JESSICA (JESS) KING ’96 has worked to bring the foundational lessons of her Mennonite upbringing and education to others during her more than 20-year career leading equity-driven public sector organizations鈥攆rom creating economic opportunity to facilitating transparency in government to building journalistic literacy in communities. In recognition of her work, 91短视频鈥檚 Alumni Association and its Awards and Nominations Committee have selected King as the recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Service Award, which honors alumni who have significantly impacted the lives of others. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 an honor to be recognized by my alma mater,鈥� said King, who graduated from 91短视频 with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in liberal arts with minors in English, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and psychology. 

Service lights the way

After graduation, King volunteered with Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service (PULSE), founded by 91短视频 alumnus John Stahl-Wert ’81. In an experience she likened to a post-graduate program, King joined a community of young leaders to partner with Pittsburgh nonprofits for a year of service and leadership. She served at the Thomas Merton Center, a Catholic-founded center for peace and justice, and was later hired as executive director of PULSE, where she spent four years expanding her understanding of urban communities and the local businesses, organizations, and governments that serve them.听

King then led a six-year effort as founding executive director of the Union Project to transform an abandoned church building into an arts and enterprise incubator space. She spent more than a decade in Pittsburgh, where she met her husband, Chad. The couple has two daughters, Eleni and Esm茅 King Martin. Both Jessica and Esm茅 were greatly impacted by their intercultural studies at 91短视频; Jessica studied in Greece and lived with families in France and C么te d鈥橧voire (West Africa), while Esm茅, a rising junior at 91短视频, spent the spring 2025 semester in Guatemala and Mexico.听

Foundations in community聽

King grew up Mennonite in Lancaster County. Her father was killed in a plane crash when she was two. After her mother remarried, her mother and stepfather started a paint store, where King and her three siblings all worked at different points. 

鈥淕rowing up, my family had a robust network of support, and our church community was also an essential part of our local economy,鈥� King said. 鈥淐onnections are important for a prosperous community.鈥� 

King has intentionally lived in low-income neighborhoods for much of her adult life, creating relationships and solidarity that have informed her work and career path鈥攆rom Pittsburgh to Lancaster, where she fought poverty through entrepreneurship for seven years as executive director at ASSETS; ran for Pennsylvania鈥檚 11th Congressional District; and served four 鈥渆ye-opening鈥� years as chief of staff for the City of Lancaster. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 a narrative that our situations in life are based on our choices, but generational trauma and poverty, oppression based on race or gender, and access to quality education are huge factors. The rules of our economy are created by the wealthy and well-connected, creating systems of opportunity and disinvestment that are so much more than choice,鈥� said King. 

She says that Jesus teaches us about economic issues more than many other Christian themes. 鈥淟oving our neighbors as ourselves includes examining and changing socioeconomic systems that support people,鈥� she said. 

Since September 2023, King has served as inaugural executive director of in Lancaster. The nonprofit is focused on funding innovation in local news to support informed and engaged communities. It is also working 鈥渦pstream from news鈥� to build trust, center solutions, and equip action.听

King says her recent work reminds her of the conflict transformation teachings at 91短视频, including those taught by John Paul Lederach.听

鈥淐hange is possible,鈥� said King. 鈥淲e can choose not to participate in the dystopian fears that can paralyze and isolate us. Values, teachings, and examples from 91短视频 and the broader world provide guideposts and road maps to other ways forward.鈥澛�

King will share her story at 91短视频 TenTalks, held on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 1:30 p.m. in Martin Chapel during Homecoming 2025. For a full schedule of Homecoming events and activities, visit聽emu.edu/homecoming.

Story by Harleigh Cupp; contributed photo.

“The story of the Good Samaritan reminds us that those who serve most effectively are not typically the most respected among us, nor do they often come from the ranks of those with obvious power,” said Swartzendruber. “Servant leaders are those who frequently did not seek leadership roles but act out of deeply held values which are often then noticed by others.”

Swartzendruber linked his message to several alumni who have made an impact as servant leaders across the world, including: , a 2007 graduate of and a ; Eliza Barnhart Burkholder, a 2009 nursing graduate who received the first in Harrisonburg; , a 2007 graduate and DREAM Act advocate; and , a 2007 graduate who is leading an environmental effort in Borneo to stop palm oil producers from taking over the rain forest, among others.

In distinguishing 91短视频 from its peers as a “Christian university like no other,” Swartzendruber noted its diverse program base.

“There are five Mennonite colleges in the U.S. and 91短视频 is the only one that embodies a seminary, a Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, a , and with the advent of the new this fall, a total of ,” said Swartzendruber.

