The Human Resources Office is closed for construction and will hopefully re-open on Jan. 4,2021. HR staff are still available by phone, email, or Teams meetings. If you need to make a personal appointment with any HR team member, contact the individual directly. This can include a face-to-face meeting on campus if necessary and an appropriate space can be found. For any hard-copy document deliveries that cannot wait until January, please send it through inter-office mail. The HR staff picks up mail twice each week at Mailing Services.

More than 5,500 SPU families recently received the December 2020 In the Loop parents newsletter, which included a link to the “O Holy Night” video from Behold!, information about joining the parents/families Facebook group, the Christian Theology (BA) to Christian Ministry (MA) program, and more.

Highlights, program snapshots, news … The School of Health Sciences just sent out a newly redesigned e-newsletter, covering both Nursing and Health and Human Performance programs. Read it here.

From Staff Council: Inspired by The Great British Bake Off, we are holding a baking competition for staff that will take place in your kitchen and on our brand new Instagram account — spustaff.

Between now and Friday, Jan. 15, bake up something festive, snap a photo, and share your recipe! At the end of the competition, we will award Byen Bakeri gift cards for different categories, and gather all submissions for a campuswide digital holiday cookbook. More information and the submission form can be found at this Formstack link. (Please note: we will only accept submissions via Formstack.) 

Could you be Star Baker of the entire SPU campus? Enter and find out!

The Office of Inclusive Excellence invites you to join us 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 14, for the workshop, Diversity 101: Exploring the What, Why, and How of Diversity at SPU. Learn more and sign up here.

University Ministries stewards a Benevolence Fund to serve undergraduate students experiencing financial hardship or emergency situations. Typically, an offering for the fund is collected at the annual Thanksgiving Chapel service, but due to the change of the academic schedule this service did not occur. As we come to the close of a particularly difficult year where the fund was in high demand, we invite the SPU community to consider a contribution of any size in support of our students. You can select the “Benevolence Fund” option through University Advancement’s website.

Mailing Services hours of operation are 8 a.m.–4 p.m. until Tuesday, Dec. 22. and there will be no mail deliveries to departments. Faculty and staff are welcome to come in during those hours to pick up mail and/or packages. 

Between Dec. 28 and Dec. 31, Mailing Services will have limited operational hours of 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., with no counter sales. If you wish to pick up departmental mail during that week, come to the back door for assistance. On Monday, Jan. 4, Mailing Services resumes normal business hours, 8 a.m.–4 p.m., with afternoon department mail and package deliveries.

If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact Mailing Services at 206-281-2077.

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 this is the final Bulletin for 2020. The next Bulletin will be published Monday, Jan. 4, and the deadline is Tuesday, Dec. 22. If you have news or event information for the start of Winter Quarter, be sure to submit the information by Dec. 22.

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 Tracie Delgado, associate professor of biology, and recent SPU graduates Shun-Je Bhark and Joshua Donahue, titled “Pandemic Teaching: Creating and teaching cell biology labs online during COVID-19” was published in the journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education.

Pete Renn, associate professor of curriculum and instruction and assistant dean, had his article “Educational Policy and Curriculum Studies” approved for publication in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. 

Jordan Shannon, assistant professor of counselor education, successfully defended his dissertation on Dec. 11, 2020. His dissertation title is “Examining Intentions to Seek Counseling amongst African American College Students.” Congratulations, Dr. Shannon!

Jennie Warmouth, adjunct professor of education and fourth grade teacher, recently had her article “Melting the Ice: Arctic Tourists’ Epiphanies and Connections to Wildlife” in the Journal of Ecotourism. 

Alberto Ferreiro, professor of European history, had his article, “Stela de l’alba és appellat sent Johan Babtista: the Martyrdom of John the Baptist in a Sermon in Catalán of St. Vicent Ferrer,” accepted for publication in the journal Gregorianum. The peer-reviewed journal has been published by the Gregorian University in Rome for over 100 years. The article explores the pastoral content of the sermon in which Vicent Ferrer touched upon several key theological discussions about the afterlife, the fate of unbaptized infants, and how John the Baptist was a model to follow to fully serve Christ.

Peter Renn, associate professor of curriculum and assistant dean in the School of Education, was interviewed by the News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) for a story titled "Becoming a teacher has always been difficult in WA. Remote learning makes it tougher." The story was published on Dec. 19, 2020.