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New Graduate School of Theology and Ministry

September 19, 2012  – Building on the vision of its founding colleges and its Anabaptist Church owners, Canadian Mennonite University on September 19, 2012 will open its new Graduate School of Theology and Ministry.

The program of celebration for the CMU Graduate School of Theology and Ministry takes place Wednesday, September 19, 11:30 am to 12:00 pm, in the CMU Great Hall (500 Shaftesbury Blvd, north campus).

“Opening the Graduate School renews and formalizes CMU’s commitment to inspire and equip students for pastoral ministry, leadership, scholarship, and service,” says Karl Koop, Director of the Graduate School at CMU.

“The Graduate School of Theology and Ministry continues to have significant connection with various inter-Mennonite denominations. It will serve uniquely as a teaching center of Mennonite Brethren

Biblical Seminary Canada (MBBS Canada), and is a member of the Winnipeg Theological Cooperative and a partner with Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (Elkhart, Indiana) and Steinbach Bible College.

“We are excited to partner with MBBS Canada, and we look forward to welcoming our newest faculty member, Dr. Andrew Dyck, to campus in the new year,” says CMU Interim President & Vice-President Academic Earl Davey. Dyck’s appointment as Assistant Professor of Ministry Studies at CMU is jointly funded by MBBS Canada and the Mennonite Brethren Church of Manitoba. The announcement was made in June 2012 by the Board of Directors of MBBS together with the Board of Governors of Canadian Mennonite University.

Dyck will teach or give leadership in the area of spiritual formation, worship, preaching, ministry supervision, evangelism, leadership development, and pastoral care and counselling. In addition, he will serve as a resource person for the Manitoba Mennonite Brethren Conference.

“His years of experience in pastoral ministry, combined with his studies in Christian spirituality, will very much benefit our students, and through them, the larger church,” says Davey, noting that Dyck will teach alongside CMU’s highly respected Emerti and faculty professors at the CMU Graduate School, including Paul Doerksen, Irma Fast Dueck, Dan Epp-Tiessen, Gerald Gerbrandt Pierre Gilbert, Titus Guenther, Chris Huebner, Harry Huebner, Sheila Klassen-Wiebe, Karl Koop, Gordon Matties, and Gordon Zerbe.

“As a community of scholars, committed to the life of the church, experienced in mission and service, and accomplished in research and publication, the faculty together bring significant gifts and experience to their role as teachers and mentors of our students,” says Davey.

CMU’s graduate programs of study include a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry and Master of Arts in Theological Studies, as well as a Certificate in Christian Studies, with courses in Bible, History, Theology, Ethics, and in Practical Theology and Ministry.

“I believe our programs of study are well developed to meet the needs of our students,” says Koop.  “They are solidly biblical and theological and encourage growth in spiritual and leadership formation. They allow for the testing of gifts through supervised ministry experience and provide opportunities for students who wish to pursue advanced research and scholarship.”

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CMU Honours Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 19, 2012  Canadian Mennonite University is pleased to present its 2012 Blazer Distinguished Community Service Award to Winnipeg’s Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company. In doing so, CMU pays special tribute to company owners Paul and Tabitha Langel and Lyle and Kathy Barkman. The awards ceremony honouring the Manitoba company takes place at 7:00 p.m. on September 28 in the CMU Laudamus Auditorium during the University’s annual Fall Festival.

It took strong faith and $40,000-plus in private loans and savings to start a community-based, environmentally sustainable organic bakery in the 1980s. As a business, it was risky. Who could predict growing a church-kitchen bakery into a thriving business? Who could be sure that customers would pay six or seven times higher on bread prices so that the bakery could pay farmers enough to sustain their organic grain operations?  Who could have foreseen the goodwill of the community, starting with a customer who would give back a paid-for loaf on opening day to use in blessing the new venture?

In 2012, “the little bakery that could” presents both a lifestyle and a business model. It shows what a group of friends can achieve with a good idea done well. The innovative company today employs over 60 people, with everyone earning fair wages and what the owners describe as “a good living,” above standard industry pay. One location has grown to two; they have opened a second business, Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen, selling brand name preserves, baking products, and organic sunflower oil. Their organic grain is ground at the downtown site, and the oil is also pressed on site – not to save on the cost of fuel (which also happens), but to save on the use of fuel, to help conserve finite resources.

Sitting around a small table at their Winnipeg Forks location, the owners serve a generous selection of Tall Grass Prairie cinnamon buns, delicious breads, and local fruit to their CMU guests. Tabitha Langel, who focuses on the baking operations, pours lemon-flavoured water from a large mason jar and places it on the table. The four owners gather round the table, shoulder to shoulder, chatting about an afternoon conflict resolution meeting that they will attend – a customary practice for the company that helps maintain healthy working relationships.

“If any of us have issues or are angry with each other, we won’t make bread while angry,” explains Lyle Barkman, who takes care of technical and mechanical aspects of their operations. The bread, they feel, is an expression of reconciliation and blessing, and it needs to be made in a wholesome environment.

“We have undergone a lot of change, but the core vision has never changed,” says Paul Langel, who takes care of the company’s website and promotions.

Their core vision is simple: to serve nutritious bread, made in a spirit of blessing and reconciliation; steward the earth’s gifts; share among neighbours; pay suppliers and workers well; nurture the soul and the body. They strive to nourish, bless, sustain, and heal.

“Our philosophy is about reconciliation,” adds Paul, “and about how we work that out in our world: person to person, us to the land; rural to urban. We focus on blessing and respect for everyone.”

Coming as a group from the Grain of Wheat church family, the partners fundamentally agree that their work is bigger than themselves. They also recognize and value the fact that each person brings special attributes.

Kathy Barkman, who prepares the company’s financial records, comments on the contributions of the partners and of their employees. “Our diversity, and what each of us brings, is a gift,” she says. “It is humbling when stories come back to us about what we have done here.  We are making something that is so basic. We make bread, but we are baking love into it.”

In terms of their future plans, new ideas are always considered, but after recent expansions and new production introductions, they are looking forward “to simply living” for a while, preserving and sustaining what they have built, and keeping their partnership alive and well.

“We experience the faithfulness of God to us daily,” says Tabitha. “We therefore choose to stay faithful to one another.”

The 2012 presentation of the Blazer Distinguished Community Service Award will be accompanied by presentation of the CMU Distinguished Alumni Awards.

