��Ƶ History

Starting the Next 75 Years

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 18:48:01 +0000

January 5, 2017

Gordon Govier

Starting the Next 75 Years

In front of a 140-foot timeline highlighting 75 years of campus ministry, 1,400 ��Ƶ staff members from across the United States met for their first national staff conference under new ��Ƶ president Tom Lin.

The conference, in Orlando, Florida, was a time for staff to refresh and reconnect. They were challenged by Tom to use the weeklong meeting to renew their own calling to ministry and reaffirm God’s mission on campus.

Referring to the account of Jesus and Peter walking on the water in Matthew’s Gospel, Tom noted, “In the past year we’ve had our walking on the water moments and our sinking in the water moments.”

The current challenges of ministering in today’s culture are not new for our ministry. ��Ƶ has been in the midst of every cultural shift of campus for the past 75 years. The 75-year timeline highlights successes in campus ministry and acknowledges some efforts that were not quite as successful.

The timeline introduction, next to a lifesize photo of ��Ƶ founder Stacey Woods, states:

��Ƶ’s history is the story of God’s work through thousands of people who were both gifted and flawed. Most of their names and faces are unknown to us today, but their ideas and profound dedication to Scripture are still alive in us. Our commitment to establish and advance witnessing communities on campus has come to us through their often sacrificial lives.

The last ten years has been a period of growth for ��Ƶ. Tom noted that ��Ƶ has launched new ministries in the past year, and new regions for ministry have been created. ��Ƶ now has more than 1,600 staff, and more than 1,000 chapters for the first time in our history.

A team of new executive vice presidents has been appointed to lead a restructuring of ��Ƶ to increase capacity to reach even more campuses with the gospel. Even with the recent growth, ��Ƶ is still on only 667 of the 4,000 college campuses in the U.S.

Tom stressed the importance of ��Ƶ continuing to stay focused on Jesus and not the wind and waves. “Our identity is not in our leaders or our competencies but rather in Christ and Christ alone,” he said. “For 75 years our hope has been in the cross and the power of the resurrection. And for the next 75 years our hope will be in the cross and the power of the resurrection.”

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��Ƶ History

75 Years of Witness on Campus

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 21:52:40 +0000

News

November 11, 2016

Gordon Govier

75 Years of Witness on Campus

��Ƶ Christian Fellowship officially began our campus ministry in the United States on November 14, 1941, the day we were incorporated. Campus fellowships had already been active at several U.S. colleges for a few years, however.

In 1941 ��Ƶ’s founder, Stacey Woods, directed a three-person staff, operating out of a Chicago office that was shared with the Christian Workers Foundation. Today, 75 years later, ��Ƶ’s national office is in Madison, Wisconsin, and staff workers and volunteers across the U.S. total more than 2,000. ��Ƶ has 1,011 chapters on 667 U.S. college campuses, working with more than 40,000 core students and faculty.

“We are currently experiencing one of the most stimulating periods in our history,” said current ��Ƶ president Tom Lin. “The number of students and faculty coming to faith in Jesus Christ through ��Ƶ has doubled over the past 10 years. At the same time, we are experiencing more challenges to our work on campus than in any time in recent memory.”

The vibrancy of ��Ƶ’s current ministry stems in part from new specialized outreaches to athletes, arts students, and fraternity and sorority members as well as to ethnic minority groups and international students, as ��Ƶ seeks to share the good news about Jesus with every campus community. ��Ƶ’s 2015-2016 Annual Report highlights the ways that ��Ƶ staff and student leaders are trying to reach every corner of one specific campus: University of California, Santa Barbara.

While we are using innovative new methods to communicate with students, such as interactive mobile art displays called Proxe Stations, the mainstays of campus ministry continue to be small group inductive Bible studies, daily prayer meetings, and weekend retreats. ��Ƶ alumni can be found living out their faith on NBA basketball courts, in outer space, in scientific research laboratories, as CEOs, as hip hop artists, in school classrooms, on the mission field, and in a myriad of other careers.

