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around the green – campus
– Conference explores new ground in Anabaptist-Mennonite history– 11th Summer Science Institute attracts largest group to date
– Bethel presents check at Pa. church to help benefit Ghana seminary
– Maintenance worker puts Kansas sun to good, green use
– Fall enrollment shows healthy increase
– Long-time nursing educator receives nursing alumnus award
– Mural builds community along with a work of art
– Bethel inaugurates 14th president, looks to ‘a future with hope’
Conference explores new ground in Anabaptist-Mennonite history
When it comes to religious history, the standard college textbook for “Western Civilization” has a blank, one an international conference held at Bethel this summer was planned to help begin to fill in.
After more than 50 years of scholarly study of the Anabaptists, such a text nowadays will cover the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement in 16th-century Europe – with references to Menno Simons (from whom the name “Mennonite” is derived), the Kingdom of Münster and the Peasants’ War – says Mark Jantzen ’85, associate professor of history. “But after 1550, [the Anabaptists] disappear.”
Jantzen and his colleague Mary Sprunger ’84, professor of history at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va., were co-planners for “Marginal or Mainstream? Anabaptists, Mennonites and Modernity in European Society,” a conference held on campus June 25-26.
It isn’t that all topics related to 16th-century Anabaptism have been exhausted, says Sprunger. But “a new generation” of scholars has begun to look more closely at other time periods. Her own interest is in 17th-century Dutch history while Jantzen’s is in 19th-century German.
The thesis of the conference, in fact, was that Mennonites – far from retreating into obscurity as the textbooks suggest – were an important influence on European economics, politics, religion and other areas of society over the next centuries, the “modern era.”
Both Jantzen and Sprunger were surprised and pleased by the number and diversity of conference attenders. “I was expecting 50 or so, 100 at the most,” Jantzen says. “We had 120 registered, with at least 30 more who dropped in at different times.”
“I enjoyed the audience cross-section of both scholars and laypeople,” Sprunger says. “It made for a bigger audience than you often get at these conferences. Bethel was well situated, near retirement communities and museums, with a lot of [local] people with a deep interest in Mennonite history.”
One of the conference funders was the Marpeck Fund, established by Robert Kreider ’39 and the late Gerald Kreider ’42 to foster interaction between Mennonite educational institutions, which stipulated (and financed) student involvement in the conference, so there was a special effort to get them there. Several attended from Bethel, Goshen (Ind.) College, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, EMU and Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary-Great Plains, as well as one student who came via Canadian Mennonite University.
“It was exciting to have students meeting scholars who are working in areas [they’ve studied],” Jantzen says. “We also had several graduate students as presenters.” Both planners say they feel satisfied their goals for the conference were met. “We want to create awareness, particularly in North America, of European Mennonite history after the 16th century,” Sprunger says. “We also wanted to get scholars working in the period from different geographical areas together.”
“We had a goal of getting non-Mennonites to look at Mennonite history – and apparently, they are,” Jantzen says, and Sprunger adds, “The interaction between Mennonite and non-Mennonite scholars was another interesting aspect of the conference.”
“This kind of gathering is close to unprecedented at Bethel on this international level,” says Jantzen, noting that the last major conference at the college, “Anabaptism for the New Millennium.” took place in 2000.
The first goal will be further advanced with publication of the conference papers in book form, though that will likely not be for a couple of years.
“We’re finding better ways to understand European history by understanding Mennonite history,” Jantzen says, “and [adding to] Mennonite history by bringing in broader European history.”
Melanie Zuercher
11th Summer Science Institute attracts largest group to date
Bethel College’s Summer Science Institute (SSI) celebrated its 11th birthday with its highest enrollment ever.
The 2010 group numbered 34, double the highest previous enrollment, said Dwight Krehbiel ’69, Bethel College professor of psychology and institute co-director.
Krehbiel cited a number of reasons for the jump in enrollment. “This was the second year of a fee of only $50 [per student] because of subsidies from STEM [science, technology, pre-engineering, mathematics] alumni,” he said. “There’s word of mouth getting out about what a good value this is. Our office of admissions has been more systematic in promoting Summer Science Institute. It’s hard to say for sure what’s tipping the balance.”
One thing that contributed to the good numbers was the participation of 13 Upward Bound Math Science (UBMS) students from the program at Wichita State University.
“Our UBMS program [made] a campus visit at Bethel College in 2008 with a few of our local students,” said Julie Scott, curriculum coordinator for the UBMS Regional Center at WSU. “We were so impressed by the experience that we brought all 50 of them back that summer for a second visit. At these early visits, we met both [Professor of Biology and SSI Co-Director] Jon Piper and Dwight Krehbiel, who we felt went above and beyond what we had experienced at campus visits to other universities. [They] designed a visit specific to our students’ interests in science and even conducted science experiments with them to demonstrate what types of labs they would get to do at the collegiate level.”