Photo: (l to r) Company owners Paul Langel, Tabitha Langel, Kathy Barkman and  Lyle Barkman

 

See also Canstar article by Dani Finch, 2012-10-03:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/metro/Local-organic-bakery-wins-community-service-award-172358691.html

 

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CMU Presents 2012 Distinguished Alumni Awards

September 19, 2012 – Canadian Mennonite University presents its CMU Blazer Distinguished Alumni Awards on September 28, 2012, at 7:00 pm in the Laudamus Auditorium, honouring alumni Bill Janzen (CMBC 1966-1967), Sarah Klassen (MBBC ’62), Patrice Nagant (CMU ’01), and Bonita Sawatzky (CMBC 1981-1982). The celebration is one of the key events of CMU’s annual Fall Festival taking place September 28 to 29.

“We are very proud of our Distinguished Alumni. We take pleasure in presenting awards to such fine individuals to help recognize their contributions to their communities and to the church,” says CMU Interim President Earl Davey. “It’s great as well to have this opportunity for current students to get to know our alumni, who were all shaped in important ways by their faith-based university education and experiences.”

William (Bill) Janzen, (CMBC 1966-67)Over a 33-year career as the founding director of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Ottawa, Bill Janzen played a significant part in peace and justice initiatives in Canada and abroad. Opening the Ottawa office in 1976, Janzen took a lead role in advocating on issues of peace and justice to the Canadian government with a number of coalitions.

Two significant projects stand out for Janzen during his career.  In 1979, he played a key part in negotiating Canada’s first master agreement for the private sponsorship of refugees. That same year, he authored a report for the US Congress on undocumented Mennonite settlers in Texas and Oklahoma. The report led Congress to pass a special bill granting those individuals permanent resident status.  Janzen was also involved in helping to found the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

“I always found Bill to be a voice of calm, reflective reason in the Ottawa tempest,” commented Bill Blaikie, retired Manitoba Member of Parliament, upon Janzen’s retirement in 2008. “He is one of the best examples I can think of for Christian witness and advocacy in the political process.”

Janzen began his studies at Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC). “CMBC was very important in my formation and education,” he notes. In 1970, he earned his Master of Arts degree in International Development from Carlton University’s Norman Patterson School of International Affairs. He completed a second MA in Biblical Studies from the University of Ottawa, and received his PhD in Political Theory from Carlton University in 1981.

Janzen is married to Marlene and they have two adult children. He is an active member of Ottawa Mennonite Church.

Bonita Sawatzky (CMBC 1981-82)
Leaving the mountains in her home province of British Columbia to come to Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC) on the prairies was a significant move for Bonita Sawatzky.  She wondered what she would do with her life, what she believed about God, and how she would fit in. “CMBC was a great place,” says Sawatzky. “It gave me the ability to think critically as to what I read and heard in the world and in the church.”

Always having a love for learning, she wrestled from infancy with her other love, being active. Born with a spinal cord disorder that affected her arms and feet, she decided to attend University of British Columbia (UBC) and study Physical Education with the idea of developing methodologies and technologies that would enable people with disabilities to participate in physical activities. She went on to complete a Master of Arts degree at UBC and her PhD at Simon Fraser University. Her scholarly work focuses on understanding the biomechanics of human movement in children and adults with spinal cord injuries.

Passionate about her work, Sawatzky began her career as a research assistant in surgery and orthopaedics at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital. Today, she leads research work in her field of expertise as Principal Investigator with ICORD (International Collaboration of Repair Discoveries), an inter-disciplinary spinal cord injury research centre. Her role is to develop a rehabilitation laboratory that assesses movement strategies in those with spinal cord injuries.

Sawatzky is married to Brian Wixted ;  they worship at Peace Mennonite Church in Richmond, BC where she has served in church leadership and worship leading.

Patrice Nagant (CMU ’01)
Patrice Nagant is passionate about evangelism and church planting. Patrice and his wife Cindy Bucci gave their lives to Christ in 1980 and joined a church north of Montreal, where they grew in faith and served the Lord.  Busy with their interior landscape business, theological education was pursued part time and at various schools including:  Emmaüs Bible school in Switzerland; Acadia University, Montreal; and at École de théologie évangélique de Montréal (ETEM).

In 1999, they sold their 20-year-old business and moved to Winnipeg to study at CMU. Nagant graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology.

After CMU, Nagant returned to Montreal to direct Rendez vous Montreal, a Key City initiative of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (CCMBC). Rendez vous Montreal was a partnership to plant new churches. Through Nagant’s work, church planters were identified, coached, and locations determined. In total, six churches have been planted since Rendez vous Montreal began

While Nagant continued to oversee the development of other new churches, in 2006, together with his wife and another couple, David and Patricia Miller, he became directly involved in L’Intersection, a church plant in the French-speaking city of Terrebonne, QC.

In 2011, CCMBC began C2C Network for church planters to promote, train, coach, and equip the planters and support new initiatives. This year, Nagant accepted the invitation to oversee the C2C network Québec.

Patrice and Cindy worship at L’Intersection. They have three married children.

Sarah Klassen (MBBC ’62)
Sarah Klassen is an award-winning poet, born and raised in Winnipeg, MB. She is the author of nine books, including Monstrance (Turnstone Press, 2012) and A Feast of Longing (Coteau Books, 2007) for which she received the High Plains Award for fiction. Her debut poetry book, Journey to Yalta (Turnstone Press, 1988), received the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award.

Klassen has contributed to eleven anthologies including Pith & Wry (Scrivener Press, 2010) and Poetry as Liturgy: An Anthology of Canadian Poets (St. Thomas Press, 2007). Klassen is a former poetry instructor at the CMU School of Writing.

“If your notion of a poet is someone who is awash in sentiment and woozy with emotion, reading the work of Sarah Klassen is a useful corrective… Her observations have unusual clarity and her language is generous and precise,” says Sue Sorenson, Assistant Professor of English at CMU.

Klassen graduated in 1962 from Mennonite Brethren Bible College (MBBC) with a Bachelor of Arts degree earned a Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Manitoba in 1971. She then taught in various elementary schools and later taught high school English.

