President Porterfield will hold a post-BOT Town Hall on Tuesday, Mar. 5, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. in Upper Gwinn. She will give an update on the winter Board of Trustees meeting. The presentation will be recorded and shared after the meeting for those unable to attend.

A message from Undergraduate Admissions: A huge thank you to those faculty who have already signed up! Over 20 of you have already committed to helping write a few personal notes to our admitted students for next fall. If you haven't signed up already, we would love your help! Signing up should take less than a minute of your time and you can clarify how many cards you can do.

University Services would like to invite you to celebrate the grand reopening of Falcon’s Post (formerly the Bookstore). Now the home of Mailing & Copying Services, the campus store, and our Falcon Advantage online bookstore, Falcon’s Post is the place to go for a variety of services and the latest SPU branded gear. Join us anytime during our hours of operation (8 a.m.–4 p.m.) on Thursday, Mar. 7 for information on services offered, a chance to meet the staff, tea and cookies, and giveaways (while supplies last). Demos of the new Parcel Lockers will be given to faculty and staff between 11 a.m.–1 p.m.

Join the SPU Library in celebrating Open Education Week by participating in a workshop in the ETM offices (Library lower level) on Thursday, Mar. 7, 12:30–2 p.m. To support student success, we want to share a range of options that could improve access to affordable course materials. Bring your laptop and syllabi. Topics include: finding and using open educational resources (OER), assessing and reviewing OER, locating and using library materials (including licensed materials like films and eBooks), and faculty grants for reviewing open textbooks. Box lunches will be available for those that RSVP by March 5, but RSVPs are not required otherwise. Coffee, tea, and cookies will also be available.

A message from Computer and Information Systems: CIS is in the final stages of assisting departments with migrating all their files off our retiring Matthew file server and into online storage in SharePoint. All files not migrated by the end of Winter Quarter will be placed in read-only mode over Spring Break.

The SPU Library has created three exhibits in honor of President Porterfield’s inauguration. Items in the exhibit have been selected from the University Archives and Special Collections.

1. History of Presidential Inaugurations at SPU: (Library Reading Room, main floor near entrance.) This exhibit includes photographs and memorabilia of all 12 SPU presidents and their inaugurations.
2. Women of Impact at SPU/Constancy of Mission at SPU: (Library Administrative Suite, second floor north alcove). This exhibit curated by students includes photographs and artifacts honoring several impactful women over SPU’s long history. 
3. Items Associated with Early Histories of Wesleyanism, Free Methodism, and Seattle Pacific, 1746-1975: (Library, second floor south alcove). This exhibit includes selected rare items and books on Wesleyanism, Free Methodism, and SPU.

From Alumni, Parent, and Family Relations: Show your Falcon spirit with virtual backgrounds and wallpapers on the new Digital Swag webpage. Bring SPU’s beautiful campus to life on your preferred platform or device. Check out the campus shots and download your favorites to use as your laptop's or desktop's wallpaper or feature one as the background of your next virtual meeting.

The SPU Percussion Ensemble presents its Winter Concert on Thursday, Mar. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in E.E. Bach Theater in McKinley Hall. The repertoire includes works by Joel Smales, Mark Ford, Kyle H. Peters, Earl Hatch, Mitchel Peters, and Jim Casella and features solo performances by students Spencer Long, James Loffink, and Olivia Callen. Admission is free.

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 contact 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 every Monday during the academic year, or Tuesday if Monday is a holiday. The next deadline is Thursday, Mar. 7 The next issue will be published Monday, Mar. 11.

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.

Kim Sawers, vice president of business and finance, has been appointed as a new trustee of Faith in Business, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1989 as the God on Monday project at Ridley Hall in Cambridge, England. Faith in Business seeks to affirm the role of business in God’s purposes and explore the application of Christian faith and values in business. Kim's involvement with Faith in Business over the years has led her to think deeply about integrating her faith with her work at Seattle Pacific University. She says she's excited to be a trustee of Faith in Business and see it continuing to provide the academic and practical resources that serve Christians in business around the world. Congratulations, Kim!

An article by Krystle Jalalian-Chursky, assistant professor of special education, and Britany Tausen, associate professor of psychology, was recently published in the journal, Student Success. The article is titled, “Teaching Resilient Mindsets: Developing a Model and an Active Learning Workshop for First-Year College Students." (Jalalian-Chursky, K., & Tausen , B. M. (2024), Student Success, 15(1).

A new peer-reviewed article titled, “The Irreducible Novelty of Chemistry in Natural History,” by Professor of Biochemistry Ben McFarland was published in the March 2024 issue of the American Scientific Affiliation journal, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, 76 (1), 3-17.

President Porterfield was featured in The Seattle Times on Feb. 22 in an article titled, "First woman to lead Seattle Pacific University takes on steep challenges."