About Our People
Brent Weaver (Music) has been selected as one of six Oregon composers for the second round of Portland Piano International’s Commissioning Project. He is one of 12 composers overall who have been commissioned to compose new works for piano, each of which has a connection to earlier work. Brent’s new works are an homage to 19th-century German composer Johannes Brahms – a set of two Intermezzos for piano. They will be performed by Sahun (Sam) Hong, a performer and teacher designated as a “rising star†by PPI, as part of a recital in Bauman Auditorium Thursday, Sept. 14, in an event sponsored jointly by PPI and the George Fox music department.
Greg Allen (Adult Degree Programs) this summer served as a management and leadership consultant for the Hanna Brophy Law Firm, for which he will serve as a “management and leadership consultant in residence†from 2017 to 2020. Hanna Brophy is a midsized law farm that includes 15 offices in California. He is working on multiple strategic management and leadership-focused projects that will significantly impact how the law firm and all litigators at HB will practice law in the digital space. He plans to take many of these projects and integrate them into his management and leadership classes this year and beyond. Also, in June, Greg served as a military education consultant for The American Council on Education in Quantico, Virginia, working with both the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army.
Brian McLaughlin (IT) was featured in the August issue of Mazama magazine, in which he and his teammates describe what it’s like to be a K9 handler for search and rescue in the Northwest. Working with his dog “Schooch,” Brian has been involved in search and rescue for about three years. After two years of training, he and “Schooch” were certified with Search And Rescue Dogs of the United States (SARDUS) as a Type II Wilderness Air Scent K9 search team. They look for live people and are currently training to also find those who are deceased. The organization they volunteer with, Mountain Wave Search and Rescue, responds to law enforcement requests throughout the state of Oregon and occasionally in Southwest Washington.
Mark David Hall (Politics) published an article, “Can Oregon Compel Its Citizens to Pay for Killing Others?,†in Library of Law and Liberty, an online resource that brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. In addition, Mark coauthored a piece with student Emily-Lynn Warren, titled “The first federal criminal case on female genital mutilation will test the limits of religious liberty,†published on the Learn Liberty website.
Ed Higgins (English) published four pieces recently in a variety of online literary journals. His poem “July Heat†appeared in the July 16 edition of Plum Tree Tavern; the poem “Recent Vocabulary†is in the Summer 2017 issue of The Literary Nest; his flash fiction story “Intro to Philosophy†is in the Summer 2017 issue of the Ginosko Literary Journal; and his haibun “My Dark Job History†is in the July 2017 edition of Contemporary Haibun Online.
Don Powers (Biology) and two colleagues published an article, “Using whole-group metabolic rate and behavior to assess the energetics of courtship in red-sided garter snakes,†in the August 2017 (Volume 130) issue of the scientific journal Animal Behaviour, published for the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour in collaboration with the Animal Behavior Society. First published in 1953, Animal Behaviour is a leading international publication and has wide appeal, containing critical reviews, original papers, and research articles on all aspects of animal behavior.
The IDEA Center partnered with the Chehalem Valley Chamber of Commerce Steps Up Internship Program this summer to serve 16 high school- and college-aged students (ages 16 to 24). The nine-week program included a paid summer internship that featured four hours of professional development each week. Classes were held in the Stevens Center every Wednesday; the rest of the week students worked at their assigned locations. The IDEA Center’s Elise Gibson and Wendy Flint taught two of their workforce development workshops. Topics included making the most of internships, professional conduct, teamwork, communications, resume building, job searching and mock interviews. Companies participating in the internships included Laurel Ridge Winery, Reid Rental, ARE Manufacturing, Newberg Ace Hardware, Water Oasis, Newberg City Hall, ​the Chehalem ​Park ​& Recreation​ District​, Chehalem Property Management, Rallison Cellars, and Lewis Audio Video. At the end of the program, students presented what they learned to their employers. George Fox students participating included Karli Ashley, an interior design graduate; Katherine Shafer, a junior politics/international studies major; Danielle Prow, a senior cinema and media communication major; and Tristan Lerma, a junior graphic design major. For more information on the program, visit this link.
Jen Macnab (Registrar’s Office) was named the Administrator of the Year for 2016-17, while Kathy Harris (Communication Arts/Theatre) was named Staff Member of the Year.