E-Colleague

Corey Haverda has been promoted to director of advancement operations.

Rebecca Yazzie will be serving in the role of interim BSW program director for fall 2019.

Employees of the Year

The following four individuals were recognized as Employees of the Year for 2018-19. Included are comments about each, written by their supervisors.

Kelly Hughton is the frontline contact and coordinator for prospective students who visit outside of our events. Last year, she coordinated details for 765 individual visitors, a 20 percent increase from the year before. She also coordinated registration details and special requests for 363 Friday@Fox guests and overnight visits for over 500 students for all types of visits. Beyond these administrative details, she can often be found personally walking late visitors to catch up to a tour, giving tours herself when people can’t make set tour times, and arranging special visit activities outside our normal hours for people who can’t visit during the week. In every way, Kelly’s core work grew in volume this year, and she executed the details with excellence and a willingness to change her systems to handle the increase without more resources or hours.

Kelly is a community servant and friend to many. She has served on the Staff Development Committee and the Serve Day Executive Committee for the past three years. In the undergraduate admissions office, she helps plan retreats and team development initiatives. She proves that leadership is about seeing what is possible and motivating others to come along, regardless of position.

If you don’t know Kelly, you are missing out. She is friendly, outgoing, welcoming and cares deeply for others. Most importantly, she has a “secret sauce” – a default attitude of assuming positive intent in others. What if we all had this? It would transform our work and our world.

Since 2014, Elise Trask has served our student-athletes and the university community exceptionally well as our associate director of athletics. She is also a graduate of George Fox who played on the national championship basketball team of 2009 that recorded a perfect 32-0 season. Elise loves George Fox and cares deeply about our student-athletes and their experience. She personifies the Be Known promise as a wise mentor to many of our students and others, and carries out her many responsibilities with grace, wisdom, leadership and courage.

Her supervisor, Adam Puckett, writes, “Over my professional career, I have been blessed to work with a lot of talented managers and coworkers. It is not an exaggeration for me to say that Elise is, hands down, the most talented coworker I have ever had the privilege to work with.”

Without a doubt, Elise embodies the values and aspirations of our Christ-centered community. Her organization, love for students, servant’s heart, attention to detail, humility, strong work ethic, deep love for God and others, and wisdom and insight are important contributions to the ongoing important work and mission of George Fox University!

Tiona Cage has served George Fox and our students in a number of roles, including in International Student Services, the Center for Peace and Justice, as a faculty member in social work, and most recently at the Portland Seminary as the associate director of academic advising and community life. In this position, Tiona has excelled in service to students. She has done many of the admissions interviews, and in her time as associate director, the seminary has captured a greater percentage of applicants to matriculate: Enrollment in the masters programs has soared from 35 new students in fall 2017 to 71 new students in fall 2018. She has stepped in to provide training for adjuncts and organize commencement, as well as fall orientation, and is now involved in two grant initiatives: the Wabash Small Project grant for race-critical consciousness and the Lilly Endowment grant for thriving congregations.

Tiona has streamlined and standardized academic advisement and now does course plans and maps out curriculum for all masters students at the seminary – a task that was previously spread to all faculty. Most importantly, she has been a great check and balance to the seminary dean’s strategic vision. She asks good questions on the seminary’s masters curriculum and around cultural competencies. Roger Nam reports that he is a much better dean because of Tiona, and the seminary students ultimately receive a much better experience.

Dave Adrian has served George Fox for the past 39 years, in addition to his time here as a student-athlete. The advancement team saw a number of transitions in both leadership and staffing this year, and Dave was a model of professionalism and stability. He embraced a number of changes and championed the new direction of our fundraising efforts.

It is in no small part that, due to his diligence and commitment to working with donors to support our students and programs across campus, that the fundraising totals for FY19 held steady and we did not see a significant decline in our revenue. This is even more remarkable when we consider that Dave was the only full-time fundraiser for the university for much of the year, and that we were not in an official campaign last year.

Dave lives the Be Known promise and has been an inspiring mentor and friend to not only his colleagues on campus but to many of our students, parents and donors. You will often find Dave spending his free time on campus at the track, field or gym supporting our student-athletes and coaches. He will make fast friends and makes sure to meet and greet every family member and student-athlete in attendance. He also will spend his free time supporting many of the music and arts programs on campus as well.

