The new issue of Response magazine invites you to spend time with Advent 2021: Weekly Advent Meditations from Scott Cairns, professor of English and director of the MFA program; Rick Steele, professor of moral and historical theology; Dominique Gilliard, guest speaker on campus this fall; and past reflections from the late alumnus Eugene Peterson ’54.

Go Birds! chronicles Seattle Pacific University sports and how they evolved over time — from the origins of men's competition in 1930s-40s to the expansion of women's sports in the 1970s. The history is told through stories, beginning in 1950 and extending through SPU's 125th anniversary year in 2016–17. From golden goals to buzzer beaters, the pages are filled with engaging anecdotes and statistics about Falcon players, coaches, and teams. It's a book for Falcon fans, former players, and anyone who appreciates the impact SPU sports have made on the Seattle community and beyond. 

The book was compiled by John Glancy, retired staff member and former director of SPU's 125 anniversary celebration; Wes Lingren, professor emeritus of chemistry and former tennis coach; Frank MacDonald, former SPU sports information director; and Adrienne Meier, University Archivist.

Go Birds! is available on Amazon.com.

Seattle Pacific University enhanced continuing education offerings include career accelerators specifically designed to build workplace skills. Students can extend their marketability with a variety of courses, including Project Management, Leadership in Healthcare, Financial Success and Professionalism, Foundations of Data Analytics, and more. Designed for busy professionals, and only $250 per course, career accelerators make a great gift for someone who wants to develop their skillset through self-paced curriculum led by respected industry experts. Learn more and review all the career accelerator courses.

You can now buy Fort Casey Inn gift certificates online. Share a unique and adventurous present with your loved ones this holiday season! For more information, visit the Fort Casey Inn gift certificate page.

Julia Wattacheril, associate professor of medicine and director of the Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Program at Columbia University Irving Medical Center-New York Presbyterian Hospital, was on campus Oct. 27, for the first in the Faith, Diversity, and Science Lecture Series. Her lecture, which addressed the question, “What does God think about creation?” and explored themes of wholeness and suffering, is now available online to SPU students, faculty, and staff.

A recent SPU Voices Podcast features Professor of Art Katie Kresser, Seattle Pacific University’s resident art historian. She says great art teaches us empathy, unveils human nature, and forces us to think outside the box. Visual art can reveal the thought processes of people living far away or in our distant past, and, for her, art history has been an unparalleled journey of the imagination. If art can help us understand the past, it can surely help us understand our neighbors. Katie received her bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and her master’s and PhD from Harvard University. She has been at SPU since 2006.

From the Office of the Provost: In fall 2021, the Theological Integration Fellows Program welcomed its third cohort, comprised of Carlos Arias (ECS), Kristen Hoffman (Psych/Library), Brittany Tausen (Psych), and Joshua Tom (Sociology). We now look forward to receiving our fourth-year cohort applications. This program and certification provides seminary training to faculty members who wish to better integrate their faith with their disciplines and professionally enhance their teaching and scholarship. If you are interested in participating in the fourth cohort of this program, starting in autumn 2022, please submit an application to the Office of the Provost no later than Monday, Dec. 13. Applications must be accompanied by a letter of approval from your dean.

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 during the academic year. The next deadline is Thursday, Dec. 9, and the next issue will be published Monday, Dec. 13. 

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.

An article by June Hyun, associate professor of counselor education, Malti Tuttle, Caroline Lopez-Perry, and Shanel Robinson titled “A social justice recruitment and retention model for diversifying school counselor education,” was published in the Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision, 14(4).

Former Paul T. Walls Professor of Wesleyan Studies Rob Wall’s final Walls Lecture, “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us”: A Wesleyan Pneumatology of Scripture,” delayed from Spring Quarter due to an abundance of campus caution in handling the pandemic, was presented Wednesday evening, Nov. 10. While the topic of Rob’s lecture targeted the Holy Spirit’s role in producing and performing the church’s Scripture, the questions his lecture raised — including those asked by current Paul T. Walls Professor of Wesleyan Studied Doug Strong in response — consider a range of important issues facing the church and the church-related academy, including the manner of a Spirit-led discourse about human sexuality based upon his reading of Acts 15. Rob responded to several of these questions in a series of footnotes he has now added to the lecture’s final form posted online.

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

• Autumn Parks, weekend customer service lead, Casey Conference Center
• Blake Raney, advancement officer, University Advancement
• Lindsay Simpson, donor relations and stewardship manager, University Advancement
• Joseph Wong-Garcia, security officer, Safety and Security

Karen Snedker, professor of sociology, had her opinion piece, “King County’s homeless count should go forward,” published in The Seattle Times on Dec. 2. In it, she strongly urged the King County Regional Homelessness Authority not opt out of the annual count of homeless individuals in the greater-Seattle area for a second year in a row. Karen was also interviewed by KIRO-TV on Dec. 4 about the same topic.

Frank Furtado ‘61, beloved coach and member of the Falcon Athletic Hall of Fame, passed away on Dec. 4, 2021. Frank started the first and only SPU varsity wrestling program in 1965 while also serving as athletic trainer. Five of his teams finished among the top 20 nationally, including two in the top 10. Two individuals were NCAA runners-up. When the wrestling program was cut in 1974, he went on to serve as the trainer and traveling secretary for the Seattle SuperSonics, which won an NBA title five years later. He also served as athletic trainer for the Seatlle Sounders from 1974 to 1976. The Sonics named their practice facility in honor of Frank and his wife, Sarah, who collectively served the team for more than 50 years. Read more about Frank and his role in athletics on the Falcon Hall of Fame website, the spring 2001 issue of Response magazine, and the Athletics "Catching Up With" feature from July 2016.  Plans for a memorial service are pending. Select the link for a photo of Frank, and his wife, Sarah.

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Although Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Craig Kispert ’88 closed out his 29-year career as an SPU employee on Dec. 2, the SPU Archives and SPU Athletics teamed up for this quick look back at Craig’s time as a Falcon hoops star. During his time playing in the basketball seasons spanning 1984–1985 and 1987–1988, Craig hit a total of 1,210 points, which currently ranks him 19th among all-time scorers. Select the link below to see a photo of Craig in action! 

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