Crossroads Spring/Summer 2015 - Alumni Magazine of Eastern Mennonite University by Eastern Mennonite University

LAW SPRING/summer 2015

emu... preparing students to serve and lead globally

vol. 96, No. 1

photo by LINDSEY KOLB

crossroads

spring/summer 2015, Vol. 96, No. 1 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.; Evon Bergey, Perkasie, Pa.; Myron Blosser, Harrisonburg, Va.; Herman Bontrager, Akron, Pa.; Shana Peachey Boshart, Wellman, Iowa; Jonathan Bowman, Manheim, Pa.; Randall Bowman, Archbold, Ohio; Janet Breneman, Lancaster, Pa.; David Hersh, Line Lexington, Pa.; Gerald R. Horst, New Holland, Pa.; Charlotte Hunsberger, Souderton, Pa.; Clyde Kratz, Harrisonburg, Va.; Chad Lacher, Souderton, Pa.; Kevin Longenecker, Harrisonburg, Va.; E. Thomas Murphy, Jr., Harrisonburg, Va.; Kathleen (Kay) Nussbaum, Grant, Minn.; Dannie Otto, Urbana, Ill.; Mark Prock, Virginia Beach, Va.; Amy Rush, Harrisonburg, Va.; Judith Trumbo, Broadway, Va.; Anne Kaufman Weaver, Brownstown, Pa. Loren Swartzendruber, president; Fred Kniss, provost; Kirk Shisler, vice president for advancement; Andrea Wenger, marketing and communications director. Lauren Jefferson Bonnie Price Lofton Editor-in-chief Issue editor lauren.jefferson@emu.edu bonnie.lofton@emu.edu Jon Styer Braydon P. Hoover Designer/photographer Mileposts editor jon.styer@emu.edu braydon.hoover@emu.edu Lindsey Kolb Kara Lofton Photo mgr./proofreader Issue editorial assistant lindsey.kolb@emu.edu kara.lofton@emu.edu Marcy Gineris BJ Gerber Web content manager Mailing list manager marcy.gineris@emu.edu bj.gerber@emu.edu 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: Marcia Augsburger ’81 is a partner in the global law firm DLA Piper. Based in Sacramento, California, she often litigates multi-million-dollar cases involving healthcare. Story on page 16. Photo by Jason Sinn Photography. POSTMASTER: Submit address changes to: Crossroads Eastern Mennonite University 1200 Park Road Harrisonburg VA 22802

Cert no. SW-COC-001635

President Loren Swartzendruber ‘76, MDiv ‘79, DMin

Making an Impact in the Legal Field This Crossroads features a remarkable array of alumni and faculty, most of whom majored in one of the classic liberal arts as an undergraduate before embarking on a career path to legal work. You’ll see a range of opinions and approaches. Pennsylvania Judge Jeremiah Zook ’97, for example, explains why he believes in capital punishment, while restorative justice expert Howard Zehr presents arguments against the death penalty. You’ll learn of three women, trained as lawyers in their home countries with further education at EMU, who have advocated for human rights under dangerous conditions in Papua, Libya and Kenya. You’ll learn that intellectual property law is fascinating, as explained by a patent examiner, two intellectual property lawyers, and an administrative trademark judge. A decade ago, EMU developed a minor in pre-law as an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental minor. As exemplified by the career paths of many alumni, students can pair various undergraduate majors with their interest in law as steps towards interesting work. A pre-law minor matched with a biology major might lead eventually to a career in environmental protection. One could move from sociology to juvenile justice; from peacebuilding and development to immigration law. Legal questions surface frequently in the life of our institution, a $35-million enterprise that employs nearly 400 faculty and staff, and educates nearly 2,000 students. Higher education is highly regulated by federal, state and local statutes, regional accreditation requirements, privacy laws, and financial reporting mandates – all of which are complex and regularly changing. EMU has been fortunate to be able to tap the legal expertise of Donald Showalter (see his story on page 7) and his colleague, P. Marshall Yoder. Not only are they highly qualified attorneys, they are alumni who understand the values undergirding the university’s intended actions. As you peruse the 40 articles and dozens of photographs in these pages – and make plans, we hope, to come to Homecoming and Family Weekend in October – you should know that this magazine marks the departure of Bonnie Price Lofton as EMU’s chief editor since 2006 and the arrival of Lauren Jefferson in that role. Bonnie is heading to a book project she has long contemplated, while Lauren comes with a rich background in newspaper work, plus one master’s degree related to literature and another underway pertaining to education. Working collaboratively for more than a year, the two writer-editors have become friends. Please join me in thanking Bonnie for her years of service and in welcoming Lauren.

Loren Swartzendruber, President

Judge Gonzalez Sets Precedent

Believed to be EMU’s first Puerto Rican graduate, this judge is the presiding justice of the Appellate Division, encompassing Manhattan and the Bronx.

In This Issue

Intellectual Property Law

Four alumni enjoy intellectual property protection, working in an area critical to the functioning of our economic system.

Then Roomies, Now N.C. Lawyers

At EMU, the two were best friends. They even ran together to be SGA co-presidents. Both attorneys now, they live five miles apart in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Restorative Justice in Schools

The theories and practices first developed as alternatives to the criminal justice system have much to offer schools and education.

Pioneering Howard Zehr

As he moves into semi-retirement, Zehr is recognized as a pioneer of restorative justice and catalyst for the field’s expansion across the world.

Environmental

Protection

Two lawyers working in different parts of the United States refer to childhood memories as motivations for environmental advocacy.

For

Those in Great Need

Shanti Martin Brown ’01, Kara Hartzler ’04, and Christa Obold Eshleman ’97 help marginalized and undocumented people.

Offering Solid Alternatives

Virginians are being encouraged to try mediation, restorative justice and other alternatives before resorting to the police and courts.

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 1

JUDGE GONZALEZ Setting Precedent

IN 1968, he became EMU’s first Puerto Rican graduate.*1In 2009, he became the first Puerto Rican to serve as presiding justice of the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department with jurisdiction over Manhattan and the Bronx. In the intervening decades, Luis A. Gonzalez accumulated a string of other firsts for a Puerto Rican migrant who grew up in Hell’s Kitchen: the first to sit on New York City’s Housing Court; the first to win a primary election to the * Luiz A. Gonzalez was likely the first native of Puerto Rico to graduate from EMU, but EMU’s way of keeping records in the 1960s did not allow EMU’s current registrar to confirm this. If anybody knows of an earlier Puerto Rican graduate, please email this information to Crossroads@emu.edu.

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Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County; the first appointed to the Appellate Term of the State Supreme Court; and the first administrative judge of any Supreme Court in New York State. (Supreme Courts are found in each of its counties, and, despite the name, are not the highest courts in the state.) “You pray that God gives you the wisdom to do the right thing,” says Gonzalez. Being a judge, he continues, carries “tremendous responsibility.” His decisions can affect people’s lives, liberty and fortunes in drastic ways. As the presiding justice of New York’s Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, Gonzalez now supervises 19 other

judges who hear appeals from New York City’s trial courts. They hear pretty much every sort of case – criminal, family, personal injury, employment disputes – but, Manhattan being Manhattan, much of their docket consists of “very, very, very complicated commercial litigation.” Millions of dollars might be at stake in any given case. And because just a handful of cases go on to the state’s highest court, Gonzalez and his colleagues generally represent the end of the line and the final call. For example: although Bernie Madoff was convicted in federal court for running the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history, ensuing civil matters brought by bilked investors have come before the

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photo by steven stauffer Luis A. Gonzalez '68 earned his law degree at Columbia University and went on to rise through the judicial ranks of New York City.

court where Gonzalez presides. As Crossroads goes to press in the spring of 2015, the court is deciding a highly watched privacy case involving Facebook and the extent to which law enforcement can obtain personal information from user accounts. “Every judge brings to the bench his or her set of values,” Gonzalez says. “I like to think the set of values that I bring to the court have been structured by my experience as a Christian and the foundation that was laid at Eastern Mennonite.” Gonzalez’s path to Harrisonburg began when he met a Mennonite on an alternative service term in New York City. He got involved with a Mennonite church in the city, earned degrees from EMU in

history and social science, and thought he was going to be a teacher. But, he says, the Lord moves in mysterious ways. Plans change. By 1975, Gonzalez had a law degree from Columbia University, after which he spent about a decade working as an attorney in various capacities: for New York City, for New York State, in private practice, for the government of Puerto Rico. He first became a judge in 1985, appointed to the city’s housing court where he helped landlords and tenants sort out their quarrels. Over the next 30 years came a succession of elections and appointments to higher courts. In June 2015, Gonzalez sat temporarily on the New York Court of

“You pray that God gives you the wisdom to do the right thing.” Appeals – the highest court in the state – in place of a recused judge. “That is an incredible honor bestowed upon me,” says Gonzalez. “Eastern Mennonite put me on a trajectory for a lot of firsts.”  — Andrew Jenner www.emu.edu | crossroads | 3

TAKE THEIR WORD FOR IT Intellectual property law is exciting IF YOU SAW THE WORD “JIN-JA,” what would come to mind? What if you saw it on a label featuring the spiky red flower of Zingiber officinale? Or what if you spoke a non-rhotic dialect of English, meaning you’d pronounce “Jin-Ja” more or less the same as you would “ginger”? And does any of this affect whether the maker of a gingery beverage called Jin-Ja should be allowed to register the term as a trademark? Such were the questions recently pondered by David Bucher ’74 and two other administrative trademark judges on the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). On initial review, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) said no. But after the maker of Jin-Ja appealed, the matter ended up on Bucher’s docket. 4 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

Though Bucher agreed with the original ruling, the two other judges on the panel did not. Case closed. Jin-Ja is now a registered trademark, and Bucher was left to write his dissenting opinion. Although most of his written opinions are unanimous (the 19 TTAB judges are randomly assigned to hear cases in groups of three), Bucher finds dissents and concurrences – where he agrees with the majority ruling, but for different reasons – the most fun. That’s because he’s the only writer and doesn’t need sign-offs from other judges on the “creative bons mots” (as he puts it) that he tries to write into his legal opinions. This isn’t the kind of legal material that often makes the headlines or the movies. There’s not a lot of high drama. And from the outside, the issues can just

seem silly (see, for example, Bucher’s 2009 dissent in In re Chippendales USA, Inc., where he argued that the bowtie and cuffs worn by Chippendales’ male strippers deserved trademark protection). At the same time, intellectual property protection is a key underpinning of our entire economic system. The shelves at a typical supermarket, Bucher says, are lined with about 40,000 different trademarks. And the TTAB does make the occasional cultural splash, as it did in 1999 and again in June 2014, when it cancelled some of the Washington Redskins’ trademark registrations on grounds that the name of the city’s NFL franchise is disparaging to Native Americans. (Bucher was not on either of the panels that issued those decisions.) “That’s one of those things where there’s

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“Every applicant is an inventor, and I feel like I have the responsibility not to discourage these inventors for applying for patents. I try to encourage that atmosphere of innovation.”

photo by jon styer David Bucher '74, who has a law degree from George Washington University, is an administrative trademark judge on the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

a pretty strong connection between what seems to be an arcane area of law and an everyday issue that this metropolitan area continues to struggle with,” he says. Bucher has been with the USPTO since the early ’80s. After majoring in business at EMU, he earned a law degree from George Washington University and took a Peace Corps assignment in Barbados (“tough duty, but someone’s got to do it”). Afterwards, at a time when jobs for attorneys were scarce in the Washington D.C. area, a friend of a friend pointed him toward an opportunity at the USPTO. Though he’d never taken an intellectual property class in law school, he gave it a shot. “I just kind of fell into the job and developed a passion for trademark law,” he says. Bucher began as an examining attorney tasked with reviewing up to 2,000

trademark applications per year. That’s Examiners like her also have quotas about one application review per hour: to meet. Every two weeks Wu has to searching the ever-growing database process at least four new applications of previous registrations, ensuring the and four amendments. Each one requires application met various statutory and careful reading of the application to fully technical criteria, and making a deciunderstand the what, why and how of sion on whether the applicant should or the New Thing the applicant wants to shouldn’t be granted exclusive use of the patent. Then she’ll begin comparing the particular word or mark. (One of the New Thing to every other similar thing thousands of trademark applications that that already exists and decide whether crossed his desk was for O.J. Simpson’s the New Thing does or doesn’t merit patsignature, back when Simpson was just a ent protection. retired football star.) “It’s never boring or dull. Every case is By 1987, Bucher had been promoted different,” says Wu, who works from her to executive director of the trademark home near Richmond, Virginia. “Every examining operation. Over the next applicant is an inventor, and I feel like I dozen years, he oversaw the agency as it have the responsibility not to discourage grew from 100 to 400 attorneys. He also these inventors for applying for patents. helped put in place its first telework pro- I try to encourage that atmosphere of gram. He was appointed to the TTAB in innovation.” 1999. Its judges don’t break down along Wu majored in chemistry at EMU, the same conservative-liberal line that and then spent years as a developer for divides the Supreme Court, but they do a company that designed software for have their own proclivities. simulations of chemical processing. The “I’m one who chafes if a decision ends move to the patent office was a way “to up being made in some sort of technical go back to chemistry instead of doform over substance,” says Bucher, who ing computer stuff.” For a while she doesn’t like seeing someone score a big reviewed chemical coatings, then shifted windfall on a technicality. “I guess I’m over to batteries (the rise of electric cars more on the big-picture side.” has sparked a scramble in the industry The “P” in USPTO stands for Patents, to stake out intellectual property claims) an entirely different branch of intelbefore moving to metallurgy. Innovation lectual property where Jenny Wu ’92 continues fast and furious, and applicahas spent the past four years as a patent tions have piled up in a two-year backlog. examiner. Unlike trademark examiners – There’s plenty more metallurgy to keep generalists concerned with the meanings her occupied. conveyed by words and symbols – a patGiven the complexity of navigating ent examiner needs specialized expertise federal intellectual property regulations in particular fields. – and the disputes that inevitably arise Wu works in Technology Center 1733, over intellectual property after registrawhich handles patent applications related tion – this particular ocean is swimming to metallurgy. Lately, she’s been spending with lawyers. a lot of time evaluating patents for alloys Some, like Peter Kraybill ’97, help and alloy production processes used by people navigate the complex process of the auto industry. filing patent or trademark applications. www.emu.edu | crossroads | 5

photo by kara lofton Jenny Wu '92 majored in chemistry at EMU, and then spent years as a developer for a company that designed software for simulations of chemical processing, before shifting to the federal government where she evaluates patents for alloys and alloy production processes.

In 2014, Kraybill filed more than 60 trademarks. (For a story about his firm, see page 46.) Others litigate intellectual property disputes. If Company A thinks its patent or trademark is being infringed by Company B, A can “assert” its patent against B in court (a regular civil court, distinct from Bucher’s administrative court, which only deals with disputes related to trademark registration itself ). “I like the chance to think creatively about how to rebut arguments made by the other side,” says Eric Rutt ’01, who specializes in intellectual property litigation as an associate with Wolf Greenfield in Boston. He enjoys the “chess match” aspect of arguing a case in court: “You have a very concrete challenge before you. It’s very, very clear what counts as a win and a loss.” Rutt recently represented, for example, a defendant accused of infringing another company’s software patent. The case involved the most complex series of 6 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

briefs he’d ever seen. “In the thick of it, it was a little exhausting, but that’s where you get the most interesting work and where you grow the most as well,” says Rutt. The case was dismissed through summary judgment. Mark one in the win column for Rutt and his client. Another recent dispute over the functioning of an adjustable bed got a little more complicated. Rutt’s firm got the infringement claims against his client dismissed (win), and then proceeded to win a jury trial on a breach-of-contract counter-suit his client leveled against the other maker of adjustable beds (doublewin). Pulling it off required Rutt to “translate the issue into simple concepts for a jury, and present a compelling moral story to make the jury care,” Rutt wrote in an email to Crossroads. The gray areas in patent law are huge. In a typical infringement case where he’s representing a patent owner, Rutt has

to argue that the patent is wide enough to cover the product that’s accused of infringement but narrow enough that it’s distinct from previously existing technology, as required to obtain a patent in the first place. “This requires that patent lawyers be able to find distinctions that allow them to simultaneously argue for broad and narrow interpretations of the patent,” he continued. Rutt credited former professors at EMU – in particular Glenn Kauffman, class of ’60, (teaching chemistry) and Bill Hawk, MDiv ’74, (philosophy) – with laying “the foundations for flexible thinking by encouraging students to look at an issue from many angles.” “I don’t remember 99% of the details that I learned in my chemistry and philosophy classes,” he wrote. “But the modes of thinking have stayed with me and I use them regularly in the practice of law.”  — Andrew Jenner

photo by Mike Miriello

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Donald E. Showalter '62, the first alumnus to earn a law degree, has been EMU's attorney for decades.

DONALD E. SHOWALTER

First EMU Grad to Earn Law Degree

The ink was hardly dry on the law diploma of Donald E. Showalter ’62 when the local court appointed him to defend a young woman accused of murder. In the end, after the jury deliberated for only 20 minutes, the woman was acquitted. “I was instantly Perry Mason,” says Showalter, referring to a lawyer on a popular TV show. But he wrestled with the moral dilemma of seeing his client go free even after she admitted guilt at the subsequent trial of another suspect in the murder. This is called “double jeopardy,” and a person cannot be re-tried. Showalter vowed to never again take a murder case. A few years later a more high-minded and groundbreaking case came his way – Wisconsin vs. Yoder – that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The state of Wisconsin was trying to force its Amish citizens to comply with the mandatory school law, and the Amish wanted to continue their practice of quitting school after eighth grade. At the request of John A. Lapp '54, his college history professor and later Mennonite Central Committee executive director, Showalter filed an amicus curie brief that defended the Amish on the basis of the religious freedom clause of the First Amendment. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Amish, with Chief Justice Warren Burger using words from Showalter’s brief in his majority opinion. Now 74, Showalter is the oldest and longest-serving active attorney in Harrisonburg, working 50 years for one

of the Shenandoah Valley’s largest and oldest law firms, Wharton, Aldhizer & Weaver. For most of those years he has been the official lawyer for the town of Broadway, where he was born and raised and still lives. For most of those years he has also been EMU’s attorney and served the Mennonite Church in tax and insurance regulatory issues. He is a founding trustee of Mennonite Praxis Mutual Funds. For 35 years Showalter taught business law at EMU, taking pleasure in seeing some of the accounting and business majors go on to law school. His daughter, Anne Showalter '90, also became a lawyer (see page 8). Two other distinctions for Showalter are that he was the first EMU graduate to earn a law degree and he was elected a “fellow” by the Virginia State bar, which places him among 1% of the practicing lawyers in Virginia. George Aldhizer II – a Broadway attorney, state senator and family friend – was Showalter’s mentor for much of his life. He influenced him to overcome his sense of intimidation and enter the University of Virginia law school. Upon graduating in 1965, Showalter joined Aldhizer’s firm. Founded in 1845, the firm has 17 attorneys and satellite offices in Lexington and Staunton. Showalter has been involved in almost every aspect of his full-service firm, but in the last 25 years has narrowed his practice to corporate issues, agricultural cooperatives and administration of estates. He is one of the few agricultural attorneys in the state, specializing in co-ops in milk, tobacco, poultry, feed and fertilizer. At EMU, Showalter majored in history and English and met his wife, math education major Marlene Collins ’62, who taught mathematics and psychology at James Madison University and the University of North Carolina before retiring. As for Don, “I’m having too much fun to retire.”  — Steve Shenk

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 7

photo by Randy Berger Photography Anne Showalter '90 followed in the footsteps of her father, Donald E. Showalter ’62, and become a lawyer. She is an in-house counsel for the global healthcare company GlaxoSmith Kline.

ANNE SHOWALTER

Corporate Attorney in Chapel Hill, N.C. After graduating from EMU in 1990, Anne Showalter, who majored in biology and English, spent the summer preparing for medical school at the University of Virginia (UVa) in nearby Charlottesville. Soon, however, she changed her mind. “A few weeks before medical school was supposed to start, I got cold feet,” she said. “I wanted to be a psychiatrist, but I wasn’t sure I could handle the more traditional medical rotations that were required to get there.” So Showalter ended up in graduate studies in English literature at UVa, earning a master’s degree the following year. Her first job was teaching freshman English at James Madison University in Harrisonburg. At age 22 – and looking even younger − she was standing in front of students who weren’t much younger than she was. “Are you really our teacher?” asked one student. After three classes of similar annoying questions, Showalter went to her fourth class early and sat in a student desk. She waited for 10 minutes after the class was to start, noting that the students were getting agitated about their instructor’s whereabouts. She then stood up, walked to the front of the class and said, “Well, if no one else is going to teach this class, I will.” She started to call the roll, then stopped and said, “I’m just kidding. I’m really your teacher.” Showalter decided to follow in the footsteps of her father – Donald E. Showalter ’62 of Broadway, Virginia – and

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become a lawyer. She was accepted into the UVa School of Law, graduating in 1995 in the top 15 percent of her class. For the next year, she was a law clerk for a judge in the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. From 1996 to 2002, Showalter worked for a top Boston law firm, Hill & Barlow, where she was nominated for a partnership before the firm went out of business. After a year as a corporate attorney in Minneapolis, she moved to North Carolina, where she was general counsel for two different corporations over the next five years. Since 2010, Showalter has been assistant general counsel for legal quality at a global healthcare company that researches and develops medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products. London-based GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has 100,000 employees in 115 countries. GSK traces its history as far back as a pharmacy in London in 1715 and a drugstore in Philadelphia in 1830. Showalter, who lives and works in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is responsible for improving the processes, efficiencies and quality of legal services in GSK’s legal department, which includes over 700 legal professionals in 47 countries. Her job takes her to many countries, including three years in Belgium, where GSK’s vaccine business is located. “What I love most about GSK is working for a company that improves the lives of others,” said Showalter. “In addition to developing and manufacturing traditional childhood vaccines, we’re also developing vaccines to fight diseases in the developing world, such as malaria and Ebola.” Outside of work, Showalter enjoys spending time with her husband, Stéphane Honbon, and two children, as well as scuba diving and cooking.  — Steve Shenk

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photo by Randy Berger Photography

ANGIE SWARTZ STEPHENSON

Assistant Attorney General for North Carolina Enforcing child-abuse laws and ensuring children are protected are among the daily job duties of Angie Swartz Stephenson ’90, an assistant attorney general for the state of North Carolina. Recently, she helped negotiate an agreement with the Mexican Consulate in her state that would, among other things, re-unite Mexican and Mexican-American children with their families who are deported to Mexico. With this agreement, signed on March 25, North Carolina joins childwelfare systems in other states that have similar agreements in place with the Mexican Consulate. Stephenson also represents the state in appeals by people who are convicted of assaulting children. In a recent case that was appealed to the state Supreme Court, she succeeded in keeping behind bars a man who abused his girlfriend’s daughter. A social work major at EMU, Stephenson began to develop an interest in advocacy, and she thought about becoming a social worker and lawyer. “Professors Mary Jane Fox and Vernon Jantzi had a tremendous impact on me.” After graduation, though, she returned to her native Oregon to work in community mediation and adult mental health. Then she moved to the island of Maui in Hawaii, where she took a job with the state as a child protective social worker. “I really enjoyed the work, especially the court involvement,” says Stephenson. “Some of my job duties included writing court reports, testifying in court, and interacting with attorneys and judges.” After marrying Phillip Stephenson, she moved to North Carolina, where she was a foster care social worker until she entered law school at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Eventually she enrolled in the school’s dualdegree program of law and social work, earning both JD and MSW degrees in 2003. Following three years in private law practice, Stephenson found her dream job – a job that combined law and social work and gave her contact with social workers on a daily basis. In 2007, she became an assistant attorney general for North Carolina in the area of child welfare. As a lawyer for the state, her client is the Child Welfare Section of the Social Services Division. She defends the division when it is sued or when someone contests a licensing action. She also advises her client and county departments of social services about child welfare issues. “I do quite a bit of training, assist with federal funding issues, and work with a committee to revise the North Carolina statutes that govern child welfare,” she says. In

Angie Swartz Stephenson '90 is employed by the state of North Carolina to represent the Child Welfare Section of the Social Services Division.

addition, Stephenson represents the state on appeals of cases involving crimes against children. In 2013, she was elected to a one-year term as president of the American Association of Public Welfare Attorneys, after serving as an officer for the two previous years. “My job is a dream job because I am able to work in a field I care deeply about – child abuse and neglect – and it provides an opportunity to use both my social work and legal education,” she says. At EMU, Stephenson’s roommate and best friend was Anne Showalter '90, an attorney profiled on page 8. They even ran together to be co-presidents of the Student Government Association (unsuccessfully). Still friends, they live five miles apart in Chapel Hill. Off the job, she enjoys time with her husband, 9-year-old son and two dogs. She volunteers with the Parent-Teacher Association at her son’s school and Carolina Border Collie Rescue.  — Steve Shenk

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 9

FOR NATIVE AMERICANS Preserving land, water and other rights NOT LONG AFTER Dennis Glanzer ’73 plication of ‘Navajo custom’ in probate married a Navajo woman and started law matters,” Glanzer writes in an email from school at Arizona State University, he his Arizona home. “Together Judy and faced a family tragedy that led him to the I wrote a brief to support application work he does today. Glanzer’s brother-in- of the principles well known to Judy’s law was killed in a car accident. mother.” His brother-in-law had lived with and This was one of several cases which supported his mother (Glanzer’s mother- opened the door to what became known in-law) during the time of his marriage as Navajo Common Law, and which and divorce, which was finalized just a was later enacted by the Navajo Nation month before his death. However, his Council under the Navajo term of Diné ex-wife’s name was still on the paperwork bi beenahaz’áanii. and after he died she wanted to claim his life insurance. THREE SPECIALIZING IN LAW FOR Glanzer’s mother-in-law believed that NATIVE AMERICANS traditional Navajo inheritance principles Glanzer is one of three EMU alumni should apply, rather than state law – working in Native American law. The which would have passed the insurance other two are Philip Baker-Shenk ’79 to the ex-wife. Glanzer’s wife, Judy and Curtis Berkey ’74. In the early ’80s, Apachee, could find no attorneys who Baker-Shenk and Berkey lived in the could clarify whether this was the case. same neighborhood while working in “Judy found an existing – yet unused Washington D.C. and knew each other – Navajo code statute that allowed for ap- “through Mennonite circles” (though 10 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

Baker-Shenk later shifted to Presbyterian circles). Both men were graduates of Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law and worked with Native American issues, but were in different practices. The laws covering Native Americans are complex. The United States government recognizes 566 tribes, according to the Bureau for Indian Affairs. As quasi-sovereign states, each tribe is entitled to self-governance and has a direct relationship with the federal government, bypassing state governments. As a result of ceding large areas of land, tribes are entitled to legal protection and to programs and services from the U.S. government. Some tribes have court systems, like the Navajo, but many do not and rely instead on state or federal courts for resolution of rights. “It is a very fascinating area of law, very dynamic, because there is room for a lot

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photo by kara lofton Washington D.C. attorney Philip Baker-Shenk ’79 developed his interest in Native American legal matters as an EMU student in 1976 at what is now called the Washington Community Scholars' Center.

