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around the green – campus
– Young Alumnus Award– Outstanding Alumnus Award
– Distinguished Achievement Award
– Bethel faculty approve revisions to General Education curriculum
Young Alumnus Award
Susan Loepp, Williamstown, Mass., is professor of mathematics at Williams College where she has been since 1996. She is a 1989 Bethel graduate with a B.A. in mathematics and a B.S. in physics. She earned her Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1994.
Loepp is the author of numerous articles and in 2006 published her first book, a collaborative effort with fellow Williams College professor William Wootters, a physicist: Protecting Information: From Classical Error Correction to Quantum Cryptography (Cambridge University Press).
Previous awards that have recognized Loepp’s teaching abilities include Dodd Teaching Excellence Awards from the University of Texas at Austin 1989-91, 1992 and 1993 and a Department of Mathematics Teaching Excellence Award from UT in 1992. The Williams student body presented Loepp with the Faculty of the Year Award in 2001. While she was at Bethel, Loepp, a tennis player, received Academic All-American honors from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in 1988 and 1989.
Loepp was on campus to receive her award March 9, when she presented an enthusiastically received convocation on basic encryption and protecting information. by Melanie Zuercher
Outstanding Alumnus Award
Cynthia (Alexander) Doyle Perkins, Indianapolis is a 1977 Bethel graduate with a degree in health, physical education and recreation. She earned her M.Ed. from Lamar University and has studied at the University of Texas at Austin and Marian College, Indianapolis.
Perkins has worked with all aspects of high school sport at the local, state, national and international level. From 1999-2005, she was assistant director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), based in Indianapolis. She also edited rule books and tests for officials for a variety of high school sporting events. She is currently academic dean for the Academy of Academics, Athletics and Achievement (“A” Academy) at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis.
From 1991-99, Perkins worked in several administrative roles in the office of the athletic director of the University Interscholastic League in Austin, Texas. Before that, she taught biology, applied science, adaptive physical education, health and K-12 physical education; coached girls’ basketball, track and cross-country; and served one year as a principal in the Beaumont, Texas, public school system.
During her competitive days as a Thresher, Perkins was a four-year letter winner in volleyball and women’s track and also participated in women’s basketball. She was a member of three Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) championship volleyball teams and one Kansas Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (KAIAW) championship team. She was named to the KCAC First Team in volleyball her senior year, the same year the Threshers went 26-0 in regular season play. Perkins completed her track career holding all or part of 13 women’s track and field records, four of which still stand. In 2004, she was inducted into the Bethel College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Perkins married Jerome Doyle, a 1976 Bethel graduate, and they had two daughters, Kendra ’04 and Kaitlin. In 2001, she married James Perkins Jr., who had three children, Natalie, James III and Jeremiah.
Perkins will receive her award at the annual Alumni Banquet May 19. by Melanie Zuercher
Distinguished Achievement Award
Roy D. Unruh, Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Hesston is a 1957 Bethel graduate with a B.A. in natural science. He earned an M.A. in secondary education from the University of Minnesota and an Ed.D. in science education from the University of Northern Colorado.
Unruh served as a science and mathematics educator at the secondary and university levels, including at the University of Northern Iowa, 1967-2001. Unruh was awarded more than 20 grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Education for improving science instruction at the elementary and secondary school levels.
In the late 1980s, Unruh chaired the Iowa Physics Task Force to address the threat of physics being dropped from some small high schools’ course offerings because of low class enrollments, which stimulated the development of a high school physics curriculum called Physics Resources and Instructional Strategies for Motivating Students (PRISMS). More than 2,000 teachers in the United States have received workshop instruction for implementing PRISMS learning cycles.
Among Unruh’s honors is the University of Northern Colorado Centennial Alumni Hall of Fame Award, given to 100 graduates of the university during its 100-year history. He also received the Iowa Science Teachers Outstanding Service Award and the Iowa State Board of Regents Award for Faculty Excellence.
Unruh married Delores Carlson ’53 and they had two daughters, Sherilyn ’78 and Joni. Delores died in 1963. He married Sara Suderman ’64 and they had a daughter and son, Marcia and Brian. Sara died in 2001. Unruh has 11 grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. He is married to Mildred Martens-Unruh and they currently live in Cedar Falls and Hesston.
Unruh will receive his award at the annual Alumni Banquet May 19. by Melanie Zuercher
Bethel faculty approve revisions to General Education curriculum
After more than a year of work by faculty and administration representatives, the faculty on Oct. 24 voted its initial approval to a revision of the college’s General Education (GE) requirements.
The most significant changes have to do with the addition of two core courses, which do not, however, increase the number of required GE hours.
Core courses will still include College Issues Colloquy in the first freshman semester, Convocation for eight semesters and Basic Issues of Faith and Life in the senior year. Added to these are a Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies (PJC) course and a Collaborative Inquiry Seminar.
“Once this curriculum is implemented, every Bethel graduate will have a significant Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies component to his or her education,” said assistant professor of history Penelope Adams Moon, a member of the GE Review Committee. “This continues a long-standing institutional interest in this discipline.”
The Collaborative Inquiry Seminar “builds on Bethel’s institutional emphasis on undergraduate research,” said academic dean and vice president for academic affairs Brad Born. Approved courses will emphasize inquiry-based, collaborative learning in order to develop students’ ability to gather, interpret and evaluate information from a variety of sources; formulate and apply a research methodology; and communicate findings effectively and professionally.
Once the GE revisions have received their final approval, they are scheduled to take effect with the incoming freshmen and transfer students of fall 2008.
Bethel’s GE curriculum is designed to develop three sets of “foundational capacities” in students: basic academic skills (including communication, mathematics and computer competencies); understandings of academic disciplines and cross-cultural issues; and integrative abilities, including critical thinking and the ability to relate faith and learning.
In addition to Born and Moon, members of the GE Review Committee include William Eash, professor of music; Jon Piper, professor of biology; Ada Schmidt-Tieszen ’74, professor of social work; John Sheriff, professor of English and executive vice president for institutional development (interim president for most of the GE review process); Patricia Shelly ’76, professor of Bible and religion; and Richard Zerger ’69, professor of chemistry. by Melanie Zuercher
Above: At the invitation of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 13 American religious leaders went to Iran Feb. 17-25 to speak with religious and political leaders, including the president himself, in the hope of “opening doors to a civil dialogue” between the United States and Iran. Organizers of the delegation were Mennonite Central Committee and the American Friends Service Committee. Two Bethel graduates were in the group: Ron Flaming ’74, director of international programs for MCC and one of the delegation leaders, and Patricia Shelly ’76, professor of Bible and religion. When the Americans arrived for a meeting with the Organization for Culture and Islamic Relations, they found this sign waiting for them. Patty is standing with Kamal from the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who arranged the group’s schedule and traveled with them. To read the complete story, go to www.bethelks.edu/news and select the articles from March 2007 (article posted March 9, 2007).