VIDEO: SurPLUs shuts down its doors

As seen at http://mastmedia.plu.edu/2014/04/12/surplus-shuts-down-its-doors/
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PLU’s SurPLUs store had its final sale April 11. Find out why the sustainable shop decided to shut its doors and how the PLU community can continue to donate reusable items with this video.

Alum returns for launch party of third book

As seen Feb. 5, 2014 at http://mastmedia.plu.edu/2014/02/05/alum-returns-for-launch-party-of-third-book/

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New York Times bestselling author—and Lute alum—Marissa Meyer had good reason to celebrate Tuesday. Not only was it her brother Jeff’s birthday, it was also the launch date of her third book, “Cress.”

So she threw a party.

As she took the Karen Hille Phillips Center stage in a sparkly purple dress, a crowd of her readers and supporters turned the auditorium into a sea of red and black—the colors associated with Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series, of which “Cress” is the third installment—and many more fans joined from home via a live stream broadcast of the event.

“Coming back feels a little like coming home,” the ’04 grad said of being back on Pacific Lutheran’s campus. “I lived in the dorms about 200 feet back that way,” she pointed.

Commuter Student Lounges provide space to develop community

Pacific Lutheran University has a diverse campus community of new, returning, transfer and veteran students. However, one thing that 54 percent of these students have in common is that their school day begins with a commute to campus.

A ‘commute’ could be a short walk from a house across the street, an hours-long bus ride from an apartment somewhere in Seattle, or a drive of any length from anywhere in between.

“If I had the money, I’d live on-campus,” first-year Jessica Ann Crask said. She said her commute is about 25 minutes a day.

But once students like Crask make it to campus, there’s a probable chance they’ll have time to kill between their classes and activities before they leave for the day. With no dorm room to call home, commuters may be in search of a place to hang out, do homework or take a nap.

Extravaganza of arts: Saxifrage hosts open mic multimedia event

 

As seen in the Nov. 8, 2013 issue of The Mooring Mast and here.

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At some open-mic nights, audience members enjoy music or poetry. At Saxifrage’s Media Showcase, attendees didn’t have to choose between one or the other.

Pacific Lutheran’s annual literary arts magazine, Saxifrage, created the extravaganza, with co-editor seniors Melanie Hering and Chris Mahon as hosts.

Promoted as a multimedia surround-sound experience, approximately 50 students gathered in The Cave last Friday evening to view art and listen to performances that incorporated spoken word and musical elements.

Debate team wins at regional tournament

As seen in the Nov. 8, 2013 issue of The Mooring Mast and here.

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It’s not up for debate: Pacific Lutheran University’s Forensics team won three first place titles last weekend.

PLU was one of 15 schools in the Pacific Northwest to compete in the 41st annual Smelt Classic tournament at Lower Columbia College in Longview.

Justin Eckstein, a communication professor, directed the approximately 18 competitors from PLU who participated.

Clarifying the contingent faculty situation

As seen in the Oct. 18, 2013 issue of The Mooring Mast and here.

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The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) placed a paid advertisement on page 2 of the Oct. 11 issue of The Mooring Mast about Pacific Lutheran University’s contingent faculty vote on whether or not they should form a union.

Faculty voted on Oct. 10, but their ballots have yet to be counted. Written in the form of an open letter by Pastor Philip Nesvig, a retired ELCA pastor and PLU alum, the ad stated that PLU administrators were blocking the count and causing the delay.

According to a letter sent out on behalf of the Office of the Provost and Human Resources Department to faculty members last Friday, the ballots have been received by the Seattle branch of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) but are impounded. They will remain so until the NLRB can review a pending appeal PLU made  in September.

“We’re quite confident we’ll prevail on all of the issues NLRB said they’d consider,” Paul Drachler, SEIU’s lawyer for this case, said.

PLU had asked that the issue of NLRB’s jurisdiction over the university be reviewed, as well as requested that the NLRB reconsider its decision to include full-time contingent faculty in the bargaining unit.

“By accepting our request for review, the NLRB automatically — by their own rules — impounds the ballots until the review is completed,” Provost Steven Starkovich said.

The votes will be counted after the appeal has been heard or if PLU drops the appeal.

“PLU could settle this tomorrow if they rescinded the appeal,” Jane Harty, senior lecturer in music and contingent faculty member, said. “They do not have to follow through on the appeal.”

PLU is standing by its right to appeal as a valid part of the decision process.

“If the NLRB saw no merit in our position, they would not have accepted our request for review of the regional director’s decision,” Starkovich said.

The NLRB has been unable to begin the reviewing process due to the government shutdown, which rendered its offices inactive. “Even if there were to have been no review, there is no one at NLRB to count the ballots,” Starkovich said.

Although the shutdown has exacerbated the holdup, the vote is still delayed by the need to review the appeal.

“There is being some spin put on the situation. The government shutdown had little to do with the count,” Harty said.

While the government shutdown ended Wednesday night, there is no distinct timeframe in which the appeal will be heard or the vote will be counted.

“It could be a very long time or a shorter period. There’s no timetable,” Drachler said. “PLU is in control of whether those votes get counted.”

By withdrawing the appeal, the vote would be counted when the NLRB returns to full function. While the appeal stands, however, the NLRB must first review it before the votes can be tallied.

“We’re stuck,” Harty said. “The appeal could take years.”

