E-Colleague

Aug. 6            Kent Yinger
Aug. 8            Sara Kelm
Aug. 9            Robert Fisher, Shelley Yonemura
Aug. 11          Martha Wood
Aug. 12          Cary Griffith, Bonnie Nakashimada, Joel Perez
Aug. 13          Kathy Heininge, Nate Peach
Aug. 16          Gary Sehorn, Seth Sikkema
Aug. 17          Blair Cash, Jerrie Nelson
Aug. 19          Jim Foster, Anna Philipsen
Aug. 20          Alex Martin, Dee Small, Mandee Wilmot
Aug. 21          Mary Olson, Creagh Schoen
Aug. 24          Mark Selid, Jane Sweet
Aug. 26          Sheila Bartlett, Elizabeth Hamilton
Aug. 27          Karlyn Fleming

The registrar’s office welcomed Aleida Polanco as an enrollment specialist in late June. She has worked for the past three months as a receptionist and administrator in the Sherwood School District. Before that, she worked as an administrator for Aflac Insurance for two years (2010-12) and served as a site director (2006-07) for Biola University’s STAR Academics program, which provides scholastically challenging classes for home-schooled high school students as they prepare for college. Aleida earned a bachelor’s degree in business and management from the University of Redlands in 1991. She lives in Sherwood with her husband, Vic; her daughter, Gizelle, a student at George Fox; and her son, Victor, who attends Sherwood High School. She attends Countryside Community Church in Sherwood with her family.

The adult degree program welcomed Emily Sheffield as a recruitment and enrollment counselor last week. Since 2004, she has worked in various capacities for Nordstrom in the Portland area – as a department manager (2012), assistant department manager (2011), management intern (2010) and sales associate (2004-09). She also has work experience in higher education, working for VP Recruitment of Eugene, Ore., as a recruiter for the Chi Omega Chapter at the University of Oregon (2009-11). Emily earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Oregon in 2011. She lives in Portland and is active at Solid Rock Church.

The School of Business welcomed Ty Sohlman last week as an admissions counselor for the MBA program. For the past five years she has worked as a recruiter of high school students for the Art Institute of Portland. The three years prior to that, she was the marketing director for an orthopaedic consulting business in Portland. Ty earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Western Oregon University in 2001. She lives in Tigard with her husband, John, and their two children: daughter Harper (3) and son John (8 months). Ty and her family attend Horizon Community Church in Tualatin.

Jenny Zaganiacz joined the Office of Student Life last week as the administrative assistant for Housing and Residence Life. A George Fox alumna from the class of 2011, her prior work experience includes time as a receptionist and serving as the executive assistant to the president for Oregon Electric Group (2011-12). Jenny holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She lives in Newberg with her husband, John, and attends Grace Chapel in Wilsonville.

Tamara Cissna (Marketing Communications) is leaving the university this Friday after serving at George Fox for nine years. She has accepted the position of associate vice president of marketing and communication at Earlham College in Indiana. A farewell reception for her is scheduled from between 3 and 4:30 p.m. Friday, July 13, in the Pennington House courtyard.

Joel Perez (Dean of Transitions and Inclusion) spoke at an event, the ReNew Campus Leadership Forum, at Cedarville University in Ohio in May. Joel served as a facilitator in a forum that discussed the complexities of diversity and reconciliation. The event was geared toward Christian college faculty and staff who help determine their university’s policies and strategies in regard to ethnic diversity. In addition, Joel was a faculty member at Duke Divinity School’s summer institute on reconciliation May 28 to June 2. His seminar was titled “Reconciliation and Academic Institutions.”

Ed Higgins (English) published a poem, “Ok, ok, so I concede,” in the May 2012 issue of The Shotglass Journal, an online journal dedicated to short poetry.

Laura Gifford (Scholar in Residence/History) received a Bordin-Gillette Researcher Travel Fellowship to conduct research at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. She plans to look into the George Romney Papers, and secondarily, at the papers of 1970s-era Michigan governor William Milliken.

Brian McLaughlin and Tim Goodfellow (IT) received a Northwest Academic Computing Consortium Hugi Exemplary Practice Award for their work on the iGFU mobile portal project. The Hugi Award Program recognizes individuals or groups whose outstanding work in technology has benefited NWACC member institutions. More about the award is on the NWACC website.

