A message from Chuck Strawn, dean of students for community life: With the shift to a three-day 2023 Orientation (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 8-10) to better accommodate our students and their families, Faculty Council and Senior Leadership have approved moving the opening ceremony for the 2023-24 academic year to Saturday, September 9, 2023.

As you remember, New Student Convocation is where we join to formally welcome our new students into the academic community at SPU by circling around them, visualizing the care and wisdom that will surround our new students throughout their time at SPU. This ceremony has proven to be a meaningful experience for our new students, their families, and our faculty, and is a great powerful connection to Ivy Cutting at the end of a student’s journey with us.

Faculty are invited to join our students and families for lunch in the Loop beginning at 12 p.m., with the Convocation and Circle of Matriculation ceremony at 1:30 p.m. We hope that you’ll be able to join us for the community meal; it’ll certainly make gathering for the Convocation processional that much easier.

Saturday will also have additional opportunities for faculty to engage with new students (including Colloquium Connections) and their families (Faculty Academic Forum). More details will be provided in the coming weeks.

Questions or ideas can be directed to Orientation@spu.edu or Kevin Deschler, assistant director in the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership, at deschlerk@spu.edu.

The Department of Family and Consumer Sciences invites faculty and staff to the Interior Design Senior Exhibit on Tuesday, June 6, 4:30‒7 p.m. in Emerson Hall lobby. The exhibit is the culmination of senior interior design students’ portfolios.

The SPU Art Center is pleased to present the 2023 Visual Communication exhibition “Complementary: a visual demonstration how different experiences, cultures, and styles come together to create something bold, vivid, and beautiful" at SPAC Gallery in the Seattle Pacific Art Center through June 9. There will be a public reception with refreshments on Thursday, June 1, 5–7 p.m. at SPAC Gallery. 

Students will exhibit examples of their work throughout their time here at SPU exploring various disciplines in design to include graphic, visual, web, brand, motion, environmental, information, experience, human-centered and UI/UX. Follow their Instagram and senior show website, Complementary.

A message from Conference Services: We are thrilled to announce that the SPU guest apartment is now open and accepting reservations! If you're in need of a cozy and convenient place to stay on campus, our fully furnished one-bedroom apartment is the perfect choice. The guest apartment can comfortably accommodate up to four people, with a queen-size bed in the bedroom and a sleeper sofa in the living room. It also features a full-size bathroom, a well-equipped kitchen with basic cookware and dining utensils, and a dining room for meals and gatherings.

Our rates for the apartment are: $125 for one night, $85 per night for two or more nights, or $500 per week for seven consecutive nights. Please note that full payment is required in advance and is nonrefundable to secure a reservation.

We are also pleased to announce that we've expanded our inventory with an additional unit. In addition to our existing guest apartment, we now have a charming guest house located at 320 Dravus. This quaint home features one bedroom, an office, a full kitchen and bathroom, and a cozy living room.

The rate for this new unit is $130 per night, with a discounted rate of $90 per night for two or more nights, or $550 per week (seven consecutive nights). Just like our original guest apartment, full payment is required in advance to secure a reservation and is nonrefundable.

To book your reservation, you can now go directly to the SPU Room Finder.

If you have any questions or would like to make a reservation, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are available to assist you in any way we can.

A message from Cindy Strong, education librarian: This past year, a group of faculty, staff, and emeriti faculty enjoyed playing pickleball on a weekly basis in the upper gym of Brougham Pavilion. We plan to play during the summer. We would love to have any level of player join us. If you are an expert, the weak link, or somewhere in between, come join the fun. We have a great time and play grace-filled pickleball. If you are interested in playing this summer, email me off-list and let me know preferable days and times.

Medicare Individual Appointments

Wednesday, May 31, 8:30 a.m.–4 p.m.
Human Resources Conference Room

Dan McCarley, an experienced Medicare Health Plan broker, will be available on campus for individual appointments to help you navigate Medicare planning and enrollment. There are only a few slots available. Sign up here!