Krehbiel also told Scott about the S-STEM grant from the National Science Foundation (at that time under review, and subsequently awarded to Bethel), which provides limited-income and minority students with scholarships to help remove some of the financial barriers they face when pursuing higher education.
“Since UBMS students often fall under at least one of these categories, it seemed like a natural partnership,” Scott continued. “Dwight and Jon continued to maintain contact with us and, along with other faculty members and students, served as volunteer speakers at one of our summer program’s career nights regarding STEM research. In October 2009, they pitched the idea of sending UBMS students to SSI as a [way to give] students an additional science experience and as a recruitment tool for our students to consider applying to Bethel and for the S-STEM Scholarship.
“When Dwight informed us that Bethel alumni had agreed to offset much of the camp’s cost this year – $400 per student – it was simply an offer we believed we needed to make available to our students,” Scott said.
SSI is held on the Bethel campus for a week every summer in early June, offering high school students entering grades 10-12 and graduating high school seniors the opportunity to participate in research investigations in two areas of their choice, with this year’s options being child psychology, molecular genetics, nutritional chemistry, physiology and psychology of sleep and dreaming, and “programming unplugged” (without a computer).
On the last full day of SSI, students present their research in a symposium setting, and Scott brought 30 additional UBMS students to campus for the presentations. “Our experience was nothing less than amazing,” she said. “We were delighted to see not only our students present their research, but also to see SSI participants demonstrate their newfound knowledge and get excited about STEM.”
Summer Science Institute 2010 faculty were, in addition to Krehbiel and Piper, Karl Friesen ’86, assistant professor of computer science, Gary Histand, professor of chemistry, Paul Lewis, professor of psychology, and Francisca Méndez-Harclerode, assistant professor of biology, along with seven Bethel science students as assistants.
Melanie Zuercher
Bethel presents check at Pa. church to help benefit Ghana seminary
The third and final check from Bethel’s exhibit at the July 2009 Mennonite Youth Convention in Columbus, Ohio, went to University Mennonite Church in State College, Pa. Clark Oswald ’03, Bethel College associate director of admissions, visited the congregation July 25 to present the check to Erin Sacksteder, the youth group member who drew the winning ticket.
“Erin has a passion for caring for children,” Oswald says. “To that end, and with the work University Mennonite has done with Mennonite Mission Network, Erin wanted to designate the $1,000 prize to help Good News Theological Seminary in Ghana kick off a fund to help build a nursery at the seminary. University Mennonite has raised money for a dormitory for students who attend GNTS. Now a nursery is needed for children of students while they are in class.”
After the service, Oswald talked with “10-15 people about [Bethel’s project at the youth convention]. They thought we had a creative idea. They remembered our playground set and thought we had done a great thing with our booth and made an impact on their youth.”
Melanie Zuercher
Maintenance worker puts Kansas sun to good, green use
During one of the hottest Kansas summers in recent memory, Roger Reimer ’78 of Bethel’s maintenance department put all that sun to extra good use – to drive his solar-powered golf cart around campus.
It all started out as “a little experiment” with his cart. “I am interested in alternative energy,” he explains. He hopes driving the solar cart around Bethel will “create interest in alternative energy on campus.”
To make his conventional, rechargeable-electric-battery-powered golf cart into a solar vehicle, Reimer attached solar panels to the roof and hooked them up to the batteries through a 36-volt charge controller.
“The panels and controller were purchased from a company specializing in golf cart solar chargers,” he says. “Currently, the charger supplies enough electricity for my normal usage of the cart.
“If I drive more than usual or if it is cloudy for prolonged periods, I need to supplement [the solar power] by plugging [the cart] in at night. During the winter months, I expect to need to be plugged in more often.”
In addition to the experiment with the solar-powered golf cart, Reimer and others in the maintenance department are “exploring the addition of solar hot water heaters to Voth and Haury Halls. These would be sized to enable us to turn off the large natural gas water heaters during the summer months when only the resident directors are living in the buildings.”
The other green initiative Reimer is advocating for currently is “the installation of a wind turbine to offset some of [the college’s] electric costs and to provide educational opportunities.”
With Bethel in the middle of a campaign to renovate Old Science Hall into the Academic Center, Reimer sees this as a perfect time to look into using wind energy.
“A wind turbine could produce enough electricity to offset the additional usage of the new Academic Center,” he says, “reducing the carbon footprint of the new development.”
Besides these innovations, Bethel’s maintenance department continues to try to reduce energy consumption with an energy management system to control temperatures and by scheduling air-conditioning equipment.