July 10          Lois Hutchinson, Beth Molzahn
July 18          Margi Macy
July 19          Patti Fitzgerald
July 20          Brenda Burg
July 21          Gordon Aarness, Gregg Palmer, Patrick Ray
July 23          Mark Stone, Clyde Thomas
July 26          Bob Dexter, Rand Michael
July 27          Randy Woodley
July 29          David Hansen
July 30          Dale Isaak, Ron Mock, Thomas Peng
July 31          Lindsay Peterson, Gary Spivey
Aug. 1           Darzy Mize, Rob Westervelt
Aug. 2           Larry Shutts
Aug. 3           Nancy Thurston
Aug. 6           Kent Yinger

Matt Sargent joined the university last week to serve as an enrollment counselor for adult degree programs. For the past two and a half years, he worked as the registrar for Quest University in British Columbia, Canada. Prior to that, he was manager of student records (2008-2009) and a senior admission counselor (2006-07) at the school. He’s also worked as an admission counselor, admit weekend director and academic advisor at Stanford University (2003-06). Matt earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematical and computational science from Stanford in 2003. He lives in Tigard with his wife, Mandy, and two children: Kiel (2 and a half) and Eva (8 months).

Audrey Williamson (Marketing Communications) left the university in early May to move to her native Southern Oregon with husband Trevor, who landed a new job in the area. She is now working for Darex, a drill sharpener manufacturer, in Ashland, Ore.

Cora Templeton (Plant Services) left the university in mid-May, moving to central Oregon to be a mentor in a year-long internship program.

Angela Doty (Career Services) left the university in mid-May to take a position at Northwest Christian University in Eugene, Ore. She had worked at George Fox for three years.

Kim Rautenberg (Human Resources) left the university in early May.

Jean Oehm Miller (Seminary) left the university on May 31 to pursue her plans to start a nonprofit ministry. She had worked at the seminary for 10 years.

David Collett’s (ADP Admissions) final day at the university was June 1. He accepted a position with Teach for America and will be moving to New York City to teach fifth grade at an elementary school in Harlem. He’ll also work on earning an MEd at Fordham University for the next two years.

Jennifer Overstreet’s (ADP Admissions) final day at George Fox was June 1. Beginning June 11, she will join M+W Group, USA, which contracts with Intel. As a project administrator, she will work closely with a team of engineers under a project manager on Intel’s Hillsboro, Ore., campus.

Rita Boggs (Custodial Services) is leaving George Fox to join her husband in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he is working. Her last day was June 1.

Jenna Parisi (Registrar’s Office) is leaving George Fox on June 8. She will attend California State University-East Bay this fall as a student in the school’s Master of Social Work program.

Nine faculty members from the School of Education attended and presented one or two papers at the American Education Research Association conference in Vancouver, B.C. in April. Presenters were: Ginny Birky, Carol Brazo, Jan Carpenter, Suzanne Harrison, Terah Moore, Brenda Morton, Linda Samek, Susanna Steeg and Yune Tran. Presentation topics included literacy, common planning time at the middle school level, the effects of international experiences on teacher candidates, school-university partnerships, teacher leadership, technology in the classroom, and more.

Ed Higgins (English) had an untitled poem published in the ezine handful of stones in the online journal’s May 8 issue. In addition, Ed’s poems “The Poetry Surgeon” and “Thought Fishing” were included in an 2012 anthology, Imago Dei: Poems from Christianity & Literature, published by Abilene Christian Press. Among others included in the anthology were Jeanne Murray Walker, Wendell Berry and Scott Cairns.

June 5          Tamara Cissna, Hannah Dorr
June 6          Joyce Staats, Alan Thurston
June 8          Jeannine Graham
June 9          Mark Terry
June 10        Tim Goodfellow
June 11        Becky Weber
June 12        Aaron Dort
June 13        Robby Larson
June 14        Loren Wenz
June 15        Gary Tandy
June 16        Charles Choi, Craig Taylor
June 17        Neal Ninteman
June 18        Sherri Moore
June 19        Kristi Bronkey, Carla Hagen, Mark McMinn
June 20        Janet Herron
June 21        Sarah Baldwin, Jamie Johnson, Susanna Steeg
June 22        Daniel Sweeney
June 24        Terri Crawford
June 25        Mike Rader
June 27        Sean McKay
June 28        Michael Meek, Dan Schutter
June 29        Mary Peterson
June 30        John Heitz
July 1           Nancy Fawver
July 2           Kathy Grant
July 6           Lisa Burton
July 8           Jesse Dillow, Sue Ritchie, Linda Samek, Jane Scott
July 9           Eloise Hockett, Sidney Tafflinger, Kenn Willson

Michelle Cox (Counseling) is leaving the university this spring to begin a new position as director of student health and counseling services at Western Oregon University in May. Michelle is an alumna of Western Oregon and completed her internship at the WOU counseling center while earning her master’s degree at George Fox in 2003.

