Carbon atoms flit ceaselessly through our lands and lives, conveying the sun’s sustaining energy in endless cycles between air and life and back to air again. These silent streams of carbon, propelled by sun, thus connect all species in a planet-wide continuum: carbon atoms released to air from decaying garden compost may be wafted far afield to be captured by a tropical tree and reappear in your neighbour’s banana.
People have always depended on these carbon flows, but as our numbers and wants have multiplied, we have been meddling more and more with the natural carbon cycles, by despoiling our lands and burning of fossil fuels. Symptoms of our use and misuse of carbon are reflected now in global worries about climate, hunger, extinction of species, energy, and societal conflict. These stresses will not be resolved by science alone; they demand also our learning to live more wisely and creatively within Earth’s carbon cycle.
Dr. Janzen aims to describe the story of carbon flowing through nature and society, and then to explore some questions that emerge: questions relevant to all of us, enfolding interwoven strands of science, of ethics, of wonder—and ultimately—of hope.
‘Light, entertaining’ production the culmination of seven months of hard work
Canadian Mennonite University’s Opera and Musical Theatre Workshop is proud to present The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Directed by David Klassen, the production will run for four shows: Thursday, March 5 through Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, March 8 at 2:30 PM. The performances take place in the Laudamus Auditorium (500 Shaftesbury Blvd.). Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students, and available at CMU’s main reception desk or at the door. Reserve by calling 204-487-3300.
Written by the German composer Otto Nicolai, The Merry Wives of Windsor is a three-act opera based on William Shakespeare’s comedic play.
After receiving identical love-letters from the repugnant Sir John Falstaff, Mrs. Alice Ford and Mrs. Meg Page play along with Falstaff’s love affairs in order to expose and humiliate him.
While all this scheming is going on, the beautiful Anne Page has fallen for the handsome Fenton, but Dr. Cajus, a quick-tempered doctor, and Slender, a brown-nosing coward, fight for Anne’s favour, while she finds both of them loathsome.
Somehow Anne has to get her happy ending with Fenton, even though Mr. Page promises Slender his daughter’s hand in marriage, and Mrs. Page desires Dr. Cajus to marry her daughter.
“The story is light and entertaining, and the characters are extremely colourful,” says Klassen, Instructor of Music at CMU. “It’s a production that will be entertaining for nearly all age groups.”
The four performances are the culmination of seven months of hard work for the more than 25 students enrolled in Klassen’s Opera Workshop course.
The course gives students an understanding of how much energy and effort it takes to communicate when performing operatic works, and students learn how to work as part of an ensemble.
Klassen says the course is made accessible to students of all levels, and adds that this cast is one of the strongest he’s ever worked with at CMU.
“My hope for this production is that students will walk away from the experience knowing that they have been held to the highest standard possible, and that they have created for themselves one of the most memorable experiences of their lives,” Klassen says.
He adds that as a professional himself, he remembers every show he’s ever been a part of.
“The cast becomes a family, and even within a university like CMU where community is a great focus, they build even stronger relationships through the preparation of something of this magnitude,” Klassen says.
“I hope that my guidance inspires, and that they take what they’ve learned with them into every musical endeavour in the community, staged or not—the understanding that these relationships are meaningful, and that the hard work is more rewarding than they could imagine.”
Opera Workshop students mount a full-scale production every second year.Past productions have included The Mikado, a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, and Die Fledermaus, a German operetta by Johann Strauss II.
In the years in between, students present scenes from a variety of different works.
About CMU A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences and social sciences, and graduate degrees in Theology and Ministry. CMU has over 1,600 students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury campus and in its Menno Simons College and Outtatown programs.
Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2
CMU’s students give top marks to faculty, academics, and community
Canadian Mennonite University students have given top marks to the faculty, academics, and community at the university.
A Maclean’sMagazine feature published this month gives a snapshot of the 2014 Canadian University Survey Consortium’s (CUSC) findings, in which CMU placed in the Top Four out of 28 universities in four categories highlighted in the article.
The statements reflect how students feel about their professors and how comfortable they feel at their university.
