E-Colleague

July 8            Jesse Dillow, Sue Richie, Linda Samek
July 9            Eloise Hockett, Sidney Tafflinger, Kenn Willson
July 11          Mary Schmitt, Jillian Sokso
July 12          Kimberly Forbes, Chris Pulver
July 17          Kasondra Silva
July 19          Patti Fitzgerald
July 21          Gordon Aarness, Jeff Houck, Daniel Kang, Gregg Palmer
July 23          Randy Dalzell, Mark Stone, Clyde Thomas
July 25          Ann Evans
July 26          Bob Dexter, Rand Michael
July 27          Randy Woodley

Software engineer Stephen Howell joined the university’s analytics team in May. He graduated from George Fox this spring with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. During his junior and senior years on campus, he worked as a computer science lab assistant, and in 2014 he served as an intern doing research and development projects for the A-dec dental equipment company of Newberg. He also gained experience as a support technician at CMIT Solutions of Tacoma (Wash.) in 2012-13. Stephen lives in Tualatin and attends Newberg Church of Christ.

In May, the university welcomed Stephanie Bugas to work as a capital campaign manager in the development office. She arrives from the Young Life organization, for which she served as a regional administrator serving Oregon and Southwest Washington from 2009 to 2014. Prior to that, she was a student staff member with Young Life Portland West in 2008-09. Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Portland in 2009. She lives in Portland with her dog, Grizzly, and attends The Well Community Church in Portland.

Coleen Oshiro joined the university as associate registrar in May. She has worked the previous seven years as an assistant registrar at Pacific University in Forest Grove and, before that, served as the financial aid director at Pioneer Pacific College in 2007. Coleen previously lived in Hawaii, where she was a financial aid director at Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu (2003-07) and a financial aid counselor at Chaminade University of Honolulu (1997-2003). She holds an MBA from Chaminade University of Honolulu (2000) and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (1996). Coleen lives in Newberg with her husband James, director of financial aid at George Fox. They have a son, Bralan, and attend Newberg Friends Church.

Recent graduate Dylan Harris was hired as a print services specialist last month, joining the university on a full-time basis after being employed as a work-study student in the Office of Print Services the past three years. He’s also worked as a club technician at Golfsmith in Tualatin since last summer. Dylan graduated from George Fox in May with a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication. He lives in Newberg and attends Newberg Christian Church.

The following faculty members are leaving the university to retire or pursue other employment opportunities: Wendy Ackley (Nursing), Rebecca Addleman (Education), Heather Ayala (Biology), Terrie Boehr (Family and Consumer Sciences), Lisa Presnall (Nursing), JoEllyn Fountain (Politics and International Studies), Sarah Gibson (Cinema and Media Communication), Sue Harrison (Education), Deb Herb-Sepich (Business), Judy Keeney (Education), Beth Morton (Chemistry), Mark Ocker (Adult Degree Programs) and Gary Tiffin (Education).

Jared Kamimae-Lanning (Custodial) left his position at the Portland Center in May. He and his wife Ashley, both of whom are alumni of George Fox, are moving to Cambridge, England.

Pam Clem (Advancement) left the university in a full-time capacity in May. She will continue working with advancement on an interim part-time basis this summer.

Mandee Wilmot (Admissions) will not be returning full time to her position following the birth of her baby, Levi Everett.

Abby Burgess has been promoted from admissions counselor to assistant director of undergraduate admissions.

Tim Goodfellow has been promoted from executive director of IT to chief information officer.

Andrea Byerley has transitioned from her job as associate registrar to a part-time position as the administrative assistant for the Oregon Writing Project in the College of Education.

Melanie Springer Mock (English) was honored last month with an award by the Associated Church Press. Her review of the book Shaken in the Water appeared in Mennonite World Review and won third place (honorable mention) in the category “Critical Review, All Media” in the ACP’s annual contest. The results were announced at the Best of the Christian Press Awards Banquet in Toronto on May 1.

In May, Melissa Thomas (Registrar) was elected by the Oregon Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers to serve on its executive committee in a three-year term as president-elect, president and past president.

Isabelle Corneaux (French) was selected as a 2015 honor roll recipient by the Confederation in Oregon for Language Teaching organization. The honor is reserved for teachers or language professionals who have made significant accomplishments or contributions to both the teaching of language and the field of language acquisition and instruction. Honor roll members are submitted as candidates for Teacher of the Year, sponsored by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

Darryl Brown (Marketing Communications) earned recognition for his design work on Geez magazine of Canada. His work on the Winter 2014 issue won a first-place Award of Excellence in the “Art/Design/Graphics: Magazine/Journal Design: Entire Issue” category from the Associated Church Press. In addition, Darryl and Creative Director Aiden Enns won first place for the same Winter 2014 issue in the Canadian Church Press’ “Edition Layout & Design, Magazine, Circulation up to 9,999” category. Geez also received first place for general excellence from the Canadian Church Press and second place for general excellence from the Associated Church Press.

