New Director of Alumni and Parent Relations  
I am pleased to announce that Bryan Jones, a Seattle Pacific University graduate of 2000, has been selected as the director of alumni and parent relations. He will begin the position on July 1 and will ultimately report to the new vice president for university advancement when that person is named.

Bryan brings to his new role a record of outstanding leadership and managerial experience in SPU’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions. He served in various positions in UGA from 2001 to 2011, including four years as associate director. He also brings substantial fundraising experience as a major gift officer in the Office of Development from 2011 to 2014. A communicator and strategic thinker with a genuine heart for SPU and its mission, Bryan has a deep desire to serve the University’s alumni and parents. He is an active and engaged alumnus who has developed ongoing relationships with other alumni, donors, and friends of the University. I believe that Bryan will bring positive new ideas to the work of the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations for the benefit of SPU and its alumni.

The search for a new director was led by Senior Vice President for University Relations Marj Johnson and a committee that included Alumni Board President Gary Newbill, Young Alumni Council representative Joel VanderHoek, Associate Professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology Rob McKenna, Director of Advancement Services Katie Sims, and Admissions Counselor Noah Simpson.

Interim Leadership in Enrollment Services  
As Senior Vice President for University Relations Marj Johnson retires on July 1, I have asked Jordan Grant, assistant vice president for undergraduate enrollment management, to assume an interim leadership role in enrollment services.

Jordan will act as interim assistant vice president for enrollment management and oversee the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, the Office of Student Financial Services, and Graduate Admissions until a new vice president for enrollment services has been named. In this interim role, Jordan will report to Provost Jeff Van Duzer and work closely with the Senior Leadership Team to coordinate and direct current undergraduate and graduate enrollment efforts. I am grateful for Jordan’s willingness to serve in this important capacity during a time of transition.

Over the last few weeks, SPU has received many meaningful messages of support from around the world – via email, social media, printed items, photographs, and many other forms. We are collecting these items, with the SPU Archives in the Library as the ultimate destination. In the meantime, University Communications will be collecting these items. If you have items that you would like to contribute, please send them to Hannah Notess at hnotess@spu.edu in University Communications, Suite 116. Contact Hannah or Adrienne Meier at ameier@spu.edu with questions.

Local company Glassybaby, maker of hand-blown colored glass candleholders, has established a nursing scholarship at SPU. Until June 21, a portion of all purchases online and in the store using the “spu” code at checkout will go to the scholarship. Also, there is a Glassybaby seconds sale on Saturday, June 21, (doors open at 8 a.m.) at the Madrona Hot Shop, located at 3406 East Union Street in Seattle. A popular bi-annual event, the seconds sale offers slightly “perfectly imperfect” Glassybaby candleholders at a deep discount. A portion of this sale will also benefit the new scholarship fund. Be sure to mention the “spu” code at the point of sale. Learn more about Glassybaby.

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The summer hours for Gwinn Dining Hall are now posted online. The hours will be updated daily for the upcoming week. Please remember that dining hall hours are based on Conference Services clients and internal groups and are subject to change. Contact conferenceservices@spu.edu if you have any questions.

The University Communications Web Team will not host a brownbag lunch in June for users of content management systems Sitecore and Contribute. If you need technical assistance for these systems, contact Web Team member Kathy Henning at kathy@spu.edu or 206-281-2329.

SPU’s Response magazine is looking for summer reading recommendations from faculty and staff. As one of the magazine’s web stories, the editors would like to feature faculty and staff book picks to share with the broader SPU community. Send your suggestions, including a 100-word blurb about the book, to Response Managing Editor Hannah Notess at hnotess@spu.edu.

The Faculty/Staff Bulletin will begin its summer schedule on Monday, June 23. During the summer, the Bulletin is published every other week. If you have information or event news, send it as soon as possible to Bulletin editor Tracy Norlen at fsb-editor@spu.edu. Submissions may be edited for clarity. The next Bulletin will be published Monday, July 7. The next deadline is Thursday, July 3.

Associate Professor of Management and Information Systems Ryan LaBrie presented a paper (co-authored with Assistant Professor of Management Don Lee) titled "The State of the Sustainability Movement Within the Information Technology Domain: Is the Greening of I.T. Impacting Firm Performance?" at the recent 2014 Sustainability, Ethics, & Entrepreneurship Conference in Denver, Colorado.

A recent Books & Culture podcast features a review of Professor of English Susan VanZanten's memoir, Reading a Different Story: A Scholar's Journey From America to Africa. Books & Culture is a bimonthly review that engages the contemporary world from a Christian perspective and contains in-depth reviews of books that merit critical attention, as well as shorter notices of significant new titles. You can listen to Editor John Wilson's review of the book online.

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