We are blessed to have Dave represent George Fox University and thank him for the gifts that he shares with us and our community.

Don Powers (Biology) and four coauthors, including George Fox alumnus Joey Canepa, published a research paper, “Hummingbirds budget energy flexibility in response to changing resources,” in the British Ecological Society’s publication Functional Ecology. The piece discusses how, as resource availability or abiotic conditions change, hummingbirds can adjust how they allocate energy to activities such as foraging, resting and reproduction. This behavioral flexibility in energy allocation may be a key factor in determining free-living animals’ fitness in changing environmental conditions.

Leah Payne (Seminary) in mid-August explored what happens when a tradition’s unique understanding of calling meets societal norms of leadership in a Christianity Today podcast, “Quick to Listen” with Morgan Lee. In the interview, Payne discusses why women have struggled to advance past the pastorate, the unique ways Pentecostals understand church leadership, and why many Pentecostal churches have pastor couples that lead churches together. You can listen to it here

Paul Anderson (Christian Studies) edited Volume 8 in the Johannine Monograph Series, The Gospel of John in Christian History: Seven Glimpses into the Johannine Community (expanded and revised), published in July by Wipf & Stock. This and the other seven volumes in the series, beginning with Rudolf Bultmann’s commentary on John as Vol. 1, were given to the Marburg University Library at the Society for New Testament Studies meetings in August. At those meetings, Paul was invited to respond to a paper in the Philo Seminar with â€œOn Philo, the Via Negativa, and John’s Dialectical Theology – A Response to Athanasios Despotis.” Paul also co-led a workshop at the on-campus Northwest Yearly Meeting sessions in July on “Speak, Lord, For Your Servant is Listening – Answering God’s Call,” and he presented a PowerPoint on â€œSeeing the Word of God – The Illuminative Power of The Saint John’s Bible” at the First Christian Church in Portland. Finally, Volume 6 in the Quakers and the Disciplines Series (for which Paul is the founding series editor) – Quakers, Creation Care, and Sustainability (coedited by Cherice Bock) – was published in time for the Friends Association for Higher Education meetings in June, held at Swarthmore College and Pendle Hill Conference Center in Philadelphia. There, Paul presented a paper, “Elizabeth Fry – A Noteworthy Friend.” He also preached at Reedwood Friends Church on the topic “Christ-Hymns Then and Now.”

Ron Clark (Portland Seminary) has spent the summer directing youth groups from across the country to complete a new houseless community (Agape Village) in Portland. The village will be open this fall and be Portland’s sixth community. Visit this link for updated news or for volunteer youth class projects in the village movement to end homelessness.

The university welcomes Victoria Holland as an administrative assistant for the Graduate School of Counseling. She worked most recently for the Medical Consultants Network, for which she served as an administrative assistant the past two years. An alumna of the university, Victoria worked as an admissions intern at George Fox during the 2013-14 academic year. She graduated from the university with a bachelor’s degree in art, with a fashion design concentration, in 2015. Victoria lives in Newberg with her husband, Chris, and attends Red Hills Church. She is an avid boulderer and rock hunter, and for three months of her life she lived in Seoul, South Korea.

Jared Horton has transitioned from a temporary role to full time as an HVAC preventative maintenance technician in plant services. He has worked as a shop assistant on campus since January, and before that worked in general construction labor for Horton & Company LLC, based in McMinnville. An alumnus of the university, he was a work-study student in George Fox’s electrical department (2016-17) and in its custodial department (2015-16). Jared is earning an associate of applied science in building inspection technology credential through Portland Community College, with an expected completion of that program in September of this year. He lives in Newberg and attends Timberline Baptist Church in Sherwood.

Alumna Lael May has joined the finance office as an accountant. She arrives with an accounting background after working at several large manufacturing firms, including Erickson, Inc., an aircraft manufacturing and operating company based on Portland, and Davis Tool, Inc., a metal machine and manufacturing firm in Hillsboro. She also performed a variety of job functions over 10 years at the Lattice Semiconductor Corporation in Hillsboro, including IT business relationship manager, finance project manager, and as the SOX compliance audit manager. Lael earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from George Fox in 2004. She lives in Beaverton with her husband Rick, their Jack Russell Terrier Paprika, and Maw the cat. The Mays have six adult children and four grandchildren, with whom they spend a lot of free time riding quads and dirt bikes throughout Oregon. Their church home is Westside: A Jesus Church.