Karen Bowdoin (Art & Design) was among a select group of faculty members nationwide chosen by the Council of Independent Colleges to participate in a week-long seminar on “Teaching European Art in Context.” She will be attending the seminar on “The Art of Storytelling in French Painting and Sculpture, 1600-1850” at the Portland Art Museum July 20-24. Karen was one of 23 faculty members chosen to participate in the event, designed to strengthen the teaching of art history at smaller colleges and universities.

Ed Higgins’ (English) flash fiction story, “Haying,” was published in the April 30, 2015, edition of Thrice Fiction Magazine.

Paul Anderson (Christian Studies) published an article, “Second Criticality – An Interdisciplinary Approach to the New Testament and its Contexts,” on the website The Bible and Interpretation, a site dedicated to delivering the latest news, features, editorials, commentary, archaeological interpretation and excavations relevant to the study of the Bible for the public and biblical scholars.

June 3              Paula Hampton
June 4              Nadine Kincaid
June 6              Keisha Gordon, Joyce Staats, Alan Thurston
June 8              Jeannine Graham, Adam Haldorson
June 9              Mark Terry
June 10            Tim Goodfellow
June 11            Jing Hao, Ty Sohlman
June 13            Robby Larson
June 14            Brian Snider, Loren Wenz
June 15            Karen Hamlin, Jennifer Lichtenberg, Gary Tandy
June 16            Craig Taylor
June 17            Neal Ninteman
June 18            Michelle Foster, Sherri Moore
June 19            Kristi Bronkey, Tim Jaquith, Mark McMinn
June 20            Janet Herron
June 21            Jamie Johnson, Susanna Steeg
June 22            Megan Clark, Daniel Sweeney
June 23            Rachel Thomas
June 24            Terri Crawford, Patty Vanier
June 25            Mike Rader
June 27            Darby Thiessen, Kipp Wilfong
June 28            Michael Meek, Dan Schutter
June 29            Mary Peterson, Nathan Slegers
June 30            John Heitz
July 1               Nancy Fawver
July 4               Jill Downing
July 5               Megan Janes
July 6               Lisa Burton

Keisha Gordon has made the transition to the position of admissions counselor for recruited athletes in the undergraduate admissions office.

Sue O’Donnell (Psychology) earned the university’s Faculty Achievement Award for Undergraduate Teaching, while Melanie Springer Mock (English) received the Faculty Achievement Award for Undergraduate Research and Scholarship. In addition, Andrew Meszaros (Physical Therapy) was recipient of the Faculty Achievement Award for Graduate Teaching, and Lorraine DeKruyf (Counseling) was chosen for the Faculty Achievement Award for Graduate Research and Scholarship.

Paul Otto (History) will spend the 2015-16 academic year at the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle, N.C. As a Fellow, he will be writing a book on the history of wampum, tracing its prehistoric origins among Native Americans to present-day battles over cultural patrimony.

Kathy Heininge and Gary Tandy (English) accompanied seven English majors who presented their creative and scholarly writing at the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honors Society Convention in Albuquerque, N.M., March 18-21. Student presenters were Emily Lund, Mackenzie Adix, Jordan Nelson, Heather Harney, Elizabeth Cranston, Ryan Lackey and Mikaela Bray. Lund won a second-place award (and $300) in the Literary and Film Criticism category for her paper on film adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels, and Adix won a third-place award (and $250) in the Pedagogy category for her paper on children’s literacy and book marketing.

Ed Higgins (English) published his short poems “Hell For Poets” and “Derelict Words” in late-April editions of the online journal One Sentence Poems. Ed also had his poem “That Old Mirror” published in the “Freaky Fairy Tale” issue (Issue 8: April 2015) of Ealain, a South African online literary and art magazine.

Jenny Matheny (Biblical Studies) presented a paper, “Herem: Answerability and Borders in Joshua 6 and 7,” at the Northwest Evangelical Missiology Conference held at George Fox University on April 11. Matheny was also the conference speaker for the Aloha Faith Center’s women’s retreat April 24-26.

Megan Clark (Marketing Communications) and Johanna Schweitzer (Student Financial Services/Financial Aid) were named employees of the month for the months of March and April, respectively.

