Center for Interfaith Engagement Archives - 91��Ƶ News

91��Ƶ hosts consultation on Judaism, the Bible, and Anabaptism

Micah Wenger, staff writer for The Weather Vane — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:38:57 +0000

This article originally appeared in the March 26 issue of The Weather Vane. To read more articles like it, visit .

On Monday, March 23, Anabaptist and Jewish scholars and religious leaders gathered in the Strite Conference Room of 91��Ƶ’s Campus Center for a consultation on Judaism, the Bible, and Anabaptism. The invite-only event was planned by Peter Dula, professor of religion and culture at 91��Ƶ, and Trina Trotter Nussbaum, director of the Center for Interfaith Engagement (CIE), and included all-day discussions centering around the work of Matthew Thiessen and Daniel Weiss.

According to Dula, Thiessen, a Mennonite New Testament professor at McMaster University, is “one of the most influential voices in the ‘Paul within Judaism’ school of New Testament studies.” The discussion of Thiessen’s work at the consultation centered around four articles of his.

Weiss, according to Dula, is a Jewish professor of Jewish studies and the philosophy of religion at the University of Cambridge, “whose work at the intersection of early rabbinic literature and early Christian literature has significant resonances with traditional Anabaptist understandings of violence and the state and critiques of Constantinianism.” Weiss also had four articles discussed.

The morning began with a presentation by Thiessen titled, “What Mennonites Need to Know 91��Ƶ Judaism,” which introduced the work of Weiss. Weiss then responded, and there was time for some questions from the audience. Following a break, a panel engaged with some of Weiss’s research, including articles on Christians and Levites, and the possibility that early Christians did not baptize their children, instead letting them be born into salvation.

After a lunch break, Weiss took a turn introducing Thiessen’s work in a section called, “Reading the New Testament within Judaism.” Thiessen then responded. A panel then engaged in Thiessen’s work, including reflections on how to read Paul with an awareness of Judaism, and whether Jesus meant to start a new religion.

Dula was the guiding force in bringing the two scholars together to have the event. “You’ve got a Jewish scholar writing really perceptively about Anabaptist themes, and you have this Mennonite scholar writing really perceptively about Judaism,” Dula said. “So, I thought we should get them together.”

Nussbaum reflected on the efficacy of the dialogue, and how it was in large part also due to the highlighted speakers. “It worked because the two scholars we were highlighting shared the spotlight so well,” she said. “How many times did we hear, ‘and now I want to open it up to you all?’”

Miranda Beidler, an 91��Ƶ senior who helped coordinate the event in her role as a student chaplain with the CIE, praised the event and guests for creating “inherent dialogue.” She said, “[The speakers] were so willing and open to talk about their beliefs, their theology, in ways that were open and curious about the others’ theology and beliefs, but without imposing their beliefs on somebody else.”

Sara Kennel, another senior student chaplain at 91��Ƶ, was struck by the openness and intellectualism of the event participants, saying, “It felt like a gathering of a lot of people that care about understanding differences, but also are deeply intellectual. … I don’t think that I’ve encountered that many spaces at 91��Ƶ that are that level of scholarship.”

Nussbaum was struck by the impact of cross-religious dialogue, saying, “It’s something pretty amazing that we can see ourselves in another faith. … It was a spiritual love-fest.” Beidler, similarly, connected the event to CIE’s—and 91��Ƶ’s—goals of interfaith work, saying, “It’s us putting into action when we say we care about learning from other people and from other cultures.”

Anabaptist and Jewish scholars and religious leaders gather to listen to a lecture on Daniel Weiss by Breanna Nickel. (Photo by Alex Belisle)

91��Ƶ Theatre presents original musical about WWII-era nun and martyr

Ryan Cornell with photos by Macson McGuigan/91��Ƶ — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 18:55:00 +0000

“On the Breath of God: The Life of Maria Skobtsova” opens at MainStage Theater this Friday

An original musical premiering at 91��Ƶ’s MainStage Theater this week brings audiences the captivating, never-before-seen story of a Russian poet, nun and saint who saved countless lives during World War II and was killed for it. Created by 91��Ƶ professors Jerry Holsopple and Justin Poole, “On the Breath of God: The Life of Maria Skobtsova” runs from Friday-Saturday, March 28-29 @ 7 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday, April 3-5 @ 7 p.m.; and on Sunday, March 30 @ 2 p.m.

Born in present-day Riga, Latvia, Maria Skobtsova was a poet, nun and martyr whose courage saved countless lives during World War II.

The sweeping drama traces the remarkable life of Skobtsova, played by 91��Ƶ senior Reah Clymer, from impetuous teen to chain-smoking nun who sheltered refugees and helped many Jews escape Nazi-occupied Paris. Known as “Mother Maria,” she was arrested and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she was executed.

“You really see the arc to Maria’s life,” Poole said. “By the end of the play, you’re completely invested in who she is, and you see this dramatic transformation she goes through.”

The musical features a chorus of four women mystics, played by students Elie Hoover and Erin Batten and alumnae Caitlin Holsapple ’16 and Elizabeth Eby ’22, singing Celtic folk melodies.

Musicians Perry Blosser ’18 (violin), Benjamin Brantley (guitar), and Dirk Holsopple ’10 (Uilleann pipes) perform on stage.

The fourth collaboration between Holsopple and Poole, “On the Breath of God” brings together a multigenerational cast and crew of 91��Ƶ students, alumni, faculty/staff and community members. The musical features a chorus of four women mystics from history, singing lyrics taken directly from their texts to Celtic folk melodies, performed by musicians Perry Blosser ’18 (violin), Benjamin Brantley (guitar), and Dirk Holsopple ’10 (Uilleann pipes). These mystics, played by students Elie Hoover and Erin Batten and alumnae Caitlin Holsapple ’16 and Elizabeth Eby ’22, surround Skobtsova during pivotal moments in her life. Though invisible to her, they influence her decisions through their words.

“Celtic music is able to hold trauma and hope together,” Holsopple said. “That’s what this story is. It’s the story of a woman who endured all kinds of trauma and never lost the ability to have hope and keep doing what she believed was right, up until the very end.”

91��Ƶ senior Reah Clymer, a music and peacebuilding major, portrays Maria Skobtsova.

Reah Clymer, foreground, as Maria Skobtsova and Elie Hoover as Therese of Lisieux/Hildegard of Bingen.

Clymer delivers a masterful performance as Skobtsova, pouring her soul into the multifaceted character, capturing her playfulness, fierceness and suffering. “Mother Maria lived a tough life,” Clymer said. “She lost two daughters, went through two divorces, lived through war and displacement and deportation, and was thrown in jail multiple times. I’ve had to go there, emotionally, in every rehearsal.”

The set design is minimalist yet imaginative. Backlit stained glass panels form the backdrop, paired with an animated collage of photos projected onto two screens. While most characters in the play wear neutral-toned, period-specific clothing, with Skobtsova dressed in a Russian Orthodox nun’s habit, the mystics don flowing robes accented with pops of color. Frequent 91��Ƶ Theatre collaborator Rachel Herrick returns as costume designer. Rounding out the crew are Shannon Dove (technical director and set design), Robert Weaver (light designer), Tom Carr (sound technician), and Sarah Peak (stage manager), among others.

Despite the play’s early- to mid-20th century setting, Clymer said its themes are just as relevant today. “This story is so timely,” she said. “It’s about immigration. It’s about refugees. It’s about war and political turmoil.”

Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for seniors, $10 for children 18 and under, and $6 for university students. For tickets, visit:

Reah Clymer and Joe Seitz during a rehearsal of On the Breath of God.

Read a preview of the play from the Daily News-Record .

Cast

Liz “Maria” Skobtsova – Reah Clymer
Sophia – Melody Wilson
Jura/Sailor – Ross Haun
Alexander Blok/Captain/Father Dimitri – Adam Hoover
Dmitri/Daniil/Peters – Joe Seitz
Father/Metropolitan – Shannon Dove
Evgenia/Klara – Kay Pettus
Ana/Ida – Alexis Lewis
Gardener/Father Kern/SS Officer – Nathanael Eby
Lyuba/Nun at Lourmel House/Inna – Cassidy Walker
Nun/Irena – Emilee White
Therese of Lisieux/Hildegard of Bingen – Elie Hoover
Hadewijch of Flanders – Elizabeth Eby
Mechthild of Magdeburg – Caitlyn Holsapple
Julian of Norwich/Theresa of Avila – Erin Batten
Young Liz/Giana – Vienna Poole
Young Giana/Nastia – Felicity Poole

Crew

Co-creator – Justin Poole
Co-creator – Jerry Holsopple
Costume designer – Rachel Herrick
Technical Director/Set Design – Shannon Dove
Light Designer – Robert Weaver
Sound Technician – Tom Carr
Stage Manager – Sarah Peak
Assistant Stage Manager – Jordyn Thompson
Video Production Assistant – Zack Furr
Video Production Assistant – Oslyn Mejia Gomez
Cast and Crew Photographer/Video Production Assistant – Cassidy Walker
Video Production Assistant – Willem Hedrick
Video Production Assistant – Allie Watkins

Musicians

Violin – Perry Blosser
Guitar – Benjamin Brantley
Irish Pipes – Dirk Holsopple

91��Ƶ celebrates its phenomenal women leaders

Ryan Cornell with photos by Macson McGuigan/91��Ƶ — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 15:59:27 +0000

Special ‘Mornings with the Mayor’ Convocation pays tribute to President Huxman and other women shaping our campus

There’s a new morning talk show host in town, and she’s here to celebrate.

