Quicknotes | april 2018

The School of Visual Art and Design (SVAD) invites alumni and friends of the university to a special reception that's being hosted by the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) for eight fine art majors from Southern on April 13, beginning at 5:30 p.m. 

Their work will be on display in Chattanooga at the Landis Student Gallery (30 Frazier Avenue), one of two spaces operated by AVA in the heart of the city's North Shore district. This exhibition provides students with the a unique opportunity to present their efforts in a variety of formats—oil paintings, installation, and mixed media—to the Chattanooga art community and friends of Southern. The reception and showing are free and open to the public.

Those unable to attend on April 13 can visit AVA any time before April 27 to see "Southern Adventist University Studio Group Show." For more information, call 423.236.2732.

Many Southern students and employees used the first week of March in atypical Spring Break fashion, working long days (and often nights) helping others. In total, 134 participants were involved with trips to Brazil, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Haiti, Peru, Atlanta, and Appalachia.

International projects organized by the campus’ uQuest Missions team ranged from construction and maintenance to medical missions, while the two domestic trips involved collaborating with community service centers to address pressing social issues as varied as childhood hunger, homelessness, and sex trafficking.

People often associate student mission work only with opportunities that takes students off campus for an entire year, but even short-term mission trips have transformative power.

“Before going to Peru, I wanted to be a dentist for the wrong reasons, such as impressing others and making money,” said Stephen Otanes, a junior biology major. “God had a different plan. I left AMOR Projects with a new reason for becoming a dentist: to use my skills in the mission field feeding His sheep!”

Southern gratefully acknowledges the many prayers and financial gifts that made these Spring Break trips possible.

Herbert Blomstedt, conductor laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, visited Southern March 5-7 as a guest of the Eugene A. Anderson Organ Series.

Each night presented a new opportunity to hear from and meet this legendary musician. Events included a hymn sing and short organ recital, a lecture on Johannes Brahms’ A German Requiem (along with a screening of his performance of this work with the Danish National Symphony), and a panel discussion facilitated by WSMC's Tyler Rand, '16.

During Blomstedt’s visit, Robert Young, PhD, senior vice president for Academic Administration, presented him with the Southern Adventist University Award for Outstanding Service and Scholarship. This honor recognizes his distinguished contributions to the world of classical music, his extensive service to the public, and his outstanding talent as a conductor.

In constant demand as a guest conductor, Blomstedt has led many of the world’s greatest orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic. A devout Seventh-day Adventist, he does not rehearse on Friday nights or Saturdays. Blomstedt does, however, conduct concerts, since he considers actual performances to be an expression of his religious devotion rather than work.

Blomstedt’s numerous distinctions include membership in the Royal Musical Academy of Stockholm, of which Beethoven was a member, and several honorary doctorates. In 1992 he was awarded Columbia University’s Ditson Award for distinguished service to American music.

During the month of April, Southern is having some fun with a special contest called YOU NAME IT. Those making a gift of $5 or more this month to support any area on campus will be entered for the chance to see their name on one of eight Southern icons!

Close to 90 percent of the student body received merit-based and need-based Southern scholarships this year. Without financial support from alumni, employees, parents, and friends, most of our student body would not be able to study here. So although Southern is having some fun with this contest, the support of alumni and donors is serious business.

Some of the interesting items and surprising places available for naming opportunities include:

• Student Association president’s jacket
• Intramural soccer champion game ball
• Roundabout fountain
• Mystery item!

“I think it’s important for alumni and donors to realize that they don’t have to make a large gift to impact students,” said Ashley Fox, ’15, Annual Giving officer. “Last year, more than $200,000 was contributed through gifts of $100 or less!"

Congratulations to Seth Sutherland, '16, and the Jacobs Family (Carl, '27; Ruth, '29; Mark, '95; Amy, '07; and Skylar, current), Southern’s first YOU NAME IT winners. Their names will grace the promenade and Thatcher's front porch, respectively, for the week.  