91短视频 also includes an to prepare non-native speakers for futher academic study and a popular .

In closing, Swartzendruber issued a promise to students that an education at 91短视频 is more than just a one-way “dissemination of information” that can be found on podcasts and mass lectures.

“Our promise is that for your tuition payments, you will have every opportunity to become an educated person, one who will be prepared to serve and lead in a global context. And we will fulfill that promise by seeking to be ‘like no other.'”

Cross-cultural sending

The convocation closed with a commissioning for students who left campus Wednesday on fall semester cross-cultural seminar to New Zealand and .

, professor of , and his wife Kathy, will lead a group of 22 students to New Zealand to explore the variety of sustainability issues facing the island country.

The program will have two themes鈥攃ultural and environmental. The cultural studies will center on homestays and the book, 鈥淭he Sociology of Everyday Life in New Zealand.鈥� They will spend time in urban and rural areas, focusing on specific environmental issues and applying them to their particular interests and fields of study.

The majority of the stay will be in the mountainous and agricultural environments of the South Island.

The South Africa and Lesotho group, led by Harlan de Brun, instructor in physical education and recreation, and assisted by 91短视频 alumni Denay Fuglie and Kelsey Yoder, will study the values and norms of South African culture, learn about the African Independent Church movement, do elementary Sesotho language study and focus on community development and projects with particular attention given to AIDS issues.

The group of 21 students will read, hear lectures and journal about the history and culture of Southern Africa, including the Apartheid era and how religious beliefs affected government policy. They return to campus Dec. 5.

鈥楽henandoah Welcome鈥�

Returning students, faculty and staff gave new members of the 91短视频 community a traditional 鈥淪henandoah Welcome鈥� as they wended their way through a human 鈥渢unnel鈥� of smiling faces and clapping hands accompanied by Appalachian bluegrass music.

91短视频鈥檚 fall semester ends Dec. 14.

(President Swartzendruber speaks at 12:50)

Faculty, staff and fellow students nominated the recipients, who were cited for their 鈥渟ignificant and verifiable impact鈥� on the university and on student life, for their contributions to developing the institution鈥檚 positive image, for substantial contributions to the Harrisonburg/Rockingham County area and beyond, for their high academic and social standing and their embodiment of 91短视频鈥檚 shared values of Christian discipleship, community, service and peacebuilding.

They wore gold and blue cords as they graduated Sunday, April 29.

Blue represents strength of conviction that one person can help to create a better institution or community. Gold represents the love of spirit and yearning toward creating a better university environment or community.

The recipients are:

• Benjamin Bailey, Simsbury, Conn., peacebuilding and development, Biblical studies major;
• Brendon Derstine, Harleysville, Pa., history and social science, secondary education licensure;
• Grace Engle, Wauseon, Ohio, social work major;
• Brandon Habron, Fredericksburg, Va., liberal arts major;
• Katie Jantzen, Plymouth, Neb., environmental sustainability;
• Clothilda Johnson, Banjul, The Gambia, nursing major;
• Katherine Landis, Lancaster, Pa., photography, digital media major;
• Rebekah *[last name omitted on request], Pettisville, Ohio, nursing major;
• Michelle Ramirez, Harrisonburg, Va., social work major;
• Andrew Richter, Perkasie, Pa., business administration major.

When the state of Georgia needed someone to rescue its troubled system for mentally ill and disabled individuals, it hired Frank Shelp 鈥�80. In May 2009, Georgia named Shelp to be its first-ever commissioner of its newly formed Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, charged with the well-being of 120,000 individuals, 2,000 of them in hospitals.

Shelp, a psychiatrist who holds multiple degrees, knew the work would be challenging. In 2007, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a series of investigative articles on Georgia鈥檚 underfunded psychiatric hospitals, holding the system responsible for more than 100 deaths from 2002 though 2006. These newspaper articles attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice, which did its own multi-year investigation and concluded that 鈥減reventable deaths, suicides and assaults continue to occur with alarming frequency in the hospitals.鈥�

Shelp鈥檚 remediation efforts in his first year on the job impressed the U.S. Department of Justice sufficiently to cause it to withdraw its lawsuit against the state for violating the civil rights of the people it was supposed to be caring for.

The foregoing facts about Shelp and his cabinet-level position in Georgia have been widely reported in the media in Atlanta and elsewhere in the state.

What has not been reported is the path Shelp took from his own troubled childhood home in New England through what was then Eastern Mennonite College to arrive at his current position of immense responsibility. It requires him to combine compassion, medical knowledge, and organizational acumen to head an agency with an annual budget of $1 billion.

