faculty
December 5, 2013
Open Letter summit discusses solutions for change
A crowd of more than 85 students, faculty, community members and three administrators arrived for a long-awaited conversation at Open Letter’s Summit last Tuesday evening. The meeting was organized by Goshen College’s Open Letter group, which advocates for LGBTQ equality in hiring practices, and was held in the wake of change. Eastern Mennonite University announced on November 15 to enter a six-month discussion period to review their same-sex hiring policy, and while EMU is the first Mennonite-affiliated school to make such a decision, Open Letter’s Summit turnout proved there are many people on campus ready not just to talk, but...
November 22, 2013
Professors share Anabaptist history through publication
The last two years have been big ones for Goshen College-based publications. GC faculty members Steve Nolt, Duane Stoltzfus, Bob Yoder and Keith Graber-Miller have written or co-written books on Mennonite/Anabaptist history. Yoder, Nolt and Stoltzfus published theirs this year, while Graber-Miller published his in 2012. “The Amish and Mennonites are becoming more interesting to the public,” said Nolt. With a growing audience also comes a growth in the surrounding published work. The Amish is co-written by Steve Nolt, Donald B. Kraybill, professor at Elizabethtown College and Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, linguist and professor at New York State University. The book...
November 22, 2013
Debate over hiring policy continues
Melodies of hymns floated through the air outside of the Church-Chapel last Friday morning before Goshen College’s weekly chapel service even began. Students, many wearing purple shirts that read “Where is my GLBTQ prof?” gathered for a “solidarity hymn sing,” anticipating a conversation that would be held the following day at a college nearly 600 miles away. At the same time in Harrsionburg, Va., students at Eastern Mennonite University gathered to do the same thing. There, EMU’s board of trustees would be attending the EMU chapel service, just a day before discussing a university hiring policy that excludes people in...
November 8, 2013
Telling women’s stories through music
Deb Brubaker has been a music professor at Goshen College for 25 years. She teaches several music courses and conducts the Women’s World Choir, started in 2008. She talks about her experience of connecting women’s voices with world music. Q: How do you describe music as a part of your life? A: I think I’ve always been singing. Singing is kind of how I express my Christian faith and also my passion for justice, for good things for all people. Q: What do you like about teaching music? A: It’s really exciting to see how music is a...
November 8, 2013
Smith seeks secret of pigeon coloring
“So you’re a scientist?” are a combination of words Dan Smith, professor of chemistry at Goshen College, hates to hear because what follows is a question that has no answer. This is also a question that sparked his interest in researching pigeon coloring. As a child he would catch pigeons in a barn near his home in New Holland, Pennsylvania. The farmer said that he could keep any pigeons he caught to breed. He got involved in chemistry due to his love of science and father who was his high school physics teacher. He said, “I couldn’t do physics because...
October 22, 2013
To swim in the English sea
Russian chatter spills from the worker’s lounge in the Goshen College Physical Plant. Four custodians from Ukraine gather at the day’s 6 a.m. start, waiting for their cleaning crews and relaxing in the ease of their mother tongue. Here they can take a break from the effort of communicating in English. For most students at the college, Study-Service Term is the longest time they will be completely immersed in a new language, but others on campus grapple daily with the twists and turns of the English language. Valentyna Naumchuk’s face relaxes when she talks in Russian with Svitlana Meyta and...
October 13, 2013
Promoted faculty share favorite books
The library honored five professors who have received promotions or tenure during the past year by displaying their favorite books in the library lobby last week. Each faculty member was told to pick a book that’s content has been influential in some way to them. The books ranged from fiction books read during adolescence to textbooks read while working towards a doctorate degree. Each book, along with a brief description of both content and the professor’s reason for picking it, sat propped up for library patrons to leaf through or scan on a table near the entrance. The display was...
September 18, 2013
Former GC professor to share acclaimed poetry
Todd Davis, a poet, academic and teacher, is coming to Goshen to perform poetry from his new book, In the Kingdom of the Ditch. Davis is an Elkhart county native and taught in the Goshen College English department for 6 years, from 1996 to 2002. Davis now teaches creative writing, environmental studies and American literature at Penn State University’s Altoona College. Davis’ poems have won the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize and have been published in magazines and journals such as Poetry Daily, Orion, North American Review and The Christian Science Monitor, among others. His works have also been featured on...
