public speaking
September 26, 2018
Goshen College hosts 15th annual grief seminar
The Goshen College Social Work department and Ryan’s Place collaborated to host the 15th annual Grief Seminar this past Friday. The theme for the seminar was “All Life Long: Empowerment through the Grief Journey.” Andy McNiel, the featured speaker, has served in multiple leadership nonprofit and bereavement support settings throughout his career. McNiel has provided executive leadership for the National Alliance for Grieving Children, the Amelia Center at Children’s of Alabama and Treasure Coast Hospice in South Florida. He is the co-author of “Understanding and Supporting Bereaved Children: A Practical Guide for Professionals.” He has helped as a trainer for...
April 12, 2018
Students to present at Academic Symposium
Goshen College will host the 20th Annual Academic Research Symposium in the Church-Chapel on Saturday, April 14. On this day, several students will showcase original research projects from various disciplines. Long Tran, associate professor of education, is the program coordinator of this year’s Academic Symposium. Each year, since 1999, Goshen College brings together students, faculty, and members of the Goshen community to highlight original research from a group of students. Tran said: “It is an institutionally sanctioned and supported professional development opportunity… [It] helps students locate themselves in a larger social picture…. where hopefully there is an appreciation and...
February 15, 2018
Students attend restorative justice conference
Thirteen students from Goshen College braved the snowy roads and traveled to Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada for the Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship (ICPF) conference. The three day (Feb. 9-11) conference explored the meaning, history and practice of restorative justice. Among those who went from Goshen College was first-year Emma Nouri. “I attended this conference because as a peace justice and conflict studies major, I felt that it would be a great experience of learning and interaction about restorative justice, which is an aspect of peace and conflict studies that I have been very curious about,” Nouri said....
February 15, 2018
Students present at C. Henry Smith Contest
Five students shared stories and words of hope at the C. Henry Smith Oratorical contest on Tuesday night. The students, seniors Achieng Agutu and Deeksha Pagar, juniors Sara Azzuni and Katie Yoder, and sophomore Mandira Panta, each presented an approximately 10-minute long speech about varying topics involving peace. Agutu won the contest and a $500 cash prize for her speech titled, “The Introduction: A Story of Inner Peace.” Along with the first place prize comes the opportunity to represent Goshen College in the C. Henry Smith Oratorical contest this coming spring. The speech focused on Agutu being introduced to herself...
November 9, 2017
Public relations alum returns, offers advice
“How can we communicate better?” This was the question posed to Pat Lehman’s Principles of Public Relations class last week when Lassane Queodraogo, a 2014 graduate of Goshen College, returned to campus to speak. Queodraogo is currently a Ph.D. student in Media Studies at Ohio University in Athens. He came to share and connect his work with media and the Muslim world to the class’s current chapter on cross-cultural communication. In the case of cross-cultural communication, the goal is to create common ground without falling into two “sins”: essentialism or exceptionalism. Essentialism, he explained, is a belief system grounded in...
November 2, 2017
Eboo Patel visits GC
Eboo Patel made it clear that he believes that Goshen College has the potential to become a thriving interfaith community during his visit to the campus on Oct. 26 and 27. During his 24-hour visit, Patel, founder and president of the Interfaith Youth Core and author of “Acts of Faith,” visited with students, engaged with classes, roamed the campus and gave to formal speeches. On Thursday evening Patel presented a Yoder Public Affairs Lecture titled, “Interfaith Leadership: Engaging Faith and Philosophical Diversity in the 21st Century” in the Goshen College church-chapel at 7:30 p.m. The sanctuary was filled to capacity,...
September 14, 2017
Theologian Miroslav Volf to present
College Mennonite Church will serve as host for the next installment in the Yoder Public Affairs Lecture series on Friday, Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m. During the upcoming lecture, author, professor and theologian Miroslav Volf will present the topic of “Humility and Joy: What We Can Still Learn from Martin Luther.” This lecture is free and open to the public. Volf will be speaking as part of the Believer’s Church Conference in light of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. He will discuss Martin Luther, an influential figure during the period of the Reformation, and how Luther’s efforts continue...
April 6, 2017
Conference combines science and religion
This weekend, the public is welcome to join scientists and theologians for the 17th annual Conference on Science and Religion. This year’s conference will feature Niels Henrik Gregersen, professor of systematic theology at the University of Copenhagen. The theme of the conference is “Deep Incarnation: From Cosmos to Commitment.” According to Carl Helrich, professor emeritus of physics, Gregersen, like featured speakers before him, chose the theme of the weekend. “[Gregersen’s] topic,” Helrich said, “is one he has been developing for a number of years.” Gregersen’s prior work has focused mostly on creation and Christology, as well as the philosophy of...
