Capital Campaign Marks New Chapter for SU - Seattle University

SPRING 2008
Connecting Seattle University Alumni and Friends
Capital Campaign Marks New Chapter for SU

STAFF
Editor
Tina Potterf
Creative Director
David Balzer
Graphic Designers
Terry Lundmark, ’82; Diana Riesenberger
Photographer
Anil Kapahi
Contributing Writers
Chelan David, Chris Kissel, ’10, Julie Monahan, Alison Peacock,
Tricia Pearson, Cheryl Reid-Simons and Mike Thee
Editorial Assistant
Chris Kissel, ’10
Copy Editor
Sherri Schultz
c ontents
Proofreader
Geri Gale
ADMINISTRATION
President
Stephen Sundborg, S.J.
Chancellor
William Sullivan, S.J.
Vice President for University Advancement
Mary Kay McFadden
Associate Vice President for
University Advancement
Mark Burnett, ’84
Assistant Vice President for Marketing
and Communications
Soon Beng Yeap
Assistant Vice President for Development
Sarah Finney
Assistant Vice President for Alumni Relations
TBD
Assistant Vice President for
Advancement Services and Annual Giving
Linda Hulten
Seattle University Magazine (ISSN:
1550-1523) is published quarterly in
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Communications, Seattle University, 901
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Read more Seattle University Magazine
online at seattleu.edu.
6 18
FEATURE
22 Writing a New Chapter
Seattle University is in the thick
of its capital campaign, For the
Difference We Make, a multi-year,
$160 million fundraising effort. This
is the largest and most ambitious
campaign in the university’s history
and one that will enhance programs
and faculty scholarship, facilities,
our Catholic Jesuit identity and
overall academic excellence.
Seattle University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color,
religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual or
political orientation, or status as a Vietnam-era or special disabled
veteran in the administration of any of its education or admission policies,
scholarship and loan programs, athletics, and other school-administered
policies and programs, or in its employment policies and practices. All
university policies, practices and procedures are administered in a
manner consistent with Seattle University’s Catholic and Jesuit identity
and character. Inquiries about the non-discrimination policy may be
directed to the University’s EEO Officer and Title IX coordinator,
University Services Building 107, (206) 296-5865.

Volume 32 • Issue Number 1 • Spring 2008
M A G A Z I N E
21
22
32
DEPARTMENTS
ON THE COVER
2 Let’s Connect
Seattle University Magazine goes
beyond the printed word, with more
stories and features online.
4 People
Sonja Saavedra brings hope to
children and families who live
and survive among the squalor of
garbage dumps in Mexico; racecar
driver Paet Hidalgo has high-octane
career; Eileen Olson achieves a
personal—and athletic—best in her
first Ironman.
10 Campus Observer
Green living the foundation of
Kolvenbach Community; Albers
competition launches successful
business; SU senior gets a new
heart—and a new lease on life;
meditation program provides calm
to female inmates; Samuel Green
first poet laureate in Washington;
a Q&A on diversity; the fight song
lives on; photography professor
documents Afro-Cuban spirituality;
2008–09 budget means more faculty.
21 Faculty Research
Chemistry professors employ active
learning—over standard lecture
model—in the classroom.
30 Alumni Focus
Class Notes; Gary Brinson receives
national Horatio Alger Award; old
friends connect after all these years;
alumna a major player in the 2008
Summer Olympics.
36 Bookmarks
37 Events
38 In Memoriam
41 The Good Word
The Society of Jesus elects
new Superior General.
One of the major initiatives of Seattle
University’s capital campaign is the
renovation of Lemieux Library into a
state-of-the-art library and learning
commons that will serve as the
intellectual center of the campus.
The university will break ground
on the $55 million project in June 2009.
Letters
Seattle University Magazine welcomes letters
to the editor on subjects raised within the
pages of the magazine. Letters may be edited
for length and clarity. Please include a name,
address and daytime telephone number with
all correspondence.
Letters Editor, Seattle University Magazine
Print Communications, Seattle University
901 12th Avenue, PO Box 222000
Seattle, WA 98122-1090
Fax: (206) 296-6137
E-mail: sumagazine@seattleu.edu
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 1

OnLine
Let’s Connect
Can’t get enough of the stories on the people, programs and places that define the Seattle University
experience? Now, Seattle University Magazine offers more ways for alumni to stay connected with
additional features and links to articles available online at www.seattleu.edu. Here’s a sampling of
some Web-only items for spring.
Seattle poet Carolyne Wright,
the new Distinguished
NW Writer-in-Residence
at Seattle University, talks
about her latest work.
Rob Kelly, vice president of Student
Development, and members of the
Engaging Our Diversity Task Force
expound on their findings and next
steps to address diversity at SU.
www.seattleu.edu
To view more images from Crossing the
Water, the photo collection of Claire
Garoutte and Anneke Wambaugh,
visit www.crossingthewater.com.
2 | OnLine

Check out photos from the April 10 launch of the Capital Campaign,
For the Difference We Make and read about the campaign at
www.seattleu.edu/campaign/news.asp.
Editor’s Note: Seattle University Magazine welcomes news tips, story ideas and professional
or personal updates. Submit information to sumagazine@seattleu.edu.
ONLINE CONNECTION JUST GOT STRONGER
Alumni Relations recently launched a new, revamped website, www.seattleu.edu/alumni,
for alumni to get the latest news and happenings on campus, connect with local or
regional alumni chapters, and learn about networking opportunities and upcoming
social events. Through the site, which links to a selection of feature stories from
Seattle University Magazine, alumni can catch up with what their peers are doing in
their communities and abroad, view photo slideshows, learn more about the Alumni
Relations staff and governing board, and update personal and professional achievements
through the AlumniWeb online community. Alumni can also sign up for the monthly
e-newsletter, SU Crossroads.
We hope you enjoy the new site and let us know what you think.
*
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 3

People
humanitarian
Dream Takes Flight
Helping children living among Mexico’s refuse dumps
Sonja Saavedra provides a snack to children at the Pan de Vida school in Puerto Vallarta.
As an Alaska Airlines
employee, SU alumna
Sonja Saavedra, ’59, flew
to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico,
regularly.
But a horrific plane crash that
opened her eyes to the plight of
poor children in Mexico turned her
excursions into much more.
“Once you start helping people,
you’re not going to stop,” Saavedra
says about the cause that has become
central in her life.
Her efforts to help some of
Mexico’s poorest are rooted in
the Jan. 31, 2000, crash of Alaska
Airlines Flight 261 en route from
Puerto Vallarta to Seattle. All 88
people on board died instantly when
the plane plummeted into the Pacific
Ocean off California’s coast. Among
those who lost their lives were Joe
and Linda Knight.
The Knights, pastors of the Rock
Church in Monroe, Wash., had
been working with children living in
and around an enormous dumpsite
outside of Puerto Vallarta. Families
living in cardboard shelters, eating
food from the garbage of the resorts
and drinking remnants of soda from
discarded bottles, had formed a
community there amid the growing
mountain of refuse. Parents and
older children would search through
the garbage to retrieve recyclable
materials they could sell. The
youngest played among the toxic
heaps.
Linda Knight was determined to
help bring education and opportunity
to the children living in the dump. A
newspaper article about the Knights’
work caught Saavedra’s attention—
and her heart. “I read the article when
I was at work and I said, ‘Oh my God,
I have to do something,’” she recalls.
At first, the only thing she could
think of to do was to gather money,
something she’d done previously
to help earthquake victims. So she
started asking agents at the ticket
counter and soon had $300 to send.
But that wasn’t enough.
Saavedra went to Puerto Vallarta
with a colleague just a year after the
plane crash. “It was just an eyeopener
for me,” she says. “I didn’t
realize how much poverty there is.”
But she discovered something
else—an extended community of
men and women working to alleviate
suffering wherever they could.
During that trip, she found out
that the school serving the dump’s
children offered them an incentive: a
small box of staples—flour, salt and
corn—at the end of each week for
those who attended faithfully and
worked at their studies.
Saavedra and her colleague brought
one of the boxes back to Seattle, where
they put it on display to gather more
money for the families. By the time
they returned a month later, for the
dedication of a new school built in
honor of Linda Knight, they had
collected another $1,800.
The Knights’ son, Jeff, was there
and said a prayer when the money
was presented. “I remember him
saying, ‘May this money multiply,’”
Saavedra says. “We just knew that
4 | People

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SONJA SAAVEDRA
Through the generosity of Sonja Saavedra and her friends and colleagues from Alaska Airlines, children who once rummaged for food and basic necessities in
a dump are given hope of the possibilities that exist.
we were going to bring more money
down there.”
In addition to collecting
donations from her immediate
co-workers, Saavedra
began to ask them to
e-mail colleagues at
ticket desks throughout
Alaska Airlines.
Donating was one way
to cope with the grief
that still gripped the
whole company.
“I had one person tell
me that the only good that came out
of this accident was the fundraiser.”
That year they collected $10,000.
Saavedra enlisted more help from
co-workers to do publicity, run bake
sales and collect donations. She calls
Patrice Wilkins her mano derecha,
or “right hand.” Wilkins, who left
Alaska Airlines to return to school last
year, says Saavedra’s enthusiasm was
infectious. “A lot of people jumped
on board,” Wilkins says. “She had
more followers each year, and it just
became more and more.”
Wilkins specialized in setting up
the fundraisers and publicity, while
“If everyone gave of their time,
talent and treasures, we wouldn’t
have any poverty.”
Sonja Saavedra, ’59
Saavedra spread the news about the
conditions at the dump. “She was the
talker; she got people drawn in from
all the different airlines at the airport,”
Wilkins says.
That doesn’t surprise friend and
SU classmate Kay Shirley-Nilsen,
who says Saavedra has been energetic
and outgoing since her days in the
medical records program at SU.
In 2003, three years after the crash,
Alaska Airlines employees collected
$16,000. The next year it was $21,000.
So far, Saavedra’s efforts have brought
more than $97,000 in aid to the
children living in the dump outside
of Puerto Vallarta.
Last year, when
Saavedra retired as
a customer service
agent at the Alaska
Airlines terminal at
SeaTac Airport, she
worried about what
would become of the
fundraising efforts.
But she and Wilkins continue to stay
involved, even as a new group of
Alaska employees take the reins.
“There’s still a lot more work to
be done. Just because I’ve retired
doesn’t mean I’m going to give up,”
Saavedra says. She hopes others will
find the inspiration they need to
become involved in helping others.
“If everyone gave of their time, talent
and treasures, we wouldn’t have any
poverty.” —Cheryl Reid-Simons
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 5

People
lap time
You could say Paet Hidalgo,
’91, lives life in the fast lane.
The married father of
two, whose aspirations once
included becoming a lawyer, makes a
living as a professional racecar driver.
Determination and drive power
Paet (pronounced “Pate”) Hidalgo’s
racing career, a vocation that is
traceable to his first experience with
motor sports—at age 7—racing
mostly for fun. At the
time, he says, making
a career out of the
sport was the furthest
thing from his mind.
He just wanted to best
his big sis.
Competitive racing
runs in Hidalgo’s
family—his father,
Cerilo P. Hidalgo, was a thoroughbred
racehorse jockey. But rather than
following his father’s route, Hidalgo
gravitated toward the racetrack; he
got his start on quarter-midget cars.
Before long he accelerated to racing
full-size cars and motorcycles.
After taking a break from racing to
attend college—and opting to defer law
school—Hidalgo reconnected with the
sport in a big way.
“Receiving my undergrad degree
put me in a position where I decided
I needed to go experience life a little
bit,” says Hidalgo, who resides in
Need for Speed
Dedication and enthusiasm fuel Paet Hidalgo’s
ambitions as a racecar driver
Fallbrook, Calif. “I had a burning
passion to get back into motor
sports.”
After winning some local
championships, Hidalgo moved into
half-midgets and motorcycle road
racing on a trajectory to Formula I.
In 1989, Hidalgo had his first
professional run on a track in
Spokane. Although he finished near
the back of the pack, it was the start
“Every time you get into the car
you have to reprove yourself. What
people remember you for is what you
did the last time you raced.”
Paet Hidalgo, ’91
of what has become a fulfilling and
thrilling job for Hidalgo, who is
currently a member of the Gamma
Racing team. He also races in Indy
Car and the Grand Am Daytona
Prototype Class.
With Indy Car, or super speedway
oval circuits, Hidalgo typically hits
terminal speeds of 230 to 240 miles per
hour. (Terminal speeds are the highest
speeds allowed on the track.) On-road
racing and temporary street circuits
clock speeds of 170 to 200 mph.
The road to going pro starts
with a solid amateur career. Drivers
such as Hidalgo go through a series of
tests to receive a professional license.
Organized sanctioning bodies
run motor sports, Hidalgo says, and
require a license for every series a
racer participates in. Licenses are
based on experience, races and
results. The motor-racing governing
body, Fédération Internationale de
l’Automobile, must sanction pros.
Each year Hidalgo must compete
in a minimum of three
races.
In professional racing,
Formula I is
considered the pinnacle.
“The number-one
motor sport in the
world is Formula I,”
he says. “It is the most
recognized by people
in the world and the most prolifically
watched sport.”
In the early 1990s, Hidalgo had the
credentials—including three national
championships—to go into Formula
I. His affiliation and skills put him on
track to race in Indy Car.
For two years he competed in the
All-Nippon series in Japan, and raced
in Formula 300 in Europe. In 1994
he was recruited to join a French
racing team, but in the first quarter of
the season he had to return home to
be with his father, who was battling
terminal cancer.
6 | People

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GAMMA RACING
Paet Hidalgo is on a career course to race in the Indy 500—a goal he hopes to accomplish this year.
“My dad was able to watch me
run in the Toyota Atlantic and race at
the Portland International Raceway,”
before his death, Hidalgo says.
After taking time off to regroup
following his father’s passing, and
no longer on track to race Formula
I, Hidalgo slowly started competing
again with the Indy Car and Grand
Am Series.
In his nearly 20 years of professional
racing, Hidalgo has had only one
serious accident. It was in 1991 at the
Long Beach Grand Prix. While he
was lapping another driver, their tires
touched, and Hidalgo’s car flipped
and caught fire. He walked away with
a concussion and a couple of months
of recuperation.
He brushes off the incident as an
occupational hazard. It didn’t rattle
Hidalgo’s resolve, though he still has
anxious moments.
“If you don’t feel a little bit of
nervousness in your stomach,
you aren’t prepared to compete,”
he says. “It requires every ounce
of concentration and a great
deal of endurance and physical
conditioning.”
Although he is part of a team, at
the end of the day it comes down to
the person behind the wheel.
“Every time you get into the car
you have to reprove yourself,” he
says. “What people remember you
for is what you did the last time you
raced.”
When he’s not racing, Hidalgo
is training. He and his teammates
drive go-karts and run practice tests.
The sport is physically demanding—
drivers pull up to four and five
Gs, similar to what fighter pilots
experience—and expensive: a topend
race car can run $1 million.
Knowing that “in all sports careers
there will be a time, perhaps suddenly,
when your sport could end,” he
says, Hidalgo is working on other
endeavors in the off-season. Recently
he accepted a position as CEO of
DWT/Douglas Technologies Group,
Inc., a company that produces racing
wheels for various motor sports.
In 2008, he hopes to race for the
first time in the Indy 500. Down the
road, he wants to drive full-time in
the Grand Am Prototype Series until
he retires.
But retirement won’t mean a
sedentary lifestyle for Hidalgo,
who flies helicopters, plays golf and
snowboards. He also runs a vineyard.
Away from the racetrack, Hidalgo’s
vehicle of choice is a pickup truck.
And while he says he doesn’t speed on
the road, he can negotiate the twists
and turns like few others do.
—Tina Potterf
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 7

