SPU’s Finest
2003 Awards Showcase Five Exceptional Exceptional Faculty and Faculty
It’s an occasion marked by community
pride — and more than a little suspense. When the Seattle Pacific University
faculty and staff gather for the annual
President’s Recognition Chapel in Brougham Pavilion, the identities of the top
honorees are always a closely kept secret.
President Philip Eaton began this year’s ceremony on May 6 by
conferring years-of-service awards on 67 individuals whose tenure
at SPU ranges from five to 35 years. Eaton then revealed the names
of the recipients of
the 2003 President’s Awards for Excellence. Given each year to one faculty member
and one staff member selected by the president, the $1,000 prizes honor significant
achievements
on behalf of Seattle Pacific. Says Eaton, “These awards recognize people for
their gifts — and for contributing those gifts to the
University’s vision.”
The 2003 Staff Member of the Year Awards were presented
by Staff Council President Gerard Duguay, who noted that among all the nominations
the Council had
received, “two staff members clearly stood out.” Jason Van Winkle, president
of the Associated Students of Seattle Pacific, concluded the ceremony by announcing
the students’ selection for the 2003 Professor of the Year Award. All three awards
also included a $1,000 cash prize.
So who are this year’s top award winners?
You’ll meet them in the following pages and
discover why they’re considered some of “SPU’s finest.”
Luke Reinsma
Professor of English
President's Award for Excellence: Faculty
Now and then, a professor comes along who is a perpetual favorite of all those
fortunate enough to take one of his or her classes. Students of such a professor
often learn as much about themselves as about the actual subject of the course.
Professor of
English Luke Reinsma would never say so himself — after all, he comes from a
Dutch Calvinist family, not prone to the sin of
pride — but Seattle Pacific University students since 1985 have given him high
marks for teaching them life lessons.
“There is no better model of excellence
on the SPU campus,” said President Philip Eaton when announcing the faculty winner
of the President’s Award for Excellence. “He is a gifted teacher and scholar,
recognized by students and faculty colleagues alike.”
Born in the Netherlands
just after World War II, Reinsma moved with his parents to America, eventually
deciding to
become a doctor. “After flunking premed,” he cheerfully admits, “I turned to
English by sheer accident, because I loved books. I wanted to find a vocation
that took care of my soul.”
By reading Greek myths aloud in class, Reinsma urges
students to find relationships between ancient literature and their own lives.
He asks difficult questions about art’s role in a Christian’s life. He brings
up unsettling issues ranging from endangered
spotted owls to Civil War deserters.
“I like setting up problems that get solved,” he
explains. He says
he likes his courses to “ride the crest of anxiety, only to arrive at the beachhead
in the final weeks. I like serving as a guide rather than a leader, leading
from behind, joining students in conversation.”
Conversation is in fact one of
Reinsma’s passions — and hiking is another. Outside the classroom, he carries
on conversations with his students on European seminars, in Seattle coffee shops
or on weekly hikes up Mount Si, a nearby peak.
In class, Reinsma eschews quizzes
and attendance rolls. “It seems to me that genuine conversation is a matter of
trust,” he says. “I’ve never been able to engage in conversation with students who are chained
to their desks.”
Talking with students about life issues, Reinsma might say,
isn’t worthy of an award. “But every once in a while,” he allows, “you say something
that might matter.”
 |
Craig Kispert
Assistant Vice President
for Finance and Budget
President's Award for Excellence: Staff
In his 10 years at Seattle Pacifi c University, Craig
Kispert ’88 has been described as a gifted staff member, a smart and capable
co-worker, and a man of integrity, with experience in both accounting and accountability.
Kispert was working at the Seattle branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San
Francisco when he saw an opening at his alma mater. “I was tinkering with accounting
classes,” he says, “when the position for assistant controller came up at Seattle
Pacific.” He applied and has been working at SPU ever since, in roles of increasing
responsibility.
Working with Vice President of Business and Planning Don Mortenson,
Kispert helps manage the University’s finances at the top levels. He makes sure
the budget is balanced, financial statements are in order and new projects such
as the Science Building get the funds they need. “I see my role as providing perspective
and balance to things that can be contentious,” says Kispert. “When different people from
all over campus come to a decision that’s best for the University — with understanding
on all sides — that’s the best part of my job.”
President Philip Eaton presented the President’s Award for
Excellence to Kispert “with great thanks for his contributions
to our University’s financial strength at the highest levels of our business,
his embrace of the vision and bigger picture, and his teamwork with so many across
the campus on many projects.”
Daily at noon, Kispert likes to run along the canal path with
other staff members. “It keeps me accountable,” he says. He plays golf and loves
his family life. Six-year-old Calvin is older brother to twins Casey and Corey.
Asked if he watches the TV series “Everybody Loves Raymond,” which has the same
family structure,
Kispert laughs. “I live a lot of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond.’”
Besides managing a child-filled home life with his wife, Deri Paulson Kispert ’90,
Craig teaches kindergarten Sunday school. “I enjoy kids that age,” he says. They
point out things that make you look at life in a different way.”
Kispert views his job at SPU as a mission match: “I resonate with
Seattle Pacific’s vision of engaging the culture, not being set
apart,” he says. “I’m doing what I like to do, and I’m working at a
place that’s consistent with my personal beliefs.”
 |
Lindsey Peterson
Payroll Lead
Oral V. Hemry Staff Member of the Year
She carpools every day to work in the Finance Office at Seattle Pacific University. Far more valuable than the free parking space she
receives, says Lindsey Peterson ’97, are the “priceless” friendships
she’s made. “They’ve become dear friends who encourage each other
in matters of faith, moving forward and education.
