A message from Provost Jeff Van Duzer: As I suspect many of you know, President Martin recently issued a framework outlining our institutional commitments in the areas of diversity, inclusion, equity, and reconciliation. (For those of you who might have missed it, the framework was included in the first section of his recent Board Report.) Pursuant to his direction, three projects were entrusted to the Office of the Provost: hiring protocols, multicultural and diversity training for faculty, and fostering intergroup interactions as keys to meaningful diversity experiences. The latter project was entrusted to Jeff Jordan, vice president of student life, and Bo Lim, university chaplain. President Martin asked that I give leadership to the first two of these. Unfortunately, however, my efforts to do so have now prompted some questions and confusion. In an effort to redress this, I am setting forth some of the questions that I have received with my answers. If you have a question that I have not included, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. The questions and my answers can be accessed through the Provost Gateway.

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Don’t miss the 10th annual Social Venture Plan Competition on Thursday, April 14, 2-6 p.m. in Upper Gwinn. Awards will be announced around 6:15 p.m. Encourage your students to attend and vote for the $1,000 People’s Choice award. Faculty and staff can vote as well. Faculty, staff, and students who vote will be entered into a raffle for one of dozens of door prizes, including Amazon gift cards, MiiR water bottles, and more. Also this year, a special $500 award goes to the best project focused on needs in Seattle’s Rainier Valley neighborhood. As always, social entrepreneurs with the highest overall team scores will win impressive cash prizes.

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Dr. John Perkins, co-founder of SPU’s John Perkins Center for Reconciliation, Leadership Training, and Community Development, returns to campus on Tuesday, April 19. He will speak in chapel at 11:10 a.m. in First Free Methodist Church. Preceding the lecture, there will be a special presentation and celebration of two historical works by African American artist Charles Ethan Porter (1847-1923), generously donated by William Sacherek and Liselotte Lamerdin in appreciation of the reconciliation work of the Perkins Center. Faculty and staff are invited to the presentation.

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The School of Psychology, Family, and Community is hosting a free community outreach event on Saturday, April 16, for families living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The event features discussions from experts and families living with autism as well as a resource fair to connect individuals who have ASD and their families with community programs in Washington state. Please invite anyone you know to this event.

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The Ekene Dance Ensemble invites faculty and staff to a celebration of the diversity of African cultures on Friday, April 15, 7-9 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. The event will feature dance, spoken word, remarks by 2015 Miss Washington Lizzi Jackson, and a performance by the internationally acclaimed Total Experience Gospel Choir.

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Hundreds of prospective students and their families will be on campus this month for SPU Fridays. Prospective and admitted high school and transfer students will dine in Gwinn Commons, attend informational sessions, and visit classes on Friday, April 15, 22, and 29. Look for these students and their families and make them feel welcome.

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A message from the Office of Student Employment (OSE): Our student employees are key to keeping this university running. Show your appreciation next week to your student employees, and encourage them to attend the Student Employee Appreciation Event hosted by OSE on Friday, April 15, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in Martin Square (Or Weter Lounge in the event of inclement weather). Participants can enjoy fresh popcorn and students can enter to win one of many gift cards from local area businesses such as the Woodland Park Zoo, the Space Needle, Trader Joe’s, Café Ladro, Sodexo, and more. Here are some other ideas for ways to show appreciation during National Student Employment Week: take them out to lunch, throw a party hosted by your staff, give them a gift card, purchase some SPU swag from the bookstore, or write a letter thanking them for their contributions to your team.

"Reconciliation” has different meanings to different people. It can mean intimacy with God, or being nice to other people, or an ambiguous concept of justice. During the annual Winifred E. Weter Faculty Award Lecture for Meritorious Scholarship on Tuesday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. Associate Professor of Theology, Discipleship, and Ministry Michael Langford will look at reconciliation from a theological perspective.

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The Falcon Gymnastics Center is excited to announce the addition of a parent and baby gymnastics program. The new Baby Birds program is for toddlers between the ages of 18 months and 3 years. All children must be accompanied by one adult. The cost is $70 for each six-week program. The sessions are Tuesdays (April 19 and 26, May 3, 10, 17, and 24) 11-11:45 a.m.; and Wednesdays (April 20 and 27, May 4, 11, 18, and 25), 9-9:45 a.m. Email cbd@spu.edu for more information.

