Willamette Welcomes ACE Fellow

Julie Filizetti, associate provost for academic affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, Calif., has joined the Willamette community as an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow for the coming academic year.

At Willamette Filizetti will work primarily with the newly appointed 15-member Commission on Academic Excellence created by President Pelton in August. The commission is to identify academic activities or centers of excellence that strengthen Willamette’s academic mission and increase opportunities for faculty development, research and scholarship.

Filizetti joined the NPS faculty in 1991 and has held various roles in administration including institutional advancement, strategic planning and assessment. After earning her undergraduate degree at Villanova University and her master’s degree at the Naval Postgraduate School, Filizetti graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Doctorate in Higher Education Management, a program focused on developing senior leaders in higher education. She spent 12 years as a naval officer, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander, and is also a member of the Santa Clara University Board of Regents.

Hurricane Update

Willamette University welcomed four of the 75,000 students displaced by Hurricane Katrina in August. Three are from Tulane University, one from the University of New Orleans.

Four months after the storm forced 13,000 Tulane students to relocate for fall semester, the university announced it will cut $60 million from its annual operating budget, lay off 233 faculty members, cut 14 doctoral programs and five undergraduate majors, and suspend eight athletic teams in order to reopen in January.

Approximately 32 colleges and universities in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi suffered serious to extreme damage as a result of the hurricane. Many remain closed or at temporary locations.

Willamette University students, faculty and staff participated in a relief effort that resulted in a check to the American Red Cross for $58,502.

Warm Welcome

Nearly 550 visitors attended opening day ceremonies for the “Toi Maori: The Eternal Thread” exhibit, as the Siletz, Grand Ronde and other Oregon tribes welcomed the Maori delegation to their ancestral homelands. The ceremonies concluded with the Willamette Chamber Choir singing a beloved Maori song, “Pokarekare ana.” More than 2,000 visitors have come to the Hallie Ford Museum of Art to view the Maori weaving exhibit.

Maori weaver Waana Davis (left) presses the nose of Siletz tribal elder Agnes Baker-Pilgrim in a traditional Maori greeting.

Seen and Heard

Ira Glass, host and producer of the National Public Radio program This American Life, will deliver the spring Atkinson Lecture Saturday, April 22, in Smith Auditorium at 8 p.m. Ticket information will be released in March.

This American Life premiered on Chicago’s public radio station WBEZ in 1995 and is now heard on more than 500 public radio stations each week by an estimated 1.7 million listeners.

Glass began his career as a 19-year-old intern at NPR’s network headquarters in Washington, D.C., and went on to hold virtually every production job on site. He has filled in as host of Talk of the Nation and Weekend All Things Considered.

Under his direction, This American Life has won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, including the Peabody and DuPont-Columbia awards, as well as the Robert F. Kennedy Award.

Gubernatorial Debate Returns to Campus

Willamette will host the first gubernatorial debate to feature all candidates for the 2006 governor’s race, Monday, March 13, 2006, in Smith Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

The University served as host in January 2002 when all six candidates participated in the question and answer forum. It was the first campaign event to feature all gubernatorial contestants.

A final list of candidates and the time of the forum have not yet been finalized. Check the Willamette website, www.willamette.edu, for details.

Event sponsors are Willamette University and the Associated Press Newspaper Executives.

Speckman Tells USA Today ‘There’s Always a Way’

“The Willamette University football team is in good hands, even though its coach was born without them.” So reads the Oct. 5 USA Today cover story profiling Mark Speckman, who was named head coach in 1998 after serving as offensive line coach and offensive coordinator since 1995.

Now an admired leader and inspiration to his players, Speckman describes his youthful struggle with wanting to be normal and how his success in sports became an outlet — and a way to silence the kids who once called him “Captain Hook.” Speckman’s philosophy, “figure it out, there’s always a way,” has served him well in teaching himself how to manage daily tasks and lead the Bearcats in the unusual “Fly” offense. The article, Speckman says, “is good exposure for Willamette as a top-notch academic school, and also for our football program.” To read the story yourself, go to usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2005-10- 04-willamette-speckman_x.htm.

Speckman has been invited by Nike to address their sales team, and he was interviewed by CNN for an profile that aired in late December. In other national coverage, ESPN is reporting on the Bearcat football team that played the University of Hawaii on Dec. 6, 1941, and was put into service the next day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The piece will air during the halftime show of the Pro Bowl, Feb. 12, 2006.

Introducing the Class of 2009

The numbers will tell you the 445 members of the Class of 2009 are 54 percent female, 46 percent male, and hale from 32 states. Nearly a third are from Oregon, 20 percent from Washington, 17 percent from California, 24 percent from other Western states. The class boasts 33 valedictorians, 96 student government representatives, 288 varsity athletes, 32 newspaper editors, 238 musicians, and 129 volunteer coaches and tutors.

But to get a true sense of these bold and brainy newcomers, just listen to the jobs they’ve held: barista and bicycle repairman, camp counselor, courtesy clerk, kayaker and coach, fly fishing guide, firefighter and filmmaker, model and movie extra, zoo ambassador and veterinary assistant, golf cart attendant and game designer, chauffeur and pilot, receptionist, novelist and sandwich artist.

Nor are they all work and no play. The newest Bearcats list pursuits and pastimes including wakeboarding and snowboarding, cycling, surfing, skiing, and skating, fencing, flying, photography, fly fishing, filmmaking and ultimate Frisbee, camping, climbing, canoeing, kayaking and croquet, knitting and rowing and reading and racquetball, hiking and horseback riding, martial arts, yoga and riflery, backpacking, bowling, badminton, boxing and billiards, paintball and poetry.

Gift from Lilly Endowment Extends Program

Willamette has received a $500,000 matching grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., to extend the Lilly Project, which helps students discern their vocational and spiritual calling. The project, says Associate Chaplain Karen Wood, dovetails perfectly with the University’s motto by offering “opportunities for students to do community service and to think about what that experience meant to them, how it changed their world view and how it might shape the rest of their lives.”

The three-year grant, which will be matched by the University, will assist the program in securing funds to make it self-sustaining. The Lilly Project was established in 2001 by a $2 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.