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Comic operetta coming to Bethel stage

The Bethel College theater and music departments will bring one of Gilbert & Sullivan’s most popular short operas to the Krehbiel Auditorium stage.

Performances of the comedic operetta The Pirates of Penzance will be at 7:30 p.m. March 7 and 8 with a 2 p.m. March 9 matinee, all in Krehbiel Auditorium in the Fine Arts Center.

Ticket prices are $12 for adults; $10 for non-Bethel students and senior citizens; and $5 for Bethel students and children ages 3-12. Tickets are available at Thresher Bookstore in Schultz Student Center, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays; by phone with a credit card, 316-284-5205; or at the door, subject to availability.

This opera has been proven to keep audiences entertained and laughing until the very end.

Pirates of Penzance is a comedy, definitely, said Audra Miller, fifth-year senior from Hesston, who plays Ruth, the pirates’ maid-of-all-work. It’s high-energy, and it’s gonna look cool.

Plus, she added, It’s good to be cultured every once in a while.

The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty, is about a goofy band of sappy pirates, a major general’s large family of girls, some policemen and all of their shenanigans.

For more of this article, visit http://www.bethelks.edu/news-events/news/post/4970/.

Biology professor was beloved teacher to many

A. Wayne Wiens, Bethel College professor emeritus of biology, died unexpectedly Feb. 6 from complications of a fall suffered in December. He was 77.

He was born on Oct. 31, 1936, grew up on a farm near Hillsboro and graduated from Hillsboro High School. He completed a natural science major at Bethel in 1958, followed by a master’s degree in zoology at The University of Kansas.

In 1960, Bethel recruited Wiens for a two-year appointment to teach biology, just days before he would have committed to a term of service in agriculture in Bolivia. Wiens’ first experience with teaching was as a graduate assistant at KU, but those two years at Bethel settled his career choice.

Wiens continued to teach at Bethel for most of the next 50 years.

He earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and cell biology at Northwestern University, Chicago, including a year of research at the University of Bern, all funded by a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship; did two years of post-doctoral work; and spent three years as chair of the biology department at Kalamazoo (Mich.) College.

Generations of Bethel students loved and respected Wiens as a teacher. Bethel alumnus Seiichi Matsuda ’85, who recently became dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies at Rice University, Houston, spoke on behalf of Wiens’ many students at a Feb. 16 memorial service.

"I want to express our deep gratitude for the way Wayne mentored, guided and taught us, making us curious people, loving us, pointing us in the direction of productive lives," Matsuda said.

For more of this article, visit http://www.bethelks.edu/news-events/news/post/4966/.

Bethel continues to qualify for nationals in forensics

One Bethel College student has qualified his second event and another will make his first trip to the 2014 American Forensic Association-National Individual Events Tournament.

Hank Unruh, senior from Newton, who had already qualified in Impromptu Speaking, finished second in Extemporaneous Speaking at the Kansas State Individual Events (KASIE) tournament, Feb. 15 on the Bethel campus. That was enough to give him the third leg needed to qualify for the event at AFA-NIET.

Bethel junior Leland Brown, Galveston, Texas, was first in Dramatic Interpretation, which qualified him for nationals.

Bethel College’s tradition of forensics excellence is now in the hands of a new leader.

Bethel is one of only six colleges or universities to qualify for and compete at the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament (AFA-NIET) every year since it started in 1978.

During the past year, the team has seen some changes. Perhaps most significant was Professor of Communication Arts John McCabe-Juhnke ’78 stepping down as director of forensics at the end of the 2012-13 school year in order to focus more on Bethel’s theater program.

This opened up a position and opportunity for current director Mallory Marsh.

Marsh herself has been a forensics competitor since high school. She decided to continue in college, as a member of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln team.

For more information, visit http://www.bethelks.edu/news-events/news/post/4965/ and http://www.bethelks.edu/news-events/news/post/4967/.

Grandparents’ names sought for visit day

This year’s Grandparents Day is scheduled for Friday, April 11. The popular one-day event is planned and hosted by the Student Alumni Association (SAA). More than 100 grandparents and guests attend each year.

So all grandparents of current students might receive an invitation, parents as well as grandparents are asked to email the following to wnugent@bethelks.edu by Monday, March 10:

  1. name of current Bethel student,
  2. name(s) and address(es) of the student’s grandparent(s) and great-grandparent(s) who would appreciate receiving invitations.

Other guests are welcome to accompany grandparents who may need transportation or assistance while on campus. If needed, family also may email a request grandparents NOT receive an invitation due to health or travel concerns (they may be on the invitation list from the past).

For more information, contact SAA adviser and director of alumni relations Dave Linscheid ’75, 316-284-5252, dlin@bethelks.edu. Thank you.

Dad, daughter work on first book together

Dan Pohl and his daughter Jessie, Moundridge, decided to do something new together: publish a book.

