Ray Gingerich Archives - �� News

Civil rights activist, pastor and social work professor Titus Bender was a catalyst for social change

Lauren Jefferson — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:42:53 +0000

When African American civil rights activist Vincent Harding and his wife visited Meridian, Mississippi, in the early 1960s, they met Titus Bender for the first time.

Bender, then a Mennonite pastor, activist and social worker, arranged to rendezvous with the Hardings at a local gas station to guide them into town. When the two men got out of the car, Bender greeted Harding with the traditional Mennonite greeting of the Holy Kiss — in full view of a group of older white men.

It was “a bold kind of risk-taking,” Harding remembered* — the same spirit that Bender brought back to his alma mater in 1976 after years of social activism, ministry and service. He taught in the social work department until his retirement in 1997.

Bender passed away Dec. 8, 2017, at Fairfax Inova Hospital. He was 85.

Titus and Ann Bender greet ��’s new president Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman during the week of her inauguration. (Photo by Andrew Strack)

A memorial service will be Saturday, Dec. 16, 2017, at 9:30 a.m. at Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Dr. Michael King and Joan Kenerson King will officiate. A reception will follow the memorial service.

Visitors are welcome at the family’s home, 1236 Quince Drive, Rockingham, VA 22801, on Thursday, Dec. 14, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Reflections from a colleague and friend

Ray Gingerich, professor emeritus of theology and ethics, first met Bender when the two were students at EMC in the late 1950s. Pre-figuring his time in ministry, Bender was then president of the Young People’s Christian Association (YPCA), which was for many years the largest active club on campus with most of the student body as members.

In 1977, when Gingerich arrived with his family to campus, “Titus was there,” he said. “By the next fall, he and I were team-teaching a course called ‘Peace and Justice,’ a course that marked the beginning of what is now known as the .”

The course was so popular, attracting around 70 students in its debut that fall of 1978, that two sections were formed. The duo continued to teach variations of the original course for the next 19 years.

“But of greatest importance to me was Titus’s impact on my own life and theology, made possible because of his deep engagement in the civil rights movement in Mississippi during the ’60s,” Gingerich says. “Though I never met him personally, Martin Luther King Jr., through Titus’s passion, became for me second to Jesus. My teaching at �� transformed my life. And Titus Bender — ever a dearest friend — played a central role in that transformation.”

In Mississippi

Titus Bender chats with a student at Eastern Mennonite College. (�� file photo)

Titus Bender was the middle child of nine, born to Nevin and Esther Bender in Greenwood, Delaware. He attended Lancaster Mennonite High School and then Eastern Mennonite College, where he met his future wife Anna (Ann) Yoder. After getting married in 1958, they moved to Mississippi, where they were directors of the Voluntary Service Unit.

Bender was a social worker in the state’s second largest city, and also pastored Fellowship Mennonite Church in Meridian, while Ann Bender was a schoolteacher in the first federally funded Headstart program – one of the first schools to be integrated in the area.

The Benders helped African Americans register to vote, aided in the rebuilding of bombed-out churches (70 alone in 1964-65) and worked with civil rights workers who came to Mississippi from the north. Among their many lifelong friends was Harding and his wife Rosemarie Freeney Harding, who became a catalyst for social change at Eastern Mennonite College.

Bender was a key founder of Pine Lake Fellowship Camp, one of the first integrated camps in the south where members of the Choctaw, African American, and White communities could gather.

In 1969, along with their three children, he and Ann moved to New Orleans, where he attended Tulane University and earned a PhD in social work. He then taught in the social work department for four years at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

In Harrisonburg

Four years later, their family moved to Harrisonburg. During his years at ��, he was involved in many community projects. In addition to his work with Gemeinschaft Home, he helped to found Brothers/Big Sisters of Harrisonburg and served on the State Chaplain Services Board.

In 1998, Ann and Titus Bender were co-recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Virginia chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. At the time, she was executive director of the Valley Program for Aging Services.

