Join CIS on Wednesday, April 15, at 11 a.m. or Thursday April 16, at 1:15 p.m. to learn some best practices when it comes to managing your inbox. RSVP here to receive a link to a virtual Microsoft Teams meeting. Contact Allison Pincus in CIS at pincusa@spu.edu with any questions, and find more information on the CIS training program here.

A message from Dining Services: We are offering a $5 lunch to-go meal for faculty and staff through April 10. Stop by the Gwinn Commons Dining Hall, 12–1 p.m. Check out the online menu.

The Center for Career and Calling; Alumni, Parent, and Family Relations; and the Communication Department have partnered on a new Switchboard campaign for communication alumni and students. Ask Me Anything: Communication is a chance for alumni and students to connect, share advice, ask questions, and be a resource for one another. You can join, too. Post encouragement, advice, or expertise, and connect students to people you know, or offer a quick chat. See what alumni have posted!

INTERLINK International Institute is open, but operating in a remote capacity in response to directives from local and state officials to maximize social distancing. INTERLINK's physical office at 4 Nickerson, Suite 200, is closed, but staff is working remotely during normal business hours and can be reached via email. The Institute phone lines, 206-378-5308 and 206-378-5310, will be monitored.

Check out this month’s ODEI Connections for recommended DEI reading and teaching tools in the time of COVID-19, and to sign up for upcoming virtual professional development and networking opportunities. We look forward to connecting with you.

The Family and Consumer Sciences rummage sale originally scheduled for April 3–4 will be held in the fall. If you’re cleaning and de-cluttering this spring, consider setting aside the following items to donate to the rummage sale: clothing, furniture, decor, linens, kitchen items, tools, toys, camping equipment, jewelry (real and costume), and books. (No large appliances or electronics — small ones are fine.) All items must be in good condition. Please tell your friends and family we want their treasures, too, and start setting your boxes aside. New drop-off dates will be scheduled as soon as possible.

As a follow-up to Staff Council’s March 9 winter forum on the updated tuition discount benefit, HR has created a Q&A which is now available on the HR Wiki. Staff Council thanks the forum attendees for generating the questions and Matt Alvis for compiling the responses!

The 10th of each month is the last day to make changes to your upcoming payroll check. Do you need to add or remove your spouse and/or children from your health care plans? If so, contact Human Resources (HR) to complete the appropriate form. Changes might include events that are expected to impact your benefits and deductions, such as your spouse or children gaining or losing coverage due to employment, birth, marriage, etc. Additionally, any changes to your 403b account may take up to seven days to be provided to SPU for processing, so please contract Transamerica by the first of the month prior to your requested change. For changes to your 403(b) account, contact Transamerica Retirement Solutions at 1-888-676-5512 (5 a.m.–6 p.m. PST), or 1-800-755-5801. If you have any other benefits-related changes, call Cherylin Shdo in HR at 206-281-2816.

The Faculty/Staff Bulletin is published every Monday (or Tuesday if Monday is a holiday) during the academic year. The next Bulletin will be published Monday, April 13. The deadline is Thursday, April 9. 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.

Paraclete Press will hold a virtual book launch and reading with Scott Cairns, professor of English and director of the low-residency MFA program, on Wednesday, April 8, at 1 p.m. Scott will read from his new chapbook, A School of Embodied Poetics: New Poems. Paraclete Press says this about Scott and his new book. "Cairns has long insisted that words are things — powerful things with generative agency. His poetry has been called sacramental and incarnational. With this new chapbook perhaps hereafter the operative descriptor will be 'embodied.'" Register online.

Rob Wall, Paul T. Walls Professor of Scripture and Wesleyan Studies, is the co-editor (along with Kenneth J. Collins) of Wesley One-Volume Bible Commentary (Abingdon Press). It's currently listed as the No. 1 new book in “Methodist Christianity” by Amazon, and has been selected by the bishops of the United Methodist Church as the church’s top new resource for Methodist clergy (which means they can get it from Cokesbury bookstores at a discounted price!). Rob’s task in during its three-year production slog was to guide and edit each of the individual commentaries on every book of Scripture, Old and New Testaments. These commentaries were produced by more than 60 Bible scholars from various Wesleyan/Methodist communions and institutions worldwide. The endgame of this project was to produce Wesleyan readings of every biblical book that would support the preaching and teaching ministries of clergy and faculty located in Wesleyan/Methodist congregations and classrooms around the world. Among those who contributed to this massive undertaking are Dave Nienhuis, professor of New Testament studies, who contributed the commentary on the NT Letter of James along with Rob, who contributed the commentary on the Johannine Epistles. Rob also introduced the entire volume with an essay that set out the nature and theological grammar of a “Wesleyan Biblical Interpretation.”

For his monthly cartoon, Nate Hoover, office manager in the School of Theology, explains this month’s feature: My mother is a CPA, and she is busy this time of year. This cartoon is dedicated to her.