Class Year: 1975
EMU Alumni and Friends Tour to Israel and Palestine will have ‘lifelong impact’
Before her recent Eastern Mennonite University Alumni and Friends Tour to Israel and Palestine, Betty Holsinger Shenk ’75 “knew it would be great.” It turned out, though, to be more than that. “This was a trip of a lifetime,” she said. “Its impact will be lifelong.” During two weeks from Oct. 20 – Nov. 3, … More
Centennial worship offers thanks for 100 years of blessings and a call to listen
October 15, 1917, was the first day of classes at the new Eastern Mennonite School located in a rented hotel near Harrisonburg, Virginia. One hundred years later to the day, the school — now known as Eastern Mennonite University — concluded a special Centennial Homecoming and Family Weekend with worship in a near-capacity Lehman Auditorium. … More
Bibliophiles Delight: 100 Years of EMU Library History
From one book (Virgil’s Aeneid) to more than 500,000 items today, the library has always been a source of knowledge, wisdom and social life at first Eastern Mennonite School, then Eastern Mennonite College and now Eastern Mennonite University. Sadie A. Hartzler Library Director Marci Frederick combed carefully through the reports of previous directors to find … More
EMU Athletics timeline
1921 – Daniel (D.W.) Lehman becomes the school’s first athletic director and conducts weekly physical education classes for dormitory students. 1925 – Students are required to walk, do physical labor, or hike for a minimum of two hours per week. 1926 – Upon observing students playing ball, President A.D. Wenger notes that students need to … More
Centennial Award recipients Chester and Sara Jane Wenger honored for ‘rich lives of service, leadership and faith’
When Chester Wenger ’36 became acquainted with Sara Jane Weaver ’42, he found her “so beautiful and lovable I couldn’t resist,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. Something else beguiled Chester. “It impressed me to see a young woman stand up there teaching the Bible to a whole roomful of children,” holding their rapt attention. A … More
Alumna earns outstanding teacher award at Allegany College of Maryland
Sharon Yoder, associate professor of English, has been recognized as Allegany College of Maryland’s outstanding faculty member for 2017. She is a 1975 graduate of Eastern Mennonite University. Yoder received the Sanner Award for Outstanding Teaching, which is based on teaching excellence, guidance to advisees in pursuit of their goals and demonstrated human relationship skills. … More
Professor Robert Lehman led the way for EMU’s sustainability focus
Robert C. Lehman left an indelible mark on Eastern Mennonite University not only through his teaching — of physics, mathematics and astronomy from 1955 to 1980 — but also his firm commitment to and advocacy for the principles of sustainability. “I feel that you are one of the core of what I think a Christian … More
Election documentary ‘Hope Was Not On The Ballot’ explores the promise of Christian witness in tumultuous times
Three days before the 2016 presidential election, two Mennonites arrived in Washington D.C. from Ontario, Canada, on a kind of exploratory mission, a self-described “pilgrimage” to the American capital. Their pilgrimage was a reprise of one taken five years ago, when the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial was unveiled on the National Mall. Over the … More
Let your life speak: a Mennonite girl from Harlem
The seven-hour drive from Harlem, New York City, to Harrisonburg, Virginia, was filled with excitement, anticipation and a sense of purpose. Somehow I knew that I would never be the same once I stepped into this “new land,” this unfamiliar place that I would soon call “home” for the next four years. Everything was different yet … More
Cardiologist Chris Longenecker ’01 finds a niche with HIV/AIDS research in the US and Africa
How does a doctor decide on a medical specialty? Dr. Chris Longenecker ’01 can recount a family history in the medical profession, fluency in French, and a trip to southern Africa at the height of the AIDS epidemic as three conjoining strands that led him to his current research interest of cardiovascular complications of HIV/AIDS. … More
From ditto to digital, Weather Vane and loyal staffers still ‘let readers know how the winds are blowing on campus’
From the first “Purple Press” issue printed as a mimeographed, letter-sized paper in 1939 to the Weather Vane online, the EMU student newspaper has been a vessel of student expression for not only staff reporters, but for the entire campus community. In his 50-year history of the college, Hubert Pellman ’38 described the Weather Vane … More
My father’s ‘generous orthodoxy’: Sara Wenger Shenk ’75 on her father, Chester Wenger ’41, and his engagement with changing culture
Chester L. Wenger is “as old as EMU, with unabated fervor.” Son of A.D. Wenger, the second president of Eastern Mennonite, he earned three degrees here: high school in 1934, associate degree in 1936, and bachelor of theology degree in 1941. He was on the board of trustees in the late 1960s, and all eight … More