Crossroads - Winter 2012 - Alumni Magazine of Eastern Mennonite University

TO MENTAL HEALTH WITH LOVE

fall/winter/spring 2011-12

emu... preparing students to serve and lead globally

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 1

vol. 92, No. 1/2

crossroads

fall/winter/spring, Vol. 92, No. 1/2 Crossroads (USPS 174-860) is published three times a year by Eastern Mennonite University for distribution to 14,000 alumni, students, parents and friends.

A leader among faith-based universities, Eastern Mennonite University emphasizes peacebuilding, creation care, experiential learning, and cross-cultural engagement. Founded in 1917 in Harrisonburg, Virginia, EMU offers undergraduate, graduate, and seminary degrees that prepare students to serve and lead in a global context.

EMU's mission statement is posted in its entirety at www.emu.edu/mission.

Board of Trustees: Andrew Dula, chair, Lancaster, Pa.; Wilma Bailey, Indianapolis, Ind.; Evon Bergey, Perkasie, Pa.; Myron Blosser, Harrisonburg, Va.; John Bomberger, Harrisonburg, Va.; Herman Bontrager, Akron, Pa.; Janet Breneman, Lancaster, Pa.; Gilberto Flores, Cedar Hill, Tex..; Curtis D. Hartman, Bridgewater, Va.; Gerald R. Horst, New Holland, Pa.; Charlotte Hunsberger, Souderton, Pa.; Clyde Kratz, Harrisonburg, Va.; Kevin Longenecker, Harrisonburg, Va.; Kathleen (Kay) Nussbaum, Grant, Minn.; Dannie Otto, Urbana, Ill.; Amy Rush, Harrisonburg, Va.; Robert Steury, Goshen, Ind.; Diane Zimmerman Umble, Lancaster, Pa.; Anne Kaufman Weaver, Brownstown, Pa. Associate trustees: Jonathan Bowman, Manheim, Pa.; David Hersh, Line Lexington, Pa.; Chad Lacher, Souderton, Pa.; E. Thomas Murphy, Jr., Harrisonburg, Va.; Judith Trumbo, Broadway, Va. Loren Swartzendruber, president; Fred Kniss, provost; Kirk Shisler, vice president for advancement; Andrea Wenger, marketing and communications director.

Jon Styer Bonnie Price Lofton Editor/writer Designer/photographer bonnie.lofton@emu.edu jon.styer@emu.edu Paul T. Yoder Mileposts editor paul.t.yoder@emu.edu

Mike Zucconi News bureau director mike.zucconi@emu.edu

Marcy Gineris Danny Yoder Web content manager Web/social media marcy.gineris@emu.edu danny.yoder@emu.edu Lindsey Kolb Carol Lown Photographer/videographer Mailing list manager lindsey.kolb@emu.edu lownc@emu.edu Heidi Muller Project and office coordinator heidi.muller@emu.edu Special thanks to Lindsey Kolb for picking up Jon Styer's design work when he needed to be out of the office and to Katrina Alger for proofreading Mileposts.

All EMU personnel can be reached during regular work hours by calling 540-432-4000, or via contact details posted on the university website, www.emu.edu.

Cover: Art therapist Carol Martin Johnson '83 assists a client at LIFE Center in Philadelphia. Story on page 24.

Photo by Jon Styer.

POSTMASTER: Submit address changes to: Crossroads Eastern Mennonite University 1200 Park Road Harrisonburg, VA 22802

Loren Swartzendruber '76, MDiv '79, DMin

Improving Mental Healthcare Uncle William did not look like a hero to me when I was a child. As I got older, I came to realize that this Iowa farmer had been one of hundreds of young men who served the nation during World War II by tending to people who previously had been treated as beneath “the least of these.” William H. Nisly was a conscientious objector in Civilian Public Service from Oct. 3, 1942 to March 1, 1946. Much of that time, he was an attendant in the Kalamazoo State Psychiatric Hospital in Michigan.

When Uncle William returned to Iowa after the war, he talked about the deplorable conditions he had seen in Kalamazoo. He spoke about how he and his fellow conscientious objectors had tried to improve these conditions with simple kindness, despite severe staff and material shortages. Today, the importance of “kindness” in dealing with mental illness is disputed by no one. But this wasn’t the case 70 years ago, as the nation discovered when the conscientious objectors helped draw attention to widespread mistreatment of mental health patients.

At least 29 alumni – counting those who came to EMU either before or after the war – served in one of the 22 mental health facilities staffed by Mennonite Central Committee. It is no accident that in the late 1940s, the Mennonite church began to take steps to establish model programs for mental health care. At one of these programs, Prairie View Behavioral Health Center in Newton, Kansas, my wife Pat served as vice president from 1994 to 2003, after having begun her career as a psychiatric nurse at the University of Iowa Psychiatric Hospital.

Many of EMU’s graduates have interned or worked in one of these model programs, including one of my children, Angela Hackman, a graduate of Hesston College in 2001, EMU in 2003, and finally the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned an MSW. Angela is employed at the Penn Foundation in Sellersville, 40 miles north of Philadelphia.

Here at EMU we are continuing the tradition of concern for mental health through our psychology department, applied social sciences department, and master’s in counseling program. We aim to remain on the forefront of this field, as demonstrated by an unprecedented conference at EMU in the spring of 2011 on the theory of “Attachment.” More than 1,000 people came to hear distinguished speakers discuss current neurological and psychological research showing that healthy attachments are crucial for humans to survive and flourish. Christians, of course, have been saying this for millennia, but it is gratifying to see our beliefs in love and community confirmed by science.

I hope you will read these pages with appreciation for the footsteps in which we are walking as we reflect on the dramatic overhaul of mental health care since 1945 and continue to strive for improvement.

printed on recycled paper

Cert no. SW-COC-001635

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Loren Swartzendruber President

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Striving for Love Amid Filth

There is a historical basis for why EMU has been particularly focused on mental health care.

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In this Issue

14

14

“There Has To Be a Better Way”

After WWII, the Mennonite Church backed the founding of eight model mental care facilities.

19

Reversing the Homeless Slide

Running shelters for the homeless requires psychiatric skills, not just management abilities.

20

Impact of Faith

20

24

27

32

38

40

A Canadian scholar identifies seven values underlying Mennonite mental health services.

24

Art Therapy Taps Strengths

Former nurse learns to love the way art “can give form and shape to difficult feelings.”

27

Retiree Addresses Abuse

This volunteer pastor-counselor helps men looking for relief from abusive, dysfunctional relationships.

32

STAR, Sparked by 9/11 Trauma Violence often leads to trauma, and unhealed trauma, in turn, can lead to violence.

38

Counselor-Mom is a Peacemaker Appreciative adult son explains the way his mom sows peace in the world by healing hurt hearts.

40 Rising Up for Autism

Former Royals basketball player Cedric Moore Jr. heads a new organization addressing autism.

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Striving for Love Amid Filth and Abuse Why EMU Has a Heart for Mental Healthcare RN THE FIRST NIGHT AT WESTE on, unt Sta in L ITA STATE HOSP le.

Virginia, was horribly memorab nnonite Me by d gne assi n, Emory Layma work Central Committee (MCC) to pital hos l nta me the at nt as an attenda wn to during World War II, was sho off the just ce, offi ped a bed in a cram of ny ma ts, ien pat of full noisy ward r late He s. bed ir the to d them shackle wrote: ht.…

I shall never forget that first nig rats the bed in led sett was Soon after I pillow. I my r ove g nin run one began to stir, sleep and was wondering whether to go to n I felt not mind the rats or to get up, whe on me that a few bites and then it dawned The night there were bedbugs at hand .… so I sat attendant didn’t know what to do

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up with him until … two or three o’clock in the morning .… [Then] I finally got a little sleep.1 Layman was one of about 12,000 men who performed alternative service as conscientious objectors (COs) during the war through the Civilian Public Service. Men from dozens of religious groups were COs, but the Mennonite contingent with 4,665 COs represented by far the largest church cluster, with the Church of the Brethren being the second-largest group with 1,353 COs, and the Society of Friends (Quakers) the third-largest with 951 COs. 1 Steven J. Taylor, Acts of Conscience: World War II, Mental Institutions, and Religious Objectors (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2009) 194.

Approximately 3,000 of these COs were assigned to some 40 mental health institutions across the country, filling a desperate need for staff after conscription for soldiers and budget cuts necessitated by the war. As reflected in their diaries, letters and later recollections, many of these young men were appalled at the inhumane conditions they encountered.

Russell Schertz, assigned by MCC to work in Mt. Pleasant Mental Hospital in Iowa, recalled the conditions 50 years later: As I encountered the deplorable conditions on the mental health wards – unsanitary filth, patients tied to chairs, in straight jackets, locked in dingy rooms, and sometimes beaten by previous attendants – I became aware that this was an issue of justice.2 2 Quoted on the MCC-sponsored webpage http:// civilianpublicservice.org/camps/86/1, attributed to “Detour . . . Main Highway”: Our CPS Stories. (Nappanee,

Photo #1433, Box 2, Folder

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Conscientious objectors (in white) attend to patients in the mental unit of Cleveland State Hospital during World War II. With 2,800 patients in 1945, the hospital was 600 over its capacity. “The hospital had a poor reputation with respect to patient care,” according to The Civilian Public Service Story at http:// civilianpublicservice.org, “Workers had to fight cockroaches and filth in overcrowded wards, and [nonCPS] attendants controlled patients by shouting and beatings. The ‘incontinent and violent’ wards lacked sufficient supplies or activities for patients and experienced reports of injuries to patients and employees.”

At another facility staffed by MCC personnel, the Hudson River State Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York, Willard Linscheid reported that he was assigned to a ward of 110 to 120 patients, with just one male nurse and one other attendant on duty.

Because of the large number of incontinent and destructive patients, clothing was destroyed and soiled – much of the time the disturbed patients in the small day room were entirely naked. Because of the wartime shortages of sheets and blankets the majority of patients had only one sheet or blanket on their beds most of the time.

If possible, the disturbed and incontinent patients were also given a blanket or sheet, but much of the time they slept naked and uncovered on the hard canvas mattresses.3 Ind.: Evangel Press, 1995, 2000), 54-55.

3 Albert Keim, The CPS Story: An Illustrated History of Civilian Public Service (Intercourse, Pa.: Good Books, 1990), 61-62.

Charlie Lord, a Quaker CO at a Philadelphia mental hospital known as Byberry, secretly took a series of pictures that ran in Life Magazine on May 6, 1946, as part of an exposé of the horrific state of the country’s mental hospitals.

Lord’s photos showed groups of naked men, huddled together on the bare concrete floors of otherwise empty, cell-like rooms, frighteningly evocative of scenes from European concentration camps still fresh in the minds of the American public.

WORKING IN MENTAL FACILITIES How did thousands of conscientious objectors end up working in mental health institutions in World War II? The answer starts centuries earlier.

For generations, members of the traditional “peace churches” – the Anabap-

Historical photographs (indicated by photo #) courtesy of Mennonite Church USA Archives, Goshen, Ind., MCC Photographs, Civilian Public Service, 1941-1947. IX-13-2.2

tists, including the Mennonites, Amish and members of the Church of the Brethren, along with the Quakers – have taken the position that Jesus opposed killing other humans or even treating them violently. Period. For many, this position extends to not supporting organizational efforts to kill people, as represented by military efforts.

Before the twentieth century, religiously inspired non-combatants in North America and Europe typically were expected to provide substitutes for their lack of military service, pay stiff fines, or do prison time if they resisted conscription. The consequences for refusing to fight were sometimes severe.

In the region of Virginia where EMU is now located, Mennonites were hunted down for their refusal to join the Confederate Army in the 1860s.

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In 1946, Life magazine published shocking photographs taken inside Pennsylvania’s Byberry State Hospital by a Quaker CO named Charlie Lord, prompting immediate calls for reform.

During the last year of the war, when the Confederacy was sorely in need of men. . . attempts were made to impress young Mennonites into the army, with the result that many went into hiding in the mountains [of western Virginia], some of them being hunted by army scouts who had orders to shoot them at sight.4 During World War I, men who refused military service on religious grounds began to be called “conscientious objectors” or “COs.” In addition to men in the peace churches, there have been COs in smaller numbers from dozens of faith traditions, including Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Presby4 Guy F. Hershberger, Albert N. Keim and Hanspe ter Jecker, “Conscientious Objection,” Global Anabap tist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, http://www.g ameo. org/encyclopedia/contents/C6664.html, 01 Feb. 2012.

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terian, Lutheran, and Jewish. Jehovah’s Witnesses also consistently refuse to do military service, though their reasons typically are different from those of most COs. In the WWI era, 138 Mennonites were court-martialed for refusing to comply with conscription and were sent to prison. Nearly 2,000 other Mennonite men, however, were able to do alternative service in camp-type settings, a role for COs negotiated by the American Friends Service Committee (a Quaker organization). Yet most COs were not given productive roles in the WWI-era camps. More often they were subject to degradation.

Men were forced to stand at attention, sometimes with outstretched arms for hours and days at a time on the sunny or cold side of their barracks, exposed to the inclemencies of the weather as well as to

the jeers and taunts of their fellows until they could stand no longer; chased across the fields at top speed until they fell down exhausted, followed by their guards on their motorcycles; occasionally tortured by mock trials, in which the victim was left under the impression to the very last that unless he submitted to the regulations the penalty would be death. Every conceivable device – ridicule, torture, offer of promotion and other tempting inducements were resorted to in order to get them to give up their convictions; but with only few exceptions the religious objectors refused to compromise with their consciences.5 The counter-productive treatment of CO’s during WWI motivated leaders of the peace churches to lay the groundwork for better alternative-service possibilities during future wars. The Selective Service Act of 1940 provided for COs to do work of “national importance" under civilian direction.

In World War II, this work took the form of largely unpaid labor – on farms and on government-owned land, fighting fires, being guinea pigs in medical experiments, and working in understaffed hospitals, particularly mental institutions.

Despite the conditions under which they labored – and their extraordinary length of service (the last COs were released in March 1947) – COs were treated scornfully in wider society. They were called cowards and worse epithets, hung in effigy, refused service in public places, and subject to venomous campaigns by veteran’s groups.

To ensure hardship, the COs were required to serve at least 100 miles away from their homes. Most of the Mennonites did their alternative service under MCC’s umbrella – an arrangement set up with the federal government. MCC assigned them to federally approved work situations and provided the only compensation they received, which was no more than $15 monthly for essentials (shoe polish, shaving cream, toothpaste, and such).

In tacit acknowledgement of the scorn heaped on COs, John F. Kennedy said: 5 C. Henry Smith, The Story of the Mennonites (1941), p. 797, quoted in Service For Peace (MCC, 1949) by Melvin Gingerich.

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.

SEEKING IMPROVEMENTS Though it never attained the infamy of Pennsylvania’s Byberry, Virginia’s Western State Hospital in Staunton, Virginia, less than 30 miles south of EMU, had similarly disturbing conditions. It was one of the first institutions staffed by COs. Charged with assisting 2,000 patients, the first 19 men sent by MCC worked an average of 76 hours per week for their first year in this hospital, receiving an allowance of $2.50 per month. One CO did not have a single free day in seven months of work. Eventually a total of 110 COs worked in this institution between 1942 and 1946.

Among the EMU alumni in the CPS unit at Western State Hospital was Clarence Kreider ’40, who kept a journal detailing the inadequate meals served to hard-laboring staffers (e.g. on January 3, 1943, beans and prunes for lunch, and red meat and sour pears for dinner; the next day, potatoes and apples for lunch, and meat and more apples for dinner).

When a Staunton Episcopal priest, W. Carroll Brooke, learned about the

Paul T. Gue ngerich bega n four years of CP S service tw o months after his mar riage to Mar jorie Yoder on May 24, 1942 (above ).

appalling conditions for both patients and employees at Western State, he gathered testimony from the COs in Civilian Public Service (CPS). Together they urged officials at the state level to replace the hospital’s superintendent and increase funding for mental hospitals.

Trained cooks were among the improvements to emerge from the efforts of Brooke and the leaders of CO units in other Virginia hospitals.6 In 1945 Harry L. Kraus Sr. asked to be assigned as a CO to Western State, in part to be closer to his future wife, Mildred Brunk, living in Harrisonburg. Caring for the patients at Western motivated Kraus to overcome great odds to become a physician after the war. He and Mildred raised chickens to pay the fees for his undergraduate studies (he started at EMC but finished at Bridgewater in 1951, for reasons of class scheduling).7 Across the nation, the COs found that mental hospital conditions “were deplor6 Mary Emma Showalter ’37 Eby, who later wrote the popular The Mennonite Community Cookbook, was the dietitian at a CPS camp in Grottoes, Virginia, from 1942 to 1943. She then traveled the country for six months, training cooks at other MCC camps. After the war, she started a home economics program at EMU and was the first woman on faculty to hold a doctoral degree.

7 Harry Kraus earned his MD at the Medical College of Virginia in 1955. The Krauses had two elementary school-aged sons who drowned while on an outing with a neighbor soon after Harry set up his medical practice. The Krauses set up an endowed scholarship at EMU in memory of these sons, Joseph and Milton.

Phot ogra ph

Dietitian Mary Emma Showalter ’37 Eby (center) guides conscientious objectors at the CPS camp in Grottoes, Virginia, in preparing the camp meal.

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able. . . . They [non-CO staffers] treated patients like animals,” said retired EMU administrator Paul T. Guengerich, who served in the CPS from July 21, 1942 to March 9, 1946. In a 2006 interview with EMU undergraduates, Guengerich said that patients “were abused, and our COs that worked in hospitals did all they could to bring some change to that.

They felt that these patients deserved being treated like human beings.”8 With as many as 300 patients for each attendant, however, there were times that the COs felt uncontrollably frustrated, showing “fits of temper” and employing “unnecessarily rough language and rough handling of patients,” admitted Linscheid. Yet the patients and their families expressed gratitude to the CPS-assigned workers, telling the COs they were doing a much better job than previous staffers.

Referring to the Hudson River Hospital, Willard Linscheid said in the short term: Our efforts were concentrated on giving better and kinder treatment to the patients and to keep the ward as clean as possible under the circumstances…. We all chafed 8 Paul Guengerich was interviewed by EMU students Monica Stouffer, Loriane Bundu, and Megan Good on Feb. 16, 2006 for Martha Eads' College Writing class.

The recording and transcript are in EMU’s historical library. None of the four locations where Guengerich served as a CO was a mental health facility; his knowledge of them came from other COs.

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under this necessity of giving only custodial care and we were all keenly aware of the improvements that could be made with more attendant help, more supplies and better facilities.9 In the longer term, Linscheid said: We were all fired with a desire to expose mental hospital conditions to the general public in the hope that such an exposé would lead to action toward improvement of such institutions. Certainly to work for any length of time on such a ward a person must either agitate for betterment or sear his conscience entirely to the ills of humanity.10 The COs struggled with how to handle patients’ violent outbursts, especially given the shortage of staff. Henry E. Nachtigal, a 26-year-old General Conference Mennonite from Kansas, died on September 1, 1945, after he received a head injury from a patient at Western State Hospital in Staunton.

9 Keim 63-64.

10 Keim 67.

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A resident in the Cleveland State Mental Hospital gets a hair cut from a conscientious objector serving in that institution.

Photo 291a, Box 2, Folder 5

Patients in a New Jersey hospital killed an abusive attendant – who was not a CO – with his own billy club. The next night, a Mennonite CO named James Kuhns was told to enter that same ward and take charge. Kuhns went armed only with the keys to open the door to the outside. “I could walk out anytime. They could have taken my keys and walked out too.” But the patients didn’t; they liked Kuhns better than the attendant they had killed. Kuhns worked on that ward for several months and developed relationships that made it “an enjoyable experience.” He especially liked tending long-time residents who had chronic illnesses, such as tuberculosis.11 By the end of the war, more than 1,500 CPS men had worked in Mennonite-run units at mental hospitals in 14 states, including at least 29 who are EMU alumni.

11 James Kuhns was interviewed by EMU students Ryan Kolb, Srijana Chhetri, and Robert Roy on Feb. 14, 2006, for Martha Eads' College Writing class. The recording and transcript are in EMU’s historical library.

WOMEN’S CPS SERVICE ctor In support of the conscientious obje red ntee volu en wom cause, around 300 to work with CPS units at mental hospitals during the war.

Edna Ramseyer, a dynamic woman who taught home economics at two GoshMennonite colleges, Bluffton and these with ls” Gir O. en, initiated the “C. henngt stre d, nee an goals: relieving hum ce pea n istia Chr the ing the witness of d movement, and supporting the stan s. taken by male CO “C.O. Girl” Bernice Meyer Miller w the explained: “I was motivated to sho but , kers slac not e world that COs wer s.” way itive pos in e were willing to serv the at se nur a s, lem Ruth Miller Wil HospiMCC-staffed Rhode Island State tal, said: the Frequently I was assigned to care for tfrigh n ofte was I . ents most disturbed pati s tion emo my lay disp to ened but tried not ents. I for the sake of the employees and pati .12 love ing show by ect tried to win their resp d webpage http:// 12 Quoted on the MCC-sponsore 6/1, attributed to ps/8 /cam e.org ervic blics civilianpu Stories (Nappanee, CPS Our : way” High Main “Detour . . .

103. ), 2000 , 1995 , Press Ind.: Evangel

Photo #290, Box 2, Folder 7

Women and men under the Civilian Public Service pose at Norristown State Hospital in Pennsylvania, one of 22 mental hospitals staffed

by Mennonite Central Committee during World War II.

7 Photo 1434, Box 2, Folder

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We met here with some of the group of Mennonites, who are conscientious objectors, and who have volunteered to serve in hospitals for mental cases. They are a very fine group of young men and bring a spiritual quality to their work because of their religion. In many ways, this is probably raising the standard of care given the patients.

On July 9, 1945, at the invitation of Edna Ramseyer, Eleanor Roosevelt and her secretary visited the MCC-sponsored mental health unit of the Hudson River State Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York. Two days later in “My Day,” Roosevelt referred to meeting a group of workers belonging to the Mennonite church and elaborated: The superintendent told me that they had undoubtedly raised the standards for the care of patients, and that they had been of tremendous help in disclosing certain practices which existed there and about which he never before could get any real evidence. He said if they could stay longer they would probably improve the standards even more.14

An elderly patient is surrounded by three women presumably serving under Mennonite Central Committee at Cleveland State Mental Hospital.

Some of these volunteers were the wives of COs, but many were college students who used their summer breaks to work in mental hospitals.

At the Cleveland State Hospital in Ohio, CPS men and women under the American Friends Service Committee jointly filed reports on how abuse and neglect had led to the deaths of patients.

The hospital administration retaliated.

Deteriorating work conditions caused CPS workers to be withdrawn from that hospital in November 1943. A year and a half later, at the request of a new superintendent, CPS workers returned under the care of MCC. In 1945, 19 women recruited from Mennonite colleges came and gave “unusually good care” to patients in the women’s infirmary at Cleveland; the following summer, the program was repeated with 22 college women.

In one hospital the C.O. Girls developed these guidelines for themselves:  Speak a greeting to anyone, everyone

s, on the hospital campus, in the corridor on the wards, in the cafeteria; ss of  Be willing to do any task regardle how menial or filthy;  Be willing to mingle and eat with others in the dining room;  Discuss first with your ward attendants any concerns you may have about unsatisfactory conditions; and to  Be at anytime ready to give witness 13 what you believe.

AT WAR'S END Reflecting on his four CPS years that concluded at the Hudson River institution, Samuel Yoder wrote: In late December 1945 I was discharged. I was going home. The overnight trip gave me time to reflect on my four years. I had served in five units from coast to coast. I had switched cultures and 14 All the My Day columns are posted at www.gwu.edu.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT'S SUPPORT In early 1943, Eleanor Roosevelt interviewed a number of COs at an MCC-staffed hospital in Marlboro, New Jersey. In her “My Day” column on January 16, 1943, Roosevelt described these COs in positive terms: : World War II, 13 Steven J. Taylor, Acts of Conscience tors (Syracuse, Mental Institutions, and Religious Objec , 223.

NY: Syracuse University Press, 2009)

Eleanor Roosevelt Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress

After visiting CPS units in two mental hospitals near New York City, Eleanor Roosevelt praised the role of COs in her syndicated newspaper columns.

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photograph courtesy of David Jost

Norman Loux ’42 served as the founding medical director at the Penn Foundation in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, an institution founded in response to the CPS experience in state hospitals. Inset: Norman at EMU in 1941-42

photograph by jon styer

Grant M. Stoltzfus ’38 worked at a mental hospital and a "colony for the feeble minded" as a CO, finishing his CPS service with the National Mental Health Foundation, an early group dedicated to lasting reform of the system.

church affiliation. I had met wonderful persons in CPS, believers from Mennonite General Conference, Mennonite Brethren, Brethren in Christ and a large number from the Mennonite Church of which I am now a part.

I had matured in my Christian faith and was stronger and more sure about my peace position. My experience in three mental hospitals in a small way was a part of the fabric that laid the foundation for our own Mennonite Mental Health program . . . . . . I arrived in Goshen via New York Central on a Saturday morning and as I stepped off the train there was no band to play, no parade to ride in, not even yellow ribbons tied around the old maple tree.

But there was the horse and buggy – my folks were there to meet me and welcome me home.15 MODELING A BETTER WAY By 1947, as a national reform movement was taking off in response to the Life 15 Quoted on the MCC-sponsored webpage http:// civilianpublicservice.org/camps/86/1, attributed to “Detour . . . Main Highway”: Our CPS Stories. (Nappanee, Ind.: Evangel Press, 1995, 2000), 75.

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exposé and other stories told by the COs, MCC had convened a committee to study the possibility of establishing church-sponsored institutions offering mental healthcare services as a humane alternative to the state institutions.

“These people felt there had to be a better way,” said LaVern Yutzy ’70, a therapist who served nearly 20 years as CEO of Philhaven, one of the Mennonite mental healthcare facilities that was established in the aftermath of the CPS experience during WWII. “So they said, ‘Let’s see what we can do about this.’”

In 1949, Brook Lane Farm in Leitersburg, Maryland, was the first Mennonite mental healthcare facility to open its doors, with beds for short-term treatment of 23 patients with acute mental illnesses. While some in the church thought that Brook Lane and other similar institutions should largely rely on compassionate treatment in a “home-like atmosphere,” other leaders in the reform movement cautioned that professional medical staff was a necessity.

Eventually, the latter group prevailed.

When Brook Lane opened, a psychiatrist

from Baltimore began making twiceweekly visits to see patients there.

Within a decade, four other churchrun facilities to treat mental illness opened across the country. Kings View opened in 1951 in Reedley, California, followed by Philhaven, established in 1952 in Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania. In 1954, Prairie View opened in Newton, Kansas, while the Penn Foundation began seeing its first patients in Souderton, Pennsylvania, in 1956 (it has since relocated to nearby Sellersville).

During the 1960s, three more Mennonite-affiliated institutions joined the group: Oaklawn in Elkhart, Indiana (1963); Kern View in Bakersfield, California (opened in 1966, but now closed) and Eden, in Winkler, Manitoba (1967).

Grant M. Stoltzfus ’38 was an EMU alumnus who played a role in the post-war establishment of these Mennonite institutions. During his three years of service with the CPS, Stoltzfus had worked for a time at the notorious Byberry hospital in Philadelphia.

In 1945, Stoltzfus became the director of a unit at the Woodbine Colony for the Feeble Minded in Woodbine, New Jersey, where more than 20 men worked with hundreds of children with intellec-

Photo #21, Box 2, Folder 7

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Conscientious-objector attendant in the Cleveland State Mental Hospital ties a hospital gown for a patient.

tual disabilities.

His final CPS assignment was writing educational pamphlets and researching how churches could run mental healthcare facilities for the National Mental Health Foundation, a reformfocused organization sparked by the CPS experience.