May 5              Robert Bonner
May 8              Molly Hickok, Brent Wilson, Deb Worden
May 10            Chris Meade
May 12            Marla Sweningson
May 13            Rob Leslie
May 14            Kathi Becker, Don Powers
May 15            Dirk Barram
May 16            Britny Scholz, Trevor Woods
May 17            Paul Anderson
May 18            Gregg Boughton, Paul Otto, Cynthia Weston
May 20            Gabe Haberly, Teresa Lamm, Lisa Presnall
May 22            Heather Ayala, Cliff Berger, Bree Stairs
May 23            Chuck Conniry, Adam McGuffie
May 24            Brenda Morton
May 26            Elise Trask
May 28            Beth LaForce, Steve Sherwood
May 29            Steven Classen, Kandie Comfort, Mike Magill
May 30            Rebecca Addleman, Stephen Bearden, Amy Dee, Roger Newell
May 31            Jessica Hollen

The undergraduate admissions department welcomes Kelly Coolen, an alumna who joins the university as a visit coordinator. She arrives from Bull Mountain Orthodontics in Tigard, where she was an appointment coordinator the past year. Before that, she lived in Florida, where she was a character/performer at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla. Kelly graduated from George Fox in 2013 with a degree in organizational communication. She lives in Newberg and attends Newberg Foursquare Church.

Kasondra Silva joined the human resources department as a payroll specialist this month. For the past three years she has worked as an office assistant for Brix Paving Northwest in Tualatin. Before that, she worked for three years as a testing, adjusting and balancing apprentice and office support worker for Pacific Coast Air Balancing of Newberg. Kasondra also worked those three years as a controller for Weitman Excavation of Sherwood. She is currently a student at Portland Community College, studying for her applied science in accounting degree. Kasondra lives in Carlton with her husband Dereck and two children, Kalani (16) and Kylie (12).

Melodee Powers is now the budget manager in the university’s finance department.

Kevin T. Jones (Department of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic Arts) has been invited by Communication Currents, a publication of the National Communication Association, to write an essay on the role of audience analysis in presidential speeches. The essay is a “translation” of a previous article Kevin published on a similar topic, but Communication Currents’ target audience is the general public. The essay will be released June 1. Kevin also presented his paper, “I Didn’t Know That I Didn’t Know: At-Risk Student Self-Assessment of Communication Skill Deficiencies,” at the Northwest Communication Association’s annual conference in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, April 16-18. Kevin’s paper is the first in a series of essays he is publishing as part of his ongoing longitudinal study on at-risk middle and high school students and communication skill deficiencies. At the conference, Kevin was elected second vice-president and will take over as president of the organization in 2017.

Also attending the conference with Kevin was department chair Steve Classen and nine undergraduate students who presented competitive papers: Zach Baker, LaQuae Aughtman, Ellen Dahlberg, Elaine Wu, Adella Boanca, Bethany Widdicombe, Dakota Buhler, Brittany Hurlbut and Kelsey Vaughn.

Three of Ed Higgins’ (English) flash fiction stories – “Taking it Easy,” “When Mice Listen” and “Genesis Serpent’s Skin Found” – were published in the April 19 issue of the online journal Upender.

Nate Peach and Tom Head (Economics) joined with three students – Grace Friberg, Emma Newman and Victoria Freitag – to present at the Western Social Science Association’s 57th annual conference in Portland on April 11. The topic of the group’s presentation was Adam Smith’s thoughts on human behavior. The event was a culmination of an informal book club that met throughout the semester. After the presentation a professor in the audience complimented the George Fox students, saying, “You had more insightful things to say than many of my colleagues.” The event was a four-day scholarly conference that drew academics from all over the country.

Melanie Springer Mock (English) published an article, “Build Families, Not Baby Boxes: Adoption is Far More Complicated than a Drop-Off,” on Christianity Today’s website in March.

William Green (“Bill”), who taught and led at George Fox for 20 years (1972-1992), died April 13 at the age of 93. He was an academic dean and served as interim president of the school for 15 months in 1982-83. He also taught religion courses. His wife Mary, who taught mathematics at George Fox, preceded him in death in 2003.