Reimer concludes, “We also rely [on the] cooperation of the Bethel community to be responsible stewards of our resources.”
Krista Graber
Fall enrollment shows healthy increase
Bethel’s enrollment has jumped by more than nine percent from fall 2009 to fall 2010.
Overall enrollment for fall 2010 is 476, compared to 437 last year. One hundred twenty-seven new students on campus this fall are first-time freshmen – the largest freshman class at Bethel in a decade – and 59 are transfers.
Another positive number is the fall 2009 to fall 2010 retention percentage of 82.4, three points over last year’s figure and well above the national average of 66.3 percent for colleges similar to Bethel.
Bethel’s class of 2014 includes 11 valedictorians and one salutatorian. The average ACT score is 23.29, with 20 percent of freshmen coming from the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class.
Other characteristics of Bethel’s fall 2010 student body include: first-time freshmen come from 16 states (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas, plus Kansas) and two countries in addition to the United States (Mexico and South Korea); first-time freshmen represent 42 different Kansas high schools; and 44 first-time freshmen are legacy students, meaning a parent, grandparent or sibling has previously attended Bethel.
There is also one student from the Bergische Universität-Wuppertal in Germany, part of the exchange program that has been in place since 1951.
Melanie Zuercher
Long-time nursing educator receives nursing alumnus award
A retired Bethel professor of nursing was honored at this year’s Fall Festival. Verda Deckert ’64, Newton, received the Outstanding Nursing Alumnus Award from the Bethel Deaconess Hospital/Bethel College Nursing Alumni Association Oct. 9 during the BDH/BCNAA annual meeting.
Deckert earned a nursing diploma in 1964 from the Bethel Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing. In 1965, she completed her B.S.N. at Bethel College and in 1990 her M.S.N. at Wichita State University.
From 1966-68, Deckert and her husband, Geoffrey Deckert ’72, served with Mennonite Voluntary Service in Battleford, Saskatchewan, where Verda worked as an R.N. in a community hospital and on a Native reserve. Verda taught in the BDH School of nursing from 1968 until it closed in 1974. The Deckerts lived in Okmulgee, Okla., for a year while Geoff attended baking school and Verda worked as a public health nurse. From 1975-90, Verda worked in a variety of roles at Bethel Deaconess Hospital, including staff nurse and house supervisor. At the time of BDH’s merger with Axtell Hospital to form Newton Medical Center in 1988, Deckert was assistant vice president of nursing.
In 1990, as Deckert was finishing her master’s degree, she learned there was an opening on the Bethel College nursing faculty. Deckert taught at the college for the next 18 years, until her retirement in 2008. For all 18 years, she taught the Nursing Management class, and she often taught Community Nursing, one of the Bethel nursing program’s particular emphases.
Deckert served as advisor to the Bethel chapter of the Kansas Association of Nursing Students (BC-KANS) from its inception in 1992 until she retired and led several cross-cultural trips among the Lakota people in South Dakota.
Deckert’s two daughters, Natasha Arnold ’95 and Maria Deckert Jones ’96, are also graduates of Bethel’s nursing program.
Melanie Zuercher
Mural builds community along with a work of art
Rachel Epp Buller ’96, assistant professor of art, has experience and success writing grants – she recently received a Fulbright fellowship she’ll use to study in Germany next year.
When, soon after that, she heard about the application for a community mural project, she knew it was something she had to try for. There wasn’t much time – she got information about the call for grants from the Mid-America Arts Alliance, based in Kansas City, Mo., in mid-December 2009 with a due date in January 2010.
“There would be one mural project funded in Oklahoma and one in Kansas,” Epp Buller says. “The emphasis was on community-building – how a mural could help bring different parts of the community together.
“We have a lot of diversity,” she adds. “Mennonite and Hispanic. North Newton and Newton. A significant older population, with a number of retirement communities, plus tons of kids and young people. I saw a mural as a way to engage parts of the community that don’t often get together.”
As it turned out, she had that experience herself in the grant application process. “Right after I sent the proposal off,” she says, “I found out about Barb Burns’s proposal.” Burns is coordinator of community advancement for the City of Newton. “She went at it from a different angle, lining up pieces like the Chamber of Commerce and local businesses.”
In February, Epp Buller and Burns learned that Newton was one of four finalists for the grant. A committee from Mid-America Arts Alliance then came for a site visit.
“I didn’t think we would get it,” Epp Buller admits, “especially when I found out Greensburg was a finalist.” Greensburg, in western Kansas, was virtually destroyed by a tornado in 2007 and has gained national publicity for its “green” rebuilding projects.
Nonetheless, Newton did, in fact, ultimately produce the successful proposal.
