A message from University Advancement: This year on Thursday, April 11, we’re excited to host our own Day of Giving, and I “heart” SPU is our theme. You can get involved in lots of ways, including simply spreading the word through your networks. The financial needs of our students have continued to increase in recent years, so we’re growing our fundraising efforts to make an SPU education possible for as many students as we can. We know that one of the most impactful things for students about an SPU education is their interactions with you, beloved faculty and staff (we hear it a lot). For those of you who have a lot of connections with alumni or parents, we’d love your help getting the word out.

Visit givingday.spu.edu to learn more and save the date. On the “Social Toolkit” page, you’ll find resources that you can use to share on social media. Explore the “SPU Causes” you care about most, and share them from the cause pages via email, Facebook, and text.

Thank you for helping us last week by saving parking spaces in the Dravus Parking lot for Admitted Students. This is a reminder that the second of two Admitted Student Preview events is April 11–12, and the University will host about 200 families on campus. We are asking SPU community members not to park in the Dravus Parking Lot on these days to make room for our guests. 

Here’s how you can help:

• Take mass transit and leave your car at home, if you can.
• Consider carpooling to campus, if you don’t already.
• If you are driving and parking, fill up all other SPU parking lots; parking permits won’t be required these two days.
• Use streets east of 7th Avenue West to help us maintain good neighbor relations if you need to park in the neighborhood.
• Avoid parking in the First Free Methodist Church parking lot, as they need those spaces for events at the church.

Thank you in advance for helping us accommodate our guests for one of the biggest campus events this year. 

From the Office of the Provost: A friendly reminder about renting or purchasing regalia in time for June’s high ceremonies.

To purchase regalia

• Visit Grad Fest, tomorrow, Tuesday, April 9, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. in Upper Gwinn. The representative from our regalia vendor, Herff Jones, will be on hand to give you pricing information, answer questions, take your measurements, and assist you with the ordering process.
• Or fill out this form (using instructions for cap measurements and regalia measurements) and email it to Christine Perkins (perkinsc1@spu.edu) in the bookstore by April 12.

To rent regalia

Email Christine Perkins (perkinsc1@spu.edu) with the following information by April 12:

• If you have rented before, you can say “same as last year.”
• Your height
• Your advanced degree
• The institution from which you earned your advanced degree
• Your choice of cap or tam (for doctoral regalia only)

All rental orders will be fulfilled as the full package (cap/tam, gown, and hood).

If you have any regalia-related questions, contact Christine. If you have any ceremony-related questions, contact graduationinfo@spu.edu.

The Spanish Conversation Table is open to anyone who wants to speak with others in Spanish. Beginners are welcome. The table meets on Fridays, 11 a.m.–12 p.m., in Marston 253. Come and have some fun! Meet your classmates and colleagues, make new friends, and improve your Spanish. If you want to get some help on vocabulary or figure out how reflexive verbs work, come see us. You don’t have to sign up ahead of time, bring your lunch and join us.  

If you have questions, email adjunct instructor of Spanish Vilma Illanes at villanes@spu.edu. Bienvenidos a la Mesa de Español!

The History Department's next brownbag event in their News & Nachos series is "Science in the News" on Thursday, April 11, 11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. in the Eaton Hall Lounge. Associate Professor of History Rod Stiling will present his talk titled "When the Sun Went Dark, Einstein Became a Star: The Eclipse of 1919 – One Hundred Years Later." Chips and salsa will be served. The series is for students, faculty, and staff, and all are welcome.

Disability Support Services presents the annual No Limits, No Boundaries event on Thursday, April 25, 6–7:30 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. The event was rescheduled from February due to snow.

Do you have students still looking for an internship, summer job, or new career? Encourage them to come meet some of the region’s best employees who are looking to hire SPU students at the Center for Career and Calling's next Business & Government Mega Meet-up. Who’s coming? CBRE, Convoy, Enterprise, FBI, IRS, Just Right Productions, Point B, Port of Seattle, Providence, Pushpay, Sabey Corporation, Subsplash, and more.

Business & Government Mega Meet-up
Wednesday, April 10
2:30–5 p.m. | Weter Lounge

The Department of Philosophy, Division of Arts and Humanities, Office of the Provost, and the Eli Lilly Foundation present the C. Stephen Layman Lecture in Philosophy. This year's topic is “’Pervading the Sable Veil’: Phillis Wheatley as Early Modern Philosopher” by Professor of Philosophy Jill Graper Hernandez from the Department of Philosophy and Classics
at the University of Texas, San Antonio.

Tuesday, April 16
4 p.m., Demaray Hall 150

For more information contact Associate Professor of Philosophy Rebekah Rice at 206-281-2080 or ricer@spu.edu.