Shelp grew up in Colchester, Connecticut, in a family consisting of a younger sister, a mother with fragile
mental health, and a Navy-serving father who was away from home for months at a time as a non-commissioned officer on submarine duty.

Shelp somehow made it to college in Kansas in 1973, but had to drop out when his father sent his mother on an airplane to Shelp. By that act, his father announced his decision to wash his hands of his wife鈥檚 deteriorating mental state. He took Shelp鈥檚 sister and moved out of the family home.

Shelp brought his mother back to Connecticut, got a job at a Christian bookstore, married, settled with others on a chicken farm, and became a father. Lacking a car, Shelp would ride his bicycle 14 miles one-way to work in the bookstore, regardless of the weather, season or amount of daylight.

At a national meeting of Christian booksellers in 1976, Shelp heard then-91短视频 president Myron Augsburger deliver an inspiring keynote speech. Shelp sought Augsburger鈥檚 counsel after the speech. Augsburger, known across America for his leadership as an evangelist, encouraged Shelp to consider
re-enrolling in college and invited him to visit 91短视频.

Borrowing a dilapidated VW Beetle, Shelp and his family drove to Harrisonburg where Augsburger showed them around the campus. The president told them that finances should not be viewed as an insurmountable barrier to getting an 91短视频 education鈥攚ays and means could be found.

Enrolled in the fall of 1976, Shelp received tuition assistance from the college. For living expenses, he ran a bike shop, open Monday through Friday, 1 to 5 p.m., and all day on Saturday. Bikes were the family鈥檚 only transportation 鈥� 鈥渘ot because it was a groovy, hippy thing to do; it was raw necessity.鈥� Shelp and his wife鈥攖owing the baby鈥攂iked to a co-op to buy grains, beans and other staples and to a dairy farm to buy milk.

Shelp recalls with gratitude that Augsburger stayed attuned to Shelp鈥檚 financial and personal struggles; Augsburger periodically passed along funds from his own pocket, quietly and with no expectation of repayment. Shelp double-majored in biology (earning a BS) and liberal arts (for a BA). Carrying a heavy load of classes, he graduated in three years of year-鈥檙ound coursework.

Amid this staggering amount of responsibility鈥攕choolwork, a business, parenthood鈥擲help remained the caregiver for his desperately ill mother. Despite Shelp鈥檚 efforts to keep her safe in an apartment, his mother usually lived out of her car. She often disappeared for days until Shelp could locate her and retrieve her.

91短视频鈥檚 classes were a bright spot in his life. 鈥淚 will put my degrees and quality of education at 91短视频 up against any one of my fellow graduate students from Harvard, Yale or any of the other Ivy League schools. I would not have done as well if I had graduated from any other school. It wasn鈥檛 just the academic preparation. It was the personal attention I received from the professors. That made the difference for me.鈥�

Shelp managed to reach his final semester of college with only $3,000 in outstanding loans. He borrowed
another $3,000 just before graduation to position himself for settling his family in Richmond, Va., and beginning his graduate studies at the Medical College of Virginia.

While earning his medical degree from MCV, Shelp remained the conscientious son. He took his mother to Richmond, so that he could continue to look after her. She died of natural causes in his third year of medical school.

In 1988 at Duke University, Shelp completed a residency in psychiatry and geriatrics鈥攆amiliar terrain for him, given 10 years of being his mother鈥檚 caregiver. In 2006, he earned an MPH in healthcare policy and administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In his role as commissioner today, Shelp says he seeks to implement values similar to those he saw underpinning 91短视频 in the late 1970s: respect for all and inclusiveness; meaningful service to society; integrity; and transparency in both finances and operations.

As the keynote speaker at the 2011 Homecoming banquet for donors, Shelp told hundreds of attendees: 鈥淓astern Mennonite represents the greatest paradox in terms of its size versus its impact.鈥� He applauded the way 91短视频 asks students to go beyond acquiring knowledge and skills to pondering how they are going to use these assets to make a positive difference.

Since the early 1990s Shelp has chosen to thank 91短视频 for enabling him to transform his life as a young adult by making a generous donation each year to its University Fund, the primary fund through which 91短视频 provides financial assistance to undergraduate students.

This article is adapted from an address to the Lancaster MEDA Chapter. Andy Dula, a 1991 91短视频 graduate, is chief financial officer at EG Stoltzfus Construction, Lancaster, Pa. In June 2010 he began a three-year term as 91短视频 board of trustees chair.

