Nate Mouttet, vice president for enrollment management and marketing, sent an email to undergraduate students returning for the 2021-22 academic year detailing costs in this first year of SPU's Tuition Reimagined initiative.

In a new program supporting first-year student academic success, the Center for Learning is launching the Peer Academic Coach (PAC) program. Focused on residential and commuter students, PACs will help create positive, inclusive academic communities, promote study skills and strategies, and guide students to campus resources. CFL needs staff and faculty to recommend students who they think would make excellent Peer Academic Coaches. They would like to interview a diverse group of rising sophomores to seniors who are developing strong academic and interpersonal skills. The job descriptions for the four positions can be found online.

Please send recommendations to cfl@spu.edu, and they will tell the student(s) who made the recommendation. The deadline for applications is April 12, 2021.

This short video highlights some of the major events on campus during Winter Quarter.

The Office of Inclusive Excellence invites you to join us Thursday, March 18, 12–1 p.m., for Diversity 103: Becoming a Faith-Formed Inclusive Community. Learn more and sign up here. Whether you have previously participated in this workshop or not, we invite you to join us for this interactive workshop.

Ready to be rid of the hassle of printing, sending around, and scanning documents to get them signed? Want to manage and track the collection of signatures for documents electronically in one place? Adobe Sign can help! RSVP here for a Teams meeting link to Computer and Information Systems online training for electronic signatures via Adobe Sign on Wednesday, March 24, 10–10:45 a.m., or Thursday, March 25, 1–1:45 p.m. Contact CISTrainings@spu.edu with any questions, and find more information on the CIS Training Program.

Summer reservation requests are now being taken for the Faculty/Staff House for full-time faculty and staff. The dates of stay are June 14 through Sept. 13, 2021. Reservation requests are due by March 19, 2021, and you can request a reservation here. 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, your ranking is replaced with the years it has been since your stay at Casey.

To learn more about how the lottery works or discounted rates for faculty and staff staying at Camp Casey, checkout this page on the HR Wiki (PDF). Questions about Camp Casey? Email campcasey@spu.edu.

The latest issue of SPU’s School of Education e-newsletter, On Point, spotlights accomplishments of SOE students, faculty, staff, and alumni. As SOE Dean Nyaradzo Mvududu writes, “We will continue to show up … be fully present, and watch God work.” Read the March issue here.

• Lenten Stories: Follow UMin on Instagram throughout Lent for weekly Scripture readings and stories from SPU students about how they are being stretched in this season. 
• Season of Saturday: During Lent, UMin is curating online space for communal practices of confession, lament, repentance, and renewal. You are invited to participate through submitting your note of “declaration” for the online tree.
• View the Chapel schedule for upcoming information, subscribe to UMin YouTube for past Chapels, and view Chapel live on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m.

The John Perkins Center is hosting this annual writing competition for students enrolling or enrolled at SPU. The Perkins Prize honors the legacy of John Perkins’ work in reconciliation and Christian community development. Entries are due by April 2, 2021. The winner will receive a $1,000 SPU tuition scholarship. Visit the Perkins Prize web page for detailed information.

All faculty and staff who come to campus must complete an online self-screening to attest that they meet certain criteria for being on campus (e.g., not exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms). SPU has developed a campuswide tool through Banner (login into Banner and select Personal Menu) to report a daily COVID-19 self-attestation for faculty and staff working on campus (including Camp Casey and Blakely Island). A link to the self-attestation form is also available on the Stay Smart website, which is now highlighted in the top banner on the SPU homepage.

The Faculty/Staff Bulletin is published weekly during the academic year. The next Bulletin will be published Monday, March 22, and the deadline is Thursday, March 18. 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.

From the Office of Global Engagement: Congratulations to Christopher Hanson, assistant professor of music; Kristine Gritter, professor of curriculum and instruction; Chérie Hughes; assistant professor of music, Xu Bian, assistant professor of Chinese; and Paul Lee, engineering labs coordinator, as the first Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Cohort. COIL is a research-based teaching practice that allows faculty to provide global engagement for their students by collaborating with international faculty from around the world, which provides global experiences for students in both countries. This quarter the COIL Fellows focused on building partnerships, learning the pedagogy, and planning a course to teach with their partners. Our international partners are Ira Rasikawati (Indonesia), Beatrice McNamara (Germany), Veruschka Mainhard (Brazil), and Xiaojun Cai (China).

Nalline Baliram, assistant professor of teacher education, David Denton, associate professor of education, and Lara Cole, adjunct professor and SOE doctoral graduate, recently had their article “Understanding why math and science teachers quit: Evidence of cognitive errors,” published in the International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science, and Technology.

An article by Alberto Ferreiro, professor of European history, titled “A Possible Influence from the East: Ephrem the Syrian in Two Sermons of Caesarius of Arles on Jonah,” was accepted for publication in Aux Sources de la Provence (Arles). This will be his third article for an anticipated 10 volumes on the life and legacy of Caesarius with two others commissioned that are currently being written. The articles are published in English and French. Ephrem the Syrian wrote a very rare sermon on Jonah and the conversion of the Ninevites. It had long been suspected that it was the basis for Caesarius’ own sermon on Jonah. This first study to delve into the topic confirms that Caesarius availed himself of a Latin version of the original one written in Syriac. Alberto had already previously published eight articles on Caesarius.

A chapter written by Don Holsinger, professor emeritus of history, titled “The Road to Ghardaia: Investigating a Community Deep in the Sahara Leads to the Study of Global History” was published in Mennonites and Post-Colonial African Studies (Routledge). The book chronicles the lives of 22 academics and practitioners whose work spans from the immediate post-colonial period in the 1960s to the present day. Don recounts how his experience teaching English in Algeria in the 1970s prepared him to become a teacher and scholar of African, Middle East, and global history.

At the Pacific Northwest Historians Guild conference on March 6, 2021, Bill Woodward, professor emeritus of history, joined his collaborators in a panel on “Puget Sound Workers and Soldiers in the Global War.” Bill’s paper, titled “Act Globally, Act Locally: The Washington National Guard on Homefront and Battlefront,” explored the many wartime roles at home and abroad of soldiers from Washington’s Guard organization.

Human Resources would like to congratulate Kristine Robertson on her new staff appointment as assistant director of the Center for Faithful Business.

Paul Youngbin Kim, professor of psychology, had his op-ed, “Yes, Asians and Asian Americans experience racism,” published in The Seattle Times on March 10, 2021.

Eric Long, professor of biology, was featured in the article, “Young white-tailed deer that disperse survive the same as those that stay home,” in the Penn State News. As the lead researcher in this study, Eric began the research described in the article more than 15 years ago when he was a doctoral student at Penn State. The article appeared in several media outlets.

An anonymous applause: “Have you had the pleasure of working with Eric Black, software systems engineer in CIS? If not, you are probably unaware of the way he serves our community with dedication and abundant grace. Eric is kind, patient, and resourceful. He does more than most people recognize to keep our vital operational systems up and running. He works all sorts of odd hours to make sure system upgrades and maintenance is performed during non-business hours, so while many of us are sound asleep in bed, he’s working hard to serve the SPU community. Big thanks and a round of applause to Eric in appreciation for all he does to support the people and systems of SPU!”