The Family and Consumer Sciences Department invites you to its 2021 Interior Design Portfolio Show at fcs.spu.edu/interior-design. In fulfillment of their interior design degrees, seniors have prepared digital portfolios, résumés, and associated business papers to launch them into their careers. Please view these pages dedicated to the hard work they’ve done over the last four years at SPU.

A message from Mailing and Copying Services: During the summer there will be no mail pickup or drop off including packages to departments in the afternoon. We will be open Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–4 p.m., to handle your mailing and copying needs. You can also pickup your departmental mail during that time. Arrangements for delivery of packages can be coordinated if you are not able to carry the packages back to your department. If you have any questions and or concerns, feel free to contact us at 206-281-2077.

Biology professors Eric Long, Jenny Tenlen, Charlotte Pratt, and Tracie Delgado recorded a presentation discussing COVID-19 and vaccines. They answered some of the most common questions, including vaccines and the immune system, fertility, blood clotting, and more. The video description includes time stamps identifying the start of each question. Watch the video online.

The SPU Art Department is pleased to announce this year’s Visual Communications Senior Exhibition: MakeShift. Due to COVID-19, instead of celebrating this work on display at SPAC Gallery on campus, you can view their work at viscom21.spu.edu or on Instagram at instagram.com/spu_makeshift.

Rising 9th–12th grade students can jump-start a tech career with hands-on programs (Aug. 16–20) focused on video game creation, mechatronics, and 3D printing offered by the Department of Engineering and Computer Science. No coding experience necessary. Register to reserve a spot at spu.edu/techcamps.

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 and every other week during the summer. The Bulletin is now on a summer schedule. The next deadline is Thursday, June 24, and the next issue will be published Monday, June 28.

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.

During the last four weeks of Spring Quarter, Jeffrey Overstreet, assistant professor of English and writing, surprised his “Film and Faith” class (ENG1220) twice when he invited directors of recent Oscar-nominated films to class via Zoom. On May 19, after students had a screening of The Secret of Kells, its director Tomm Moore — who also directed Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers — Zoomed in from Ireland and spoke with Jeff and special guest Dr. Lindsay Marshall (a historian specializing in histories of Indigenous peoples), and then answered student questions. On June 2, after a screening of Minari (introduced by SPU’s own Helen Chung, assistant professor of industrial-organizational psychology), students got to meet writer/director Lee Isaac Chung via Zoom and ask him questions.

Two faculty, five students, and one alumna from the doctoral program in the School of Education gave presentations at the 2021 Global Conference on Education and Research, June 8–10, 2021. Munyi Shea and David Wicks, associate professors of education, together with students Alex Alexander, Alice Lau, Katie Clum, Elizbeth Ebersole, and Sarah Zhou contributed to two presentations: “Building an Inclusive K–12 Classroom with Culturally Relevant Social-Emotional Learning Activities,” and “Exploring Resilient Pedagogy in Higher Education During Times of Crisis.” Special acknowledgement to Dr. Ira Rasikawati, a SOE alumna, who led an international team comprising presenters from SPU and Indonesia to give a talk on “Sustaining Internationalization in Higher Education: Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

Two articles by Dana Kendall, associate professor of industrial-organizational psychology, and her students were recently published. The first, “Effects of Pay Transparency on Application Intentions Through Justice Perceptions and Organizational Attractiveness” was published in the Journal of Applied Business and Economics. First author was Phi Nguyen and co-authors were Dana Kendall, Heather Maguire, and Tony Mellek. This study employed an experimental design in which participants imagined they were job seekers considering applying to a company that employed pay transparency practices versus another that did not. The results demonstrated that participants overwhelmingly preferred to work for the company with pay transparency practices, in part because they felt it was a place that treated its employees more fairly. 

The second article, “The Role of White Support in Predicting Racial Minorities’ Feelings of Inclusion and Retention,” was published in the Journal of Organizational Psychology. First author was Dana Kendall and co-authors were Sam Cannon and Jadvir Gill. In this study, participants of color rated their white co-workers on the extent to which they provide authentic, holistic, and racially sensitive support in the workplace. Results suggested white co-worker support positively predicted racial minorities’ feelings of inclusion in their work groups and intent to remain in the organization.

Please join the Office of Human Resources in welcoming the following new SPU staff members:

• Nikka Dellosa, office administrator, Student Counseling Center
• Jhonny La Salle, lead painter, Facility and Project Management

Peter Moe, assistant professor of writing and director of campus writing, was interviewed on 101.5 FM in Pittsburgh on June 9 during the “The Ride Home with John and Katy” show about his new book, Touching This Leviathan. Listen to the interview here (starting at about the 1:07 mark).