Jerry Young (Plant Services) retired from the university after serving as a plumber at the Newberg and Portland campuses for the past six-plus years.

Becky Greenwood (Salem Site Coordinator) left the university in late April. She moved to Puyallup, Wash., to help take care of her sister-in-law with terminal brain cancer.

Kathy Weiss, associate professor of biology, received the university’s Achievement Award for Undergraduate Teaching and Doug Campbell, professor of art, was named recipient of the Undergraduate Faculty Research and Scholarship Award. At the graduate level, Terry Huffman, an education professor in the Educational Foundations and Leadership program, received the Faculty Achievement Award for Graduate Research and Scholarship, while Chris Meade, assistant professor of management, received the Faculty Achievement Award for Graduate Teaching. You can read more about them here.

Sarah Gibson’s (Cinema and Media Communication) interactive documentary, Steve Taylor’s Digital Clone, was awarded the Best of Festival King Foundation Award in the faculty interactive media category at the Broadcast Education Association national convention as well as Best in Competition in the faculty interactive documentary category. This is the highest distinction at BEA given to only the top 1.2 percent of all entries. In addition, Gibson’s companion documentary, Steve Taylor is Not Dead, screened at North Central University’s new documentary festival as a non-competition invited lead entry. Sarah also presented a paper, “Social Media in the Courtroom,” at the Pacific Northwest Academy of Legal Studies in Business.

Kevin T. Jones (Communication Arts) presented a paper, “I’m guilty, but leave my family alone: Circumventing personal disaster through sex scandal apologia,” at the Northwest Communication Association annual conference April 12-14, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The paper examined rhetorical strategies used by noteworthy individuals (i.e Tiger Woods) when confronting the media about a sex scandal. Several communication arts students presented papers as well. Seniors Lishan Zeng and Kaleb Olsen presented “The influence of uncertainty on self-disclosure/intimacy in intercultural communication,” and senior Amanda Kate Winkelman and junior Matayah Fox shared their paper “Mass Media Study: Online exposure compared to Internet involvement and disclosure.”

Jim Steele (Business) was a featured speaker on the topic “A Leader’s Guide to Navigating Change” at Corvallis LEADS (Leadership, Education and Development Summit), sponsored by the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce on April 20.

Joel Perez (Dean of Transitions and Inclusion) was quoted in an Urban Faith article, “Doing College Diversity Well,” that appeared on the organization’s website on April 27. The article is available at this link.

Douglas Campbell (Visual Arts) had “Check,” a mixed media piece, and “Enore,” a monoprint, accepted into a juried exhibit, “Full Moon Rising,” at the Red Raven Gallery in Salem, Ore. The exhibit runs from May 2 through May 30. Also, his poems “Reims Rendezvous” and “Paths” are included in the Spring 2012 issue of Windhover: A Journal of Christian Literature; his poem “The Demon Cupid” was included in the Winter 2011 issue of Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review; and his poems “Rodin’s Gates of Hell” and “Constable’s Landscape” were included in the online journal Ides of March in April.

May 1        Patrick Allen
May 2        Elaine Smith
May 3        Angela Doty
May 5        Robert Bonner
May 6        Greg Smith, Dick Van Noord
May 7        Betty Cordill
May 8        Molly Hickok, Brent Wilson, Deb Worden
May 10      Jim Jackson, Christopher Meade
May 11      Melanie Newell
May 12      Marla Sweningson
May 13      Ethan Burke
May 14      Kathi Becker, Don Powers
May 15      Dirk Barram
May 16      Audrey Williamson
May 17      Paul Anderson
May 18      Paul Otto, Cynthia Weston
May 20      Val Orton, Dan Predoehl
May 22      Heather Ayala, Cliff Berger
May 23      Chuck Conniry
May 24      Brenda Morton
May 28      Beth LaForce

The undergraduate admissions department welcomed Emma Glennen as a visit coordinator this month. Emma, a native of England, moved to the U.S. last year after working two years as an early years/special needs teaching assistant at the Mayflower Community School in Plymouth, UK. Prior to that, she worked as a telephone fundraiser (2007-09) and student ambassador (2008-09) while a student at Royal Holloway University in Surrey, UK. Emma earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Royal Holloway, graduating with honors in 2009. She lives in Salem with her husband, Tom. They have recently starting attending Emmaus Missional Community Church in Salem.