People
PHOTO BY ANIL KAPAHI
iron(wo)man
Where
There’s a Will
Albers alumna wins Ironman competition
If Eileen Olson decided to
attend her high school reunion,
she wouldn’t have to worry
about being outshined by
anyone else’s accomplishments.
Not after she finished an Ironman
triathlon last year in Canada.
“I have to say it was the hardest
thing I have ever done, but also a
great experience,” says Olson, a 1994
MBA graduate of Seattle University’s
Albers School of Business and
Economics.
The Ironman Canada, in Penticton,
British Columbia, is one of 22
Ironman competitions held annually
around the world. Ironmans require
athletes to swim 2.4 miles, bicycle 112
miles and run a 26.2-mile marathon,
all within 17 hours, to officially be
considered a finisher. Olson chose
Ironman Canada because it was
closest to her Seattle home, though
proximity to the region’s burgeoning
wine industry did have its advantages
when it came to celebrating the next
day. “We went to Therapy Vineyards,”
she says. “I
thought that was
appropriate.”
The race started
at 7 a.m. with
the swim. It was
a mass start,
meaning athletes
all begin at the same time, unlike
some races that stagger start times
by age group. “It was like being in a
dishwasher,” Olson says.
A little more than 90 minutes and
2.4 miles later, Olson was out of the
water and onto her bike for the long
ride. Strong headwinds made the ride
even more grueling, and 150 riders
didn’t make the bike cutoff.
Olson finished the ride in 8:32:36,
which included two bathroom stops,
much to the chagrin of her coach. The
delays meant she was close to missing
the cutoff time for the race, which
would have disqualified her from the
marathon. “I was almost hoping I
would, so I could get dinner and go to
bed,” Olson says.
Eileen Olson, ’94, is training and looking forward to her next Ironman
event later this year.
Determination kept her going, and
she lined up for the marathon with
the other athletes. After 21 miles
and with her energy waning, Olson
got a little help from her friends
and coaches, who started to run
alongside her. “Then other people
started running with me, including
the cameraman [shooting footage for
event organizers],” she says.
But it wasn’t enough. Olson could
see she wouldn’t make the finish line
before the midnight cutoff. “I heard
the official countdown and saw the
fireworks and knew I didn’t make it,”
Olson remembers. But then she heard
the announcer calling her name, and
the crowd of 1,000 turned and started
cheering her on.
8 | People

PHOTOS BY MARK CREERY
SWIM: 2.4mi BIKE: 112mi RUN: 26.2mi
The swimming portion of Ironman starts
at 7 a.m., with competitors hitting the
water at Okanagan Lake Beach in Rotary
Park, where the 2.4-mile swim also
finishes. The air and water temperatures
and wind speed can lead to discomfort,
so competitors are encouraged to train for
this leg in a wetsuit.
After the wetsuits are peeled off, racers
must embark on the next stage: the bike
course. While the first 14 miles are mostly
flat terrain, the trek goes uphill quickly—and
steeply—with the most difficult part of the
ride in the middle of the race. Overall, this
section tests stamina and endurance with a
mix of hills and flat, scenic stretches.
The final leg of competition takes runners
on a course through stunning landscape.
Participants are buoyed on this last leg by
the enthusiasm and spirit of volunteers who
are positioned at stations along the path.
Source: Ironman Canada
“It was like a Hollywood movie,”
she says. To her surprise, Ironman
organizers ignored the three extra
minutes and named her a finisher.
Her finish ended the official recording
of the event.
Athleticism started early
for Olson, who skied competitively
as a child and was
a member of her high school
swim team. Later she added
half-marathons, the Seattleto-Portland
Bicycle Classic and a few
half-Ironmans. With her training,
Olson was clearly ready to step up to
the challenge of a full Ironman.
The clincher came after volunteering
at the Penticton competition in
2006, “literally catching people as
they finished,” she says. She signed
up right there for the 2007 event.
“Most people don’t look at me
and think, ‘Ironman.’”
Eileen Olson, ‘94
To prepare for one of the greatest
challenges of her life, Olson chose
what seemed to her the most logical
and best-disciplined training
approach: a half-Ironman and halfmarathon.
“It gave me something I
had to train for,” she says.
The timing was right as well. After
graduating from Albers, Olson had
worked in brokerage and finance
for Washington Mutual and later
McAdams Wright Ragen. She’s
currently enjoying a career hiatus
and deciding her next move. In
the meantime she spends her time
traveling, serving on the Albers
Alumni Advisory Board and training
for competitions. Just one day after
completing her first Ironman last year,
she signed up for the 2008
contest.
As a self-described
“Athena-sized athlete,”
Olson finds special gratification
in competing. “Most
people don’t look at me and
think, ‘Ironman,’” she says. At one
time she didn’t think so either. “I
used to watch Ironman competitions
on TV,” she says. “I never thought I
could do one.”
Now she knows better.
—Julie Monahan
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 9

Campus
O B S E R V E R
eco-friendly
Living Green
Kolvenbach Community melds sustainability and service
At the renovated student housing
at Seattle University’s
Peter-Hans Kolvenbach Community,
it’s not just the
students who exemplify Jesuit ideals.
It’s the buildings too. Remodeled in
2007 to environmentally sensitive
standards, the two houses at East
Barclay Court near Cherry and 13th
streets reflect an acknowledgment
that service to others in these days
of global warming must also include
an awareness of ecological justice.
Now these nearly century-old
buildings, formerly used as temporary
faculty and student housing, have a
smaller environmental footprint
with materials and appliances that
conserve resources and contribute
to cleaner water and indoor air.
Green design became part of the plans
to renovate the Kolvenbach houses
when Cal Ihler, project manager for
engineering and planning for SU’s
Facilities Services, saw a chance to
do things a little differently. After
he consulted with Karen Price, SU’s
campus sustainability manager, and
Jason Kaber, owner of Fresh Homes
LLC, a contractor in Renton, Wash.,
ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF ISPOT
10 | Campus Observer

Inside these walls
the project shifted gears to incorporate
more eco-friendly features.
Suddenly it turned into something a lot
more fun, Ihler says. “We got on the
Internet and started getting all these
ideas,” he says. “It was very creative.”
The project team focused on standards
established by Built Green, a residential
rating system developed by the Master
Builders Association of King and
Snohomish counties. Team members
started considering various options to
meet those standards, from cork and
bamboo flooring to salvaged sinks and
vanities from demolished buildings.
For Price the project was a chance to
build on her mission to raise awareness
about sustainability and building
green. Her experience helped provide
an important perspective as the
project confronted the typically
higher cost of sustainable building
materials. “It can be a difficult
sell,” Price says. But the trick, she
says, is looking beyond price tags
and factoring in long-term savings.
Most of the savings at Kolvenbach
will come from lower energy use,
but Price notes that sustainability
also means choosing products that
last. The Kolvenbach remodel, for
example, includes linoleum flooring in
the kitchen and bathrooms instead of
vinyl, because linoleum lasts four times
longer. Some savings go beyond
dollars and cents. “Green building is
more than saving resources,” Price
says. “It’s also about buildings with a
healthy indoor environment for people
living and working inside them.”
Materials that help achieve this at
Kolvenbach, which was named for the
recently retired Superior General of the
Society of Jesus, are low-energy exhaust
fans, nontoxic paints, formaldehydefree
insulation and
glue-free carpets. The
Built Green features of
the houses—one for four
female students, the second
for four males—fit with
other aspects of this small
community. More than just
a convenient place to live
off-campus, the Kolvenbach
Community offers
residents a distinctive opportunity
for service
learning that emphasizes
community connection,
simple living and spirituality.
To be approved as
a resident, students must
commit to a demanding
schedule, including five
hours of community service
a week in surrounding
neighborhoods, bi-monthly
dinners with neighbors,
faculty and staff, weekly
dinners with Kolvenbach
residents and community council
meetings. The level of commitment
suits the students just fine.“The
Kolvenbach Community is a perfect
way for students to live what they
learn,” says Emily Cohen, a sophomore
with a double major in theology and
liberal studies. “It has given me the
ability to weave together all of the
parts of my life with the intention
of creating a cohesive lifestyle
reflecting peace, justice and hope.”
Cohen satisfies her Kolvenbach
Community service commitment
by volunteering at the Recovery
Café, a gathering place in Belltown
for those struggling with addiction,
homelessness and mental health
problems, and St. Mary’s Food Bank
Built Green highlights of the Kolvenbach
houses include the following:
Front-loading clothes washers
Use less energy than top-loaders
Tankless hot–water heaters
Heat water when needed, unlike conventional
heaters, which keep water hot continuously
Low-flow showerheads
Water-saving faucet aerators
Bamboo and cork flooring
Dual-flow toilets
Use less water when flushing liquids
Cellulose insulation
Made of recycled newspaper
Tubular skylights
Reduce the use of artificial light
Clotheslines
An alternative to electric dryers
in the Central District. Kai Hoffman-
Krull, another Kolvenbach resident
and a senior studying creative writing,
says living there brings him closer to
the issues of the day. “The Kolvenbach
Community provides students with
an opportunity to live in a conscious
way—environmentally, socially and
culturally,” he says.
But it’s the ability to share this
awareness and learn from each other
during the community’s regular meetings
to discuss their experiences that make
the connection even stronger. “It allows
for issues to be discussed and reflected
over in a communal setting of friends,
and thus lived out in our lives in a more
central way,” he says.
—Julie Monahan
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 11

Campus
O B S E R V E R
entrepreneurship
PHOTO BY ANIL KAPAHI
Joel DeJong, Ryan Schmid, ’07, and Patricia Diaz-Kismarton, ’07,
at their flagship Vera Fitness in Seattle’s Green Lake neighborhood.
Fit for Business
Albers Business Plan winners launch
entrepreneurial venture
Any student can dream up a
business. Any team of students
can enter SU’s Harriet
Stephenson Business Plan
Competition (20 or so do every year).
A select few may make the finals of this
decade-old extracurricular competition
designed to help students and alumni
launch new business ventures. But only
one team can win the grand prize—
$10,000—plus invaluable feedback
from entrepreneurs and business leaders
that can prove to be highly beneficial in
getting a business off the ground.
It can take a lot more than a good idea
and connections to make a business fly.
Ryan Schmid, ’07 MBA, should know.
His team, which includes
current MBA
candidate Joel DeJong,
Patricia Diaz-Kismarton,
’07 MBA, and longtime
friend Tom
Norwood, won the
2007 competition.
The result is Vera
Fitness, an intimate,
spa-like fitness center
for women that
focuses on customized
group workouts. Wellness
technology and
machines allow participants
to track their
exercise stats on- and
off-site. The first Vera
Fitness opened in
Seattle’s Green Lake
neighborhood March
15. “While a woman
is exercising, the
machine is actually
recording her heart
rate, speed, distance, time and energy
output,” Schmid says. “All that
information is then up-loaded into a
program she can access online at home.”
Vera’s program combines Pilates,
yoga and resistance training with
cardio, flexibility and online nutrition
counseling.
The centerpiece of Vera Fitness,
however, is the Kinesis, a specialty
machine that allows a complete workout
in just minutes using a 360-degree range
of motion.
The Vera team—Schmid is president
and CEO, DeJong is vice president
of marketing, Diaz-Kismarton is vice
president of operations, and Norwood
is vice president of sales and general
manager—compiled its idea from
several sources. Schmid has experience
both as a personal trainer and in
bringing Rainier Health and Fitness to
profitability. He learned that his clients
were willing to work out in groups
and preferred training to just using
the gym. “It’s 80 percent about how
you treat people and 20 percent about
fitness,” he says. There is also a focus
on emotional intelligence, which refers
to the ability to listen to and understand
the role of feelings in our daily lives.
Emotional intelligence is all part of
a Jesuit education, says Steve Brilling,
director of the Entrepreneurship
Center at the Albers School of Business
and Economics.
Communication is also key. “We
hear constantly from businesspeople
that they want students to be able to
communicate,” Brilling says. “A great
idea can go unrecognized if people
can’t communicate it.”
The judges—and a few investors—
envisioned Vera’s potential. “They had
a very believable business plan, well
researched and well articulated both
verbally and in writing,” Brilling says.
“You could see how you could actually
make money investing in them.”
Mentor Kent Johnson of Alexander
Hutton Venture Partners helped secure
$360,000 through angel investors.
Just weeks before the opening of
the flagship Vera Fitness, the team
had sold eight packages—50 percent
of the first month’s sales projections.
But Schmid is already looking ahead.
He sees 50 Western Washington
locations within seven years.
—Alison Peacock
12 | Campus Observer

From the Heart
Jill Bletz overcame a health crisis with support
and the ultimate gift from a stranger
heartfelt thanks
PHOTO BY ANIL KAPAHI
Before Jill Bletz knew what
was happening, she lay in a
hospital bed, surrounded by
doctors and connected to a
machine that was keeping her alive.
When her father told her she had
undergone surgery, the evidence
was apparent as she saw the stitches
running down her chest.
It was August 2006 and only a few
days before Bletz, ’08, had moved into
her new house and was preparing for
the start of classes. She had recently
returned from Salamanca, Spain,
where she was studying Spanish.
The bubbly California native was
finally a senior in college, and her
interests in history, Spanish and music
were now taking root in every corner
of her adopted city.
She was working at El Centro de la
Raza, an organization
that provides services
to low-income Latino
families. Bletz also had
an internship at the
Seattle Mayor’s Office
of Film and Music.
The morning after
her 21st birthday she
woke up feeling sick.
“When I woke up,
my heart was beating
really fast,” she says.
Soon she was in the emergency
room and everything started to move
in fast-forward.
“The last thing I remember is
being loaded onto the ambulance,”
says Bletz. “I woke up an hour and a
half later at the UW, looked down at
my stitches, and just said, ‘Wow.’”
What began as an ordinary
virus had attacked Bletz’s
heart, which was now failing—
Bletz was hooked up to a left
ventricular assist device—and
her doctors where telling her
that she might need a transplant.
After 12 days at the
University of Washington
Medical Center, Bletz was
loaded onto an airplane at
Boeing Field and flown to
Stanford University Hospital,
where there was a larger
donor pool.
Two and a half days
later she had a new heart.
The surgery was successful
and Bletz would spend the next few
months recovering with her family in
their Newark, Calif., home.
“The last thing I remember is
being loaded onto the ambulance.
I woke up an hour-and-a-half later…
looked down at my stitches,
and just said, ‘Wow.’”
Jill Bletz, ’08
Bletz and her parents remain grateful
to the heart donor and their family.
“I’m incredibly thankful,” Bletz
says. “I would highly encourage anyone
to be an organ donor.”
She is also grateful for the
support from the Seattle University
community. Throughout her ordeal
Life is good for Jill Bletz, who will graduate this year.
she received many visitors from SU,
along with letters and care packages
sent by students and staff members.
In the summer
of 2007, Bletz was
back at SU unpacking
her bags in the twilight
of the Seattle
summer, preparing
to finish the job that
had been interrupted
so suddenly the year
before. Now she looks
to the future. She
expects to pick up her
degree in June.
Today, her eyes glow with happiness
and her joie de vivre seems to
have been restored.
“Now that this has happened, I’m
ready to go out and do something for
the greater good,” Bletz says. “I feel
the need to give back, and I want to
give back.”
— Chris Kissel, ’10
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 13

