faculty
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...
November 14, 2024
Oldest, and arguably smartest, GC friend group
The morning sun shines through the windows onto the Kratz 1 lounge. One by one, five men — each donning either blue jeans or khakis, long sleeve button ups or polos with crewnecks, and some with a thermos in hand — maneuver chairs around to form a circle. A table sits in the center where a yellow National Geographic magazine lays folded open. The conversation starter is one that Vic Stoltzfus, former president of Goshen College and father of the current President, Becky Stoltzfus, reads off. “[Frank Lloyd] Wright’s behaviors line up with a more deeply entrenched mental health diagnosis:...
October 24, 2024
Baker ‘shows up’ for biology students
In some ways, Deana Baker, a new associate professor of biology, never left Goshen College, although she has studied and researched all around the world. Baker is a 1986 graduate of GC, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology. She also studied as an undergraduate at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia in order to explore and see the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains. Baker earned master’s degrees in both science education and pharmacy and a doctorate in health and human performance. After graduating as a first-generation student, Baker started her professional career teaching junior high science in Plymouth, Indiana. “I always...
September 12, 2024
Who’s new: Reviewing the GC hiring process
Twenty-six new full-time hires have joined Goshen College since June 1, totalling 227 full-time employees, compared to 228 last year. Marlene Penner, director of human resources, said about the hiring process, “When hiring managers or directors have a position that they want to hire for … they have to go through a process in basically petitioning for that position.” After it is submitted, the position is reviewed by a finance committee, which decides whether it makes sense to post it for hiring. In February of this year, Richard Brunson was terminated from his position as associate professor of...
September 12, 2024
New Master of Arts in Teaching
After two years of development Goshen has the final approval for its new Master of Arts in Teaching program. Although the program doesn’t officially start until the fall of 2025 the first cohort is already in swing. Suzanne Ehst, professor of education and director of the M.A. in teaching, said that they have “21 new students in the new version [of the program]. The classes they are taking this year are not yet master’s level, but they will be able to finish the full program with a master’s degree as long as half of their coursework is master’s level.” Despite...
September 12, 2024
New section of academic voice aims to help ELL students
Goshen College has implemented a new section of academic voice, one that is open to a small selection of Hispanic English Language Learners (ELL). The class retains the same curriculum, but is taught by Spanish-speaking instructors; Robert Brenneman is the professor of record, with Areli Bautista serving as a teaching assistant. The class is composed of 14 first-year students. Homework and assignments are submitted in English, and most instruction is in English; however, the use of Spanish is interspersed when it’s helpful. “From time to time when we’re working one on one with students, we’ll switch to Spanish,” Brenneman said....
September 5, 2024
A new face in the theater department
Goshen College begins the 2024-25 school year with over 37 new employees, one of whom is succeeding Jacob Claassen as the theater department’s technical director. Brenton Abram-Copenhaver is the newest member of the theater staff. He grew up surrounded by performing arts — his parents owned a visual and performing arts school. “They taught art, music, drama and dance,” Abram-Copenhaver said, “that was my after-school and upbringing.” Throughout high school, Abram-Copenhaver continued to work in theatrical productions. He volunteered at community organizations and he performed in high school plays. Following school, he made his way to Chicago, where he studied...
September 5, 2024
Hartshorn takes on two roles in one
“I am five feet tall and sometimes people think I am the scariest person on campus,” said one of the newer additions to Goshen College, Patty Hartshorn. “I understand that feeling, but I almost always have candy!” Hartshorn joins GC as the new Director of Health and Wellness and Title IX Coordinator. Hartshorn will also continue work alongside the peer wellness educators, the group on campus that works closely with the Health and Wellness Director to bring awareness to issues of mental health and substance abuse. Hartshorn holds a Master of Science in Academic Advising from Kansas State University, and...
September 5, 2024
Albertin to change positions
Goshen College announced Wednesday that Erica Albertin, the current athletic director, will step down from her post on September 12, transitioning into a new position as associate director for athletic health and wellness. In her new role Albertin will supervise the head athletic trainer, provide athletic training and continue to work as a DEI officer. She will also teach and advise students in the kinesiology department, and will begin responsibilities as a deputy Title IX coordinator for athletics, according to an email from the president’s office. For Albertin, the transition comes from two main reasons. “I have three little boys...
March 14, 2024
Hufford works with Youth Olympians
Earlier this semester, Kyle Hufford, professor of communication at Goshen College, spent three weeks working as part of a team to lead film workshops at the Winter Youth Olympics in Gangwon, South Korea. The Youth Olympics are for athletes 15-18 years old, and the games occur on the same year as the adult Olympics — albeit with opposite Games. For instance, the Winter Youth Olympics were this year, and the Summer Olympics are in Paris later this year. Given the age range, participants in the Youth Olympic Games only get to partake in this event once. The young athletes participated...
February 15, 2024
Ehst named associate academic dean
Suzanne Ehst is transitioning from her role as professor and director of secondary education, as well as core curriculum director, to the role of associate academic dean. Beth Martin Birky, the current associate academic dean, is retiring at the end of this academic year. Ehst said, “I’m at a point in my life where I like that [administrative] work … collaboration with colleagues across campus and thinking of the bigger picture.” Moving to administrative responsibilities means moving away from teaching, which has been a part of Ehst’s life for many years. “I have been teaching in some form or another...
February 6, 2024
Brunson fired after 6-day leave
Goshen College terminated the employment of Richard Brunson, former associate professor of music and director of the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra, on Monday, Feb. 12. He had been on administrative leave for six days. The college placed Brunson on leave on Feb. 6, one day after the publication of an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that detailed his resignation from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Marshfield in the wake of a sexual harassment investigation in 2022. In a written statement provided to The Record and Goshen College, Michael Brown, Brunson’s lawyer, said, “Dr. Brunson, knowing he has done wrong,...
February 1, 2024
‘Music is a social art’
H. Roz Woll has been an assistant professor of music at Goshen College for three years. Some of her duties include giving private voice lessons, directing Voices of the Earth, teaching a Music and Social Change class, and being faculty adviser for the Queen Singers. Her involvement at GC has revolved around voice and performance, with an emphasis on social justice and change. Woll grew up in Chicago in Hyde Park, a diverse neighborhood which made her “more conscious of race than … a white person who grows up in a more typically … white town,” she said. “I’m a...
February 1, 2024
Letter to the editor: Honors program
Dear editors, Thank you for publishing the opinion piece “An Honors Program Is Not What We Need Most” by Jakyra Green and Mariela Esparza. As the recently-appointed director of the new Honors Program, I was glad to see that the program is getting attention from thoughtful students who care about this college and about the education of all GC students. It should come as no surprise that my take on the program and its ability to serve our students is different than that expressed by Green and Esparza in the piece, but I want to be clear that I respect...
February 1, 2024
Theater department operates with one professor
Ever since associate professor Anna Kurtz Kuk left in early 2022, professor Amy Budd and theater technical director Jacob Claassen have been the only employees in the Goshen College theater department. Only in late 2022 did GC start the process of recruiting someone to complete the theater professor’s team. Unfortunately, the search was not successful. Ann Vendrely, academic dean, said that the school held a search for a new faculty member but could not find a qualified one. Instead, Budd hired an adjunct that agreed to return next year. “We are hopeful that we will have funding to support a...