faculty
February 11, 2022
In-person commencement to feature John D. Roth
For the first time in two years, seniors will be able to enjoy a commencement ceremony similar to pre-pandemic years. On Sunday, May 1, the class of 2022 will gather in the Recreation-Fitness Center to bring their time as Goshen College students to a close. According to Brian Yoder Schlabach, a member of the Commencement Planning Committee, this year will bring “a return to a ‘normal’ commencement weekend.” One of the biggest changes, compared to last year’s event, is that seniors are allowed to bring guests to the graduation ceremony. With this change, the committee sought to acknowledge Yoder Schlabach...
January 28, 2022
Master of Social Work program seeks director
The social work department has begun the search for a director to lead the Master of Social Work (MSW) program Goshen College is developing in collaboration with Bluffton University. A search committee, made up of students and faculty in the social work department, is in the process of evaluating candidates. The MSW is being developed by the two universities as a response to years of interest by numerous parties. The program, which plans to have its first students in the fall of 2023, will satisfy local employers, alumni, students and faculty who have been hoping for a small, personal MSW...
January 28, 2022
Marshall King shares MJ Sharp’s story through book
Marshall King, a journalist and adjunct professor at Goshen College, shared about his recently published book, “Disarmed: The Radical Life and Legacy of Michael ‘MJ’ Sharp,” in Umble Center on Tuesday evening. In the book, King tells the life story of Sharp, a Mennonite peacemaker for the U.N. who was kidnapped and killed in the Congo in 2017. Sharp, whose death touched many in Mennonite circles and beyond, grew up in Goshen and attended Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA. He later started his work in peacemaking in Germany. Sharp worked with soldiers who wanted to be conscientious objectors, and...
December 2, 2021
John Roth researches inclusion at GC for upcoming book
“What does inclusion look like?” This is just one of the questions that John Roth, professor of history, is seeking to answer through his ongoing research for a book about the history of Goshen College. The book, which is expected to be completed a year from now, will serve as a study of the college through the lens of “diversity, equity and inclusion.” “The story is really about this growing pluralism that, on the one hand, the college is openly affirming,” Roth said. “And at the same time, the college is having a great deal of difficulty truly embracing this....
November 11, 2021
New vice presidents announced
On Monday, President Stoltzfus announced that Goshen College had hired both Jim Alvarez as the chief financial officer (CFO), and, in an unexpected turn of events, Ben Bontrager as the vice president for operations – a position that previously did not exist at Goshen College. A search for a new chief financial officer began after Deanna Risser, an employee of Goshen College since 1999, transitioned to the role of vice president of finance at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. At GC, Risser had previously worked as administrative assistant, manager of business operations/budget analyst, assistant director of institutional research and budget and...
November 11, 2021
Shands Stoltzfus’s new book discusses antiracist spirituality
Regina Shands Stoltzfus hasn’t opened her new book yet. She’s eagerly waiting on her co-author and longtime friend, Tobin Miller Shearer, to receive his box of copies. “Then we’re gonna get on Zoom and we’re gonna to open them together, like the nerds we are,” she said. The new book, “Been in the Struggle: Pursuing an Antiracist Spirituality,” is co-authored by Shands Stoltzfus, professor of peace, justice and conflict studies, and Miller Shearer, professor of history and African American studies at the University of Montana. “Been in the Struggle” seeks to promote the idea that “there can be a spiritual...
November 11, 2021
Physical Plant employee by day, rapper and rock star by night
Who says that an artist has to stick to one genre? One thing is for certain: you’ll never hear Billy Easton make that claim. Easton, a member of the Goshen College grounds maintenance crew, has been involved in the world of music in various forms for over three decades. From humble hip-hop beginnings that began with rapping and writing poetry as a child to live-performances and collaborations with various regional artists, Billy Easton’s musical career has been eclectic. After spending more than 10 years with a traveling jazz hip hop group in the 2000s and working with groups that shifted...
