Mailing Services has asked that offices and departments please come and pick up mail and packages received earlier this summer, if they haven't already. In addition to the usual departmental packages, Mailing Services is receiving incoming students' packages and is quickly becoming short on storage space. Thank you for your help!

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.

Falcon Card Services is excited to announce that students, staff, and faculty can now pay with Falcon Funds on Grubhub! This means that no matter where you are in the U.S., you can order food through GrubHub and pay with your Falcon Funds. To get started, follow these three easy steps:

1. Log into the Grubhub app and click on the Account icon.
2. Connect your Grubhub account to your Falcon Card by selecting “Campus Dining," find Seattle Pacific University as your campus, and add your affiliation (likely “I am faculty/staff").
3. After you have selected a restaurant and added food to your cart, select “Falcon Card” as your payment method before placing your order. (As a reminder: You can always add Falcon Funds to your Falcon Card Account through the GET app.)

Contact Falcon Card Services (falconcards@spu.edu) with any questions.

The Faculty/Staff Bulletin is published weekly on Mondays during the academic year (or Tuesdays if Monday is a holiday). The next deadline is Thursday, Sept. 8, and the next issue will be published Monday, Sept. 12.

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.

Rachell Sumpter, professor of art, illustrated the pictures in the newly published children's picture book, Birthday of the World: A Story About Finding Light and Light in Everyone and Everything, written by Dr. Rachel Remen, a New York Times bestselling author. The book is described as a modern retelling of a timeless story about healing the world by finding light in everyone and everything. 

Wrote Kirkus Reviews about Rachell’s art, “The painterly images are beautiful, making stunning use of color and light . . . Visually stirring.”

Mohammad Qadam Shah, assistant professor of global development, co-authored a paper, “Paralyzing the WTO from the inside: The deadlock of the appointment of appellate body judges and its repercussions,” (PDF) published in Jurnal IUS Kajian Hukum dan Keadilan.

Karen Snedker, professor of sociology, had her chapter about mental health courts published in Justice Outsourced: The Therapeutic Jurisprudence Implications of Judicial Decision-Making by Nonjudicial Officers (Temple University Press, 2022). Karen also collaborated on a paper, “Property Crime and the Social Control of Visible Homelessness,” which was presented at the annual conference of the American Sociological Association in Los Angeles. She co-authored that paper with Lindsey Beach, an SPU alum and UW grad student, and Charles Lanfear from Cambridge University.

A paper by Alberto Ferreiro, professor emeritus of European history, titled, “Widows in the Hispano-Roman — Suevic/ Visigothic Councils of Hispania,” was published in Vox Patrum 83 (2022) 405–426. This paper is in a special issue on widows in the early church. The journal is published by the Catholic University in Lublin, Poland. This is the first comprehensive study of its kind on the status and place of widows in the Hispano-Roman church as reflected in the church councils that met in Hispania from the fourth through the seventh centuries.

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

Erik Birrueta, undergraduate admissions counselor, University Recruitment and Admissions
Rosa Booker, donor relations and stewardship manager, University Advancement
Zechariah Knepper, undergraduate admissions counselor, University Recruitment and Admissions
Sarah Richter, assistant director, graduate admissions, University Recruitment and Admissions
Brian Rodda, resident manager, Blakely Island Field Station
Debbie Rodda, guest services coordinator, Blakely Island Field Station
Grace Seo, associate director, Educational Technology and Media, Library
Rachel Vasilevich, account coordinator, Conference Services