��Ƶ has shaped the lives of students in other ways. In 1946 ��Ƶ hosted a conference in Toronto, Canada, initiating what has become the triennial Urbana Student Missions Conference. Urbana was based on the University of Illinois campus for most of its history, moving to St. Louis, Missouri, in 2006. Hundreds of thousands of students have attended an Urbana conference, with many responding to the call to dedicate their lives to God’s global mission.

Christians of all ages have also been influenced by ��Ƶ Press books. Currently there are more than 1,700 IVP titles in print, and IVP is known as a leader in the industry for publishing thoughtful Christian books. IVP books consistently win recognition among the top books in Christian publishing.

“The vision of ��Ƶ is to see students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed, and world changers developed,” Lin said. “We believe the most impactful Christian witness we can have is to the future world leaders who are now students on our college campuses.”

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IVP

��Ƶ History

Remembering Gladys Hunt

AD-16225 — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:08:56 +0000

July 5, 2010

Remembering Gladys Hunt

Gladys “Rusty” Hunt touched the lives of untold numbers of students and ��Ƶ staff through her writing and speaking, and through her leadership role at Cedar Campus, ��Ƶ’s Great Lakes training and retreat center. Together with her husband Keith, Gladys hosted students, faculty, and staff, year after year, offering warm hospitality and foundational Christian training.

Gladys and Keith researched and wrote For Christ and the University, The Story of ��Ƶ Christian Fellowship of the U.S.A./1940-1990. In a footnote, Gladys described her first meeting with an ��Ƶ staffworker at Michigan State University in 1945, who suggested she invite fellow students to a Bible study in her room. “That was a mind-blowing suggestion, but doing it was a life-changing experience,” she wrote. “I found out how to let the gospel loose.”

Gladys authored more than 20 other books, including Honey for a Child’s Heart and Women of the Old Testament. She has also written a weblog in recent years, also under the title Honey for a Child’s Heart.

A notice on the Cedar Campus website reports: “On Feb. 22, 2010, Gladys underwent surgery to replace her aortic heart valve at the Meijer Heart Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. What was hoped to be a quick recovery became a four month stay in the hospital, which came to a peaceful end on the fourth of July when early Sunday morning Gladys went Home to be with her Lord and Savior.” Gladys was 83.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 8, 2010, at the Thornapple Covenant Church, 6595 Cascade Road SE, Grand Rapids. Friends may make memorial contributions to ��Ƶ Christian Fellowship – Cedar Campus capital fund.

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Cedar Campus

Alec Hill: Advent Reflections

webteam@intervarsity.org — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:00:00 +0000

News

December 16, 2009

Alec Hill: Advent Reflections

Advent is a time for reflection and joy. During this season that formally begins the Christian year, we give thanks that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In this spirit, I want to express my gratefulness for God’s goodness to the ��Ƶ community over so many years.

1. Our Mission
I thank the Lord for those who have served before us and charted our path. These include former staff like Walt Liefeld who itinerated from campus to campus by bus six decades ago. In sacrificial obedience, they established a broad mission that rejected a more narrow, insular and “protect-the-saints” variety of Christianity. Rather, they embraced — and we have inherited — a wide vision, a grace-filled ethos and a deep passion for the lost.

2. Our Staff
Many of our current staff have served faithfully on campus for several decades. As examples, I think of Denny Brogan at Hillsdale College (Michigan) and Bill Cutler at Bates College (Maine). Others, like Ashley June Smith at Washington University (Missouri) are blazing new trails in planting chapters and bringing the Good News to campus.

I am also thankful for our staff at ��Ƶ Press (IVP) and the National Service Center (NSC). Every February, we honor those who have served the Fellowship for 25 years. This year, half of our honorees will be from IVP. Their strong sense of community — even in economic hard times — is exemplary. Likewise, I prize those who day-in-day-out labor sacrificially at the NSC providing essential services such as accounting, planned giving, human resources, graphics and information systems.

3. Our Supporters
I count it as one of my great privileges to engage with ��Ƶ donors. They inspire and humble me. An East coast supporter gives away 90% of his income. Another, from the Southeast, caps his company’s earnings, lives modestly and gives away the rest — millions of dollars each year. I am also thankful for our more modest donors who form the backbone of our giving. They are the main reason why campus giving was up both last year and so far this year.

4. Our Volunteers
We are also blessed to have so many volunteers who give of themselves with no recompense. I think of Bob Schwab, a retired Caterpillar executive, who serves as an interim National Field Director. I also think of Mildred Clark, a retired physician, who staffed our chapter at New York City’s Brooklyn College for seven years. These folk are my heroes. We are also in debt to our 18 trustees, all of whom are volunteers.

5. Our Camps
In late October, our board met at bucolic Bear Trap Ranch in Colorado. What a delight. The scenery was breathtaking and the care given exemplary. All four of our camp directors served as volunteers before breaking out into their own meetings. Since three are relatively new on staff, it was a wonderful opportunity for the trustees to interact with them.

We have much to be thankful for. May your Advent season be alive with the Spirit of God. And, see you at Urbana!

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��Ƶ History

From the President

Something Looks Different

webteam@intervarsity.org — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:00:00 +0000

News

December 4, 2009

Something Looks Different

By going to www.intervarsity.org you can see a new design for the front page of our website and our centralized information pages. The new design is aimed at presenting ��Ƶ’s campus ministry more smoothly and efficiently, especially to new visitors who are unfamiliar with ��Ƶ.

The new design is an outgrowth of ��Ƶ’s desire to be helpful and responsive to our friends and ministry partners. The web pages that get the most views are now the most efficient pages at presenting the information that best describes ��Ƶ’s mission on campus.

This change is the first step in a process of web upgrades that will take place over the next few months. Some changes will be visible, some will not, as we integrate a new content management system. Our ultimate goal is to use the internet to its maximum advantage to tell the stories of ��Ƶ, as we pursue our vision of transforming students and faculty, renewing the college campus, and developing world changers.

Let us know what you think.

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��Ƶ History

Remembering Marie Little

webteam@intervarsity.org — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0000

News

July 30, 2009

Remembering Marie Little

Marie Huttenlock Little, an early ��Ƶ staff member who faithfully managed the ministry legacy of her famous husband, passed away on July 28, 2009, at the age of 91. A memorial service was held Saturday, August 15, 2009, at Willow Creek Church, 67 East Algonquin Road, South Barrington IL.

Marie first entered the world of ��Ƶ when she became active in Nurses Christian Fellowship as a nursing student in Philadelphia in the late 1930s. Later, as a student at the University of Pennsylvania, she helped initiate an ��Ƶ chapter there. She attended ��Ƶ’s first Missions Conference in Toronto in 1946, and subsequently went to China with China Inland Mission. After returning from the mission field in 1952 she joined the staff of ��Ƶ.

Paul Little was on staff with ��Ƶ from the time he graduated from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania in 1950 until his tragic death in an automobile accident in 1975. Although Paul had been president of the Pennsylvania chapter that Marie had helped establish, they didn’t meet until they were assigned to work together on the campuses of New York City. They married in 1953.

Paul was ��Ƶ’s director of Evangelism from 1965-1975 and is best remembered for his commitment to evangelism. Marie’s autobiographical account of their marriage devoted to ministry is online at the ��Ƶ Press website.

Marie’s connection with ��Ƶ continued after Paul’s death. She worked with ��Ƶ Press to make sure that Paul’s popular writings stayed relevant and stayed in print. One of his books, Know Why You Believe, was selected by Christianity Today as one of the 50 most influential books of 20th century evangelicalism. He’s also known for How to Give Away Your Faith and Know What You Believe.

The current editions of all three books have been re-edited and updated, and contain a recent introduction written by Marie. This assures that new generations have access to Paul’s creative thinking on evangelism and apologetics.

��Ƶ president Alec Hill said, “Marie demonstrated her commitment to campus evangelism and the Great Commission as a student. The chapter she helped establish at the University of Pennsylvania is still ministering to the spiritual needs of students. Through her service on ��Ƶ staff, her marriage to Paul Little, and her faithful dedication to keeping Paul’s books up-to-date, she has helped make the gospel relevant for generations of seekers.”

You can make a memorial gift in honor of the life and ministry of Marie Little by going to www.intervarsity.org/donate/to/mlittle.

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��Ƶ History

Evangelism

��Ƶ alumni - David and Helen Troutman

webteam@intervarsity.org — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:00:00 +0000

News

September 2, 2008

��Ƶ alumni - David and Helen Troutman

Attending freshman orientation at Texas Tech, in Lubbock, Texas, Helen Troutman made a beeline for the ��Ƶ table. She listened politely but impatiently as the student at the table pitched her on all of the distinctives of the fellowship. Finally she thrust her contact information at him and said, “Don’t forget about me.”

“I was probably the easiest recruit they’d ever had,” she said. “I’m not even certain they knew what to do with me.”

Given the links between her family and ��Ƶ, there was no question in her mind that she would be actively involved in the fellowship when she got the chance. There are few families that have such an enduring link to ��Ƶ as the Troutmans.

Helen’s great-grandfather, Charles Troutman Senior, a Pennsylvania businessman, was on ��Ƶ’s first board of directors. Her grandfather, Charles Troutman Junior, is known as ��Ƶ’s co-founder. Together with C. Stacey Woods, Charles labored tirelessly to build ��Ƶ, both before and after World War II. Her father, David Troutman, was chapter president at Indiana University in the early 1970s.

Growing in the faith

The Texas Tech ��Ƶ chapter was rebuilding during the time Helen was a member, from 1996 to 2000. It had doubled in size to about 80 by the time she graduated. During that time she learned the value of community and the power of studying the Scriptures.

Helen served on the executive team and the worship team, she also served as a small group Bible study leader. “My staffworkers, Robin and Eric Bolash, were constantly encouraging me,” Helen recalled. “They taught me to say ‘Yes’ to God’s opportunities.”

Joining ��Ƶ as a campus staff worker after graduation didn’t seem like a good fit for Helen, but when she heard about the opportunity to join the camp crew at Bear Trap Ranch in Colorado, she jumped at it. She joined the crew for the summer after her graduation and then joined Bear Trap staff a year later, to work an additional 15 months. “It was a way to give back to this organization that had been a part of my family, but also had given me so much in college,” she said.

In 2007 Helen learned about a vacant grant writing position at ��Ƶ’s National Service Center (NSC); she applied and was hired. “Now it’s my job to get excited about what’s happening in ��Ƶ and tell others about it,” she said. “I like working to tell our story well.”

The family legacy

Her grandparents, Charles and Lois Troutman, passed away within weeks of each other in 1990, when Helen was 12. She has fond memories of visiting their Tucson home and receiving encouraging postcards from them in the mail. “They were always kind,” she said. “I remember watching their relationship as an older couple and seeing how much they still loved each other.”

She regrets never having the opportunity to talk with them about ��Ƶ. But her current job has given her the opportunity to talk with many older staff who have memories of working with her grandfather. She’s heard many stories about him that she’s never heard before. “He loved people well,” she’s learned. “They have such fond memories of him; they adored him and thought he was wonderful.”

Helen shares with her father David a sense of pride in what the Troutman family has invested in the fellowship, and thankfulness for what the fellowship has given them in return.

“We were trained to look at scriptures as God’s very word,” David said, when he spoke at a recent chapel service at the NSC. “We don’t bypass our brains and our intellect, but rather we use all of our faculties and our tools to serve and share our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.”

��Ƶ owes much to thousands of men and women who have served the fellowship over the years. Four generations of the Troutman family have served faithfully, and the family’s contribution to ��Ƶ isn’t over yet.

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��Ƶ alumni

Leading with Legal Ease

webteam@intervarsity.org — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:00:00 +0000

News

July 3, 2008

Leading with Legal Ease

Operating a rock quarry may not have been the ideal preparation for the job of legal counsel to ��Ƶ Christian Fellowship. But Ralph Thomas says his various life experiences, particularly those working as a small town lawyer, have come in handy preparing him for the job he’s held for the last 15 years.

Ralph’s career path has taken some unexpected turns, but concluding his career path in a job with a ministry has been unexpectedly fulfilling.

Ralph graduated in 1954 from Penn State University with a degree in chemical engineering. Serving out his military commitment with the U.S. Army in Korea, he was in charge of a platoon that maintained all of the roads between Seoul and the Demilitarized Zone. To keep the roads properly surfaced, they ran a rock quarry.

As an Army officer he also had the opportunity to participate as a judge in military courts martial. “I spent quite a bit of time hearing serious cases,” he said “I got interested in it.”

Those legal experiences came to mind about ten years later when he reached what appeared to him and his wife Betty as a dead end for his chemical engineering career in the oil business. They were living in New Orleans at the time, and he decided to start attending Loyola University’s night school law classes.

After two years of night school, Ralph decided he was doing well enough to use his GI Bill benefits and become a fulltime student. He applied to a number of schools and ended up at the University of Washington.

One of the best things about a legal career is that it can be done just about anywhere. So after graduation Ralph and Betty decided to settle their family in a small town. He joined another lawyer in a practice in Montesano, Washington, population 2500.

After ten years of general practice law, he was appointed court commissioner, which put him back on the judge’s bench hearing juvenile cases, domestic violence cases, and other cases that didn’t involve jury trials. Eventually he applied for appointment to a judicial vacancy but the governor chose someone from his own political party instead. Then he ran for an open judge’s seat but lost that election.

“So I learned a little bit about politics there,” Ralph recalled. “When that happened I decided, ‘OK God, now you’ve got my attention, what do you want me to do?’ I just had the feeling I should be doing something else.”

Having been an elder and delegate in his local Presbyterian Church, he considered ministry-related positions, and took a class to become a church business administrator. But the few interviews that he had were frustrating. “They all decided I was over qualified,” he said. “I never got an offer.”

After five long years of waiting, Ralph had almost resigned himself to practicing law for the rest of his life. And then, through a contact made by a family friend, he got a letter in the mail from ��Ƶ’s missions director Dan Harrison. The letter said, “I think we could use you in the Soviet Union.”

Ralph and Betty had never heard of ��Ƶ. And although they had traveled abroad frequently, the Soviet Union was not high on their list of places to visit. But they responded anyway.

Because of thawing relations between the superpowers, ��Ƶ was working with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students to place American Christians into educational positions in the Soviet Union. The original proposal for Ralph was to teach law in Kiev. That didn’t work out. So instead, Ralph and Betty ended up in the Ukrainian ship-building city of Nikolayev. In 1991 they, and the two other students who were part of their team, were the only Americans in Nikolayev.

“Betty and I started a Bible study for the faculty,” he recalled. Faculty members and even some students attended. The team established a Christian student organization and got it recognized by school officials. But as the end of their second year in Nikolayev approached, the inflation rate was at 100 percent per month. “The Institute just couldn’t afford me at that point,” he said. “So we came back.”

Not sure what to do next, Ralph offered his assistance to ��Ƶ’s corporation counsel, Yvonne Vinkemulder, at the National Service Center in Madison, Wisconsin. They worked together for several years, and when Yvonne retired Ralph became ��Ƶ’s corporation counsel.

Over the last 15 years Ralph has helped ��Ƶ’s staff navigate an increasingly complex legal system. On two different occasions he’s also had to help prepare the legal casework as ��Ƶ filed federal lawsuits against Rutgers University and the University of Wisconsin-Superior, in order to maintain access for student chapters on public college campuses.

Those cases were resolved in ��Ƶ’s favor. “We’ve learned that we have certain rights,” he emphasized. Unfortunately, similar pressures against Christian groups exist on other campuses and ��Ƶ may have to address them in the years ahead.

But now at the age of 75, Ralph is ready to step down and let someone else take the lead on legal issues. He and Betty have moved back to Washington state, to be closer to their grandkids.

The legal profession has many jobs, some which are quite lucrative. Ralph is thankful that he’s been able to use his legal skills to help a ministry like ��Ƶ for so many years. His experiences as a private practice attorney in a small town were perfect preparation. “That variety is what made it easy for me to step into this job,” he said.

