E-Colleague

The university welcomes Lisa Mariea Fithian, DNP, MSN, RN, as director of the School of Nursing. She brings more than 30 years of experience in the nursing profession. Most recently, Lisa served as a Clackamas County Health Centers’ nursing supervisor (2012-14), where she assisted in opening a new primary care clinic at Sunnyside Health & Wellness Center in Clackamas. Previously, she managed CareOregon’s CareSupport Department (2009-12) and worked for four years as a night shift charge RN and neonatal resuscitation RN at Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital in Clackamas. She taught in and chaired the nursing department at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City (1994-2004) and was a professor of nursing at Clark College in Vancouver, Wash. (2005-06). Lisa held positions as a nurse manager, chief nurse executive, staff RN and nursing faculty in Ohio, Utah and California during the 1980s and early 1990s. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing in nursing administration from the University of California, San Francisco (1994), a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from Case Western Reserve University (1982), and a bachelor’s degree in biology from John Carroll University (1979). Lisa has four adult children ranging in age from 20 to 29. East Hill Foursquare Church in Gresham has been the church home of Lisa and her family since 1994. She will be on campus part time until July 1, when she will assume the full-time director role from Darcy Mize, who is serving as interim director through June.

Andrew Fleming joins the university this month as a computer support specialist in the IT department. Andrew has spent the past two years doing computer and video freelance work, and has also been the computer support technician at Camp Tilikum. While a student at the university between 2009 and 2012, he worked part time during the academic year and full time during the summers as a service desk support employee in IT. He is the son of Jim and Karlyn Fleming and lives in Newberg. He enjoys photography, video production and wood working in his free time. Andrew attends West Salem Foursquare Church, where he volunteers as a youth group leader and supports a variety of church ministries.

Brian Gardner (Development) left the university in late March to serve as vice president for university advancement at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind. Reporting to the CEO of residential education, Brian will oversee the university advancement division, work closely with President David Wright (a George Fox alumnus), and serve on the President’s Executive Council.

An article that Deb Drecnik Worden (Business) coauthored with Diane Schooley-Pettis, professor of finance at Boise State University, was recently published in the Financial Services Review (Vol. 22), the journal of the Academy of Financial Services. The article, titled “Accumulating and Spending Retirement Assets: A Behaviorial Finance Explanation,” stems from their research, which examines which individuals choose to participate in pension plans or set aside additional retirement funds in IRAs. A recent report from The Investment Company Institute reported that 33 percent of Americans have neither an IRA nor an employer retirement plan.

Gary Buhler (Art) is the featured artist in the current issue of Triggerfish Critical Review (#12), an online journal. In addition, his watercolor, “Morrison Steel,” was accepted into the Emerald Spring Juried Show in Springfield, Ore., a national exhibition that will be on display in the Emerald Art Center for the month of May starting May 3.

Ed Higgins (English) published his poem “Escaped Poems” in the April 2014 issue of Contemporary Haibun Online. The piece also includes commentary/analysis from one of the editors, Ray Rasmussen, who is highly regarded in haiku/haibun circles. Included also are links to some of his other pieces and the republication of two of Ed’s haibun pieces from other journals. In addition, Ed’s poem “Wasps” appeared in the Spring 2014 issue of the Irish literary/arts journal The Linnet’s Wings.

Paul Anderson (Christian Studies) has been appointed Professor Extraordinary of Religion at the North-West University of Potchefstroom, South Africa, as a means of bringing credibility to the university and helping faculty and students conduct and publish their research from afar. Paul will also be a Fulbright Specialist Visiting Professor at the Radboud University of Nijmegen in Netherlands this May. Finally, as founding coeditor of the Johannine Monograph Series (Wipf & Stock), Paul recently wrote the foreword to Volume 1 in the series, A Commentary on John, by Rudolf Bultmann, arguably the most significant New Testament book in the 20th century.

John Knox (Christian Studies) published an article, “Future Emphasis of the Church in the Pacific Northwest,” this month in Christ and Cascadia, an online journal sponsored by the Fuller Institute of Theology and Northwest Culture.

April 15             Terrie Boehr, Mike Campadore
April 17             Eilene Newman
April 18             Judy Deale
April 19             Rebecca Williams
April 22             Laura Fisk, Jeff VandenHoek
April 23             Terrance Steele
April 25             Terri Beecroft, Mark Ocker, Valerie Sherwood, Richard Silver
April 26             Dana Ferrin, Emma Glennen
April 27             Pat Vandehey

Randy Woodley (Seminary) visited Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., March 12-13, speaking on the concept of “shalom” and discussing his decades-long ministry among Native Americans. Randy was a guest of the university for its Augsburger Lecture Series.