As a special Mornings with the Mayor edition of Convocation on Wednesday, Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed, director of alumni engagement and community connections at 91��Ƶ, stepped into the role of host as she interviewed several trailblazing women leaders making their mark on campus. The one-of-a-kind program, held at the Student Union, celebrated Women’s History Month and paid tribute to departing 91��Ƶ President Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman.

Reed steered the show with her trademark candor and panache, holding court over the “live studio audience”—one student could be seen regularly holding up an “Applause” sign—while she posed fascinating questions to 91��Ƶ students, staff, and alumnae. “It’s the show where we bring you big energy, great conversations, and way too much coffee,” quipped Reed.

Arelys Martinez Fabian, left, and Ray Ray Taylor MS ’24 answer questions from Deanna Reed at the Mornings with the Mayor event.

The first guests to grace the stage were a pair of 91��Ƶ students, Arelys Martinez Fabian and Meredith Lehman, and a recent alumna, Ray Ray Taylor MS ’24. Fabian, co-president of Student Government Association, highlighted the increased representation of women in campus leadership roles. Taylor, a lab instructor who was a track and field team, called for erasing negative stereotypes and for supporting women in sports. When asked about which woman in history she would share a meal with, Lehman, a Rhodes Scholar studying at Washington Community Scholars’ Center, answered that she had recently heard about Zheng Yi Sao, a pirate leader active in the South China Sea from 1801 to 1810. “She was one of the most successful pirates in a time where you don’t really hear about female pirates,” Lehman said. “I would ask her where she pulls from to gain confidence and belief in herself”

From left: Carrie Bert, Dr. Shannon Dycus, and Dr. Tynisha Willingham answer questions at the Student Union.

Another panel discussion featured three powerhouse administrative leaders who are “changing the game in education and beyond”: Carrie Bert, Dr. Shannon Dycus, and Dr. Tynisha Willingham. Asked to provide her younger self advice, Bert, 91��Ƶ athletic director, said she would’ve told her to pause and breathe to appreciate the moment. Dycus, vice president for Student Affairs, Equity and Belonging, shared some tough conversations she had when starting in her role about fighting hard to be heard. Willingham spoke about unique challenges she’s faced as a woman provost. “I think we often still see that even when women are in leadership roles, they are expected to be nurturing and can’t be as direct,” she said.

91��Ƶ President Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman riffs on influential civil rights leader Ida B. Wells.

Clad in her signature royal blue pantsuit, Huxman, the featured headliner for Reed’s morning show, bounded down the aisle and shined in the spotlight. Huxman is 91��Ƶ’s ninth president, the first woman to lead in the role, and is retiring this summer after nine years of service. She joked about some unexpected lessons learned over those years. “I started with a closet that had five blue outfits,” she said. “It’s half my closet now, skirts and outfits like this, and even shoes.”

She also spoke about forming closer connections between the university and city, colloquially known as the “town and gown relationship,” during her time at 91��Ƶ. Early on, she said, she had visited with elected officials, educators and business leaders who told her they had never stepped foot on 91��Ƶ’s campus. “I tried to work, especially in that first year, to get folks to campus,” she said. “I brought the delegates and our elected representatives up to my office. And, again, they said, ‘Well, I’ve been an elected representative for 12, 15 years, and I’ve never been in the president’s office.’”

At a time when many colleges across the nation are shuttering their DEI programs, 91��Ƶ is doubling down on its commitment to the initiatives that bolster diversity, equity and inclusion and make all students on campus feel welcome. Huxman spoke about initiatives she’s witnessed over her two terms, including the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration started by Celeste Thomas during her second year as president, the Black Lives Matter mural—the only city in Virginia with a BLM street mural, Reed said—the establishment of the Office of DEI, the start of the Lavender Graduation, and the institutional statement on land acknowledgement. “It is 91��Ƶ’s time to lean into DEI,” Huxman said. “It’s wrapped into our mission, it’s wrapped into our vision and values, it’s wrapped into the Sermon on the Mount. And this is who we are as a faith-based institution.”

Asked about which woman she would share a meal with, Huxman answered Ida B. Wells, a journalist and co-founder of the NAACP. “Every time I reread her biography, I just think, how did somebody walk the earth of this magnitude?” said Huxman, regaling the crowd with tales of Wells’ accomplishments. “…I always think that, in a very real sense, the graduates from our university at 91��Ƶ are well-prepared to be peace and justice advocates like Ida B. Wells.”

91��Ƶ senior Meredith Lehman joins the panel discussion on Zoom from the Washington Community Scholars’ Center.

A special treat honoring the president was free for those attending the event. Baristas at Common Grounds Coffeehouse whipped up mugs of the “Hux Deluxe,” a vanilla latte with a little cinnamon sugar on top. “I love that it’s a latte and it has cinnamon on it,” Huxman said. “Somebody knows I like that.”

The interviews were interspersed with video segments documenting powerful 91��Ƶ alumnae who are shaping the world. These included Khadija O. Ali MA ’01, who became the first female state minister of the Somalian government and serves as an ambassador for the country, and Najla El Mangoush MA ’15, who was the first female foreign minister of Libya. Another video showcased the legacy of the late Sadie Hartzler, 91��Ƶ’s first full-time librarian whose name graces the library today.

Mukarabe sings to the crowd while her husband, Makinto, plays guitar.

Mukarabe, a student at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding who fled genocide in Burundi in 1993, read from a poem and led the crowd in a moment of silence for women persecuted around the world. She was joined by her husband Makinto, a student at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, as they performed music to cap off the event. Together, they shared “Amahoro,” a Kirundi cultural expression conveying peace and God’s blessings, through song.

Braydon Hoover, vice president for enrollment, served as sidekick/announcer for “Mornings with the Mayor.”

A Royal Tale: Trina Trotter Nussbaum ’00, MA ’17 found her place at 91��Ƶ

Ryan Cornell — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 16:55:00 +0000

Editor’s Note: This profile is the fourth of six stories about students and alumni leading up to Lov91��Ƶ Giving Day on April 2. For more information about the day and how to donate, visit:

Trina Trotter Nussbaum ’00, MA ’17 will never forget the first time she saw the view from the Campus Center balcony. Standing on the balcony overlooking the Front Lawn and gazing east toward the Blue Ridge Mountains, the then-first-year student recalled telling a friend: “I don’t know what I’m going to study, but I know this is where I need to be. This is my place.”

“All it took was one look at those mountains, and they seemed to tell me, ‘You belong here,’” Trotter Nussbaum said.

That was nearly 30 years ago. Today, Trotter Nussbaum is the new director of the Center for Interfaith Engagement, a position she’s held since Jan. 1. She still feels that same sense of belonging at 91��Ƶ and works to ensure others on campus feel it too. Through her role at CIE, she celebrates and supports students, faculty and staff from a wide range of faith traditions and backgrounds.

It was a long road that led her to 91��Ƶ. After graduating from high school in North Lima, Ohio, Trotter Nussbaum, who was raised Mennonite, moved to Pittsburgh and completed travel agency school. She gradually learned that it wasn’t the career for her. Returning home to Ohio, she ran into a childhood friend about to graduate from 91��Ƶ who told her, “You should give 91��Ƶ a try.” It was just the push she needed.

Trotter Nussbaum arrived on campus in the fall of 1995 as a 22-year-old first-year English major. She was older than the others in her Northlawn dorm, but she saw that as a blessing. “It helped me settle down and figure out what I wanted to do.”

That turned out to be theater. Trotter Nussbaum credits 91��Ƶ’s theater program with recognizing her strengths as a performer and teaching her invaluable listening and improv skills. During the second semester of her junior year, she added a psychology major. Though it delayed her graduation by another year, she said it ended up being one of the best decisions she ever made. “I might not be acting or counseling right now, but I draw on those skills every day,” Trotter Nussbaum said. She graduated in 2000 with bachelor’s degrees in theater and psychology, along with a minor in justice, peace and conflict studies. She said professors in her justice and theology classes challenged her faith with love and grace, ultimately strengthening it and shaping her into the faith-based peacebuilder she is today.

After a decade spent working at nonprofits and government agencies, Trotter Nussbaum returned to 91��Ƶ in 2013 as associate director of CIE. Fueled by formative experiences during a 1998 intercultural trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland, she began pursuing a master’s degree in conflict transformation at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. It took her another five years to complete the two-year program while working at CIE and raising two children. In 2017, she earned her MA.

