Eastern Mennonite University awarded 313 degrees during its 108th annual Commencement on Sunday, May 3. The total included 171 undergraduate degrees, 129 graduate degrees, 10 seminary degrees, and three doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degrees. The university’s 304 graduates represented 23 states, Puerto Rico, and 15 countries.
What does it look like to be a thermostat instead of a thermometer in a polarized world? That’s one of the questions driving the work of Dr. Jacob Alan Cook, assistant professor of Christian ethics at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and director of the Doctor of Ministry in Peacemaking and Social Change Program. In his latest piece for Christian Ethics Today, Jake draws on social science, Scripture, and decades of conflict transformation practice to offer something rare: concrete, theologically grounded strategies for depolarizing ourselves before we try to depolarize anyone else.
“Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?” James Baldwin asked that question in 1963. Dr. David F. Evans, Professor of History and Intercultural Studies and Associate Dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, picks it up in a new piece for Presbyterian Outlook.
Drawing on his 2025 book “Damned Whiteness: How White Christian Allies Failed the Black Freedom Movement,” Evans argues that diversity and inclusion initiatives too often leave oppressive structures intact. What’s needed, he writes, is something more: building new structures rooted in love, solidarity, and the Black freedom tradition.
The Rev. Angelo Mante, a graduate student in Eastern Mennonite Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry program, serves as co-founder and executive director of Alive Community Outreach. The Fort Wayne, Indiana-based organization cultivates a community of nonviolence through relationships and education and was recently featured on 89.1 WBOI, a National Public Radio member station.
EMU is proud to announce that four of its esteemed faculty members have been appointed as endowed chairs, effective fall 2026. The appointments were confirmed by the EMU Board of Trustees during its March meeting. Those faculty members include Dr. Peter Dula, Myron S. Augsburger Endowed Chair of Theology.
On Monday, March 23, Anabaptist and Jewish scholars and religious leaders gathered in the Strite Conference Room of EMU’s Campus Center for a consultation on Judaism, the Bible, and Anabaptism. The invite-only event was planned by Peter Dula, professor of religion and culture at EMU, and Trina Trotter Nussbaum, director of the Center for Interfaith Engagement (CIE), and included all-day discussions centering around the work of Matthew Thiessen and Daniel Weiss.
EMU Interim President Rev. Dr. Shannon W. Dycus and Harrisonburg Mayor Deanna Reed, director of alumni engagement and community connections at EMU, spoke at the Harrisonburg International Women’s Day March on Saturday, March 7.
What happens when someone in power demands something that violates your dignity? In a recent article for Anabaptist World, Eastern Mennonite Seminary faculty member Courtney C. Joyner reimagines the biblical story of Queen Vashti through a first-person narrative that centers courage, agency, and refusal. In the Book of Esther, Vashti is remembered for a single act. She says no to the king’s command to display herself before a room full of drunken men. In Joyner’s retelling, that moment becomes a powerful exploration of dignity, fear, and the risk of reclaiming one’s voice.
What does Anabaptist faith look like in the public square? Sometimes it looks like Rev. Jon Carlson. The EMS alumnus was recently featured in The Guardian in a story about individuals challenging presidential actions in court. Jon serves as lead pastor of Forest Hills Mennonite Church and moderator of Mennonite Church USA, roles that place him at the intersection of pastoral leadership, denominational life, and public witness. His participation in this moment reflects a long-standing Anabaptist commitment to justice, conscience, and faithful engagement in the public square.