While she retired from teaching in 1990, Klassen continued to teach English as an additional language at Lithuania Christian College. Teaching English took her to Karkhiv, Ukraine allowing her to visit Barvenkovo, Ukraine from where both her maternal and paternal grandparents departed from for Canada in the 1920’s.

Currently, Klassen is the poetry editor for Prairie Fire and reviews editor for Rhubarb magazine. She attends River East Mennonite Brethren Church.

CMU’s Distinguished Community Service Blazer Award will also be presented on September 28, honouring Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company.  (See news release on this award.)

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Langelotz and Zimmerly Team Up in Equador

August 31, 2012 – Langelotz and Zimmerly Team Up with Soccer Club in Puerto Lopez – In his final address as president at Canadian Mennonite University in 2012, now retired CMU President Gerald Gerbrandt reflected on CMU’s mission to be “a university of the church for the world.” This past summer, Jordon Zimmerly and Jonah Langelotz of the CMU men’s soccer team answered that calling when they travelled to South America as part of the Manitoba to Ecuador project.

The project, founded by Steinbach Regional Secondary’s Mark Reimer, seeks to bring Manitoban soccer players to Puerto Lopez, Ecuador each summer to work with the Los Canarios soccer club. Freddy Soto, the club’s manager, has established the club on the motto, “Honesty. Integrity. Respect.” – character traits that are valued in a community plagued by poverty, hopelessness, and substance abuse.

“The whole purpose of his program is to provide young boys, some of whom come from pretty rough homes, with role models for life,” explains Reimer.

Langelotz echoes Reimer’s analysis: “The club expects to not only produce good footballers, but more importantly, good people. It is a way to plant some healthy lifestyle seeds in the community.”

When asked about needs in Ecuador and how Canadians can help the families involved with Los Canarios, Langelotz, a student studying International Development Studies (IDS) at CMU, was quick to view the situation through an IDS lens. “Food and healthcare are huge issues in communities like Puerto López. Many of the people are in dire economic situations which have in turn led to an obvious presence of malnutrition,” Langelotz says. “Working towards generating funds to help local people buy land to grow healthy crops seems very practical. This way, we can meet those in need half-way and provide them with the tools to move forward. It would ultimately empower them with the opportunity to be healthy – to sow and in turn reap.”

Another way the program has assisted the young men is with the opportunity to learn and converse in the English Language. “English as a second language can provide new opportunities,” says Reimer. “Tourism is booming in Puerto López, and if you speak English you have opportunities in employment and in a whole range of educational opportunities that you wouldn’t otherwise have.”

Each day, the two CMU athletes spent their mornings in Spanish-language classes, volunteered at a day-care over the lunch-break, and spent afternoons working with the football club. “Practices were usually divided into the two separate age groups. Jonah and I worked with the younger ones while the more experienced coaches ran training with the older group,” shared Zimmerly.

Langelotz and Zimmerly also took part in a friendly match when Los Canarios hosted a local club. The two Blazers played alongside an Ecuadorian professional and a few semi-professional players in the match. The cherry-on-top came early in the match for Langelotz when he netted the game’s first goal for his adopted club – a real highlight for the second-year midfielder.

For more information about this project, visit the Manitoba to Ecuador blog at www.manitobatoecuador.wordpress.com

Written by Athletics Director Russell Willms for CMU

 

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Muslim and Mennonite Women Drawn Together

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 24, 2012  – Muslim and Mennonite women joyfully drawn to study and friendship

The conversation is lively this warm June evening in Winnipeg, and there’s lots of laughter, picture taking, interruption for checking text messages, and food. It’s very much a typical “girls’ night out” with friends.

But this party is unique. More than half the women attending are Shia Muslims from Iran, the others are Canadian Mennonites, and they’re celebrating the end of an intense week  of the study of Christianity.

They’re also celebrating the friendships they’ve formed. For many of them, interfaith encounters are a first.

“Some things about Christianity you can learn from books,” says Mariyam Naqvi, “but when you learn from people practicing it, it’s completely different. Then you can understand with your whole soul and body.”

“Introduction to Christianity,” held June 11-17, 2012 at the Canadian Mennonite Unversity (CMU), grew out of an initiative by Iranian scholars in 2011, when a group of female Muslim students came to Winnipeg for a one-week course on Christian understandings of peace and justice taught by CMU professors Irma Fast Dueck and Sheila Klassen-Wiebe.

This spring, there was another request. Would CMU offer a second course, for a second group of women graduate students from the Jamiat Al-Zahra, an international Islamic women’s institute Qom, this time for an introduction to Christianity?

It seemed a wonderful opportunity, a further link in a chain of Muslim-Mennonite interaction that goes back to 1990, when Mennonite Central Committee responded to the devastating earthquake in Iran. Educational exchanges followed that first contact, as well as a series of five scholarly dialogues between Mennonite theologians and Iranian Muslim clerics in Iran and at Conrad Grebel College in Waterloo, Ont. and Canadian Mennonite University.

This year’s course examined the history, practices, and core theological beliefs at the heart of the Christian faith. Each day’s session began with Bible study, followed by lectures and discussion on topics such as Jesus, salvation, the trinity, Christian ethics, and the church. Dueck and Klassen-Wiebe facilitated and taught parts of the course, with other CMU professors contributing in their areas of specialty. A number of Mennonite women sat in on the course as well.

The week included visits to a Hutterite colony, the Mennonite Central Committee offices and warehouse, and Sunday morning attendance at Charleswood Mennonite Church. And there was homework: a reading journal of at least ten entries, on articles in the Mennonite Confession of Faith and selected Scriptures.

The nine visiting scholars, most in their twenties or early thirties, most quite fluent in English, participated keenly in everything. They jumped in with questions when things weren’t clear to them, sometimes breaking into the Farsi language to help each other understand the concepts being taught.

The women say they were surprised at “similarities” they encountered in Christianity. They found challenges too, such as the Trinity. “I just can’t understand it,” says Nafise Amiri.

“It has changed lots of my thinking about Christians – in a good way,” Zahra Golzar offers. “Before this, I thought that just we love God.”

Faculty involved in the course acknowledge that aspects of the interfaith dialogue have been controversial within parts of the Mennonite community, not least because of Western political tensions with Iran. They feel joyfully drawn, however, to continue to engage with Muslims, to articulate the Christian faith, and hopefully to also make a small difference on behalf of the struggling Christian church in Iran.

