News

Six employees earn 2026 Maple Leaf Awards for excellence

May 28 2026

2026 employee awardees standing in a line holding their respective awards in front of a backdrop of the Goshen College seal

Goshen College President Rebecca Stoltzfus awarded the third annual Maple Leaf Awards for Employee Excellence to six employees during an end-of-the-year employee celebration on May 22.

The initiative recognizes and celebrates the outstanding contributions of employees, fostering a positive work culture and promoting excellence throughout the college community.

Each award — the Servant Leader Award, the Inclusive Community Builder Award and the Passionate Learner Award — was earned by one teaching faculty member and one staff, professional staff or administrative faculty member. The awardees were selected from nominations by their peers.

Passionate Learner Awards

The Passionate Learner Award recognizes employees who are always learning and applying fresh, innovative, and creative approaches to their work. Awardees may have developed, implemented or tried a new response, system or idea to solve a problem or support fulfilling the college’s mission and vision in an improved way.

Staff/Administrative Faculty: Carol Good-Elliott

Environmental science educator

In more than 25 years at Merry Lea, Good-Elliott has built a breadth of naturalist knowledge that has equipped her to deliver environmental education programs to thousands of PreK–12 students. Her willingness to continually expand her expertise has made her a versatile and effective educator across a wide range of program types and subject matter. Beyond the classroom, she leads an annual research project investigating nesting songbird survivorship and success at Merry Lea — part of the national MAPS bird-banding project — demonstrating that her commitment to learning extends well into the field. Her nominator described her approach to professional growth over her long career as remarkable, marked by a steady attitude of continuous improvement.

Teaching Faculty: Alysha Liljeqvist

Associate professor of business

Liljeqvist brings an infectious curiosity to her teaching, regularly seeking out campus experts to deepen her understanding of students and ensure she is making full use of available tools and platforms. Artificial intelligence has become one particular focus for her — she has dug into how it works, how it is trained and how it can be applied, sharing those findings with both colleagues and students. This year, she channeled that interest into a new course combining marketing and AI, partnering with local business Genesis Products to give students a real project with real data, arranging company visits to build context and organizing student presentations for company leaders. Beyond the classroom, Liljeqvist pursued accreditation from the Digital Marketing Institute and American Marketing Association for Goshen College’s marketing program, ensuring students graduate with relevant, workplace-ready credentials.

Servant Leader Awards

The Servant Leader Award recognizes employees who go above and beyond to care for, support and help others in their work. Awardees have a service mindset as they relate with students, colleagues and other key constituents, and they exemplify the college’s motto, “Culture for Service.”

Staff/Administrative Faculty: Simelwe Dlova

ITS systems specialist

Dlova approaches every IT support request with compassion and empathy, arriving promptly and working directly alongside the people she serves, whether the issue stems from a technical failure or simple user error. She navigates the wide range of technical skill levels across campus without ever making anyone feel belittled, meeting each person where they are and providing the support they need to do their work effectively. When a problem runs deeper than a quick fix, she sees it through, troubleshooting across departments until the issue is fully resolved. Her colleagues describe her approach as a model of “Culture for Service”: steady, patient and always oriented toward the people around her.

Teaching Faculty: Diana Boussom

Assistant professor of American Sign Language

Boussom’s commitment to her students extends beyond the classroom, regularly giving evenings and weekends to meet with students individually, interpret plays alongside them and pour energy into advising the ASL Club. She wants her students to not only become skilled interpreters, but to feel genuinely supported in building the lives they envision for themselves. Her passion for the Deaf community drives a high standard in her teaching — she challenges students to develop not just technical proficiency, but also the ethics, respect and commitment that effective interpreting demands. For Boussom, excellence in the craft and care for the person are inseparable.

Inclusive Community Builder Awards

The Inclusive Community Builder Award recognizes employees who go above and beyond to foster a culture of belonging — open, diverse, inclusive, welcoming, equitable — for all members of the Goshen College community to be their authentic selves. Awardees speak up as an ally when they see unfair treatment and put diversity and inclusion principles into practice in their everyday work — regardless of the work they do.

Staff/Administrative Faculty: Angela Sienko

Director of marketing and communications

Sienko has made a meaningful impact on the marketing and communications office by prioritizing connection as much as output. Through collaborative sessions, consistent recognition of her colleagues’ work, and genuine celebration of wins both on and off campus, she has drawn her team closer together and strengthened relationships with partners across campus. Her approach to inclusion lives in the small, daily efforts she makes to ensure that every person she encounters knows they are seen, valued and appreciated. Those around her feel it, and her presence has helped build a culture where people can show up as themselves and feel proud of who they are and what they have accomplished, on and off campus.

Teaching Faculty: Jeanne Liechty

Professor and chair of social work

Liechty carries the social work principle of “meeting people where they are” into every corner of her work at Goshen College: teaching, academic advising and her roles as department and faculty chairs. Whether engaging with prospective students and their families, current students, or colleagues, she listens first and fully, seeking to understand before offering her own perspective. People who spend time with her come away feeling genuinely seen and valued. She strengthens this feeling with her open-door policy — anyone can stop by without an appointment, knowing they will be welcomed. Across the many roles she holds, Liechty’s consistent orientation toward the people around her has made her a steady and trusted presence in growing a culture of belonging at the college.