Stoltzfus eventually served as a professor of sociology at EMU from 1957 until his death in 1974. Former students recall his unflagging interest in mental health care and the way he influenced them to work in the field.16 Another alumnus who played a prominent role in the early days of Mennoniteled reform in mental healthcare was Norman Loux ’42, M.D. He left a prestigious job at a psychiatric hospital in Rhode Island to serve as the founding medical director of the Penn Foundation.

Loux remained in that position from 1955 to 1980.17 16 The widow of Grant M. Stoltzfus, Ruth Brunk Stoltzfus '37, with the support of their four children (all EMU alumni), funded an endowed scholarship in his name.

17 Filling the role of servant-leader to the end of his life, Norman Loux saw that EMU received support from his estate after his death on May 20, 2010.

COMMUNITY-ORIENTED CARE Belying their small size, the Mennonitesponsored mental health facilities played important roles in sparking wider initiatives. Originally founded to provide the mentally ill with humane and compassionate alternatives to state institutions, their institutional missions soon grew to encompass outpatient and day treatment programs.

Another innovative approach taken by many of these organizations was a therapeutic focus on treatment within the larger community, resulting in broader outreach efforts and increased involvement of patients’ families.

Retired EMU sociology professor Titus Bender ’57, who earned a doctorate in social work at Tulane and who spent decades involved with the lives of marginalized people, published an article in 2011 about the impact of Mennonites on the larger mental health movement.

In it, Titus spoke about a shift from volunteers to professionals in the 1960s: Volunteers as a significant segment of hospital staffs gradually gave way to increased emphasis on clinically trained staff.

This created some consternation among a segment of the Mennonite constituency who had envisioned a “homelike atmosphere” and lay involvement as crucial ingredients of a Mennonite-sponsored mental health program. Increasingly, the encouragement from the center was for Mennonites interested in mental health care to get professional training. Volunteers continue to play a vital role in assisting those with emotional stress to become integrated into the community.18 The efforts at Mennonite institutions attracted national attention. Prairie View received a gold medal from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1968 for its community mental health services, while Kings View received the same honor in 1971 for its contract model with local government to provide mental healthcare. In the 1960s, Prairie View and Oaklawn were cited as examples of innovative providers of mental healthcare in publications by both the APA and the federal department of Health, Education and Welfare. And in 1964, a profile of the Penn Foundation’s treatment programs was the lead chapter 18 Titus Bender, "The Mennonite Mental Health Movement and the Wider Society in the United States, 19421965," Journal of Mennonite Studies, Vol. 29 (2011): 57.

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 9

photographs by jon styer

Tom Martin ’78 is a professor of psychology at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. He also practices psychology at a nearby clinic. His father was a director of Philhaven in Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania.

in a book of case studies compiled by the APA. “[These institutions] can take pride in their accomplishments on a national scale,” wrote Lucy Ozarin, a longtime physician with the National Institute of Mental Health, in the early 1980s. “[They have] served as a. . . model for a nation to follow in providing psychiatric care where and when people need such help.”

MENNONITE COLLEGE ROLE While the church-founded mental health institutions were becoming established and recognized, EMU was taking steps to prepare students for entering the mental healthcare field.

In 1961, Laban Peachey '52, who had been a 19-year-old CO at Rhode Island State Hospital in 1946, became the founding chair of EMU’s department of

10 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

psychology. “I was definitely influenced to go into psychology by working at the hospital,” Peachey told Crossroads in February 2012. “But I didn’t want to work with ill people; I wanted to keep people from getting ill.”

Beginning with graduate courses in psychology at Boston University and the University of Virginia, Peachey worked his way toward a doctorate in counseling psychology from George Washington University in 1963. In the late 1960s, he chaired a Rockingham mental health group that preceded today's community services board. Peachey was president of Hesston College, a Mennonite institution in Kansas, for 12 years before re-settling near EMU, where he earned a master of religion degree at age 70.

After establishing its psychology major in 1961, EMU gained accreditation for its social work program in 1975. In

1993, the masters in counseling program became EMU’s first graduate studies program outside of its seminary.

As of early 2012, 575 graduates had majored in psychology, 665 had majored in social work, and 221 had earned master’s degrees in counseling. Of course, not all of these 1,461 graduates remained in the mental health arena. This number, though – constituting about 10 percent of our current alumni group – does indicate significant interest in mental health among our alumni.

“EMU has had a long history of training people for service to people who are the most vulnerable,” Tom Martin ’78, a professor of psychology at Susquehanna University, told Crossroads. "If you look around in this society and ask, ‘Who are the most vulnerable ones?’ you’ve got to look at people with severe and persistent mental disorders … It’s really in the Mennonite DNA to do this kind of work."

LOVE AND ATTACHMENT In the spring of 2011, EMU hosted an unprecedented conference called “Conversations on Attachment: Integrating the Science of Love and Spirituality.” A number of internationally recognized speakers cited the results of several decades of research to support their assertions that caring relationships are as necessary to human life as air, food and water.

With their grounding in the teachings of Jesus, the COs assigned to mental hospitals in WWII knew well the importance of love. Now there is a growing body of scientific proof that love is not just a preferred mode of conduct, it is truly necessary for human survival, as covered in the “Conversations on Attachment” conference. (See more at emu. edu/attachment.)

The integration of science and love is reflected in the life of CO James Kuhns.

After his CPS years, he earned degrees in the sciences – chemistry, physics and math – at Goshen College, one of EMU’s peer institutions under the umbrella of Mennonite Church USA. For seven years, Kuhns worked in the scientific arena and earned a master’s degree

mental health

In the spring of 2011, EMU hosted an unprecedented conference called “Conversations on Attachment: Integrating the Science of Love and Spirituality.” See emu.edu/attachm ent.

in physical science. He and his wife did MCC service in Ethiopia for three years.

But he found himself longing to return to his CPS days when he was focused on people’s minds. He returned to graduate school and earned a second master’s and then a doctorate in clinical psychology.

Kuhns worked as a clinical psychologist for the next three decades. Interviewed by EMU students as a retiree in Harrisonburg, he said that his life’s work could be summed up in one Greek word, agape, which he defined this way: It’s to establish a relationship with other people that is positive to help them become what they can become. . . Not in terms of what you can give to me, but [in terms of] what you are in need of. I will nurture, I will encourage, I will support. And if we show that type of love to our associates – whether it’s parents, child, husband, wife, country-to-country, vocation – problems disappear.19 This Christian-based emphasis on relationships, on caring, on compassion 19 James Kuhns' Feb. 14, 2006, interview was cited earlier in this article.

– on agape – is what caused the Mennonites serving in mental health institutions in WWII to be praised by Eleanor Roosevelt and many of the institutions’ superintendents toward the end of the war period.

Roosevelt also accurately grasped that the CO experience had caused the Mennonite church to open itself to the world and to feel called to service beyond its own cluster of farm communities. Of the male and female Mennonite COs she met, Roosevelt wrote in "My Day" (July 11, 1945): Many of them are preparing to travel for their churches after the war and undertake relief work in different parts of the world, and what training they get in hospitals here will be of value in the future.

By modeling another way – and calling attention to abusive treatment – the

EMU alumni who served in mental health facilities joined other COs in transforming the way mental health is handled in North America. And they paved the way for hundreds of future EMU students to embrace the importance of mental health, to view it as a responsibility of a caring community, and to make it their own life’s work.  — Andrew Jenner ’04 & Bonnie Price Lofton, MA ’03 For a bibliography, see the bottom of following page. EMU historical librarian Lois Bowman '60, assistant historical librarian Cathy Baugh, and alumni database specialist Braydon Hoover '11 offered considerable research assistance for this report on conscientious objectors.

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 11

IN THE FIELD, THEN AND NOW

Alumni Who Served in Psychiatric Institutions in WWII Crossroads researchers identified 29 EMU alumni whom we believe served in mental health institutions under the Civilian Public Service program in World War II. Fifteen of these alumni are no longer living. Additions to this list, or possibly corrections to it, are welcome at crossroads@emu.edu (or at the address on the back cover) and will be published in the summer edition of Crossroads, if received by May 1, 2012. –Bonnie Price Lofton, editor JOHN L. BYER ’38 (HS) // Rhode Island State Hospital service

PAUL M. LANDIS, CLASS OF ’48 // Rhode Island State Hospital service

CHESTER R. SHANK ’41 // Western State (Va.)

EDGAR M. CLEMENS ’51 // Rhode Island State Hospital service

HAROLD D. LEHMAN ’36 (HS ), ’39 //Greystone Park State Hospital (N.J.) service

JAMES M. SHANK ’41, ’52 (BA) // Rhode Island State Hospital service

J. WELDON MARTIN, CLASS OF ’42, ’51 (THB), ’67 (BA) // Hudson River State Hospital service

LUKE J. SHANK ’55 // Rhode Island State Hospital service

JAMES D. ESHLEMAN ’41 // Greystone Park State Hospital (N.J.) service

J. MARK MARTIN ’38 (HS), ’81 (BIBLE CERT) // Rhode Island State Hospital service

STUART A. SHANK ’39 (HS) // Harrisburg State Hospital (Pa.)

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1941

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1938

PAUL J. GLANZER ’49 & ’50 (THB) // Norristown Hospital (Pa.) service

WARREN METZLER ’55 // Western State (Va.) service

EZRA W. SHENK ’35 (HS), CLASS OF ’37 // Colorado State Psychopathic Hospital

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1938

Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1951

Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1946

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1941

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1941

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1939

MARVIN D. CURTIS ’50 // Norristown Hospital (Pa.) service Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1950

Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1955

Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1951

Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1949

Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1955

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1939

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1936

EARL N. MILLER, CLASS OF ’55 MARVIN D. CURTIS ’50 // Greystone Park State Hospital (N.J.) service

GRANT M. STOLTZFUS ’38 // Philadelphia State Hospital

GEORGE T. MILLER ’41, ’59 (BA) // Greystone Park State Hospital (N.J.) service

RICHARD S. WEAVER ’36 (HS), ’53 (BA) // Philadelphia State Hospital

SAMUEL L. HORST ’49 // Greystone Park State Hospital (N.J.) service

MARK E. MOYER, CLASS OF ’42 // Rhode Island State Hospital service

WINSTON O. WEAVER SR. ’39 (HS), ’41 // Norristown Hospital (Pa.) service

HARRY L. KRAUS SR., CLASS OF ’51 // Western State Hospital (Va.) service

LABAN PEACHEY ’52 // Rhode Island State Hospital service

IRA D. GOOD , CLASS OF ’51* // Ypsilanti State Hospital (Mich.) service Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1948

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1938

Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1952

HARRY W. HERTZLER ’41 & ’51 (BA) // Western State Hospital (Va.) service Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1941

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1936

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1941

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1941

Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1941

Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1948

Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1948

Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1952

CHESTER L. WENGER ’34 (HS), ’36, ’41 (THB) // Greystone Park State Hospital (N.J.) service Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1941

CLARENCE KREIDER ’40 // Western State Hospital (Va.) service Photo: Eastern Mennonite School Journal 1940

DANIEL J. REINFORD ’51 // Rhode Island State Hospital service Photo: Shenandoah yearbook 1951

WHERE ARE THE WOMEN? // The women who served are not on official government lists. Crossroads welcomes receiving the names of alumnae who served. Contact crossroads@emu.edu.

*"Class of..." indicates enrollment for at least two semesters, but not completion of a degree here.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS' SERVICE DURING WWII // Gingerich, M. (1949). Service for Peace: A History of Mennonite Civilian Public Service.

Akron, Pa.: The Mennonite Central Committee. // Goossen, R.W. (1997). Women Against the Good War: Conscientious Objection and Gender on the American Home Front, 1941-1947.

Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press. // Keim, A., & Stoltzfus, G. M. (1988). The Politics of Conscience: The Historic Peace Churches and America at War, 1917-1955.

Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press. // Loewen, R., ed. (2011). Mennonites, Melancholy and Mental Health: An Historical Critique. Journal of Mennonite Studies, 29. // Neufeld, V.H. (Ed.) (1983).

If We Can Love: The Mennonite Mental Health Story. Newton, Kansas: Faith and Life Press. // Ruth, P. (2005). A Model for the Country: The Founding and Pioneering First Half-Century of Penn Foundation. Sellersville, Pennsylvania: Penn Foundation. // Sareyan, A. (1994). The Turning Point: How Persons of Conscience Brought About Major Change in the Care of America’s Mentally Ill. Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press. // Taylor, S.J. (2009). Acts of Conscience: World War II, Mental Institutions and Religious Objectors. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. // The Civilian Public Service Story: Living Peace in a Time of War at civilianpublicservice.org, a website hosted by Mennonite Central Committee.

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mental health

Personnel in the master's in counseling program, from left: counselor Nate Kosser (partly obscured), adjunct instructor Randy Hook, and professors David Glanzer, Helen Benoit (emerita) and Annmarie Early

Mental Health Experts On Campus Full-Time EMU has 12 faculty and staff members employed full-time who have advanced degrees in the mental health arena. If adjunct and part-time faculty and staff members were included, there would be twice as many people in this group, but space limits us to the full-time personnel here — BPL

KIM GINGERICH BRENNEMAN ’85 // professor of psychology // PhD in developmental and educational psychology from University of Pittsburgh

TERESA J. HAASE // associate professor of counseling and clinical training coordinator // PhD in counseling from James Madison University

JANE WENGER CLEMENS //associate professor of social work // MSW from Marywood University

CHEREE’ HAMMOND // assistant professor of counseling // PhD in counselor education and supervision from University of Virginia

PAM REESE COMER, MA ’95 (COUNSELING) // LPC, director of counseling services // MEd (counseling) from James Madison University

JEANNE HORST // assistant professor of psychology // PhD in psychology from James Madison University.

KENTON DERSTINE ’72 // director of clinical pastoral education (seminary) // MDiv from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary

GALEN LEHMAN ’73 // psychology department chair and professor // PhD in applied experimental psychology from Virginia Tech

DEANNA DURHAM // assistant professor of social work // MSW from Howard University

ELROY MILLER ’75 // social work program director and associate professor // MSW from University of Southern Mississippi

ANNMARIE EARLY // associate professor and director of MA in counseling program // PhD in marital and family therapy from Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Psychology

JUDY MULLET ’73 // professor of psychology and education // PhD in special education from Kent State University, MEd in school psychology from James Madison University

KATHY EVANS // assistant professor of special education // PhD in educational psychology and research from University of Tennessee in Knoxville

KENNETH L. NAFZIGER ’79 // vice president of student life // PhD in psychology from University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign

DAVID GLANZER ’71 // graduate dean and professor of counseling // PhD in psychology from University of Utah

LONNIE YODER // associate seminary dean and professor of pastoral care-counseling // PhD in religion and personality from University of Iowa

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 13

photographs by jon styer

THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY

BY ANDREW JENNER '04 Since the very beginning, the conviction that “there has to be a better way” has been a guiding principle for the Mennonite mental healthcare institutions that were established as a response to the experience of conscientious objectors (COs) during World War II. ➜

Tim Derstine ’88, MD, medical director of Behavioral Health Services, Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, Pennsylvania

14 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

mental health

Alumni at the Penn Foundation: (from left) property manager Tara Paul Detweiler '94; social worker Donald Detweiler '93; psychiatrist and former CEO Vernon Kratz, class of '57; former CEO John Goshow '69; administrative assistant Donna Dittus Massey, class of '81; therapist Lois Styer Halsel, class of '72; social worker Angela Swartzendruber Hackman '03. Not pictured: social worker Maureen Gingerich Bergey '06, nurse Bethany Hertzler '09, and case manager Lisa Moyer Kauffman '89.

IN THE DECADES SINCE WWII Mennonite mental healthcare institutions have demonstrated ingenuity and leadership in the face of changing circumstances within the field. Examples over the years include the development of programs to assist in patients’ reentry to the working world, long-term independent living facilities, rehabilitation programs for people with drug or alcohol addictions, and the repeated adoption of new medicines and therapeutic techniques across all programs.

“There’s a much broader emphasis now on additional supports that are needed to help a person live within the community,” said John Goshow ’69, a retired social worker who was CEO of the Penn Foundation from 2000 to 2010.

One recent example of innovation at the Penn Foundation has been the development of “community treatment” teams made up of a psychiatrist, nurse, social worker and other support staff to provide coordinated care to patients living in their own homes.

“We’re trying to take services to where people are, rather than trying to make them come to some centralized place,” said Vernon Kratz ’57, the former medical director of the Penn Foundation who now sits on its board of directors. “It keeps people in their communities, it keeps people in their families.”

Another example of an unprecedented initiative: Amish leaders approached former Philhaven CEO LaVern Yutzy '70 and others in that Mennonite mental healthcare institution near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to discuss the development of a treatment program for members of their community.

Their collaboration led to the 2005 opening of a new 15-bed inpatient facility on Philhaven’s main campus for patients from the Amish and other “Plain” groups (referring to their “plain” clothing). To date, it has served hundreds of people from 12 states.

In Goshen, Indiana, Oaklawn opened the nation's first residential unit to serve adolescents from Amish or conservative Mennonite communities in February 2010. Maria Martin Shisler '04 is a case manager there.

IMPACT OF "MANAGED CARE" Changing conditions within the industry have forced all mental healthcare providers to adapt, sometimes in ways that challenge the survival of non-profit institutions seeking to provide compassionate care for all who need it. The advent of “managed care” in the 1980s and 1990s – through which insurers used new reimbursement models to encourage providers to treat more patients through outpatient programs and reduce the length of inpatient hospitalizations – had a mixed impact.

In 1993, soon after Yutzy was appointed CEO of Philhaven, 82 percent of the organization’s revenues came from inpatient programs. By his retirement in 2008, overall revenues had doubled but the share of inpatient revenue had dropped to just 32 percent. That drastic shift over a relatively short period of time, he says, threatened to sink the institution. A positive outcome, he acknowledges, was that more patients were being treated earlier and with less disruption to their lives.

Insurance reimbursements present a huge and ongoing problem for many of the providers interviewed for this issue of Crossroads. Gerald Ressler ’79, executive director of the Samaritan Counseling Center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said that many insurers have reimbursed mental health providers at the same rate for the past 15 years, causing providers to see their real income fall dramatically (on the average, $20 worth of goods in 1996 cost over $28 in 2011). Some insurance companies are even cutting their reimbursement rates. Ressler said that the Samaritan Counseling Center’s largest insurer informed the center in 2011 that it will decrease reimbursement rates by 35 percent in 2012 – a decision that will have a huge impact on the center’s balance sheet.

“Outpatient mental healthcare is as close to being at the bottom of the [insurers’] pri-

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 15

ority list as it gets,” said Ressler, a licensed clinical social worker who spent 30 years on the staff at Philhaven before moving to his current job.

Additionally, when it comes to public insurance programs like Medicaid, reimbursement rates are simply not high enough to allow practitioners to stay in business if they only see patients on those programs, said Tom Martin ’78, who works as a clinical psychologist in addition to teaching psychology at Susquehanna University. Some practices, including the one in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, where Martin now works, have stopped seeing Medicaid patients entirely for this very reason. It’s a reality, Martin says, that points to a key shortcoming in our healthcare system: only employed people have a chance at having decent medical insurance policies. Yet people with serious, untreated mental illnesses tend to have difficulty keeping good, steady jobs with health insurance coverage.

“If you’re affected by a mental condition that prevents you from working, then you will not have ready or consistent access to the best mental healthcare,” Martin said.

FALLING IN THE CRACKS People with serious mental illnesses who need care the most are often left to seek treatment at crowded, publicly funded clinics that often, thanks to the constraints of resources and excesses of demand, struggle to provide quality care. And if, for whatever reason, that care isn’t quite enough, or a patient’s illness hampers his or her ability to apply for and receive public assistance, that person is at high risk of falling through the cracks, where the statistics paint a particularly grim picture of the state of mental healthcare in the United States today:  Twenty-four percent of inmates in state prisons across the country had a recent history of mental illness, while up to 49 percent of these inmates showed symptoms of mental illness.1  Three times more people with serious mental illness are in jail than in hospitals.2 1 Loren E. Glaze, & Doris James, Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates (Washington DC: Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report NCJ 213600, 2006), 1.

2 E. Fuller Torrey, et a.l. , More Mentally Ill Persons Are in Jails and Prisons Than Hospitals: A Survey of the States (Arlington, VA: Treatment Advocacy Center & Alexandria, VA: National Sheriffs’ Association, 2010), 1.

16 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

Gerald Ressler '79, executive director of the Good Samaritan Counseling Center in Lancaster

 In January, 2010, 26.2 percent of homeless Americans staying in shelters had a severe mental illness,3 as illustrated by the article on the work of Nate Hoffer ’03 on page 19.  The life expectancy of a person with a serious mental illness is 25 years shorter than the national average of Americans.4  After earning a doctoral degree, a clinical psychologist at a psychiatric hospital or substance abuse facility earns a mean annual wage of $69,830, despite the demanding nature of their work and years of study.5 With reimbursement dropping, incentives for well-qualified mental health providers are largely internal.

“So many people are just not getting the care that they need,” said Tim Derstine '88, a psychiatrist and the medical director of Behavioral Health Services at Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, Pennsylvania.

Tammy Eberly ’80 Bos, a child and 3 Kristen Paquette, Individuals Experiencing Homelessness, Homelessness Resource Center Fact Sheet (Newton Centre, Massachusetts: Homelessness Resource Center, 2010), Feb. 1, 2012, http://www.homeless.samhsa.gov/Resource/View. aspx?id=48800.

4 Ron Manderscheid, Benjamin Druss and Elsie Freeman., "Data to Manage the Mortality Crisis," International Journal of Mental Health (2008), 37(2), 49-68.

5 Bureau of Labor Statistics Division of Occupational Employment Statistics. Occupational employment and wages, May 2010. Feb. 1, 2012, http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/ oes193031.htm.

adolescent psychiatrist in Grand Rapids, Michigan, noted that a specific recent challenge within the field has been increasing pressure on psychiatrists to quickly prescribe medication to a patient and move on to the next one with little, if any, time for individual therapy. Adding to the pressure, there is a shortage of psychiatrists, making it hard for people – particularly ones without good insurance policies – to receive prompt attention and treatment for mental illness.

This often means that programs, strained by high demand and limited resources, focus on crisis response rather than providing preventive care to patients with mental illness. “We do a lot of cleaning up after things have gone awry for a long time,” Derstine said.

SHORTAGE OF PROVIDERS The shortage of treatment providers is more acute in rural areas of the country, and can be partially attributed to the fact that psychiatry is a relatively non-glamorous, lower-earning medical specialty that doesn’t attract as many ambitious young doctors as other fields of practice. (According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, psychiatrists earned a mean annual salary of $167,610 in 2010, slightly below the average salary for a family doctor and significantly less than surgeons’ annual average salary of $225,390.)

Derstine, who specializes in treating

mental health

substance addictions, said that the perception that psychiatry is a less serious specialty persists to some degree even within the medical field, and that he spends significant energy working to counter the notion that addicts simply lack willpower or self-control, rather than suffering from an illness as real as diabetes or heart disease.

Among the goals of the Penn Foundation from its inception was public education to put mental illness on par with other medical problems and eliminate the stigma surrounding mental illness. While much progress has been made toward that goal, stigmatization of mental illness remains a challenge for patients and providers.

PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE “It’s not as bad as it used to be,” said psychiatrist Vernon Kratz, class of '57, former CEO and medical director of the Penn Foundation, who is familiar with the appalling way patients were treated during WWII (see pages 2-11). “It’s kind of like racism. We’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s a long way to go.”

Society has become more accepting of seeking professional help for mild depression, grief, troubled relationships and other problems, noted Ressler. Most of the clients at his Samaritan Counseling Center are in relatively good mental health and thus encounter little stigma. More severe forms of mental illness, he said, tend to be more disparaged and feared, as indicated by frequent (and far disproportionate) connections drawn between violence and mental illness in the popular media.

Counselors who see clients from conservative religious backgrounds often encounter the common misconception that mental illness is linked to spiritual or personal shortcomings, explains Lois Shank Gerber ’66, who primarily sees Amish and other Plain clients at Upward Call Counseling in Lititz, Pennsylvania.

Yet another testimony to lingering stigma is a tendency for clients to pay Phil Weber ’77 out of their own pockets when they come for a session. Weber, a psychologist with a home practice in West Chester, Pennsylvania, mainly sees successful, white-collar clients, nearly all of whom have good medical insurance policies. Yet frequently they don’t want records to exist of their mental

Phil Weber '77, a psychologist in private practice in a suburb of Philadelphia

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 17

health treatment, so they don’t file insurance claims. They simply pay him directly. “They don’t want people to know they’re coming to see me,” Weber said.

MORE HUMANE, COMPASSIONATE Depending on one’s perspective, someone could reasonably draw wildly different conclusions about the country’s ability to treat people suffering from mental illness.

Taking the long view, there’s the fact that, within living memory, mentally ill people were treated like animals in filthy, dangerous and overcrowded state institutions – a situation that shocked the country’s sensibilities once it became widely known.

Thanks to the resulting reform movement, both within the Mennonite church and larger society, this model of treatment has been replaced with something far more John Goshow '69, chief executive officer of the Penn Foundation from 2000 to 2010 humane and compassionate.

At the same time, it can be a bleak exercise to focus on the current challenges facing compassionate care for all humans. within mental healthcare, Carl Rutt ’66,6 the mentally ill and those who treat them. medical director at Oaklawn in Goshen, “There are a lot of good stories, as well as Which view is the more accurate?

Indiana, from 1982 to 2003, sees a continusome really painful ones,” Kratz continued.

“The answer is, both of the above,” said ing role for the church-affiliated institutions “[But] overall, I feel fairly positive.”

Tom Martin '78 of Susquehanna University. founded after World War II. He concurs with Ressler that today “We convey hope,” Rutt said. “We try to ABLE TO SURVIVE CHALLENGES people with less severe mental disorders, like John Goshow, the recently retired CEO plant mustard seeds until the state agrees, mild or moderate forms of depression, face ‘Yes, let’s do this. It’s the right way to treat of the Penn Foundation, noted that less stigma and can receive very effective people’ … I still believe there is a role for financial uncertainty has long faced mental treatment close to home. At the same time, the Mennonite institutions.” healthcare providers.

And beyond these words, there are also people suffering from severe, chronic condi“We’ve been able to survive many differtions – particularly if their illness prevents ent challenges over the years,” Goshow said, now deeds demonstrating this commitment them from working – face enormous, and adding that church and community support to continued relevance and engagement.

Beside the Penn Foundation’s headquarters even growing, challenges. has played an essential role in allowing north of Philadelphia grows the steel skelVernon Kratz, on the Penn Foundation’s the Mennonite psychiatric institutions to eton of a $9.2-million, 32,000-square-foot board of directors, noted that a significant continue their tradition of innovation and expansion that will provide much-needed and positive development in the field over leadership. “If it weren’t for the support of new space for its various treatment prothe course of his career is that the word “rethe community, it would be very difficult grams that long ago outgrew the original covery” is in common usage, even for people for the Penn Foundation to stay on the cutbuilding. with serious illnesses. ting edge.”

“This is a sign of our belief that we will “There used to be a feeling of despair At the Samaritan Counseling Center in and hopelessness when [serious] diagnoses Lancaster, Gerald Ressler also remains confi- be treating people in our community into … were made,” Kratz said. “I think today dent that, despite the increasing challenge of future,” Goshow said. And when he says there’s much more hope that these can be dealing with stagnant or dropping insurance “community,” he means everybody –not just Mennonites, or Christians, or people who treated.” reimbursements, his staff will continue to can afford the care, or people who look and State and federal agencies are seeking to fulfill its mission of offering counseling to act a certain way. Everybody, whether they cut expenses, raising concerns about reanyone and everyone who comes in the drive a buggy, a BMW, or hobble in on duced access to care for the most vulnerable door. “We’ll have to be more and more crepained feet.  people in our society. Yet this is not the first ative to figure out how to provide services, time that the Penn Foundation, Philhaven, [but] I think we’ll figure out how to make and others working in the field have needed that happen,” he said.