”That has been a significant boost to Peterson, who is studying for her
M.B.A. at SPU at the same time that she oversees issuing payroll
checks for 712 full-time, part-time, adjunct and temporary faculty
and staff members. In the process, she says, “You learn about
all sorts of things that people like to do. You hear stories
from Casey Conference Center to the Washington School Research
Center — and all departments in between."
The flute performance
graduate was “amazed” to learn of her recognition this year by
the Staff Council. She had cut the award checks for the other
winners, but a bogus name had been submitted for the Oral V.
Hemry Staff Member of the Year Award. At the Recognition Chapel,
when she heard Staff Council President Gerard Duguay say the
person about to be announced “played flute and volleyball like
me, at first I was so surprised. Then I realized I’d been duped,
and I was the one he was talking about!”
The staff members who nominated Peterson are impressed with her Christian commitment
and exactitude in a job that is detailed and complex. Hers is a calm, positive and
spirited attitude that goes over especially well with student workers. Many appreciate
her flute skills displayed at various campus venues and in concert with Flutissimo!
and the Thalia Symphony Orchestra. “I’ve been playing since fifth grade,” she
says.
The combination of math and music in her life brings her great satisfaction,
Peterson explains: “I enjoy math because there’s
a ‘right answer’; I enjoy music because of the opportunity for creative license.
With math, you hope that the same numbers yield the same sum every time, but
with music the amazing thing is that the same notes never result in an identical
performance.”
 |
Jean Brown
Nurse Manager
Staff Member of the Year
The health needs of the Seattle Pacific University community have
been Jean Brown’s concern for more than 20 years. Sniffles,
fevers, measles outbreaks, gastro-intestinal flare-ups and white
powder scares keep her on her toes, as do the frequent Center
for Disease Control and Health Department advisories on everything
from SARS to monkeypox. She’s had to learn to screen for anthrax
(none found), reassure anxious students convinced they had E.
coli from drinking unpasteurized fruit juice
(they didn’t) and invest many hours keeping SPU in compliance with stringent
federal health regulations (mission accomplished).
“Jean is not only a fine
nurse,” a co-worker says, “but someone who has made an impression on hundreds
of students over the
years. They often write and say they wouldn’t have been able to get through school
without her kind words, compassion and
excellent care.” Parents have come at graduation time to express their thanks
for the difference she made in their students’ lives.
The SPU staff has noticed
that difference. In announcing the 2003 Staff Members of the Year, Staff Council
President Gerard Duguay quoted from nominators who agreed that “Jean is a joy to work with and
keeps us all sane as mentor, guide and leader.”
Brown’s nursing degree from Seattle
Pacific in 1974 is part of a proud family tradition. While her oldest child
graduated in 1998, her son-in-law received his M.B.A. this spring and her youngest
child will be a sophomore next year, she notes that her parents, grandmother,
numerous aunts and uncles, and 13 cousins have pursued their educations at SPU
as well.
Eight years after completing her degree, the mother of three small children
started working in the University’s campus health clinic in the evenings and
on call. Today, she manages two nurse practitioners and several student workers
in a facility that has 6,000 patient visits during the nine-month academic year.
For several years, Brown has facilitated a popular weekly lunch Bible study at
the clinic. “It’s a time for prayer and spiritual support,” she says, “a time
to learn how to break free from those things that keep us from being our most
productive.”
 |
Ed Smyth
Professor of
Educational Ministries
Professor of the Year
Almost 30 years ago, Ed Smyth began teaching Christian education at Seattle Pacific
University. He also led Bible studies and prayer meetings on campus, and mentored
male students in discipleship and accountability. “We discussed what it meant for
them to be intentional about their faith,” he says.
Seventeen years later, Smyth decided to focus on ministry outside the college setting.
He and his wife founded The Master’s Men, a nonprofit organization designed to
strengthen men in evangelism and discipleship. Smyth says, “The key was to develop
men who would follow the Master, asking what it really means to
seek after the heart of God.” Teaching was still in Smyth’s blood, however, and
the nonprofit organization gave him the context to teach at weekend conferences
and local churches.
In the late 1990s, Smyth’s work in discipleship went global. He became director
of partner relations at East Gates International, distributing Bibles and ministering
to house churches throughout mainland China.
“I was thoroughly enjoying ministry,” he remembers, “but
I missed the classroom dynamic. My wife told me, ‘You feel most at home in the
classroom.’ And she’s right; I love teaching.” When Les Steele, then dean of
the School of Theology at Seattle Pacific, asked Smyth to return in 2000 as
a visiting professor of educational
ministries, he agreed — and then decided to stay. Now he teaches University Foundations
courses in the Common Curriculum, as well as upper-division classes in educational
ministries.
Just three years after his return to SPU, students selected Smyth
as the 2003 Professor of the Year. When presenting the award, ASSP President
Jason Van Winkle noted Smyth’s gift for
encouraging students. “Dr. Smyth really shows that he cares for students, and
not just in the classroom,” says Van Winkle. “One student had a hard time paying
for school, and Dr. Smyth said, ‘If there’s anything I can do, anyone I can call,
just let me know.’ The student appreciated how thoughtful he was.”
“My passion
is still mentoring one on one,” says Smyth. “I like to listen, share my thoughts
and press guys for excellence. That
becomes the heart of what I do.”
— BY CLINT KELLY AND MARGARET D. SMITH
— PHOTOS BY JERRY GAY
Back to the top
Back to Home |
 |
|
|
