As more than 1,000 alumni, family and friends converged on the Eastern Mennonite University campus for Homecoming and Family Weekend, the reunion gatherings, fall festival and athletic events were not the only item on the agenda.
EMU officially rolled out its new brand tagline “Lead Together” with new campus signage, special banners and a new brand video that aired at the Homecoming welcome celebration in Lehman Auditorium.
The fruit of a one-year research process that collected input from diverse constituencies within the campus community, the tagline holds rich connections to EMU culture, history and legacy as it presents a fresh, compelling and countercultural call to action.
Stakeholders affirmed that along with excellent academics and high job placement rates, the essence of EMU is its caring community and the way in which belonging to that community empowers the growth of unifying leaders.
Though Lead Together may seem dichotomous, “it’s a tagline well-positioned for our times,” said President Susan Schultz Huxman at Friday evening’s donor appreciation banquet. “The simple phrase focuses on building relationships as the heart of authentic success … the kind of success that truly matters in our fractured and polarized world.”
If introducing the tagline in the context of Homecoming was a kind of litmus test, EMU alumni have proved its validity. Just consider the 2019 alumni awardees, three shining exemplars of Lead Together:
- Liza Heavener ‘07, Outstanding Young Alumna, is chief operating officer of a global philanthropy nonprofit that connects millennial entrepreneurs to the pressing issues of our time. With special expertise in animal welfare and biodiversity conservation, she helps to host global summits where idea exchanges lead to commitments to action.
- Erik Kratz ‘02, Alumnus of the Year, has touched the lives of hundreds of athletes and sports professionals, and even more fans, during his 17 years playing professional baseball in one of the most complex and demanding positions in the game. As a catcher, he is a strategist, psychologist, counselor, coach and manager, developing strong collaborative relationships with the largest staff on the team’s roster, 12 or 13 pitchers, each of whom bring their own temperaments and distinctive skills to the mound.
- Pastor Wu Wei MDiv ‘06, Distinguished Service Award, is the president of the China Christian Council, the umbrella organization of more than 38 million Protestants of various denominations (with approximately 400,000 annual new converts) in the People’s Republic of China. His organization trains and supports 14,000 ordained clergy and 200,000 lay leaders; provides Bibles and other resources to 60,000 congregations; and represents Christians in China to the global community.
Read excerpts from their acceptance speeches.
Or listen to TenTalks speaker Tammy Krause MA ‘99, the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding’s 2017 Peacebuilder of the Year. As a graduate student studying restorative justice with Professor Howard Zehr, she embarked upon what would become her life’s work, pioneering the new legal field of defense-victim outreach.
Krause, who has worked in the aftermath of such horrific events as the Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 attacks, shared about her belief in the “redemptive power of humanity” and her ongoing journey of “learning to walk a tightrope between victims’ suffering and offenders’ humanity.”
“If we are honest with ourselves, we can come to understand and acknowledge our sometimes profound human capacity to hurt each other,” she said. “I have come to see that who we are is neither the very best nor the very worst of what we have done. Our truest selves are likely somewhere in the middle, muddling our way to find community. Work to embrace both, and in the lovely messiness of this life.”
And one last example, from a morning panel: four alumni educators in the Harrisonburg City Schools dual-language and ESL programs — Peyton Erb ‘11, Keyri Lopez-Godoy ‘18, Mariana Lorenzana ‘13, MA ‘17 and Camila Pandolfi ‘12 — shared many examples of leading together: how their classrooms are safe places where the knowledge, skills and holistic development of all students is respected; how their teaching roles extend far outside of the classroom, connecting parents and children across cultures; and how they grow and nurture all kinds of community.
In short, Lead Together is a quality and characteristic that EMU has been teaching, nurturing and practicing itself for years. Huxman drew attention to this in her congratulatory address at Saturday’s Homecoming celebration.
“Today as we honor and celebrate outstanding alums for their many accomplishments, we remember the cultivating soil of collaborative leadership – to listen, learn and then lead together – the campus culture from whence they came,” Huxman said.
Brand ‘refresh’ strengthens EMU
This important work of showing and sharing the value of an EMU education undergirds a strategic plan that positions the university for new growth, continued relevance and financial sustainability in an increasingly competitive higher education market.
The ‘Lead Together’ tagline is just one facet of an overall brand “refresh” that includes updated language relating to vision, values and strategic direction. Alumni will recognize the mission of “preparing graduates to serve and lead in a global context,” and the guiding Bible verse of Micah 6:8.
New, focused language more clearly defines EMU’s organizational ethos. An emerging strategic direction focuses on opening “new pathways of access and achievement for all students who aspire to grow as unifying leaders equipped with intercultural competence, oriented towards peace and justice, and rooted in an active faith modeled on the life and teachings of Jesus.”
The research also identified three “brand storylines” that help to highlight what EMU does best and the unique distinctive experiences that contribute to an EMU education:
- unique academic approach, including experiential learning, cross cultural experience and intensive mentorship;
- active faith, including service, social justice and spiritual discovery; and
- spirit of reconciliation, highlighting respecting and understanding diverse viewpoints, broad faith community and sustainability.
The brand refresh process brought together all of these different elements into a narrative: