Singers tour
The Central College A Cappella Choir, Chamber Singers and vocal jazz singers will tour Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin Wednesday-Sunday, April 11-15, stopping at select schools and churches along the way, including a performance at Holy Hill National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians, in Hubertus, Wis. A post-tour concert at Central College will be Sunday, April 22, at 4 p.m. All performances are free and open to the public.
Wednesday, April 11
7:30 p.m.: St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Thursday, April 12
11 a.m.: John F. Kennedy High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
7 p.m.: First Lutheran Church, Moline, Ill.
Friday, April 13
1:15 p.m.: North High School, Sheboygan, Wis.
Saturday, April 14
7 p.m.: Holy Hill National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians, Hubertus, Wis.
Sunday, April 15
10:30 a.m.: Luther Memorial Church, Madison, Wis.
Sunday, April 22
4 p.m.: Douwstra Auditorium on Central College campus
GOLD bowling
Graduates of the Last Decade, including 2007 grads, are hitting Warrior Lanes, 190 Laurel St. in Waukee, Thursday, April 12, from 6-8 p.m. Cost is $15 per person for three games of bowling, shoes, pizza and pop. Additional beverages available for purchase on site. Payment required in advance. RSVP to alumni@central.edu by Friday, April 6.
Freestyle wrestling tournament
Central is hosting a freestyle wrestling tournament Saturday, April 14, with weigh-ins starting at 7:30 a.m. Wrestling starts at 10 a.m. Cost is $13 for all divisions (kids/cadets/juniors/open). For more information, go to www.central.edu/athletics/wrestling or call Matt Diehl at ext. 5230 or Eric Reedat ext. 5422.
Central Service Day
The second annual Central College Service Day is Tuesday, April 17. All students, staff, faculty, alumni, parents and friends are encouraged to get involved in an interesting variety of half-day or full-day service projects. View project descriptions at http://www.central.edu/go/serviceDay.
National Library Week
Geisler Library will celebrate National Library Week Wednesday, April 18, at 11 a.m. Please join us at the circulation desk for the reading of the proclamation, the unveiling of the 2007 Read @ Geisler posters, and a short presentation honoring this year’s top student and faculty library users.
Doug Stursma Day
Celebrate the retirement and 14-year stint of men’s and women’s head tennis coach Doug Stursma on campus Saturday, April 21. The alumni meet begins at 1 p.m. and a cookout and social time will follow near the tennis courts or in Kuyper Fieldhouse at approximately 5 p.m. RSVP to the alumni office by Monday, April 16. E-mail alumni@central.edu.
SSAC Healthy Living Fair
Healthy Habits: Jumpstart Your Health, the second-annual Support Staff Advisory Council Healthy Living Fair, will be Tuesday, April 24, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Graham banquet room. A blood drive and health screening are planned, and door prizes/raffle drawings will be included. Admission is free, and there will be a $4 health-conscious lunch provided. All Central College employees are welcome to attend. Presentations and information booths from local businesses include:
Jake Anderson (exercise science), fitness center director at Central College
Claire Anderson (student life), Pilates instructor
Pella Regional Health Center
Pella Heath and Fitness
Work Systems
Iowa Blood Center
Pella Family Dentistry
Diehl Chiropractic
Other booths include:
Outdoor pursuits, featuring biking, kayaking and hiking
Diet and nutrition
Pella indoor and outdoor pools
General exercise
Central Campus Sustainability Group
You are invited to come join us and to work with us for as limited or long as you care to. The Central College Campus Sustainability Group continues to grow. Right now, some 50 people (students, faculty, staff and administration) who share a common interest is working on ways to build community while pursuing the vision statement in the 2006-09 institutional Strategic Plan: “Central College will be a sustainable bridge to the future.”
Projects currently organized and open for volunteers include:
- campus sustainability Web site construction project;
- campus sustainability group Blackboard site construction project;
- projects for Central College Service Day/partnering with community groups;
- greening the athletic program ; projects and planning group;
- Earth Day activities — community outreach project;
- senior graduation pledge project;
- student sustainability pledge project;
- voluntary sustainability surcharge on student activity fee project;
- sustainability across the curriculum and service-learning group;
- college garden projects (Service Day and planning future of garden);
- student residence energy conservation competition (Pods);
- bikes on campus project; discarded student furniture sharing project;
- recycled-acid-free paper purchasing policy projects;
- wind turbine and PV arrays on campus projects;
- campus carbon footprint measurement and reduction projects;
- Kuyper Field Station projects;
- campus + community food projects (include garden at Pella Christian Grade School);
- campus recycling projects;
- reduce/reuse community outreach campaign with Pella schools;
- freshman-new student sustainability orientation project sustainability concerns in search of ideas, direction and leadership;
- economic justice and sustainability;
- social justice/human rights sustainability;
- international education and sustainability (global sustainability);
- ethics, religion, spirituality, “Creation Care ” stewardship and sustainability.