6 Though semi-retired Carl Rutt '66 still sees children, adolescents and adults with a wide range of mental and addicto advocate for those who need more supAs EMU alumni search for ways to carry tive disorders. Other alumni associated with Oaklawn are porters. And they know they are standing on the tradition of Mennonite leadership clinical psychologist Paul J Yoder '77, clinical social worker Jeannie Brunk '83, and psychiatric aide Ryan Graber '02. on the shoulders of earlier advocates for 18 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

mental health

photograph by jon styer

Nate Hoffer ’03, executive director of the Good Samaritan Shelter, with branches in Ephrata and Phoenixville in Pennsylvania

Reversing the Homeless Slide Not long after becoming executive director of the Good Samaritan Shelter in 2009, Nate Hoffer ’03 found himself sitting in the shelter living room in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, with a young homeless man in the middle of a severe paranoid delusion. Not knowing how to respond, Hoffer wondered exactly what he’d gotten himself into.

“You can’t talk about homelessness without talking about mental health,” said Hoffer. “I certainly didn’t anticipate the extent to which I’d be dealing with it.”

In the end, Hoffer took his client to an emergency inpatient center, where the young man received the care he needed.

For Hoffer, it was an early and intense introduction to his new-found role as a front-line mental health worker among the homeless in southeastern Pennsylvania.

At both of the organization’s sites – a men’s shelter in Phoenixville and a women’s and children’s shelter in Ephrata – the staff of Good Samaritan deal more with mental health issues among their clients than anything else.

With no formal training as a counselor or social worker, Hoffer sees his role as a dot-connector between Good

Samaritan’s clients and various caregivers in the area. The process can be a frustrating one, though. Thanks to heavy caseloads, the waiting period before an initial assessment can last up to 30 days, during which Hoffer and his colleagues are left to assist clients as best they’re able.

Further delays often result from navigating the insurance bureaucracy, particularly for the many clients going through an initial application process for public assistance programs.

At the heart of these challenges is simply overwhelming demand for mental health services.

As the importance of helping clients to access mental healthcare has become clear, Hoffer has begun hiring more staff to provide intensive case management. Staff members have also begun taking a more proactive role in managing medications for clients who need a regular therapeutic regimen to function.

Mental health, Hoffer said, remains misunderstood and underestimated as a major contributor to homelessness. Raising public awareness of this – part of his job as the agency’s executive director – would significantly improve the situation.

“Society could do a much better job of understanding the issue here,” Hoffer said. “The more everybody understands this as a need, the more there’s going to be action.”  — Andrew Jenner

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 19

Eastern Mennonite Seminary convocation 2011

Impact of Faith on Care of Mentally Ill People The following are excerpts from “An Ethos of Faith and Mennonite Mental Health Services” by Aldred H. Neufeldt, professor emeritus of community rehabilitation and disability studies at the University of Calgary and past chair of Mennonite Mental Health Services. His article was originally published in the Journal of Mennonite Studies, (vol. 29, 2011, pages 187-202), along with many other articles on the history of Mennonite involvement with mental health, including a piece by Titus W. Bender '57 that covered the 1942-1965 period (pages 45-60). The excerpts are published with permission.

That Mennonite development of mental health services in the post World War II (WWII) period was an intentional expression of faith in action cannot be doubted. The experiences of Conscientious Objectors (COs) working in state hospitals during that war . . . created an awareness within the larger Mennonite community not only about the dire conditions within those institutions, but also a concern that better forms of care and treatment should be avail-

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able to its adherents and others experiencing serious forms of mental disorder.

As early as 1944 a proposal was put forward to the Emergency Relief Board of the General Conference Mennonites that serious consideration be given to establishing a Mennonite mental health institution, a resolution agreed to in 1945. A similar motion was adopted by the conference of Mennonite Brethren in 1946.

Henry A. Fast, one of the key actors in promoting these resolutions, later recalled: Our dedication to the principle of nonresistance by itself did not inspire concern for the mentally ill. It did help to intensify our care about people and give meaning, direction and quality to the way we worked with the mentally ill.

These resolutions from two of the largest Mennonite conferences prompted Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to undertake a study on whether or not to set up mental health services which, in turn, led to a “master plan” to develop a series of centers in the United States.

SEVEN CORE VALUES The following seven values pertain to the development and provision of [Mennonite] mental health services:

mental health

photograph by jon styer

the concept of love, understanding, tolerance and empathy. Each and every member of our organization has a very definite moral obligation in this respect.”

Respect for dignity of the person. The phrase “dignity of the person” as an expressed value is relatively recent in origin, largely arising in the 1970s and ’80s in the secular context when disability advocates pursued development of service approaches that were sensitive to individual needs and interests.

There is an argument to be made, though, that this value was at least an implicit, if not explicit, part of how personnel sought to relate to people receiving services provided by earlier Mennonite mental health or disability agencies. The theological view that each person is a child of God, no matter what their condition or state of life, has deep roots in Anabaptist tradition. One can infer the presence of such a value in the work by Mennonite COs in mental hospitals during WWII. These were young men and, later, a few women, by and large raised on farms, with little or no training or experience relevant to working in large mental hospitals.

Yet, as documented in a recent book on the CO experience by Steven Taylor, they gained a reputation of being able to make small positive changes to life on the wards by showing genuine interest in the persons they served. It is reasonable to argue that an implicit understanding of the distraught, naked, long stay inmates of mental hospitals as each a “child of God” characterized the understanding of these untrained COs seeking to make such individuals’ lives just a little bit better.

Community. The communal ethic is widely recognized as a defining characteristic of Anabaptists. Various writings as well as personal observation identify a number of practices in the various Mennonite mental health services that seem consistent with this ethic: placing emphasis on building relationships, trusting others to do “what is right,” sharing resources, seeking to build consensus whenever possible, “servant leadership” and so on…. More recently developed programs continue to strive for a communitarian emphasis, both in their internal programs (transdisciplinary teams, with blurring of lines between professions, were evident within the MMHS and other centers well before they became accepted within the public sector MH programs), as well as in their relationship to the sponsoring Mennonite community and the larger geographic communities within which they exist.

Integrity and ethical rigor. An emphasis on integrity and ethical rigor is evident in literature on the earliest Mennonite mental health services to the present. There was an obvious commitment to provide services in such a way that it is above reproach, and to doing what is right and being trustworthy in all relationships… For example, one noted psychiatrist-educator from the New York state mental health system who became familiar with MMHS centers observed: “The staff…whether they were Mennonite or not – were approaching their jobs with a commitment and dedication which I have found to be unique to the programs of the MMHS…although the words were the same, the music was different…. Whether Mennonite or not, personnel were approaching their jobs with a dedication and commitment I have found unique to MMHS.” Continued on next page . . .

3.

4.

1.

Mutual aid. Mennonites/Anabaptists have a rich history of practicing mutual aid in a manner similar to that of the early church as set out in several letters by the Apostle Paul, where the community comes to the aid of the person or family experiencing a significant trouble or loss. Documentation from all MMHS [Mennonite Mental Health Services] centers indicates mutual aid to be the driving concern for their founding… [But] it should be noted that such services weren’t kept exclusive. All centers …almost immediately extended their services to include people in need from other faith and cultural backgrounds.

Christian compassion and love. This second value expressed by two related terms speaks to the motivation of personnel for being involved in mental health services. Both terms reflect a sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it, and arise out of a tradition of seeking to live a life of discipleship… “Christian love” was the term used to describe the work of COs in mental hospitals and, later, was seen as a primary motivating value in developing of MMHS centers.

In practice, the value from early on was expressed in terms of developing a “total milieu” with a Christian emphasis. The first Medical Director of Brook Lane spoke about the importance of “Christian Living” and the impact that staff had on people served: “I don’t see this as ritualistic but more fundamental, incorporating

2.

5.

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photograph by lindsey kolb

Retired EMU sociology professor Titus Bender '57 wrote "The Mennonite Mental Health Movement and the Wider Society in the United States, 1942-1965" in the fall 2011 issue of Journal of Mennonite Studies.

6.

Pursuit of high quality programs by incorporating knowledge-based evidence with values. In North America the MMHS centres were preceded by careful study of leading programs in Europe and North America by an MCC Mental Health Study Committee in the years 1945 and ’46.

Peace and justice. The young farm COs found that physical and sexual abuse of patients was not uncommon. But far more common was the immense neglect in wards of grossly over crowded institutions where there often was only one paid attendant for 100 to 200 “patients.” According to Steve Taylor’s recent study, somewhat different strategies were used to confront such systemic practices, depending whether COs were of Quaker or Mennonite background. Those of Quaker background gravitated towards active public advocacy, including public exposes of abusive conditions in such national media as Life magazine and others, and prompted development of a highly effective advocacy organization in the USA known as the National Mental Health Foundation. Mennonites felt that tackling systems change was too complex and would not change conditions very easily, and so decided instead to see about changing conditions in small ways on the wards during the war, and on the war’s conclusion to set up their own small mental health facilities. Value statements on peace (i.e. non-violence) and justice (promoting the common good) continue to be present in values expressed by current Mennonite mental health programs, sometimes expanded to emphasize programming that focuses on peace within families.

7.

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MENNONITE-STYLE LEADERSHIP Editor's note: Aldred H. Neufeldt’s reflections on the history of the mental health movement included observations on the importance of employing leaders committed to Mennonite values, rather than professionals committed mainly to mental healthcare: The MMHS experience also suggests that if a program had difficulty in finding and retaining key executive and clinical leaders with Mennonite/Anabaptist values, almost invariably its linkage with the sponsoring community seemed to deteriorate with consequent negative impact on their internal social cohesion and ability to deliver quality programs.

That most Mennonite mental health services in the USA have survived and thrived for a period of up to six decades in what surely is one of the most turbulent of human service environments anywhere, with almost none either closing or leaving their Mennonite connections, is a tribute to their ability to retain key leadership, many of whom continue to relate to each other through Mennonite Health Services….

It is useful to remember that the dominant leadership model for mental health services in North America and Europe up until the 1970s was for the senior psychiatrist to be the hospital director. Mennonite programs were amongst the earliest to separate administrative leadership from professional leadership… [The] administrative leaders of the first MMHS centers all had personal experience as COs, and thereby the credibility to launch the first mental health services. 

AT YOUR SERVICE! With about 1,500 alumni who majored in psychology or social work as undergraduates or who earned master's degrees in counseling, EMU is blessed with many hundreds of women and men among our alumni base who deserve to be highlighted in this issue of Crossroads on mental health. The following pages offer just a glimpse of the range of the alumni working to address mental and relationship problems and to alleviate suffering. In the summer 2012 issue of Crossroads, we will be publishing a follow-up list of alumni in the mental health field. To be included in that list, please communicate with us before May 1, 2012, by filling out the form at:

www.emu.edu/crossroads/update

Artwork that was made by the clients of Carol Martin Johnson '83, who works in a Philadelphia geriatric center

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 23

photograph by jon styer

mental health

photograph by jon styer

Art Therapy Taps Strengths CAROL MARTIN JOHNSON ’83 // She once had a client with severe Alzheimer’s disease who had been an artist earlier in life. During his art therapy sessions with Martin Johnson, he would make large, colorful paintings, but after he left for the day, he’d forget what he had done. Every time he came back, Martin Johnson would show the man his own paintings, sparking his memory and helping him to reconnect with his inner senses of beauty and creativity. // Martin Johnson, an art therapist at the LIFE center in Philadelphia, Pa., recalls the story as an example of an inspiring aspect about art therapy: its focus on what’s right with people, not what’s wrong with them. // “Art taps into people’s strengths. The healthy part,” she says. // At the LIFE center, a day program run by the University of Pennsylvania as an alternative to nursing home care for the elderly, Martin Johnson sees about 30 clients per week in several art therapy groups. Using a variety of different media, people in her classes use art to express, understand and talk about the depression, isolation and grief many of them face, and to remind themselves that it’s never too late to try, to learn, to do something new. // Though Martin Johnson began her career as a nurse, working at various points in rural Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Uganda, she long felt an urge to put her artistic, creative side to greater use.

On her 40th birthday, Martin Johnson began graduate study in art therapy through a program of Drexel University.

After completing an internship at the LIFE center and graduating in 2003, she has been working there since. // Her room on an upper floor, overlooking a busy Philadelphia street, is cluttered with paintbrushes, paper, string, glue and dozens of other supplies, but what occurs there is more profound than arts and crafts hour. // “Art therapy can give form and shape to difficult feelings, feelings for which there may be no words. It can empower a person to gain understanding of the complex, the hidden, and the mysterious,” Martin Johnson says. 

— Andrew Jenner

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photograph by lindsey kolb

mental health

photograph by lindsey kolb

Clinicians in Newman Avenue Associates of Harrisonburg, Va.: (from left) Mercy Henning Souder '99, LPC; Rose Stoltzfus Huyard, MA '96 (counseling), LPC; Bonita Hertzler Jantzi '73, LCSW; Liesel Yoder Showalter '92, MA '95 (counseling), LPC

Galen Lehman ’73, PhD, (with two students) is the longest-serving professor currently on EMU's faculty. He chairs the psychology department.

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photograph by lindsey kolb

photograph by steven stauffer Julia Carey Sauder '83, MSW, is an evening-shift crisis clinician/supervisor for the City of Richmond (Va.), whose schedule permits her to be a massage therapist in private practice during the day.

Kathleen Zehr Nussbaum '82, LCSW, in Ashland, Va. (near Richmond)

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photograph by steven stauffer

photograph by steven stauffer

Social workers who deal with child abuse and neglect in EMU's home region: (from left) Erin Sours Fadeley '02; Carlita Schweitzer '06; Sara Bishop Kiser '00; Jesse Compagnari '93; Christy Hurst Savanick '06

Marsha Shull Green '93, psychiatric nurse practitioner in Fredericksburg, Va.

photograph by jon styer

mental health

Addressing Abuse in Retirement Years NELSON ROTH ’63 // At first, the Crossroads Pregnancy Center in Lewistown, Pa., turned Nelson Roth away. They didn’t have any male clients or need any male counselors. Roth, who had just retired with his wife to Belleville, Pa., after nearly 40 years as a teacher and pastor, left his contact information with the center. If the need arose, he told them, he was eager to volunteer as a pastoral counselor. // Not long thereafter, the first call came, and then another and another. Roth began meeting with men who’d come to Crossroads looking for relief from abusive relationships,

broken homes and dysfunction in their lives. The workload grew, and now, nine years later, Roth sees clients four days a week at Crossroads offices in Mifflin, Huntingdon and Juniata counties, plus visits to jails and hospitals. // Though he holds a master’s degree in counseling from Shippensburg State University, Roth says his long experience as a pastor and a gift for sensitivity and connection are his biggest assets as a counselor. Often, the people he counsels reveal painful things about their lives they’ve never told anyone else.

And unlike most counselors, Roth says, he does not try to avoid or minimize his own emotional involvement in his clients’ painful lives. // “We have Jesus to be our strength,” he says. “I don’t carry the load emotionally, because it’s up to the Lord … Scores of

clients have experienced Crossroads as a place of learning, decision and new life in Jesus.” // In 2008, Roth was recognized for his work when he traveled to Washington D.C. to receive a Presidential Volunteer Service Award. He lives in Belleville with his wife, Emma Jane, and is active in the Allensville Mennonite Church. In addition to seeing clients through Crossroads Pregnancy Center, Roth also regularly volunteers as a counselor to members of his congregation, and is sometimes assigned clients by a judge in Mifflin County. // “The past nine years have been a unique opportunity, which has resulted in a new kind of personal crossroads in my life,” Roth says. “I daily seek God’s mercy, grace and victory, both for myself and my clients.” 

— Andrew Jenner www.emu.edu | crossroads | 27

photograph by jon styer

‘I Was Kind Of Late Getting Into Things’ DORCAS STOLTZFUS MORROW ’56 // Every inch of tabletop space in Dorcas Stoltzfus Morrow’s apartment is covered with loose papers and three-ring binders, spillover from the crammed bookshelves that surround her living room at Landis Homes in Lititz, Pa. // One of the first women to complete a full pre-med program at EMC, Morrow enrolled in the fall of 1956 at The Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (now the Drexel University College of Medicine). Five years later, after completing an internship in West Chester, Pa., Morrow shipped off to Africa as a missionary physician with Eastern Mennonite Missions. Suddenly this petite woman still in her twenties was often the only doctor dealing with cases ranging from complicated births to malaria and other tropical diseases.

From late 1961 to early 1964, she worked in obstetrics and pediatrics based at a mission hospital in Shirati, Tanzania. Next, Morrow went to Jamama, Somalia, where

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she worked for a year and half at another hospital run by the mission board. // Morrow then returned to the U.S. long enough to spend another year in Harrisonburg doing seminary studies, before heading back to Pennsylvania where she dabbled in surgery but ultimately entered a full OB/GYN residency in Harrisburg (a career in surgery, she’d decided, seemed like it would have been too hectic). By August of 1970, she was back in Shirati for another service term of a little more than two years – during which she had some fantastic adventures, like the time a flying doctor service dropped her off to call on patients in a remote village but never showed up to pick her up, eventually forcing her to borrow a bicycle and trek back to civilization on her own. // Back home for good by 1973, Morrow ended up marrying the husband of her first-year roommate at EMC, who had died of breast cancer. Suddenly, at age 43, she was the mother of four children – three in high school and one in elementary school. She spent the next decade as a physician for the school system in Philadelphia, during which time she became ill, went to the doctor and discovered she was pregnant. Soon

thereafter, at age 47, she had her first and only child. // When her son was still young, it was dawning on city school officials that physicians were expensive people to keep on staff, and Morrow could see the writing on the wall. Soon, they’d have a nurse doing her job. It was time to explore another longheld fascination: psychiatry. // This interest dated back to her undergrad years at EMC, when an uncle of Morrow’s, suffering from a debilitating mental illness, came to live with her parents as an alternative to institutionalization. Her uncle did well there and ended up staying for years, regaining relative independence and good health and serving as inspiration to Morrow 30 years later. At age 53, she began a three-year residency at Norristown (Pa.) State Hospital in 1984. After finishing that program, she worked there as a psychiatrist until she qualified for the state retirement system and, in 1998, was able to hang up her white coat. // “I was always kind of late getting into things,” says Morrow, chuckling as she reflects back on the life she’s led, now spread in a fantastic jumble of documents around her as she works to set it to paper. 

— Andrew Jenner

photograph by lindsey kolb

mental health

photograph by cody troyer

Judy Hostetler Mullet '73 (left), PhD, teaches in both EMU's psychology and education departments; she is co-author of The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools.

Alumni at the Valley Community Services Board in Staunton, Va.: (from left) outpatient clinician Genhi Whitmer, MA '09 (counseling); community living specialist Erica Mast Graham '95; counselor Jason Axford '98, MA '03 (counseling); Catherine Detweiler '03, MSW, jail/adult outpatient mental health clinician. Not pictured: case worker Christine Mathias Grove '75; case manager LeRoger Parrish '09; information tech manager Keith Robertson '10; and employment specialist Laura Stoltzfus '10.

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photograph by steven stauffer

Betty Good-White '67, psychotherapist with Kaiser in Washington D.C.

Emory '70 and Idella Borntrager '68 Otto photograph by steven stauffer

Sharon Weaver Hoover '79, senior clinical supervisor of a discharge unit for former residents of mental health institutions who are making a transition to community living in Prince William County, Virginia (near Washington D.C.)

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mental health photograph by jon styer

A Ministry of Love, Not a Money-Maker EMORY ’70 AND IDELLA BORNTRAGER ’68 OTTO // To be an effective counselor, says Emory Otto, “you really have to care about people, and really want to help people.” // It’s something that he wanted to do since he’d been in elementary school, and it’s a career he pursued since majoring in psychology at EMC and earning his doctoral degree in 1983 from the Florida Institute of Technology. As he discovered in the intervening three decades, it can also make for long days of exhausting, stressful work on a relatively modest salary; the reward has to be something other than money. // “It’s a ministry,” says Emory, sitting on the couch in his basement office. // “This is our love gift back to God and his people,” adds his wife, Idella Borntrager Otto, who, much later in her working life, trained as a counselor and joined her husband in a practice run out of their home in Lititz, Pa. // After starting his own practice in 1999, Emory began to realize that practicing jointly with a woman therapist would allow him to better serve his clients. Idella, meanwhile, was working as a school nurse, where she increasingly found herself working in an informal counseling role. Many of the students who came in complaining of headaches, she thought, really were suffering from heartache caused by stressful home lives. // The next step seemed obvious. Idella, who already had plenty of practical counseling experience, formalized her training through the American Christian College and Seminary. After graduating in 2005, she and Emory practiced together until her retirement in 2011; Emory is currently in the process of winding down the practice for his own retirement. // Their deepest joy while working together, they say, was accompanying their clients on healing journeys that often unfolded in unexpected, unlikely ways. // “Sometimes people’s pain was so deep that they couldn’t see how God could redeem their situation, but He did,” Idella says.

“No pain is too deep that God’s love can’t reach it.” 

— Andrew Jenner photograph by cody troyer

Alumni at the Collins Center, a child advocacy, mental health, and sexual assault crisis center in Harrisonburg, Va.: (from left) outreach coordinator Rhoda Miller '03, associate director Ana Arias '99, and director Angie Longenecker Strite '02. Not pictured: prevention educator Trent Wagler '02

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photograph by cody troyer

STAR Breaks Cycles of Trauma ELAINE ZOOK BARGE ’84, MA ’03 (left), & CAROLYN E. YODER ’72 // Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) emerged from the ashes of Sept. 11, when hundreds of millions of people were grieving over the deaths and destruction caused by hijacked airplanes flying into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. // To mark STAR's 10th anniversary, founding director Carolyn E. Yoder ’72 collaborated with current director Elaine Zook Barge ’84, MA ’03 (in conflict transformation), to produce a 38-page booklet, STAR – The Unfolding Story, 2001-2011, that explores the program’s astonishing growth. The teachings of STAR are also outlined in the booklet, which is available as an e-book at

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multiple layers and kinds of trauma,” said emu.edu/cjp/star. // STAR began when Church World Service asked EMU’s Center New Jersey pastor Sheila Holmes in the booklet. “The youth are very angry and for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) to frustrated. All the STAR materials have design a trauma-training program for civil society leaders whose communities had been helpful in my work. The most helpful in my community is the understanding of been affected by Sept 11. // In developing STAR, Yoder tapped the expertise of the ‘abnormal becoming normal’ and how we professors at CJP, as well as of experts in just come to accept that and don’t realize we can be set free.” // As STAR’s first director, religion, psychology and neurobiology in the larger community. She came as a licensed Yoder facilitated over 50 trainings with about 800 people from 60 countries during STAR’s professional counselor, also licensed in marriage and family therapy. // Sparked first five years. The number of people who

by Yoder’s quest, CJP began to break have now taken STAR tops 7,000. // “The general perception is that trauma healing is down disciplinary boundaries, melding the principles of restorative justice, conflict soft, a warm fuzzy, that it has little or nothing transformation, trauma healing, and religious to do with realpolitik and no role to play in faith into better practices for positive change. reducing violence,” wrote Yoder in her 2005 The result was a week-long training program book, The Little Book of Trauma Healing.

“Yet trauma and violence are integrally to raise awareness of the links between trauma and cycles of violence, along with linked: violence often leads to trauma, and unhealed trauma, in turn, can lead to ways to de-couple those links and thereby emerge from the cycles. // “I work and live in violence and further loss of security.”  an inner city where people have experienced — BPL

photograph by cody troyer

mental health

photograph by cody troyer

Randall "Randy" Hook '95, MSW, is director of counseling services at Bridgewater College (Va.) and an adjunct instructor in EMU's MA in counseling program.

Alumni working at the Family Life Resource Center in Harrisonburg, Va.: (from left) Andrea Estep Bieber '98, MA '00 (counseling), LPC; Harvey Yoder '64, MAL' 92, LPC, LMFT; Jim Glanzer '75, LPC; Lois Wenger '73, LCSW; and executive director Mark L. Sensabaugh '92, LPC, LMFT. Not pictured: admin. assist. Mary Louise Lehman '58; clinical psychologist Kathryn Rexrode Moats '94, PhD; and part-time counselor Andrea Bieber '98, MA '00 (counseling), who also works for a community services board.

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photograph by steven stauffer photograph by steven stauffer

E.J. Arrington '06 works overnight as a counselor at a residential home for four men ages 28 to 65 in Richmond, Va. (tapping his psychology minor), but focuses on creating electronic music by day (he was a communications major).

Theresa Weedon '77, LCSW, in her private practice office at Riverside Counseling in Fredericksburg, Va.

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photograph by jon styer

Nancy Good, LCSW, PhD, formerly a long-time EMU professor, will be applying her trauma-healing expertise to a multi-year contract of the KonTerra Group to assist with a USAID "employee resilience program." photograph by steven stauffer

Rick Augsburger '91 is managing director of the KonTerra Group, a Washington D.C.-based consulting group heavily staffed by EMU graduates and former employees, including Nancy Good at right.

photograph by steven stauffer

photograph by steven stauffer

mental health

Kathy Zehr Rhodes '84, psychologist for Rappahannock Co. (Va.) schools

Ruth Detweiler Lesher '75, Pennsylvania psychologist in private practice

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photograph by jon styer

The Value of Telling and Hearing Stories JOAN KENERSON KING ’79 // One of the healthiest things we can do is simply listen to someone’s story and tell our own, says Joan Kenerson King. // People with mental health issues need to have a chance to express their hopes and dreams for the future, King told Crossroads. “They have the same hurts, longings and dreams as anyone, but have more challenges in how to get to where they want to be.” // The behavioral health system needs to listen to the people it serves, said King, who spent the first five years of her nursing career as a surgical intensive care unit nurse. But her heart led her to visiting homes in North Philadelphia as a community health nurse, which stimulated her interest in the mind and in the role families and

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communities play in health. In 1990 she completed a master’s degree in psychiatric nursing. // She was the founding director of a psychiatric home care program, which closed after seven years when Medicare funding dried up. The paucity of funding for assistance to impoverished people troubles her greatly. “I’m convinced that half of what we see has nothing to do with a brain disorder, and everything to do with the economic pressures on people. The dance between serious mental illness, addiction, and poverty is an intimate one.” // King has been a full-time consultant for the past 15 years, offering training in the power and techniques of storytelling “to bear witness to another’s joy and pain” and help that person change. King lives by the mantra that “your life can be better tomorrow than it is today.” She has worked with more than 1,000 people on helping them to tell their stories about their resilience, strength and

hope, despite the challenges they face in regard to addiction, mental illness, socioeconomic deprivation, or a combination of these. // In February 2012 she joined the staff of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare Organizations, as a senior integration consultant. She is helping states and local behavioral health systems prepare for healthcare reform and develop partnerships and systems to integrate physical and behavioral healthcare. // King recalls that her first experience in listening carefully came in her final year as a nursing student at EMU, when she was assigned to pay a weekly visit to a person with a serious mental illness. “I still remember sitting at that woman’s kitchen table and listening to her story. It was part of the ethos of EMU—respecting people’s stories.” // For more on King’s work, visit her website at http://joankkingconsulting.com.  — BPL

Ruth Ann Stoltzfus '79, LCSW, in private practice in Silver Spring, Md.

Sarah, class of '67, retired director of Compeer Lancaster, and Herb Myers '66, a semi-retired psychiatrist who still sees nursing home residents in West Virginia.

photograph by jon styer

photograph courtesy of the myers

Kathleen Weaver Kurtz '69, pastoral counselor supervisor in Manassas, Va.

photograph by steven stauffer

photograph by steven stauffer

mental health

Mother and daughter: Mary Ann Kreider '78, a social worker in a community services board, and Tara Kreider '05, MA '11, a counselor in a middle school.

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COUNSELOR-MOM IS A PEACEMAKER TOO

BY MICHAEL JOHN SHANK, MA ’05 IN CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION Most people have a very classic notion of what it takes to be a peacemaker: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, or Nelson Mandela. Beyond the notables, however, there are others recognized for their peacebuilding on the front lines – be it the oft-forgotten and lowincome inner city, the uninhabitable prison, or the war-ridden, unstable state.