The IDEA Center welcomes Nadine Pasin as an office coordinator. An alumna of the university, she’s worked as an office administrator for Natural Health Works, a naturopathic practice in Oregon City, since December of last year. She graduated from George Fox with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, with concentrations in studio arts, English, and organizational communication, in December of 2018. While a student, Nadine was a student career specialist (2017-19), a marketing intern (2018), and a teacher’s assistant (2018), all in the IDEA Center. Nadine lives in Oregon City and attends Athey Creek Christian Fellowship in West Linn.

The student life office welcomes Amy Reeves to serve as an area coordinator for the Edwards and Gulley halls as part of residence life. For the past year she has worked as an academic enrichment coordinator at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, where she facilitated guidance for a staff of 75 student workers and oversaw peer tutoring and academic peer mentoring while assisting with student success coaching. Before that, from 2014 to 2018, Amy was a resident director at Mount Vernon. Concurrently, from 2013 to 2017, she was the university’s residence life coordinator, overseeing the school’s housing process. Before that, she was a resident assistant at Mount Vernon (2009-13). Amy earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Mount Vernon Nazarene in 2013 and is currently enrolled in the Masters of Higher Education program at Geneva College, with an expected completion in 2020. She lives in the Kelsey House with her husband, Micah, and dog, Bane.

Athletics welcomes Jenéa Shoemaker as the assistant director of sports information and marketing. She has worked the past year as a communications intern for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, serving as the assistant to the director of strategic communications. Among her duties were promoting the 23 Division II athletic programs sponsored by the conference through maintenance of its website, and producing and maintaining social media content for the largest Division II conference in the country (17 institutions). The year prior, she worked as a sports information intern at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, where she worked with 13 DII programs and acted as the primary contact for women’s soccer, men’s and women’s cross country, women’s basketball, men’s and women’s track and field, and softball. Jenéa earned a bachelor of business administration degree in sports management from State University of New York at Canton in 2018. She lives in Wilsonville.

Portland Seminary welcomes Gaby Viesca as its director of strategic planning and outreach. For the past five years she has worked as a women’s pastor at Cedar Mill Bible Church in Portland, where she contributed to the overall leadership, direction and vision of the church while also leading its women’s ministry. Previously, she served as a church leadership consultant at Centro Biblico Neguev in Beersheva, Israel (2012); cofounded and directed a Christian leadership nonprofit organization, Lideres con Valor, in Monterrey, Mexico (2010-11); and worked designing global strategies at General Electric in Monterrey, Mexico (2008-10). She holds a master’s degree in biblical studies from Regent University (2014) and a bachelor’s degree in international business from the Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico (2007). Gaby lives in Portland.

Shereen Hullum (Social Work), Kelly Carlisle (Education), Matt Sargent (Registrar), Sarah Southworth (Business), Tyler Welker (Cinematic Arts), Matt Dyment (Residence Life), Collin Cram (Athletics) and Joe Thouvenel (IDEA Center) are no longer at the university.

Custodial services’ Kathy Dexter, Kera Hallman, Joshua Howlett, Christina Kiefiuk Yates, Teresa Lamm, Glory Lehman, John Libemday, Laurie Lorenzen, Jeff Marble, Tahlia Martin, Caleb Wheelock and Mike Wirta are no longer at the university.

Marina Alcala-Medel is now an advancement operations specialist in the advancement office.

Corey Haverda is now a data analyst in the advancement office.

Jamison Loop has transitioned out of the undergraduate admissions office to take a new position in the marketing communications office, where he will serve as marketing program manager.

Nancy Fawver is transitioning to the role of senior associate registrar.

Brett Meyers is taking on an additional role, serving as both coordinator of student programs and, as of late July, as area coordinator for the new Newlin Hall.

