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around the green – campus
– Bethel College Board announces presidential appointment– Lens of Hindu culture brings students’ own into sharper focus
– Students turn out to serve campus and community
– Composer premiers three new pieces for Bethel College musicians
– Keep leveraging learning opportunities, speaker tells graduates
– EMS day for athletic training students includes helicopter landing
Bethel College Board announces presidential appointment
Perry D. White, Manitowoc, Wis., will become the 14th president of Bethel College. He and wife, Dalene White, moved into Goerz House in time for his first day in mid-July.
“The Bethel Board of Directors is excited and pleased to announce Dr. White’s appointment from a very strong set of outstanding candidates,” said Melvin Goering ‘61, Santa Fe, N.M., board chair. “The candidates were evaluated extensively by the board’s Presidential Search Committee and by the campus and wider community, with the assistance of the Mennonite Education Agency staff and board.”
White has a “lifelong commitment to faith-based private college education,” Goering said. He has a bachelor of arts in music education from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, and most recently served as vice president for external relations and admissions at Silver Lake College in Manitowoc. Before coming to Silver Lake College in 2008, White was vice president for college advancement at Monmouth (Ill.) College.
“Dalene and I are truly honored and humbled by this opportunity to serve Bethel College. During our visit to campus, we were so impressed by the people, programs and unwavering commitment to quality higher education that is deeply rooted in the heritage and values of the Mennonite tradition,” White said. “We look forward to working with the many alumni, friends and colleagues to further the college’s mission, as we seek to prepare graduates for lives of successful service beyond graduation.”
White earned a master of music in choral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a doctor of musical arts in choral conducting from the University of Oklahoma. “Dr. White has shown successful leadership in two important areas, recruitment and advancement,” said Goering. “At both Monmouth and Silver Lake, he led a broader institutional recruitment strategy and process, with significant growth in both cases. He was part of the strategic group activity that led to 40 percent enrollment growth at Monmouth. He also led substantial successful fundraising campaigns at both schools. Monmouth surpassed its campaign goal of $48 million, securing $62 million.”
White, who comes from the Baptist faith tradition, “sees himself as a part of the broader Anabaptist tradition,” Goering said, “as evidenced by his own adult believers baptism, with a special appreciation for the value of service to others.
“He can bring a fresh understanding of Mennonite heritage and values and has the skill to speak in language that interprets the tradition to those from outside it in ways that will be inviting and bridge-building.
“Dr. White has demonstrated an ability to understand, appreciate and articulate the history, heritage and core values of diverse institutions in a way that is authentic to loyal supporters,” Goering continued. “Dr. White has shown an unusual capacity to work with and appreciate people of diverse religious backgrounds at a time when Bethel’s student population is becoming more diverse.”
“Dr. White’s prior experiences in other faith-based educational institutions provide a framework for understanding and appreciating the unique mission and values of Bethel College,” said Jim Rosenberger, Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) board chair. “The MEA board appreciated the opportunity to consult with the search committee and provide feedback to the selection process, and with the announcement of Dr. White we want to offer our blessings on this new beginning.”
Dalene White, who has Kansas roots and a degree from the University of Kansas, has had successful roles in advancement and marketing at Monmouth and Silver Lake, following a career in the corporate world as a CPA for a large firm. She is “an enthusiastic supporter and spokesperson for the values of the church-related, faithbased college,” Goering said.
Melanie Zuercher
Lens of Hindu culture brings students’ own into sharper focus
For Paul Lewis, professor of psychology, an integral part of his Social Cognition class is having students directly encounter the Hindu Indian culture, which he finds as close as Kansas City and Wichita.
Every other spring since 2002 (he teaches the class in alternate years), Lewis has been taking students to celebrate the Holi – which honors spring, fertility and new beginnings – with the congregation of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Society in Kansas City and to meet with members of the Vedanta Society, an ecumenical group of devotees who worship Shri Rama Krishna.