Campus
O B S E R V E R
meditative healing
Peace Behind Prison Walls
SU senior introduces meditation program to female inmates
When Johnny Cash rocked
Folsom Prison with his
legendary performance
in 1968, inmates received
a dose of music they could relate
to and the chance to release some
pent-up emotions, at least for a day.
Forty years later, a program developed
by Ilya “Shawn” Kaminsky, ’08, a
Seattle University senior, strives to
provide a similar release to inmates at
the Washington Corrections Center
for Women (WCCW).
The program, called the Self-
Enrichment Philosophy Workshop,
incorporates philosophy and meditation
as a means of enriching the day-to-day
lives of inmates and cultivating moral
thought and development.
The philosophical lessons used in
the program integrate principles of
existentialism—addressing how people
can take responsibility for their own
lives—from the work of four major
philosophers: Plato, Martin Heidegger,
Albert Camus and Hermann Hesse.
Inmates are presented with ethical
considerations rudimentary to human
experience. Weighty issues covered in
the workshop include what it means to
be a human being, what our function
as a society is and what our obligations
to others are.
“They’re better equipped and not
reacting to, not being influenced by,
various negative situations that come
up in their lives,” Kaminsky says.
Vipassana meditation, one of
India’s most ancient
meditation techniques, is
used in conjunction with
the program’s philosophical
principles to bring out the
inmates’ full potential.
Participants sit comfortably
with eyes closed and focus
on the interconnection between mind
and body. The technique, which helps
reduce stress and fosters relaxation, is
ideal for a prison environment.
“Meditation helps inmates relax
and serves as an outlet so they can
challenge their frustration and
reflect on what is happening instead
of reacting to it,” says Kaminsky.
One of the challenges that Kaminsky
faced was making sure the meditative
aspect of the workshop didn’t include
any religious undertones. Although
Vipassana stems from the Buddhist
tradition, it is nonsectarian.
Lynne Newark, WCCW’s recreation
director, believes programs such as
this can help promote selfimprovement
among female
offenders—many of whom struggle
withlow self-esteem and codependency.
The women are “living in
proximity with over 800 other
offenders who don’t always have the
most positive behavior,” Newark says.
Kaminsky acted as coordinator
between WCCW staff and SU
professors to make the workshop
happen. A criminal justice major with a
minor in philosophy, he was inspired to
Inmates are presented
with ethical considerations
rudimentary to human
experience.
develop the program after discovering
the inequalities in the system. “I
became very concerned when I
learned about some issues, like the
high recidivism rates for marginalized
members of our society, ” he says.
Several SU faculty members have
actively assisted Kaminsky. Jacqueline
Helfgott, an associate professor and
chair of criminal justice, counseled
Kaminsky on his proposal. Adjunct
Professor Deirdre Bowen advised him
to approach the correctional facility in
Purdy because she believed a women’s
facility would be the most receptive
to alternative rehabilitation methods.
Jason Wirth, associate professor of
philosophy, leads the workshop.
With plans to move to the East
Coast and attend law school at
Georgetown University, Kaminsky
hopes to pass the torch to another
student who will assist Wirth in
keeping the program alive.
Fascinated by the criminal justice
system since he was a teenager,
Kaminsky is contemplating starting
a similar program for inmates in the
Washington, D.C., area when he
relocates there.
—Chelan David
14 | Campus Observer

wordplay
Poetry in Motion
Samuel Green is Washington’s first poet laureate
PHOTO BY ANIL KAPAHI
The path that led Samuel
“Sam” Green to his life as
a poet is paved with what he
calls “lucky little accidents.”
As a child he had a voracious
interest in words—he was reading by
age 4—and would get lost in the poetry
that spilled forth from his father.
“My father had reams of poetry
in his head—story poems and
marvelously gritty things,” Green
recalls. “I loved the bounciness of the
language.”
Before long he was writing and
reading poetry, consuming the works of
such literary greats as Edgar Allan Poe.
“I thought all poets were dead,”
he says. “No one introduced me to
living poets.”
Introducing his work and that
of contemporary Northwest poets
to the masses is central to his new
role as the first poet laureate for
Washington State. Green, who came
to Seattle University in 2001 as the
Distinguished Northwest Writer-in-
Residence in Arts and Sciences, will
travel statewide over the next two years
to build awareness and appreciation
of poetry and homegrown poets.
When he learned he had been
named poet laureate, Green says, his
first reaction was gratitude. Then a profound
sense of responsibility set in.
“Poetry is an arrangement of
words in an order that has
an impact on people.”
Sam Green
“It means I get to be the advocate
for all other poets in the state. My job
is to make those poets more visible,”
he says. “I’m trying to move poetry
out into a broader world.”
He will visit communities across
the state to promote poetry through
public readings and lectures,
workshops and presentations at
schools, colleges and universities.
“Not only will Sam encourage
people to learn about and appreciate
poetry, his appointment to this position
will honor the important role that
poetry and poets have in Washington’s
creative culture,” Gov. Christine
Gregoire said in a statement.
Green’s evolution from an avid
reader to a teacher and author of
10 collections of poetry—his latest,
The Grace of Necessity, was released
earlier this year—started in his youth,
as he experimented with language and
started to write down emotions and
observations. Although Green kept
most of his early poems to himself, he
never stopped writing, even while in
the Coast Guard. When he returned
from military service, he enrolled in a
poetry-writing workshop at Highline
Community College and did graduate
studies at Western Washington
University.
“This began the lifelong struggle
on how to make a good poem,”
Green says, with a laugh.
Getting students engaged
in reading and writing
poetry—and debunking
misconceptions about the
genre—underscores Green’s
work in the classroom.
Sam Green recently published his 10th collection
of poetry, The Grace of Necessity.
“A common perception of poetry
is that it’s a frill, that it is essentially
navel gazing,” Green says.
“He is certainly one of our most
beloved teachers, but also among
our most talented, dedicated and
successful,” says Edwin Weihe,
chair of SU’s English department
and director of Creative Writing
who credits Green with helping the
creative writing program flourish.
Accounts of daily occurrences and
situations, both the serendipitous and
the mundane, often make their way into
Green’s works. He doesn’t believe in
writer’s block—put words, any words,
on paper, he says, and you’ve got what
could be the makings of a poem.
“I believe if you are pushing words
around on the page, you are writing,”
he says. “If I don’t write, it’s my fault.
There are words everywhere.”
Green’s advice to students and
aspiring poets: keep a notebook and
jot down what you see. “I immediately
tell them poems are not their feelings,”
Green says. “They are words formed.
Poetry is an arrangement of words in
an order that has an impact on people.”
—Tina Potterf
Read more about Sam Green, and Seattle poet Carolyne Wright, the new Distinguished
Northwest Writer-in-Residence at Seattle University, online at www.seattleu.edu/.
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 15

Campus
O B S E R V E R
PHOTO BY ANIL KAPAHI
diversity
Dialogue for Diversity
Rob Kelly, vice president for Student Development
After a year of meetings, open forums, an audit and a campus climate survey, the Engaging Our
Diversity Task Force released its final report. Rob Kelly, vice president of Student Development and
a co-chair of the task force, discussed elements of the report with writer Mike Thee.
How would you summarize the report?
The report illuminates the fact that diversity is a
defining characteristic of Seattle University, and it shares
fundamental information that we need to begin to move
forward in how we look at engaging diversity. The report
helps us look at ways our students are learning and how
people are providing that learning. We’re on the right
track. There’s more we can do by way of coordination and
certainly more we can do to truly deepen our commitment
to diversity.
What are some strengths?
We’re very good at celebrating our diversity and talking
about diversity and pluralism in venues outside the
classroom. We’re doing a very good job of providing
mechanisms for students to engage in service learning and
be active in social justice issues. We’re also doing much
more around religious diversity and intergroup dialogue.
In fact, we have a number of faculty members who are
experts on diversity issues.
How about weaknesses?
We need to provide more support for LBGTQ—lesbian,
bisexual, gay, transgender and questioning—populations.
We have a very good advising program, the Triangle
Club, and faculty, staff and students are involved, but we
need more from a leadership standpoint. Another area
that could be improved is simply the coordination of our
various diversity initiatives. SU does well in silos across
campus, but greater learning could be achieved with more
coordination. As we look at ways in which we could make
the campus more inclusive, we must ask ourselves if we are
also able to look at areas of injustice.
Where does Seattle University stand compared to
other Jesuit schools in terms of diversity?
There is a general “buzz” about SU, and other Jesuit
schools are watching what we’re doing—and they’re
catching up. But I would say that because we have a
number of faculty, staff and administrators who are
professionally and personally interested in the scholarship
and study of diversity, plus a somewhat structurally diverse
student body, the conversations that are happening here
about diversity are probably on a deeper level than on
other campuses.
One recommendation from the report is to recast the
“diversity” value in the SU mission statement. Why
the suggested revision?
The thinking is that we need to get beyond celebrating
and really make diversity foundational to our mission of
creating leaders for a just and humane world. Diversity
is ever-present in issues that are important in Jesuit
education, whether you’re talking about poverty, justice or
gender equity.
With the report finalized, what’s next?
My hope is that the various colleges, schools and divisions
across campus will respond to the recommendations from
the task force. We are not done. I’d like to see a standing
committee or an implementation committee formed to
take the recommendations to the next level. Like all of
the task forces, there’s still a lot of work to do. I hope the
conversation will continue. Our ability to stay engaged in
the conversation will show the strength of our diversity.
16 | Campus Observer
To read more about the findings of the Engaging Our Diversity Task Force,
including key recommendations, visit www.seattleu.edu/diversity.

allying support
So let’s give a cheer For the whole gang is here To cheer you, Seattle U!
We’ve Got Spirit
The return of the SU fight song
Lindy Boustedt knows the
spirit and communitybuilding
power of pep. After
all, she managed to draw
25 students to a Seattle University
pep band that at first interested only
one. “I actually don’t know how that
happened,” says Boustedt, an SU
staff member and founder of SU’s pep
band, known as the Hawk Rockers.
“I think it was the ‘God effect’!”
So when it came time to rally
support to revive the SU fight
song—28 years after its last
performance—Boustedt stepped up.
The lyrics to “Ol’ Seattle U” had
been moldering on a tattered piece of
paper in a filing cabinet ever since the
university left NCAA Division I in
1980. A newer fight song existed, but
no one was using it.
“In my experience, the pep band
always ends the half time or the game
with the fight song,” says Boustedt,
who has played trumpet in another
campus musical group, the Seattle
University Jazz Band. “Since we didn’t
have one, there was a big void.”
Less than a year after finding the
long-lost song, she set about changing
that. “The first thing I did was take
the music to the piano,” she recalls. “I
wanted to hear what it sounded like.”
Next she met with Athletic Director
Bill Hogan to discuss the song’s
outdated references to the old mascot.
The two decided the song should
celebrate the school colors instead.
“I only changed one line,” Boustedt
says. “It sounds like an
old fight song you hear
on every campus around
the United States, and
it’s nice to have something
with a history.”
To make sure the
song wasn’t exactly
like any other, adjunct
faculty member Brad
Hawkins did some
sleuthing. “He could
not find another fight
song that sounds like
ours,” says Boustedt. “It
is truly an original.”
There was only one
problem: the song
had a melody but no
harmony, and just one
key with no bass line.
Hawkins worked magic, arranging
melody lines for all the instruments.
The song made its debut earlier this
year at a basketball game.
The night before the game the
pep band showed its true colors,
playing the score for the first time and
nailing it in one rehearsal with the
help of acclaimed violinist and music
instructor Quinton Morris.
“Hearing that song for the first
time was invigorating, which is what
a true fight song should be,” Boustedt
says. “I went home and couldn’t
sleep because I was so pumped up.”
The rest made history. On game day,
the house was packed and the band
was feeling the excitement. “It felt like
Ol’ Seattle U
Let’s give a cheer for Seattle
Ol’ Seattle U
Show them the fight
of the Red & White
They will win for you
Fight, fight, fight
Over the foes we’re victorious
And victory is our cheer
So let’s give a cheer
For the whole gang is here
To cheer you, Seattle U!
SU basketball was finally whole again,”
Boustedt recalls, “with a cheer squad
and dance team leading everyone
to sing the words and the pep band
blasting the tune for our team.”
This, Boustedt says, is just the
beginning. Next year there will be a
funk version of the song and, thanks
to campus banners, everyone will
know the lyrics. “Every college needs
a fight song,” she says. “It helps give
a voice to the spirit and tradition of
the university.”
Adds Hogan, “We have a
wonderful, rich history that should be
observed with tremendous pride. It is
important to have strong traditions.”
— Alison Peacock
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 17

Campus
O B S E R V E R
exposure
Visual Interest
Afro-Cuban spirituality is focus of photographers latest book
Brass crucifixes, statues of Catholic saints, and dolls representing various spirit guides mingle on
Sãntiagós bóveda or spiritual altar. Three water-filled glasses in the foreground represent Faith,
Hope, and Charity, virtues central to Sãntiagós spiritist beliefs.
As a photographer, Claire
Garoutte is drawn to subcultures—the
people and
movements that seem to exist
on the fringes of the mainstream.
In the 1980s, when she was starting
out as a photographer, Garoutte gravitated
to the University District in
Seattle to document the city’s punk
rock scene.
“I was basically photographing my
friends,” she says of the experience.
The images captured through
her lens helped her land a solo show
at the Frye Art Museum. Around
this time Garoutte got accepted to
graduate school at the University
of Washington for photography—a
contrast to her undergraduate degree
in economics—and continued to build
her photo portfolio.
She really caught the photography
bug after taking a class on the basics
of the craft from Photographic Center
Northwest. “From that moment on,
that was it,” says Garoutte, now an
assistant professor of photography at
Seattle University. “I haven’t thought
of anything else.”
And photography is more than
a hobby for Garoutte, who has
carved out a notable career in the
industry. From 1998 to 2006 she was
director of education at Photographic
Center Northwest, and for six years
in the 1990s she was the principal
photographer for glass artist Dale
Chihuly. In 1996, Garoutte published
her first photo book, Matter of Trust.
Her photos have appeared in various
magazines and anthologies.
For her latest project, Garoutte
teamed up with Seattle photographer
Anneke Wambaugh to document
Afro-Cuban spiritualism in
Santiago de Cuba. The collaboration
culminated with a provocative and
enlightening collection of photos
that appear in the book Crossing the
Water: A Photographic Path to the
Afro-Cuban Spirit World.
The focus of Crossing the Water
is Santiago Castañeda Vera, a priestpractitioner
in the traditions of
Santería, Palo Monte and Espiritismo,
which is described as a Cuban version
of 19th-century European Spiritism.
Garoutte has documented Afro-
Cuban religious experiences in Cuba
since 1994. “I just fell in love with
Cuba and with Afro-Cuban practices,”
she says. “I wasn’t just going to Cuba
to take pictures. It was to take pictures
of people I care about.”
In 1998 she and Wambaugh began
to contemplate the possibility of
creating a photo book on the subject.
Originally the plan was to feature
four practitioners. That changed
when, in 2000, they came in contact
with Santiago, who openly welcomed
them into his home and into his
spiritual world.
“Once we decided on Santiago
as the focus, the book seemed to
formulate itself,” Garoutte says.
Over the course of five years,
18 | Campus Observer
To view more images from Crossing the Water: A Photographic Path
to the Afro-Cuban Spirit World, visit www.crossingthewater.com.