“Together, the husband-wife team embody the best of social work values,” said a press release quoted in the Daily News-Record. “…They build broken spirits with inspiration. They give hope where there seems to be none. Their home and hearts have always been open for those in need.”

Online condolences can be made by visiting or sharing a memory in the comments box below.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Pine Lake Fellowship Camp, 10371 Pine Lake Road, Meridian, MS 39307; or to the Eastern Mennonite Elementary School, 314 Cornerstone Lane, Harrisonburg, VA 22802, where their daughter Maria, a 1985 �� alumna, is the principal.

Portions of this article have been reprinted from an published in the Dec. 12, 2017, Daily News-Record.

*This anecdote is shared in (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010) by Tobin Miller Shearer ’87.

New Orie O. Miller biography to be celebrated by contemporaries at Anabaptist Center for Religion and Society meeting

Lauren Jefferson — Tue, 05 May 2015 18:20:26 +0000

He has seen more of the world than Marco Polo. He has opened more mission fields than David Livingstone. He has been as innovative in his world of church ministries as Thomas Edison was in the world of technology. Orie Miller may be the most remarkable Mennonite in our generation, perhaps of our century. –Robert S. Kreider, 1969

Orie O. Miller is a well-known name, but the reputation of this Mennonite lay leader, missionary, and businessman may grow, deservedly, in legend and stature with the publication of John E. Sharp’s long-awaited biography, ” (Herald Press).

Miller was a “20th century leader, and considering his extensive leadership in his day in many, many church institutions and agencies, it’s important to introduce Miller to 21st century leaders,” says ’63, steering committee chair of the (ACRS), a community of Mennonite elders and scholars who meet monthly for fellowship and intellectual engagement at �� (��).

The biography, six years in the making, was initiated and partially funded by ACRS. Other funders include the Brethren in Christ church, and two organizations that Miller helped found, and , known commonly by the acronyms of MCC and MEDA, respectively.

�� President says he’s looking forward to reading the biography. “For many years, I have heard fascinating stories about Orie O. Miller and his legacy from those who worked directly with him,” he said. “So many Anabaptist ministries and institutions launched by Orie have improved the lives of people around the globe. I am pleased this project was sponsored by ACRS and rooted at ��.”

At the ACRS May 11 Annual General Meeting, a handful of Miller’s contemporaries will share anecdotes and stories about this consequential man who, from his first pioneering trip as a relief worker to Russia in 1919, forever changed Mennonite education, business, relief work and peacemaking.

The meeting, which begins at 7:30 a.m. with coffee and pastries in the west dining room on the �� campus, is open to the public.

‘Visionary and hard-nosed realist’

Former colleague Calvin Redekop, the ACRS representative to the editorial committee, says Miller’s “work and leadership are difficult to condense.”

“He was a person who represented best the challenges and opportunities of his time, an unusual combination of visionary and hard-nosed realist who expected persons to be accountable,” Redekop said. “He was one of the most disciplined persons I ever knew.”

Redekop served under Miller as administrator of a post-war alternative service program called Pax. Redekop and colleague Paul Peachey ’45 had conceived this program in August of 1950, and a mere eight months later, with Miller’s support and that of MCC, “Paxers” arrived in war-ravaged Europe to help resettle refugees.*

Born in Indiana in 1892, Miller attended Goshen College before answering the call to engage in relief work in 1919 and shortly after, helping to form MCC, for which he served in various capacities, including executive secretary, from 1921-1963.

Miller helped to engage and steer Mennonite values and ministry into a global perspective, while integrating sound business and organizational principles.

He was “an incredible catalyst” with unique organizational skills, and “passionately committed to the church with a vision for mission,” says ACRS founder , who was director of an Anabaptist-Mennonite bookstore financed by Miller and other Lancaster businessmen in the mid-1960s in Luxembourg, Belgium. “He would start a project, then find the personnel and the organizations to carry it on.”

Seeing a need often meant forming an organization to meet that need: Miller was the motivating force behind the founding of many Mennonite organizations, including Mennonite Mental Health Services, Mennonite Indemnity, Mennonite Mutual Aid, Mennonite Travel Service, and several others.

