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Conference affirms career choice for social work students

For Bethel College senior Sheldon Nunnally, Los Angeles, the trip to Kansas City proved to be, in his words, “life-changing.”

The event was the annual conference of the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors (BPD), March 4-8 at the Westin Crown Center. Nunnally was one of 10 Bethel social work majors, sophomore through senior, who attended the conference along with Hamilton Williams, associate professor of social work.

Last semester, the students in Williams’ Intervention in Human Systems class applied to present a poster at the BPD annual conference. Their proposal was accepted, and Nunnally agreed to be one of two students who stayed with the poster to answer questions for judges and other visitors.

“I didn’t know how big this conference was until I got there,” Nunnally said. “Hamilton didn’t tell me because he didn’t want me to be nervous.”

Since the theme of the conference was “Educating the Masses,” the Bethel poster described how the Día de los Muertos parade they help organize each fall, in conjunction with a Newton Catholic church, can be used in place of a protest event to educate and inform.

“When people hear ‘protest,’ often they think ‘riot,’ or something negative,” Nunnally said. “We showed how, instead, a parade could inform about [a minority] culture and history, and even about issues such as voting, and could take the place of protesting.”

“Sheldon hit a home run with his connection to the dynamics in the community and the impact this has had since the parade began three years ago,” Williams said.

For Nunnally, the size of the conference and the number and variety of people he spoke to were part of what made the experience significant for him.

“I think about my friends [back home in Compton], how many are in jail, or dead,” he said. “I had never done anything like this before -- if they could see me now. I have a daughter, and I want to make her proud.

“It was also life-changing because school has not been so important to me before,” he said. “[In high school,] sports was the main thing.

“I wasn’t interested in school because [there] they weren’t interested in me. And here I was the student to make the presentation [at the conference]. I’ve come a long way from where I was.”

Besides being a confidence-builder, the conference for Nunnally and three of his peers -- all of them young black males -- put them in a surprising position.

It was almost like “black privilege,” Nunnally said. “There are not a lot of males in social work, much less black males. They don’t usually see a group of young black men at a conference like this.”

For more of this article, visit the Bethel College website.

Bethel to take entire forensics team to nationals

Bethel College’s young forensics team has accomplished a clean sweep, with every one of its members qualifying for the national tournament, three of them for the first time.

The team competed March 7 in Tyler, Texas, at their final regular-season tournament. Clinton Unruh, sophomore from Newton, qualified his second event, Impromptu Speaking, and Kendra Gonzalez, freshman from Minneapolis, qualified in Prose Interpretation.

The five team members will compete in the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament (AFA-NIET), April 3-6 at Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon, in the following events:

Jacob Miller, sophomore from Westmoreland, in Informative Speaking, Impromptu Speaking, Persuasive Speaking, and After Dinner Speaking and Communication Analysis; Cameron Ponce, sophomore from Elkhart, Indiana, in Prose Interpretation, Program of Oral Interpretation and Dramatic Interpretation; Shaelyn Atwood, freshman from Sabetha, in Communication Analysis; Unruh in Extemporaneous Speaking, as well as Impromptu Speaking; and Gonzalez in Prose Interpretation.

This will be the first appearance at AFA-NIET for Atwood, Gonzalez and Ponce, a transfer student in his first year at Bethel.

“Qualification to the AFA national tournament is an incredibly intense process,” said Mallory Marsh, Bethel director of forensics and head coach, “and it is estimated that only the top 10 percent of competitors in the nation qualify to this tournament over the course of the season. These students are excited to represent Bethel College at AFA-NIET for the 38th year in a row.”

For more of this article, visit the Bethel College website.

Kauffman Museum seeking sports memorabilia for exhibit

Do you have the winning ball from an important game? Did your athletic team at Bethel College foster international friendships? Did your sport help you overcome adversity in a significant way? Kauffman Museum is looking for Bethel College sports artifacts that tell great stories.

Thanks in part to a grant from the Kansas Humanities Council, Kauffman Museum will mount an exhibition in fall 2015 called “Root for the Home Team: Building Community through Sports.” Bethel College has been named a Partner Site for the Smithsonian Institution's “Hometown Teams” exhibition touring Kansas.

If you have an artifact that tells a good story and you’d like to consider loaning it for this exhibition, contact Rachel Epp Buller ’96 at rebuller@bethelks.edu by Monday, April 20. There also will be a time to share your stories at Kauffman Museum during Fall Fest 2015.

Give to Bethel College through AmazonSmile

People shopping on Amazon also can support Bethel College by shopping for most of the same items under AmazonSmile.

AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for people to support their favorite charitable organizations every time they shop -- at no cost to them. When customers shop at smile.amazon.com, they will find the same prices, selection and shopping experience as Amazon.com with the added bonus Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to people’s selected charitable organization.