PHOTOS FROM CROSSING THE WATER
Garoutte and Wambaugh visited
with Santiago and were allowed to
photograph various rituals and
ceremonies, as well as his family and
godchildren.
“Almost immediately Santiago
took on a role of godfather and a
spiritual mentor to us,” Garoutte
says. “It was incredibly important
to him that we know firsthand the
religion.”
Of the countless photographs they
took during their time in Cuba, roughly
150 black-and-white and color images
made it into Crossing the Water.
The photos provide an intimate
view into Santiago’s life and his
large religious community. Shots of
elaborate Santería altars and Palo
spirit cauldrons are stunning in their
details; religious rituals and healing
ceremonies are displayed vividly and
afford the viewer the opportunity
to experience vicariously a spiritual
exercise such as the “feeding of the
spirits.”
“There were many occasions
when we were surrounded by a
constantly moving, ever-changing
human/spirit tableau,” Wambaugh
says. “This swirl of humanity was
any documentary photographer’s
dream—to be surrounded by
family members and ‘visitors from
beyond’ who, while not oblivious to
our presence, were not particularly
mindful of it either.”
Healing is at the center of Santiago’s
work: he assists his godchildren and
others who come to him in coping
with illnesses, emotional distress,
relationship issues, legal problems
and daily hardships.
The project, Wambaugh says, was
emotionally and physically intense,
and technically challenging, but often
profoundly moving.
Sãntiagó completes a ritual ground drawing or firma (signature). These mystical drawings are
used to concentrate energy on a particular point, to demarcate ritual space, and to call down
individual spirits.
“We hope that readers of the
book acquire a feeling for Santiago’s
innovative, flexible approach to the
religions that form the cornerstones of
his daily practice as well as the powerful
face-to-face reality of communion with
the spirit world,” she says.
For Garoutte, her affinity for Cuba
hasn’t ended with the completion of
Crossing the Water. The women of the
Cuban Revolution will likely be the
focus of her next book or documentary
project.
As a photographer and educator,
Garoutte says the craft benefits from
intuition; she encourages students
to look inward to best capture what
exists outwardly.
“I think you really need to pay
attention to yourself and your
heart,” Garoutte says. “The more
you learn about the art, the more
you slow down and think things
through. Take pictures of what you
love. Photograph what is uniquely
your own.”
—Tina Potterf
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 19

Campus
O B S E R V E R
big budget
Preliminary Budget FY09
Expenditures
(Dollars shown in thousands)
Trustees Greenlight
$173 Million Budget
Faculty Compensation
$57,553 (33%)
Staff Compensation
$44,470 (26%)
With a goal to make Seattle
University the premier
independent university
of the Northwest and
to strengthen our commitment to
academic excellence, the university’s
Board of Trustees approved a $173
million budget that will bring 30
additional faculty to SU.
The 2008–09 fiscal year budget—
the largest operational budget in the
university’s history—will expand
student and academic services and
programs, enhance Catholic identity
and bolster athletics for a return to
Division I.
The budget increases operating
costs by 7.3 percent based on a
projected enrollment of 7,559 students,
a slight increase from the
current academic year.
While the budget does include
a tuition increase of 7.5 percent for
undergraduate and more than 4
percent for graduate students, it
allocates an additional $4.3 million
for student financial aid, in addition
to increases in funding for student
services. To support its investment in
excellence, the School of Law will see
a nearly 13 percent jump in tuition,
which will allow the school to hire
more faculty, grow student programs
and reduce class sizes.
The budget was influenced by
the university’s strategic plan that
focuses on five strategic areas: aca-
Operating Funds
$45,015 (26%)
demic excellence, global education,
Catholic character, Division I athletics
and leadership formation.
Here’s a look at some specific
investments:
•The 30 new faculty will include 19
tenure-track positions. This means
additional faculty for the Albers
School of Business and Economics,
College of Nursing, College of Arts
and Sciences, College of Education,
School of Theology and Ministry and
the library. The additional faculty,
President Stephen Sundborg, S.J.,
says, are necessary to ensure that the
university maintains its small class
sizes and manageable faculty-tostudent
ratio.
•Acquisitions of library materials will
increase by $110,000.
•The College of Arts and Sciences
will offer a new Bachelor of Music in
Instrumental Strings.
•More than $600,000 will be
directed toward recruiting studentathletes
and Sullivan Scholars, and
Total Expenditures: $173 million
Student Wages
$4,273 (2%)
Debt Service
$9,135 (5%)
Capital Reserves
$7,890 (5%)
Bookstore
$4,421 (3%)
for enrollment management, among
other initiatives.
•A new position in Jesuit Mission
and Identity and a $129,000 bump in
the Mission and Ministry budget will
help SU nurture its Jesuit Catholic
character.
•In support of the university’s move
to Division I, the budget allots
funding for four athletic positions
and the addition of five sports—men
and women’s golf and tennis, and
men’s baseball. There will also be
an investment of $360,000 in aid for
student-athletes.
•The budget will allow for more
positions and programs to strengthen
alumni services, financial management
and technology.
•Faculty and staff will receive a 4
percent salary increase; $120,000 is
earmarked for cost-of-living wage pay
adjustments for contracted custodial
staff.
—Marketing and University
Communications staff
20 | Campus Observer

Faculty
R E S E A R C H
Learning Without Lectures
If you walked into a biochemistry
class at SU, you might not
recognize it as a college course.
There’s no professor standing at
the front lecturing students. Instead,
the instructor moves around the room,
monitoring students sitting in small
groups and working collaboratively.
This is called active learning, and
the National Science Foundation
(NSF) recently granted two professors
nearly a half million dollars to share
their methods with other educators.
Professor Vicky Minderhout and
Assistant Professor Jennifer Loertscher
received a $489,000 grant from the
NSF this past fall to develop teaching
materials for active learning in their
biochemistry classes. This is the largest
federal grant received by the College of
Science and Engineering.
The goal of the grant
is to test, evaluate and
publish active learning
activities and lesson
plans for undergraduate
biochemistry classes
over the next four
years. Minderhout and
Loertscher aim to apply
the teaching techniques and activities
they’ve developed and turn them into
curriculum materials that others can adapt.
In 1997, Minderhout started
teaching without an emphasis on
lectures. In 2003, Loertscher joined
the SU faculty and now team-teaches
biochemistry with Minderhout.
Students engage in what is known
nationally as active learning, or Process
Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning.
Working in small groups with defined
Professor Vicky Minderhout and Assistant Professor Jennifer Loertscher use active learning
in their biochemistry classes.
roles, students tackle problems and
activities designed to help them
effectively learn the content and skills
necessary to understand biochemistry.
“Critical thinking doesn’t happen in
lecture. In active learning you can’t
appropriate anyone else’s skill set.”
Vicky Minderhout
Active learning works best when there’s
ample feedback from the instructor.
“Critical thinking doesn’t happen
in lecture. In active learning you can’t
appropriate anyone else’s skill set,”
Minderhout says. “Here, students learn
from each other in real time.”
One of the strengths of active
learning is that it teaches students
more than just course content. They
have to develop tolerance and learn
with diverse groups and variable
knowledge bases. Minderhout notes
that these skills are transferable outside
the classroom.
“They’re crucial for success in
future work,” Minderhout
says. “You are
always working with
other people in a lab.”
Active learning materials
do exist for
other subjects, but not
yet for biochemistry.
According to Leesa
Brown, sponsored research officer, “We
had asked for less money initially, but
the NSF gave us more because they
wanted more out of the project.”
Currently, Minderhout and
Loertscher are field-testing materials
at other institutions. Eventually, there
will be workshops with educators to
revise, rewrite and create new activities
based on their findings. Ultimately,
they hope to publish the materials and
make them widely available online.
—Tricia Pearson
PHOTO BY ANIL KAPAHI
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 21

With momentum and dedication,
the university enters public phase
of its largest campaign in 117 years
By Tina Potterf
22 | For the Difference We Make

Artist rendering of the McGoldrick Learning Commons and Lemieux Library
S
eattle University President Stephen Sundborg, S.J.,
calls it the most important capital campaign in Seattle
University’s storied history, one that advances the
cornerstone of the operation—our mission—and
prepares the university for the future.
The campaign and its initiatives reflect a new chapter at SU
while ushering in changes that respond to progress and the
needs of students.
The $160 million Campaign for Seattle University: For the
Difference We Make is the most ambitious—and largest—
fundraising effort ever undertaken by the university.
“Coupled with the capital campaign, the programs and
services we’re putting in place will dramatically strengthen the
university’s ability to educate the next generation of ethical,
purpose-driven leaders,” Father Sundborg says.
The campaign embraces the most important needs and aspirations
of the university. “A campaign like this not only gains
resources for the university as a whole,” he says, “but it’s also one of
the best vehicles to make SU known to the region and beyond.”
A comprehensive capital campaign is a necessity as SU
establishes itself as the leading independent university in the
region while raising its visibility on the national scene.
On April 10, SU officially began the public phase of the
campaign, which launched quietly in 2003. Since its start 46,000
gifts, totaling $137 million, have been made to the campaign.
During a breakfast the morning of April 10, 550 alumni, friends
and donors converged at Connolly Center for the public rollout,
where they heard the news that $24 million has been raised for
the McGoldrick Learning Commons and Lemieux Library
project—one of the key fundraising objectives of the campaign.
The funds are $1.5 million shy of securing the support necessary
to meet a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation matching gift of
$10 million. The university expects to break ground in June
2009, a year earlier than originally planned. The library and
learning commons should be ready for students in fall 2010.
“Support for the new library is incredible,” said Anne
Farrell, SU trustee, campaign co-chair and president emeritus
of the Seattle Foundation.“This project will provide students and
faculty with a gathering place and new digital tools for learning
and sharing ideas with audiences here or anywhere in the world.”
Enhancing existing facilities and new buildings account for
$63.5 million of the overall campaign goal.
“You can’t be a first-class university without first-class
facilities,” says Mary Kay McFadden, vice president for University
Advancement. “The campaign positions us for the future by
providing facilities where students can thrive and learn.”
Photography by Anil Kapahi
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 23

To meet the needs of a growing and increasingly diverse
demographic—and in keeping with its commitment to green
planning—SU has developed the campus in a conscientious
fashion. Campus square footage has grown 48 percent in the
past 10 years, and the development is evident in new buildings
and renovations of existing ones, including the Lee Center for
the Arts, the Student Center and Pigott Auditorium.
A capital campaign like this, Father Sundborg says, enables
SU to accelerate plans for facilities and academic programs
that reinforce the university’s proven commitment to cultivate
caring, compassionate and purpose-driven leaders.
“What we are trying to communicate is a recognition of the
difference SU makes in civic dimensions, in business, religions,
the legal community and the world,” Father Sundborg says.
“The legacy of Seattle University is the difference we make and
it’s also the promise of our future.”
Ensuring academic excellence and accessibility to SU are
important elements of the campaign, which above all strives to
put the good of students first.
“The campaign provides support for programs, services and
activities to assist students in developing the competencies,
skills and values needed to lead and serve in a diverse and
changing world,” says Rob Kelly, vice president of Student
Development.
The time is right, Father Sundborg says, for SU to reach
a new level of educational achievement and service (in the
“The legacy of Seattle University is
the difference we make and it’s also
the promise of our future.”
President Stephen Sundborg, S.J.
2006–07 academic year, students provided more than 40,000
hours of service to 94 community agencies.)
Seattle University consistently ranks as one of the top
universities in the West by U.S. News & World Report and
among the top nationwide by the Princeton Review’s Best
Colleges guides. Enrollment has risen notably, with record
freshmen classes for several years running.
Costco President and CEO Jim Sinegal is a longtime trustee
and supporter of Seattle University. Our students and alumni,
he says, speak volumes to the quality of an SU education and the
impact they can make in their fields and in the community.
SU graduates are leaders in the banking and business
industries, in publishing and politics, nursing and nonprofits,
engineering and education, and more.
“In the years I have been associated with this university what
has happened to this campus and with faculty and students
is nothing short of amazing,” says Sinegal, who co-chairs the
campaign with John Meisenbach and Anne Farrell. “The
campaign builds the university for the next decades.”
Capital campaigns are nothing new for the university, but
for the first time all schools and colleges are involved in this
initiative. McFadden notes that one-third of the fundraising
effort directly supports schools.
“The stronger SU continues to become the higher the value of
the degree,” McFadden says.
Here’s a closer look at the major initiatives of the Campaign for
Seattle University: For the Difference We Make:
Scholarships
Providing financial support for the best
and brightest students and helping those with
the greatest financial need are integral in this
campaign, which aims to establish permanent
scholarship endowments in all the schools and
colleges. Currently there are 146 endowed
scholarships to benefit undergraduate and
graduate students. More than 20 percent of the
university’s endowment investments and $37
24 | For the Difference We Make

million of the campaign are earmarked for scholarships, including
graduate level awards in arts and sciences, business, education,
law, nursing and the School of Theology and Ministry.
Great Facilities for Teaching and Learning
The library and learning commons and a state-of-the-art
fitness center are at the heart of this vision.
The Lemieux Library, built in 1966, will be revamped
and reconfigured into a modern learning center that merges
sophistication and function with 21st-century technology. The
project will add 37,000 square feet to the existing library and
is envisioned as a dynamic gathering place for research, study
and collaborative learning in a thoroughly modern facility.
There will be a digital-information commons, a bistro, seminar
and reading rooms, and a tele-classroom for distance learning.
On the tech front, plans include streaming audio and video
capabilities, a multimedia production lab and wireless access.
The expansion will also open up additional space to house books
and periodicals and enhance the existing collection.
“The new library is a centerpiece in the transformation of
Seattle University,” says Father Sundborg.
Fitness and health are part of the holistic education model
that SU stresses, including a reimagining of Connolly Center
and the construction of a new fitness center. This will help
grow our athletics and recreation programs. Student-athletes
not only succeed on the court or on a baseball field but also in
the classroom. Many have been recognized with All-American
honors for their academic and athletic prowess, and possess
the values and vision important to the university. The center
will also provide the space and equipment necessary as the
university returns to Division I.
Academic Enhancement
We value excellence in learning with great teachers who
are active scholars. These words are inherent in the mission
of SU and are the marrow of all that drives the university:
academic excellence. While academic rigor is at the core,
what radiates outward is experiences and opportunities
outside of the classroom. Global education, service learning
through community outreach, collaboration with business
and nonprofit sectors, and engaging programs help prepare
students to be leaders in their fields and as global citizens.
More than $30 million of the campaign is designated for
academic enhancement, which will include endowed chairs and
professorships, undergraduate research and various educational
and community projects.
Jesuit Catholic Identity
Educating in the Jesuit-Catholic ethos and spirit, and from
a foundation of faith and scholarship are inextricable parts of
SU’s mission of “educating the whole person.” The campaign,
which devotes $15.5 million to this area, will enable the
university to further strengthen opportunities to educate in
the Catholic and Jesuit tradition—and with social justice as
a driving force. This will be done through faculty fellowships
and the bolstering of existing programs including the Endowed
Mission Fund and the Magis: Alumni Committed for
Mission office.
The Seattle University Fund
Contributions to the university’s annual fund provide support
in areas with the greatest need and help bridge the gap
between tuition revenue and operating costs. The fund also
supports student financial aid and programs in the different
schools and colleges.
Alumni play a significant role in the success of the campaign.
To date alumni have made more than 27,000 gifts to the
fundraising effort.
“As president I believe our alumni can tell us if the university
has, in their lives, fulfilled its mission,” Father Sundborg says.
“The participation of alumni in this campaign confirms what
SU means to them in their lives and it’s a way for them to share
in our vision.”
What follows are four individuals who exemplify the
difference a Seattle University education makes and, in turn,
the difference they make in the lives of others.
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 25

