faculty
March 11, 2010
Ryan Sensenig: Teacher, philosopher and relator
Ryan Sensenig, assistant professor of biology at Goshen College, has taught in diverse classrooms, including a night class for expelled students in a trailer and a biology class on a tour bus retrofitted with lab equipment. Sensenig said his favorite teaching style, though, is “those kinds of experiences where the teacher and the student are letting the real world teach them together.” Sensenig was born in Nairobi, Kenya. When he was a child, his family kept their home base in New Holland, Penn., but he spent most of his childhood from age three to seven, and then two years of...
November 19, 2009
“As Purple is to Lavender:” Shands Stoltzfus presents doctoral work
Alice Walker, author of the novel "The Color Purple," once said, “Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.” These words have guided the doctoral research of Regina Shands Stoltzfus, Assistant Professor of Peace, justice and conflict studies, who presented her research in a public lecture Tuesday night entitled, “'As Purple is to Lavender’: Experience and Influence of African-American Women in North American Mennonite Affiliated Churches, 1948-1968.” She is pursuing her doctoral research at Chicago Theological Seminary. The Mennonite Historical Society sponsored the Tuesday-night affair in which professors, students and community members learned about Shands Stoltzfus’ research concerning the...
October 14, 2009
Hovan and Seitz perform in the parlor
Dressed in long sparkling evening gowns and lit by the glittering lights of Rieth Recital Hall, music professors Rebecca Hovan and Christine Seitz welcomed their audience, as friends, to their “In the Parlor” themed recital last Saturday evening. They began their performance with a Mendelssohn piece, “Rondo Capriccioso,” with Hovan playing the flute while Seitz complemented and accompanied her on the piano. Off to the side of the stage was positioned a rocking chair, a desk strewn with books and a fern planted in a gold pot. All of these articles, as well as the slow, graceful movements of the...
October 7, 2009
Jones bids GC goodbye
William A. Jones has resigned his position as the Vice President of Institutional Advancement as of the end of September. Jim Caskey, director of major gifts, will take over as the Interim Vice President. Jones, who has held the position since July of 2006, has been a positive addition to Goshen College in the past three years. Despite the economic downturn this previous school year, fund-raising, which Jones oversees, went up from previous years. According to President Jim Brenneman, faculty, alumni, and senior class donations all went up by 30% under Jones’ leadership. Over the last three years, Jones has...
September 30, 2009
New art faculty members show off their talent
New faculty art members Randy Horst, Kristi Glick, and Anne Berry have more than just teaching to offer Goshen College. The three are currently displaying their artwork in the Hershberger Art Gallery, proving that the experience they bring to their new positions is based on a background of natural talent, creativity, and skill. Randy Horst graduated from Goshen College in 1983 with a major in art education. He received his Master of Fine Art in drawing from Bowling Green State University. He taught at Bowling Green and Goshen College before teaching art and art history for 15 years at The...
September 23, 2009
New faculty join GC community
Joining the Goshen College community for the 2009 fall semester are twenty-one new faculty, accounting for eleven departments with new staff. Every school year brings changes in faculty, but this year the Art and Communications Departments have had significant turnover. The leaving of Ron Johnson brings new Assistant Professor of Communication, Seth Conley. Professor Conley comes from Rossville, Indiana, a small town just outside of Lafayette. He moved to Goshen with his wife, Rachel, and two young children, Kiersten and Ethan. A graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University, Conley joins the GC faculty after most recently working as a morning news...
September 9, 2009
History Professor Completes Trilogy on Modern Mennonite Identity
After five years of research and writing, professor of history John D. Roth completed the last of three books about Mennonite identity in the 21st century. The third book, Practices: Mennonite Worship and Witness, was completed this June and focuses on Mennonite ethics as an expression of how Mennonites worship and are witness to their beliefs. The first book of the trilogy, Beliefs: Mennonite Faith and Practice, was published in 2005 and focuses on the theology of Mennonites. The second book, Stories: How Mennonites Came to Be, is primarily historical. “There is a sense in which every generation needs to...
March 25, 2009
Wenig-Horswell fishing for new opportunities
In 1976, Judy Wenig-Horswell was asked to temporarily fill in for Abner Hershberger who was taking a sabbatical leave from the art department. Wenig-Horswell has been teaching art at Goshen College ever since. Wenig-Horswell first heard about Goshen College when she began teaching high school art at Northridge High School in 1970. Three years later, Wenig-Horswell started teaching evening art classes at Goshen College, until 1976, when she began teaching full time at the college. Now, 33 years later, it is time for retirement. After co-leading May term in England for the Arts in London course, Wenig-Horswell will be finished...
January 14, 2009
Faculty to present sweet suites
Rebecca Hovan, a flute instructor, and Christine Seitz, a pianist and assistant professor of music, will present a recital in Rieth Recital Hall on Saturday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m. The recital is entitled “Suite Treats” and is a compilation of suites of various styles and time periods. A suite is a collection of dance movements. The musicians will open with “Suite in A minor” by Geoge Philip Telemann, a piece from the Baroque period (1600-1750), out of which the musical genre of suites arose. Next on the program is John Rutter’s “Suite Antique.”According to Hovan, the suite “uses several...