Ever the lifelong learner, Trotter Nussbaum continues to seek out further education. She’s working toward earning MDiv equivalency so that she can enroll in the new Doctor of Ministry program at Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

Over the years, she’s received numerous scholarships as a student. She said those scholarships, as well as 91��Ƶ’s tuition benefits for employees, made it possible for her to continue her studies. “I love how 91��Ƶ encourages its employees to take the classes they want to take,” she said. “The ability to take classes, even one at a time, for almost free is such a blessing.”

Trotter Nussbaum and her husband, Brian Nussbaum ’00, live in Harrisonburg with their two children. Her brother, Travis Trotter ’99, serves as university registrar for 91��Ƶ.

Your generous support helps students like Trotter Nussbaum pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 9th annual Lov91��Ƶ Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future 91��Ƶ students. Together, we can help write 91��Ƶ’s next chapter.

Read the previous profiles in our A Royal Tale series:

A Royal Tale: Multihyphenate musician Makinto finds his second act at 91��Ƶ

A Royal Tale: Nursing alumna Olivia Beiler ’23 finds purpose in patient care

A Royal Tale: Content creator Willem Hedrick ’27 sharpens skills at 91��Ƶ

Choral concert celebrates diversity and community through music

Ryan Cornell — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 18:25:00 +0000

Love, Joy & Peace: A Choral Celebration!
Date: Friday, March 14
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Lehman Auditorium at 91��Ƶ, 1191 Park Road, Harrisonburg, VA
Cost: Free, with suggested donation of $10

Three choirs from diverse musical and cultural traditions will join together for a concert held at 91��Ƶ this week.

The event, Love, Joy & Peace: A Choral Celebration!, will be held at Lehman Auditorium on Friday, March 14, at 7 p.m. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10.

Dr. David Berry, director of the music program at 91��Ƶ, described the event as a big celebration. “The idea for this concert was truly born out of a sense of community,” he said. “We’re not just bringing together different styles of music, but also we’re bringing together people from different communities.”

The concert will feature performances by:

the 91��Ƶ Chamber Singers, the university’s auditioned touring chamber choir, directed by Professor Benjamin Bergey, singing songs of hope and unity from its recent spring break tour;
the 91��Ƶ Gospel Choir, a talented group of students directed by 91��Ƶ senior Kay Pettus, delivering uplifting gospel music; and
the Kush Anglican Choir, a choir from a Sudanese congregation in Harrisonburg, directed by 91��Ƶ senior Rita Toto, performing traditional Sudanese songs in Arabic.

Berry first heard the latter choir perform at a fundraiser last July at A Bowl of Good in Harrisonburg. The supported Pax Dei for Nuba, a nonprofit raising awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. “Their choir sounded incredible, and they perform a variety of music, including songs from their culture and in their native language,” Berry said. “I knew we had to invite them to perform on campus.”

After each choir performs their own selection of songs, the three vocal ensembles will combine on stage to sing “Let’s Come Together,” an original composition written by guest artist Makinto.

Makinto, a talented multi-instrumentalist and African Soul artist studying at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, will also perform solo selections throughout the evening and collaborate with Berry on a piano duet for the final musical number.

Makinto previously performed as a guest artist at 91��Ƶ’s 2023 Music Gala Concert. He and his wife, Mukarabe, co-founded Amahoro International, a mission organization promoting peace and development in East Africa. Learn more about his journey to 91��Ƶ here!

The 91��Ƶ Department of Music partnered with the Center for Interfaith Engagement and Multicultural Student Services to present this concert. It is sponsored by the Music, Peace and Justice grant, in conjunction with the Music & Peacebuilding major.

Detroit Poet Laureate headlines Verses & Vibes event

Ryan Cornell — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 12:55:00 +0000

Date: Monday, Sept. 23
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Common Grounds, 91��Ƶ University Commons, 1307 Park Road, Harrisonburg
Cost: Free (no registration required)

An evening of powerful poetry performed by jessica Care moore and Brad Walrond will kick off 91��Ƶ’s Writers Read Author series this month.

Verses & Vibes, an event featuring the pair of poets, authors and recording artists, will begin at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 23, at the Common Grounds space in 91��Ƶ’s University Commons. The event is free to attend and open to the public.

Following their poetry performances, moore and Walrond will lead a Q&A session and participate in a book signing (copies of their books will be available to purchase).

(who stylizes her first and last names in lowercase) is an internationally renowned poet, playwright, performance artist and producer. She is the founder of book publishing company , founder and producer of , and founder of The Moore Art House, a nonprofit dedicated to improving literacy in Detroit.

In April she was the poet laureate of Detroit. She is the third poet laureate to serve the city since 1981.

moore has performed on stages all over the world, including the Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the London Institute for Contemporary Arts. She, along with Walrond, will perform at the Furious Flower Poetry Center at James Madison University this month.

She is the author of The Words Don’t Fit in My Mouth, The Alphabet Verses the Ghetto, and Sunlight Through Bullet Holes. The poems in her latest collection, We Want Our Bodies Back, speak to “Black women’s creative and intellectual power, and express the pain, sadness, and anger of those who suffer constant scrutiny because of their gender and race” (, 2020).

moore is a two-time Knight Arts recipient, 2018 Joyce Award winner, 2016 Kresge Artist Fellow, 2013 Alain Locke Award recipient, and the 2015 NAACP Great Expectations Award recipient.

is a poet, author, conceptual/performance artist, and one of the foremost writers and performers of the 1990s Black Arts Movement centered in New York City. His poems have been published in The Atlantic, African Voices Magazine, Moko Magazine, ArtsEverywhere, Eleven Eleven, and Wordpeace. His latest collection of poems, Every Where Alien, “traces blackness, queerness, and desire through the legacy of 1990s and early 2000s New York City underground art movements, illuminating how their roots and undertold histories inspire today’s culture” (, 2024).

Copies of moore’s and Walrond’s are available to check out at 91��Ƶ’s Sadie Hartzler Library.

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion partnered with Writers Read, the Office of Student Life, and the Center for Interfaith Engagement to bring this event to life.

Dawn Neil, coordinator for the Office of DEI, said she had seen moore perform her poetry at the White Privilege Conference in Tulsa this past April.

“Listening to her, the raw power and emotion in her voice gave me chills,” Neil said. “Bringing her here feels essential. Her message needs to be heard, and I believe it’s one that our students will deeply connect with.”

Queen Mother, interfaith leader to give convocation address

Ryan Cornell — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 14:38:47 +0000

03/26 update: The time and location of the “Interfaith Dialogue with a Vodou High Priestess” event has been changed.

African educator, human rights activist and philanthropist Dr. Dòwòti Désir, Queen Mother of the African Diaspora of Benin, will share her knowledge and experiences during a series of public gatherings at 91��Ƶ next week.

Désir is an interfaith leader, scholar and expert on African diaspora heritage sites. As the former chair of the NGO Committee for the Elimination of Racism, Afrophobia and Colorism at the United Nations, she has worked with Dr. Gaurav J. Pathania, assistant professor of sociology and peacebuilding at 91��Ƶ, on issues related to caste. Désir has spoken at Harvard Divinity School, Columbia University and New York University, and said she was “delighted and honored” to visit 91��Ƶ.

“I end up speaking, in some ways, to the same audiences all the time,” she said. “This is a very different audience for me and I look forward to the conversation. I’m eager to learn about social justice from an 91��Ƶ perspective.”

All events below are scheduled for Wednesday, March 27.

‘Compassion: The Intangible Asset’

Time: 10:10 a.m.
Location: University Commons Student Union
91��Ƶ: As the first Queen Mother of the African Diaspora on the African continent, Désir oversees welcoming home people whose ancestors were torn away due to slavery. Her main address for convocation will focus on social justice and the importance of compassion.

She is a former adviser and designated expert to the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on projects related to the global African community.

‘The African Diaspora: A Photographer’s Lens’

Time: 11:15 a.m.
Location: West Dining Room
91��Ƶ: The Queen Mother will lead a lunch discussion on using photography to tell the story of the African Diaspora and the impacts of slavery.

She has visited and documented more than 90 sites around the world that speak to the historic experiences of Africans and their descendants in the Diaspora.

‘Interfaith Dialogue with a Vodou High Priestess’

Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: Northlawn East Dining Room
91��Ƶ: Désir is a Manbo Asogwe, a priestess in the West African faith tradition of Vodou. Learn about Vodou beliefs, practices, history and traditions during this talk, as she answers questions and clears up misconceptions.

According to Harvard University’s , Vodou — meaning “spirit” or “god” in the Fon and Ewe languages of West Africa — is a blending, or syncretism, of African religious traditions and Catholicism. It has come to be used as the name for the religious traditions of Haiti, which is where Désir was born.

Events are hosted by: 91��Ƶ Engage; Center for Interfaith Engagement; Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; and the Visual and Communication Arts (VaCA) Department.

Students, faculty, staff join voices for peace in Gaza

Ryan Cornell — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:55:52 +0000

In a stirring display of solidarity, a group of about 200 protesters gathered outside City Hall in Harrisonburg, Virginia, on Tuesday afternoon calling for an end to the violence in Gaza.