“It’s a Christian calling,” Irma Fast Dueck says firmly.

“It’s about breaking down stereotypes,” adds Sheila Klassen-Wiebe. “And about building relationships — with smart, funny, strong, devout women.”

Article written by Dora Dueck for CMU

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Rosamunde Summer Music Academy’s Second Season at CMU

Released August 15, 2012 – Faculty Concert and New Masterclass Series among Program Highlights – The Rosamunde Summer Music Academy (RSMA), one of Canada’s newest summer strings programs co-hosted by Canadian Mennonite University, launches an exciting second season on August 18. The 2012 program features concerts and a series of masterclasses which are open to the public on the CMU campus as well as private workshops and classes for aspiring string musicians.

RSMA, launched in 2011, was established by Artistic Director Yuri Hooker and Managing Director Elation Pauls to develop and inspire string musicians by drawing on the expertise and talents of top local musicians as well as bringing in renowned guest artists from farther afield. This year the Academy welcomes 80 music students from across the country to study with some of the world’s finest string teachers at CMU.

“We have a number of exciting events open to the public this year,” says Pauls.  “Our opening recital on August 18 will feature many of the 19 talented faculty members we have drawn to Manitoba both from the extraordinary pool of performers we have here in Winnipeg, as well as from Quebec and Berlin. As part of our Distinguished Guest Artist Masterclass Series, Manitoba’s own violin star James Ehnes is coming up from his home in Florida to teach for a day, as are Israeli cellist Uri Vardi, and violist Gerald Stanick, who is coming out of retirement to lead masterclasses on Aug. 22. Mr. Stanick grew up in Elmwood and played in the WSO before becoming one of the world’s most distinguished viola pedagogues. We’re thrilled to be able to bring such august and cosmopolitan performers to Winnipeg in August!”

Hooker, well known to Manitoba audiences as the Principal Cellist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and for his many chamber and solo appearances, is pleased to again offer string players an opportunity to learn in an intense yet supportive program again this year.  “The Academy is designed to challenge students at every level in a nurturing, non-competitive environment. Excellence is always the goal, but it’s important that students achieve it in a healthy way. Without balance, the progress you make can quickly erode under the glaring light of the concert stage. We’re committed both to pushing the students to their limits as well as giving them the coping strategies that they will need to thrive under that pressure. ” says Hooker.

Adds Pauls, “We are very grateful for the support of the community, of our Honorary Patron, James Ehnes, and for the help of our main RSMA sponsors: the Winnipeg Foundation, the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Manitoba Arts Council, the Kuhl Foundation, and of course CMU!”

The Rosamunde Summer Music Academy 2012 offers a number of Public Events.  All concerts take place on the CMU campus at 500 Shaftesbury Boulevard:

Rosamunde Summer Music Academy Opening Concert, Saturday, August 18, 7 p.m. featuring the RSMA’s internationally acclaimed faculty playing Brahms and Mendelssohn.  The concert will be held in the Laudamus Auditorium, CMU north campus. Tickets are $20 for adults, with school-aged children and Rosamunde participants attending free.

Distinguished Guest Artist Masterclass Series (free to the public)
Wed., Aug. 22, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., 1-2 & 3-4 p.m. Viola masterclasses with Gerald Stanick
Thurs. Aug. 23, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Cello/Feldenkrais Technique masterclasses with Uri Vardi
Fri. Aug. 24, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Violin masterclass with James Ehnes

Student Concerts (free to the public)
Thursday, August 22, 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Advanced solo repertoire in the Laudamus Auditorium and Great Hall
Friday, August 24, 1:30 p.m.
Orchestra and chamber music in the Great Hall and Chapel 

Call 204.261.3063 or visit www.rosamunde.ca for more information
 For RSMA information, contact: info@rosamunde.ca

Distinguished Guest Artist Series

James Ehnes, Rosamunde’s Honorary Patron
Hailed as “the Jascha Heifetz of our day”  (Globe and Mail), violinist James Ehnes is widely considered one of the most dynamic and exciting performers in classical music. He has performed in over 30 countries on five continents, appearing regularly with many of the world’s most well-known orchestras and conductors.

Gerald Stanick
George Stanick is one of the world’s pre-eminent violists and beloved pedagogues. Besides performing regularly and widely as a chamber musician, Mr. Stanick appeared as a soloist with many Canadian and US orchestras, and taught for many years at the University of British Columbia. His pupils have included Neal Gripp, Douglas McNabney, and Leslie Robertson, Rennie Regehr and Rosamunde’s own Daniel Scholz!

Uri Vardi
Uri Vardi has performed as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber player across the United States, Europe, South America, and his native Israel. His teachers have included Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot, Eva Janzer, and Uzi Wiesel. In his teaching Vardi puts great emphasis on the choreography of playing and the relationship between movement and sound. In order to further his understanding of this approach, Vardi has specialized in the Feldenkrais Method, for which he received the 1999 UW-Madison Arts Institute Faculty Development Award.

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CMU CONNECT Campaign Passes $4-Million Mark

August 3, 2012 – Early gifts from CONNECT Campaign Executive and CMU “family” (Board, faculty, staff, etc.) exceed $4-million to start the fundraising campaign for CMU’s Library and Learning Commons and Pedestrian Bridge.

CMU’s latest capital project will significantly enhance CMU’s infrastructure for delivering quality post-secondary education and also serve as a valuable resource to the broader Manitoba community.

“Building the new CMU Library and Learning Commons, along with a pedestrian bridge linking both sides
of CMU’s Shaftesbury campus, are key next steps in building a CMU for the future,” says Elmer Hildebrand, CONNECT Campaign Chair and CEO of Golden West Radio. Hildebrand is joined in his efforts by the Campaign Executive Members.

“CMU is grateful for the dedicated fundraising leadership of the Campaign Executive. We’re looking forward to our public campaign in the coming months,” says CMU’s new President Cheryl Pauls, who begins her new role effective November 1.

Features of the New Library and Learning Commons
The Library and Learning Commons will greatly enhance the CMU learning environment for students, faculty, and the general public.
• Study carrels, worktables, and lounge seating in attractive setting will stimulate students to connect with ideas and thinkers from around the world.
• Small group rooms will invite students to work together in teams at important questions and issues.
• New computer, wireless, and peripheral technologies will support study, research, and collaboration.
• A seminar room will enable small classes to meet in proximity to necessary library resources.
• Significantly increased space with natural light and controlled temperature and humidity will allow future expansion and growth.

