President Porterfield will hold a post-BOT Town Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 3–4 p.m. in Upper Gwinn. She will give an update on the November Board of Trustees meeting. The presentation will be recorded and a link to the recording will be shared.

A message from Educational Technology and Media: Need a way to support group presentations in an asynchronous format for your class? Learn how to use Microsoft Teams and Canvas to record live presentations and collect asynchronous peer feedback in the next workshop on Thursday, Nov. 13. Plus, hear how other faculty use this approach in their classes.

• 1–2 p.m. On campus at ETM (the lower level of the library)
• 3–4 p.m. Online) via Teams
  
  Registration link: https://forms.office.com/r/K1aUbzmp3D

(Can't make it? You can request the recordings through the registration link or by contacting ETM at etmhelp@spu.edu.)

Missed a past workshop: Catch up with previous sessions this fall: "Canvas Updates & New Features" or "Making Thinking Visible: Designing Annotation Assignments in Canvas." Watch the online recordings now on the ETM website.

A friendly alert: Instructure (the company behind Canvas) has announced that YouTube has changed its model and approach to embedded content. Beginning October 31, 2025, any existing or new YouTube videos embedded in Canvas may display advertisements. If you use YouTube videos within your Canvas course, either for students to view online or to play during in-person classes, please be aware that ads may now appear.

The next Chapel is Tuesday, Nov. 18, 11:10 a.m. in First Free Methodist Church with Professor of Biblical Studies Sarah Koenig. The complete Chapel schdedule is available online. All faculty and staff are invited to join a community lunch each week after Chapel in the SUB Fireside Room. Bring your lunch and share fellowship with others across campus.

In partnership with the Museum of Special Art, the Division of Education is honored to welcome California artist Charles Curtis Blackwell on Wednesday, Nov,19, 4–6 p.m. in McKinley Hall. Blackwell will share his life’s journey as a visually impaired African American artist and poet, exploring the courage it took to overcome a life-altering accident and how faith, art, and resilience have shaped his creative path.

His presentation will include poetry readings, storytelling, and a live demonstration of his unorthodox painting techniques. Blackwell’s message beautifully aligns with SPU’s mission of character formation, inspiring us to see how creativity and perseverance can transform challenges into purpose. We encourage you to attend this powerful event and please share with your communities!

Watch this short video on Blackwell.

The Faculty/Staff Bulletin is published every Monday during the academic year. The next deadline is Thursday, Nov. 13, and the next issue will be published Monday, Nov. 17. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday week, there will no Bulletin on Monday, Nov. 24.

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 and will be published for two consecutive issues; they can be resubmitted for an additional two weeks.

A new book by Professor of Old Testament Bo Lim titled, Contextual Theological Interpretation: An Integrated Model for Reading the Bible, was just published by Baker Book House.

Professor of Sociology Jennifer McKinney participated in the annual Society for the Scientific Study of Religion meetings in Minneapolis as a panelist responding to the book, The Church Must Grow or Perish! Robert H. Schuller and the Business of American Christianity, by Mark T. Mulder and Gerardo Marti.