Rob Clarke (Student Financial Services) left the university last week.

The following faculty members are leaving the university to retire or pursue other opportunities: Ron Arnold (Education), Irv Brendlinger (Religious Studies), Mark Carlton (Education), Bob Fisher (Education), Bethany Goldman (Athletic Training), Margi Macy (Education), Lisa McMinn (Sociology), Terah Moore (Education), Sue Newell (Social Work), Devorah Overbay (Nursing), Bruce Shepard (Business), Anne Sjogren (Education), Elizabeth Todd (Communication Arts) and Katy Turpen (Education).

Farewell receptions for Irv Brendlinger, Lisa McMinn and Margi Macy are scheduled this week. The gathering for Lisa will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18, and the farewell for Irv is set from 4:15 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 19. Both receptions will be in the Stevens Center’s Duke Atrium. A retirement reception for Margi is set from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Thursday, April 19, in Room 117 of the Villa Academic Complex.

Lisa is transitioning out of teaching so she can “take our farming deeper, as well as my writing, speaking, and work with food justice issues,” she says. “We are growing food for 16 families this year, following the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) model that encourages people to make closer links to their food and the farmers who grow it.” She will remain connected to the university as a “writer in residence.”

Irv, who came to George Fox in 1993 after teaching for a year at the seminary, plans to do more cycling. “I’ve been getting in about 3,000 miles a year, but will increase that,” he says. “In fact, one possible idea, or hope, is to cycle the eastern part of Germany and retrace the Luther sites.” He also hopes to accomplish a few writing projects, particularly a piece connecting Luther and Wesley and another about his own life experiences and observations.

Margi plans to do more bird watching, playing with grandchildren, traveling, and “generally being useful where needed,” she says.

Michael MacLeod (Political Science) gave two paper presentations – “How Corporations Get Religion: Faith-Based Activism in the Global Political Economy” and “Financial Activism and Environmental Governance” – and chaired a panel at the International Studies Association Annual Convention, held in San Diego, April 1-4.

This week marks the release of the book Dirt and the Good Life, coauthored by Mark (Graduate Psychology) and Lisa McMinn (Sociology). The authors will be in Chapters for a book signing this Wednesday, April 18, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. A reading will commence at 8 p.m. The book is a collection of stories from Fern Creek, a five-acre parcel of land where the McMinns use the Community Support Agriculture program to share the fruit of their labor with supporters.

Sarah Gibson (Cinema and Media Communication) worked on the film Blue Like Jazz as the assistant to the director in Portland. The film, which opened nationwide April 13, is based on the New York Times bestseller by Donald Miller. In addition, Sarah presented a paper last month at the Southern Academy of Legal Studies convention in San Antonio, Texas. The paper, “Snyder v. Phelps: The First Amendment vs. Outrageous Speech,” looks at the recent Supreme Court case against Westboro Baptist.

Ed Higgins (English) published a parody haiku of an 18th-century haiku master, Kobayashi Issa. Entitled “Old Issa,” it appeared in the April 1 issue of the New York-based literary journal Parody Poetry Journal. In addition, Ed’s poem “The Threat of Distance” appears in the April 2012 issue of Blue Print Review, a Germany-based online art and literary journal. Ed’s poem is illustrated with a photo-image of “Durch die Maisfelder” (“Through the Maise Fields”), by Inge Flessa-Glauner.

Theresa Schierman (Student Financial Services) and Gina Braden (Library) were named employees of the month for March and April, respectively.

April 17        Eilene Newman
April 18        Judy Deale
April 20        Tammy O’Doherty
April 22        Tony Pruitt, Jeff VandenHoek
April 25        Terri Beecroft, Mark Ocker, Valerie Sherwood, Richard Silver
April 26        Dana Ferrin
April 27        Pat Vandehey
April 28        Cora Templeton
April 29        Jeff Woods

Gary Tandy (English) gave a presentation, titled “Expanding the Writing Conversation: Using Tutor-led Writing Groups at the Writing Center,” at the Northwest Tutoring Center Conference held at Tacoma Community College on Feb. 25. Rick Muthiah (Learning Support Services) and Hannah Adderley (Academic Resource Center consultant) presented a session entitled “Managing the Learning Center: Training, Scheduling, and Tracking usage.”

