Paclflc Lutheran Univenky SCene
June
1990
Studen ts/World
PLU Student programmers Best In west PlU <:tud ents a re the best u ndergradu ate student computer progra m mers i n the West, acco rd i n g to resu lts of an a n n u a l contest sponso red b y t h e Association for Computing Machi nery. A fou r- person tea m from PlU was the hig hest scoring u n derg ra d u ate tea m i n t h e Pacific Region Scholastic Progra m m ing Contest. This year 35 teams from t he Pacific Coast a nd British Col u m bia com pet ed . The PlU team placed fifth overal l behind g raduate stu d en t tea ms from Stanford (two), University of Cal iforn ia-Berkeley and University of Oregon . A second PLU team placed 1 3th i n the six-hou r-Iong com petition. Mem bers of PLU's first team were Wa rd Townsend, a Puya l l u p se n i or, and j u n iors David Cooper of Gig H a rbor, B ri a n Craw ford of Wood inville and Peter Ostenson of aainbridge Island. PLU's second team included j u n iors Brett Bentsen and C u rtis H a n ner of Bel levue, Mark Dod r i l l of Mercer Island and Kim berly Ha rgrove of Longmont, Colo.
PLU Professor Observes Ba ltic Jewish Conference Business p rofessor Eli Bern iker was one of the U . S . observers at the fi rst Jewish conference benefiting the Baltic Rim to be held in the last 50 yea rs. The conference was held in Ta l l inn, Esto n i a, in mid Febru a ry . The agenda i ncluded d i scussio of repatriation to Israel, a nti sem itism, c u l t u re, educat i o n and p u b l ish i ng Spo nsored by the Eston ian gove rnment, the confere nce i n volved 7 0 partici pa nts fro m the Baltic states of Esto n i a , Latvia and Lithuania; the Nord ic countries of Nor way, Sweden, F i n land a n d Denma rk; and the cities of Leni ngrad and Ka lingrad. " I have experie nced the mea n i ng of being a Jew as a witness to h istory," said Bern iker.
Morrel l Is New ASPLU President J i m Morre l l o f West Seattle h a s been elected PLU student body p resident for the 1 990-91 academic year. other new student body officers a re Kel l i O'Brien o f Colorado Spri ngs. C o l o vice p resident; Ken S i ms of Salem. are .. com p troller; and Keri Kel lerman of Rugby. N . D., p rogram d i rector. Kellerman is a lso the student representative on the PLU centen nial com m ittee. Morrell's home ch u rch, Fi rst Luthera n in West Seattle. was a lso once the h o me ch u rch of PLU board of regents chairman David Wold. who was a student body p resi dent at PLU 35 years ago_ .•
Nursing G ad E rns F Id Fellowship For Conference
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Evans Otiana
Kenya n Student's Stu d i es I n Jeopa rdy Fol l owing Death I n Fa m i ly Ba rrack M baja h is a n a m e fa m i l i a r to many PLU a l u m n i from the m id-60's. The we ll-known and well-li ked Kenyan ea rned a degree in sociology and political science from PLU in 1 96 7 . M bajah's brother, Robert Ouko, is a lso a fam iliar name at PLU. He received an hon orary doctorate from the u n iversity in 1 971 . T h i s past yea r M b aj a h ' s so n , Evans otia no, has been a freshman at PLU. "Both my dad and my u ncle have had fond me m ories of PLU," he sa id. "They felt at least one member of th is generation of o u r fam i ly should study here." otiano has thoroughly enjoyed his fi rst year on campus. "My dad a lways t a l ks about it," he conti nued."1 had to see for myself. Dad was right. I rea l ly a p p reciate the friend l i ness and com passion of people at PLU . " M baj ah, now a n a d m i n istrator fo r the Kenyan gove r n m e n t i n N a i ro b i , was i m p ressed enough with h is experience i n Washington state that he named his old est son after the state's gove rnor at the time, Daniel Evans. Unfortu nately. t ragedy has struck otian o's fa mily and his fut u re ca reer at PLU is in some doubt. In February, Robert Ouko was kidna pped from his Koru home. Two days later his body was fou nd six ki lometers from his home. Ouko had served for the past 1 2 years as Kenya's m i n ister of foreign affa i rs. There is still no clue as to the reason for h is fate. There is no sign ifica nt u n rest in Kenya. otiano m a i nta i ns. "Com pa red to other Africa n countries, we are qu ite peacefu l." he sa id. "My uncle had no e n e m ies we know of. He was well-li ked and popular." Ouko had been helping pay for otiano's education as well as that of his own son and daughter at M assac h u setts Institute of Technology and Virginia Tech n ical Insti tute respectively. Funds for contin ued study now seem p roblematical . A p re-med student. Otiano h a s l ived this year i n Foss Hall. the same residence hall i n wh ich h i s father l ived a q u a rter centu ry ago.
M ichelle Tha ut, a '90 n u rsing grad uate from M i lton, Wash . , has received a Fu l d Fellowship to attend the 6th International Conference on Cancer N u rsing in Amster dam, Holland, Aug. 1 2-1 6. She will attend the 1 6t h I nte rnat i o n a l Union Agai nst Cancer i n H a m b u rg, West Germany, Aug. 1 8-2 2 . T h a u t was selected from a m ong m o re than 400 appl icants because of her si ncere interest in oncology n u rsing. The fell ow s h i p w i l l cover a l l expenses, i n c l u d i n g round trip a i rfare a n d ground travel. meals a nd lodgi ng. The Helen Fuld Health Trust of New York City fu nds t h e ann ual fel lowships. Fuld Fel lows a re representative of America's top nu rsing students. Last fal l the nation's schools were invited to each nomi nate one student for the hon or.
Sonja Bata lden Ea rns Don Jerke Leadership Awa rd Sonja Bata lden of Nashvi l le, Ten n . , is the recipient of the 1 990 Dona ld J erke leadeer sh i p Awa rd . The daug hter of M r. and M rs. Pa u l Batal den graduated this spring with a m ajor in h istory. The awa rd is given a n n u a l ly in memory of the late ca m pu s past o r a n d vice president for student l ife, and recognizes students who have made outstanding con tributions to the qual ity of l i fe at PLU .
Baltic Scholars Featured Samantha Smith scholars attend i ng PLU w i l l be featu red d u ring a p re-confe ren ce symposi u m prior to the 1 2th Baltic Stud ies Conference J u ne 21 -2 3 at the University of Washi ngton. The J u ne 2 0 sym posi u m is c h a i red by G u n d a r King. dea n of the PLU Schoo l of Business Ad min istration. who is also chair of the conference host com m ittee. PLU is co-sponsor of the conference. which is organized by the Association for the Adva nce ment of Baltic Stu dies. K i n g was o n e o f t h e founders of t h e organiza tion. Samantha S m ith Scholars a re students who have partici pated this s p ri n g in the exchange between PLU and Baltic u n iversi ties.