Jonathan
Joaquin
Bryant,
Avila
’08
School of Law
Finance
AJ oaquin s a kid, Avila Jonathan is a highly Bryant lauded knew legal he scholar, wanted a distinguished
to be a player
assistant in the professor game at business. Seattle University Watching TV School shows of depicting Law and
a leading the expert lifestyles on of minority moguls voting piqued rights. his interest.
Now His many 22, and accomplishments—degrees poised to graduate this June from with a Yale degree and in
finance, Harvard, Bryant a MacArthur still plans Fellowship to follow (“genius through grant”) with and aspirations honors
first from formulated the State Bar in of his California youth. But and as the someone California who League benefited of
from United the Latin support American of his family Citizens—are and mentors even at more the Albers remarkable School
of considering Business and how Economics, far Avila has Bryant come. is making a difference in the
lives As of a youth young growing people both up in through Compton, his Calif., professional a city notorious work and for in
the its high community. crime rate and rampant gang activity, Avila had friends
with The gang graduate ties and of was Seattle’s “teetering,” Kennedy he High says, School on the edge first learned of that
of lifestyle. Seattle But University it was education and the and business a drive school to make as something a participant of
in himself the Summer that ultimately Business pulled Institute him (SBI), away. The a weeklong turning immersion point was
experience when he hit for the college-bound ninth grade and high decided school to students take stock of color. of what Bryant his
was life would in the first be like class if he of SBI didn’t students make a in change. 2003. Through the institute
students “I didn’t get see a feel any for future college in life that as lifestyle,” they live in he the says. residence “My mom halls,
attend had always workshops encouraged modeled education after classes and once in I accounting, was high finance school
and I was international the fast track.” business among other programs, meet with
faculty In the and high students, school yearbook, visit with he executives outlined at his Costco, plan: to and become learn
about an astrophysicist. admission, financial But as an aid undergraduate and scholarships. at Yale he drifted
toward “With political the Summer science, Business which Institute became his you major. get a fuller When taste an
of uncle college,” asked he Avila says. what “It he gives wanted you a to good do for idea a living, of what he to thought expect
when about you law get and there.” soon was enrolled at Harvard Law School. After
earning his degree in 1973, Avila clerked for a year with the
Alaska State Supreme Court and thereafter went to work as a
staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and
“He has really pushed Education Fund.
During his 11 years at the organization—where he later
stretched himself to grow
“My
as
focus
a person
is on
and
eliminating
position
the voting
himself
structures
to be a successful
that have
discriminatory
business professional. ”
elements.”
Albers Dean
Joaquin
Joe Phillips
Avila
served as president and general counsel—Avila focused on
voting The rights location for and minority size of populations. the school Voting and the discrepancies
quality of
professors among districts made SU and an demographics appealing choice, became Bryant apparent say. to Avila
when “The professors visited several here small, want you rural to towns do well,” in Texas he says. in the “It mid- felt
like 1970s, a community and witnessed being firsthand here.” the challenges faced by many in
these The heavily university’s Latino commitment communities. to Ensuring social justice voting and rights outreach for all
fit became well with his mission. Bryant’s dedication to serving others. At an early
age “The his mother primary instilled objective in him is to the bring importance people of color philanthropy. into the
Community political process,” service Avila imbues says. “My his professional focus is on eliminating development. the
While voting structures interning that Toyota have discriminatory Motor Sales elements.” he assisted the car
company’s In 1985 he work went with into the private Special practice Olympics. and continued For an internship to fight to
with protect GE voting Healthcare rights. Bryant And 17 helped years later out with his efforts Hunger resulted Taskforce, in a
a voting group rights that puts act in together California boxes that of forbids food for infringement charities that on feed the
families rights of registered in need. (Bryant voters in plans at-large to elections. continue to give back to
the “The local work community I am doing by volunteering is to try to at transform the Salvation the election Army
alongside systems in his order mother to make and sister.) them more accessible,” says Avila,
who At wants SU Bryant to bring is giving the voting back rights and making act passed a difference in California in the to
lives other of states, first-year including students Washington, through Albers’ Colorado new and student Arizona. mentorship
The program. effectiveness As a of mentor his work Bryant can assists be seen incoming at the local students levels
in of government navigating the in university California experience, and Texas, from which filling now out have paper- more
work Latino to representation selecting courses, on city social council activities and boards and networking. where they can
instigate “He has change. really pushed and stretched himself to grow as
a person For the past and four position years himself he’s been to teaching be a successful at Seattle University business
professional,” School Law, says and Albers says he Dean was Joe drawn Phillips. to the “At university the same largely time,
he because has taken of its a mission. great interest in contributing to the school and
helping “What us be attracted the very me best to we Seattle can be University for students.” is all the good
things After that graduation, I heard about Bryant the is eyeing faculty, work the collegiality, in the privateequity
administration sector, and eventually the support hopes for social to create justice,” opportunities Avila says. for
the
others “The students in his hometown give a through lot of energy investments and are in very restaurants committed and
apartment to social justice.” complexes.
Regardless Avila’s work of with where voters’ life and rights his career has national take him, implications, Bryant is
well says prepared. Dean Kellye Testy, who says he is “a wonderful example
of “The the outstanding one thing SU faculty really we did employ for me who was to are make dedicated me a
well-rounded to both scholarship individual,” and he teaching. says. “I can We have are a proud conversation of his
about accomplishments.”
Socrates and a conversation about the stock market.”
26 28 | For the Difference We Make

Samora
Rebecca
Covington,
Conte,
’07
’07
Psychology and Criminal Justice
Nursing
S
Wamora hat Covington began with is fascinated a trip and what with Rebecca the human Conte mind— calls
particularly “a faint with idea” how has the proved mind transformative of a criminal works. in the life
A of Seattle this Seattle transplant nurse by as well way as of countless Montana, children Covington and
adults graduated living from with Seattle HIV and University AIDS in Ghana. in 2007 with degrees in
psychology For Conte, and who criminal works in justice, critical with care a at focus Seattle’s in forensic Virginia
Mason psychology. Medical Her Center, interest an in the international field first surfaced service trip in high guided school, her
Covington what has says. become “It was her life’s like one work. of those, ‘aha moments.’”
Through Covington’s diligence penchant and with for the the profession encouragement was of cultivated friends,
family through and her the involvement SU community, in service Conte learning is making and a difference community in
the outreach treatment while and undergraduate.
care of HIV and AIDS patients. In late 2007
she For realized her first her dream long-term of opening service a project clinic in Covington the village worked of Ho,
Ghana, with juveniles to treat at common a detention ailments center associated near campus. with What the disease. started
with As tutoring a nurse—a evolved profession into mentorship. that runs in the family, as Conte’s
mother, “Those sister kids and really grandmothers needed role are models,” trained nurses—Conte Covington says. is
able “They to needed fulfill another to be shown dream: there to are improve different access ways to they preventive can go
health in their care lives.” in Africa.
Conte’s Through service an internship abroad began with in high the school Community when she traveled Center
with for Alternative her church group Programs, to Tijuana, which Mexico, is part to build of King houses. County As a
sophomore Corrections, in Covington college she went got solid to the experience Dominican working Republic, on where life
she skills taught with offenders English to in Haitian the reentry refugees. program. A little more than a year
later Today she made Covington her first is trip a to mental Ghana, health with a case desire manager to work at in
maternity Community care. Psychiatric Her focus Clinic shifted in when Seattle. she Here was she confronted helps clients with
the referred treatment to the of clinic HIV by and the AIDS courts patients. or a correctional Many were center; routinely most
denied have lengthy proper criminal care because backgrounds, of the advanced severe stages mental of health the disease. issues
and Education substance-abuse and awareness problems. became Many a key are part homeless of her work. and have
nowhere “Right to now turn. AIDS is still a death sentence in Africa. We are
trying “We to provide show a them safe environment it doesn’t have and to stability. be,” she We says. find them “With a
proper place to testing live and and get care them you financial can have assistance,” a long life.” says Covington,
who A friend runs a introduced support group her to the called work Mind, of New Body, Seed Wisdom International, that
an focuses AIDS on organization the needs based of people in Ghana. with Soon specific Conte mental was splitting health
her disorders. time between a maternity hospital in the morning and caring
for Much people of with her HIV time and is spent AIDS visiting in the clients afternoon. in jail. The While experience it can
emboldened be difficult to her see to the do men something. and women she’s come to know on a
personal “I was level just devastated in such straits by what and I struggling had seen,” she to stay says. clean “I came and back out
and of trouble, had no she idea is what buoyed I could by do small about breakthroughs.
it. I said, ‘I would love to see
a clinic “Although there and it is more bittersweet adequate visiting care for my HIV/AIDS clients in patients.’” jail, when
On they returning see me they to know SU she that shared someone her is experiences still there for in Ghana them when in a
series they get of out,” campus Covington talks. Following says. one of these presentations,
Seattle Working attorney in mental Broh Landsman health and offered criminal his justice legal expertise at turns pro
bono gratifying to assist and her heartbreaking, establishing Covington a nonprofit says. to raise money to
build “The the best clinic part she of envisioned.
the job the individual sessions that I have
with By my 2006 clients. her It’s nonprofit, one thing New to run Seed a group International and to talk US—an about
extension different issues. of the But Ghanian to be able group—was to sit down up and with running. my clients Before two
long to three the times group a week, had raised see how more they than are $150,000, doing and surpassing work out their
$46,000 personal needed issues, you for the can clinic, see the which growth,” opened she says. late last “You year. see their
mind The working, 20-bed and clinic you treats see them patients really with trying common to get better ailments and
associated stay well. That’s with HIV the most and fulfilling.”
AIDS such as diarrhea, dehydration,
malnourishment Therapy and and transformation, tuberculosis. looking While the at clinic the psychological
won’t refuse
makeup anyone because of people of with inability criminal to pay backgrounds for the care, and patients how they are
change asked to are contribute areas Covington what they wants can to replenish explore—along the supplies with the or
intersection equipment used of forensic during psychology their visit. and diversity—as a graduate
student Conte at didn’t the Chicago stop with School the clinic. of Professional A nursery school Psychology. for children She
starts affected classes by the in disease the fall. is slated to open in spring 2008, followed
by an orphanage for children left behind because of the disease.
The education and support Conte received at SU and from community
members helps her through particularly challenging times.
my “I have clients lost a lot of in patients jail, in when Ghana, but they I can still see make
a difference to many more patients in the future,” she says.
“Every life is worth fighting for. It’s about making a difference
for one patient, one person.”
“Although it is bittersweet visiting
me they know that someone is still
there for them when they get out.”
“Right
Samora Covington
now AIDS is still a death
sentence in Africa. We are
When asked about the difference she makes in the lives
of others through her work, Covington is practical in her
trying to show them it doesn’t
response—but hopeful.
have
“You can’t
to
expect
be.”
miracles Rebecca every Conte time,” she says. “You can
only hope to leave an imprint in their heart and their mind that
they Conte will remember shares a story what of it a was young like to boy be named clean and Kelvin productive whom
and she first that met they when know he there was 21 are months people old. here The to help child them. weighed So the 10
next pounds time and they was fall continually down, it will being easier reinfected to get with back the up.” disease SU
through his mother’s breastfeeding. During one visit Conte’s
mother, Meg Kerrigan, joined her and paid for the boy’s
formula Seattle for University nourishment. Magazine In little will time feature the once regular listless updates boy put
on on weight the and campaign became in lively coming and issues. happy. To Although learn more he ultimately about
succumbed the Campaign to the disease, for Seattle Conte University: is grateful For for the the Difference time he had
to be We a Make “normal,” and to happy view child. a photo slideshow from the April 10
event “Before visit he www.seattleu.edu/campaign/news.asp.
died he was smiling,” she says. “Though he still
lost his fight with AIDS that boy smiled and laughed. We did
something that gave him a life for that short period.”
For more information about New Seed International, visit
www.newseedinternational.org.
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 27 29

Joaquin Avila
School of Law
J
oaquin Avila is a highly lauded legal scholar, a distinguished
assistant professor at Seattle University School of Law and
a leading expert on minority voting rights.
His many accomplishments—degrees from Yale and
Harvard, a MacArthur Fellowship (“genius grant”) and honors
from the State Bar of California and the California League of
United Latin American Citizens—are even more remarkable
considering how far Avila has come.
As a youth growing up in Compton, Calif., a city notorious for
its high crime rate and rampant gang activity, Avila had friends
with gang ties and was “teetering,” he says, on the edge of that
lifestyle. But it was education and a drive to make something of
himself that ultimately pulled him away. The turning point was
when he hit the ninth grade and decided to take stock of what his
life would be like if he didn’t make a change.
“I didn’t see any future in that lifestyle,” he says. “My mom
had always encouraged education and once I was in high school
I was on the fast track.”
In the high school yearbook, he outlined his plan: to become
an astrophysicist. But as an undergraduate at Yale he drifted
toward political science, which became his major. When an
uncle asked Avila what he wanted to do for a living, he thought
about law and soon was enrolled at Harvard Law School. After
earning his degree in 1973, Avila clerked for a year with the
Alaska State Supreme Court and thereafter went to work as a
staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and
Education Fund.
During his 11 years at the organization—where he later
“My focus is on eliminating
the voting structures that have
discriminatory elements.”
Joaquin Avila
served as president and general counsel—Avila focused on
voting rights for minority populations. Voting discrepancies
among districts and demographics became apparent to Avila
when he visited several small, rural towns in Texas in the mid-
1970s, and witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by many in
these heavily Latino communities. Ensuring voting rights for all
became his mission.
“The primary objective is to bring people of color into the
political process,” Avila says. “My focus is on eliminating the
voting structures that have discriminatory elements.”
In 1985 he went into private practice and continued to fight to
protect voting rights. And 17 years later his efforts resulted in a
voting rights act in California that forbids infringement on the
rights of registered voters in at-large elections.
“The work I am doing is to try to transform the election
systems in order to make them more accessible,” says Avila,
who wants to bring the voting rights act passed in California to
other states, including Washington, Colorado and Arizona.
The effectiveness of his work can be seen at the local levels
of government in California and Texas, which now have more
Latino representation on city council and boards where they can
instigate change.
For the past four years he’s been teaching at Seattle University
School of Law, and says he was drawn to the university largely
because of its mission.
“What attracted me to Seattle University is all the good
things that I heard about the faculty, the collegiality, the
administration and the support for social justice,” Avila says.
“The students give me a lot of energy and are very committed
to social justice.”
Avila’s work with voters’ rights has national implications,
says Dean Kellye Testy, who says he is “a wonderful example
of the outstanding faculty we employ who are dedicated
to both scholarship and teaching. We are proud of his
accomplishments.”
28 | For the Difference We Make

Samora Covington, ’07
Psychology and Criminal Justice
S
amora Covington is fascinated with the human mind—
particularly with how the mind of a criminal works.
A Seattle transplant by way of Montana, Covington
graduated from Seattle University in 2007 with degrees in
psychology and criminal justice, with a focus in forensic
psychology. Her interest in the field first surfaced in high school,
Covington says. “It was like one of those, ‘aha moments.’”
Covington’s penchant for the profession was cultivated
through her involvement in service learning and community
outreach while an undergraduate.
For her first long-term service project Covington worked
with juveniles at a detention center near campus. What started
with tutoring evolved into mentorship.
“Those kids really needed role models,” Covington says.
“They needed to be shown there are different ways they can go
in their lives.”
Through an internship with the Community Center
for Alternative Programs, which is part of King County
Corrections, Covington got solid experience working on life
skills with offenders in the reentry program.
Today Covington is a mental health case manager at
Community Psychiatric Clinic in Seattle. Here she helps clients
referred to the clinic by the courts or a correctional center; most
have lengthy criminal backgrounds, severe mental health issues
and substance-abuse problems. Many are homeless and have
nowhere to turn.
“We provide a safe environment and stability. We find them a
place to live and get them financial assistance,” says Covington,
who runs a support group called Mind, Body, Wisdom that
focuses on the needs of people with specific mental health
disorders.
Much of her time is spent visiting clients in jail. While it can
be difficult to see the men and women she’s come to know on a
personal level in such straits and struggling to stay clean and out
of trouble, she is buoyed by small breakthroughs.
“Although it is bittersweet visiting my clients in jail, when
they see me they know that someone is still there for them when
they get out,” Covington says.
Working in mental health and criminal justice is at turns
gratifying and heartbreaking, Covington says.
“The best part of the job is the individual sessions that I have
with my clients. It’s one thing to run a group and to talk about
different issues. But to be able to sit down with my clients two
to three times a week, see how they are doing and work out their
personal issues, you can see the growth,” she says. “You see their
mind working, and you see them really trying to get better and
stay well. That’s the most fulfilling.”
Therapy and transformation, looking at the psychological
makeup of people with criminal backgrounds and how they
change are areas Covington wants to explore—along with the
intersection of forensic psychology and diversity—as a graduate
student at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She
starts classes in the fall.
“Although it is bittersweet visiting
my clients in jail, when they see
me they know that someone is still
there for them when they get out.”
Samora Covington
When asked about the difference she makes in the lives
of others through her work, Covington is practical in her
response—but hopeful.
“You can’t expect miracles every time,” she says. “You can
only hope to leave an imprint in their heart and their mind that
they will remember what it was like to be clean and productive
and that they know there are people here to help them. So the
next time they fall down, it will be easier to get back up.” SU
Seattle University Magazine will feature regular updates
on the campaign in coming issues. To learn more about
the Campaign for Seattle University: For the Difference
We Make and to view a photo slideshow from the April 10
event visit www.seattleu.edu/campaign/news.asp.
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 29