Young Taiwan Ambassadors visit campus

As seen on http://mastmedia.plu.edu/2013/09/14/young-taiwan-ambassadors-visit-campus/ Sept. 14, 2013.

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A Taiwan ambassador demonstrates how to draw a character with a calligraphy brush. Photo by Jessica Trondsen.

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Six of Taiwan’s top students participated in home stays this week with Pacific Lutheran faculty, who hope more students from Taiwan will soon call PLU home.

“For students from Asia who want special training, PLU is like a hidden treasure,” history professor Mahlon Meyer said. The students arrived in Tacoma Wednesday night. While on campus Thursday morning, the students attended interactive classes where they practiced diplomacy and experienced pedagogy.

Thursday afternoon the students visited Evergreen shipping in Tacoma before returning to PLU to give a performance and share the art of calligraphy with other students.

Junior Megan Larsen attended the event and said she had “gotten some really great insight into Taiwanese culture.”

After their performance, the ambassadors had dinner with President Krise. Friday morning, the students visited Mt. Rainier and then traveled back to Taiwan, ending their two-week stay in America. Prior to visiting Washington, the students sat in on classes at Stanford University and visited San Francisco.

PLU has 28 Chinese students, who come from China and Taiwan, currently enrolled on campus. An agency places Chinese students with PLU. Meyer said the agent who brought the ambassadors to campus “was blown away” by the interactive classes.

A DVD of the activities and testimonials of the ambassadors is in production to market PLU in China with the agency. Meyer said there are three main reasons to market PLU in China: to expose PLU students to greater global diversity, to give students from China and Taiwan an experience they would not get anywhere else, and to raise the prestige of PLU.

The students then become “young ambassadors not just for Taiwan, but for PLU,” Meyer said.

LAYOUT WORK: Managing News Editor

Front pages I designed while serving as Managing News Editor of The Mooring Mast, Fall 2012:

Sept. 7, 2012

Sept. 14, 2012

Sept. 21, 2012

Sept. 28, 2012

Oct. 5, 2012

Oct. 12, 2012

Oct. 26, 2012

Nov. 2, 2012

Nov. 9, 2012

Nov. 16, 2012

Nov. 30, 2012

Religion professor passes away

As seen in the Oct. 4, 2012 issue of The Mooring Mast and online at http://mast.plu.edu/2012/10/religion-professor-passes-away.html

[Third place winner in general news reporting category at regional  SPJ Mark of Excellence awards.]

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Associate Professor of Religion Kathlyn “Kathi” Breazeale did not use militaristic language to describe her cancer.

Breazeale was not “fighting” or “battling” cancer, her colleague, Marit Trelstad, chair of the religion department and associate professor of religion, said. “She was living with it.”

Trelstad said Breazeale referred to the cancer she had for two years as her “adventures in health.” Trelstad recalled that Breazeale, who always looked for the positive side of her diagnosis, was told by her doctors to eat seafood daily to keep up her white blood cells. “She was very excited about that,” Trelstad said.

The Office of the President notified the campus via email Sept. 25 that Breazeale had passed away Sept. 23.

Breazeale joined Pacific Lutheran University faculty in 2001 and became a tenured associate professor in 2006, the email stated. While at PLU, Breazeale taught courses on peace studies, faith and spirituality, feminist and womanist theologies, women and evil, and women, nature and the sacred.

Breazeale’s course on feminist and womanist theologies is part of the women’s and gender studies program. Lisa Marcus, associate professor of English and chair of the women’s and gender studies department, said she “is still processing” Breazeale’s death. “It’s hard to refer to her in the past tense,” Marcus said.

Breazeale did not teach during the 2011-2012 academic year, but began teaching again this fall. “She didn’t want to stay out of the classroom any longer. She wanted to resume what she loved to do,” Trelstad said.

Marcus described Breazeale as an “unfailingly generous colleague and human being.” Breazeale always worked to empower students, Marcus said.

Trelstad said Breazeale was a considerate person who “always took time to ask how you’re doing. She was a good Southern hostess.”

Professor of history Beth Kraig said Breazeale “laughed easily” and “tended to have a smile on her face.”

Breazeale was a sailor who loved the ocean and a dancer, Trelstad said. Trelstad said Breazeale performed interpretive dances of scripture passages at chapel three or four times over the years.

Breazeale is the author of “Mutual Empowerment: A Theology of Marriage, Intimacy and Redemption,” which was published in 2008.

Breazeale was “very consistent from theologies to practices to teaching,” Trelstad said. Breazeale was a process eco-feminist theologian, who saw God as in dialogue with the world, Trelstad said.

Breazeale grew up in Natchitoches, La. and was raised during pre-racial integration, Trelstad said. Because of the civil rights movement, Breazeale “committed herself to a lifelong practice of including diversity of voices,” Trelstad said.

Kraig said Breazeale “thoroughly rejected violence, cruelty and dehumanization.”

Breazeale has family in Texas, California and Louisiana. She is survived by her partner, Jon Berkedal, and parents Archie and Cynthia Breazeale, the email stated.

A scholarship is set up in Breazeale’s name through the PLU Office of Development.

“We will all miss Kathi,” Kraig said. “Yet Kathi is also very much with us, and her legacy will be visible in the warmth and care and joy that her former students and colleagues express in their lives.”

General News

Sophomore Kayleigh Fleeman looks at art on display in Ingram April 30. Graduating students in the BFA Art and Design program created the pieces, which range from sculptures to prints. The exhibit will be open through May 27.