A Time of Reckoning: Telling the CMU Story
October 27–28, 2023
A two-day symposium featuring short reflections and dialogue with CMU faculty, alumni, and church voices on what CMU is today and where it's going in light of its mission.
Click to read the news release 
All are invited to join CMU for A Time of Reckoning: Telling the CMU Story on October 27 and 28. The free two-day symposium is a time for to reflect on the character, mission, and way in which the community influenced the past and guide us into the future of our learning journey.
"The symposium provides an opportunity to tell the story of CMU through a spectrum of voices," says Cheryl Pauls, CMU President. "It's a time to seek out points of resonance and productive tension across what each speaker thinks we're doing [at CMU]."
The event will feature lectures, group discussions, presentations from church leaders and supporters, and, yes, plenty of coffee breaks.
During the first day of the symposium, "Embodying the CMU Project," hosted by Pauls alongside Vice-President Academic and Academic Dean Jonathan Dueck, we will turn our attention to the faculty and staff who have epitomized the work and mission of the institution.
The evening will conclude with the annual J.J. Thiessen Lecture, featuring Dr. Willie James Jennings known for his contributions on liberation theologies, cultural identities, and theological anthropology. Jennings is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale University. The lecture will be avialable via livestream to those who cannot attend in person.
On the second day, Professor of English Paul Dyck will host a roundtable discussion with alumni regarding CMU and the Korean Anabaptist movement, followed by a presentation from Research Coordinator, Claudia Dueck on CMU's Hold in Common project.
Hold In Common draws on the experiences of alumni, constituencies, and friends of CMU. It works to strengthen the university's grassroots ownership of those who create capacities for the sustainability of institutions over time. Dueck says, "This project excites me because it addresses the larger question of what motivates people to choose continued participation in institutions like CMU when they are no longer connected to them out of necessity."
A significant part of Saturday morning will be the panel discussion "Church and External Voices." The ecumenical roundtable features Former Rector of St. Margaret's Anglican Church, David Widdicombe, Executive Minister of Mennonite Church Manitoba, Michael Pahl, and Associate Professor of Religion and Ecology, University of Alberta, Augustana, Joseph Wiebe. Pauls will also host this one-and-a-half-hour event open for all.
As several anniversaries significant to the CMU community approach—such as 500 years of Anabaptism and 25 years of CMU—it's a necessary time to consider the past and the lessons we've learned in consideration of the future.
"It's a time of being honest with ourselves on how well the deep purposes for which the university was created connect with experiences over time," says Pauls. "There's always plenty to do."
CMU's mission colours the university in all aspects. Whether through programming from the music department, interdisciplinary studies, sciences, graduate studies, or any other, the institutions' convictions to equip for lives of service and reconciliation are in all that we do.
As paramount as the mission of any organization or institution is to its continued success, Pauls says, "It's essential to reflect periodically on what we think we're doing and why."
All are invited to A Time of Reckoning: Telling the CMU Story; registration is free.
This symposium was funded in part by the Council of Independent Colleges and Lilly Endowment Inc.
