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Everyone invited to Alumni Banquet

All alumni and friends of Bethel are invited to the Alumni Banquet Saturday, May 19, at 6 p.m. in Memorial Hall. The annual event honors this spring’s alumni award recipients, reunion classes and Class of 2012 graduates. This year’s banquet will also be an observation of the college’s 125th anniversary.

Four alumni will be recognized for their accomplishments: Toshihiro "Ted" Fukudome ’72, Tokyo, will receive the Distinguished Achievement Award; Glen Ediger ’75, North Newton, the Outstanding Alumnus Award; and co-recipients Marie Voth ’62/’65 and Martha Voth ’62/’65, North Newton, the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Bethel Deaconess Hospital/Bethel College Nursing Alumni Association. For more information about these individuals, go here.

Discount price of the banquet is $19 per person if paying by May 4, or $21 regular price if paying May 7-9. The ticket price covers not only the cost of the meal but includes a donation to the Alumni Association, which treats the graduating seniors to the banquet free of charge.

To make a reservation, visit or phone Thresher Bookstore in Schultz Student Center at 316-284-5205. Payment or credit card information is required when the reservation is made. No refunds can be given after May 11, since after that the alumni office will have been charged for reserved meals. Those attending receive a nametag at the door, which serves as their banquet ticket. Please arrive early to allow ample time to be seated.

In addition, the following reunion classes are invited to special meals and coffees that are also part of Alumni Weekend, Friday and Saturday, May 18-19: 1937, 1942, 1947, 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967 and contact the alumni office, 316-284-5251, alumni@bethelks.edu.

Links to the Alumni Weekend schedule and registration form are here.

Forensics ’Nationals Preview’ is April 2

With eight members qualified for nationals in 11 events, the Bethel forensics squad has wrapped up the 2011-12 regular season.

The squad will give their annual Nationals Preview Monday, April 2, at 7 p.m. in Krehbiel Auditorium in the Fine Arts Center. The program is free and open to the public....

Bethel will take eight students to nationals in 11 events: Brendan Bergen, freshman from Moundridge, Informative Speaking; Audra Miller, junior from Hesston, After Dinner Speaking and Duo Interpretation; Julia Miller, junior from Hesston, Persuasive Speaking and Duo Interpretation; Chris Riesen, junior from Beatrice, Neb., Duo Interpretation; Aaron Rudeen, junior from Osage City, After Dinner Speaking and Duo Interpretation; Marike Stucky, sophomore from Moundridge, Dramatic Interpretation and Poetry Interpretation; Natalie Stucky, junior from Moundridge, Informative Speaking and Persuasive Speaking; and Henry Unruh, sophomore from Newton, Extemporaneous Speaking.

For the complete news story, go here.

College honored for community service

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and the U.S. Department of Education recently announced its annual honor roll of the U.S. colleges and universities, including Bethel College, whose students, faculty members and staff have demonstrated their commitment to bettering their communities through community service and service learning.

Bethel was admitted to the Honor Roll based on its core value of service, stated in the college’s mission statement as "an ethic of service that deems concern for the powerless to be intrinsic to the Christian gospel and stresses peacemaking and voluntary service," as well as annual service events such as Service Day (coming up on April 11), the spring break service trip and participation in the Angel Tree project to benefit the Harvey County Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Task Force’s safe house, along with individual and group service projects that happen spontaneously throughout the school year.

"Through service, these institutions are creating the next generation of leaders by challenging students to tackle tough issues and create positive impacts in the community," said Robert Velasco, acting CEO of CNCS.

For more of this story, go to here.

Museum to host events in April, bus tour in May

Kauffman Museum will hold the third and final program on Kansas archeology Sunday, April 15, at 3:30 p.m. David T. Hughes, professor of archeology at Wichita State University, will speak on "Sand Creek: Prehistoric Archeology, Small Towns and Big Effects." The program will highlight the process and discoveries of the 2009 survey commissioned by the City of North Newton that Hughes and WSU students conducted. The program is free and open to the public.