Andy Dula, a 1991 91短视频 graduate and current 91短视频 board of trustees chair, is chief financial officer at EG Stoltzfus Construction of Lancaster, Pa.

Like many people in business, I live in a world of doing, producing, constructing, expanding and sometimes just surviving. We are often judged by financial metrics and measurable results, as in, "What have you done for me lately?"

In the larger scheme of things, however, a more important question is, "Who am I becoming?"

And to answer it I need to take account of all the influences that have shaped me. Each of the acts and scenes of my personal narrative impact who I am becoming in this theatre we call life.

Born across the globe

I was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. My mother, a missionary nurse, met and married my dad, an Ethiopian – no small feat in the 60s. My early years were spent in Indiana where my father attended Goshen College.

After he graduated we moved to Philadelphia and spent four years living next door to Germantown Mennonite Church while he attended pharmacy school.

My formative years were shaped by the overwhelming generosity of that community. People cared for my brother and me while my dad studied by day and my mom worked the night shift as a nurse.

Generosity of the church

In 1975 we moved to Lancaster, Pa., where my father accepted a job as a pharmacist at the St. Joseph Hospital. Here too I experienced the generosity of the church, first at North End Mennonite and later Blossom Hill.

I have been fortunate to spend all of my life in a church setting that has been life giving and faith infusing, and has included the witness of people from a wide array of professions and life experiences.

The generosity I received had very little to do with anything I had done, but remains a part of who I am becoming. I am who I am today because people along the way have mentored me in word and deed.

Foray into business

In 1991, fresh out of 91短视频, I helped to start an Ethiopian restaurant with my father and another partner. My first foray into the real world of business was an adventure in finding my own way. No boss to learn from, no previous knowledge, no experiences of best practices for running a restaurant, no established policies for accounting, managing costs or handling employees.

All I had was an education in business and the liberal arts. It was my first true immersion into doing whatever it took to keep a business alive.

I had come out of college wanting to be a mover and a shaker in the world of business; instead I was washing dishes one night and waiting tables the next. One moment I was performing payroll and the next I was dealing with an angry customer.

But learning to do whatever was needed was shaping who I am becoming.

Business can be a noble enterprise

My restaurant experience stripped me of any notion that business was a glamourous adventure in self-serving motivations and profit-seeking indulgence.

Rather, it showed me how business can be a noble enterprise of service and teamwork to develop communities that are life giving to customers, employees and society in general.

My next career move was as improbable as my first. I took a position in the drafting and design department of Elam G Stoltzfus Jr Inc. Again a real logical move – business degree, restaurateur, construction.

I spent my first spring working on a framing crew carrying 4×8 sheets of plywood one day and sitting at a drafting table the next.

‘Doing’ but also ‘becoming’

Once again I was "doing" but at the same time I was more importantly "becoming." I had no idea then how having a broad understanding of the construction industry would benefit me in the years to come.

By 1994 I was doing estimating and project management, and in 1996 started running our accounting department.

Today I carry the title of Chief Financial Officer of EG Stoltzfus and along with four others provide leadership to EG and its 25 subsidiary companies.

91短视频 EG Stoltzfus

Our companies are involved primarily in residential home building and renovations, general commercial construction, historic adaptive re-use of under utilized buildings, work force housing, land acquisition and development, mortgage brokering, and title insurance services.

Each year we build 200-300 homes, renovate 75 residential properties, and construct and renovate 20-30 commercial projects.

Titles mean nothing to us. Our founder never liked them, nor do I or the rest of the senior management staff. Titles merely identify our structure to those outside of the organization.

We believe in a flat non hierarchical structure, which empowers persons to unleash their own entrepreneurial spirit at all levels of the operation. It is one of the mechanisms by which we affirm each individual’s unique contribution and gifts.

My daily work involves providing leadership and support to staff, leading and participating in senior management team meetings, acquiring capital for our multiple companies from banks and individuals, starting and monitoring individual land development companies, assessing the viability of various land projects from both a marketing and financial standpoint, and providing counsel to fellow team members both at the work and personal level.

The social opportunities of business

Business truly is a social science and there are few things more draining and more rewarding than dealing with the human spirit on a daily basis. You have countless opportunities to practice Christian virtues at times when it is least expected and may even seem stupid to do so.

Why would anyone extend grace and forgiveness when someone at best has had a lapse in judgement and at worst has been deceitful in a way that wastes significant resources. It happens, and has happened to us.

Recently our company’s entire staff and spouses had the opportunity to go away to a beautiful historic resort to celebrate our 40 years in business. As we were eating dinner one evening, Colleen, who handles our Human Resources, told us about the process leading up to the retreat.