Here are the steps to use AmazonSmile:

  1. Visit smile.amazon.com.
  2. Sign in.
  3. Choose your charity. Type in “Bethel College” in the search box and choose the first “Bethel College” result that comes up.
  4. Begin shopping! Once you’ve selected Bethel College as your charity, everything else functions the same. Shop for your favorite products or the perfect gift. Most products are eligible on AmazonSmile. If not, you’ll be notified. You can check out normally, as well. No extra cost is passed to you -- Amazon will donate .5 percent of your purchase to Bethel College.
  5. Make sure to use smile.amazon.com as your starting page for Amazon.

Phonathon update: Donations still welcomed!

The Development Office continues to welcome donations in response to February’s phonathon.

As of the end of March, alumni and friends had given a total of $105,079.64, with $44,920.36 still needed to reach the Alumni Association goal of $150,000 by June 30.

This year’s phonathon donations go to the Bethel Fund, for scholarships, academic programs, undergraduate research, campus ministries, cross-cultural learning, fine arts, athletics, student organizations, student recruitment and other essentials. Donors also may designate gifts for individual departments or projects, but gifts to the Bethel Fund allow the college flexibility to meet various needs.

Alumni and friends may contribute by:

  • mailing a gift to Phonathon 2015, Bethel College, 300 E. 27th St., North Newton, KS 67117.
  • providing a gift amount and credit card information by phone, 316-284-5250.
  • giving online.

Milliman named vice president for academic affairs

Bethel College President Perry D. White announced the appointment of Robert Milliman as vice president for academic affairs, beginning July 1.

Milliman comes to Bethel from Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, where he is professor of New Testament and Greek. He has served Cedarville in various leadership roles as a faculty member, dean of the School of Humanities, Fine Arts and Bible, executive director of academic development, and academic vice president.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to assist President White and the other members of his cabinet with supporting and implementing Bethel College’s vision and mission,” Milliman said. “It is a privilege to join an academic community known not only for its rigorous instruction and liberal arts emphasis, but also for its Anabaptist values.

“The most impressive feature of Bethel, however, is the people that compose this unique community. They manifest the highest levels of professional qualifications, practices and achievements. More importantly, they are kind, open and welcoming. It is an honor now to be counted among them.”

For more of this article, visit the Bethel College website.

Former Wichita Wild head coach to lead Thresher football

Bethel College athletic director Kent Allshouse announced March 30 that Morris Lolar was appointed head football coach.

Lolar, a Wichita native, comes to Bethel from Independence Community College, where he has been defensive coordinator and secondary coach since January 2014.

From 2009-13, Lolar was on the coaching staff for Wichita’s Indoor Football League (IFL) team, the Wild, first as interim head coach and assistant defensive coordinator and then as head coach.

In 2013, Lolar led the Wild to a 12–2 record and a league championship.

Lolar has had defensive coaching stints at Northwest Mississippi Community College, Senatobia; Texas A&M-Commerce; Friends University, Wichita; and Wichita East and Wichita North high schools.

At A&M-Commerce, Lolar coached four All-Lone Star Conference selections, including an NCAA Division II First Team All-American pick. At Friends, he had three All-KCAC picks and a two-time NAIA All-Americans.

Lolar was an All-City defensive pick at Wichita South High School. As a collegiate player, Lolar lettered his freshman season at the University of Minnesota, then transferred to Friends University, where he was a three-year starter and two-time All-American.

For more of this article, visit the Bethel College website.

Family program April 26 at Kauffman Museum

At 2 p.m. Sunday, April 26, bring children and grandchildren to celebrate Earth Day and help Kauffman Museum launch its new collaborative project with Trees for Life/Books for Life International.

Children will participate in a brainstorming workshop with creative writing facilitator Gail Pryce ’83 to develop text for a book to be produced during Kauffman Museum’s Uncle Carl’s Camp the week of June 15-19.

Children in grades three through six enrolled in the summer camp session will illustrate the story, and older youth in grades seven through 12 will design the book before it’s published and distributed worldwide via Trees for Life’s “Books for Life” initiative.

A representative from Trees for Life will speak at the April 26 program.

For more information, contact Andi Schmidt Andres ’84 or Annette LeZotte at Kauffman Museum at 316-283-1612.

Wind Ensemble to give free concert April 19

The Bethel College Wind Ensemble will give a concert at 7 p.m. Sunday, April 19, in Memorial Hall with special guests Jerry Toews ’66, the McPherson Brass Choir and William Browning.

Admission is free, while a freewill offering to support instrumental music at Bethel College will be taken.

The concert will feature classics, such as Rossini’s “William Tell Overture,” Sousa’s “The Thunderer” and Holst’s “Second Suite in F Major.” The concert also will feature operatic baritone William Browning in Rossini’s “Largo al factotum” from “The Barber of Seville” (made famous by Looney Tunes) and the “Te Deum” from Puccini’s “Tosca.” Issei Tsuji, winner of this year’s concert contest, will perform Arthur Pryor’s “Thoughts of Love” with the Wind Ensemble.

