finance
September 19, 2024
AD elevator: Behind schedule and over budget
Repairs on the elevator for the Administrative Building, which has been out of service since last December, will take longer and cost more than anticipated. Goshen College officials had expected the elevator to be back in service in August at the start of the fall semester; the return to service may be pushed back to December. Over the summer, GC planned to remove the elevator cylinder, or jack, piece by piece and replace it with a new jack. The jack contains the piston that pushes the elevator car up and down. This process seemed straightforward and was expected to cost...
March 23, 2023
Bontrager adds on VP for finance role
After just over a year of working at Goshen College as a vice president for finance and the college’s chief financial officer (CFO), Jim Alvarez resigned from his administrative roles last month on Feb. 1. Ben Bontrager, previously serving as the school’s chief operating officer (COO), has taken over his responsibilities and the titles of VP for finance and CFO. Bontrager will remain a member of the President’s cabinet. In an email sent to faculty earlier this semester, President Rebecca Stoltzfus said that she was “deeply grateful” for the work that Alvarez and Bontrager did as vice presidents. She continued...
October 28, 2021
Students wages raised to $8.25
Campus workers had a pleasant surprise when they got their paychecks from Goshen College on Wednesday: an extra dollar for each hour they had worked this month. The college-wide raise, placed in effect this pay-period, bumped the rate for all student workers making minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 an hour. The change was meant to award competency in student workers and boost the longevity of their employment. It was initiated by a committee made up of Tom Stuckey, interim vice president of finance; Paul Housholder, director of ITS; Juliaclare Plezbert, head softball coach; Fritz Hartman, library director; Cynthia Good...
October 14, 2021
Students receive COVID-19 relief funds
Seven hundred and sixty two Goshen College undergraduate students received COVID-19 relief funds from the federal government last week, including students who didn’t qualify for the first two batches last year. Students were notified last Thursday of the funds provided by the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund III as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) act. While the previous two batches of COVID-19 relief money were not awarded to international, DACA and undocumented students, a ruling by the government last May changed that. The Biden administration passed the ARP act in March of this year. It allocated $39.6 billion...
November 12, 2020
GC is ‘weathering the financial shocks of COVID-19’
Though Goshen College anticipated a plethora of financial impediments this semester due to COVID-19, outside funds and steady student enrollment numbers have largely mitigated these concerns. Though they still do exist. “The costs [of COVID-19] are far greater than the savings,” President Stoltzfus said. Refunding room and board expenses last semester was once such cost, as was the loss of tuition from cancelled May and summer term classes. Other major losses included the cancellation of the Performing Arts Series as well as making the decision not to rent out facilities over the summer. On a smaller scale, changes at GC...
October 8, 2020
Grant to make courses more affordable for students
The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana awarded grants for textbooks to five faculty members at Goshen College this past summer, making their fall courses more affordable for students. PALNI supported the faculty of 24 private Indiana colleges, universities and seminaries as a part of their PALSave initiative. In 2019, the non-profit organization was awarded a $520,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The five faculty members participating this fall each received $500 to make changes. One of the five faculty members who received $500 in grant money was Andrew Hartzler, professor of accounting. “I remember spending $900 one time for...
February 21, 2020
Future housing policy to prioritize on-campus housing
During Tuesday evening’s housing meeting, Residence Life announced future changes to housing policy and meal plans. Most of the changes will not apply to current students and will take effect in the 2023-2024 academic year. It was announced that beginning in the Fall of 2023, students will no longer be able to live off campus unless they are four years removed from high school, live with a parent or guardian, or are at least 23 years old. Students will also no longer receive the housing discount currently available to students with 112 or more credit hours and will no longer...
October 24, 2018
Grants rejuvenate faculty, provide research opportunities
Just like students, faculty are more engaged when they are excited about their work. Upon beginning her tenure at Goshen College, Goshen College President Rebecca Stoltzfus immediately began to think of ways to reinvigorate the faculty. One of the ways Stoltzfus has done so is with Faculty Renewal Grants. Thanks to these grants, GC has provided 20 faculty with funding for academic projects and upgrades to equipment and academic programs. The grants were introduced by Stoltzfus in November 2017. Of the $1,000,000 raised by Stoltzfus in her first six months for a President’s Innovation Fund, $335,000 was dedicated to...