February 9, 2017
Peace oratorical contest finalists announced
Each year, students are invited to participate in the C. Henry Smith Peace Oratorical Contest. This year’s finalists have been announced and are preparing for their presentations. Participants deliver an eight to 10-minute speech on a topic of their choice relating to peace in some context, whether war and violence, peacemaking strategies or current events. The addresses are judged on originality as well as the integration of the topic and a peace position. Participants compete for a cash prize alongside the chance to enter the U.S. and Canada oratorical contest. Speech contests have been a part of Goshen College’s history...
December 8, 2016
GC group attends ‘Greening the Statehouse’ conference
Ellen Conrad, Kayla Gray and Morgan Short, all seniors, and Phil Mason, executive director of graduate and continuing studies, joined over 500 participants at the “Greening the Statehouse” conference to discuss environmental injustices in Indiana on Nov. 19. The seniors, all passionate environmentalists, heard about the conference through an email from Goshen College club, EcoPAX, just a few days before the event took place. Gray, an environmental science and sustainability major, has finished taking all of the classes required for her major and missed learning about the environment. “Last year, I did the sustainability leadership semester at Merry Lea,” Gray...
December 1, 2016
Visiting scholar speaks on sustainable economies
Ellah Wakatama Allfrey helps “authors write books and readers read them.” Young and old filled Reith Hall on Tuesday to listen as Jan Bender Shetler, professor of history, interviewed Allfrey, visiting professor of English and communication. The Yoder Public Affair lecture, titled “The Development of Sustainable Creative Economies: Telling Stories and Making Culture” focused on Allfrey’s work helping non-Western, specifically African, writers share their stories to wider audiences and get the recognition they deserve. Allfrey has spent much of her career “creating a body of work that challenges our single view of African people as victims worthy of our pity...
November 3, 2016
GC students learn about MCC involvement in Haiti
The weekend before fall break, six students traveled to New York City for the United Nations-Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) seminar. Dona Park and Keshia Ward, seniors, and Simelwe Dlova, Kyle Stocksdale, Chelsea Risser and Hitesh Sharma, juniors, spent three days listening to people from the U.N. and MCC talk about their work in Haiti following the earthquake in 2010. The conference focused on what these organizations have done on the ground in Haiti as well as the cholera outbreak that was a result of Nepalese U.N. Peacekeepers who hadn’t had proper health screenings before going to Haiti. For Sharma, an...
October 27, 2016
President Brenneman delivers keynote address
President Brenneman delivered a keynote address at the Dean’s Forum of the 30th annual Conference of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) in San Antonio, Texas on October 11. Brenneman’s speech was titled “Intercultural Transformation of a Midwest Mennonite College: Sí Se Puede!” In the 30 minute address, Brenneman discussed Goshen College’s transformation from a mostly homogenous makeup of students during the city of Goshen’s ‘sundown town’ history to a college that celebrates improved rates of diversity and intercultural themes. Brenneman explained to the conference the college’s prediction of becoming a Hispanic-Serving Institution, or HSI, within the next...
October 6, 2016
Mark Campanale talks divestment
This past weekend, Mark Campanale, founder of the Carbon Tracker Initiative, visited Goshen College’s campus to provide lectures and discuss the future of investing in oil and gas companies. Campanale spoke twice, first in a presentation Sunday evening, Oct. 2 and then during a bonus convocation panel discussion the following Monday morning to continue the conversation and engage the student body. The Carbon Tracker Initiative is a group of financial experts that offer analyses and map the financial risk in investing in fossil fuels. Their goal is to encourage the divestment of large oil and coal companies and to allocate...
September 29, 2016
Mark Campanale to speak on institutional divestment
On Sunday, Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m., Mark Campanale will be presenting the lecture “Climate at the Crossroads: The Investor Role in Achieving a Low-Carbon Future” in the Goshen College Church-Chapel. The event is sponsored by Goshen College, Everence, and the Mennonite Education Association. While this event is not part of any lecture series, it is relevant to recent conversations about divestment at Goshen College. Campanale could be called an expert in the relationship between economics and sustainability. He received his B.A. in politics and economic history and his M.Sc. in agricultural economies. Campanale is the founder and executive director...