InDepthA collection of our most-followed stories. From immigration to administration, we cover it all.
A collection of our most-followed stories. From immigration to administration, we cover it all.
January 29, 2026
Allman to lead Tanzania SST
Goshen College has announced that a Study-Service Term cohort will return to Tanzania in the spring semester of 2027. This will mark the eighth occasion that the college has sent students to the nation. This unit will be led by Phil Allman, associate professor of marine biology, and Tim Pinion, a retired National Park Service employee, who served in various roles between 2015 and 2023. Jerrell Ross Richer, co-director of global engagement, explained that this SST unit is similar to every other cohort, in that the students will spend six weeks doing their study before transitioning to service for the...
February 13, 2025
Winter sickness spreads on campus
College students are no strangers to illness, and this winter is no exception, with reported instances of COVID-19, Influenza, RSV and cold symptoms, many missed classes and even rescheduled events. This was the case for both Fatima Rhana, senior music and theater major, and Victor Vegas, senior music major, who were forced to reschedule their senior recitals. These recitals are a requirement of the music major, and thus essential to complete. Rhana said that it was a hard decision to reschedule, but a necessary one that the department was very understanding of. “The department was so fast and super understanding....
February 13, 2025
SST leaders announced for spring ‘26
Leaders for the Ecuador and Indonesia Study Service Terms in spring 2026 were announced recently by the Global Engagement Office. Global citizenship is one of GC’s core values, and one of the ways it is fulfilled is through semester-long SSTs which are led by a faculty director and a resident director. For the Indonesia SST, Luke Beck Kreider will act as faculty director, and his spouse, Janie Beck Kreider, will act as resident director. In Ecuador, Duane Stoltzfus will act as faculty director, and his spouse, Karen Stoltzfus, will act as resident director. Jerrell Ross Richer, professor of economics and...
November 21, 2024
Appreciating GC’s sports communicators
Two driving forces behind all sixteen of Goshen College’s sports teams are Tony Miller, statistician, and Justin DeWeese, assistant athletic director of communications and operations DeWeese explained that his role has two parts, with the communications part entailing “writing up the game previews and reviews for the college athletics website, goleafs.net.” The operations part of his job entails ensuring that everything on game days runs smoothly for all of the teams when they play at home, including “setting up and tearing down and getting all of the workers together,” DeWeese said. Miller explained that he is “the person responsible for...
September 15, 2022
I didn’t go on SST
One of the things I’ve been struggling with this semester is the awareness that, when I graduate in the spring, I won’t have completed a full Study-Service Term semester. My requirements will have been met — don’t worry, faculty advisors — but I won’t have the experience of spending an entire semester in another country. And that feels strange, because SST has always felt like something of an inevitability for me. When I committed to GC my senior year of high school, I told several GC alumni at my church that I would be attending. Their initial responses usually involved...
September 15, 2022
Summer SST unit travels to Senegal
16 GC students and two faculty leaders departed for their 13-week Study-Service Term in Senegal in early May. The group returned in late July. Goshen College’s Study Service Term (SST) is a program that each GC student experiences in some capacity, whether through SST alternate courses, hybrid semesters or a 13-week semester studying and serving abroad. SST contributes to GC’s motto, “Culture for Service,” and core value of global citizenship. When the group arrived in Senegal, they strapped luggage to their bus, traveled an hour to Thiès, and stayed in a small dormitory the first few nights. “I remember getting...
April 14, 2022
After the pandemic, I want to…
COVID-19 affected the lives of everyone. For many young people, that meant scrolling mindlessly through TikTok and binge-watching Netflix. It also intensified the looming uncertainty of the future. Despite the unknown, young people continue to hold onto the hope of a safe, Zoom-free world without COVID-19. Inspired by an article in the The Washington Post, we asked Goshen College students to respond to the statement, “After the pandemic, I want to….” In their own handwriting, here are their responses. Claudia Mobley, 19, was a senior in high school when the pandemic shut her world down. On Mar. 13, 2020, she...
March 17, 2022
Baltimore SST focuses on immigration
Next fall, Goshen College will send off its first split-semester Study-Service Term (SST) unit, with participants spending half of the semester on GC’s campus and the other half in Baltimore, Maryland. The unit will focus on the themes of immigration, asylum and refugees. During the first half of the semester, the students will take two classes: one on literature written by refugees and other displaced people, and the second on the causes and consequences of global migration. Then, after the midterm break, they will travel to Baltimore for service placements. The split-semester arrangement reflects a shift in the SST department...
February 25, 2022
Visas finally approved for Indonesia SST group
After months of waiting in limbo and much back-and-forth with the Indonesian consulate, the Indonesia Study Service Term group will finally be able to enter the country. The ten students will leave from Philadelphia, where they have spent the study portion of the semester, on Thursday, March 3, for their six-week service component on three Indonesian islands. Five students will do their service on the Java island, three will go to the island of Sumba, and two will travel to Timor. Jan Bender Shetler, director of international education, said that the visas came through on Monday, and they found out...
January 28, 2022
Master of Social Work program seeks director
The social work department has begun the search for a director to lead the Master of Social Work (MSW) program Goshen College is developing in collaboration with Bluffton University. A search committee, made up of students and faculty in the social work department, is in the process of evaluating candidates. The MSW is being developed by the two universities as a response to years of interest by numerous parties. The program, which plans to have its first students in the fall of 2023, will satisfy local employers, alumni, students and faculty who have been hoping for a small, personal MSW...
January 20, 2022
Omicron spreads on campus, variant less severe
Omicron, the newest COVID-19 variant, is spreading through campus like no variant before. Since the start of winter break, over 100 students have tested positive for the virus, compared to 16 total cases in the fall semester. But the more mild nature of the variant combined with the high vaccination rate on campus means there is less reason for concern. In shifting from the Delta to the Omicron variant, the “whole equation has changed,” said President Rebecca Stotzfus. Over 93% of campus is fully vaccinated, and many students and staff have also received a booster, both of which dramatically reduce...
January 20, 2022
SSTers learn flexibility as Covid changes plans
Last Wednesday, 15 students departed for their Study Service Term in Quito, Ecuador. On Jan. 25, 10 more students will head to Philadelphia as part of an adapted cross cultural experience focused on immersion in Indonesian culture both in the United States and abroad. Both groups have been forced to adapt to changes posed by the ever-evolving coronavirus. The prevalence of the virus became apparent for the group heading to Ecuador when test shortages and changed airplane schedules threatened to affect their travel plans. Even as the students boarded their first flight toward Quito, there was still uncertainty about their...
December 2, 2021
COVID -19’s impact on student mental health
The COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on the mental health of college students around the country and at Goshen College. National surveys show that depression, anxiety, substance use and suicidal thoughts increased in college students during the pandemic’s first year, when many were forced to live in isolation without a clear end in sight. One study published in BMC Psychology found that over 70% of college students reported an increase in anxiety, depression and loneliness during the pandemic. In addition to the isolation, fear and actual losses felt by many, remote learning was also a cause of stress for students,...
November 11, 2021
New vice presidents announced
On Monday, President Stoltzfus announced that Goshen College had hired both Jim Alvarez as the chief financial officer (CFO), and, in an unexpected turn of events, Ben Bontrager as the vice president for operations – a position that previously did not exist at Goshen College. A search for a new chief financial officer began after Deanna Risser, an employee of Goshen College since 1999, transitioned to the role of vice president of finance at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. At GC, Risser had previously worked as administrative assistant, manager of business operations/budget analyst, assistant director of institutional research and budget and...