Cassidy McFadden, sophomore from Elgin, Ill., explains that one of the goals of the Social Cognition class is “to learn a little bit about how people view themselves and others, and one of the best ways to do that is by analyzing another culture – and our own in the process.”
Many students come into the class knowing relatively little about Hindu Indians. “A fun part of the course,” Lewis says, “is introducing the students to this culture.”
Students began the semester reading about Hindu religion and culture before traveling to Kansas City for a long weekend to experience some of what they had been learning about.
“The Holi celebration was fantastic,” says Brad Celestin. “The large group of Indian people outside [the temple] welcomed us as though we were part of their collective family and immediately began slathering us with color.” Part of the Holi celebration involves participants covering each other with colorful, chalk-like powder.
“It was impossible not to be swept up in the power of this festival to tie us into the larger group of Hindu Indian people surrounding us, and to bind us more closely together as our own group,” Celestin continues. “Differences were left at the door, and we were all united in the purpose of celebration.”
In addition to visiting the Hindu Temple and the Vedanta Society, the class met with two Hindu scholars, enjoyed lunch at two Indian restaurants, had a docent-guided tour of the Nelson-Atkins Museum’s South Asian collection and stayed at a Hindu-owned and -operated hotel.
Celestin concludes, “We are lucky to have professors at Bethel who are so thoroughly dedicated to the students, and who so generously offer their time and expertise to provide experiences like this one.”
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Krista Graber
Students turn out to serve campus and community
For the last number of years, Bethel College has set aside “Service Day” in mid-April.
This year, it was more like a Service Week, spurred by the momentum of a high-participation event in mid-February, eight hours of meal packaging for Haiti earthquake relief sponsored by the local charity Numana Inc. (founded and directed by Rick McNary ’95).
The week started when students picked up their April 9 issue of the Bethel Collegian and read junior Zach Metzler’s story about how two Bethel students, sisters Ruth and Terra Wiens of Newton, a freshman and junior respectively, spent their early spring break.
Starting March 3, Ruth and Terra accompanied their father, Tim Wiens ’77, M.D., for 10 days working at a clinic in Grand-Goâve, Haiti, where Tim served 28 years ago as a firstyear medical student. At the clinic, a project of Lifeline Christian Mission located about 40 miles from Port-au-Prince, Ruth, Terra and Tim saw between 70 and 80 patients a day. They also spent significant time praying with each patient for spiritual as well as physical healing.
In the same issue of the paper, annual spring break reports included accounts of two service trips during the week of March 20-28. Eight students did landscaping and organizing for the World Impact center in south Dallas. Six students and Vice President for Student Life Chad Childs ’99 spent a week with the congregation of Community Mennonite Church, Markham, Ill., completing several projects for the church and its food pantry, passing out flyers about the church around the neighborhood, joining in worship services and spending a lot of time visiting with congregation members.
Once students had read in the Collegian about how some of their number had served beyond Newton and North Newton, they could then get involved in the local community by staffing the Harvey County Homeless Shelter April 9-13, in the days leading up to Service Day April 14.
Bethel’s Student Senate organized the staffing of the homeless shelter. Matt Stucky, senior from Moundridge and Student Senate president, says student leaders saw it as a way to get more students directly involved at the shelter.
“We set up a training day [at the shelter] for Bethel students in the fall semester that went very well,” Stucky says. “But we weren’t getting in a lot of volunteer hours. So we decided to organize something that would be set – have a schedule.”
The four days also went well, he says. “People had some interesting stories from the communal time [with the shelter residents]. The guy I replaced seemed very excited [about being there].”
All of this may have helped lead up to a Service Day that Dale Schrag ’69, campus pastor and a main organizer for this year’s event, said saw the highest percentage of participation in the past five years.
Although students and faculty went to traditional off-campus sites such as Trees for Life in Wichita, Camp Mennoscah near Murdock, the Harvey County Homeless Shelter and the Mennonite Central Committee- Central States offices adjacent to campus to the north, Service Day 2010 proved to be a day for students mostly to give something to their campus community.
