Umble Masterclass: Stephen Kreider Yoder

Stephen Kreider Yoder’s keynote presentation, “Accidental Journalist: How I Stumbled Into Writing and Learned to Love It, Mostly,” is the Umble Master Class scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 12, in the Umble Center.

Kreider Yoder, a Goshen College alumnus whose 38-year career at The Wall Street Journal included roles as a reporter, a columnist, a bureau chief in Tokyo and San Francisco, and a senior editor on the Page One desk. Kreider Yoder, who graduated from Goshen College in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in English, retired from full-time journalism at the Journal in 2022. He writes the Journal’s monthly “Retirement Rookies” column with his wife, Karen Kreider Yoder, who also graduated from Goshen College in 1978. They are based in San Francisco.

Stephen grew up on Japan’s Hokkaido island, where his parents were missionaries, and graduated from Goshen College with majors in English and psychology. Karen taught in the Education Department at Goshen College from 2013-14 and again winter semester 2017. Stephen and Karen live in a row house near Haight-Ashbury when they aren’t touring on their tandem bicycle.

The Roy H. Umble Master Class brings nationally known practitioners and experts in communication and theater to the Goshen College campus annually for events and activities which enrich and inspire students, faculty, the broader campus and local and church communities.