You are welcome to attend the next meeting Thursday, April 12, at 4 p.m., in Lubbers 239. To be added to our e-mail list, to work on one of these projects, or for more information, contact Jim Zaffiro (political science) at ext. 5123 or e-mail zaffiroj@central.edu.
Thank you volunteers
Esther Streed (education) and Natalie Nakic (athletics) would like to thank the numerous Mini-Olympics volunteers! You really helped make the Mini-Olympics a great success.
Health Fair success
Thanks to everyone who attended the Health Fair March 29. Your attendance made the day enjoyable and successful. The vendors enjoy coming to the Central Health Fair and are impressed with the participation by the campus community. Winners of the iPod Schuffles were: Cyndi Boertje (CAE and SSS) and Mary Roozeboom (facilities management). Student winners were: Andrea Montrone ’09 and Joellen Poot ’10. A huge thank you to all who helped make the health fair successful: Dave Pavlat (exercise science) and the exercise science students; Central College Wellness Committee; Margie Van Houweling and Linda Vander Horst (facilities management); Diane Schuring, Lowell Oliver and Sue Visser (campus services); Tony Bethards and Mark Howard (dining services); Gisele Lehmkuhl (health services); Bonnie Dahlke (student life); 32 Pella businesses; and student health services for contributing door prizes. Look for the Health Fair again next spring 2008, sponsored by the health services and the Central College Wellness Committee.
Kuyper Athletic Complex hours
Kuyper Athletic Complex will be closed Friday-Monday, April 6-9, for Easter break. Regular hours will resume Tuesday, April 10.
CCA newsletter
The most recent edition of Central College Abroad’s official newsletter, The Odyssey, is now accessible online. In this edition, you can read the histories of our Leiden, Granada and Vienna programs, all of which are celebrating anniversaries this academic year. Also read alumni submissions and catch up on news from the Central College Abroad office. To access the newsletter, click the following link or paste the link into your web browser: http://www.central.edu/abroad/Odyssey/.
Employee Spotlight -
Tammy Bonnema
Name: Tammy Bonnema
Department: Campus services and conference services
Title: Clerk
About me: Started working at Central in 1994; has driven a school bus for Pella Community Schools since 1994; four children: Breanne '04 works at Pella Corp., Sarah graduated from Northwestern in 2006, Ross works at Den Adel Lumber, and Robb is a junior at Pella High School; recently married Loren Bonnema who works at Two Rivers Cooperative; two dogs Max and Buford; likes the outdoors, traveling, golfing, reading and sewing.
Russ Goodman (mathematics) had an article titled “What I Learned From ... Giving Oral Examinations” published in the March 2007 issue of the Mathematical Association of America’s newsletter, FOCUS.
Webber’s book in library
The first copies of Phil Webber’s (modern languages) Zoar in the Civil War, including one in the Central College library.
Kent State University Press describes the book in its on-line catalogue:
“Zoar Village, located in Ohio’s Tuscarawas Valley, functioned from 1817 to 1898 as a communal society. Formed by German separatists seeking religious freedom, Zoar became one of the most successful experiments in communal living in America’s history.
One cardinal principle in the Zoarite’s faith and practice was the refusal to bear arms. In the 1860s, with the rise of the Civil War, conflict emerged between the community’s pacifist stance and its strong support for the Union cause and for the abolition of slavery. Some Zoarites continued on the path of conscientious objection; others chose the path of conscientious participation in the Union army.
Zoar in the Civil War traces the ways that the Zoar community dealt graciously with the war as a difficult yet inescapable event in its history. Based primarily on unpublished material from archives and collections of the Ohio Historical Society and the Western Reserve Historical Society, this study draws together the largest gathering to date of previously untapped Zoar records. Following a brief and informative introduction, Webber allows these eloquent and fascinating primary sources to tell the story, thereby offering a unique perspective on the American Civil War.”
Athletic trainers at symposium
Leslie Duinink, Greg Gilmore, Chris Viesselman and John Roslien (exercise science) recently participated in the District V Mid-American Athletic Trainers Association (MAATA) spring symposium in Topeka, Kan. The MAATA meeting consisted of educational sessions as well as administrative meetings related to the profession in the seven state mid-west region. Roslien is chair of the District V public relations committee and severs as a representative on the national board. In that capacity, he organized several meetings in Topeka.
Fyfe and Franks at meeting
Stephen Fyfe and Robert Franks (mathematics and computer science) attended the national Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education (Sigcse) meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 7-10. They participated in workshops on Computer Security Essentials, Multimedia Projects in Python, Peer Led Team Learning and DNA sequence analysis using Perl.