Hundreds of young men were indebted to Miller – and had their lives changed forever – because of Miller’s creation and administration of Civilian Public Service, the alternative to military service that allowed conscientious objectors to fulfill their civic responsibilities.

Miller married into the shoe manufacturing business and ran it with acumen and dedication throughout his life. Yet “to the end his life, he maintained his vision for service, never allowing his considerable wealth to determine his needs,” Gingerich said, adding that Miller could have easily afforded a Lincoln Continental, but instead drove a Ford Falcon.

Miller died in 1977 at the Landis Retirement Home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, yet another enterprise he was instrumental in founding and supporting.

Keim’s work provides inspiration

A standard feature of the ACRS Annual General Meeting is a time to discuss the group’s ongoing work and vision. At one of those times, many years ago, members noted the need for a comprehensive biography of Miller that would address the full range of his personality and involvements not covered in a previous 1969 biography by Paul Erb.

Another inspiration for the Miller project was the work of the late Albert N. Keim ’63, professor emeritus of history at �� and an ARCS member. Keim’s biography of Harold S. Bender, a professor of theology at Goshen College and Goshen Biblical Seminary, was published in 1998.

“Harold Bender was tremendously influential on theological matters in the same way that Orie Miller was tremendously influential in shaping Mennonite influence today,” said ’64, ACRS interim director.

Miller’s accomplishments as a leader are widely recognized. �� houses an , which promotes interdisciplinary activities and scholarship modeled after the man’s visionary integration of business, mission, development, education, justice and peace.

In addition, ��, ACRS, Mennonite Central Committee, and Mennonite Economic Development Associates are in the early stages of planning a leadership conference at �� in early April 2016 that will highlight Miller’s leadership within the Mennonite church, according to, vice president and dean of the .

Editor’s note: In April 2015, the Pax program was chosen as the recipient of the annual Gandhi Center Community Service Award. To read about this event, click .

Veteran peacebuilder discusses global climate change as a destabilizing social and political threat

Robert Propst — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 20:30:10 +0000

Global climate change and human conflict are two different problems, dealt with by different groups, right?

Wrong.

In fact, the United States military combats terrorism and climate change. Both are huge threats to national security.

In this week’s Suter Science Seminar on the �� campus, professor connected two related issues that are central to the university’s educational mission and values: peacebuilding and sustainability. A research professor at ��’s , Schirch also serves as director of human security at the Washington, DC-based , which works to advance sustainable peace around the world.

Schirch’s perspective on climate change and global stability is bolstered by her wide travels; she has conducted conflict assessments and participated in peacebuilding planning alongside local colleagues in over 20 countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Kenya, Ghana, and Fiji. She earned a PhD in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University and is the author of a number of books and other publications.

After briefly explaining the science of global warming, Schirch focused on its political and social effects, rather than arguing for its existence. While much of the American public has varying responses and opinions to the concept of climate change, the view that global climate change is happening is uncontested in the Pentagon, as well as among the majority of the scientific community, she said.

The human response to climate change can be dramatic, Schirch said. When drought caused by global warming mixes with corrupt governments and religious extremism, terrorism can result.

In fact, retired naval commander Admiral T. Joseph Lopez, has argued that the conditions caused by global climate change will “extend the war on terror.” Lopez was among 11 retired military leaders contributing to a 2007 report, “.” Their findings and recommendations to the Department of Defense acknowledge the serious implications of political and social instability caused by the effects of climate change, Schirch said. (Schirch also referenced a 2014 report, “,” in which an expanded advisory board of 16 military leaders echoed the earlier findings.)

North Americans may be less aware of the implications of climate change, Schirch said, because “we actually are living in one of the most climate stable regions of the world.” Nations in the northern part of the globe are less affected by climate change. Ironically, these are the nations that tend to be the worst polluters of the atmosphere.