Jennie Harrop (Adult Degree Program) published a book, The Jesus Quotient: IQ to EQ to AQ (Wipf & Stock) in July. In it, she addresses the idea that, as leaders, our capacity to hear is often muddied by an inability to acknowledge our own insufficiencies and emotions. She observes how Jesus knew his God-given purpose and emotional character so deeply that he was able to operate out of these foundations boldly and instinctively. Jesus’s infallible Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Emotional Quotient (EQ) allowed him to focus on a third concept called “Audience Quotient” (AQ): an individual’s ability to focus consistently, completely, and effectively on others. The book argues that, if the church is to earn a voice in this culture, it cannot be about the components of church at all, but instead must be about the individual souls within the church – pastors included. The better we ground ourselves in the truth of who we were created to be (IQ, EQ, and AQ), the better able we will be to love God fully and love those around us as we love ourselves.

David Green, a former George Fox University Board of Trustees chair, passed away on Aug. 2. President Robin Baker wished to share some words about David …

“David loved and cared for the mission of George Fox. In the Quaker way, he took the time to listen and show great kindness and patience in every conversation and decision. He was always responsible, diligent in his duties as board chair, had a compassionate heart, and served the board well. Please hold his wife, Ruth, and their children in your prayers. I know they covet your prayers.”

David’s memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, at the Tigard Community Friends Church.

The university’s marketing communications office welcomes Vanessa Spier as the department’s marketing creative director. Most recently, from 2013 to 2018, she served as director of strategic communications for Singapore American School in Singapore, overseeing the institution’s communications and marketing efforts while partnering with the school’s superintendent, board and leadership team to redefine its mission, vision and strategic plan. Her work helped further Singapore American School’s reputation as one of the world’s largest and highest-performing international schools, with 4,000 students and an operating budget of $150 million. Previously, Vanessa worked as a corporate communications manager for Microsoft’s Asia Pacific Headquarters (2012-13), managing internal communications for the company as well as developing a cross-company communications program, among other duties. She also worked internationally as a freelance editor in the Philippines (2003-09) and as a public relations specialist with the U.S. Agency for International Development in Cairo, Egypt (2000-02). Vanessa earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Willamette University in 1994. She lives in Lake Oswego with husband Mike, son Hayden (16) and daughter Avery (14), and attends Rolling Hills Community Church.

The library welcomes Jenny Bruxvoort as a research and instruction librarian and assistant professor. She arrives from the University of Illinois Library in Urbana, Illinois, where she served as a graduate assistant in library assessment since August of 2017. As part of her employment, since December of 2017 she has worked on an independent research project for which she gathered and coded data on the portrayal of librarians in college science textbooks – a study she plans to publish. Jenny also gained library experience as an Atkins Fellow for assessment and analytics in the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s J Murrey Atkins Library in the summer of 2018. She graduated this spring with a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Calvin College (2016). Jenny lives in Tualatin with her husband Brandt.

Finance has hired an accounting specialist, Patrick Culligan, this month. A stay-at-home dad the past five years, he worked previously as an express client services representative at Fiserv, Inc., a financial services technology company, in 2013-14. Prior to that, for seven years, he was an operations specialist with OnPoint Community Credit Union, responsible for processing member wire transfers, check processing and research, and providing operations support for credit union branches, among other duties. Patrick attended Portland State University, where he focused on communication studies (2005-10). He lives in Newberg with his wife Andrea and their 6-year-old twin boys, Noah and Carter. The family attends St. Peters Catholic Church in Newberg.

Alumna Kacie Warden has joined the student financial services office as an account specialist. A spring 2019 graduate of George Fox, from which she earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, Kacie has worked in student accounts for the past two years as a work-study student. Also while a student, she played for the university’s women’s basketball team (2015-17), has been active in the National Society of Leadership and Success (2018-19), and since 2011 has been a youth sports coach at Monroe Grade School in Monroe, Oregon. She also worked for eight years (2010-18) as a laborer and equipment operator on her family’s farm, Warden Farms. Kacie lives in Newberg.

Elizabeth Anderson (Student Life), Jennifer Farland (International Admissions), Abigail Hortegas (Admissions), Jim Jackson (Advancement), Nadine Kincaid (Campus Public Safety), Alex Pia (International Admissions), Dinah Steig (Student Accounts) and Jenny Zaganiacz (Student Life) have left the university.