Fyfe and Franks reviewed papers submitted for publication and presentation at the ACM Sigcse’s 2007 Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Conference.
Reimer at conference/expo, presents
March 14-17, Treva Reimer (theatre) attended the United States Institute of Theatre Technology Conference and Stage Expo in Phoenix, Ariz. She serves as programming chair for the international committee and vice-commissioner for international topics for the Scene Design Commission. In addition to attending all the requisite meetings those two positions require, she chaired and presented a session on Traditional Vietnamese Water Puppetry, and chaired two other sessions including Beyond the Border: The Theatre of Warner Van Wely of the Netherlands and the Changing Face of European Theatre with Chris Van Goethem from Belgium. At the banquet March 17, she presented the Student International Travel Awards for 2007.
Reimer presented two sessions on Basil and the Slow Food Movement at the Atlantic Garden Seminar March 24 in Atlantic, Iowa.
Joachim Kitzman at workshop
Pat Joachim Kitzman (career center) attended a one-day workshop on business writing in Des Moines March 15.
Freed organizes leadership panels
For the North American Management Society (NAMS), part of the Midwest Business Administration Association International (MBAA International) in Chicago, Ill., Jann Freed (economics/accounting/management) organized two panels on leadership and moderated one titled “If Leadership Can Be Learned, What is the Best Way to Teach?” Freed also served as a discussant and is on both the NAMS and MBAA international boards.
Dining service staff members at conference
Dining service staff members attending the National Association of College and University Food Services Regional Conference March 18-21 at the University of Northern Iowa.
Mark Howard
Lynne Steenhoek
Wally Kenison
Sara McMahan
Janet Sharp
Stacey VanderMolen
Hang Lovan
Sarah Williams
Gloria VanKooten
Mark Stanton
Joyce VanderHart
Corky Fee
Susan Bailey
Melinda Thomas
Shantel Bennett
Renee Bastas
Shirley Goemaat
Diana VanDonselaar
Thatcher wins top award
Tom Thatcher (theatre) won one of six top awards for his folding crane design from the 2005 “A Thousand Cranes” in the 11th Biennial Tech Expo at the United States Institute for Theatre Techonogy conference in Phoenix, Ariz. This national competition was about creative solutions for problems in productions. The five judges of the Tech Expo committee were selected from sponsoring organizations and two were from well-known vendors in the technical theatre industry; each judge had extensive experience in the industry. Thatcher’s entry was included in the Tech Expo catalog.
Zehner at research colloquium
March 22-24, Edwin Zehner (anthropology) participated at a research colloquium on short-term missions. Participants exchanged views on research projects they were planning or conducting in which some may receive some funding to support summer fieldwork, and they heard advance results from noted sociologist Robert Wuthnow’s recent studies of American congregations’ efforts at international engagement. Zehner’s proposal focused on how these efforts are perceived by Thai host congregations, how they are affecting congregational resources and activities there, and how they are contributing (or failing to contribute) to cross-border understandings between local church communities.
Woodward update
Tilly Woodward (art) served as a consultant and conducted a planning workshop for the Kirksville Art Association Jan. 28 to provide vision and assistance in program development, space management and renovations of their new building.
She conducted a clay sculpture workshop involving more than 150 children and adults as part of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Eagle Days Feb. 10. Participants created an elaborate 3x2-foot sculpture that celebrates the lives of birds. The sculpture will be installed at the Red Rock Visitor’s Center after firing.
Woodward served as a panelist for the MetLife Foundation National Arts Forum Series sponsored by the Arts and Business Council, a division of Americans for the Arts presented Feb. 26 as part of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Advocacy Days. The forum focused on “Arts and the Iowa Workforce: Planting and Cultivating Creative Workers.” Woodward was a panelist for the session “Finding the Balance: Art Education’s Role in Workforce Development.”
She conducted a workshop on creative and cognitive development in the preschool years for area childcare providers as part of Childcare University Feb. 17. Childcare University was sponsored by Crossroads of Pella and Child Care Resource and Referral of Marion County and was funded by the Pella Community Foundation and United Way.
In January, Woodward designed a PlayShop MAX logo for Bethany Christian Services.
No news.
Strategic Planning Initiatives
President’s forum spring report on Strategic Plan
All Central employees are invited to learn what is being accomplished in implementing the Strategic Plan. The forum will be Thursday, April 12, in Cox-Snow Recital Hall, with sessions at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. The fall forum focused on the plans for accomplishing the goals, while the spring forum will focus on the successes of this plan, current strategies to fulfill the goals, and outlining the ultimate goal for this year. It will be a condensed version of each group’s work, summarized and outlined in a PowerPoint presentation.