“As the sea levels rise in the decades and centuries ahead, there will be inundation of coastal areas with loss of settled areas and agriculture land, threats to water, and spread of infectious disease will stress the region,” Schirch said. The result will be forced migrations out of the most affected regions as land becomes unlivable.

Some activists claim that “climate migrants should have the right to move to the countries from which all these bad greenhouse gasses are coming from,” she added.

Though climate change poses serious threats, Schirch concluded with some hopeful ideas. “Climate change is a source of conflict, but it also has potential to be a motivator for collaboration and peacebuilding,” she said. Climate change has potential to bring humanity together with one common goal. She added that the Mennonite tradition has always supported the goals of peace and creation care, even before climate change was a problem.

In a formal response after the seminar, biology professor Jim Yoder described global climate change as a “wicked” problem, a thorny and complex issue that cannot easily be pinned down or solved. Ray Gingerich, emeritus professor of theology and ethics, reminded the audience that both a top-down and bottom-up response are required.

Schirch’s lecture was part of ��’s annual , made possible by the Daniel B. Suter Endowment in Biology. Six seminars by experts in their field will take place this semester. Lectures are free and open to the public.

Academics in the field of numbers

Tue, 18 Mar 2014 18:37:59 +0000

“When I first began working at Eastern Mennonite College,” recalls professor emeritus Wilmer Lehman ’57, “teaching at EMC was seen as a kind of mission of the church.” Back in the era of Sputnik, was a carefully calculated national priority, and teachers of mathematics were in high demand. This small private school struggled to compete with the demand for higher-level mathematicians generated by Cold War anxieties, especially given its status as a Christian-pacifist institution that garnered no funding for defense-related work.

But being a devout Anabaptist, Lehman opted to take the proverbial “road less traveled” in U.S. academia and returned to teach at his alma mater two years after graduation. “When I came [for the 1959-60 school year], I did not know what my yearly salary would be,” Lehman says. “I found that it was about $2,500, spread over nine or ten months – all of which it took just to live. We had to scrape by in the summers.” Later, Lehman would earn a with a math concentration from Cornell University and become a full professor at ��.

Lehman became the foundation of what has grown into a thriving program in the mathematical sciences. Early in his 40-year career at ��, he taught Millard Showalter ’62 and then recruited him to be a fellow faculty member. Lehman’s education continued, even as he was educating another generation. In the early 1990s, Lehman earned a second master’s degree (this time an , focusing on counseling) at in order to prepare himself for leadership roles in his congregation, Mt. Clinton Mennonite Church, and the conference to which it belongs.

Like Lehman, Showalter earned his graduate degrees while working for minimal pay at ��. Showalter holds two master’s degrees, one in math from the University of South Carolina and another master’s in arts (with a math major) from Vanderbilt, and an EdD from the University of Virginia.

“Millard was quite popular,” said Lehman, adding he was gifted at making math understandable and enjoyable. In fact, at one point Showalter’s students wore T-shirts that read “Millard’s Magnificent Mathematicians.”

Lehman and Showalter taught in tandem for decades – serving under four presidents and seven academic deans – until Showalter retired in 1998, with Lehman following in 2000. Both were beloved for their willingness to work one-on-one with students having difficulty in math, acting as both tutor and encourager.

In the summer 2011 issue of , Lehman displayed his “mission” approach to teaching in an anecdote recounted by Wayne Lawton ’71. Lawton had returned to college as an older adult and was struggling to catch up in math. Serving as a pastor in Waynesboro while taking classes, Lawton sheepishly approached Lehman, asking if more help might be possible. Lehman replied, “When you pastor a church, do you mind people coming to you for help?” When Lawton said no, Lehman replied, “Well, I don’t mind helping you!”

Showalter recalls his years teaching with Lehman at �� as “the best years of my life.” Although he struggled both to make math interesting to students and to integrate changes in technology and teaching methods, he credits his students for making his career memorable. “I was very fortunate to have had excellent math majors. My students not only challenged me to be a better teacher, but also brought creativity and a desire to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.” Perhaps because of his infectious enthusiasm – he once spent an entire sabbatical rewriting lesson plans to adjust to technological changes – it is no surprise that Showalter says: “If I were to again be given the opportunity to choose a life career, I don’t doubt that teaching mathematics at �� would be my first choice.”

