Bryan Stevenson, whose pioneering work challenging racial discrimination has led to historic changes in the criminal justice system, will be the guest speaker in chapel on Tuesday, March 28, 11:10 a.m. in Brougham Pavilion. He is the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller Just Mercy and founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative.

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Summer reservation requests are now being taken for the Faculty/Staff House at Camp Casey Conference Center on Whidbey Island. The dates of stay are June 12 through September 25, 2017. Online reservation requests are due by March 24.

Summer requests are based on years of service to SPU and past summer stays at Casey. Employees are ranked by their years of service as verified by Human Resources. Once the ranking is developed, the past summer stay history is cross checked. If you have stayed at Casey during the summer, with a summer reservation request fulfilled, your ranking is replaced with the years it has been since your stay at Casey. Confused?  Call the conference center office at 866-661-6604 or email campcasey@spu.edu

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A message from the Casey Conference Center. Camp Casey is available for your department retreats (rates as low as $16 per person) or as part of a church or community organization in which you belong ($20-29 per person). Do you have a family event planned? We have a campground at Casey as well. We love to share Casey with the entire extended SPU community! If you’re on Whidbey and would like a tour, give us a call at 866-661-6604 or email campcasey@spu.edu to set up a visit in advance.

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On March 16 and 17, over 100 Washington high school students and teachers with a special interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics research will be on the SPU campus as part of the annual Washington Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (WJSHS). The event is one of more than 48 similar regional programs conducted by the Academy of Applied Science under contract with the United States Departments of Air Force, Army, and Navy. SPU has sponsored the WJSHS program for over 40 years.

Sixteen high school students have been selected to present their science research at the WJSHS, and the Washington winners will receive a total of $4,500 in scholarships. SPU will match these scholarships if the student(s) attends SPU. Additionally, the first and second place winners will present their papers at the National JSHS program in San Diego in late April to compete for an additional $12,000 in scholarships.

The poster presentations will be in Upper Gwinn, and faculty and staff are invited to see them on Thursday, March 16. 1:15-3 p.m. The students will be available to share their science research. For more information, go to the WJSHS website, or the National Junior  Science and Humanities Symposium website.

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The SPU Staff Council invites your nominations for the 2017 Staff of the Year awards. Each year, two staff members are selected to receive recognition for their outstanding contributions to the SPU community. One exempt and one non-exempt recipient will be selected on the basis of their spiritual commitment, positive engagement with colleagues and students, leadership at SPU and beyond, and professional competence and expertise. Visit the Staff Council website to learn more about each award and submit a nomination. Thank you to those who have already submitted a nomination. Nominations will be accepted through Thursday, March 23. The Staff of the Year recipients will be announced at the annual Celebration of Service, held this year on April 27 at 11:10 a.m.

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This summer SPRINT (Seattle Pacific Reachout International) will send four teams of SPU students to learn and serve with local leaders around the world. To support their fundraising, we invite you to hire SPRINT students to help with yardwork, cleaning, or other projects. Your work project helps these students raise funds for their summer immersion learning trips. The recommended rate is $10 per student, per hour. To request a Workshare Request Form or find out more information, email SPRINT Student Fundraising Coordinator Elizabeth Bartholomew at bartholomewe@spu.edu, or John Perkins Center Administrative Assistant Samantha Krecjik at krejciks@spu.edu.

If you would like help in using Sitecore or Contribute to update your department webpage, come to the next brownbag lunch hosted by University Communications on Thursday, March 16, noon to 1 p.m., in the Lower Weter large conference room. Bring changes you need to make and we will walk you through them. If you have a work laptop, please bring it. Feel free to bring your lunch, and we’ll provide munchies. If you plan to attend, email Hope McPherson at hmcpherson@spu.edu. Sitecore/Contribute Brownbags occur the third Thursday of every month except December and July.

Have you seen Zipcar’s stations and vehicles around campus? Have you been interested in alternative modes of transportation? Check out some of these stats from last year, on why Zipcar is a great transportation method!

