Class Year: 1991
Kim Blosser ’91, MA ’98 named president of Lord Fairfax Community College
Glenn DuBois, the chancellor of Virginia’s Community Colleges announced December 19 that Dr. Kim Blosser is the next president of Lord Fairfax Community College. Blosser’s selection follows a nationwide search that took six months, and attracted more than 100 candidates. Blosser, who currently works as LFCC’s vice president of academic and student affairs, will become … More
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
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
Planetarium on Vesper Heights and in Suter Science Center exposes generations to starry skies
The planetarium at Eastern Mennonite University – for many of those whose history with the school predates 2007, the words bring up many emotions and fond memories, whether those memories are of the original building on Vesper Heights (also known as “The Hill”) or the M.T. Brackbill Planetarium in the Suter Science Center. In the … More
100 Years of Sustainability in Park View, from farm-grown food to LEED buildings
With thanks to Kenton Brubaker, Beryl and Mark Brubaker, Clair Mellinger, Eldon Kurtz, Jonathan Lantz-Trissel, Ed Lehman and LeRoy Troyer. 1917 The school opens in Assembly Park. 1920 The school adds the 103-acre Whitmore farm to the west. Farmer D. Stoner Krady, paid $80/month (as much as a faculty member), is employed to work … More
Alumna of the Year 1991: Sheryl K. Wyse
Sheryl K. Wyse was named EMC’s 1991 “alumna of the year.” The award was presented during the Sunday worship service of EMC’s homecoming and parents weekend Oct. 13. Wyse has served 24 years in the Harrisonburg city school system, including 10 years teaching first grade, three years as instructional coordinator and nine years as principal–all … More
Linda Alley plans to move ‘more fully’ into callings as spiritual director, retreat leader and writer
“The very best thing about working at EMU is the people with whom I’ve worked,” says Linda Alley, who concludes 27 years of service with EMU in June. “Some have mentored me; some have called me mentor. Some have taught me important life lessons or listened/laughed with me. It is always a good day when … More
Distinguished Service Award 2011: Glen Lapp
For the first time ever, EMU’s annual Distinguished Service Award will go posthumously to an alumnus: Glen Lapp ’91. Glen’s life was cut short on August 5, 2010, when he and other aid workers with International Assistance Mission, a Christian charity, were gunned down in northern Afghanistan. Glen was a volunteer with Mennonite Central Committee, … More
Devon C. Anders ’88 named Business Person of the Year in January 2014
When Devon C. Anders ’88 was finishing his bachelor’s degree at EMU and heading into a career as a certified public accountant with a well-established firm, he probably would have looked bemused, or at least quizzical, if anyone had suggested that one day he would be named Business Person of the Year by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham … More
Ken J. Nafziger: making music with appreciative Cubans
When President Bill Clinton cracked a window open to Cuba, permitting scholars to apply for education-centered travel permits to Cuba from 1999 to 2003, EMU music professor Ken J. Nafziger seized the opportunity He brushed off warnings on the U.S. State Department’s website about the possibility of “intense physical and electronic surveillance,” which “may involve … More
A highlight on Calvin Shenk
Calvin Shenk ’59 does not have to face the existential question of whether he would be willing to die in a nonviolent act to save the life of another person. He would. The test came in 1985. Shenk and his wife Marie were leading an EMU group that was staying temporarily in a Palestinian community … More