Phil Smith (Philosophy and Christian Studies) will participate in a debate and group discussion at Portland State University on April 9. Titled “Does Anything Supernatural Exist?,” the event will tackle the question of which worldview is superior: supernatural or natural. Phil will argue a supernatural worldview, while Bernie Dehler, president of The Center for Philosophical Naturalism, will argue a naturalistic view. Details on the event are available here.

Ed Higgins’ (English) poem “sf” was published in the Spring 2014 issue of The Common Oddities, a science-fiction fantasy e-zine.

Paul Anderson (Christian Studies) published a review of the film Noah, “Will Noah Sink or Swim? The Buoyancy of the Latest Bible Film,” in the religion blog section of The Huffington Post on March 28.

Ethan Burke (IT) and Tyler Robertson (IT) were named March Employees of the Month.

April 3             Steve Delamarter, Dale Journey
April 4             Deb Mumm-Hill
April 5             Paul Holman, Jared Kamimae-Lanning, John Newberry, Vicki Tschan
April 8             Joel Kelley
April 10           Leah Blake, Cheri Hampton
April 11           Janelle Freitag
April 13           Michael Bevis, Sarah King, Sarah Taylor
April 14           Nell Becker Sweeden, Kathy Rosenbohm

Jill Downing joins the university this month as director of university events. She brings more than 15 years of experience in leading the planning and implementation of domestic and international events, ranging from corporate executive programs to nonprofit conferences. Since November, she’s served as sponsorship fulfillment coordinator for the Portland-based Drupal Association. She also worked as a travel director for the ITA Group of Des Moines, Iowa, since October of last year. In other recent assignments, Jill was a program coordinator and conference manager for Willamette Valley Development Officers (2011-13), an events manager for Portland’s Essential Health Clinic (2012-13), and the BizGrowth Summit exhibit manager for the Portland Business Journal (2011-12). Previously, one of her most memorable assignments was coordinating with the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D.C., the arrangement of the Festival of American Folklife exhibition on the National Mall in 1996. Jill earned a bachelor’s degree in art history in 1984 from the University of Iowa. She lives in Portland and enjoys cooking, attending the weekly PSU Farmer’s Market, visiting art museums and hiking in the beautiful Oregon outdoors.

The nursing department welcomes Paul R. L’Espérance this semester as a visiting assistant professor of nursing. Paul has been a registered nurse for the past 10 years with a broad clinical background. He has worked as a staff RN, a clinical training associate at Oregon Health and Science University, and as a nurse manager both at OHSU and at Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver, Wash. As a nationally certified critical care nurse, he has medical, cardiac and end-of-life clinical nursing expertise. Paul will graduate with a Master of Nursing degree in nursing education from OHSU this year. Prior to becoming a nurse, he worked as a Licensed Professional Counselor working with abused children and families at Namaste, Inc., and with the State of New Mexico. He holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of New Mexico (2004), a master’s degree in mental health counseling from Webster University in St. Louis (2000), and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from New Mexico State University (1997). Paul lives in Tigard with his wife, Erica, son Lucas (13) and daughter Jordan (6). They attend St. Anthony Catholic Church in Tigard.

Holly Kirby (Physical Therapy) left the university in late February to spend more time with family while transitioning to a new opportunity.

Kelsey Bennett (Financial Affairs) left George Fox in late February when another opportunity arose for advancement in accounting.

Justin Hudec (Undergraduate Admissions) left the university last Friday. He is joining the Knights of Columbus as his next career opportunity. He wished to thank his friends at George Fox for “an incredible decade at the university.”

The university’s board of trustees affirmed the following faculty promotions during the general board meeting March 8. New titles will take effect in the 2014-15 academic year.

For Tenure: Carol Brazo, associate professor of education; Amy Dee, associate professor of education; Roger Nam, associate professor of biblical studies; Susan O’Donnell, associate professor of psychology

Promotion from Associate Professor to Professor: Lorraine DeKruyf, professor of counseling; Ryan Halley, professor of finance; Mary Peterson, professor of clinical psychology; Winston Seegobin, professor of clinical psychology; Randy Woodley, distinguished professor of faith and culture

Promotion from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor: Sarah Gibson, associate professor of media communications; Seth Sikkema, associate professor of accounting

Jim Smart (Biology), currently on sabbatical as a visiting scientist for the Department of Pediatrics at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital at Oregon Health and Science University, collaborated on a research paper with scientists from OHSU, the Netherlands and Georgia Institute of Technology. The paper, titled “STRAD Pseudokinases Regulate Axogenesis and LKB1 Stability,” was published in the most recent edition of Neural Development, an open-access, peer-reviewed online journal.