Jacob Vahlenkamp has transitioned from a temp position to serve as a data manager in the admissions department.

John Kaye has transitioned to an applications analyst position in IT after serving as an operations specialist in the student accounts office.

Stephanie Bugas is moving from her position of director of advancement operations to that of associate development officer.  

Tai Harden-Moore, director of grants administration, has returned to the advancement office after working the past two years in academic affairs. 

Mitzi Martinez is moving this month from the IDEA Center to residence life to serve as an area coordinator.

Mark Pothoff (Student Life) was part of the leadership team that facilitated the New Professionals Retreat as part of the Association for Christians in Student Development’s (ACSD) annual conference, held at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, June 3-6. Joining him at the conference were student life’s Brad Lau, Kristi Welker, Min Choi, Brett Meyers and Stephanie St. Cyr, as well as Mitzi Martinez from the IDEA Center. At the conference, Lau co-presented a workshop, “Shining a Light: The Current State of Student Mental Health,” while Welker also co-presented a workshop, “Building a Commuter Inclusive Campus.”

Alumna Abby Buckles has joined the university’s William Penn Honors Program to serve as its admissions coordinator. A 2018 graduate of George Fox, from which she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology while participating in the honors program, Abby has worked extensively on campus since her arrival as a freshman. Since September, she has worked as a retail associate in the Bruin Store. Previously, she was a student employee in the psychology department (2017-18) and both a student intern (2016-17) and student employee (2014-16) in the honors program. She lives in Newberg with her husband Zak, a student in George Fox’s PsyD program. The couple attends Church of the Vine in Newberg.

The marketing communications office welcomes Missy Downs as a marketing campaign and event manager. She graduated from George Fox this spring, earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing, and has worked as a marketing intern and graphic designer in the marketing communications office for the past four years. In addition, she served as a resident assistant on campus (2017-18) and worked as an organizational aid and social media manager for the Newberg Bakery (2018-19). Missy also gained external work experience as a marketing consultant for the Newberg Rotary Club during her senior year. She lives in Newberg and attends Journey Church in Sherwood, where she teaches preschool children.

The following professors are retiring from George Fox this summer: Christine Austin (ELI), Bob Bredemeier (Art and Design), Gary Buhler (Art and Design), George Byrtek (ADP), Viki Defferding (Spanish), Steve Delamarter (Seminary), Jim Foster (Dean, College of Behavioral and Health Sciences) and Mark McLeod-Harrison (Philosophy). Buhler will return to teach on an adjunct basis.

After 20 years of service with Bon Appetit on campus, Denny Lawrence is retiring this summer.

Danny Cross (Athletics), David Kerr (Art and Design), Kelly Lafferty (Graduate Admissions), Steve Leijon (Business), Paul L’Esperance (Nursing), Danette Newkirk (Marketing Communications), Janelle Olivarez (Marketing Communications), Marcus Peters (Plant Services), Polly Peterson (English), Erica Ramirez (Seminary), Aida Ramos (Sociology), David Rawson (Business), Jon Schatz (Business), Grace Tissell (IDEA Center), Rebecca Valdovinos (ELI) and Gina Worley (Graduate Admissions) have left the university. Leijon, Rawson and Schatz will return to teach on an adjunct basis.

Seth Preuss is taking over as director of sports information after serving as assistant director of sports information since last fall.

Belinda Creighton has transitioned from the Finance office to working in Employee Empowerment, where she will serve as a lead payroll specialist.

Elrika Shaw has transitioned out of the plant services department and into a position with Campus Public Safety as an administrative assistant and parking operations manager.

The following professors have been awarded tenure, effective Aug. 15: Joseph Clair (Christian Studies), Dawn Ford (Cinematic Arts), Marcey Keefer-Hutchison (Physical Therapy), Gary Sehorn (Doctor of Education) and Cindy Zablotny (Physical Therapy).

The following professors have been promoted from associate professor to professor, effective Aug. 15: Tyler Cuddeford (Physical Therapy), Amy Dee (MAT), Dawn Ford (Cinematic Arts) and Brent Wilson (Computer Science).