Reflecting on the “ripple effects” coming from his lengthy career, Lehman realizes that he’s internalized some aspects of teaching. “I’m always on my best behavior, no matter where I go,” he says. “I never know when I’m going to run into a former student. I’ve run into them as far away as the Nairobi (Kenya) marketplace.”

In addition to Lehman and Showalter, four other �� alumni taught mathematical sciences for extended stints: two members of the class of 1962, Del Snyder and Donald C. Miller (who also attended the seminary in 1976-77); Roy E. Heatwole ’64; and John L. Horst ’60, who taught both physics and mathematics and coached award-winning teams in international math-modeling competitions.

When Joe Mast ’64 was a student at �� in the early 1960s his long-term goal was to be a high school math and physics teacher. “At the time, I did not aspire to teach at the college level,” he says. “[But] I had a great interest in astronomy and electronics.” His physics professor, Robert Lehman, encouraged him to pursue astronomy and return to his alma mater.

As a student at ��, Mast helped to manage the as chief engineer and station manager and was part of the Astral Society, which focused on astronomy. In the Cold War era, space-race money was available, and he received a special fellowship that allowed him to pursue a master’s degree and a PhD at the University of Virginia, both in astronomy. Upon returning to then-EMC as a faculty member, the college received its first computer under a grant to small colleges. Mast became ��’s first professor.

On sabbatical in 1978, Mast went to JMU, where he studied computer science courses, and later received a second master’s degree in computer science. He returned to ��, where he ushered in a two-year associate’s degree in computer processing, followed several years later by a major in computer science.

In response to a need by fellow �� employees for banking services, in 1969 Mast helped to found Park View Federal Credit Union, an idea originating with Dan Bender and developed by Robert Lehman. Three years later Mast began managing the credit union out of his office in the basement of the Suter Science Center, continuing for 10 years.

One of ��’s best-known mathematical sons is Robert P. Hostetler ’59, who retired from teaching in 1996 and only stopped writing textbooks in 2007. He now lives as a retiree within walking distance of ��.

Hostetler holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary education (math certification) from ��, a master’s degree in mathematics, and a doctorate in mathematics education, both graduate degrees from Penn State University.

Hostetler is perhaps one of the most successful authors of math education texts in any language; his books have been used widely by students and teachers for decades. �� 300 titles with Hostetler’s name as author or co-author reside on the Barnes and Noble website. Google Books puts the total count of books, editions, study guides – anything with his name – at about 2,400. Some of Hostetler’s dozens of textbooks have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese; they range from college algebra, trigonometry and calculus to The Mathematics of Buying.

One of Hostetler’s challenges as a professor, he says, “was how to share my Christian faith with students,” given the constraints of teaching at a state-supported university, which necessarily is based on the separation of church and state. After consulting with his pastor, Hostetler decided that he would “self-identify” with the faith when introducing himself to each new class. “I simply stated that I am a Christian; I believe in a living God to whom I pray for guidance in my teaching and relationships with you students,” he told them. “I want to do my best for you.” He says he sometimes learned the outcome of his “sharing of faith” years later, when former students would get back in touch and tell him, “Dr. Hostetler, guess what—I’ve become a Christian! What you shared in that first day of calculus class, I just couldn’t get out of my mind over the years, so I’ve made that decision!”

Outside of the university, Hostetler has shared his faith and enthusiasm for teaching and learning as a Sunday School teacher for more than 40 years.

In the spring 2006 issue of Crossroads, Hostetler spoke about an unusual sabbatical he took in 1997-98 during which he taught without pay at �� as a way of “going back to my roots.”