We miss an opportunity, however, when the parameters of peacemaking are so narrowly defined. It discounts the myriad notinsignificant moments in one’s day, one’s profession, and one’s life to build, make and create peace.

One example of a peacemaker who does not quickly consider herself such is my mother, Lois Shank Gerber. A professional counselor for nearly two decades, my mother wouldn’t readily rank her work in the realm of peacemaking.

Yet she has thrown herself into the hard work of helping heal one person at a time – whether it was with persons with severe mental disabilities, kids with behavioral disorders in extended stays at a children’s home, or Amish and Plain People in eastern Pennsylvania.

In all of these environments, the need for peacemaking seems self-evident – whether among clients who experienced physical and

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sexual abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal thoughts and low self-esteem, or the moral maze of religion, replete with overtones of guilt, fear and self-loathing.

When I interviewed my mother for this article I asked her what skills aided most in assisting the counseling process – and ultimately the healing process. A common theme throughout our conversation landed, quite simply, on the dual arts of listening and caring. (It is a shame, really, that these two gifts are so hard to come by in normal society that professionals are required in their stead.) For many of her clients, they simply needed a safe space to sound out their thoughts and have someone compassionately walk them through the transformation of their own pain.

On the skills front, however, it is more than merely listening and caring. As my mom recounts the early days in her counseling career, and recalls going to random lengths – like riding roller coasters at amusement parks with kid clients from the children’s home and heeding 2 a.m. calls for help when a storm took out the power at the children’s home – it is clear that this peacemaker was willing to go outside her comfort zone to make someone else feel safe.

Add courage, then, to the characteristics of a good counselor. For the Amish, and even the Mennonites (the community from which mom and I hail), counseling remains a relatively new form of therapy. In recent past, particularly for the Amish and more conservative Mennonites, the strength of one’s faith was the barometer by which one measured psychological health. Weakness in mental health equated to a weakness in faith.

Fix the latter and you remedy the former.

Integrating the counseling practice into this paradigm, then, is no small feat and requires a willingness to push boundaries and pioneer a process that still suffers a stigma in both religious and nonreligious societies.

For Amish and Plain People, this reality is evolving slowly and mom’s experience as a counselor with many of them gives testa-

ment to their increasing willingness to walk down this uncharted path.

In our interview, my mom noted that as a middle child out of seven siblings, the impulse to be an interlocutor between friction and faction came naturally. Back then it was all about keeping the peace. Now, after training and technique, it is about listening to another’s burden but not absorbing it as one’s own, empowering them to feel capable of finding their own answers, focusing on strengths not weaknesses, and not being afraid to countenance the contrasts or contradictions.

Helping a hurt heart heal may be one of the less glamorous but more difficult of peacemaking efforts, and it comes with profound and positive implications for it is the root of all that individual will later inspire, initiate and innovate.

Humans have a tendency to play out their pain and unresolved past on the world stage, externalizing a conflict that ultimately lies within. Counseling, then, is one-part personal therapy on the individual level, and another part conflict prevention on the community level – the remedies of which will be recognized later as the ripples of one’s actions expand outward into society.

My mom is making peace long before a client’s hurt manifests in a prison or an urban warfront. She is building peace long before a weapon is wielded or a relationship severed. She is a peacemaker every day she is on the job. Michael John Shank, class of ’96 (Kent State grad), MA ’05, is vice president of U.S. operations for the Institute for Economics and Peace, headquartered in Australia with offices in New York and Washington D.C. Previously Shank served for three years as U.S. Congressman Mike Honda’s senior policy adviser and communications director. In addition to himself and his mother, Lois Shank Gerber ’66, his two siblings are graduates of EMU: Kris Shank Zehr ’92 and Karl Shank ’93.

photograph by jon styer

mental health

Counselor to the Amish As do many counselors, Lois (Bechtel) Shank Gerber ’66 lives for the times when she sees glimmers of hope and change in her clients. When a suicidal woman once told her that, for the first time, she felt peace and freedom in her life after working with Gerber, it made all the hard work that they’d done together worth it.

Gerber’s path to counseling work, though, was anything but typical. After majoring in home economics education at Eastern Mennonite College and teaching school for three years, she spent nearly a decade at home with her three young children. When her first husband, Henry Shank '66, became disabled, Gerber began working again.

After his death in 1983, Gerber supported the family working for Choice Books in Ohio. Several years later, encouraged by a friend, she enrolled in a graduate counseling program at the University of Akron. Gerber took one class per semester, plus worked full-time and kept up with her children as they went through high school and into college. In 1993, one semester shy of Akron’s six-year deadline, Gerber graduated with a master’s degree in counseling and embarked on her new career.

“I always enjoyed relating to people [and] listening to their stories,” said Gerber, on her decision to switch career tracks. “When I began counseling I felt like I had come home. I was where I wanted to be.”

After 10 years of practice in Ohio – most of them spent at a practice in New Philadelphia – Gerber moved in 2003 to Lititz, Pa., where her second husband, Lowell Gerber, had accepted a new job offer. Soon she was invited to join Upward Call Counseling Services, a Christian counseling practice with a focus on the Amish and other Plain communities.

Now working mostly with women clients from Plain groups, Gerber sees clients facing the same range of issues as in the wider world: depression, anxiety, problems in relationships, suicidal thoughts. While the stigma of mental illness – and seeking treatment for it – is decreasing among the Amish and conservative Mennonite groups, a specific challenge Gerber faces is the lingering perception that mental health problems are signs of spiritual weakness.

“I really focus on God’s unconditional love [when that’s an issue],” said Gerber. “I don’t always feel confident. I send lots of prayers up as I work, but it is very fulfilling.”

Gerber is also sometimes challenged by clients who come to her with preconceived ideas about mental health gleaned from self-help books. They want quick, tidy diagnoses and a few simple, easy steps to recovery. But life is complicated, Gerber tells them, and things can take a while to work out – as demonstrated by her own winding path to counseling.  — Andrew Jenner

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 39

photographs by Bonnie Price Lofton

RISING UP FOR AUTISM

BY BONNIE PRICE LOFTON

40 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

mental health

FACING PAGE: Cedric Moore Jr. '99 laughingly strikes a pose before Thomas Jefferson High School in Richmond, Va., where he was a star athlete. BELOW RIGHT: Cedric walks between the school's front-entrance metal detector on the left and a desk manned by a guard. ABOVE: Cedric with some loved ones: (from left) father Cedric Moore Sr., younger brother Shea, mother Susan Moore, grandmother Shirley Roberts, cousin Aundrekia Coleman and best friend Monte Ellis.

When Jay Johnson recalls his 20 years of coaching basketball at Thomas Jefferson High School in Richmond, Virginia, Cedric Moore Jr. ’99 stands out in his memory.

“The best teams I ever coached were the ones Cedric was on,” Johnson told Crossroads in January 2012. “Cedric was special.

This guy played like a house on fire. One night he scored 36 points. He was a leader on a team that gave me their absolute best – we were always overmatched.”

At Thomas Jefferson High School, Cedric also was a stand-out baseball player (catcher) and football player (receiver, quarterback, defensive back). But basketball cleared his path to college.

Cedric says he never would have made it to college without Coach Johnson telling him he had to go, picking up the phone to call Tom Baker ’81 (then EMU’s basketball coach, assisted by current coach Kirby Dean ’92), and putting Cedric on a Greyhound bus to get to Harrisonburg the night before registration for class. Johnson even paid for the bus ticket.

“I knew it was a good academic environment,” Johnson said.

Cedric was reluctant to leave Richmond – nobody in his family had gone to college.

Today, though, Cedric realizes Johnson was right: “I needed to get out of my neighbor-

hood and go away from my buddies and distractions.”

The “distractions” included once being on a bus that was riddled with bullets by a member of the losing team, neighborhood drug dealers as models of the way to make a decent income, and seeing someone murdered right where he was playing pick-up basketball with his best friend, Monte Ellis.

At that time, Cedric also lacked a father figure in his home – his namesake, Cedric Moore Sr., was mostly absent from his life, having been divorced from Cedric’s mother when Cedric was 12 years old. Prior to that, when Cedric was a preschooler, his father had spent four years in prison.

lots of male mentors who stayed in our lives from middle school through high school. To this day, we can go to them and ask their advice.” Monte, who went to Virginia State for two years, now works in a law office.

Both Moore and Monte say that their neighborhood drug dealers actually watched out for them, warning them to stay in school, keep clean, and “get out of here.”

“They wanted us to achieve what they hadn’t,” says Cedric. “I know this isn’t the image people think of when you say drug

SAFETY THROUGH ATHLETICS Cedric credits the Battery Park Athletic Association for keeping him, Monte, and some other close friends safe in their community of Northside, where the official crime rate remains high. This association has received national attention for its extraordinary efforts to educate youth and provide hope, says Cedric, adding “this is the same league where tennis-great Arthur Ashe Jr. learned and sharpened his skills as a youngster.”

“It was one of the most exceptional programs in the city,” recalls Monte. “We had www.emu.edu | crossroads | 41

work major, returned to Richmond, and started rising through the ranks of his field.

While managing a residential program for Virginia Home for Boys and Girls, he met the young woman he would eventually wed, Melinda Beresik.

This plaque marking Cedric's playing days at EMU hangs near the front door of Cedric's and Melinda's home.

FACING PAGE: Melinda and Cedric Moore on their front steps with their children, Brandon and Caitlyn.

dealer, but if it wasn’t for many of them looking after us, we may have been a statistic.” Despite the roughness of the neighborhood, many of the adults watched over the young like they were members of their own family, he adds.

Most of all, Cedric credits his mother, Susan Moore, and his grandmother, Shirley Roberts, for pushing him to do well.

Susan became enthusiastic about school for the first time when she was pregnant at age 16 with Cedric and received one-on-one assistance from teachers to complete her coursework.

She, in turn, pushed Cedric to excel academically. Playing games had to stop and homework start at a certain time each day.

And if Cedric slipped as low as a “C” in any course, Susan took him off whatever sports team he was on until that grade rose.

THANKS TO GRANDMOTHER Cedric’s grandmother, called “Miss Shirley” by one and all, presided over a love-filled home with a small, one-hoop backyard court that as many as 20 kids clustered around when school was out, safe from whatever was happening elsewhere in the neighborhood.

“My grandmother enforced rules for her back yard and fed many children when they had nothing to eat at home,” recalls Cedric.

Both Cedric and his mother circle back in 42 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

conversation to praise Miss Shirley for her unflagging support through hard times.

In January 2012, Cedric’s mother, father, grandmother, one brother (Shea), cousin, and best friend Monte gathered in the house of an aunt (Dometria Austin) to reminisce about Cedric. Whatever distance Cedric once felt with his father was gone.

They spoke affectionately of each other, with Cedric Sr. suggesting that his son would make a good president of the United States.

“Everything changed for him when he went to Eastern Mennonite. He has become a big, big success,” said Cedric Sr. Shea stressed, though, that Cedric Jr. had not let his success go to his head. “He really cares about us, about our family. Whenever I need help, he tries to give me good answers.”

Playing 1993-1996 as No. 22, Moore is listed in the EMU men’s basketball record book for career assists (210). He got through EMU on a combination of financial aid extended by EMU, government-backed loans, and work-study positions.

“Coach Baker was always there for his players, even when they didn’t display maturity,” Cedric says. “I was in his first recruiting class, and he had to play 11 freshmen, which took guts. We took bumps the first couple of years, but we made the conference tournament by my junior year.”

By 1999, Cedric had graduated as a social

SOCIAL WORK TO GRAD SCHOOL While Melinda completed a PhD in psychology, Cedric earned an MBA. He is now working on a doctorate of strategic leadership through Regent University. In 2009, when Cedric was quality assurance coordinator for the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority, he was named to the Governor’s Advisory Board of Child Abuse and Neglect.

Sometime amid this busyness, Cedric and Melinda found time to get married, have two children – Brandon, now 6, and Caitlyn, 1 – and partner with clinical social worker Laura E. McDonald to start an organization that specializes in services for children with autism spectrum disorders.

Cedric says Spectrum Transformation Group in Richmond, Va., is the first in Virginia to be licensed with an autism specialty by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.

Cedric, Melinda and Laura received encouragement to launch Spectrum from Melinda’s former mentor at Virginia Commonwealth University, psychology professor Donald Oswald '75. Oswald is one of the leading experts on autism in the mid-Atlantic region.

Since its founding in July 2010, Spectrum has grown from one staff member handling four cases to 11 staff members, including two psychologists, handling 25 cases, with a waiting list of prospective clients. Cedric no longer does social work himself. As chief executive officer, he hires people to deliver the services, such as former Royals volleyball player Colten New ’10, who was a psychology major.

Beyond helping autistic children, Cedric says he wants to lend a hand to aspiring leaders from backgrounds similar to his. It’s one way of repaying all the people who helped him along the way. Another way is serving on EMU's Alumni Council.

None of this surprises Cedric’s old high school coach. “I always knew he was special,” said Jay Johnson.

photograph by steven stauffer

mental health

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 43

photograph by Steven Stauffer

Psychologist Donald Oswald '75 sits among toys often used at Commonwealth Autism Service as part of the assessment and diagnosis process.

Pioneer in Autism Care When Donald Oswald graduated with a major in psychology in 1975, he got a job working at the Grafton School in Berryville, Virginia, which was then (and remains) an organization known nationally for serving children and adults with disabilities and significant emotional and/or behavioral challenges.

Oswald had been there a year before he saw his first child with autism. What began as a trickle became a flood of autism cases over the next nine years into Grafton. Oswald eventually found himself running a group home for teens with autism.

Thinking he would branch out into general child psychology, in 1985 Oswald entered the clinical psychology doctoral program at Virginia Tech. Four years later, he interned at the Yale Child Study Center, a leader in the autism field.

When the Medical College of Virginia was looking to fill a faculty position for a psychologist in 1990, Oswald believes he got the job because of his experience with autistic children, though he was a recent doctoral graduate.

He’s been focused on autism ever since. In 1998, he was named to the board of directors of Commonwealth Autism Service, newly founded and funded by Virginia’s General Assembly.

It is the primary center in the state for school and public safety workers to receive training in how to deal with autistic individuals.

44 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

Oswald advocates a multi-disciplinary approach to assessment, involving a speech therapist, occupational therapist, education expert, psychologist, and child psychiatrist. Asked why five experts were needed, Oswald explained: “A speech therapist might be able to recognize that a child was ‘oppositional’ because he didn’t understand the language we were using, while an occupational therapist might detect that a child was hypersensitive to lights and sounds. An educational therapist can help the school to think about how to work with the child. A psychologist can run the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, and a psychiatrist can prescribe medication.”

Oswald added that parents should be “engaged as equal partners and treated with dignity and respect, with their views incorporated in the treatment plan.”

He applauded the establishment of Spectrum Transformation Group under Cedric Moore '99, MBA, to meet families' desperate need for "high quality, comprehensive, behaviorally based, in-home support service."

Today Oswald is the Director of Diagnostics and Research at Commonwealth Autism Service. He has retired from fulltime teaching in the department of psychiatry at the Medical College of Virginia, but continues to consult widely. 

— BPL

mental health

A Little of This and That NOTEWORTHY TIDBITS ON CERTAIN ALUMNI IN THE MENTAL HEALTH FIELD Attentive readers of Crossroads over the last few years may recall that psychiatrist Abram M. Hostetter, class of '51, was featured on a half page of the summer 2008 issue. Hostetter and seven colleagues wrote an article published in Nature on Feb. 26, 1987, "Bipolar Affective Disorders Linked to DNA Markers on Chromosome 11." Their findings, the first to draw a clear link between genetics and mental illness, have been cited 726 times. Hostetter was the bridge builder for this extremely sensitive study, which began in 1976. The researchers needed a "genetically isolated" group. In their Amish study population, they found that 12,000 people were descended from just 30 progenitors who had emigrated from Europe in the early 18th century.

Another psychiatrist previously featured in these pages was Frank Shelp '80, commissioner of the newly formed Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities in Georgia. In the fall of 2011, a Crossroads supplement traced Shelp's trajectory from dropping out of college in Kansas (and returning to college via EMU) to being chosen to direct a dramatic turn-around in the way the state of Georgia delivers care to 120,000 of its citizens.

Anthony R. Pratkanis '79, a psychologist at the University of California-Santa Cruz, received considerable coverage in Crossroads as a result of his receiving EMU's "Alumnus of the Year" award in 2009. Co-author of The Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion, Pratkanis has been a national leader in equipping consumers to recognize manipulation by marketing techniques.

Also in California are psychiatrists Ryan C. Horst '95, who completed medical school at Penn State in 1999 – he is a forensic psychiatrist who is working with a prison population in the Los Angeles area – and J. Allen Miller '68, in Monterey, who continues to practice child and adolescent psychiatry while "sliding into retirement." Miller has the distinction of being the first in his family to graduate from high school, let alone college and graduate school. His parents were raised Amish and thus stopped their schooling after grade 6. Miller said his first non-family mentor was EMU biology professor Daniel B. Suter '40. "He believed in me and taught me how to believe in myself

in the context of the larger purpose of using my talents for God's work." Miller went on to medical school at Ohio State. He has been medical director of the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital (1996-2002) and president of the Central California Psychiatric Society.

Psychiatrist Harold E. Kraybill '61 began his medical career in three years of voluntary service as a general practitioner in Vietnam during the war. He and his wife, Esther Emswiker '60, also served for years in Africa, mostly in Ethiopia. In his early 40s in the U.S., he spent three years getting board certified as a psychiatrist because Philhaven needed Christian psychiatrists and because he hoped the specialty would permit more one-on-one time. In the 1990s, he saw the field shift toward "pill-pushing," along with minimizing the spiritual aspects of mental health. Now he thinks the field is rediscovering the importance of knowing patients as people and not as a set of symptoms. Kraybill is trying to retire, but there is still a shortage of psychiatrists so he does not refuse the frequent calls he gets to help out.

Alumni-psychologists who settled in southern California include Marcus J. Hochstetler '75 doing family and marriage counseling in Irvine; Nevin Lantz '69 focusing on relationship issues and life coaching in Palto Alto and Santa Cruz; and James L. Shenk '79 in La Jolla, who specializes in cognitive-behavioral therapy to overcome panic, anxiety, depression, and other blocks to meeting personal goals.

The story of Cedric Moore Jr. '99 covered a few pages earlier calls to mind the number of former collegiate athletes who have ended up working in mental health. E.J. Arrington '06 (pictured on page 34) and LeRoger Parrish '09, case manager for a substance abuse program under the Valley Community Services Board (and now working on a master's degree in counseling), were both star basketball players at EMU. Colten New '10, hired by Cedric to work with autistic children, was a star volleyball player, as was Jason Axford '98, MA'03 (counseling).

There are countless ministers who have advanced training in counseling. At least one, Doug Friesen '91, associate pastor at Blossom Hill Mennonite Church, is a psychologist.

Rose Herr Wayland '78 is a psychotherapist at

Abram M. Hostetter, class of '51, is credited with breakthrough research.

J. Allen Miller '68, psychiatrist, has traveled far from his Amish roots.

LeRoger Parrish '09, case manager, takes teamwork lessons to work.

Colten New '10 does autism work as part of Spectrum Transformation.

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 45

Jim Bernat, MA '00, directs quality improvement for public agency.

Deborah R. Weaver '89, LCSW, aids ministry students and inner-city kids.

Nate and Kristy Koser, both MA '09 in counseling, work at EMU.

Janelle Bitikofer '97 (left) does health work in the Dominican Republic.

46 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

Pastoral Counseling Associates in Washington Koser's husband, Nate Koser '07, MA'09 D.C. and an ordained minister who preaches (counseling), is working toward a PhD in at Middletown (Va.) Presbyterian Church psychology through Saybrook University in three Sundays a month. In Winnipeg, Canada, San Francisco. He teaches in EMU's counseling Melissa Miller '76 is a part-time counselor at program and is a counselor for EMU students.

Recovery of Hope and pastor of Springstein Pam Comer, MA'95, directs counseling Mennonite Church (she has master's degrees in services for EMU's student life department. In psychology and divinity). addition to her MA in counseling from EMU, In Chicago, Deborah R. Weaver '89, LCSW, she holds an MEd in counseling from James holds an MDiv from Iliff School of Theology, in Madison University. She is known for her paraddition to an MSW. "I have developed a niche ticular skill and sensitivity in dealing with dying working with ministry students and others who and grief. want to address religious or spiritual issues in Professor of psychology Kim Gingerich therapy," she writes. "I [also] spend one day Brenneman '83 wrote her doctoral dissertation each week in an inner-city primary school leadon third-culture youths and maintains a strong ing group sessions for children whose lives have interest in the subject. She has led three groups been impacted by violence." of EMU students to India to live and study for In Virginia, the number of EMU gradua semester and is fascinated by how "character ates staffing the regional communities services strengths" are developed and how cross-cultural boards is remarkable, considering EMU's size experiences are life-changing. relative to state universities. Jim Bernat, MA Elementary teacher Paula Slaubaugh Eigsti '00, is an interesting example because he did not '72 of Hutchison, Kan., felt a call to pursue a get a master's degree in counseling from EMU, master's degree in marriage and family therapy as one might expect for the man in charge of in her early 50s, finishing in 2004. "I find that quality improvement for mental health and the skills I have acquired in both disciplines insubstance abuse services at the Rapidan-Rappaform and compliment my work in both worlds," hannock Community Services Board. Instead he she writes. She continues to teach, while seeing came to EMU in his 40s for a master's degree in clients for therapy on some evenings. conflict transformation.

In schools in EMU's home region, alumni are Gilberto Perez Jr. '94, a social work maemployed as social workers (e.g. Andrea Zehr jor, also opted for graduate studies in conflict Meredith '92 in Thomas Harrison and Skyline transformation at EMU before launching an middle schools) counselors (Sandy King '00, organization he named Bienvenido in 2004, to MA '04, in Turner Ashby H.S.), and psycholoaddress the mental health problems of Latino gists (Ethan D. Zook '76 in the central office of immigrants across Indiana and beyond.

Harrisonburg public schools). Erica Yutzy '09, Almost all mental health professionals deal in MA '11 (counseling), is an employee of Crosssome fashion with family and marriage issues, roads Counseling Center, which supplies counbut some of our graduates have specialized in selors on an as-needed basis to work individually this topic. In 2007 Harvey Yoder '64, MAL '94, with students in their home schools. summed up more than 40 years as a licensed Janelle Bitikofer '97, MSW, LCSW, is clinimarriage and family counselor in a light-hearted cal director of Health Horizons International in book with serious lessons titled Lasting Marriage. the Dominican Republic. She helps train and Randy Hook '95, MSW, has co-led sessupervises 15 Dominican and Haitian communisions called "Smart Marriages" at Rockingham ty health workers, who mostly focus on physical Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg and was care, though mental health is not ignored. executive director of the Center for Marriage Retired postal worker Wayne E. Holsinger, and Family Counseling, an agency supported by class of '64, holds a master's degree and DMin the United Way. in biblical counseling from Faith Baptist Kristy Troyer Koser '07, MA '09 (counCollege and Theological Seminary in Ankeny, seling), has worked in recent years alongside Iowa. After opening a counseling center for psychologist Sue Johnson, well-known for devel- low-income folks in southern Indiana in 2000, oping Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples he came to realize that "humor, as stated in Proverbs 17:22, may indeed be one of the best and writing about it in books such as Hold Me medicines to promote good physical, mental Tight (2008). In 2011, for instance, Koser led a and spiritual health."

Massachusetts retreat for 50 couples with Sue Johnson.

photograph by jon styer

mileposts

Pictured are some of the alumni who work at Philhaven, a non-profit behavioral healthcare organization operating in seven counties in southeastern Pennsylvania: (from left) crisis intervention trainer Brent Swope ’05; "Plain community" liaison Charles Bauman '70; psychologist Melanie Baer ’82; chaplain Susan Weaver Godshall ’65; clinical coordinator Rita McCrae Boer ’06; therapist Heidi Mitchell Kanagy ’90; nurse Marlene Hess ’79; asst. dir. human resources Mark Emerson ’03, ’86 (seminary); and therapist Laura Ruth ’09. Known alumni missing from the photo: Lancaster outpatient director Luke W. Good '73; psychiatrist J. Allen Miller '68, retired but on call; development director James W. Shenk '78; therapist Nathan Stoltzfus '01; Ephrata outpatient therapist Nelson Yoder '81; and mental health workers Christy Rohrer '06, Emelene Reist Wenger '04, and substitutes Brian and Lachelle Hackman, both '08 graduates.

Faculty/Staff

Tim Arnold researches funding sources and prepares grant proposals in support of the EMU science center campaign on a part-time basis. He received an MA in English at James Madison University and a PhD in English from the University of Kentucky. Tim has extensive experience writing grant proposals for endowments, fellowships, and major gifts for the University of Virginia Office of Public Affairs and its School of Law. He also teaches English courses at Blue Ridge Community College.

Stephanie Bush began as the instructional services librarian in January 2011.

Before coming to EMU, Stephanie worked as a librarian at the Massanutten Regional Library and on staff at JMU. She completed her MLIS at Florida State University and her BA in English from the University of California, Davis.

Eric Codding is associate dean of students in the student life department.

He obtained an MA in theological studies from Wheaton College. He was previously employed in a dual role as vice president for students and dean of students at Tabor College.

John Filson is program manager of “Partners for Peacebuilding Policy” (3P Human Security), a program of EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

He oversees the day-to-day functions of 3P’s operations in Washington D.C.,

which include hosting delegations, organizing events, participating in policy forums, and coordinating with conflict prevention partners and coalitions.

Matthew Freed is recycling crew leader with recycling services. He graduated with an AAAS degree from Blue Ridge Community College. He previously worked as a recycler at the JMU recycling and integrated waste management department.

Joanne Gallardo, associate campus pastor, was licensed for special ministries by Virginia Mennonite Conference at EMU on Sept. 9, 2011.

Julie Hatfield assists the vice president for enrollment. Julie most recently worked with Harrisonburg City Schools as a substitute teacher.

Randal Keener is residence director in Hillside Suites. He earned an AA degree from Hesston College and a BA in history from Goshen College. After graduation from Goshen College Randal joined Seeds of the Kingdom, a five-month traveling peace education team in the Central Plains Mennonite Conference.

In his second year at EMS, Randal is pursuing an MDiv degree. He is also a pastoral intern at Mt. Clinton Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg.

Susan Kolb is the women’s soccer coach and assistant athletics director for student athlete well-being at EMU. Susan graduated with a BA in elemen-

Nominate Someone for an Alumni Award!

At Homecoming each October, EMU confers two awards on alumni: (1) Alumnus/a of the Year and (2) Distinguished Service. You are invited to nominate persons for each of these awards, to be conferred in October 2011. Use the online form at www.emu.edu/alumni/awards or send nominations to Douglas Nyce, EMU Director of Alumni/Parent Relations, 1200 Park Road, Harrisonburg, VA 22802. You may also e-mail your nominations to douglas.nyce@emu.edu.

Please include the nominees’ names, approximate years of graduation (to help us not confuse the person with someone else), and explain the reasons why they deserve the award in up to 500 words (in approximately one or two double-spaced, typed pages). DEADLINE: March 30, 2012 Alumnus/a of the Year nominees must possess a degree conferred by EMU or have attended EMU at least two years; they should have made a significant positive impact on their profession, church, community, family, or the world.

The Distinguished Service Award has similar requirements, with an additional emphasis on contributions in the areas of service and peacemaking.

The names of previous award winners can be found at www.emu.edu/alumni/awards. www.emu.edu | crossroads | 47

tary education from Davis & Elkins.

She received an MA in instructional leadership from Bluffton University. She is currently enrolled in a PhD in athletic administration program at North Central University. Her most recent role was as graduate assistant with women's soccer at Bluffton University.

