[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk1BIrCnfgY&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]This video features Joel Peters at In Gratitude, April 16, 2011, a graduation weekend event that celebrates CMU graduates by inviting class members to share their experiences through spoken word or musical performance. The event brings together family members, graduates, students, faculty and staff.
Joel Peters, organ
Trivium Arvo Pärt
Bachelor of Music, Concentration: Performance
Video production by Laura Tait, Media Workshop student.
Kate Landis-Funk CMU graduate 2011 Interview Date: April 25, 2011
In this interview, David Balzer – host of Sunday@CMU Radio, speaks with Kate Landis-Funk about her journey of faith that was large enough for doubt. It’s a compelling story of meeting God while writing papers.
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/100425KateLandisFunk.mp3|titles=100425KateLandisFunk] Play/Download Here
David Barker Completes Disaster Recovery Studies at CMU
DRS Graduate David Barker with CMU President Gerald Gerbrandt and Instructors Lois Nickel (DRS) and Kenton Lobe (IDS)
Three years ago, in the middle of reading Roméo Dallaire’s traumatic first-hand account of the Rwanda genocide, David Barker decided his future would be in disaster response.
“It was the first time I read something about the actual suffering going on in the world,” says Barker, recalling his profound emotional response to Dallaire’s book, Shake Hands with the Devil.
This spring, Barker became the first student to graduate from Canadian Mennonite University’s fledgling Disaster Recovery Studies (DRS) program. Barker received his diploma on April 17 with a major in Peace and Conflict Studies and two minors, one in International Development and the other in Disaster Recovery.
If CMU had offered a major in disaster recovery, he would have taken it, Barker says. When he enrolled, CMU was just getting the 18-credit-hour program off the ground.
CMU developed its Disaster Recovery Studies program through a partnership with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), a faith-based agency with more than fifty years of experience responding to disasters in Canada and the U.S.A.
The emphasis of CMU’s program is on the longer-term phases of individual, family, and community rebuilding following disasters. A key part of the program is a series of two terms of fieldwork, eight to ten weeks each, fulfilling CMU’s practicum requirement.
“The first term is spent serving with MDS. The second may be either with MDS or with another agency that does disaster recovery work in North America or internationally,” says DRS Instructor Lois Nickel, Program and Region Director with MDS. “Through these service terms, students like David Barker receive hands-on and leadership experience in the rebuilding of disaster-affected, often vulnerable communities. DRS helps students understand the nature of disasters, their aftermath, and the best ways to help people and communities recover physically, psychologically, socially and spiritually.”
Ever since reading Dallaire’s book, Barker has felt called to help alleviate suffering in the world caused by disaster and conflict. He feels his classes and hands-on fieldwork over the past three years have helped equip him to begin that work.
In the summer of 2009, Barker completed his first practicum helping rebuild homes destroyed by California wildfires. “It was a very valuable experience,” he says. “We actually got to interact with the people who had been in the disaster and hear their stories – to talk to them about how they grew spiritually and mentally.”
For his second practicum, Barker worked with the Red Cross in Winnipeg helping develop a tool to assess the province’s ability to respond to disasters such as floods, heat waves, tornados, forest fires, or blizzards. In the classroom Barker studied the theory behind disaster response and the phases of recovery.
Barker’s long-term goal is to get a job working for an organization like the Red Cross, World Vision, or the UN. He says he’s willing to live in whatever part of the world he’s needed. “I’d find that interesting and rewarding,” Barker says.
But to get that kind of job, Barker needs more volunteer experience on his resumé. That’s why, the day after graduation, he started volunteering with the Manitoba government’s Emergency Measures Organization coordinating responses to the annual spring flood.
Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is an accredited Christian university offering undergraduate degrees in the arts, music, music therapy, theology, and church ministries, and master degrees in theological studies and Christian ministry. CMU is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). Located in Manitoba, CMU has over 1,700 students at its Shaftesbury Campus in Southwest Winnipeg, at Menno Simons College in downtown Winnipeg, and enrolled through Outtatown, CMU’s adventure and discipleship program.