“I’ve made life-long friends with so many folks in this field; their cause is my cause.” of creative work,” says Baker-Shenk. The three men approach their work slightly differently. Glanzer, who passed both the Navajo bar and the state bar, practices mostly in Navajo courts these days. Berkey and Baker-Shenk navigate federal and state courts to advocate for the rights the tribes have in their unique relationship to the federal government. PHILIP BAKER-SHENK Baker-Shenk worked with a Quaker lobby group on American Indian affairs as a student in 1976 at what is now called EMU’s Washington Community Scholars’ Center. After that year, he took a break to be a staff member with the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs before returning to EMU to finish his degree. When Baker-Shenk graduated from law school, he retained an interest in Native American issues, but wasn’t sure if non-Indian lawyers were needed. So he spent three years in Washington

D.C. clerking for a judge and practicing criminal defense law before returning to the field. Now a partner with Holland & Knight LLP in Washington D.C., BakerShenk spends most of his time these days as a “tribal advocate,” usually on self-governance, taxation, and economic development issues, such as gaming. One notable case involved a successful fight against a proposed tax on tribal government revenue during the Clinton Administration. In the late ’90s, the Republican chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means pushed hard for a new 35-40% tax on tribal government revenue in order to lower taxes for others. Baker-Shenk thought this was a terrible idea. “Many tribal folks are still struggling out of poverty and the idea that 40% of every tribal dollar would be going to the federal government would set them way back,” he says. “I was part of a large team

of tribal advocates who lobbied very hard against this proposal. Our argument was that governments don’t tax other governments….The win was a huge success because we preserved tribal dollars for tribal needs and tribal programs.” Though he opposed the Republican chair on this issue, Baker-Shenk is a Republican himself. Between 2000 and 2010, he served both as an active member and chair of the Washington County Republican Central Committee in Maryland. From 1995 to 1997 he served as Majority General Counsel to Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chair and U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Baker-Shenk says there are many more Indian lawyers now than there were when he started in the field, but there still aren’t enough to cover the need. “In the past 40 years, Native American tribal governments have gone from absolute destitution and poverty, in many ways lacking power and achieving very little self-governance, to very robust, complex and empowered financial and political economies. “This has made for a fascinating cultural renaissance in Indian Country that has enriched my life and that of so many others. Although some tribes are still struggling, things have immeasurably improved in the past 40 years that I have had the privilege of being involved.” Their quest for justice is now his: “I’ve made life-long friends with so many folks in this field; their cause is my cause.” CURTIS BERKEY Baker-Shenk’s former neighbor, Curtis Berkey, now lives in California where local tribal needs include having enough water and preserving sacred sites that are outside tribes’ reservations. Berkey has worked in the field of Indian law his entire legal career, since graduating from law school in 1979. For two years, he was a trial lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department where, on behalf of the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma, he successfully litigated and settled a multi-million dollar groundwater contamination case. Today, as one of the founding partners of Berkey Williams LLP in Berkeley, California, he focuses heavily on water rights: “We are trying to establish the www.emu.edu | crossroads | 11

right of the Indian tribe or the Indian nation to use a set amount of water in water basins where there are short supplies,” he says. Berkey says water rights cases are hardfought, complicated cases that involve thousands of defendants and require complex federal litigation. Essentially water rights come down to which party (vineyards, farms, cities or tribes) has priority when water is in short supply. Berkey’s firm argues that tribes should have precedence, for reasons implied by the title of a book he co-authored in 1992, Exiled in the Land of the Free: Democracy, Indian Nations and the U.S. Constitution. In short, the tribes were here first, and being treated as exiles in their own land must cease. In another variation on water rights, Berkey represented a consortium of Northern California tribes in securing the right to continue traditional harvesting and gathering within marine-protected areas set up by California. As one of his most memorable cases, Berkey cites a company that proposed building a ski resort on one of the most sacred lands of the Honey Lake Maidu tribe. The tribe considered the land in question the birthplace of Creation. Berkey’s firm won the case by using environmental statutes to protect the tribe: they argued it doesn’t make sense to build a ski resort in an area that frequently experiences droughts and that the harm to the tribe could not be mitigated. In addition to pulling water away from other needs, snow would often have to be made for the slopes, which can be prohibitively expensive. After graduating from EMU in 1974, Berkey spent a year with Mennonite Central Committee, assigned to the Institute for the Development of Indian Law in Washington D.C. When he was a student at EMU, he recalls, very few of his classmates went to law school because there was an unspoken perception that practicing law was too close to crossing the line between church and state. “I think it was mostly that people hadn’t thought it through,” he said. “I remember having a conversation with the theologian John Howard Yoder that this is one area that the Mennonite intellectual community hasn’t tackled yet.” 12 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

The Navajo government had contracted with a mining company, allowing the company to mine on the reservation in exchange for royalties, which were a big source of income for the government. Mine drainage was polluting water sources, though, and pushing residents out of their homes. “It was a shock that their own government wasn’t recognizing their needs,” Glanzer explains. Native Americans who live on reservations are in a unique position in the United States. They are considered citizens in two nations, subject to two governments. In a way, this means that they should be doubly protected, but as Glanzer found before he started law school, this is not always the case. Even on the reservation, “there are always Dennis Glanzer '73 people who get forgotten,” he says. The other challenge for Native AmeriBut history professor Albert Keim ’63, can tribes is that traditional laws and encouraged him to consider going to customs, including how to deal with law school. “Law combined my love of conflict and law-breakers, are often very history with my interest in using law as different than Anglo practices. One such a tool for social change,” he said. “So I practice in the Navajo Nation is called was always attracted to it for that reason. “peacemaking.” And there was a deep need for lawyers to “The Navajo courts have instituted practice Indian law.” peacemaking programs based on tradiBerkey teaches the Advanced Indian tional, non-adversarial dispute resolution Law seminar at the University of Califor- methods based on ‘talking things out’ nia, Berkeley, School of Law, alongside among all who are affected by an issue or the other founding partner of his sixproblem,” Glanzer says. attorney firm, Scott Williams, a longAttorneys are not allowed to particitime advocate of social and economic pate in peacemaking programs, which justice. are mediated by unbiased, trained community mediators. Anyone who DENNIS GLANZER was affected by the issue can attend and Back in Arizona, the law firm that contribute to the discussion. It is akin to Glanzer and his wife share also navigates the “circle process” familiar to restorative cases having to do with land use issues justice practitioners trained at EMU’s and conservatorships. In fact, one might Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. say that land-use issues propelled them Glanzer also seeks “to apply such prininto law, nearly 30 years ago. ciples in our adversarial court practice, Glanzer started his career as a teacher. where ‘winning’ is not an overriding goal, The first year that he and his wife were but rather moving closer to restoring married, he taught at a dual-language harmony and balance among the parties school on the reservation while she as much as possible.” worked as an interpreter for a couple These peacemaking programs resonate researching a book. Part of her job was to with much of EMU’s mission and vision go out into the community and talk to for the world. “There is a lot of traditionthe elders about Navajo history. al thinking and cultural thinking that “From Judy, I heard tales of Navajo is similar between Navajos and Menelders who had been displaced by the nonites,” says Glanzer, who feels that his coal mining operations on Black Mesa, EMU education prepared him for this pursuant to contracts with the Navajo journey before he even knew he was on government,” he says. it.  — Kara Lofton

photo by steven stauffer

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BRADFORD GLICK

From the Wilderness to Theology and Law During his first decade of adult employment, Bradford Glick worked in wilderness settings, always with youths, sometimes with juvenile delinquents. During his second decade, he has studied and worked in law. The connection between the two fields? Enabling as many people as possible “to experience a life of dignity and hope,” says Glick, a New York State attorney. After graduating in 1995 with a major in camping, recreation and outdoor ministries (minoring in socio-economic development), Glick became a counselor at Eckerd Youth Alternatives, working with juvenile delinquents in the wilderness of northern New Hampshire. Beginning in 2000, Glick spent five years as manager of the wilderness expeditions program at Spruce Lake Retreat, a Mennonite-affiliated camp in Canadensis, Pennsylvania. At both locations, Glick felt frustrated that too many times the positive changes experienced by the young people would fade when they returned home in the absence of adequate support from their schools and families. “I wanted to work at systems change,” he said. “The only question was whether that was best accomplished through legal/policy structures or through community development.” Emory University’s joint law and theology program offered him the combination he sought. On his application for 2005 admission, Glick wrote, “My goal is to work on as high a level as possible to effect change, but to never lose sight of what it is I hope to change, which is the ability of each person to experience a life of dignity and hope.” He received a full scholarship and stipend as a Robert W. Woodruff Fellow. At Emory, Glick’s experience working with juvenile delinquents led first to a focus on criminal justice reform, then to housing policy development. He also worked at protecting the medical rights of detainees in Guantanamo Bay. Along the way, he became acutely aware of the relationship between people’s beliefs in socio-economic fairness and their support of policies that seek to protect and improve the wellbeing of individuals. “I recognized that our individual and communal core beliefs of right and wrong – and [beliefs] about the nature of the person – are central to any reform and policy development,” he says. By 2009, Glick had successfully crammed a three-year JD program and a two-year master’s in theological study program into four years of intense study. Along the way, he served as the executive symposium articles editor for the Emory International Law Review. “It was definitely hard – competing in a curved grading system certainly takes a toll on your personality, knowing

For Bradford Glick '95, Emory University’s joint law and theology program offered him the education he wanted for working at systemic change.

the only way to get an A is to beat out 90% of the other students in the class – but that competition pushed me to produce my best work,” he says. In 2010, he joined the law firm of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, in New York City. Glick also served on the junior board for CASA-NYC, an advocacy organization for children and youth. In 2012, he moved to his current position with the New York State Office of the Attorney General. He now works in the litigation bureau as defense counsel for the state’s Department of Health, focusing primarily on Medicaid, administration and civil recovery audits, and professional or medical misconduct. “Working with the Department of Health to protect the health and welfare of the New York public is an honor,” he says. Outside of work, he is interested in the law of freedom of religion and has coordinated continuing legal education programs on freedom of religion and human rights. He is also involved in the Federal Bar Council Inn of Courts and the American Constitution Society. The caliber of the attorneys and judges in these groups inspired him, he says, “to raise the quality of my own work and to make sure that I am using my position as an attorney to give back to the community.” Glick is married to Susanne Clark Glick, who works in medical publishing. As he did when he was a wildernessbased counselor, he enjoys the outdoors and spends his free time skiing, sailing and hiking.  — Florence Barrett

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 13

photo by kara lofton Carlita Sheldon '06, Sara Kiser '01, and Erin Fadeley '01 are warmly supportive colleagues in the Child Protective Services of Harrisonburg, united in their efforts to help young people as well as their families.

PROTECTIVE JUSTICE Advocates for children’s wellbeing THE DAY A CHILD IS REMOVED from his or her home, the Child Protective Services workers generally go to the home in twos. The second person adds emotional and physical support for an action that is often seen as painfully unjust by both children and their parents. Children’s justice is “keeping kids safe, which can mean taking them out of a cycle of victimization,” says Sara (Bishop) Kiser ’01. But “justice for us is going to be different than justice for 14 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

the kids,” who usually want to stay with their parents no matter what, says coworker Carlita Sheldon ’06. It’s not easy to break the cycles of violence, adds Erin Fadeley ’01. “Oftentimes parents have to hit rock bottom before they are willing to try to change.” And even then, change doesn’t always occur. This was one of the hardest lessons the three women had to learn as family services specialists at Child Protective Services in Harrisonburg: that they have

about a 1-in-10 chance of making a real difference in a person’s life. “You can’t save the world,” says Sheldon. But “as long as we can affect somebody’s life for the better, then we have to feel good about it.” The women have now worked at CPS for an average of 11 years, a long time in a field that is known for its high turnover rates nationally. The difference at CPS in Harrisonburg, they say, is the people who work there. “I’m still here because

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She finds satisfaction in receiving a phone call prompted by someone she helped in the past. For her, it’s that one person, that one phone call, that makes her work worth it. of my co-workers. I couldn’t do this without them,” says Fadeley. The three women exuded what Kiser called “realistic idealism,” which manifested itself in plenty of laughter and comfortable communication – it wasn’t unusual for them to finish one another’s sentences. “We joke we are a dysfunctional family, but I know that at the end of the day, every one of these people has my back,” says Sheldon. 'JUST BEING THERE' Sheldon, who is bilingual, works mostly with poor Latino families, many of whom lack documentation. She says one of the hardest things for her is witnessing the deportations of parents who have children who are legal residents. When the parents are deported, the children often have to go into foster care until they age out of the system. As painful as that is, she finds satisfaction in the phone calls she receives from people she doesn’t know who got her number from someone she helped in the past. For her, it’s that one person, that one phone call, that makes her work worth it. Fadeley says the perception of CPS workers is that they are only focused on the child, but in reality they spend a lot of their time with families, trying to rehabilitate parents. She says the majority of her cases involve drug abuse, which is present in every socioeconomic class, not just the poor or working poor. “Much of my work is just being there with a client and being supportive,” she says. “We walk with people through whatever their situation is.” She says she had one male client addicted to methamphetamines, which can cause users

to look gaunt, with sunken eyes and broken skin. Due to his addiction, she had to facilitate the removal of his child. Recently, she saw the man at an event she was attending for one of her own children. He came up to her, gave her a hug and told her he was clean. “Look at me,” he said proudly pointing to his now filled-out figure, “I’m fat!” Kiser, who has been at CPS for 14 years, is now a family services supervisor. She says that in this line of work, hope can be a stretch, especially when CPS workers aren’t able to break the cycles of violence from one generation to the next. “A lot of the adults we work with have dealt with CPS as children,” she says. Now most of them are working minimum wage jobs that don’t come close to covering the needs of their families. “Why wouldn’t they do drugs when every aspect of their lives feels like it is against them?” she says. Not only that, but “this is the story of everyone in their lives.” Very few people are able to break away from the harsh life they grew up in. HEADING TO COURT The alumnae working in CPS often have cases that ultimately involve family attorney Michael Beckler ’80. Beckler can be called upon to represent either the parents or the children in a court case. The hardest ones, he says, are those dealing with termination of parental rights. When CPS removes a child from a home, they are placed in foster care and given a guardian ad litem like Beckler to advocate for the child’s rights when the case goes to court. While the child is in foster care, CPS tries to rehabilitate the parents, many of

whom have mental health or substance abuse problems. The parents have a year to reform. If they are unable to change their ways, the case goes to court and the parents’ rights to care for the child are terminated. About 50% of the time, the guardian ad litem is able to recommend placing the child with another relative. The remainder of the time, the child either goes into foster care or is adopted. In custody cases of older children, the guardian ad litem explains the process to them and takes their preferences into consideration when possible. “The kids often say, ‘I just want to go home with Mom and Dad,’” Beckler says, “but sometimes the child doesn’t know what is in their best interests – especially when going home means they would be put back into an abusive or neglectful situation. You have to care about children to do this work – that’s the bottom line.” JUVENILE PROBATION Another alumnus in the field of juvenile justice is Tom Brenneman ’92, a Harrisonburg-based probation worker and program coordinator in the Department of Juvenile Justice. He says he does his work with a “restorative justice emphasis” – meaning he tries to identify who has been harmed in a situation and what steps might be taken to heal that harm. Brenneman previously worked for the Fairfield Center in Harrisonburg, known for its expertise in restorative justice and conflict resolution.  — Kara Lofton

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 15

photo by Jason Sinn Photography

MARCIA AUGSBURGER

Finding purpose in a different call 16 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

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“My parents’ emphasis on ethics and honesty made my going into law a natural fit, and my father’s emphasis on women’s equality gave me the strong core it takes to be a woman in the legal field.” IN HER OFFICE on the 24th floor of in disputed payments, and numerous the Wells Fargo building in Sacramento, cross-claims by the insurance company, California, attorney Marcia L. which alleged unfair business practices. Augsburger ’81 has earned her place as a The cross-claims led to an Office of the respected healthcare litigator. Inspector General investigation, which But with a father and mother acAugsburger also defended. claimed for their active Christianity “It’s so expensive to defend the claims – evangelist, author and former EMU levied by the government that hospitals president Myron Augsburger ’55, and often just settle to avoid litigation and artist Esther Kniss Augsburger ’71 – risk. I was fortunate to have a client that Marcia can’t shake the thought that othsaid, ‘No, we won’t pay to make this ers feel she should have pursued a more go away when we know we didn’t do ministry-oriented career. anything wrong. We stand behind what “When I was younger, I felt people we did and what we believed was best for wanted us to display our spirituality in patient care.’ I love representing people certain ways. My parents also emphawith such character and courage.” sized the importance of service and being In 1997, she enjoyed collaborating active in the church, so I struggle with with her husband, Steve Goff – her law the guilt of taking a different path,” she partner then and now – on cases that not says. “But I do feel that what I am doing only resulted in favorable outcomes for is important to preserving people’s health her clients but also exposed the exhorand wellbeing.” bitant profits some health plans were As an attorney-partner for the global “making on the backs of hospitals and law firm DLA Piper, Augsburger specialindividuals.” izes in litigation in the healthcare indusThis and other successful cases over try, privacy law and telehealth, as well as her 24-year career bolster her confidence healthcare dispute resolution. Most often that she has, indeed, found her place of she represents hospital systems in conflict service. Getting to that place, however, with insurance companies and health took some time and soul-searching. plans. A typical case might focus on a The first hint of her calling came in contract dispute that involves more than sixth grade, when a teacher encouraged $5 million and a massive amount of data her love of oral argument and her pasand documents. sion for writing courtroom dramas. But For example, in a recent case against when she entered college, she opted to a prominent health insurance company, pursue a degree in education because it Augsburger represented 13 hospitals in a was “extraordinarily rare for a Mennodispute over nonpayment for emergency nite, particularly a Mennonite woman,” services. The case involved over 10 milto pursue a legal career. lion documents, more than $100 million Augsburger graduated from EMU

with a bachelor’s in education and began teaching at a Pennsylvania elementary school. Although the experience was positive, the job didn’t feel like the right fit. So she moved to Washington D.C. and, after working awhile on Capital Hill, took a position with the master’s program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. At Georgetown, she worked with a woman who was pursuing a law degree. Their discussions rekindled Augsburger’s original passion and prompted her to apply to law school at the University of California, Davis. She obtained her JD in 1989 and soon after accepted a position with McDonough Holland & Allen PC, a Sacramento firm with a solid reputation and a strong relationship with Sutter Health. Augsburger’s involvement with healthcare law grew from there and she forged a path that pointed back toward her beginning. “My parents’ emphasis on ethics and honesty made my going into law a natural fit, and my father’s emphasis on women’s equality gave me the strong core it takes to be a woman in the legal field,” she says. “Healthcare also made sense because of my background – my uncle Mark Kniss ’51 was a very caring doctor and I grew up hearing stories about my missionary grandmother delivering babies and taking care of villagers who otherwise had no medical care.” At the intersection of health and law, Augsburger has found her place and is committed to serving others in it.  — Koren Wetmore

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 17

NEW VISION FOR CITY Harrisonburg goes for restorative ways IF ONE PARTICULAR YOUNG MAN wealth’s attorney, the Fairfield Center, in Harrisonburg had stolen from his and restorative justice practitioners from employer a few months earlier, he might Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) have found himself standing before a and James Madison University (JMU). judge, facing a possible jail sentence. Among those endorsing the program Thanks to a new restorative justice and expressing support were Marsha program with the Harrisonburg Police Garst, Rockingham County CommonDepartment (HPD), however, this young wealth’s attorney, EMU President Loren thief instead found himself facing his Swartzendruber and JMU President employer to talk about what he’d done Jonathan Alger. and how he could patch things up. Garst, who spoke of her reputation “I can’t imagine a better first case,” said for being “hard” on crime, said that Josh Bacon, the facilitator who led the restorative justice should not be misinmeeting between the two men. “This terpreted as being “soft on crime.” The person could have been charged with a victim-offender meeting is a difficult and felony.” emotionally challenging task for both Instead, the offender and his employer parties, she added, but the process offers were able to speak frankly about their the offender the possibility of moving needs, agree on a restitution plan, and into a positive role in the community. reconcile the matter in a mutually beneficial way outside of the criminal justice BACKED BY VETERAN OFFICER system. “We kind of get to the point where we The new program, the first of its kind believe that the criminal justice system in Virginia and more than two years in is the only thing that’s going to work,” the creation, was announced at a news said HPD Lt. Kurt Boshart, a 26-year conference March 19, 2015, in Harrisonveteran of the force who led the initiative burg. Emphasizing the collaborative part- from within his department.*1 nership, HPD Chief Stephen Monticelli “It’s exciting to see where this program stood alongside members of the steering committee, including representatives of * Kurt Boshart did coursework at EMU's 2015 Summer Peacebuilding Institute. local law practices and the Common18 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

could go. I can foresee it catching on pretty quickly.” The idea began several years ago, when Sue Praill, MA ’10, a Fairfield Center staffer, proposed it to the HPD. Praill directs restorative justice services at the Harrisonburg nonprofit, which has been offering them in the community for nearly 20 years. Eventually, a broader advisory group began meeting with Boshart to plan the program in more detail. In addition to Praill, the group included Fairfield executive director Tim Ruebke, MA ’99, and Bacon – an associate dean of students at James Madison University who has overseen wide implementation of restorative justice practices on that campus. Also participating have been Carl Stauffer ’85, MA ’02, co-director of the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice at EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (from which Praill and Ruebke hold master’s degrees, and where Bacon has taken graduate-level coursework) as well as defense attorneys, a representative from the local prosecutor’s office and other community representatives. “It’s been exciting to have partners from the police department who are so committed to [the program],” said Praill.

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“For us to turn our head is a disservice to our community.”

photo by JON STYER Josh Bacon, associate dean of students at James Madison University who has done restorative justice coursework at EMU, addresses a news conference announcing Virginia's first community-wide initiative to implement restorative practices. Behind Bacon (from left) are: Aaron L. Cook, attorney; Christopher Bean of the Rockingham County Commonwealth’s Attorney office; attorney P. Marshall Yoder, MA '10; professor Carl Stauffer '85, MA '02, co-director of EMU's Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice; Hillary Wing-Richards, counselor; Sue Praill, MA '10, who initiated work with the police department; Tim Ruebke, MA '99, head of the Fairfield Center; and Lt. Kurt Boshart, the key liaison for restorative justice with the Harrisonburg Police Department.

EMU. If the caseload grows beyond volunteers’ capacities, the program may need to find new sources of funding. At this point, however, all involved are concentrating on laying the foundation for a successful, sustainable program. “Part of the idea is to go slowly enough that the program is organic to this area, and so that there’s confidence in the community that this is a good program,” said Ruebke. As that happens, and as the caseload grows, figuring out funding “can be a good problem to have later,” added Boshart.

OFF TO GOOD START The program is off to a remarkable While change can be a slow process will ensure they’re appropriate for the start. During the conference for the within the protocol-bound world of program. Depending on a case’s specifics, first case, the offender told the employer law enforcement, Boshart said reaction facilitation would be handled either by he’d robbed about the desperate to the new program within the HPD the Fairfield Center or staff from Bacon’s circumstances in his life that had has been generally positive. So far, five office at James Madison University. encouraged him to steal. officers have taken a restorative justice A benefit of restorative justice is the The employer, in turn, talked about training. By summer's end, he hopes that way in which it humanizes both victim how he’d once found himself in a very most or all of the department’s 94 sworn and offender, giving each a better undersimilar situation. After he committed a officers will be trained to identify specific standing of how and why one hurt the similar crime, though, there wasn’t this crimes or conflicts that might be best other. Praill points out that under the sort of alternative. He was convicted of handled through a restorative approach new HPD program, officers who refer a felony, served time in jail, and after that focuses on victims’ needs and holds cases for restorative justice will particigetting his life back in order, didn’t want offenders accountable to meeting them. pate in the group conference and benefit his employee going down the same path. One of the larger challenges facing from this humanizing process as well. They agreed on a plan for restitution. the new program is communicating the The employee was paired with a mentor. fact that restorative justice emphasizes of- IMPROVED RELATIONSHIPS FOR ALL The employer volunteered to become a fender accountability, and isn’t simply a “Nobody calls the police and says, ‘Hey, mentor for another local person. get-off-easy approach to criminal justice. we’re having a great time,’” said Boshart. “This process allowed for the victim Boshart said that as people learn more Instead, officers generally show up and the perpetrator to come together about restorative justice concepts, they when things have gone wrong and often and tell their stories,” said Bacon. “None understand how it can offer police more interact with people during their lowest of this would have happened if it just effective and affordable ways of dealing moments. went through the normal criminal prowith some crimes than the traditional By being a part of the restorative cess. I was just blown away.… It’s why criminal justice system. justice conference, he hopes officers will I love doing restorative justice.” In his “For us to turn our head from that is a be able to see these same people in better opening remarks at the press conference, disservice to our community,” he said. light. At the same time, people whose Bacon credited EMU’s Howard Zehr interactions with law enforcement are – who is known internationally as the ADVISORY GROUP FOR SCREENING often negative will have new opportuni“grandfather of restorative justice”– for While the program remains a work ties to develop better relationships with mentoring Bacon when he took courses in progress, its broad parameters police officers. at EMU and began implementing restorhave been established by the advisory For now, these conferences will be led ative justice practices at JMU.  group. After police officers refer cases, on a volunteer basis by trained facilita— Andrew Jenner a committee from the advisory group tors like Bacon, Praill or others from www.emu.edu | crossroads | 19

GATHERING STEAM!