Here are the Campus Retail Dining Services promotions for April 11 through 17.

Common Grounds/Academic Perks: Grande Strawberry Lemonade $2.99.

Common Grounds: All baked items are 50 cents, Monday-Friday, 7-9 p.m. or Saturday-Sunday, 5-7 p.m.

Academic Perks: All baked items are 50 cents, Monday-Friday, 4-6 p.m.

Medley: 5-Topping Salad for $5, or a 3-Topping Salad for $3.

Subway: 6-inch BMT sandwich for $3.99. Visit Subway for daily selections of the 6-inch Sub of the Day.

Sandella’s: Gourmet Chicken Salad Wrap $5 for a limited time. Add a 21-ounce fountain drink for $1 more. Any Sandella’s salad is $5.79.

Jamba Juice: 20 percent off Jamba Juice orders every Tuesday and Thursday for the month of April.

Einstein’s Bagels: 12-ounce Einstein’s Bag of Coffee for $5.99 (while supplies last).

Grill: Bacon Blueberry Pancakes for $2.99.

C-store: KIND bars for $1.50.

$5 Friday Retail Dining Promotion:

Medley: 5-Topping Salad, including beef topping

Grill: Cheese burger and 21-ounce fountain drink

Einstein’s Bagels: Turkey Club Tostini

Sandellas: Any grilled flatbread

Subway: Footlong tuna sandwich

C-Store: 20-ounce soda and 5-ounce bag of Kettle Chips

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, April 14. The next Bulletin will be published Monday, April 18, 2016.

In recognition of his service to the SPU community, Andy Samuel, developer/analyst in Computer and Information Systems, has been nominated and selected as the April Staff Member of the Month. Congratulations, Andy!

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SPU Master Gardener Jeff Daily will give a lecture at West Seattle Nursery on Sunday, April 17, 1-2 p.m. The lecture will focus in choosing the right plant for the right place and feature some of this favorite plants. Attendees will receive a discount coupon to redeem the day of the lecture.

The School of Psychology, Family, and Community is pleased to announce that an article co-written by Assistant Professor of Psychology Tom Carpenter was recently published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. The article, titled “Dispositional Self-Forgiveness, Guilt- and Shame-Proneness, and the Roles of Motivational Tendencies” includes research that found guilt-prone people are more self-forgiving — explained by an increased tendency to approach and resolve wrongs— whereas shame-prone people are less self-forgiving. Tom would like to recognize his co-authors, doctoral candidate Stefanie Tignor of Northeastern University, former student Amanda Willett, and Dr. Jo-Ann Tsang of Baylor University.

An article by Assistant Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology Dana Kendall and second year doctoral student Scott Campanario titled "Honoring God Through Scientific Research: Navigating the Ethics of Publishing With Our Students" was recently accepted for publication in the International Journal of Christianity and Education. The piece explores the consequences of systemic issues in the scientific publication process including: a) failure to publish null findings, b) hypothesizing-after-results-are-known (HARKing), and c) funding conflicts of interest through a theological lens with a special emphasis on mentoring doctoral students in preparation for a career in research.

School of Education professors Dan Bishop and Robin Henrikson recently gave two presentations at two different conferences. The first presentation, “Assessing Professional Collaboration Within P-12 Schools,” was given at the annual conference for the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges of Teacher Education in Las Vegas. This presentation dealt with strategies used to assess professional collaboration to determine the extent to which collaborative processes becomes an integral part of the school ethos. The presentation describes the important alignment between characteristics of effective professional learning and assessment as part of continuous reflective practice. The second presentation, “Using Cloud Based Resources to Leverage Professional Collaboration Within P-12 Schools,” was given at the annual conference for the Society of Information Technology in Education in Savannah, Georgia. This presentation used data gathered as part of a large scale program evaluation of professional learning in 24 districts. Researchers gleaned unexpected insight into the use of cloud technology to leverage across district collaboration among educators to transform professional learning. Drawing from research on collaborative practice, professional learning, and system level transformation, these preliminary data have provided formative support for school and district collaboration across the state.