Protesters join in hymns calling for peace on Tuesday in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

The protesters, which included a large contingent of passionate 91��Ƶ students, faculty and staff, held signs and banners with demands such as: “Ceasefire Now,” “Let Gaza Live,” “Stop Genocide in Gaza” and “Free All Hostages and Prisoners.”

They joined together in nearly an hour of hymns led by Benjamin Bergey, assistant professor of music at 91��Ƶ, and Dorothy Jean Weaver ’72, emeritus professor at Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

While the protesters lifted their voices in song and prayed for peace, Tim Seidel, associate professor of peacebuilding, development and global studies at 91��Ƶ, and Emily Hershberger MA ’12 hand-delivered a petition to Harrisonburg City Manager Ande Banks ’97 inside City Hall. More than 500 local signatures are attached to the petition, which urges Harrisonburg City Council to pass a resolution supporting a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Harrisonburg City Manager Ande Banks, left, receives a petition with more than 500 signatures from Tim Seidel, center, and Emily Hershberger.

Seidel organized Tuesday’s protest along with the local committee of . The primary goals of the Mennonite Action grassroots movement are a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, a release of all hostages and an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

Heartened by the healthy turnout, Seidel said the protest provided a powerful witness to elected officials, both at the local and national levels.

“This momentum is a testimony to the grief people are feeling and their conviction and desire to see change,” Seidel said.

Mennonite Action student panel discussion
Where: University Commons Student Union
When: 8-9 p.m., Monday, Feb. 26
91��Ƶ students who were involved in the Jan. 16 protests at the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C., including those arrested by U.S. Capitol Police, will share their experiences. Read The Weather Vane’s coverage of the D.C. protest . The event also will include a brief update on the current state of affairs in Gaza.

As 91��Ƶ senior Aidan Yoder posted photos and video of the protest to the Harrisonburg Mennonite Action social media accounts, he estimated that about 40 of his fellow students had shown up to demonstrate.

“I think we really showed City Council that the people of Harrisonburg want a cease-fire and that we support them passing this resolution,” he said.

For 91��Ƶ junior Emma Nord, the demonstration marked the first protest she’s attended. The student chaplain often leads hymn sings on campus and reflected on the power of song as a form of protest.

“It’s wonderful to see Mennonites coming together and acknowledging the crisis … to proclaim that genocide is wrong,” she said.

For a visual recap of the impactful protest, explore our curated photo gallery below.

Experienced peacebuilding professors join Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Lauren Jefferson — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 12:15:00 +0000

91��Ƶ’s begins the 2022-23 academic year with historically high enrollment levels across a range of degree and graduate certification programs. And just in time to contribute to the teaching and advising load are two new tenure-track professors with deep peacebuilding experience and strong CJP ties.

“The CJP community is fortunate for the opportunity to continue to learn from Dr. Paula Ditzel Facci and Dr. Gaurav J. Pathania, two peacebuilding practitioners with diverse skill sets and expertise who have shown their investment in the mission and vision of our program,” said Dr. Jackie N. Font-Guzmán, CJP’s strategic vision director and vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Both of these scholars have experience as visiting scholars or professors in our CJP programs, and will strengthen, expand and enrich our learning community in their more permanent roles.”

Facci, a former visiting scholar at CJP during fall 2016, returns to a full-time role as assistant professor of peacebuilding to teach graduate courses with CJP.

Pathania was a visiting professor last year with the undergraduate sociology program and CJP. In his current role as assistant professor of sociology and peacebuilding, he will teach in the undergraduate peacebuilding and sociology programs in 91��Ƶ’s School of Social Sciences and Professions, and also at CJP. Pathania brings a Buddhist perspective with deep commitments to 91��Ƶ’s Anabaptist values of peace, justice, and reconciliation.

He notes: “As a peacebuilder, my goal is to develop a sociology for peace. I would invite all communities to the table and have a caste, race, and gender conversation with them.”

“Gaurav brings both extensive teaching experience and an exciting research agenda,” said Professor Timothy Seidel, who teaches peacebuilding, development, and global studies and also directs 91��Ƶ’s Center for Interfaith Engagement. “His anti-caste commitments and approach to peacebuilding fill a critical gap that will strengthen our programs. With his rich experience and wide network of scholars and activists, Gaurav will also provide our students with new and exciting opportunities to engage issues of social justice by relating across differences.”

Pathania previously taught at Georgetown University, Catholic University of America and George Washington University. He has been a visiting scholar to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and at University of Southern California. His ethnographic research in cultural sociology addresses issues of caste, class and racial discrimination among diaspora and focuses on contemporary identity movements among university students in the U.S.

He holds PhD, MPhil, and MA degrees in sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University in India.

Facci holds a PhD in peace and conflict studies from the University Jaume I in Spain, a masters degree from the University of Innsbruck, and a BA from SaoPaulo State University. Her current research explores dynamics of peace, conflict and violence in Latin American through encounters of dance, investigating transformative initiatives led by local communities, with the aim of informing public policies for social justice. As a practitioner-scholar, she is also experienced in developing frameworks for eliciting conflict transformation through movement and toolkits on gender and the culture of peace.

“We have deeply appreciated the energy and depth of background Dr. Facci brings into her teaching this fall,” said Professor Gloria Rhodes, CJP academic programs director. “Her ever-present smile and her enthusiasm for teaching has enlivened her courses.”

At CJP, Facci is currently teaching the Foundations I sequence, a required class for all incoming students pursuing a master’s degree or graduate certificate. She is also teaching a course in the transformational leadership program and a course in negotiation and mediation.

“Teaching at CJP connects my passions to teaching, meaningful research and transformative practical work,” said Facci. “CJP has been fundamental in my formation, and I am excited to contribute to its unwavering commitment to peace and justice. 91��Ƶ’s dedication to inclusive excellence and social change makes it a vibrant hub for cutting-edge innovation in peace work, and I am thrilled to be part of it.”

Facci has taught at the Instituto Paz e Mente in her native Brazil, as well as with the University of Innsbruck in Austria and the Academy for Conflict Transformation in Germany. She was a visiting research fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame.

Both professors are accomplished scholars and writers. Facci is the author of (Palgrave Macmillian, 2020), and (LIT Verlag, 2011). She published a (2020), and co-edited the special issue “Transnational Perspectives in Peace Education” in the Journal of Peace Education (2019). She has authored chapters in culture of peace for educators and youth and worked as a consultant in Reports on Human Rights Education of the InterAmerican Institute of Human Rights, Costa Rica.

Pathania is the author of (Oxford University Press, 2019). He is part of the editorial board of South Asia Research Journal of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He is also an anti-caste writer, poet and activist, and currently working on his memoir. Pathania won the Poetry Society of India’s national poetry award in 2016. His anti-caste poetry appears in J-Caste journal published by Brandeis University. He is currently collaborating with Virginia Tech on a project about privileges among South Asian students. []

‘Use your voice’: 91��Ƶ honors MLK with day of learning, service

91��Ƶ Communications — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 12:23:37 +0000

Take risks, be ready to put yourself on the line when the moment calls for it, be inclusive in your vision of “we the people,” and see the struggle against discrimination, racism and homophobia, against hatred of all kinds as your own. Those are some excerpts from the words of Glenn Guyton, executive director of Mennonite Church USA, speaking during 91��Ƶ’s 2022 Martin Luther King Jr Day Celebration of Service and Learning.

The university celebrated King’s legacy with a “day on” rather than a “day off,” President Susan Schultz Huxman noted in her campus convocation greeting. With most in-person events also offered in hybrid form because of COVID-19 and a nasty winter storm, Monday’s schedule offered multiple opportunities to explore both the action and consequences of “lifting up” one’s voice.

The theme, which also addresses the tragic outcomes of silence in the face of discrimination and hatred, was drawn from King’s text Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (1958) by MLK Day committee chair and Director of Multicultural Student Services Celeste Thomas and members of the planning committee: “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

The talkback with producers, cast and crew of “Anne and Emmett.” Bob Berrson, Jewish Scholar in Residence at 91��Ƶ’s Center for Interfaith Engagement, is third from left. Director Ezrionna Prioleau speaks. (Photo by Rachel Holderman)

Listen to more of Guyton’s words here: at a (beginning at 36:00), led by Reverend Kimberly Young of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Harrisonburg, and again at (beginning at 39:15).

Mayor Deanna Reed, who in her prominent local political office has been a very present champion during the city’s recent pandemic challenges, spoke at both events. She acknowledged the longevity of this current strain, how it has bared racial and social disparities, and the weariness with which we are persevering through yet another surge.

These are all reasons to be tired, to lack the energy to speak up, she said. But Proverbs 31 holds the admonition to speak up: Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

“I believe the spirit of Dr. King’s movement guided many of us, especially in the last two years,” she said. “Dr. King gives us the blueprint we need – for us NOT to sit back and be silent.”

