Alumni News

1950–59

• Marlow Ediger ’53, North Newton, completed 40 years as a member of the editorial board of Experiments in Education, a research journal. He had the following manuscripts accepted for publication: Reading and Writing Poetry in Classmate (Canada); Leadership in the School Setting in Edutracks; Improving the Mathematics Curriculum in Vector (Canada); Psychology in the Teaching of Mathematics in Delta K (Canada); Toward a High Quality Mathematics Curriculum in Experiments in Education (India); Philosophies of Reading Instruction in Reading Improvement; and Self Efficacy and the Science Teacher in Kansas Association of Teachers of Science News. Marlow’s biography will be listed in the 2014 Who’s Who in the World.
• Kenneth Hiebert ’53, Gwynedd, Pa., was awarded an honorary doctor of fine arts degree by the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, in May 2013, recognizing his pioneering work in design education as founder of the graphic design department and his subsequent achievements as an educator, publisher and professional designer. His design education in Basel, Switzerland, was a direct outcome of service with MCC in the 1950s. His professional work included designing identification marks for Mennonite Central Committee, Kauffman Museum and Bethel College. Ken and his wife, Eleanor (Claassen) ’52, have lived at Foulkeways, a Quaker retirement center in Gwynedd, since 2004.
• Bob Regier ’53, North Newton, professor emeritus of art, and Paul Friesen, Hesston, former associate professor of art, were featured in a special exhibit, Bob Regier and Paul Friesen: Pastels and Sculpture, Jan. 14–Feb. 23 at the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg.
• Myron Zerger ’52, Dearborn, Mich., donated a pint of blood on his 84th birthday, Dec. 2, 2013, to complete 80 pints (or a 10-gallon bucket) donated.

1960–69

• Ronald L. Friesen ’61, Bluffton, Ohio, was honored Oct. 11, 2013, by the Bluffton University Alumni Association as the 2013 recipient of the Faculty/Staff Lifetime Service Award for providing mentoring and inspiration to students.
• Evelyn (Unruh) Klein ’62, Louisburg, retired in May 2013 from teaching at the elementary level. She was involved in public education for 51 years.
• Connie (Toews) Weber ’69, Newton, completed 20 years in February 2013 on the Board of Directors of Health Ministries, a safety-net clinic. She previously was recognized as a lifetime member of the Kansas State Nurses Association.

1970–79

1980–89

• Carolyn Coon ’82, Fresno, Calif., will serve as interim vice president for student affairs at Fresno State University until the search for a new vice president is complete. She assumed her duties Dec. 15, 2013. Carolyn had been dean of students. She has a doctorate in college student personnel services from Kansas State University and a master of science degree in health sciences administration from Wichita State University.
• Matthew Gilmore ’83, Washington, D.C., was conference chairman of the 40th Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies, Nov. 14–17, 2013. The conference was the winner of the 2013 10th District of Columbia annual Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation in the education category.
• Seiichi Matsuda ’85, Houston, was named dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies at Rice University. He assumed his role Jan. 1. Seiichi joined the Rice faculty in 1995 as an assistant professor of chemistry, biochemistry and cell biology. He was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2001, full professor in 2004 and department chair in 2007.
• Roger Reimer ’83, Hesston, was honored Feb. 15 for 25 years of service to the National Cooperative Refinery Association. Roger is an Operator I in the Feed Prep Unit of the NCRA refinery in McPherson.
• Dana (Leeper) Selzer ’83, Broomfield, Colo., retired in 2011 from the Greeley–Evans School District 6 in Greeley, Colo. She is an educational consultant with Improvement Strategies and with the Colorado Department of Education.

