“Today we share in creating the next season of great opportunity for Seattle Pacific University, bringing our own unique strength and resources and adding substance to the future story that will be told,” said President Deana L. Porterfield in her inaugural address to the University on Feb. 23, 2024. “Going forward involves each of you — faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends — with faith as our common fabric and prayer the essential thread.”
It was a day of celebration, songs, and prayer for the University community, including past SPU presidents Curtis Martin, Philip W. Eaton, and Pete Menjares who were in attendance. Douglas Cullum, a pastoral representative and personal friend of President Porterfield’s, shared his reflections, describing the president as “refreshingly authentic, professional but unassuming, and genuine.”
“Deana is heart and passion, commitment, vision, and belief,” Cullum said.
President Porterfield is only the 12th president, and the first female, to lead the University since its founding in 1891.
“Seattle Pacific is an example of what can be done through people responding to the call to advance the work of God in the world. Each faculty, staff, and student who walks this campus embodies a piece of our community, and when they leave, they leave part of themselves, which continues to shape and mold who we are.” — President Porterfield, from her inaugural address.
The Breakfast Club. One was the architect and first dean of the School of Theology. Others served at SPU for more than four decades, helping students read Scripture in a new way, developing Bible study courses, and establishing teaching standards for the School of Theology. They are authors, recognized Bible scholars, and they helped to write SPU’s Statement of Faith.
Together, these five emeriti theologians represent a cumulative total of 188 years of service to Seattle Pacific University. Along with President Porterfield, they are (below, from left): Les Steele, Bob Drovdahl, Frank Spina, Rob Wall, and Richard Steele.
On the first Wednesday of each month, they are now informal members of the “Theology Breakfast Group.” President Porterfield has become an unofficial participant of the breakfast club, where she has the opportunity to gain a historical perspective on SPU’s Wesleyan heritage and Christian identity.
“Deana has asked for our input as she frames the issues theologically for the contemporary situation on campus and in the world,” said Richard Steele, emeriti professor of moral and historical theology. “Her aim is practical and, one might almost say, ‘pastoral’ as she is trying to interpret what our heritage means today.”