In comparing his classes at �� and those at Behrend College of Penn State University, Hostetler said the classes were similarly sized – about 30 to 32 students, with comparable academic abilities. He used the same textbooks (his own), the same curriculum and grading standards at both universities. Though the percentage of students at the high and low ends of the grading spectrum was the same, it was the middle group of students that surprised Hostetler. “At ��, the middle group of students went up in their performance [as the semesters progressed]; at Penn State, the middle group shifted downward.”

Hostetler attributed the improved performance of the average student at �� to “a more caring faculty, the work ethic of students at ��, the community spirit that helped each student to feel valued, and the fact that �� students act with Christian charity toward one another and help each other out.” Plus, he added, “attention was given to all students equally, rather than just to the excellent or the deficient.”

At the University Park Campus of Penn State, James L. Rosenberger ’68 is an internationally recognized statistician, with a master’s degree from Polytechnic Institute of New York and a doctorate from Cornell University. He says that �� professor Roy Heatwole first sparked his interest in working with statistics. Graduating with a major in math, Rosenberger was able to secure 1-W conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War by working as an analyst and programmer in the Cardiovascular Research Center at New York University Medical Center.

Rosenberger, who is now vice-president of the 18,000-member American Statistical Association, believes statisticians are uniquely situated in positions where ethical decisions are amplified. “We are constantly faced with real data which can easily be misrepresented for the benefit of proving a point. Understanding the importance of integrity informs much of my work,” he says. “I teach students and consult with researchers to honestly represent the uncertainty in the conclusions of a study or research experiment.”

During the past decade, Rosenberger has guided the development of an online professional master of applied statistics program at Penn State, aimed at mid-career professionals who cannot return to graduate school full time. “More than 500 students enroll in our graduate courses each semester, allowing us to extend the reach of statistics education beyond the campus,” he says.

To Rosenberger, statistics is “a wonderful profession.” Not only is it a challenge learning the language of scientific collaboration, but it is a quest for truth. “We can get involved in so many interesting disciplines and issues, always facing uncertain information and mountains of data,” he says, “to which we apply our tools and skills to uncover the truth.”

Rosenberger’s accomplishments include: a 2011 Distinguished Service Award from the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, election to Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, serving as program director at the National Science Foundation, and lecturing around the globe.

One of Millard Showalter’s students, Merle Reinford ’72, has gone on to earn a graduate degree in math (where most of his courses were easier than those at ��, he says) and to devote nearly 40 years to teaching math students at Lancaster (Pa.) Mennonite High School. Some semesters, he also teaches math as an adjunct at Millersville University.

Sharpening the minds of his high school students, he has spent 33 years coaching competitive chess, eventually getting elected president of the regional scholastic chess league.

Reinford’s coaching successes are dramatic. In 33 years his high school teams won 11 league titles, with runner-up success 13 more times. Reinford’s chess teams have accumulated a plethora of state competition titles, with a record of 315 wins to 90 losses and 23 ties. “I have used my enjoyment of the game to play chess with homeless men,” he says. “I am not sure if you could call that a ministry or not,” given how much fun he has.

After graduating from ��, Larry Lehman ’79 got a fellowship at University of Virginia, where he earned his doctorate. He credits two of his math professors, Millard Showalter and Del Snyder, with preparing him for his own professorship at University of Mary Washington, where he spent six years as chair of the math department. “They [Snyder and Showalter] emphasized not just knowledge of facts, but consideration of why things are true, how different mathematical concepts fit together.”

Larry Lehman emphasizes the role that �� played in his upbringing from childhood: “It was more than a school, but very much my home community.” He has embraced the educational spirit he saw in his �� instructors. “Teaching has its challenges, of course, particularly with finding new ways to interest and motivate students, but so far I am still enjoying the challenge.”

Wendell Ressler ’80 stayed in Harrisonburg to teach high school math and physics after he graduated from ��, and then earned his master’s degree from James Madison University. Ressler, who now holds a PhD from Temple University, found himself thirsting for more knowledge. “I loved studying analytic number theory,” he says. “In retrospect, it seems that I kept trying to get off the academic track, but curiosity kept pulling me back. Or, maybe I just liked being a student.”

