Left: Former President Keim listens as artist Shin-Hee Chin reflects on her work, “My mother tongue is your foreign language,” at the renaming ceremony for Keim Center. Right: Author Joshua Davis talks about writing Spare Parts, this year’s campus common read.
Northlawn becomes Keim Center
During Homecoming Weekend, the building known as Northlawn for 45 years, was renamed Keim Center for Performing Arts Education in honor of former president Howard ’72 and Tami (Birky) ’72 Keim. A renaming ceremony was held Oct. 1. The Keims have long been supporters of the performing arts, and Howard maintains a storied history with the building itself. As student body president in 1971, Howard spoke at the dedication service for the newly-constructed Northlawn. In 2015, as Hesston College president, he helped dedicate the renovated building. In the fall of 2014, he even took the stage in the role of Stage Manager in the drama, Our Town, the final production before renovation. To mark the occasion, and as a gift to the college commissioned by the Keims, Shin-hee Chin, former adjunct art instructor and art instructor at Tabor College (Hillsboro, Kan.), created an art piece, “Mother Tongue and Foreign Language.”
Author visits campus
Joshua Davis, author of the fall 2016 community read, Spare Parts, visited campus Oct. 4, to share with an audience of about 500, the process of writing his book and his experiences researching and interacting with immigrants to the United States. Spare Parts tells the true story of four undocumented teenagers from Mexico and living in Phoenix who were inspired by their high school science teachers to be greater than their adversity and be successful in building an underwater robot to compete against corporate-sponsored collegiate teams. The college partnered with area libraries, including Hesston Public Library, for the community read.
New faculty and staff
New faculty and staff joining the campus community for the 2016-17 year are: Michael Ceramella, sabbatical replacement in business; Maureen Entz, nursing skills laboratory instructor and clinical instructor; Staci Ford, nursing instructor; Matt Gerlach, men’s soccer coach; Brandis Henderson ’15, food service; Marissa Hochstetler ’14, resident director; Jeff Jacobs, women’s basketball coach; Chance Joost, men’s and women’s tennis coach; DeeDee (Martin) ’02 Landes, volleyball coach; Cecelia Oliva, food service; John Oyer ’13, sabbatical replacement in business; Michael Oyer ’13, resident director; Timothy Regier, flight instructor; Judy Reimer, food service; Mari Sailors, associate director of International Admissions; Eric Sarno, sports information director and assistant men’s soccer coach; Allie Shoup, admissions counselor; Katie Spitz, multimedia project manager; Lyndel Walker, nursing instructor; Richard Walker, American Government and Politics instructor; Carley Wyse ’14, admissions counselor.