EMU Gearing Up for New School Year

Even as the calendar and the temperatures indicate it’s still summer, EMU is gearing up for the start of the 2007 fall semester.

The annual faculty-staff conference, to be held Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 15-16, will explore the question, “What does it mean to ‘walk humbly with God,'” lifted from the university’s mission statement based on Micah 6:8. Wednesday’s session will be held in Martin Chapel of the seminary building, and Thursday’s program will be held in EMU’s Suter Science Center Auditorium.

Dr. Lee F. Snyder, president emeritus of Bluffton (Ohio) University and formerly academic dean at EMU, and Dr. David I. Smith, director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich., will address the theme in the opening sessions. A faculty panel will respond to both presentations.

EMU President Loren Swartzendruber will give an address Thursday morning.

Other activities will include storytelling by EMU faculty and staff, a voluntary cholesterol screening, a comedy talent show, faculty-staff workshops and worship led by Kenneth J. Nafziger, professor of music.

The annual all-campus picnic will be held on the front lawn Wednesday evening, Aug. 15.

New students will check into the residence halls Aug. 25. Orientation programs for new students run through Tuesday, Aug. 28.

Returning students will arrive on campus Sunday, Aug. 26. Fall semester registration will be held Tuesday, Aug. 28. Fall semester classes will begin 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29. President Loren Swartzendruber will speak at an opening convocation 10 a.m. that day on the theme, “Sacred Conversations,” in Lehman Auditorium.

EMU’s fall semester runs through Dec. 14.