Reed was among the cast of actors telling the story of Emmett Till and Anne Frank, two teenagers both murdered by acts of hatred years apart, in Janet Langhorn Cohen’s play “Anne and Emmett.” Read more about “Anne and Emmett” in local news coverage.

Among those speaking at the convocation was Talibah Aquil, a graduate of and instructor with the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, who will lead an intercultural trip to Ghana this summer for students of color. She reminded listeners to remember Coretta Scott King and her suffering, and the hard work of those who surrounded King on his journey. Learn more about and support the Ghana intercultural trip.

Members of the 91��Ƶ community were also invited to participate in a solidarity march, join reading circles to explore King’s texts, hear inspiring words from a former Black Student Union leader and current doctoral candidate, and learn about Virginia’s justice system was wielded against a local Black resident with history professor Mark Sawin, among other scheduled activities.

91��Ƶ hosts MLK Day Celebration 2022

91��Ƶ Communications — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 15:17:32 +0000

NOTE: The Sunday 1/16 performance of “Anne and Emmett” is cancelled due to weather.

91��Ƶ will host the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration of Legacy, Service and Learning Friday, Jan. 14, through Monday, Jan. 17. Some events are limited to 91��Ƶ students, faculty, and staff [view the full schedule at www.emu.edu/mlk]

This year’s MLK Day theme centers around King’s words from Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (1958): “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

_{Public Invited}

Events open to the public include:

Saturday, Jan. 15: 2 p.m., live performance of Anne and Emmett, Lehman Auditorium. Masks are required. Limited to 100 in the audience. $5.
CANCELLED: Sunday, Jan. 16: 5 p.m. live performance of Anne and Emmett, Lehman Auditorium. THIS PERFORMANCE IS CANCELLED.
Monday, Jan 17:
- 7 a.m., noon and 7 p.m. EST. VIRTUAL: “Dancing Resilience.” Join a 20-minute dance session via Zoom. Dancing Resilience honors Alice Walker’s belief that “Hard times require furious dancing.” Hosted by STAR lead trainer Katie Mansfield. Music playlists will lift up the struggle for liberation.
- 10 a.m. VIRTUAL. Convocation, celebration and worship with The Rev. Glen Guyton, executive director of Mennonite Church USA. Watch the livestream at [you do not need a member to participate].
- 4:15 p.m. VIRTUAL. Anne and Emmett talkback with producer Celeste Thomas, director of 91��Ƶ’s Multicultural Student Services and Bob Berrson, Jewish Scholar in Residence at 91��Ƶ’s Center for Interfaith Engagement programming and a retired James Madison University professor. Watch the livestream at [you do not need a member to participate].

91��Ƶ students, faculty and staff are invited to live performances of Anne and Emmett on Friday, Jan. 14, at 6 p.m. and Monday, Jan. 17, at 3:30 p.m. Free with 91��Ƶ ID; no ticket required. Check the webpage for more information about other events for 91��Ƶ students, faculty, and staff.

_{More on}_{Anne and Emmett}

Janet Langhart Cohen’s play Anne and Emmett is a special production sponsored with grants from Interfaith Youth Core, the Arts Council of the Valley, 91��Ƶ Multicultural Student Services and the 91��Ƶ Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. It is produced by Celeste Thomas and directed by Ezrionna Prioleau ’17.

“This play aims to create dialogue around race, religion, oppression, healing and reconciliation,” said Thomas. Her motivation to produce the play is linked strongly to the “continuation of hate” in the world today, she added. “I wanted to bring Anne and Emmett’s stories to light. We must never forget that their lives were short-lived but meaningful.”

“Anne and Emmett” tells the story of Anne Frank, a Jewish child killed in the Holocaust, and Emmett Till, a teenager murdered in Mississippi, and their parents, who refused to be silent in sharing the stories of the hate that killed their children.

Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed, a member of 91��Ƶ’s Board of Trustees, joins students Greta Schrag, Thaddeus Jackson, Isaac Longacre and Andrew Stoltzfus to present the stories of Emmett Till and Anne Frank and their parents, Otto Frank and Mamie Till.

Prioleau has been working to direct this play at 91��Ƶ since 2019, when she first discovered it.

“Anne Frank and Emmett Till were two children who were unable to escape the hate in the worlds they lived in,” she writes in her director’s notes. “Mamie Till-Mobley and Otto Frank both lost their children …They both spoke up and told the world what happened, Mamie with a picture and Otto with words. The parallels in their stories are important and without them we may have never known about what hate was doing.”

The production crew includes several alumni:

Prioleau, a 2017 graduate of 91��Ƶ’s theater program, is a graduate student in the MDiv and MA in organizational leadership programs. She has acted, produced, directed and designed scenery and lighting for multiple productions.

Composer Joshua Overacker ‘21 contributed original compositions.

Costume designer Hailey Holcomb ‘17 is a graduate student at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. As a graduate of 91��Ƶ’s theater program, she has worked for 91��Ƶ theater in various capacities, including stage management, scene shop crew, props, costuming, acting, and her current role as a production assistant.

Lighting designer Robert Weaver ‘18 is a freelance theater artist in Washington D.C. and Baltimore, currently working as a stagehand and lighting designer at the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University. He recently enjoyed working with Step Afrika! as an assistant master electrician for their touring production of The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence.

Production assistant Akiel Baker ‘21 is a residence director at 91��Ƶ. He is pursuing a master’s degree in social work and working as a site coordinator for On the Road Collaborative, a nonprofit based in Harrisonburg dedicated to closing the learning gap and empowering youth.

Media designer Kara Painter ‘18, an 91��Ƶ visual and communications arts graduate, recently earned her MBA and Master’s in Health Administration degree from Mary Baldwin University.

The crew also includes student Jareya Harder, stage manager, and 91��Ƶ faculty member Shannon Dove, scene designer.

CJP welcomes new faculty and staff for 2021-22 academic year

91��Ƶ Communications — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 19:00:00 +0000

The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at 91��Ƶ welcomes several new faculty and staff for the 2021-22 academic year.

“CJP is blessed to have highly qualified faculty members joining us on temporary appointments this year,” said Jayne Docherty, CJP’s executive director. “In addition to their excellent academic credentials, they bring field experience and access to networks of practitioners that will enrich our learning community. As the hiring process evolved, I was struck once again by the way the universe so often aligns to bring an interesting mix of people to CJP.

Docherty pointed out that three additions –Tarek Maassarani, Joao Salm, and Jon Swartz – will “expand conversations and activities in restorative justice.”

Ashok and Florina Xavier were slated to arrive at CJP last year, but were delayed by the pandemic.

“Their arrival now coincides with the presence of Gaurav Pathania, and we all will no doubt have interesting conversations about justice and peacebuilding in India and South Asia more broadly,” Docherty said.

Tarek Maassarani JD, visiting professor of restorative justice, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice

Tarek Maassarani will teach at CJP and in SPI, advise graduate students in practica, staff the Zehr Institute, and consult on a pilot program sponsored by the Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney.

Maassarani is currently assisting in establishing restorative diversion programs, facilitating restorative justice processes with a focus on cases of sexual harm, directing an religious peacebuilding project in Chad and Cameroon, and offering training for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).

In 2015, Maassarani co-founded Restorative DC, a community-based initiative of the organization SchoolTalk, that provides technical assistance and professional development to help schools implement restorative justice practices, as well as divert arrested youth out of the juvenile system.

Previously, Maassarani worked in a variety of dialogue, youth development, restorative justice, and environmental and social justice advocacy settings, such as the Latin American Youth Center in D.C. and Seeds of Peace in Maine. He has also taught at Georgetown University, the American University School of International Service, and other institutions.

He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University and a juris doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Maassarani co-authored the Corporate Whistleblower Survival Guide: A Handbook for Committing the Truth (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2011), and published a variety of journal articles on human rights and USIP religious peacebuilding action guides.

Gaurav J. Pathania, PhD, visiting professor, sociology and Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Dr. Pathania brings research and teaching expertise on social justice and critical inquiry, with special interest most recently in the South Asian diaspora in the United States. His ethnographic research examines the intersection of caste, class and ethnic politics and explores issues of education and health among socially marginalized communities.

He comes to 91��Ƶ from teaching positions at Georgetown University, Catholic University, George Washington University. His current research affiliations include the Pullias Center for Higher Education, University of Southern California; and as researcher at a project for the Pacific University supported by the Commission on Global Social Work Education.

He is the author of The University as a Site of Resistance: Identity and Student Politics (Oxford University Press, 2019), which explores the ways in which student activists mobilize, network and strategize on and off-campus, leading to dynamic and transformative social movements and change.

Pathania holds a doctorate in sociology and two master’s degrees in the sociology of education and sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, as well as master’s degrees in public administration and English literature from Kurukshetra University. His anti-caste poetry has appeared in the J-Caste journal of Brandeis University.

Jonathan Swartz MA ‘14, associate director, Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice

Jonathan Swartz joins the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice in a co-leadership role. He is director of student accountability and restorative justice at 91��Ƶ. In his work with Zehr Institute, he will develop new opportunities for teaching, training and consulting, and connect the institute and CJP to restorative justice on campus.

