Anita Stalter, professor emerita of education and vice president for academic affairs emerita, dies at 77

UPDATE: A Celebration of Life service for Anita Stalter is scheduled for Sunday, February 2, at 2 p.m. at Goshen Theater (216 S. Main Street, Goshen, Ind.). After the service, there will be a “Cinnamon Rolls and Stories” sharing time.

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Anita Stalter, an education professor and academic leader at Goshen College for 28 years, died Tuesday, Dec. 10. She was 77.

Stalter came to Goshen College in 1987 when she was hired to teach half time in the Education Department and to start a school at the local Oaklawn Psychiatric Center for in-patient children and adolescents. She became a full-time professor two years later.

During her tenure as a professor of education, she served as the chair of the Education Department and supervised hundreds of future teachers. In her time as chair, she first considered further academic administrative leadership, which eventually led her to accept a post as interim dean of students. In 2001, she became the college’s academic dean – the first woman in the history of the institution to hold this leadership position – and continued in this role for 14 years until her retirement in 2015.

“Anita was a very skilled teacher,” said Kathy Meyer Reimer, professor of education and director of elementary education, who worked alongside Stalter in the education department. “She was a dean who advocated for faculty, and she was relational; she would come to your office to have a conversation if she wanted to discuss something. Anita was involved in some very consequential decisions, and she did that with integrity and honesty — and she did her homework. She would consult faculty, ask their opinion, and bring them in on the decision-making.”

In her time as dean, Stalter was a key leader in the launch, development and oversight of the Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning (later renamed the Center for Intercultural and International Education, or CITL), a milestone for Goshen College that led to the school’s current status as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. The CITL was developed thanks to a $12 million Lilly grant, which Stalter helped write and carry out.

Stalter also provided administrative oversight for the Plowshares Peace and Justice Collaborative and coordinated with two other Indiana colleges, Manchester College and Earlham University. She helped launch Goshen College’s graduate programs – nursing, environmental education and business administration. Throughout her time as dean, she successfully shepherded the intensive work of GC’s re-accreditation processes.

Stalter earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Eastern Mennonite University, a master’s degree in education from James Madison University in Virginia and a doctorate in curriculum, teaching and educational policy from Michigan State University. She was particularly interested in evolving culturally relevant teaching and learning practices at Goshen College, which would serve global communities through the service of its graduates.

Before coming to Goshen College, Stalter opened a developmental preschool in Harrisonburg, Va., where she taught first grade for four years. She also developed culturally inclusive materials for children’s spiritual development in widely adopted curricula.

Alongside her work as an administrator and educator, Stalter was a published author and gave a number of presentations at national conferences on teaching in modern and diverse settings. In 2006, Stalter and her daughter, Rachel Lapp Whitt, wrote the book “More than Petticoats: Remarkable Indiana Women,” which follows the lives of 12 historical Indiana women. The two gave presentations around the state about the importance of equalizing women’s lives in historical representation.

After retiring from Goshen College, Stalter joined the Hesston College Board of Directors and volunteered with the Court Appointed Special Advocate program of CAPS of Elkhart County.

Stalter is survived by her two children and their spouses as well as three grandchildren: Rachel Lapp Whitt and Thomas Whitt, with grandchild Ramona (Bloomington, Ill.), and Jay and Jessica Lapp, with grandchildren Nola and Milo Lapp (Ann Arbor, Mich.). Stalter’s siblings and their spouses also survive: sister Deanna Moshier and husband Loren Moshier (Normal, Ill.); brother Phillip Stalter and wife Sharon Weaver (Secor, Ill.); and brother Timothy Stalter and wife Kristine Stalter (Iowa City, Iowa). She had a close relationship with many of her nieces and nephews, half of whom are Goshen College graduates: Jason (Laura) Moshier, Brian Moshier, Karla Kossler (Mark), Alissa Vander Naalt (Steve), Kristi Stalter (Joe Thompson), Seth (Kathryn) Stalter, Elspeth Stalter (Zachary Clouse), and Elliot Stalter.

A Celebration of Life service for Stalter is scheduled for Sunday, February 2, at 2 p.m. at Goshen Theater (216 S. Main Street, Goshen, Ind.). After the service, there will be a “Cinnamon Rolls and Stories” sharing time. Memorial gifts in Anita’s name can be made in lieu of flowers to Lurie Children’s Hospital, where one of her granddaughters has received life-saving medical care for the past 10 years, or to Goshen College’s Connected Cause.