Link to Maclean’s Magazine article
When presented with the statement, “Generally, I am satisfied with the quality of teaching I have received,” 58 per cent of respondents from CMU said that they strongly agree—earning CMU the top spot out of the 28 universities surveyed.
Student responses to the statement, “Most of my professors treat students as individuals, not just numbers,” also put CMU at #1.
CMU placed second when students were presented with the statement, “Most of my professors are intellectually stimulating in their teaching,” and fourth when presented with the statement, “I feel as if I belong at this university.”
To obtain the results, the CUSC administered an online questionnaire to a random sample of middle-years students at each school.
CMU President Dr. Cheryl Pauls says she is deeply encouraged by the way CMU students ranked their university.
“This affirmation is a form of gratitude, and helps us to keep providing this quality of education,” Pauls says. “We consider mentorship to be vital to the learning students receive, and the survey demonstrates that students see and appreciate that faculty take them seriously as individuals both inside and beyond the classroom.”
“I’m persuaded that our students will show a similar interest and care to others based on how they have been taught,” Pauls adds. “That bolsters our courage and humility at the same time.”
A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences and social sciences, and graduate degrees in Theology and Ministry. CMU has over 1,600 students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury campus and in its Menno Simons College and Outtatown programs.
Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2
What would it mean to turn the Kapyong Barracks into an urban reserve?
That’s the key question Canadian Mennonite University’s next Face2Face community discussion will explore. Titled, “On Being Good Neighbours: An Urban Reserve at Kapyong?,” the event takes place on Thursday, March 5 at 7:00 PM in Marpeck Commons (2299 Grant Ave.). Admission is free, and everyone is welcome to attend.
Participants in the discussion include Chief Glenn Hudson, Chief of the Peguis First Nation; Jamie Wilson, Commissioner for the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba; and Leah Gazan, Faculty/Special Projects Coordinator at University of Winnipeg and President of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg.
David Balzer, Assistant Professor of Communications and Media at CMU, will moderate the event, which is being organized with the participation of Steve Heinrichs, Director of Indigenous Relations for Mennonite Church Canada.
Together, the participants will explore opportunities and practical challenges of an urban reserve at Kapyong Barracks.
The discussion will include treaty details, site vision, exploring possibilities, the current stumbling blocks, the concerns that some have raised, and a look at what it might mean to be good neighbours in this place.
Balzer believes this is an important conversation for CMU to host because the Kapyong Barracks are located less than three kilometres away from the university. Nearly everyone at the university drives past the barracks every day.
“It’s a visual reminder of the question, ‘How do we best use this land?’” Balzer says.
He adds that over the past few years, CMU has become increasingly interested in what it means to be good neighbours to Canada’s First Nations community.
“We’re trying to understand how to have a conversation around our history as a country, as a province, and as a city,” Balzer says.
Formerly a Canadian Forces base, Kapyong Barracks was vacated in 2004. The Department of National Defence declared the 159-acre site, located on Kenaston Boulevard, surplus.
The Canadian government and four Manitoba First Nations are currently involved in a dispute regarding control of the land. According to a CBC report from January 2014, the First Nations argue that under a treaty land entitlement process, they are allowed to negotiate for federal property that has been declared surplus.
Gazan says she doesn’t understand why the land isn’t given to the First Nations.
“Nobody questions it when IKEA goes up, nobody questions the strip malls going up, there’s no big community debate when we see new restaurants coming up, so why is this an issue?” she says.
Gazan adds that she is looking forward to delving into the topic on March 5.
“Any time you have people willing to come together to discuss these difficult issues, it’s positive,” she says.
Steve Heinrichs agrees.
“My hope is that we would be able to have a conversation about what some indigenous people are envisioning for that space—a conversation that would demystify and speak into some of the misconceptions about what an urban reserve is,” he says.
Started in 2013, Face2Face is a series of conversations organized by CMU, designed to engage the community on a wide variety of current events and issues at the intersection of faith and life.
