The Bethel College Board of Directors has identified six members to serve as the presidential search committee, following the departure of Jon Gering as president this past June.
Cynthia Doyle Perkins, Indianapolis, and Becky Bartell, Hesston, Kan., will co-chair the search committee.
Perkins, the Bethel board secretary, is a retired administrator for the MSD Pike Township Schools in Indianapolis, and formerly assistant director of the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Bartell is the director of the Department of Nursing at Bethel and assistant professor of nursing, and is a faculty appointment to the search committee.
Other members of the committee are Sal Lujano, Clark Oswald, Zandra Sawatzky and Jon Zerger, all of Newton.
Lujano, the community representative on the search committee, is a current Bethel board member. He is branch president of Peoples Bank & Trust and past president of the Newton Area Chamber of Commerce.
Oswald, Bethel director of financial aid, is the Bethel staff representative.
Sawatzky, an occupational therapist at NMC Health, is also a current Bethel board member and is the representative for Western District Conference of Mennonite Church USA.
Zerger, the alumni representative, is an attorney who serves as chief legal officer for Pinion.
“We anticipate that several ex-officio members will be added to the committee soon,” said Eric Rhoades, Bethel board chair.
“The Board of Directors is grateful to the members of the presidential search committee for their dedication to Bethel College and its mission and for bringing their time and talents to serve the college and its broader community in the important role of finding the next president of Bethel College.”
The committee will provide updates on its work in the near future, which will include listening sessions on campus where students, faculty, staff and local alumni will be invited to share their thoughts regarding the next president.
The committee invites direct communication from individuals before and after these listening sessions, sent to presidentialsearch@bethelks.edu
Periodic updates from the search committee will be posted online at https://bethelks.edu/presidential-search
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Bethel is ranked #25 in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Regional College Midwest for 2026. Bethel was the only Kansas college or university to be named a Truth, Community Healing and Transformation (TCHT) Campus Center, in 2021. For more information, see www.bethelks.edu