Phil Smith (Philosophy) published the book Why Faith Is a Virtue, in which he builds on the work of Alasdair MacIntrye and Robert Adams to argue that faith contributes to human excellence. To make the argument, Phil sorts through conflicting possible “faiths” and shows how some of them are not virtues at all. Nevertheless, he argues that faith, properly understood, contributes to crucial human practices: scientific research, social reform and parenting. The book was published by Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers of Eugene, Ore.

Ed Higgins (English) published three poems – “Thessaloniki Summer Visit,” “Icarus” and “Dido” – in the current issue of Mediterranean Poetry, a Sweden-based online journal. Ed also published one of his haikus in the Winter 2013 issue of the British quarterly Poetry Haiku Journal.

Rodger Bufford (PsyD) chaired the American Psychological Association accreditation site visit at the Florida School of Professional Psychology in Tampa, Fla., March 2-4.

Mark David Hall (Politics) published a guest opinion piece, “Oregonians Should Support Business Owners’ Religious Freedom,” in the March 8 issue of The Oregonian. It can be read on the OregonLive site.

Sarita Gallagher (Christian Studies) published an article in the Spring 2014 International Journal of Pentecostal Missiology, a peer-reviewed online journal. The title of her piece was “In the Times of Elijah and Elisha: The Universal Mission of God in the Narratives of the Sidonian Widow and Naaman the Aramean.”

Corwynn Beals (Christian Studies) taught the course “God and Nature” as part of the Creation Care Study Program’s study-abroad program in Belize March 10-14. Hosted by the Center for Environmental Leadership, the Belize curriculum offers “academically rigorous courses to consider what it means to live in right relationship with God, creation, others and ourselves,” according to the program website.

March 19             Marty Hunter
March 20             Heidi Cuddeford
March 21             Larry Mennenga
March 22             Terry Peters
March 23             Dianna McIntyre
March 24             Loren Kerns, Mary Monahan
March 25             Brian Gardner
March 26             Kirstie Richmond, Nick Willis
March 27             Yune Tran
March 28             Kathy Harris, Alene Horney, Charlie Kamilos, Jeremy Lloyd, Steve Petzold
March 29             Lynn Andrews, Vetta Berokoff, Kathi Gatlin
March 30             Debora Herb-Sepich
March 31             Melodee Powers

Gregg Boughton has joined the health and human performance department as an assistant athletic trainer. Since 2007, he has worked as the head athletic trainer and academic advisor for the athletic department at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyo. In the three years prior to that, he served as the coordinator for Outreach Sports Medicine Programs at Gem City Bone & Joint in Laramie, Wyo., including serving as the athletic trainer for the University of Wyoming’s club sports. Gregg is a Certified Athletic Trainer as well as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and a member of both the National Athletic Trainers Association and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He holds a master’s degree in sports management from California University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from the University of Wyoming.

Kayin Griffith (Spiritual Life) left the university last Friday. She has accepted a position as the director of advocacy and development for the organization Word Made Flesh, where she will develop and implement new strategies for WMF’s fund development as well as helping to connect people to the WMF mission.

Joshua Sweeden’s (Seminary) book, The Church and Work: The Ecclesiological Grounding of Good Work, was recently published with Wipf and Stock Publishers. Also, his article “Everyday Practice as Ecclesial Holiness: Intersections of Everyday Work, Sacrament, and Liturgy” is published in the forthcoming Wesleyan Theological Journal 49, no. 1 (March 2014).

Paul Anderson (Christian Studies) published a movie review, “Will Son of God Change the World,” in The Huffington Post’s religion section on Feb. 28. In the piece, Paul discusses the merits of the new film Son of God and also brings up some of the questions that came to his mind as he watched the movie. You can read the review here.

Judy Deale (Education/MAT) was named the university’s February Employee of the Month.