“On Being Good Neighbours: An Urban Reserve at Kapyong?” is the last of four Face2Face events CMU is hosting during the 2014-15 school year. For details, please visit www.cmu.ca/face2face.
About CMU
A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences and social sciences, and graduate degrees in Theology and Ministry. CMU has over 1,600 students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury campus and in its Menno Simons College and Outtatown programs.
Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2
Rev. Dr. David Widdicombe to speak at Canadian Mennonite University
An Anglican priest will explore just war theory in an upcoming lecture at Canadian Mennonite University.
Rev. Dr. David Widdicombe, Rector of Saint Margaret’s Anglican Church in Winnipeg, will give a presentation titled, “To Sow the Wind: An Argument Against the War on Terror and Other Bad Ideas,” at 7:00 PM on Thursday, February 26 in Marpeck Commons (2299 Grant Ave.).
Presented by CMU’s Biblical and Theological Studies Department, the lecture will explore a particular way of looking at war—specifically, the war on terror.
“What I hope people go away with is additional intellectual resources for thinking about what the government ought to do in the circumstances we presently find ourselves in,” Widdicombe says. “I’m not suggesting that I have the answers, but what I’m suggesting is that we need to be thoughtful about the kinds of questions we’re asking.”
Widdicombe says that just war theory has received a lot of attention in recent times, but the results have been mixed. It is no longer a tradition of thought designed to outline how force is to be used in the restraint of evil.
Instead, under the pressure of a variety of factors including humanitarian interventionism, theories that democracies do not fight wars against each other, Western exceptionalism, and supposed states of emergency, the tradition has lost its profound Augustinian political scepticism and moral realism.
Widdicombe’s lecture will ask whether the restraint of force wasn’t always a better, foundational idea than the pursuit of justice in the just war tradition—a tradition that once thought of war as tragically endemic and sometimes justified, but never simply unambiguously just.
“Behind all this is my assumption that Christians, whether pacifist or not, have a stake in governments getting this right rather than getting this wrong,” Widdicombe says.
Dr. Karl Koop, Professor of History and Theology, and Coordinator of CMU’s Biblical and Theological Studies Program, invited Widdicombe to present the lecture after hearing him speak about just war theory this past summer.
“Christian pacifists sometimes place Christians, who are not pacifist, into a just war theory box and then assume that their position may not be sound, nor well thought through, nor theologically tenable,” Koop says. “Dr. Widdicombe’s position is of a different sort. He is seeking to be a faithful Christian and recognizes the complexities of conflict. While not holding a pacifist position, he is not enamoured with just war reasoning either, at least not the way in which it is applied in the contemporary context.”
Koop adds that he is looking forward to hearing what Widdicombe has to say at CMU, a university that lists “Educating for Peace and Justice” as one of its four core commitments.
“We may differ with Dr. Widdicombe’s point of view, but he is the kind of conversation partner that we need beside us as we together think through what it means to be faithful in a year of war and conflict—and 100 years after the big war that was supposed to end all wars,” Koop says.
Asking questions and being faithful central themes as Dr. Henry Janzen visits CMU
The importance of community, asking questions, collaborating, and trusting God were key themes as Dr. Henry Janzen visited Canadian Mennonite University earlier this month as the university’s first-ever Scientist-in-Residence.
Janzen, a research scientist in soil biochemistry at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research centre in Lethbridge, AB, was on campus February 2-6.
He shared his insights, observations, experience, and personal reflections in a number of speaking events including a student forum, chapel, and lecture.
While sharing his faith story during a Tuesday morning chapel gathering, Janzen told students, faculty, and staff how he grew up as a timid farm boy ensconced in the church: “two robust sermons on Sundays, bolstered by Sunday and Saturday school” allowed him to grow in his faith.
Dr. Janzen addresses the audience at the public lecture on February 4 at CMU’s Marpeck Commons
As he left home to study and advanced in his education, Janzen’s questions—and his once-simple faith—became more complex. The words of the disciple Thomas echoed in his mind: “Lord, I don’t know where you are going, so how can I know the way?”
Janzen went on to share that studying the story of Thomas has helped him see that questions are “not a peril, but a treasure.”