The following professors have been promoted from assistant professor to associate professor, effective Aug. 15: Jason Brumitt (Physical Therapy), Anderson Campbell (Christian Studies), Pam Fifer (Nursing), Jing Hao (Chemistry), Jennie Harrop (ADP), Celeste Jones (PsyD), Daniel Kang (Physical Therapy), David Liu (Business), Sarah Southworth (Marketing), Sarah Stevenson (Library), Matthew Stump (Biology), Danielle Warner (Music) and Brandon Waybright (Art and Design).

Jim Steele (College of Business) was the keynote speaker for the annual Leadership Summit for YMCA of the Columbia-Willamette on May 13. Seventy-five executives, managers and supervisors from every part of the organization participated in a three-hour interactive session on the topic of “Coaching through Change.”

Ron Clark (Portland Seminary) was presented the Midori Hamilton Award by the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. The award is given each year for an individual’s outstanding work in domestic and sexual assault service to the state of Oregon. Clark is currently with a mission in Colombia training clergy, military and law enforcement in violence prevention in churches and the community. His book Freeing the Oppressed, used in the past at the seminary, is now available in a new Russian translation to be used by advocates, law enforcement and clergy in Russian-speaking faith communities in the Northwest. 

In April, Rachel Thomas (University Archives) presented “ArchivesSpace 2.0: A Step Further” at Northwest Archivists 2019 with fellow archivists Steve Duckworth (Oregon Health & Science University), Zach Selley (Reed College), and Conor Casey (University of Washington). The presentation focused on advanced uses of ArchivesSpace, an archival collection management software to enhance intellectual control of archival collections.

Cherice Bock (Seminary) coedited Volume 6 in the Quakers & the Disciplines Series, entitled “Quakers, Creation Care, and Sustainability.” The book is set to release at the Friends Association for Higher Education conference in Philadelphia June 13-16. Bock contributed an essay and a coauthored essay to the volume. Craig Goodworth also contributed to the volume, and Paul Anderson (College of Christian Studies) serves as the series editor.

Michael Coppolino has been hired to serve as head coach of the women’s basketball program. He arrives from Newburgh, New York, where he coached Division III Mount Saint Mary College for the past six seasons. Last year, he led the team to an 18-0 Skyline Conference record and 23-6 overall mark, and in the last two years combined his teams went 35-1 in conference play. In his six years at Mount Saint Mary College, Michael posted a 91-69 overall record, including a 69-27 mark against Skyline Conference rivals. For his accomplishments, he was named the Skyline Conference’s Coach of the Year in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Previously, Michael served as the assistant coach on the school’s men’s basketball team for one season (2013-14) and, since 2014, has also led the college’s men’s golf program. Before his arrival at Mount Saint Mary, Coppolino was an assistant coach with Alfred University’s men’s basketball program (2011-12), and, from 2000 to 2011, he was a clubhouse attendant with the Boston Red Sox, where he won two World Series rings in 2004 and 2007. A 2007 graduate of Eckerd College with a degree in business management, Michael completed a master’s degree in business administration at Alfred University in 2012. He and his wife, Jessica, plan to move to Newberg in the coming months.

Joseph Harrison has joined the university to work as the housing and residence life operations manager in the Office of Student Life. A 2019 graduate of George Fox, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication, he has worked as an operations assistant in the university’s housing office since 2016. Joseph was also a resident assistant the past two years and, since February of 2018, he has served as the communication coordinator for the Northwest Yearly Meeting in Newberg. Additional commitments include serving as a member of the NWYM’s Board of Communication (2018-19) and being a university ambassador (2015-19). He lives in Newberg and attends Newberg Friends Church.

The undergraduate admissions office welcomes Lauren Hill as an admissions counselor this month. Since January of this year, she has worked as an event management intern for Opus Agency of Seattle, helping the company execute corporate events with over 2,000 attendees and coordinating communication, documentation and onsite support efforts. Previously, she took part in the Disney College Program as an outdoor vending employee at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, in the fall of 2018. Lauren also has experience as a communication and events assistant with the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication (2017) and as a game day operations and marketing intern with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes baseball team in Keizer, Oregon (2016). She graduated from George Fox with a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication in 2018. Lauren lives in Milwaukie and attends Westside: A Jesus Church.

