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.

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.

This is International Education Week (IEW)! IEW celebrates the benefits of international education and our global community here at SPU. Highlights include International Student Celebration Day on Thursday, Nov. 20, and stories from our study abroad and international community posted in the first floor of the SUB and lower Weter. Find the full schedule of events at the International Education Week events website.

The SPU Music Department invites you to celebrate the holidays with the Concert Choir, Orchestra, and special guest pianist Zhanhong Kuang on Monday, Nov. 24, 7:30 p.m. in First Free Methodist Church. The concert is free and wheelchair accessible.

Don't miss the second annual Christmas celebration for students, faculty, staff, and their families. We invite you to gather for an official lighting of a Christmas tree and a time of joyful worship at the start of the Advent season on Monday, Dec. 1, 5-5:30 p.m. at the corner of 3rd and Bertona Street. The event will be followed by cookies and cocoa in the SUB Gazebo/Fireplace Room.

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. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday week, there will no Bulletin on Monday, Nov. 24 and the next deadline is Wednesday, Nov. 26. The next issue will be published Monday, Dec. 1

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.

An article by Emily Huff, field placement director in the College of Humanities, Education, and the Arts and Nalline Baliram, associate professor of teacher education, titled “Gratitude Impact on Pre-Service Teacher Candidate Internship Experience" was published by Sage journals, Volume 1, Issue 1-2 of Belonging. The study explores the impact of a gratitude journaling intervention on the internship experiences of pre-service teacher candidates, with the goal of mitigating burnout and enhancing emotional well-being during a critical phase of teacher preparation.

An article by Krystle Jalalian-Chursky, associate professor of curriculum and instruction/special education, titled, When Christ Moves in the Classroom: Experiencing God in Every Student’s Story," was published in Christian Scholar's Review on Nov. 11.

Associate Professor of History Alissa Walter gave a public talk about recent elections in Iraq for an event hosted by the Crown Center for Middle East Studies. Her talk was titled "Survival Politics: Baghdad's Citizens from Saddam Hussein to the 2025 Elections." A recording will be available soon from the Crown Center's website.

Professor Emeritus of European History Alberto Ferreiro presented his paper, “In Vigilia Sancti Iohannis Babtiste: St. Vicent Ferrer on the Vigil of John the Baptist in a Catalán Sermon," at the Dominican Culture, Dominican Theology, The Order of Preachers and Its Spheres of Action (1215–c.1600).annual conference of the International Society for the Study of Medieval Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. The paper was published in the series Archa Verbi, Subsidia 24, Aschendorff, Germany, 2025, pp.123-138.

Alberto provides the abstract: The importance of John the Baptist in Christianity is highlighted by the fact that three feast days are dedicated to him in the liturgical calendar that are celebrated at Mass. They are the vigil Mass, the Day of his Feast, and his decapitation by Herod. This research piece focuses only on the vigil. It was not lost to the Dominican preacher Saint Vicent Ferrer (1350-1419) the central place of John the Baptist in Christian salvation history. He prepared this insightful sermon to educate his flock drawing from John’s biography in the New Testament to flesh out hidden spiritual treasures. All of it was to encourage and inspire faithful Christians as was Vicent’s intent in all of his sermons. It also has implications as regards to the teaching on purgatory and baptism.