He added four things that he has learned during a lifetime of questioning: exploring questions is best done with other people; asking questions demands honesty and precise phrasing; the questions that hound him are often shared by others; and that Anabaptism compels him to test his “faith hypotheses in the experiment of daily dilemmas.”
Janzen then quoted T.S. Eliot: “We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.”
“That’s what I live for, my all-consuming hypothesis,” Janzen said. “That the end of all my exploring will find me nearing home again, forgiven, quickening, re-awakening in the will and wake of One who all this time has been urging me home, steering me with the questions.”
In addition to sharing his faith story, Janzen gave a public lecture on February 4, titled, “Following Carbon Flows Through Life and Times.” Janzen provided an overview of the carbon cycle and the way its flows connect all species in a planet-wide continuum. He also explored some questions that emerge: questions relevant to all of us, enfolding interwoven strands of science, of ethics, and ultimately, of hope.
The following evening, Janzen participated in the latest installment of “Germinating Conversations,” an ongoing series of dialogues that brings together people from urban and rural locations to discuss faith, food, farming, and land from a range of perspectives.
During his time at CMU, Janzen lived in the university’s residence and ate in the cafeteria, where he eagerly interacted with students.
He also made presentations about his work in two biology classes.
Dr. Janzen (r) with CMU President Cheryl Pauls
Dr. John Brubacher, Assistant Professor of Biology at CMU, said he greatly appreciated Janzen’s visit and the fresh perspectives he brought to campus.
“He’s a soil chemist but he speaks like a poet,” Brubacher said. “He’s got a great way of communicating and a deep humility that make him very accessible and approachable.”
Dr. Tim Rogalsky, Chair of the Science and Faith Advisory Committee, which was responsible for organizing Janzen’s visit, agreed.
“Henry is an engaging speaker, and he offered a sense of hopefulness despite some of the doom and gloom surrounding issues of global environmental change,” Rogalsky said. “It was a great week.”
Janzen, a long-time CMU supporter whose three children were students at the university, described his time as Scientist-in-Residence as enlightening and energizing.
“I’ve had a real education here in a week,” Janzen said, adding that being able to dialogue with faculty from a variety of disciplines, as well as students and members of the wider community, stretched his thinking.
“I’m very grateful for the privilege I’ve had here,” Janzen said. “I’m coming away from (CMU) with a renewed gratitude for this place.”
Many young Canadians have stepped away from institutionalized religion, a trend that has been growing for the past 25 years. Is the church not listening or do young adults no longer care? Has the church lost touch with the issues about which young adults are most passionate? How significant is the church’s worship to the participation and involvement of young adults? Do young adults feel any responsibility in keeping the legacy of the church going? What does it mean for the church to be “faithful” in this time and place?
Join us as we investigate young adult perspectives and convictions related to church and faith.
Co-hosted by CMU faculty Irma Fast Dueck and graduate student Peter Epp are, a diverse panel of young adults including Kirsten Hamm-Epp, Danielle Morton, Mike Wiebe, Lukas Thiessen, and Harrison Davey share their personal experiences and impressions about the chruch.
Book launch set for Wednesday, February 25 at McNally Robinson
A new book by a Canadian Mennonite University professor explores the experience of Mennonites in California.
Written by Dr. Brian Froese, Associate Professor of History at CMU, California Mennonites is available in stores now. A Winnipeg book launch event is planned for Wednesday, February 25 at 7:00 PM at McNally Robinson (1120 Grant Ave.).
The book traces the history of Mennonites in the Golden State from the nineteenth-century migrants who came in search of sunshine and fertile soil, to the traditionally agrarian community that struggled with issues of urbanization, race, gender, education, and labour in the twentieth century, to the evangelically-oriented, partially-assimilated Mennonites of today.
“What makes the California story fascinating to me is that, unlike many of the other Mennonite immigration stories, this one has very little to do with religion itself,” Froese says. “It is primarily for economic betterment, whether it’s escaping the depression of the 1890s or the 1930s, and it’s also a question of people pursuing physical healing and health.”