The Library and Learning Commons will include a prominent and welcoming entrance and gathering area (Library Centre), inviting students and the general public to make use of its resources.
• It will feature a Bookstore and Resource Centre with the most extensive selection of theological resources anywhere in the province.
• An inviting café will welcome students, faculty, staff, and members of the community to gather and discuss the issues of the day.

An attractive Pedestrian Bridge will link the two sides of CMU’s campus, currently partitioned by a busy thoroughfare, providing a safe, accessible route across Grant Avenue. It will also signal the presence of CMU in the community, serving as a symbol for an institution that connects people with ideas and each other over issues that matter.

The Campaign Executive has been actively fundraising in support of the project and expects to publicly launch the CONNECT campaign within the year. CMU anticipates beginning construction on the new facility and bridge in 2013.

A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, Canadian Mennonite University, offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as two graduate degree programs. CMU has over 1,700 students at its Shaftesbury Campus, at Menno Simons College in downtown Winnipeg, and enrolled through its Outtatown discipleship program. CMU is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.

For Campaign information, contact:
CMU Director of Development Abe Bergen | agbergen@cmu.ca

Photo: Joining in the CMU CONNECT Campaign project announcement on June 15, 2012 were: (front row, l. to r.) CMU President-Elect Cheryl Pauls, CMU former President Gerald Gerbrandt, Premier of Manitoba Greg Selinger, CONNECT Campaign Chair Elmer Hildebrand, Acting Deputy Mayor Paula Havixbeck, Councillor for Charleswood Tuxedo; (back row, l to r), CMU Vice President External Terry Schellenberg, and Campaign Executive Members Tamara Roehr, Bill Fast, Jake Rempel, Bert Friesen, Charles Loewen, and Janice Filmon.
(Inset: Campaign Executive Members Philipp R. Ens, at left, and Art DeFehr)

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Thank You, President Gerald Gerbrandt

June 29, 2012 – The CMU Community Extends Heartfelt Thanks and Appreciation to Canadian Mennonite University’s First President, Dr. Gerald Gerbrandt, Retired June 30, 2012…After a long and deeply rewarding career at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), and having served also as the president of one of CMU’s founding colleges, Canadian Mennonite Bible College, CMU President Dr. Gerald Gerbrandt on June 30, 2012 retired, leaving his office at 500 Shaftesbury Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba for the last time in his role as President.

At a retirement celebration held June 23 at CMU, family members, board members, faculty and staff, members of CMU’s constituencies, university associates, colleagues, and friends gathered to celebrate the leadership gifts that Gerbrandt brought not only to CMU but to higher education in Manitoba during his time at CMU.

“As president of Canadian Mennonite Bible College when CMU began in 2000, I was one of three presidents who led CMU in the early years,” says Gerbrandt. The search for a single president took place in 2002 to 2003 while Gerbrandt was completing a one year Visiting Scholar appointment at Acadia Divinity College (Wolfville, Nova Scotia). “After lengthy conversation, prayer, and reflection, I was selected as that person.”

In September, 2003, Gerbrandt was installed as President of Canadian Mennonite University, a position he held until the present.

Gerbrandt’s career commitment and visionary leadership have contributed significantly to CMU. Of particular note was his work in securing a degree-granting char¬ter for the university from the Manitoba Government in 1998. CMU’s acceptance into the Association of Universities and Colleges in Canada (AUCC) in 2008 is also among highlights of his term. New program development, construction of a science laboratory, the new Redekop School of Business, and announcement of a future new Library and Learning Commons are recent CMU achievements.

Speaking to CMU’s vision and identity as “a university of the church for the world,” Gerbrandt comments: “Those words –university, church, world – capture, for me, the essence of what CMU is and should be: a careful thinking place, a place of the church, with its eyes always beyond itself and the church to the mission of the church in the world. We are a place where faculty and students together are encouraged, freed, and helped to think as carefully and systematically as possible about any aspect of our world, never simply satisfied with the answers of the past. That is what a university is.”

“But we are a university of the church,” he continues. “We thus do this careful, systematic thinking always mindful of our conviction that God made us and the world in which God placed us, and that God loves us despite our tendency to rebel, and sent Christ into the world for us. The questions we ask are the same as at any other university, but our identity as a Christian university means we also have to ask how our being followers of Jesus Christ impacts the way we respond to these questions.”

“And our passion in all of this,” says Gerbrandt, “must go beyond ourselves to the world in which God placed us, and which God loves. We have a mission as Christians to be salt and light in the world… We always have to remind ourselves that we have a commission to make a difference in the world as representatives of Christ, as agents of peace and reconciliation.”

Gerald earned a Bachelor of Christian Education in 1967 from Canadian Mennonite Bible College and a Bachelor of Arts from Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas in 1968, followed by studies at Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana, in 1968 to ’69. He earned a Master of Divinity degree from Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana in 1973 and completed his Ph.D. in Old Testament at Richmond, Virginia’s Union Theological Seminary in 1980, with a dissertation on “Kingship According to the Deuteronomistic History.”

From 1969 to 1973, following a number of summers directing camping programs at Camp Assiniboia in Manitoba and Camp Squeah in British Columbia, Gerbrandt served as an Instructor & Admissions Counsellor at Canadian Mennonite Bible College. In the years to follow, he was appointed Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor of Bible, and then Academic Dean of CMBC, a position which he held from 1982 to 1997.

During these years, Gerald was called upon to teach in a range of other contexts including Sessional Appointments at The University of Winnipeg’s Faculty of Theology and at Canadian Nazarene College. He was a Fellow of both Tyndale House (Cambridge, England, 1986) and the Institute of Ecumenical and Cultural Research at St. John’s University (Collegeville, Minnesota 1987 and again in 1994-1995), after which he served for a one year as Interim President at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. From 1997-2003, Gerald served as President of Canadian Mennonite Bible College.

Gerald Gerbrandt, born in Chihuahua, Mexico in 1946 to Henry and Susan Gerbrandt, grew up in Altona, Manitoba where he graduated from high school and where he was baptized in the Altona Bergthaler Church. He and Esther Neudorf married in 1971 and together raised three children, Nathan (Ang), Brad (Natalie) and Virginia. They have one granddaughter, Ruby, and remain active members of Bethel Mennonite Church, Winnipeg.

