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

Many offices and departments are hosting events this week for Indigenous Peoples Day, observed in Seattle on the second Monday of October.

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. 

To help you with your benefit decisions, Human Resources will host its annual Benefits Fair on Thursday, Oct. 20, 9 a.m.– 2 p.m. in Upper Gwinn. Take a few moments to stroll around the fair and enjoy some snacks with your co-workers. This will be an opportunity to hear presentations from benefit providers and learn how to make the most of your SPU benefits. Representatives from Aetna, HSA Bank, Delta Dental, VSP, Transamerica, and more will be on hand to answer your questions and concerns. DON’T FORGET the prize give-a-ways and three $100 door prizes! We look forward to seeing you there.

A message from Human Resources: Open Enrollment is coming Oct. 19–Nov. 4! This is your opportunity to make changes to your benefit elections, including medical, dental, vision, and flexible-spending accounts for the upcoming 2023 benefit plan year. Watch for important announcements from Human Resources in the days ahead.

SPU Athletics presents the free Stress Scan Event sponsored by Shepherd Family Chiropractic. Come join the Shepherd’s in the Royal Brougham Falcon Club from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Snacks and coffee will be provided. Dr. Shepherd will be doing a 10-minute scan that measures muscle tension and identifies where you are holding your stress. Scans are non-invasive and painless. Dr. Shepherd will pinpoint areas of imbalance and provide the proper course of action. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Scott Nolte ’76, co-founder and producing artistic director at Taproot Theatre Company for 44 years, recently retired. And in 2018, in preparation for that retirement, Scott took the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, the Way of St. James, walking nearly 500 miles in just 32 days. Listen now to hear about his incredible journey.

You are invited to the School of Business, Government, and Economics Dean's Speaker Series event on Monday, October 17, with Jacqueline Drumheller, global sustainability program manager with Bio-Rad Laboratories. Jacqueline has over 30 years of sustainability, environmental compliance, and environmental consulting experience. She joined Bio-Rad Laboratories in 2021 as global sustainability program manager, where she is responsible for developing and launching Bio-Rad’s global sustainability strategy.

The event will be held Monday, Oct. 17 at 10:30 a.m. in the Ames Library, 2nd floor Seminar Room. RSVP at cal@spu.edu.

The kickoff meeting for the annual Social Venture Plan Competition is Thursday, Oct. 20, 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. in McKenna Hall 117. Students are encouraged to come and learn how to get involved in the competition where teams of students from different majors plan sustainable businesses that meet real needs – and make a profit. It’s all about competition, innovation, and social benefit – not to mention thousands in prize money! Open to all majors.

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.

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.

Whether it’s as a part of your SPU account or your bank account, Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) is here to stay. While it’s not a silver bullet against all cybersecurity threats (and we still need to be on the watch for “phishy” behavior), it's a simple measure that should be enabled anywhere it is available.

SPU is finishing up its migration of all “@spu.edu” accounts to be using MFA this fall using Azure MFA (if you haven’t enrolled already, do so now!). This means that all logins used to access SPU systems will be afforded this protection and our accounts and systems will be more secure. Importantly, this will also help prevent bad actors from using a compromised account to bombard campus inboxes with phishing or scamming attempts. Read more at the CIS Technology Blog.

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. 13, and the next issue will be published Monday, Oct. 17.

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.

From the Office of Enrollment Management and Marketing: We are planning a very special retirement celebration this month. Our dear friend and colleague, Kim Gilnett, former senior Undergraduate Admissions counselor and longtime staff member, will retire after starting work at SPU in the summer of 1974. For nearly 48 years he has played a wonderful role in inviting students to SPU. (Or 52 years, if you count his four years of study here as an undergraduate.) His passion for SPU and for thoughtful Christian higher education has been a standard for many of us. We are celebrating his legacy at SPU on Oct. 19, 3–4:30 p.m., in Upper Gwinn. RSVP to Linda McCarrel at 206-281-2650 or mccarrell@spu.edu. We are grateful and thankful for Kim and his incredible years of service to SPU and God’s kingdom. Please join us to celebrate him.