Alumni
F O C U S
CLASS NOTES | PROFILES | BOOKMARKS | ALUMNI EVENTS | IN MEMORIAM
STAY IN TOUCH
Do you have a new job or an addition to the family to share?
Are you a newlywed or want to reconnect with former
classmates and other alumni? Seattle University Magazine
welcomes news of accomplishments or changes in your
professional or personal life for inclusion in Class Notes.
When submitting items, include your graduate name and
year, your present name and a daytime phone number. We
publish high-resolution photos (300 dpi) as space allows.
Please submit color photos via e-mail: sumagazine@seattleu.
edu. If available, include a photo caption listing the names
of people and and where it was taken. Submissions to Class
Notes are edited for space and clarity to adhere to the style
and tone of the magazine.
Submit news and photos for consideration to:
Class Notes Editor
Seattle University Magazine
Print Communications
Seattle University
PO Box 222000
Seattle, WA 98122-1090
Fax: (206) 296-6137
E-mail: sumagazine@seattleu.edu
For more information, contact the editor at
sumagazine@seattleu.edu.
deadlines for submissions
Seattle University Magazine is published in the fall,
spring and summer. Class Notes will be printed as space
allows and when possible, in the order they are received.
If you submit an item for the fall issue, for example, and
it doesn’t appear, it most likely will be in the following
spring issue.
Submit items for…
Fall/Winter: Mid-September
Spring: Mid-February
Summer: Mid-June
Class Notes
John Francis Cummins, ’73, married Norma Florentino Esperida.
Joseph Ritz
Joseph Ritz’s one-act play,
55 God’s Minstrel, is being
offered to schools, community
theaters and others by British
publisher Lazy Boy Scripts. The
play is about the life of St. Francis
and is set at a time when Christians
and Moslems were at war. Ritz’s
plays have been staged in theaters
from New York City to Los
Angeles. In addition to his work
as a playwright, Ritz is the author
of the memoir, I Never Looked for
My Mother and Other Regrets of a
Journalist, which includes a chapter
about Seattle University
in the 1950s. Ritz lives in
Hamburg, NY.
Sister Sharon Casey was
61 chosen as president of the
Tacoma Dominican Community.
Sr. Casey spent 14 years in
Oakland, Calif., as director of
Campus Ministry at Holy Names
University.
John Francis Cummins
73 married Norma Florentino
Esperida (left) on Oct. 13, 2007,
at St. Monica Church in Santa
Monica, Calif. John works for the
State Compensation Insurance
Fund, and Norma is the eligibility
section chief in the Office of
Admissions of the State Bar of
California. After a honeymoon
in Italy, the couple lives in Santa
Monica.
Nani Castor-Peck was
74 awarded the 2007 Keizai
Kozo Center Fellowship, given to
recipients with an interest in business
relationships between the U.S.
and Japan. She currently teaches
fourth and fifth grades at Seattle’s
John Stanford International School.
30 | Alumni Focus

honors
Gary Brinson,
receives Horatio
Alger Award
photo BY ANIL KAPAHI
On April 5, Gary Brinson, ’66,
received the Horatio Alger
Award, given by the Horatio Alger
Association of Distinguished
Americans in Washington, D.C. President
Stephen Sundborg, S.J., was on hand for the
ceremony alongside members of Brinson’s
family, including his wife, Suzann. The award
recognizes the work of individuals who achieve
great success in their fields despite adversity.
“By overcoming personal trials to achieve ultimate triumph,
these new inductees have all shown dedication, strength
and perseverance for success. They showcase the boundless
opportunities and endless hope that make up the fabric of
America,” Joseph Neubauer, president and CEO of the
association, said in a statement. “Most importantly, these
remarkable individuals are role models for America’s youth.”
Gary Brinson, ’66, during a visit to the Albers School of Business.
Brinson, founder and trustee of The Brinson Foundation, is
considered a living legend in the investment world and for his
philanthropy. The graduate of the Albers School of Business
and Economics donated $3.5 million to create the Dr. Khalil
Dibee Endowed Chair of Finance, which bears the name of his
former professor who was instrumental in his education and
career path. For his award, Brinson will be inducted as a lifetime
member into the Horatio Alger Association.
Dan Layman, MBA
78 ’87, was named director
of Dining Services for Central
Washington University. Layman
has worked at CWU for 25 years
and most recently oversaw the
opening of the Student Union and
Recreation Center, which houses a
new dining facility.
Barb Michieli recently
79 celebrated a 5-year anniversary
as radiation safety officer at
Children’s Hospital and Regional
Medical Center. Previously, she
worked at The Boeing Company
in radiation health protection and
later retired from the United States
Army Reserve as a detachment
commander in the Medical Service
Corps at Fort Lawton, Wash. She
resides in South Seattle with her
partner Nancy, and their rat terriers,
Abby and Bridgett.
Cheryl Roberts, ’89 EdD, is
the ninth president of Chemeketa
Community College in Salem, Ore.
Before taking this position, Roberts
was vice president of instruction at
South Seattle Community College.
She held positions as vice president
of instruction and student services
at Lane Community College and
dean of health and human services
at Seattle Central Community
College.
Kathleen (Morford)
80 McGinn, ’85 MBA, is
senior associate dean and director
of faculty development at Harvard
Business School. She also teaches as
Harvard’s Cahners-Rabb Professor
of Business Administration.
Tom Workman ’67, John Ruby, ‘83, David Rockwood, John
Dougherty ’66, Bob Kennedy, John Moretti, ’86, and Mike
Thomas ’83, attend the reception before the Seattle University vs.
Kentucky game Nov. 3, 2007. Members of the 1957-58 basketball
teams from Seattle and Kentucky, who played for the national NCAA
title in 1958, were honored during half-time at the game in Lexington.
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 31

Alumni
F O C U S
Class Notes (continued)
old goats
Among Old Friends
Group of grads from the 1950s stay in touch
through the years
The couples, members of the Class of 1982, pose at the Cliffs of
Moher, County Clare. (Pictured l-r): Joel and April McGinley, Tim and
Laurie Conley and Julie and Tim LeClaire.
Tim LeClaire and
82 wife Julie (Ringwood)
LeClaire, ‘82, joined April and
Joel McGinley, ‘82, and Tim
and Laurie (Eason) Conley,
’82, in Ireland this past July to
celebrate the couples’ 25th wedding
anniversaries. All three
couples met at Seattle University
and have kept in contact over the
years. Between them they have 15
children.
Jim Duncan, MBA, and
84 Gayl Morrison were married
at the Chapel of St. Ignatius on
Aug. 16, 2007. Duncan is chairman
and chief engineer for Sparling, the
nation’s largest electrical engineering
and technology consulting firm.
Morrison is founding partner of
Executive Options and provides
marketing, communications and
meeting planning services for clients.
The couple lives in Seattle.
David Bley, MPA, has
85 been named the director of
Pacific Northwest programs for the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Currently, Bley is chairman of the
Seattle Housing Authority’s Board
of Commissioners. He is also vice
president of strategic initiatives
at Seattle nonprofit Enterprise
Community Partners.
Steven Trinen, ’99 JD, and
86 his wife, Angela, welcomed
their daughter, Rainey Eloise, in
September. She joins her 3-year old
brother, William. Steve works as
a deputy prosecuting attorney for
Pierce County, Wash., where for
the past three years he has prosecuted
cases that involve methamphetamine
labs.
John Worden is a partner in
the San Francisco office of Schiff
Hardin, where he specializes in
corporate trials and litigation.
John and his wife, Margaret, have
been married for 22 years. Their
daughters, Natasha and Ana are
students at Smith College and
California State University Chico,
respectively. In his free time, John
is active in martial arts—he is a
Black Belt Kung Fu instructor, and
a former national champion and
silver medalist at the 2003 World
Kung Fu Championships in São
Paulo, Brazil.
Enrico Mayuga, ’97 MPA,
91 was selected as a teaching
artist with the Mad Hot Ballroom
Dancing Classroom program. He
currently teaches ballroom dance to
fourth graders in New York City.
As students at Seattle University, Ron Wills, Fred
Schacht and Roy Mathiesen frequently met up
down the hill at The Attic to talk about school, life
in the dorms, sports, girls or whatever the topic that
day might be.
The bonds of friendship they formed while living on- and
off-campus in the 1950s stayed strong over the years and
through the different turns in their lives. Along with about
a dozen buddies from their SU days, Willis, Schacht and
Mathiesen are once again gathering at the popular Madison
Park spot they first patronized some 50 years back.
About 10 years ago Schacht, ’59, and Mathiesen, ’59, who
were roommates at SU, and Wills, ’58, hatched the idea of
getting members of the old gang back together. Through
phone calls and e-mails they got the word out, and slowly a
group of regulars started showing up. Dubbed the “old goats,”
the collective is made up of roughly 15 alumni from the late
1950s (most are graduates of the classes of 1958 or 1959) who
gather every three months to catch up and swap memories
of their college years—the ROTC ball, school dances, the
basketball games during the zenith of SU athletics in the
1950s.
Most of the men, now in their 60s and 70s, met as strangers
paired up to live in the same residence hall.
“It’s an opportunity for us to get together and share stories—
and swap lies,” says Paul Turner, ’59. Turner, who retired after
31 years as a personnel director for Boeing, is one of the original
members of the group and, like his SU brethren, enjoys the
chance to revisit with friends he first met as a student.
Jill Wakefield, EdD,
92 received Distinguished
Alumni honors at Centralia College
in 2007. Wakefield currently
serves as president of South Seattle
Community College.
Lisa Demeyer received
93 Central Michigan
University’s 2007 Award for
Outstanding Teaching. Demeyer is
an assistant professor of mathematics
at CMU, where she mentors
students on research projects and
internships. “I am very pleased to
receive this award,” DeMeyer said.
“I enjoy discussing mathematics
with my colleagues and with the
students at CMU.”
Tracy Gibbons and Stacey
Weichbrodt, are the new owners
of Sturtevant’s, a Seattle-area
ski company. The longtime snow
enthusiasts worked at Sturtevant’s
as teenagers.
32 | Alumni Focus

photo BY fred schacht
Seattle University alumni from the 1950s—self-described as the “old goats”—gather regularly at The Attic, a popular haunt from their college days.
There the men share stories about their families, vacations, health and more over drinks and sandwiches. It’s a bond that goes back 50 years.
The Attic, a homey sports bar and restaurant, has long been
a go-to place for SU students looking for a cold drink, hot food
and good company. When it was time to get the group back
together, Schacht says the location was an obvious choice, “as
we all started going to The Attic when we were students.”
Friendship is the bedrock of the group, which also meets in
the late summer for a barbecue at Schacht’s place on Samish
Island, north of Seattle.
When the guys are in the same room, says George Ploudre,
’59, there is no shortage of laughter, as was evident during a
recent gathering. The conversations, like their sources, have
matured and evolved with time.
“During our school days, the guys would come down here
and talk about girls and girlfriends,” says Ploudre, a retired civil
engineer who’s been an “old goat” for the past four years. “Years
later we come here and talk about our wives and families and
how we are doing.”
After he earned his degree in commerce and finished his
military service, John Gocke, ’57, worked as vice president of a
financial holdings company and later as a commercial real estate
broker. Recently he moved back to Western Washington
from Los Angeles, and is looking forward to catching up
with friends old and new.
“We were all separated when we went into the military,
had various careers and raised our families,” he says. “But
when we regrouped, we realized the strong bond we have.”
At a recent lunch, retired lawyer Bob Gunovick, ’58, sat
near John and Eddie O’Brien—the famous basketball duo
whose playing skills, and the excitement they evoked on the
court, figure in some of Gunovick’s best memories of SU.
“They represent the Golden Era of basketball at SU,”
Gunovick says of the O’Briens. “I remember going to the
game and trying to get a seat in the stands and how everyone
was just smashed in there to get a peek.”
Reminiscing with great friends is what Schacht enjoys
most about these get-togethers.
“We all enjoy each other’s company,” he says. “They are
just quality people. All of them have done well in their lives,
and they love Seattle U.”
—Tina Potterf
J. Steven Beagles, MSF,
95 is managing director at the
new Tokyo office of PMI Mortgage
Insurance Company.
Lisa Malone and husband
96 Matt welcomed their daughter,
Julia Kay, on Sept. 13, 2006.
Julia joins big brother John.
Aaron Byers is senior manager
of strategic accounts for
97
disruptive, open source technol-
ogy vendor MySQL. MySQL is
the data infrastructure platform
for telco/networking companies,
including Cisco, HP and Motorola,
and Web domains Google, Yahoo
and MySpace.
Brian L. Hansen, JD, was
hired as corporate counsel for Kia
Motors. He will be working with
Kia’s first U.S. automobile manufacturing
plant.
Carllene Placide-Edwards, JD,
has been named to the technical
support group for the Washington
State Minority and Justice
Commission, which is working
on a 20-year commitment to end
racial bias in the state court system.
She is employed as a partner with
Dorsey & Whitney LLP in Seattle.
Molly (Shea) and David Ebel, ’98 JD,
welcomed daughter Scarlett Elise Ebel
on May 19, 2007.
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 33

Alumni
F O C U S
in the game
Olympic Hopeful
Alumna’s work behind the scenes will be
front and center at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Come August, when the world has its lens turned on
Beijing, China, for the 2008 Summer Olympics, a
Seattle University graduate will have a hand in NBC’s
television broadcasts, from the opening pageantry to
the closing ceremonies.
As vice president of Olympic operations for NBC, Marsha
Edscorn Bird, ’89, is in charge of ensuring a successful
broadcast of the games by working as a liaison with the
network’s production staff. The show will encompass 17 days
of competition featuring the world’s top athletes.
The road leading to Beijing and the Olympics—the 2008
games are Bird’s seventh—began while she was a journalism
student at SU and interned with the Goodwill Games in
Seattle. Here she got her first taste for the planning that goes
into a large-scale athletic competition. The Goodwill Games
provided an opportunity to meld her journalistic training and
love of sports.
The internship progressed into a full-time position that
continued until Bird took a job working with Turner Broadcasting
and CNN out of Atlanta. Then, wanting to move to New York
City, she parlayed her experience with the cable news network
into freelancing in the news division in CNN’s New York office.
Before long she was missing the excitement of covering events.
With the Olympics coming to Atlanta, Bird returned to that city
and was soon on board for the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Following Atlanta, she continued to freelance and work at
various games, including the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano,
Japan. She returned to the United States to assist with the New
York City Goodwill Games, and later that year was hired by
NBC.
“When I was in college, I always thought I would be in news,”
Bird says of her career direction. “I had always wanted to work
in New York City. I never thought the Goodwill Games would
take me on this trek.”
With the Beijing Olympics only a few months away, she and
her staff of 15 are now working tirelessly on logistical matters,
ranging from labor permit issues to meeting with Olympic
officials to submitting plans for where the cameras and on-air
talent will be positioned.
Planning actually started more than a year ago, when Bird
and her family moved to Beijing from their Connecticut home.
“This is the first time I’ve done a game and lived on-site this
long,” says Bird, who says she’s living in a community “full of
expatriates.”
The Beijing games have presented their own share of challenges,
with controversy erupting in the weeks leading up to the event.
China’s history of human rights violations and severe crackdown
on demonstrations in Tibet have led to threats of boycotts
Class Notes (continued)
Katie (Dubik) Schwarz’s daughter
Lorelei Rainier
Carol Widjaya and husband
Mohd Amin Yusoff.
Katie (Dubik) Schwarz
98 and her husband Jonathan
celebrated the birth of their
daughter, Lorelei Rainier, on
May 8, 2007. The family lives in
Arlington, Va.
Major David Doran
03 assumed command of an
Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter
company. In 2007 he was deployed
to Iraq, following a deployment to
Afghanistan in 2005. Major Doran
and his wife, Shauna, added to their
family with the birth of their third
child in November 2007.
Carol Widjaya married
05 Mohd Amin Yusoff in
April 2007. They met two years
ago while organizing an event
for Harley Davidson. The couple
travels frequently and lives in
Singapore.
34 | Alumni Focus

