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SPU Grants Enable Faculty to Engage the Culture Through Research
and Scholarship
THIS YEAR, SEATTLE PACIFIC University awarded
$52,000 to 17 faculty members for research projects on such
topics as “universal design” in new homes, the
theology of Scottish novelist George MacDonald, and the resilience
of children after the death of a parent.
As a comprehensive university, Seattle Pacific understands
the importance of professors engaging in active scholarship,
says Susan VanZanten
Gallagher, director of the Center for Scholarship and Faculty
Development (CSFD). “There’s a symbiotic relationship
between teaching
and scholarship,” she explains.
Administered through the CSFD, three internally funded SPU
grants — the Senior Faculty Grant, Faculty Research
Grant, and Lilly Faculty Grant — provide faculty members
with the money needed to cover travel, software, research
assistants, and more. “Part of engaging the culture
is interacting with the world by exploring ideas, developing
therapies, or addressing social problems,” Gallagher
explains. “Scholarship is one way faculty members contribute
to the overall mission of the University.”
Assistant Professor of Biology Cynthia Bishop received a
2005–06 Faculty Research
SPU Grants Enable Faculty to Engage the Culture Through Research
and ScholarshipGrant to continue a project she began 15 years
ago. Then a veterinarian specializing in birds, she had treated
many birds affected by the often-deadly air sac mites. “Both
wild birds
and pet birds are haunted by these respiratory parasites,”
she says. “It’s a real problem to get
rid of the parasite without killing the bird.” After
making inroads into a treatment in the 1990s, Bishop expected
other researchers to continue her work when she left full-time
veterinary medicine and began to teach. But
no one did.
“People are working on research all over the world,
but so far no one has been working on this exact project,”
she says. So when Bishop arrived at Seattle Pacific in 2001,
she applied for a Faculty Research Grant. Now processing her
findings, Bishop says the results are encouraging.
Although SPU has long provided internal grants to professors,
and supported faculty members seeking external grants, when
the CSFD opened in 2002, it took on the administration
of internal funding. Total grant money increased from $18,000
to $52,000.
“It’s important that the University is investing
in scholarship,” says Gallagher, explaining that before
outside organizations award research grants, they often consider
if an applicant’s
own university has given an award for the project. “Examples
of that happening are the $90,000 National Science Foundation
Grant received by our science faculty, and the Wabash Grant
awarded to SPU theology professors,” she notes. Bishop
also plans to apply for an outside grant for her research.
And faculty members aren’t the only ones benefiting
from such grants. Many professors employ research assistants
(i.e., undergraduate students), providing them with real-world
research experience. “I worked all summer on my project
with a student,” says Bishop, adding that the pre-veterinary
student learned to safely handle tiny birds, even drawing
blood samples from them. “This academic year, I have
another student, too,” she adds. “She’s
more interested in the parasite aspect of the research.”
'In class, students also reap benefits from faculty research.
“When I’m teaching, I automatically
bring in information about my research,” says Bishop.
“I’m doing this right now in my animal physiology
class.”
Says Gallagher: “With President Eaton’s vision
for SPU, the existence of the Center, and the expertise of
our faculty, we are fleshing out what it means to be a premier
university.”
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