Jason Lewkowicz is the EMU cross country and track and field coach. He held the same position at HannibalLaGrange University for the past three years. He earned both his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Appalachian State in Boone, N.C.

Luke Hartman visits with students in Common Grounds coffeehouse.

Hartman Tackles Enrollment Luke A. Hartman ’91 has returned to EMU as vice president for enrollment. In his cabinet-level position, Hartman oversees admissions and financial aid, as well as student retention.

“We are continuing to build stronger ties and relationships with our local constituencies, as well as working toward name recognition statewide,” Hartman said in an interview at the end of the fall 2011 semester, his first as vice president.

“We recognize that we are an institution that is distinctly Anabaptist,” he added, “thus we do make special efforts to bring in students from Mennonite backgrounds that share the same core values as the university.” Hartman also spoke of the link between recruitment and the desire of many prospective students to play intercollegiate sports.

Hartman was assistant principal at Skyline Middle School in Harrisonburg from 2008 until he was recruited for the vice presidency.

Previously, he taught two years in EMU’s teacher education department and was an instructor for EMU’s Lancaster (Pa.) masters in education program.

Hartman holds an MEd from Wichita State University with emphasis in mild handicapping conditions. He is pursuing a PhD in educational leadership and social policy at Virginia Tech.

An alumnus of two-year Hesston College in Kansas, Hartman was a member of the education department faculty, associate director of admissions at Hesston, and coach of men’s varsity basketball from the mid 1990s through the early 2000s. He chaired the Hesston College faculty in 2001. Today he serves on the Hesston College board of overseers.

Hartman is highly sought as a dynamic speaker at youth rallies, spiritual life week events and church retreats. He was keynote speaker for three national Mennonite Youth Conventions in the mid 200os.

Hartman was adopted by a Mennonite pastor and his wife and raised in New Mexico. “I do not take for granted the privileges and faith formation I have benefited from,” he said in his end-of-semester interview, posted on the EMU website. Hartman has a special interest in “intercultural teaching and training” within all kinds of institutions, including EMU. Hartman is married to Staci Kauffman Hartman ’94, who coaches reading at Spotswood Elementary School in Harrisonburg.

They have three daughters, Sarina, Sophia, and Sarah. The family is active at Lindale Mennonite Church.

— From EMU news archives fall 2007 48 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

David Penner is a web programmer in information systems. He earned a BA in mathematics and philosophy from Tabor College and was previously employed

by The Bill Guy Technology Solutions, Inc. in Wichita, Kan. Lauren Powell is admissions counselor for undergraduate admissions. She is a graduate of Messiah College and earned an MS degree from Drexel University. Lauren’s primary responsibilities include recruitment of international students and local Latino students, as well as managing the telecounseling program.

Lauren Reznik is the interim head coach for women’s volleyball. Lauren graduated from Turner Ashby High School where she played volleyball and softball. She attended Roanoke College, where she was a four-year volleyball player and captain of the team. She was previously the assistant women’s volleyball coach at Bridgewater College.

Ann Siciliano is campus visit coordinator and admissions office greeter. Ann graduated with a degree in marketing from James Madison University and has previous work experience in pharmaceutical sales.

Catherine Stover is the advancement and marketing associate at EMU’s Lancaster (Pa.) site.

Lance Wenger is a grounds worker in the physical plant. He graduated from Hesston College with an associate’s degree. Lance previously worked at a garden center/nursery in Wichita, Kan. and in commercial roofing.

1960-69

Barbara Breneman ’60 Hurd, Blaine, Minn., along with her husband James, compiled and edited a book of stories from members of the EMU class of 1960. Limited copies of the book Life Trails, Reflections from the Class of 1960 are available through the EMU alumni office.

Elmer Lehman ’60, MDiv ’85, Hilliard, Ohio, delivered the commencement address on May 21, 2011 entitled “Called to Speak the Truth in Love,” to the graduates of Rosedale Bible College (RBC). Elmer and his wife, Eileen Zehr ’60 Lehman, served in Costa Rica from 1961 to 1983 under Rosedale Men-

nonite Missions (RMM). Elmer taught at RBC from 1985 until his retirement in 2002. He also worked part-time at RMH during those years until 2006.

In 1988, the Lehmans became part of a seven-member team to plant a church in Hilliard, Ohio. Elmer served as senior pastor for the first ten years and continues as overseer. In 2001, they helped to begin a Spanish-speaking congregation, also in Hilliard. Eileen taught in the Hilliard City Schools from 1985 until her retirement in 2000, when she became the volunteer manager of the local Mennonite Central Committee thrift shop, Country Closet. They are active members of Agape Community Fellowship and serve on the leadership team of Iglesia Cristiana Hispana.

Roger Richer ’61, ’67 (bachelor of divinity), Upland, Calif., has pastored for more than 45 years in five churches in California and Colorado. He enjoys crafting, directing interchurch musicals, and continues as pastor of Mountain View Church in Upland. His wife, Florence Byler ’61 Richer, enjoys prison ministry and mentoring women released in local halfway houses.

Annetta Wenger ’62 Miller, Nairobi, Kenya, who was born in Tanzania and has lived in Africa most of her life, has compiled a series of African proverbs in her book, I Am Because We Are: African Wisdom in Image and Proverb. One hundred and twenty-five photographs taken by Betty Press during her travels in Africa have been paired with these proverbs. Further information about the book is available at the following website; www.africanwisdominimageandproverb.com.

Lee M. Yoder '63, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is filling a short-term position, scheduled to end July 31, 2012, as head of the American School of Vietnam. It is a new school in Ho Chi Minh City, in its second year with 170 students in grades K-10. Lee's wife, LaVerne '63, is accompanying him. Lee just completed his memoir, From Coffee Run to Cairo: Launching an American School in the Desert (Xlibris, 2012), which explores his role as the founding superintendent of Narmer American College in Egypt from 2000 to 2008.

Paul T. Yoder ’67, La Junta, Colo., graduated from George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences in 1971. After his internship, he practiced family medicine in Clintwood, Va. for a couple of years. He then completed a residency in family practice and returned to Clintwood for a short time before moving to La Junta, Colo., for a total of 35 years in medical practice, including his work in the emergency room of Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center (AVRMC). He retired from his work in family medicine and the emergency room in July 2011, but continues serving in the Hospice Directory of AVRMC. Robert Nolt ’69, Lancaster, Pa., was installed on Nov. 1, 2011 as lead pastor/

intentional interim pastor of East Petersburg Mennonite Church, East Petersburg, Pa.

1970-79

H. Michael Shenk II ’70, MA ’75 (religion), retired in February 2011 as pastor of Valley View Mennonite Church in Criders, Va., 32 miles north of Harrisonburg. For 36 years, Michael and his wife, Peggy Brackbill Shenk, commuted the 64-mile round trip from Harrisonburg to Bergton an average of twice a week, in addition to trips for special events, for a total of approximately 300,000 miles. Michael and Peggy’s son, H. Michael (Mike) Shenk III will continue as the church’s pastor, having served as associate pastor alongside his father for 13 years.

Paul C. Kennel ’73, Lynwood, Wash., has enjoyed a unique and impressive administrative role in various organizations since his graduation from EMU. In 1975, Paul received an MIA degree from the School of International Training, graduating in the top 3 percent of his class. He then earned an MBA from Lausanne University in Switzerland in 1980. His international involvement began in 1966 in Vietnam, where he spent seven years providing aid and training to villagers victimized by the Vietnam War. After leaving Vietnam, Paul engaged in disaster relief in Central America, India, and Bangladesh. For 25 years, he served with World Concern in Seattle, first as country manager for Malaysia, later as Asia area director in Bangkok.

Paul became founding president of the Dime Foundation in 2006 when an investor asked him to design a business model targeting the root causes of extreme poverty. The Foundation provides microloans to marginalized people around the world. Since 2009, Paul has been the executive director of Viva North America. In this role, he designed and implemented Viva’s development and marketing strategy within North America, raising resources for Viva core programs and foundations through major donors and churches relations. In his first 18 months on the job, Kennel organized nine mission trips with three churches and increased the donor base for Viva in North America, raising one million dollars.

John Yoder ’73, Reedsville, Pa., operates Yoder’s Ag Services. His work includes planting corn and soybeans, round baling, bale wrapping, and combining. He is also involved in custom agricultural enterprises. His wife, Arlene Hartzler ’74 Yoder does most of the bookkeeping and otherwise assists. She also works part-time at Lewistown Hospital as a nurse. She plans to retire in the spring of 2012 after 24 years of employment there. The Yoders are active members of Locust Grove Mennonite church and advocates of Belleville Mennonite School.

Dianna Griffin ’74 Schiedel, Newport News, Va., has been the director of youth and young adult ministries at Huntington Mennonite Church since 2009.

Mindy Zook-Weaver ’74, Poland, Ohio, retired in May 2011 from Mon General Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va. Mindy served as the clinical nutrition manager for 22 years and remains active in the American Dietetic Association. She and her husband, Charlie, have relocated to Poland, Ohio, to be closer to family.

Diana S. Holland ’76 Hooley, Hammett, Idaho, completed a PhD in literacy in 2011 at Boise State University and is now an assistant professor of education at Idaho State University.

Donna Siegrist ’76, Elizabethtown, Pa., was licensed as associate pastor for women’s ministry at Mount Joy Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania on Oct. 9, 2011.

Annette Guengerich ’77 Ritter, MA ’06 (education), Harrisonburg, Va., was one of five EMU alumni honored at the Rockingham County Public Schools/Rockingham Educational Foundation, Inc. annual awards and recognition program on May 16, 2011. She was one of 24 teachers honored as “2011 Teachers of the Year.”

Annette is a reading specialist at Pleasant Valley Elementary School.

Conley K. McMullen ’78, Keezletown, Va., received the James Madison University College of Science and Mathematics 2011-2012 Distinguished Service Award in April 2011. Employed at JMU since 1997, McMullen was promoted to full professor of biology in 2011.

Kathy Dwyer ’79 Yoder, Quakertown, Pa., was ordained as pastor of West Swamp Mennonite Church on Nov. 6, 2011.

Christine Holsopple ’79 Kauffman, Goshen, Ind., graduated May 21, 2011 from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary with an MA degree in Christian formation with a concentration in Christian spirituality.

1980-89

Dawn Longenecker ’80, Mount Rainier, Md., has written a chapter in Widening the Circle: Experiments in Christian Discipleship, edited by Joanna Shenk of Elkhart, Ind. The stories and reflections offered in Widening the Circle explore the creative tension of a growing number of North Americans who are intrigued with an Anabaptist-Mennonite vision of church and mission. Often coming from outside the Mennonite mainstream, they have formed communities with others of like mind and sought to live out their radical faith. In the process, they may encounter difficulty relating to the institutional church.

Elroy Wayne Kauffman II ’81, Sylvania, Ohio, is employed in information technology by the North American Science Associates (NAMSA). NAMSA is a contract research organization serving the medical device industry. He is responsible for leading the laboratory data management initiatives within NAMSA. In his spare time, Wayne is involved in a research effort, using several types

Medical Leader Reflects On Life's Lessons On a visit to EMU in October 2011, Joseph B. Martin ’59 read excerpts of his just-published memoir, Alfalfa to Ivy: Memoir of a Harvard Medical School Dean, to an attentive audience gathered in EMU’s Main Stage Theater. Published by the University of Alberta Press, the book traces Martin’s career as a neurologist, neuroscientist, and leader in academia and explores the wisdom he gained in leadership along the way. It also shows how his Mennonite faith and his upbringing on a Canadian farm gave him a firm foundation for his achievements in some of the most illustrious academic institutions in North America, culminating in nine years as dean of Harvard Medical School. Martin met his wife Rachel Wenger, class of '61, at EMU. — BPL

Psychiatrist Explores PTSD As a featured speaker for the Suter Science Seminars, Christopher Reist ’80, a psychiatrist and faculty member at the University of California-Irvine College of Medicine, will speak on PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on Friday, March 30, 2012, at 4 p.m. in room 106 of the Suter Science Center. The talk is open to the public without charge.

PTSD is a common result of exposure to traumatic events. While the nation’s media tends to focus on PTSD among soldiers traumatized by war, the disorder is actually common among non-combatants too. Reist will review the significant progress that has been made toward understanding the neurobiology of PTSD and discuss current approaches to treatment.

Reist is an associate professor and assistant dean in the UC-Irvine medical school. He is also director of medical research for the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.

Reist majored in chemistry and biology at EMU and earned his medical degree at the Medical College of Virginia. His clinical interests include PTSD, schizophrenia, impulsivity, pharmacogenomics, and psychopharmacology. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Psychiatric Association and has been recognized as an Exemplary Psychiatrist by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. He is the author of two books, Psychiatry and Psychiatric Drugs, and has contributed more than 50 articles to the scientific literature.

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 49

Roman Miller, PhD, is director of the MA in biomedicine program.

New! MA in Biomedicine Building on the stellar reputation of its undergraduate pre-medical program and global emphasis, EMU will offer an MA in biomedicine beginning in the fall of 2012. The program will prepare people from a variety of backgrounds for further graduate-level training in healthrelated fields.

“Many people realize after graduation, once they are in the job market, that they would like to prepare to help meet the needs of our society’s aging population or work to address other under-served healthcare needs,” says Roman Miller, PhD, program director. “This program will build on the skills people bring from other undergraduate programs to prepare for further professional work in the healthcare industry.”

EMU far exceeds the national average of undergraduates who are accepted into medical school. Over the past 10 years, more than 90 percent of EMU students who completed the pre-medical program were accepted to medical school, compared to the current national average of 46 percent.

“Our faith-based and trans-disciplinary approach make EMU’s program unique,” said Miller. “We use natural science courses as our core curriculum, and students immerse themselves in the physical, social and spiritual dimensions of biomedicine.”

The MA in biomedicine program adds integrative seminars, practicums and cross-discipline requirements in social science and theological ethics to accent the intersection of faith and science. In addition, students will enroll in a cross-cultural practicum to further hone their skills in a unique cultural setting.

“Unlike other programs, our approach is to educate broadly by combining social science, cross-cultural, theological and ethics courses with our core curriculum in the natural sciences,” said Miller.

One-on-one attention and guidance from faculty mentors will be integral to the program.

— Mike Zucconi ’05

Mental Health in Churches AT THE SCHOOL FOR LEADERSHIP TRAINING

The 2013 School for Leadership Training at Eastern Mennonite Seminary will focus on mental illness and mental health within congregations, under the title “Imagining the Church as Healing Space: To Hear, To Hold, To Hope.” The conference is scheduled for January 21-23, 2013. More information will be available at www. emu.edu/slt. Online registration will open October 1. fall 2007 50 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

of genetic tests, to investigate Anabaptist lineages and the community as a whole. He uses the tests to determine how closely two people are related to each other by identifying small sections of DNA they inherited from common ancestor(s). The project contains subgroups corresponding to individuals associated with Swiss Anabaptist and Low German Mennonite communities.

Interested individuals should contact Wayne at wkauffman@yahoo.com if they would like to participate in one of several research projects to investigate their family tree or in a broader community research project of looking into the past.

Beth Peachey ’81 Miller, Wellman, Iowa, graduated from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary on May 21, 2011, with an MDiv degree with a concentration in pastoral care and counseling. In October 2011, Beth began further training in clinical pastoral care at Genesis Hospital in Davenport, Iowa.

Daniel J. King ’82, Trout Run, Pa., was licensed as congregational overseer of worship life at Mountain View Fellowship on May 22, 2011.

Marian Buckwalter ’83, Landisville, Pa., works part time for Special Care, a home care agency. She graduated from EMC in 1962 with an AA degree in business. She returned to EMC in 1981 and graduated in 1983 with a BA degree in business. Following graduation, Marian was an administrative assistant to George R. Brunk III, then dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary for two years.

She served with the Brethren in Christ Church in Choma, Zambia, through Brethren in Christ World Missions from 2004 to 2010. Earlier she spent eight years in Kenya under Eastern Mennonite Mission and four years in Zambia under Mennonite Central Committee.

LaVonda R. Hoover '83, Anaheim, Calif., was appointed early in 2011 as the clinical manager of a busy medical surgical unit at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. LaVonda has spent 14 years at Children’s Hospital, first as a staff registered nurse and then as a day shift leader.

Alice Wisler ’83, Durham, N.C., has seen her fourth novel, A Wedding Invitation, published by Bethany House. Her previous books were Rain Song, How Sweet It Is, and Hatteras Girl. As a result of losing one of her four children to cancer in 1997, Wisler offers an online writing course for people dealing with grief called “Writing the Heartache.”

More information can be found at http:// www.alicewisler.com.

Cheryl Sell ’84 Hollinger, Lancaster, Pa., was ordained on Oct. 30, 2011, as the Christian formation director of Forest Hills Mennonite Church.

Linford Stutzman ’84, MA ’90 (religion), associate professor of culture and mission in the EMU Bible and religion department, presented an inspiring,

stimulating and challenging message during EMU’s chapel service on Sept.

28, 2011. “Don’t get into the boat with Jesus if you want to stay safe and dry,” said Linford, referencing his extensive sailing experience to reinforce this message. Linford is director of the John Coffman Center for Missional Leadership and Development at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. He also directs and teaches courses in the new Biblical lands educational seminars and service (BLESS) program at EMS which brings together culture, religion and mission courses to students at EMU. Each summer since 2004, Linford and his wife, Janet Scheffel Stutzman, MA ’91 (church leadership), have explored the Roman Empire, Paul’s mission activity, and the book of Acts aboard their “research vessel” SailingActs, and leading study seminars on and around the Mediterranean Sea for seminary students and others.

Douglas Lehman ’85, Mali, Africa, has been employed by the Education Development Center in the West African country of Mali since 2004. He is currently working in Mali’s capital, Bamako.

He is serving as a technical assistant to the Malian Ministry of Education to improve access to quality basic education for all children, particularly those from remote rural communities. This work is funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

Loren Hostetter ’85, Addis Abba, Ethiopia, is the country project manager for Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) in Ethiopia. Loren presented the noteworthy dynamics of MEDA’s enterprise in improving the status of rice farmers and textile workers in Ethiopia during a Nov. 11, 2011 EMU chapel service.

Linford (Fred) Longenecker, ’85’86 in Washington study-service program, South Bend, Ind., is a senior copywriter/marketing strategist for NoelLevitz Higher Education Consulting. In September 2011, he released an iPhone app, Ego Strokes, available on iTunes (http://itunes.com/apps/ EgoStrokes). He recently started a home-based business, The Wacky Giraffe, LLC, and is working on an invention and stories for children. He is married to Jewel Gingerich '88 Longenecker.

James (Jim) Sutton ’86 (biblical studies certificate), Painesville, Ohio, was installed as a transitional pastor at Pleasant View Mennonite Church in North Lawrence, Ohio, on Oct. 16, 2011.

He is leading the congregation in an evaluation of their current ministry and the possibility of a new vision.

Lori Hostetler ’88 Leaman, Harrisonburg, Va., associate professor of special education in EMU’s education department, collaborated on the development of an article addressing co-teaching and tiered instruction. She is working on a three-year National Science Foundation grant study headed

by Steve Cessna, professor of biochemistry, involving a collaborative effort between the biology, chemistry, psychology and education departments which aims to measure student learning in several science courses.

Lori has an MA in education from JMU. Kristine (Kris) Platt ’89 Griswold, Falls Church, Va., reports that she gathers with a large group of 1989 graduates a couple of times per year, including a joint vacation every summer. Twenty-five persons assembled for a get-together in Natural Bridge, Va., in 2011. Included in a photograph of that gathering were Kris’s husband, Greg Griswold, Judith (Juji) Woodring ’89 and her husband Greg Newswanger, Freeland, Md.; Michael Merle Mast ’89, Mount Pleasant, S.C.; Elizabeth (Beth) Weaver-Kreider '89, York, Pa.; Gloria Rhodes ’88, chair of EMU’s applied social sciences department, and spouse, Brad Lehman; Nancy Stoltzfus ’89 Fleming, Smithsburg, Md.; Anne Marie Stoner-Eby ’89 and husband, Scott Stoner-Eby ’89, Lancaster, Pa. Mark A. Stevanus ’89, Elkton, Va., recently obtained certification as a project management professional. He is a project analyst at Rosetta Stone, a large language-learning software company founded in Harrisonburg, Va., by EMU alumni who sold it to others after it was successfully established.

1990-99

Mark ’92 and Donna Metzler ’91 Glunt, West Liberty, Ohio, moved to West Liberty for Mark to become the associate pastor of Oak Grove Mennonite Church. Mark’s duties include being pastor of youth and worship.

Amy Springer ’92, Harrisonburg, Va., assistant dean and coordinator of student success, was appointed to the executive board of The Virginia Network of the American Council on Education, Office of Women in Higher Education. This professional organization seeks to promote women’s leadership in higher education and throughout society. In response to Amy’s appointment, Twila K. Yoder ’96 (certificate of pastoral studies), ’98 MA (church leadership), has agreed to serve as EMU’s institutional representative. Andrea Schrock Wenger ’86, director of marketing and communications, has also been selected to participate in the Network’s 2011-2012 senior leadership seminars.

Sharon Norris ’93, Staunton, Va., is a custodian at EMU. She was previously employed with nTelos in the corporate office in Waynesboro, Va. for eight and a half years. She notes her responsibilities included dealing with unhappy customers.

Pearl (Renae) Yoder ’93, Goshen, Ind., a high school math teacher at Bethany Christian Schools in Goshen was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer in September 2011. At the direction of her oncologist, she took a medical

leave of absence from teaching for the remainder of the 2011-12 school year.

On Oct. 1, 2011, 50 students, faculty and parents surprised Renae by joining her as she participated, via her wheelchair, in a local cancer walk. The boys and girls cross country team dedicated their home meet on Oct. 3 to Renae and all those who inspire them. Prior to the start of the meet, the runners presented her with a framed cross country jersey.

Rhoda Miller Blough ’94 (certificate in pastoral ministries), Denver, Colo., is the church relations representative for Everence Financial Services. Her territory includes everything west of the Mississippi except for Iowa and a small part of Kansas. Rhoda is also the moderator for Mountain States Mennonite Conference.

Stephen Kriss III ’94, Philadelphia, Pa., is associate director of pastoral studies in the Study and Training for Effective Pastoral Ministry (STEP) program at the EMU Lancaster campus. He also serves as director of communication and leadership cultivation for Franconia Mennonite Conference. Stephen is a candidate for a PhD from Duquesne University.

Lynn Longenecker ’94, Lancaster, Pa., is the education and global family coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee of Akron, Pa. He oversees 100 projects in 40 countries.

Lance W. Miller ’94, Greensboro, N.C., is one of the six newest members inducted into the Holmes County Sports Hall of Fame. The ceremony also honored the Hiland Hawks 1962 basketball team of Hiland High School that finished state runners-up. Lance was a three-sport star at Hiland, lettering four years in tennis, where he twice reached the regional finals. He also earned two letters in both soccer and basketball. Lance earned second-team All-Ohio honors and was Player of the Year in District Five. Additionally, he was Hawk of the Year as a senior. Lance and his wife, Paula, have lived in Greensboro for six years. Lance is vice president of special assets in the Bank of North Carolina.

Manuel (Manny) Nunez ’94, Alexandria, Va., began his position as director for external affairs at the Inter-American Foundation on June 13, 2011.

Lynda Brockington ’95 Lutz, Charlottesville, Va., earned an M.Ed. in reading education from the University of Virginia of Charlottesville in May 2011.

Victoria Miller ’95 Brenneman, Nappanee, Ind., is editor of Edible Michiana, a quarterly magazine published by Edible Communities. The magazine gives “focus on the farmers, growers, fishers, home cooks, chefs and others who energize our culinary community.”

Edible Communities bills itself as “an indispensable guide for people who are

Alum Heads Christian Peacemaker Teams Merwyn De Mello, MA ’05 (conflict transformation) joined Carol Rose in January 2012 as co-director of Christian Peacemaker Teams, based in Chicago.

“I have a deep regard for the essence of CPT’s mission and vision – the nonviolent and compassionate witness to God’s love in solidarity with communities that bear the painful impact of physical and structural violence,” De Mello said in a CPT news release.

De Mello grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, and Mumbai, India, and has worked around the world. In Japan, he was an immigrant rights advocate and community organizer to change policy for asylum seekers. In Tanzania, he co-coordinated projects in 13 refugee camps on the borders of Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi and developed community education programs on advocacy and peacebuilding.

In Zimbabwe, he designed and taught courses in transitional justice, trauma healing and peacebuilding, and provided coordination for peacebuilding strategy development in Harare. In Mumbai, India, he coordinated programs promoting honesty, transparency and accountability in governance. He belongs to the Maryknoll Lay Missioners.

De Mello is married to a fellow graduate of EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Kirstin Rothrock-De Mello, MA ’05.

— BPL

Kraybill & Colleagues Awarded $24 Million David S. Kraybill ’75, professor of economic development at Ohio State University, is one of two lead researchers in a $24 million, fiveyear, grant-funded agricultural project that aims to improve crop productivity and secure a stable food supply in Tanzania. Kraybill will be living in Tanzania for the duration of the project.

Kraybill received his PhD in 1989 from Virginia Tech, one of the five land-grant universities involved in this project. The other three are Michigan State and Tuskegee universities and the University of Florida. The U.S. schools will collaborate on research and graduate student training with Tanzania’s National Agricultural Research System and Sokoine University of Agriculture.

Kraybill’s research and teaching interests are economic development, household poverty, and food security in Africa and rural United States. His recent research focuses on agricultural productivity and human adaptation to climate change in Africa. Kraybill has published more than 35 journal articles and book chapters. He has been principal or co-principal investigator on many research, curriculum development, and outreach grants, totaling over $2 million. In 200708, he was director of the Center for African Studies at Ohio State University. He was a Fulbright Scholar at Makerere University in Uganda during a sabbatical year and has designed and taught several study abroad courses in Africa for OSU students.

— BPL www.emu.edu | crossroads | 51

passionate about food.” The inaugural issue appeared July 1, 2011.

James Lowell Wenger Jr.’95, and his wife, Melani Wenger ’95, Millville, N.J., have been serving in a sensitive area of Central Asia for the past five years. They are training English teachers and operating a learning center for English language and computer skills.

Their village community has accepted them extremely well, and meaningful, life-changing relationships are being formed. They and their three children were in Pennsylvania and Virginia for a two-month furlough this summer. They appreciate your prayers, especially as their 14-year-old heads to Germany for high school.

Nelson Okanya in Martin Chapel at EMU

Kenyan Grad Heads EMM Nelson Okanya, a 2003 Eastern Mennonite Seminary graduate, became president of Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM) on October 1, 2011.

“Okanya brings a unique blend of experiences – including theological education, pastoral leadership, and cross-cultural missions – that makes him especially suited for serving EMM and its partners in this leadership role,” said an EMM press release.

In the release, Okanya commented: “I am looking forward to participating in the re-envisioning mission for the next generation.

The 21st century mission context brings unique opportunities and challenges; we are ‘going where the church is not . . .’ and equipping local churches for serious discipleship. The Anabaptist witness and mission, which comes from a marginalized position rather than from the center, continues to be a model for world mission.”

Born and raised in Kenya, Okanya’s childhood included moving back and forth between the rural village of Migori and the city of Nairobi. From a young age, Okanya interacted with the Kenya Mennonite Church and the EMM mission community in Nairobi. He is fluent in English, Kiswahili, and Luo. Okanya attended Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya, where he graduated with a diploma in Christian Ministries and won the University Evangelism Award in 1997. He is taking doctoral classes at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In 2005 he was an adjunct instructor in EMU’s Bible and religion department.

He has been awarded the Jennie Calhoun Baker Memorial award for excellence in sermons.

From 2006 to 2010, Okanya served as associate pastor at Capital Christian Fellowship in Maryland, and then he became the lead pastor. He ended his service there in September 2011. Okanya, his wife Jessica '01, and young sons Barak and Izak live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Okanya succeeded Richard Showalter ’68, who retired after 17 years as president.