The highlight of the concert is a collaboration with Toews and the McPherson Brass Choir. The ensembles will perform separately and combined.

“I have enjoyed working with Jerry on this program, and I look forward to our concert together,” said Chris David Westover, director of instrumental music. “Jerry is a master teacher, a great musician and a distinguished alumnus. I am so pleased to have him on campus to work with our students.”

New look, features make tuning in to radio station easier

From jazz to country to heavy metal music, you can probably find it on Bethel College’s student-run radio station, KBCU 88.1 FM.

For most of the station’s existence, the listening audience has been limited to “greater metropolitan North Newton” (not a large geographical range). But new technology in recent years, and a just-launched branding campaign by a Bethel graphic design major, aim to change that.

To see the new look, go to kbcu.bethelks.edu.

Tim Buller ‘96 is in his 13th year as KBCU general manager.

“I was involved with KBCU as a student when Thane Chastain was the GM,” he said. “I started as GM myself in 2002, and I’ve taught Radio Practicum every semester since then. It typically averages around a dozen students per semester.”

Radio Practicum students make up the bulk of programmers on the station.

Seniors Shianne Defreese, a social work major from Goessel, and Luke Loganbill, an elementary education major from Moundridge, share the 8-10 p.m. Sunday slot.

“We try to do a little bit of everything,” Defreese said. “We play music and sometimes have conversations to make it more interesting for those who are taking the time to listen. We look up different topic ideas online [and chat about] whatever comes to our minds. [We recently] had a trivia quiz on a movie quote, with the winner getting a Mojo’s drink.”

They also invited Moundridge poet Dan Pohl on the show to talk about his writing, and hope to have more guests throughout the semester.

The show’s music format is mostly country, although “we try to play a little bit of every kind of music, oldies and newer stuff,” Defreese said. “It’s country when we don’t get requests.”

For more of this article, visit the Bethel College website.

Alum, student awarded prestigious fellowships for grad studies

In the past two months, a Bethel College alumnus and a student have received exciting news related to graduate studies.

Guadalupe Gonzalez, a 2014 graduate in psychology and business, has been awarded a Ford Fellowship, only one of about 60 pre-doctoral fellowships given in 2015 across a wide variety of disciplines in research-based fields.

These provide three years of support for individuals engaged in study leading to a Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree.

The National Research Council awards the fellowships on behalf of the Ford Foundation to individuals who “have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.”

The fellowship confers “$24,000 per year for three years, plus some additional benefits,” said Dwight Krehbiel, professor of psychology and Gonzalez’s major adviser. “This is surely one of the most prestigious graduate fellowships for minority students.”

Gonzalez works as an admissions counselor at Bethel College and will start doctoral studies at the University of Texas at Austin in cognitive neuroscience next fall.

Earlier in the spring semester, Dylan Jantz, a senior with a double major in mathematics and chemistry and a minor in computer science who will graduate in May, learned he had been accepted into a chemical engineering doctoral program at The University of Kansas.

“This is exciting for Dylan and for Bethel,” said Gary Histand, professor of chemistry (currently on a two-year leave to teach chemistry in China). “Dylan will receive a stipend of $25-30,000 and will have his tuition waived, plus health insurance. It sounds like a good first job, and he gets to earn a Ph.D. along the way.

“This is the way students can do engineering at Bethel,” Histand continued. “Take math, science and computer science classes; do well in them; apply to graduate school. Dylan has worked hard and has the fruit of his labor as a reward.”

For more of this article, visit the Bethel College website.

KATS announces student honors in athletic training

Two member colleges in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC), including Bethel College, have the top number of 1st Team honors for the 2014 calendar year, announced recently by the Kansas Athletic Trainers’ Society (KATS).

Six Bethel students were named to the 1st Team. The only school with more was Sterling College with seven.

The Bethel students are seniors Mariah Ekart, Wamego, Tori Kaufman, North Newton, Kendra Scott, Newton, Tanner Steingard, Henderson, Nebraska, and Lauren Ulrich, Walnut, California, along with December 2014 graduate Taylor Morris, Wichita.

Morris and Steingard made 1st Team for the second straight year. The others were previously named to the 2nd or Honorable Mention Team.

In order to be make the KATS All-Academic 1st Team, honorees must be a junior or above in academic standing and active within the professional phase of their athletic training education program (ATEP), with a minimum of five academic semesters completed, and must have achieved a 3.80/4.0 KATS honors average (the average of the student’s spring GPA plus fall GPA plus cumulative GPA).

Bethel also had one student named to the KATS 2nd Team and one student to the Honorable Mention Team.

Brooke Powers, senior from Wamego, earned 2nd Team honors and Rachael Terbush, sophomore from Castle Rock, Colorado, received Honorable Mention.