Swartz brings experience partnering and collaborating with many of CJP’s programs, including with ZI, the Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) program, and with graduate students in practica for both the conflict transformation and restorative justice programs. One example was Swartz’s involvement in co-creating and facilitating a multi-day training on restorative justice, trauma awareness and resilience for the National Park Service. [Read more about this work in partnership.]

Swartz holds certification as a trainer for the Green Dot violence prevention program. He’s also created, led or co-led workshops on sexual harm prevention, has guest-lectured in graduate and undergraduate courses on restorative justice, and taught courses in restorative justice, leadership, college transitions, and Bible and religion.

Swartz holds a master’s degree in conflict transformation from 91��Ƶ, a Master of Divinity degree from Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and a BA in psychology from Bethel College.

Joao Salm, PhD, visiting fellow, Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice

Joao Salm, a native of Brazil, is an associate professor of criminal justice at Governors State University in Illinois. He will join 91��Ƶ in February for a number of activities, including class visits and the presentation of a university colloquium on the application of RJ to environmental conflicts in Brazil.

He holds a PhD in justice studies from Arizona State University, and a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in law from Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina.

Salm is a co-founder, with noted expert Elizabeth Elliott, Brazilian judges, and the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of an international cooperative agreement between Canada and Brazil in restorative justice. He was also a consultant to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund and the United Nations Development Program in the area of restorative justice in Guinea Bissau and Fiji.

He is co-editor of the book, “Citizenship, Restorative Justice and the Environment — A dialogue between Brazil, the United States, Canada, Spain and Italy” (Lumen Juris).

Ashok Xavier MA ‘04, PhD, Fulbright Scholar-In-Residence, social work

Xavier comes to 91��Ƶ from Loyola College in Chennai, where he has been head of the social work department since 2014 and a faculty member since 2000. He is also the current academic director of the Caux Scholars Programme, Asia Plateau, based in Switzerland, and an adjunct faculty member at the Management Centre in Austria.

He holds a PhD from University of Madras. He earned an MA on conflict transformation while a Fulbright Scholar at CJP, and also holds a master’s degree in social work from University of Madras.

Xavier has advised, consulted and provided training within projects related to human rights advocacy, capacity building, organizational structures, peacebuilding and mediation, and social and microcredit enterprises. He’s worked with refugees, displaced persons, HIV/AIDS patients, churches, nonprofit organizations, and tribal communities, among many other groups.

He has also written scripts and produced 11 documentary films, as well as explored the power of theatre for healing trauma.

Florina Xavier MA ‘04, PhD, Practitioner In Residence, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Florina Xavier will be a Practitioner in Residence at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and teach one class in the spring semester.

She balances teaching roles at the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute, Philippines, and in the Caux Scholars Program, Switzerland with regular consulting work. A recent role was as a regional return and reintegration advisor with projects and partnerships in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Myanmar for the Australian organization ACT for Peace. She worked with Afghan refugees through Tabish Social Health Education Organization (TSHEO) and with Kyrgyz Republic refugees through UNHCR.

Xavier is a graduate of CJP who also holds a master’s degree in social work from Madras College and a doctorate in social work from Osmania University. She is a Fulbright Scholar and Oxford Fellow.

She has conducted trainings in more than 30 countries on a range of topics including psychosocial healing, mediation, trauma healing and gender-based violence. Xavier brings extensive experience in project management and consulting, including a recent tsunami relief project managing a budget of $5M with multiple international partnerships among nonprofits and the United Nations.

Locals march for Palestinians

admin — Mon, 24 May 2021 13:15:53 +0000

After 10 days of fighting and hundreds killed, Israel and Hamas are observing a cease fire. In Harrisonburg, protesters rallied in solidarity with Palestinians on Saturday. Tim Seidel, professor and director of 91��Ƶ’s Center for Interfaith Engagment, spoke at the rally.

91��Ƶ honors students for academic, leadership achievements

91��Ƶ communications — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 18:05:39 +0000

Ninety 91��Ƶ students were recognized for accomplishments and achievements during the 2020-21 academic year during a special recognition ceremony today.

Academics

Academic Success Center

Rachael Brenneman earned the Peer Tutor of the Year Award. She was recognized for “combining the qualities of excellent technical skills, helping students with the structure and mechanics of writing, as well as excellent perceptions of what students want to say and how to say it better, and all the while she honors tremendous vulnerability that students can feel when they come for writing consultations,” according to Steve Yoder, coordinator of academic success.

Bible and Religion

The Haverim writing awards are given to students whose essays demonstrate robust scholarship related in one way or another to biblical studies, religion, philosophy, and/or Anabaptist/Mennonite thought and practice. Cash awards of $300, $200, and $100 for first, second and third place, respectively, come with the prize.

First place: Elizabeth Eby for “Dismantling the Dualism of Good and Evil.” In her paper, Elizabeth explored the dualism between good and evil through a cursory review of the 2019 Top Ten movies and how such dualism ultimately leads to dehumanization, especially of the one depicted as “the enemy.” She then offered a biblical and theological response that challenges and moves beyond such dualism.

Second place: Ambrose Monahan for “Do You Feel Held? Acknowledgement and Midsommar.” Through the work of Cavell and Hegel, Ambrose provided a framework in exploring and understanding the folk horror movie Midsommar as “a drama depicting the overwhelming pain of trauma and grief, and the emotional toll of the repression and avoidance of that pain.”

Third place: Summer Williams for “Radical Salvation: Liberation Theology.” In her overview of Liberation Theology, Summer provided a robust theological vision for the church to embody its vocation of being a radical, emancipatory body that counters institutional and social injustices in the world.

Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sustainability

Reuben Peachey-Stoner: Outstanding Senior Chemistry Student
Addison Shenk: Outstanding Senior Biology Student
Rachel Brenneman: Outstanding Environmental Sustainability Student
Isaac Spicher: Outstanding First-Year Chemistry Student Award
Erin Clayton and Morgan Pletch: Outstanding Second-Year Biology Student Awards
Isaac Alderfer and Micah Buckwalter: Award for Excellence in Research, for their three-year project on water quality in land use zones in Rockingham County
Maya Dula and Jakiran Richardson: Award for Exceptional Service, for their donation of time and effort to the biology and chemistry programs as they work to create a welcoming, equitable and fair learning environment for all students. They assisted with focus groups, data collection in the form of feedback from minority STEM majors on their experience in STEM classrooms and helped with a research study looking at retention rates among STEM majors.

Business and Leadership

Jamie Corzo: Outstanding Recreation and Sports Management Senior, for his sterling qualities, passion for the field, work ethic, and 3.9 GPA.
Lauren Hartzler: Outstanding Business Administration Senior, for her excellence both as a student in the classroom and as an teacher assistant.
Taylor Longenecker: Outstanding Accounting Senior, for his academic achievements, excellence in the classroom, his perseverance and dedication through a technically demanding program, contributions to tutoring fellow students and in class discussions, connecting his field of study to current events.
Zachary Newton: Outstanding Marketing Senior, for his demonstrated perseverance, growth mindset and ability to be a team player and leader.
Tiffany Heishman: Outstanding Achievement, for her overall achievements as a double major in accounting and business administration (completing both majors in three years); her contributions as a tutor, mentor and tech assistant; and her service to the greater community through involvements with FFA and 4H. [Read more about Tiffany and her ag business interests.]
Aaron Horst: Exceptional Service Award, for his work choreographing two musicals and a play at Eastern Mennonite High School, tennis coach thee, three year assistant at 91��Ƶ’s rock wall, Community Advisor for two years, and a three-year 91��Ƶ Ambassador.
Justice Allen: Exceptional Leadership Award, for his role as co-president of the Student Government Association, leadership on the cross country team (named to ODAC All-American team and twice as a Royals Athlete of the Week), in addition to everyday leadership in the classroom.

Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Three graduate students were selected by CJP’s Academic Committee for recognition:

Gabrielle Bradsaw, for commitment and dedication to community building in the midst of a pandemic;
Simelwe Dlova, for excellence in behind-the-scenes technical assistance, including in the most recent CJP Appreciative Inquiry workshop;
Conner Suddick, for excellence as a graduate assistant for professors Johonna Turner and Tammy Krause.

Education

Five education students were named as 2021 Teachers of Promise, among 100 of the best and brightest pre-service teachers in Virginia:

Sarah Ressler, elementary and special education, from Apple Creek, Ohio;
Ruth Reimer-Berg, elementary education, from Salem, Ore.;
Hannah Nichols, elementary education, from Rockingham, Va.;
Megan Breidigan, secondary English education, from Douglassville, Pa.;
Rachel Sauder, secondary mathematics education, Lyndhurst, Va.

Emily McCombs was selected by department faculty for the annual Courage to Teach Award, modeled after principles in Parker Palmer’s book of the same name. Department faculty selected Emily for her dedication and success in teaching, her genuine caring for students, reflective practice, highly principled behaviors, and her courage to navigate challenging experiences. She was presented with a copy of Palmer’s book.

