faculty
March 8, 2012
Biology department to welcome new professor
Next academic year will bring a new face to the biology department’s faculty. Dr. Kristopher Schmidt accepted an invitation to join the faculty as an assistant professor of biology, a tenure-track position. Possessing a master’s degree in neuropathology from the University of British Columbia and currently completing his Ph.D. at Trinity Western University, Schmidt specializes in molecular biology and biochemistry. Schmidt is specifically interested in attracting students to the pre-medical programs here. He will also bring with him an active research program that will be open for student contribution. Schmidt has had several years of undergraduate teaching experience. “Dr. Schmidt...
February 16, 2012
From baller to scholar: Paul Keim tells his story
Ask most Goshen College students to describe Paul Keim, professor of Bible and religion, in a nutshell, and they will spit back three words with relative ease: beard, languages and basketball. Keim kindly agreed to help distill the latter two for the GC community, not divulging the mystery of the beard itself but perhaps revealing the man behind the beard nonetheless. First of all, Keim can read no fewer than 15 languages. He qualifies his linguistic ability in terms of literacy because a good number of the languages he has mastered are dead languages. However, not all of his languages...
February 16, 2012
Matthew Hill recital and CD release
Matthew Hill, chair of the Music Department and professor of music, will perform a solo piano recital this Friday highlighting the formal release of his new CD, “Silent Colors.” The CD was recorded on the Blue Griffin label last spring while he was on sabbatical. Hill noted the considerable amount of time and discipline that went into the creation of the album and explained the importance of developing a relationship with the music. “You have to record something you feel close to,” said Hill. The recital will include selected pieces from the CD and will feature works by Olivier Messiaen, Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy and Alexander...
February 9, 2012
Love stories of GC faculty
John Roth and Ruth Miller Roth John Roth, professor of history, and Ruth Miller’s first encounter occurred when they were just 4 and 5 years old. John remembers that, in 1964, Ruth came to his house along with her mother, bearing a set of encyclopedias. “I loved those encyclopedias, so I always associated them with the visit,” said Roth. About 10 years later, their life paths intersected once again when Ruth’s family began attending the Roths’ church, and they began seeing each other quite often at Mennonite Youth Fellowship events and meetings. There were “blurred lines” between meetings and dates,...
January 26, 2012
Graber Millers join downtown Goshen’s “cultural Renaissance”
Warm weather isn’t the only thing to be excited about in Goshen as the summer months roll around this year. In six months Graber Designs Gallery, owned by Ann Graber Miller and her husband, Keith Graber Miller, a Goshen College Bible and religion professor, will reopen as Found. The Graber Millers opened Graber Designs Gallery in 2000 to sell artwork by Ann and other Graber family artists alongside international pieces that they had acquired visiting friends and family across the globe, as well as during their time as Study-Service Term leaders and while on other miscellaneous travels. But the new name, meant to make the...
January 18, 2012
Goshen professor lives out faith through informatics
Kent Palmer is naturally ambidextrous, at least when it comes to using a computer mouse. The four computer monitors in his office flicker numbers and letters foreign to the common eye, yet Palmer navigates them with the fluidity of a skilled painter, his right hand dragging, his left hand clicking. He pauses momentarily to point at the third monitor: “Right now, I’m setting up an iPhone app that will calculate imaginary numbers and complex fractions.” Two of these computers are propped up on stacks of heavy books with titles like “Computer Networks and Internets,” “The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening” and...
January 12, 2012
New wellness plan for employees puts health on the map
This past semester, handouts with lists of tips for decreasing stress were taped to bathroom stall doors. A local Zumba class became a weekly activity on campus. Even the grass looked greener. Thanks to a new wellness plan implemented for faculty, Goshen College is becoming a healthier—and happier—campus. Goshen College unveiled a revised wellness initiative last April, teaming with Everence and other members of the Mennonite Educators Benefit Plan, as well as a program called Bravo Wellness. Employees will now undergo a yearly confidential health screening in April to test blood pressure, BMI, body fat and cholesterol and nicotine levels. If...