April 12, 2018
Reductions leave professors without jobs
When Phil Mason, associate professor of business, received a Google calendar invite late one night in the fall of 2017 for a meeting the next day with Goshen College’s provost, the interim vice president of academic affairs, and the director of Human Resources, he had a hunch that he has going to lose his job. Unfortunately for Mason, he was right. In September, 15 faculty members, including Mason, learned their jobs were being reduced. (For the sake of their privacy, their names will be omitted.) The programs impacted include: business, communication, education, English, Bible and religion, and music. Departments impacted...
March 29, 2018
Engaged in the circle of life
Ryan Miller is a junior at Goshen College majoring in sustainable food systems. Miller currently holds two part-time jobs, which is normal for college students. What may surprise people is the uniqueness of his jobs and the routine he has developed to keep up with college and work. Miller works at a local dairy farm and at Violett Cemetery here in Goshen. On the same day Miller might help deliver a calf, dig a hole for a grave, and go to class afterward. He is always on the go, and he loves it that way. Although the combination of the...
February 22, 2018
Joint investment to bring solar panels to campus
Solar panels will be installed on the roof of the Roman Gingerich Recreation-Fitness Center at Goshen College announced by President Stoltzfus at the staff meeting on Feb. 12. The installation of 924 solar panels has been made possible by an ongoing partnership between GC and College Mennonite Church. Interest in a solar installation began a couple years ago when David Lapp Jost ‘11 and Lucas Geiser Godshalk ‘13 started generating excitement at the church and fundraising. More recently it became a shared project which will allow for a larger installation. “My friend Lucas and I both have a lot of...
October 5, 2017
Brant leads campus-wide printing reduction efforts
During the first week of the fall semester some students, such as Mariah Ackerman, noticed a lack of paper being handed out in many classes in comparison to previous semesters. “Some professors handed out printed copies of the syllabus and some told us that it was online,” Ackerman said. The change is a result of a suggestion of best practice handed down to faculty by Jo-Ann Brant, interim academic dean, in order to reduce paper usage on campus. According to Brant, “There has always been an effort [at Goshen College] to reduce the usage of paper on campus wherever possible....
March 23, 2017
Great idea grant to inspire student creativity
Next fall, Goshen College students are invited to participate in the Idea Development class, a seven-week long course offered in the second half of the semester. Students enrolled in the course will have the chance to come up with a great idea (some may come into the class with a great idea already in mind), and then they will spend the seven weeks developing those ideas. The goal for the course is to have students develop a plan to implement their great idea, and by the end, each student can make a pitch for a possible grant of up to...
February 16, 2017
Divestment: an ongoing discussion
Amid conversations on campus concerning how Goshen College will respond to calls for divestment from Chase Bank, which is helping to finance the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Army Corps of Engineers has granted the easement allowing for the continued construction of that pipeline. Students who are campaigning for the divestment have met with key administrators: Ken Newbold, the provost; Deanna Risser, the interim vice president for finance; and Glenn Gilbert, the utilities manager and sustainability coordinator. These conversations were held on Feb. 2 and 14, with a shifting national narrative as the backdrop. The proposed pipeline, which would carry 470,000...
February 16, 2017
Textbook savings project comes to Goshen
Last year, Erin Milanese, head of learning technologies, and Fritz Hartman, director of the Good Library, implemented a program called the textbook savings project. “I did a survey last spring of the student body to see about how much money students are spending on textbooks and found that textbook prices are a problem,” Milanese said. “I think that’s known across higher education, so we just decided it was a project we wanted to pursue.” The project encourages interdisciplinary collaboration between librarians and faculty members, who are voluntary participants. “For those who say yes, they choose one class to work on...