June 2007 Presidential Update

I write this update after the June meeting of the Board of Trustees. The agenda included several "unusual" items/events. On Friday evening we invited all former trustees and spouses to join us to celebrate the unveiling of Joe Lapp's presidential portrait which will now be added to those of all former EMU presidents in the Presidential Room of the library. We were delighted that 120 friends, family, current/former trustees, and EMU personnel were present.

Architects Sam Jones and Michael Somin were on campus for several days to continue the "program planning" phase of designing a new science center. They presented several sketches from their work with faculty members. Invitations for major lead gifts have been, and will be, presented to a number of donors. In the best case scenario, the completion of new science facilities is more than three years away. The architects will prepare a report for the campus to be available this coming academic year. By any measure, this building project will be at least double, if not triple, the cost of any facility ever built at EMU.

The board took action to request the appointment of a residential housing task force to recommend ideas to improve student housing on campus. We will appoint a group this fall comprising students, student life staff, faculty, and administrators to begin this work. Pending a good fiscal year end for 2006-07, our Finance and Audit Committee could receive a recommendation in November to borrow funds to begin renovation or construction of residence hall space.

Several EMU personnel will be attending the Mennonite Church USA assembly in San Jose July 3-7. In addition to attending delegate and worship sessions, the admissions staff will interact with the 4,000 youth participating in the youth convention, advancement and church relations staff will meet with alumni and friends, and two receptions are planned for university and seminary alumni. A number of EMU folks will be leading convention workshops for both adults and youth. Next Wednesday the presidents of the MEA colleges/seminaries will meet.

In early June EMU sponsored the Emerging Leader's Dinner which was part of Pentecost 2007 organized by Sojourners Magazine and Call to Renewal. Approximately 700 registrants heard presentations, met with members of Congress, and shared stories of organizing to combat poverty. Five EMU personnel were among the audience for a CNN forum with three Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. The intention of the forum was to interact with the candidates on issues of personal faith, politics and poverty. While some of the questions from religious leaders, including Jim Wallis, did focus on poverty, the primary emphasis of questions from Soledad O'Brien of CNN was on the personal faith of the candidates and how faith perspectives shape their approach to public service.

Sojourners/Call to Renewal has issued an invitation to the Republican Party for a similar event in September with leading candidates at that time. It was felt that such a forum works best with a smaller number of candidates rather than with the entire list of candidates currently running for office.

The Emerging Leader's dinner was a popular event for about 250 young adults. Julia Gingrich, recent EMU graduate, was one of several who shared stories; she did a great job telling about experiences from our Middle East cross-cultural. I was given a few minutes to introduce EMU. Numerous conference attendees learned about EMU programs and one college chaplain specifically indicated a great interest in introducing EMS to his pre-seminary students. Several individuals have expressed interest in CJP.

The 15th annual Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, June 10-17, was a great success. Ken J. Nafziger, Mary Kay Adams, and many others deserve our gratitude for what has become a major event in the life of the larger Valley community. You can read an amazing story about Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska on our website; she nearly lost her world-renowned career when a tumor developed in her left arm and she was told she would never play piano with both hands again. Through many treatments and a rare muscle transfer, none of which were guaranteed to be successful, she was able to resume her career. Her performance on Friday evening of the Festival was fantastic.

On June 15 Ken L. Nafziger and I participated in a two-hour meeting at Washington and Lee with two members of the Virginia Tech Review Panel appointed by Gov. Kaine following the Virginia Tech shootings. The panel members wanted to hear from private college leaders how we are preparing for eventual campus crisis events. One of the most important messages was that no one system of "early warning" will cover all possible situations and that every campus should be prepared to utilize a full range of options to communicate during a crisis. It is interesting to read stories in the press about unexpected realities following a tragedy of this magnitude, for example, the overwhelming task of handling the massive influx of expressions of support. Virginia Tech has received multiple truck loads of items from all around the world and it is a huge undertaking simply to manage the cataloging and storage of these materials.

After our return from San Jose I will be in the office several days and then on vacation through July 30. Pat and I will be in Harrisonburg for about 10 days and then taking 10 days to travel in Alberta. I will preach at Tofield Mennonite Church (home of current student Julia Stauffer) on July 22, but the remainder of the time will be for relaxation at Lake Patricia in Jasper and attending a reunion of Pat's father's family near Calgary. Pat has two aunts on that side of her family-one lives in Seward, Alaska and one in Alberta-and that "forces" us to travel to those locations occasionally!

Books I'm reading: Sustainable Leadership by Andy Hargraves and Dean Fink; Air Ball: American Education's Failed Experiment with Elite Athletics by John R. Gerdy; Ten Thousand Horses: How Leaders Harness Raw Potential for Extraordinary Results by John Stahl-Wert (EMU alumnus) and Ken Jennings; The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson.

Loren

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