Photo courtesy of Marsha Edscorn Bird
Marsha Edscorn Bird and her colleagues from NBC Olympics in Tian’anmen Square for a “One Year Countdown” to the summer games that aired on NBC’s Today
Show on Aug. 8, 2007. (Pictured l-r) Mingson Chou, Shang Lei, Bird, Lillian Cereghino, Sixiao Guo and Sharon Jiang.
by athletes and their representing countries, presidents and
dignitaries. China may also ban broadcasting from Tian’anmen
Square. (Bird declined to comment on how the controversy or
protests might affect her work and the broadcasts.)
While no two Olympics are the same, Bird says, the results
are always gratifying.
“It is euphoric to work on something so long and see the
end product,” she says. “You work with a huge international
community, diverse backgrounds and all industries to produce
17 days of TV coverage.”
In a few months, her efforts and that of her NBC team will be
on display for an international audience. Shortly afterward she will
turn her focus to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C., but
for now she is looking forward to the opening ceremonies.
“It will be amazing to see everything come together and fall
into place.”
—Tina Potterf
Michaelann Allen, MEd,
06 teaches and is director of
the Medical Assisting Program
at North Seattle Community
College. She recently published the
textbook, Visual Atlas of Medical
Assisting Skill. This summer Allen
will lead a study abroad trip to
Tanzania.
Doreen Cato, EdD, was
07 awarded the Elizabeth B.
Wells Memorial Award from the
National Association of Housing
and Redevelopment. Cato is commissioner
of the King County
Housing Authority and devotes
much of her time to raising awareness
on issues of poverty and
homelessness in the Seattle area.
She is the first commissioner in the
King County Housing Authority to
receive this honor, named for commissioner
Wells in 1987.
Some 300 alumni
and friends gathered
on March 29
for the Sixth Annual
Crab Feed, co-sponsored
by Alumni
Relations and the
Albers Alumni
Board. More than
$20,000 was raised
for scholarships to
benefit Albers students.
Jason McGill, ‘98, ‘01 JD, and Heather Hutson, ‘06, co-chairs
of the planning committee for the annual crab feed, get some support
from Rudy the Redhawk.
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 35

Alumni
F O C U S
Bookmarks
In this installment of Bookmarks, Seattle University Magazine chats with alumnus
Devin Liddell about his debut novel, Darius in the Meantime.
Darius in the Meantime by Devin
Liddell, ’96 (iUniverse)
In his literary debut, Darius in
the Meantime, Devin Liddell, ’96,
explores themes of adjusting to
life after college. The author writes
with a perspective colored by earlylife
experiences and cultivated in the
cafés around Seattle’s Capitol Hill
neighborhood.
“I wanted to write the book that
Devin Liddell, ’96
wasn’t there for me when I graduated,”
says Liddell. “It’s a grey
landscape when you leave college.”
Anchored by the first-person narration of Darius, a recent
college graduate, Darius in the Meantime is the story of a
frustrated 20-something Seattleite who turns to bank robbery
as a means of regaining the potency and vitality of his youth.
By turns a collection of comical situations and reassuringly
honest insights, the novel functions as an entertaining and
personal expression of existential questions individuals often
wrestle with as they move from one phase of their lives to
the next.
Infused with reflections and ruminations on life before college,
the novel is a funny, concise thesis that raises the question of
“What do I do now?” that confronts even pragmatists.
Although the book is partly autobiographical—Liddell,
like Darius, grew up in Denver, and moved to the Pacific
Northwest to attend college—Liddell says the scenes that portray
real events are more like “hints to the truth.”
“You have to find a way to write about something you know,
something authentic, and create characters beyond who you
are,” says Liddell, who is the director of brand strategy at
Phinney/Bischoff Design House in Seattle.
He chose to write under the pseudonym Devin
O’Shea for Darius in the Meantime after being
“swept up with a sense of intense vulnerability” while
recounting some of the more personal aspects of his
life for the book.
“There was enough autobiographical material that
still makes the book deeply personal,” says Liddell.
“I think I needed that illusion of anonymity.”
The writing process itself, he says, was important in
helping him realize and express some of his strongest
emotions.
“For beginning writers, for first-time writers, the
process of getting rid of oneself is very necessary,”
says Liddell, who adapted the mantra from Vladimir
Nabokov’s introduction to his own debut novel.
The reaction to what Liddell calls his “indie book”
has been positive. The diverse and personal reactions
readers have by the time they finish the tight
150-page read are also gratifying.
When he finished Darius in
the Meantime Liddell says
he felt he said what
needed to be said, and is
ready to move on to his
second novel. This one,
he says, will push his
boundaries while providing
an outlet to describe
the world from the perspective
of an SU grad.
—Chris Kissel, ’10
Editor’s Note: If you have a book published, Seattle University Magazine wants to hear about it. We review
*books released within the past two years by alumni, faculty and staff. Send notice to: sumagazine@seattleu.edu.
36 | Alumni Focus

Alumni Events
MAY
Wednesday, May 21
African American Alumni Chapter
General Interest Meeting
6–7:30 p.m., SU campus, Casey 517
Alumni are invited to the chapter’s spring
quarter meeting to connect with alumni
and friends, and catch up on the latest
news and happenings at their alma mater.
Thursday, May 22
Albers Executive Speaker Series
Presents Kevin Turner of Microsoft
5:30–6:30 p.m., Pigott Auditorium
Join us for a presentation and questionand-answer
session with Kevin Turner,
chief operating officer at Microsoft.
Information: Jennifer Horne, (206)
296-5699; e-mail: hornej@seattleu.edu.
JUNE
Friday, June 6
Extreme Makeover:
Nonprofit Edition! Turning
Around the Troubled Nonprofit
9 a.m.–4 p.m., LeRoux Conference Center
The Master of Public Administration and
Executive Master of Nonprofit Leadership
programs present a “Service in Action”
seminar featuring Jan Glick, president of
Jan Glick and Associates. Glick will share
useful techniques that nonprofit agencies
can use to deal with change and challenges.
Information: Danielle Potter, (206)
296-5440; e-mail: potterd@seattleu.edu.
Thursday, June 12
Get Connected Thursday
5:30–7:30 p.m., F.X. McRory’s Steak Chop
and Oyster House, Seattle
Alumni who have graduated within the
last 10 years are invited to the Young
Alumni Chapter’s monthly social, held
every second Thursday to network and
visit with other alumni. Upcoming Get
Connected Thursdays are planned for July
10 and Aug. 14. F.X. McRory’s is located at
419 Occidental Ave. S., in Pioneer Square.
Saturday, June 14
ROTC Commissioning Ceremony
8 a.m., Pigott Auditorium
The Military Science Department hosts its
annual commissioning ceremony to mark
the official transition from college ROTC
cadet to new Army officer. Cadets will be
pinned with the rank of 2nd lieutenant.
Information: Seattle University ROTC,
(206) 296-6430.
Saturday, June 14
Commencement Brunch
10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m., Connolly Center
Celebrate graduation with the newest
group of alumni at Seattle University’s
commencement brunch. The brunch
is open to graduates and their families.
Reservations are required. Contact
Alumni Relations for more information.
Saturday, June 14
Albers School of Business and
Economics Graduation Reception
4:30–6 p.m., Paccar Atrium
(Pigott Building)
The Albers School of Business and
Economics hosts a reception in honor of
the class of 2008. Family, friends, alumni
and Albers faculty and staff are invited
to this celebration for business graduates.
Information: Lauren Carriere, (206)
296-5700.
JULY
July 6-11
School of Theology and Ministry
Summer Institute
Times TBD; SU campus
The School of Theology and Ministry
invites alumni to participate in a sixday
institute featuring keynote speaker
Dr. Don E. Saliers. Saliers is the retired
William R. Cannon Distinguished
Professor of Theology and Worship, and
director of the Master of Sacred Music
Program at Candler School of Theology at
Emory University. Information: Sue Hogan,
(206) 296-5583; e-mail: sueh@seattleu.edu.
Friday, July 18
6th Annual Albers Alumni
and Friends Golf Tournament
11:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m.,
Trilogy Golf Club in Redmond
Mark your calendars now to connect on the
links with business school alumni, faculty
and friends at the annual Albers Alumni
and friends Golf Tournament, which raises
money for Albers student scholarships.
Trilogy Golf Club is located at 11825 Trilogy
Pkwy. N.E., Redmond, Wash. Information:
Susan Clifford Jamroski, (206) 296-2277.
AUGUST
Friday-Sunday, Aug. 22–24
Golden and 40th Reunions
Various times; SU campus
Alumni from the classes of 1958 and earlier,
and 1968, are invited to return to their alma
mater for a weekend of fun events and to
reminisce.
Aug. 27 to Sept. 3
Albers Alumni and Friends
Alaskan Cruise Adventure
Times TBD; Alaskan Coast
Join Albers alumni and friends on a sevennight
northbound glacier cruise on the
Carnival Spirit. The Albers Alumni Board
sponsors the cruise, and all proceeds benefit
the Albers Scholarship Fund. Information:
Susan Clifford Jamroski, (206) 296-2277.
For more information on alumni events, contact Alumni Relations at (206) 296-6127 or visit www.seattleu.edu/alumni/.
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 37

in memoriam
Bruce Anthony Bourgault, ’64, died Oct.
25, 2007. Born in 1941 in Winchendon, Mass.,
he moved to Seattle with his family in the early
1950s and graduated from Seattle Preparatory
School in 1959. Two years later he married his
first wife, Judy, and the couple had their first two
children, Catherine, ’85, and Jeanne, before he
graduated from Seattle University. After earning
his degree, Bourgault was commissioned in the
U.S. Army through the ROTC program. His
20-year career in the service included two tours
in Vietnam as well as assignments in Germany,
Alaska and the United States. One of those stations
was in Pocatello, Idaho. Later he moved to
Hawaii, where he worked as a banker and as vice
president of Central Pacific Bank in Hawaii. In
his spare time Bourgault enjoyed golfing, gourmet
cooking and reading. He is survived by his
wife, Linda; three children, Catherine, Jeanne
and Robert; and five grandchildren.
George Robert Clifton, ’58, died May 4,
2007. He was 82. Clifton was born in Seattle
and grew up in Canada. He returned to the
United States when he enlisted in the U.S.
Army. With the help of the G.I. Bill, he
attended Seattle University and earned a degree
in industrial engineering. Professionally he
worked for Boeing and Seattle City Light, and
later was head of public works at Sand Point
Naval Base. Soccer was a favorite pastime for
Clifton, who had a passion for playing and
refereeing games. He served as president of the
Washington State Soccer Football Association.
In 1963, he was voted a lifetime member of the
Association and the Fédération Internationale
de Football Association. Clifton is survived by
his wife, Irma; his son, Claus; daughters, Heidi
and Lily; sister, Dorie; and grandchildren,
Stuart and Leah. He was preceded in death by
his parents and brothers.
Sister Adella Diederich, ’51, died Oct. 7,
2007. She was 78. Sr. Diederich was born in
Bakersfield, Calif. After graduating from
St. Francis High School in Bakersfield, Sr.
Diederich joined the Dominican Order and
embarked on what would be a 60-year career
in the order. Sr. Diederich earned a chemistry
degree from Seattle University and continued
her education at St. Louis University and St.
Mary College in Moraga, Calif., where she
earned master’s degrees in chemistry and theology.
Inspired teaching was a touchstone of her
life. Sr. Diederich taught in a number of places,
including California, Montana and Seattle,
where she taught ESL classes for four years.
Additionally, she spent time in Guangdong,
China, and in ministry on the Tulalip Indian
Reservation, north of Seattle. She is survived
by her sister, Teresa Green, and many nieces
and nephews. She was preceded in death by
her sister, Sr. Katherine Diederich. Donations
in her name may be made to the Adrian
Dominican Sisters, 1257 Siena Heights Dr.,
Adrian, MI 49221.
Sister Joan Louise Eng, ’61, died July 31,
2007. She was 73. As a youth, Eng attended
grade schools in Yakima County, Walla
Walla and Seattle. She graduated from Seattle
University with a degree in education and
earned a master’s degree at Central Washington
University. For more than 30 years, Eng taught
mostly special education at public schools in
Mabton, Selah and Yakima in Washington. In
1990 she joined the Order of the Community of
the Paraclete at Stephen’s Priory in Seattle. She
was noviced as a Sister of the Order in 1992 and
made her life vows in 1997. Sr. Eng graduated
from the Education for Ministry program at the
Diocese of Spokane and in 2003 began serving
at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Yakima.
At nursing homes she provided services for
long-term care residents, including Bible study
classes, pastoral care and Sunday worship. Sr.
Eng was preceded in death by her parents and
husband, John Belford. She is survived by her
sister, Jean Garrison; daughter, June; sons, Bill,
Vern, Eric and Fred; stepchildren, Jane and
Mike; 14 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren;
and her dog, Sofia Maria. Donations may
be made in her honor to St. Michael’s Episcopal
Church, 5 S. Naches Ave., Yakima, WA 98901.
Michaela Farnum died Aug. 3, 2007,
while hiking near Santiago, Chile. She was
20. Farnum planned to return to Seattle
University from Pontifical Catholic University
of Valparaiso, where she was studying abroad,
in December 2007. Friends and co-workers
recalled a lovable and outgoing person whose
interests ranged from her work with the
Catholic Youth Organization to a love of
Spanish language and culture, which she was
studying as a student overseas. Farnum was
born in North Kingstown, R.I., and moved
to Mill Creek, Wash., in 1998. A graduate
of Henry M. Jackson High School, she was
a junior at SU at the time of her death. On
campus she worked as a residence assistant in
Bellarmine Hall and was active with Campus
Ministry. She is survived by her father, Peter;
mother, Kathleen; stepfather, Doug; brothers,
Jonathan and Andrew; and grandparents,
Harold and Patricia Blanding and Frances
Farnum. Donations may be made to the
Michaela Farnum Memorial Fund, c/o Seattle
University Campus Ministry, 901 12th Ave.,
Seattle, WA 98122.
Ruby “Ruth” Fusaro, ’97 MNPL, died Dec.
21, 2006, after a two-year struggle with cancer.
She was 69. Fusaro was born and grew up in
New Jersey, where she attended Montclair
State College. She earned her MBA from the
University of Nevada and a Master of Nonprofit
Leadership from Seattle University in 1997. For
17 years she worked as a teacher in Washington,
California and Nevada. She also owned two
businesses and a bookstore. She served as the
executive director of several nonprofit organizations,
including the Washington Academy of
Family Physicians and the Cascade Symphony
Orchestra. She applied her humor and generosity
to all of her endeavors. Fusaro is survived by
seven brothers and sisters; four daughters; eight
grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
Rev. Gwen Hall, ’95 MAPS, died Aug. 24,
2007. She was 56. A graduate of the School of
Theology and Ministry master’s program, Rev.
Hall was a longtime champion of social justice
and an advocate of gay rights. Much of her advocacy
work began in the 1970s, when she helped
organize Seattle Pride Week activities and was
a member of the Black Lesbian Forum. In 1995
she founded and was pastor for Sojourner Truth
Ministries, a safe haven for African American
gays and lesbians, in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood.
Hall also spoke out on other social
issues, including workers’ rights and legalizing
gay marriage. Hall is survived by her son, M.
Gwynn DeQuincy Hall; brothers, Michael,
Jerome and J. D. Hall; and a sister, Alice.
Marguerite “Margie” Louise Allen Isaak,
’82 MPA, died Nov. 28, 2007. She was 85.
Born and raised in Akron, Colo., Isaak attended
the University of Colorado, where she met the
love of her life, Robert Deets Isaak. After college,
Margie worked as a technical writer for
General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y., and
as a staff assistant for the Gallup Poll. She
returned to Akron in 1944 to marry Bob. The
couple made their first home in Boulder before
they left for San Diego, then Bellevue, Wash.,
and finally Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. As
a hobby, Margie enjoyed playing bridge and
was active in bridge groups in San Diego and
Seattle. An altruistic person, Margie devoted
much of her time to helping others. She was
a strong supporter of Children’s Hospital in
both San Diego and Seattle. For many years
she worked for the University of Washington’s
Discovery Internship program, helping place
mature women in new careers; she later became
assistant director of the program. Following
her graduation from Seattle University with an
MPA, she worked as a career counselor. Travel
was a big part of life for Bob and Margie, whose
38 | Alumni Focus