November 4, 2021
Colleen Geier gives grades and gets graded
At 63, Colleen Geier has earned a long list of degrees. That does not mean the Goshen College professor is done learning. Geier, director of the sign language interpreting program and a professor in the department, is currently taking classes at both Goshen College and Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart. The professor has an associate degree in liberal arts, bachelor’s degrees in American history and elementary education ‒ “history because I love it, education to get a job!” ‒ a MS in elementary education with concentrations in special education and deaf education and a PhD in adult education. ...
September 30, 2021
Cathy Stoner becomes new campus pastor
Goshen College welcomed Cathy Stoner to the role of campus pastor on Tuesday. Stoner took over the position from Joanne Gallardo, who had held it since 2019. Stoner received the position after an extensive hiring process that began over the summer. The process culminated with Stoner’s presentation at the first chapel of the semester. Stoner interacted with students and faculty at the event and, after a period for feedback, the search committee offered Stoner the position. Stoner graduated from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary last May with a Masters of Divinity degree. She has lived in the South Bend area for...
September 30, 2021
Art exhibit features GC faculty past and present
Current and retired faculty members of the art department are displaying their work in the Hershberger Art Gallery until October 29. The exhibition includes art from current Goshen College faculty Merrill Krabill, Randy Horst and John Mishler, along with art from retired faculty Marvin Bartel, John Blosser, Abner Hershberger and Judy Wenig-Horswell. The exhibition is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. It is located in the Hershberger Art Gallery in the Music Center, which is named for former GC art professor Abner Hershberger. One...
September 30, 2021
Nursing welcomes Sister Veronica
This fall, Sister Veronica Adeduro is beginning her first year of teaching as an assistant professor of nursing at Goshen College. She is the first nun to teach at GC. Adeduro is from Nigeria, where she worked as a registered nurse for many years. She later went on to serve as a missionary in Germany for five years before making the move to the United States. Adeduro shared that “the joy of working in different places is that it makes the people in those places real to me.” She added one thing she has found that all people have in...
September 9, 2021
Residence life restructures
After a complete overhaul, three new residence directors are reshaping student life this year. After losing both Zachary Frank and Phil Brown, former residence life coordinators, the student life department sought out candidates to fill the two existing residence life coordinator positions over the summer. When three strong applicants emerged, they decided to restructure the program and hired the trio to fill the newly-created roles of residence directors (RDs). The department also added a new position: Director of Health and Wellness, filled by Liz Andes. Kevin Schultz, Emily Hahn and Chandler Buchfeller bring a mixture of expertise. Schultz, a GC...
April 15, 2021
The illusion of a diverse campus
At the start of the 2020-21 school year, 45% of the Goshen College student body identified as non-white, and 76% of students identified as non-Mennonite. But a decline in the number of white, Mennonite students on campus – the majority demographic at GC for the last 117 years – is not mirrored by an increasingly diversified teaching faculty. Only seven percent of current full-time teaching faculty identify as non-white. In the past, Mennonite schools required that 85% of the teaching faculty have Mennonite affiliations. That has only changed in the last 20 years, said President Rebecca Stoltzfus. The 2020 statistics...
April 9, 2021
Bible and religion professor announced
On Monday, the Bible and religion department announced that Breanna Nickel, GC class of 2010, will be joining the faculty in the fall. Nickel graduated with a double-major in Bible, religion and philosophy and peace, justice and conflict studies, and continued her studies with a master’s degree at Yale Divinity School and a Ph.D. in the theology department at the University of Notre Dame. She is currently the Conrad J. Bergendoff visiting fellow in religion at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. “I am thrilled to be joining Goshen’s religion, justice and society department in the coming year,” Nickel said....
March 18, 2021
A Budd of hope in a new job
If Amy Budd’s life could be portrayed as a meal she was preparing, it would be a pot of uncertainty simmering on her kitchen stove. Among its main ingredients: moving to a new place and starting a new job, all seasoned heartily with the presence of a global pandemic. Budd keeps a watchful eye on the pot but doesn’t let it stress her out as she enjoys her oats and yogurt. Though her daily routine is “never the same twice,” Goshen College’s newest theater professor always makes time to sit down and eat a good breakfast. This is especially important...