April 23          Tommy Kokinos, Terry Steele
April 25          Terri Beecroft, Mark Ocker, Valerie Sherwood, Richard Silver
April 26          Dana Ferrin, Emma Glennen
April 27          Pat Vandehey
April 28          Danny Cross
April 29          Jeff Woods
May 1             Patrick Allen
May 2             Dwayne Worden
May 3             Wendy Ackley
May 4             Sarah Reid

The School of Nursing welcomes Molly Murphy to work as a clinical coordinator. She attended Western Oregon University the past four years, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in community health education, graduating in June 2014. While attending WOU, she was a member of the school’s track and field team. Molly has also worked with the Yamhill County Youth Livestock Association as an office manager the past four years. She lives in Yamhill. Her parents are Dawn and Randy Murphy, and her family includes a younger brother (Mack), an older sister (Danielle) and brother-in-law Wade Elliott.

Derryl McKenzie (Plant Services) retired on April 2 after 28 years of employment at George Fox.

Richard Silver has been promoted to the director of mail and print services position. He officially began his new role on April 1.

Brenda Morton (Education) presented at the Department of Human Services Independent Living Program’s policy conference on March 31. She was invited to join the education policy work group as a researcher and expert on the needs of current and former foster youth pursuing post-secondary education. The lived experiences of 35 students in Oregon, including seven from George Fox, resulted in four of the five policy recommendations and the major pilot she will present with the team. These recommendations have the potential to eliminate significant educational barriers and allow foster youth to now participate in the governor’s 40-40-20 vision for Oregon children.

Paul Anderson’s (Christian studies) review of the fifth episode of the CNN series Finding Jesus was featured in the Huffington Post’s religion blog on March 31. The title of the piece is “The Quest for the True Cross of Jesus.” More recently, Paul’s sixth column on the series, titled “On Finding Jesus … and Divorcing Mary Magdalene,” appeared in the April 6 edition.

Gary Tandy’s (English) creative nonfiction essay, “What Love Looks Like, as I Recall,” received second place in the adult nonfiction category of the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County’s creative writing contest. The essay will be published in Paper Gardens, and Gary will read his work at a celebration and awards ceremony on April 17.

April 8          Joel Kelley
April 10        Leah Blake, Cheri Hampton
April 11        Janelle Freitag
April 12        John Shaw
April 13        Susan Newell, Sarah Taylor
April 14        Nell Becker Sweeden, Kathy Rosenbohm
April 15        Mike Campadore
April 16        Terrie Boehr
April 18        Judy Deale
April 19        Ashley O’Doherty, Jeff Tatum, Rebecca Williams

Taylor Martin’s (Admissions) last day at George Fox was Friday, March 20. He left to work at his family’s farm, G & C Farms Inc., which specializes in growing marionberries, blueberries, grass seed and filberts. He wished to thank the George Fox community for the “amazing experience I had as both a student and an employee.” He had served in the admissions office for six and a half years.

Kim Towell (Alumni Relations) left the university on March 16.

Rebecca Hernandez (Associate VP, Intercultural Engagement & Faculty Development) has been appointed chair of the newly created Council for Christian Colleges & University’s Commission on Diversity and Inclusion. According to Rebecca, one of the commission’s primary goals this year is to facilitate the exchange of best practices among diversity officers at member institutions across the country. The other is to host a conference at the end of the summer on diversity for CCCU faculty, staff and administrators – not just for diversity officers – as a way to share information and expand ideas throughout all aspects of Christian higher education.

Abigail Rine’s (English) short story “Chaoskampf” was published in the spring 2015 issue of the Potomac Review, a prominent literary journal. “Chaoskampf” is a loose retelling of the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish, set at a junior high Bible camp.

In a follow-up to his piece, “I Didn’t Know Jesus was Lost,” published in the Religion blog section of the Huffington Post in early March, Paul Anderson (Christian Studies) published “Finding John the Baptist (and Jesus too)” in the same publication on March 10. More recently, in the March 17 edition of the blog, Paul wrote a piece entitled “Judas – Traitor or Hero?”, in which he offers insight on the third episode of the CNN special, Finding Jesus: Fact, Faith and Forgery.

Melanie Springer Mock (English) published two articles in recent issues of Runner’s World online: “Finding a Running Partner is Risky Business” (Feb. 20) and “Creating a Tribe: The Success of Another Mother Runner” (March 11).

March 24        Loren Kerns, Mary Monahan
March 26        Jeff Birdsell, Nick Willis
March 27        Yune Tran
March 28        Kathy Harris, Charlie Kamilos, Jeremy Lloyd, Steve Petzold
March 29        Vetta Berokoff
March 30        Debora Herb-Sepich
March 31        Melodee Powers
April 1            Jen Klapp
April 3            Steve Delamarter, Dale Journey
April 4            Deb Mumm-Hill
April 5            Paul Holman, Jared Kamimae-Lanning, John Newberry, Vicki Tschan