Every ten years Goshen College goes through the Higher Learning Commission Accreditation process. Colleges in the United States are required to go through an accreditation process in order to receive federal money to give to their students. The accreditation process is meant to ensure that institutions are providing their students with a quality education. An accreditation team of four members from other Midwest colleges will come to campus to evaluate whether or not they should recommend the continuation of Goshen’s accreditation. Though the accreditation team is not coming to campus for another month, the accreditation process actually began in 2012....

By Briana Schrock • February 12, 2015 • News

The Study Service Term (SST) program at Goshen College has developed since its beginning in 1968. Since then, there have been 24 different service locations to which Goshen students have travelled, with earlier locations including Cuba, Mali and Poland.   The available SST locations have changed over time for various reasons. “Costa Rica was an SST location for 20 years,” said Tom Myers, director of international education. Likewise, the SST location in the Dominican Republic was an option for students for almost 30 years. Both of these locations were removed as options because “families need a break from hosting students...

By Frances Fonseca • January 29, 2015 • Features

There is currently a call out and about Goshen College for Study Service Term stories from Goshen students and alumni from all countries, ages, and walks of life. It’s called the SST Stories Project. Each submitting author must have been impacted by Goshen College’s SST program, which is nearing its fiftieth year. These stories can be short or long, funny or serious, complicated or simple, as long as they are submitted by the project’s deadline of March 1st.   Kate Stoltzfus, a 2014 GC graduate, created this stories project because of her impactful experiences regarding SST. Kate’s father, Dwayne Stoltzfus,...

By Ramona Whittaker • January 29, 2015 • Features

Today's convocation from the fall 2014 China SST group began with pictures—some humorous, some sobering, and all depicting a culture widely different than our own.   The students wanted to present their experience in China in the most real way possible, using different presenters and stories to highlight the good, the bad and the confusing. They began by explaining the start of SST in Nanchong, where they studied the language, art and culture of the Sichuan Chinese. They even got to learn how to navigate traffic-crowded streets, some with more success than others.   The students then presented their service...

By Hayley Mann • January 29, 2015 • News

Select sporting events may be a new option for convocation credit. With the new convocation format this year, students have been offered convocation credit for going to special events on campus. Up until now, these events have been mostly arts and science events. In an attempt to add more diversity, the idea of allowing convo credit for select sporting events was introduced. Beverly Lapp, professor of music and member of the convocation planning committee, said that the idea behind the new convocation style and additional events is to expand interest in other areas of campus. “We were concerned for diversity...

By Briana Schrock • January 29, 2015 • News

For most Goshen College students, Study Service Term is one of the defining experiences of their time at Goshen College. Students who transfer to GC, however, have a difficult time fitting in the three-month long study abroad opportunity amongst the other Core requirements. New changes, active for the fall of 2015, will try to make this credit and time requirement a bit more manageable for transfer students.   The changes were approved by faculty vote on January 15th and will be active for students who transfer beginning in the fall of next year. The changes reduce the credit load on...

By Hayley Mann • January 29, 2015 • News

Briziada, 5 years old, makes a two-hour trek down a mountain in Ausangate with her 4 siblings and parents to the area World Vision project office. At the same time, Frances Fonseca, Goshen College second-year, stomach filled with butterflies, bumps along the three hour ride between that office and her host home in Cuzco.  Fonseca, on Peru SST, was spending the six-week service portion working for World Vision. World Vision is a Christian nonprofit that began in the 1950s and focuses on the well being of children around the world.  The organization uses a sponsorship system to raise money that...

By Elizabeth Derstine • January 15, 2015 • Features

Each year faculty members are given the opportunity to apply to lead a Study Service Term. According to Tom Meyers, Director of International Education, a committee reviews faculty applications and then Meyers makes final decisions with the academic dean, Dr. Anita Stalter. For the 2015-2016 academic year, three SST destinations will be offered: Peru, Cambodia and Senegal. While Peru units would normally have been offered in fall, spring and summer, the fall unit has been cancelled due to lack of interest. Assistant Professor of Biology Kris Schmidt and his wife Kathryn will lead the remaining spring and summer units. The...

