{"id":31657,"date":"2017-02-01T09:33:43","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T14:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=31657"},"modified":"2017-02-07T14:12:39","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T19:12:39","slug":"ken-l-nafziger-honored-many-contributions-emu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/ken-l-nafziger-honored-many-contributions-emu\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken L. Nafziger honored for his many contributions to EMU"},"content":{"rendered":"

At his farewell reception in early January, outgoing Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Ken L. Nafziger characterized his 13-plus years at Eastern Mennonite University as \u201ca half-marathon.\u201d The comparison drew a knowing laugh from colleagues, each of whom has memories of watching Nafziger jog through and around campus, both alone and with companions.<\/p>\n

Provost Fred Kniss spoke about Nafziger\u2019s many accomplishments and contributions to the university, for which he was honored by the Board of Trustees with an emeritus administrator title.<\/p>\n

\u201cKen has helped EMU make important gains in our abilities to serve our diverse community of students,\u201d said Kniss, launching into a list of positive changes Nafziger led in Student Life:<\/a> from implementing the CoachLink<\/a> program, and expanding career services health services, and multicultural student services, to leading the Crisis Management Preparedness Team<\/a> since its inception in 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a privilege to work here with this great group of people,\u201d Nafziger said in his closing comments. \u201cNone of those accomplishments would have been possible or happened without the wonderful work of my colleagues in the Student Life department\u2026 I was fortunate enough to be here at the right time with the right group of people to see a lot of things come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The campus community gathers to reminisce and thank Dr. Ken L. Nafziger as he says farewell to Eastern Mennonite University. Ken has worked in leadership roles in student life for 13 years. (Photo by Dylan Buchanan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nafziger and his wife Judy plan to \u201ctake a learning break\u201d in Costa Rica to study Spanish. \u201cI\u2019ve taken special care not to say the word \u2018retire,’\u201d he added. \u201cSixty is the new 50 \u2026 or so I\u2019ve heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beloved on campus<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A host of colleagues took the opportunity to share remembrances, some humorous and many emotional, about working with Nafziger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed your commitment to developing students, and really all of us, towards personal improvement,\u201d said Dean of Undergraduate Students Deirdre Smeltzer.<\/p>\n

Brian Martin Burkholder, campus chaplain, noted the \u201cstream of people at your door\u2026if it was open and they wanted to meet, you always said, \u2018yes,\u2019 and then when driving by at night on my way home, I\u2019d see your office light on. You made yourself available even at great personal cost. That was servant leadership and love in action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several colleagues also offered thanks for his skillful and compassionate relationships with everyone in the campus community, whether student, faculty, staff, \u201cfriend or neighbor,\u201d said administrative assistant Bernadette Griffith, who often accompanied Nafziger to meetings around campus. She praised him as willing to understand differences in individuals, someone who would always take time to talk with students. \u201cIt was easy to tell how much you love this place and the people here \u2026 I saw this place through Ken\u2019s eyes, and it\u2019s quite beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

A particularly heartfelt thanks came from a faculty member, moved nearly to tears, who spoke \u201con behalf of other parents whose lives you touched\u201d about how Nafziger helped, \u201cwith grace and compassion,\u201d her child overcome some difficult issues and eventually graduate from EMU.<\/p>\n

\"ken-l-feature\"<\/a>
Ken Nafziger always jumped to his feet during the most exciting times at EMU basketball games. (Photo by Scott Eyre)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to thanking Nafziger for his leadership and care, Director of Counseling Services Pam Comer read aloud the \u201cTop 10 Things We Will Miss About Ken.\u201d A sampling from this list included praise for his wife Judy\u2019s food and baked goods at potlucks, his knack for knowing and sharing words in other languages, the speedy way he crossed campus “from meeting to meeting to meeting,” his cluttered desk \u201cthat made us feel so much better about the state of our own desks,\u201d and his affection for \u201canything Pennsylvania and Penn State.”<\/p>\n

The top reason Nafziger will be missed was mentioned several times by other speakers: \u201cleading the cheering with the bouncing program at basketball games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nafziger, who graduated from EMU with a bachelor\u2019s degree in math, psychology and secondary education in 1979, went on to teaching positions in Virginia and Kenya with Eastern Mennonite Missions before returning to graduate school.<\/p>\n

After earning a doctorate at University of Iowa, which included a one-year rotation at an out-patient psychiatry at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, he was a staff psychologist at University of Iowa\u2019s counseling services and then assistant director of Penn State University\u2019s Center for Counseling and Psychological Services and an affiliate faculty member in counseling psychology from 1997-2003.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At his farewell reception in early January, outgoing Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Ken L. Nafziger characterized his 13-plus years at Eastern Mennonite University as \u201ca ... read more about Ken L. Nafziger honored for his many contributions to EMU<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5583,14715,8845,4513],"tags":[17586,5809,13719,6795,11352,12333],"feature":[17427,17423,17426,17241],"class_list":["post-31657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-campus-community","category-campus-life","category-emu-at-lancaster","category-student-life","tag-bernadette-griffith","tag-brian-martin-burkholder","tag-deirdre-smeltzer","tag-diversity","tag-fred-kniss","tag-pam-comer","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-featured-undergrad","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nKen L. 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Nafziger characterized his 13-plus years at Eastern Mennonite University as \u201ca\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/ken-l-nafziger-honored-many-contributions-emu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-01T14:33:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-07T19:12:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/02\/20170119-Ken-L.-Nafziger-farewell-012-1000px.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/ken-l-nafziger-honored-many-contributions-emu\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/ken-l-nafziger-honored-many-contributions-emu\/\",\"name\":\"Ken L. 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