emembrance
Robert D. O’Brien
Longtime trustee invaluable
to SU’s progress and success
photo courtesy of the o’brien family
Robert D. O’Brien, longtime chair of Seattle
University’s Board of Trustees and one of the most
important leaders in the university’s history, died
Nov. 21, 2007. He was 94.
For nearly 40 years O’Brien was closely associated with Seattle
University. He was a highly respected business leader, and was
president and CEO of Kenworth Motor Truck Company and
PACCAR from the 1960s until the late 1970s. In 1963 he was
first appointed to the SU Board of Regents. Eight years later,
when the university reorganized its Board of Trustees to include
lay members, he was elected the first chairman of the board, a
post he held until 1988. O’Brien remained a trustee until 1999
and also served on a number of other boards, including Microsoft,
Rainier Bank, the Seattle Symphony and United Way.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, SU faced serious
financial challenges and a significant decline in enrollment that
threatened its survival. O’Brien was a key figure in engaging the
local civic and business communities to support the university,
which helped ensure that the institution could keep its doors
open. Into the 1980s he worked closely with President William
Sullivan, S.J., to bring the university into a position of stability,
strength and growth—a remarkable turnaround from earlier
years. O’Brien and his wife, Dorothy, were also very generous
donors to the university.
Robert D. O’Brien and his late wife, Dorothy.
“I believe if one created a list of the five most significant people
in Seattle University’s history, Bob O’Brien would certainly
belong in that group,” says President Stephen Sundborg, S.J.
“All of us are very fortunate that Bob dedicated so much of
himself to Seattle U for so many years.”
In 1969 O’Brien received an honorary doctorate from SU,
and in 1984 the university established the endowed Robert D.
O’Brien Chair in Business in the Albers School of Business
and Economics. He received the Founder of the Society of Jesus
Award for his extraordinary contributions to the university.
Bob was preceded in death by his wife of 67 years, Dorothy.
He is survived by his daughter, Kathleen O’Gorman; his son,
Bob O’Brien; and their spouses, children and grandchildren.
destinations included Hawaii; Washington,
D.C.; Bath, England; and Kiel, Germany; they
also spent ample time on the ski slopes and sailing.
Margie is survived by her children, Robert,
Lynn and Jim; six grandchildren; and one
great-grandchild. She was preceded in death by
her husband of 61 years, Bob.
Capt. Joseph T. Kelly, ’49, died July 7, 2007.
He was 83. A lifelong resident of the Seattle
area, Kelly was an Eagle Scout, a graduate
of Bremerton High School and a graduate of
Seattle University. After more than 40 years
of service, he retired from Boeing and the U.S.
Naval Air Service. He enjoyed entertaining
the young and the young-at-heart as a Seafair
clown. Community and faith were important to
Kelly, who was a longtime member of Our Lady
of the Lake Parish. He was a 4th Degree Knight
in the Order of the Knights of Columbus and
a member of the Lake City Elks Club and the
Beer and Bolly Ball Society. Kelly is survived by
his wife of 56 years, Lelia “Tillie”; sons, John,
Tom and Jim; daughters, Colleen McDonald,
Geralyn Davis, Sheila Samples, Mary Jo Kelly
and Jane McNulty; and 12 grandchildren.
Helen McDougall Mosher, ’49, died Feb.
12, 2007. She was 83. Mosher was born in 1923
in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. As a child she
moved with her family to Brooklyn, N.Y., and
later graduated from Fordham University. In
Brooklyn and, later, Cincinnati, Ohio, Mosher
was a social worker for Catholic Charities. With
her husband, Gene, Helen moved to Edmonds,
Wash., in 1965 before settling in Bellingham,
Wash. Mosher is survived by her husband,
Gene; daughter, Amy; son Gregory and his
wife, Barbara; son Rodney and his wife, Nina;
and two grandchildren, Gavin and Nathan.
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 39

in memoriam, cont.
Donations may be made in her name to
Whatcom Hospice Foundation, 800 E.
Chestnut St., Suite 1-C, Bellingham, WA
98225.
Elizabeth O’Connell Pritchard, ’68, died
June 27, 2007. She was 63. Pritchard grew
up in Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill area and
attended St. Anne’s Elementary School, Holy
Names Academy and Seattle University. A
talented graphic artist, Pritchard loved the
arts, especially classical music and literature.
She also enjoyed the outdoors and was an
avid swimmer and hiker. A strong Catholic
faith, rooted in her early in life, helped her
face the challenges of multiple sclerosis with
dignity and a positive attitude. Pritchard is
survived by her sisters, Sheila Taipale, Patty
Hunt, Noreen O’Connell and Terry Loving;
and brother, Dan O’Connell. Donations in
her name may be made to Martha and Mary
Health Services, 19160 Front St., Poulsbo,
WA 98370.
Walter “Walt” Joseph Purcell, Jr., ’59,
died June 10, 2007. He was 77. Purcell
was born in Evanston, Ill., and grew up in
Ithaca, N.Y., before moving to Seattle with
his parents in 1949. He served in the U.S.
Army and was stationed at Fort Lewis in
Tacoma. After he was discharged from the
military, he worked as a telegrapher for
the Southern Pacific and Great Northern
Railroads. Later, he moved to Alaska and
worked with the IRS before running businesses,
including a store, gas station and
cabin rentals in Chugiak, Alaska. After
living in Alaska, Purcell returned to
Washington and purchased a Shell service
station franchise in Snohomish, Wash.
After retiring from the Achilles (Kokoku)
plastics manufacturing plant in Everett,
Purcell spent many hours with three senior
bowling teams. He is survived by his children,
Louise, Joseph, Michael, Jeanine and
Matthew; many grandchildren; and his sister,
Nancy Rustad (Allan).
Annette M. Roppo, ’71, died Feb. 12,
2007. She was 57. Roppo was born in
Vancouver, Wash., and attended Hudson’s
Bay High School. After graduating from
Seattle University with a degree in fine arts,
Roppo worked as a technical illustrator for
The Boeing Company before leaving to pursue
other interests. She worked for several
other firms as a graphic designer and spent
much of her free time working on various
art projects. Later in her career, Roppo left the
professional world to homeschool her two sons,
Joel and Joshua. She was deeply involved in her
faith, reading often from her Bible and studying
dance as an alternate means of worship. She is
survived by her husband, Phil; sons, Joel and
Joshua; mother, Ruth; brother, Jack; and many
nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death
by her father.
Dr. Elaine O’Neill Smith, ’49, died Sept. 6,
2007. She was 80. O’Neill Smith was born in
Seattle and earned a nursing degree from Seattle
University. She spent much of her professional
life teaching nursing, including at Pacific
Lutheran University in Tacoma. She is survived
by her sister and brother-in-law, Joan and Jules;
sisters-in-law, Joan and Christine; and many
nieces, nephews and friends. O’Neill Smith was
preceded in death by her husband, William
Jordan Smith, and her sister, Marjorie Groh.
Donations may be made to the Providence
Mount St. Vincent Foundation, 4831 35th Ave.
S.W., Seattle, WA 98126.
Joe Wild, ’64, died Aug. 18, 2007. He was
born in Peking, China, and later served in the
Merchant Marines. Wild spent much of his
life in Kent, Wash., and worked as an aerospace
engineer for The Boeing Company as
it developed the Minuteman missile. In 1989
he settled on Camano Island, north of Seattle,
with his wife, Maryadell. The couple enjoyed
travel to Scotland and Ireland as well as annual
trips to Arizona. Golf and cribbage were among
Wild’s favorite pastimes; he was also active
with the Boy Scouts of America and the Renton
Elks Club. Wild is survived by his son, Jim;
daughters, Katy and Nancy; and granddaughter,
Courtney. He was preceded in death by his wife,
Maryadell, and his parents, James and Janet.
Pauline Iona Woodward, ’62 MEd, died
Aug. 24, 2007. She was 92. Woodward was
born in Ellensburg, Wash., in 1915, and raised
in Seattle. After earning a master’s degree
in education from Seattle University, she
devoted her life to the classroom. Her career
started at elementary schools in Newport and
Snohomish, Wash. Later she worked as a reading
consultant in the Highline and Eatonville
school districts, serving until 1978. Woodward
is survived by her husband of 67 years, Everett;
her sister, Ann; daughter Susan and husband
Tom; and grandchildren, Sean, Stephanie,
Evan and Allen.
Don Delano
Wright, ’57, a
seasoned reporter
with a passion for
politics and activism,
died Nov. 21.
He was 72. Born in
Spokane, Wash.,
Wright’s foray
into politics began
while a political science student at Seattle
University. On campus he was active with the
Young Democrats and wrote for the student
newspaper, The Spectator. For many years
Wright covered the courts as a reporter for The
Seattle Times; he also penned a popular column
called “The Troubleshooter.” But politics were
also an important part of his life—he met his
wife, Mildred, at the Democratic National
Convention in 1956. In 1969 he served on the
Seattle City Council and worked for a time as a
congressional liaison and in public affairs for the
Office of Economic Opportunity. Wright was
also a strong advocate against the death penalty
and wrote the book, To Die is Not Enough,
which told the story of Don Anthony White, a
mentally ill man on death row whose sentence
was ultimately overturned. Wright is survived
by his wife, Mildred; sons Henry, Thomas and
Stephen; daughters, Paulette Kidder (an associate
professor at SU), Katie Galbraith and Julie
Anderson; and seven grandchildren. He was
preceded in death by his son, Bernard.
Obituaries
Seattle University Magazine relies on
family members to inform us of the
deaths of alumni and friends. If a news-paper
obituary is available, we would appreciate
a copy. Send notices to:
Attn: Obituaries
Seattle University Magazine
Print Communications
Seattle University
901 12th Avenue
PO Box 222000
Seattle, WA 98122-1090
Fax: (206) 296-6137
E-mail: sumagazine@seattleu.edu
40 | Alumni Focus

Society of Jesus Elects
New Superior General
Over the past weeks and
months the national psyche
has been deluged with
points and counterpoints
on complicated issues and diverse
personalities as the 2008 presidential
election looms.
While our attention has been
transfixed on candidates, caucuses and
superdelegates, in Rome another election
process has been completed. The Society
of Jesus elected a new Superior General,
Adolfo Nicolás, former provincial of
Japan and, more recently, president of
the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and
Oceania.
The election of a Superior General is
a critical responsibility of the General
Congregation that involves a period
of intense prayer and dialogue with
one another. For five days the electors
prayerfully reflect together on the
qualities and gifts of outstanding Jesuits
from around the world.
The dialogue is characterized by
tremendous transparency, honesty and
charity, no small achievement considering
the diversity existing among the
delegates. A Jesuit from Brazil described
the dialogue and encounters of a single
day: “I live side by side with a Jesuit
from Ecuador and one from Madagascar.
Then I walk down to where we gather
every day with a Korean and a Catalan.
In the hall I sit next to a Belgian, to my
left there is an African, in front of me
an Australian. During lunch, you meet
people who talk in four or five languages,
from all parts of the world, and it goes on
like this all day long.”
Each elector was well informed and,
most of all, aimed to achieve openness
and freedom so as to respond to the
Spirit’s lead as it emerged in discerning
conversations. After the election, one
American provincial shared how he
struggled for this kind of freedom and
how he experienced the grace of letting go
of his own prejudgments in order to really
listen and be open to what God wanted
for the Society. The day of the election
itself, he described this way: “We entered
into silent prayer—217 Jesuits in quiet
openness to God for I don’t know how
long but a beautiful moment of grace, a
time to ask once again for light to help
us choose the person God desires for us.
The election ended and it was clear. There
were many tears as we stood in unison to
greet and thank the Jesuit that God had
chosen to lead us into the future.”
For more than 40 years, the Society
of Jesus has been singularly blessed with
the leadership of Fathers Pedro Arrupe
and Peter Hans Kolvenbach. They have
guided our efforts to respond to the
summons of the Second Vatican Council
to return to the sources of Christian life,
and the spirit of Ignatius and the first
Jesuits, in ways that respond to the needs
and conditions of our times. Apostolically,
this has meant an awakening to a service
of faith focused on the struggle for the
justice and love that are witness to, and
bring to realization, the reign of God.
The grace of new leadership is a
call to further dimensions of service
to the Church and to the world. Like
his predecessors, Father Nicolás has
had many years of experience in very
the good word
Superior General Adolfo Nicolás.
diverse cultures. His exposure to various
spiritualities and religious expressions of
faith has sensitized him to the many ways
God reveals his purpose and extends his
saving grace. The election of Fr. Nicolás
again draws attention to the critical
questions of evangelization.
The Second Vatican Council itself
declared, “The Holy Spirit offers
everyone the possibility of sharing in
the Paschal Mystery in a manner known
only to God.” Respectful dialogue is
a critical form of pre-evangelization
that opens minds and hearts. Dialogue
moves to proclamation in the most telling
way when our lives, transformed and
transfigured in Christ, shine forth with
the goodness and love of God.
In the Mass of thanksgiving following
his election, Fr. Nicolás told his brother
Jesuits, “At this moment in our history
we need to focus our attention, our
service and our energy. What is the
color, tone and shape of salvation today
for all those many human nations—not
geographic ones—that are still longing
for salvation? To open ourselves to this
reality is perhaps the challenge and call
of this moment.” —Pat O’Leary, S.J.
Father Pat O’Leary is the chaplain for
Seattle University faculty, staff and alumni.
photo BY Don Doll, S.J.
SU Magazine Spring 2008 | 41

Thank You for Making a Difference
On April 10, 2008, 550 alumni, friends and supporters of Seattle University attended a special breakfast to publicly
launch the capital campaign, For the Difference We Make. To date, more than $137 million has been raised toward
our goal of $160 million. The overwhelming success of the campaign is thanks to the generosity of so many. With
your help, we are writing a new chapter at Seattle University and realizing our vision to be the premier independent
university of the Northwest. Learn more about the campaign at www.seattleu.edu/campaign/news.asp.
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE
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