Top Goshen College stories of 2020

2020 marked one of the most unusual years in Goshen College’s 125-year history. The top stories of 2020 reflect new ways of learning, reasons for celebration, noteworthy achievements and more.

Read them here:

 

• Stories from the pandemic:

  

  
  COVID-19 changed the way we did a lot of things. Here are some stories that illustrate how students and faculty got creative this year.

  • Students connect to the classroom from around the globe
  • Fall mainstage goes interactive with Cymbeline: Interrupted
  • Goshen College, ever singing: The show will go on, virtually
  • ‘Walking in the World’ class takes on new meaning for students in quarantine
  • Scattered around the world, astronomy students measure its circumference
  • Virtual Interpreting: Sign language seniors regroup after COVID-19
  • ‘GC Talks’ series provide virtual lectures and webinars 
  • Pandemic doesn’t stop International Student Club from raising funds, distributing scholarships

• GC offers new majors in public health, criminal justice and restorative justice

  

  As the world changes, GC is on the front foot in preparing graduates to go out into the world to make a difference.

• Goshen College’s refreshed brand emphasizes ‘where everything connects’

  
  This year we embarked on a journey to refresh our brand. After listening to you – alumni, current students, employees, prospective students and community members – we heard that Goshen College is a place where connections are made: personal, social, intellectual, spiritual and professional.

• New Center for Communication Studies opens in Newcomer Center

  

  
  This fall the new Center for Communication Studies opened, bringing together all communication department extracurriculars － WGCS, Globe TV and The Record － in a new home in the west wing of the Newcomer Center.

• Rankings and awards continue to highlight GC’s strengths

  • Goshen College remains in top 10 Midwest colleges in U.S. News & World Report rankings
  • GC ranked #1 in Indiana and #5 nationally by Washington Monthly magazine
  • Student Newspaper of the Year for the third year running
  • Sixth state title as “Radio School of the Year”
  • Five national first-place radio awards and a finalist for this prestigious Pinnacle Award.

• Doctor of Nursing Practice program celebrates its first graduates

  The first graduates from GC’s first doctoral programs received their degrees this year. Meet these leaders in the medical field.

• Goshen College receives $1.2 million in grants from Lilly Endowment Inc. and Community Foundation of Elkhart County for community engaged learning
  

  This year we received a Phase Two Charting the Future grant worth $1 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to be used toward developing a new centralized Office for Community Engaged Learning to further strengthen our student experience and to reach a wider student base, including adult learners, in the community.

• GC leads in the community

  • Goshen College and local leaders meet for virtual community summit on anti-racism and community safety
  • Goshen College leads coronavirus initiative for Latino community

• GC celebrates its quasquicentennial: 125 years 

  

  • Goshen College sees strong growth in gifts and donors during 125th year
  • Seeing purple: Campus leaders dye hair to raise funds

• This year we said farewell to several beloved people in the GC community:

  
  • Goshen College mourns passing of assistant baseball coach Doug Wellenreiter
  • Anna Bowman, retired social work professor and a founder of women’s studies program, dies at 90
  • Albert Meyer, former physics professor and advocate for Mennonite education, dies at 90
  • Nick Lindsay, former assistant professor of English, dies at 92