Contest winners are randomly selected every Monday in April at 5 p.m. and announced the following day. The earlier in the month supporters make a gift, the higher the chance of being selected. Visit southern.edu/younameit to see what other interesting items and surprising places have been selected for this contest.

Members of Southern’s Enactus team are difficult to define. The very nature of their work asks each student to be part dreamer and part pragmatist while researching creative ways to change the world using Enactus’ core values of passion, innovation, integrity, and collaboration. Several projects spearheaded by this year’s group have gained meaningful traction and received a vote of confidence from a recent Versafund grant to support their continued growth.

One of these efforts addresses women’s empowerment. Hire Tech Minded Ladies (HTML) is the brainchild of junior international business major Eileen Flores and sophomore business management major Natasya Panjaitan. Panjaitan got the idea after learning about Girls Who Code, a national program designed to close the gender gap in technology careers.

“Millions of jobs are being created every year in tech,” Flores said, “but the number of women in the field keeps declining.”

Girls Who Code was not being utilized anywhere in the Chattanooga area, which motivated these Southern students to start their own similar project and include coding as part of the curriculum. HTML offers a basic computer programming class in Brock Hall each Monday from 5-6:30 p.m. led by student business and engineering students from Southern. Flores and Panjaitan also take the girls on tech-inspired field trips and invite women who work in tech to come speak with them.

This semester there are eight girls enrolled in HTML, ranging from sixth to eighth grade. As a part of the 10-week program, students create a website to meet a community need. The current group of girls chose mental health as its topic.

“It was so cool to see them come together, identify a problem, and help be a part of the solution,” Flores said.

The $10,000 grant from Versafund will help HTML, along with two other Enactus projects that address food insecurity and refugee relationships in Chattanooga. HTML plans to use some of its portion of the funds to publish student-created apps. The remaining amount will help purchase robotics equipment and coding programs.

“Receiving grant money validates the team’s efforts,” said Michelle Doucoumes, ’05 and ’10, assistant professor of business and Enactus faculty sponsor. “An outside group is saying ‘yes, what you are doing is valuable!’”

To learn more about HTML and other Enactus projects, email mdoucoumes@southern.edu or call 423.236.2659.

-by Lizzie Williams, junior public relations major

Southern’s I Cantori Chamber Choir recently had a spontaneous opportunity to fellowship in song with civil rights icons Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The moment was awe-inspiring for students and faculty alike.

The ensemble, directed by Gennevieve Brown-Kibble, was wrapping up a weekend tour and planned to visit the museum before heading back to Southern. Knowing it was only a few days before the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, the group obtained permission to sing a few songs on the lawn near the Lorraine Motel, where King was killed.

As they got positioned, they noticed a CNN crew interviewing Jackson and Young not far away. When Kibble led the choir in singing “We Shall Overcome,” an anthem of the civil rights movement, she looked back toward the interview site and saw Jackson wipe tears from his face.

Jackson and Young left the path and joined the choir on the lawn to sing in their midst. The men stayed with the group for two more songs and then asked them to sing “We Shall Overcome” again. Cameras and reporters descended on the group, but Jackson and Young kept their focus on the choir, Jackson calling out each line of the song, his voice reverberating with conviction.

“The fact that we could sing such a powerful song at that time was a rich experience,” Kibble said.   

Once back at Southern, I Cantori members spent a class discussing and reflecting on the impact Jackson, Young, and King had on history. Brenda Osorio-Dure, senior nursing major, sensed the gravity of the group’s time spent with two legends.

“They marched side-by-side with Dr. King and are one of the reasons why our multiracial choir can sing together today.”

-by Natalie Boonstra, freshman public relations major

Ray Hefferlin, former Southern professor and globally-renowned physicist, was one of the core members of a group of scientists interested in describing periodicity in atoms and molecules—an endeavor for which he was considered a leading expert. The respect Hefferlin earned among his peers lives on, even after his death in 2015.