“It has been fabulous working with [Barb],” Epp Buller says. “We connect to very different segments of the community. It didn’t hurt that we had two proposals – in the end, I think it really helped.”
Besides Epp Buller and Burns, the other local person with responsibility for coordinating the grant implementation was artist Joe Loganbill ’80. He directs Carriage Factory Gallery in Newton, where the first community meeting to start planning the mural took place in July and where the design team continued to meet.
“I was amazed at how the community stepped forward,” Epp Buller adds, “like Joe Regier of Regier Construction, who gave the use of scissors lifts for two months at no charge. These folks knew there was nothing in it for them financially but they were interested in this community project. It drew a lot of people who would never consider themselves artists.”
Bethel College was a great support as well, she says. “We needed to partner with a 501(c)3 organization. Gregg Dick ’87, Bethel controller, was a big help with the financial details of handling a grant. [New president] Perry White saw the potential for community building and was on board right away.” White was one of the speakers at the mural dedication.
A bit of Bethel can be seen in the mural, with the inclusion of a threshing stone symbol in three places, one obvious and two a bit more subtle.
“I never had a specific image in mind,” Epp Buller says. “I was always interested to see what was emerging. I was amazed at the continuing level of detail. About halfway into the painting, it looked like it was done – all the surfaces were covered – but details kept emerging.”
The mural spurred at least one additional “community building” project. Danika Bielek, director of the Bethel College Academy of Performing Arts, and Sara Dick ’93, associate pastor of Shalom Mennonite Church in Newton, organized a dance project based on the mural. The performance, with music by local musicians Jesse Graber ’00, Eric Schrag ’98 and Matthew Dudte, was part of the mural dedication.
“The mural is great – the end product is wonderful,” Epp Buller says. “But it was really the process that was most exciting – the community building, the requirement to work through our differences.”
Melanie Zuercher
Bethel inaugurates 14th president, looks to ‘a future with hope’
“Hope” was the unmistakable theme of the worship service and inauguration of Bethel’s 14th president, Perry D. White, during Fall Festival Oct. 10.
That was because it’s a theme to which, in only 10 weeks in office,White himself has repeatedly returned, doing so again in his response near the end of the inauguration ceremonies.
“It is an obligation of higher education,” he said, “to nurture hope, as action – not just in thought or theory – in our students and through our students, for the community and for society at large.”
The Fall Festival worship service, which began the morning’s activities, set the stage with both Scripture and meditations. Heidi Regier Kreider ’83, pastor of Bethel College Mennonite Church, in her welcome invoked Jeremiah 29:11, in which God promises God’s people “a future with hope.”
“In the face of challenges and uncertainty,” Regier Kreider said, “God offers a challenging and lifegiving relationship to all who seek God.”
The worship Scripture texts included Ephesians 1:15-19, which speaks of “the hope to which God has called you,” and Romans 5:1-5, which describes “the hope [that] does not disappoint us” thanks to God’s love and the Holy Spirit.
Mayeken Kehr, senior from Go-shen, Ind., and John McCabe-Juhnke ’78, professor of communication arts and faculty chair, gave meditations on the inauguration texts.
Kehr spoke of “the great calling it is to live in hope.”
“When darkness comes, when storms gather, when everything falls away like sinking sand,” she said, “how are we to rejoice and boast in suffering, to redeem it to where it produces hope? We can’t but God can. We stand on Christ the solid rock and rejoice that in our emptiness, transitions and inadequacies, God dwells with us.”
McCabe-Juhnke quoted two stanzas from Emily Dickinson’s poem “Hope is the thing with feathers” and then told a story about directing a play with men in prison that also had the title “Hope is the Thing with Feathers.”
“My prayer for Bethel College as we inaugurate a president is that we may indeed abound in hope, informed by wisdom, seasoned through effort and feathered with grace,” McCabe-Juhnke said.
The third reflection of the morning came from Weston Noble, professor emeritus of music at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, who taught White when he was an undergraduate and has been a friend and mentor ever since.
“Hope is basic to life,” Noble said. “It’s what oxygen is to lungs. It’s the engine that drives us.”
Imagination, he said, is essential. “Show me a child filled with imagination and I’ll show you a child, a person, filled with hope.”
Before Bethel Board Chair Mel Goering ’61, Santa Fe, N.M., led the investiture of White as president, another of his mentors, Richard Giese, president of the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio, offered words of counsel.
Giese was serving as president of Monmouth (Ill.) College when Perry White joined the music faculty. He later moved into administration at Giese’s prompting. “Perry makes a great first impression,” Giese said. “And those of us who know him well can tell you there is substance behind that.
“I hope you will all join him in developing an effective college that will produce outstanding students for generations to come.”
Melanie Zuercher