Restorative justice in education “Restorative discipline is not a program but a lens on reality. It is about giving victims and community a voice and power in how to deal with violence. It helps us be tough on behavior but gentle with the person by affirming the dignity of all.” — JEREMY SIMONS, MA ’02

(CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION) // Former restorative justice coordinator for Denver (Colorado) Public Schools // Now a peacebuilder in Mindanao, Philippines

20 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

THREE YEARS AGO, Danny Malec, MA ’05 (conflict transformation), was hired to help E.L. Haynes High School in Washington D.C. break free from the disciplinary rut of suspensions and expulsions that plague so many American schools. Now the school’s assistant principal for restorative practices, Malec and his colleagues have begun using techniques such as restorative conferencing to deal with student discipline. This represents a dramatic departure from the traditional mindset that responds to a fight, for example, with a punishment like suspension that excludes students from the classroom. Instead, a restorative approach might involve a meeting between anyone involved in or affected by the fight, during which they would discuss who was harmed and agree on a way of repairing that harm. Malec has also been using circle processes and other tools of restorative justice to build a more positive culture in the school by emphasizing healthy relationships and inviting good behavior rather than only punishing the bad. By some measures, the effort has been successful. Within two years, for example, the school reduced its suspensions by more than 50%, Malec says. And there

have been zero expulsions this school year (as of late spring, as Crossroads went to press), down from close to 10 the year before. On the opposite side of the country in another inner-city school, Augustus Hawkins High School in Los Angeles, Joseph Luciani, MA ’13 (conflict transformation), has been working in a similar role as the school’s restorative practices specialist. In less than two years, he says, tangible benefits include fewer fights and fewer students skipping school. For many years, people working in restorative justice have recognized that the theories and practices first developed as alternatives to the criminal justice system have much to offer schools and education. And increasingly, more and more people like Malec and Luciani working in schools have been demonstrating the effectiveness of that approach. As a result, more and more teachers, administrators and school systems have begun to take notice. Once a strange and novel thing to talk about in the context of education, restorative justice is now “right on the cusp,” Malec says, of becoming a new buzzword in American education. On one hand, Malec and his colleagues are thrilled by the coming

photo by KARA LOFTON

photo by JON STYER

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Danny Malec, MA '05, is assistant principal for restorative practices at an inner city-school in Washington D.C.

opportunities to use restorative practices more widely in education. But at the same time, they fear that if restorative justice is improperly or ineffectively applied in schools, it will simply become yet another failed “next best thing” in education. “Everybody knows the term ‘restorative justice’ these days,” says Judy Mullet ’73, a professor of psychology at EMU who specializes in restorative discipline. “The worry is that it will be a flash in the pan.” INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE ISSUES Schools that think they have a discipline problem, Mullet continues, often actually have an institutional culture problem. Fixing that requires change at all levels, including personal and relational changes within and between staff – a challenging, lengthy process for overworked educators accustomed to step-by-step plans. But reducing restorative justice to a few sets of practices, without investing in a longer-term process of personal and school-wide change, sets the stage for failure, according to several people interviewed for this article. “We like quick fixes, but I don’t think that in any way creates systemic change,” says Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz ’81,

Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz ’81, co-wrote with Judy Mullet '73 The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools.

restorative justice coordinator with Mennonite Central Committee. “There’s that danger that schools are doing the same thing they were doing before and just using different language.” Communicating the message that restorative justice involves a long process of institutional change is one of the biggest challenges that Malec and Luciani face in their schools. And so, despite the reduced suspensions and expulsions he’s helped his inner-city high school achieve, Malec says there is still lots more work to do: Culture takes time to change. A lot of our students have grown up being suspended. They know that really well. What they don’t know well is how to sit down and repair damaged relationships. It’s the same with the adults in the building. It’s a foreign culture for all of us, and that takes time Restorative justice is about slowing down, it’s about listening to each other, it’s about involving a wider range of people in the process – the whole structure kind of has to shift with restorative practices, which makes it extra difficult and kind of scares me a little bit. Unless the structure changes, people are going to keep doing the same thing they were doing and call it restorative justice. Luciani has likewise found himself telling others at his school that the reduced

suspensions achieved with the help of restorative practices are just the start. BASED ON RELATIONSHIPS “People see this as another program … that’s going to fix the behavior issues of students,” Luciani says. “And I’m always saying, ‘Restorative justice is not a program. It’s a culture change.’ That takes time. And it takes an understanding of what exactly we want to change. It’s based on relationships. It’s based on connecting people with each other and their inner selves…. I don’t think that everybody understands that yet.” At Lancaster Mennonite School in southeastern Pennsylvania, that long, gradual process change has “been a real blessing” for the school, says assistant superintendant Miles Yoder ’79. “I can’t say enough positive things about it,” he says. “Restorative justice changes people’s hearts.” As has been the case in the schools where Malec and Luciani work, application of restorative justice practices at Lancaster Mennonite has drastically reduced its use of suspension and detention. The deeper shift of culture is evident, Yoder continues, in the way that faculty and staff have begun placing greater responsibility on students to solve www.emu.edu | crossroads | 21

photo by JON STYER EMU education professor Kathy Evans (left) is in charge of EMU's master’s concentration and graduate certificate in restorative justice in education. Judy Mullet '73 is a psychology professor who specializes in restorative discipline.

their own problems, and using the basic questions of restorative justice – Who was harmed? How can that be repaired? – before resorting to traditional punishments. Yoder says that process of cultural change has been 15 years in the making at Lancaster Mennonite School, and has required constant support along the way. The fact that this sort of long-term institutional stability isn’t always present in other school systems is one of the major challenges to the successful application of restorative justice in education. “EMU has been very helpful by providing our initial training and professional development to allow us to continue to use it,” says Yoder. TOWARD SYSTEMIC STABILITY In the 2014-15 academic year, EMU’s graduate education program became the first in the country to offer a master’s concentration and a graduate certificate in restorative justice in education. “People are hungry for good instruction about what restorative justice looks 22 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

like in schools, and how they can be better prepared to be restorative justice educators,” said EMU education professor Kathy Evans in an interview last year, soon before the launch of the new program, which she was instrumental in starting. The notion of using restorative justice in a school was still relatively unusual in 2004, when Dawn Lehman, MA ’03 (conflict transformation), began working on a two-year restorative justice project in three public schools around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When she joined the effort – run by a Pittsburgh nonprofit in partnership with the schools – the groundwork had been laid, the administration was eager, and things got off to a great start. In her experience, teaching the values and practices of restorative justice was the easy part. “It makes sense. It’s almost too obvious,” she recalls. “And yet there’s this contradiction in that while people will agree it makes perfect sense, there still seems to be systemic obstacles that are

hard to overcome.” One of the biggest systemic obstacles is funding. In Lehman’s case, it ran out after two years, and the program ended (Lehman now works for a victimoffender dialogue program with the Pittsburgh juvenile court system). And even during that two-year period, staff turnover was another significant systemic challenge. During the course of the project, new administrators took over at two of the three schools. And while none of them opposed the work, none were as invested in it as their predecessors who’d gotten it started. Lehman has bumped into people who have positive memories of her work in the schools 10 years ago, yet she doubts that restorative justice is being practiced in them now. PLANTING SEEDS Looking back on it all, Lehman compares the project to “planting seeds” with the potential to bloom far down the road, long after specific projects or initiatives have run their course. “I just fundamentally believe in the value of engaging with people rather than making decisions for them,” she says. “Any time you hold a process in line with restorative principles, you’re fundamentally modeling respectful human interaction…. You’re engaging with people respectfully. Those are the moments that can be life-changing for people. That’s tremendously significant.” Perhaps a decade from now, restorative justice will have helped transform classrooms, schools and lives across the world. Or perhaps there will be dozens more stories like Lehman’s, of promising work that came to an end. Perhaps a lot of both. In any case, Mullet says, change is messy. The kind of holistic, lasting change to relationships that restorative justice can bring to schools is messier yet, and requires time and resources. “This reality check invites freedom to learn from mistakes and connect for the long haul,” she says.  — Andrew Jenner For further reading on restorative justice in education, see The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools by Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz and Judy Mullet. Contact Kathryn Mennone at Skyhorse Publishing (kmennone@skyhorsepublishing. com) for a free sample copy.

photo courtesy of Judah Oudshoorn

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JUDAH OUDSHOORN

On Handling Sexual Abuse Restoratively THIS IS A TOUGH ISSUE. Many people have been hurt by sexual abuse. And many of these people have also been further traumatized by how people have responded to it – from family members doubting their stories, to a criminal justice system that challenges their facts, their truth about what happened. We tread into these waters with caution and utmost respect for those who have survived sexual abuse. Some assume that restorative justice allows people to take the easy way out, to avoid jail time or punishment. Others argue that it is actually more demanding than conventional punishment. In reality, restorative justice is multi-faceted. It considers how to repair harm when needs are different, or even in opposition to each other. What if many in society want people who have offended sexually to suffer for their wrongdoing, while others who have been hurt simply want acknowledgment and changed behavior from an offender? Soft-on-crime (“hug-a-thug”) tends to minimize harm, while tough-on-crime (“lock ‘em up and throw away the key” or “tail ’em, nail ’em, jail ’em”) minimizes accountability. Both sideline the complex needs of victims. Prison and restorative justice are not mutually exclusive. Prisons can be an important part of community safety, at least temporarily. When a person is unsafe to themselves or others, incapacitation is vital. Yet longer sentences and punishment for punishment’s sake (or political expediency) often do not make our communities safer, nor do they always satisfy victims. Although some prison rehabilitative programs have proven effective for offenders, the overuse of imprisonment has often made communities less safe. For victims, arrest and conviction can provide some vindication, but the process itself is often re-traumatizing and does not go far enough to meet their needs. In fact, one reason restorative justice is needed is because the criminal justice system has failed miserably in responding to victims. While both men and women perpetrate violence, the majority of sexual offenders are men. This is not to say that men are prone to being rapists. However, sexual abuse is predominately a male issue. Our restorative justice framework acknowledges that sexual abuse is a form of genderbased violence and reflects the prevalence of patriarchy. Restorative justice is about people. It is about people learning to live together in a way that honors the dignity of all. Respect for all means talking about harm and supporting those who are hurt. It also means that sex offenders are people, too. They are fathers and stepfathers, mothers and stepmothers, uncles and aunts, cousins, brothers and sisters.

Canadian restorative justice expert Judah Oudshoorn, MA '06, is the principal author of The Little Book of Restorative Justice for Sexual Abuse.

People hurt each other for a variety of reasons. It is important that offenders have support in the community, alongside accountability, to heal and understand their choices. In 1994, Mennonite Central Committee Canada developed Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) to assist communities in responding to the release of high-risk sex offenders. These offenders were returning to communities with no additional supports, accountability requirements, or supervision by Correctional Services Canada. Principles of restorative justice undergird the COSA work. Volunteers commit to meeting at least once a week with a “core member” (a term that identifies the offender in a less stigmatizing way), and may meet daily if necessary (especially upon initial release of the core member from prison). In the United States, one COSA program was developed by a Mennonite pastor, Clare Ann Ruth-Heffelbower, who won a $290,000 grant from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. She says that “COSA’s success is simplicity. It follows two guiding principles: no more victims, and no one is disposable.” One longitudinal study, conducted by Robin Wilson, Janine Pechaca and Michelle Prinzo, found that sex offenders who participated in COSA were 70% less likely to re-offend than a control group (i.e., similar offenders, but not involved in COSA). In adopting a restorative justice ethos, we choose to live with hope: hope that harms can be meaningfully addressed, and that everyone should be given proper support and care to move towards healing.  This article was derived from The Little Book of Restorative Justice for Sexual Abuse at its manuscript stage with the permission of its main author Judah Oudshoorn, MA ’06 (conflict transformation), who was assisted by Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz ’81 and Michelle Van Rassel Jackett, MA ’13. look for the book by 2016 from skyhorse publishing.

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 23

photo by michael sheeler Matthew Hartman, Aaron Lyons and Catherine Bargen – all 2008 master's graduates of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding – are the principals in Just Outcomes LLP, based in British Columbia, Canada.

JUST OUTCOMES, LLP

Recentering justice on relationships THE HEADLINES HAVE FADED, but the years have not dulled her grief. Now the young mother sits eye-to-eye with the driver who caused the death of her school-aged child. Their conversation doesn’t focus on forgiveness or serve to expedite some criminal process. Instead, it creates a space for two human beings to express lingering emotions and somehow heal. And, surprisingly, it was the driver who requested the meeting. “That was the first time the mother felt she had her voice heard meaningfully,” says Aaron Lyons, who facilitates victim-offender dialogues in his role as 24 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

restorative justice facilitator for Fraser Region Community Justice Initiatives near Vancouver, Canada. “It was no longer about who took her daughter’s life; it was simply about her healing journey. The process was also therapeutic for the woman driver serving a prison sentence.” For the two women, that meeting brought healing and movement toward a sense of “justice.” In the aftermath of violence or harm, the human heart cries out for a just response. Yet that can mean different things to different people depending on their circumstance and culture. Guiding others to explore and discover their

personal definition of “justice” lies at the core of a new venture launched by Lyons, Catherine Bargen and Matthew Hartman, all 2008 master’s graduates of EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Their firm, Just Outcomes, LLP, helps communities and organizations develop just responses to harmful actions or situations. Defining those responses starts with determining what justice looks like for the people involved. “We want to invite people to think creatively about justice issues in their personal relationships, their workplace and their communities,” says Bargen, who

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“We want to invite people to think creatively about justice issues in their personal relationships, their workplace and their communities.” also works as restorative justice coordinator for British Columbia’s Ministry of Justice. “Our passion is to use processes and create systems that help support relationships for good outcomes rather than limiting justice to the criminal justice arena.” STARTING ONE-ON-ONE For example, when a falling-out between two 14-year-old girls at a Langley, British Columbia, middle school led to alienation of one girl and divisions in their social group, Bargen and a restorative justice team went to work. They met with each girl and discovered that both wanted a chance to talk about the harm done. So Bargen facilitated a meeting with the girls. “At first it was very tense,” she says. “They started out accusing each other, but eventually we reached a place where they were able to remind one another of their initial friendship, and they admitted that they missed each other. They were able to repair their relationship and walked out of the room arm-in-arm.” Years later, Bargen wrote a reference letter for one of the girls, who felt inspired to become a youth mediator and to pursue a teaching career as a result of the restorative experience. “These processes can be extremely powerful,” Bargen says. The idea for Just Outcomes emerged while the three friends pursued their master’s in conflict transformation at CJP. United by a passion for justice issues, they embraced a vision inspired by their mentor, Howard Zehr, who encouraged a collaborative approach to justice that focuses on people’s needs in the aftermath of a harm. “Howard’s influence was quite profound on all three of us,” says Lyons. “He envisioned a time when we would no

longer talk about justice by qualifying it with adjectives like ‘restorative,’ but instead simply do justice and that it would be restorative in nature.” Six years passed as the three CJP alumni went on to fruitful careers, while slowly refining their vision for Just Outcomes through a process they dub “a slow boil.” They held monthly Skype calls, mostly to chat about their work and maintain their ever-deepening friendship, but also to take small steps forward on their dream. Finally, in 2014, they felt ready to balance a consulting firm alongside their individual careers. Their combined skills, knowledge and experience enable Just Outcomes to tackle justice issues in almost any group.

many criminal justice systems contact victims of juvenile crime with a focus on information gathering and advising victims of their legal rights, rather than considering victims’ needs. However, today through the Clackamas County department’s Victims Impact Program, victims are contacted by a coordinator who acknowledges the harm done, expresses empathy and focuses on providing support. “We formed the whole program around the needs we know many victims have after they’ve been harmed – information, acknowledgement, a need to have a voice, and the need to have a part in determining the outcome of the case,” Hartman explains. The juvenile department also started a BRINGING RICH EXPERIENCES phone outreach to crime victims. Bargen has worked with youth in the “In that phone call, we don’t start out Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with First with ‘Here’s what you need to know.’ We Nations members in culturally responsive start with ‘How are you doing?’” he says. crime prevention, and with students “We still provide information about their and staff in school-based mediation rights and all the legal stuff that’s necesprograms. Lyons’ background includes sary, but we start on a relational basis, youth justice work in New Zealand, which is informed by a restorative justice victim-offender mediation, intercultural framework.” peacebuilding, and the development and Given the variety and the necessity implementation of training programs. of justice work, Bargen, Hartman and Hartman has implemented restorative Lyons feel inspired by the promise of justice practices and programs within healthy, human interactions. the juvenile justice system, facilitated “When those who have caused harm victim-offender dialogues, and helped and those who have been harmed come communities strengthen their capacity to together, and you see their resilience and respond to juvenile crime. their capacity for empathy in situations The three are also armed with the that seem unthinkable, you realize it’s an confidence that comes from witnessing honor to witness and support people in the positive results produced through a such a transformative engagement,” says collaborative, respectful approach. Hartman. “As a society, we’re recognizIn Hartman’s work as restorative ing that the old way of doing things isn’t justice coordinator for the Clackamas meeting our needs. So we’re excited to County Juvenile Department in Oregon explore what other systems and ways City, Oregon, he has seen firsthand how of being may be more meaningful for restorative principles and values can people.”  — Koren Wetmore transform justice systems. Traditionally, www.emu.edu | crossroads | 25

photo by kara lofton Howard Zehr first started moving out of his "comfort zone" by enrolling in Morehouse College, founded for black men in 1867, and becoming its first white graduate in 1966.

HOWARD ZEHR

Pioneer of restorative justice HOWARD ZEHR – WRITER, EDITOR, SPEAKER, EDUCATOR, PHOTOGRAPHER, MENTOR – has made an indelible mark on the Eastern Mennonite University community and the theory and practice of justice worldwide. From his early work with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to the publishing of Changing Lenses to his work as an educator at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Zehr is renowned as a pioneer of “restorative justice” and catalyst for the field’s expansion across the world. EARLY YEARS Zehr was born in 1944 to Edna Elizabeth and Howard Jacob Zehr, a Mennonite pastor and General Conference moderator. As a freshman in 1962, he heard 26 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

theologian John Howard Yoder speak at Goshen College, a Mennonite school in Indiana. “He talked about our need to get out of our comfort zone, to learn to adjust to other people, to put ourselves in the midst of the real world,” says Zehr. “That just convinced me I had to leave.” Zehr withdrew from Goshen and ended up at Morehouse College – founded in 1867 in Atlanta, Georgia, as the Augusta Theological Institute, a ministry school for black men that would eventually become a bastion for historically black liberal arts education. Zehr wasn’t the only white student at Morehouse – there were a handful of others who typically came for a semester or so due to the excitement around the civil rights movement. He did join some protests

at Morehouse, although he’s “never been particularly drawn to marching.” “My task was to prove I was a serious student,” says Zehr. “I did; I graduated [in ’66] second in my class. At the end, I was accepted as just another student, although I was obviously white.” He was the first white graduate of Morehouse. He then earned an MA in European History from the University of Chicago (’67), and began teaching at another historically black institution – Talladega College in Alabama. In 1974 he earned a PhD in modern European history from Rutgers University. THE GENESIS OF CHANGING LENSES In the late ’70s, Zehr returned to the Goshen College area of Indiana and became the founding director of the

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“Part of what’s really satisfied me over these last 18 years [at CJP] has been mentoring people and seeing them go out and do wonderful things I never imagined.” first U.S. victim-offender reconciliation program, Elkhart County Prisoners and Community Together (PACT). Zehr cites three main reasons for the necessity of this work. First, “we were really concerned that victims were not only being left out of the justice process, but they were re-traumatized by it. So we wanted to provide a better experience and more options for victims,” Zehr explains. Second, the justice system was ineffectively using punishment under the guise of accountability. “Accountability is understanding the harm you’ve caused, and doing something to make it right,” says Zehr. Third, the exclusion of the community in justice system decisions was a disempowering oversight. PACT worked on a program to address all of these issues – work that laid the practical foundation for the field of restorative justice. Concurrent with his PACT work, Zehr became MCC’s director for crime and justice in 1979. In the ’80s, while in the trenches of this community-minded justice work, he sat down to write a “provocative essay.” “I just wanted to stop and think about those assumptions and approaches that we take for granted,” says Zehr. “I didn’t know the language of social construction, but I understand now that our concept of justice isn’t written in the universe. It’s socially constructed on some bad theology and bad law, but it’s socially constructed. So the question is, ‘Can we look at that social construction critically?’” His analytical musing was published as Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice in 1990. “It felt like a crazy book – I really expected it to be laughed at. And the funny part was, nobody laughed.” Instead, people took Changing Lenses seriously – sometimes in unexpected ways. Zehr remembers presenting the concept in Portland, Oregon, to the head

of a prison system, a prosecutor and a judge. “I expected them to say, ‘This is just totally crazy,’ and instead, they claimed they were trying to do part of it!” Everything about the book, including its marketing process, was unorthodox. The publisher, as is usual, had asked Zehr for a list of journals that might review the book. When a year had passed without reviews, he discovered that the publisher had lost his list. “The book started out as a word-of-mouth book; it really took off without a lot of marketing, which was interesting. That was a cool way to have it take off.” A new edition of the book has just appeared, marking the 25th anniversary of Changing Lenses. GAUGING HIS IMPACT The “provocative essay,” along with Zehr’s Little Book of Restorative Justice published in 2002, popularized the term and concepts of restorative justice, helping to spark an explosion of interest from academics and practitioners worldwide. Implementation has occurred in various courts from California to Europe, and has branched into fields far removed from the criminal justice system. New Zealand’s model of restorative justice takes place in the youth justice system, and is their first response to youth infractions – “keeping kids out of the system entirely.” Various jurisdictions in California have begun similar projects. Several cities across the world have pledged to be “restorative justice cities,” a trend set by Hull in the United Kingdom, in which the city’s major organizations work together to employ restorative justice practices and values in businesses, schools and daily community life. At the same time, Zehr points to the United States’ “massive incarceration issue” as evidence for challenges the field has yet to overcome. In regions of the world emerging from civil war and other violent conflicts,

restorative justice has been incorporated into the practice of “transitional justice,” which applies the principles of being accountable for harms done and seeking to heal them. Transitional justice underpins the work of “truth and reconciliation commissions,” such as the one in South Africa, and grassroots community-reparative initiatives, such as Fambul Tok in Sierra Leone. Restorative justice theories have been transcribed into education, architecture and many other disciplines. Some are also calling it a way of life. When people would tell him this, Zehr was confused at first. “Then I realized, it’s a reminder of some really basic values, like the fact that we are related to each other, and we have obligations or responsibilities, [which are] very fundamental things that some of us get through our religious tradition, and other people don’t.” One dorm in Alabama’s W.C. Holman Correctional Facility holds 200 inmates sentenced to life terms who have committed to lifestyles of restorative justice within prison. “They have tried to translate Changing Lenses into restorative living,” says Zehr. “I hadn’t imagined it would be taken into all these different realms.” In all of his writings over the last 20 years, Zehr makes it clear that the concepts of restorative justice are deeply embedded in most cultures of the world, especially those of indigenous peoples. He didn’t invent the concepts, he says. On the contrary, he has borrowed heavily from age-old traditions. In the Little Book of Restorative Justice, he writes: The river [of restorative justice] is also being fed by a variety of indigenous traditions and current adaptations which draw upon those traditions: Family Group Conferences adapted from Maori traditions in New Zealand, for example, sentencing circles from aboriginal communities in the www.emu.edu | crossroads | 27

photo by kara lofton Howard Zehr's passion for photography – from portraits to nature scenes – has helped him to balance the verbal and visual sides of his brain, enabling better storytelling.

Canadian north, Navajo Peacemaking Courts, African customary law, punchyat in Indo-Pakistani culture or jirgah in Pakistani-Afghan culture. The field of mediation and conflict resolution feeds into that river as do the victims rights movements and alternatives to prison movements of the past decades. A variety of religious traditions flow into this river. ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Zehr is opposed to capital punishment. The title of an article published in Sojourners (April 2007) sums up his view: “Capital punishment is about vengeance, not justice.” Pointing to Canada, where the murder rate dropped after the death penalty was abolished, Zehr writes: “The death penalty mirrors the violence that it aims to reduce, reinforcing the idea that people should get what they deserve – suffering for suffering. Rather than undermining a tit-for-tat worldview – as Jesus tried to do – it confirms it. Rather than slowing the cycle, it feeds it.” Despite the abundant praise for restorative justice, Zehr does not present as a know-it-all: “I’d rather you be a skeptic than true believer.… I want people to have a mixture of criticism and advocacy for it.” Writing and editing Critical Issues 28 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

in Restorative Justice with Barb Toews, MA ’00, was an effort to encourage that even-handedness. “We got practitioners to write about things that are going wrong, could go wrong, because they need to be aware of those.” Moving forward, Zehr identifies a lack of infrastructure as the primary problem the field faces today. “We don’t have a good map of how restorative justice is being done in this country or the world. In fact, the infrastructure for restorative justice in this country is very weak right now; there’s no clear organization that really meets the needs of practitioners.” Building that infrastructure is one goal of the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice, founded in 2012 by Zehr and a former student of his, Carl Stauffer ’85, MA ’02, who is now a professor and an expert in his own right, with 16 years of conflict-transformation experience in Africa. Zehr hopes the Institute will function as an extension of the role he has tried to play – that of facilitating and growing a network of restorative justice practitioners. In 2013, Zehr began stepping away from leadership roles and from teaching. At age 70, he thinks it’s definitively time for him to retire and make space for

other people to take the reins and run with restorative justice. “Part of what’s really satisfied me over these last 18 years [at CJP] has been mentoring people and seeing them go out and do wonderful things I never imagined.” He also enjoys making connections for people in the field and helping them collaborate. “When I was traveling I kept running into lawyers who were trying to do restorative justice, and they were all by themselves. A number of years ago I invited these lawyers to come together, to know each other and brainstorm. They liked it so much they keep doing it!” Similar groups have grown around CJP alumni and college staff dealing with sexual misconduct cases. “That [connecting people] is my part of the Zehr Institute,” he says. “That’s the part I’ll probably put the most energy into.” AS A PHOTOGRAPHER Zehr will continue doing photography – which he says has helped him balance the verbal and visual sides of the brain, enabling more effective communication. Some of his personal artworks are in themselves justice projects, such as three portrait series – of prison lifers, the children of incarcerated convicts, and victims of violent crime. As Zehr moves into retirement, the subjects and stillness of his art do, as well. His most recent project, exhibited at Harrisonburg’s Spitzer Art Center in the early summer, paired photographs of his body and others’ hands alongside shots of dried leaves which evoked a similar form, line or texture. “The process, and the visible signs, of aging are often viewed negatively,” says his website. “This portfolio is part of a larger project intended to explore the beauty, the positives, inherent in aging. Autumn leaves, with their visual marks of time and decay, have a kind of beauty, and so do the human body and spirit.” This inclusion of the grit and wrinkles of aging, this insistence on documenting rather than looking away, show that Zehr has not changed his modus operandi over the decades – from field work to writing to teaching to photography. He believes in the beauty and vitality of honest storytelling.  — Randi B. Hagi

photo by JON STYER

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Pennsylvania Judge Jeremiah Zook '97 believes God has empowered humankind to make rules and enforce consequences.