1990–99

• Sandy (Burgan) Arnold ’91, Hillsboro, coached the Hillsboro High School volleyball team to its third consecutive state title in November in Emporia. Sandy played volleyball while at Bethel.
• Scott Dooley ’93, Springfield, Ohio, was promoted to full professor of art and reappointed chair of the art department at Wittenberg University in Springfield.
• Gary Entz ’90, Rhinelander, Wis., is the author of Llewellyn Castle: A Worker’s Cooperative on the Great Plains (University of Nebraska Press, 2013). Gary teaches at Nicolet College. He and his wife Ocie Kilgus led a Nicolet College student study abroad trip to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, in January. In addition, Gary published an article in the winter 2013–14 issue of Kansas History, Thy Brother’s Blood: William Walthall, Commodore True, and a Thanksgiving Tragedy in Hiawatha, co-authored with Bill Sroufe of McPherson.
• Rodney Garman ’90, Meriden, was one of 61 outstanding elementary and middle school principals in the United States and abroad to be named as 2013 National Distinguished Principals by the National Association of Elementary School Principals. Rodney is principal of North Fairview Elementary School in Topeka. The recipients were honored Oct. 25 at an awards banquet in Washington, D.C.
• Crysta (Hill) Guhr ’99, Goessel, is coach of the Goessel High School volleyball team, which took fourth at state in early November.
• April (Kuhns) Meyer ’98, Anthony, is illustrating a series of 20 children’s books by author and friend Bonnie Belmudes about The Adventures of Gus and Gunther (AuthorHouse, 2012). Of those, four are published and are for sale on Amazon.com. There are storybooks and coloring books for each episode. In addition, April has put together a coffee table book, The Sky is the Limit (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013), a collection of photos.
• Eric Peters ’97, Prairie Village, is on the MRIGlobal team that produced a mannequin robot and high-containment chamber to test protective clothing under a range of conditions for the U.S. Department of Defense. This was part of a five-year program, Individual Protection Ensemble Mannequin System, awarded in November 2008 to MRIGlobal, which then assembled a team of experts from across the country.
• Mark Regier ’90, Elkhart, Ind., director of stewardship investigating for Praxis Mutual Funds and Everence Financial, was appointed to its board of directors. His term began in 2014. Mark also has served as governing board chair for the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility and founding chair for the International SRI Working Group (U.S. Social Investment Forum). In addition to US SIF, he also sits on the boards of the Isaiah Funds (disaster recovery investments) and Partners for the Common Good (faith-based community investments). In 2006, Mark received the SRI Service Award, the U.S. social investment industry’s highest honor.
• Nate Regier ’90, Newton, is co-author of the book Beyond Drama: Transcending Energy Vampires, published in December 2013.
• Terry Rempel ’90, Tofield, Alberta, is an honorary research fellow at the University of Exeter (United Kingdom), where he recently received a doctorate in politics.
• Doug Shima ’91, Topeka, was awarded the distinguished volunteer award (2013 Reuter Award) by Meals on Wheels of Shawnee and Jefferson counties. Doug has delivered meals for the past 20 years and organizes two corporate routes. One route is for Southern Hills Mennonite Church and the other for the Kansas Judicial Center, where Doug serves as a research attorney for the Honorable G. Joseph Pierron Jr. on the Kansas Court of Appeals.
• Jaroslav Tir ’95, LaFayette, Colo., and two of his colleagues received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Behavioral Social Science program to investigate effects of climate change on violence patterns in rural Kenya and whether changing weather conditions also are prompting tribal leaders to develop institutions for mitigating related conflicts over water, crops and grazing land. Jaroslav is professor of political science at the University of Colorado–Boulder.
• Alain Epp Weaver ’91, Lancaster, Pa., is the author of Mapping Exile and Return: Palestinian Dispossession and a Political Theology for a Shared Future (Fortress Press, 2014). He directs strategic planning for Mennonite Central Committee.