After working the past four months on a temp basis for the Campus Public Safety office, Rick Schmitt has been hired on full time as a security officer. Prior to his hiring in December, he worked for the United States Air Force in law enforcement for nine years and, for 21 years, was an inmate transport correction officer for the Federal Bureau of Prisons before retiring in 2016. He holds an associate’s degree in criminal justice. He lives in Newberg with his wife Theresa. They have one grown son, Michael, and a daughter, Scarlett, and attend Zion Lutheran Church.

Fred Gregory (President’s Office), Jane Sweet (Honors Program), Kristi Doolin (Print Services), Terri Beecroft (Print Services) and Jennifer Hanks (Plant Services) have left the university.

Four faculty members were honored with faculty achievement awards for the 2018-19 academic year: Sarita Gallagher (Christian Studies) and Rhett Luedtke (Theatre) were named the undergraduate teacher and researcher of the year, respectively, while Daniel Kang (Physical Therapy) and Leah Payne (Seminary) received the corresponding awards at the graduate level.

Roger Nam (Seminary) published a chapter, “‘Half Speak Ashdodite and None Can Speak Judean’: Code-Switching in Ezra-Nehemiah as an Identity Marker for Repatriate Judeans and Koreans,” in Landscapes of Korean and Korean American Biblical Interpretation (SBL Press, 2019).

Brian Doak (Christian Studies) is publishing two books this summer, a monograph and a major coedited volume, both with Oxford University Press. Heroic Bodies in Ancient Israel examines the heroic world of ancient Israel within the Hebrew Bible, and shows that ancient Israelite literature operated within and against a world of heroic ideals in its ancient context. Not merely a textual study of the Hebrew Bible in isolation, the book also considers iconography and compares Israelite literature with other ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern materials, illustrating Israel’s place among a wider construction of heroic bodies. In The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean, edited with Carolina Lopez-Ruiz, a wide range of scholars write summary studies on key historical moments, areas of culture, regional studies and areas of contact, and the reception of the Phoenicians as an idea, entangled with the formation of other cultural identities, both ancient and modern.

Michael Simmons, formerly manager of the Bruin Store, has been hired to work as a graduate admissions counselor in the Enrollment and Marketing department. He makes the change after working in the Bruin Store for the past four years. Michael and his wife, Liz, both work at George Fox. Liz is an area coordinator and associate director of residence life, and they live on the Newberg campus with their daughter Bina (age 4) and son David (age 1). Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Lee University in Tennessee and a master’s degree in intercultural studies from Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. Michael is also on staff at Journey Church in Sherwood, and he and Liz will be ordained as elders in the Free Methodist Church this summer.

Samantha Parrish recently joined the university’s Campus Public Safety office as a senior public safety officer. She arrived from Providence Health & Services of Portland, where she was a lead security officer from 2014 to 2018. She also worked previously as a school public safety officer at Jesuit High School in Portland (2013-14). Samantha has extensive mental health and crisis intervention training. She also worked as a public relations manager for Voices Set Free of Hillsboro (2015-17), providing community education to professionals and community members about domestic violence. Previously, she was franchise owner and manager of an Ultimate Tan & Med Spa business in Cornelius, Oregon (2004-13) as well as owner of A Confidential Investigation in Beaverton (2005-09). She attended Clackamas Community College, working on an associate’s degree in human services, and recently transferred to Liberty University, where she is working on a bachelor’s degree in criminal psychology. Samantha moved back to her hometown of Newberg in the summer of 2018 with her fiancé, Paul Cooley, a senior police officer with the Newberg-Dundee Police Department. They plan to marry in the fall of 2019 and have four children between them: Shannon, Shelby, Matt and Matthias. The Parrish-Cooley family attends St. Francis Catholic Church.

Mike Meek (Athletics) has left the university.

Stephanie Matthew, Elizabeth Roark (School of Nursing) and Eloise Hockett (College of Education), coauthored “Christ-Focused Service-Learning: Learning to Receive Ministry in Humility” in the April/June 2019 issue of Journal of Christian Nursing. Since 2015, Eloise, Stephanie and Elizabeth have been collaborating with the nursing and education programs to engage students and faculty in cross-cultural partnership work in Kenya through a service-learning model.