JEREMIAH ZOOK

Upholding the Law When facing a tough decision from the bench, Jeremiah Zook ’97 reminds himself that the voters of Pennsylvania’s 39th Judicial District elected him to make difficult decisions on matters that find their way into his Court of Common Pleas. He reminds himself of his responsibility to protect the peace and security of Franklin and Fulton counties, and he reminds himself that judges are to lay prejudice and passion aside, considering only the law and the facts at hand. When he does this, he finds, those decisions aren’t as hard as they might seem. In college, Zook had considered an acting career. But after getting married before his senior year, he began to look at jobs with more dependable financial prospects. A Law School Admission Test booklet on the rack outside the career office caught his eye one day. After graduating with a degree in English, he went straight into law school at the University of Akron in Ohio. He spent much of the next 14 years in the courtroom arguing cases before a judge – briefly in private practice, then as a public defender, mostly as a prosecutor working out of the District Attorney’s office in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. “I’ve learned to love the law and love what I do,” he says. Reading and writing are two of his pleasures, and two skills at the heart of a legal career. That his career allows him to help safeguard his community and enables the people in it to rectify their mistakes comes as an added benefit. Zook had always been interested in judicial office. When a judgeship came open in 2013, he saw opportunity. In Pennsylvania, judges are elected for 10-year terms and only

face an uncontested vote of retention as incumbents (which they very rarely lose), so opportunities don’t come often. He won a three-way race comfortably and began his first term as a judge in January 2014. While court cases often involve fundamentally distasteful situations – arguments, wrongdoing, irresponsibility, tawdriness – Zook says there are also moments of courtroom joy. It’s heartwarming, for instance, when two parents make arrangements wholly for a child’s best interests. Like many of the people profiled in this issue of Crossroads, Zook has had to reconcile his career in law with the suspicion in which some Mennonites have traditionally held the legal system. In his view, that suspicion is misplaced: God has empowered humankind to make rules, set boundaries and enforce consequences when these are broken. Take capital punishment, which Zook has long supported. Legislatures in the United States have widely deemed it an appropriate penalty for certain crimes, courts have routinely upheld its constitutionality, and it aligns with Zook’s understanding of God’s will. He has reconciled himself to the fact that this position does not align with Mennonite teaching. Several years ago, when Zook began prosecuting a capital case, he decided to step down from a leadership position he held at his Mennonite church. (For unrelated reasons, his family now attends a United Brethren in Christ church.) The legal system, he says, is a fact of life, a presence, a necessity. Like healthcare or education, it touches nearly everyone at some point, and is neither inherently virtuous nor sinful. It just is, and through it, he says, people have tremendous opportunity to enact good in the world: “We’re here on earth, and we have to engage the world.”  — Andrew Jenner

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 29

CAMPUS ASSETS

Two lawyers opt to work for peace J. Daryl Byler ’79 and Lindsay Martin ’05 both have law degrees, are certified to practice law in states other than Virginia, and instead work for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP). Experiences with Mennonitesponsored volunteer services in early adulthood instilled in them a deep commitment to advocate for others and promote nonviolence and community development. Those values led them to law school in different states and eras, through various careers, and, eventually, back to the Valley and CJP. BYLER'S MOTIVATIONS Shortly after Daryl Byler finished high school, he spent a year at Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) headquarters, assisting photographers and ferrying people to and from the airport. In that setting, he was immersed in stories about MCC’s work, which he says planted seeds that were nurtured at EMU. After graduating in 1979, he moved to Mississippi with four friends with whom he’d worked at a church camp. There, his ideals coalesced in an intentional community that would eventually spawn Jubilee Mennonite Church. Byler reflects on that time as a high point in his faith journey, where he felt “an incredible amount of support.” There in Meridian, Mississippi, Byler encountered many elderly citizens who were being taken advantage of by insurance companies. “That experience convinced me that there were a lot of justice issues that would be interesting to address through the legal system,” said Byler. He attended the University of Virginia School of Law, and also became licensed to practice in Washington D.C. 30 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

federally funded East Mississippi Legal Services program, while simultaneously pastoring at Jubilee Mennonite Church. As a lawyer, he dealt with civil cases, representing clients around or below the poverty line. Consumer law, bouts with used car dealerships, food stamps issues, and impact litigation all came through his office. He learned about the systemic nature of poverty, but was inspired by his clients’ resourcefulness and networks of support. A friend joked that Byler’s “two professions were law and grace.” Rather than seeing conflicts of interest, he saw law and religion as compatible callings to justice and peacebuilding. “I saw both the dark side and the light MARTIN'S LAW EDUCATION side of human behaviors,” said Byler. Lindsay Martin’s interest in law school “The brokenness, but also the potential to began during her time with Mennonite be community for one another.” Voluntary Service after graduating In Martin’s first position after gradufrom EMU. While working for a ation, she clerked for a federal judge in small nonprofit, Martin noticed skills Philadelphia. She’d had internships in she lacked that would support her criminal defense, employment law and aspirations for peace and justice work. civil rights – where her true passions lay. Law school would provide a broadly As a clerk, she spent much time in the applicable education, so she applied courtroom as a neutral observer, which to the University of Pennsylvania in helped her to realize that she preferred an Philadelphia. advocacy role. Part of Martin’s application included “After that year, I was eager to be on a personal statement essay, in which she the other side of the judge’s bench,” said expounded upon a definition of justice Martin. However, at this time, the recesdiscussed in an EMU classroom. The sion decimated funding for her line of essay earned her a public interest scholar- work. At the same time, a personal crisis ship and encouraged her to continue prevented total zeal for the legal world: “thinking of justice in a more holistic Matthew Styer ’05, the man she married, context.” was diagnosed with cancer. After her Byler and Martin passed the bar in clerking position, she cared for him fullMississippi and Pennsylvania, respectivetime until his death in December 2011. ly, and set out to practice in their field. “The plan crashed and burned. There After doing some cases pro bono while was no longer any kind of plan,” said working for MCC in Washington D.C., Martin. Byler became a staff attorney with the Byler’s exit from practicing law came

“I saw both the dark side and the light side of human behaviors. The brokenness, but also the potential to be community for one another.”

photo by Randi b. Hagi

law

Lindsay Martin '05 is chief fundraiser for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding; J. Daryl Byler '79 is the center's executive director.

when MCC approached him to direct their Washington D.C. Office, where he focused on public policy, poverty issues, and U.S. policy in the Middle East. After 13 years, he and his wife Cindy transitioned to roles of regional representatives in the Middle East. Based in Jordan, they also worked extensively in Iran, Iraq and Israel-Palestine. Again, Byler was struck by the work, vision, resiliency and ingenuity of the locals with whom he worked. RETURN TO HARRISONBURG Byler’s main takeaway from his time as an attorney came from reading countless court decisions, both the majority and dissenting opinions. “That really is a powerful reminder . . . that getting to the root of issues is always a little more complex than one person’s story,” said Byler. This understanding of perspective aided Byler as he interacted with

conflict in the Middle East and, when he and Cindy were ready to return to the United States, as he joined EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. “In peacebuilding, you are working among multiple narratives,” said Byler. Thus listening to each other’s stories is crucial for sustainable peace. As CJP’s executive director, Byler’s position is one of listening. Whether in D.C. discussing workshops with fundraising organizations, contacting graduates to learn from their in-thefield experiences, or networking with a Fulbright-winning Palestinian alumnus over lunch, Byler relies on relationships to improve and expand CJP. One of the most rewarding parts of his job is “meeting with students and talking with them about their dreams.” After the death of Matthew Styer, Martin moved back to Harrisonburg for friend and familial support. The prospect

of working at CJP became “the light at the end of the tunnel.” The opportunity to work for former CJP executive director Lynn Roth became available, and she seized it, becoming his assistant. “It helped me realize I did still have a passion to work for what I believed in,” said Martin. She became Byler’s assistant when he succeeded Roth. In January, Martin moved to EMU’s development office, where she became an associate director in charge of fundraising for CJP. Her excitement to advocate for people and causes now manifests itself in promoting CJP. The core tenets of a law education, “reframing the way you think about things, and honing your analytical and logical skills” aid her in networking and planning. “I want to live in constant gratitude,” said Martin. “CJP has been a very healing place for me, in a number of aspects.”  — Randi B. Hagi www.emu.edu | crossroads | 31

PROTECTING

THE ENVIRONMENT Two lawyers have personal reasons for caring

ON A CONSERVATIVE MENNONITE FARM in Pennsylvania, Lorraine Stoltzfus '77 grew up watching her father protect his land from soil erosion through contour farming. Almost 20 years later, when Stoltzfus had finished her time at Eastern Mennonite University and was in law school at the University of Wisconsin, Olga Kolotushkina '95 was spending her summers in a quite different rural area – in the Soviet Union, where families would sneak into the forest to cut down trees for firewood. The two women pinpoint these memories as the ones that first whetted their interest in environmental protection.

LORRAINE STOLTZFUS Mennonites didn’t go to law school. At least the ones that Lorraine Stoltzfus knew 40 years ago. But by the mid-1980s, she had moved to Wisconsin and was working as a legal secretary in a law office. After a while “I 32 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

realized that what I really wanted to be doing was the work that the attorney was doing. It fit with who I am, even though it was out of culture for me,” says Stoltzfus, a 1977 graduate of EMU. During that time, she was also highly involved in environmental protection work as a layperson. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much more effective I could be from the legal side of things.” In 1988, Stoltzfus received her JD from the University of Wisconsin Law School, the first person in her home church network to do so. Soon after, she was hired by the Wisconsin Department of Justice as one of six lawyers who focus exclusively on environmental protection. “My formal title is Assistant Attorney General. Essentially I represent the State of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to enforce all the environmental programs the state is responsible for.” In one recent case, Stoltzfus dealt with a large, multi-state corporation that was violating state and federal air pollution regulations.

“Companies have air pollution permits that give them limits on how much pollution they can emit,” she says. “In this particular case I worked with a Department of Natural Resources air engineer, met with the company several times, and finally settled with the company. In exchange for lower fines, the company ended up reducing their emissions to lower than the original permit required.” Stoltzfus has recently handled cases involving hazardous waste violations, wetland protection and land use law. Environmental law is her passion. It combines the skills at which she excels (reading, writing, analysis and arguing) with a cause she is committed to. Over her 26-year career at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, several of the cases that Stoltzfus has litigated have ended up in Wisconsin law casebooks. “I love my job,” says Stoltzfus. “I was raised a fairly conservative Mennonite, but when I asked my mom what she thought about me being a lawyer she said, ‘You are doing work that helps to protect God’s creation.’ I’ll never forget that.”

Pictured at the Roanoke River, Olga Kolotushkina '95 grew up in the Soviet Union, where she says environmental care was lacking. She has been a volunteer in successful efforts to protect the Roanoke River watershed.

OLGA KOLOTUSHKINA to her region: If the proposed mine were The Roanoke River watershed remains to flood, radioactive leavings could leak free of radioactive uranium thanks to out and contaminate the watershed as attorney Olga Kolotushkina ’95 and far south as the Outer Banks in North other activists in the Roanoke River Carolina for several years. Basin Association. “Uranium mining is a very local issue,” In 2009, Kolotushkina learned that Kolotushkina says. “In order for us to Virginia Uranium, Inc., planned on win the fight to keep the ban, we had to developing a large uranium deposit in go up against state agencies and legislaPittsylvania County, just upstream from tors who viewed the proposed mine as her lakeside home. ‘pro-business.’ Kolotushkina began to do research. “Basically what we managed to do, The uranium deposit in question was first with other local organizations throughdiscovered in the 1970s and is thought out Virginia, was to energize people to to be one of the biggest undeveloped put pressure on state legislators to not lift uranium deposits in the country. She the ban.” found that in the early 1980s, Virginia In 2012, in response to the controlegislators enacted a state moratorium versy, the National Academy of Science on uranium mining until further studies published a study that examined “the could be done. scientific, technical, environmental, huThe moratorium made sense: All curman health and safety, and regulatory rent uranium mines in the United States aspects of uranium mining, milling, and are in more arid, sparsely populated processing” for the Commonwealth of regions. The Pittsylvania County mine Virginia. would have been the first uranium mine The report concluded that there are on the East Coast, a region with regular, “steep hurdles to be surmounted” before sometimes heavy, rainfall. mining could take place in a manner Kolotushkina was alarmed by the risk protective of the ecosystem and humans.

This report supported the position of Kolotushkina and her allies and was instrumental in the withdrawal of the proposed bill by its sponsors. In 2013, in the absence of support, the main sponsor of the lift-the-ban bill, Senator John Watkins from Richmond, withdrew his proposal and the ban against uranium mining was maintained. “There were a lot of personal reasons why I was drawn into this issue,” Kolotushkina says. “I’ve always felt passionate about the environment. “But when I was growing up in the Soviet Union, protecting the environment was never a big issue – people would sneak into the forest to cut a tree for their fire and that bothered me.” Kolotushkina earned her law degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1998. When she is not doing pro-bono work on behalf of the Roanoke River Basin Association – in the area where she keeps a second home – she lives in the District of Columbia, where she is an attorney at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  — Kara Lofton

photo by kara lofton

law

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 33

photo by james souder

For Human Rights in Occupied Papua IN FEBRUARY 2015, Papuan lawyer Olga Hamadi was among a small group of colleagues who discussed the formation of a protective network to ensure their safety. For decades, human rights lawyers on this South Pacific island have been advocating for indigenous Papuans living under a brutal Indonesian occupation. Forced confessions, intimidation, torture, and illegal police tactics, such as denying legal representation, are just a few of the strategies used against indigenous Papuans. Many are arrested for peaceable acts of demonstration, including holding protest signs and flying the “Morning Star” flag (rather than the flag of Indonesia). Such acts are considered treasonous by Indonesian military, police and security forces. “A negative stigma against Papuans as separatists,” Hamadi says, lies at the root of such abuses. In the same way that lawyers advocate for victims of human rights abuses, a protective network could track the activities of the handful of lawyers working in this field to ensure and advocate for their safety. Hamadi, a Summer Peacebuilding Institute alumna, has worked for KontraS Papua since 2009. The NGO is one of six affiliated with the umbrella organization Federation of KontraS (the others are KontraS, KontraS Aceh, KontraS Sumatera, KontraS Sulawesi, and KontraS East Timor).* The organization works on several levels of education and advocacy. Among indigenous people living in villages, Hamadi conducts trainings to “build an understanding of law and human rights for the people in the village and also the victim’s family, so that they know what they should do when dealing with legal issues.” In meetings, she builds awareness among the security officers in the villages, who often dispense arbitrary punishment and have arrogant attitudes. Hamadi also conducts investigations on behalf of individuals or groups who have been victimized, and meets with authorities to encourage prosecution of perpetrators. “We will advocate in hearings, report in writing to encourage legal process or in the form of a press release to criticize the perpetrator’s actions,” she said, adding that coalitions with other lawyers, NGOs, and churches are often formed. KontraS Papua monitors violence by security forces around the province and alerts media and foreign embassy staff if the level increases. Paulus Paramma, an Indonesian who is a current EMU * KontraS, also known as the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, emerged in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in the 1990s to raise awareness of the victims of state-sponsored violence. The federated groups work to ensure that Indonesians and others in countries controlled by Indonesia are treated fairly under international human rights conventions.

34 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

Olga Hamadi attended SPI 2013 with a women's group.

graduate student in conflict transformation, vouches for Hamadi’s impact in a region that is now treated as two provinces of Indonesia – West Papua and adjacent Papua (where Hamadi is based and Paramma teaches in a college). Indonesia annexed this area from the Netherlands in 1969. “I know her [by reputation] as a strong, courageous woman,” says Paramma, adding that several students from his college have done human rights research or internships in her office. “Working in human rights issues in Papua is the most risky job, because you have to go face-to-face with security forces – military, police or intelligence agents.” Born in the provincial capital of Jayapura City, Hamadi was inspired at age 8 to become a lawyer by her father. She studied law in Jayapura at Cenderawsih University and earned a master’s degree in peace and conflict resolution at the University of Gadya Mada in Yogjakarta in Java. In 2013, she attended SPI as a member of the Women’s Peacebuilding Leadership Program, taking courses in analysis, practice and restorative justice. That same year, following a high-profile murder trial during which Hamadi was threatened and intimidated, she and her colleague Gustaf Kawer were among the top votereceivers for an annual award given by the Dutch-based lawyer advocacy organization, Lawyers for Lawyers. She hopes her work with KontraS Papua leads to “increased accountability and transparency of the state,” as well as the prioritizing of “human development,” rather than reactive security measures, in addressing the problems that exist in the community. And, she says, “advancement of the rule of law that gives justice to the victims.”  — Lauren Jefferson

law

IN BENGHAZI, residents have become used to falling asleep to the sound of bombs playing their deadly lullaby. This is the daily reality Najla Mangoush’s mother describes to her from the family’s home in Libya. And it is the reality Mangoush will face as she considers bringing her two school-aged daughters back to Libya when her Fulbright Scholarship ends in September. Mangoush, a 2015 graduate of EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP), was trained as a criminal lawyer and practiced for many years in Libya under the 42-year dictatorship of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. In some ways her life was good. She was able to practice in her own firm, seek a divorce after an unhappy marriage, enjoy supportive parents, and send her daughters to good schools. Mangoush knew, though, that her freedom was an illusion. Under Gaddafi, Libyans were harshly censored, human rights activists brutally suppressed, and much of the population (more than half under 18) faced malnutrition. Many lawyers, including Mangoush, supported the 2011 Libyan revolution that overthrew Gaddafi. “People had very high expectations about how things would change after the revolution. I was one of them. But when you don’t have capable institutions to step in after a revolution, then you create the perfect environment for extremists,” she says. Mangoush served as the head of the public engagement unit following the 2011 revolution. “The first year after the revolution was great,” she says. But now various extremists’ militias are vying for control. Murders and abductions have become a common occurrence. One such murder was the June 2014 killing of Mangoush’s mentor, Salwa Bugaighis, who was a fellow female lawyer and human rights activist. Her death affected Mangoush deeply and served to strengthen Mangoush’s resolve to continue on a path of peace. When feeling troubled, she remembers Bugaighis’ vision: “Regardless of all the disappointments and failures, we have to continue to hope for a better Libya.” If Mangoush returns to Libya, “I would targeted,” she says matter-of-factly. “I am one of the voices asking for rule of law, justice and human rights all the time. Practicing the skills I am learning at CJP would be dangerous – not only to me, but to my daughters.” As a single mother, Mangoush’s desire to return to Libya and work for peace weighs heavily against the knowledge that she is solely responsible for the safety of her children. Both of her daughters, aged 9 and 14, are enrolled in schools in Virginia, are socially well adjusted, and like their classes. Asked what she would do when her scholarship is up, she was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “I’m worried about them even more than me. What will life be

photo by kara lofton

From Lawlessness in Libya to CJP Studies

Najla Mangoush has departed from adversarial law.

like with no school and no security?” Mangoush will spend the summer finishing the research she started at CJP on how to integrate restorative justice principles within customary law in Libya, while pondering her next step. In the last year, she’s been tapped in Washington D.C. policy circles as an expert on Libya, and this will no doubt continue. In March 2015, for example, she was one of three panelists (and the only woman) at an event convened by the Center for Strategic and International Studies to discuss “Libya in turmoil.” Mangoush says she doubts she will continue to practice law when she returns to Libya. “I’m still passionate about justice,” she said, “but now I’m more passionate about restorative justice. Libya doesn’t have local experts on peace, but there is an urgent need for them. Libya doesn’t need more lawyers, it needs more peacebuilders.” Ultimately she thinks that peace will come from the Libyan women, because women and children are the ones most affected by conflict. She said she understands that each woman has a different experience and story, but that for her, the stories of others’ resilience gives her strength. She said she hopes that one day her example will inspire others, just as Bugaighi inspired her. “I have a message for every woman,” she said. “My message is that there is nothing that is impossible. Whatever the challenge may be, empower yourself to take the risk to make a change. Life is very short. We must ask ourselves, how do I create a better situation? We must learn how to listen to the voices within ourselves and fight for a better world.”  — Kara Lofton

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 35

photo by JON STYER Washington D.C. attorney Shanti Martin Brown '01 is an expert in Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, a little-known provision within federal law.

Representing the ‘Least of These’ NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE, navigating the American legal system can be daunting. If you’re a poor, undocumented immigrant, it can be a lot worse than that. “This is a seriously marginalized group in the United States…. It’s very easy in the system for the rights of an indigent, unrepresented, undocumented immigrant to be completely plowed over,” says Shanti Martin Brown ’01, staff attorney with Ayuda, a nonprofit that offers legal, social and language services to immigrants in and around Washington D.C. Martin Brown spends about half her time helping abused or abandoned immigrant children apply for a status that provides a path to citizenship (known as Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, or SIJS) under a little-known provision of 36 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

federal law. It’s a complicated process involving a family court at the state level followed by an administrative ruling from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Few applicants for SIJS can afford an attorney, and almost none would be able to navigate the process on their own, says Martin Brown, who earned her law degree from American University’s Washington College of Law in 2009. “It’s amazing to be able to empower these clients by providing representation,” she says. To qualify for SIJS, children have to have suffered some form of abuse or neglect, and often have to tell their harrowing stories in court. That means the process can be emotionally draining for both Martin Brown and her clients. At

the same time, Ayuda carefully screens cases to make sure those who apply for SIJS are eligible for it. “What is so rewarding about the work is that 99% of the cases we win, and these clients are then granted legal status in the U.S,” she says. “There’s a happy ending, and you can see the transformation in the clients.” In Portland, Oregon, Christa Obold Eshleman ’97 is a staff attorney at Youth, Rights & Justice, which has a state contract to provide court-appointed counsel for children and parents in the juvenile court system. Because SIJS requires an order from a juvenile court finding that a child has suffered abuse, abandonment or neglect from his or her parents, Obold Eshleman occasionally works on behalf of clients seeking this status. (The major-

photo by Rich Reinhard

law

has a tendency to overlook their rights,” she says. “I feel very called to be present with those people who are reviled, and to be an advocate for them … when they’re going through what is quite possibly one of the scariest and most traumatic times in their lives.” (Illegal entry into the country and other immigration-related crimes now account for more than half of all prosecutions in U.S. federal courts. People convicted on these charges can face lengthy prison terms.) Hartzler, who grew up in a Mennonite family in Hesston, Kansas, also felt “pretty sheepish about being a lawyer” earlier in her life – particularly the sort of lawyer who regularly faces adversaries in the courtroom. Like Obold Eshleman, her thoughts on the matter have also Kara Hartzler '94 speaks upon accepting the David Carliner Public changed when it comes to representing Interest Award from the American Constitution Society in 2013. clients – mostly immigrants – whose rights are often violated by a seemingly monolithic system. Creating and mainity of her current practice involves repreas the criticisms it levels against the taining a just and equal society in her sentation of non-immigrant children and adversarial nature of the traditional view means someone has to push back. parents at the appellate level.) justice system. While she continues to Hartzler got a first taste for immigraShe traces an interest in immigration appreciate and support restorative justice tion law at a law clinic in Texas where law back to her year with EMU’s Washwork, she says her years serving as a she worked during a voluntary service ington Community Scholars’ Center, public defender have convinced her of term after EMU. She later went on to during which she interned in Mennonite the importance of the adversarial system earn an MFA in playwriting and a law Central Committee’s Washington D.C. in advancing the cause of justice for degree from the University of Iowa. One Office. The director of that office was J. marginalized and powerless members of of her plays, No Roosters in the Desert, Daryl Byler ’79, an attorney who now our society. was based on interviews with migrant heads EMU’s Center for Justice and “The only way to develop a system of women by a professor at the University Peacebuilding. rights that works for the whole populaof Arizona. Focused on four Latino “That was my first introduction to tion is if you’ve got public defenders who women trying to enter the United States Mennonites as lawyers,” she recalls. “I are fighting every step of the way,” she through southern borderland, No Roostwas very impressed with the work that says. “Over the years, my thinking has ers in the Desert has been performed in they were doing through their law deevolved to essentially being that it’s really Mexico and across the United States, grees and started thinking about that as a important that we have a working legal including at EMU in 2012. viable career option.” system. Sometimes it’s only through the After she earned her law degree, HartzA cross-cultural to Central America adversarial process that we get good law, ler lived in Mexico for a while, where she further opened her eyes to refugee and and I think having good law is important gained new understanding of the issues immigration issues. After college Obold to having a functional country to live in.” surrounding immigration from the other Eshleman did voluntary service terms This is a perspective that resonates side of the border. with legal organizations in San Francisco with Kara Hartzler ’94, who works in “I think there’s often a misperception in and Dallas; in Dallas, she worked specifi- the federal public defender’s office in San the United States that ‘they just want to cally in immigration law. She then went Diego, California. Most of her work is come here and enjoy our life,’” she says. to law school at the University of Notre also at the appellate level, representing “People who generally emigrate are doing Dame. immigrants who have been convicted of so out of a sense that there is no other Like many Mennonite lawyers, Obold federal crimes. option, that they don’t have the ability to Eshleman is familiar with and sympa“That’s a segment of society that is not support their families, that they won’t be thetic toward the values, theories and very popular in the United States … and safe if they stay there.”  practices of restorative justice, as well I strongly believe that the government — Andrew Jenner www.emu.edu | crossroads | 37

RECENT ISSUES OF THE WAJIR TIMES, which covers the third-largest county in the northeast of Kenya, chronicle clan warfare, banditry, scarcity of water and land, concerns over attacks by Al Shabab, and civil unrest. Naema "Nimo" Somo, 28, practices law in the county government and works to build peace in her birthplace – a fractious, sprawling arid land populated primarily by ethnic Somalis. Her work day in the capital of Wajir is punctuated by the calls of the muezzin from the mosque: unlike most of Kenya, Wajir’s population is predominately Muslim. “We joke that when we are travelling down to Nairobi, that we are going to Kenya,” Somo says of the 300-mile, eight-hour drive that separates her from the capital and her husband. “This is a marginalized county.... Our history is a bloody one, with curfews, heavy military presence” and what she calls a brutal “peace enforcement.” Her main responsibilities are to legally represent Wajir County and to help develop equitable and constitutional policies and laws that “cover the interests of minority and vulnerable groups.” One difficulty, Somo says, is “finding a balance between the interests of the county government and community members.” For example, in the process of developing a road, several long-established businesses and shops were demolished. Somo says this situation made her feel “like a villain,” but she eventually provided a solution: relocating the businesses to already constructed business stalls free of charge. Somo earned her graduate certificate in peacebuilding as a participant in the 2013-15 Women’s Peacebuilding Leadership Program. Of the knowledge gained at SPI ’13, which she attended with four other ethnic Somali women, she counts understanding and analyzing structural violence to be most valuable. For decades, Wajir has been rocked by civil conflict, as ethnic Somalis, victims of colonial annexation in the 1920s, have fought to unite with their nearby homeland. Clan warfare and a dissolution of the nomadic, pastoral lifestyle have led to further armed conflict, which Kenyan forces attempt to quell with a permanent presence. Somo was born in Wajir a few years after the Wagalla Massacre, a devastating event explored by Kenya’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Committee. (The vice-chair of this committee was Tecla Wanjala, who earned her MA through CJP in 2003.) Somo’s grandfather was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down as a result of this violence: In 1984, soldiers employed by the Kenyan government, dispatched to stop inter-clan warfare over land for grazing cattle, rounded up ethnic Somalis from a certain clan,

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photo by bonnie price lofton

Helping Vulnerable Kenyans Via Local Law

Naema "Nimo" Somo is a lawyer of Somali origins doing government work in northeast Kenya.