UCLA professor Eric Scerri, PhD, is editor for Foundations of Chemistry, a journal covering scientific exchange in this area. Over the years he became a personal friend of Hefferlin’s as they spent time together at conferences and visits to the Chattanooga area. Scerri recently dedicated Volume 20 of Foundations of Chemistry to Southern’s former professor, writing: “I believe I speak for all of us when I say that anybody who ever encountered Ray came away with the impression of the kindest and most dignified person that they had ever met.” Along with that personal praise, Scerri also published an allegory which Hefferlin wrote that outlines the history of his work on categorizing periodicity of diatomic molecules.

During an interview with Columns magazine just a few years before his death, Hefferlin described what motivated him, and others, to live a life consumed by this drive for new understandings. 

“For many students, research is the holy grail that their individual make-up has been harboring unknown for years. For some, it’s music or art. But for those in physics and engineering, it’s finding what God has put into nature for them to discover."

Southern is once again hosting 12 academic camps June 18-20, bringing high school students to the university for an opportunity to explore or sharpen their vocational focus. Each three-day camp includes a spiritual component as well, modeling for students how Adventist education facilitates the marriage of career and calling.

Approximately 60 students participated in last year’s summer camps at Southern, representing states all over the country. Many attend Adventist academies and other private schools, but almost half came from public education and homeschool backgrounds. Several new camps are on the schedule for 2018. Topics include:

» Automotive Repair
» Business Entrepreneurship
» Creative Writing
» Filmmaking
» Painting
» Photography
» Pre-Med
» Psychology
» Social Work and Missions
» Strings Chamber Music
» Vegetarian Culinary Arts
» Women and Minorities in Civic Engagement

Laura Gibbs, a junior at Fletcher Academy in North Carolina, traveled to Southern last summer for the Social Work and Missions camp.

“It was an incredible experience that changed my daughter’s life,” said Ashley Gibbs, Laura’s mother. “The camp helped her discover an interest in a career she had not yet considered. Laura is eager to go again this year!”

Total fees for the three-day event (including registration, materials, and meals) are $150 for day campers or $200 for those staying overnight. Some students have secured sponsorships from their home church or stayed with relatives in the Collegedale area to minimize expenses.

For campers traveling from outside the Chattanooga area, vans will provide free transportation both to and from Southern at centralized pickup locations in Asheville, Atlanta, Nashville, and Knoxville on June 17 and 20. For more information, call 423.236.2781 or visit southern.edu/camps.

The Alumni Association and new Student Alumni Council, in conjunction with the Engage [God] Weekend and the Student Association, welcome young alumni to a wide variety of educational, spiritual, and social activities for the fourth weekend in April as part of Southern’s inaugural Young Alumni Weekend. Events include:

• Campus Research Day. April 19 from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Attend student and faculty presentations on fascinating topics at various times and locations across campus.

• Convocation. April 19 at 11 a.m. in Iles PE Center. David Epstein, professional sports medicine/performance researcher and journalist, will discuss the nature vs. nurture question regarding what makes star athletes so dominant.

• NextStep Vespers. April 20 at 8 p.m. in church sanctuary. Learn about preparing for and dealing with spiritual life transitions in the years after college.

• Afterglow. April 20 at 9 p.m. in church fellowship hall.

• Star Watch. April 20 at 9 p.m. in Hickman Science Center parking lot (weather permitting).

• Sabbath Worship Services. April 21 at various times and locations: Adoration I at 9 a.m. in church sanctuary; Adoration II at 10:15 a.m. in church sanctuary; The Experience Sabbath School at 10:15 a.m. in church fellowship hall; Renewal (student-led service) at 11:35 a.m. in church sanctuary; Connect (multi-generational) at 11:35 a.m. in Collegedale Academy.

• Community Service. April 21 at 2 p.m. Locations vary (visit southern.edu/serve).

• Evensong. April 21 at 8 p.m. in church sanctuary.

• This is Us. April 21 at 9:15 p.m. in Iles PE Center. Celebrate Southern’s community of unity and acceptance with multi-cultural food, music, and a variety of performances.

• Strawberry Festival. April 22 at 8 p.m. in Iles PE Center. Join alumni and friends for the 40^th anniversary of the traditional year-in-review event.

More information is available online or by emailing alumni@southern.edu.