Related to the presentation, the special exhibition "In the Fields of Time: The Impact of Two Kansas Boys on American Archeology" is on display through May 20.

The City of North Newton and Kauffman Museum invite the community to participate in an Earth Day Adventure to inaugurate the eight interpretive sites and signage system along the trails in North Newton Sunday, April 22. The event will kick off at the museum with a ribbon-cutting and reception at 1:30 p.m. The public is then invited to visit the sites (four of which are on the college campus) from 2-4 p.m.

Kauffman Museum staff, North Newton city representatives and area historians stationed at each location will provide further information on the themes of ancient people, archeology, prairie, trails, settlement, Bethel College and Kauffman Museum. Participants may walk the entire trail or park at selected sites (a map is incorporated into the signage and maps will be handed out).

For more information about the archeology program, special exhibition or Earth Day Adventure, contact Rachel Pannabecker ’80.

In addition, the museum has a few seats available on their May 15 bus tour to the central Kansas wetland areas at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge and the Kansas Wetlands Education Center at Cheyenne Bottoms. Also on the tour will be a stop at the Stafford County Flour Mills at Hudson, lunch at the Dozier Winery in Ellinwood and supper in McPherson. Cost per person for the one-day tour is $105 for museum members and $120 for non-members.

For more information or to register using a credit card, contact Andi Schmidt Andres ’84.

Bethel summer camp opportunities

Bethel will again offer camps for students of all ages and interests this summer, including the following:

  • various Uncle Carl’s Camps at Kauffman Museum June 4-July 13
  • Summer Science Institute, June 3-8
  • Summer Music Camp, June 10-16
  • Broadway at Bethel, June 17-24
  • Bethel College/Jostens Publications Workshop, July 30-Aug. 2
  • Sports camps (for information as it becomes available)
  • Bethel College Academy of Performing Arts camps (for information as it becomes available)

For details -- including dates, descriptions and age requirements -- go here. Some camp sessions may not yet be listed. Some sessions may already be full; please check with the contact person listed.

Graphic design major, two minors to launch in fall

Input from prospective students as well as increased emphasis on experiential learning have led Bethel College to add a new major and two new minors to the curriculum.

Key to the new graphic design major and the sport management and computer science minors are internships or other practical opportunities that will give students real-life experience with which to apply what they learn in class.

"We’ve been hearing from Admissions staff over the past several years that there is a lot of interest from prospectives in graphic design," said Rachel Epp Buller ’96, assistant professor of art. "But there are lots of programs, so what’s Bethel’s niche? How can it be distinctive?"

The answer to that, she said, was to make Bethel’s graphic design program "interdisciplinary. It can apply to those who want a narrower focus on studio design or can go broader and [complement] a major in communication arts, for example -- those who want to go into multimedia, or e-publishing, or video production, or stage set and theater design.

"Graphic design could be very valuable to someone majoring in business administration or marketing," she added, citing the example of a 2011 business graduate who minored in art and is now working in graphic design....

The new minor in Bethel’s curriculum, sport management, is a popular area of academic study, with working in the sport industry an attractive career choice for many students, said Diane Flickner, associate professor of health and physical education. Like graphic design, the minor will launch in fall 2012.

Careers in sport require knowledge and skills in both sport and business, Flickner said, so the sport management courses will focus on those business aspects: sport in culture; sport communication; interscholastic, intercollegiate and professional sport; facility management; sport ethics; sport marketing; sport law; and sport finance. The program is designed to help students apply business management skills to the world of sport...

The computer science minor, while similar to the one that existed previously, now has a sharper focus, said Karl Friesen ’86, adjunct professor of computer science. "The goal of this minor is to provide students with solid computer programming skills," he said.

"These skills are broadly applicable to many disciplines beyond the traditional STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines," he added. "Most legal contracts and business processes are essentially programs. The process of analyzing medical symptoms and arriving at a diagnosis is similar to the process of detecting and repairing software errors. Even stage directions in a theater production may be seen as a form of programming."

For the complete news story, go here.