palm on the second floor of the Ames Library. Read up on the fascinating history of this plant, which got its name by being the native palm to the Lord Howe Island located between Australia and New Zealand. (Which, incidentally, looks like a great place to vacation! )

​In summary, adding some greenery to your interior spaces will brighten and enliven your living or works areas. I hope these suggestions give you an idea of a good place to start. Let's celebrate nature inside and out! See more photos of some plants on campus.