At Gerbrandt’s June 23 retirement event, and also at a Celebration Dinner held in April, CMU Board members, faculty and staff, family, and friends joined in paying tribute. The June 23 event program featured a summary that, while brief, reflects and describes the President’s impact on CMU and those with whom he shared his vision:

His imagination for program growth has shaped the University’s direction and ethos. His con¬viction that CMU exist as a ‘university of the church for the world’ has been foundational. His call that CMU commit itself to educating for peace-justice and learning through think¬ing and doing, and that it work to embody generous hospitality, radical dialogue and in¬vitational community, has been formative. Finally, Gerald’s personable, trust-building, in¬tuitive, and compassionate presence has assured the well being of the university’s internal and external communities. He will be dearly missed.

Envisioning CMU’s future, Gerbrandt comments: “My hopes for CMU rest in the wonderful people who work here, and even more, in the belief that an institution that brings faith and meaning questions to bear on the careful systematic thinking about our world meets a tremendous need. And my hope rests in the conviction that God is at work at CMU.”
In the coming year, Gerbrandt has plans to finish a commentary on the book of Deuteronomy. “My wife Esther and I want to do some travelling,” he adds. “And perhaps, in a year, I will return and do some part-time teaching.”
Canadian Mennonite University extends its heartfelt appreciation and God’s blessings to its retiring President Gerald Gerbrandt and to his wife Esther Gerbrandt and family.

A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, Canadian Mennonite University, offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as two graduate degree programs. CMU has over 1,700 students at its Shaftesbury Campus, at Menno Simons College in downtown Winnipeg, and enrolled through its Outtatown discipleship program. CMU is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.

TRIBUTES TO RETIRING PRESIDENT GERALD GERBRANDT
(EXERPTS FROM THE CMU BLAZER, SPRING 2012)

I have always appreciated Gerald’s desire to develop leaders for the church. This focus was already present at CMBC, where I encountered him both as the instructor of my first year Psalms class and as a faculty friend on the choir tour bus. I became more aware of it when we worked closely together while I was Assistant Moderator to the Mennonite Church Canada General Board, be¬fore and during the formation of CMU. Gerald wanted to develop an education program that would enable students to contribute more fully to the church and the world.
This desire was furthered when a recommendation passed by Mennonite Church Canada delegates required all students at the new Mennonite university to complete the equivalent of one year of their degree in Bible-related courses. Gerald has continued to model that leadership as he has participated in national and pro¬vincial church assemblies, connecting with the broader church, and reconnecting with alumni. I will miss his extremely organized reports and the meals and laughter we have shared.
Joy Kroeger | Former Assistant Moderator, Mennonite Church Canada (2001-04)

I first met Gerald more than a decade ago through the annual gathering of Higher Education leaders of the Mennonite Brethren institutions in Canada. I enjoyed his energy – he seemed like a coiled spring, ready to pop at any time. Subsequently, our connection was maintained while my three children attended CMU.
Recently, I had the privilege of working closely with Gerald in my role as Director of ICOMB – the International Community of Mennonite Brethren. CMU hosted the global Higher Education Consultation in 2011. Gerald was on the Steering Committee. I very much appreciated his creative involvement and his appreciation for the global community of leaders in our educational institu¬tions. He and I also presented a paper in two halves: what we – as church and school leaders – hoped to see from each other in the school-church relationship. It went over very well and marked an occasion of working together both theoretical and practical. God’s blessing in your retirement, Gerald.
David Wiebe | Executive Director, International Community of Mennonite Brethren

As a relative newcomer to CMU, and a Lutheran, I rather ex¬pected that I would always feel a bit of an outsider. This has not, however, turned out to be the case. I belong, and a good part of that feeling is the result of Gerald Gerbrandt’s personality.
He was, as far as I’m concerned, an ideal president. His mind is astute and his grasp of the myriad issues involved in running a university is nothing short of amazing. But, unusual in a leader of his stature, he is a patient listener and his diplomatic skills are outstanding. Any organization of this complexity, even one that strives to exemplify peace and reconciliation, will experience conflict. Gerald has created a space where diverse opinions are not only heard, but valued. And what is particularly heartening is that under Gerald’s leadership I just knew that CMU was bound to succeed. There is something about him that assures us that the well-being of our lovely little Christian university is secure. No, not merely secure. CMU is flourishing. Thank you, Gerald.
Sue Sorensen | CMU Associate Professor of English

As you complete your mandate, Gerald, you can be justifiably proud of CMU’s accomplishments and of yours as President. I was honoured to serve as Chair of the Visiting Committee that recom¬mended CMU for membership in AUCC. Our Committee was impressed by CMU’s students, staff, and community, and by your capable and caring stewardship as President.
I was recently in southern China where I met Canadian Consul-General Weldon Epp (CMBC, BTh. 1991), who is an exemplary representative of Canada and of CMBC/CMU. I told Weldon that I knew his alma mater well, and that I understood why he was so well educated. As you retire Gerald, you can do so knowing that thousands of CMU graduates will continue reminding the world of your good work.
Best wishes in the next rewarding phase of your life. Congratu¬lations on everything that you and CMU have achieved.
H. Wade MacLauchlan, CM | President Emeritus, University of Prince Edward Island

Gerald was the right person at the right time to start CMU. He was very aware of CMU’s dual heritage, and he was very good at making sure that all were equal partners. Gerald’s key gifts are to listen, and to work as a team. He has the ability to think things through quickly, and he’s very articulate.
Under his leadership, I have seen major change happen. There’s a spiritual vibrancy here; chapels are full and Bible studies and fellowship groups abound. CMU has flourished under his leader¬ship. And I have been very impressed at how the finances were managed. There have been no financial crises – that was part of his leadership. We did not spend above our means. We were very careful at how quickly we grew.
Thank you, Gerald, for your leadership. I am very excited about where CMU is now, and where we are headed.
Ron Boese | Former Director, CMU Maintenance Department