Several of them chose to join retired Professor of Bible and Religion Duane Friesen ’62 and several other North Newton community members at the Sand Creek Community Gardens on campus, a project in its first year. Some students helped build an area for compost and trash bins while others put their backs into digging up Bermuda grass to make a bed for some donated rosebushes.
Others collected trash and spread fresh wood chips on Sand Creek Trail, a public recreation and nature trail on campus; did some painting in Goering Hall, home of the athletics department; joined Childs for detail work on the new Discovery Adventure Course; rooted up invasive honeysuckle on the Kauffman Museum grounds; or cleaned and organized the music library. Nursing students and faculty spent time with children from a local preschool, New Creation, exploring Sand Creek Trail’s offerings of water, trees and dirt.
Schrag took a group to the homeless shelter to tackle some cleaning chores which, he says, they polished off in short order. “Till Ruhkopf, who was visiting Pia, his girlfriend, one of our Wuppertal exchange students, was just awesome,” Schrag said. “He worked incredibly hard. They all did.”
Childs’ adventure course crews also attacked the alien Tatarian honeysuckle and spread wood chips around some of the course elements. Freshman Aaron Rudeen, Osage City, declared the work day to be such a good time that “we should do this once a month” instead of just once a year.
Melanie Zuercher
Composer premiers three new pieces for Bethel College musicians
Contemporary classical composer Paul Rudy ’84 once performed in Krehbiel Auditorium as a Bethel College student. Thirty years later he returned to the stage in a new role.
“I get to write for wonderful young people who sit in the same chairs that I did 30 years ago,” Rudy says. “It’s so gratifying – there are no words for it.”
As Bethel’s composer-in-residence for 2009-10, Rudy – associate professor and director of composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music – was commissioned to write three original works for Bethel’s music department. His compositions premiered at the Milford E. Greer Festival Concert April 11 in Krehbiel Auditorium.
The program included the commissioned pieces “Peacefully,” for the Bethel College Concert Choir; “Event Horizon,” for the Bethel College Wind Ensemble; and “Postcard Prairie,” for Bethel music department faculty. The text for “Peacefully” stems from Rudy’s experience with the Mennonite peace tradition.
“Since I was born and raised Mennonite – my dad [Carl Rudy] was a preacher – I decided to work with a text that had a peace theme,” he says. “I had been reading the Tao Te Ching and I found passages that spoke to the idea of being at peace and being a peacemaker. I wrote my own text inspired by the words.”
The Concert Choir itself influenced the music of “Peacefully.” Rudy heard the choir perform “Peacefully” last October in order to get feedback and make any changes.
“That collaboration made it a much better piece,” Rudy says. “That’s the great thing about working with the people you’re composing for.”
Timothy Shade, who directs the Wind Ensemble, was in conversation with Rudy about “Event Horizon” from the beginning. Shade is particularly taken by its percussive and unique instrumentation, he says.
“[Paul’s] music has an interesting voice,” Shade says. “It’s not a traditional sound. He has his sound palette and writes so that [the band fits] into those sounds. For example, we’re emulating cymbals crashing, with the winds.”
Shade was the impetus for appointing Rudy composer-inresidence and believes strongly in the partnership.
“This is something I personally believe in, trying to commission music by living composers. As a proponent of wind music, I think it’s great personally. It’s great for Bethel as well. Our name will go on a score forever.”
Rudy wrote the third new piece, “Postcard Prairie,” for soprano, tenor saxophone, piano and trombone to suit the Bethel music faculty (Soyoun Chun, James Pisano, Karen Bauman Schlabaugh and Shade). The text of the piece comes from the poem “Gazetteer” by Nathan Bartel ’02, assistant professor of Literary Studies.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to come back around and contribute something,” says Rudy, who graduated from Bethel in 1984 with a degree in music and trumpet performance.
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Mayeken Kehr
Keep leveraging learning opportunities, speaker tells graduates
The thunderstorm passed to the north and Bethel College’s 117th commencement exercises proceeded outdoors in Thresher Stadium for the third year.