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��Ƶ History

Remembering Joanne Fields

webteam@intervarsity.org — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:00:00 +0000

News

June 19, 2008

Remembering Joanne Fields

Staff, students, and faculty of ��Ƶ Christian Fellowship wish to express our condolences to the family of JoAnne Fields. After a prolonged illness of ovarian cancer, Joanne went to be with our Lord on June 11, 2008.

JoAnne was born in 1930 in Springfield, New Jersey. She did undergraduate work at Bethel College and Indiana University, after which she taught elementary school in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware and worked as a volunteer with ��Ƶ.

She earned a Masters Degree in Personnel and Counseling at Indiana University, taught courses, and was appointed Assistant Dean of Women at Albion College. She also worked as a Counselor for women at the University of Connecticut.

In December of 1965, JoAnne married Don Fields. They moved from Connecticut to Indiana, where JoAnne resumed her elementary teaching profession for a time. The Fields were blessed with two daughters, Becky and Debi. Don and JoAnne worked with ��Ƶ students and faculty in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky during their decades of staff work. Many current ��Ƶ staff have been blessed by the training and mentoring that Don and JoAnne provided.

To ��Ƶ’s Indiana Divisional Director Rhonda Welborn, JoAnne was a teacher, mentor, encourager, Bible study leader, and friend. “She was an incredible example of a life fully submitted to and in love with Christ,” said Rhonda.

Our prayers are with JoAnne’s husband Don and their two daughters. We ask God to comfort and encourage their hearts.

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Campus Ministry

Paul Tokunaga Appointed Vice President

webteam@intervarsity.org — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Press Room

March 20, 2008

Paul Tokunaga Appointed Vice President

News Release
For Immediate Release

Madison WI – Alec Hill, the president of ��Ƶ, today announced the appointment of Paul Tokunaga to the position of Vice President and Director for Strategic Ministries, effective July 1, 2008.

In his new role, Tokunaga will provide vision and leadership to expand the impact of current strategic ministries – Staff Development/Training, International Student Ministries, Evangelism, Greek Ministries (fraternities and sororities), Nurses Christian Fellowship, and Leadership Development – and to initiate the creation of new strategic ministries.

For the past fourteen years, Tokunaga has served as ��Ƶ’s National Asian American Ministries Coordinator. In that position, he has overseen significant growth of both Asian American students and staff. In addition, he has created and implemented the Daniel Project, a leadership development program that identifies and nurtures promising staff of color. Prior to his current role, Tokunaga served for a decade as ��Ƶ’s Southeastern Regional Director, six years as an Area Director in Florida, three years as a Campus Staff Member, and five years with Twentyonehundred Productions (��Ƶ’s video team).

Tokunaga has a B.S. (with honors) in Journalism from Cal-State San Louis Obispo and a Master in Christian Studies (also with honors) from New College Berkeley. He has authored (or co-authored) four books with ��Ƶ Press, been a plenary speaker at ��Ƶ’s Urbana Student Missions Convention, served as a founding member of the Japanese American Citizens League (southeastern chapter), and is an outfielder in the Greater Atlanta Men’s Senior Baseball League. He is married to Margaret, a former staff member, and is the proud father of Sam. He succeeds Barney Ford who was appointed Vice President and Director of Advancement last September.

For more information:
Gordon Govier
Media Coordinator
608/443-3688

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��Ƶ History

Press Release

������Ƶ History

Starting the Next 75 Years

Starting the Next 75 Years

75 Years of Witness on Campus

75 Years of Witness on Campus

Remembering Gladys Hunt

Remembering Gladys Hunt

Alec Hill: Advent Reflections

Alec Hill: Advent Reflections

Something Looks Different

Something Looks Different

Remembering Marie Little

Remembering Marie Little

������Ƶ alumni - David and Helen Troutman

������Ƶ alumni - David and Helen Troutman

Leading with Legal Ease

Leading with Legal Ease

Remembering Joanne Fields

Remembering Joanne Fields

Paul Tokunaga Appointed Vice President

Paul Tokunaga Appointed Vice President

��Ƶ History

��Ƶ alumni - David and Helen Troutman

��Ƶ alumni - David and Helen Troutman