January 12, 2012
Family tradition creates a festive role for professor as Santa Claus
Tiny presents wrapped with string, full of toys and trinkets among other things. While the children await for that special night, Santa Samuel would soon take flight. But not by plane, train or sleigh led by deer, but a car and a suit to visit all he holds dear. Jason Samuel, professor of communication, has a yearly tradition that brings joy to family, friends and strangers. Those acquainted with Samuel know him as boisterous, friendly and more energetic than the average 41-year-old. Although he does not have a white beard, these notable qualities have since made him a perfect match...
November 9, 2011
Strengths and concerns regarding the new hiring policy
Goshen College is not the only Mennonite college without a Mennonite faculty ratio requirement. Of the five Mennonite colleges associated with Mennonite Education Agency, Bluffton University, Bethel University and now Goshen College don’t have a limit on the amount of non-Mennonite faculty. The other two colleges, Hesston College and Eastern Mennonite University, specify that 80 percent and 75 percent of their faculties must attend a Mennonite church. Although there were many factors that led to the board’s decision to take away the Mennonite faculty ratio, Jim Brenneman and Anita Stalter said that some key factors for the change were the...
November 9, 2011
Professors reveal odd jobs on their resume
Dean Rhodes Dean Rhodes, an associate professor of Spanish and chair of the Spanish department, can lecture at length about Spanish accents or the topography of Peru, where he lived for several years. As it turns out, he can also speak in great detail about the artificial insemination of cows. Rhodes used to be an artificial dairy cow inseminator—a fancy title for a not-so-glamorous job that involves placing a “sleeved arm into the cow via the rectum, while sliding a pipette with the [bull’s] semen into the vagina.” After graduating from the University of Iowa, Rhodes held several jobs related...
November 2, 2011
Mennonite faculty religious requirement will be dropped
The Goshen College board made a decision to drop the Mennonite religious requirement in the faculty hiring policy. Effective immediately, faculty will be hired based on their adherence to the five core values and, as it was before, that they are Christian. The old policy specified that 80 percent of the faculty at Goshen College had to be Mennonite and all faculty had to be Christian. As part of the interview process, job candidates would answer questions about their lives in relation to the core values, write a faith statement and would need to be a member of a Christian...
October 12, 2011
Anita Yoder elected as president of the Career Development Professionals of Indiana
Many Goshen College students may not know that career services director, Anita Yoder, has been serving as president of the Career Development Professionals of Indiana for the last year. Yoder was elected to serve as the president of CDPI for a three-year term starting in 2010 as incoming president and serving until 2013 as past president. On the Career Development Professionals of Indiana website, the group presents itself as an organization that is “dedicated to the advancement of the career services profession within Indiana by promoting improved communication and cooperative ventures among the member universities and colleges for the purposes...
October 5, 2011
Goshen College’s Linda Kaminskis named to IATA hall of fame
Goshen College athletic trainer Linda Kaminskis has recently been inducted into the Indiana Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame. Being inducted to the hall is a prestigious award; only about one or two trainers get inducted each year. According to the Indiana Athletic Trainers Association website, the selection process ensures that the nominees deserve the award. This process begins with athletic trainers nominating their peers for the award. The nominations then move on to a committee that decides which trainers meet the criteria that the association looks for in its winners. The criteria for an inductee involves being both a...
September 27, 2011
Faculty art exhibit demonstrates the beauty of community
Five art professors display their passion for art and community in the new exhibit at the Hershberger Art Gallery. The exhibit, featuring artwork by John Blosser, Kristi Glick, Randy Horst, Merrill Krabill and John Mishler, opened on Sept. 25 will remain through Nov. 27. Its opening reception is on Oct. 8 from 5 to 7 p.m. Kristi Glick, assistant professor of art, praises the act of sharing personal art with a larger community, especially with one’s students. According to her, the level of vulnerability required in sharing art adds a new element to teaching. “It not only has the potential...
September 21, 2011
Four more new faces among GC faculty
Along with several new faculty members, Norm Bakhit, director of human resources, Randy Gunden, executive director of adult and online learning, Andrew Moeggenborg, technical director of Umble Center and MarÆa Sçnchez Schirch, instructor of Spanish, join the Goshen College community this fall. Norm Bakhit Bakhit joins GC as the director of human resources. He is also an adjunct faculty in the psychology department teaching personality theories. Originally from Allentown, Pa., Bakhit lives in Warsaw, Ind. Prior to GC, Bakhit was a senior manager in human resources for a Fortune 100 company. He has also worked as a psychotherapist for clients...