September 18, 2013
New RDs find their place
Katie Dwyer-Zeman and Neal A. Friesen are among the many new faces that appeared this fall in the Kratz, Miller and Yoder buildings. Both are new assistant directors of residence life and student activities. Friesen, a 2007 GC graduate, recently completed his master’s degree in theological studies from Wesley Theological Seminary before joining the staff. As a new residence assistant director to Yoder building, he brought three years of experience as a resident hall director at Hesston College in Kansas. The first few weeks have meant many introductions for Friesen. However, as a graduate himself, he is able to reminisce...
April 18, 2013
Cruising through the work day
Colleen Geier has swum with the dolphins, and she’s gotten paid for it. Geier is neither a dolphin trainer nor a marine biologist, but she is certified as an American Sign Language interpreter. One of the places she’s worked is on cruise ships, which means she gets to interpret and participate in any activity her Deaf client wants to try — including swimming with dolphins. Geier, who is head of the ASL department at Goshen College, is a nationally certified interpreter. Before coming to Goshen in the summer of 2010, she worked full time in Chicago, where she interpreted in...
April 18, 2013
Faculty to discuss business master’s program
Goshen College faculty will meet Thursday to discuss the feasibility of a new collaborative Masters of Business Administration program to be offered in August 2014. If approved by faculty, the program will be reviewed by the Higher Learning Commission. “We’ve been working on it for the last two and a half years,” said Michelle Horning, accounting department chair. As one of the major organizers for this collaborative MBA program, Horning says she is anxious to see how the students will respond. The MBA degree program will be facilitated between Goshen College, Bluffton University and Eastern Mennonite University, which Horning thinks...
April 10, 2013
Musician turns 90, with full college honors
Next weekend, Goshen College will celebrate the birthday of Mary K. Oyer, a former GC music professor, who turned 90 on April 5. The birthday celebration is an opportunity for the college to celebrate a life well lived, but also to pay tribute to Oyer for her legacy after the 40 years of service. Even though she retired almost 30 years ago, people still remember the great teacher she was. “She is a genius,” said Dr. Debra Brubaker, a professor of music at GC. “You talk to her for five minutes, and you feel smarter because of her knowledge and...
March 20, 2013
Math professor resigns to pursue passions
Patricia Oakley, professor of mathematics, is a blogger for Goshen Commons, a yarn spinner, a knitter, a gardener, a vegetarian, a lover of sustainability and a modern day homesteader. Oakley, who has been teaching at Goshen for 14 years, resigned earlier this semester to pursue her many hobbies. “I have a lot of interests. I’m kind of eclectic,” Oakley said. “My goal for this coming year is to be in the exploring phase and to see where my interests lead me.” In talking about Goshen College, Oakley says that she has really enjoyed being here. "It's a little sad because I...
March 20, 2013
From the convent to the halls of Goshen College
Sophie Metzger, assistant director of diverse student support at Goshen College, never imagined living and working in the city of Goshen. In fact, her first time in Goshen was entirely accidental. It was the Thanksgiving of 2008 and she was driving to Ohio to visit friends. “The first time I came to Goshen, I cried,” she said. “I was trying to get to Cincinnati.” Metzger had missed the exit that she needed. Aware of her mistake, she simply continued on Route 33, where she saw a sign that said, “Welcome to Goshen.” Metzger had never heard of Goshen, let alone...
March 7, 2013
Roth speaks on twenty-first century martyrs
John D. Roth, professor of history, introduced a new project that he will be undertaking, “The Global Anabaptist Profile and Suffering Church Project," at the 2013 C. Henry Smith Peace Lecture on Tuesday night. The peace lecture is an annual event delivered at Goshen College by a faculty member from a Mennonite college or university. Roth’s lecture was titled “’Bearing Witness’ As Peacemaking: A New Martyrs Mirror for the Twenty-First Century?” The lecture focused on introducing a new project that Roth will soon be starting, which will consist of collecting stories of adversity and suffering from members of the Anabaptist church...