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• The J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Okla., has awarded Bethel College a $725,000 challenge grant for renovation of Old Science Hall into the Academic Center. Bethel must now raise an additional $921,424 by April 2011.


• Rachel Epp Buller ’96, assistant professor of art, is the second Bethel faculty member in the past five years to be awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant. Epp Buller will spend five months in the spring and summer of 2011 in Berlin researching the work of political artist Alice Lex.


• Hannah Blackburn, senior from Kingman, became the first Bethel women’s basketball player in more than a decade to make All-American. This season, Blackburn broke Bethel’s single season rebounding record, securing 281 total, as well as the career rebounding record, grabbing 910 total.


• John McCabe-Juhnke ’78, professor of communication arts and forensics coach, was one of only four coaches honored for 25 years of participation in the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament (AFA-NIET). The Bethel squad, which qualified 11 members in 15 events, including all five freshmen, placed 35th at the annual tournament.


• In March, Bethel was one of only three Kansas private colleges named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which recognizes educational institutions nationwide that support effective community service and service-learning programs.


• The Council on Social Work Education has reaccredited the Bethel College social work program for the maximum period of eight years. Faculty and staff engaged in several years of intensive self-study, consulted with the program’s Professional Advisory Council and hosted a site visit in October 2009.


• This spring, the Bethel College Department of Teacher Education received a Partner Activity Award from the Confidence in Kansas Public Education Task Force and Kansas Partners in Education. Newton Unified School District 373 nominated Bethel based on the newly revised Teaching the Expressive Arts class, in which teacher education students collaborate with experienced teachers at Northridge Elementary School.


• Three Bethel College science majors presented a poster at the annual Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) Posters on the Hill reception in Washington, D.C., in April. Theirs was one of 58 selected from more than 300 applications. The 75 students at Posters on the Hill were from 54 colleges and universities nationwide with Bethel the only Kansas institution represented.


• Bethel College will step in line with the other member schools in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) with the addition of women’s softball to its roster of intercollegiate sports by fall 2011.


• This year, the J.O. ’38 and Esther ’38 Schrag Helping Hand Award went to Royce Flaming of the maintenance staff. Krishna Phifer, junior from Humble, Texas, nominated Flaming.


• In the annual C. Henry Smith Peace Oration competition, Jon Huber, junior from South Hutchinson, placed first for “Moving from Conversation to Dialogue.” Second place went to Naomi Graber, sophomore from Elkhart, Ind., for “Unity: Living in Peace” and third to Taylor McCabe-Juhnke, sophomore from North Newton, for “Indivisible Forces: Conserving and Peacemaking.”


• Four Bethel College students are exploring congregational ministry this summer through the Ministry Inquiry Program: Naomi Graber, Elkhart, Ind., at Community Mennonite Church in Markham, Ill; John Miller, Hutchinson, at Christ Community Church in Des Moines; Sarah Pohl, Moundridge, at First Mennonite Church, Reedley, Calif.; and Caleb Regehr, Whitewater, at San Antonio (Texas) Mennonite Church.

Photo at top: Four seniors received Thresher Awards at the annual Awards Convocation May 10: from left, Kyle Claassen, Andover, for mathematics and physics; Aimee Siebert, Topeka, for psychology; Meredith Lehman, Bluffton, Ohio, for Bible and religion, German and history; and Evan Fast, Goessel, for business.