From the President

We recently conducted the November meeting of the Walla Walla University Board of Trustees (you will find trustees’ names listed on p. 19). It will be no surprise that we met on a virtual platform. The meeting featured a withering array of reports answering the question, “How has COVID-19 impacted the university?” Our 29 board members engaged with those reports, asking perceptive questions.

Interspersed among the reports were three “COVID-19 Chronicles.” One of these sketches of life under COVID-19 was offered by student leader Andrews Ferreira, who shared the challenges in publishing our student newspaper, The Collegian. For the first time in its long and storied history, The Collegian will be published only online for the rest of this year.

Another vignette was provided by David Lopez, executive director of the WWU Center for Humanitarian Engagement, who updated the group on creative efforts to encourage generosity in service under the pandemic. Conducting a Service Leadership Summit for student leaders helped create a team of student leaders to develop creative ministries like Night Without a Bed, an online campaign raising awareness concerning homelessness. That ministry led in turn to a Missions Club-sponsored sleeping bag drive, with large blue contribution bins scattered across the Walla Walla Valley. David concluded his report with the buoyant news of the launch of WWU’s signature service project, the Walla Walla Valley Blue Zones Project, with the strong support of Adventist Health.

Terrie Aamodt, professor of history, provided a third window into WWU under COVID-19. She walked the board through her teaching day and the pandemic safety measures now required. A little video tour of the Hutto-Patterson Research Center showed its new configuration with individual desks carefully social distanced behind orange tape. Amid the pandemic, opportunities for creative learning have emerged. For example, she has just led her Colonial and Revolutionary America class in recreating the Constitutional Convention, using online technology to create subgroup channels parallel to the backroom deals necessary to bring the Constitution to reality. She offered high praise for students. “It brought tears to my eyes to see how eager our students were to be back in the classroom this quarter.” And she had equally high praise for her faculty colleagues who have “stepped up in a thousand ways to make learning happen.” She concluded just as you would expect a historian to do: “Studying history encourages a longer view. In the longer view, the resilience that characterizes this place, and the grace of God that inspires it, will pull us through the incredible challenges we face.”

While board members appreciated the spreadsheets and data, it was these reports of lived experience that drew them into this unique WWU moment. Andrews, David, and Terrie offered excellent illustrations of the grand truth of this moment: WWU is blessed by loyal students, creative staff members, and innovate faculty members. Blessed by God’s grace, they are helping to see WWU through and gathering up important lessons along the way. You’ll see more evidence of this in the pages of this Westwind. You will trace here the experience of alumnus Brad Brown and his family; the lives and generosity of Rudy and Anna Klimes, Robert Van Stee, and Larry and Shirley Panasuk; the mission service of Ginger Ketting-Weller, president of the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies; and the experiences of many other alums. Alumni, we thank you for extending the reach of WWU’s mission during the pandemic.

Could I invite you to pray for WWU, reflecting this prayer list of current needs? • Endurance and patience for faculty, staff, and students.

This has been a long haul. We will need a continuing infusion of God’s grace to see us through. • Ongoing decision-making for winter quarter. We are preparing to welcome students back to campus for winter quarter and wish to do so in the best and safest ways possible. • Skillful and effective financial strategy. Pray for wisdom and discernment for all involved. • Effective spiritual ministry. The spiritual mission of

WWU remains as important as ever. Pray that reconfigured events and ministries will effectively meet needs and build disciples.

Thank you for praying for WWU!