Now a math professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., Ressler does research in the abstract stream of his field – automorphic integrals, Dirichlet series, and Hecke correspondence. He has an obvious affection for proofs and logic, which he says was nurtured by his �� profs. “By far the most important thing I learned from Millard Showalter and Del Snyder was how to prove things: how to think about proofs, and how to write them,” he says. “I didn’t have as many fancy courses in my background as many other students in graduate school, but that did not matter because I knew how to prove things.”

Ressler has also found himself living many of the core �� values of peace and social justice. “My with Ray Gingerich and Titus Bender influenced my thinking a lot. I volunteered with the Mediation Center and Christians for Peace when I lived in Harrisonburg, and with St. Vincent’s Peace Center in Germantown when I lived in Philadelphia. I did war tax resistance and eventually the IRS garnished my wages.”

Ressler is now focused on pursuing environmental justice. He volunteers at Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster, where he pays a voluntary “gas tax” to discourage driving and fund green upgrades for the congregation. He is an avid bicyclist, another love with roots at ��. “One of my housemates at EMC got me to buy a used bicycle. I loved riding around Harrisonburg and started commuting by bicycle to work. I estimate that I have ridden about 50,000 miles since I graduated from EMC.” Ressler believes that bicycles may help save us from the problems of internal combustion.

Deirdre Smeltzer ’87 returned to �� in 1998 after graduating from the University of Virginia with an MS and a PhD in mathematics.

Recalling her undergraduate years at ��, Smeltzer credits two professors, Millard Showalter in Calculus II and Del Snyder in Discrete Math, for nurturing her interest in higher-level mathematics.

“Millard made class interesting, and I found myself doing his homework first,” she says. “In Discrete Math, I discovered that I really loved the abstract, logical thinking required – much more than the hands-on labs of chemistry, which was another major that I was considering.”

As an �� faculty member, Smeltzer has taught courses on more than two dozen topics in her field and is author or co-author of a number of peer-reviewed articles and a textbook. In the current academic year, she has directed ��’s extensive cross-cultural programs on a part-time basis. In the late spring, she was named ��’s vice president and undergraduate dean, effective July 1, 2013.

During his time as an undergrad at ��, Mark D. Risser ’07 was involved in student government, the student newspaper, and was recipient of a presidential scholarship award. After graduating, Risser worked for �� in the admissions department before being pulled back to the discipline of rigorous academics. “Working in admissions was a fantastic experience, and allowed me to sink my roots a little deeper into the greater Mennonite community,” he says. “But as I didn’t have an outlet for the mathematical side of my brain, I started feeling the draw of returning to school for something math-related.”

After consulting with his former professors, Deirdre Smeltzer and Owen Byer, Risser was “hooked” on the idea of grad school, and decided to pursue a PhD in statistics. He is now a doctoral student at Ohio State University and recently received his MS (also at Ohio State), where he is also involved in research on HyFlex (hybrid, flexible) education methods. Risser says he hopes to have the kind of impact on a future generation of college students as his �� teachers had on him.

A common characteristic of all of our alumni in higher-level, academic studies of numbers is a strong appreciation for, and commitment to, the �� community. “Once I joined the �� faculty and took on its mission,” Mast says, “I was willing to sacrifice many things to advance the program to the best of my abilities.”

The faculty’s sacrificial efforts seem to have borne fruit: “My educational experiences grounded me in a distinctive Christian understanding where the things I believe impact my life style and goals,” says Jim Rosenberger from his perch as the leading academic statistician at the University Park Campus of Penn State. “In particular, integrity became a central core value from lessons learned at ��.” — Evan Knappenberger, class of 2014

Yoder’s Book Probes Jewish-Christian Rift

Jim Bishop — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 05:00:00 +0000

It didn’t have to be!

Two world religions, Christianity and Judaism, didn’t have to split the way they did.

That’s the belief of the late Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder as outlined in his posthumously-published book, “The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited.”

�� will examine Dr. Yoder’s assertions in a one-day seminar to be held Friday, Mar. 16, 2007.