Families can be complicated. So it is and was with the Mennonite Brethren and General Conference Mennonite Church families and, in particular, two of their colleges, MBBC/Concord and CMBC. Relations were congenial and warm, but there were inexplicable differences that kept their relationships at arm’s length.
The process in which three Winnipeg-based Mennonite colleges started to talk to each other about another paradigm was neither new nor unwelcome. Neither was it a foregone conclusion.
Gerald Gerbrandt’s role in turning the dream into reality was absolutely critical. Gerald is a person of complete integrity. He brought a perspective which was refreshingly straightforward and non-political. His comments and his writing were always careful and clear, and he sought as hard to understand as to be understood. His commitment to a fair, above-board process that honoured the contribution of all was irrevocable. Gerald exem¬plified diplomatic trustworthiness which made us proud to be associated with him.
There are few people whom I respect more than Gerald, and I am quite convinced that his early leadership in the coming to¬gether process, followed by years of committed presidency, were, and have been, indispensable to what CMU has and will become.
Al Doerksen | Former Concord Board Chair (1992-’99)

Gerald’s ability to listen carefully to other perspectives and ideas and then articulate how to incorporate them into a plan of action and vision of the future was crucial to the development of CMU during the early years of planning. I experienced many times his willingness to incorporate other peoples’ understandings into how we could move forward without being defensive about any position he had taken in the past. At the same time, Gerald’s strong commitment to the core of what he believed the new institution needed to be helped to keep us moving in a positive direction despite many different understandings about the best way to get there. His strong connection to Mennonite Church Canada and intentional connections to the Mennonite Brethren constituency were crucial to communicating the new vision for Mennonite post-secondary education. CMU has been blessed greatly by Gerald’s tireless work and leadership and just as impor¬tantly by the people that he has invited and encouraged to be an important part in its development and growth.
Bruce Baergen | Former CMBC Board Chair (1997-’01)

As the only member of the CMU senior administrative team situ¬ated off the Shaftesbury Campus, working from CMU’s Menno Simons College campus, I worked with Gerald in a rather unique way. We did not see each other every day, and some weeks we did not even talk to each other, and yet, I always knew that he was just a phone call away. Gerald usually answered his own phone and no matter how busy he was, or what kind of pressures he was under, he always gave his attention to me in a way that made me feel as if my question or issue was of utmost importance. This acces¬sibility and open communication was especially important since Menno Simons College is not physically part of the rest of CMU. Gerald has done a wonderful job of walking the fine line between providing support and inclusivity to MSC, while at the same time allowing MSC to maintain its distinct culture and sense of place. I will miss his wise counsel and personal support.
Ruth Taronno | Associate Vice President, Menno Simons College

I was a young, impressionable, first-year CMBC student when I first met Gerald more than 30 years ago. He was my 240 “Intro to the Old Testament” professor, but he quickly became my sounding board for all things CMBC. When I was overwhelmed with theo¬logical issues, or confused about how to write a formal college-level paper, his office door was always open. He welcomed me, and everyone else, with patience, good humour, and infectious smile. Gerbie, as he was known to students, also always wanted to hear about dorm life. He was “all about relationships.” He wanted to feel the pulse of the school, both academically and socially. For us, Gerald’s office played a large role in strengthening the CMBC community.
Now, many years later, I realize how important Gerald’s gifts have been in my life. One gift was his ability to interact with a wide variety of people, from presidents of public universities to people in the pew with no formal theological training. For Gerald, we are all on the same playing field, and in all people, he sees knowledge and wisdom, and the face of God. Gerald is an inspirational and visionary church leader. But for everyone who has been fortunate enough to know him, most importantly, he is our friend. Thank you, Gerald, for this incredible gift. I am honoured to be called friend.
Charlotte Siemens | Principal, W.A. Fraser Middle School (Abbotsford, BC)

Categories
General News News Releases

59 Cents Campaign Grows from CSOP

June 30, 2012 – A week ago, a small group of students from Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) and CMU’s Menno Simons College launched a campaign to challenge the federal government’s decision to begin denying supplemental healthcare coverage to refugees on June 30, 2012.

The 59 Cents Campaign for Refugee Healthcare is a politically independent, student-led movement that grew out of a small group assignment in a one week course – “Speaking Out… and Being Heard – Citizen Advocacy” – at CMU’s Canadian School of Peacebuilding (CSOP). Group members Matthew Dueck, Maureen Gathogo (CMU’s Menno Simons College), and Deanna Zantingh were later joined by fellow CMU students Cecilly Hildebrand and Rianna Isaak to help spread the word about the campaign.

“We believe that the recent changes to the Canadian Interim Federal Healthcare Program (IFHP), which supplied refugees with the medical help, are unacceptable,” says project spokesperson Matthew Dueck. “We would like to see this changed, and refugees given the opportunity to receive the healthcare they need.”

“Our assignment was to create an advocacy campaign that could, in theory, be implemented in real life,” says Dueck. “But by the time we were making our class presentation at the end of the week, we realized that there was nothing stopping this from moving beyond the theoretical – and after everything we’d learned about the situation, we were passionate about helping to create change.”

In 2011 alone, Canada opened its doors to 25,000 refugees, offering an opportunity for healing and hope. Many refugees entering the country are leaving traumatic situations, coming to a place where they are operating without support networks or sometimes even a working knowledge of Canada’s official languages.

“Until now, refugees have been entitled to full medical assistance under the Interim Federal Healthcare Program – a $20-million per year program the federal government has cancelled, effective June 30, 2012,” says Dueck.

“$20-million spread across our country’s population works out to only 59 cents per person,” says Dueck. “It makes practical and moral sense to continue this relatively small program that ensures these vulnerable new residents receive help before their treatable illnesses become serious long-term health issues. We recognize that many refugees are unable to speak up on this issue. We’re encouraging all Canadians to lend their voices by sending 59 cents to the Prime Minister, showing our willingness as a country to give our part toward a small but vital program – and hopefully pressure the federal government to reverse this decision.”

“We launched the 59 Cents Campaign on Friday, June 18. And we’ve been overwhelmed by the response so far,” Dueck continues. “People from across the country – including a law professor in Victoria and doctors from all over Canada, as well as regular citizens of all ages – have been encouraging us and getting involved. It really proves the power of a simple idea.”

Dueck credits CMU and the CSOP for helping promote peace and justice. “The CSOP is so diverse,” he says. “It’s really the strength of the program that it brings together people from all walks of life, and from all over the world, to share their experiences and ideas. You realize quickly that the little things we do here can make a big impact all around the world.”

