Bethel College and Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas (University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas, UNICACH) recently renewed their collaboration agreement.
On May 23, Bethel President Jon C. Gering traveled to UNICACH’s main campus in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, for the renewal signing with his counterpart, Rector Fanny López Jiménez.
Five Bethel students, part of the May Term class Cultural and Biological Richness of Mexico, attended the signing ceremony along with their instructor, Professor Emeritus of Biology Francisca Méndez-Harclerode, and UNICACH faculty, staff and students.
Méndez-Harclerode, who retired from full-time teaching at the end of the 2023-24 school year, was pivotal to establishing the collaboration, formalized in 2018.
In January of that year, Bethel Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert Milliman traveled to UNICACH, and in April, then-UNICACH Rector José Rodolfo Calvo Fonseca came to Bethel for a signing ceremony with Gering.
The recent renewal of the agreement expands and strengthens opportunities that will benefit students, faculty and their institutions, according to Rector López Jiménez.
The various academic exchanges since 2018 have included several Bethel students spending time at UNICACH, one UNICACH student and one faculty member doing the reverse on the Bethel campus, and a number of intensive courses like the current May Term with Méndez-Harclerode leading groups of Bethel students in Mexico.
These exchanges have contributed to strengthening the research activities of UNICACH’s Eizi Matuda Herbarium and Evolutionary Ecology Laboratory, López Jiménez said.
She noted that these achievements have created “a climate of trust that allows for the expansion and deepening of collaborative ties, with the goal of promoting the academic development of both university communities.”
Establishing successful cooperative ties between institutions, especially those in neighboring countries like Mexico and the United States, is part of the “strategic internationalization axis” included in UNICACH’s 2025-2029 Institutional Development Plan, the rector said.
President Gering spoke of Bethel’s strong track record in international cooperation, with a long history in Mesoamerica over the past 50 years, including Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala and other locations in Mexico.
He expressed his agreement with continuing to promote academic exchanges that can provide the necessary tools for the growth of students and faculty.
During the event, students and faculty from the UNICACH School of Music offered a marimba performance of the piece “El Grijalva,” by Chiapas composer René Ruiz Nandayapa, that delighted the audience.
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Bethel was the first Kansas college or university to be named a Truth, Community Healing and Transformation (TCHT) Campus Center, in 2021. For more information, see https://www.bethelks.edu
