{"id":6071,"date":"2016-09-28T12:34:37","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T17:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/?p=6071"},"modified":"2016-09-28T12:34:37","modified_gmt":"2016-09-28T17:34:37","slug":"cmu-celebrates-start-of-school-year-with-fall-festival-and-opening-program-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/2016\/cmu-celebrates-start-of-school-year-with-fall-festival-and-opening-program-2\/","title":{"rendered":"CMU celebrates start of school year with Fall Festival and opening program"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Eric Wiebe, attending Canadian Mennonite University\u2019s annual Fall Festival event this past weekend was like coming home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wiebe, a retired high school physics teacher who lives in Kamloops, BC, graduated from Canadian Mennonite Bible College, one of CMU\u2019s predecessor institutions, in 1966. He wanted to be at Fall Festival because members from his graduating class were gathering for their 50-year reunion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t seen many of them in the interim, so it was interesting to see what they\u2019ve done with their lives,\u201d Wiebe said, adding that attending Fall Festival was a reminder of \u201chow significant CMU is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Wiebe was one of more than 1,000\u00a0people who gathered at Fall Festival Sept. 23-24.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"FallFest2016\"Celebrated at the end of each September, Fall Festival features opportunities for students, alumni, friends, donors, and community members to connect, learn, play, and celebrate the CMU community.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to class reunions, the weekend included community meals, a farmers market, a folk music festival, a bicycle race, a CMU basketball game, and a Face2Face community discussion featuring Reserve 107: Reconciliation on the Prairies<\/i>, a 30-minute documentary by alumnus Brad Leitch that explores Indigenous-settler relations in the small town of Laird, SK.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fall Festival concluded with CMU\u2019s annual opening program, a time of worship to celebrate the start of a new school year.<\/span><\/p>\n

CMU President Dr. Cheryl Pauls delivered a message based on CMU\u2019s chapel theme for 2016-17, If We Walk in the Light<\/i> (1 John 1:5-7).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe seek to witness to the truth that God is light,\u201d Pauls said. \u201cMy prayer is that the light of Christ will emanate through all who are touched by this learning community in some way\u2014students, staff, faculty, board, council, alumni, friends, guests of all sorts, and many others.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Distinguished<\/a>
Distinguished Alumni Award recipients (l-r): \u00a0Adrienne Wiebe, Peter Guenther, Ron Toews, and Brad Leith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The opening program included the presentation of the 2016 Distinguished Alumni Awards, which annually recognizes alumni who, through their lives, embody CMU\u2019s values and mission of service, leadership, and reconciliation in church and society.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pauls presented the awards to Peter Guenther, who served as the head of numerous correctional institutions during a 39-year career; Adrienne Wiebe, an international development worker; Ron Toews, a pastor and professor committed to leadership development in the Mennonite Brethren Church; and Brad Leitch, a filmmaker and peacebuilder.<\/span><\/p>\n

At its best, CMU\u2019s impact is evidenced in the life stories of alumni, said Vice President External Terry Schellenberg.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we would never claim full credit for who our alumni become or the good they contribute, we know that CMU does open imagination and passion and skill, and that this university lays foundations for faithfulness,\u201d Schellenberg said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in the program, Dr. Harry Huebner, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Theology, and Dr. Paul Dyck, Professor of English, presented a Festschrift<\/i> honouring Dr. Gerald Gerbrandt, who served as CMU\u2019s first sole President from 2003 to 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n

Titled A University of the Church for the World: Essays in Honour of Gerald Gerbrandt<\/i>, the<\/em> Festschrift\u2014<\/i>a German word for a collection of writing that is meant to honour a scholar\u2014is a series of essays that reflect on the work being done at CMU.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMG_0363\"<\/a>
President Emeritus Gerald Gerbrandt comments on A University of the Church for the World: Essays in Honour of Gerald Gerbrandt, the Festschrift<\/i>\u2014a gift from CMU faculty to honour Gerbrandt’s impact on CMU during his administration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The book takes its name from a phrase Gerbrandt coined to describe CMU. Huebner noted that as president, Gerbrandt shaped CMU\u2019s vision and mission, gave leadership in molding its faculty, and created a climate of open, free exchange of ideas and respect for difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe essays in this book are all written out of a deep appreciation for this culture of open discussion, of open debate, guided by a commitment to the Christian faith,\u201d Huebner said. \u201cIn a small way, it is an example of what a university of the church for the world might look like.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gerbrandt expressed his thanks for the book, particularly to the authors who took time to write essays for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really do look forward to reading each one of your reflections and seeing what I can learn from them,\u201d Gerbrandt said, adding later: \u201cI do trust that\u2026 the various contributions in it serve to help CMU and perhaps other universities to become more effective to serve the world and the church.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, opening program\u2014and Fall Festival as a whole\u2014was about gratitude; gratitude not only for the contribution of alumni and a former President, but gratitude for the community that supports CMU.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCMU\u2019s present and its future is nowhere if it\u2019s not held within a network of friends and alumni, parents and grandparents, (and) congregations who undergird the possibilities of this university,\u201d Schellenberg said.<\/span><\/p>\n

About CMU<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU\u2019s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as\u00a0graduate degrees in theology,\u00a0ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 800 full-time equivalent\u00a0students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program.<\/em><\/p>\n

For information about CMU visit <\/em>www.cmu.ca<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

For additional information, please contact:
\nKevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
\nkkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
\nCanadian Mennonite University
\n500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB\u00a0 R3P 2N2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Eric Wiebe, attending Canadian Mennonite University\u2019s annual Fall Festival event this past weekend was like coming home. Wiebe, a retired high school physics teacher who lives in Kamloops, BC, graduated from Canadian Mennonite Bible College, one of CMU\u2019s predecessor institutions, in 1966. He wanted to be at Fall Festival because members from his graduating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20,25,5],"tags":[539,798,460,159],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6071"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6080,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6071\/revisions\/6080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}