2000–09

• Amelia Brandt ’06, Quincy, Mass., is program manager for Latin America and the Caribbean at Medicines for Humanity in Rockland, Mass.
• Rachel (White) Currie ’07, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, is a registered nurse at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
• Amanda Dick ’04, San Francisco, after completing a master’s degree in physician assistant studies in Oakland, Calif., spent 2½ years living in San Francisco, where she worked as a physician assistant in a private dermatology clinic. This year, she and her fiancé, Brandt Pedota, will begin a projected two- to three-year backpacking trip through Central and South America and much of the rest of the world. Follow her blog at www.wholewideworldtravel.blogspot.com.
• Chris Janzen ’04, Fresno, Calif., showed artwork in an exhibition, More Again Now, at Fig Tree Gallery. The artwork is done in a style he calls Menno Pop Surrealism, which shows the collision between jazz and painting. He was featured in an article in The Fresno Bee.
• Anand Kumar Jiwanlal ’07, Wichita, was named business banking relationship manager at Commerce Bank.
• Brett Klingenberg ’03, Beatrice, Neb., was featured in the Dec. 6, 2013, issue of The Mennonite. The article was called Pastor’s farm work connects him with his rural congregants. There also was an accompanying photo that featured Brett, wife Cassie, daughter Maya and son Caleb standing on their farm. Brett also is in a video that has gone viral on the web, made by his brother Derek Klingenberg of rural Peabody. The video, called What Does the Farmer Say?, is a parody of the video What Does the Fox Say? The farmer video has had more than 4 million hits. Brett also is in other videos his brother has made.
• Stephen Owens ’00, Hesston, a captain for the Hesston volunteer fire department, and Carlos Fernandez Jr. of Newton developed Page-Out, an app that took first place in the national Mobileys innovation contest. Steve, Carlos and Page-Out have been featured in a variety of publications, including the Wichita Eagle, The Newton Kansan, Wichita Business Journal and HarveyCountyNOW.com magazine, as well as on KSN-3, Wichita. Steve traveled to Washington, D.C., to accept the award. Page-Out is an app that allows volunteer fire departments and EMS services to see who is available for calls at any given time. If not enough volunteers are available, the leader can request mutual aid from other towns, which can save time and lives.
• Jody Schmidt ’01, Chicago, is the wardrobe supervisor at Court Theatre.
• Katy Schmidt ’08, Peabody, completed a year of voluntary service as an assistant park ranger from July 2012 to July 2013 at McLean Falls Park near Tauranga, New Zealand.
• Angela (Wagler) Stuckey ’01, Archbold, Ohio, recently completed her master’s degree in nursing education at Chamberlain College of Nursing in Chicago. She works part-time as nursing faculty in the nursing skills lab at Northwest State Community College in Archbold. She also continues to work one day a week at the local hospital in the Same Day Surgery department.
• Pesa Shayo ’03, Wichita, started a business, Optimized Care Media, and blog at optimizedcaremedia.com. He has worked as a registered nurse for 10 years and also is a social media consultant.
• Spencer Sward ’07, Lawrence, has his own counseling practice. He has worked in mental-health settings with severe and persistent mental illness, crisis services, in the foster care system and counseling/life coaching.
• Chelsea Vaught ’07, Fort Wayne, Ind., is director of music and organist at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Wayne.

2010–19

• Aaron Clement ’10, Kansas City, is community manager of Timberland Partners.
• Mario Lara ’13, Newton, is an assistant manager at Newton Et Cetera Shop, which is a Christian resource for meeting human need by raising money for Mennonite Central Committee through the sale of donated items, providing quality, affordable, recycled merchandise for the community, and encouraging stewardship and recycling.
• Patrick Loganbill ’13, Wichita, is spending four months as a teaching intern at Colegio Nueva Granada in Bogotá, Colombia.
• Natasha Orpin ’13, Carrollton, Texas, is an accountant I with UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
• Kelly Reed ’11, Chicago, has been doing an internship with Goodman Theatre’s Education and Community Engagement Department. The internship began in August 2013 and has been extended to May. Goodman is the largest and oldest nonprofit theater in Chicago and one of the city’s premier cultural institutions.
• Aimee Voth Siebert ’10, Denver, was featured in a University of Denver Magazine article, International Disaster Psychology students help Colorado heal after flooding. The article mentions how Aimee has seen the human devastation side of the flooding in her job working for Colorado’s Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response as a disaster behavioral health specialist. During the fall 2013 floods, she helped get behavioral health resources to people by staffing the emergency operations center. Aimee earned a master of arts degree from the university in 2012.
• Anna Voth ’12, Salina, and Renicia Yoder ’12, Newton, are recipients of Horizon Awards from the state of Kansas. The award is given to 32 second-year teachers in Kansas.