tortured them, and killed about 5,000. Somo, who grew up wanting to be a doctor, was encouraged to study law at Nairobi University by her father, who one day “came with his law friend and gave me a long argument as to why I should take up the career.” She most enjoys the satisfaction of a day in which “I helped someone and justice was met that day.” Winning cases is always a high point, but she much prefers winning cases in which “all parties involved got what they wanted, where all the interests involved were met.” Some of those wins include out-of-court settlements, which Somo negotiates with the help of conflict transformation strategies learned at SPI. Asked of a vision for her country, she says: “I want to leave behind a legacy. I would really like to set up strong legal structures that will weather the coming years and generations. I want to make sound laws whereby everyone’s interests are captured and the unjust will not escape. And I want to give more power to the alternative dispute resolution processes so as to calm clan wars.” — Lauren Jefferson

law

EVER HEARD THE ONE ABOUT the difference between a lawyer and a jellyfish? One’s a spineless, poisonous blob, and the other lives in the ocean! Know why they bury lawyers’ coffins so far underground? Because deep down, they’re good people! Sometimes, acknowledges Charlotte Hunsberger ’91, the damaged reputation lawyers enjoy in our culture is deserved. But the kind of lawyer caricatured in jokes, Crossroads has found, bears little resemblance to the kind of lawyers at the Souderton, Pennsylvania, firm of Bricker, Landis, Hunsberger & Gingrich, LLP. “We don’t live in the world of attorneys that people make fun of,” says Jeffrey Landis ’91, seated beside Hunsberger in one of their office’s book-lined conference rooms. “We really view ourselves as problem-solvers.” Suppose someone dies, leaving behind financial affairs in some disarray. Enter Hunsberger, helping the family tie up loose ends. Or suppose Party A agrees to sell its business to Party B. Landis steps in to help shepherd them toward their mutual goal with i’s dotted and t’s crossed. Getting lawyers involved doesn’t have to mean someone wins and someone else loses. When attorneys help clients achieve shared goals, everybody wins. About half their firm’s work involves estate planning and administration. The rest is mostly transactional, such as guiding clients through business formation and contracts, real estate deals, and employment issues. The firm also represents area businesses and nonprofits. A good lawyer of this sort, they say, is often more of a problem solver and a facilitator rather than someone with tunnel vision for the letter of the law. In addition to helping clients understand their legal rights, Landis and his partners stress helping clients identify and achieve the best realistic result while minimizing expense and aggravation. Hunsberger met recently with an estate executor and someone who wanted to buy property from that estate. The two had communicated poorly and the process had taken a sour turn. Around a table at the office, Hunsberger guided things back on track, encouraging them to talk through their concerns, and offering advice on their various rights and options. They walked out the door happy and headed toward settlement. People would be surprised at how little time transactional lawyers like them spend at the courthouse, says Landis. Mostly, they spend it working directly with clients. People might also be surprised at how fascinating and fun it can be to get down in the legal weeds of a business deal. “Each transaction opens up opportunity to learn about a new type of business, or a new area of the law,” says Huns-

photos by JON STYER

Not Those Lawyers People Make Fun Of

Charlotte Hunsberger '91

Jeffrey Landis '91

berger, who, for example, recently learned far more about the tool and die industry than she’d ever thought she would. “It’s not just doing the paperwork. It’s learning about what they do in that business.” Hunsberger and Landis first crossed paths at EMU when they worked together on a group project for a strategic marketing class. After graduation, Hunsberger moved to the Souderton area where she and Landis attended the same church. Landis went straight from EMU to law school at Temple University. After finishing there in 1994, he headed straight home to Souderton and into the practice, where he’s been working ever since. Hunsberger took the scenic route, winding up with a law degree, also from Temple, in 1998 and eventually joining the Souderton firm in 2000. (Joseph L. Lapp ’66, who was EMU’s president from 1987 to 2003, is a former member of the firm. His story is on page 40.) Practicing law is not always about the law itself. “I sometimes feel like I should get a degree in counseling to go along with my law degree,” says Hunsberger, a member of EMU’s board of trustees. “We’re always finding creative new ways to solve problems that allow people to stay true to their faith and deal with a situation that they’re faced with.”  — Andrew Jenner

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 39

JOE LAPP LED A SHRINKING COLLEGE TO BE A GROWING UNIVERSITY OF EMU’S EIGHT PRESIDENTS during its 98 years of existence, only one came from a career in a totally secular field. Law. This was president no. 7, Joseph L. Lapp ’66. After graduating with a JD from the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1972, Lapp practiced law in several situations before becoming a partner in the firm of Souder, Rosenberger, Lapp and Bricker in Souderton, Pennsylvania. There he did such bread-and-butter law as general business and estate planning. Two years after he began building his “But efficiency is impossible at that small law practice – and just eight years after of a size. Our aspirations were to offer graduating from EMU as a history and high-quality education.” Bible major – Lapp agreed to serve on When Lapp took the helm in July 1987, EMU’s board of trustees. Eastern Mennonite College could have Little did Lapp know back in 1974 that gone one of two ways: this affiliation would put his life on a (1) as Sweet Briar College did this track entirely different than he expected year, when it announced it would focus as a young lawyer with a growing pracon methodically closing down due to tice in Souderton. shriveling enrollment, or Six years later Lapp was elected (2) as James Madison University did, board chair. Six more years, and he was when it went from being a small womappointed EMU’s seventh president, suc- en’s college founded in 1908 to growing ceeding Richard Detweiler ’49. rapidly in the 1960s, upon becoming Lapp knew what he was stepping into fully coeducational and adding an array as president. And it wasn’t a ship-shape of graduate programs. vessel. “Many people thought I was a Lapp was determined that the demise fool to leave my practice and come to of EMC would not happen on his watch. EMC [Eastern Mennonite College],” He was equally determined that the Lapp told Crossroads recently. Enrollment Anabaptist value base of EMC would not had dropped precipitously from 1980 to disappear. 1986, he noted, leaving EMC with only “Many higher education institutions 774 students in 1986-87. have removed Christian faith from the “Some said EMC should plan on being curriculum,” he said in comments puba college with 500 students,” he added. lished in Crossroads (fall ’94). “Eastern

“Many people thought I was a fool to leave my practice and come to EMC [Eastern Mennonite College].”

40 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

Mennonite believes the fusion of religion and the educational curriculum, especially in the private sector, contributes a set of values to the community that are beneficial to all.” He went on to talk about upholding “Christ’s call to a life of service and peacemaking.” With Lapp’s law background, he set about seeking information, analyzing the facts, and asking tough questions about EMC’s situation. At a conference with other Christian colleges, he learned that some of them were doing well offering adult degree completion programs. In talking with his brother, John Lapp ’54, then head of Mennonite Central Committee (and profiled on page 62), Joe Lapp learned that MCC needed a place where its workers could get intensive training in conflict transformation theory and skills. From EMC’s seminary faculty he learned of the need for counseling education. Lapp was backed by a strong cabinet, with Lee F. Snyder as his academic dean and vice president. “She was very important to me – her work ethic was outstanding, as was her judgment.” Ronald E. Piper, a CPA, was also key, “magic,” as vice president of finance.*1 Based on his research and wide con* In the first seven years of Lapp’s presidency (to mid1994), the cabinet was stable, a boon to Lapp’s efforts to stabilize and grow the institution. In addition to Snyder and Piper, the cabinet members were: seminary v-p and dean George Brunk II ’30; v-p of student life Peggy H. Landis ’61; v-p of enrollment Robert M. Bontrager; assistant to the president Peggy B. Shenk; and v-p of advancement David F. Miller ’61, MDiv ’97.

photo by lindsey kolb

law

Joseph L. Lapp '66, JD (left), walks beside his successor as president of EMU, Loren Swartzendruber '76, MDiv '79, DMin, and Myron Augsburger '55, MDiv, ThM, ThD, who was EMU's fifth president, serving from 1965 to 1980.

sultations – with the trust and support of his cabinet and EMC’s board – Lapp led EMC through a remarkable series of changes from 1987 to 1995, including:

Opening a site in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for selected university-level studies and pastoral training.

Starting the honors program for exceptional incoming undergraduates, with Launching five new academic programs an anonymous $1 million gift. – the Intensive English Program, the Changing the institution’s name to Adult Degree Completion Program, Eastern Mennonite University to reand three master’s programs: counflect its growth from being a seminary seling, conflict transformation and and an undergraduate-focused college education. (EMU’s first MBA program to being a full-fledged university with came later under Lapp’s presidency – graduate programs. in 1999.) Beginning the annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute with about 40 participants from a dozen countries in 1994. (As of 2014, there were 184 from 36 countries.) Hosting two new music programs that rapidly garnered acclaim for EMC: the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival and the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir.

As a result of this spate of initiatives between 1987 and 1995 – plus some others in subsequent years, including construction of the Seminary and the Commons – enrollment had doubled by the time Lapp wrapped up his 16 years as president, increasing from 774 undergraduate students when Lapp took office to 1,458 students in all programs in the spring of 2003.

“Joe Lapp led the rescue effort for this institution at a time when many people weren’t betting on its survival,” says Lapp’s successor, current EMU president Loren Swartzendruber, ’76, MDiv ’79, DMin. “Everyone who has come in Joe’s wake is indebted to the extraordinary efforts, wisdom and far-sighted decisions made by him, his cabinet and the board of trustees. Where some others despaired, they saw hope and potential for EMU – their faith stands as a lesson to us all.” After his presidency, Lapp did not return to practicing law. He joined the Harrisonburg office of what is now called Everence, a financial services firm, where as a charitable services advisor he tapped some of his legal know-how in helping people with planned gifts and estate planning. In 2011, he became Everence’s managing director in Harrisonburg, supervising its office and staff.  — Bonnie Price Lofton

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 41

OFFERING SOLID ALTERNATIVES Despite Financial Obstacles

IN THE COMING 2016 FISCAL YEAR, Central Virginia Restorative Justice (CVRJ) in Charlottesville will take funding cuts from two local governments totaling about $15,000. For this small group that exclusively does restorative justice work, that’s a huge bite out of its operating budget. Director David Saunier, MA ’04 (conflict transformation), is going to have to get creative yet again. “It’s always a challenge to be able to cobble enough money to keep it going,” said Saunier, CVRJ’s only paid staffer, who largely handles court-referred juvenile delinquency cases with the help of three volunteers. “It’s a battle every year.” That’s a common experience for organizations across the state offering restorative justice or mediation services, according to Christine Poulson, MA ’98 (conflict transformation). The headwinds are particularly strong for 2015-16. “I’d say that right now, centers are really, really struggling,” said Poulson, executive director of the Virginia Association for Community Conflict Resolution (VACCR). Alternative dispute resolution isn’t as 42 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

hot a topic as it once was for big funders, who are now more focused on basic needs such as education, healthcare and job training, she said. Additionally, state and local governments aren’t generally in a position to offer generous support. VACCR represents nine mediation centers throughout the state (Saunier’s CVRJ is not a mediation center and therefore is not among them) and focuses on big-picture initiatives to support community-based mediation work that member organizations – often scrambling simply to keep the doors open and fulfill their missions – can rarely devote time to. It’s a feeling she knows well, having previously helped start a mediation center in Blacksburg before spending about eight years as director of the Conflict Resolution Center in Roanoke, Virginia. DOVE LICENSE PLATE Among Poulson’s major goals with VACCR is developing long-term, dependable funding streams for mediation organizations in the state. Toward that end, in 2005 she led a successful effort for Virginia to give

vehicle owners the option of buying a Community Peacebuilding license plate decorated with a dove. About 3,000 cars in Virginia now have these peacebuilding license plates, generating about $45,000 per year to support VACCR (info at www.vaccr.org/peaceplate). Poulson is also working to collect more data to quantify the value of mediation centers to communities. She hopes to raise the centers’ profiles and encourage more people to consider bringing their disputes and problems to their local mediation centers instead of the police or courts. Harrisonburg boasts the first mediation center in the state, the Fairfield Center founded in 1982. The center does non-stop fundraising to maintain itself, though it is a partner agency of both the United Way of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County and the United Way of Greater Augusta. Local vineyards, restaurants and churches have co-sponsored “Pass the Peace” community meals to raise money for Fairfield; the Shenandoah Valley Airport has hosted a “plane pull” competition (which garnered $8,000 in 2014).

photos by kara lofton

law

David Saunier, MA '04, directs Central Virginia Restorative Justice, which largely handles court-referred juvenile delinquency cases in Charlottesville.

Christine Poulson, MA '98, is executive director of the Virginia Association for Community Conflict Resolution, representing nine mediation centers.

But despite long-standing, deep roots in formation), founding director of the Department of Labor grant to provide its community, the Fairfield Center had Virginia Center for Restorative Justice. restorative justice training for staff of to walk away from its plans in 2014 to The organization teaches restorative Big Brothers Big Sisters in high-poverty renovate a warehouse in Harrisonburg to justice in eight state prisons and two or high-crime neighborhoods across the house its offices and those of compatible juvenile detention centers. Clarke hopes country. Her organization is also supnonprofits. to be eventually working in every prison ported by individuals and congregations. Fairfield paid $630,000 in 2011 for in the state. Back in Charlottesville, Saunier plans the building, but had to sell it “as is” for to make up CVRJ’s funding gap by $625,000 in March 2014, as reported by 'WE HAVE TO MAKE A LIVING' soliciting donations from people within local TV station WHSV. Fairfield Center “You [have] to think strategically about the community. After 13 years in the job, executive director Tim Ruebke ’92, MA your work,” Clarke said. “You don’t just Saunier said he’s learned that simply hav’99 (conflict transformation), said the think ‘I’m going to help people.’ It’s ing a good reputation isn’t enough. situation changed in those three years, laudatory … but the fact remains, people “You’ve got to sell [your work],” he said. ending the dream and contributing to who do this kind of work have to make “You’ve got to really consciously develop the $5,000 loss. a living.” relationships and make your case. I’ve “Unfortunately it didn’t work out, with To that end, she has convened a workbeen hesitant to do that because it the slow recovery [from the global recesing group of state officials, practitioners seemed like to go out and ‘sell’ was sion] and fewer grant monies available and others to study the creation of an somewhat unseemly, but it’s not. You’re and increasing costs – we just decided as office of restorative justice that would promoting something that’s meaningful a board that it became too risky,” Ruebke support and fund programs across the and that can make real change.” told WHSV four months after the sale. state. At times, he acknowledges, it can feel “We are very careful with our costs and “If we could get this set up, then there frustrating to constantly be working our results show significant impact in the would be sustainability for restorative on an unpredictable shoestring budget. community,” he recently told Crossroads. justice in Virginia,” she said. “And that But for now, that’s life, and frustration “We just need people to become more would just be awesome. That’s the reason doesn’t change that. aware of what we do.” I wake up in the morning.” “You can rail against the wind or you In Richmond, long-term financial For now, Clarke’s primary source can get to work,” he said. “And I’m getstability also looms large in the mind of of funding for the Virginia Center for ting to work.”  — Andrew Jenner Judy Clarke, MA ’11 (conflict transRestorative Justice comes through a U.S. www.emu.edu | crossroads | 43

Clerk of Court She wanted to be a legal secretary, and that was her first job after college. But Amy Showalter Leftwich ’90 is now the chief administrator of a court in the Virginia judicial system. Her title is “clerk of court” for Campbell County General District Court in Rustburg, Virginia. That means she oversees day-to-day operations, supervising four deputy clerks and working with three state judges. Leftwich and her staff process the judges’ caseloads, collect fines and court costs, manage the court’s budget, ensure compliance with laws, and relate to the public. “Every day is different, and it’s a fast pace,” she says. “I especially like interacting with the different offices and law-enforcement agencies.” Her interest in the legal profession started at Broadway (Va.) High School. As a member of Broadway's Future Business Leaders of America club, she got to spend a day with a lawyer. “I really enjoyed what I saw that day and thought I might like to be a legal secretary,” she says. Leftwich enrolled at EMU, graduated with a major in business, and got a job as a legal secretary for the law firm of Harris, Black & Allen in Lynchburg, Virginia. Through her interaction with the court system, she became interested in working in a court setting. In 1993 she became a deputy clerk in the local district court, where she has been ever since. In 2011 she was appointed clerk of court. Every year Leftwich is required to earn 12 academic credits in Continuing Legal Education. “I’ve also taken some online classes related to management to help me with my job,” she says. — Steve Shenk

44 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

photo by KARA LOFTON

AMY LEFTWICH

VERA HAILEY

Magistrate

At any time of the day (or night), Vera Hailey ’90 may be called upon to issue an arrest warrant, a subpoena, an emergency protective order, or a search warrant. She may need to commit someone to jail or process an involuntary mental commitment. Hailey is a magistrate in western Virginia. “We are a neutral party,” she says, that reviews the initial complaints brought by law enforcement officers, citizens or other system stakeholders. Her role is to assess the information provided and decide which, if any, processes to issue. Hailey’s primary offices are located in Verona, just north of Staunton. She can issue decisions in person or review a dispute remotely using video conferences. She says video conferencing allows the magistrates to serve the public more quickly. “Each decision I make has a huge impact, both immediate and long term, on someone’s life,” she says. That influence is part of what makes her work both interesting and meaningful for her. She started working as a magistrate, a position known as “Justice of the Peace” until 1974, almost 19 years ago. At the time, she just needed a job and the idea that she could make a difference in people’s lives appealed to her. “I deal with a lot of criminals, but also a lot of victims,” she says. No matter what the situation, she says the most important response she can bring to a complaint is neutrality. “Every shift is different,” she says. “It seems like after almost 19 years the work would be boring, but that isn’t the case at all.”  — Kara Lofton

law

ALEXANDER, BEAMAN, RICCA Doing Law as a Ministry Jim Alexander '77, Wayne D. Beaman, class of '69, and Edward Ricca ‘83 embraced law enforcement as their way of contributing to safe communities and ministering to distressed people. Alexander and Beaman trace their police work to youthful dreams. “As a boy, I went through a phase of wanting to be a police officer, and somehow I just never grew out of it,” says Alexander, who is the assistant reserve commander of the Tell City Police Department in Indiana. Alexander saw EMU news reports early in 2015 about students protesting police shootings of African American men and responded with this note to the alumni office: “How about a show of support for law enforcement officers risking their lives so that others have the freedom to pursue alternative peace and justice solutions?” Alexander sees his police role as a form of ministry. “It provides an opportunity to give something back to the community, to assist.” By reflecting on how Jesus would relate to criminal offenders, “it is an opportunity to witness in a different way.” Beaman had wanted to join the U.S. Marine Corps from a young age. In 1967, he withdrew from EMU to do so – a path that would lead him through the Vietnam War, the Virginia State Police, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, a position as a U.S. Marshal, and finally, working as a U.S. Department of Justice “special agent in charge” in Dallas, Texas. Beaman was captivated by law enforcement as soon as he was hired as a state trooper: “I knew I had found my niche. I was enveloped by it.” During his 42 years of law enforcement, including two decades as a federal special agent, one reason he stayed committed was the "stimulating" work environment and "dedicated group of personnel." In Texas, he was responsible for managing special agents who investigated criminal and administrative misconduct within the Department of Justice, and his division received many Washington D.C. headquarters awards for arrests made and cases closed. “While the conduct [of those caught] was always distressing, it was never surprising,” he comments, adding that human missteps occur everywhere, including within the ranks of law enforcement. Taking an unusual path to a career in law enforcement, Ricca began his adult life as a Bible major, followed by an internship with Virginia Mennonite Conference. The conference placed him at Camp 8, a Department of Corrections field unit in Linville, Virginia. Through that internship, Ricca was hired as a counselor at the Staunton Correctional Center, which led to his 29-year

Wayne D. Beaman, class of '69, went from working for law enforcement agencies in the Shenandoah Valley to being a federal special agent in Texas.

career with the Virginia Department of Corrections as a probation officer. “I was interested in ministry to the hurting,” says Ricca. “I had no clue that would mean working in this field, but in retrospect, I feel it has been a ministry in many ways.” Ricca has sought to be a role model and to afford others dignity. That effort encompasses a group he has often dealt with as a probation officer: those labeled as sex offenders. “Sex offenders are the lepers of society,” says Ricca. “By isolating them and making employment and housing so difficult, we are contributing to making them more at risk of re-offending.” He relates an anecdote of transporting an offender to a motel, as the man had no other housing options. Ricca asked the offender about his triggers for re-offending, and the man responded, "Loneliness and isolation." Ricca felt pained by the irony: "Here we were housing him in a community where he knew no one, putting him in a room by himself.” Alexander, Beaman and Ricca each alluded to recognizing the common humanity of all community members, including offenders and law enforcement officers, as being a crucial component of good police work. Alexander holds this as a guiding tenet of conduct: “Treat others as you want to be treated,” he says. “That’s spiritual. That’s in the Bible.”  — Randi B. Hagi

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 45

GIBBEL KRAYBILL & HESS: HOME TO FOUR ALUMNI FOUR EMU ALUMNI are an important part of a nearly 40-year-old mid-sized law firm – Gibbel Kraybill & Hess LLP − in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Two are founders, another is a founder’s son and the fourth is the firm’s administrator. Melvin Hess, class of ’68, jokes that he became interested in a law career after arguing with Myron Augsburger when he was president of EMU. “We debated church doctrine, truth and justice,” he says. “I maintained that many Mennonites’ peace values didn’t square with the way they voted at election time.” He was troubled that EMU, in the 1960s, didn’t actively promote the civil rights movement and oppose the Vietnam War. Elvin Kraybill ’70 first became interested in the law in high school, when he talked with a lawyer who came to campus to judge a debate in which Kraybill participated. He enrolled at EMU as a history major, with the intention of going to law school. Sue Aeschliman Groff ’79, a social work major, had nothing to do with a law career until four years ago, when Kraybill, whom she knew as a fellow board member at her church, encouraged her to apply to be legal administrator at his firm. Peter Kraybill ’97, son of one of the firm’s founders, grew up with the law in his blood. At the office, he calls Elvin Kraybill “Dad” when he’s with colleagues but “Elvin” when they are meeting with clients. HOW IT ALL STARTED As an associate in the Lancaster law firm of Wenger & Byler in 1977, Elvin 46 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

Kraybill went to a tax-law seminar and talked at length with another Lancaster attorney, John Gibbel. “We shared many similar hopes and frustrations related to the legal profession,” recalls Kraybill. Several months later they decided to start their own firm. They invited a law colleague of Kraybill’s, Mel Hess, to join them in a partnership. The new general-practice firm later adopted a mission statement “to provide excellent legal services that promote justice with integrity.” Gibbel, Kraybill and Hess committed themselves to service, including pro-bono work for worthy causes, and strong client relationships. They built on their deep roots in the community. In 1988, the firm moved into a new office building on Orange Street, across from the Lancaster County Courthouse. Today, the firm has 14 attorneys and 18 support staff and a satellite office in Lititz. They serve a city of 60,000 people and a surrounding county of 530,000. They divide themselves into four service groups – elder law, complex business succession and estate planning, corporations and organizations, and advocacy. ELVIN KRAYBILL Elvin Kraybill went to law school at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., graduating in 1973. “While at EMU I read the Washington Post and often visited D.C., so I wanted to go to law school there,” he says. “But I missed the small on-campus community of EMU.” Georgetown was the largest law school in the country at the time. Kraybill, who grew up on a farm in

Lancaster County, returned to his community with his wife, Esther Graber ’70, for his first job after law school. Today he specializes in estate planning, real-estate transactions, nonprofit organizations and planning successions for family businesses. He has served on the boards of Philhaven Hospital, Goshen (Ind.) College and EMU. He has been president of the Lancaster Bar Association. His pro-bono work includes MidPenn Legal Services, which provides legal counsel to low-income people. It dismays him that the demand for legal services keeps growing while government funding for such services keeps being cut. MELVIN HESS Hess, who also grew up on a farm in Lancaster County, attended EMU for two years and finished his undergraduate study at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster. He went to law school at Seattle University, graduating in 1976. His first job, like Kraybill’s, was at Wenger & Byler. He specializes in litigation, which often finds him in the courtroom, dealing with construction and real estate disputes, complex commercial issues, serious personal injury and wrongful death claims, civil rights issues, and criminal law. He goes to court in state and federal cases and has argued numerous cases before the appellate courts in Pennsylvania. Hess has also handled hundreds of municipal hearings, representing landowners, neighbors and municipalities in all aspects of the zoning and land-development process.

photo by MATTHEW STYER

law

Peter Kraybill '97 and Elvin Kraybill '70, son and father, are law partners in Gibbel, Kraybill & Hess in Pennsylvania (2008 photo).

PETER KRAYBILL Peter Kraybill, after majoring in English/journalism at EMU, went to Pennsylvania State University’s Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, graduating in 2001. He married a fellow student, Maria Kalugina, who had come from Russia on a scholarship from the U.S. State Department. The couple went to Moscow for two years, where Peter worked for a Chicagobased international law firm, Baker & McKenzie. He also taught in a master’s program for Eastern European attorneys at the Moscow campus of the University of California at Davis. After Peter and Maria returned to Pennsylvania, Peter joined his father’s law firm in 2003. He became a partner in 2008. “Dad’s office is just a few steps away from my office,” Peter says. “I’ve learned a lot from him, and he’s been gracious to me.”

He leads the practice group at his firm “His concepts continue to influence how that addresses the needs of corporations, I interact and relate to others,” she says. nonprofit organizations and churches. A native of Stryker, Ohio, she is marHe helps his clients with contracts, ried to Marlin Groff ’79. real-estate transactions, asset purchases, Before joining the law firm in 2011, leasing and invoicing. Groff was associate executive director Peter is active in the area of brand of the Lancaster and Chester Counties names and trademarks. In fact, last year branch of Bridge of Hope, a national he was one of the top 5,000 most active church-based approach to ending hometrademark attorneys with the U.S. Patent lessness. Prior to that, she was commuand Trademark Office. He is a regular nity relations coordinator for Friendship presenter at the annual trademarks Community of Lancaster and Lebanon seminar in Philadelphia for intellectual Counties, which serves people with property attorneys. developmental disabilities. Groff’s responsibilities at Gibbel KraySUE GROFF bill & Hess include financial planning Groff, who spent her entire career in and controls, personnel administration, social-service agencies, was impacted by and managing technology and physical a book that she and other EMU students facilities. She shares responsibility with studied during their time in Washington the firm’s partners for strategic planning, Study-Service Year (now Washington practice management and marketing.  Community Scholars’ Center). It was — Steve Shenk Servant Leadership by Robert Greenleaf. www.emu.edu | crossroads | 47

photo by JON STYER

From Harvard Back to EMU, With Love AS A 2014 GRADUATE of Harvard University Law School, Karissa Sauder ’10 left a big impression on the 50 prospective honors students and their families who visited EMU one February weekend. She jumped right into a big question on their minds: As highly accomplished high school students – with lots of choices of where to enroll in college – why should they choose EMU? Because, she told them, if you end up at an Ivy League school for graduate studies like I did, you’ll be envied by your classmates for the experiences you had at EMU. Sauder spoke of growing up within a Mennonite school system in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and almost avoiding EMU for that reason alone: “I thought I needed to expand my horizons and get out of the Mennonite world.” Now, with the benefit of years at Harvard (“an entirely different educational experience”), she realizes that EMU did not keep her cloistered. On the contrary, it expanded her worldview, “more broadly than I could have imagined.” Sauder cited the transformative impact of her crosscultural semester in the Middle East – “probably one of the most incredible things I’ll ever do in my entire life” – and says some of her Harvard friends felt jealous of her experiences, compared to their more mundane study-abroads. She spoke of her semester at EMU’s Washington Community Scholars’ Center, during which she interned on Capitol Hill, accompanied a Congressional delegation to civil rights sites in Alabama, watched Barack Obama inaugurated as president, and studied women and third world development under an Iraqi professor. On the main campus, Sauder was on the field hockey team, vice president of the Student Government Association, head of the student pre-law society, and both a ministry assistant and pastoral assistant. “There’s an atmosphere here that’s hard to explain,” Sauder told the prospective honors students. “But it’s really as if the entire school is permeated with a cross-cultural mindset, of thinking beyond your own narrow surroundings to the much bigger world out there.” Her experiences attracted interest at Harvard. Her professor of criminal law supported her proposal to bring lawyers doing restorative justice to campus, where they spoke to his class and did trainings with students. “People loved it.… They had never even heard of something like restorative justice, which was such a central part of my EMU experience, and they were fascinated.” Sauder followed in the footsteps of a previous student named Obama by working for the prestigious Harvard Law Review journal, where she was managing editor. (Obama was Law Review president.) Sauder said her Harvard friends and classmates included

48 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

Karissa Sauder '10 holds a two-year position as law clerk for a U.S. District Court judge in Philadelphia.

people with undergraduate degrees from Ivy League institutions, from gigantic public schools and from other small religious schools, but her background proved to be unique. “EMU’s ‘like no other ‘ tagline is not a marketing ploy, it is very real,” Sauder said. “EMU is where I learned who I want to be, and I’ve held onto that since my time here.” EMU offers its students “a unique perspective on the world no matter which field you ultimately enter,” she said. “The world is hungry for people who come from places like this one.” Unlike most of her law school classmates, Sauder chose not to pursue a job with a large law firm. She said, “I’m still figuring out what I’d like my career to look like instead of that.” Buying time to consider her future, Sauder has opted to be a law clerk for Judge Eduardo Robreno of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. It’s a two-year position designed for recent graduates of law school. “Because of my time at EMU, I know what’s really important to me. I know I want to do something that actually effects change in the world, and I know my quality of life is more important to me than my salary.”  — Bonnie Price Lofton with Steve Shenk

photo by KARA LOFTON

RYAN KING ’97 // Dual law degrees from American University and University of Ottawa // In private practice with Cook Attorneys, Harrisonburg, Virginia // Primarily in criminal defense and immigration // Developed interest in immigration and human rights law during volunteer term in Germany, working with asylum-seekers // Worked as public defender and prosecutor before entering private practice // Returned to Harrisonburg after law school to raise family here // What’s tough: seeing the system crush someone; what’s rewarding: being able to make a difference for someone else.