Alice Bravo, assistant professor of teacher education, had a co-authored paper published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. The article is titled “Telehealth Delivery in Part C Early Intervention: Provider and Caregiver Perspectives.” Telehealth is a promising modality for Part C early intervention (EI), services typically implemented face-to-face in home and community settings. COVID necessitated the shift from face-to-face services to telehealth. This study looks at the providers’ perspectives of service changes resulting from the telehealth transition.

Sarah Bassingthwaighte, director of instrumental music, will participate in the U.S. premiere of Arturo Marquez' Danzon #3 for Flute, Guitar, and Orchestra during The Music From Latin American–Family Concert on Saturday, Oct. 15, 7:30 p.m., at the Highline Performing Arts Center. On Friday, Oct. 21, she will also perform the world premier of "Para Ale" at Flutarra–Latin American Music for Flute and Guitar at the Sheridan Market in Lake Forest Park, 6–9 p.m.

Katherine Douglass, assistant professor of educational ministry, was the guest editor with Justin Forbes for a special edition of Theology Today that shares the findings of the Missing Voice Project at Flagler College, of which she has been the senior researcher. The articles include “Disrupting Ecclesial Norms: Emerging Findings from The Missing Voices Project,” and “Seeing, Hearing, Serving, and Delighting in LGBTQ+ Youth and Youth with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.”

Jeff Keuss, professor of Christian ministry, theology, and culture, led a seminar on the Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo work as a paradigm of postcolonial ecclesiology arising in mid-20th century world literature at the International Society of Religion, Literature, and Culture at the University of Chester, United Kingdom, on Sept. 17, 2022. Jeff also chaired two panels on literature and religion during the conference. His seminar is part of his forthcoming book on activism and the poetics of justice in literature of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Three essays by Jeffrey Overstreet, assistant professor of English and writing, have been published in the past month. BrightWallDarkRoom.com, a website for long-form film criticism, published his essay “I’ve Seen Things You Wouldn’t Believe: Death-Sentence Testimonies in Blade Runner, Wings of Desire, and Nomadland.” At RabbitRoom.com, a new series of Overstreet essays reflecting on questions of faith reflected in fantasy films has begun, so far including “A Wooden Boy Unbound: What Pinocchio Means to Me” and “Marcel the Shell’s Movie is Good Medicine for Our Pandemic Recovery.” (It was a while ago now, but it’s worth mentioning: Jeff also lectured at Houston Baptist University’s 2022 HBU Virtual Writers Conference last spring, presenting “Animated Enchantment and Real-World Horror: Finding a Holy Focus in Two Movies About ‘The Chosen One.’”)

In addition to his research on early anti-slavery movements, Bill Woodward, professor emeritus of history, has continued an extensive outside speaking schedule, often under the sponsorship of Humanities Washington. Most recently he has spoken in Stanwood, Seattle, and Bellevue on parallels between today and the 1920s, on baseball, and on waves of immigration to the Northwest. Since May 2022, he has presented 13 such historical lectures at community venues and senior centers statewide from Ilwaco to Issaquah, and in Seattle from Greenwood to Madison Park. He also contributed background to The Seattle Times weekly feature “Now and Then,” and presented a two-part seminar in July at Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center on the 18th century Awakenings and their hymnody (featuring the Wesleys).

Please join the Office of Human Resources in welcoming Evelyn Ampofo Gyimah, accounts payable supervisor, Financial Affairs.

The Seattle Times included the SPU Theatre Department’s Autumn Mainstage production, Mrs. Packer, in its article, “Where to See College Theatre This Fall in Seattle.”

A memorial service for Mike Tindall ’71, emerita professor of computer science, will be held Saturday, Oct. 22, 1 p.m., at the Cedar Park Church, 16300 112th Ave. NE, Bothell, WA 98011. Mike taught at SPU for 37 years, and served as chair of the Computer Science Department for 25 years. He retired in 2017 and passed away Sept. 24, 2021.