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.
October 1, 2014
Goshen College Hires Consulting Firm For Admissions
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...
September 10, 2014
Restructuring Finalized
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...
September 10, 2014
Cookbook Created For Charity
This summer, two students created a Peruvian cookbook, “Los Sabores del Peru,” to sell for charity. Gretchen Geyer, a senior studying social work and business, went to Peru for Study Service Term (SST) in the spring of 2014. During the Service portion of her time, she lived in Ayacucho, where she worked to prepare food at the comedor, a free soup kitchen hosted by the church Luz Y Vida. There, she and two other chefs worked, “essentially making food for 50 to 60 little children from the ages of 3 to 14,” said Geyer. For Geyer’s final project, she studied differences between food preparation in...
September 4, 2014
Goshen Welcomes New Interim Provost And VP, Dr. Lee Snyder
Dr. Lee Snyder, former president of Bluffton University, will be serving in the combined role of provost and executive vice president for the 2014-2015 academic year. President Jim Brenneman said, “In her role as provost, Dr. Snyder oversees all Academic programs at Goshen College. In her role as the executive vice president, Dr. Snyder serves, in effect, as the Chief Operating Officer. She oversees the day-to-day operations of the campus.” According to Snyder, these operations include working with athletics, institutional effectiveness and research, and finances. The implementation of the dual positions means that each member of administration is able to...
September 4, 2014
Offices Relocated And Staff Positions Shifted
Over the summer, many offices were relocated for convenience and multiple positions were changed or absorbed into other positions for efficiency. The student services offices were all moved to the first floor of the Administration building. According to Dan Koop Liechty, director of alumni relations and career networks, the purpose of putting the registrar’s office, accounting office, and financial aid office onto one floor is to introduce a “one stop shop” structure that promotes a more efficient set up for students. “This way, students don’t have to go down to the Administration building basement for accounting and then go back...
April 17, 2014
Restructuring Continues Per Budget Cuts
As the current academic calendar comes to an end, Goshen College will continue a process of change to prepare for a new school year. During the week of April 28, the President’s Council will announce to employees the cuts and reductions for administrative staff, which will come into effect for the 2014-15 school year. Faculty reductions were announced last December; three full-time and three part-time positions were eliminated, and 10 professors’ teaching loads were reduced to 75-percent contracts, or a load of six courses rather than eight. Goshen College will move to a 12:1 student-faculty ratio from the current 10:1...
April 17, 2014
Unveiling the MBA
This August, Goshen College will begin collaborating with Eastern Mennonite University and Bluffton University to offer an online Masters’ of business administration degree, an MBA. The program is organized to take 18 students at a time, in cohorts. “It’s been a few years in the making,” said Michelle Horning, professor of accounting. According to Horning, the business departments from the three colleges first discussed collaborating to offer a master’s degree about four years ago. From there, the plan morphed into what it is today: an online, 36-hour program for students who want to earn an MBA from any of the...
April 9, 2014
Three-Month SST Stay Leads to One Year More
Three seniors will return to their SST country, Cambodia, after graduation Although they’ve only been in the States for about a year, three seniors will return to their SST locations with the SALT, Serving And Learning Together, program. Sara Klassen, Audrey Thill and Henry Stewart, all seniors, will travel back to Cambodia this coming fall, following their graduation. They will spend an entire year in the country. Klassen is especially excited to be working in a position where she will be able to utilize the skills from her major. Henry Stewart “In my SALT assignment with Interfaith Cooperation Forum’s School...
April 9, 2014
Leaders Entertain Hiring Policy Questions
A crowd of more than 50 students and faculty gathered on campus Wednesday night for a question and answer session about Goshen College’s hiring policy. The event, hosted by Student Senate, brought a panel of administrators, including Carlos Romero, executive director of Mennonite Education Agency; James Brenneman, GC president; Anita Stalter, vice president for academic affairs; and Bill Born, vice president for student life, to field questions. Senate’s goal for the event was to learn more about how students fit into the broader governing system of higher education, as well as how Goshen College and its president’s council relate to...
March 5, 2014
Students outfit hiring policy support
Ryan Smith, a first-year physical education major, returned to his dorm room recently with a package full of 10 daisy-yellow t-shirts. On each shirt, purple lettering reads, "Peacefully, I support the Goshen College hiring policy." "I know a lot of people who are against the open letter," said Smith. "It's an obvious minority. The main goal of this is to get the other voice out, and this is an environment where it will be respected." Upon arriving on campus last Fall, Smith was asked if he would like to buy a purple, "Where's my LGBTQ prof" shirt. When he learned...
January 22, 2014
Will Students be Affected by 14-15 Budget Cuts?
With leaner courses and faculty reductions arranged for the upcoming 14-15 school year, Goshen College will now focus on thinning overhead costs in administrative departments throughout next semester. Deciding how the college can serve as an effective steward of its resources requires a great deal of work, calling for correspondence from each department across campus. Bill Born, vice president of student life, said, "We often work with projections [based on] multiple variables related to enrollment, financial aid, student retention, staffing variance throughout the year, departmental budget management, et cetera.” Born also says that members of student senate will remain informed...
January 15, 2014
Goshen Trims Faculty Positions, Budget in Strategic Shift
At the semester’s end, Goshen College announced faculty reductions and other changes for the 2014-15 academic year. Academically, the college plans to increase student-faculty ratios, implement the use of connected academics “schools” to create more interdisciplinary majors, and offer fewer low-enrollment courses. Further changes will come late in the spring as the administrative side of campus is reviewed and restructured. The changes come during a long-term strategic planning process and preparation for institutional re-accreditation in March 2015. At the same time, the college is in the process of addressing a several million dollar budget deficit for 2014-15. During the course...
December 5, 2013
International education changes made after domestic SST canceled
After five years of operation, the Latino Studies domestic Study-Service Term program will be canceled due to scheduling complications. In its place, students seeking to substitute their international education degree completion requirements with something other than SST can choose to take classes on campus. “Domestic SST will be canceled as we know it,” said Stan Miller, registrar. “It will be replaced by alternate options.” According to Miller, students previously enrolled in Latino Studies SST courses struggled to fit them into their course schedules between other requirements for their majors. Five years ago when the Latino Studies domestic SST program began,...
November 8, 2013
Students plan alternatives after SST units canceled
Students planning to spend study abroad semesters through Goshen College’s Study-Service Term in Morocco during fall 2014 and in Nicaragua during summer 2015 are rearranging their plans after hearing that those options have been canceled. Tom Meyers, director of international education, visited students preparing for Morocco SST during their prerequisite Arabic class taught by Paul Keim, professor of Bible and religion, on October 24. Meyers told the class that the SST program in Morocco would be canceled in fall 2014 due to low enrollment. “Given the college’s precarious financial situation with lower enrollments, we simply can’t afford a unit with...
September 25, 2013
The ‘Ingles family’ returns
The Ross Richer kids could tell you what it’s like to hike Huayna Picchu in the rain and the best way to make a frozen chupete popsicle. If you asked, they could also tell you, in a matter of minutes, how many students were in their parents’ SST groups – 184, to be exact. It’s been almost a month since Jane and Jerrell Ross Richer and their children, Sierra (14), Naomi (12), Teresa (10) and Jordan (8), returned from two years of SST leadership in Peru. The family has a total of three years under their belt, with four semesters...