Till we meet again

My professional connection to Goshen College began in 1988, when Sociology Professor Emeritus J. Howard Kauffman hired me as a research assistant for his work on North American Mennonite beliefs and social patterns. Though not formally employed by the college, I worked out of an office in the Kulp basement during that year. As that project concluded, I began my nearly 40-year career in higher education as an admissions counselor at GC. It was a role I held for three meaningful years before my wife, Jill ’90, and I left for graduate school at Michigan State University (MSU).

While at MSU, we were involved in the campus Mennonite fellowship, and I found myself reflecting deeply on Mennonite higher education. That interest shaped my doctoral dissertation, A Delicate Balance: Faith, Status, and Marketing at a Mennonite Liberal Arts College, which explored the relationship between Goshen College and Mennonite Church USA.

After graduate school, we spent many happy years in the Lansing area, where our three children were born, and I continued my work at MSU. Eventually, Jill and I felt called to live abroad and accepted positions at Woodstock School in India. Woodstock is an institution with personal significance, as I had first lived there in 1969 when my father, Russel Liechty ’53, GC professor and dean emeritus, founded the school’s counseling program during a GC sabbatical year. I later spent my seventh-grade year in boarding school at Woodstock, when my parents were serving in Nepal.

When Jill and I took our family to Woodstock in 2006, we worked together in that same counseling program my father started, with me helping students navigate college admission processes around the world. Through those relationships, more than 35 Woodstock students ultimately enrolled at Goshen College since we were there. After three years in India, we returned briefly to Michigan before feeling a call to return to Goshen 15 years ago. This final GC chapter of my higher education career has been among the most meaningful.

Now, as I prepare to conclude my time at GC, Jill and I have been invited to return once more to Woodstock School. Though we were initially hesitant, the opportunity for one last adventure proved compelling, and we will head back to India this summer. Leaving Goshen College is bittersweet, and it’s hard to imagine reaching this stage of life and career. Still, we look forward to this new chapter and, in time, to returning to Goshen to fully retire. In the meantime, the college is seeking my successor, and I wholeheartedly recommend this director role to anyone interested.