“Peacebuilding and development” and “environmental sustainability” will offer students hands-on opportunities to prepare to be agents of change in their local communities and around the world, motivated by their commitment to Christ.

Peacebuilding and development

This new major is a combination of the “justice, peace and conflict studies” major and the “applied sociology” program, with its international development and environmental sustainability emphasis.

Peacebuilding and development studies are geared toward intentional social change around issues of conflict, poverty, inequality, sustainability and social justice.

The new major offers students the chance to combine the theory of justice and conflict studies with the practice of peacebuilding and sustainable development in communities far and wide.

“Peacebuilding and development go hand in hand,” says professor Gloria Rhodes, who will be leading the classes along with fellow prof Terry Jantzi. Learn more…

Environmental sustainability

Rhodes and Jantzi will also work closely with the biology department to offer a new major focusing on forward-thinking sustainability practices.

Students who major in environmental sustainability will choose between two tracks of study:

• the traditional environmental science track with courses from the disciplines of ecology, chemistry and physiology
• the new environmental and social sustainability focus, which combines traditional environmental science coursework with revised applied sociology courses emphasizing international and community development and conservation.

“Traditional” environmental science courses, offered by biology professors Dr. James A. (Jim) Yoder and Dr. Douglas Graber Neufeld, have been revised and augmented over recent years with hard looks at local and global sustainability and hands-on research projects. Learn more…

The speaker for the first Suter Science Seminar of the second (spring) semester will respond to some of the very environmental problems he once helped create.

Joe Johnston of Nashville, Tenn., who led the group that invented McDonald’s now-famous Happy Meal and other marketing milestones, will speak 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16, in room 104 of 91短视频’s Suter Science Center on “Praying for a Change of Heart: What Do We Do With All This Science?”

Johnston has morphed into an entrepreneur who hikes wilderness trails, an executive who leads prayer in two languages and a teacher who lives in a remote solar-powered log cabin. He is uniquely equipped to see through the eyes of commerce as well as the eyes of creation care as he calls for bold and informed faith-based action on ways to bring healing and hope to a polluted planet.

He now speaks about environmental issues as the author of JWR: Jesus Would Recycle. He’s a widely-published writer and accomplished artist, an award-winning songwriter, publisher and producer of gospel and other popular music. Johnston teaches at the Art Institute of Tennessee. He has served as a deacon, elder and Sunday School teacher in a variety of denominations and toured North America, speaking and singing in churches.

He’s a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader, Little League coach and a lifelong outdoorsman who serves in both Christian and traditional Lakota spiritual communities. He’s the founder and chairman of the newly-formed Moccasin Tracks Charities.

“I believe this seminar will help us think through our obligations as Christian stewards of our environment,” said Roman J. Miller, Suter Endowed Professor of Biology at 91短视频. “Mr. Johnston is very interested in connecting faith with our actions. I encourage people to come and be challenged to a sustainable praxis.”

Refreshments will be served 15 minutes prior to the presentation, which is open to the public free of charge.

For more information, contact Dr. Miller at 540-432-4412; email: millerrj@emu.edu.

Are Christians to blame for ecological crisis and climate change?

Luke A. Gascho, executive director of the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen (IN) College, will reflect on that question in a presentation 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, in the Suter Science Center Auditorium.

Dr. Gascho will explore how biblical faith and value systems call Christians back to a connection that strengthens understanding and practice of earth care. He will include a focus on the meaning of responsible stewardship with examples ranging from personal actions, to green buildings to efforts such as the Evangelical Climate Initiative and the Association of College and Universities Presidents Climate Commitment. (Read more about 91短视频’s efforts to be green.)

Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center is a natural sanctuary located near Wolf Lake, Ind., and operated by Goshen College that provides a natural sanctuary for northern Indiana’s plants and animals, a vigorous educational program that interprets the significant biological and geological features and a setting for re-creating opportunities that benefit the human body and spirit while not exploiting the land or disturbing its ecosystems.

Gascho is a 1974 91短视频 graduate. He has been director of Merry Lea since 1997.

The program is sponsored by the Shenandoah Anabaptist Science Society. Admission is free.