Alumnus of the Year

Due to his strong ties to Seattle Pacific University (SPU), being named 2012 Alumnus of the Year is a great honor for Alec Hill. He will be celebrated during Homecoming Weekend, January 26-28.

Alec graduated in 1975. Ten years later he returned to SPU to teach in the Business School. After another ten years, he became Dean of the Business School and served for six years (before becoming InterVarsity’s president). He was also voted Professor of the Year in 1988. As such, he may be the only SPU graduate to have achieved both professor and alumni honors.

Strong Connections

Despite having served as InterVarsity’s president for more than ten years, Alec’s connections to SPU are still strong. “I go back all the time, at least once a year or twice a year,” he said. “Mary, our daughters and I lived just two blocks from campus. It was also my neighborhood, it was my home.”

He counts former president David McKenna (1968-1982) and current president Philip Eaton as mentors, having conferred with them on multiple occasions about leadership issues. When he returns to campus Alec notes that some of the faculty he hired as Dean are moving into leadership positions and that one of his former students now serves on the SPU Board of Trustees. “There’s a lot of gratification there,” he said.

Alec’s connections with his former students are strong. A number of them have tracked him down on Facebook. (So not all of his 1,124 Facebook friends are InterVarsity staff members!)

Hill Family Legacy

Alec’s grandparents migrated from Minnesota to Seattle in 1902, just a decade after the school began. His grandfather served as the school’s attorney-of-record, and a dormitory — Hill Hall — is named after his grandparents. Hillford House, the residence of SPU’s presidents, sits on land donated by Alec’s uncle, Cyril Hill.

Both of Alec’s brothers attended SPU, and his wife Mary also earned an MBA from SPU. “It’s played a pretty big role in our family,” he said.

SPU’s Influence

Alec names many ways that his SPU education and experience have helped him in his role as president of InterVarsity. SPU was founded as a Free Methodist seminary and still requires faculty to have a Christian commitment, but it welcomes students of all faiths. “I liked the fact that it had such a wide variety of students,” he said.

As a professor and dean, Alec was able to improve his understanding of the academy. “Faculty culture is so unique,” he said. “I certainly grew to understand the mind of the faculty when I was dean.”

During Homecoming Week, Alec will have the opportunity to speak in the SPU chapel service, share a luncheon with family and friends, and be honored with introductions during the halftime of an SPU basketball game, as well as at the annual SPU talent show. He’ll also speak to a group of Business School alumni.

Grateful Appreciation

SPU President Philip Eaton was pleased that Alec was given the alumni award. “While Alec was at Seattle Pacific, he had a tremendous impact on so many students, faculty colleagues, and the broader Seattle business community,” he told the SPU’s Response magazine. The article notes that while he was serving as Dean, Alec led the Business School to achieve international accreditation.

InterVarsity doesn’t have a chapter at SPU, although there was a chapter there about 30 years ago. Nonetheless, SPU has played a major role in the history of InterVarsity, having sent us Alec, as well as our previous president Steve Hayner.