The graduating class of 2023 has chosen Mark Jantzen, Ph.D., professor of history, as the speaker for the 130th commencement, Sunday, May 14, at 4 p.m. in Memorial Hall, which will also be livestreamed.

Ninety-eight seniors are scheduled to take part.

The Baccalaureate worship service, May 14 at 10 a.m., will also take place in Memorial Hall.

Both events will be available to view via livestream on the Bethel College YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/live/ROT9oDGC6DY?feature=share

William Eash, D.M.A., drew his inspiration from topics familiar to those who know him – birds, stars, shoulders – when he spoke at the 129th commencement May 15 in Memorial Hall.

Before the speaker and awarding of degrees to 81 seniors, Robert Milliman, Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, presented the Ralph P. Schrag Distinguished Teaching Award to Peter Goerzen, assistant professor of Bible and religion.

Eash, retiring professor of music spoke on “Of Birds, Stars and Shoulders.”

Bethel’s longtime director of choral activities will be the speaker for this year’s commencement ceremony, which takes place Sunday, May 15, at 4 p.m.

Eighty-one seniors are scheduled to take part in the 129th commencement in Thresher Stadium, with Memorial Hall as a bad-weather contingent.

The Baccalaureate worship service, May 15 at 10 a.m., will take place in Memorial Hall.

Both events will be available to view via livestream.

The Baccalaureate service (10 a.m.) and commencement ceremony (4 p.m.) have been moved indoors to Mem Hall due to the forecast of rain and storms on Sunday, May 16.

Both events will still look different from tradition, but more like “normal” than did 2020’s, which were all-virtual.

Seventy-five seniors are scheduled to take part in the 128th commencement on Sunday, May 16, at 4 p.m. in Thresher Stadium, with Memorial Hall as a bad-weather contingent.

No commencement in Bethel College’s history has ever looked like the 127th will.

Ninety-nine seniors are scheduled to take part in virtual commencement exercises necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent local and state prohibitions on large gatherings.

The various pieces of the commencement ceremony will be recorded on film in advance and air at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 17, when commencement was to have taken place in Bethel’s Thresher Stadium.