![From Kay Nussbaum '78, Chair, Board of Trustees](/now/is/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2016/05/new_president_announcement-300x184.jpg")
From Kay Nussbaum ’78, Chair, Board of Trustees
With spring in full bloom, this issue of Crossroads celebrates rebirth and transition. Dedicated to the theme of education, the magazine is a fitting forum to host a tribute to our leaders in education of the past, present and future.
Fitting too is a new design: Crossroads enters its third decade with an updated look and organization that reflects the diversity of programming and people who make up 91短视频. It will serve us well as we tell the story of this dynamic university and move closer to our Centennial celebration, 2017-18.
Most importantly, this issue celebrates President Loren Swartzendruber and his 13-year tenure at 91短视频, as well as the culmination of a search for his successor. I鈥檓 delighted to report that Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman, president of Conrad Grebel University College, has been appointed with unanimous affirmation to become 91短视频鈥檚 ninth president.
Between these two leaders, we are fortunate to have yet another gift in the guiding presence of Dr. Lee Snyder, former academic dean and professor. She will lead 91短视频 as interim president from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2016, at which time Dr. Huxman will assume office.
While president of Bluffton College for 12 years, Lee began collecting thoughts on her journey to leadership. In 2010, she published a memoir, At Powerline and Diamond Hill (Cascadia Publishing House), in which she meditates on the power of education 鈥� and her own calling to leadership in Mennonite higher education.
鈥淕ood sense, discriminating judgement, a healthy sense of humor, a down-to-earth sensibility, and a spirit of gratitude are essential qualities of an effective leader,鈥� Lee writes.
There is also tiptoeing around the 鈥渕inefields鈥� of politics and 鈥渘ot yielding to hypocrisy or cynicism,鈥� as well as the 鈥渘ot infrequent in-breaking of joy and surprise 鈥� this too was part of the work.鈥�
We hope this issue, too, provides those moments of 鈥渋n-breaking joy and surprise,鈥� insights into the unique Christ-centered education that has fed us and continues to feed us through our lives, as is evident in the features about our alumni educator-leaders.
In this significant time of transition, we are profoundly grateful for the gifts of institutional leaders who lead with integrity, conviction, commitment, and a clear sense of being a part of God鈥檚 redemptive work in the world.