Here are some spiritual care resources for faculty and staff from Campus Ministries: 

Staff and Faculty Pizza and Prayer
Thursday, June 8, 12–1 p.m.
Spiritual Care Room, SUB 110

Join us for a time of pizza, salad, and prayer. We just want to be in community, share a meal, fellowship, and spend a little time in prayer together. Feel free to come and go as you are able on Thursday, June 8, 12–1 p.m.

Drop in Spiritual Direction Sessions

Spiritual Direction is a space where we invite a friend to join us in listening for the voice of God, helping us to see, hear, and notice His movements and voice that we otherwise might have missed. In a culture with so much busyness and background noise, a spiritual director helps us to dial in to the one voice that we’ve been longing for: The Holy Spirit.

Both Pastor Jen Manglos and Mike Labrum, spiritual formation coordinator in UMin, are trained spiritual directors that are available for drop-in sessions to process anything on your heart or mind that you’d like to talk about. No previous experience required. Email Jen or Mike using the contact information below for an available time to drop in.

Jen Manglos – jenmanglos@gmail.com (visit jenmanglos.com for more information)

Mike Labrum – mike@deeperwalksd.org(visit deeperwalksd.org for more information)

Spiritual Care Room SUB 110
Mondays–Fridays, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

We have converted room 110A on the ground floor of the SUB into a Spiritual Care Room. This is a reflective space where you can pull away to catch your breath for a moment. Inside you will find warm and comfortable seating and coffee, tea, and food. There will also be spiritual resources such as self-guided prayer practices, Lectio Divina, and other interactive stations handcrafted to care for you.

Spiritual rhythm: We invite you to join us in the spiritual rhythm of “Prayer Labyrinth.”

Grounding exercise: Stress and anxiety are often some of the biggest obstacles we face when it comes to important moments in our lives. Grounding techniques can help to ease our hearts and mind to help us navigate stressful moments. Walk through this practice to help turn volume down on the anxiety in your life.

Online Spiritual Care Resources
If you are unable to make it over to our Spiritual Care Room (SUB 110), we have posted all of our faculty and staff spiritual care resources online, which can be found here.

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, June 1, and the next issue will be published Monday, June 5. The Bulletin will be published every other week during the summer being June 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.

For their June concerts, the Northwest Chamber Chorus welcomes their Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music Stephen Newby. Dr. Newby will present premieres of new works that have been commissioned by the NWCC, which will tell the story of African lives lost while crossing the Middle Passage enroute to a life of enslavement in America. The concert website states: "As the NWCC addresses our collective histories — including singing almost exclusively Eurocentric music — and our desire to create a more equitable and just world for people of all races, this collaboration provides an opportunity to mourn and commemorate the many African lives lost in the process of building the Americas.”

For tickets and more details, visit the Northwest Chamber Chorus website.

Performances and LiveStream will be on:

Sunday June 4, at 3 p.m. at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tg-_1jT6e4

Saturday June 10, at 7:30 p.m. at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9KXDeJ9yWU

Michael Paulus, dean of the library and assistant provost for educational technology, has published Artificial Intelligence and the Apocalyptic Imagination: Artificial Agency and Human Hope. In this book, based on his 2022 Weter Lecture, Michael explores historical and theological resources that may help us create a better world with AI.

Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum, an adjunct instructor in the Writing Program, has been awarded one of five spots in the inaugural cohort of the Willa Cather Foundation's Residency for Writers to work on her fourth collection of fiction. Congratulations! Read more about the award here.

 A book chapter by Mohammad Qadam Shah, assistant professor of global development, titled "The Dangers of Centralization: Lessons from Twenty Years of Liberal State-Building in Afghanistan," was published in Centralization: Costs and Benefits (Nova Science Publisher).

Please join the Office of Human Resources in welcoming James Parrack, transportation worker, in Facility & Project Management.

Paul Youngbin Kim, professor of psychology, and one of his research students, Marcella Locke, shared their responses to the critically acclaimed Netflix series, "Beef," on Psychology Today's Culture, Religion, and Psychology blog. Writes Paul, "We thought it would be worthwhile to blog about our responses to this show, especially in relation to topics that we deeply care about in our research team—mental health, religion, and Asian American experiences."