— Adapted from an EMM press release

Damian Rowe ’98, Newton, Kan., recently opened Prairie Path Chiropractic LLC, a whole-family healthcare center for all ages in Newton. Damian received his DC degree from Parker University’s College of Chiropractic in Dallas, Tex., on Aug. 13, 2011. He also concurrently earned two BS degrees in anatomy & health and wellness at Parker University.

Stephen J. Lowry ’96, Shawnee, Kan., began his practice as a general surgeon with General Surgery Associates of Kansas City in 2005. He completed his general surgery residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center, after earning his MD from the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Stephen is a member of the American Medical Association, the American College of Surgeons, the Southwestern Surgical Congress, the Kansas City Surgical Society, and the Medical Society of Johnson and Wyandotte Counties.

2000-09

Amy Myers Ruebke, MA ’96 (counseling), Port Republic, Va., was one of five EMU alumni honored at the Rockingham County Public Schools/Rockingham Educational Foundation, Inc. annual awards and recognition program on May 16, 2011. She was one of 24 teachers honored as “2011 Teachers of the Year."

Amy is the librarian at Fulks Run Elementary School.

Laura Polk ’00, Washington, D.C., previously worked as a young adult intern at the Presbyterian Church (USA) National Office in Louisville, Ky. She is now in her second year of studying for an MA in applied anthropology at the University of Maryland.

Michael Shank, class of ’96, MA ’05 (conflict transformation), Washington, D.C., is vice president of U.S. operations for the Institute for Economics and Peace. Shank directs its policy, communications, and administrative operations. The Institute annually produces the Global Peace Index and U.S. Peace Index. Shank has written opinion pieces published in The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Economist, The Washington Times, New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor, The Nation, Roll Call, The Hill, among others. He is a frequent on-air analyst for CTV News, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, and Voice of America’s Pashto, Dari, Urdu and Somali services.

Michael also serves on the board of the National Peace Academy and is a doctoral candidate at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and an Associate at the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict. Between 2009 and 2011, Michael served as the Senior Policy Advisor and Communications Director for US Congressman Mike Honda of California.

George (Skip) Tobin III ’96 (certificate of biblical studies), Harrisonburg, Va.,

fall 2007 52 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

has been serving as Virginia Mennonite Mission USA ministries director since Jan. 1, 2011. Skip and his wife, Carol, returned to the states from their long-term mission assignment in Thailand in 2009. Skip will be engaged in encouraging and coaching a movement of church planting and new ministry development in Virginia Mennonite Conference.

Matthew Goins ’00, Richmond, Va., is an anesthesiologist with Commonwealth Anesthesia Associates in Richmond.

Nevin L. Mast ’00, Chesapeake, Va., has been the youth pastor at Mount Pleasant Mennonite Church since 2006.

Nathan Mussleman ‘00, is the program assistant in EMU’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute. He has an MA in security policy studies from George Washington University in Washington D.C.

Mark Schoenhals ’00, MDiv ’08, Det Udom, Thailand, uses the metaphor of learning to drive in Thailand to describe his first year of mission activity with his wife, Sarah Hawkins Schoenhals ’02, MDiv ’08. Mark and Sarah are in a three-year joint assignment with Virginia Mennonite Missions and Eastern Mennonite Missions.

The Schoenhals Missionary Support Team arranged an event at Shady Oak, Weavers Mennonite Church on Sunday, July 17 , 2011, to celebrate the halfway point of their first term serving as missionaries in Thailand.

Brent Yoder ’00, Hesston, Kan., is the registrar at Hesston College. Previously, Brent was a chemistry professor at Illinois College. Brent is married to Rachel Hoffman ’00 Yoder. He earned a PhD in 2005 from Virginia Polytechnic and State University in Blacksburg.

Jason Gerlach ’01, MDiv ’06, Harrisonburg, Va., began serving as pastor of youth ministry at Community Mennonite Church on a part-time basis in 2004. He began his role as youth conference minister at Virginia Mennonite Conference in Harrisonburg in 2007.

Tanya Hoover ’01, Manitoba, Canada, was trained over the last couple of years by the Mary Ainsworth Parent Child Attachment Clinic located in Charlottesville, Va. The Attachment Network of Manitoba organized and brought Dr.

Bob Marvin and Dr. Bill Whelan, from the clinic, to Tanya’s home base of Winnipeg for the training. In the spring of 2011, Tanya completed certification as a Circle of Security therapist.

Aaron M. Kauffman ’01, Harrisonburg, Va., began serving as global ministries director with Virginia Mennonite Missions (VMM) on a part-time basis on June 1, 2011. This new VMM position will convene and lead a team of four regional directors with responsibility for VMM’s global relationships and ministries. Aaron served in Ethiopia in 1999-2000 with Eastern Mennonite Missions. More recently, Aaron and his wife, Laura Souder ’02 Kauffman, served in Colombia in a joint appointment with VMM and Mennonite Mission Network. Aaron earned an MA in teaching English to speakers of other languages and bilingual education from Georgetown University. He is enrolled in the MDiv program at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. He has been employed as an adjunct instructor at EMU, both in the MA program and the intensive English program.

Radell Schrock ’01, Harrisonburg, Va., the owner of Seasons Bounty Farm, was featured in the Oct. 7, 2011, issue of the Daily News-Record for sharing his vision and farming activities with the EMU earthkeepers club. Radell taught science at Eastern Mennonite High School before making the transition to farming in 2005. Radell operates a roadside stand, regularly appears at the weekly Harrisonburg Farmers Market, and sells food to several local eateries, including A Bowl of Good and the Little Grill.

Lora Steiner ’01, Harrisonburg, Va., is the coordinator in the admissions and marketing department of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Lora has lived in Bolivia and Guatemala, and spent three years in Washington D.C. with Mennonite Central Committee, where she worked in public policy. She has also worked as a freelance writer and editor, and holds an MDiv from Drew University.

Philip Blount ’02, Bluffton, Ohio, is the state sales manager for Mutual Aid Exchange. See the birth announcements for the latest addition to the Blount family.

Terrie Childress ’02, Bridgewater, Va., is the author of a newly-released children’s book, A Blade of Grass, A Drop of Water, published by Minnow House Books. In 1978, at the age of 14, she received the devastating news that her 38-year-old father had been diagnosed with cancer. Thirty-three years later, Terrie titled her book in honor of her father, who succumbed to his disease. Her book is about 6-year-old Patty who imagines a cure for her father. While the book is primarily a children’s chapter book, it appeals to young and old alike, by inspiring hope in all of those who have been touched or affected by cancer in their lifetime. A portion of the proceeds from each book sold will go toward cancer research for the cure and prevention of all adult and childhood cancers. More

information about the book can be found at minnowmousebooks.com.

Conrad Kanagy ’02 (Sem), Elizabethtown, Pa., was installed as pastor at Elizabethtown Mennonite Church, Oct. 1, 2011.

Renee Neufeld ’02, Hurley, S.D., will be hiking the Appalachian Trail with her sister, Alison, from April to October 2012, after nearly a decade as program director at Swan Lake Christian Camp of Viborg, S.D. To follow their venture, check their blog: atforslcc.wordpress.com.

Shawn Rice ’02, Marietta, Pa., is a research technician at Hershey Medical Center. His wife, Melanie Miller ’03 Rice, is a nurse practitioner at Lancaster Cancer Center.

Jeremy Shue ’02, Goshen, Ind., is parttime minister of outreach at Silverwood Mennonite Church. He graduated in the spring of 2011 from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary with an MDiv degree with a concentration in mission and evangelism.

He hopes to eventually combine business and ministry.

Kevin Zook ’02, Harrisonburg, Va., is employed by Omnicare-Williamson Pharmacy in Harrisonburg as a long-term-care staff pharmacist. Kevin graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond in May 2011 with a PharmD degree. His wife, Kara, a Goshen College graduate, works at Rosetta Stone in Harrisonburg as a senior manager of qualitative research.

Sarah Gehman ’02 Bixler, Harrisonburg, Va., is conference coordinator with Virginia Mennonite Conference (VMC).

This is a half-time administrative role that includes communicating with committees and congregations, providing financial leadership, planning events and supervising staff. Sarah is married to Benjamin ’03, a first-year student in the MA in religion program. She is the current president of the EMU Alumni Association.

Jeremiah Denlinger ’03, Telford, Pa., teaches Spanish at Christopher Dock Mennonite School, Lansdale, Pa. Laura Rosenberger ’03, Charlottesville, Va., completed medical school at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pa. and is now in a general surgery residency at the University of Virginia.

Adam ’03 and Sarah Sensamaust, Kinshasa, DRC, have been teaching at the American School of Kinshasa since August 2011.

Jill Wenger ’03, Linville, Va., was one of five EMU alumni honored at the Rockingham County Public Schools/Rockingham Educational Foundation, Inc. annual awards and recognition program on May 16, 2011. She was one of 24 teachers honored as “2011 Teachers of the Year.” Jill teaches physical education at John C. Myers Elementary School in Broadway.

David King ’78 Named Malone U. President Malone University appointed David A. King ’78, EdD, as its 13th president in its 119-year history, beginning January 2012.

King came to Malone from Eastern University (Pa.), where he had served since 1991, most recently as provost.

He had also been executive dean and chief development officer for Eastern’s Campolo College of Graduate & Professional Studies, vice president for administration, and director of human resources.

King majored in social work at EMU, then earned M.S. degrees in human services administration and human resources development from Villanova University; an education management certificate from Institute for Education Management, Harvard University Graduate School of Education; and the EdD in higher education administration from Temple University.

David is married to Winnie Lowrie King ’78 and is the brother of Twila King Yoder, MAL ’98, assistant to the president of EMU.

AAAS Honors Statistician James L. Rosenberger ’68 was among the eight statisticians and 10 mathematicians from around the world chosen to be a fellow in 2011 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), publisher of Science magazine.

Rosenberger is a professor of statistics at Pennsylvania State University and director of the outreach and online programs of Penn’s statistics department.

His research interests are linear models; design and analysis of experiments; and bioinformatics and genomics.

After majoring in math at EMU, Rosenberger earned an MS in mathematics from Polytechnic University of New York and a PhD in biometrics from Cornell University.

Rosenberger has taught or lectured at universities around the world, including Cornell, Harvard, Ecole Polytech in Switzerland, University of Sheffield and Leeds in England, University of Goettingen in German, University of Ghana, University of Swaziland, and numerous universities in Taiwan and China. His grant-funded research projects, papers and presentations run to many dozens, occupying 10 of the 17 pages in his curriculum vitae.

Rosenberger served on EMU’s board of trustees from 1989 to 1997. He is married to Gloria Horst Rosenberger ’70. They are the parents of Grant ’99, Laura ’03, and Kurt ’06.

— BPL

Gievanne Gonzalez Garcia ’04, Grand Prairie, Tex., is beginning her fourth year

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 53

as a bilingual teacher at Faith Family Academy Charter School in Dallas, Tex. She taught second grade for two years; this will be her second year teaching third grade. When she moved to Texas, she saw the need for bilingual teachers in the Dallas and Fort Worth area, and obtained her state teaching and bilingual certifications. She is delighted with the opportunity and challenge to work with the Latino and African American population at Faith Family Academy.

Patricia King '89 is an assistant professor of English at North Central College.

Veteran High School Teacher Praises Patricia King '89 The following is excerpted with permission from a column written by Loyd Hoke for the Hickory (N.C.) Daily Record, published Jan. 31, 2012.

Patricia Grace King was one of my best English students at St. Stephens High [in 33 years] and my best runner in cross country and track. She was an “A” student for four years in my Honors English Program, a voracious reader and excellent writer.

Patty King received athletic scholarship feelers from The University of Virginia, Cornell University, Winthrop University, N.C. State University and The University of Kansas. She chose to go to Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va. [majoring in English and Spanish]. She went on to get her PhD in English at Emory University in Atlanta.

Patty spent a year in Barcelona, Spain. Then she moved on to Guatemala and Honduras, where she worked with a medical brigade… [and later] as a worker for Witness for Peace.

She came back to the States, and became an assistant professor of English at her alma mater, Eastern Mennonite University, for 20002003. In 2002, she married David Janzen, a professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at EMU in Harrisonburg.

Then, they became directors of a language school (Central American Study and Service) in Guatemala for two years. Here, she translated the testimonies of genocide survivors and experienced the aftermath of civil war and gang violence. In her last year in Guatemala [2005], Patty began writing again.

Patty and her husband both teach at North Central College in Naperville, Ill. David is an associate professor of philosophy and religious studies, and Patty is an assistant professor of English. Patty is also working on a master of fine arts in creative writing, a program for writers, at Warren Wilson College in Asheville.

Her short work of fiction, “The Death of Carrie Bradshaw,” is forthcoming from Kore Press, where it won the 2011 Short Fiction Contest. She has had other stories published in Nimrod and The Santa Fe Writers Project. These stories have received awards, including runner-up in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom competition, honorable mention for the Katherine Anne Porter Prize and the Dana Award for short fiction. Most of these stories are a part of a linked collection she is writing, Gringos in Paradise. fall 2007 54 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

Bonnie Price Lofton MA ’04 (conflict transformation), Harrisonburg, Va., has been named editor in chief at EMU. Bonnie continues to oversee the publication of five EMU magazines per year, three of Crossroads and two of Peacebuilder. In addition, she leads the team of EMU writers and editors striving for consistent excellence in the quality of their print and online communications.

She is slated to receive a D.Litt. degree from Drew University in May 2012.

Rebecca Pierce MA ’04 (education), Ruckersville, Va., was one of five EMU alumni honored at the Rockingham County Public Schools/Rockingham Educational Foundation, Inc. annual awards and recognition program on May 16, 2011. She was one of 24 teachers honored as “2011 Teachers of the Year.”

She was one of who Rebecca teaches sixth grade at Elkton Middle School.

Austin Chiazar Onuoha, MA’04 (conflict transformation), Port Harcourt, Nigeria, was one of five panelists at the 2011 Peacebuilding Fund High-level Stakeholders meeting held in the North Lawn Building of the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Nov. 22, 2011. Austin directs the Africa Centre for Corporate Responsibility.

Obiageli (Obi) Nwankwo-Otti ’04, Maplewood, N.J., is a clinical research associate, focusing on occupational field research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Denver Steiner ’04, Orrville, Ohio, is a graphic designer and web developer in his family business, Ventrac by Ventura Products, Inc. Denver credits his communication degree with a computer minor from EMU as equipping him with the skills to market Ventrac tractors and build a dealer’s website.

Benjamin Wideman ’04, Souderton, Pa., is employed as associate pastor of youth and young adult ministry at Salford Mennonite Church in Harleysville, Pa. Ben and his wife, Meredith Blauch ’05 Wideman, moved from Pasadena, Ca., after Ben completed his MDiv degree at Fuller Seminary.

Denise Reed Atkins, MA ’05 (education), Shenandoah, Va., is assistant principal of Page County Middle School.

Matthew Gnagey ’05, Columbus, Ohio, won the 2011 Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics (AEDE) Best Doctoral Research Manuscript

award at Ohio University for his secondyear research manuscript titled “A SemiParametric Analysis of Land Developer Costs and Development Timing.” Matt also passed his Macro qualifier at the PhD level, qualifying him to receive his MA in economics. He anticipates completing his studies within the next 2-3 years. Matt majored in economics as an EMU undergraduate.

Mark Schloneger, MDiv ’05, Waynesboro, Va., pastor of Springdale Mennonite Church, wrote an opinion piece for CNN’s Belief Blog titled “Why I don’t sing the ‘Star Spangled Banner.’” The piece was sparked by the on-off decision of his undergraduate alma mater, Goshen College in Indiana, to play the national anthem at sports events for the first time in its 116-year history. The decision was rescinded less than a year later.

Schloneger’s blog generated 4,360 comments between June 26, 2011, when it was posted and Dec. 26, 2011.

His concluding words were: “I love my country, but I sing my loyalty and pledge my allegiance to Jesus alone.” The blog can be found at http://religion.blogs.cnn. com/2011/06/26/my-faith-why-i-dontsing-the-star-spangled-banner/ James (Austin) Baer ’06, Hummelstown, Pa., began his first year of medical studies at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in the fall of 2011.

Dana Herman Breeding ’06, Staunton, Va., is a registered nurse at Augusta Health in the Community Wellness department. Before attending EMU, she received a degree in exercise science and a minor in nutrition from Virginia Tech. In 2004, when her mother had a heart attack, Dana saved her life by administering CPR. As a result of this episode, Dana enrolled in EMU to earn a nursing degree. The Community Wellness department offers health care outreach programs to the community, including screenings and preventative health care.

Ronald Copeland, MDiv ’06, Harrisonburg, Va., founding director of Our Community Place (OCP) in Harrisonburg in August 2008, announced a “refocusing” rather than a “reincarnation” of the organization's mission. OCP’s board of directors temporarily closed the center on Sept. 1, 2011, to ponder whether it should maintain its function as a day homeless shelter. After a five-week hiatus, the board re-opened the center on Oct. 8 with a celebration that included the traditional weekly meal and dialogue on how the organization might move forward. Ron relinquished his responsibilities as OCP’s executive director. He continues as pastor of the Early Church and president of the OCP board of directors.

Josiah Garber ’06, Mountville, Pa., is employed by the online division of Medical Support Products Inc. in Lancaster, Pa. He is primarily in charge of marketing.

Rebecca Stichter Brenneman ’07, Broadway, Va., is a project specialist in the information systems department at EMU. Debra Boese ’07 Horst, Harrisonburg, Va., received the highest honor a dental student can receive at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. Upon her graduation in May 2011, Debra was elected to the Omicron Kappa Upsilon, a society that was “established to promote and recognize character among students of dentistry.” Debra is now associated with the dental practice of Douglas Wright in Harrisonburg.

Kumar Anuraj, MA ’07 (conflict transformation), and Jill Landis ’99, MA ’10 (conflict transformation), Jha, New York, N.Y., and their daughter, Anusha, lived in Nepal from 2008-2010 while Kumar worked for the United Nations Mission to Nepal in Nepalgunj and Kathmandu. In September 2010, they moved to New York, N.Y, where Kumar was a consultant with United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund in the child protection section. In September 2011, Kumar began working as a program officer, providing support to child protection agencies in nations where UN peacekeeping and political missions exist. In 2010, Jill served as an intern with Chemonics International in Kathmandu.

Nate Koser ’07, MA ’09 (counseling), Harrisonburg, Va., recently joined EMU as in instructor in the counseling department. He is enrolled in a doctor of psychology program at Saybrook University in San Francisco, Calif.

Nathan Mishler ’07, Johnstown, Pa., went to Tanzania, Africa in June 2011 to work with Faraja Trust Fund, a nonprofit organization which works to alleviate the suffering of Tanzanians who are affected

by HIV/AIDS and human trafficking.

Sabrina Tusing ’07, Seattle, Wash., is employed at Seattle University as an event coordinator, working in the university’s department of conference and event services.

Jean deDieu Tshileu ’07, BakwaTshileu, DRC, founded a new school, from the elementary level through high school, in the village of Bakwa-Tshileu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The majority of the 120 students are girls. Jean and the school’s three fulltime teachers, with community support, have planted 20 acres of manioc, corn, peanuts, beans and onions to supply food for the local population and to create a source of income for the school.

More information about the Congo Village School Project is available on their Facebook page.

Thomas Mboya Olung’a ’08 (certificate of ministry studies), MA ’10 (education), Musoma, Tanzania, is teaching and serving in ministry at the Mennonite Theological College of Eastern Africa. While Thomas teaches, his spouse, Milicent Atieno Mboya will complete her master’s degree and their children, Brian, George and Edith, will continue their education in Nairobi, Kenya. Thomas requests prayers for his teaching ministry and the mission of the school as faculty train pastors to become effective in their work. He also requests prayers as he begins a writing project about the Mennonite history of East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda) and his pastoral ministry of serving people with disabilities, especially those who suffer from leprosy.

Travis Pettit ’08, MBA ’11, Stanley, Va., has been employed as the program representative in the adult degree completion program at EMU. In 2007, he earned an AAS degree in business management at Blue Ridge Community College, Weyers Cave, Va. He earned his BS degree in management & organizational development in EMU’s adult degree completion program and an earned his MBA in 2011. Travis was previously employed with Pioneer Bank for 10 years, where he served as a teller, underwriter, loan officer, assistant branch manager, and branch manager.

Maria Bowman ’09, Pittsburgh, Pa., began Sept. 1, 2011, as an Edible Schoolyard Garden Educator through Grow Pittsburgh, funded by AmeriCorps.

Her work is centered in the second and third grade classrooms of two public elementary schools. She and the children are exploring growing and harvesting food, the nutritional benefits of eating locally, and how to cook. Now in its fifth year in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, The Edible Schoolyard is the fruit of collaboration between school personnel, teachers, parents, community members, and the nonprofit organization Grow Pittsburgh.

Marissa Benner ’09 Buck, Portland, Ore., is a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital. Her husband, Samuel Buck ’09, is an accountant at AKT. Jennie Carr, MA ’09 (education), Harrisonburg, Va., was one of five EMU alumni honored at the Rockingham County Public Schools/Rockingham Educational Foundation, Inc. annual awards and recognition program on May 16, 2011.

She was one of 24 teachers honored as “2011 Teachers of the Year.” Jennie teaches fourth grade at Elkton Elementary School.

Julie Denlinger ’09, Lancaster, Pa., received an MA in social work from Temple University in January 2011. She is working on a play certification program also through Temple. She works at Presbyterian Ridge Adoption Agency as an adoption counselor.

Leymah Gbowee and Abigail Disney discuss women in peacebuilding at EMU.

Disney to Speak at Graduation Abigail Disney, a philanthropist, scholar and award-winning filmmaker, will deliver EMU’s annual commencement address on April 29, 2012, at 1 p.m.

“EMU is a remarkable institution, an island of sanity in a country that often has difficulty crediting the discourse of peace,” said Disney.

Granddaughter of Roy Disney and grandniece of Walt Disney, co-founders of the Walt Disney Company, Abigail Disney intertwined her longtime passion for women’s issues and peacebuilding in her first film, “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” (Fork Films, 2008). Directed by Gini Reticker, the film shows how Liberian women forced their warring men to arrive at a peace settlement that led to the election of Africa’s first woman president.

The film also highlights the peace activism of 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee, MA ’07 (conflict transformation).

EMU first hosted Disney at a June 2011 peacebuilding forum entitled “Women, War and Peace,” featuring Gbowee and women from around the world who are involved in peacebuilding. The event included previews of the five-part PBS television special, “Women, War & Peace,” produced by Disney, Pamela Hogan and Gini Reticker, which premiered in October 2011.

Disney was also one of 20 participants in a three-day conference that grouped female peace workers from nine countries to learn from each other’s experiences and explore the potential value of an educational program at EMU tailored to women peacebuilders. This program will begin in the summer of 2012.

Disney is the founder and the president of The Daphne Foundation, a social change foundation in New York City. She earned a BA from Yale, an MA in English literature from Stanford University, and a PhD in English from Columbia University. She has served on the boards of the Roy Disney Family Foundation, The White House Project, the Global Fund for Women, The New York Women’s Foundation, the Fund for the City of New York, and more.

— Marcy Gineris and Mike Zucconi ’05 www.emu.edu | crossroads | 55

photograph by Gabrielle Revere/ Contour by Getty Images

Erica Kraybill ’06, Johnstown, Pa., moved to Tanzania in June 2011 on a one-year assignment through WorldTeach to teach English at Mzumbe Secondary School.

Three on Top Soccer Roster For the first time in program history, the Royals’ men’s soccer team landed three players on the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) All-State First Team.

Forward Mitchell Leap scored 10 goals in the fall of 2011, which was third-best in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, and had 23 total points, tied for second in the ODAC. He had five game-winning goals during the regular season, which led the league. Leap is ending the EMU program fourth in Career Goals with 35 and fifth in Career Points with 80.

Fellow senior Kevin Chico dominated the midfield. He had three goals and one assist. He also scored the game-winner in a 1-0 victory over Virginia Wesleyan, which was the men’s first win over the powerful Marlins since the 1998 ODAC Championship Game.

Ryan Eshleman, a junior, was a key ballcontroller in the back line and routinely beat opposing forwards to long passes before pushing the ball up on offense.

All three players are graduates of Eastern Mennonite High School, where they played on a team that won the state championship in 2007. All three were also named All-ODAC First Team earlier this fall. — James De Boer

Mitchell Leap

Kevin Chico

Ryan Eshleman

EMU Adding Golf in 2012-13 EMU will add men’s and women’s golf programs, starting with the 2012-13 season. Both men and women will compete as sponsored Old Dominion Athletic Conference sports, with the conference also adding the women’s sport next fall. The new programs bring the number of athletic offerings at EMU to 17.

“It is very exciting to be able to provide additional opportunities for students to participate in intercollegiate sports,” said director of athletics Dave King ’76. “When you recognize the added value of playing collegiate sports to the educational experience, it is gratifying to know that up to 20 more students will have the opportunity to be impacted through being a member of the golf teams. I believe the nature of practices and competitions in golf will allow us to attain and then retain full rosters.”

King said golf is a good fit for the institution. “The interest and participation in high school golf is strong in some of the university’s key recruitment areas and we have had an increasing number of prospective students inquire about a golf team. The proximity of a cityowned golf course [Heritage Oaks], the growth of women’s golf in the ODAC and our interest in expanding the athletic program to assist in reaching the enrollment goals of the university, were all factors in our decision to add the golf programs for next year.”

— James De Boer

fall 2007 56 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

Patrick Ressler ’09, Harrisonburg, Va., is an admissions counselor in the undergraduate admissions department of EMU. Previously, he was the director of the 3v3 Super Soccer Shootout in Lancaster, Pa. He was also the head coach of the junior varsity soccer team at Conestoga Valley High School. Patrick is also an assistant coach for the Royals’ men’s soccer team.

Benjamin Ruth ’09, Hershey, Pa., began his first year of medical studies at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in the fall of 2011.

Regina Wenger ’09, formerly of Lancaster., Pa., began serving as youth minister at Waynesboro Mennonite Church in Waynesboro, Va. Regina is the daughter of Mark ’79 and Kathryn Weaver ’72 Wenger.

Mark served as the pastor of Springdale Mennonite Church in Waynesboro for a number of years.

2010-

Jeannine Cinco, MA ’10 (conflict transformation), St. Charles. Mo., has decided to become a nun. In October 2011, she went to a discernment retreat and felt called to become affiliated with a new Catholic order, Daughters of Mary, Our Lady of Nazareth, founded by Sister Olga, a native of Iraq. Since becoming a nun is a long process, it may take Jeannine seven years to reach her goal.

Since her graduation with an MA in May of 2010, Jeannine has taught theology at a Catholic high school in St. Louis and is in charge of the school’s service learning program. She volunteers as a social worker with the Center for Survivors of Torture and Trauma. Prior to studying at EMU, Jeannine spent a year as a Catholic Relief Services volunteer in Kenya, working at a vocational school for disadvantaged girls.

Kevin D. Humphries, MBA ’10, Harrisonburg, Va., has been named to the board of directors of Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, in Harrisonburg. Kevin is a certified public account partner in PBGH of Harrisonburg. He has more than 30 years of accounting, audit, tax, and consulting experience focused on not-for-profit organizations. He earned a BS degree from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Va. Darrel Miller ’10, Harrisonburg, Va., is working as a procurement specialist for Shenandoah Growers in Harrisonburg.

Heidi Muller ’10, Harrisonburg, Va., is project and office coordinator in the marketing and communications department at EMU.

Muigai Ndokak, MA ’10 (conflict transformation), and his wife Valerie Rogers Muigai have been named country co-representatives for Uganda for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).

They will be based in the capital city of Kampala as of July 2012. Valerie has been a residence director at EMU since 2008. Previously Muigai and Valerie worked in Tanzania at a center for re-

habilitating street children. Muigai is a native of Kenya and Valerie is a native of the United States.

