{"id":32918,"date":"2017-04-07T17:33:29","date_gmt":"2017-04-07T21:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=32918"},"modified":"2017-04-26T08:52:22","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T12:52:22","slug":"emu-celebrates-inauguration-ninth-president-dr-susan-schultz-huxman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/emu-celebrates-inauguration-ninth-president-dr-susan-schultz-huxman\/","title":{"rendered":"EMU celebrates the inauguration of its ninth president, Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some 500 voices joined in the litany of investiture today to welcome and bless Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s ninth president, Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman, during the inaugural ceremony at Yoder Arena.<\/p>\n

The confirming confluence of diverse voices was one of those \u201cbeautiful and brazen \u2018Behold!\u2019\u201d moments that Huxman spoke about in her inaugural address as \u201can awesome mystery \u2026 something really unusual and unconventional unfolding before you.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was indeed: Acknowledging EMU\u2019s 100-year-history, its growth as a diverse, Christ-centered community, and its historic commitment to nonviolence and peace, the litany, written by Professor Vi Dutcher, blended voices of EMU\u2019s students, faculty and staff, and the board of trustees, as well the broader community, including representatives from Mennonite Education Agency and Mennonite Church, USA, into an encouraging message of legacy, faith and Christian community.<\/p>\n

Watch a livestream video of the inauguration ceremony<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Present for the ceremony were 17 delegate representatives from colleges and universities, including Mennonite institutions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mayor Deanna R. Reed brings greetings from the city of Harrisonburg. (Photo by Jon Styer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Harrisonburg mayor Deanna R. Reed brought greetings on behalf of the city and framed the university\u2019s unique role as \u201cthe very moral compass which a vast number of residents reference for social, political and spiritual wisdom and guidance,\u201d she said. \u201cWe will forever be grateful for Eastern Mennonite University and the EMU community for teaching and instructing us \u2014 the city \u2014 how to embrace, celebrate and welcome neighbors and stakeholders from all faith, backgrounds and cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n

The choice of Huxman, the university\u2019s first permanent female president, to represent EMU\u2019s educational mission on the local, national and international stage in working towards peace, racial reconciliation and restorative justice is significant, Reed said. \u201cI am prayerful and hopeful we can further cultivate a community even more closely reflective of EMU\u2019s mission, vision and values.\u201d<\/p>\n

EMU\u2019s countercultural story<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Readers representing student government and various campus organizations participate in the litany. (Photo by Jon Styer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In her address titled \u201cBehold and Enter the Countercultural Story,\u201d Huxman pointed to two such \u201cBehold!\u201d moments and the trajectories that followed. The first was the \u201cleap of faith\u201d taken by church leaders to open Eastern Mennonite School in 1917 with 20 students and four faculty members in the Shenandoah Valley. Now the institution includes nearly 2,000 students, two additional instructional sites, more than 100 faculty and 60 academic programs.<\/p>\n

A second such moment, she noted, was in 1948, when Eastern Mennonite became the first historically white college in Virginia to open its doors to African-American students. EMU \u201ccontinues to be a trailblazer in social justice education,\u201d she added, linked inextricably to the \u201csacred premise that all students are viewed as gifted people created and loved by God\u201d and to the school\u2019s mission to \u201ceducate students to lead and serve in a global context.\u201d<\/p>\n

At EMU, she noted, students experience a life-changing visible academic and invisible communal curriculum and are immersed in a series of \u201ceyes-wide-open\u201d moments that lead to life-changing and \u201ccounter-cultural\u201d transformation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to tell our unfolding, unconventional story in harmony with the \u2018old, old story of Jesus and his love,\u2019\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n

‘She will speak for you no matter what…’<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman is congratulated by her father, Dr. Harold J. Schultz, president emeritus of Bethel College. Both father and daughter share the distinction of becoming their respective institution’s ninth president. (Photo by Jon Styer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/em>As the first woman invested as president, Huxman has already contributed this countercultural theme. She was previously president at Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Canada, and prior to that, director of the Elliott School of Communication at Wichita State University, Kansas.<\/p>\n

A family legacy of leadership in Anabaptist higher education was affirmed in an introductory address by her father, Dr. Harold J. Schultz, president emeritus of Bethel College (Kansas). Anabaptist institutions have through their graduates a \u201cmultiplier effect,\u201d a cloud of \u201cliving epistles\u201d who \u201cmake a difference, no matter where they live,\u201d he said. \u201cBeware students, if you come to EMU, there is both a promise and a warning that you risk becoming a changed person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Wendy L. Fletcher, president and vice-chancellor of Renison University in Ontario, Canada, affirmed the selection of Huxman to lead EMU in a tumultuous and dangerous time as the tenets of the faith call for radical action and a powerful voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSusan is a disciple and a leader who will be able to take this journey with you,\u201d she said. \u201cShe is feisty; she doesn\u2019t give up; she will speak for you no matter what wolf may bang on the door nor what shadow fall across your floors; she is smart and strategic; she is full of energy for life and good work; she is beautiful from the inside out. She will go with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inauguration festivities continue with a student-planned gala evening event tonight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some 500 voices joined in the litany of investiture today to welcome and bless Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s ninth president, Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman, during the inaugural ceremony at Yoder Arena. ... read more about EMU celebrates the inauguration of its ninth president, Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5583,14184,17562,8845,264,5623,5730],"tags":[6795,5727],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-32918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-campus-community","category-campus-guests","category-digest","category-emu-at-lancaster","category-graduate-programs","category-special-programs","category-undergraduate-programs","tag-diversity","tag-office-of-the-president","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nEMU celebrates the inauguration of its ninth president, Dr. Susan Schultz Huxman - 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