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2009-05-19 issue:

1,016 students graduate from four MC USA colleges, universities and seminary

Seminary graduates carry family legacy, three graduate with Goshen’s first Master’s degrees, Bluffton bus accident survivor receives diploma.

by Colleges, seminary and universities

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Eastern Mennonite Seminary
April 25
19 graduates

Three members of the Eastern Mennonite Seminary class of 2009 have followed in their families’ footsteps in graduating from Eastern Mennonite University and from EMS, both in Harrisonburg, Va.

Linetta and Joel Ballew and Rene Hostetter joined 16 classmates receiving degrees at commencement ceremonies held Apr. 25.

Fifteen students, including Joel and Linetta, graduated with master of divinity degrees. One student graduated with a master of arts in religion degree, and Hostetter and two others graduated with master of arts in church leadership degrees.

Linetta and Joel Ballew may be the first couple with a family legacy of graduating from the university and the seminary.

Linetta’s father, Robert Alley, graduated from EMS in 1972. Her mother, Linda Lefever Alley, graduated from EMU in 1973 and EMS in 2008. Both Linetta’s brother and her sister and their spouses also graduated from EMU.

Linetta is working as program director for Brethren Woods, a Church of the Brethren camp near Keezletown, Va. Joel is pastor of Lebanon Church of the Brethren in Mt. Sidney, Va.
Rene also continues a family legacy. Her parents, Darrel and Sherill Hostetter, both graduated from EMU and EMS.

She is moving to Indianapolis, Ind., to take an associate pastor position at First Mennonite Church.

Linetta, Joel and Rene are among 10 students in the class under the age of 30.
Willard M. Swartley, professor emeritus of New Testament at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, in Elkhart, Ind., addressed the graduating class.—Laura Lehman Amstutz


Eastern Mennonite University
April 26
464 graduates

Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va., held its 91st commencement on the front lawn of campus on April 26. EMU President Loren Swartzendruber presented 348 undergraduate, 95 graduate, nine graduate certificates and 12 study and pastoral ministry certificates during the ceremonies.

In her address, Joyce Bontrager Lehman, a 1965 EMU alumna, spoke from her perspective as a program officer for microfinance with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Financial Services for the Poor” initiative, she said: “I believe that real lasting change occurs only at the grass roots, one person, one family, one village at a time.”

Bontrager Lehman said that this conviction was solidified for her after starting up a microcredit program for women in Kabul, Afghanistan.

“For every academic or technical field represented in  this class, I can give examples of how your skills can be used to address critical global needs,” she said, adding: “You are uniquely prepared [at EMU] to meet these needs.”

The class of 2009 had 117 honors graduates— cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude, including three students who finished with perfect 4.0 grade point averages.—Jim Bishop


Goshen College
May 4
236 graduates

Goshen (Ind.) College’s class of 2009 consisted of 236 graduates—three of them candidates for master of arts degrees, 175 candidates for bachelor of arts degrees, 18 candidates for bachelor of science degrees, and 40 candidates for bachelor of science in nursing degrees.

A highlight of this year’s commencement on April 26 was the conferring of the college’s first master’s degrees. Three students—Mallory Kuhn of Spencerville, Ohio; Nayla Jiménez Cabezas of Cartago, Costa Rica; and Todd Weston of Lee’s Summit, Mo.—graduated with Master’s of Environmental Education degrees. The program is based at Goshen’s Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center near Wolf Lake, Ind.


From left: Mallory Kuhn, Nayla Jiménez Cabezas and Todd Weston graduated with Goshen’s first  master's of environmental education degrees. Photo by Luke Gascho.

Commencement speaker Stephen Charles Ainlay based much of his address, “A Pilgrim’s Mind,” on Mayflower, a 2006 book by Nathaniel Philbrick about the Pilgrims. Ainlay, who grew up in Goshen, earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology at Goshen College in 1973 and now is the president of Union College in Schenectady, N.Y.

“If you take seriously Goshen College’s motto ‘Culture for Service,’” he said, “you will inevitably confront challenges, perhaps not as dramatic as those faced by the Pilgrims but challenges none the less. The lesson we can all find in the Pilgrim experience is that those challenges—the ‘headwinds’ and ‘shoals’ of life—should be confronted with courage, perseverance and discernment.”

The class included 15 graduates with double majors. Thirty-six students graduated with highest honors—grade point averages of 3.9 to a perfect 4.0. In addition, 90 others were on track to achieve GPAs of 3.60 and above. This commencement was the third consecutive year, after a break of four decades, that the college has recognized such academic honors.—Richard Aguirre


Bluffton University
May 3
297 graduates

Ronald J.R. Mathies, former long-time executive director of Mennonite Central Committee, spoke at Bluffton University’s 109th commencement ceremony on May 3.

The ceremony was the culmination of the institution’s annual May Day weekend, and 297 graduates were recognized—the second-largest class to leave Bluffton.

Prior to his speech titled “Signposts of Security: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges,” commencement speaker Mathies was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the institution.

Mathies congratulated the graduating class on its achievements and noted they completed yet another step along the journey of life-long learning.

He told graduates that they are leaving Bluffton at an exciting and yet sobering time, something Charles Dickens characterized in his day with the expression: “It was the best of times with wisdom, light, hope and everything possible, and it was the worst of times, with darkness, despair and nothing possible”—an expression that holds true today.



Tim Berta, a survivor of the 2007 Bluffton baseball bus accident in Atlanta, Ga., celebrates after accepting his diploma from President James Harder. After two years of rehabilitation, Berta joined fellow graduates for the May Day ceremony on May 2 and walked across the stage on May 3. During the commencement welcome, President Harder paid tribute to Berta’s fellow teammates David Betts, Bryan, Ohio, and Tyler Williams, Lima, Ohio, two members of the 2009 class who lost their lives in the same bus accident.—Jill A. Duling

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