Presenters include: Steve Sanchez (academic affairs), core renewal; Jodee Schaben (exercise science), wellness initiative; Alicia O’Brien (admission), transfer student initiative; Annique Kiel (Central College Abroad), cooperating college enrollment in Central’s study abroad programs; Carol Williamson (admission), admission of first-year students; Lyn Isaacson (academic affairs), intentional integration of cultural programming; and Anna Bates (advancement), advancing the annual fund.
Submitted by Vivian Rippentrop (institutional planning)
Students Doing Interesting Things
Athletic training students present at symposium
Shelli Green ’07 led a group of Central College athletic training students that presented during the student sessions of the District V Mid-American Athletic Trainers Association spring symposium in Topeka, Kan. Joined by Travis Dibbet ’07 and Keith Wrich ’07, the three presented the Fenzian treatment system and the current national research being done at Central.
Roslien’s angling class works with Marion County Conservation 
Exercise science students in John Roslien’s (exercise science) Topics: Introduction to Angling course completed a fish habitat building project. The class worked with the Marion County Conservation Board to put Christmas trees by the old bridge at the intersection of HWY T-14 and G-28. Students include: Amber Beachy ’07, Rodger Blum ’07, Ben Bollard ’07, Ryan Brandt ’08, Luke Cross ’07, Ben Goemaat ’07, Steph Hillman ’07, Phil Jeneary ’07, Paul Kearney ’07, Chelsey Keller ’07, Kristi Kelley ’07, Nicole Lang ’07, Colby Myers ’07, Nick Reifert ’08, Brad Ryals ’07, Vance Schuring ’07, Tom Tjaden ’07, Brant VerMeer ’07, Jennifer Wailes ’07 and Keith Wrich ’07.
13 students on spring break trip
Thirteen Central College students traveled to Biloxi, Miss., with campus ministries over spring break March 9-17. Students, leaders and community members helped with hurricane-relief projects at Camp Biloxi, a joint program of Bethel Lutheran Church and Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd.
The group roofed houses, repaired drywall, painted, replaced light fixtures and completed other renovations on several weather-damaged houses in the area. One Mississippi family, whose house had been repaired by Central students in 2006, hosted a crawfish feed for the group.
The program at Camp Biloxi is funded, supplied and maintained through Lutheran Episcopal Disaster Response of Mississippi, Lutheran World Relief — Human Care and Orphan Grain Train. In addition, Camp Biloxi receives support, equipment, supplies and funds from thousands of organizations, individuals and companies around the country.
Trevor Young joined facilities planning and management as a custodian.
Nadine Argo joined campus services in the post office.
No news.
We extend our sympathy to Mary (advancement) and Russ Benedict (biology) on the passing of Russ’s father Carl J. Benedict March 21.
Congratulations to David and Melissa Sharkey (student life) on the birth of their daughter Rebecca Helen born March 23.
We extend our sympathy to David and Norma Meuzelaar (controller’s office) on the passing of her father Edward Kats of Logan, Kan., March 24.
Safety tip
Remember to use proper lifting techniques. Plan ahead, test the load before lifting and ask for help when necessary. Use team work for heavy loads. Keep the weight close to your body. Pivot, don’t twist; turn moving your feet and legs.
Lunch and Learn April 12
A lunch and learn regarding Explanation of Benefits and How You Can Use your Health Insurance More Effectively will take place in Boat, Moore and Weller Rooms in Maytag Thursday, April 12, from 12-1 p.m. and 1:30-2:30 p.m..
Required meeting for staff
All staff are required to attend an in-service titled “Pandemic Influenza, An Overview for the General Public” Wednesday, April 18, in Douwstra Auditorium from 1-2:30 p.m. The in-service is by Marion County Health, who is strongly encouraging major employers in the county to educate their employees on the pandemic flu. We understand all offices cannot be closed, and therefore, anyone who cannot attend will be able to view the video tape. Hourly staff will need to record their time as regular work hours.
2007 holiday schedule
Friday, April 6, Good Friday
Monday, May 28, Memorial Day
Wednesday, July 4, Independence Day
Monday, Sept. 3, Labor Day
Thursday-Friday, Nov. 22-23, Thanksgiving
Monday-Friday, Dec. 24-28, Christmas
Open Positions
To review open positions and download an application click here or visit the college Web site at www.central.edu and select job seekers on the home page drop-down menu for more information.
Central College is strongly committed to creating a diverse community. In furtherance of that commitment, the college encourages candidates from diverse backgrounds, under represented groups and/or those who have had experience working with and/or interacting with individuals from diverse populations to apply. Central College is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and actively seeks a diverse pool of candidates.
News items should be submitted to Abby Gonzales by noon Friday, April 13.