• Zipcar now offers for vehicles at two locations on campus.
• More than 3 percent of students are active car sharers.
• SPU Zip-riders helped reduce over 200,000 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere in 2016 alone.
• At least 52 personally owned vehicles have been taken off the road due to SPU’s Zipcar program.

To learn more about Zipcar benefits to full-time staff and faculty or to sign up, visit the website. To learn more about Zipcar, visit the website.

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Do you know a student who demonstrates Christian character, has made a commitment to on- or off-campus service, shows a willingness to take on tasks regardless of recognition or challenge, demonstrates leadership, and is currently a junior? If so, we encourage you to nominate them for the Barnabas Servant Leadership Scholarship. Recipients of this scholarship receive a $750 cash grant and a contribution of $250 given in their name to a charity of their choice. Online nominations are due by March 27 and can be found on the University Ministries Student Leaders web page

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If you take the bus to SPU, good news! Metro has expanded routes 3, 4, and 13 to campus. Metro has increase frequent service connections, and improved connections to ease rider capacity and give SPU riders easier and more frequent access to campus. You can learn more about the upcoming new routes online or at the Metro Matters blog.

College students are experiencing more stress now than in the past several decades. To deal with this stress and the negative emotions that accompany it, students turn to a wide range of emotion regulation strategies. Some strategies are healthy, while others are unhealthy. To learn more, visit the Wellness blog.

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Multi-Ethnic Programs is starting a group for SPU undocumented students who desire a place of mutual support and accurate, up-to-date information and advice. If you know students who would like to get connected, contact Susan Okamoto Lane, dean of Multi-Ethnic and Wellness Programs, at solane@spu.edu or 206-281-2598. For more information on how to support undocumented students, Susan recommends a recent article in Diverse Issues in Higher Education titled “We Have Your Back: How Educators Can Support Undocumented Students."

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SPU’s Art Center Gallery presents a solo exhibition by the late artist Karen Laub-Novak titled “A Catholic Expressionist in the Age of Vatican II.” This is the first scholarly survey of this artist and art educator. This selection of prints and paintings by Laub-Novak (1937-2009) encompasses her career from the reforming era of post-war America through Vatican II, and into the postmodern era of the 1990s. The exhibit runs until March 17. The SPAC Gallery is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

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The Faculty/Staff Bulletin is published weekly 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, March 16. The next Bulletin will be published Monday, March 20.

University Communications Art and Staff Development Director Dale Kegley is retiring at the end of March after more than 33 years at SPU. Dale has overseen Seattle Pacific’s graphic identity since 1983, and his design work and influence is evident in every magazine, brochure, postcard, catalog, banner, website, and advertisement Seattle Pacific has produced since then. He is the major reason SPU has a brand of such enduring visual quality. The University Communications staff invites the SPU community to join them for a campuswide breakfast party on Wednesday, March 15, 9-10 a.m. in lower Weter Hall to celebrate Dale’s accomplishments and design work through the years. There will be a short program at 9:30 a.m. Please come say goodbye to a beloved colleague.

At the beginning of the year, the Center for Professional Education launched its original podcast titled “Homeroom,” featuring discussions about educators, with educators. Several of the published interviews are with professors who teach in universities around the nation. The most recent interview was with Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction Kristine Gritter. Homeroom will feature upcoming interviews with more SPU faculty.

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Robin Henrikson, assistant professor of education, gave two research presentations at the recent Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education conference. She presented a brief paper titled “Text Analysis of a Cloud-Based Educator Collaboration Tool” and a full paper titled “Student Response to Lecture Presentation Design in Online Learning Environments.”

A chapter by School of Psychology, Family, and Community faculty members Hee-Sun Cheon and Claudia Grauf-Grounds was recently published online in the peer-reviewed book Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy (Springer). The chapter, titled “Supervisor-Supervisee Relationship in Couple and Family Therapy Supervision,” provides important theories, concepts, and clinical implications along with the case example.