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Moshier-Shenk was honored among other retiring employees at a spring reception and officially ended her time at EMU on June 30, 2022 \u2013 fittingly on the day that symbolizes both the end of each fiscal year and the culmination of an advancement officer\u2019s total year-end goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a tribute at the reception, Vice President for Advancement Kirk Shisler \u201881<\/strong> noted Moshier-Shenk\u2019s sustaining efforts as an especially empathetic and skilled relationship-builder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis includes continuing those relationships with alumni and friends of EMU through economic downturns, as well as during seasons of disappointment and controversy,\u201d he said. \u201cIn advancement, the true measure of success is financial support, tracked over time. Thanks to Karen\u2019s steadfast engagement with hundreds of donors over nearly two and a half decades, millions of dollars have been gifted for EMU\u2019s mission through annual giving, capital campaigns, and endowed scholarship funds to support student aid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several major successful capital project campaigns bear marks of her dedicated work, including the recently completed $12M renovations to the Suter Science Center, the University Commons, and the Lisa Haverstick Nursing Simulation Lab, as well as countless endowed scholarships. Many donors who have engaged with her have also joined the Jubilee Friends Society, now over 600 members strong, who have included EMU in their estate plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shisler also pointed out that current and former colleagues have shared appreciation for her pioneering and courageous work in this role, which called her to be honest and forthright with the patriarchies of both the university and Mennonite culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moshier-Shenk has helped to both open new doors for fellow female colleagues and to offer new types of relationships with donors, bringing \u201can awareness that, in fact, women do control the purse strings in their families, have strong voices, and care very much about their and others children, our future students and leaders,\u201d said advancement colleague Susan Landes Beck<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A graduate of EMU\u2019s music program with a master\u2019s degree in sacred music from Duquesne University, Moshier-Shenk began working at EMU in 1992 when her husband Steve Shenk became the university\u2019s marketing director. [Steve was marketing director from 1991-2002, and returned to teach in the Intensive English Program in 2012; he also retired this year.] For the first few years, she managed part-time work at Park View Mennonite Church with a wide variety of engagements at EMU: co-teaching music and seminary courses, planning chapel services, directing the music for two theater productions, directing the seminary choir, and filling in for Professor Ken Nafziger<\/strong>, now emeritus, as University Chorale director while he was on sabbatical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Multi-faceted with a background in education and a clear love for engaging with people of all ages and backgrounds, Moshier-Shenk was eventually recruited to Advancement by former director Daryl Peifer \u201875<\/strong> and then President Joe Lapp \u201866<\/strong>. She says her first answer was \u201cno, but tell me more about it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n She remains grateful to Peifer for the \u201cshoulder tap\u201d and the encouragement to consider a job \u201cwhich I would never have sought out on my own. \u201cI was the only female \u2018on the road\u2019 for development for EMU, new ground for sure, though in many other organizations, women were already heavily involved in these roles,\u201d she said. \u201cJoe Lapp encouraged funding for me to attend a series of conferences for me to understand the work, and there I met many women who were doing the same work for the same reasons in their particular organizations. That was so helpful and encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her love for EMU and some very former special colleagues kept her going: among them Ellen Miller<\/strong>, Phoebe Kilby GC \u201804<\/strong>, Carol Lown<\/strong>, and Robyn Hill<\/strong>. The current Advancement team, she says, have also been \u201ca huge gift\u201d in these past several years through the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moshier-Shenk says she has most appreciated her own efforts on two especially meaningful projects. Early in her career, she led the fundraising to name the Weaver Wellness Center in the University Commons in honor of Clair and Anna May Weaver<\/strong>, who were murdered in the spring of 1991. The Weaver Wellness Suite houses EMU Health Services and Counseling Services. \u201cMeeting their two birth children and uncle and hearing their stories of that time in their lives, was so meaningful,\u201d Moshier-Shenk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also enjoyed the collaborative efforts with advancement team members to help fund the Lisa Haverstick \u201891 Nursing Lab and with another donor to buy a pediatric mannequin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her relationship with donors, many of whom have become lifelong friends, has always been \u201cthe highlight of my career.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTaking food into families and learning to know their children, which included hearing them play violin, or piano, or playing games with them \u2026 sharing a \u2018best books\u2019 list each year, and walking alongside families in their hard times, deaths, attending memorial services, and other life events \u2026 all of this has really made my work and my life fulfilling in ways I can\u2019t even begin to describe,\u201d Moshier-Shenk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One longtime EMU donor, when informed of Moshier-Shenk\u2019s retirement, summarized their hours together over the years as \u201can atmosphere of comfortable conversation,\u201d with no pressure or dread accompanying the time. \u201cWhat a joy to have a dedicated woman so committed to what she was promoting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moshier-Shenk says she\u2019s not sure yet \u201cexactly what retirement looks like,\u201d but it will include travel, volunteering, puzzles, reading, knitting and visiting her family in Boston and Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also plans to continue as choir director at Park View Mennonite Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And of course, continuing to \u201ccause good trouble,\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Karen raised millions in support of students during her tenure. Help us celebrate her tremendous contributions to EMU by considering a gift to the University Fund in her honor. Click here to donate.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n