Froese places Mennonite experiences against a backdrop of major historical events, including World War II and Vietnam, and social issues, from labor disputes to the evolution of mental health care.
“It’s a book that speaks to the experience of people who are not just Mennonite and not just living in California,” Froese says. “This is a case study that looks at what happens when a small, ethno-religious group that is mission-minded finds itself in a rapidly changing environment that is marked by modernity, urbanization, and secularization.”
Three primary strategies emerged as California Mennonites strove to keep their identity intact: some embraced the twentieth-century American evangelicalism of Billy Graham; some reclaimed their Anabaptist heritage rooted in sixteenth-century ideals like pacifism, congregationalism, and discipleship; and others committed to a type of social justice that saw them working with the government to bring quiet transformation to Californian society.
One thing that makes the California Mennonite experience unique, Froese says, is that it is dominated by the Mennonite Brethren.
“This is one place where the Mennonite Brethren are more numerous, and much more influential, than other larger national Mennonite denominations,” Froese says.
He adds that Mennonites everywhere, regardless of their location or exact denominational affiliation, will be able to learn something from the book.
Dr. Brian Froese, author of California Mennonites, will host a February 25 book launch event at McNally Robinson
Ultimately, California Mennonites is a story about a people grappling with what it means to be good citizens and good Christians.
“The places may be different, and some of what’s going on of course is different from today, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from, be inspired by, or be cautioned by the experience of our co-religionists in other places,” Froese says.
“It’s no different than reading about the sixteenth century Anabaptists and learning from their experience in those contexts.”
Froese has taught at CMU since 2005. In the past, he has published articles on the Anabaptist vision; archival research and pedagogy; and, popular eschatologies from the horror of Left Behind, dystopic California in evangelical fiction, and lyrics of U2 and Black Sabbath.
California Mennonites is his first book.
About CMU A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences and social sciences, and graduate degrees in Theology and Ministry. CMU has over 1,600 students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury campus and in its Menno Simons College and Outtatown programs.
Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2
Criminal, prosecutor reunite at Canadian School of Peacebuilding
John Fox and Rupert Ross are used to seeing each other in the courtroom, not the classroom.
When Ross worked as the Assistant Crown Attorney for the District of Kenora, Fox encountered him during numerous bail hearings after being arrested for a variety of crimes, including assault and weapons charges.
“He was the enemy,” says Fox, 43. “It was always us against them.”
The two reunited at the 2014 Canadian School of Peacebuilding (CSOP), this time on friendlier terms: Fox enrolled in Exploring Indigenous Justice and Healing, a course taught by Ross.
Between 1992 and 1995, Ross was seconded to the federal Aboriginal Justice Directorate. He travelled across Canada, examining Aboriginal approaches to justice with special emphasis on healing programs for victims, offenders, families, and communities.
He wrote two books as a result: Dancing with a Ghost: Exploring Indian Reality and Return to the Teachings: Exploring Aboriginal Justice.
Fox discovered the books as a student at Menno Simons College (MSC).
“I loved his books,” Fox said, adding that reading them gave him a better understanding of his Aboriginal heritage, the gap in communication between Aboriginal peoples and the dominant white Canadian society, and the history of violence in his family.
“I was hurt a lot as a child,” Fox said. “Because of that hurt, if you don’t deal with it properly, you tend to hurt other people.”
Fox grew up in Big Trout Lake First Nation, a fly-in community in northwestern Ontario. From the age of 11 to 15, he was sexually abused. He lost two close friends to suicide as a teenager, and turned to drugs and alcohol to deal with the pain.
Until a few years ago, he had spent most of his life working as a drug dealer. Fox was a violent person whose run-ins with the law led to nine or 10 stints in jail.
In 2008, his then-girlfriend’s sister committed suicide in front of him. Blaming Fox, the woman’s brother and boyfriend burned down his house.
After the suicide, things began to change for Fox. He stopped dealing drugs and started attending Alcoholics Anonymous. He began volunteering at a church drop-in centre and embarked on a healing journey that has relied heavily on traditional Aboriginal practices.