Roundup of Alums in Law If you were inadvertently not included in this listing or in other pages of this law-themed issue of Crossroads, please give us a brief summary of your law-related work via the form at emu.edu/crossroads/update. Alternatively email messages to the editor at crossroads@emu.edu. The next issue of Crossroads will contain a supplemental listing of graduates in the legal field. KATHRYN STOLTZFUS FAIRFIELD ’70 Bridgewater, VA Retired general counsel to Rosetta Stone; retired mediator and trainer at the Fairfield Center. RALPH LEHMAN ’70 Apple Creek, Ohio Partner, Logee, Hostetler, Stutzman & Lehman. RUTH STOLTZFUS JOST ’71 Harrisonburg, VA Former director of Blue Ridge Legal Services and Rosetta Stone counsel.

BRENT GUNSALUS ’75 Afton, VA Senior contract negotiator at the University of Virginia.

MARK LEFFLER ’91 Norfolk, VA Chief legal officer for Boleman Law Firm, P.C.

GLENNA RAMER ’77 Ooltewah, TN Partner, Ramer & Hedrick, P.C.

KAREN LONGACHER MINATELLI ’93 Alexandria, VA Assistant general counsel, Office of General Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice.

STANLEY YODER ’ 77 Defiance, Ohio Partner, Weaner, Yoder, Hill & Weber SANDRA MITCHELL STUART ’80 Lake Waccamaw, NC Claims representative for the Social Security Administration. ANNE SENSENIG '82 Lancaster, PA Litigation paralegal at Triquetra Law SHARON LÓPEZ '83 Lancaster, PA Attorney, co-founder of Triquetra Law LENORA O’ROARK FOWLER ’85 Harrisonburg, VA Paralegal at Layman & Nichols, P.C. AMY ROSENBERGER ’85 Philadelphia, PA Partner, Willig, Williams & Davidson. DENISE HART ’90 Kentwood, MI Paralegal for Alticor Inc.

JONATHAN HOFSTETTER ’99 MDIV ’02 Lancaster, PA Partner, Blakinger, Byler & Thomas, PC. PATRICIA PATTON, MA ‘00 (CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION) Hagerstown, MD In private practice, specializing in child abuse and neglect proceedings. DARIEN COVELENS ’01 Lititz, PA Corporate counsel in a hybrid legal/ business role at Audible.com (an Amazon company). HAMILTON EMERY '01 Portland, OR Director of regulatory affairs and senior associate general counsel at Cambria Health Solutions.

SARAH MOFFETT ’02 Arlington, VA Partner, LeClairRyan. RACHEL WEAVER DOCHERTY ’03 Baltimore, MD Special assistant to U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski. JOANNA MYERS ’04 Falls Church, VA Attorney for Northrop Grumman. JON RISSER ’05 Baltimore, MD Attorney-advisor for the Social Security Administration – National Case Assistance Center. CHRISTA PIERPONT, MA ’07 (CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION) Fishersville, VA Director of the Restorative Community Foundation. BRENDA WAUGH, MA ‘09 (CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION) Winchester, VA In private practice, licensed in West Virginia, Virginia and Washington D.C. HEIDI MULLER HOOVER ‘10 Harrisonburg, VA JD ‘15 from Wake Forest School of Law.

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 49

photo by randi B. hagi Lois Seitz Kreider, class of '68, was director of computer services at EMC in the mid-1970s.

I.T. ALUMNI On pages 50 through 54, we’re covering alumni that we missed including in the Fall/Winter 2014-15 issue of Crossroads focusing on alumni in information technology. – Editor

LOIS SEITZ KREIDER, CLASS OF ‘68 The Seitz family has a long history with the EMU community. The parents of Lois Seitz Kreider met at Eastern Mennonite High School, class of 1934, and she and her five siblings all attended EMHS and EMU. Studying and working here “was like having an 50 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

extended family.” She studied at EMU for one year, married Philip Kreider, and left for a voluntary service term. They returned in 1967, and she worked for her brother Delbert Seitz ’64 in the EMU financial office. Dwight Wyse ’68 then took over the department, and Seitz Kreider became his assistant until a new computer system was installed. With the advent of this new technology, she became the director of computer services, serving 1975-78. She looks back on that system as “archaic,” having spent immeasurable time compiling programs by punching cards and running them through the computer. Seitz Kreider taught herself most of the skills for the position, while receiving some training

in Massachusetts and Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. After her husband graduated in 1976 and was ordained, the couple moved to Albany, Oregon. “The first thing I did was get a computer,” says Seitz Kreider. On an early Apple, she began an accounting business for over 35 clients: small businesses and truck drivers. In the meantime, Wyse had founded Computer Management and Development Services (CMDS), and offered the couple jobs back in Harrisonburg. In the summer of 1984, they moved to Virginia, and became employees of CMDS. With CMDS, Seitz Kreider and her husband traveled as a team across the U.S. and Canada, installing software

and training colleges to use the administrative suite. Seitz Kreider handled registration, payroll and the business office, while her husband did admissions, financial aid and development. By 2003, Philip Kreider ’76 had retired from the business, which had been acquired by another company, Jenzabar. Seitz Kreider was in the business office as an accountant when her position was moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. The final years of her career were spent in the business office of Rockingham Construction and then with Blue Ridge Architects owned by her nephew, Randy Seitz, class of ’87. Retired for five years, Seitz Kreider is still immersed in the computer and accounting world as the volunteer bookkeeper for Harrisonburg’s Ten Thousand Villages. LAMAR WEAVER ‘72 Lamar Weaver graduated with a degree in physics from EMU, and entered the I.T. field in 1987. In 1991, he founded the company TCW Computer Systems, Inc., at the Landis Family Farm in East Petersburg, Pennsylvania. Now based in Manheim, Pennsylvania, TCW Computer Systems provides a variety of services for networking and software solutions, data storage, business communication systems, and computer, audio, and video equipment sales and repairs. Weaver is owner and president of the 27-employee managed service company, which has employed various EMU graduates over the years. RON HELMUTH, CLASS OF ‘74 Ron Helmuth, who graduated with a BA in social studies from New College in Sarasota, Florida, and an MBA in accounting and information systems from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, served as I.T. director at EMU from 1994 to 1998. He led an eight-person department, focusing on updating EMU’s technology

systems. Among many co-workers whom Helmuth remembers fondly, I.T. department secretary Kaye WashingtonPride “was also an inspiring presence to our students of color, and there was a constant stream of those students who stopped by for her calm affirmation.” Helmuth and his wife, Elena, then relocated to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where Helmuth joined Moravian College’s Center for Information Technology as its director. He has also worked with IBM in engineering and management, taught courses in networking and education technology, and served as a bilingual program specialist in the Federal Migrant and Farmworkers’ Program (he’s fluent in Spanish). Helmuth currently owns a financial services business, and considers himself “the banker of the marginally banked and unbanked of Bethlehem.” This line of work also allows him the flexibility to volunteer with organizations such as the local halfway house and the ski patrol at Blue Mountain ski area. RICH WENGER ‘78 Rich Wenger graduated from EMU with a BA in music, and has been involved with the Lexington MasterSingers and the Spectrum Singers choir. In the mid-’80s, Wenger joined the I.T. field, including working as a programmer at the Harvard University library for three years. He assumed a position with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology library in 2003, where he is now the E-Resource Systems Manager. Wenger programs and provides support for Unix, SFX, MetaLib, Ezproxy and Aleph systems. He writes primarily in Perl, Javascript and HTML, with some Java. ERIC SHENK ‘83 Eric Shenk of Phoenix, Arizona, was one of the first computer science graduates at EMU. Shenk also majored in mathematics and business administration. Shenk spent two years

working for CMDS in Harrisonburg, a predecessor to Jenzabar. Then he went to Stanford University for a master's in computer science. Shenk was the second software engineer hired at Inuit in its start-up years, working mostly in the business products group (QuickBooks) for ten years. He then left and did software engineering for: Netpulse, which designs touchscreen computers on exercise equipment; OffRoad Capital, an online investment auction house; and PayCycle, an employee payroll system. In 2009, Shenk returned to the “mother ship,” Intuit, in a software engineering role. His main professional goal, he says on his LinkedIn page, is “to be a high-enough impact guy that I can retire in time to see my kids grow up and volunteer for organizations I care about.” LARION HOSTETLER ‘88 Larion Hostetler of Linville, Virginia, first entered the I.T. world under Dwight Wyse and CMDS between his sophomore and junior year at EMU. That opportunity started his journey to becoming the vice president of information technology at Eagle Corp., which owns local building and engineering companies: Allied Concrete Co.; Allied Concrete Products, LLC; Americast; Eagle Bay; Filterra; and Valley Building Supply, Inc. He manages all I.T. for Eagle’s facilities, which provide lumber, concrete manufacturing, and other building materials for clients from Georgia to Pennsylvania. “I get a lot out of helping others and making something better,” says Hostetler, for which technology is one tool. He describes IT in this business as being a “hidden component,” such as the software used to take inventory or track deliveries. Hostetler is an active member of the Shenandoah Valley Technology Council, from which he and his department received the “Innovation Technology www.emu.edu | crossroads | 51

photo by Randi b. Hagi Larion Hostetler '88 heads I.T. at Eagle Corp., which owns building and engineering firms in Harrisonburg.

Application Award” in 2006 for integratknowledge base includes Microsoft Cardinal Health tapped Chavis to train ing a company-wide voice and data com- Active Directory, IP phones, wired and employees and test the new software. munication system. Hostetler says he wireless networking, and other vendorWith no formal technical training, she values his involvement with the council, specific applications. learned by experience how to test and which provides recognition, networking document software problems, relying on and promotion of technology work in CHRISTINE CHAVIS, CLASS OF ‘96 her familial business savvy to interpret Harrisonburg. “It’s been an interesting road,” Christine her findings for consultants and colHostetler has been on the board of Chavis says of her winding path through leagues. Park View Federal Credit Union since education and into the workforce. Chavis next took a liaison position 2007 and is its current board chair. He is Chavis grew up in an atmosphere of with Amerisource Bergen in Pennsylvaa member of Lindale Mennonite Church. business savvy – her father was an nia. When an issue occurs or software His daughter Madeline Hostetler is a entrepreneur. She started post-secondary change is requested, Chavis documents current student at EMU. education at EMU in 1992, as a business the event and then translates “business administration major. After two years, speak” into technical needs. She now ERIC YODER, CLASS OF ‘93 she returned to her home state, attending works from home in South Carolina, Eric Yoder, who has run two small Ohio State and majoring in philosophy. and was recently promoted to the lead of businesses for the last 20 years, also While that field of study was more her field in SAP software. acts as the manager of network services fulfilling, Chavis thought it was “sort of “I love the problem solving. I’m a in Holmes County, Ohio, for ARCIS impractical,” and transferred to Eastern people person,” Chavis says. In graduate Technology Group. Founded in 2002, Michigan University to study economics. school, she wondered how she would apARCIS provides consulting, I.T. support, In her first I.T. job, she did data entry ply her education. Crunching numbers and data storage services for the as a temporary employee with Cardinal in a cubicle did not interest her. “This surrounding Ohio counties. For over Health in Ohio. After a few months, role has allowed me to problem-solve 10 years, Yoder has run Stone Wheel they hired her full-time to work with using my analytical skills, and also interTechnologies Ltd., designing solutions SAP software – applications for payroll, act with people. . . this is my job!”  for small business owners to increase accounting, and other enterprise needs. — Randi B. Hagi productivity and efficiency. His technical During a company-wide system upgrade, 52 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

Rochelle Yoder was a strong math student in school and a natural problem-solver. Always captivated by her father’s MS-DOS computer, she began taking computing classes in high school, but soon found the field’s disparity in gender representation daunting. College classes followed the same form of a sparse female presence. “This was fine,” Yoder says, “except I was slow to ask questions, thinking that the guys understood everything and I was, for some reason, slow at understanding.” Two factors helped her to thrive in computer science: the support of professors and an internship in Washington D.C. “I remember being so excited to have Deirdre Smeltzer [a current EMU vice president] as a math professor my senior year,” says Yoder, who graduated with a mathematics minor. “I was in awe of her, simply because she was a woman math professor. It was the first time I wasn’t intimidated to ask questions.” Department chair of mathematical sciences Owen Byer also recognized her math prowess, and encouraged Yoder to persevere through coursework. Even with this education and validation, Yoder “still felt insecure and inadequate to land a job in any computer field.” She had studied computing theory, but was unprepared for friends’ and family’s requests for technical assistance. Throughout this time, Yoder hoped to get married right out of college and raise children as a stay-at-home mother. After graduation, though, she had to support herself. She worked at the Little Eden Camp and Retreat Center in Onokema, Michigan, and as a substitute teacher at her old high school in Illinois. She then spent three years with Mennonite Voluntary Service at the Hopi Mission School in Kykotsmovi, Arizona. “It’s common knowledge, in Mennonite circles, that lots of people meet their spouses during their years of service," she says. But rather than finding a mate, Yoder found herself immersed in computer and network administration, and began taking online classes in computer hardware, networking and trouble-shooting. Her confidence grew, and she sought to return to the computer field after moving to Wayne County, Ohio. There, she would be closer to immediate and extended family, Mennonite culture of service projects and good food, “and probably meet a lonely Mennonite guy in his mid- to late twenties.” She shadowed Eric Yoder, class of ‘93, at Stone Wheel Technologies. The pressures of self-employment, however, led her to a summer internship with the Smith Dairy manufacturing plant – a gig that morphed into a five-year job. Here, Yoder finally recognized the power of her intelligence and abilities, separate from her gender or marital status. “As I worked closely with my male co-workers, I realized I knew just as much as they did – and sometimes more. I be-

photo courtesy of rochelle yoder

ROCHELLE YODER Rewriting Gender Roles

came more and more aware of an unconscious barrier in my life: a stereotype that men have more technical knowledge than women. I knew I was capable, but had unconsciously thought less of my skill than my male colleagues.” Through continued business camaraderie with Eric Yoder, she interviewed with ARCIS Technology Group and joined their team – where she does programming, project management, networking and server administration, seminars and desktop support for the Wayne County area. There, she has recognized a unique skill set that she brings to the I.T. world – interpersonal communication skills, in which she sees her gender as an asset. “I can reach through the knowledge gap and relate to the client on their level and communicate effectively,” Yoder explained, “instead of confusing the client with the highly technical language used by many of my male contemporaries.” She continues to rewrite the instructions of gender roles, saying that presenting a final, beneficial product to a client prompts a similar feeling to watching your child take the first step. “Laugh if you like,” she declared, “but parenting is not the only rewarding job a woman can do. And I get to sleep through the night.” Yoder, now in full ownership of her voice and skills, urges potential computer scientists “to be brave; despite your doubts and insecurities, hold on and learn. . . go and make your world better. God is there.”  — Randi B. Hagi

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 53

In the fall/winter 2014-15 issue of Crossroads, I read that a computer science major wasn’t available when a particular alumnus graduated in 1985, so he minored in the subject. Actually, the university awarded two bachelor’s of science degrees in computer science in 1985. Dale Hartzler and I were the program’s graduates. Dale had just finished the two-year program when EMC (at that time) added the four-year program in the summer of 1983. I transferred from Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina when I heard that the BS was added. It was difficult to get all the credits, because the classes were not taught yet. I remember going over my transcripts with [professor] Joe Mast, needing three more credits. Joe noticed that I had not had the basic programming language class. I told him I had been programming in Basic for about five years. Joe said, “It’s not on the transcript.” He didn’t make me attend the course he taught, because my workstudy job was at the same time. Joe always let me take the quizzes in his office, and would give me my assignments during my 8 a.m. class. And then the other students were surprised when I showed up for the final. Crossroads mentioned that in 1985, the PDP-11 “died.” I don’t think the PDP broke; instead nobody wanted to use it. The PDP computer was (I believe) only a 64K machine, with four terminals, splitting the memory up into 32k, 16k, and two 8k sessions. We used it for Fortran and RPG programming. It did not have the capacity to do both. You had to boot a different disk pack, to switch programming languages, and that affected all four terminals. Each Apple computer (used for Basic, Pascal, Modula-II, Lisp, Apple Logo) could be independently booted with whatever program a student wanted to use. The Apple was as powerful as the entire refrigerator-sized PDP. In the fall of ‘84, the only thing I remember the PDP being used for was printing the large “Mennonites do it for relief” MCC banner that hung across the front of the chapel to advertise the relief sale. But the PDP line printer that dumped green bar continuous sheet paper was pretty awesome – when it didn’t jam. The previous Crossroads dated the arrival of personal computers at EMU to 1987 when the business computer lab received 18 IBM-type computers. However, in the fall of 1983 when I arrived, I remember using Apple computers. In 1984, there was an IBM PC in the science center, which I used to run Turbo Pascal, a tremendous improvement over the Apple Pascal. The Apple machines had 64K memory, but the

54 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

photo COURTESY OF DENTON YODER

LETTER: Clarifications from one of the first graduates in computer science

Denton Yoder '85 works in I.T. at Virginia Tech.

IBM PC had 640K. The 5.25-inch floppy drive was doublesided and could hold 360K per disk. It was still a few years before the 720K 3.5-inch disk was invented, and the 5.25-inch high density 1.2Meg, and then the 1.44Meg 3.5-incher. Wow, exciting changes! After graduation, I worked on flood studies, walking every creek in Caldwell County, North Carolina – modeling the terrain on the computer, entering rainfall data, and estimating 50-, 100-, and 500-year storm water surface elevations. I then transferred to Roanoke, Virginia, as a CAD programmer, and then taught CAD for 15 years at EDSI (Engineering Design Systems, Inc.). I have worked here at Virginia Tech since 2003, maintaining backup servers and print servers, working on web database automation, monitoring project servers or data and classroom environments, maintaining the permissions list in active directory or through Google groups, setting up group calendars... whatever is needed. I also teach the Civil-3D CAD class for our department, integrating surveying techniques from 30 years ago with civil engineering software that I have customized and taught for 25 years.  — Denton Yoder ’85

photo by JON STYER

mileposts

Kevin Docherty '05 joined the Baltimore, Maryland, law firm of Brown Goldstein & Levy as an associate in 2013 after earning a law degree from the University of Maryland. As a trial attorney, he represents clients in both civil and criminal cases. His civil practice includes employment matters, commercial litigation, personal injury claims, and advocating on behalf of individuals with disabilities.

Faculty & Staff Sarah Armstrong, assistant professor of education, Nellysford, VA, has been named director of MA in Education at EMU. Previously Armstrong was at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where she worked with school superintendents and education administrators to provide professional development programs and graduate courses for practicing teachers.

Priscilla Simmons, professor of nursing at Lancaster, Manheim, PA, is the author of two chapters in Respirator Care: Principals and Practice - Chapter 1, “History and Physical Examination,” and Chapter 39, “Postoperative Respiratory Care,” which is co-authored with her husband, Mark. Margaret Upton, clinical nurse practitioner, Harrisonburg, VA, is retiring from her role as director of health services and clinical nurse practitioner after nine years of providing quality services to EMU students and the broader university. Donald Depoy, bluegrass instruments instructor, McGaheysville, VA, along with his wife, Martha Hills, performed for the Staunton Public Library’s Little Lunch Music Series as the ac-

claimed duo Me & Martha. The two have a passion for American rural roots music and working in the traditional acoustic format. They draw on material from folk, hillbilly, bluegrass, traditional country, rural swing, and mountain music. Dawn Lambert, RN to BS instructor and school nurse certification program coordinator at Lancaster, Morgantown, PA, sucessfully defended her PhD dissertation, “Faculty as Servant Teachers: An Exploration of Servant Leadership Applied to Nursing Education” at Capella University on January 14.

1950-1959

David Eshleman ‘59, SEM ‘61, Dover, OH, and his wife, Helen, present a daily five-minute shortwave radio program, “Making Disciples” in Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America through World Harvest Radio. David also continues to be a church consultant; he has served in 70+ churches.

1960-1969

Donald (Don) Kraybill ‘67, Elizabethtown, PA, internationally recognized as the foremost expert on Amish culture, is retiring after over 40 years at Elizabethtown College, most recently as a distinguished college professor and

senior fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. Don is perhaps best known for acting as unofficial cultural interpreter and go-between for publicity-averse Amish in events such as the Nickel Mines tragedy and the Bergholz, Ohio, beard-cuttings. A prolific author who expects to continue writing, Don’s next project is the centennial history of EMU to be published in 2017. Noah Kolb ‘68, Telford, PA, retired from pastoral, conference, and church leadership after 45 years. Most recently he was pastor of ministerial leadership and leadership minister for Franconia Conference. He began his life of ministry in 1968 as a student pastor at Doylestown (PA) Mennonite Church. In retirement he enjoys gardening, walking, traveling, and volunteering in the community.

1970-1979

Steven Ringenberg ‘74, Archbold, OH, retired after 40 years of employment in the field of long-term care, including 29 as CEO at Fairlawn Retirement Community in Archbold. He and his wife, Karen Swartz ‘74 Ringenberg, now volunteer in different locations and enjoy traveling across the U.S.

James (Jim) Buller ‘75, Goshen, IN, interim head of school, was honored at

a holiday tourney pregame ceremony for his 35 years of coaching the Bruins basketball team at Bethany Christian. His tenure as coach is the longest in Elkhart County boys high school basketball history. The basketball gym has been renamed Buller Court in his honor. Daniel Leichty ‘76, Normal, IL, professor of social work at Illinois State University, was recently invited to serve as a founding board member for the Victim Offender Restoration Program (VORP) of McLean County. He also serves on the Ethics Commission of the McLean County Board of Supervisors. Daniel Grimes ‘78, Goshen, IN, is director of enrollment and financial aid at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS). Daniel brings to this position proven leadership gifts, a passion for theological education with an Anabaptist edge, and a compelling personal story. Previously, he was clincial manager of Fresenius Medical in Mishawaka, IN. Trula Gingrich ‘79, Lititz, PA, is now a group home supervisor at Friendship Community. Founded in 1972, through the efforts of concerned parents and a local church group, Friendship Community was the first in Lancaster County to open a group home for adults with disabilities.

www.emu.edu | crossroads | 55

Loren E. Swartzendruber '76, MDiv '79, DMin

Loren Swartzendruber plans 2016 retirement President Loren E. Swartzendruber ’76, MDiv ’79, DMin, has announced that he plans to retire on June 30, 2016, marking 13 years of leadership as the university’s eighth president and 33 years in Mennonite higher education roles. “There is never a perfect time to leave this role, but I am confident that EMU and its wonderful team of faculty and staff are well-positioned to thrive in the coming years under the leadership of a new president,” he said in a statement to the university community. “Under President Swartzendruber’s leadership, EMU has grown in enrollment and has expanded its reach in its mission to educate leaders throughout the world,” said Andrew Dula ’91, chair of the board of trustees. Board member Evon Bergey ’79, vice president of public sector operations at Magellan Health Services in Pennsylvania, is leading a search committee comprised of EMU board members and faculty, representatives of the Mennonite Education Agency, members-at-large and one student. During Swartzendruber’s presidency, enrollment increased by 30 percent, from 1,458 students in the spring of 2003 to 1,870 students in the fall of 2014. Under Swartzendruber’s leadership, university administrators and faculty strengthened core programs, including the cross-cultural study requirement; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) studies, with a focus on sustainability; the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and its affiliated programs; and the seminary’s strong relationship with the United Methodist Church. Upgrades of facilities were extensive: an artificial turf field; acquiring a 5,000-square foot building for the Washington (D.C.) Community Scholars’ Center: a two-phase solar power project in a unique business partnership; renovations of two residence halls and building a third (all being “green”); adding theaters, an art gallery, a coffeehouse and a media lab; and repurposing Roselawn for offices and classrooms. More than $8 million has been raised in a $10.3 million campaign to renovate the Suter Science Center. Swartzendruber spoke of the volunteer contributions of his wife, Pat, who retired from a 35-year career in health and social services in conjunction with his appointment to the presidency. “She has been an integral part of our work in representing the institution,” he said. “With five grandchildren arriving in the past six years, it’s time for us to be more available to them.” – Lauren Jefferson

56 | crossr oads | spring-summer 2015 56 | crossroads | fall 2007

Brenda Hollinger ‘79 Grimes, Goshen, IN, is employed as a kindergarten teacher at Chamberlain Elementary, a part of Goshen Community School Corporation.

Bradley (Brad) Croushorn ‘93, Durham, NC, has recently had his new choral publication “Psalm 118: Alleluia, This Is the Day!,” released by MorningStar Music Publishers.

1980-1989

Minnette Burkholder ‘95, Philippi, WV, is the owner of WellMet Consulting, where she is a consultant specializing in human resources.

Dwight Gingerich ‘81, Kalona, IA, became the 11th coach in Iowa history to surpass 600 wins earlier this year. In his 33 seasons as a high school coach – all at Iowa Mennonite School – Dwight has won 608 games. He doesn’t remember every victory, but he does remember every player. Kevin Carey ‘82, Lansdowne, VA, is now director of accounting at the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Douglas (Doug) Nyce ‘85, Harrisonburg, VA, is now resident services manager for Park Village at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. Previously, he was director of alumni and parent relations at EMU. David (Dave) Witmer, SEM ‘87, Lancaster, PA, has released a new book, Retirement Radicals: A Design Handbook for the Boomer Generation to be Post-Career World-Changers. It serves as a practical guide for the Baby Boomer generation to reflect on their life assets, and based on that reflection, design a significant nontraditional, post-career retirement.