In March, Joe Thouvenel met the requirements to become a Certified Career Services Provider from the National Career Development Association’s credentialing commission. Joe is assistant director of the IDEA Center and a job and internship coach.

Paul Anderson (Christian Studies) was recently interviewed, along with Roy Carlisle (editor of Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline), by Carrie Carlisle Palmer and Joshua Lindley on Tablethink, a site dedicated to providing inspirational information, innovative ideas and community connection. Paul also reviewed the last four episodes of the “Jesus: His Life” series for The Bible and Interpretation site: “Jesus: His Life from the Perspectives of Judas and Pilate” and “Jesus: His Life from the Perspectives of Mary Magdalene and the Apostle Peter.”

Jim Weller, who recently retired after working as an adjunct in the Adult Degree Program, is releasing a book, Flying Solo, that is now available for preorder at Barnes & Noble’s website (bn.com). The book tells the story of Chris, who, months before receiving his aeronautical engineering degree in preparation for a career in aviation as an airline pilot, faces tragedy. Every part of his life is changed, including his relationship with the woman he loves. 

The following employees were recognized with shout-outs at last Thursday’s all-employee meeting: John Shaw (IT), commended for helping financial aid troubleshoot its automated disbursement system; Jordan Nelson (Financial Aid), who came up with a creative, automated solution to fix a lot of manual work in PeopleSoft; Andrew Fleming (IT), who responded quickly to assist a coworker to print critical documents; and Mari Ortega (Intercultural Resource Center), who assisted the financial aid office with a Spanish-speaking parent. You can read summaries of all the shout-outs here.

McKenna Tillotson (Marketing Communications), Scott Barnett (Admissions) and Jonathan Hall (Campus Public Safety) have left the university.

Maddy Boylan is transitioning to serve as the coordinator for the Graduate School of Counseling.

John Heitz has joined the Office of Plant Services’ administrative team, serving as an estimator/planner on the office staff.

Guadalupe Garcia McCall’s (English) book, All the Stars Denied, was named as one of the “2019 Best Children’s Books of the Year” in the Fourteen and Up Category by Bank Street College of Education.

Paul Anderson (Christian studies) published a review of The History Channel’s “Life of Jesus” series on The Bible and Interpretation website earlier this month. His piece reviews the episode “Jesus: His Life from the Perspectives of Judas and Pilate (Pt. 3).” He also spoke in Albany for the Linn Genealogical Society on “The Quaker Family Tree, and America as ‘The Holy Experiment’” on April 6.

Jamie Noling-Auth (Spiritual and Intercultural Life) was among 41 administrators in higher education nationwide selected by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) to participate in the 2019-20 Senior Leadership Academy. Those chosen for the year-long program are leaders in higher education who have been identified by their institutions as having the potential for more senior leadership positions in independent colleges or universities. Jamie will take part in a mentoring program, work with experts, participate in webinars, and engage in a series of readings and case studies during the academic year.

Ed Higgins (English Faculty Emeritus) published a spring celebration poem, “Surge of Green,” in the April 14 edition of the online nature/environment magazine Plum Tree Tavern.

Alumna Jenna Holmes has joined the university as a media production specialist. After graduating from George Fox with a bachelor’s degree in cinema and media communication in 2016, she did media production work for the university from August of 2017 to January of 2018, and again from December of 2018 to the present. She also worked in the department as a work-study student from 2013 to 2016. Outside of George Fox, Jenna has run her own freelance photography and videography business, Jenna Holmes Photography, since 2014. Jenna enjoys traveling and has been to South Africa, Australia, The Dominican Republic, and Germany.  She lives in Tualatin with her two cats, Dipper and Padfoot, and attends Northside Community Church. She also leads middle schoolers for Newberg Young Life.

Plant services welcomed Shirley Eckerdt as a groundskeeper last month. She joins the department full time after working on a temp basis between May and December of 2018. For two years (2016-18) she worked as a personal assistant for a local citizen, and since 2013 she has done numerous volunteer jobs for the school’s plant services department and the Newberg community. She lives in Newberg and is married to Gary, who works at George Fox as a mechanic.