Today, Fox has been sober for four years and he is happily married.
Reuniting with Ross at the CSOP was a pleasure for Fox, and an indication of how far he has come.
“He’s such a storyteller,” Fox said of Ross. “He reminds me of an elder. Ask him a question and he doesn’t answer, he tells you a story.”
Fox may be enrolled in Conflict Resolution classes at MSC, but he says that what he’s really studying is the man he sees when he looks in the mirror.
“I’m studying myself, because I was a person with so much conflict.”
‘It’s a meaningful competition,’ says Anna Bigland-Pritchard
Piano, cello, and vocal performances were all part of the final round of the 10th annual Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition at Canadian Mennonite University.
Held on Wednesday, January 28 in the university’s Laudamus Auditorium, the competition featured six performers who progressed from an initial field of 18 competitors.
Peter Janzen (center) with the six finalists of the 10th annual Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition
Anna Bigland-Pritchard (soprano), Deidra Borus (soprano), Yunah Chin (cello), Breanna Heinrichs (piano), Alyssa Hildebrand (soprano), and Anneli Loepp Thiessen (piano) were the six finalists.
Bigland-Pritchard, a voice major in her final year of study, was surprised to win first place and the $700 award that comes along with it: She fell ill with laryngitis last semester which put her behind in her preparations for the competition.
“I just felt happy to be a part of the competition,” Bigland-Pritchard said. “I’m very humbled, honoured, and excited to win.”
Bigland-Pritchard is no stranger to the competition. She participated in 2012 and 2014, placing third both times.
Winner of the 2015 Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition Anna Bigland-Pritchard with Peter Janzen
This year, Loepp Thiessen placed second and received $500. Third place and its $300 prize went to Chin.
Bigland-Pritchard said that there is a great sense of camaraderie among the competitors.
“It’s a meaningful competition,” Bigland-Pritchard said. “We all want the best for each other, even though we’re technically competing.”
Terry Mierau, a former opera singer and alumnus of CMBC, one of CMU’s predecessor colleges, as well as Dr. Darryl Friesen, Assistant Professor of Piano and General Music Studies at Providence University College, served as adjudicators for the finals.
“It was very cool to receive their affirmation,” Bigland-Pritchard said. “It’s very meaningful to have that kind of feedback.”
Janet Brenneman, Dean of the CMU School of Music, said the competition is great because it creates a buzz on campus.
“It allows for students to bring their best performances, and for the entire CMU student body and community to see that play out in this competition,” said Brenneman, noting that a capacity crowd filled the auditorium for the finals.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for students to perform their solo repertoire, and to see and hear what everyone else is working on,” Brenneman added. “We don’t always get that kind of opportunity.”
The competition is made possible by Peter Janzen of Deep River, Ontario, and named in memory of his wife, Verna Mae, who died of cancer in 1989 at age 53. Janzen attends the final round of competition each year, and speaks with competitors.
“It’s always a pleasure to see Peter,” Brenneman said. “He’s made a lovely connection with our students. It’s not often that students get to connect with a CMU donor in such a tangible way.”
For Janzen, sponsoring the event is a way to contribute toward the success of CMU. He wanted to support CMU via a music competition because he and Verna met through their interest in choral singing.
“I always dreamed of someday dedicating a memorial to my wife—a wonderful, loving, sensitive, intelligent, and happy companion,” Janzen said in 2007. “Through the Verna Mae Janzen Music Competition at CMU, I can keep her memory alive.”
For more photos documenting the 2015 Verna Mae Music Competition finale, please click here.
About CMU A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences and social sciences, and graduate degrees in Theology and Ministry. CMU has over 1,600 students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury campus and in its Menno Simons College and Outtatown programs.
Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2
The book traces the history of Mennonites in the Golden State from the nineteenth-century migrants who came in search of sunshine and fertile soil, to the traditionally agrarian community that struggled with issues of urbanization, race, gender, education, and labour in the twentieth century, to the evangelically-oriented, partially-assimilated Mennonites of today.