The resort had given her a list of the best rooms and asked which people from the guest list were senior managers. He wanted to make sure that we got the best rooms.

"No, no," Colleen told him. "Give the senior management team the smallest, least desirable rooms."

There was a pause and the dismayed resort representative said, "You want to give your top management team the worst rooms?"

Colleen explained that some of the people coming on this trip would never again have the opportunity to stay at a place like this. "We want them to have the best rooms," she said.

The manager later told Colleen that his staff had been impressed by the unusual room arrangements. "No one has ever requested that before," he said. "Your company understands what makes a really good company."

Contrast that with some executives who send pictures of themselves in advance so the resort staff will recognize them and give them special service.

Not ‘business as usual’

This isn’t business as usual. The ongoing opportunities I have had to be part of discussions and ultimately make decisions that are at times counter-cultural have had a profound effect on me.

Stories of making just choices, going the extra mile, treating employees as partners, emphasizing our interconnectedness instead of untamed individualism, and practicing moderation instead of excess are part of who I am becoming rather than anything I am doing.

Any so-called success I may achieve will always be more attributable to what I am becoming than to what I am doing.

The particular lens that I have been given via my childhood, my faith and my work experience, continues to shape my inner journey.

‘Vocation is a calling’

Parker Palmer in his book Let Your Life Speak says, "Vocation does not mean a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am."

That thought undergirds my daily work. Truly the integration of work, faith and life has to come from a place of truly knowing who you are. And upon knowing who I am, I can ultimately do and eventually become who God intends for me to be.

Andy Dula, a 1991 91短视频 graduate, is chief financial officer at EG Stoltzfus Construction, Lancaster, Pa. In June 2010 he began a three-year term as 91短视频 board of trustees chair.

The exclusive listings will be published in the magazine’s Aug. 24 issue and available online at . The 2010 “America’s Best Colleges” guidebook will be available as of Tuesday, Aug. 25.

How the rankings work

The Carnegie Foundation defines a national liberal arts school as one emphasizing undergraduate education and awarding at least 50 percent of its degrees in the arts and sciences. There were 266 schools measured in the liberal arts category; most are private institutions; 28 are public.

A complete summary of the methodology used to rank each school can be found online at .

Each college and university received a score based on 15 indicators, including peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty-student ratios and class sizes, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.

91短视频 rates high in key areas

Within the 65 colleges and universities in the third tier, 91短视频 rated high in several key areas,with an average freshman retention rate of 78 percent, well above the national average, and a high percentage of full-time faculty (88 percent).

91短视频’s alumni giving rate of 27 percent ranked 11th highest among all schools listed in the third tier.

Cited for international study

In a separate listing, 91短视频 ranked 11th out of 100 schools cited for “most students studying abroad” with 72 percent of its 2008 graduates having participated in international study abroad programs.

“Being ranked in the third tier of such an impressive list of schools is quite an accomplishment. I’m happy that we maintained our ranking in the third tier, and also that we were recognized for the high percentage of students who study abroad,” said BJ Miller, director of institutional research and effectiveness at 91短视频.

“However, I’m a little disappointed that we weren’t included in their list of ‘Academic Programs to Look For’ category. Our cross-cultural experience is clearly a ‘stellar example’ of a study abroad program to look for according to their definition, but it’s probably not as well known as the ones that were nominated most frequently,” she added.

Read more…

The exclusive listings – which this year feature some substantial changes in methodology – will be published in the magazine’s Aug. 27 issue, on newsstands Monday, Aug. 20, and available online beginning Aug. 17 at www.usnews.com/colleges.

The Carnegie Commission defines a national liberal arts school as one emphasizing undergraduate education and awarding at least 50 percent of its degrees in the arts and sciences. There were 266 schools measured in the liberal arts category; most are private institutions; 27 are public.

A complete summary of the methodology used to rank each school can be found online at www.usnews.com/colleges.

Each college and university received a score based on 15 indicators, including peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty-studio ratios and class sizes, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.

Within the 61 colleges and universities in the fourth tier, 91短视频 rated high with an average freshman retention rate of 77 percent, well above the national average, and in the percentage of full-time faculty (85 percent). 91短视频’s alumni giving rate of 30 percent ranked second highest among all schools listed in the fourth tier.

“I am proud of the 91短视频 faculty and students, and we are pleased to be recognized as a high quality private university,” President Loren Swartzendruber said of the “U.S.News” ranking.

All 2008 rankings are available on the magazine’s website at www.usnews.com