Language and Literature

Megan Breidigan is the winner of the Carroll Yoder Award for Teaching Excellence, which honors an 91��Ƶ senior or junior who has demonstrated academic excellence in both literary studies and education courses and has shown a clear call to the teaching profession. Professor Emeritus Carroll Yoder, who taught French, English, and writing, along with mentoring many aspiring teachers, provided his students and colleagues with a powerful example of scholarship in service to others during his thirty-four years in the Language and Literature Department.
Elizabeth Miller earned the Ray Elvin Horst Award for excellence in Spanish. She is recognized for “her command of Spanish, her dedication to being a bridge between cultures, and for being a community-builder and servant leader,” said instructor Maria Esther Showalter.
Kayley Scottlind earned the Ervie L. Glick Award for excellence in world language study. “You have served our community with joy, been committed to Latino Student Alliance, and shown excellence as a Spanish major while also a biology major,” said Showalter.
Anna Cahill is awarded the Omar Eby Writing Award for her diligent work in all genres and contributions this semester as co-editor of the Weather Vane. Eby, who died this year, is memorialized through this award, presented to a senior majoring or minoring in writing studies who demonstrates excellence in the craft of creative writing and who provides insightful critique and support for other writers in creative workshops.
James Dunmore earned the Jay B. Landis Award for excellence in literary studies, for writing the best academic essay in the interdisciplinary humanities seminar offered annually each spring. His essay was “Lines Leading Off the Page: Recontextualizing Underground Comics As Countercultural Phenonemon.” Landis, who died this year, taught writing, speech, and literature including modern poetry, drama and Shakespeare over 51 years at 91��Ƶ.

Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science

Ethan Beiler: Outstanding Senior in Engineering Award, awarded by the faculty as the highest honor for the graduate demonstrating academic excellence, service, and contributions to community and culture at 91��Ƶ.
Lucas Wenger: Outstanding Senior in Mathematics Award, awarded by the faculty as the highest honor for the graduate demonstrating academic excellence, service, and contributions to community and culture at 91��Ƶ.
Cameron Byer: Outstanding Senior in Computer Science Award, awarded by the faculty as the highest honor for the graduate demonstrating academic excellence, service, and contributions to community and culture at 91��Ƶ.
Cameron Byer won the annual math competition for the fourth consecutive year.
In the Kryptos codebreaking competition, Caleb Hostetler and Noah Swartzendruber solved all three problems, to achieve the Turing Level of Achievement. Hannah Leaman, Ike Esh, and Silas Clymer solved two of the three problems to achieve the Babbage Level of Achievement.
Cameron Byer, Caleb Hostetler, and Hannah Leaman secured a top-16 finish out of 85 teams in the mid-Atlantic regional competition and advanced with alternate Noah Swartzentruber to North America Division Championships of the International Collegiate Programming Contest.

Psychology

Lindsey Histand was awarded the Galen R. Lehman Outstanding Achievement in Research Award for her outstanding psychology research project, “A Comparison of Preference Assessment Modes & Methods.”
Brandon Higgins received the Judy H. Mullet Award for Internship Excellence, for his outstanding and consistent performance in his psychology internship with 91��Ƶ Residence Life. [Read more about Brandon’s leadership of a community service project focused on literacy.]

Theater

In presenting these awards, Technical Director Shannon Dove offered a recent observation from a respondent working with the upcoming production of “First Night” (yes, the theater department is already at work on their fall 2021 production!): You had every excuse, every rationale, and indeed every good common-sense reason under these circumstances to do less but you chose to do more.

Those words apply equally the two honorees of the theater department for their efforts this academic year.

Anna Hoover received recognition for Outstanding Achievement in Theater, for her work-study contributions, dramaturge role in an original production and collaboration with VACA and for her invaluable assistant in the remounting of the Shrek the Musical production this spring.
Jeraya Harder was also a recipient of the Outstanding Achievement in Theater Award. She was the hard-working and eminently irreplaceable stage manager for Shrek The Musical.

Campus Life

Campus Activities Council

Jeremiah Yoder: Outstanding Leader Award, for his three years of contributions and leadership, including “unwavering dedication and relentless reliability,” said Tyler Goss, assistant director of student programs.
Ashley Schoenhardt, a first-year student, earned the most votes from her peers on the council for the CAC All-Star Award. She is “dedicated, welcoming and even as a first-year, a CAC pro,” said Goss.

Campus Ministries

Pastoral Assistants James Dunmore, Naomi Davis, Elizabeth Eby, Hailey Edmonds, Natalie Brown, and Skylar Hedgepath were recognized by Campus Pastor Brian Martin Burkholder for their work in challenging times and their contributions of relational ministry to the campus.

Center for Interfaith Engagement

James Dunmore was recognized as an interfaith pastoral assistant, the first in this role, which is supported by the Center for Interfaith Engagement and Campus Ministries. James was honored for his efforts to support faith diversity, religious pluralism, and interfaith engagement at 91��Ƶ by Professor Tim Seidel, the center’s director.

Common Grounds Coffeehouse

Common Grounds Coffeehouse, located in the University Commons, is a student-run business and a central location for campus events. The following four students were honored for their leadership and management:

Sarah Rittenhouse, Events and Marketing Manager (1 year and 2 years as a barista)
Ethan Beiler, Finance Manager (1 year)
Lauren Hartzler, Operations Coordinator and General Manager (2 years and 1.5 years as a barista)
Emma Pirrung, Products Manager (2 years and 1.5 years as a barista)

Director of Student Programs Rachel Roth Sawatzky offered this collective recognition:

Each year, managers establish shared business goals for the year. This year’s management group set a primary goal of simply being open and running safely as a student run food establishment in the middle of a global pandemic. This meant a myriad of new logistics, health protocols, and staffing challenges unique to this year, as well as ongoing flexibility as institutional expectations changed through the course of the year depending on case counts and state mandates. On top of this achievement, this group innovated to open a brand new online store and delivery service for our COVID months, and identified the specific priority for Common Grounds to be an open and safe space for all students at 91��Ƶ, particularly those with minoritized identities, and to use their own social capital to advocate for equity and social justice. These would be tremendous accomplishments for any year, and especially this year. It is my honor to recognize their contributions to our campus life.

Residence Life

Nine Community Assistants were recognized for multi-year service, commitment and dedication to 91��Ƶ: Lindsey Histand, Addison Hawpe, Theo Yoder, Dwayne Hill, Sarah Grossen, Zach Shifflett, Jesse Landis, Ambrose Monahan and Asha Beck. “Each abounds in wisdom, passion and an incredible ability to foster community,” said Tyler Goss, assistant director of student programs.

Student Government Association

Co-presidents of the Student Government Association Anisa Leonard (May-December 2020), Allison Shelly and Justice Allen (May 2020-April 2021) were recognized for outstanding leadership by Dean of Students Shannon Dycus.

Leading in Crisis: Student Government Association Co-presidents

They say good leadership comes from those who lead by vision, not sight. Our SGA co- presidents exemplified this truth with us this year. Anisa Leonard, Justice Allen and Allison Shelley – through a pandemic, impacts of ongoing racial violence and a divisive election – you imagined a vision for community and safety for your peers. You gave voice in countless meetings, town halls, statements and websites to set tone and to resource, using your bodies to advocate for justice, willing and capable to see more of us. You’ve been outstanding leaders. Thank you.

The co-presidents passed the gavel to the incoming leadership team of Faith Manickam, a rising senior majoring in biology; Aman Seyoum, a rising junior majoring in clinical lab science and Philip Krabill, a rising senior double-majoring in peacebuilding and development and Bible, religion, and theology.

Athletics

Athletics recognized 35 students with 59 total awards, including 19 unique awards. Athletes are listed in alphabetical order. For more information on spring semester athletics awards, visit.

