Many offices and departments are hosting events during the next two weeks for Indigenous Peoples Day, observed in Seattle on the second Monday of October.

Thursday, Oct. 6: Student trip to Burke Museum
Students are invited to explore the Burke Museum and reflect on their sense of place while learning about Indigenous culture. Sponsored by the John Perkins Center Learn & Serve.

Monday, Oct 10: Public lecture with Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley
Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley, a recognized leader in the fields of Indigenous and Intercultural Studies, ecology, spirituality, race, theology, and missiology, will present a public lecture titled “Indigenous Spirit: Weaving Justice and Peace in a Wounded Land," at 7 p.m. in Upper Gwinn Commons. Sponsored by the School of Theology and the SPU Land Acknowledgement Committee.

Tuesday, Oct. 11: Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley in Chapel
Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley will be the guest speaker in Chapel at 11:10 a.m. in Upper Gwinn Commons. Dr. Woodley is professor of faith and culture at George Fox University/Portland Seminary. Sponsored by University Ministries. 

Wednesday, Oct. 12: Exploring Indigenous Literature
Join a discussion with April Middeljans, assistant professor of English, and Ben Hartley, associate professor of mission and world Christianity, on creating spaces for Indigenous voice in their teaching and scholarship. The event will begin at 12 p.m. in the Reading Room on first floor of the library. Sponsored by the Ames Library.

Thursday, Oct. 13: Student debrief on Burke Museum Trip
Students will share their reflections on their recent trip to the museum, and learn about other Perkins Center Learn & Serve opportunities. 

Friday, Oct. 14: "Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World"
Join Christopher Hanson, assistant professor of music, for a screening of this documentary on the profound impact of Indigenous culture on both hard rock and heavy metal music of the late 20th century. This event will be held in Demaray Hall 150, 6–9 p.m. 

Canvas 101 Refresher

In these workshops offered by Educational Technology & Media, explore some basic ways to leverage Canvas to support your teaching. For some, this workshop is an introduction to Canvas essential tools (e.g., modules, assignments, quizzes, gradebook). For others, this might be a refresher of those tools that Canvas offers to enhance your teaching. Here are two options for this workshop: 

• Wednesday, Oct. 5. 2–3 p.m., ETM offices, Library lower level
• Friday, Oct. 7, 10 a.m., Online via Zoom at spu.zoom.us/j/99013275500?pwd=dmNFT2NiZU43TlBJZTdqekNyeXVIUT09

SensusAccess for changing file formats

SensusAccess is an online tool provided for the SPU community that supports changing the format of files. Primarily intended to support accessibility, it’s also helpful if you would like an audio version to that article. A few members of the SensusAccess team will provide an overview of their platform. This workshop will be Tuesday, Oct. 11, 1:15–2 p.m., in the Library classroom.

 A message from Health Services. In pre-Covid years, Health Services has offered flu shots for faculty and staff, however we are not able to offer this service at this time. We apologize for this inconvenience and highly encourage all faculty and staff to use their health insurance to obtain their flu shot at a local pharmacy location or with their primary care provider. We will be offering flu shots to students. We wish you a healthy start to the year!

University Ministries is offering the following small groups and retreats for faculty and staff. 

Group Spiritual Direction

Group Spiritual Direction
"Choose Your Own Adventure." University Ministries invites you to join with others for monthly group spiritual direction. This one-hour meeting will provide a communal confidential space for people to discern the work of God in each person’s life and encouragement to respond to the invitations God is offering, in community together. The groups will be led by Chaplain Lisa Ishihara or Pastor and Spiritual Director Jen Manglos. If you had a group in mind or would like to form one, please email Chaplain Lisa at chaplainlisa@spu.edu and we will work to coordinate with a spiritual director for three sessions.

Faculty/Staff: Half-Day Spiritual Retreats

Join other faculty and staff across campus for a half-day retreat from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. We will either meet on campus or at a local place of beauty. This will be a guided time of spiritual reflection and care guided by spiritual directors and Chaplain Lisa. Morning refreshments and lunch will be provided. Cost: $10 and scholarships are available. You can sign up for more than one.

     1. Thursday, Oct. 13 — “Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane” Retreat: This retreat will focus on the truth that God is with us and Jesus knows us.
     2. Saturday, Oct. 29 — “The Invitation of Gratitude” Retreat: This retreat is part of our November theme of thankfulness and gratitude which will be kicked off at our All University Chapel on Monday, Nov. 1.
     3. Wednesday, Dec. 7 — “Advent and the Longest Night” Retreat: This will be after Autumn Quarter is over and we will be invited to look forward and to be present. May God fill our souls in the waiting.
     4. Choose Your Own Adventure: If you have a small group of people you would like to meet with, you can form your own group (minimum five people), come as a department and we can craft a retreat for your group specifically.