March 4             Tyler Cuddeford
March 6             Chris Casey
March 7             Lecia Retter
March 9             James Oshiro
March 12           Theresa Schierman, Brent Weaver
March 13           Carol Brazo, Karen Buchanan, Sandy Cherachanko
March 14           Piper Parks
March 15           Caitlin Corning, Stephanie St. Cyr
March 17           Bryan Boyd, Saurra Heide, Taylor Martin

The advancement office welcomes Pam Clem this month to serve in the newly created position of director of foundations, corporate giving and grants. Pam has worked the past two and a half years at Marylhurst University in three capacities – as interim director of advancement (November 2013 to January 2014), director of advancement communications and grants (January to November 2013), and manager of foundation, corporate and government relations (July 2011 to January 2013). Previously, she spent four and a half years at Westminster College in Salt Lake City as director of advancement communications (2008-11) and assistant director of corporate and foundation relations (2006-08). In all, Pam has more than 20 years of advancement experience, having worked at Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute in the early 2000s and at the University of Southern California for nine years (1985-94), where she began her career in advancement in 1989. Pam earned a master’s degree in public relations from USC in 1992, holds an MBA from Pace University’s Lubin School of Business, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Russian area studies from Marymount College, Tarrytown, New York (now Fordham University). She lives in Dundee with her husband, Ron, and their wirehaired dachshund, Bravo. They are new congregants of St. Peter Catholic Church in Newberg.

The biology and chemistry department welcomes Lori Scharton as an administrative assistant this month. For the past five years, she worked as director of operations for the Partnership to End Poverty in Redmond, Ore., where she did bookkeeping, office management and event coordination. Previously, from 1989 to 2005, Lori was a speech/language specialist for the Perris School District in Perris, Calif. She earned both a master’s degree (1989) and a bachelor’s degree (1987) in communication disorders from the University of Redlands. Lori is a recent transplant to Newberg, where she resides with her husband Ken. Her son Daniel is in his junior year at George Fox, majoring in studio arts. Her daughter Kara continues to reside in Redmond.

John Shaw joins the university this month as director of enterprise software in IT. He has spent the past two and a half years as a business analyst and business systems manager for JELD-WEN, the building products manufacturer headquartered in Klamath Falls, Ore. While there, John served in the project manager role for multiple global software toolset upgrades. He earned bachelor’s degrees in both information systems and business management from Corban University in 2011. John, his wife Whitney and daughter Avery have recently relocated from Klamath Falls to Newberg.

Ed Higgins’ (English) poem “Anniversary” appeared in the February 2014 issue of The Red River Review, a quarterly Texas-based literary magazine. Also, his short poem “Poetry as Jello” appeared in the February 2014 edition of Confettifall, an online e-zine that specializes in publishing stories and poems of 140 characters or fewer.

Feb. 19             Lisa Bingham, Sue Corbett-Furgal, Jere Witherspoon
Feb. 20             Gina Braden, Scot Headley
Feb. 21             Jonathan Hall
Feb. 22             Mark Hall
Feb. 23             Mark Weinert
Feb. 24             Corwynn Beals
Feb. 26             Pam Clem
Feb. 27             Joel Schutter
March 2            Gary Kilburg, Winston Seegobin
March 3            Joseph Clair, Kayin Griffith, Rhett Luedtke

Lois Mulkey joined the College of Education as associate director of clinical practices in the MAT program. She arrives from Corban University, where she spent the past three years as an applications assistant in the school’s admissions department. Also, since 2006, she has co-owned a Big Town Hero sandwich shop in Stayton. Lois also worked for three years in the early 2000s as an administrative assistant at Stayton Christian School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising from Oregon State University in 1985. She lives in Sublimity with her husband Ken, a firefighter for Clackamas County Fire District. They have three children: Erica, studying abroad in Germany; Bryce, a senior at Salem Academy; and Krista, an eighth-grader at Salem Academy. The family attends Salem Alliance.

Saiko Mair, an athletic trainer on an adjunct and part-time basis the last eight and a half years, has been hired as a half-time Certified Athletic Trainer. After receiving a bachelor of law degree from Meiji University in Tokyo in 1999, Saiko came to the United States and earned a bachelor’s degree in athletic training from the University of Tulsa in 2002. Taking a graduate assistant athletic training position at Portland State University, she worked with the Vikings’ wrestling, football, cross country and track teams while completing her master’s degree in community health in 2005. She joined the George Fox staff in the summer of 2005 and was licensed as a Certified Kinesio Tape Practitioner in 2010. Saiko and her husband, Devin, have two children: daughter Karly and son Brock. The Mairs live in Newberg and attend the Japanese International Baptist Church in Tigard.

Bill Burda (Mail Services) left George Fox in January.

Eric Mortinson (Marketing Communications) left the university in late January.

Jason Schwanz (IT) left the university in January and is now a senior DevOps engineer with the company FiREapps.

Jane Sweet has transitioned to her new position as the administrative assistant for the William Penn Honors Program.