Symposium
Friday October 27
Morning
11:30 | Chapel
- Host: Cheryl Pauls | President, CMU
- Paul Dyck | Professor of English, CMU
The place of worship in the Christian university (or the Christian university as a place of worship)
12:00 PM | Lunch
Afternoon (Laudamus Auditorium)
1:00–2:30 PM | Embodying the CMU Project – Part 1
- Host: Cheryl Pauls
- Karl Koop | Professor of History and Theology; Director of the Graduate School of Theology and Ministry, CMU
Telling our Stories Well - Ray Vander Zaag | Associate Professor, International Development Studies, CMU
Pacifying my Reformational Roots - Paul Doerksen | Associate Professor of Theology and Anabaptist Studies, CMU
Are you Alone Wise? - Jodi Dueck-Read | Director of Research and Program Grants; Assistant Professor of Conflict Resolution Studies, CMU
CMU and Me - Jonathan Sears | Associate Professor of International Development and Political Studies, CMU
In-Betweeness and Mentoring Communities of CMU
2:30 PM | Coffee
2:45–4:15 PM | Embodying the CMU Project – Part 2
- Host: Jonathan Dueck | Vice-President Academic and Academic Dean
- Lee-Anne Dowsett | Associate Professor of Music Therapy, CMU
Transformative Learning in Music Therapy Education - John Brubacher | Associate Professor of Biology, CMU
CUREs and the Curricular Advantages of Being Small and Thinking Theologically - Janet Brenneman | Associate Professor of Music, CMU and Kelsea McLean (CMU '10)
The Music of Mentoring and the Songs we Share - Brian Froese | Professor of History, CMU
In an Anti-Historical Time: The Place of History in a Mennonite University - Chris Huebner | Associate Professor of Theology and Philosophy, CMU
Hoping Against Hope: Imagining a Christian University that is Not Faith-Based
Evening (Marpeck Commons)
7:00 PM | Evening Plenary and J.J. Thiessen Lecture featuring Dr. Willie James Jennings
- Host: Cheryl Pauls
Dr. Jennings Lecture
8:30 PM | Reception
Saturday October 28
Morning: Telling the Story of CMU (Marpeck Commons)
9:00–10:00 AM | CMU and the Korean Anabaptist Movement: Talking to Alumni
- Host: Paul Dyck
- Jae Young Lee (CMBC' 99) | Director, Korea Peacebuilding Institute (remote)
CMBC: The Beginning of My New Journey - Bock Ki Kim (CMBC '99) | International Witness Worker, Mennonite Church Canada (remote)
Finding New identity and Ways in Ministry - Young Pyo Jun (CMU '02) | House of Carmel (remote)
The Quiet in the Land - Cheryl Woelk (CMU '03) | Educational Consultant, Collective Joy Consulting (remote)
Cheryl's talk
10:00 AM | Hold in Common Project
- Presenter: Claudia Dueck (CMU '21)
Hold in Common Report
10:15 AM | Coffee
10:30 AM | Church and External Voices
- Host: Cheryl Pauls
- David Widdicombe | Former Rector of St. Margaret's Anglican Church, retired
The Truth Shall Set You Free - Michael Pahl | Executive Minister Mennonite Church Manitoba
Still a University of the Church for the World - Joseph Wiebe (CMU '04) | Director of the Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion; Public Life Associate Professor of Religion and Ecology, University of Alberta, Augustana Faculty
Friends, Relatives, and Other Addictions
12:00 PM | Lunch
Afternoon (Marpeck Commons)
1:00 PM | Alumni Voices
- Host: Paul Doerksen
- Isaac Kuhl-Schlegel (CMU '21) | Practicum Coordinator, CMU
Attending and Responding to CMU - Kenny Wollmann (CMU '18) and Jesse Hofer (CMU '08)
Reckoning with the Hutterite-CMU Relationship: A Story of Transformation via Friendship and Hospitality - Nina Schroeder (CMU '12) | Research Associate, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (remote)
Münster, Motets, Sonnets, and Paintbrushes: Celebrating Interdisciplinary Learning and Cherishing a Heritage of Mennonite Higher Education - André Forget (CMU '10) | Freelance Writer (remote)
Canadian Mennonite University and the Paradoxes of Religious Humanist Education - Deanna Zantingh (CMU '13) | Research Manager, Critical Health & Social Action Lab at UofT (remote)
Growing Place in the Universe-ity
2:15 PM | Coffee
2:30–4:00 PM | Wrap-up Comments by Dr. Willie James Jennings, round-table panel discussion
- Host: Paul Dyck
- Willie James Jennings | Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies, Yale Divinity School
Dr. Jennings Closing Remarks - Heather Campbell-Enns | Associate Professor of Psychology, CMU
- John Boopalan | Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, CMU
- David Balzer | Associate Professor of Communications and Media, CMU
Student Project: Ten stories of CMU alumni (audio)
As an extension of the A Time of Reckoning symposium that took place at CMU in October 2023, this student-led media project is one way of reflecting CMU's story from 2000 to 2023. Every now and then, it's good to consider what we say we're doing, what we think we're doing, and what is actually going on.
This project invited two upper-level Communications and Media students, Chidinma Samuel and Kara LeBlanc, to creatively explore the lived experience of alumni from the past 23 years to gain insight into "what's actually going on?".
Samuel and LeBlanc were invited to exercise creativity in presenting a diversity of voices to tell the CMU story. They worked in an audio documentary format, capturing vignettes from 10 randomly selected alumni representing grads from across CMU's 23 years.
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