Patricia (Patty) King ‘89, Chicago, IL, was featured in Ploughshares Literary Journal for her Small Country. “Set at a legalistic Mennonite Bible Camp, camper Penny wrestles with the perilous waters of womanhood against the backdrop of her family’s recent dangerous departure from Guatemala,” wrote one online reviewer. It is available as via Kindle or audio form.

1990-1999

Daryl Snider ‘91, MA ‘12 (conflict transformation), Lancaster, PA, and Frances Miller, Grad. Cert. ‘11 (conflict transformation), Quarryville, PA, singers and songwriters for SopaSol, are currently working on their “Wozo: Songs for Resilience” project, which explores – through songs and stories – the dynamics of grief and loss, trauma healing and resilience, restorative justice and the legacy of colonialism.

Douglas (Doug) Friesen ‘91, Ephrata, PA, started the Emotional Health Center of Lancaster with his friend Ron Vogt, PhD in April of 2014. They provide psychological services to children, families, couples, and individuals and have specialized training in Emotionally Focused Therapy. Doug is also concluding 10 years as part-time associate pastor at Blossom Hill Mennonite Church in Lancaster, PA. Gaye Spivey ‘91, Zebulon, NC, graduated from Strayer University in October 2014 in Norfolk, VA, with a master's in Health Services Administration and now works for GlaxoSmithKline as director of accounts in Durham, NC. Chad Hostetler ‘93, Philippi, WV, is director of counseling service at Alderson Broaddus College in Philippi, WV.

Michael Shank, class of ‘95, MA ‘05 (conflict transformation), New York, NY, is the director of media strategy at ClimateNexus. Michael notes that climate change is at the nexus of almost every issue imaginable — from the environment to the economy, from human security to public health. He brings to his new job an extensive background in media and policy work, most recently in Washington D.C. He loves the challenge of messaging complex concepts, especially when the survival of the planet and its people are at stake. Gloria Keener ‘97, Chambersburg, PA, is now the executive director of Franklin County Legal Services. The free services offered by Franklin County Legal Services include: representation for low-income persons facing issues pertaining to family, landlord/tenant, immigration, and other areas of civil law; legal advice; pro bono referrals; civil legal services to the incarcerated; and citizenship exam preparation classes. Christine Glick ‘97 Fairfield, Staunton, VA, is now front office manager for Eastern Mennonite School. Christine comes with a variety of experiences and skills, having been an adjunct voice instructor at Bridgewater College, an assistant director and volunteer coordinator with Habitat for Humanity, a contract administrator for a development company in Chicago, and a freelance editor for MennoMedia. Kirk King ‘97, Huntington Station, NY, is now executive director of group sales with the Brooklyn Nets. Previously, he was group sales director for the New York Mets. Christina (Tina) Hartman ‘99 Campbell, Lancaster, PA, is now director of development for ASSETS Lancaster, an organization that provides microenterprise support to hundreds of entrepreneurs in pursuing their goals. Monte Layman ‘99, Surfside Beach, SC, retired after nearly 14 years at Blue Ridge Bank, including the past 11 as president and chief executive officer. During Monte’s tenure the bank grew significantly and expanded into two new markets.

2000-2009

Christopher Clymer Kurtz ‘00, Linville, VA, and his alternative pop/rock quartet, Clymer Kurtz Band, including Maria Clymer Kurtz ‘00, Ry Wilson ‘00, and Craig Zook ‘01, has released a third album called Rain, available at www.clymerkurtz.com. In it, lonely wanderlust on I-81, getaway cravings, and grace are rolled into the satisfaction of daily life. Krista-Anne (Krista) Rigalo, MA ‘00 (conflict transformation), Washington D.C., has been named program director of

Let Girls Learn, a collaboration of First Lady Michelle Obama and the Peace Corps to expand access to education for adolescent girls around the world by empowering local leaders to put lasting solutions in place. Krista has held a number of positions in Peace Corps, most recently as the chief of programming and training. Brian Plum ‘01, Luray, VA, has been named president and CEO of Blue Ridge Bank. Brian joined the bank in August 2006 and assumed the position of chief financial officer in 2007, a role in which he served until February 2014 when he became chief administrative officer. Deborah Good ‘02, Albuquerque, NM, is now a data and research manager for Mission: Graduate, a cradle-to-career education partnership and collective impact initiative. Ross Kauffman ‘03, Grad. Cert. ‘04, Bluffton, OH, outlined the history of Ebola, its biology and impact since the outbreak in Guinea in a speech given at a Bluffton University Forum titled “Ebola and Fear: A Public Health Perspective.” Amanda Jantzi-Robinson ‘03, MA ‘12 (conflict transformation), Strasburg, PA, is working in the guidance office at Lancaster Mennonite Middle and High School. She is pursuing a teaching certificate, which will allow her to teach peacebuilding and social studies classes at the school. Jennifer (Jen) Gutshall ‘03 Rodriguez, Dayton, VA, taught art in the Dominican Republic, 2003-2014. Since moving back to Virginia, she is teaching art and tutoring with the English as a Second Language department at Harrisonburg High School. Caleb Ediger ‘03, Harper, KS, graduated from Grand Canyon University in June 2013 with a master's of science in nursing with an emphasis in leadership in health care systems. He now teaches at Wichita State University School of Nursing. Laura Rosenberger ‘03, Charlottesville, VA, chief resident in surgery at the University of Virginia, gave a grand rounds presentation titled, “Mennonites in Medicine: From Missionary to Dean of Harvard,” in which she highlighted pacifism, a core belief of Anabaptism, and how this belief has shaped Mennonite contributions to the medical field. Tamara Mihalic-Tynan, MA ‘04 (conflict transformation), Toolamba, Australia, has successfully defended her PhD thesis “Initiating peace: Local peacebuilders experiences in Croatia” at the University of Melbourne. The thesis examined factors that influence local people’s initial participation in peacebuilding in a country at war; she relied primarily on the literature on women/feminist writers and social movements. Philip Campbell, MA ‘05 (conflict transformation), Richmond, VA, was recently licensed as a marriage and family therapist. He hopes to apply systemsbased theories and other approaches to

work with individuals, families, couples, and groups in their homes, schools, outpatient settings and community. Jonalyn Denlinger ‘06, Baltimore, MD, is program director of the Baltimore Community Foundation. She helps nonprofits with projects that tend to focus on education – particularly school readiness – and neighborhood improvements ranging from tree planting to block parties. Odelya Gertel Kraybill, MA ‘06 (conflict transformation), Boston, MA, is currently pursuing her PhD in expressive therapies at Lesley University in Boston, MA. She received her master's in expressive therapies and mental health counseling from the same university in 2010. Jennifer (Jenny) Christine Jag Jivan, MA ’06 (conflict transformation), has been the full-time acting director of the Christian Study Centre in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, since 2013 (after starting part time in 2012). Established in 1967, the center works extensively to promote interfaith harmony, peacebuilding, human rights, women’s rights, and minority rights. It carries out research in these areas and works with all churches. It works at all levels of society from grassroots communities to top-level policy makers. The city of Rawalpindi is known as the twin city of Islamabad. Nadia Bazzy, MA ‘08 (conflict transformation), Canton, MI, is a sexual assault program manger in the office of student conflict resolution at the University of Michigan. Laura Bomberger ‘08, Lancaster, PA, is operations manager at North Group Consultants, a leadership consulting firm that concentrates on developing leadership and management teams and their effectiveness. Thaddeus (Thad) Hicks, MA ‘08 (conflict transformation), Ridgeland, MS, is serving as the director of the emergency disaster services for the Alabama-Louisianna-Mississippi division of the Salvation Army. Thad is an emergency management practitioner with over 17 years of experience in the U.S. and abroad. He has a PhD in Intercultural Studies from Asbury Theological Seminary. Jennie Carr, MA ‘09 (education), Harrisonburg, VA, assistant professor of elementary education at Bridgewater College, has been named the recipient of the 2014-15 Scholar Award from the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education. The award recognizes Carr for her research on the application of technology in the classroom, including how educators can use technology as an aid to building caring relationships. Emily Derstine ‘09 Friesen, Philadelphia, PA, a student at Drexel University School of Law, has begun a pro bono program internship with Blank Rome, LLP. She assists with organizing and participating in legal clinics, writing newsletter articles about pro bono cases, and providing support for various types of pro bono matters.

New editor-in-chief Lauren Jefferson (right) with Bonnie Price Lofton

Lauren Jefferson succeeds Lofton as editor-in-chief Lauren Jefferson has been named EMU’s editor-in-chief, in charge of news stories and two magazines, Crossroads, the university's periodical, and Peacebuilder for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (emu.edu/peacebuilder). “EMU will be served well by Lauren’s extensive journalistic accomplishments and educational experiences,” says Andrea Schrock Wenger ’86, director of marketing and communications. “I especially appreciate her passion for EMU’s core values of peacebuilding, cross-cultural understanding, and sustainability.” Jefferson spent six years as a reporter and an editor with the North Fork Journal, Shenandoah Journal, and Northern Augusta Journal, earning seven Virginia Press Association awards for page design, general make-up, feature writing, investigative reporting and photography. In the educational field, she’s taught English and English language learners in middle school, high school and university settings. A native of California, Jefferson earned a bachelor’s degree in English at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. She also has a master’s degree in modern literature from the University of York in Britain. She is enrolled in the master’s in education program at James Madison University, focusing on equity and cultural diversity. Jefferson’s writings include successful grant proposals, publicity materials, educational workshop materials, and fundraising appeals for such organizations as the Dayton (VA) Police Department, the Sadie Rose Foundation, and the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society. A former competitive distance and trail runner, Jefferson has coached track and cross country at middle and high schools for 14 years. She’s been the media relations director for the Valley Baseball League and Hall of Fame historian for the Rockingham County Baseball League (RCBL). An advocate for girls and women in sports, Jefferson is the only woman to play in the RCBL. She’s directed fundraising races for two charitable groups. Jefferson is a member of St. Michael’s Church of Christ located south of Harrisonburg in Bridgewater. Jefferson is the successor to Bonnie Price Lofton, MA ’04 (conflict transformation), who resigned in the spring to pursue a book-writing project. Lofton was the founding editor of Peacebuilder in 2005. She began editing Crossroads in 2006, focusing each issue on a theme and featuring dozens of alumni related to that theme. – Staff www.emu.edu | crossroads | 57

Nicholas Detwiler-Stoddard ‘09, MDiv ‘12, Freeman, SD, was ordained by Central Plains Mennonite Conference on Nov. 9, 2014, with Salem Mennonite Church (“South Church” of Freeman, SD).

Seminary graduation photo of the class of 2015

Seminary graduates 33, largest class since 1988 When Gordon Meriwether first began attending Eastern Mennonite Seminary, he wanted to earn a master of divinity degree. Then the United Methodist pastor, who is also a 31-year U.S. Navy veteran, discovered the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at EMU. That inspired pursuit of another degree, and more miles to travel for Meriweather, who lives over the Blue Ridge Mountains in Culpepper, a 130-mile round-trip trek from Harrisonburg. On April 25, he made one final trip to campus for the seminary’s commencement ceremony to celebrate the earning of two degrees: a master of divinity and a master’s in conflict transformation. In contrast, Seth Miller '07, also a new seminary graduate, simply walked up the hill from the Maplewood Residence Hall, where he is residence director for EMU undergraduate students. Miller came to the seminary after several years as a teacher at Lancaster Mennonite School and in public educational settings in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And then there’s L. Kathryn Fenton '09, of Harrisonburg, who created seven mixed media paintings based on the principles of Mennonite faith to partially fulfill thesis requirements for a master’s degree in religion. And Misty Wintsch, a Church of the Brethren pastor from Pennsylvania, whose ministry specialization project for her master’s degree in church leadership included studying about and performing funerals for the “unchurched.” These are a fraction of the stories that could be shared about this year’s graduating class of 33, the largest since 1988. “There is sorrow in letting go of such a large and gifted class of graduates,” said Michael A. King '76, vice president and seminary dean. “Yet the very qualities that make it hard to see them go underscore the great gifts of ministry, leadership, and authentic relating they’re primed to share with the world.” Religious backgrounds and affiliations included Mennonite, United Methodist, Church of the Brethren, Presbyterian, and non-denominational. Students from India, Honduras and Chile were in the class. “God raises up people like you in order to do things you would never have done,” said L. Gregory Jones, PhD, professor of theology and Christian ministry at Duke Divinity School, who gave the commencement address. – Laura Amstutz

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Kristina Landis ‘09 Yoder, Penn Laird, VA, along with her husband, Greg, are now providing Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) memberships from their small-scale farm, Mountain Grove Farm. CSA is a system of food production where the farmer is directly connected to the consumer and the consumer shares in the risks and benefits of food production. Kristina and Greg are excited about this new soulful venture both because of the community building and the experiences they hope to afford their children one day.

2010-

Jennifer (Jenn) Dorsch, MA ‘10 (conflict transformation), Frederick, MD, is the director of the rebuild program at Brethren Disaster Ministries. Hannah Good ‘10 Ford, North Chesterfield, VA, is a mental health case manager at Supportive Intervention Services. She meets clients with mental health needs and works with them to improve their activities of daily living, independent living skills, mental stability, and overall quality of life. Bethany Wichman-Buescher, MA ’10 (conflict transformation), Chapel Hill, NC, is programs director of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, helping people to find resources and support. Though it can be stressful at times, she does enjoy the direct service aspect of her work, and in the evening also enjoys coming home and unwinding with her family. Dan Wichman-Buescher, MA ‘10 (conflict transformation), Chapel Hill, NC, is getting certified in web development and design and is teaching himself computer programming. Previously he worked with school systems in the Washington D.C. area on restorative practices in building community and dealing with disciplinary issues. Steven (Steve) Carpenter, SEM ‘11, Harrisonburg, VA, director of development and church relations for MennoMedia, has completed a book, Mennonites and Media – Mentioned in It, Maligned by It, and Makers of It (Wipf and Stock, 2014). The book details how Mennonites have been portrayed in the media and, conversely, how they have interacted with media for identity and outreach. Andrew Derstine ‘11, Souderton, PA, was one of three EMU graduates to be named to Mennonite Economic Development Associates’ (MEDA) 20 under 35 list for his entrepreneurial spirit and desire to make a difference in the world. Andrew is an operations supervisor in the institutional and private client department at SEI Investments, serves on the board of directors of Living Hope Farm as their treasurer, and is a youth advisor at his home church of Plains Mennonite.

Boris Ozuna ‘11, Harrisonburg, VA, was named director for the Harrisonburg International Festival, sponsored by the FairField Center. The Festival takes place annually on the last Saturday in September. Boris looks forward to serving the community in his work with all the gifted and generous volunteers who make the festival happen. J. Wilson Roth ‘11, Strasburg, PA, is marketing manager for Paradise Energy Solutions, a solar energy group with work in seven states, headquartered in Gap, PA. Mitchell Stutzman ‘11, Hesston, KS, is the church relations and charitable services representative at Everence. Mitchell helps congregations and not-for-profit organizations with their stewardship education and charitable planning needs, and helps individuals create charitable giving plans in line with their faith and values. Benjamin (Ben) Bergery ‘11, Harrisonburg, VA, conducted a full orchestra on Jan. 25 playing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring for his master’s lecture/recital at James Madison University’s Forbes Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall. Barbara (Barbie) Fischer, MA ‘12 (conflict transformation), Philadelphia, PA, is the executive director of Restorative Encounters, a non-profit association of restorative justice professionals and organizations offering resources and training in restorative practices. It specializes in equipping and assisting people to work through conflict within churches, the criminal justice system, families, and/or school systems. Scott Hackman, SEM ‘13, Souderton, PA, was one of three EMU graduates to be named to Mennonite Economic Development Associates’ (MEDA) 20 under 35 list for his entrepreneurial spirit and desire to make a difference in the world. Scott is a family business advisor and strategist with Delaware Valley Family Business Center, serving leaders of multi-generational business families through emotional and strategic planning processes and integrating his Anabaptist faith and experience as an entrepreneur. Christine Baer ‘14, Lancaster, PA, is the congregational resource developer at Church World Service. She generates, coordinates, and maintains congregational and community support for refugees, asylum receivers, and entrants resettling through the Immigration and Refugee Program of Lancaster. In February 2014, she was interviewed by Comcast Newsmakers on the need for volunteers to help newly arrived refugees in Central Pennsylvania. Laura Bowman ‘14, Kathmandu, Nepal, has been working in Nepal with Mennonite Central Committee as activities coordinator at a transitional home for women with mental health issues. Since the recent earthquake, Laura has been helping women and children cope by encouraging children to draw pictures and tell stories of their experiences and by providing as much comfort as she can.

Melissa Johnson, MA ‘14 (conflict transformation), Moorpark, CA, has taken a long-term position with AWARE (Aiding Women in Abuse and Rape Emergencies) in Juneau, Alaska, as their violence prevention manager. Charles Kwuelum, MA ‘14 (conflict transformation), Washington D.C., is the legislative associate for international affairs with Mennonite Central Committee. Charles will focus on U.S. public policies on Africa, Food Security and Global HIV/AIDS. This role allows him to combine his pastoral interests, passion for advocacy, and skills in peacebuilding. Cynthia Nassif, MA ‘14 (conflict transformation), Beirut, Lebanon, is working for the international NGO Mercy Corps, monitoring, evaluating, and capacity building for partners in emergency and ongoing crises.

BIRTHS & ADOPTIONS

James (Jim) ‘79 and Juliana Marquez Shenk, San Diego, CA, Noah, Dec. 29, 2014. Jeremy ‘92 and Julie Kauffman ‘03 Frey, Tucson, AZ, Eli James, Jan. 13, 2015.

Steve Weaver ‘93 and Magdalen Hess, Manheim, PA, Teya Clair Magdalen, Feb. 16, 2015. Kirk ‘97 and Susan King, Huntington Station, NY, Ellie Etta, Jan. 31, 2013. David ‘98 and Rachel Roth ‘98 Sawatzky, Harrisonburg, VA, Jethro, Dec. 24, 2014. Alan ‘98 and Etsuko Schroeder, Stratford, Ontario, Lukas Alexander, May 20, 2014.

Marilyn Raatz, MA ‘14 (conflict transformation), North Chatham, MA, has been endorsed to serve as an American Baptist International Ministries (IM) regional missionary in Africa. She is working with IM partners throughout Africa to train, consult with, and mentor young leaders in ministries of peace, justice, and conflict transformation.

Andrew ‘98, and Lana Miller, MDiv ‘07, Harrisonburg, VA, Malise Rochelle, Dec. 31, 2014.

Lydell Steiner, MA ‘14 (conflict transformation), Dalton, OH, is in a new role as Tilmor development coordinator at Venture Products. The Tilmor is a small agricultural tractor built for small farms in the U.S. and beyond. He continues to develop healthy conflict management resources for the Wayne/ Holmes county area. He was also was one of three EMU graduates to be named to Mennonite Economic Development Associates’ (MEDA) 20 under 35 list for his entrepreneurial spirit and desire to make a difference in the world. Lydell is part-time associate pastor at Kidron Mennonite Church, chairs the local chapter of Foods Resource Bank, and is exploring the feasibility of opening a conflict resolution center in the Holmes/ Wayne County area.

Jeanette Good ‘00 and Ray Lam, Elkton, VA, Eli Hosea, Sept. 19, 2014.

Fabrice Guerrier, MA ‘15 (conflict transformation), Coral Springs, FL, has been selected as one of the 2015 Diplomacy and Diversity Fellows by Humanity in Action. Fabrice joined 23 other outstanding American and European emerging leaders in May for an intensive program about international relations and global diversity.

MARRIAGES

Nathan Musselman ‘00 to Lindsay Martin ‘05, Dec. 28, 2014.

Braydon Hoover ‘11 to Heidi Muller '10, May 30, 2015. J. Wilson Roth ‘11 to Brianna Shenk, Oct. 11, 2014. Konrad Swartz ‘13 to Jill Swartzendruber ‘12, June 28, 2014.

Jeffrey Eshleman ‘99 and Soila Matute, Lancaster, PA, Samuel, Oct. 24, 2014 Katrina Hochstetler ‘00 and Kenneth Owens, Washington D.C., David Eli, Aug. 17, 2014.

Sara Ulrich ‘01 and Stephen Weston, Surbiton, United Kingdom, Jacob Paul, Oct. 17, 2015. Charity Shenk ‘02 and Steven Zook, Akron, PA, Kai Shenk Zook, Feb. 14, 2015. Laura Rosenberger ‘03 and David Mauro, Charlottesville, VA, Ziva, July 29, 2014. Gregory (Greg) ‘03, and April Gonzol ‘04 Sachs, Harrisonburg, VA, Micah Luther, April 26, 2015 David ‘04 and Anna Dintaman ‘05 Landis, Jerusalem, Israel, Silas Aram, Jan. 2, 2015. Crystal Newman ‘05 and Joseph Taylor, class of ‘04, Grottoes, VA, Levi Joseph, Mar. 26, 2013. Michael (Mike) ‘05 and Stephanie Roth ‘05 Zucconi, Harrisonburg, VA, Natalie Dawn, Feb. 21, 2015. Bryce ‘06 and Maureen Gingerich ‘06 Bergey, Sellersville, PA, Nora Gingerich, Oct. 16, 2014. Alyssa Gerig ‘06 and Wayne Scheler, Albany, OR, Saige Joy, Dec. 1, 2014. Brian ‘06 and Andrea Skyrm ‘05 King, Goshen, IN, Finley Sophia, Feb. 2, 2015 Joy Zimmerman ‘07 and Thomas Haller, Denver, PA, Daniel Thomas, June 20, 2014. Lena Risser ‘09 and Adam Weaver, Greencastle, PA, Ty, Oct. 14, 2014. Tony ‘10 and Yvonne Stauffer ‘11 Fa-

jardo, Harrisonburg, VA, Hannah Jolene, Nov. 29, 2014. Jeffrey (Jeff) ‘10 and Lindsay Yoder ‘09 Swarzendruber, North Liberty, IA, Jace Dean, Jan. 22, 2014. Patrick ‘12, MA ‘14 (conflict transformation), and Adriana Rojas Campbell, Silver Spring, MD, Lucila Penelope, April 6, 2015. Jebiwot Sumbeiywo, MA ‘04 (conflict transformation), Nairobi, Kenya, Wema Cheptoo Tum, Sept. 19, 2014. Paranjoy, MA ‘07 (conflict transformation), and Manashi Bordoloi, Assam, India, Rudrangshu, Dec. 17, 2014. Aaron, MA ‘08 (conflict transformation), and Susanna Lyons, Vancouver, Canada, Mathai Sage, Feb. 17, 2015. David Buescher, MA ‘10 (conflict transformation), and Bethany Wichman, MA ‘10 (conflict transformation), Chapel Hill, NC, Toula May, Feb. 5, 2014. Julia, assistant professor of biology in MA in Biomedicine program, and Darrell Halterman, Ruckersville, VA, Noelle Mae, Nov. 25, 2014. Kara, campus visit coordinator, and Daniel Zimmerman, Harrisonburg, VA, Abel James, April 13, 2015.

DEATHS

S. Allen Shirk ‘50, SEM ‘78, Lititz, PA, died Oct. 11, 2014, at age 92. He was a missionary for the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities for 12 years in India and two years in Hong Kong for Eastern Mennonite Missions. He then served as pastor at Emmanuel Church in Hong Kong for 20 years. After retirement, Allen continued to be supportive of and active at Mellinger Mennonite Church.

Lester Weber ‘52, Lititz, PA, died April 19, 2015, at age 89. He taught school in rural Virginia, administered the Mennonite Children’s Home (Adriel School) in Ohio, worked as personnel director at Weaver Poultry and then headed the book department of Provident Bookstore, both in PA. He became a sales representative for various religious book publishers, including Thomas Nelson and Word, until his retirement. He was a founding and active member of Akron Mennonite Church before becoming one of the founding members of Pilgrim’s Mennonite in Akron, PA, serving in various leadership capacitites in both. Arthur (Art) Kennel ‘53, Rochester, MN, died Dec. 12, 2014, at age 85. A physician by trade, Art worked in a number of medical fields, including general medicine, internal medicine, and cardiology. In 1960 he co-founded the Stuart Clinic with his brother-in-law. He was chair of the cardiology department at the 1,500-bed Mama Yemo Hospital in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the hospital is now named Kinshasa General) and then a Mayo

Clinic Consultant, assistant professor at Mayo Medical School, and chair of the Division of Community Medicine. He was a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, American College of Chest Physicians, Sigma Xi National Research Society, and President of the Mennonite Medical Association and Rotary Club of Rochester. Arthur retired from the Mayo Clinic in 1995. Audrey Brunk Shank ‘55, Harrisonburg, VA, died Jan. 18, 2015, at age 82. Audrey taught both English composition and music, while directing the Women’s Chorus at Eastern Mennonite College, from 1955 to 1964. In 1964, she resigned from EMC to do full-time mission work in Jamaica. In January of 1970, along with a faithful group of co-workers, she began a ministry in book evangelism with Choice Books in the Caribbean. That ministry involved distributing Bibles and Christian Literature in public stores and airport terminals, throughout the region. Next, Audrey founded Lighthouse Literature and continued her work in book evangelism. Delmar Yoder ‘61, Morgantown, WV, died Jan. 30, 2015, at age 84 while hiking in Bali, Indonesia. An early volunteer experience at Calling Lake in Alberta, Canada, set a pattern for his life. Delmar and his wife went to Timor, Indonesia, where they managed a program of village-level agricultural education and community development. The program introduced a high-yield corn seed in such a way that the typical early season food shortage was almost entirely eliminated – a remarkable success. Until his retirement, Delmar worked as an Extension Community and Economic Development Specialist at Iowa State University and West Virginia University. During those years he created Owl Creek Farm, where he performed mixed farming, rescued and restored old log buildings, and was well known for his strawberries. Brian Moore ‘63, Williamsport, MD, died Jan. 26, 2015, at age 72. He was the minister at St. James Brethren Church in St. James, MD, for 29 years until retiring in 2012. Prior to St. James, he served churches in South Bend, IN, Derby, KS, and Pittsburgh, PA. He also was moderator of the Brethren Church on two occasions; he served on many board and committees at the district and national Level. Brian enjoyed writing and authored five published books. Kembo Migire ‘66, Tanzania, died Jan. 9, 2015, at age 80. Nelson H. Lehman ‘66, Marticville, PA, died Mar. 15, 2015, at age 76. He worked as a salesman for the Central Petroleum Company for over 40 years, pastored Fairview Chapel, Holly Grove Mennonite Church, South Christian Street Mennonite Church, and Walkersville Mennonite church, and served as a volunteer in various roles, such as leading Bible studies for prisoners and spending nights work-

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ing with the homeless at emergency shelters. Nelson loved his God, nature, gardening, and hunting. Lester Smith ‘70, Harrisonburg, VA, died Jan. 15, 2015, at age 67. He taught at Broadway High School and then worked at Massanutten Vocational Technical Center. He retired in June 2014 as the Director of Career Pathways Consortium at Blue Ridge Community College.