Debbie Berhó (Spanish) was selected to participate in a three-year national research fellowship, the Latino Protestant Congregations Project. Funded in part by the Lilly Endowment, the project will bring together 10 fellows and two directors for a week each June at Calvin College for three years. Each research fellow will complete ethnographic research on five Latino congregations, including 10 to 14 congregational events and interviews of 10 to 12 key leaders of each congregation. These visits and interviews will focus specifically on worship and liturgy. Multiple products will be created and shared, including conference presentations, articles and books, as well as essays on the conference website. The findings will be useful not only for scholars, but also for church leaders and popular audiences.

Loren Wenz (Music) was honored the weekend of Jan. 18 at the Oregon Music Education Association state meeting with the John C. McManus Distinguished Teacher Award, presented to honor those with a lifetime of service to music education with a highly distinguished record of professional accomplishment.

Laura Gifford (Scholar-in-Residence/History) was appointed to the board of directors of Lutheran Community Services Northwest. LCSNW is the branch of the Lutheran Community Services nonprofit social service agency that serves Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

Charlie Kamilos (Library–Portland Center) and Rodney Birch (Library–Newberg) coauthored an article, “Library Research Instruction for Doctor of Ministry Students: Outcomes of Instruction provided by a Theological Librarian and by a Program Faculty Member,” published Jan. 15 in Theological Librarianship, a peer-reviewed, online journal published by the American Theological Libraries Association (ATLA).

Paul Anderson (Religious Studies) will join more than 60 authors to discuss the search for meaning on issues of spirituality, faith and social justice at Seattle University’s “The Search for Meaning Book Festival” Feb. 15. Launched in 2009, the festival features a veritable who’s who of the literary and scholarly worlds, with best-selling authors of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and more. The annual one-day festival offers general sessions, keynote presentations, book signings and interactive experiences. The diverse group of guest authors represent a range of belief systems and faith traditions. At the meeting, Paul will develop the subject of one of his next books, The Spirituality of Jesus. In addition, Paul’s essay, “The Jesus of History, the Christ of Faith, and the Gospel of John,” was published in the Vatican’s two-volume collection, Jesus and the Gospels: Historical and Christological Research.

The university’s senior security officers all engaged in training on the MLK holiday (Jan. 20) to learn tactics for dealing with an active shooter situation on campus. They also practiced hand-to-weapon takedown methods.

Senior security officer Mark Stone began giving CPR/First Aid/Automated External Defibrillator/Basic Life Saving (for health care professionals) training in August, and to date more than 71 staff and students have been certified. Security’s desire is for every department on campus to have, at a minimum, one staff/faculty certified in CPR/First Aid/AED. Classes can be taught when it is most convenient for your department’s schedule; contact Mark (mstone@georgefox.edu) if interested.

Lisa Leslie and Peg Hutton (Event Services) were named January Employees of the Month.

Mark McLeod-Harrison (Religious Studies) and his wife Susan welcomed a son, Salem Joel Ainsley, on Jan. 8. The baby was born at Oregon Health and Science University and weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces. He joins siblings Ian (23), Claire (23) and Micah (8).

Feb. 4             Kathy Campobasso, Kristie DeHaven, Gloria Doherty, Chris Schlarbaum
Feb. 5             Barbi Doran
Feb. 6             David Kerr, David Pollock
Feb. 8             Stephanie Fisher, Marcie Gowan
Feb. 9             Bill Stevens
Feb. 10           Debbie Cash, Justin Hudec
Feb. 11           Alex Rolfe, Lynn Scott, Cindy Zablotny
Feb. 12           Paul Shew
Feb. 13           Melissa Gilbert
Feb. 14           Johanna Schweitzer
Feb. 15           Luis Del Rio
Feb. 16           Caleb Wirth

Sarita Gallagher (Religious Studies) published an article, “Blessing on the Move: The Outpouring of God’s Blessing through the Migrant Abraham,” in the latest issue of Mission Studies journal.

Jan Lefebvre (University Advancement) traveled to Haiti once again Jan. 6-15. While there, she worked with women from the U.S. distributing gifts to children, mothers and babies; worked in prayer ministry in the village of Grand Goave; helped with home building; and shared in music, teaching and testimony. “I think it just may have been one of, if not the, best trip I’ve been blessed to experience of the 15 I’ve made – especially witnessing a father accept the Lord,” she said.

Rodney Birch (Library – Newberg) and Jane Scott (Library-Newberg) had two articles published in the December 2013 issue of The Christian Librarian: Journal of the Association of Christian Librarians. The articles were titled “Wesleyan-Holiness Digital Library Becomes a Reality” and “Employing Pedagogical Imagination with Open Educational Resources.”

Ed Higgins’ (English) haiku poem “they honed each other” was published in the January 2014 issue of Three Line Poetry, an online journal.