Dan has taught at Hutchinson Community College (currently English, English composition and German; in the past, psychology and marriage and family courses) for 31 years, and has been writing poetry for more than a decade. Jessie is a junior art major at Bethel College.

At the beginning of this year, Dan saw his first book-length poetry manuscript come off the press as Autochthonous: Found in Place, with pen-and-India-ink drawing illustrations by Jessie.

I’ve been writing poetry for 12 years ago, off and on, here and there, Dan says. [More recently], I started writing seriously, as in constantly. I’d see something interesting and then jot it down - those snapshot moments.

Although he had produced a couple of chapbooks, It took that long to gain enough courage to publish something [with a press]. The hardest thing for a writer is to put your stuff out there.

The last two Kansas poets laureate had their contests listed on the Kansas Poets web page [kansaspoets.com], so I started entering and I started winning. That began to bring things to life. I began meeting some interesting, intelligent people across the Kansas poetry landscape.

For more of this article, visit http://www.bethelks.edu/news-events/news/post/4969/.

Potter’s love of natural world inspires his work

Potter Travis Berning, a native of western Kansas now living and working in western North Carolina, will give the next Greer Lecture at Bethel College.

Berning’s show, Recent Works, opened Feb. 21 in the Fine Arts Center Gallery.

The lecture is at 7 p.m. March 6 in the Administration Building chapel, followed by an artist reception outside the FAC Gallery. Both are free and open to the public.

In addition to the Greer Lecture, Berning will spend several days on campus as artist in residence. He will conduct ceramics workshops with Bethel students and area high school students from 1-4 p.m. March 7 and from 9 a.m.-noon March 8, as well as meeting with senior art majors in the Art Seminar March 6.

Berning, originally from Marienthal, started college at Garden City Community College with a scholarship in two-dimensional art (drawing and painting). After taking a class in ceramics, however, he realized he wanted to work with clay, so he transferred to Wichita State University, where he completed a bachelor of fine arts degree.

The studio at WSU became Berning’s second home, where he focused on developing technical abilities and originality as well as on the functional aspects of the pots. Striving to create something unique and his own, he began experimenting with leaves.

For more of this article, visit http://www.bethelks.edu/news-events/news/post/4968/.

Bethel chosen as Hometown Teams partner site

The Kansas Humanities Council recently announced Bethel College was selected as a Hometown Teams partner site.

Bethel is one of 17 organizations (and the only college or university) that will receive a grant of up to $1,500 to tell the local story of sports and community.

Bethel and the 16 museums, historical societies, libraries and community organizations across the state will use the grant funds to research and document local sports stories as part of the Kansas Humanities Council’s Hometown Teams initiative.

The initiative is named for a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition that tells the story of how sports shape America. Hometown Teams kicks off its statewide tour in Ellinwood in January 2015 and will continue on to stops in Goodland, Greensburg, Atchison, Perry and Humboldt through November 2015.

The Kansas Humanities Council is sponsoring Hometown Teams in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program.

For more of this article, visit http://www.bethelks.edu/news-events/news/post/4957/.

Help needed in identifying man in film

John Thiesen ’82, archivist and co-director of Mennonite Library and Archives, is asking for your help in identifying a man in a film that was made in the late 1960s, early 1970s.

The man is sitting on the Ad Building steps, reading The Naked Ape and eating an apple.

The film can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzFzLY3UsDo. Those with information can email mla@bethelks.edu or go to www.facebook.com/mlabethel.

For those interested in Bethel College history, there’s a film, circa 1958, which can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyLjHl8QGUc. Then-president David C. Wedel ’33 is in the early part of the film.

Showalter to kick off Kansas book tour

Shirley Hershey Showalter, author of Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World, will kick off her Kansas book tour with a program for Kauffman Museum’s Sunday-Afternoon-at-the-Museum.

At 3:30 p.m. March 9, Showalter will reflect on Finding Gold in Our Attics and Basements: How to Find, Use and Share the Artifacts that Prompt Our Stories. Showalter’s book incorporated family photographs and stories in which artifacts, such as her grandmother’s recipe book, supply a rich environment for exploring memories of childhood and young adult years. After the program, Showalter will sign copies of her book. The lecture will be in the museum auditorium, and is free and open to the public.

On March 10, Showalter will speak at Bethel College’s convocation on Five Tips for Making the Most of Your College Investment from the Standpoint of the People Who Will Hire You, Including Yourself. Convocation is at 11 a.m. in Krehbiel Auditorium.

From 3-5 p.m. March 10, Showalter will participate in a book-signing event at Faith and Life Bookstore in downtown Newton. The final program will take place at 7 p.m. that evening in the chapel at Schowalter Villa, Hesston, where she will share A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to My Memoir.

For more information on these free programs, contact Rachel Pannabecker ’80 at Kauffman Museum at kauffman@bethelks.edu.