Prison healers Jeff From, MA '07, and Marcus Freed '74

‘Pain transformed, healing transferred’ There’s a quote from the Catholic priest and writer Richard Rohr that’s widely used in the world of restorative justice and trauma healing: “pain not transformed is pain transferred.” As he’s often done many times over the years, Jeff From, MA ’07 (conflict transformation), recently used the phrase during a trauma awareness workshop with inmates at the London Correctional Institution, a large state prison in Ohio. In this instance, though, the participants got hung up on the phrasing. It seemed too negative and passive, somehow. Why not turn the tables, they asked? What about something like, “pain transformed is healing transferred?” Jeff loved the new insight, which came as a fresh reminder that working on restorative justice inside a prison carries as much potential to change an experienced workshop leader as it does those learning about it for the first time. “I’ve been working with the material for 10 years, and I was like ‘Yeah, that’s what we do!’” he said. “There’s lots of ways that these guys have contributed immensely to my understanding.” Jeff began working with the Horizon Prison Initiative in 2007. The organization was founded 15 years ago to help inmates at Ohio’s Marion Correctional Institution transform their lives, the prison culture and communities. A major part of that work has been using restorative practices and values to transform the prison’s culture. Today, Jeff says, Marion Correctional Institution has gone from one of the most violent prisons in Ohio to “basically the model prison for the state,” and Horizon has launched similar programs in two other state prisons in London (where Jeff is its program coordinator) and Chillicothe. Jeff’s colleagues at Horizon have included Marcus ’74 and Brenda Freed ’74. Brenda volunteered at the prison in London from 2008 until she died in 2014; Marcus has been volunteering there since 1999. Now retired after 36 years as teacher and school counselor, Marcus coordinates volunteers and provides other support to the program in London Correctional Institution. — Andrew Jenner

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James (Jim) Glanzer ‘75, Penn Laird, VA, died Dec. 29, 2015, at age 65. Early in his career he taught in the EMU nursing department and for many years was a counselor at the Family Life Resource Center of Harrisonburg. In his professional work he is especially remembered for his teaching and counseling in the area of grief and loss, and for his long-term work with complex trauma. Jim was an excellent woodworker who enjoyed making treasures for his children and grandchildren. Fishing, golfing, and photography were among his many interests. Dawn Burkwalter ‘75, Goshen, IN, died Feb. 8, 2015, at age 62. Dawn did secretarial work and later medical transcription, working for Mennonite Mutual Aid, Goshen College, Maple City Healthcare Center, IU South Bend and MD-IT. Throughout her life, Dawn was a person of conscience, integrity and compassion. She touched the lives of many with her giving, caring spirit. John Chacha ‘84, Martinsville, VA, died April 16, 2015, at age 60 as a result of an automobile accident. Kevin Doherty ‘10, Winchester, VA, died Jan. 2, 2015, at age 59 as the result of a bicycle accident. He lived his early years on Spa Creek in Annapolis where he developed his love for the water. He moved with the family to Latin America, spent time in Georgia and California, and served in the US Army. He was a hard worker, a creative and respected leader, managing purchasing, shipping and warehouse operations over the course of his career. In mid-life he chose to complete his bachelor’s degree

through EMU’s Adult Degree Completion Program. He worked to live, but life came first; he lived it fully and with passion. Ruth C. Jones ‘15, Verona, VA, died June 29, 2014, at age 40. An RN at Augusta Health for the past 15 years, Ruth was pursuing her bachelor’s degree in nursing through the Adult Degree Completion Program. She was awarded a posthumous honorary degree during the May 2015 commencement ceremony. The degree was accepted on her behalf by her husband, Nicholas. Degree Key CLASS OF - attended as part of the class of a given graduation year HS - high school degree from era when high school and college were one MA - master of arts MDiv - master of divinity SEM - attended the seminary

Mileposts is compiled by Braydon Hoover '11, who may be reached at braydon.hoover@emu.edu or at 540-432-4294. send news directly to braydon or to alumni@emu.edu. Editorial Policy Milepost entries regarding alumni employment, degrees obtained from other universities, marriages, 50-year and 60-year anniversaries, births, adoptions, and deaths are printed on the basis of submissions from alumni or on the basis of publicly available information. We do not do further research to verify the accuracy of the information that alumni provide us, nor do we make judgment calls on the information that they wish to be published, beyond editing for clarity, conciseness and consistency of style. The information provided to us does not necessarily reflect the official policies of EMU or of its parent church, Mennonite Church USA.

SHARE YOUR #EMUVIEW? As we plan for the Centennial we'd love to get a glimpse of the history of EMC/U through your eyes! Share special pictures or stories of your time here by visiting the online submission form at emu.edu/centennial/planning

ALUMNI HONOREES

Homecoming and Family Weekend 2015

Alumnus of the Year James L. Rosenberger ‘68

James L. Rosenberger ’68 is not your average college professor. Sure, he teaches, researches, advises graduate students, and serves on committees, which he’s been doing for nearly 40 years at Pennsylvania State University. But in recent years, he also won election to the local city council and is now its president, built a straw-bale house and become a cattle farmer, and helped begin a campus ministry called 3rd Way Collective. Politics came unexpectedly when the mayor of State College encouraged Rosenberger to run in 2007 for the borough council. He received more votes than any other candidate for the open seats. “I had never given this any serious thought,” he says, “but having lived in downtown State College for 30 years, I felt I could be a reconciling voice for addressing local issues in a college town.” The straw-bale house, called Bergenblick, is on a farm 10 miles from town that Rosenberger, his wife and another couple bought 17 years ago. In a partnership with their tenant in the farm house, the group started a small herd of Scottish Highland cattle. The 3rd Way Collective is a recent outcome of a long-time conversation at University Mennonite Church about an Anabaptist campus ministry that would offer a “third way” – neither Protestant nor Catholic – for students to view Christianity. A year ago the church hired a campus pastor. “We are seeing how our congregation can have an impact at Penn State under the ‘peace, justice and faith’ banner,” he says. His global interests began at EMU, when Rosenberger spent his junior year in Germany. He studied at Philips University in Marburg, under the Brethren Colleges Abroad program. (EMU’s cross-cultural trips began in 1972, four years after Rosenberger graduated, and became mandatory in 1982.) Rosenberger’s dream after college, where he majored in mathematics, was to go to Africa with the Teachers Abroad Program of Mennonite Central Committee. But that dream was delayed while he waited for his future wife, Gloria Horst ’70, to graduate. In the meantime, he went to New York City to work as a data analyst at New York University Medical Center and begin graduate studies in math. In December 1975, while working on a PhD in biometrics from Cornell University, Rosenberger joined the Penn State faculty as a statistics professor. He has been there ever since. He chaired the statistics department from 1991 until 2006, when he stepped down to develop and lead the university’s online master’s program in applied statistics. “This takes our practical courses in applied statistics to mid-career persons working in a variety of fields who want to develop additional skills in statistics and data

James L. Rosenberger (Photo by Jon Styer)

science,” he says. While at Penn State, Rosenberger has been able to pursue his interest in cross-cultural experiences. In 1984, he finally fulfilled his dream of teaching in Africa. For two years, he taught and trained graduate students at the University of Zimbabwe. His third child was born there. In 1988, he and his family went to Switzerland for part of his sabbatical year, and in 2003, he taught one semester in Taiwan. Over the years, Rosenberger was involved in several national organizations, serving as vice president of the American Statistical Association, directing the statistics program for the National Science Foundation and chairing the board of Mennonite Education Agency. All three of Rosenberger’s children are EMU graduates. Grant ’99 owns an Ace hardware store in State College. He is married to Laura Dell’Olio ’99. Laura Rosenberger ’03, who was an elite pole-vaulter at EMU, is a chief resident in surgery at the University of Virginia Medical Center. She is married to David Mauro, a radiologist. Kurt Rosenberger ’06, an artist-carpenter in Harrisonburg, was featured in the local newspaper earlier this year for his “little house” – a 204-square-foot environmentally sustainable dwelling. — Steve Shenk www.emu.edu | crossroads | 61

ALUMNI HONOREES Distinguished Service Award John A. Lapp '54

John A. Lapp ’54, who started his career as a history professor at EMU, witnessed a major historical event himself – Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at a civil rights march in Washington D.C. in 1963. He remembers an atmosphere of joy and energy and a feeling that something historic was happening. “I will never forget the singing,” he says. At the time, Lapp’s state of Virginia – and the rest of the South – was still segregated in favor of the white population. African Americans could not go to regular schools or eat in restaurants. They sat in the back of buses and in the balcony of theaters. They were not allowed to vote and were barred from many jobs. Lapp was active in the Virginia Council on Human Relations, which fought for equal rights for African Americans and the end of segregation. The march in Washington by over 200,000 people was a big step forward in their campaign. Following two years of alternative service as a conscientious objector to the military draft, Lapp taught at EMU from 1956-69, taking some time off to pursue a master’s degree at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and then a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “I was restless in the 1960s,” he says, “and when a call came to direct the Peace Section at Mennonite Central Committee, I decided to get a leave from EMU.” At MCC in Akron, Pennsylvania, his worldview was greatly enlarged, he says. After three years, Lapp got another call – to serve as dean of the faculty at Goshen College, a Mennonite school in Indiana. In 1979, he became provost, the second-ranked position under the college president. He lived in Goshen with his wife, Mary Alice Weber ’55, and family for 12 years. All three of their children – John Franklin, Jennifer and Jessica – graduated from Goshen College. The call came again in 1985 to return to MCC as executive director of the relief, development and peace organization. During his tenure there, until 1997, he traveled to some 70 countries to visit MCC’s far-flung service workers, local partners and aid programs. “I never applied for a job or planned a career beyond teaching,” Lapp says. “I tried to see my adult life as a calling from the church as a teacher and then in administration.” Nancy Heisey, associate director under Lapp at MCC and now a Bible and religion professor at EMU, said the two often discussed the importance of leaders being kirchlich, a German word that is similar to “churchly” in English. “This means that in all your career and personal matters,” she says, “you see the central importance of the community of believers.” 62 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

John A. Lapp (center) and wife Alice Lapp and MCC Indonesia staffer Allen Harder (right) walk with residents of Agusan Village in northeastern Mindanao, Philippines. The Lapps joined Asia service workers at a regional retreat in 1986. (MCC Photo/Earl Martin)

After retirement, Lapp taught courses at Bishop’s College in India, Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania and the Lancaster site of EMU. Then he took on the monumental task of directing the Global Mennonite History Project under the auspices of Mennonite World Conference. He was responsible for recruiting writers, editing manuscripts, raising funds for the project and publishing five volumes – one for each of the five continents. The task took 16 years, ending earlier this year. For most of his retirement years, Lapp stayed in Pennsylvania, where he and his wife grew up, but in 2011, they moved to Indiana at their children’s urging. Now what? “At age 82, I don’t expect any more projects other than putting on paper some memories for the children and grandchildren,” he says. — Steve Shenk

Homecoming and Family Weekend 2015

Outstanding Young Alum Martin Histand '05

When he was young, Martin Histand ’05 may have been the only kid in America who didn’t like peanut butter. Who would have thought that someday he would be part of an effort to save Africa’s malnourished children through peanut butter? Histand, 31, is the operations manager for Project Peanut Butter (PPB), an 11-year-old nonprofit agency based in St. Louis. He spends about one-third of his time at PPB’s factories in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Malawi. “He oversaw the establishment of a factory in Ghana,” says his sister, Maria Histand Daly ’04. “He was in charge of everything from obtaining the facility and getting all necessary machinery ready to ensuring that the local staff had proper training and support.” And that was before he turned 30. Project Peanut Butter is the brainchild of pediatrician Mark Manary, a professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. After many years of treating malnourished children in Africa, he became convinced that a ready-to-use therapeutic food, also known as RUTF, could save a lot of lives. His preferred RUTF is peanut butter fortified with milk powder, vegetable oil, vitamins, minerals and sugar. Histand heard about PPB from his brother Mark, who was a member of the Mennonite Voluntary Service unit in St. Louis and attended St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship, where Manary and his family worship. PPB needed more staff, Mark told his brother. Martin Histand moved to St. Louis in 2010 to volunteer with PPB, living at the Voluntary Service unit. After a year, his job became a paid position. He now specializes in peanut processing and RUTF production. “Around the world, severe acute malnutrition is the largest killer of children under five years of age, contributing to nearly half of all childhood deaths,” says Histand. “The problem occurs mainly in families suffering from the impact of grinding chronic poverty.” When he’s home in St. Louis, Histand is an active citizen of his adopted city. In the bitter aftermath of the killing of a young black man by a white police officer last August in nearby Ferguson, he participated in several peaceful rallies that promoted racial equality and social justice. Histand’s first contact with needy people overseas was through his EMU cross-cultural experience. He spent the summer between his junior and senior years in Guatemala, studying Spanish and going to a remote area for service learning in an indigenous community. “There was no electricity, and we slept on the ground with tarantulas and snakes,” he says. “It was pretty wild, but the experience helped shape my worldview and has impacted

Martin Histand at the site of his company’s peanut butter unit in Ghana (Photo courtesy of Martin Histand)

the decisions I’ve made since college.” After graduating with a degree in history and social studies and a secondary-education teaching license, Histand went to Ethiopia under the Serving and Learning Together (SALT) program of Mennonite Central Committee. He worked for a year at a school for orphans and other underprivileged children. “It’s difficult to ever let go of an experience like that,” he says, “and it piqued my interest to remain involved with work in Africa.” “Martin is a champion of the marginalized and voiceless,” says Jason Good ’05, a friend from their days at EMU. “He connects with people across cultural, linguistic and socio-economic divides in a genuine way that is vitally needed in our world today.” Does Histand still hate the taste of peanut butter? “No,” he says. “I’m a born-again peanut butter lover!” — Steve Shenk www.emu.edu | crossroads | 63

Celebrating People, Places, Programs

Homecoming and Family Weekend 2015 Join us October 9-11 The Homecoming registration desk and welcome center will be located in the main floor lobby of the Campus Center. On Friday, it will be open 3 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Open hours Saturday will be 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Please come to the registration desk for your Homecoming packet, which will include tickets for your registered events and weekend information. Tickets will be collected at events and meals. Come and experience all this year’s Homecoming and Family Weekend has to offer. Make new memories with classmates, students, and special guests. Join us in celebrating EMU’s “people, places, and programs”.

Friday, October 9

Paul R. Yoder Golf Classic Heritage Oaks Golf Course, 8 a.m.-1 p.m.

Sponsored by the Loyal Royals to benefit EMU athletics program. Cost: $100. Lunch served at noon. For information, contact Dave King at 540-432-4646.

Homecoming chapel assembly Lehman Auditorium, 10 a.m.

Martin Histand ’05, Outstanding Young Alum recipient, will be the guest speaker.

Registration and welcome center Campus Center Greeting Hall, 3-8:30 p.m. Evening meal Dining Hall, 5-6:30 p.m., pay at the door. Donor appreciation banquet University Commons lower level, 5:30 p.m.

Hosted by President Swartzendruber for members of EMU’s giving societies and Jubilee Friends. By separate invitation.

64 | crossroads | spring-summer 2015

Gascho gallery and Encore! coffeehouse Common Grounds, University Commons, 8 p.m.

Come hear Dr. Joseph Gascho ’68 recite poetry and display his photography. Then hear Emulate, an elite vocal ensemble, specializing in jazz, modern and contemporary concert literature, both secular and sacred. The ensemble was founded and directed by assistant professor of music, Dr. Ryan Keebaugh.

Saturday, October 10 Registration and welcome center Campus Center Greeting Hall, 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

Business and economics breakfast and program Campus Center, Strite Conference Room, 8 a.m.

Speaker Brian Plum ’01, president and chief executive officer of Blue Ridge Bank of Luray, Virginia. Registration necessary.

Science Center & language and literature breakfast and program Suter Science Center, breakfast at 8 a.m., program at 9 a.m.

“Echos of the Heart: A Cardiologist Uses Poetry and Photography to Treat His Patients and Himself.” Guest speaker Dr. Joseph Gascho ‘68, cardiologist, professor of humanities and medicine at the Milton S. Hershey College of Medicine, poet and photographer. All are welcome. Registration for breakfast necessary. No charge to attend the program.

Suter Science Center East Dedication Suter Science Center Concourse, 10 a.m.

Please join us as we celebrate and dedicate the newly renovated labs and re-purposed spaces of the Suter Science Center east wing. The dedication will be followed by self-guided tours and information/ demonstrations at various points throughout the renovated spaces. Tours will be available at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Visit emu.edu/alumni/homecoming/2015 for more information.

Haverim breakfast and program Discipleship Center, 8 a.m.

The speaker is Andrea Saner, assistant professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, who teaches in our seminary and Bible & religion department. Andrea and her husband Eric came to Harrisonburg from northeast England where she completed her PhD in Old Testament at Durham University. Registration necessary.

Nurses’ reception Campus Center, 3rd floor nursing department, 8 a.m.

Join the nursing department faculty and other nursing alumni for a time of fellowship in the classroom section of the lab. Light refreshments. Registration necessary.

Hall of Honor breakfast and program University Commons, Court C, 8:30 a.m.

The 1998 men’s soccer team and Wendy Driver Rhodes ’05 will be inducted into the Hall of Honor. Sponsored by the Loyal Royals and the athletics department. Registration necessary.

Jesse T. Byler lecture series Seminary building, room 123, 9 a.m.

J. Daryl Byler, CJP executive director and son of Jesse T. Byler, will share stories about his father’s life as a teacher outside the classroom. Registration necessary.

Childcare and activities for pre-school aged children 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

For children ages 2-4, we offer expert care at EMU’s Early Learning Center. Located at Park View Mennonite Church at 1600 College Avenue, the ELC is a laboratory school for EMU education students. Founded in 1977, the ELC has provided a high-quality preschool experience for hundreds of families and EMU students. Visit emu.edu/education/elc for more information. Lunch is included. Space is limited; register early to ensure your child can participate. Registration necessary.

Children’s activities Campus Center, room 226, 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. (age 5 to grade 5) Hands-on activities and adventures on campus. Led by the EMU Student Education Association. Lunch included. Registration necessary.

Intercollegiate games 1 p.m. - Field hockey vs. Washington and Lee 4 p.m. - Men’s soccer vs. Randolph 7 p.m. - Women’s soccer vs. Washington and Lee EMU Campus Canvas Fun Run (2 miles) Check-in at the fountain, 1:30 p.m. Race begins at 2 p.m.

VACA art sale Hartzler Library Gallery, second floor, 9-5 p.m.

Photos of art being sold can be found on the Homecoming website. emu.edu/homecoming

Whether you run a mile in 15 minutes or 5, join us for the firstever EMU Campus Canvas Fun Run. Cruise the 2-mile course with homecoming visitors, faculty/staff, students, and youth of all ages. Pre-register for a T-shirt. There will be music on the front lawn, as well as snacks and water after the first mile. The best part: all participants will finish the race covered from head to toe in color. Don’t forget your camera! Registration necessary for T-shirt.

Cross-cultural reflections – perspective for parents Campus Center, room 229, 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Jubilee Alumni reception and program Seminary building, Martin Chapel, 3 p.m.

Reflections from Cuba: The United States and Cuba are redefining their relationship with one another after decades of separation. As historic meetings were being held at the Summit of the Americas, the Spring 2015 Guatemala/Cuba cross-cultural group explored Havana. Come hear cross-cultural reflections from a student panel on their experiences of Cuba, perched on the threshold of new relationships with the U.S. Everyone welcome.

Festive gathering Lehman Auditorium front lawn, 10:45 a.m.

Mingle with fellow alumni, friends, EMU faculty and administration on the Lehman Auditorium front lawn. All are welcome! Rain location will be in the Campus Center lounge.

Opening reunion program Lehman Auditorium, 11-11:30 a.m. Everyone is invited.

Reunite with your class members as you sit together in this familiar campus landmark. Celebrate the alumni award recipients, view a homecoming video, and enjoy music by the Reunion Vocal Band. After the program, reunion classes will meet in their own groups for photos, reunions and lunch.

Class reunions and luncheons (for class years ending in “0” and “5”)

Immediately after the opening program, reunion classes will convene into their own groups at various locations on campus for photos, reunions and lunch. Visit registration desk for more information. Registration necessary.

Intended for alumni who attended EMU 50 years ago or more, this event will begin with a reception at 3 p.m. followed by a program at 3:30. Group singing, reflections by members of the class of 1965 and others, and informal fellowship. The class of 1965 will be honored and inducted into the Jubilee Alumni Association. Registration necessary.

Alumni art exhibits Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery, University Commons, first floor

Featuring work by Cyndi Gusler ‘93, Ashley Sauder Miller ‘03, and Katherine Burling.

Harvest feast University Commons, first floor, Courts B & C, 5-6:30 p.m.

A savory harvest buffet for the entire EMU community. All are welcome. Come and enjoy! Registration necessary.

Reunion Vocal Band concert Lehman Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Come hear the musical stylings of the Reunion Vocal Band in concert! Registration necessary.

Sunday, October 11 Homecoming worship service Lehman Auditorium, 10 a.m.

Worship celebration of song and scripture. Three honorees – Alumnus of the Year James Rosenberger ‘68, Lifetime of Distinguished Service recipient John A. Lapp ’54, and Outstanding Young Alum Martin Histand ’05 – will be recognized.

Registration form

Lunch Main dining room, Northlawn lower level, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

List only those attending and indicate how the names should appear on name tags. Please include birth name, if applicable.

Pay at the door.

Name ___________________________________Class __________

Award recipient dinner (by invitation only) Martin Chapel, noon

Spouse/guest ____________________________Class ___________

Monday, October 12

Address ________________________________________________

Alumni Association annual council meeting Campus Center, Lehman boardroom 301-302, 8 a.m.

City ____________________________________________________ State_______________________________Zip__________________ Email __________________________Day phone _______________

Parking note Parking is not restricted over homecoming weekend except in handicap locations and fire lanes.

Childcare (ages 2-4 ) $5 per child Name _____________________________________ Age _________

EMU Fitness Center, University Commons

Name _____________________________________ Age _________

Saturday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. The alumni office will pay the fee for homecoming guests to use the fitness center during weekend open hours.

Children's activities (age 5-grade5) $5 per child Name _____________________________________ Age _________

Friday, 8 a.m.- 8 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. Come and view the “library drive” display in the foyer, the artwork in the gallery, and a special display in the presidents’ room.

TEAR HERE

EMU Library

Name _____________________________________ Age _________ Tickets

No.

Cost

Total

Breakfast programs Business & economics breakfast

______ $10

______

Science breakfast

______ $8

______

Haverim alumni breakfast

______ $8

______

Hall of Honor breakfast

______ $10

______

Class reunion luncheon

______ $10

______

Canvas Fun Run T-shirt

______ $5

______

Jubilee alumni reception

______ $5

______

Harvest Feast

______ $12

______

Online www.emu.edu/homecoming

Reunion Vocal Band concert

______ $10

______

Mail Alumni Office, EMU, 1200 Park Road, Harrisonburg VA 22802

Free Events (registration necessary)

Registration Online registration opens August 1. Register and pay securely online by midnight on October 6 at emu.edu/homecoming, in person in the alumni office, or return this form and payment, with your check payable to Eastern Mennonite University, by October 1. For exceptional situations, where registration could not be made by the deadlines above, a limited number of new registrants may be accommodated at the registration desk in the Campus Center during its open hours on homecoming weekend.

Afternoon programs

Evening programs

Nurses’ reception

______ free

______

Questions? Please call 540-432-4245. You may also reach us by fax 540-432-4444 or email: homecoming@emu.edu

Jesse T. Byler lecture

______ free

______

Refund policy: To receive a refund, send your cancellation notice by October 1.

Total amount enclosed

______

Office Use Only ID # ___________ Amt Rec’d $________ Amt Due $____________

Reunion Vocal Band

Reunion Vocal Band (RVB) is a composite of 1960s and ‘70s Mennonite musicians, singers and song writers hailing from seven U.S. states and Ontario. With an emphasis on tight vocal harmony, their repertoire features a variety of styles, including folk, folk-rock, gospel, country, rock and a bit of jazz. RVB has recorded two albums available on CD. Initiated by James R. Krabill, the group formed in 1989 and has been meeting annually to jam ever since.

emu.edu/homecoming Hotel (block room) reservations Callers must mention EMU Homecoming and Family Weekend.

CANVAS FUN RUN

Whether you enjoy running or simply being covered in color, you will not want to miss the first EMU Canvas Fun Run! Join students, alumni and friends as they run 2 miles around campus, visiting the places that make this university special while being doused in a beautiful array of color! Snacks and water provided after the first mile. Registration required for a t-shirt. Hope to see you at the fountain on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.!

Best Western 540-433-6089 Comfort Inn 540-433-6066 Candlewood Suites 540-437-1400 Holiday Inn Express 540-433-9999 Hampton Inn 540-432-1111 Country Inn and Suites 540-433-2400 Visit www.harrisonburgtourism.com for more information.

VACA ART SALE

Bid on art by professional artists who have displayed their works in EMU’s Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery. These artists hold EMU’s Visual and Communication Arts program in high esteem and have donated their work to benefit VACA’s gallery program. Look for the link on EMU’s homecoming site in August. The auction goes live on September 7.

Special Thanks

A special thanks to the Homecoming Committee for sharing their time and expertise to plan and organize Homecoming weekend: Cedric Moore, Doug Nyce, Donna Souder, Gretchen Maust, Lenora Bell, Evelyn King, Jessica Hostetler, Twila Yoder, Phil Tieszen, Laura Daily and Braydon Hoover.

R g C 1 t s t f a R

A t F o c

EASTERN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY

PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID Harrisonburg, Virginia

1200 Park Road 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 email alumni@emu.edu.

Oct. 10 - 12

Don’t miss your classmiss reunion! Don’t the

this event, please contact Kirsten Beachy at 432.4164 • brochure inside theor Viback beachyk@emu.edu Dutcher atcover! 432.4316 • violet.

Reunions for alumni who attended EMU 50 years ago or more will gather at the Jubilee Alumni Luncheon at 11:30 a..m in the Campus Center’s Martin Greeting Hall. All other reunions, for the classes of 1963 and later (grad years ending in 3 or 8) will begin at 3:30 p.m. After meeting in your designated location, each class will also have a space set aside for additional gathering and fellowship at the evening dinner, to be held in the dining hall, first floor of Northlawn. Please register for both your class reunion and the dinner to follow. All Homecoming and Family Weekend guests are welcome to register for this Family and Reunion Dinner. Serving lines will be open 5 – 6:30 p.m.

Homecoming and Family Weekend

dutcher@emu.edu.

Oakwood Reunion All Alumni who once resided in Oakwood will come together to share memories and refreshments. See inside for more details of these special reunions and online at www.emu.homecoming

weather vane Reunion

All alumni who were once a part of the Weather Vane staff are welcome to attend a reception hosted by the language and literature department. Former Weather Vane editors will reminisce about their experiences on EMU’s student newspaper. Advance reservations recommended; no charge. If you were a former editor and want to share your memories at

October 9-11, 2015

EASTERN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY

PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID Harrisonburg, Virginia

Harrisonburg, VA 22802-2462

Celebrating People, Places, Programs 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

EMU invites alumni, parents and families to Homecoming and Family Weekend 2015! There are activities and events planned for all throughout the entire weekend. Look inside for more details and registration information and online. emu.edu/homecoming