John Howard Yoder

“Yoder declares that for Jesus to be faithful to his ‘divine mandate,’ his coming did not need to mark the beginning of a new, ‘Christian’ religion,” said Ray C. Gingerich, professor emeritus of theology and ethics at �� and planning coordinator.

“If Yoder, the most influential Anabaptist-Mennonite theologian of the past century, is correct, this book is destined to rank among his most significant theological works. It may well, within the coming decades, overshadow his ‘The Politics of Jesus’ in its significance for both local and global inter-religious peacebuilding,” Dr. Gingerich added.

“This gathering is designed to raise campus and community awareness and to stimulate a timely and much needed conversation around one of the most pressing inter-religious issues of today – How shall the Children of Abraham live together peacefully in the 21st century,” said Gingerich. “We hope this seminar will be a catalyst to organize more extended studies, stimulating our religious and political imaginations to work toward a more peaceful world.”

Keynote speakers for the conference are Peter Ochs, an Orthodox Jew and professor of Judaic studies at the University of Virginia, and Alain Epp Weaver, long-term Mennonite Central Committee representative in Palestine/Israel and specialist in Jewish-Christian dialogue.

In addition to the main input session, several special topics will be presented by �� faculty members Nancy Heisey, Ted Grimsrud and Gingerich with ample opportunity for questions, open discussion and a “Where to from here?” closing.

The program will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. The main sessions will be held in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at ��.

More information on the seminar is available by contacting Ray Gingerich at 540-432-4465.

New Book Details Personal Encounters With Biblical Text

Jim Bishop — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 04:00:00 +0000

How does the church address differences? How can the struggle draw persons together rather than drive them apart?

A new book, “Telling Our Stories: Personal Accounts of Engagement with Scripture,” explores these provocative questions as a diverse group of Mennonite pastors, administrators and teachers candidly tell their own stories of engagement with the biblical narrative. The 288-page volume also describes a model for such engagement.

The book, co-published by Cascadia Publishing House, Telford, Pa., and Herald Press, Scottdale, Pa., was co-edited by Ray C. Gingerich and Earl S. Zimmerman of Harrisonburg, Va.

Dr. Gingerich, professor emeritus of Bible and religion at ��, taught undergraduate and seminary courses in theology, church history and ethics at �� for nearly 30 years and helped lay the foundations for ��’s graduate .

Dr. Zimmerman is assistant professor of Bible and religion at �� and pastor at Shalom Mennonite Congregation in Harrisonburg. He is author of “Practicing the Politics of Jesus: The Origin and Significance of John Howard Yoder’s Social Ethics,” forthcoming from Cascadia.

�� persons in the collection of storytellers include Nancy R. Heisey, chair of the Bible and religion department at �� and president of Mennonite World Conference; Dorothy Jean Weaver, professor of New Testament at Eastern Menonite Seminary, former academic dean Lee F. Snyder and editors Gingerich and Zimmerman.

Others featured are: Malinda Elizabeth Berry, Liz Landis, Jo-Ann Brant, Owen E. Burkholder, J. Ron Byler, Lin Garber, Roy Hange, John Kampen, Richard A. Kauffman, Paul Keim, Marilyn Rayle Kern, Phil Kniss, James Krabill, Susan Mark Landis, Cynthia A. Lapp, G. Craig Maven, Keith Graber Miller and J. Denny Weaver.

“This is a great resource for small group studies, adult Sunday schools and undergraduate and seminary classrooms,” co-editor Earl Zimmerman noted.

Steve Carpenter, media columnist and Virginia Mennonite Conference administrator said of the book, “Like the vibrant voices of a mixed CD, ‘Telling Our Stories’ blends the personal tales of nearly two dozen Mennonite pilgrims.”

“Here is the stuff of life, of memory, of growth, of peoplehood, of identity, the story of encounter with the word. . . and with the Word,” added Loren L. Johns, dean of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind.

The book was released in August, 2006, and is available from most retail bookstore outlets and from www.amazon.com.

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