“We are very excited about this campaign,” says Valerie Smith, Co-director of the Canadian School of Peacebuilding at CMU. “We want this to be a place that can bridge thinking with doing, to bring in leaders in peacebuilding from around the world to support those already working in the field and inspire students to get involved. These students are relatively new to peacebuilding, but their time at CMU has really steeped them in ideas of peace and justice – values we promote throughout every course we offer and our community as a whole. We hope that the CSOP will continue to provide this type of experience and inspiration for all those who attend, so they can take what they’ve learned back to their communities and use it to make a real difference.”

The 59 Cents Campaign will continue after the June 30, 2012 deadline, in an effort to have the decision reversed, says Dueck.

Through its Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses, CMU offers one of the world’s largest undergraduate programs in peace and conflict studies.

The Canadian School of Peacebuilding (CSOP), an institute of Canadian Mennonite University, is a learning community of diverse peacebuilders from around the world who come together to learn, network, and engage in peacebuilding. Now in its fourth year, CSOP offers a selection of five-day courses that can be taken for professional or personal development or for academic credit. Visit csop.cmu.ca

A Christian university rooted in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU offers undergraduate degrees in arts and science, business, humanities, music, and social sciences, as well as two graduate degree programs. CMU has over 1,700 students at its Shaftesbury Campus, at Menno Simons College in downtown Winnipeg, and enrolled through its Outtatown discipleship program. CMU is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.

For more information on the 59 Cent Campaign:
For interviews, contact project spokesperson Matthew Dueck at 204-371-9826
Email 59centscampaign@gmail.com
Visit www.59cents.org
View the Campaign’s video on YouTube: http://youtu.be/TQiSe00HOec

Photo of 59 Cent Campaign group, from left:
Maureen Gathogo, Rianna Isaak,
Cecilly Hildebrand, and Matthew Dueck.
(Missing from photo: Deanna Zantingh)

Categories
Events General News News Releases

CMU Announces $11-Million Capital Project

June 15, 2012 – Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) President Gerald Gerbrandt today announced plans for a major new university capital project that will significantly enhance CMU’s infrastructure for delivering quality post-secondary education. This important new campus asset will also serve as a valuable resource to the broader Manitoba community.

 “In 12 short years since CMU purchased its buildings and land from the Province and merged the assets of existing Mennonite colleges, CMU has established itself as a dynamic university with growing credibility,” says Gerbrandt.  “Its Christian and Anabaptist commitments provide the foundation for a truly unique Canadian university serving church and community. Now, CMU is building on its momentum, putting in place the building blocks for increased future impact.”

Bringing congratulations to CMU around this capital project were Premier Greg Selinger and Acting Deputy Mayor and Charleswood Tuxedo Councillor Paula Havixbeck, along with a number of other guests and supporters of the project.  Two years ago, the University celebrated completion of another capital project that saw construction of a new CMU Science Laboratory on the University’s Shaftesbury campus. In fall 2011, CMU announced donor funding of $6.5-to $7.5-million to establish its CMU Redekop School of Business.

“Building the new CMU Library and Learning Commons, along with a pedestrian bridge linking both sides of CMU’s Shaftesbury campus, are key next steps in building a CMU for the future,” says Elmer Hildebrand, fundraising campaign chair for the capital project and CEO of Golden West Radio.

“CMU is grateful for the dedicated and effective fundraising leadership of the Campaign Executive of CONNECT: The Campaign for CMU,” says Gerbrandt. “We’re looking forward to our public campaign in the coming months and sharing further announcements from our Campaign team.”

Chair Elmer Hildebrand is joined in his efforts by the CONNECT Campaign Executive Members Art DeFehr, Philipp R. Ens, Bill Fast, Janice Filmon, Bert Friesen, Charles Loewen, Jake Rempel, and Tamara Roehr.

“Today, as we announce our plans to construct this library and learning commons along with the pedestrian bridge, we are pleased to name those who are helping us with this project,” says Gerbrandt. “The architects for the project are ft3. They have done much work designing both a functional and a simple and exciting design. We have selected Concord Projects as the contractor; they have been working closely with us and the architects in readiness to proceed with this project.”

 Features of the New Library and Learning Commons

The Library and Learning Commons will greatly enhance the CMU learning environment for students, faculty, and the general public.

  • Study carrels, worktables, and lounge seating in attractive setting will stimulate students to connect with ideas and thinkers from around the world.
  • Small group rooms will invite students to work together in teams at important questions and issues.
  • New computer, wireless, and peripheral technologies will support study, research, and collaboration.
  • A seminar room will enable small classes to meet in proximity to necessary library resources.
  • Significantly increased space with natural light and controlled temperature and humidity will allow future expansion and growth.

The Library and Learning Commons will include a prominent and welcoming entrance and gathering area (Library Centre), inviting students and the general public to make use of its resources.

  • It will feature a Bookstore and Resource Centre with the most extensive selection of theological resources anywhere in the province.
  • An inviting café will welcome students, faculty, staff, and members of the community to gather and discuss the issues of the day.

An attractive Pedestrian Bridge will link the two sides of CMU’s campus, currently partitioned by a busy thoroughfare, providing a safe, accessible route across Grant Avenue. It will also signal the presence of CMU in the community, serving as a symbol for an institution that connects people with ideas and each other over issues that matter.

The Campaign Executive has been actively fundraising in support of the project and expects to publicly launch the CONNECT campaign within the year. CMU anticipates beginning construction on the new facility and bridge in 2013.

Photo indenty: Canadian Mennonite University on June 15, 2012 announced an $11-million capital project – a new Library and Learning Commons, and Pedestrian Bridge. Joining in the announcement were: (front row, l. to r.) CMU President-Elect Cheryl Pauls, CMU President Gerald Gerbrandt, Premier of Manitoba Greg Selinger, CONNECT Campaign Chair Elmer Hildebrand, Acting Deputy Mayor Paula Havixbeck, Councillor for Charleswood Tuxedo; (back row, l to r), CMU Vice President External Terry Schellenberg, and Campaign Executive Members Tamara Roehr, Bill Fast, Jake Rempel, Bert Friesen, Charles Loewen, and Janice Filmon. (Missing from photograph: Campaign Executive Members Art DeFehr and Philipp R. Ens)