{"id":36224,"date":"2018-01-01T14:20:38","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T19:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=36224"},"modified":"2018-01-02T12:52:57","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T17:52:57","slug":"twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/","title":{"rendered":"Twila Yoder retires after 19 years as assistant to EMU&#8217;s presidents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For 19 of the past 21 years, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.emu.edu\/faculty-staff\/?show=yodertk\">Twila King Yoder<\/a><\/strong> has served at Eastern Mennonite University as assistant to the president, including most recently, to the university\u2019s newest one. Yoder helped Dr. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.emu.edu\/president\/\">Susan Schultz Huxman<\/a><\/strong>, who started in January 2017, navigate her first year on the job.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_36227\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36227\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/01\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/20171208-retirement-reception-009-1000px\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-36227\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-36227\" src=\"\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20171208-Retirement-Reception-009-1000px-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20171208-Retirement-Reception-009-1000px-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20171208-Retirement-Reception-009-1000px-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20171208-Retirement-Reception-009-1000px.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36227\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Twila Yoder, assistant to the president, with President Susan Schultz Huxman at a retirement reception in December 2017. (Photo by Cody Troyer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At a retirement reception in December, Yoder\u2019s long service and insightful guidance were honored by many in attendance, as well as by Huxman, who offered a warm parting tribute.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwila trained three presidents,\u201d Huxman told the gathered crowd in the Campus Center, which fittingly included some other beneficiaries of Yoder\u2019s gentle tutelage.<\/p>\n<p>Yoder has actually worked with six men and women who occupied <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emu.edu\/president\/emeriti\/\">the role<\/a>, some for many years and others for interim terms.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning in June 1999, she worked with <strong>Joseph Lapp<\/strong> (1987-2003), then <strong>Loren Swartzendruber<\/strong> (2003-2016), and since January, Huxman.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, however, three interim presidents kept the business of the university moving forward: <strong>Beryl Brubaker<\/strong> (May-December 2003); <strong>Fred Kniss<\/strong> (May-August 2013 for Swartzendruber\u2019s sabbatical), and <strong>Lee Snyder<\/strong> (July-December 2016).<\/p>\n<p>With all of these presidents, interim and permanent, Yoder enabled smooth functioning at the highest levels of the university. Among her duties, she<em> \u201c<\/em>schedules all of the president\u2019s meetings; serves as corporate secretary to the Board of Trustees; aids in the development of numerous administrative documents, such as board policy manuals; and serves as a representative of the president\u2019s office on numerous committees including the crisis management preparedness team and the facilities task force, among other duties,\u201d according to an October 2015 <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2015\/10\/twila-yoder-assistant-to-the-president-talks-about-her-long-career-at-emu-and-her-role-in-the-presidential-transition\/\"><em>Weather Vane <\/em>profile<\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Over the years, Yoder equipped her office on the third floor of the Campus Center with symbolic reminders of positive operating procedures in the \u201cpressure cooker, roller coaster world of the university president,\u201d Huxman said, referencing Yoder&#8217;s \u201cTop Ten List\u201d of how to deal with disgruntled callers and two stones marked <em>strength <\/em>and <em>joy<\/em>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_36225\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36225\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/01\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/2004-loren-swartzendruber-and-cabinet-1000px\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-36225\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-36225\" src=\"\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/2004-Loren-Swartzendruber-and-Cabinet-1000px-300x210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/2004-Loren-Swartzendruber-and-Cabinet-1000px-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/2004-Loren-Swartzendruber-and-Cabinet-1000px-768x538.jpg 768w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/2004-Loren-Swartzendruber-and-Cabinet-1000px.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36225\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Twila Yoder (seated left), assistant to the president, with President Loren Swartzendruber and other members of the President&#8217;s Cabinet in 2004. (EMU file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Yoder occupied her role with \u201cpurpose, positivity, patience and perspicuity,\u201d Huxman said, elaborating on this last word by praising her colleague\u2019s ability to \u201csee clearly, deeply, reverently &#8230; with insight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From anticipating sensitivities of various campus constituencies to holding confidentiality on a range of subjects to informing the community of births and deaths, \u201cTwila has put her master\u2019s degree from our seminary to very good use,\u201d Huxman said.<\/p>\n<p>Yoder is a 1998 graduate of Eastern Mennonite Seminary. She and her husband\u00a0<strong>Steve Yoder<\/strong> \u201978, SEM \u201898 have four adult children, three of whom graduated from EMU.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview, Yoder shared that she looks forward to time with family\u00a0and another \u201cchapter\u201d of meaningful work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has been an incredible blessing to serve an institution I love in a role that has been so life-giving for me. I will miss all the people that give life to this incredible place,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For 19 of the past 21 years, Twila King Yoder has served at Eastern Mennonite University as assistant to the president, including most recently, to the university\u2019s newest one. Yoder <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Twila Yoder retires after 19 years as assistant to EMU&#8217;s presidents<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,17562,8845,5642,265],"tags":[8939,11352,16290,10740,6069,17520],"feature":[17427,17425,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-36224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-digest","category-emu-at-lancaster","category-faculty-and-staff","category-seminary","tag-beryl-brubaker","tag-fred-kniss","tag-joseph-lapp","tag-lee-snyder","tag-loren-swartzendruber","tag-susan-schultz-huxman","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-featured-seminary","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Twila Yoder retires after 19 years as assistant to EMU&#039;s presidents - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twila Yoder retires after 19 years as assistant to EMU&#039;s presidents - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For 19 of the past 21 years, Twila King Yoder has served at Eastern Mennonite University as assistant to the president, including most recently, to the university\u2019s newest one. Yoder\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/\" \/>\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=\"2018-01-01T19:20:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-02T17:52:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20170912-Twila-Yoder-Annual-Report-Portrait-011-1000px.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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/\",\"name\":\"Twila Yoder retires after 19 years as assistant to EMU's presidents - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20170912-Twila-Yoder-Annual-Report-Portrait-011-1000px.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-01T19:20:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-02T17:52:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20170912-Twila-Yoder-Annual-Report-Portrait-011-1000px.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20170912-Twila-Yoder-Annual-Report-Portrait-011-1000px.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Twila Yoder retires after 19 years as assistant to EMU&#8217;s presidents\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Twila Yoder retires after 19 years as assistant to EMU's presidents - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Twila Yoder retires after 19 years as assistant to EMU's presidents - EMU News","og_description":"For 19 of the past 21 years, Twila King Yoder has served at Eastern Mennonite University as assistant to the president, including most recently, to the university\u2019s newest one. Yoder","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2018-01-01T19:20:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-01-02T17:52:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20170912-Twila-Yoder-Annual-Report-Portrait-011-1000px.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/","name":"Twila Yoder retires after 19 years as assistant to EMU's presidents - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20170912-Twila-Yoder-Annual-Report-Portrait-011-1000px.jpg","datePublished":"2018-01-01T19:20:38+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-02T17:52:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20170912-Twila-Yoder-Annual-Report-Portrait-011-1000px.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20170912-Twila-Yoder-Annual-Report-Portrait-011-1000px.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/twila-yoder-retires-19-years-assistant-emus-presidents\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Twila Yoder retires after 19 years as assistant to EMU&#8217;s presidents"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245","name":"admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36224"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36253,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36224\/revisions\/36253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36224"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=36224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}