Register Here: forms.office.com/r/0R0Tb686Ly

A message from Cheryl Michaels, associate director of Safety and Security and director of emergency management: Our yearly all-campus evacuation drill will occur at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 13. The start of the drill will include an earthquake preparedness message of "drop, cover, and hold on” before the evacuation drill message is sent. The earthquake preparedness exercise is part of the annual Great Washington Shakeout, a statewide opportunity to practice how to be safer during big earthquakes. Here are the instructions for drop, cover, and hold on. 

In most situations, you will reduce your chance of injury if you:

  DROP where you are, onto your hands and knees. This position protects you from being knocked down and also allows you to stay low and crawl to shelter if nearby. 

  COVER your head and neck with one arm and hand.

• If a sturdy table or desk is nearby, crawl underneath it for shelter
• If no shelter is nearby, crawl next to an interior wall (away from windows)
• Stay on your knees; bend over to protect vital organs

  HOLD ON until shaking stops.

• Under shelter: hold on to it with one hand; be ready to move with your shelter if it shifts
• No shelter: hold on to your head and neck with both arms and hands

Winter/spring reservation requests are now being taken for Camp Casey's Faculty/Staff House for full-time faculty and staff. The dates of stay are Jan. 4–June 12, 2023. Reservation requests are due by Oct. 24, 2022. These requests are selected by lottery and are not affected by summer stays at Casey. Please visit this link to request a reservation. If you are curious how the lottery works or how to stay at Camp Casey with discounted faculty and staff rates, check out the Human Resources wiki. Questions? Contact Camp Casey at campcasey@spu.edu.

Registration has closed for In Context during Autumn Quarter, which will run Mondays, 5–6:30 p.m., Oct. 3–Nov. 7 (during weeks 4–9). In Context is a six-week workshop hosted by Catalyst on race, capitalism, and transformative justice that is open to SPU students, staff, and faculty. Coming together to learn about the ever-present reality of systemic racism in order to refine our perceptions of ourselves, our histories, and our collective society. Look for In Context sign-ups in Winter Quarter and sign up early. Contact Rae Perez (perezm9@spu.edu) with questions.

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 weekly on Mondays during the academic year (or Tuesday, if Monday is a holiday). The next deadline is Thursday, Oct. 6, and the next issue will be published Monday, Oct. 10.

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.

Jennifer Maier, professor of English and writer in residence, will be a visiting writer from Nov. 6 to Dec. 7, 2022, at the American Academy in Rome, Italy, an overseas center for independent studies and advanced research in the fine arts and humanities, as profiled in this brief video.

Mohammad Qadam Shah, assistant professor of global development, spoke at the symposium, Global Corruption and Authoritarianism: Exploring the Nexus, at the University of Oklahoma in September 2022.

A book by Michael Paulus, dean of the library and assistant provost for educational technology, and Mike Langford, professor of theology, discipleship, and ministry, titled AI, Faith, and the Future: An Interdisciplinary Approach was published by Pickwick Publications, 2022. The book, an exploration of artificial intelligence from the perspective of Christian faith, includes essays by them and SPU colleagues Carlos Arias, assistant professor of computer sciences, Bruce Baker, professor emeritus of business, Phil Baker, assistant professor of psychology, Rebekah Rice, associate professor of philosophy, and David Wicks, associate professor of curriculum and instruction.

Munyi Shea, professor of counselor education, Paul Kim, professor of psychology, and Joel Jin, assistant professor of clinical psychology, presented a panel discussion, “Promoting Academic Resilience among Racially Minoritized Students through an Inclusive Ethics of Care and Belonging,” at the inaugural Best Practices in Christian High Education conference at Abilene Christian University. They presented three projects — White students’ ethnocultural empathy toward Asian/Asian American students during COVID; an Everyday Mindfulness seminar course for first-generation college students; and a peer mentoring program for students of color — that were implemented at SPU to understand racially minoritized students and/or first-generation college students’ experience on campus and to provide culturally inclusive and resilience-enhancing preventive care.

Two poems by Mischa Willett, assistant professor of English and writing, titled “Light, Bulb,” and “In a Dark Wood,” were published in the recent issue of Solum Literary Press.

Jason Thornberry, receptionist for School of Education and an adjunct professor of writing, was interviewed Sept. 28, 2022, for Quintessential Listening: Poetry Online Radio.

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

Michelle Anastacio, administrative assistant, School of Health Sciences
Emily Morris, undergraduate academic counselor, Academic Support Center
Marlon Sandlin, interim director of endowments and gift planning, University Advancement
Jessie Smith, study abroad manager, Office of Global Engagement
Marisa Vogel, undergraduate academic counselor, Academic Support Center

For his monthly cartoon, Nate Hoover, program coordinator in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program, explains this month’s feature: Sometimes signs have unintended consequences. To see more of my cartoons, follow me on Instagram: @hoovernathaniel.

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