A few sprinkles fell on faculty, graduates and audience and a gusty wind kept whipping mortarboards off graduates’ heads as they listened to commencement speaker Aziza Hasan ’03 give them five ways to “leverage learning opportunities.”
Hasan, of Los Angeles, was the first of four siblings to attend Bethel (two are also graduates and one is currently a student). Their father, the late Farouq Hasan, studied at Bethel in the 1970s. Many extended family members (including Hasan’s uncle Shafiq Hasan ’75, Newton) were present to hear her address the Bethel audience.
As southern California director of government relations for the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and codirector of NewGround, a project that seeks to foster communication, respect and understanding among Jews and Muslims, Hasan is an interfaith communicator who “exemplifies in her life and profession Bethel’s core values,” said Interim President John Sheriff in his introduction. “She is a graduate of whom Bethel is very proud.”
“I’m humbled by this great honor [of speaking to you today],” Hasan said. “It’s so good to be back at the place that has left its imprint on my life and work.
“It’s simple – what has really helped me most since leaving Bethel has been leveraging learning opportunities,” she continued. “Challenges can pull you back or they can motivate you.”
First, she said, “Be specific. Say what you mean and pay attention to language.”
Second, is “LOL” – not “Laugh Out Loud” but “Listen, Observe and Learn.” “Learn from your opposition,” Hasan said. “A well-thoughtout question is half the answer.”
Third, she said, “Get rid of the word ‘but’ [in] your vocabulary. Listen and paraphrase. Instead of ‘but,’ use ‘Yes, and … .’”
Her fourth way to leverage learning opportunities was “Commit to honest conversation.”
Finally, she said, “Constantly seek to improve and invest in yourself. You’ve worked hard to get to this point but sorry, you can’t stop here.”
Also as part of the commencement ceremonies, Vice President for Academic Affairs Brad Born ’84 presented the Ralph P. Schrag Distinguished Teaching Award to Professor of Music William Eash. The award goes to a faculty member whom the academic dean’s office judges, based on both peer and student evaluations, to have made an outstanding contribution to teaching at Bethel College.
Sheriff conferred 37 bachelor of arts and 52 bachelor of science degrees. According to a survey of graduating seniors, 35 of the graduates intend to enter health- and social service-related careers, 22 business and 10 education. Of those who responded to the survey, 44 percent plan either to enter or apply to graduate school within the next five years. At least three will follow a Bethel tradition of taking voluntary service assignments soon after graduation.
The class of 2010 comes from 14 states and five countries in addition to the United States: Cameroon, China, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.
Sharon Nance ’69, Dallas, mother-in-law of graduate Priscilla Tang, gave the invocation and Ruth Harder ’01, associate pastor of Bethel College Mennonite Church, offered the benediction.
“These graduates represent an investment in life,” said Nance, “by students, parents, professors and college friends and supporters. [May God] transform their possibility into promise.”
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Melanie Zuercher
EMS day for athletic training students includes helicopter landing
When the EMS helicopter landed on Bethel’s football field on a Saturday in May, it fortunately didn’t signal a medical emergency.
It was there to add to a day of learning about Emergency Medical Services for Bethel College athletic training students.
Peivi Tauiliili ’08 and David Shinn, both students in the paramedic program at Hutchinson Community College, came to campus for a day May 8 to give the Bethel students some classroom instruction on EMS-related topics that have a direct impact on athletic training, said Doug Maury ’01, who directs Bethel’s Athletic Training Education Program.
“In the morning, they talked about head injuries such as concussions, internal injuries, general medical emergencies and extremity injuries,” Maury said. “The afternoon involved several scenario-based learning sessions and hands-on experience.”
The afternoon session included a discussion on transport. “While not a regular occurrence,” Maury said, “the possibility exists that in a life-threatening emergency, an air rescue may be necessary. LifeTeam Midwest brought in one of their helicopter ambulances and [the three-person crew] stayed for about an hour and answered student questions.”
Melanie Zuercher