Duane Ringler ’10, Ephrata, Pa., was ordained as associate pastor of Bowmansville Mennonite Church on May 22, 2011.

Karissa Sauder ’10, Boston, Mass., is a first-year law student at Harvard Law School. Karissa noted, “Harvard Law School has a growing commitment to public interest work and alternative dispute resolution. I just started working as an intern for the Program on Negotiation where I’ve connected with other people who also care about peacebuilding, restorative justice, and conflict resolution.”

Jonathan Spicher ’10, Hershey, Pa., began his initial year of medical studies at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in the fall of 2011.

Sondra R. Seigfried ’10, Harrisonburg, Va., is a custodian at the physical plant of EMU. Samfee Doe ’11, formerly of Cockeysville, Md., is a first-year student at St. George’s University (SGU) school of medicine in Grenada. She is spending 2011-12 as a Keith B. Taylor Global Scholar at Northumbria University in Newcastle, England, where she is learning about the National Health Service of the United Kingdom. She writes that “EMU’s courses prepared me well for medical school” and that she wrote her EMU advisor to thank her after her first month of graduate school.

Peyton Erb ’11, Harrisonburg, Va., is under assignment in Guatemala City, Guatemala, with TranSend of Virginia Mennonite Missions, as an assistant to Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems (CASAS). CASAS is a nonprofit organization that focuses on curriculum development for youth and adults. Her responsibilities will include assisting students with housing arrangements and translation work.

Yvonne Stauffer ’11 Fajardo, Harrisonburg, Va., is the human resources assistant at EMU. Kaitlin Hershberger Heatwole ’11, Harrisonburg, Va., is the office coordinator in EMU’s department of applied social sciences.

Jessica Hedrick ’11, Telford, Pa., is spending her first year as a teacher at the Lezha Academic Center in Albania, Europealong with fellow graduates, Kaitlyn Bontrager ’11 and Kristina Reinhardt ’11.

Braydon P. Hoover ’11, Elizabethtown, Pa., is assistant and database specialist for EMU’s alumni and parent relations department. Braydon was the workstudy student in the department over the course of three years. He plans on taking a few years off from immersion in academics and then entering medical school.

Kelsey Landes ’11 of Harrisonburg, Va., began a one-year term of Mennonite Voluntary Service in August 2011

in Seattle, Wash., as a middle school, college and career planning coordinator with Treehouse.

Briana Eshleman ’11 Miller, Harrisonburg, Va., is working as a registered nurse at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg.

Brianna Oelschlager ’11, Sellersville, Pa., began her first year of medical studies at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in the fall of 2011.

Jared Kent Stoltzfus, MDiv ’11, began serving as the youth director at Forest Hills Mennonite Church, Leola Pa., in August 2011.

Philip Tieszen ’11, Harrisonburg, Va., is an admissions counselor in the undergraduate admissions department of EMU. Western Virginia and North Carolina are his primary areas of responsibility.

Michael Tranum ’11, Bridgewater, Va., has joined DuPont Community Credit Union of Waynesboro, Va., as vice president for information technology. Michael has nine years of information technology consulting experience in a wide variety of industries. He previously worked at Pentagon Federal Credit Union.

Marriages

Janet Breneman ’72 to R. Wesley Newswanger ’67, May 7, 2011.

Ardell Stauffer ’81 to Amy Nissley, Oct. 8, 2011.

Ana Arias ’99 to Phillip Nisly ’97, Aug. 25, 2011.

Christina Hartman ’99 to Max Campbell, Dec. 2, 2011.

Lisa White ’99 to Lowell Brown, May 28, 2011.

Melinda Steffy '03 to Matthew Lavanish, Nov. 20, 2011.

Emily Sommers ’04 to Dariush Meraj, Oct. 22, 2011.

Lindsay Martin '05 to Matt Alan Styer '05, Sept. 24, 2011.

Rebecca Stutzman ’05 to James Patterson, Aug. 13, 2011.

Carissa Sweigart ’06 to Timothy Gredler, Oct. 15, 2011.

Jason Ritter ’07 to Samantha Schantz, Aug. 7, 2011.

Matthew Eshleman ’08 to Amanda Hill, June 11, 2011.

Lachelle Rose Horst ’08 to Brian Hackman ’08, July 25, 2011.

Julie Miller MA ’08 (education),to Stacy Shiflet, July 30, 2011.

Keri Boshart ’09 to Drew Hochstetler, July 16, 2011.

Samuel Buck ’09 to Marissa Benner ’09, Sept.17, 2011.

Amy Miller ’09 to Jonathan Hershberger, June 11, 2011.

Katrina (Katie) Lehman ’09 to Jackson Maust ’09, Sept. 3, 2011.

Melissa Miller ’09 to Jerry Mammen ’09, Aug. 20, 2011.

Anna Elizabeth Smith ’09 to Gary LeRoger Parrish II ’09, Sept. 10, 2011.

Laura Lehman ’09 to Benjamin Ruth ’09, July 16, 2011.

Jennifer Ayers ’10 to Joseph Barton, Oct. 8, 2011.

Andrea Bowman ’10 to Aaron Yutzy ’10, Sept. 24, 2011.

Heidi Hershberger ’10 to Christopher Esh ’10, May 30, 2010.

Tony Fajardo-Gomez ’10 to Yvonne Stauffer ’11, Aug. 13, 2011.

Jennifer Hochstetler ’10 to Jonathan Spicher ’10, June 25, 2011.

Isaac Wyse ’10 to Rachel Yoder ’10, Sept.

16, 2011.

Benjamin Bergey ’11 to Katherine (Kate) Nussbaum ’10, Oct. 8, 2011.

Briana Eshleman ’11 to Darrel Miller ’10, May 28, 2011.

Michael Bruner ’11 to Luciana (Bia) Stoltzfus ’11, Sept. 24, 2011.

Kaitlin Black ’11 to Eric Yoder ’11, Aug 13, 2010.

Brooke Snyder ’11 to Jason Sprunger ’11, June 25, 2011.

Births & adoptions

Brian ’91 and Christine McGillis Stauffer, Golden, Colo., Charlotte Anne, Dec. 14, 2010.

Timothy ’92 and Kirsten Johnsen Martin, Lancaster, Pa., Maya, March 4, 2011.

Sandy Waltner ’93 and Rob Huston, Goshen, Ind., Tobin (Toby) Rasul, adopted on January 6, 2011 from Kazakhstan.

His birth date is Oct. 23, 2008.

Sherri Kurtz ’93 and Gary Peters, Alexandria, Va., Luke Robert, July 7, 2011.

Timothy ’95 and Nicolle Nogueras Swartzendruber, Silver Spring, Md., Shane Nogueras, July 31, 2011.

Evan Wenger ’95 and Carleen LaymanWenger, Waynesboro, Va., Owen Burl, Sept. 11, 2011.

Melissa (Missy) Adamire ’96 and Shawn Delancey, Mifflintown, Pa., James Donald, April 14, 2011.

Marshall ’96 and Dione Yoder ’95 McDonald, Pasadena., Calif., Marissa Kate, Dec. 16, 2011.

Peter ’97 and Maria Kalugina Kraybill, Lancaster, Pa., Claudia Jean, April 7, 2010.

Brent ’97 and Jennifer (Jen) Voth ’97 Roland, Mechanicsburg, Pa., Lydia Ann, Aug. 2, 2010.

Suraya Sadeed, MA ’12, is pictured in 2001 at Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan at the time of a U.S. bombing campaign. With support from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Sadeed and a convoy of trucks crossed into Afghanistan delivering food and blankets to 45,000 Afghan refugees.

Doug Hostetter ’66, director of MCC’s UN office, took this photo.

Sadeed’s ‘Forbidden Lessons’ Suraya Sadeed, MA ’12 (conflict transformation), has described her extremely difficult, often dangerous, efforts to build and maintain more than a dozen schools in Afghanistan in a fascinating book, Forbidden Lessons in a Kabul Guesthouse (Hyperion, 2011).

Sadeed’s organization, Help the Afghan Children, has received sustained support from Mennonite Central Committee for the last 10 years, though she must raise the bulk of her funding from various other sources (Oprah helped at one point).

Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus both gave Forbidden Lessons, coauthored by Damien Lewis, extremely favorable reviews. The Kirkus review read in part: "For the cost of one [American] bombing run," the author writes in this hard-hitting debut memoir, "I doubtless could have fed and clothed and cared for those 100,000 displaced Afghan refugees. For the cost of another...I likely could have educated their children."

With assistance from Lewis (Apache Dawn: Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, 2009, etc.), Sadeed, the founder of the nonprofit Help the Afghan Children, chronicles her many trips behind the lines in Afghanistan, where most aid workers feared to go.

The author weaves together her personal story with that of her native land in this gripping memoir. After the sudden death of her husband in 1993, Sadeed decided to raise money in order to provide basic necessities for the 100,000 people who were living in a temporary refugee camp on the outskirts of Jalalabad, and deliver it to them personally.

The author describes the dangers she faced and the many brave, open-hearted people she encountered on this and subsequent trips. Some episodes were hair-raising, others heartwarming. She was able to convince some Taliban leaders to assist her humanitarian mission, while, unknown to them, she was secretly funding underground girls' schools and health clinics for women.

Sadeed provides insight into the traditional values which still sustain the culture, while making an eloquent appeal for understanding, compassion and aid for the people of Afghanistan, and for more schools in order to educate young people and break the cycle of violence. [This is]a moving message from a courageous humanitarian, and more timely than ever.

For more information, check out http://surayasadeed.com. Also visit www.emu.edu/peacebuilder – Sadeed was the cover story in the spring/summer 2010 issue of EMU’s Peacebuilder magazine.

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 57

Perry '98 and Rebecca (Miller) '99 Shank, Denver, Colo., twins Hazel Jane and Olive Anne, Nov. 6, 2011.

Melody King ’03 and Mark Gornto King, Philadelphia, Pa., Leah Alice, Nov. 4, 2011.

Lew ’98 and Jean Briskey ’97 Wagner, Royal City, Wash., Malachi Aaron, Jan. 14, 2011.

Sara Unruh ’03 and Bradley Hiebert, Hutchinson, Kan., Mia Marie, Oct. 27, 2011.

Kirsten Brubaker ’99 and Adam Fuhr, Hickory, N.C., Lukas Allen, Sept. 12, 2011.

Jennie Varner ’03 and Lincoln Nafziger, Archbold, Ohio, Trey Timothy, May 27, 2011.

Sarah Christopher ’99 and Darrin Leichty ’00, West Liberty, Ohio, Elin Joy, Oct. 9, 2011.

Kevin ’94, Sem ’03, and Anna Nofziger, Lancaster, Pa., Katyarina (Katya) Rose, Aug. 23, 2011.

James (Jimmy) ’99 and Kari Suter Miller, Elkton, Va., Henry James, Aug. 19, 2011.

Ryan ’03 and Melissa Cassel Ritter, Broadway, Va., Isaac Joel, Oct. 10, 2011.

Trina Trotter ’99 and Brian ’99 Nussbaum, Harrisonburg, Va., Julian Harold Trotter, Aug. 4, 2011.

Ingrid De Sanctis and Sarah Pharis

photograph by Nikki Fox

On Living Fully Until Death Somewhere in the middle of talking about her stage four terminal cancer and a play documenting her life, Sarah Pharis ’04 begins striking her “Katherine Hepburn face.”

Sitting beside her at her Harrisonburg home, Ingrid De Sanctis ’88 launches into details of writing the play, called “Sarah and the Dinosaur,” a funny and sometimes heartbreaking look at her former theater assistant’s battle with ocular melanoma.

“For me personally to be able to step out of [the play] and go, ‘OK it’s my name and it’s based on my story, but it’s a story that a lot of people are living;’ it changes it for me somehow,” said Pharis, of Staunton, who was told she had six months to live when the eye cancer spread to her liver in 2010. “[The play is] not about me and it’s not really even about cancer it’s just about… ” “Choosing life,” De Sanctis says, finishing the thought.

Yes, Pharis has terminal cancer and yes, that’s the basis of the play, but “Sarah and the Dinosaur” is really a larger metaphor for something that Pharis seems to demonstrate so well in her own life — overcoming hardships and living life to the fullest.

The play, De Sanctis says, is her own way of coping with Pharis’ illness.

“When you watch a young person get cancer and know that their years are limited, you do want to do something and for me the only something was [writing this play],” said De Sanctis.

Pharis was first diagnosed with ocular melanoma in 2006 at the age of 26. “In my case, if I look at you through my right eye, it looks as though Picasso was left in charge of your face,” writes Pharis on her blog, “Love x Infinity2.”

A list of 35 things Pharis wants to do before her 35th birthday, reads just as one would expect: “Participate in an act of guerilla gardening, take a chocolate bath, see Tom Jones in concert, reconcile with my ‘enemies,’ send a message in a bottle, go sailing, live to be 35.” “[If ] you walk out [of the play and] after 90 minutes are more awake to your life, that’s why I want to tell this story,” said De Sanctis.

— Emily Sharrer, excerpted and slightly edited with permission from the Daily News Record (Jan. 9, 2012)

fall 2007 58 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

Gregory ’03 and April Gonzol ’04 Sachs, Harrisonburg, Va., Sylvia June, Nov. 24, 2011.

Grant Rosenberger ’99 and Laura Dell’Olio ’99, State College, Pa., Cedric, April 21, 2011.

Adam Maust ’03 and Sarah Sensamaust, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Annaïs Violette, July 11, 2011.

David ’99 and Julette Leaman Rush, ’95, MA ’02 (education), Harrisonburg, Va., Kyle David, July 2, 2011.

Timothy ’03 and Tamara (Tama) Duncan ’04 Shoemaker, Harrisonburg, Va., Elena Cate, Aug. 22, 2011.

David ’00 and Rebekka Stutzman, Pasadena, Calif., Immanuel Lee, Nov. 2, 2011.

Braden (B.J.) ’04 and Sherah-Leigh Zehr ’04, MDiv ’09, Gerber, Apple Creek, Ohio, Anna Elizabeth, June 13, 2011.

Steven ’00, MDiv ’05, and Katie Grove ’03 Swartzendruber, MA ’06 (counseling), Leesburg, Va., Lane Sydney, Aug. 4, 2011.

Mindy Nolt ’01 and Jared Hankee ’02, Lancaster, Pa., Willow Frances Nolt, July 29, 2011.

Tanya Siemens ’01 and Christopher J. Hoover '00, Manitoba, Canada, Leo James, June 8, 2011.

Michelle Zook ’01 and Mike Kline, Belleville, Pa., Beulah Isabella, Aug. 19, 2011.

Amy Sommers ’01 and Mark Shelly, Uniontown, Ohio, Caroline Sarah, March 28, 2011.

Paul ’01 and Alicia Slaubaugh ’00 Berry, Harrisonburg, Va., Ellaryn Joy, Jan. 5, 2012.

Nathan ’01 and Jana Bentch ’03 Stoltzfus, Lancaster, Pa., Nuriah Psalm, Dec. 31, 2010.

Craig ’01 and Sharisa Keim ’98 Zook, Broadway, Va., Harper June, March 11, 2011.

Angela Kratzer ’01 and Todd Zuercher, Apple Creek, Ohio, Joshua Daniel, April 19, 2011.

Philip ’02 and Amy Blount, Bluffton, Ohio, Ryan, Jan. 21, 2011.

Hans ’02 and Sarah Link ’03 Harman, Harrisonburg, Va., Pace Elizabeth, Aug. 4, 2011.

Karen Spicher ’02 and Jae Young Lee MA ’03 (conflict transformation), Seoul, Korea, Lomie Spicher, Dec. 5, 2011.

Agwu (Ag) ’02 and Jennifer Cline ’04 Ukwa, Brambleton Va., Amarachi Rose, June 21, 2011.

Steve ’04 and Bethany Miller Gibbs, Port Republic, Va., William Seth, Sept. 12, 2011.

Cara Wagler ’04 and Tyler Kauffman ’05, Harrisonburg, Va., Delaney Jade, June 12, 2011.

Maria Joy Martin '04 and Lester Shisler, Goshen, Ind., Roselynn Joie, Nov. 5, 2011.

Denver ’04 and Tara Gerber Steiner, Orrville, Ohio, Alethea Grace, Sept. 14, 2011.

Kara Freed ’04 and Jeff Thoman, London, Ohio, Jackson Leo, May 16, 2011.

Hannah Kratzer ’04 and Darrell Wenger, Harrisonburg, Va., Aaron Glen, Sept. 20, 2011.

Peter ’05 and Christy Harrison Sensenig, Wynnewood, Pa., Moses Peter, Dec. 22, 2011.

Erin Hurst ’05 and Chris Wenger, Harrisonburg, Va., Alisa Hurst Wenger, Sept.

17, 2011.

Camron ’06 and Leah Ritter ’08 Conrad, Churchville, Va., Corinna Jade, July 6, 2011.

Rochelle Zook ’05 and Nathanael Grieser ’06, Sarasota, Fla., Kinsley Faith, March 7, 2011.

Aaron (Holden) ’06 and Heidi Bowman ’04 Byler, Harrisonburg, Va., Sydney Hope, Oct. 29, 2011.

Eric ’06 and Stephanie Walton ’05 Sents, Broadway, Va., Addison Ruth, Aug. 21, 2011.

Josiah ’06 and Carmen Kennel ’07 Garber, Mountville, Pa., David James, July 5, 2011.

Robert (Rob) ’07 and Lori Arner, Holland, Pa., Grace Emily, Oct. 17, 2009.

Kumar Anuraj, MA ’07 (conflict transformation), and Jill Landis ’99, MA ’10 (conflict transformation) Jha, New York, N.Y., Naviya Landis, July 2, 2011.

Katherine (Kate) Baker ’07 and James (Austin) Baer ’06, Hummelstown, Pa., Waylon Tiger, June 26, 2011.

Anniversaries

Hubert ’38 and Mildred Kauffman ’35 Pellman, Harrisonburg, Va., 70th, married June 11, 1941.

J. Lester ’50 and Lois Byler Brubaker, Lititz, Pa., 65th, married June 30, 1946.

Paul ’52, Sem ’53 and Ann Keener ’52 Gingrich, Goshen, Ind., 60th, married Aug. 11, 1951.

Lester ’52 and Lydia Diener Weber, Lititz, Pa., 60th, married Aug. 31. 1951.

George ’55 and Leona Gerber Hostetler, Rocky Ford, Colo., 60th, married Aug. 18, 1951.

Nevin J. Sr. ’61 and Lourene Godshall ’61 Bender, Harrisonburg, Va., 50th, married June 24, 1961.

Roger ’61, ’64 (bachelor of divinity), and Florence Byler ’61 Richer, Upland, Calif., 50th, married Aug. 25, 1961.

Werner ’60 and Grace Bontrager ’65 Will, Missoula, Mont., 50th, married Dec. 28, 1961.

Deaths

Alice Ruth Kauffman ’32 Gingerich, Hesston, Kan., died on Aug. 16, 2011 in Schowalter Villa at the age of 100. She was the daughter of Daniel Kauffman, a leader in the Mennonite Church. She grew up in the tight-knit Mennonite Publishing House community in Scottdale, Pa. In 1928, she drove her parents and young sister, Fanny, from Scottdale, to Hesston, Kansas, in a Model T. Trained as a teacher, Alice was unable to find a position in the 1930s economy, so she took a job as a hired girl for a family in Reading, Pa., and later worked at the Mennonite Children’s Home in Kansas City, Kan. She married Fred Kauffman in 1934. In 1947, Alice and Fred moved their young family to Chappell, Neb., where Alice was a pastor’s wife, a role she played for the next 40 years. During their time in Nebraska, Alice began writing for publication, first in articles for Christian Living magazine, and later in The Life and Times of Daniel Kauffman (1954), a biography of her beloved “Papa.” She served as literature secretary for the Women’s Missionary and Service Commission (WMSC) of the Mennonite Church, editing the monthly WMSC Voice and traveling to New York by train each year for the American Bible Society meeting. Together, after Chappell, Neb., and Julesburg, Colo., Fred and Alice served Mennonite churches in Alpha, Minn., Glenwood Springs, Colo.,

and Crystal Springs, Kan., and several interim pastorates. Alice was a loyal and supportive companion in all their ministries, including a three-year teaching assignment in Hubbard, Ore. Boyd Stauffer ’33, Tofield, Alberta, Canada, died at Tofield Long Term Care on June 4, 2011 at the age of 98. At age 15, Boyd accepted Christ as his personal Savior. This decision had a major impact on how he lived the remainder of his life. He started his schooling at Solberg, Alberta. In 1922, his parents moved to a farm east of Tofield where Boyd attended the Tofield School for the remainder of his elementary and high school education. In 1932 he boarded the train for Harrisonburg, Va., where he attended Eastern Mennonite School. After college he returned to Tofield where he worked for his father in the International Harvester Dealership. His responsibilities included selling parts and delivering gas to farmers. In 1942, he began farming and also clerked farm auctions for Don Ball Auctioneers. His church involvements included a variety of responsibilities, such as helping with the Sunday school outreach in Poe, Alberta, ministry to Laotian refugees, and serving as the treasurer for the mission board.

Kathryn (Mae) Buckwalter ’34 Hoover, formerly of Parkesburg and Shank, Pa., died at Landis Homes in Lititz, Pa., at the age of 100 on July 18, 2011. In addition to homemaking, she worked intermittently as a telephone operator in the Pennsylvania towns of Atglen, Gap, Intercourse, Parkesburg, West Chester, and at Embreeville State Hospital. After 30 years of farming near Parkesburg, she and her husband moved to Sullivan County where she managed a KOA camp. She was a member and president of the Octorara School Board, coordinator for the Fresh Air Program and chair for the Chester County Migrant Ministry.

Mae participated in various expressions of congregational life, including teaching Sunday school and Bible school and was deeply committed to the broader Church and its outreach. She was a member of Wheelerville Mennonite Church, now Faith Mountain Fellowship, and after moving to Landis Homes in 2001 became a member of the Landis Homes Fellowship.

Arlene M. Eby ’35 (HS), Blainsport, Pa., died Mar. 30, 2011 at Landis Homes in Lititz, Pa. at the age of 93. Arlene served with her husband, Wilmer (deceased), in his role as pastor of Blainsport Mennonite Church, Reinholds, Pa. As a newly married couple, Arlene and Wilmer founded the congregation near Cocalico, Pa. Arlene was a volunteer at Ephrata Community Hospital, Ephrata, Pa. and Landis Homes for many years.

Ezra W. Shenk ’35 (HS), Wellman, Iowa, died April 23, 2011 at Parkview Manor in Wellman at the age of 95.

When Ezra was nine, he became caregiver for his father who had become an

Laurie Miller, director of EMU's student programs and recreational sports

Administrator Gives Kidney During the 2011 Christmas season, Laurie Miller decided to give the gift of life – to a total stranger. He underwent surgery on Dec. 8, 2011, to donate his kidney.

“I’ve been blessed all my life with really good health,” said Miller 20 days afterwards. “I just felt like some people just don’t have that.”

Miller is director of EMU’s student programs and recreational sports.

In December 2010 Miller started undergoing the required tests for a kidney donation at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Va. The process took about six months, beginning with the least invasive tests and building up to MRIs and other such analyses. UVA assigned Miller his own advocate to ensure rights and objectivity, and the recipient’s insurance covered all medical costs; Miller only had to pay for transportation.

Because he had been told to expect to be off work for about four weeks after the surgery, Miller decided not to squeeze it in at the end of the summer. Rather, he waited for December when he knew he would have enough time to recover. But barely more than two weeks later, he could “hardly tell I had the surgery” except for a bit of soreness and scarring.

Miller had a good recovery, which he attributes to his good physical condition prior to surgery. He was up and walking after two days, and going for hour-long walks every day just two-and-a-half weeks later.

Miller does not know who received his kidney, as UVA keeps donors and recipients anonymous for one year after the procedure. This not only protects the donor in case the recipient’s body rejects the new kidney, but also reduces emotional stress on the recipient, who already has plenty to deal with. After one year recipients are given the option to contact their donors.

According to Miller, UVA has about 500 people on their waiting list for kidney transplants, but they only receive about 40 living donations each year. Only two of those exchanges have remained anonymous in the last two years.

Knowing this exceeding demand, Miller encourages others to donate organs as he has. “If people are so inclined, there is a big need for it,” he said.

— Serena Townsend, excerpted with permission from The Mennonite

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 59

Karissa Sauder is passionate about social change and justice issues.

Harvard Law Is Good Fit Graduating with a liberal arts degree and a minor in pre-law, Karissa Sauder ’10 wanted to challenge herself in the legal field but maintain a foundation of peacebuilding and conflict resolution.

She found that unique blend at Harvard.

“Harvard Law School has a growing commitment to public interest work and alternative dispute resolution,” said Sauder, a first-year law student. “I just started working as an intern for the Program on Negotiation where I’ve connected with other people who also care about peacebuilding, restorative justice and conflict resolution.”

Sauder was drawn to the pre-law minor at EMU as a freshman because it encouraged her to challenge preconceived assumptions and “look at creative ways the law can build peace and resolve conflicts.”

“I learned to think through multiple sides of issues, appreciate questions and stop seeing the world in black and white,” said Sauder.

Sauder appreciated her pre-law capstone class taught by attorney P. Marshall Yoder, MA ’10 (conflict transformation). She believes the time spent discussing multiple sides of a case and reading legal theories helped her mind transition to think “like a lawyer.”

“Our time spent in personal reflection and analysis gave me an opportunity to consider the type of person I want to be in my legal career,” said Sauder.

Sauder also pointed to the founder of EMU’s pre-law program, Dan Wessner, as well as to professors Judy Mullet ’73, Mark Metzler Sawin and to colleagues in Sawin’s history department, with influencing her path to Harvard. “The pre-law classes in peacebuilding, theology, ethics, business and philosophy showed what a unique and well-rounded program EMU has,” said Sauder. “I loved how interdisciplinary the pre-law minor was. . . . It helped me to see the connections and consider the law in both broad and narrow contexts.”

At Harvard, “I’ve found a number of others who connect with Mennonite values including a student who studied under John Paul Lederach (founding director of CJP) at Notre Dame,” said Sauder.

“I’m excited about the vibrant community here that’s passionate about social change and justice issues.”

— Mike Zucconi ’05

fall 2007 60 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

invalid by that time. Despite considerable responsibility at this early age, he completed high school, often working late on the farm, rising early to be able to do so. He then attended college and graduated from Goshen College in 1938 with a double major in history and English. Later, he earned an MA in elementary education at the University of Iowa. In 1948, the Daytonville Mennonite Church in the village of Daytonville, Iowa was founded, where Ezra was ordained as minister on Ascension Day in 1951. When a number of elderly folk expressed their concern to Ezra as to where they would go when they became sick, Ezra decided to build a “house” for them. The “house” eventually grew into Shenk Nursing Home. It was later sold and is now Parkview Manor.

Ezra’s second wife, Sara Kauffman Shenk ’64 survives.

Naomi Nissley ’37 Limont, Lancaster, Pa., a resident of Homestead Village, died Dec. 5, 2010 at Hospice of Lancaster County at the age of 91. Naomi was a 1950 graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, coordinated with the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She received her MA in fine arts at Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Naomi spent a lifetime as an exhibiting fine artist. Her memberships included the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Alumni Association; The Philadelphia Water Color Club; The American Color Print Society, where she was president from 1983 to 1988; the Print World Directory of Contemporary Prints; and the National Guild of Book Workers. Naomi was a member of Highland Presbyterian Church in Lancaster and the Germantown Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

Lena Mast ’38 Umble, Lititz, Pa., died at the age of 91 at Landis Homes on Sept. 5, 2011. Lena was a member of Maple Grove Mennonite Church in Atglen, Pa. She was a faithful member of the congregation’s women’s sewing circle. She enjoyed committee work with Mennonite Women and attending conference meetings. Lena was a talented quilter, quilting many for her family, including one for each of her 18 great-grandchildren, for benefit auctions and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Lena’s hobby was keeping a diary, which she began at age 14 and in which she made her last entry in December 2006.