Join us Thursday, April 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m., in the Art Center Gallery for the Fan Mayhall Gates Literary Reading. The guest this year is D.L. Mayfield, who writes about refugees, theology, and downward mobility, among other topics. Her book of essays, Assimilate or Go Home: Notes From a Failed Missionary on Rediscovering Faith was released by HarperOne in 2016. For more information about Mayfield, visit dlmayfield.com.

The Fan Mayhall Gates Literary Reading was established in 2006 to honor our well-loved colleague, Fan Gates, who taught at SPU for 36 years. The event is free and open to the public.

From the Wellness Initiative: Faculty and staff are often the first to help students in distress and are in a position to help direct students to appropriate resources on campus. Check out this quick-tip list for best practices on talking with students and services on campus.

Falconettes and Centurions, two of SPU’s longest standing student organizations, want your help.  Please nominate undergraduate students (current sophomores and juniors) for membership in these clubs. Advisors are looking for students who take service, scholarship, and Christian character development seriously. 

Email your recommendations by Friday, April 12, to Falconette advisor Julie Antilla (antillaj@spu.edu), or to Centurions advisors Ryan LaBrie (ryanl@spu.edu) and Bryan Jones (bryan@spu.edu). Each student you nominate will receive an invitation from us to apply to the clubs.

Each spring, two staff members are nominated by their peers and selected by Staff Council to receive the Oral V. Hemry Non-Exempt Staff Member and Exempt Staff Member of the Year awards. Criteria for these awards include living out their Christian faith at SPU; demonstration of competence, skill, and initiative in their role; connection with colleagues and modeling grace-filled community in the workplace; and demonstration of leadership. Nominations are open through Tuesday, April 9. Nominate a colleague today.

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 you wish to make to your 403(b) account contributions must be made by the 10th of the month. 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 Mardeth Hughes in HR at 206-281-2816.

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, April 11. The next Bulletin will be published Monday, April 15.

In recognition of her service to the SPU community, Renee Corcoran, administrative assistant in the History and Sociology departments, was nominated by her peers and selected by Staff Council as the April Staff Member of the Month. Congratulations, and thank you, Renee! Learn more about Renee and nominate a colleague for recognition on the Staff Council website.

From the Office of the Provost: This week, we have the joy of highlighting three more faculty colleagues who will be retiring at the end of this academic year. Please join me in celebrating:

Regina Schlee, professor of marketing, for 35 years of service.

• Schlee video tribute; Emerita Resolution

Art Ellis, professor of education, for 33 years of service.

• Ellis video tribute; Emeritus Resolution

Mícheál Roe, professor of psychology, for 31 years of service.

• Roe video tribute; Emeritus Resolution

The School of Theology and Seattle Pacific Seminary invite you to celebrate Professor of Old Testament Frank Spina’s 46 years at Seattle Pacific:

Tuesday, May 14

• A retirement reception from 3–5 p.m. Watch for more details.
• The 2019 Walls Lecture, “Discovering Jesus’ Personal Bible: The Greatest Archaeological Find Ever.” For more information, please visit spu.edu/wallslecture.

Additionally, we are collecting written tributes for Frank, which can be sent to theology@spu.edu by April 30.

Please join us to celebrate Loida Arabia Kennedy, director of operations: catering and retail in Campus Dining Services, on her 25 years of excellent service at SPU and to wish her great success in her new position with Sodexo Aviation.

Farewell Reception
Wednesday, April 10
3:30–5 p.m. | Upper Gwinn Queen Anne Room
Refreshments provided

Peter Moe, assistant professor of English, and Kyle Winkler from Kent State University co-authored the article “How to Do Things With Incoherence,” which appeared in Rhetoric Review. The article considers how incoherence in student sentences might be a site of possibility rather than a cause for despair.

An article by Professor of English Kimberly Segal titled “De-imperializing Gender: Religious Revivals, Shifting Beliefs, and the Unexpected Trajectory of Laila Lalami’s Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits” was recently published in Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Duke University Press, 15:1 (March 2019), 75–94.

A monograph by Professor of European History Alberto Ferreiro titled, "Epistolas Plenas: The Correspondence of the Bishops of Hispania with the Bishops of Rome: Third through Seventh Centuries," was accepted for publication in the prestigious series Medieval and Early Modern Iberia, published by Brill. The monograph is more than 500 page pages with 1010 notes and is set to appear at the end of the year. It is the first complete study in any language of the many letters that were exchanged.

The Office of Human Resources would like to welcome Meggan Dowd, budget and office manager, Undergraduate Admissions and Recruitment.

Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology Amy Mezulis was quoted in a news story in Science News, published by the Society for Science & the Public. The article was titled "What we know and don’t know about how mass trauma affects mental health."

Associate Director of Safety and Security Cheryl Michaels and Director of Safety and Security Mark Reid were interviewed in the March/April issue of Campus Security & Life Safety. The article was titled "Roadmap to a Security Operations Center."