For information, contact:
Nadine Kampen, Communications and Marketing Director
nkampen@cmu.ca Tel. 204.487.3300 Toll free 877.231.4570
Canadian Mennonite University 500 Shaftesbury Blvd. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3P 2N2
Erin Weaver, Rebecca Reesor Recognized as Outstanding CMU Graduates
Canadian Mennonite University at its April 17, 2011 Convocation made the inaugural presentation of the President’s Gold Medal for Scholarship, Leadership, and Service to two outstanding CMU graduates from the Class of 2011.
“CMU is bestowing its new award to honour students whom the University considers to have best exemplified the vision of CMU for scholarship, leadership, and service during their time here as students,” says CMU President Gerald Gerbrandt. “The recipients of the President’s Gold Medals in 2011 are Erin Elizabeth Weaver and Rebecca Ann Reesor.”
“Approved by CMU Senate in March 2011, the President’s Gold Medal award process identifies graduating students who have achieved a grade point average of 4.0 or more,” notes Registrar Wesley Toews. Members of Faculty and Student Life then submitted nominations from this list of exceptional students and a selection committee comprised of representatives from CMU Faculty, Student Life, and the CMU Awards Committee made the final choices.
CMU President’s Gold Medal winners Erin Weaver (at left) and Rebecca Reesor with President Gerald Gerbrandt
“We have amazing students and the new President’s award is a great way to feature them,” says Peters Kliewer. “The candidates for the award were all great students – bright, competent, caring people. They will make a valuable contribution and be effective in their home communities and in the world.”
CMU 2011 President’s Gold Medal Award Winners
Erin Elizabeth Weaver (CMU ’11) Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (4-Yr.) in International Development Studies with a minor in Biblical and Theological Studies, Erin Weaver has been very involved in student leadership at CMU. A member of the CMU Student Council for the past two years, Weaver was VicePresident of Student Relations in 2010-’11, and in the prior year, served as the chair of the Peace and Social Awareness Committee.
Demonstrating a passion for those in need, Weaver took an active role in helping students on campus but also reached out beyond the campus to the inner city, where she took a particular interest in addressing homelessness. Generous with her time and in using her gifts to serve those around her, Weaver organized and coordinated such events as the CMU Pearson Challenge, Tuition Freedom Day, and Blood Donor Clinics.
Weaver, who comes from Red Lake, Ontario, lived on campus at CMU. While completing her CMU practicum requirement, she also lived for several months in Uganda.
Rebecca Ann Reesor (CMU ’11) Rebecca Reesor graduated with a Bachelor of Music, with concentrations in Performance and Music Ministry. An exceptional pianist, Reesor recently won first place in the CMU 2011 Verna Mae Janzen competition.
Beyond her music and academic work, Reesor was also able to share of herself in other ways within the CMU communityand through committee work. Reesor, who lived in residence, was highly engaged in campus life. She participated in CMU ensembles; led and participated in Wednesday night worship services and student chapels; was a hard-working member of our Peace-It-Together (PIT) worship committee; and was a planning member for a ministers’ worship conference. She was also in the CMU sports program in earlier years, playing for the Blazer Women’s Soccer team.
Reesor completed her practicum in her home church in Bluevale, Ontario and is using skills she learned at CMU with Winnipeg’s Fort Gary Mennonite Brethren Church, where she currently works in a music role.
Reesor and Weaver were among 82 graduates who received CMU Shaftesbury Bachelor or Master degrees at the 2011 Convocation, where guest speaker Rudy Wiebe (MBBC ’61)shared an inspirational message. Also celebrating that same day were 62 students, returning days earlier from Guatemala and South Africa, who completed the CMU Outtatown program.
Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is an accredited Christian university offering undergraduate degrees in the arts, music, music therapy, theology, and church ministries, and master degrees in theological studies and Christian ministry. CMU is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). Located in Manitoba, CMU has over 1,700 students at its Shaftesbury Campus in Southwest Winnipeg, at Menno Simons College in downtown Winnipeg, and enrolled through Outtatown, CMU’s adventure and discipleship program.
For information, contact:
Nadine Kampen,
Communications and Marketing Director nkampen@cmu.ca
Tel. 204.487.3300 Toll free 877.231.4570
Canadian Mennonite University, 500 Shaftesbury Blvd. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3P 2N2