By Briana Schrock • January 15, 2015 • News

The Nicaragua Study-Service Term unit is back on the schedule for this summer. The Nicaragua SST unit for this summer was previously cancelled; however, due to students being adversely affected by the cancellation, it was brought back. According to Tom Meyers, director of international education, the previous cancellation meant class conflicts for some students, which would have altered their graduation dates. According to Meyers, this summer’s unit will be financially stable due to the number of students enrolled in units this summer; however after this summer the Nicaragua SST destination will be put on hold until overall enrollment in the...

By Briana Schrock • November 13, 2014 • News

The Study Service Term students who went to Tanzania organized and presented a bonus convocation to share their experiences. Though there was no official time slot in the convocation schedule, Jared Zook, a senior, took the initiative and worked closely with Beverly Lapp to arrange the event and get it approved for convocation credit. "We wanted to share [our SST] experience with everyone and include the whole campus in our story," Zook said. "There was no way we weren't going to!" While Zook lamented the difficulty of trying to squeeze several months of SST into a 40-minute presentation, Ida Short,...

By Monica Miller • November 6, 2014 • News

Dear SSTers,  There’s a new project about to unfold, but it cannot begin without you. An initiative to collect essays and snapshots from Goshen College’s study service term is underway. The SST Stories Project will aim to capture the varied experiences, spanning nearly 50 years, of current students, alumni, leaders and host families around the globe. The program has been transforming groups of people for nearly half a century, but there isn’t yet a collective place where these experiences have been published or shared. SST is different for each person, but all experiences are valid, and many deserve to be...

By Record • November 6, 2014 • Features

The October meeting of Goshen College’s Board of Directors allowed student representatives to be a part of one of their meetings as they discussed strategic planning, the hiring policy and enrollment. The Board members arrived on campus before fall break for several meetings, which focused on the college’s mission and future. The board is currently made up of 12 members from nine states and it meets three times a year. In this most recent meeting, the board passed a budget for the upcoming year, noted the growth of the college’s endowment, discussed the hiring policy and the college’s reaccreditation process...

By Jacob Penner • October 22, 2014 • News

The Goshen College Alumni Executive Board, which meets twice a year, discussed happenings at the college and met with members of the administration about recent transitions. The board met last week over Homecoming Weekend. Dan Koop-Liechty, director of alumni relations and career networks, supervises the Alumni Board. The recent fall meeting was shorter than the spring meeting because it coincided with Homecoming Weekend, and Board members were involved with the Alumni Awards. The Board’s mission is to provide support and connection to alumni as well as aid in encouraging alumni to contribute to the college’s Student Aid Fund. The Board...

By Drea Mast • October 8, 2014 • News

Goshen College hired the Noel-Levitz Higher Education Consulting firm to aid in revitalizing enrollment operations this year. Though numbers for the 2014-15 academic year increased in the adult and graduate division, the number of students in the traditional undergraduate program showed a slight decrease. Goshen College hired Noel-Levitz  with hopes that they will be able to rejuvenate the recruitment management. The firm’s mission is to “achieve Goshen’s goal through a systematic, data-informed and effective marketing and recruitment process.” Dr. Lee Snyder, interim provost and executive vice president, and the leadership team initiated the search to hire a consulting firm. The...

By Drea Mast • October 1, 2014 • News

Administrative restructuring, including office and staff changes, was finalized over the summer. On June 27, a memo was sent out to all employees of Goshen College informing them of the new structure of the administration. According to the memo, in order to “better serve the college going forward” as part of the administrative restructuring, the President’s Council underwent changes and positions were revised. “Major internal reconstruction for the organization is part of our strategic planning, as is preparation for our Higher Learning Commission reaccreditation process in March of 2015,” President James Brenneman said. “The goal also is to bring our...

By Elizabeth Franks-North • September 10, 2014 • News