Jacob R. Batterman, Sr. ’39 (HS), Bridgewater, Va., died at Bridgewater Retirement Community July 24, 2011 at the age of 90. He served in Civilian Public Service (CPS) as a conscientious objector to military service from 1941-1946. Jacob was retired from Amp Corporation where he had worked as a machinist. He was a member of Weavers Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg.

Mary Hertzler ’40 (HS) Grove, Stuarts Draft, Va., died April 8, 2011 at the Stuarts Draft Christian Home at the age of 97. She was a homemaker. Mary was a member of Springdale Mennonite Church of Waynesboro, Va., where she taught Sunday school and was active in other functions in the congregation.

James R. Hess ’50, ’51 (bachelor of theology), Lancaster, Pa., died Dec. 20, 2011, at the age of 85. James and his spouse, Beatrice Hershberger Hess, went to Honduras in 1951 to serve 19 years as missionaries under Eastern Mennonite Missions. In 1970, the Hesses returned to the U.S. and James became pastor of East Chestnut Mennonite Church in Lancaster. He was later ordained bishop of the Lancaster City district of Mennonite Churches, the role from which he retired in 1994. In retirement, James was a Tabernacle lecturer and Spanish tour guide at the Mennonite Information Center in Lancaster. He was a member of Mellinger Mennonite Church in Lancaster.

Sanford A. King ’50, Harrisonburg, Va., died May 20, 2011 at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg at the age of 90. Sanford and his wife, Mary Martin ’45 (deceased), served in a number of Mennonite churches in Virginia, including Crossroads, Zion, Ridgeway, Harrisonburg, Greenmonte, Stuarts Draft, Mountain View, and Lyndhurst. He also served as pastor of Crest Hill Mennonite Church, Wardensville, W. Va., from 1978 to 1989. By profession he was a plumber, retiring from Blauch Brothers in 1982.

Norman D. Kauffman ’50, ’84 Sem, Kalispell, Mont., went to his eternal reward on June 5, 2011, at the age of 87. Norman began his life of service to others as a conscientious objector during WWII, serving mostly as a forest fire-fighter in the Civilian Public Service.

In early 1946, he became a crew member on the U.S.S. Mount Whitney, transporting horses to post-war Poland under the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Act. Following the war, he attended Hesston College and Eastern Mennonite College. In 1950, he married Margaret Stutzman, moved to Goshen, Ind., and became the first principal of Clinton Christian Day School. Next he taught at Johnstown Mennonite School in Pennsylvania, followed by Evergreen School in Kalispell. In 1970 Norman became pastor of White Chapel Mennonite Church, remaining for 12 years. He and Margaret then moved to Harrisonburg, Va., where he was pastor of Elkton Mennonite Church while employed at EMU’s physical plant. In retirement the couple returned to the Flathead Valley of Montana. Life changed in December 2006 when Norman went to get a newspaper and failed to return home. Margaret discovered him lying on the icy sidewalk.

He suffered a severe head injury and for the remaining four years of his life his

James (Jim) V. Rohrer, Sr., ’50, Harrisonburg, Va., died on Nov. 29, 2011 at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg at age 83. After graduating from Eastern Mennonite School in 1946, Jim spent the summer as a “sea-going cowboy” on a ship transporting livestock to war-ravaged Europe. He received an MEd from the University of Virginia in 1956. From 1949 until his retirement in 1991, he was employed by Rockingham (Va.) County Schools. He began his career as a teacher at the Bergton School. He served as principal of Broadway Elementary School and as the first principal of John C. Myers Intermediate School. He became the supervisor of intermediate schools and then the director of instructional media for the county.

In 1966, Jim was the longest running contestant and grand champion of the local (Harrisonburg) television quiz show "Pyramid Quiz," winning a 1966 Rambler auto. James was a member of Linville Creek Church of the Brethren and a volunteer for Meals on Wheels and Crossroads Heritage Center.

Lorene Troyer Martin ’51, Locust Grove, Va., died June 27, 2011 at the age of 88. She attended a nursing school in Cleveland, Ohio. Lorene assisted her husband, J. Weldon Martin ’42, ThB ’51, in his role as pastor of Hispanic churches in Mathis and Corpus Christi, Tex., Chicago, Ill., Defiance, Ohio, Goshen, Ind., and Harrisonburg, Va. Lorene was not just the minister’s wife. She performed as organist, Sunday school superintendent, youth group leader, taught English as a second language and child care classes, and translated for doctors during routine visits and deliveries. After “retirement,” Weldon and Lorene planted another Hispanic church in Harrisonburg with Grace Covenant Church and spent many hours helping its members. Following Weldon’s death in 1998, she moved to Heritage Haven of Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, where she continued to translate for several more years. In 2007, due to her declining health, Lorene moved to the home of her daughter, Carol, in Locust Grove.

Margaret G. Derstine ’52, Souderton, Pa., died June 12, 2011 at the Mennonite Home at the age of 83. Margaret graduated from Eastern Mennonite High School in addition to EMC and Millersville College (University). She served four years in Cuba teaching Bible Classes and 38 years in education. For 28 of those years, she worked at Locust Grove Mennonite School as a teacher and librarian. She also worked at the Mennonite Information Center for 19 years. She was a member of Forest Hills Mennonite Church where she taught an adult Sunday school class many years and served on numerous

committees. She served on the Board of Directors for Menno Housing as well as the Board of Directors of Choice Books of Pennsylvania.

Edith Weaver ’52 McCroskie, Port Orchard, Wash., died of cancer at Kitsap County Hospice Center Aug. 25, 2011 at the age of 84. She was the owner of Past and Presents Gift Shop in Manchester, Wash. for many years and enjoyed gardening.

Hazel Miller ’53 Kinzer, Goshen, Ind., died Feb. 15, 2011 in Courtyard Healthcare at the age of 87. She taught elementary school for many years for Goshen Community Schools. She was a member of the Retired Teachers Association. In addition to EMU, Hazel was an alumna of Goshen College and Ball State University. She was a member of Goshen College Mennonite Church.

Herbert Eugene (Gene) Herr, class of ’54, Hesston, Kan., passed away at age 79 on Jan. 1, 2012, in Hesston.

After studying at EMC, Gene graduated from Goshen College in Indiana with a degree in Bible. His graduate education spanned several institutions: Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind.; Phillips University in Enid, Okla. (MA in religious education); Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind. (MDiv); and St. Paul School of Theology in St. Paul, Minn., where he completed coursework toward a doctorate in ministry. Gene was ordained into the ministry on May 15, 1955, while serving as pastor at Kingview Mennonite Church in Scottdale, Pa. He went on to serve in leading ministerial roles in churches and church-linked institutions over the next three decades. From 19852001, Gene and his wife Mary were the founding directors of The Hermitage Retreat Center in Three Rivers, Mich..

After retiring in 2001, Gene spent five months in Northern Ireland, working at the Columbanus Community of Reconciliation. He also volunteered with the Missionaries of the Poor in Jamaica and the Harvey County Homeless Shelter in Newton, Kan. Through the years, across many roles and diverse settings, he answered the call to serve and help and was a gracious host to guests from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Herr, of Newton, Kan. Anna C. Shertzer ’55, Lancaster, Pa., died Oct. 19, 2011 at the age of 89, at the Mennonite Home Communities in Lancaster where she was a resident for the past three years. Anna was a teacher at Conestoga Christian Day School, Morgantown, Pa., for 38 years. She was an accomplished artist in her earlier years and enjoyed singing and playing the piano. Anna was an active member of the former Columbia Mennonite Church, Columbia, Pa., where she taught Sunday School and summer Bible school.

Studying Gangs in Guatemala (TELL US MORE STORIES LIKE THIS)

photograph courtesy university of Notre dame

home was Heritage Place in Kalispell.

He is survived by his wife and their five sons and their children.

Robert E. Brenneman II ’97 is the author of Homies and Hermanos: God and Gangs in Central America (Oxford University Press), which is based on his doctoral dissertation on why and how gang members in Central America renounce violence and become evangelical Christians.

“What does this teach us more broadly about religious conversion, identity transformation, and the state of religion in Latin America?”

Brenneman said in an article published on the University of Notre Dame website (nd.edu/aboutnd/spotlight/brenneman), from which this brief is drawn.

Brenneman received his PhD in sociology from Notre Dame in January 2010 and is an assistant professor of sociology at St. Michael’s College in Vermont.

As an EMU sophomore Brenneman went on a cross-cultural program to Guatemala, where he was immersed “in a region marked by crippling foreign debt and political violence.” There Brenneman and his fellow students studied issues of poverty and war as democracies were trying to take root in the region. “I began to read the works of John Howard Yoder [a Mennonite who was a long-time Notre Dame professor] as well as Catholic liberation theologians. I wanted to know what faith can contribute in a context of violence.”

Brenneman returned to Guatemala after graduation to be an administrator of the Mennonite-run Central American Study and Service Program. While leading cross-cultural seminars dealing with violence, poverty, religion, and culture, he developed a hunger to understand the role of religion in a violent society and decided to pursue a graduate degree in sociology (his undergraduate focus had been English and theater).

For his doctoral research, Brenneman interviewed experts and practitioners at ministries and organizations aimed at reducing gang violence, as well as ex-gang members themselves. The result was a dissertation that renowned Notre Dame sociologist Prof. Christian Smith, the William R. Kenan Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society, called “a really terrific piece of scholarship…. Bob is one of the jewels in our department.”

This story, linking Brenneman’s cross-cultural experience as an EMU undergraduate with his subsequent life choices, is the type of story we at Crossroads hope to receive for our summer 2012 issue. See the back cover of Crossroads for more information.

— BPL

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 61

Kudos for EMU’s Website What do the University of Virginia, Duke University and Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) have in common? An award-winning website.

EMU’s newly designed website was named a winner in two categories in the 2011-12 Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District III awards, announced Feb. 18-19. District III is comprised of nine states and more than 4,000 members.

EMU’s website received an “Award of Excellence” in overall website design and implementation while the home page received a “Special Merit Award,” in World Wide Web home page design and implementation.

The website redesign represents collaborative work of Marcy Gineris, web content manager and strategist; Jon Styer ’07, media specialist and graphic designer; Danny Yoder ’06, web designer and social media coordinator; and EMU Information Systems staff.

Gravity Group, a local brand and marketing consultant, advised the process.

Other schools to receive awards in overall website design include Virginia Commonwealth University and Duke, while Virginia Alumni Association, Virginia Tech and the University of Richmond received accolades in home page design.

CASE is the top international organization for communications professionals working in education.

— Mike Zucconi ’05

Teacher's Web Use Awarded Jennie Carr, a MEd student at EMU and fourth-grade teacher at Elkton Elementary School, was chosen as one of two recipients of the 2011 Virginia “Thinkfinity” Teacher of the Year award.

“Jennie is a resourceful and creative teacher so it comes as no surprise that she is the recipient of this award,” said Don Steiner, director of EMU’s MA in education program.

The award – supported through a grant from the Verizon Foundation – recognizes Virginia teachers who use “Thinkfinity” resources into the classroom. Thinkfinity is Verizon Foundation’s free web portal providing access to online instructional resources, including lesson plans aligned with state standards, reference materials and interactive tools for students, according to a Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) release.

“Great teachers are always on the lookout for new sources of lesson plans, reference materials and activities that engage students and support increased learning,” said Patricia I. Wright, superintendent of public instruction at the VDOE. Carr was nominated by her peers for the awards program. Nominations included lesson plans using Thinkfinity and a video demonstrating it in the classroom.

Carr received $1,000 stipend to conduct workshops on Thinkfinity, $1,000 unrestricted cash prizes and iPads. The gifts were provided through a Verizon Foundation grant.

— Mike Zucconi ’05 fall 2007 62 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

Martha Bender ’56 Stoddard, Kalona, Iowa, died Feb. 7, 2011 at Pleasantview Home at the age of 92. She completed her education in Newport News, Va., to become a registered nurse. Martha was a missionary nurse in Nigeria for a number of years. She also served at the Pleasantview Home as a nurse for 10 years. She was a member of the Salem Mennonite Fellowship Church.

Grace Gehman ’57 Aungst, McAlisterville, Pa., died Jan 30, 2010 at her residence at the age of 83. Grace graduated from Penn State College with a degree in home economics. She served as a missionary for 11 years in East Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya affiliated with both Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and MCC. She was a homemaker and frequently volunteered in her community.

Grace attended the Church of the Living Water in Mifflin, Pa. Margaret Fries ’58, Chesapeake, Va., died at age 76 on Jan. 11, 2012. She was a member of Mt. Pleasant Mennonite Church, where she was involved in various church groups. She was an X-ray technician for many years, including working for Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.

Vernon Zehr, Jr. ’58, Greenwood, Del., died October 16, 2011 at age 77. Vernon graduated from the University of Delaware in 1969 with a master’s degree in elementary and special education. He served as pastor of First Mennonite Church in Wilmington, Del., and was a teaching principal at Richardson Park Elementary School. Vernon was on the board of the Sunday Breakfast Mission for homeless men for 30 years and worked as a counselor at the mission.

Esther S. Jones ’61, Goshen, Ind., died at the age of 85 on Dec. 8, 2011, in the Indiana University Health Goshen Hospital. She made her home in the Greencroft Community for the past seven years. She attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. She taught school in Pennsylvania and Ohio for 35½ years, as well as teaching in Colombia, South America, for a year.

James Edwin Wenger ’61, Columbia, S.C., died in his home on Aug. 11, 2011 at the age of 72. James earned an MA in theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Tex., and a master of education degree at the University of the Americas in Cholula, Mexico. He served 12 years as a missionary in Latin America with Central American Mission.

From 1979 to 1996, he was a professor of distance education and cross-cultural ministries at Columbia International University (CIU), where he assisted in establishing an academic relationship between CIU and The Academy of World Missions in Korntal, Germany. A lifelong learner, James completed his formal education with a DMin from Western Seminary, Portland, Ore. He finished his career with Crusade for Christ,

working with faculty at secular university campuses. James was a member of Cornerstone Church in Columbia.

Ruth Sauder ’66 Durborow, Mount Joy, Pa., died May 17, 2001 at Hospice of Lancaster County at the age of 72. Ruth received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from EMU and a master’s degree in adult education from Indiana University. Early in her career, she taught at Locust Grove Mennonite School. She served with Eastern Mennonite Missions in Honduras and Guatemala. She also was director of Millersville International House. She was a member of East Petersburg Mennonite Church where she taught Sunday school and was a part-time secretary.

Paul Godshall ’70, Norristown, Pa., died peacefully in his sleep in his home on Sept. 9, 2011, at the age of 71. As a teenager, he entered voluntary service with a church in Matthias, Tex. He met Catherine (Cathy) Yost ’60 at EMU, whom he married. They were missionaries in Mexico City for 15 years under the Franconia Mennonite Board of Mission and Charities. The family then moved to Elkhart, Ind., where Paul received an MDiv degree from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. He then worked as a counselor. In 1991, Paul was called to be the pastor of the Durham Mennonite Church. Upon retiring in 2006, he and Cathy moved to Norristown and entered a three-year term of service with Mennonite Central Committee in West Papua, Indonesia, teaching in a theological school. Paul is survived by Cathy.

Kenneth L. Horning, Sr. ’70, MDiv ’77, Fleetwood, Pa., died July 7, 2011 in his home at the age of 76. He served as pastor at Oley Mennonite Church from 1972-1984 and Groveland Mennonite Church. In addition, he was an interim pastor in eight congregations in the Franconia, Atlantic Coast, and Lancaster Conferences of Mennonite Church USA. He was also a farmer, painter, and carpenter. He is survived by his wife, Selena Mast Horning.

Julia Ellen Mumma ’71, Parkesburg, Pa., died Dec. 12, 2011 at age 62, at the Essa Flory Hospice Center, Lancaster, Pa., after a seven-year battle with cancer.

She followed her nursing degree at EMC with a master’s degree from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. Julia continued nursing at Lancaster General Hospital long after her cancer diagnosis because she loved her work. Julia played the piano and sang in choirs in high school, college and church. She was active in her children’s school and church, and helped establish a youth program at Mount Pleasant Mennonite Church in Chesapeake, Va. She enjoyed learning and teaching about other cultures and being creative with crafts and decorating in the home. In her mid-fifties, she spent several highly enjoyable years in the Czech Republic teaching English and traveling.

Donald Wertz ’71, Goshen, Ind., died Oct. 22, 2010 at the age of 61. Don was a truck driver, working for Wertz Trucking, Inc., Viking Formed Products, and Steury Boat Company. Don loved to sing. He sang in the church choir, Evergreen Singers, and for over 40 weddings of family and friends. Don also sang in the Dutch Family Festival and in The Pirates of Penzance at the Bristol Theatre.

Irene J. Kanagy ’73, Indianapolis, Ind., died Aug. 15, 2011, at the age of 61. Irene taught English at Central Christian High School in Kidron, Ohio, from 1973-1977. She spent the next year touring the east and west coasts of the United States with a drama and musical group known as Covenant Players from California. Following this, she returned to her hometown of Belleville, Pa., where she taught English at Belleville Mennonite High School from 1978-1982.

Irene moved to Elkhart, Ind., where she lived for three years, taking classes at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in addition to working. She settled in Indianapolis in 1985 and lived there until her death. She received an MDiv degree in counseling and religion in 1989 and a master’s in sacred theology in 1990 from the Christian Theological Seminary of Indianapolis. She was a licensed marriage and family therapist and mental health counselor. From 1990 until she became ill, she worked as a therapist for the Employee Assistance Program at Community Hospital in Indianapolis.

She was a member of Shalom Mennonite Church where she served in many leadership roles.

Barbara Bowers Barrow, MDiv ’75, of Lynchburg, Va., died Dec. 5, 2011 at the age of 71. She received her BS degree in business administration from DavisElkins College in Elkins, W.Va, in 1968, and an MA in counselor education from James Madison University (JMU) in 1977.

Barbara was ordained as an elder in the United Methodist Church in 1978. She served as director of the Wesley Foundation at JMU; pastor of United Methodist Churches in Edinburg and Lynchburg; district superintendent of the Harrisonburg District of the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church; and Virginia Conference director of higher education and campus ministry. She is survived by her husband, Rev. Vernie Barrow.

Phyllis Jean Shenk ’77 King, Dayton, Va., died on Aug. 12, 2011 at the age of 56. She taught school for 5 years in Shenandoah County and for 16 years in Rockingham County, both in Virginia. She was a member of Christ the King Episcopal Church. Phyllis was especially interested in biking, hiking, cooking, reading, and gardening. She is survived by her husband, Sanford ’76, her brother, Keaton Shenk ’75, and her two sons and their spouses, Derek and Becca and Martin and Amber.

James (Jim) E. Millen, Jr. ’78, Akron, Pa., died at Landis Homes on July 2, 2011 at the age of 79. He was the long-time owner of Akron Insurance in addition to owning businesses in manufacturing, book distribution, and a restaurant. Jim combined his love for golf and real estate in building the Hawk Valley Golf Course. An avid sportsman, he hunted locally and in Alaska and Africa. He enjoyed being a pilot, flying for business, family and charity. Jim was a charter member of Akron Mennonite Church.

Christopher J. Yoder ’94, Harrisonburg, Va., died Aug. 31, 2011 at the age of 40. Chris was an artist, musician, and avid reader with a keen mind. He was affiliated with Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg.

Jody R. Knepp ’02 Schudel, Kalona, Iowa, died June 6, 2011 at the age of 31, following a courageous four and a half year battle with brain cancer. Jody graduated from Iowa Mennonite School in 1998. She was employed at RockwellCollins in Coralville for the past six years.

She was a member of the East Union Mennonite Church.

Marilyn “Grammy” Long Davis ’03 of Keysville, Va., died Nov. 15, 2011 at the age of 49. She was the youth coordinator for the Farmville District United Methodist Church and a member of Keysville United Methodist Church. Marilyn is survived by her spouse, George L. Davis MA ’07 (counseling) and five children, one of which, Joshua ’11, is an EMU alumnus and current seminary student.

Corrections The year of birth of Graham Elliot Strite, son of Ryan ’99 and Angela (Angie) Longenecker ’02 Strite in the summer 2011 issue of Crossroads was incorrect.

The correct date is March 30, 2011.

Sandra Waltner Huston '93 lives in Goshen, Ind. (not Berne, Ind.) Degree Key CLASS OF - attended as part of the class of a given graduation year, but did not complete studies here HS - high school degree from era when high school and college were one MA - master of arts MDiv - master of divinity PhD - doctoral degree SEM - certificate or other studies at the seminary level

Mileposts is compiled by retired physician Paul T. Yoder ’50, MAL ’92, who may be reached at paul.t.yoder@ emu.edu or at 540-432-4205. Feel free to send news directly to Paul or to the alumni office at alumni@emu.edu.

Winter 2008

crossroads eastern mennonite university

CENTER FOR JUSTICE AND PEACEBUILDING

EASTERN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY

GOOD AT BUSINESS

spring 2008

OUr Vision... do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 1

vol. 88, No. 3

Tough Man Tender Heart

Two examples of Matt Styer's photography and magazine covers.

Re-Designer of EMU's Magazines Mourned Matt Alan Styer ’05, the designer who originated the “look” of the magazine you are holding, Crossroads, and of another magazine produced at EMU, Peacebuilder, died on Dec. 19, 2011, at age 30, about a year and a half after being diagnosed with a form of leukemia.

Hired soon after graduating from EMU’s Visual and Communications Arts program, Styer was the first staffer in the university’s marketing and communications department to combine skills in photography, graphic design and videography into one full-time creative role. As part of redesigning EMU’s flagship magazines, Styer produced hundreds of eye-catching photographs, making the magazine as attractive to view as it was informative to read. He also designed posters, logos, brochures and websites.

His creativity helped earn EMU awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for “most improved” magazine in the southeast region of the United States and several “best in Virginia” awards from the printing industry.

Styer died in the University of Pennsylvania Hospital with his wife Lindsay Martin Styer ’05 by his side. In high school, Styer was known for his prowess in both soccer and football. By his mid-twenties, he was known for entertaining his wide circle of friends with his gourmet food creations and for being an avid bicyclist, in addition to his design and photography work.

Styer moved to Philadelphia in 2008 to be near the woman he would marry – Lindsay was enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania in law school (from which she graduated in 2011). He was enrolled in a master’s program in digital design at Philadelphia University at the time of his death.

Matt is the son, brother and nephew of EMU alumni. His brother, Jon Styer ’07, succeeded Matt in 2008 as EMU’s lead designer and photographer.

— BPL www.emu.edu | crossroads | 63

photograph by Jon Styer

CROSSING TO A NEW CULTURE Understanding being an “outsider” Dorca Kisare-Ressler, EMU’s director of International Student Services since January 2012, knows the loneliness of being far from home in a strange culture.

She first set eyes on Eastern Mennonite University when her husband, Dale ’84, enrolled in 1982 to finish his undergraduate degree after many years of mission-service work in Tanzania.

Dorca had never lived outside her home country of Tanzania before coming to the United States with Dale. When he started EMU, Dorca spent much of her time in their Harrisonburg apartment with their first-born son, Noel, then a toddler.

Back home, where her father was a Mennonite bishop, children were raised amid a proverbial “village” of female relatives.

Dorca was the baby in a family of 11 surviving children (out of 14 born to her mother).

Dorca was never alone there. She recalls a deep “level of trust” from living among her extended family spread through her home community.

In Harrisonburg in the early 1980s (and even now), people were busy with their own lives, and other Africans were few and far between. Friendships lacked depth to Dorca.

“I’ve always felt somewhat like an outsider,” Dorca told Crossroads, speaking in English richly accented with her mother tongue.

(She admits, though, that it can be tiring to repeatedly answer the question, “Where are you from?” after people hear her speak.)

Their second son, Kevin ’07, was born in Harrisonburg around the time that Dale graduated. Their third son, Patrick ’09, arrived after the family had settled in Lancaster, Pa., partly to be close to other Mennonites who had lived and worked in Tanzania.

64 | crossroads | fall/winter/spring 2011-12

All the men in the family, except for Noel, are EMU alumni, as are Dorca’s brotherin-law Everett Ressler ’70 and sister-in-law Phyllis Augsburger Ressler ’72, to whom she is close.

So, in a way, Dorca was already a member of the EMU family before resigning from a similar position at Messiah College to accept her EMU appointment as chief mentor to international students.

“Both Messiah and EMU are strong on service and serving others, while working for reconciliation in a broken world,” Dorca says. She believes strongly in the importance of a faith-based education that enables students to “take the road less traveled” and to care about humanity.

This belief not only reflects Dorca’s Anabaptist theology (she worshiped at Slate Hill Mennonite Church in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, before moving to Harrisonburg), it fits her academic background. After her sons were all in school, she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Millersville

University and an MS degree in college counseling from Shippensburg University.

“I’ve always been interested in what makes a person become who they are, in their spiritual and emotional journey over their entire life span.”

She is also interested in justice that is rehabilitative, rather than harmful. After earning her undergraduate degree, she worked in the district attorney’s office in Lancaster where she found that young people from impoverished backgrounds often didn’t have the benefit of advocates who cared about them, both before they committed juvenile offenses and after they were caught in the court system.

At EMU now, Dorca hopes to help both international and American students to successfully navigate across cultures, facing issues of diversity and discrimination openly and healthily. And, most of all, she hopes to make attending EMU less lonely for students far from home.  — BPL

➜ Putting smiles on student callers So far this semester, in an effort to raise funds to make college affordable for more students, our energetic callers have broken records: two nights in a row they set a record for nightly total ($6,725), and in five nights took in a total of $26,325. In one fivenight span, callers achieved their personal goals of $1,000 per night 13 times.

You may give online at

emu.edu/giving or phone EMU’s development office at

800-368-3383

These student callers are contacting people who have given in the past to EMU, but not yet this fiscal year or in the last year. Pledges and contributions to the University Fund through February totaled $90,800.

Every gift to the University Fund makes a difference. Generous matching gifts will make a total of $113,752 pledged or given through February!

Designate phonathon gifts for the general fund, for Eastern Mennonite Seminary or for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Put more smiles on students’ faces by making a gift!

EASTERN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY

A CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY like no other

emu.edu/giving

You don’t see it – but after you say, “Yes, I’ll give to the UFund!” – there’s a student with a big smile on his or her face.

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 65

EASTERN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY

PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID Harrisonburg, Virginia

Harrisonburg, VA 22802-2462 Parents: If this is addressed to your son or daughter who has established a separate residence, please give us the new address. Call 540-432-4294 or e-mail alumni@emu.edu

TELL US WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU as a result of your cross-cultural NEVER TOO LATE

WIDE WORLD OF MINISTRY

SUSTAINABILITY

spring 2011

emu... preparing students to serve and lead globally

SPORTS!

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vol. 91, No. 3

summer 2011

emu... preparing students to serve and lead globally

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 1

vol. 92, No. 1

The summer 2012 issue of Crossroads will focus on the 30th anniversary of EMU’s cross-cultural program. EMU was one of the first universities in the United States to make cross-cultural experiences a requirement for earning a bachelor’s degree. Now, in many cases, the children of alumni who spent a semester in a foreign environment are coming to EMU for their own cross-cultural education. What is the appeal of this experience? If you’re one of our alums, tell us what you learned from it. And, yes, we are even willing to hear about some of the not-so-great experiences you might have had in another culture.

fall/winter 2009-10

emu... preparing students to serve and lead globally

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vol. 90, No. 2

spring 2010

emu... preparing students to serve and lead globally

vol. 90, No. 3

We at Crossroads hope to publish a series of vignettes gathered from alumni in response to this appeal. Please provide us with your stories via:

emu.edu/crossroads/update Alternatively, email messages to the editor at: crossroads@emu.edu Or send information to the address listed in the Crossroads mailing box on this page.

We would like to receive information intended for the cross-cultural issue by May 1, 2012.