Isaac Alderfer: Royals Athlete of the Week

ODAC Athlete of the Week (6 times)

All-ODAC First Team Indoor 800m

All-ODAC First Team Mile

All-South/Southeast Region Team Indoor 800m

All-South/Southeast Region Team Mile

Team Academic Achievement Award

Cassidy Armstrong: National Academic Squad

Jonas Beachy: Team Academic Achievement Award

Rachel Breslin: National Academic Squad

Megan Breidigan: Royals Athlete of the Week

Team Academic Achievement Award

Emily Campbell: ODAC Pitcher of the Week

Royals Athlete of the Week

Team Academic Achievement Award

Clover Cooper: National Academic Squad

Cor’shauna Cunningham: ODAC Athlete of the Week

Jacob Durren: Team Academic Achievement Award

Alain Fiden: National Academic Squad

Ann Ghally: National Academic Squad

Lauren Hartzler: National Academic Squad

Scholar of Distinction

Skylar Hedgepeth:

National Academic Squad

Scholar of Distinction

Team Academic Achievement Award

DJ Hill: Royals Athlete of the Week

All-ODAC Team

Caleb Hostetler: Team Academic Achievement Award

Paris Hutchinson: ODAC Player of the Week

Alijah Johnson: Royals Athlete of the Week

All-ODAC First Team Indoor 200m

All-South/Southeast Region Team Indoor 200m

Tim Jones: Royals Athlete of the Week

All-ODAC Team

Kate Landis: National Academic Squad

Sierra Lantz: Royals Athlete of the Week

Jaylon Lee: Royals Athlete of the Week

ODAC Player of the Week

D3baseball.com Team of the Week

Elizabeth Longacre: National Academic Squad

Emily McCombs: Royals Athlete of the Week

Bri Miller: National Academic Squad

Elizabeth Miller: Team Academic Achievement Award

Keely Mitchell: National Academic Squad

Gage Riddick: Team Academic Achievement Award

Chyna Roberts: Team Academic Achievement Award

Eli Roeschley: Team Academic Achievement Award

Allison Shelly: All-ODAC Third Team Mile

All-South/Southeast Region Team Mile

All-South/Southeast Region Team 3000m

Team Academic Achievement Award

Bethany Shultz: Team Academic Achievement Award

Morgan Tricarico: National Academic Squad

Brandy Troutman: ODAC Player of the Week

Royals Athlete of the Week

Most Defensive Saves in NCAA Div. III (8)

Tori Wigley: Royals Athlete of the Week

Ahmed Zaatar: Royals Athlete of the Week

Hot topics: Five spring semester discussion groups focus on faith, race, and gender

Randi B. Hagi and Lauren Jefferson — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 08:58:18 +0000

91��Ƶ’s campus community entered into a wave of critical discussions about faith, race, and gender this semester. Three book clubs emerged independently, while yet another reading group and a film series came from projects in a graduate counseling course focusing on multiculturalism.

Faculty, staff, and student participants have wrestled with questions about how race, racism, faith, gender, and sexism influence power, theological formation, campus life, and beyond.

These book studies are making visible normative structures in our community that limit our capacity to experience one another in all of our complexities. That is good work. We cannot correct that which we cannot, or refuse, to see. I think we are awakening to realities of the ways anti-blackness functions on our campus.
Professor David Evans

Deep reading, deep listening

supported 10 faculty and staff with copies of by Willie James Jennings. Seminary instructor Sarah Bixler and Professor David Evans facilitated.

As part of the 2021 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, Evans and co-facilitator Ezrionna Prioleau ’17 led more than 20 faculty members and students in studying by Ibram X. Kendi.

Supported by the , a group of faculty and staff read three books on the themes of race, faith, and justice, contributing towards an action plan to develop and deepen commitment to and competency in interfaith engagement and racial justice. (Read more specifics below.) Facilitators were Tala Bautista, adjunct faculty for Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and Mikayla Waters-Crittenton, associate director for student accountability and restorative justice.

Two groups of graduate students in Professor Jennifer Cline’s two-semester multicultural counseling course series created and co-facilitated community advocacy projects within the 91��Ƶ community:

Sarah Morehouse, Mary Rebekah Cox and Richard Grosse led 10 undergraduate and graduate students and staff members in studying by Rebecca Solnit.
A larger group of 11 graduate students facilitated a semester-long series “Somethin’ to Talk 91��Ƶ: A Film and Discussion Series Around Race.” The three-part series included viewings of films ” (California Newsreel); ; and a pre-recorded open discussion on race and its personal impact between four of 91��Ƶ’s graduate counseling students: two women of color and two white women. The events were open to the campus community.

‘A deep interest and hunger’

“There is a deep interest and hunger among students, staff, and faculty to engage in a process of reckoning and reform related to racial, sexual, and gender equality, as well as other identities,” said Morehouse, a student in the master’s in counseling program.

Men Explain Things to Me focuses “on how power is wielded in society and the resulting inequalities, and … the relationship between gendered language, the silencing of women and those with non-binary identities, disbelief in their experiences, and gender-based violence,” Morehouse said.

She and co-hosts Cox and Grosse were “impressed and heartened by the way that members engaged with the material and each other in a sensitive and impassioned way, recognizing the need for change at the individual, institutional, and cultural levels.”

Graduate student Helen Momoh went into the book club with measured expectations. However, “words cannot express the profound experience during the times we met,” Momoh said. “It was empowering, refreshing, and healing for me to be able to share within this space. I guess the space was such that it gave me comfort. Everyone was ready to listen, even when some of us just met for the first time.”

The interfaith group read , by angel Kyodo Rev. Williams, Lama Rod Owens, and Jasmine Syedullah; , by Saher Selod, and , by Felipe Hinojosa.

In addition to personal engagement with Selod, a colloquium speaker this semester, the group also learned from guest speaker Dr. Cathy Campbell, associate professor in the nursing department and chair of acute and speciality care at University of Virginia. Campbel is an ordained Buddhist chaplain, according to group participant Trina Trotter Nussbaum, associate director at CIE. “Dr. Campbell spoke with us from these vantage points while we were reading the Radical Dharma book and it was a huge privilege,” she said. (On a side note, Hinojosa visited campus in 2018).

More than 20 faculty members and students have been meeting over Zoom to discuss How to Be an Antiracist. The group is a long-term project linked to 91��Ƶ’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration. The size of the group can be challenging for Evans and co-facilitator Prioleau.

“That said, I experience the group as open to new ideas and interested in growth,” Evans said. “We’ve wrestled with the strength of Kendi’s argument that one cannot take a neutral stance on racism, you are either acting in racist or antiracist ways. We’ve also wrestled with some concerns we have over Kendi’s analysis of power that seems to equate anti-blackness with anti-whiteness. These are crucial conversations for our learning community.”

After Whiteness has also sparked critical questions for the 10 faculty and staff studying it. Jennings explores how theological formation, when rooted in values of white, self-sufficient masculinity, shapes people for possession, control, and mastery; rather than connection with God, self, and others.

“We are digging deep to analyze how we educate theologically, interact as a community, and operate as an institution,” said Bixler, a co-facilitator. “We are imagining new ways of being and doing that move us toward holistic and life-giving formation that subverts the distorted formation Jennings describes.”

Evans acknowledged that book studies alone cannot heal communities, or ensure everyone feels seen and heard within them. But perhaps they can plant a seed.

“These book studies are making visible normative structures in our community that limit our capacity to experience one another in all of our complexities. That is good work,” he said. “We cannot correct that which we cannot, or refuse, to see. I think we are awakening to realities of the ways anti-blackness functions on our campus. We are also growing in our awareness of the ways we are seduced into valuing whiteness in our assessments of students and our presentation of ourselves.”

Center for Interfaith Engagement Archives - 91����Ƶ News

91����Ƶ hosts consultation on Judaism, the Bible, and Anabaptism

91����Ƶ Theatre presents original musical about WWII-era nun and martyr

Cast

Crew

Musicians

91����Ƶ celebrates its phenomenal women leaders

A Royal Tale: Trina Trotter Nussbaum ’00, MA ’17 found her place at 91����Ƶ

Choral concert celebrates diversity and community through music

Detroit Poet Laureate headlines Verses & Vibes event

Queen Mother, interfaith leader to give convocation address

‘Compassion: The Intangible Asset’

‘The African Diaspora: A Photographer’s Lens’

‘Interfaith Dialogue with a Vodou High Priestess’

Students, faculty, staff join voices for peace in Gaza

Experienced peacebuilding professors join Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

‘Use your voice’: 91����Ƶ honors MLK with day of learning, service

91����Ƶ hosts MLK Day Celebration 2022

Public Invited

More on Anne and Emmett

CJP welcomes new faculty and staff for 2021-22 academic year

Tarek Maassarani JD, visiting professor of restorative justice, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice

Gaurav J. Pathania, PhD, visiting professor, sociology and Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Jonathan Swartz MA ‘14, associate director, Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice

Joao Salm, PhD, visiting fellow, Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice

Ashok Xavier MA ‘04, PhD, Fulbright Scholar-In-Residence, social work

Florina Xavier MA ‘04, PhD, Practitioner In Residence, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Locals march for Palestinians

91����Ƶ honors students for academic, leadership achievements

Academics

Academic Success Center

Bible and Religion

Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sustainability

Business and Leadership

Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Education

Language and Literature

Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science

Psychology

Theater

Campus Life

Campus Activities Council

Campus Ministries

Center for Interfaith Engagement

Common Grounds Coffeehouse

Residence Life

Student Government Association

Athletics

Hot topics: Five spring semester discussion groups focus on faith, race, and gender

Deep reading, deep listening

‘A deep interest and hunger’

Center for Interfaith Engagement Archives - 91��Ƶ News

91��Ƶ hosts consultation on Judaism, the Bible, and Anabaptism

91��Ƶ Theatre presents original musical about WWII-era nun and martyr

91��Ƶ celebrates its phenomenal women leaders

A Royal Tale: Trina Trotter Nussbaum ’00, MA ’17 found her place at 91��Ƶ

‘Use your voice’: 91��Ƶ honors MLK with day of learning, service

91��Ƶ hosts MLK Day Celebration 2022

_{Public Invited}

_{More on}_{Anne and Emmett}

91��Ƶ honors students for academic, leadership achievements