Ed Higgins’ (English) poem “Feeding Time in Golden Gate Park” was published in the April 1 edition of the online poetry site Poetry Breakfast.

Paul Anderson (Religious Studies) presented the Ercil & Maxine Beane Lecture at William Penn University on March 19. Paul spoke on “Primitive Christianity Revived! – The Original Quaker Vision, Then and Now.” He also preached at College Avenue Friends Church on March 18, spoke on “Outlining the Johannine Riddles” and “Addressing the Johannine Riddles” in morning sessions the following day, and presented twice on interpreting Johannine riddles in two gatherings that evening.

Steve Delamarter (Seminary) was featured in an article, “Ancient Texts Saved Forever Thanks to Digitization,” that appeared in a March 23 article posted on Investors.com, a site run by Investor’s Business Daily. The article is available to read at this link.

April 3        Steve Delamarter, Dale Journey, Holly Kirby
April 5        Jared Kamimae-Lanning, John Newberry, Vicki Tschan
April 6        Jean Oehm Miller
April 8        Joel Kelley, Jerrie Lyda
April 9        Carrie McNeal
April 10      Cheri Hampton
April 11      Janelle Freitag, Sandi Gregory
April 13      Sarah King, Susan Newell
April 15      Terrie Boehr, Mike Campadore
April 16      Nancy Almquist

Andrew Bradford joined the undergraduate admissions department as a counselor last week. Prior to his move to Oregon in 2011, he worked four years as a program director at Camp Hammer in Boulder Creek, Calif., where he was responsible for marketing and management of the nonprofit Christian retreat and youth camp facility. He is currently pursuing a Masters of Divinity degree from Western Seminary in Portland, and holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Biola University (2007). Andrew lives in Portland with his wife of four years, Lori, and his 9-month-old son Wyatt. The family attends Solid Rock.

Amy Wolff (Undergraduate Admissions) left the university March 9 to work part time as a communication consultant/trainer for Distinction Communications, a local company that works with sales teams and executives to make them more effective communicators through one-day workshops.

Mandee Wilmot is now the assistant director of visitor experience, helping oversee visits and events.

Rhett Luedtke (Performing Arts) received a Meritorious Achievement Award for his direction of the university’s winter musical She Loves Me. A respondent from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (a faculty member from Oregon State University) saw the show and awarded the honor. He also recognized Bryan Boyd’s (Performing Arts) work on the show, awarding him a Meritorious Achievement Award for the set design.

Joel Perez (Dean of Transitions and Inclusion) was quoted in an article, “The Challenge of Diversity on Christian College Campuses,” that appeared on Urban Faith, a website dedicated to interacting on a variety of topics related to contemporary Christian life from an urban, African American, and multiethnic perspective.

Debbie Berho’s (Communication Arts) book Protestant Hispanic Churches of Oregon was published by Wipf & Stock this month. She is scheduled to make multiple presentations about the book to church leaders in various Oregon locations in March, April and May. The book contains observations about trends in the more than 250 Spanish-speaking Protestant churches in the state. Debbie believes the most significant finding was Spanish- and English-speaking congregations who had a common vision for ministry and shared finances, decision-making, and responsibilities, in addition to a building. This type of mutuality has not been previously described in other publications on Latino churches in the U.S.

March 20        Heidi Cuddeford
March 21        Larry Mennenga
March 22        Terry Peters
March 23        Dianna McIntyre
March 24        Loren Kerns
March 26        Nick Willis
March 27        Yune Tran
March 28        Kathy Harris, Arlene Horney, Charlie Kamilos, Jeremy Lloyd, Steve Petzold
March 29        Vetta Berokoff, Kathi Gatlin
March 30        Debora Herp-Sepich
March 31        Erin Cruthirds, Melodee Powers
April 2            Anne Sjogren

Cris Banton was hired as assistant vice president of financial affairs and controller this week. She has worked the past 12 years as a budget and accounting services manager for AHA International Inc., a department at the University of Oregon that provides study-abroad programs. Previously, she co-owned Boulder Excavation Inc., a Hillsboro-based business, where she developed all accounting and administrative procedures for the company from 1997 to 2003. Cris also worked as a self-employed CPA from 1992 to 2002. She earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Linfield College in 1980. Cris lives on Bald Peak with two dogs and three cats. Her daughter Jessica and son-in-law Brendt live in Sherwood, and her son David attends Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix.