Insights Summer 2017

saint martin’s university • spring 2017

news for alumni and friends

Three voices of faith

The Vawters

A tale of strength, faith and

A passion to serve

Saints wrap up strong season in GNAC Tournament

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saint martin’s university spring 2017

4 EDITORS Genevieve Canceko Chan Deanna Partlow CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marki Carson PRINTING Capitol City Press CONTRIBUTORS Abbey Bergquist Austin Byrnes Paul Dunn Sister Gertrude Feick, O.S.B. Jessica Flores ’12 Erik Hanberg Roy F. Heynderickx, Ph.D. Stacey Larson ’08 Br. Boniface V. Lazzari, O.S.B. Amanda Moore Father Marion Nguyen, O.S.B. Deanna Partlow Alex Pribble Katie Wojke Gail Wood 2

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PHOTOGRAPHERS Aric Becker Paul Dunn Penni Gladstone Joseph Saladino Insights is the official magazine of Saint Martin’s University. ©2017 All rights reserved.

We invite your comments and suggestions. Please email them to marcom@stmartin.edu.

Please send alumni news and address changes to: Institutional Advancement, 5000 Abbey Way SE, Lacey, WA 98503; telephone 360-491-4700; email alumni@stmartin.edu.

Saint Martin’s University is an equal opportunity educator and employer.

Visit us online at www.stmartin.edu.

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Saints in Service

A passion to serve the world’s children

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Three voices of faith on campus

Katie Bugyis, Ph.D., Angela Carlin, M.Div. and Sister Gertrude Feick, O.S.B.

26 The Vawters A tale of strength, faith and love that began at Saint Martin’s

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Saint Martin’s Gala International Brazil A Taste of Brazil raises $1.2 million for scholarships

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A strong season for our Saints Men’s basketball wraps up season in GNAC Tournament

DEPARTMENTS 3 President’s Greeting 18 In Their Own Words 24 Monastic Happenings 26 Alumni Profile 30 Benedictine Institute

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Athletics Campus News and Events Alum Notes In memoriam Last look

Last issue, we were coming out of summer, excited to celebrate the 80th birthday of Father Kilian Malvey, O.S.B '64 and eager for a new school year. Nine months later, I reflect on all that has happened over the last two semesters and I truly believe that this has been a transformative year.

Saint Martin's has seen many challenges this past year. Some challenges are shared with other colleges across the country, some are unique to our campus. We had campus-wide programs to address the issues of diversity and equity, as well as discussions around how to continue civil discourse in the current polarized post-election climate. While these challenges tested us, we continued to come together as one community to inspire each other, support each other, and learn from each other.

We have seen amazing stories of achievement. This past fall, we opened the doors to the Panowicz Foundry for Innovation. This semester, we are holding information sessions on the design of the new science building.

This spring we opened a Veterans Center, and plans are underway to open a Diversity and Equity Center. On the academic side, the faculty recently voted in favor of a new, distinctive core curriculum, more closely tied to our Catholic, Benedictine heritage. We hope to bring you more information about this exciting new core in the next issue.

Our work is not finished yet. On the horizon are many more student-centered projects that involve close collaboration among faculty, staff, and students, including: new academic programs, completion of the new tennis center, and launching a new residential learning community focused on global awareness and study abroad.

My thanks to all of the faculty, staff and students, for their exceptional work in helping achieve these and many other accomplishments this past year. We do great things at Saint Martin’s because we are a small and caring community that works together.

Finally, the next time you are on campus be sure to visit the Stations of the Cross. These 14 beautiful wooden reliefs set in stone crosses were recently refinished and restored by our second cohort of Benedictine Scholars.

What a wonderful, tangible legacy they leave.

Roy F. Heynderickx, Ph.D. President @SMUPresident

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SAINTS IN

SERVICE Service to others, especially those who are most vulnerable, is one of the enduring Benedictine cornerstones upon which Saint Martin’s is built.

For more than 120 years, students and graduates from Saint Martin’s have reached out to help their communities and their world.

Through academic majors like social work, criminal justice, psychology and many more, Saints alumni go into the world armed with the education and values necessary to help others.

Many current Saint Martin’s students already have become “Saints in Service” through activities offered through the Office of Diversity and Service Initiatives, through the service component of every student organization and club on campus, and through the University’s Circle K chapter.

In this and upcoming issues of Insights, we look more deeply into the meaning of service as seen through the Saint Martin’s lens, and we salute some of the many Saints who exemplify that commitment to improving life for those around them and helping to build a stronger, more just world.

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aint Martin’s senior Emy Suazo’s dreams rest some 3,000 miles away in Honduras, where she was born. And it is there she plans to return when she completes her business degree in May.

She envisions her own orphanage in the Honduran countryside where she can provide orphaned and homeless children a refuge, education and a stable, nurturing home.

“I want to rescue kids from the city streets and from the city violence, and take them to a safe place in a centralized area where I can help prepare them for life,” she says.

That dream has burned in her heart since childhood, a tenacious seed rooted in her traumatic past and inspired by her father. It has shaped her educational choices and channeled her activities at Saint Martin’s, where her goal is embraced and supported by others, especially her friends in the University’s Circle K International chapter.

When Emy was born in 1992, she was the youngest of the family’s seven children. Soon after her birth, her mother went to the United States, leaving Emy and her siblings in the care of her father’s family.

Her father—a former police officer who had lost a leg in action—taught elementary school and worked as a goodwill ambassador with UNICEF, a U.N. humanitarian organization, to improve conditions in the community, she says. Some viewed his work with hostility.

In 1998, he pulled his own children—included young Emy—to safety when a suspicious fire destroyed their home. He died soon after from burns. The family believed the fire was arson, a common form of terror in Honduras. With their possessions destroyed and fearing for the family’s lives, Emy’s grandmother fled with the children to coastal islands and later took them to a series of cities.

A passion to serve the world’s children

Says Saint Martin’s Web Manager Carl Lew, who first met Emy while helping with Circle K service projects, “As I learn more about her, I’m just more and more amazed at what she wants to do as a person and what she’s already accomplished.”

For Emy, now an American citizen, has beaten considerable odds already.

Growing up, Emy was dauntless. She went to school, volunteered with UNICEF, which maintained ties with her family, and helped in orphanages. In

by Deanna Partlow 2008, she traveled to Seattle to live with her mother, by then a U.S. citizen. After winning a high school scholarship, Emy chose to attend Saint Martin’s, partly to stay near her mother, who has health problems, and because she felt its Benedictine values dovetailed with her own.

A vibrant young woman with sparkling, dark eyes and infectious smile, Emy was born in a small community on the Honduran coastline. She is of the Garifuna culture, an Afro-Caribbean group that evolved when shipwrecked slaves from Africa intermarried with native tribes and colonials in the area. A minority population, the Garifuna people are a particular object of discrimination and maltreatment in a country already rife with human rights abuse. In recent years, her native land has had one of the highest murder rates in the world and is a known trouble spot for violence, especially against women and children.

Here, she has blossomed as a leader, says Information Center manager and Circle K advisor Toni Christy.

“She came into the office with friends and began talking, and it seemed that she had always been part of the office,” Christy says of the first time they met. “She has a special skill of fitting right in with people, and she is so welcoming and able to make other people feel like they belong and are part of the group. She just pulls you in.”

As a work-study for the Office of Campus Safety and Security, which shares a space with the Information

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Center, Emy’s extensive language skills were soon discovered and put to use by both offices. Her first language is Garifuna, an Arawakan language with French, Spanish and English elements. But she is fluent in English and Spanish and can also speak Italian and Portuguese.

Emy became Christy’s go-to person when Spanish-speakers telephoned, and she has translated hundreds of foreign documents into English for the school.

“She is a charismatic leader—and she can talk to you in any language!” Christy laughs.

But it is in Circle K she has shined. Emy, who has contributed more than 700 volunteer service hours this year, also is lieutenant general of Circle K’s district board.

Her language skills and intercultural understanding led to Circle K International inviting her to serve on its international expansion committee, which promotes international projects and works to establish chapters worldwide.

While the dynamic Saint Martin’s chapter gets involved in most any project championed by individual members, Emy has instigated many. These include support for the Eliminate Project, a joint project of Kiwanis International and UNICEF to stamp out the maternal and neonatal tetanus that kills 34,000 babies and mothers worldwide each year. Saint Martin’s is one of only 13 Circle K chapters worldwide taking part in this life-saving work.

“I think when you find a person who has so much passion

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and drive, that when she speaks, you get excited about it,” Christy says of Emy’s ability to rally fellow members around causes. “So when she speaks about the Eliminate Project, she soon has talked people into helping, and they go out and have an amazing time. It’s this incredible family bond that she has helped build in the club.”

Kiwanis’ Pacific Northwest Governor-elect Roger Bell recently presented Emy with the organization’s prestigious Walter Zeller Fellowship for her outstanding commitment to humanitarian service on the Eliminate Project, with UNICEF and with the Honduran orphanage she helps.

Emy has retained her ties with UNICEF. With funding help from them, the North Thurston Kiwanis and Saint Martin’s friends, she is able to help the orphanage with precious basics like medicine and clothing.

When she returns to visit her family and work in the orphanage on vacations, Emy arrives lugging a bulging suitcase of school supplies, toys, clothing and other donated necessities. Through Emy, others have recognized the orphanage’s great need.

“It is her project,” says Christy. “Well—one of her projects.”

As for the future, Emy has built a foundation through business studies and internships. She has discussed her project with UNICEF representatives and formed an extensive network of contacts through Kiwanis and Circle K. Through these first steps, she hopes to land the grants and funding necessary to turn her dream into a brickand-mortar reality.

Those who know her best are betting she’ll succeed.

Says Lew: “She doesn’t really talk about it much—she’s just doing it. She is so willing and eager to do this for other people, and she is so other-minded, it just shows through.” u

Saint Martin’s Circle K: white-hot on service Saint Martin’s much honored Circle K chapter recently received another award, one of many. In March, the City of Lacey presented Circle K its Compassionate Community Recognition Award for the difference this small organization has made in Lacey.

“They have not just felt empathy for others, they have stepped up and taken concrete actions to help people and improve our community. That is the definition of compassion …,” Mayor Andy Ryder said.

The group was recognized for its body of work, says Community Liaison Mary Coppin, who listed just some of their projects: Clean-ups at Lake Lois, Pacific Beach, Seaside beach and on area highways; work with the Stream Team planting project at Woodland Creek Community Park; CPR training; Homann Park’s rebuild; Habitat for Humanity builds; two local fundraising runs; charity fund drives and food drives; and an ongoing relationship between Circle K members and residents at RooLan Health Care Center.

Here’s a look at Saint Martin’s Circle K’s 2016 numbers: • 8,453 Service hours.

• 73 Service projects.

• 23 district awards.

• Three district scholarships.

• 10 Circle K International awards.

• One international scholarship.

• $ 1,250 raised for the Kiwanis Childrens’ Cancer Program.

• $4,373 raised for The Eliminate Project.

• $ 6,750 raised for Hope on the Slopes–American Cancer Society.

Among the highlights are: •T he Circle K International Humanitarian Award— Past-President Bailey Cammann ’16, who also won the International’s Orator Award for her speech about meeting and working with the mother of the club’s past president, Brandon Pellerin, who died in a car accident.

• I nternational first place awards for club achievement —bronze division; single service—bronze division; and Kiwanis family relations.

•D istrict “Outstanding President” Award—senior Kenna Fosnacht, this year’s president.

•T he Walter Zeller Fellowship, honoring Emy Suazo, presented for her outstanding service on Kiwanis’ Eliminate Project and other humanitarian efforts.

•D istrict “Outstanding Member” and “Outstanding Editor/Bulletin” awards for Kaylin Fosnacht.

•D istrict award for “Outstanding Club Advisor”— Toni Christy, manager of the University’s Information Center •D istrict award for club growth—a 51.6 percent increase in one year.

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“Service is the price we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time.”

—Marian Wright Edelman, President and Founder, Children’s Defense Fund At Saint Martin’s, those words resonate strongly.

Following graduation, Saint Martin’s senior biology major Hannah Wesselman is volunteering in Pittsburgh for a year; Freshman Ian White has switched his major to psychology. They say their service experiences through Saint Martin’s have played a big part in their plans for the future.

With the exception of the Norcia Leadership Community and athletics, current students aren’t required to do service, and not all student service projects fall under the University’s Office of Service and Diversity Initiatives.

But students say some of the most meaningful projects spring forth from this small office, which is operated by Susan Leyster, director of service immersion programs, and John Hopkins, Ph.D., associate dean of students and director of service and diversity initiatives.

Through the office’s service experiences—a weekend here, an evening there, for the most part—students like Hannah and Ian are learning to practice a more mean-

ingful brand of service, one that impacts the lives of the most vulnerable among us—and their own.

“It’s more than handing out peanut butter sandwiches to the poor, then feeling good about yourself,” says Leyster.

“Service isn’t just about doing— it’s a learning opportunity. It’s learning about communities and about yourself.”

Monetary donations are crucial—people shouldn’t stop writing checks to non-profits. But helping those who are poor and in need means taking service to a whole new and deeper level, says Hopkins.

“Service connects the world to learning in powerful ways.

It is rooted in Catholic social teaching and in social justice education. It’s a developmental process that goes beyond ‘doing’—people who do that kind of service are not challenged or transformed,” Hopkins says. “We’re trying to complicate that picture. It’s called “relational service” in that service becomes an exchange and an opportunity to question yourself.”

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Catholic social teaching calls for treating other human beings with dignity, placing the needs of the most poor and vulnerable first, respecting each person’s work and their value to the community, among other tenets, they say.

The understanding and empathy Hannah Wesselman students gain from one-on-one encounters with people who are in need or disenfranchised are a primary reason that service immersion is so important, Hopkins says. Ideally, a student’s understanding prompts them to advocate for change. It is when people become advocates that important social changes happen, he says.

Even if a student can’t quite get a grip on a large issue like economic justice or racism, just learning more about it is important. At some point, students start educating each other about issues, and the learning can be “incredibly powerful,” creating a cultural shift in attitudes, he says.

But the road to understanding and advocacy starts with service.

So it is that Saint Martin’s students in service immersion projects find themselves having a conversation with an immigrant, sharing a meal with a man experiencing homelessness or dropping off fresh vegetables to a local family in need.

“In that moment, you can actually hear the voice of the other,” Hopkins says. “When I’m in the midst, I’m starting to recognize the other’s story. In service, I start to change, and a new consciousness is born.”

Ian White remembers that moment.

Ian White

His first service immersion trip as part of the Norcia Leadership Community was to downtown Portland. There, Saint Martin’s students serve people who are currently homeless. Ian met a traveling salesman who’d been robbed and was temporarily on the streets until his family could come for him. He visited with a second man with a master’s degree in English who couldn’t find work. And he talked to a former West Pointer with a disability who couldn’t work and whose benefits had ran out.

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“That changed my view of how I look at people experiencing homelessness,” Ian said. “I really began to understand that it could happen to anyone.”

Getting ready for service immersion Hopkins says he and Leyster do some initial preparation for most experiences so students have an idea about relational service and to help them be more receptive to the people they’ll serve.

Preparation for the Yakima Service Immersion trip, a week-long, all-expenses-paid alternative spring break spent serving migrants and immigrants in Yakima Valley, begins with exercises to learn more about race, immigration, economics, citizenship, education and related issues.

The prep work involves some self-examination on the world views we all develop growing up, says Hopkins.

They talk about American citizenship and times in our history when various ethnic groups were barred from it.

They talk about the accident of birth, which makes you one nationality or another.

In one exercise, each student writes about his/her family’s immigration story. Lots of students have never thought about how their family came to be American.

“People are people, no matter where they were born,” Hopkins says of the human experience. “Our students go into a situation in Yakima where the immigrant story is front and center, so when they hear the immigration story of someone else, they can better relate and learn because they’ve done some analysis of their own belief system and have a better understanding.”

Immersed In the Yakima Valley, the University works with the Diocese of Yakima and its Catholic Charity Housing to provide service opportunities that will be meaningful.

Leyster says that for students, “the actual ‘doing’ part of the trip is basically meeting people and talking to them.”

Students attend English Language Learner classes for adults and kids, visit an orchard where they hear the viewpoints of both workers and an orchard owner, and spend a day at Heritage University with “Dreamers” students brought to this country illegally by their parents.

Heritage is on the Yakama Reservation, so there’s an opportunity to talk about Native American issues.

“Meeting immigrants from the other side of the border, listening to them, gets us out of our own constraints and

changes perspectives because it has become personalized,” Hopkins says. “It all comes down to relationships.

At that point, you have a chance for real learning to begin.”

Through the encounters, students begin to understand the dynamics of issues like racism and classism and can start thinking critically about them.

For the novice, this new style of service can be uncomfortable, even frustrating, say Hopkins and Leyster.

Hannah, now a six-time veteran of the Portland weekends, had a tough time with the concept at first.

“I was kind of shocked—thinking ‘well, this isn’t service,’” she recalls. Just talking to people and learning about resources available to them didn’t measure up to her idea of a service experience.

“The hard part is—I want to get my hands dirty; I want to jump in and fix all the problems, so just being ok with everything, learning about the community itself and investing in people—just that change in perspective and the change in approach (to service) was actually more difficult than the doing of service itself.”

Hannah’s views changed with experience.

“I think that being able to think critically about things like systematic oppression and really understand the reasons why service is necessary can make it more meaningful, especially in terms of connecting with the individuals who are in the situations and the individuals you are serving with,” she says. “It can provide you with more of a sense of purpose to that experience …”

She’ll spend the coming year putting what she’s learned into practice. All three graduate programs she’s been accepted to have given her a deferral so she can participate in the Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience (PULSE). The program pairs talented college grads with Pittsburgh non-profits to work for positive change for the city and its residents. While there, she’ll live in community with other PULSE servant-leaders and have additional leadership development opportunities.

Service leaders like Hannah are exactly what he and Leyster want to see, Hopkins says.

“We want them to say, ‘I’m going to work to change things’—a law or something,” Hopkins says. “It takes time for that to emerge in a person sometimes, but we are trying to help students understand, with an infusion of Catholic social teaching, that they have a responsibility

to do something, now that they have been educated at a Catholic university.”

Providing many opportunities for Saints to serve Hopkins and Leyster hope that all Saint Martin’s students will someday be asked to do a service component as part of their education. They’d also like to see service learning as part of each academic major’s requirement.

Not every service immersion experience has to be as earthshaking as the Portland weekends or Yakima service trip. The office provides quite a variety that are shorter and closer to home.

The newest is the “Urban Plunge,” an overnight experience helping service agencies in downtown Olympia. Students also volunteer at the Hands On Children’s Museum, the local Habitat for Humanity and several other organizations.

Athletes are now among the Saint Martin’s students required to do community service.

Through a partnership with the Office of Service and Diversity Initiatives, athletes now interact with kids in the Thurston County Boys and Girls Club. Last semester, the men’s basketball team also offered a winter basketball clinic for Special Olympians, and Men’s Basketball Coach Alex Pribble hopes to give athletes more such opportunities.

“We expect each of our student-athletes to walk across the graduation stage with more than a diploma in hand … Learning to give back to their community, learning how to become servant leaders—these are important parts of their overall education here at Saint Martin’s,“ said Pribble. u

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by Erik Hanberg

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hough they come to campus with different backgrounds and areas of expertise, three new voices of faith in different roles at Saint Martin’s University are helping students and staff better understand and live the University’s Catholic, Benedictine values while shedding light on Benedictine history and guiding individual spiritual growth. In summer 2015, Saint Martin’s welcomed Katie Bugyis, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the religious studies department. This past summer, Angela Carlin, M.Div. joined Saint Martin’s as director of campus ministry, and Sister Gertrude Feick, O.S.B. as executive director of the Benedictine Institute.

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Katie Bugyis, Ph.D., assistant professor of religious studies Katie Bugyis didn’t know she was going to become a historian of Benedictine women religious in the Middle Ages. Growing up in Houston, Texas, she didn’t have it on her radar. And when she attended the University of Notre Dame as an undergraduate, she signed up for the pre-medicine track in the College of Arts and Sciences, not history. But somewhere along the way, she discovered Hildegard of Bingen, the abbess of a women’s Benedictine monastic community in Germany, who lived more than 800 years ago. As leader of her community, Hildegard wrote several theological, scientific and medical texts, as well as music for the liturgy and a morality play. Her works were not well-known until 2012, when Hildegard was sainted and named a Doctor of the Church, a title given to saints who have made particularly significant contributions to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Before Hildegard became renowned, Bugyis was already captivated by her: “I was taken with the way she owned her prophetic voice,” she recalls.

Inspired, Bugyis decided to continue her research into medieval European nuns at the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University. After earning her master’s degree in art and religion there, she returned to Notre Dame for a master’s, then a doctorate in medieval studies. Throughout it all, she kept studying women like Hildegard of Bingen.

Pictured from left: Sister Gertrude Feick, O.S.B., Katie Bugyis, Ph.D., and Angela Carlin, M.Div.

Katie Bugyis, Ph.D., assistant professor of religious studies Katie Bugyis didn’t know she was going to become a historian of Benedictine women religious in the Middle Ages.

Growing up in Houston, Texas, she didn’t have it on her radar. When she attended the University of Notre Dame as an undergraduate, she signed up for the pre-medicine track in the College of Arts and Sciences, not history. But somewhere along the way, she discovered Hildegard of Bingen, the abbess of a women’s Benedictine monastic community in Germany, who lived more than 800 years ago. As leader of her community, Hildegard wrote several theological, scientific and medical texts, as well as music for the liturgy and a morality play. Her works were not well known until 2012, when Hildegard was sainted and named a Doctor of the Church, a title given to saints who have made particularly significant contributions to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

“I

am not a professed Benedictine or an oblate, but I’ve always onbecame Benedictine women’s communities.

I Before focused Hildegard renowned, Bugyis was have ancaptivated interest and passion in taken recovering theway voices of already by her: “I was with the women andher Benedictine nuns who been too often she owned prophetic voice,” she have recalls. forgotten in the history of monasticism,” Bugyis said.

Inspired, Bugyis decided to continue her research Her medieval book “In Christ’snuns Stead: Benedictine into European at the Institute of Women’s Ministries in England, 900-1225,” is under Sacred Music at Yale University.

After earningcontract with Oxford University Press and willreligion be published her master’s degree in art and there, in shelate 2018. returned to Notre Dame for a master’s, then a While still working on her dissertation, Bugyis moved to doctorate in medieval studies. Throughout it all, the Pacific Northwest when her husband took a teaching she kept studying women like Hildegard of Bingen. position at the University of Washington Tacoma. Aware of am hernot dissertation friends or advised her to get in “I a professedtopic, Benedictine an oblate, touch with the monastic community at Saint Martin’s, and but I’ve always focused on Benedictine women’s specifically mentioned Kilian Malvey, in O.S.B. communities.

I have anFather interest and passion recovering the voices of women and Benedictine nuns They became acquainted through email, and before who have been too often forgotten in the history of their first meeting, a position opened in the University’s monasticism,” Bugyis said. religious studies department that meshed with her scholarly and interests.

Her bookbackground “In Christ’s Stead: Benedictine Women’s Ministries in England, 900-1225,” is under contract

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with Oxford University Press and will be published in late 2018.

While still working on her dissertation, Bugyis moved to the Pacific Northwest when her husband took a teaching position at the University of Washington Tacoma. Aware of her dissertation topic, friends advised her to get in touch with the monastic community at Saint Martin’s, and specifically mentioned Father Kilian Malvey, O.S.B. They became acquainted through email, and before their first meeting, a position opened in the University’s religious studies department that meshed with her scholarly background and interests.

“I knew I wanted to teach at a Catholic university or college,” she said. That there was one—and in the Benedictine tradition, no less—30 minutes south of her husband’s teaching job was a small miracle.

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And so it was that her first visit with Father Kilian and other monks of the abbey served not only as a genial introduction to the monastic community but as an impromptu opportunity to meet several University officials.

“Fortunately, Father Kilian ushered me to every meeting, and though I had only made his acquaintance that day, his steadfast and peaceful presence gave me just the confidence I needed,” she said.

Coming to the Northwest and discovering the Benedictine community of Saint Martin’s has felt providential, she says. Living as part of that community has let her more fully experience Benedictine life as she studies its earlier history.

came right by me on the way to their room. There were people around all the time. I gained a tremendous amount of experience working with young people and often stayed up with them until one or two o’clock at night. It was such a privilege to accompany so many different students on so many different journeys. It was a very rich time of life and ministry.”

Evening Mass with Father Peter Tynan, O.S.B., and students.

Angela Carlin, M.Div., director of Campus Ministry Angela Carlin has been steeped in the Benedictine tradition from her earliest days. Her mother was a former sister at Saint Placid’s Priory, a women’s Benedictine monastic community in Lacey, and later taught at a Jesuit high school in Tacoma, as did Carlin’s father. With two parents in Catholic education, it is no surprise that Carlin grew up attending Catholic school all the way from her parochial school to high school and eventually to the University of Portland.

After graduation, she volunteered to live in an intentional community with four other post-grads in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., as part of a program through the Congregation of Holy Cross. It was there that she first discerned a calling toward campus ministry when a priest asked her to stay on as a campus minister at King’s College. She fell in love with the work and saw an opportunity to merge her love of music and the arts with worship and liturgy. From there, Carlin decided to pursue her education further, this time at Yale University, where she earned her Master of Divinity degree.

After Yale, she continued working as a campus minister, this time at Saint Louis University, where she lived in the dorms with the students.

“I was a resident campus minister in a residence hall with 900 students,” Carlin said. “It was wonderful, but noisy and lively. My office was in the lobby, so every student

After four years at Saint Louis, she took an administrative job at a Catholic retreat center for two years before returning home to the South Puget Sound area and accepting the campus ministry directorship at Saint Martin’s late last summer.

Remembering her experience living in the dorms at Saint Louis, Carlin specifically requested to live on campus at Saint Martin’s. “I moved my family into a residence hall apartment because there’s something really valuable about living with the people you are serving and how important it is to be part of the community. It’s a grand adventure to live on campus,” shared Carlin.

“I get to know students in a different way than if I were just in my office.”

Sister Gertrude Feick, O.S.B., executive director of the Benedictine Institute Last March, Saint Martin’s President Roy Heynderickx emailed Sister Gertrude Feick to invite her to apply for the executive directorship of the Benedictine Institute.

Father Kilian Malvey, the institute’s founding director, was stepping down to return to teaching full-time. She welcomed the opportunity to share her interest in the Benedictine charism in a higher education setting.

Sister Gertrude, as she is known around campus, is a Benedictine sister of Queen of Angels Monastery,

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founded in 1882 at Mount Angel, Ore. Sister Gertrude grew up in Muncie, Ind. A dedicated athlete, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and a master’s degree from Eastern Illinois University. Both were in physical education. She went on to work in health promotion and wellness in a variety of capacities.

When she wasn’t working, she was likely training for a triathlon. Sister Gertrude tried many lengths of triathlon, including two attempts at the Ironman World Championship, but eventually specialized in the Olympic distance: swim 1.5 kilometers; bike 40 km and run 10 km. She traveled around the United States and the world to compete, sometimes racing in two events on the same weekend.

As training and competition continued, Sister Gertrude started to wonder if she truly wanted to live her life at such a fast pace.

“I’m going to stop this madness,” she told herself.

“Being self-centered had worn me out. I needed to do something. That’s when I did it.”

“It,” in this case, meant leaving everything behind to join the Peace Corps and move to South Africa.

“I suppose I didn’t have to do something so drastic,” Sister Gertrude said, “But that’s my life story.”

In 1998, Sister Gertrude started working in one of the earliest Peace Corps groups to go to South Africa after apartheid ended. She rode her bike around to six schools, helping teachers understand a new style of education and curriculum. She also volunteered with the local health van taking blood pressures and providing other medical service.

Upon her return to the United States, Sister Gertrude embarked on a cross-country road trip, ending up in Mount Angel. As a life-long Catholic, she discerned a calling for the life and entered Queen of Angels Monastery in 2000. She made her first monastic profession in 2004 and her perpetual monastic profession in 2007.

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Sister Gertrude enjoying time with students at the annual New Student BBQ at the President's house. She also spent her time as Marty during basketball season.

“Monastic life was a gift for many reasons,” she said. “It helped me learn a life of balance and moderation, which I’m still learning. I found it to be more life-giving than anything I’d done before.”

Sister Gertrude says that being a part of the monastery has given her incredible opportunities for education.

She studied for four degrees in theology, including three earned in Rome. Her doctoral work, studying Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster from the 1970s through the 1990s, was a transformative experience. A lifelong learner, she considers it central to her vocation to keep his memory and the teachings of his pastoral work alive. u

The three women have found Saint Martin’s to be a welcoming place to carry forth their work.

In addition to her role with the Benedictine Institute, Sister Gertrude is also chaplain to the athletic teams. She accepted this position, seeing it as an opportunity to connect directly with students and one that also draws on her background as a competitive athlete.

Carlin sees her new position as director of campus ministry as a way to merge all the varied talents she’s cultivated over the years.

“One of the things I love about my job here is that I get to do pastoral work and administrative work,” Carlin said.

In her first months at Saint Martin’s, she has launched a program that brings students together in small faith groups called Core, which give students a chance to form a community of friends grounded in faith. She also has worked across departments. In December, Campus Ministry, the office of campus life and the music department teamed up to host an Advent Vespers Service, with a tree-lighting and blessing and a festive outdoor Christmas concert, “Christmas Under the Canopy.” It was also the night of a major snowfall in Lacey, which created a magical night of carols echoing across the silent campus and calling students and community members alike to come listen.

Carlin noted that institutions like Saint Martin’s are bringing more lay people into the organization as demographics change. She remarked that it invites the question, “How do we offer formation (personal preparation for the Church’s work, involving both spiritual and academic training) so that the new people are embodying the charism of the institution?”

For her part, Bugyis has loved watching students’ perception of religion transform over the course of a semester.

Since starting at the University, Bugyis has offered two courses on Introduction to Religious Studies every

semester. The class is a common choice for students who are fulfilling their graduation requirement for a religious studies course. She also teaches Introduction to Theology and a two-semester course, History of Christianity. From her own research, Bugyis knows of the vibrancy of both male and female theologians throughout the ages, and she makes sure that the texts she teaches from represent the full diversity of voices that have shaped faith communities.

Bugyis also has enjoyed getting to know the community outside of the classroom, especially the monks of the abbey. Whether joining them for lunch or to celebrate a feast day, she said of the abbey, “It has been such a blessing. The hospitality has been so consistent and abundant. I have been overwhelmed by the kindness and warmth shown to me by the community.”

Sister Gertrude echoed Bugyis and Carlin:

“I have been significantly and profoundly impacted by the welcome the monks have given me as a Benedictine sister.”

While the Saint Martin’s community is most familiar with the monks at the abbey, she says that globally, roughly twice as many women as men belong to Benedictine communities. Bringing on lay people and Benedictine sisters, Sister Gertrude reflected, is a way for the school’s mission to stay vibrant.

After accepting the position as executive director of the Benedictine Institute, Sister Gertrude asked Abbot Neal Roth, O.S.B., how he viewed her role.

“I see you as the guardian of the mission,” Abbot Neal told her. Sister Gertrude took that advice to heart. She sees her role as a “ministry of presence,” using time and opportunities with students, faculty, staff and trustees to share and witness the values that the University holds dear. u

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in their own

WORDS

Faith T Family Friends

by Stacey Larson ’08

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here are three things I hold most dear: faith, family and friends. These facets all share one commonality—they provide a sense of belonging. It is no surprise, then, that my entire life, with the exception of preschool and half a year student teaching, has been spent in Catholic education. Catholic Social Teaching speaks to the reminder that we are one human family. My Catholic education always provided me with a place I belonged. I most fully experienced this belonging over the course of my college years at Saint Martin’s. This sense of place, comfort and safety is one I hope I am passing on to my students, whom I have taught over my seven years as a Catholic school teacher.

Saint Martin’s truly was my home away from home. While most of my high school friends ventured outof-state, mainly to the East Coast, I traveled less than 30 miles away.

From the instant I took a tour of the campus my senior year of high school, I knew this would be the place I belonged. I quickly became involved on campus through Campus Ministry and was engaged through my English and education classes.

There were numerous instances and persons who reaffirmed that Saint Martin’s was living out Benedictine hospitality through the nurturing and care I was shown, but working on the “monk book”—“One Rule, Many Men: The Monks of Saint Martin’s Abbey”—my sophomore

through senior years was one of the most formative experiences. I came from a relatively small high school, but generally kept my head down, not taking many risks. When English Prof. Olivia Archibald, Ph.D., approached me my sophomore year to lead a group of fellow students in writing a creative non-fiction book of essays about the monks of Saint Martin’s, my first reaction was one of self-doubt. Through the process of learning about the genre of creative non-fiction, interviewing, writing and numerous revision sessions, I could see my confidence grow. This was all due to Dr. Archibald’s confidence in my abilities. At the end of my years at Saint Martin’s, I was ready, ready to take on the challenge of being a classroom teacher.

I graduated from Saint Martin’s with a degree in elementary education and English/language arts and a minor in religious studies. After a spring of substitute teaching, I was hired at a lower-income Catholic school as a fifth-grade teacher. I came to find out that many of the hardworking parents of my students had never gone to college. I also discovered that seeing beyond eighthgrade year was not something most of my students had thought much about. That first year, I brought my small class of fifth-graders to Saint Martin’s. We sat in on one of Dr. Archibald’s English classes, prayed with the monks and I led them on a tour of the campus. After returning to school, I had students write about their experience. The majority now said they were going to attend Saint Martin’s when they grew up, but more importantly, they were excited about learning and looking to the future. But this field trip was just the beginning.

Now, at my current school, Saint Frances Cabrini in Lakewood, I

bring my sixth-grade class every year. Most of my students at this school do have college as a goal.

The purpose of the trip has partially remained the same: Inspire goalsetting and the realization that college can and should be a goal; also, that the focus and work to get into college should start now.

Now, we participate in an English class (for two of these years with English Prof. Jeff Birkenstein, where I encourage further development of their cooperative speaking and listening skills through small-group and whole-class discussions. I have to say that during these past three visits, my students have blown me away with their ability to outshine and out-think some of the college students. That confidence in their skills comes back with us to our classroom. I find them still referencing the field trip months later.

I also teach a mini-unit on forms of prayer: the Examen, the Rosary, Lectio Divina and Liturgy of the Hours. It is one thing to practice these together in the classroom and a whole other experience to pray with the monks in the church. For many, this is their first interaction with a monk. Before the field trip I always read my class a few selections from the “monk book” and show them some pictures, so they are even more intrigued for me to point out which were the monks I had read to them about. Students are always in awe from the moment they walk through the wooden doors of the abbey church through the end of noon prayer as the monks file out. I love watching my students sit up a little taller, eyes wide, taking in the decor of the church and these men in black.

A Catholic education is a holistic one that nurtures the mind, body and spirit, and I try to encapsulate

“ I want my students to

experience that same feeling

I have had throughout my

Catholic education: A place where they belong.”

that in our day at Saint Martin’s.

I have gotten to the point in my career where I will soon have former students graduating from high school and going off to college. While, of course, I would love for them all to attend Saint Martin’s, I hope they all realize their future academic goals.

My classroom philosophy, especially now in teaching middle-schoolers, has been to create an environment in which they want to come to school every day, in which talents are nurtured and students feel safe and cared for. In other words, I want my students to experience that same feeling I have had throughout my Catholic education: A place where they belong. u

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in their own

WORDS Sometimes, our words don’t match our intentions. The same can be applied to service. One can misuse the good works of service to fulfill selfish intentions. T.S. Eliot alluded to this dilemma in his “Murder in the Cathedral,” writing, “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”

Motivation matters.

a monk

and a diocesan priest walk into a restaurant

by Father Marion Nguyen, O.S.B. monk and a diocesan priest went to Scarpone, the Italian restaurant on Rome’s Gianicolo Hill, and ordered its famous steak. Since both ordered the same item, when the waiter came out, he placed one very large and succulent “filetto al pepe verde” in the middle with two plates on the side.

The monk asked if his friend wanted to cut and divide the steak. After some back and forth, the lot fell on the priest. When finished, one plate clearly had the larger portion.

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The priest proceeded to place the smaller portion in front of the monk and kept the other. With sadness in his voice, the monk asked why his friend had kept the larger slice of the steak. Surprised by the questioning, he suggested, “Well, what would you have done if you had to make the decision?” Unhesitatingly the monk replied, “I would have given you the larger portion and kept the smaller one to myself.” The priest rhetorically retorted, “Then what’s the problem?

You have the smaller piece!”

What good can come from doing the right thing for the wrong reason?

In these days of social media, it is very easy to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity or similar charities and then post selfies at the worksite to the world on Facebook. If this behavior continues unchecked, the result is a narcissist, achieved through good works and service!

Nobody in their right mind would argue to do away with good works and service altogether, but to be content with defining service as merely external good works would fall far short of what it means to be a person of service. We need a better definition. Who could give a better definition than our Lord Jesus?

When Jesus noticed how people were choosing places of honor at table at a banquet, he told a parable about a man who sat in a place of honor, but was later asked by the master of the house to give up his seat because a more distinguished guest had arrived.

How embarrassing it is when our selfish motivations are exposed! He concludes his teaching by exhorting, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.”

In other words, don’t perform good deeds for the selfish purpose of being

repaid. Instead, Jesus encouraged, “When you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.” Give without counting the cost and without any desire for compensation. This is what it means to have a servant’s heart. It is a form of dying to oneself.

Dying to self is not easy. Humans are built with natural instincts for selfpreservation and advancement. We like to be honored, receive affection, to be served. When I think of someone who exemplifies true selfless service, I think of Maximilian Kolbe.

Also known as #16670, this Franciscan friar was arrested by the Nazis in 1941 for hiding Jewish people. While at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Maximilian was known among the prisoners to be tranquil in the face of cruel beatings and consistently generous, giving away his meager food rations to others.

In July 1941, three prisoners managed to escape the camp. In response to this event, the camp’s Nazi commander ordered that 10 men be placed in an underground bunker to starve to death. Among these, Franciszek Gajowniczek was chosen.

Horrified by this fate, he cried out, “My wife! My children!” Moved by the agony of this family man, Maximilian volunteered to take Franciszek’s place. Surprised that a prisoner had spoken unprompted, the Commander bawled, “What does this Polish pig want?” With characteristic calm Maximilian responded, “I am a Catholic priest from Poland; I would like to take his place, because he has a wife and children.”

The request was granted. Stunningly, Franciszek survived the concentration camp and later reported of the incident, “I could only thank him with my eyes. I was stunned and could

hardly grasp what was going on. The immensity of it: I, the condemned, am to live and someone else willingly and voluntarily offers his life for me— a stranger. Is this some dream?”

Prisoner #16670 laid down his life on August 14, 1941, at the age of 47. Dying to self is not easy, but Maximilian managed to find the courage to do so. There is no greater service than to lay down one’s life so that another can live.

Some may object that Maximilian’s heroism was a one-time inspired moment. If a man walked into a gym and bench-pressed 500 pounds, would anyone of us say that it must be a one-time inspired moment?

Like physical strength, virtues are cultivated consistently over a prolonged period. Although few of us will ever have the opportunity to imitate Maximilian’s ultimate act of service, we all have the opportunity to cultivate a heart of service in our daily lives. Oaks have their beginning in an acorn cultivated over time.

Recently, I discovered that a seminary classmate had pledged $25,000 to a charitable organization. This is roughly a year’s salary for a Catholic priest. He made the donation anonymously.

and my needs and I liked the security of having something to fall back on; it’s different now.”

Fascinated by this transformation, I asked him, “If you had a person who wanted to imitate you, what three pieces of advice would you give?”

He answered: “One, Practice daily prayer or some type of meditation; solitude is necessary for us to grow interiorily.

“Two: Find a wise mentor with whom you can both share the movements of your heart and receive good counsel.

“And finally, three: Always act with a sense of urgency.”

After our conversation, it became evident to me that in his generous gift to the charitable institution, he came out ahead in the exchange because who can put a price on a heart that resembles the heart of Christ?

Generosity, service and acts of kindness are good, but they are secondary to the heart that performs them.

Imagine a world filled with hearts like this! If I am able to put my friend's advice into practice, maybe the next time that I am at Scarpone, we can just skip the unnecessary dialogue and dive directly into the steaks! u

In my conversation with my friend, I asked, “Do you think you could have made this donation when you were first ordained in 2005?”

With a chuckle, he answered, “First of all, I didn’t even have a penny to my name back then! But to answer you more directly, I don’t think so; I was a very different man back then. I was concerned about myself

Father Marion, left enjoying a break from his studies in Rome.

Share Father Marion’s insights, humor and experiences through his posts on Facebook.

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by Jessica Flores ’12

is making no societal contributions.

His presence and, more concerning, his future, are ignored. Innocent misinterpretations of the homeless community, for obvious reasons, have caused social disinterest.

Is it conceivable that if we stopped to hear their stories and understand their situations, we might find that they are individuals worth investing in?

T

his nation offers a unique freedom and, according to the Declaration of Independence, the unalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

How do we define that in today’s society? And how do we construe the figure of the American citizen, especially a successful one? The ambitious student pursuing an admirable career is deemed impactful to society while the young transient sitting on the sidewalk of a local street corner is considered a drain on resources who

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As a 2008 high school graduate, I chose to attend SMU for a variety of reasons: Its reputation for offering inclusive educational and social networking to its student body, its positive contributions to the local community, and (being the homebody that I still am) its proximity to my childhood hometown—Olympia, Wash. The latter seemed insignificant at the time, but proved its worth during the development of my senior capstone thesis. I recall approaching Prof.

Robert Hauhart, Ph.D., at the end of my second year with apprehension that the capstone course was fast approaching and I was unsure how to choose a complex topic that met the project scope. He met me with a simple solution: “What really

interests you?” After brief discussion and guidance from Dr. Hauhart, I determined to fuel my desire to understand the lifestyles and often delinquent choices of the voiceless —homeless youth and urban street kids. What better place to do so than on the streets of downtown Olympia?

Thus, my 2012 capstone thesis comprised several dozen pages of dissected survey responses and a deeper understanding of the street youth community’s unconventional network. Not only were the survey results intriguing, but the process of obtaining successful participation also revealed valuable non-verbal findings.

One can imagine how rare it is for teens living on the streets (especially in the absence of an orthodox authoritative figure) to offer their trust to an unusually interested stranger. I spent months in mere observation of the street life before initiating interactions, propping myself on corner seats in cafes, trailing the sidewalks from Columbia to Plum Street, and watching the defining behaviors and practices of the street grid.

I then adopted some of these acceptable mannerisms and immersed myself into their culture to bridge

the gap of difference between us.

Simple alterations in physical appearance alone opened communication pathways—even offering a lighter to someone preparing a cigarette initiated an engaging conversation.

Although the survey for this project focused on the culture and delinquency of the city’s street communities, an unanticipated theme was revealed throughout responses—hope for a promising future in the midst of undeniable disadvantage.

While not a focus of my initial research, this finding was unquestionably substantial. Homeless and street youth in their early-to-mid teens expressed genuine interest in life pursuits, while those in their late teens and early 20s acknowledged that their submersion into the street culture eradicated any ambitions they might otherwise have had.

My curiosity was tabled until 2014, when Dr. Hauhart offered me the opportunity to further examine this subject in support of his developing work on the American Dream. As such, I spent another summer on the streets of downtown Olympia gaining insight into the hopes, plans and doubts of

street youth and young adults. Survey responses varied from one end of the spectrum to the other. Many among the homeless shared hopes of tangible achievements despite their unstable environment and most unfortunate circumstances. Several also shared doubts that their sociallydefining minority attributes would open any invitation for a lifestyle of unimpaired freedom and indiscrimination. The depth of these interviews can be found in Dr. Hauhart’s book, “Seeking the American Dream—a Sociological Inquiry,” published in 2016. I strongly suggest giving it a read, as it examines the origin and connotation of success unique to American ethos.

This post-grad professor/student collaboration is proof that educational growth does not stop when the tassel gets tossed in the air. SMU’s faculty resonate the University’s principles to live purposefully and with heart, and

I am inspired by them to continue working with people—people whose lives are generally misconceived and whose voices go unheard with potentially unwarrantable reason.

Transients flock to Olympia because the city acknowledges the issue of homelessness and provides a plethora of resources to care for its underprivileged inhabitants. This population is an important part of future America; it is evident, through the limited time I have spent learning their stories, that many are capable and prospective youth.

Olympia’s street community offers a diverse central location for expansive research of America’s silent and seemingly unpromising populace. Although still considering a subsequent approach, I hope to continue my research in Olympia and spark this interest on a broader scale. u

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Abbey News

MonAsTic HapPeNings

by Boniface V. Lazzari, O.S.B.

O

ne of the books I’ve read that most authentically captures the spirit and rhythm of the vowed religious life is “Lying Awake,” a novel about a monastery of Carmelite nuns in present-day Southern California.

Community and mutual support and encouragement are integral to the vowed religious life. In one scene of “Lying Awake,” Sister John of the Cross is praying all night in the monastery chapel, keeping an all-night vigil until she can reach an important decision. She is alone in the chapel, but suddenly she realizes that the other nuns have silently joined her unasked; they have felt her need and have rallied to keep watch with her.

On the first day of 2017, the Saint Martin’s Abbey community was joined by BRANDON RAPPUHN. He was received into the community by ABBOT NEAL ROTH, and will spend his first months as an Abbey member under the direction of retired ABBOT ADRIAN PARCHER, recently appointed postulant director.

BRANDON came to Saint Martin’s in March of 2016 and began working for Saint Martin’s University as manager of website content. Born

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in Moscow, Idaho, BRANDON was part of a military family that moved often. Growing up, he spent some six years in Germany, on two different tours of duty, and as a high school senior enjoyed his senior prom in the castle in old Heidelberg. BRANDON graduated from Western Washington University, Bellingham, and five years ago, while living in Spokane, became a member of the Catholic Church.

BRANDON had been doing some soul-searching, and a friend had encouraged him to investigate the Catholic Church. BRANDON’S move to Saint Martin’s was a part of his discerning a vocation to the religious life. He had a desire to make a contribution to the Church, but within community. In doing so, he visited several religious communities.

BRANDON was drawn to our Abbey community by its genuineness, not trying to be something it is not, and by the Abbey’s educational apostolate. Almost as soon as he became a university employee, BROTHER AELRED WOODARD, Abbey choirmaster, invited BRANDON to sing with the Abbey Schola. BRANDON enjoys exploring theology and spirituality, board games, reading and connecting with others. The

Abbey community warmly welcomes BRANDON as he joins us in our search for God. Community also means reaching out to others. BROTHER EDMUND EBBERS and the Saint Martin’s Abbey Benedictine Oblates have reached out to the monks of the Benedictine abbey in Norcia, Italy, which was hard hit by earthquakes in 2016. BROTHER EDMUND organized a pre-Christmas bazaar along with the Oblates. From the proceeds, the Oblates were able to send $1,500 as a contribution to the $7.5 million needed to rebuild Norcia monasteries. All American Benedictine monasteries have also sent funds. For regular updates on the rebuilding process, you can check www.en.nursia.org. BROTHER EDMUND can provide information about contributing to the rebuilding process.

A generous bequest from high school and college alum and long-time journalist and coach Jack Sareault has allowed the Abbey to print its first new hymnal since the mid-1990s.

BROTHER NICOLAUS WILSON served as typesetter and editor; BROTHER AELRED WOODARD also edited and did proofing. They are just off the press and already being used at our liturgies … In addition to doing extensive work on the new hymnals, BROTHER NICOLAUS was a panel member on a university-sponsored panel on

vocations, and was part of the retreat team from the Abbey who conducted a retreat at the Palisades. The other Abbey members were vocation director FATHER PAUL WECKERT and FATHER PETER TYNAN. BROTHER NICOLAUS is spending the spring semester finishing up some academic work at Mount Angel, Ore. … ABBOT NEAL and FATHER PAUL represented the Abbey when the parish at Yelm celebrated the centenary of its founding. ABBOT NEAL also visited the Benedictine nuns of Shaw Island for whom he is extraordinary confessor …

BROTHER BEDE NICOL gave a

talk to university students on his patron, the Venerable BEDE … The Abbey commissioned several pieces of furniture for the Abbey Church this fall. Among these were a new credence table and a bench for the atrium of the Church. These were constructed by local woodworker David “Dusty” Knobel. Dusty’s extraordinarily fine craftsmanship was evident when the pieces were delivered in January.

Lastly, ABBOT NEAL was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award during the 2017 Homecoming activities. Happy spring. u

ABBEY

CHURCH EVENTS Cardinal Walter Kasper, former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, has written that Christians are no longer “on the path of separation, but that of unity.” Pope Francis will be traveling to Germany for an ecumenical commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Abbey Church Events commemorated the anniversary with two events on the 28th and 29th of April 2017.

On Friday, 28th April, Bishop Robert D. Hofstad, retired, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, gave a lecture titled “Roman Catholic-Lutheran Relations: Which Way is Forward?” Bishop Hofstad was from 2007 to 2013 the Chair of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee of the National Conference of (Lutheran) Bishops.

On Saturday, 29th April, “Calmus” returned for an engagement on the series. This acclaimed vocal quintet from Germany will present a program titled “Presenting – Luther’s Lieder.” In commemoration of the Reformation’s 500th anniversary, “Calmus” designed an unusual program featuring Martin Luther’s music. The program was actually a walk through the whole Christian year. The program concluded with Luther’s most popular hymn, a timeless picture of a secure faith, “Ein feste Burg.”

Dearly beloved friends, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the wonderful 80th birthday party you held in my honor.

It was humbling to see so many of you who came, and for the hundreds of birthday cards and gifts I received.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to visit with each of you, nor the opportunity to express my deep appreciation for your kindness and beloved friendship; but I hope you know, in spite of it, how grateful I am and how much each of you mean to me.

Thank you again for your enduring friendship and for the blessing you have been in my life. I wish you and your family a healthy, peaceful and blessed new year.

With love and prayers,

Father Kilian

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A tale of strength, faith and that began at Saint Martin’s

by Paul Dunn

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ur story begins in 2001 when a boy meets a girl—or rather when a boy attempts to meet a girl.

Back then, the girl—Saint Martin’s University sophomore Jennifer Lathrop ’03—was among a rare breed at the close-knit Benedictine school. She and only a few other females were on track to graduate with bachelors of science degrees in mathematics.

Lathrop, in fact, was a math whiz.

As valedictorian of her Bethel High School class of 1999, she’d accepted one of only two full-ride Valedictorian Scholarships Saint Martin’s offered at the time.

So it was pretty clear the 19-year-old would hold her own with the best Saint Martin’s had to offer.

And then there was freshman Zac Vawter ’04—the boy in this tale— who was no slouch himself. Vawter, then 19, had accepted a track/cross country scholarship to attend Saint Martin’s and hoped to graduate in four years with a degree in computer science.

But he needed help in mathematics.

So he sought out Lathrop, whom he’d discovered through the SMU residence hall grapevine to which residents were privy. She tutored math and he needed help, so it was a perfect match—on the surface at least.

But Jennifer had other ideas.

“When I first met Zac, I thought he was very rude,” she explained by phone recently—her clear voice hinting of gleeful mischief. “So when he came by my dorm, I avoided him and pretended not to be in my room.”

Turns out, she was merely envious.

Zac, it seems, had wholeheartedly embraced Christianity shortly before the two met, and his enthusiasm initially rubbed Jennifer the wrong way.

“Zac was very zealous,” she said. “I had grown up in the church, and his zeal I think bothered me. But as I thought about it, I realized over time I was actually jealous of that fire he had.”

But little by little the flame that had threatened to keep them apart melted their resistance, and the couple “began courting.”

“Hanging out with our friends eventually thawed her defenses against me, and I became an OK person in her eyes,” recalled Zac, 35.

So OK, in fact, that about two years later, in February 2003, Zac took a knee on the dock at Summit Lake near Olympia and asked a blindfolded Jennifer to marry him. She accepted, and four months later the couple wed—and kissed for the very first time that wondrous day.

Jennifer would graduate from the University that year with a secondary education certificate atop her bachelor’s degree in mathematics. Zac graduated a year later with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science.

The newlyweds moved to Yelm soon thereafter, where Jennifer taught math at nearby Bethel High School and later at Yelm High School.

Zac, meanwhile, landed a software engineering position at Engineered Software Inc., in Lacey, designing

computer software for engineering applications.

All would proceed according to plan for the next few years until a fateful day in July 2009, when the couple’s lives abruptly changed. Astride his motorcycle coming home from work, Zac slid through a curve and hit a telephone pole, the motorcycle landing on top of him.

Jennifer, who was four months pregnant at the time with the family’s second child, was at home when the phone rang. It was Zac asking her to meet him at St. Peter’s Hospital in Olympia.

“Zac sounded very calm,” Jennifer recalled. “We thought he had broken his leg, but that there wasn’t anything more serious to it than that.”

Doctors discovered otherwise: Zac’s blood vessels and nerves had been severely impacted, so they airlifted him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle to be examined further.

Surgeons there concluded they would have to amputate Zac’s right leg. The dreadful news could have devastated the young couple, but the verdict only seemed to strengthen the Vawters’ bond and resolve.

“We had such a strong support system from the church and our friends and family that I remained very calm,” said Jennifer, 35. “I just had this crazy amount of peace that everything would be OK. The whole experience made us stronger.”

For Zac the trauma intensified already heartfelt convictions.

“It made it much more obvious that our time on Earth is limited and we need to do impactful things in our time,” he said recently. “I need to make sure I’m using my time wisely and to the best of my ability.”

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As he lay on the operating table awaiting surgery, the powerful pre-operative drugs beginning to dull his senses, Zac was indeed using his time wisely when he suddenly grabbed Jennifer’s arm. He needed information …

The dedicated couple could not have predicted back in 2003 what their fortunes held, but as they awaited Zac’s operation that morning six years later, they called on their inner strength to comfort them. That strength— a quiet, but resolute determination— had been reinforced by their experiences as Saint Martin’s students.

For Jennifer—a Protestant by faith— the school’s Catholic doctrines and teaching had ushered her into a new world.

“I was impressed by the reverence of the monks, and that helped me strengthen my relationship with the Lord,” she said, noting that in her senior year she was president of the SMU Campus Ministry Club.

“I had a strong group of Christian friends at SMU, and we went through life together and in a way grew up together.”

And though she’s now 13 years removed from her final semester at Saint Martin’s, she still relishes the inspiring education she received at the liberal arts university.

The school’s small class sizes enabled her to receive one-on-one tutoring and provided her frequent opportunities to participate in vibrant classroom discussions. She particularly enjoyed her upperdivision math classes with Associate Prof. Joe Mailhot, chairman of the University’s mathematics department.

Jennifer was calm, quiet and confident, but no showoff, Mailhot recalls.

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“Jennifer was first and foremost an excellent student and scholar,” he said. “She was easy to get along with and brightened the room with her presence.”

weather, and Zac has found his niche here with lots of technically minded people, but we have never been city people and that’s a big change for us.”

Zac recalls Saint Martin’s in much the same way Jennifer does: as a nurturing environment that challenged students to live meaningful lives.

In June, Zac began his current job working for San Francisco-based Uber/Otto, which retrofits Volvo semi-trucks and passenger cars with self-driving technology. The company made news recently when Uber introduced to San Francisco its first fleet of self-driving cars.

“That time in life after high school is always a time of maturing, and SMU provided an environment and culture for me to mature in and grow and learn,” he said. “And it provided lots of interesting, neat people to meet and lots of good friendships—some that I still have now.”

Longtime Saint Martin’s Registrar Mary Law, who retired in 2012 after nearly 40 years at the helm, said Zac was a good student who actively participated in the University community.

“He was a highly motivated individual,” Law recalled. “And he also had kind of a mischievous side to him.”

Zac also got on particularly well with Assistant Prof. of history Father Gerard Kirsch, O.S.B., whom he described as amicable and engaging.

So, too, was Zac, Kirsch recalled.

“He was simply a thoroughly good man,” Kirsch said. “As a practicing Christian, he was special to me, but apart from that, his dedication to making this world a better place looms large in my memory.”

Intending just that—to better the world—the couple left their Yelm homestead’s “10 acres in the middle of nowhere” 10 years after graduating and moved to Sunnyvale, Calif.

“It’s quite different in California,” Jennifer said recently. “We love the

“The projects I’ve been working on here are really ambitious,” Zac said.

“Our goal is to help move things around using robots.”

By the time he accepted the job at Uber/Otto, Zac had already worked for two years in the tantalizingly disruptive atmosphere of Silicon Valley. His experience creating software for Mountain View companies Zee.Aero and Kittyhawk — each experimenting with concepts for flying vehicles—would fuel his desire to accomplish even more.

“We were building amazing vehicles that don’t currently exist, but I’m positive will exist in the future,” he said. “The success of the companies I’ve worked for will have a big impact on the world, and I like that level of commitment.”

“ We strongly believe in serving others and helping the poor,” she said. “Community and service are very important philosophies we embraced at SMU, and we try to emphasize them here.”

Jennifer, for her part, is just as committed—though in a different sphere. She spends the majority of her days home-schooling the couple’s two kids, Keanan, 8, and Kyla, 6, and, given enough time, also teaches childbirth and newborn classes for recovering Bay Area drug addicts.

Back in 2009, though, as doctors prepared her husband for surgery, Jennifer’s service was narrow and pinpointed. At Zac’s urging, she was frantically searching the Internet for the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC). He needed information about the Institute’s experiments with artificial limbs.

“At the time, I thought he was either crazy or talking through his drugs,” Jennifer recalled. “He likes to read all this tech stuff, and he knew exactly what he was looking for.”

Turns out the Institute’s Center for Bionic Medicine had been experimenting with a prosthetic arm a wearer could control simply by thinking. The information he gleaned from the RIC website that morning prompted Zac to suggest a surgical audible of sorts to the Harborview surgeon—who agreed to try it.

In the process of amputating Zac’s right leg at the knee, the surgeon performed a relatively rare procedure called “targeted muscle reinnervation,” essentially “rewiring” the nerves in Zac’s right leg to

another muscle in his body. The resulting neural information that once communicated with Zac’s right leg could now be directed to a so-called “bionic” prosthetic limb.

And that’s all the ever-curious Zac needed to know.

So once he was well enough postsurgery to get around, he registered to test a bionic leg the RIC was developing, and in 2012 made headlines when he wore the leg to climb 103 flights of stairs to the top of Chicago’s Willis Tower.

“The leg basically was a robot on my body, and I thought it was amazing,” Zac said. “I’ve always been a fan of mechanical-electrical systems, and when you combine that with lots of software it’s fascinating.”

And disconcertingly loud at times, Jennifer remembers.

“The leg sounds like the robot in the “Terminator” movies,” she said. “It was kind of scary.”

Nowadays Zac can’t predict if he’ll ever own such a bionic leg—they’re not yet commercially available—or if he really wants one.

He gets along just fine with his mechanical leg, he said, and according to Jennifer, it’s barely noticeable—provided he periodically oils it to keep the squeaking down.

“As long as he wears long pants, you’d never know he has a prosthetic,” she said. “And he’s usually pretty quiet.” u

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GREETINGS from the Benedictine Institute

Using Saint Benedict’s

‘tools of love’ to build a loving community

by Sister Gertrude Feicht, O.S.B., S.T.D. Executive Director of Benedictine Institute

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“Underlying life at Saint Martin’s is an active commitment—a willingness—on the part of each member of the community to espouse and pursue the Benedictine ideal, an ideal that directly impacts all activity. It is the richness of the Benedictine tradition woven into life that makes Saint Martin’s University unique. And with renewed vision, this same tradition leads us into the future.”

Finding the above paragraph on the University website, one might ask, “Just what is the Benedictine ideal?”

An answer to that question can be found at the beginning of Saint Benedict’s chapter 4, “The Tools for Good Works.” There, Benedict echoes Jesus when asked which commandment was the greatest: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matt. 22:36-39).

We recognize in these commandments that love for our neighbor is only possible if we understand what it means to love and to be loved.

Those who espouse and pursue the Benedictine ideal at Saint Martin’s University are people committed to love and service of God, and love and service of neighbor, a commitment which must be renewed each day. Each of us is aware that we need to be reassured that we are loved, and each of us has to grow in our capacity to give love to our neighbor, whether another student or co-worker with whom we have difficulties, a dear friend who has been struck by serious illness or a family member who is out of work.

The only solution to difficulties of this kind is to foster a culture of love, a love which forgives, a love which embraces, and a love which encourages.

The daily living-out of love is a challenge we all face. Love is demanding; it requires us to honor everyone and to love our enemies. Love directly impacts all activity—it is a gift to which all our activities lead and from which all those activities should flow. This helps explain Saint Benedict’s emphasis on it. Given the gift of love, we can more easily navigate the challenges of daily life and put into practice Benedict’s other Tools for Good Works. Benedict thus provides us with a model for loving behavior.

Let us ask him to intercede for us as we pray for this gift.

The community at Saint Martin’s University has inherited a rich tradition centered on the commandment of love. We stand on holy ground cultivated first and foremost by the monks of Saint Martin’s Abbey since 1894 through their life of prayer. All others who stand on this ground—past, present and future—are bearers of this unique way of living.

As Saint Benedict attracted others to his way of life by his reputation, we, too, attract others by our reputation of love. Embracing God’s merciful love for each one of us, we overflow with the Divine Gift of Love and are inspired to renew our vision by sharing God’s love with others, those in our midst and with those in the greater community. We can weave the thread of love into our daily lives by praying for and with others, and by offering acts of kindness such as a smile, a warm greeting or sitting in silence with someone who is in pain. These powerful gestures help us to cultivate a culture of love for us here and now, and for all those who will come after us. This is the love that sustains us, for “love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Saint Benedict, pray for us.

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raises $1.2 million for scholarships

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Saint Martin’s Gala Brazil On Nov. 5, more than 600 friends and alumni helped Saint Martin’s University raise more than $1.2 million for student scholarships at the Saint Martin’s Gala. This year’s Gala featured three-time James Beard-award winning TV personality chef Andrew Zimmern of “Bizarre Foods” and Ligia Karazawa, head chef of Eataly Brasil’s Brace restaurant in São Paulo.

The black-tie celebration was the 11th Gala, the University’s annual signature fund-raising event, and the first with an international theme: Brazil. As University President Roy F. Heynderickx explained, “This year’s Gala highlights just one of the many international relationships that Saint Martin’s has fostered over the years to broaden our students’ experiences and perspectives.”

For the menu, Karazawa chose dishes inspired by the different culinary regions of Brazil, while taking advantage of the fresh seafood of the Pacific Northwest. The menu included crab crostini with tomato and avocado, coconut seafood stew, grilled picanha with banana farofa, and, for dessert, traditional Brazilian cocoa brigadeiro.

As in years past, Saint Martin’s students played a major role in the event. Political science alumna Crystal Maria ’13 and biology alumnus Dillon Linhart ’14, expressed their gratitude for the tremendous financial assistance they each received through scholarships. “The scholarships that you provided helped me achieve my dreams,” said Linhart, “but the selflessness that you showed by donating to scholarships inspired me to have these dreams to begin with.”

Moved by their remarks, guests “raised their paddles” to raise more than $417,000 toward the University’s “Feed-a-Mind” scholarship funds.

Earlier that day, Zimmern and Karazawa arrived at Trautman Student Union Building for a meet-and-greet event with 80 students. The celebrity hosts shared stories of how they became chefs, why they believed food can unite different generations and different cultures, and what they loved most about travel.

“Travel is transformative,” Zimmern told the students. “We are our best version of ourselves when we travel.”

The 2017 Gala is set for Saturday, Nov. 4. The event, featuring James Beard Award-winning chef Ming Tsai, will highlight the University’s many relationships and programs in China. For more information about Gala International 2017, visit our Gala website, www.stmartin.edu/gala.

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Thank you, Gala 2016 event supporters Presenting Sponsor

Broadcast Media Sponsor

Kitchen Sponsor

Print Media Sponsor magazine

Print Sponsor

Reception Sponsor

Wine Sponsor

Saint Martin Table Patrons • Joe & Liz Williams Saint Martin's University Trustees: Armandino ’59 and Marilyn Batali, Waite ’65 and Patty Dalrymple, Kathy Lombardo and Fred Wright, Terry ’62 and Mary Louise ’60 Monaghan, Rick and Pam Panowicz

Saint Benedict Table Patrons •

Waite ’65 and Patty Dalrymple • Jim ’72 and Melissa Guerci • Doug and Barb Hiatt ’78 Matt ’94 and Shelley Marcus • Terence ’62 and Mary Louise ’60 Monaghan

Corporate Sponsors Bizarre Food Sponsor: Matt ’94 and Shelley Marcus • Celebrity Photo Sponsor: Anchor Bank Celebrity Runway Sponsor: Conover Insurance • Coffee Sponsor: Caffé Vita • Green Room Sponsor: Maumasi Fire Arts Live Auction Bid Card Sponsor: Chicago Title Company • Shellfish Sponsor: Taylor Shellfish Farms Silent Auction Sponsor: Morris-Sockle, PLLC • Valet and Silent Auction Bid Card Sponsor: Hanson Subaru Wine Glass Sponsor: Sunset Air, Inc. Saint Gertrude Table Sponsors Armour Vickerman PLLC • Attila ’78 and Katalin Talaber • Charles Schwab & Company • Charlie’s Produce • Chicago Title Insurance Co. Conover Insurance • Dennis & Tedi Reynolds • Gordon and Kathy Beecher • Great Western Supply • Hanson Subaru • Heritage Bank • Judy Weigand Kathleen O’Grady • Kathryn Fies • Ken Anderson / Jay Rudd / Bret & Monica Wilhelm • McGranahan Architects • John and Michelle Reil Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP • Olympia Federal Savings • Port Blakely Companies / Taylor Shellfish Farms Propel Insurance / Moss Adams LLP • Providence Health & Services • Ragnar Wealth Management LLC • Rick and Ellen Middleton SCJ Alliance • Simpson Door Company / Brandner Communications • Soderstrom Architects • South Puget Sound Community College Sunset Air, Inc. • The Rants Group • The Saint Martin’s Alumni Association • Timberland Bank • TwinStar Credit Union US Bank – Commercial Banking • Virgil Adams Real Estate • Waite PE ’65 and Patty Dalrymple

Thank you also to the following partners for their generous contributions Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters • Caffé Vita • Cedarbrook Lodge • Eat the Ball • Hampton Suites and Inn, Olympia Lucky Eagle Casino, d.b.a. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation • Maumasi Fire Arts • McKinney Appliance Center Ralphs Thriftway • Ramada Olympia • RL Hotel, Olympia • Sunset Air Inc. • Taylor Shellfish Farms

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November 4, 2017 Saint Martin’s University Lacey, Washington Join us for a black-tie gourmet affair celebrating China. The evening will include a five-course dinner, cooking demos, and a live auction benefiting Saint Martin’s student scholarships.

Featuring award-winning celebrity chef

Ming Tsai Reserve your table at www.stmartin.edu/GalaChina or call 360-438-4366

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SAINTS WRAP UP A STRONG SEASON IN GNAC TOURNAMENT For the first time since 2011, and after back-to-back winning seasons, the Men Saints basketball team reached the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament, hosted by Saint Martin’s.

In front of their home crowd, the Saints defeated fifth-seed Concordia University, 78-73 in the quarterfinal match-up, the first tournament win in school history. Senior Fred Jorg provided the spark with a career-high 23 points and tied his career-high with 15 rebounds. His 15 rebounds broke the GNAC Tournament single game record by two. The four seniors, Jorg, Tyler Copp, Cole Preston and Brandon Kenilvort combined for 62 of the 78 points scored.

The Saints advanced to the semifinals with a date against the top seed Vikings of Western Washington University. Despite a single game scoring record

by Copp (36), the Saints fell 91-79 to the eventual tournament champions.

Preston nearly finished with a double-double at 17 points and nine assists.

Saint Martin's finished the season with 17 victories, the most since the 2008-09 campaign.

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Saint Martin’s hosts clinic for Special Olympians

by Gail Wood Their smiles, their laughs as they'd chase after a loose basketball or make another shot, tell the story.

It was those smiles, not a swished shot from 10 feet out, that was the objective of this day.

In December, Saint Martin's men's basketball coach Alex Pribble and his team put on a basketball clinic for Thurston County Special Olympics players. For more than an hour, the Saints put about 100 kids through a variety of basketball drills at the Charneski Recreation Center.

Having an opportunity to give someone who is struggling for a lifetime with a disability a smile and a good time was the goal of the day.

“It's all about having fun with them,” said Cole Preston, a senior guard on the Saints team. “There's so much they could be sad about. But a lot of them come in and they're excited. They get to hang out with us—go play basketball and have fun. I feel like they're kind of living out a dream.”

Two years ago, Pribble got his team involved with the clinic while talking with Mark Barker, the director of Thurston County Special Olympics. Barker had asked if Pribble would accept becoming an honorary coach from the Special Olympics for a game. Pribble gladly accepted, then asked if there was something else he could do. That's

when the idea of a basketball clinic came up.

“Working with the Special Olympics has been one of the most rewarding experiences I've had here at Saint Martin's,” Pribble said. “As a program, we are constantly searching for ways to make a positive impact in our community, and I feel strongly that our players have done just that. They have been great teachers and role models.”

The kids who have come to the clinic aren't the only ones learning on this day. Pribble also hopes his players are learning something about responsibility.

“Our players understand that as collegiate studentathletes, they have an opportunity to make an impact in the lives of others,” Pribble said. “We speak with them about the responsibility they have to make a positive difference in their community, and this work with Special Olympics is a great example of that.”

During the clinic, the kids were divided up and put through shooting, rebounding and dribbling drills. The clinic concluded with a scrimmage. The Saint Martin's players look forward to the event each year.

“It's always a lot of fun,” said Fred Jorg, Saint Martin's senior center. “We always love having them here. They were super excited.”

Both literally and figuratively, the kids looked up to Jorg.

He's 7 feet tall. He understands that it's a big moment for these kids to meet the Saints.

“People look up to us,” Jorg said. “We always have a role.

We're always role models. We are looked up to.”

It's a responsibility Pribble has taught his players not to take lightly.

For Pribble, it's a win-win day. The kids from Special Olympics have fun, and his players have a chance to be positive role models. It's another learning moment. He wants to teach his players to always have a positive impact on their community and to give back.

“This basketball program is a reflection of our University,” Pribble said. “The values instilled in our athletes by their professors, advisors and other members of the Saint Martin's family, are the same values at play here. I'm proud of the work we have done, and I look forward to seeing our young men find other ways to impact their community.”

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by Abbey Bergquist

>> Kyle Witzel is named to the

men’s soccer Second Team AllConference in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) for the second year in a row. Witzel set the SMU season record for goals scored with 11.

>> Kaleb Strawn and Jake Zimmer make Honorable Mention AllConference in men's soccer.

Strawn led the team with six assists.

Strawn also had 26 shots, 11 of them on goal. Zimmer had one goal for the season with nine shots on goal. >> The men’s soccer team finishes

their season 3-13-1 overall and 2-9-1 in the GNAC. The Saints say goodbye to seniors Ian Fry, Ricky Gijon-Hernandez, Derrick Gonzales, Max Harvey, Jake Zimmer and Kaleb Strawn.

>> Taylor Gersch is named Third

Team Academic All-American.

Gersch has a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average as a business administration major.

Gersch also earned a spot on the Academic All-Region First Team, and First Team All-GNAC in 2016. She has been academic All-Conference every year. In 2015, she was Honorable Mention All-Conference as a defender. In 2014, she was Second-team AllConference as a defender. Gersch was a team captain this past season.

>> Hannah Frakes and Sara Massee

are both named Second-Team All-Conference in women's soccer.

Frakes lead the team in goals scored, making five on 16 shots

on goal. Massee had two assists and two shots on goal in 18 games played.

>> The women’s soccer team finishes

the season 3-14-1 overall and 2-10 in the GNAC. The Saints say goodbye to seniors Kelli Bannerman, Camryn Althauser, Taylor Gersch, Micaylla O’Leary, Emma Lantzer and Sunny De Boer.

>> The men’s golf team concluded

its season in late October after the CSUSM Fall Classic, placing sixth. Austin Spicer is named GNAC Player of the Week after his performance at the CSUSM Fall Classic, in which he finished 13th overall with a 13-over par 226. The Saints have resumed play this spring.

>> The women’s golf team places fourth in its final meet in late October at the Dennis Rose Invitational. They have also resumed play.

>> Coach Alex Pribble and his men’s

basketball team are recognized for their work with Thurston County Special Olympics. They gave a basketball clinic for the organization in December at Saint Martin’s Charneski Rec Center.

>> Kirby Neale breaks the school

record in the hammer throw with a toss of 59 feet and a half-inch to place second at the Idaho Vandals Indoor Invitational.

>> Shannon Porter wins the women's 3K at the same meet, just missing qualifying for nationals with a provisional mark by only five seconds.

>> Elin Johansson, a junior forward

on the women's basketball team, and Tyler Copp, a senior guard on the men's basketball team, are named Saints of the Month for December.

>> Mikel Smith is crowned two-time

high jump National Champion with a leap of 7-3.25-inches at the Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Birmingham, Ala.

>> Jackson Hand breaks a school record in the 200-meter with a time of 21.94, breaking his previous record of 22.51.

>> Sophomore Craig Boyle breaks his own personal record in the pole vault by clearing 14-7.

>> Shooting 58 percent from the

field and holding Montana StateBillings to just 21 points in the first half, the Saints outshot and out-hustled the Yellowjackets in an impressive 106-58 blowout win at Pack the Pavilion night in mid-January. The game, with a loud and jubilant Saints crowd cheering, was telecast on ROOT Sports Network.

For Saints’ athletics schedules, visit www.smusaints.com. #SaintsAlive INSIGHTS SPRING 2017

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The new Saint Martin’s chapter has nine charter members, some of whom are among the 12 faculty, staff and board members initiated. The new chapter initiated its first student members this spring.

Phi Kappa Phi chapter installed at Saint Martin’s Saint Martin’s University became the 339th chapter of the national Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Dec. 7. An evening installation and initiation ceremony marked the University’s acceptance into the society, the nation’s oldest and most selective alldiscipline collegiate honor society.

“The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is pleased to welcome Saint Martin’s University to its community of scholars,” said Executive Director Mary Todd, Ph.D. “Saint Martin’s emphasis on excellence is evident in its strategic initiative to build academic programs that focus on an appreciation of complexity and cultivation of creativity.”

Phi Kappa Phi’s mission is to recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others. It has awarded about $15 million since its awards program began in 1932. Today, Phi Kappa Phi awards about $1.4 million each

biennium to qualifying students and members through graduate fellowships; undergraduate studyabroad grants; member and chapter awards; and grants for local and national literacy initiatives, said Hannah Breaux, the society’s communications director.

“Establishing a chapter of Phi Kappa Phi at Saint Martin’s University will benefit our students in several ways,” says University Director of Institutional Assessment Sheila Steiner, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and the driving force in organizing the Saint Martin’s chapter. She is now the chapter’s president. “It will recognize students for scholarly achievement, create additional opportunities for service and leadership through chapter activities, and provide financial support through scholarships and fellowships. In addition, because Phi Kappa Phi is an all-disciplinary honor society, students from all majors and programs, including our masters programs, can be invited to join.

This is a great way to honor Saint Martin’s Benedictine commitment to inclusiveness.”

Longtime Phi Kappa Phi member Rico Picone, Ph.D., an assistant professor of engineering tapped for the honorary as a University of Nevada, Las Vegas, student in 2007, says, “Joining Phi Kappa Phi will give Saint Martin's students the opportunity to connect with other excellent scholars and professionals.

We have great students who should be recognized as such and connected through the honor society. I am excited our students will soon have the same opportunity.”

U.S. News & World Report places Saint Martin’s seventh in value in the West Saint Martin’s is among the top 10 of the country’s Western regional universities offering the best educational value to students, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 “Best Colleges” rankings released in September.

The University is ranked seventh in the “best value” category in the Western region, which covers 15 states on the mainland, plus Alaska

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and Hawaii. The magazine ranks U.S. universities and colleges each year in its guidebook, “America’s Best Colleges.”

The “best value” ranking is arrived at by a U.S. News calculation based on the school’s academic quality (a measurement it determines by calculations based on its most recent survey) and the school’s net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid in 2015-16.

Schools who provide the highestquality education at the lowest cost receive high marks as best values.

“I am very pleased to see us recognized among the best-value colleges and universities in the West,” said Pamela Holsinger-Fuchs, Saint Martin’s dean of enrollment.

“We are very committed to providing an affordable education that offers students excellent academic preparation and a strong grounding in the Benedictine values that will serve them through their lives.

We are happy to see this ranking that reflects our commitment.”

Saint Martin’s was ranked 22nd in the category of “best colleges for veterans,” a ranking based on University participation in federal initiatives that help veterans and active-duty members pay for their degrees.

Saint Martin’s also achieved an overall ranking of 40th among regional universities in the West.

Universities in this category focus on undergraduate education but award less than half of their undergraduate degrees in the liberal arts.

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The right stuff: Engineering team takes second place in National Big Beam Contest For a hardworking team of Saint Martin’s civil engineering students, several months of planning, building and testing ended triumphantly when the team’s 17-foot-long concrete beam bested all but one of the competition in the annual Big Beam Contest.

The team placed second in a matchup against major universities from across the nation, taking home a $1,750 prize and a lot of pride in their skills. Results were announced in August by PCI, the Precast/ Prestressed Concrete Institute, contest sponsors.

The contest requires each team to design and fabricate a precast/ prestressed concrete beam to contest

specifications, then test it until it fails, measuring the actual results against their pre-test calculations and other factors. After testing, teams send their results to PCI, where they are judged on several factors, including efficiency of the design and the beam’s highest load capacity.

Saint Martin’s team members, who worked on their beam during their spare time, gave it the pet name of “The Kraken.” The Kraken scored 58.25 points, bested only by the University of Notre Dame’s score of 62.25.

Team members were William J. Miller III, project manager and Anthony Merlino—both 2016 graduates—and Micaylla O’Leary, Madeline Knecht, Jessica De Boer, and Kyle Howlett, all members of the class of 2017. Team advisor and Asst. Prof. of Engineering Jill Walsh, Ph.D., P.E., advised the winning teams for both the Big Beam and an SEAW Timber Frame Design

competition that won first place earlier last year.

Help for the team came from Concrete Technology Corp., in Tacoma, and CTC Design Engineer Austin Maue. CTC served as team sponsor, providing space to construct and pour the beam. They also paid for materials and for the beam’s transportation to the University of Washington, where it was tested.

For those who’d like to see how “The Kraken” crumbled, watch the YouTube video at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=eZ_PVcNTaao

NW Summit for Teaching Senior Capstones hosted

by University An emerging development in the academic world is the “capstone” experience, an opportunity for seniors to demonstrate mastery of their major field of study through a culminating project as they complete their undergraduate degree.

Saint Martin’s hosted the Northwest Summit for Teaching Senior Capstones 2016, a workshop that brought together capstone experts and social science faculty and instructors to brainstorm about capstones and share ideas about their successes and challenges.

The summit was sponsored by a Society of the Teaching of Psychology Partnership Grant awarded last spring to psychology faculty members Associate Prof. Jeremy Newton, Ph.D., and Assistant Prof. Tiffany Artime, Ph.D. “Capstone experiences for seniors are an innovative way to pull together

a student’s learning over the course of his or her major and prepare for the future. It can be a critical and significant step to synthesizing the major,” says Artime, who is now teaching at Pacific Lutheran University.

Saint Martin’s uses capstone courses in many of its classes. The summit’s goals included establishing partnerships across institutions to identify best practices and discuss ways to overcome challenges. It was held to help provide concrete, useful information to academic departments for creating, revising and assessing the capstones at participating universities for effectiveness as they learn from experts and from each other, Artime said.

wife, Pam, and the E. L. Wiegand Foundation.

“This building will affect generations of future engineering students, and we are thankful for it,” noted Dean of Engineering Dave Olwell, Ph.D., as he spoke of the applied learning opportunities students will have in the building.

Board Vice Chair and past Chair Rick Panowicz, whose late father A. Richard Panowicz Sr. also was a Saint Martin’s trustee, spoke for the Panowicz family, whose support was key to making the building a reality.

He said that for both he and Pam, the building stands as a memorial to the initiative and spirit of their families, who came to the South

Progressive new foundry dedicated in September Tolling bells welcomed the opening of the University’s inspiring new Panowicz Foundry for Innovation and the E. L. Wiegand Laboratories Sept. 12.

Adjacent to Fr. Richard Cebula, O.S.B., Hall, the University’s engineering building, the new building provides laboratories and creative space where Saint Martin’s engineering and computer science students can apply what they have learned in the classroom to generate, test and evaluate designs, explore possibilities and gain hands-on experience as they work toward their degrees. Its name reflects the generosity of two major donors, University Board of Trustees past chair and current Vice Chair A. Richard “Rick” Panowicz and his

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Sound area with little more than their labor to offer and established successful lives here.

Just as crucial was the support of the E. L. Wiegand Foundation, located in Reno, Nevada. A significant foundation contribution paid for furnishings, equipment and the information technology infrastructure necessary for the E. L. Wiegand Laboratories, the specialized engineering labs within the foundry.

Within the foundry, a new stateof-the-art computer science classroom equipped by the Microsoft Corporation now bears the name “Col. Chuck Hodges Jr. Microsoft Software and Systems Academy Lab.” Retired Col. Chuck Hodges was a driving force in establishing the successful academy, a joint project of Microsoft, Saint Martin’s and the government, at Joint Base LewisMcChord’s Stone Education Center.

With the opening of the lab, Saint Martin’s can now offer a certificate in software systems at its main campus.

New software systems certificate program provides opportunity for vets, others A new Certificate in Software Systems Program at Saint Martin’s main campus enables military personnel transitioning from service as well as veterans and others in the community to prepare for high-tech jobs. The program builds on the outstanding Microsoft Software and Systems Academy, a program Microsoft and Saint Martin’s piloted at the University’s Extension Campus at Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s Stone Education Center.

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Since the academy was launched in 2013, the certificate program at JBLM has proved highly successful, with almost 100 percent of its graduates now employed in high-tech jobs. Microsoft has now started the program at select bases across the United States.

Final approval for the certificate program at the University’s main campus came in September from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, making it fully eligible for financial aid through the Veterans Administration. The first cohort of students was welcomed in January, says David Olwell, Ph.D., dean of the University’s Hal and Inge Marcus School of Engineering.

The one-semester certificate course is being offered in the University’s new Panowicz Foundry for Innovation and the E. L. Wiegand Laboratories.

Microsoft equipped an entire classroom there with cutting-edge computers and software. As part of

the program, Microsoft provides a comprehensive approach to support employment readiness that includes individual mentoring and interviews with major U.S. companies for certificate-holders.

“They are successfully placed in excellent-paying, high-tech jobs with major employers such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and other industry leaders,” Olwell said. “The University can now prepare students for similar career-focused success through this new certificate program on our Lacey campus.”

Dean of Extended Learning Division Radana Dvorak, Ph.D., who has been instrumental in the Academy’s implementation and success at JBLM, said, "I am grateful to all my colleagues for working so hard to get this off the ground. It's great news for our wider community population that includes so many veterans, service members and others who stand to benefit from this opportunity.”

Acclaimed author Molly Gloss beguiles audience with her tales of Northwest The charming old West we all grew up with was replaced by a less varnished view, as distinguished Portland writer Molly Gloss talked about her own Western novels at the third annual Les Bailey Writers Series presentation in October.

Gloss, who grew up reading popular Westerns like the Zane Grey books and other popular Westerns, declared herself a sucker for the cowboy myth. Her books are about that love, but through her eyes, listeners get a glimpse of the real old West—an often harsh realm peopled by settlers and farmers living on the edge; criminals and misfits escaping society; and tenacious heroines thrown into unlikely and arduous roles.

In her talk, “Romancing the West: Rethinking and Rewriting the Great

Saint Martin’s welcomes Kate Boyle as new dean of education Saint Martin’s welcomed Kathleen M. “Kate” Boyle, Ph.D., as new dean of the College of Education and Counseling Psychology in August. She oversees the College’s undergraduate and certification programs, three master’s programs and post-master’s certification programs. Some 283 students are currently enrolled in the College’s programs.

“Kate was a first choice for everybody who met her because she brings deep experience of Catholic higher education, impressive expertise in her field and inspiring leadership

American Mythos,” Gloss discussed how her lifelong passion and her love of history shaped her writing. In acclaimed books like “The Jump-Off Creek” and “Falling From Horses,” just two of Gloss’ finely researched and crafted novels, Gloss’ intrepid characters reveal the West she calls “the dark underside of that myth …”

A rapt audience listened as the writer, a past recipient of the Whiting Award, Oregon Book Award and many other honors, talked of how she has navigated the land between myth and reality in her work. Earlier in the day,

skills to her role as dean of the College of Education and Counseling Psychology,” says Saint Martin’s Provost Molly Smith, Ph.D. “I am excited to have her join us and my team, and look forward to working closely with her to advance the College and Saint Martin’s.”

In academia, Boyle has had a rich and varied career, ranging from extensive administrative, teaching and research to service in the area of student affairs earlier in her career. Before coming to Saint Martin’s, she was chair of the University of St. Thomas’ department

she visited classes and talked with students about writing and literature.

The writing series is funded by the Leslie G. Bailey Endowment, which honors the gifted and inspiring ’64 alumnus and English Prof. Les Bailey, Ph.D., who taught in the Saint Martin’s English Department until his death in 2010.

The guest writer for the October 2017 presentation is noted Olympia author Jim Lynch, whose books include “The Highest Tide,” “Truth Like the Sun” and “Before the Wind.”

of educational leadership, an interdisciplinary academic department that serves about 600 students in various programs.

At St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., she also taught in its leadership doctoral program and directed its Master of Arts in Leadership in Student Affairs Program.

Before coming to St. Thomas, she was a visiting assistant professor in educational leadership and policy studies and also coordinator of master’s programs in higher education and student affairs at Indiana University.

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Boyle’s first professional post in academia was as a residence hall director at St. Norbert College in DePere, Wis., where she had earlier earned her undergraduate degree in psychology. Positions at Mankato State University, Marquette University and the Indiana University of Pennsylvania developed her interest in student affairs and education leadership studies.

academic,” she says. “When I came to Saint Martin’s, I requested a student to take me on a tour of campus. My approach is that I don’t take a job until I can meet with the university’s students and learn about their true experience there.”

Boyle thinks of herself as a “teacherscholar-administrator,” she says. While her experiences have been diverse, each has enabled her to work closely with students.

As a Catholic, she said she was attracted to the Benedictine ideas of community and balance that underpin campus life at the University. A Midwesterner who feels a strong commitment to cultural diversity, Boyle said she is excited about all she may learn by living in a different region of the country.

“I love to work directly with students one-on-one, whether it is in student affairs, as an advisor or as an

“I recognize that this appreciation of different experiences, perspectives and backgrounds enhances our

Faculty, staff and student updates English faculty member Jamie Olson awarded NEA Literature Translation Fellowship Jamie Olson, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the English Dept., was awarded a Literature Translation Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in August to support his translation of works by contemporary Russian poet Timur Kibirov. Olson’s translations will make Kibirov’s works available to an English-speaking audience.

The highly competitive fellowships are primarily awarded to recipients translating works of literary excellence and value by writers who are

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not well represented in English translation, with the broad goal of expanding opportunities for readers to better understand other cultures and traditions.

“I’m honored to receive this award, and I think the National Endowment for the Arts’ support for translation is really wonderful. They’re doing a great service to readers. Less than three percent of books published in America are translated from another language, but the NEA is working hard to change that situation,” Olson said. “Until a translator brings a work of literature into English, we literally don’t know what we’re missing.

What would the world look like if we didn’t have Sappho’s poems, Tolstoy’s novels or Kafka’s stories? We need

work as educators and our ability to create partnerships and professional collaborations within our greater public community,” she says.

Boyle earned her master’s degree in counseling and student personnel from Minnesota State University —Mankato. Her doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies—higher education administration, was granted from Indiana University—Bloomington.

Among her many awards are the St. Thomas’ Common Good Award and the Minnesota College Personnel Association’s Linda Schrempp Alberg Award for Outstanding Contributions to Minnesota Higher Education.

translators: They open our eyes to cultures beyond our own."

Olson’s $12,500 grant is assisting in translating Kibirov’s “When Lenin Was a Little Boy: Selected Poems.”

Kibirov, who lives in Moscow, has penned more than 20 poetry collections. His many honors include the “Anti-Booker” Award, a Joseph Brodsky Memorial Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, and, in 2008, Russia’s prestigious “Poet” prize. He is viewed as a gadfly who seeks to tear down Russian secular traditions such as Marxism, nationalism and the literary canon, says Olson. Despite the poet’s stature in Russia, his works are basically unavailable in English.

Olson, a member of the American Literary Translators Association, has completed English translations of many Russian literary texts. Along

with teaching English and interdisciplinary courses at Saint Martin’s, he teaches Russian language courses.

He also writes a blog, “The Flaxen Wave: On Poetry, Translation, and Russian Culture.” http://flaxenwave. blogspot.com Last summer, Olson led a study-tour to Russia. The former U.S. Marine was invited to give a talk at the American Center of the U.S. Embassy.

His talk was entitled, “Marines Love Poetry, Too: Military Service, Literary Studies, and Russian Translation.”

Two Saint Martin's staff members complete master's degree Two University staff members earned their master’s degrees from Saint Martin’s in December.

Alyssa Nastasi, assistant director of the Office of Career Development, completed her Master of Business Administration degree at Saint Martin’s with a perfect 4.0 grade point average, this fall.

Deborah Long, assistant dean for Student Financial Services, finished her Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology degree.

Biology students share research at conference Two Saint Martin’s students presented at November’s Murdock College Science Research Conference at Gonzaga University. Anna Belford and Netania Craig are senior biology majors currently conducting research in the laboratory of Samuel Fox, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology.

The annual conference, which supports private liberal arts colleges with established research programs, concentrates on sharing advances in the natural sciences made by research collaborations between faculty and students.

Anna presented a poster describing the application of computational techniques for the purposes of genomic analyses. Netania gave a talk detailing her work elucidating the genome response of wheat to cold stress.

“This was a tremendous experience for them—especially Netania giving the talk! I am very proud of both of them. They have done—and are doing—great work,” Fox said.

Fox says the work Belford presented at the conference was new research begun here at Saint Martin’s, but which is greatly enhanced through collaborations with researchers at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Belford collaborates virtually on some of her research project through the use of the powerful computational infrastructure at OSU. “Collaborating with larger universities provides new insights and exciting opportunities for students here at Saint Martin’s” says Fox.

Faculty and students lend a hand at Stamm Summer Camp Eric S. Boyer, assistant professor of education and director of the STAR Program, helped keep the fun going at last summer’s Stamm Summer Camp. The camp gives children with chronic medical conditions an opportunity to enjoy a week of fishing, horseback riding and other camp activities. Serving as camp counselors were SMU students Fatima ScottoRodriguez, Mckenzie Liddick and Nicole Wesley.

Started in 1953 by Seattle Children’s Hospital heart specialist Dr. Stanley Stamm, who is Boyer’s grandfather, still takes an active role in the free camp, which serves about 100 kids a year and is located near Mount Rainier. Boyer is the camp emcee and helps facilitate transitions between camp activities. He has been a camp counselor since 1995, and has served on the camp’s board of directors for 20 years.

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Religious studies faculty member Sister Laura Swan, O.S.B., gave a presentation last summer to the Association of Benedictine Colleges and Universities, which met at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn. Her presentation was entitled, “Historical Perspectives on Benedictine Colleges and Universities.”

She also contributed a chapter to a new book, “Prayer in the Catholic Tradition: A Handbook of Practical Approaches,” released in October

by Franciscan Media. Her chapter is entitled “Prayer in the Benedictine Tradition.”

Associate Prof. of English Nathalie Kuroiwa-Lewis, Ph.D., director of the writing minor and the Writing Center, was awarded a sabbatical for fall semester.

During her sabbatical, she completed a manuscript of poetry tentatively titled “Triton Unleashes the Clouds.” It focuses on life in the 21st century. She has submitted the manuscript to various presses for consideration for publication. She also began writing and researching a second collection of poems concerned with the themes of nature, big food, insecticide use and nuclear warfare.

Kuroiwa-Lewis used her sabbatical partially to research and write for a book project focused on President Obama's rhetoric of war. On Nov. 7, Kuroiwa-Lewis was one of a few featured readers invited to present her poems for a reading event sponsored by a creative writing organization in an area called “Creative Colloquy.”

Her poem, “Arsenic Dreams,” was

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published in January by Dark Matter.

Earlier this year, Kuroiwa-Lewis published her poem, “Ozone Smoking,” also in Dark Matter. She is a board member of the Olympia Poetry Network and was one of eight local poets whose poetry was showcased for the Olympia Timberland Library’s “Poem in Your Pocket” event for National Poetry Month. Last June, she was a guest reader for the Saint Martin’s Summer Creative Writing Institute, and last spring, presented a paper, “Incentivizing and Deregulating Victimage: Obama’s Language of the UAV Wars” for a joint conference of the British Association of American Studies and the Irish Association of American Studies at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Joshua Friedlander, Ph.D., who teaches violin and music history for the music department, has completed his Doctorate of Music from Florida State University. His instrument was violin, and the degree was performance-oriented. His treatise, “The Cultural Influences of Ernest Bloch’s Violin Concerto,” delved into German, French, Judaic and Native American cultural influences on Bloch’s compositions and included interviews with several Bloch descendants. Friedlander is continuing to write articles about Bloch, who has been called “the adopted composer of the Northwest.”

Earlier in the year, Friedlander was a panelist for a discussion about Bloch and his

work that was broadcast on Portland Classical FM-Radio. Friedlander also delighted a Saint Martin’s audience as guest artist for a Music @ Noon concert in November by playing music from Bloch’s Violin Concerto of 1938, and selections by J.S. Bach and Fritz Kreisler.

Katie Bugyis, Ph.D., assistant professor of religious studies, has recently published and has had a book accepted for publication.

Her first paper, “The Development of the Consecration Rites for Abbesses and Abbots in Central Medieval England,” appears in Traditio 71 (2016).

She says the article identifies, details and contextualizes three stages in the development of the consecration rites for abbesses and abbots in liturgical books produced for bishops in England from 900 to 1200. It shows how these rites, through the prayers recited, insignia bestowed, chants sung and bodily gestures performed, sought to articulate and impress the normative ideals of monastic leadership on those who were elected to exercise it, and how liturgists variously altered these rites in response to changing ecclesiastical pressures.

In her article, “The Practice of Penance in Communities of Benedictine Women Religious in Central Medieval England,” Speculum 92:1 (2017), Bugyis examines the prayers scripted both for female confessors and for female and male penitents found in prayerbooks and psalters from the ninth through the 12th centuries in England. These texts suggest that, far from being pushed to the margins of their houses’ ministerial activities by resident or visiting clerics, Benedictine women religious continued to exercise primary control of and

agency in the confessional roles directing their communities. Only by reviewing their practice of penance through their own manuscripts can these women be fully restored to the ministries that they once performed, she says.

Bugyis’ new book, “In Christ's Stead: Benedictine Women’s Ministries in England, 900-1225,” was recently accepted by Oxford University Press and will be published in late 2018.

In describing the book, she says, “This book uncovers the liturgical and pastoral ministries performed by Benedictine women religious in England. Four ministries are examined in detail—public teaching and preaching, liturgical reading of the gospel, the practice of penance, and care for the poor, sick and deceased—but they are prefaced by portraits of the very monastic officers that most often performed them—cantors, sacristans, prioresses and abbesses.”

Bugyis’ study challenges past scholarly accounts that either locate these ministries exclusively in the so-called “golden age” of double monasteries headed by abbesses in the seventh and eighth centuries, or read the monastic and ecclesiastical reforms of the 10th through 12th centuries as effectively relegating women religious to complete dependency on the sacramental care of ordained men.

She says her study reveals that, far from becoming wholly dependent on such care, many women religious in England during the central Middle Ages continued to exercise prominent liturgical and pastoral roles in their communities, much like those assumed by their earlier Anglo-Saxon foremothers and by their contemporary Benedictine brothers.

Prof. David Hlavsa‘s writings subject of NPR Podcast Sometimes children don’t walk this earth, not even for a day. But they remain in the hearts of their parents forever, these miscarried or stillborn children and the dreams and hopes they inspired. David Hlavsa, professor of theatre arts and interdisciplinary studies, has shared the story of his son James’ stillbirth and its aftereffects on him and his wife Lisa Holtby in both a book— “Walking Distance: Pilgrimage, Parenthood, Grief, and Home Repairs”—and in an earlier essay. The essay, originally written for an interdisciplinary writing class he was co-teaching, was first published in The New York Times in 2008, and this August was featured on a podcast by NPR’s WBUR-Boston station.

The essay, “My First Son, a Pure Memory,” appeared in the Times on Sept. 19, 2008. It was chosen to be featured on the popular “Modern Love,” a widely downloaded weekly podcast produced by WBUR Boston that is based on The New York Times’ series of reader-submitted essays. As with other pieces featured on the podcast, a well-known actor selects an article from the Times to read aloud. The reading is followed by comments about why he or she chose the piece, then the writer is brought

in to discuss the essay with podcast editor Dan Jones. Emmy-nominated actor Sterling K. Brown chose to read Hlavsa’s essay. Afterward, both Hlavsa and his wife Lisa Holtby talked about their experience.

If you’d like to listen to the podcast, go to www.wbur.org/modernlove/2016/08/24/my-first-son-apure-memory-modern-love In a review of “Walking Distance, poet Todd Davis wrote, “Every year, mothers and fathers experience the painful loss of a child through either miscarriage or stillbirth. Too often this loss is shuttled away, spoken of only in hushed tones, if spoken of at all. Yet those children matter as much to the parents as the children who survive, who live. ‘Walking Distance’ takes on the hard task of retelling what it was like for Lisa Holtby and her husband, the author, David Hlavsa, when they lost their first child, James, to a stillbirth. In prose that is both deft and honest, Hlavsa crafts a narrative that ushers us into the immediacy of that event and its aftermath. Somehow he manages to put language to the unnamable, to make us turn from our weeping so we may see what is behind that weeping, to consider how such events transform us.”

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Assistant Prof. of Philosophy Father David Pratt, Ph.D., S.T.D., director of debate and student debate team coach, guided a team of Saint Martin’s student debaters to wins in the semifinal rounds and a fourth place finish in the November 2016 Northwest Regional Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl.

This year's competition was on the campus of Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma and included a dozen teams from private and public universities in Washington. Saint Martin's debate teams have been regularly competing in the Ethics Bowl since 2014.

EMPOWER U’s theme was “Tools for the Best Day Ever!” The training concentrated on helping participants learn how to power their best day as their authentic self. The organization is dedicated to promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of women and improving the community through effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.

Associate Prof. of Chemistry Arwyn Smalley, Ph.D., gave a presentation, “STEM After School— Undergraduate-led Workshops for STEM Outreach,” at the 253rd American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition this April in San Francisco, Calif.

The conference also included poster presentations of their original senior research by three of Smalley’s chemistry students. Students who presented posters were Anna Agloro, Ha Nguyen and Heather Byczynski.

Saint Martin’s student Astrid Serrano received a scholarship to attend EMPOWER U, a leadership and personal development training, in January, provided by the Junior League of Olympia. Serano was selected to attend because she has demonstrated outstanding leadership and potential as the leader of Saint Martin’s Women of Color organization, says Breezie Dzakovic, former assistant director of international programs and a member of the Junior League.

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Stephen X. Mead, Ph.D., professor of English, was one of a select group of faculty chosen by the Council of Independent Colleges and Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies to participate in last summer’s Ancient Greece in the Modern Classroom seminar, “The Histories of Herodotus.”

The seminar, in Washington, D.C, is designed for non-specialists with the goal of keeping time-honored classics such as the “Histories” alive and relevant to students, as well as enriching the general education program at the participants’ schools. When they discuss the books and their contexts at the seminar, professors develop a better grasp of these works and how they can introduce them to students more effectively, the center says.

Mead, a faculty member since 1986, is a scholar in Shakespeare and early modern poetry and drama.

Faculty member Sonia De La Cruz shares documentary film, “Sad Happiness,” at Harvie lecture Saint Martin’s communication studies faculty member Sonia De La Cruz, Ph.D., screened her documentary ethnographic film, “Sad Happiness: Cinthya’s Cross Border Journey,” before a large crowd at the University’s Robert A. Harvie Social Justice Lecture presentation in February.

Alexus Perez-Mercado becomes eighth America’s Service Heroes Scholarship recipient Retired Staff Sergeant Alexus PerezMercado, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Army, was chosen as the eighth recipient of Saint Martin’s America’s Service Heroes Scholarship. The award was announced in November at the University’s annual Gala, a major scholarship fundraiser.

The America’s Service Heroes Scholarship provides financial assistance to those service members and their families who have sacrificed for our nation’s well-being and security, says Radana Dvorak, Ph.D., dean of the University’s Extended Learning Division.

“The ability to provide financial relief to the defenders of our nation pursuing their higher education goals through voluntary military education was the motivating force of the scholarship’s founders and supporters,” she said.

Perez-Mercado is originally from

Fajardo, Puerto Rico. She received numerous awards and decorations during her career. Last May, she received her second Army Meritorious Service Medal, and upon her retirement in June, a Legion of Merit from the Washington Army National Guard Adjutant General. The last paragraph of her Legion of Merit decoration captures her career as a soldier: “… SSG Perez-Mercado stands as an example of the effects of dedication and hard work towards one's goals, and she’s a showcase for how not only to give one's self to a greater cause, but to do so professionally and humanely.”

Her film provides a rare and touching look at the experiences of one U.S. citizen child of undocumented parents. It chronicles the story of 11-year-old Cinthya, who travels for the first time to her parents’ native community in Mexico, where she visits her extended family. Shot in Oregon and Oaxaca and narrated by 11-year old Cinthya, the film follows Cinthya’s trip to Teotitlán del Valle in Oaxaca with her godmother, anthropologist Lynn Stephen. Unable to accompany her because they cannot leave Oregon, Cinthya’s parents are omnipresent on her trip and in the film through phone calls to share key moments of her visit.

Perez-Mercado is married and is a life-long supporter of education.

After earning her associate’s degree, she began working to finish her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and criminology at Saint Martin’s, where she maintains a cumulative 3.31 grade point average.

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De La Cruz says the story illuminates the desires and struggles of millions of similarly divided families in the United States where children are mobile citizens but their parents cannot leave. Approximately 5 million U.S. citizen children live in families who have mixed status, she says.

De La Cruz is the film’s producer, photographer and editor. She completed the film as part of her doctoral work in media studies at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication. It debuted in fall 2015 in Eugene, Ore., and since has been shown across the country and in Oaxaco, Mexico. It also was screened in February at Bellingham’s Human Rights Film Festival. De La Cruz joined the Saint Martin’s faculty in 2015.

An article by Nini Hayes, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the College of Education and Counseling Psychology, “Satire as an Educative Tool for Critical Pedagogy in the Public Affairs Classroom,” has been published in Administrative Theory & Praxis, 38(4). Her article discusses critical pedagogy as a teaching praxis focused on theories of change. It is fundamentally concerned with the relationship between power and knowledge, and the use of satire, a humor technique, to educate public administration students how to ask hard questions and consider multiple perspectives to become effective leaders and policymakers.

In February, Hayes was accepted as a 2017 teacher educators

Wojke named to South Sound’s 40 Under Forty leaders Katie Wojke, assistant vice president for institutional advancement, was named as one of 2016’s 40 Under Forty leaders by the Business Examiner Media Group. The program annually honors emerging business and community leaders under the age of 40 for accomplishments and contributions they are making to their businesses, industries, organizations and communities.

Wojke came to Saint Martin’s in 2008 and has served as assistant vice president since 2011. She plays a key management role in institutional advancement, alumni relations and special events. Her work has led to successful fund drives and initiatives for Saint Martin’s engineering building and its new industrial lab. She also serves

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on the executive committee for the annual Saint Martin’s Gala.

“I am honored to have Katie on our team, and grateful the Business Examiner is recognizing her as a top 40 Under Forty leader,” says Cecelia Loveless, the University’s vice president for advancement. “Katie is the type of person who takes action. She puts energy into making a difference for our students, alumni and team at Saint Martin’s, leading to positive results.”

Loveless says Wojke also has been instrumental in regional alumni events and in development, where she has a talent for building enthusiasm for various projects supporting the University.

clinical fellow by the Association of Teacher Educators. As a fellow, she participated with a group of teacher educators from across the nation for three days at the invitational symposium. Its aim was to network scholars across the nation who share a passion for putting clinical practice at the center of all teacher education endeavors, according to the association.

She also gave two conference presentations in November: • “ Professional Development for Teachers of Color and Teacher Educators of Color,” at a conference of the National Association of Multicultural Educators in Cleveland. Her presentation focused on a radical

shift towards transformative and liberatory education, which demands centering and supporting the professional development needs of social justice teachers and teacher educators of color. The presentation was connected to her doctoral dissertation research.

• “Troubling Counternarratives and the Right of Refusal in Educational Research: Is it enough to tell you my story?” at a conference of the American Educational Studies Association in Seattle. Her paper invited discussion of the ethical responsibilities researchers have to the writing and reading of counternarratives in diverse institutional arrangements as a response to current trends.

In August, Hayes received a fellowship as a facilitator and worked with young people to develop skills important for youth voices, allies and education professionals at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University.

She was unable to attend two conferences where her proposals were accepted. The first was the International Conference on Urban Education in Puerto Rico, for her presentation, “Needed: Social Justice Teacher Educators of Color.” The second was before October’s Transcending Punishment: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Inequality & Social Justice in Bronx, N.Y., where her presentation, "Challenging White Supremacy in Teacher Education," was accepted.

Prof. Letitia Nieto, Psy.D., College of Education and Counseling Psychology, was awarded her designa-

tion as an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Approved Supervisor in August, following completion of the association’s rigorous program during the past three years. The designation signifies a professional who has obtained the additional education, experience and supervisory training necessary to knowlegeably supervise others who are training to become marriage and family therapists.

Saint Martin’s first-year student Ian White, a member of the Norcia Leadership Community at the University, had a column published by The Odyssey about his experiences on a Portland, Ore., service immersion trip. The Odyssey started as a student-run newspaper and now runs numerous articles each week from college students and recent grads.

White related experiences he had on the trip to the Benedictine Leaders Program and to Benedictine values.

In the article, he speaks about the Benedictine value closest to his heart, respect for others, and how the immersion trip reinforced the need to do so, especially with the people he met on the streets of Portland.

“They are humans, made in the Image and likeness of God,” he wrote.

To read the article, go to https:// www.theodysseyonline.com/this-service-immersion-trip-was-unforgettable Prof. Jeff Birkenstein, Ph.D., English department, and Prof.

Robert Hauhart, Ph.D., J.D., society and social justice department, have signed a contract with Salem Press/Grey House to edit a volume of essays, “Social Justice in American Literature.” The book will be a companion volume to their 2015

edited collection with Salem Press, “American Writers in Exile,” which is described by the publisher’s website as a “best seller.”

Hauhart also has received a publishing contract from Routledge to write a monograph, tentatively titled, “The Lonely Quest: The Search for Self in the Contemporary United States.”

This semester, a team of Saint Martin's students are conducting more than 200 interviews in the South Sound area to develop field data to report in his book. The book will be published in spring 2018.

Women's Transportation Seminar Scholarship goes to Saint Martin's student Maddie Knecht, a senior civil engineering major, is the recipient of the $5,000 Sharon D. Banks Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship from the Puget Sound Chapter of Women's Transportation Seminar. The chapter has forwarded her application to its national scholarship competition.

Currently an intern with the transportation design group at SCJ Alliance in Lacey, Knecht was a member of the Saint Martin's team that placed second nationally in civil engineering’s PCI Big Beam Competition last year. She also is a Benedictine Scholar, member of the women's volleyball team and the University's Society of Women Engineers chapter.

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Social Work Program shines in College Choice rankings

Study-Abroad

opportunities expanding Saint Martin’s has added many new studyabroad opportunities, further expanding choices where students can learn about their cultures by studying in another country, says University Study Abroad Director Brenda Burns.

By 2020, Saint Martin’s wants at least 25 percent of each graduating class to study abroad, doubling current numbers.

“Study abroad is a platform for a liberal arts education that helps students develop reason and graduate as thoughtful, educated, independent thinkers, capable of making positive changes in the world,” Burns says. “In order to truly comprehend this world, students must understand the patterns and rhythms of their own daily life and the cultural fabric in which they live in comparison to others and the worlds in which they may exist. Studying for a semester abroad interrupts their daily patterns and creates a context for the student to explore life through a new lens. It is almost always a transformative experience for students.“ Employers are increasingly seeking employees with cross -cultural competency and experience, she adds.

New agreements enable students to spend a semester studying in: • India’s Madras Christian College in Chennai, O.P. Jindal University, near Delhi, or NMIMS in Mumbai.

• South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth.

• Greece’s American College of Thessaloniki in Thessaloniki.

• England’s Wroxton College in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

• Scotland’s University of Glasgow in Glasgow.

More such agreements are in the works, she says.

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Saint Martin’s Bachelor of Social Work Program was ranked as one of the country’s best by College Choice, an independent online publication that helps students and their families find the right college. Under College Choice’s student-based ranking system, the University’s program was rated 31st in a field of 511 accredited BSW programs nationwide.

“I was very, very happy to hear the news of our BSW Program being ranked in the upper 6 percent of the nation’s programs,” said Prof. Katya Shkurkin, Ph.D., MSW, ACSW, LCSW, director of the University’s social work program. “The program fulfills both our Saint Martin’s values and our vision in the world: Welleducated, values-based professionals who are grounded in a desire for social justice and action to correct injustices. It is a profession full of caring people who are ‘called to serve.’”

The first cohort of social work students graduated in 2012-2013. The program is rooted in the respected 34-year-old Community Services Program, first led by Norma Shelan, M.S.W., now a Saint Martin’s professor emeritus. Shkurkin, now in her 17th year here, became director of that program eight years ago, then established the new program.

Director of Field Work, Tam Dinh, Ph.D., MSW, who joined the program in 2012, has been integral in developing the new curriculum, accreditation and cohort-style program, Shkurkin says. Among its distinctive features is a requirement for students to accrue 600 hours or more of internship experience at government agencies, local shelters and other social service settings. That’s 150 hours above requirements at other schools, and it gives students an advantage both in the job market and in their application to graduate programs in social work.

“We are proud of them. Each one is ‘one of ours.’

Their accomplishments, in addition to the strength of this program, are what has brought us this honored ranking.” About half of Saint Martin’s BSW graduates continue their education at a graduate school, Shkurkin said.

First Family Weekend draws big crowd A major storm and threatened power outage didn’t dampen the spirits of nearly 100 families of current students who flocked to Saint Martin’s in October. Here to experience a jam-packed roster of activities and events as part of the University’s new Family Weekend, the crowd bundled up and braved the elements to experience a slice of the same campus life their students enjoy.

This new University tradition was organized by a campuswide committee led by Executive Assistant Jennifer Arnett.

Major activities included a family luncheon, followed by faculty presentations during the afternoon. After a wine and cheese get-together with Saint Martin’s deans, families either attended a volleyball match or an Abbey Church Events concert featuring gifted Pianist Ji. A wildly popular Bingo game with a standing-room only crowd was one of the more popular activities families enjoyed. Sunday brunch and Mass at Saint Martin’s Abbey Church wrapped up the weekend.

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Director of Recreation Services David Crawford was invited last summer to join the U.S.A. National Floorball Team to compete in a tournament in Riga, Latvia, in preparation for the World Floorball Cup, held in December. After making the team, David had about 65 days to prepare for the tournament.

“I had a lot of work to do to get ready for the tournament. I was fortunate to have the SMU community around me during this process. Kyle Stevenson, assistant track and field coach, helped train me and get me in shape. I also had to rely on family and friends to help fund this venture. The experience was amazing, and being able to play at such a high level was a lot of fun.

Putting on the USA jersey and standing there representing my country was a huge honor, and one that I will not forget,” he says.

Crawford says he brought that experience back to Saint Martin’s by running floorball clinics and intramurals on campus. Saint Martin’s is one of a small number of universities to offer the sport in this country. As a result of the floorball program on campus, the University was highlighted in a Campus Rec magazine article about new programs on campuses.

Candice C. Carter, Ph.D., associate dean of education and counseling psychology, attended the 26th General Conference of the International Peace Research Association, themed “An Agenda for Peace and Development,” in November at Freetown, Sierra Leone. The association, founded in 1990, works to enhance the processes of peace worldwide.

Carter presented her research paper, “Performing Arts as Conflict Education: Damage Prevention and Recuperation,” before the organization.

Carter also was elected convener of the association’s Peace Education Commission, which examines the role of education in sustainable development, peace and justice. As part of her work, she will be editing a publication with the research presentations made to the Peace Education Commission.

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On Sept. 7, Brother Luke Devine, O.S.B., successfully defended his dissertation at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif.

His dissertation was titled “Fritz Eichenberg: A Case Study in the Relationship between Creativity and Spirituality,” Brother Luke says.

Fritz Eichenberg (1901-1990) was a printmaker in wood-engraving born and raised in Cologne, Germany. He studied at the Academy of Graphic Arts in Leipzig and immigrated in 1933 with his family to the United States, where he illustrated novels, especially those of Russian authors, and taught graphic arts at the New School for Social Research and the Pratt Institute. He became a Quaker in 1941, Brother Luke recounts. After meeting Dorothy Day in 1949, he started contributing illustrations to The Catholic Worker newspaper.

Brother Luke’s dissertation focused on those particular illustrations and how they influenced Eichenberg’s thoughts about the social responsibility of artists, which are expressed in a 1984 essay, “Artist on the Witness Stand.” Brother Luke conducted archival research at the Dorothy Day/Catholic Worker Archives at Marquette University and in the Fritz Eichenberg Papers at Yale University.

Brother Luke currently is teaching for the religious studies department and also is part-time transfer advisor in the Center for Student Learning, Writing and Advising.

Blaine Snow, an ESL instructor with the Office of International Programs and Development, presented a poster at The Mind and Life Institute’s International Symposium on Contemplative Studies in November in San Diego, Calif.

His poster, “Waking Up and Growing Up: Why Meditation Does Not Produce Social Justice Values,” argued that while mindfulness meditation increases awareness and can help heal some conditions, it does not increase compassion or awareness of otherness in a social justice sense in and of itself for those who practice it.

“In concert with social justice practices such as collaborative listening, witnessing the other, other-culture immersion, etc., mindfulness meditation can be an excellent partner, but even in contemplative communities and among meditation masters, forms of oppression and privilege exist,” he says.

“Deeper compassion, as one gains in compassion meditation, is not necessarily broader compassion.”

As the poster’s creator, he answered questions and explained his viewpoint to other conference-goers.

Don Conant, Ph.D., associate professor of business and director of the MBA Program, recently was reappointed for a two-year term to the Washington Health Benefits Exchange, which implements the federal Affordable Care Act in the state. Appointments are made by the governor from names submitted by the state’s legislative caucuses.

Members have expertise from across the health care spectrum, people knowledgeable in areas from small employer coverage and individual care to actuarial science. Conant was appointed to the exchange as its business subject matter expert in 2011, when the exchange was first formed.

In 2014, he was reappointed for a second term by Gov. Jay Inslee.

SMU-ASCE leaders attend workshop Student leaders of the Saint Martin's University American Society of Civil Engineers chapter (SMU-ASCE) attended a workshop for student chapter leaders in Los Angeles in mid-January. Student leaders learned characteristics of different behavioral styles and ways to bring the best parts of each style out in group members. The workshop focused on ways to increase the SMU-ASCE chapter membership, leadership of members and fundraising, meeting organization and chapter maintenance, documentation and reports. Leaders from the national

Secretary, Dale Nelson - ASCE Region 8 Director, Jill Walsh - Faculty Advisor, Joanna JohnsonVice President, Andrew Piccini-Treasurer.

organization gave presentations and participated in open discussions with the students.

COMING SOON events

Interested in what events are happening on campus throughout the year?

Visit the online calendar for a complete list of events!

www.stmartin.edu/calendar

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1960s Bob Hopman ’60 was honored posthumously by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, last August by having a survey vessel named after him. The Hopman is based at the U.S. Moorings in Portland and will survey areas along the Columbia and lower Willamette rivers. Hopman played a major role in developing the Portland District’s

dredge fleet. After 30 years of service with the corps, Hopman retired in 1997 from the corps’ Philadelphia District and returned to the Pacific Northwest. His widow Marlene had the honor of christening the Hopman.

Robert “Bob” Gregorich ’64 was selected for the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame Class of 2016 and is regarded as the driving force —both on and off the field—behind several national championship teams.

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Gale Burford ’68 served as a visiting professor at the Australian National University’s Centre for International Governance and Justice early this year. Gale has had an extensive career in social work and published a wide range of research.

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results gathered from a multi-year, multiple-methods study of one of the United States’ efforts to incorporate participatory and restorative practices into its child welfare and youth justice services.

1970s George A. Parker, Ph.D., ’71, a lead engineer and senior chemist with the Boeing Company, was honored in February during the 31st Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Global Competitiveness Conference. He was recognized as the 2017 Senior Technology Fellow during the conference’s Innovators in STEM Awards Dinner.

Mary Gentry ’73, a philanthropist, author, retired attorney and educator, was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award in October by Business Examiner Media during its “Women of Influence” event. She was honored for her professional achievement and community leadership in the South Sound area.

Joyce Targus, C.P.A., ’76 was selected for a two-year term as treasurer of the Providence St. Peter Foundation in 2016.

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Wally McClure ’79 was elected president of the National Council of Child Support Directors this year.

He also serves on the National Child Support Enforcement Association Board of Directors. Wally and Patricia

McClure ’80 celebrated 35 years of marriage in 2016.

1980s Jan Ward ’83 joined Coldwell 8 Banker Evergreen Olympic Realty in 2016 after nearly a decade as a local lender.

Mabel Hamon ’84 earned her doctorate in educational psychology from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, in December 2015. She focused on learning experiences of New Zealand high school students with chronic health conditions.

Rob Walker ’86, director of soccer operations at Saint Martin’s University, was named to the Top 50 Soccer Citizens as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of Washington Youth Soccer.

Kathryn Skolrood ’88 was selected by the Grays Harbor Public Utility District as its chief financial officer in April 2016.

1990s Kelley Bremgartner ’90 accepted the position of principal at Grand Mound Elementary School in the Rochester School District last July. She also recently completed her administrative credential in educational leadership and administration from Western Governors University.

David Engle MED ’90 retired in 2016 after an extensive career in education. David served as a teacher, principal, superintendent and executive director throughout his years as a professional educator.

2000s Kyle Sokol ’00 accepted a new position with Pacific Service Credit Union as the senior enterprise risk investigator. He will be responsible for leading and reporting on investigations covering more than 800 credit unions nationwide.

Marion Dortch, Jr., MBA ’04 retired from a career with the U.S. Army in 2013. He then began a second profession with AT&T while working towards his next educational milestone. In December, Marion earned his master’s of information technology degree from Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

is an admissions counselor in the Office of Admissions.

Ronelle (Kaplowitz) Funk MAC’05 currently serves as the president and CEO of Ronelle Funk Insurance Inc., which was recognized by Thurston County Multiple Listing Service Association with its 2016 Affiliate of the Year Award.

Sarah Hanratty ’05 has accepted a position to teach English teach at Arcadia High School in Oak Hall, Va. Dominick Bonny ’06, co-owner and social media manager for Digital Media Northwest LLC, was recognized by the Wenatchee Valley Business World as a “30 under 35” honoree in 2016.

Nori Roman ’07 was selected as a 2016 “40 Under Forty” honoree by South Sound’s Business Examiner for her volunteer work in the community and growing career with Columbia Bank.

Dan Ireland ’04, engineer and manager for the SCJ Alliance’s Wenatchee office, was selected as a 2016 30 under 35 honoree by the Wenatchee Valley Business World for his career and volunteerism in the community.

Haley ’06, MED’16, and Damini ’08, MED’16, Djenaba both graduated in May 2016 from Saint Martin’s Master of Education Program. It was a family milestone they celebrated with their children, Anthony and Nalia.

Jeanette Abreu ’05 returned to Lacey this year along with her husband John Abreu ’06. Both have accepted positions at Saint Martin’s. Jeanette serves as the advisor of studies for first-year students and pre-majors, and John

Marcie Gansler ’08 has served as a member of Toastmasters International since 2012. This year, she was elected to the position of program quality director for District 93.

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2010s 3 Kimberly Nakahashi ’08 and William Naylor ’10 were married in June 2016 on Maui. The wedding party included fellow Saints Victor Nguyen ’14, Nick Bronowski ’09, Kawika Kaulukukui ’09, Sean Boyle ’09, Rob Furney ’10, Cord Pryse ’09, Ryan Brilhante ’09, Chelsea Hada ’07, Melissa Sambo ’08, and Shelby DeMers-Diaz ’13.

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Trevor Dunstan ’09 is the new technology/media literacy teacher at Barbara McClintock STEM Elementary School in Pasco. He uses cutting-edge technology such as 3-D computers to promote learning in his classroom, as well as leads motivational programming geared toward students’ success throughout life.

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Kendra (Konopaski) Fors ’10 and husband Joe Fors welcomed baby Donnie Ray on March 8, 2016.

Donnie is being loved by his family which includes older sister Kenzie and older brother Henry.

Kellen Mangan ’10 was recognized as a Business Examiner “40 Under Forty” honoree this past summer for the success of his business, High Definition Homes LLC, and his work in the community.

Nicholas Harvey ’11 and Karissa Owen ’11 were married in May 2016.

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Marisha Kasjan ’11 married Josh McDowell in August 2016. Fellow alumna Melissa Archuleta ’10 was a member of the bridal party.

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Daniel Mast ’13 was awarded a first-place prize in the Innovations

in Fuel Cycle Research Awards sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fuel Cycle Technologies. His award-winning research paper, “Equation of State for Technetium from X-Ray Diffraction and First-Principle Calculations,” was published in the Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids in August.

Lexie Rebar ’14 graduated last June from the University of Denver with a master’s degree in social work and a concentration in children and youth. She is now working as a care coordinator for Valley Cities Counseling.

Sheena Kaas MAC’15, along with her husband John and their two sons, Peter and Jacob, run KaasHill Farms, in Shelton. Their principle product is a luxurious goat milk soap, which is made with fresh milk from the farm’s herd, oils, delightful fragrances and other natural and local ingredients.

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6 Daniel Browning ’16, a U.S. Army veteran and Saint Martin’s computer science graduate, was a featured guest speaker at this year’s FullConTech Conference in Seattle, hosted by the Washington Technology Industry Association.

Sam Dunn ’16 accepted a position as design engineer for the transportation design group at the SCJ Alliance office in Lacey. SCJ is a consulting firm specializing in civil engineering, transportation planning and design, environmental and urban planning, landscape architecture and design and public outreach.

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Halee Hernandez ’16 and Kyle Karnofski ’14 were married last July. The wedding party included fellow alumni Kristin Okamura ’15, Eric Taylor ’13 and Mathew Dodson ’14.

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Brandon Mowrey ’16, a U.S. Army veteran, was hired by Landau Associates in 2016 as a staff engineer-in-training. His work there includes geotechnical explorations

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Annabel Warnell ’16 was hired

by Landau Associates in 2016 as a staff engineer-in-training. She does geotechnical explorations and laboratory analysis and also provides technical support for geotechnical reports.

Jessica York ’16 was hired by Stapp Accounting Services, PLLC, as a client accounting specialist.

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What's new with you?

We want to know!

Send us your news and photos (resolution of 300 dpi) by email to alumni@stmartin.edu or by mail to: Saint Martin's University Office of Institutional Advancement 5000 Abbey Way SE Lacey, WA 98503

Stay Connected @Saints_Alumni

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ALUMNI EVENTS

We were delighted to welcome several hundred alumni back to campus for Homecoming Weekend 2017 in early February. Events included the Distinguished Alumni Awards presentation, coffee with the monks, honoring our Saints Athletics Hall of Fame & Hall of Honor inductees, rallies for the women’s and men’s basketball teams and crowning of the Homecoming king and queen. A special presentation to senior Mikel Smith of his NCAA National Championship title ring and the unveiling of his championship banner, now displayed in the Marcus Pavilion, was done during the men’s basketball game.

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For more information about alumni events and regional events visit, www.stmartin.edu/alumni

Honorees from left to right: Andy Hwang, Ivan Lui-Kwan, Jim Swenson, Paula Bouwer-Ronshaugen, Abbot Neal Roth, O.S.B. and Peter Fluetsch.

Distinguished alumni recognized over Homecoming Weekend 2017 This year’s Distinguished Alumni honorees were Paula Bouwer-Ronshaugen ’86, of Bremerton, WA, Peter Fluetsch HS’56, ’58, of Olympia, WA, Andy Hwang ’95, of Federal Way, WA, Ivan Lui-Kwan ’67, of Honolulu, HI, and Abbot Neal Roth, O.S.B ’65, of the Saint Martin’s Abbey, and Jim Sweson HS’74, of Lacey, WA. These alumni have a lifetime of achievements, both professionally and in giving back to Saint Martin’s.

Paula Bouwer-Ronshaugen ’86 Paula BouwerRonshaugen, Saint Martin’s first graduate with a hearing disability, turned her community service degree into a career helping others. As deaf services manager with Washington Vocational Services, a non-profit staffing agency, Paula’s 20 years of work with and on behalf of her clients has made her a top job placement specialist for people with disabilities in Western Washington. Her advocacy with potential employers has helped her clients fulfill their potential.

Peter Fluetsch HS’56, ’58 Respected civic leader Peter Fluetsch has excelled in his industry. He and his wife Kathy founded Sunset Air, a heating and airconditioning business, in 1976. In the community, he has been mayor of Tumwater and chair of Tumwater’s public works. He helped found the Thurston County Economic Development Council. His board service and support for several industry initiatives and non-profits like the Washington Center for the Performing Arts and Providence St. Peter Foundation earned the Fluetsch family the 2008 Leadership in Philanthropy Family of the Year Award from a local philanthropy.

Andy Hwang ’95 Known for his professionalism and leadership, Andy Hwang, now Federal Way Police chief, began his career in law enforcement in high school as a

police explorer for Thurston County Sheriff's Department.

Following several years with the Olympia Police Department, where he was named 1991’s Officer of the Year by both the Olympia Police Department and Kiwanis International of Olympia. Andy now heads a department with 160 employees and a $30 million budget, serving Federal Way’s 93,000 citizens. He also is active with several police organizations.

Ivan Lui-Kwan ’67 Ivan Lui Kwan’s good works and expertise in law, government and politics have bettered the lives of many fellow Hawaiians. His extensive leadership and vision are creating a more equitable Hawaii, especially for its underprivileged and oppressed.

Now director of Starn O'Toole Marcus & Fisher law firm in Honolulu, Ivan has been recognized repeatedly by his peers. The recipient of a 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from Pacific Edge Magazine, he also was a 2015 Queen Emma Ball honoree for his ongoing support of St. Andrews School and many other causes.

Abbot Neal Roth, O.S.B ’65 For 59 years, Abbot Neal Roth, O.S.B., has been integral to the Saint Martin's community, and as abbot since 1993, has guided Saint Martin’s with a generous, caring spirit. His career has spanned from teaching at both the high school and college to ministering in Seattle Archdiocese parishes and countless leadership roles at both the abbey and school.

His spiritual guidance, wisdom and support continue to help Saint Martin’s University thrive.

Jim Sweson HS’74 Jim Swenson, of Lacey, has served Saint Martin’s for many years through his work with the Saint Martin’s Alumni Association, including several years as its president. He has translated the love he feels for his alma mater into countless volunteer hours working on scholarship fundraising efforts with the concessions trailer and Capital Food and Wine Festival. He also has been a dedicated supporter of St. Michael Parish School.

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In memoriam REMEMBERING ALUMNI OF SAINT MARTIN'S

1940s Lloyd Beaulaurier HS'40 Nov. 14, 2016 Keith Hamstreet HS'44 Nov. 16, 2016 Donald Le Roy HS'47 July 27, 2016 Lester Roy HS'48 July 12, 2016

1950s Thomas Goldenberger HS'50 Feb. 12, 2017 Daniel Hoeschen HS'53 Aug. 19, 2016 Charlotte Miller '54 Oct. 27, 2016 Kenneth Berchtold '59 Nov. 29, 2016

1960s Francis Iwasawa '60 Sept. 2, 2016 Gary Dorian HS'61 Oct. 17, 2016 Hugh Antonson HS'62 Aug. 23, 2016 Edmund Young '62 Aug. 4, 2016 Mark Kirsch HS'63 Sept. 21, 2016

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Evelyn Murray '65 Sept. 10, 2016 Brian Hodgson '66 Dec. 13, 2016 Thomas Lees HS'66 July 25, 2016 Ida Taylor '67 Nov. 7, 2016 Charles Mauer '68 Aug. 30, 2016 Lucille Moreland '68 Aug. 7, 2016 Kenneth Spellman '69 Jan. 7, 2017 James Spencer '69 Dec. 3, 2016

1970s Vernon Meinz '71 Dec. 12, 2016 Daniel Hesse '72 Nov. 24, 2016 Albert Lopez '72 Oct. 1, 2016 Jason Wong '72 Oct. 4, 2016 Edward Boitano '73 Oct. 4, 2016 Norman Zimmerschied '74 Dec. 27, 2016

Barbara Hafey '76 Aug. 15, 2016 Anthony “Tony” Franulovich HS’71 May 25, 2016

1980s Jennifer Gerrells '81 Jan. 14, 2017 Ruth Langen '88 Jan. 10, 2017

1990s Susan Petty '93 Aug. 21, 2016 Daniel Baker '94 Dec. 1, 2016 Kenneth Windham '94 Jan. 6, 2017 Timothy Avey '96 Sept. 17, 2016 Carl Every MEM'96 Aug. 20, 2016

2000s Stephanie Day '06 Sept. 13, 2016

2010s Austin Kelley '12 Sept. 4, 2016

Saint Martin’s mourned the deaths of three young and vibrant alumni in close succession in September. Although Insights can print only a few obituaries, an exception has been made because the loss of these three admired young adults in quick succession was a unique circumstance that touched countless members of the University and alumni community. Each gave the best of themselves to Saint Martin’s and to the greater community. We are deeply saddened by their loss.

AUSTIN KELLEY Austin Kelley ’12, died Sept. 4 while trying to swim across the Salmon River during a getaway weekend near Riggins, Idaho. Austin, 26, was a 2008 graduate of Olympia High School and went on to complete an engineering degree at Saint Martin’s. Many knew him for his soccer abilities; he was a standout and inspiration on the Saints men’s team, on which he played until 2011. But he is also remembered for his character. He was reliable, kind and thoughtful, say his friends.

Tom Dutra, one of the Saints coaching staff when Austin played, said in a Blackhills Football Club news bulletin, that Austin was the nicest soccer player he’d ever been around: “He was dedicated to his family, school and teammates. It was truly an honor to be part of a team that Austin played on.

He made everyone around him better on and off the field. A true class act from day one.”

Austin was the husband of former Saints softball player Morgan Klemm, and father of an infant daughter, Riann. His parents are Cortney and Philip Kelley of Olympia.

STEPHANIE DAY Stephanie Day ’06, died Sept. 13 at Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center following complications from surgery during a kidney transplant. She was 33. As an undergraduate, Stephanie was an athlete and active in Campus Ministry. She had returned to Saint Martin’s and was nearing completion of her Master of Counseling Psychology degree when she died.

Her mother Dana said, “Stephanie LOVED SMU; she had such great experiences there, made some life-long friends including some of the staff. We were very proud of her community service and all the good she was bringing to so many people in need.”

As a case manager and counselor at Olympia’s Community Youth Services, Stephanie worked with young adults who were homeless. She also was a case manager at Rosie’s Place, nearby. In February, her parents—Dana and Randy—traveled to Olympia to accept a posthumous Housing and Homeless Hero Award on Stephanie’s behalf. Presented by the Thurston County Homeless Hub, it honored all she had done to help the homeless young people she worked with and for each day.

SAI PRIYANK A CHOUDARY GOGINENI On Sept. 27, Sai Priyanka Choudary Gogineni, who walked at Saint Martin’s 2016 Commencement in May, drowned in a small lake in Lacey.

Priyanka, 24, or “Pri,” as she was called by her many friends, came to Saint Martin’s from Hyderabad, Telangana, India, to complete a master’s degree in civil engineering.

Each student who enters the University brings his or her own gifts to the community.

Priyanka’s gift was unique: Her ability to bridge cultural divides between students from many nations, helping new arrivals feel comfortable, safe and welcome at Saint Martin’s.

She never failed to reach out to someone new, and through her generous and loving spirit, strengthening the fabric of the Saint Martin’s community by drawing everyone together in friendship.

The Saint Martin’s community gathered for a celebration of her life Sept. 30.

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TRUSTEE EMERITUS HAR OLD “HAL” MAR CUS Saint Martin’s Trustee Emeritus, benefactor and friend Harold J. “Hal” Marcus died March 18 at his home. He was 89.

“A firm believer in the Saint Martin’s mission and an ardent supporter of education, Hal Marcus will truly be missed,” said University President Roy F. Heynderickx, Ph.D. The Marcus name graces two campus entities. Marcus Pavilion, named in 2008, and the Hal and Inge Marcus School of Engineering, in 2013. Both honor the many years of philanthropy, support and leadership that Hal and Inge ’84, his wife, gave so generously to Saint Martin’s.

Hal had a career in industrial engineering and management consulting before going into real estate in our area. He became involved with Saint Martin’s while on a committee to assist the Abbey with land-use decisions, then served on the Saint Martin's board of trustees from 1987 to 1996 and from 1997 to 2006. His leadership included service as chairman from 1990 to 1993, co-chair of the Library Fundraising Campaign and much more. He helped guide major campus expansion, academic program improvement, the Centennial observance of 1994-1995 and the school’s transition from college to university in 2005.

Hal was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, and in 2007, was awarded Trustee Emeritus status in recognition of his long commitment to the University. He also became the inaugural recipient of the University Medal that year.

He is survived by Inge and his son, Matt Marcus ’94, a current member of the Saint Martin’s board.

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TRUSTEE EMERITUS FRANCIS IWASAWA ‘60 Saint Martin’s Trustee Emeritus Francis Iwasawa ‘60, who mentored many Saint Martin’s business students and helped grow the University’s international programs, died Sept. 9 in Hong Kong, where he had lived for many years.

Francis, a native of Yokohama and Saint Martin’s first Japanese student, graduated with an accounting degree. He spent his early career in the oil industry, work that took him around the world. He then became an executive in the accounting firm of Ernst and Whiney, and later, the Arthur Young accounting firm, working in both firms in the areas of auditing, taxation and management consulting. In 1989, he established his own firm, Asahi Iwasawa & Associates, in Hong Kong. With his broad international business expertise, Francis provided business support services and helped some 150 Japanese investors establish companies in Hong Kong and mainland China.

Francis and Kay, his wife, kept a second home in Olympia and visited often. He said in 2002 that he was indebted to the school for a fine education, and he became a strong Saint Martin’s supporter. He was named as a Saint Martin’s trustee that same year. As a skilled and experienced promoter of international business, he helped the school build international and business programs, often sharing his expertise through lectures and presentations. He provided travel scholarships to numerous members of the Saint Martin’s community. For a few talented students, he set up internships with Chinese companies. He also helped area businesses through the Thurston County Economic Development Council, often coupling council interests with Saint Martin’s. These included a key role in a joint Saint Martin’s-EDC conference on doing business in China and hosting several Saint Martin’s-EDC delegations in Hong Kong, where delegates were provided with the latest trends in business there.

“Francis was the personification of a Saint Martin’s graduate. He credited his success and personal philosophy to his time at Saint Martin’s, especially the monks who educated him,” said Saint Martin’s President Roy F. Heynderickx, Ph.D. “His many years of serving on the University’s board of trustees was his way of giving back.”

Francis is survived by his wife, Kay, and many other family members.

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BE VERLY KOOI FORMER DEAN OF EDUCATION Beverly Kooi, Ph.D., who served as Saint Martin’s dean of education from 1987 until her retirement in 1994, died Nov. 22 at her home in Olympia. She was considered an excellent administrator, says retired political science Prof. Dick Langill, Ph.D., who hired Bev when he served as vice president for academic affairs.

Then, as now, he said, education was a premier program at the school, and its graduates were respected throughout the state. A popular and knowledgeable dean, Bev furthered that reputation and nurtured a close relationship with the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Her career as an educator included teaching at Northwest schools, conducting educational research for UCLA and writing curriculum for the National Education Committee in Washington, D.C. After retiring, she continued to volunteer and work in the educational field for the state, doing grant-writing, evaluating colleges and other efforts.

Her son Bruce ’92, daughter Patti, their families, and her friend and former husband Stan Kooi survive her.

EMERITUS PR OFESSOR CARL MANNING, PHYSICS Longtime physics Prof. Carl Manning, 73, died Nov. 9 at his home in Olympia after a long illness.

Carl began teaching at Saint Martin’s in 1967. Besides teaching, he chaired the science division for many years and served as faculty president. Among his many honors, he was the recipient of the annual Saint Martin’s Outstanding Faculty Award.

Retired Registrar Mary Law said he was devoted to the school and was a popular teacher; his classes often overflowed with students.

Fellow faculty member and longtime friend Father Kilian Malvey, O.S.B., said of him: “Carl was a person totally dedicated to his students and the development of their minds and their innate talent. Though he was a quiet, gentle human being he, nevertheless, had a forceful presence about him that told his students he was serious about his profession and his vocation as a teacher, and they needed to be serious about their role as students. Carl knew his subject matter thoroughly and was able to translate difficult problems in a simple, understandable way for his students. Carl was a generous human being who knew and lived the Benedictine value of service to others.”

Carl is survived by Kathy, his wife, and his children Carl Peter, Patrick Craig and Anna Kathleen, and their families.

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TRUSTEE EMERITUS KENNETH “KEN” BER CHTOLD ‘59 Saint Martin’s Trustee Emeritus Kenneth Berchtold ’59, a man who President Roy F. Heynderickx described as “exemplifying the Benedictine values of respect, dignity and humility,” died Nov. 29 in Los Angeles after a long illness.

“His many years of service on the board of trustees embodied his desire to give back to his alma mater,” Heynderickx said. “You will find the Berchtold name on many donor walls across campus. We will miss Ken's sage advice and his humble caring of trustees, fellow graduates, and students.”

Ken earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting and worked at The Boeing Co. for 11 years before taking a post at Northrup Grumman Corp. There, his 27-year career spanned several key positions. He retired in 1997 as its corporate financial vice president.

He became a member of the Saint Martin’s board of trustees in 2010, and was a member of the University’s Legacy Society and President’s Council. As a trustee, he chaired the finance committee and was active in various capacities on several other committees.

In 2014, Ken was awarded Trustee Emeritus status in recognition of his excellent and dedicated service, his devotion to the Saint Martin’s community and board, and his philanthropy, Heynderickx said.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Anne, and their family.

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On Saturday, April 22 Abbot Neal Roth, O.S.B., ’65 blessed the re-installation of Saint Martin’s iconic Stations of the Cross. The project to re-finish and re-install the 14 Stations of the Cross was led by students of Benedictine Scholars Cohort #2 and their advisors, Professor Julia Chavez and Father Kilian Malvey. The Stations of the Cross, which are positioned in various locations around campus, depict 14 scenes from Jesus Christ's last day on Earth.

Special thanks to Dick Mitchell, Dave Hamilton and Barbara Marcoe, who assisted the students with the sculptures.

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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Tacoma, WA Permit No. #378

Office of Marketing and Communications 5000 Abbey Way SE Lacey, WA 98503

2017 GOLF

R E UN I ON AUGUST 4-6 Kick off Reunion Weekend at the annual Golf Classic then join us back on campus for the first annual Backswing BBQ for games, food and live music by cover band Rock Replay! For more information visit www.stmartin.edu/Alumni or call 360-438-4323; email alumni@stmartin.edu.

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