A message from the Commencement Committee: Please be on the lookout for volunteer sign-ups coming in April. We invite you to join us in helping make Commencement Weekend, June 5–6, a meaningful and successful celebration for our students. Your support is essential in creating an uplifting experience for graduates and their families and guests.Together, we advance our shared mission of graduating students of competence and character. Thank you for your consideration! For details about Commencement events, visit the Commencement website.If you have questions, contact graduationinfo@spu.edu.

Alissa Walter, associate professor of Middle Eastern history, will give a presentation on the Iran War on Tuesday, March 31, 3–4:30 p.m in Eaton Hall 112. She will explain how the war started, what's happening now, and what the future could hold. Students, faculy, and staff are invited. 

Please join the Seattle Pacific Seminary for the annual Frank Anthony Spina Lectureship on Tuesday, April 14, 7 p.m., in Upper Gwinn Commons. Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Frank Anthony Spina will present the lecture, “The Gibeonite Story: The Bible’s Most Impressive and Secret Conversion Story," exploring a challenging and often-overlooked text from the book of Joshua and uncover the radical nature of grace in the Old Testament.This event requires no registration, is wheelchair accessible, and free.

The Office of Student Life is organizing an Easter egg hunt for our students on Monday, April 6. We have 600 eggs to hide around campus, primarily inside buildings, Tiffany Loop, and Martin Square. We would love some assistance in hiding the eggs. They will need to be on walkways and in accessible locations to prevent injury to people, plants, and property. If you are willing to hide eggs on Monday, April 6, please send an email to StudentLife@spu.edu or Kimberly Frost, executive assistant for Student Life at FrostK1@spu.edu and we can make arrangements for you to get some filled plastic eggs on Thursday or Friday to hide on Monday. Eggs can be hidden anytime on Monday, so they are available throughout the day. Thank you for considering.

The next Resume Rescue for students is Thursday, April 9, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. in the Center for Career and Calling. Students can drop by for quick, personalized resume feedback and get their materials polished ahead of the Fall Career Fair (more details to come). All students are welcome. Please help spread the word! 

The Faculty/Staff Bulletin is published every Monday during the academic year.The next deadline is Thursday, April 2, and the next Bulletin will be published on Monday, April 6. 

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.

Doug Strong, Paul T. Walls Professor of Wesleyan Studies, and Rob Wall, Paul T. Walls Professor Emeritus of Scripture and Wesleyan Studies, received individual Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Wesleyan Theological Society at their annual meeting, March 19–20. The meeting was held at SPU with almost 200 scholars from around the world in attendance. WTS is the premier academic society for Wesleyan theologians. Congratulations again to Doug and Rob! (Included in the picture is Celeste Cranston, former director of the Center for Biblical and Theological Education, who received the Pastor/Preacher/Scholar Award from WTS.) 

On March 18, Professor of Art and Visual Studies Katie Kresser delivered the 2026 Faith and Imagination Lecture at Brigham Young University. An initiative of the BYU Humanities Center, the lecture brings ecumenical, interdisciplinary scholars to the BYU campus to discuss art and spirituality.

An article by Brian Lugioyo, dean of Seattle Pacific Seminary, titled "Testing the Grammar of 'Being With:' Classical Christology and the Challenge of Samuel Wells Incarnational Proposal," was published in the journal Anglican Theological Review (Winter 2026, Vol 1). This article is part of a roundtable symposium looking at Sam Wells's recent supralapsarian incarnational proposal with invited articles from Lugioyo and Ben Quash, Jonathan Tran, Benjamin Wayman, Kirsten Guidero, Edwin Chr. Van Driel, and Sam Wells.

Alberto Ferreiro, emeritus professor of European history, gave invited lectures at the Catholic University of the Andes in Santiago de Chile, March 13–23. They were addressed mainly to faculty and master's and doctoral students from history and theology although others from related disciplines attended as well. The themes of the talks were about late Roman/early medieval Hispania, Gaul, Rome, and Constantinople. The documented contacts — diplomatic and ecclesiastical — were between the rulers of Gallaecia and bishops (Northwestern Spain) with the kings in Gaul (France) and with the bishops of Rome (Popes) and the emperors in Constantinople in the fifth through seventh centuries. All talks were delivered in Spanish. There was also a visit to the theology faculty of the Pontifical University of Chile and to some shrines and monasteries in the mountains.

Janet McKenna, wife of former SPU President David McKenna, died on March 28. The McKennas, who were married for more than 75 years, served at SPU from 1968 to 1982. Their son, Rob McKenna, former SPU psychology professor, wrote the following in a social media post. "While we knew her as Mom, we have always known we shared her. Over the years, she gathered what we lovingly call her 'adopted kids' – friends who became family, people who found in her a steady presence, a listening ear, and a place to belong. She had a way of making each person feel chosen, known, and deeply loved, reflecting the love she first received from Christ." (The photo is the McKennas in 2008.)