Canadian Mennonite University

Bursary helps recipients develop and explore

Alongside his degree work, Bryant Neufeldt has been working at CMU’s Folio café. It has been a great way for him to engage with friends, fellow students and faculty, and to find a joy and love for making coffee and non-caffeinated beverages. (Photo courtesy of Bryant Neufeldt)

Danika Warkentin

In 2021, there were three recipients of Mennonite Church Alberta tuition bursaries, which offer an incentive for young people who attend an MC Alberta congregation and have enrolled in a Mennonite/Anabaptist post-secondary institution.

Music comes alive through synesthesia, art

CMU student Anna Schwartz, left, stands with visual artist and piano instructor Shirley Elias in front of one of the artworks that make up ‘Spectrum – The Colour of Music; Precision and Impression.’ (CMU photo)

Imagine if you could see sound. When Anna Schwartz listens to music, she not only hears the different instruments, keys and dynamics—she sees them. That’s because she has synesthesia, a neurological condition in which information entering a person’s brain stimulates multiple senses at once.

CMU music students break pandemic ‘fast’

Two CMU students offer musical talents to community orchestra in Winnipeg. (Photo by Stanley Wiebe)

The Mennonite Community Orchestra (MCO) broke the pandemic silence with a concert featuring two Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) students on Nov. 14 in Winnipeg.

The concert was the ensemble’s first since November 2019, after which the novel coronavirus postponed all further productions.

CMU honours Class of 2021

Canadian Mennonite University celebrated the Class of 2021 last month during an outdoor event at the university. (Photos courtesy of CMU)

After a year of mingling on Zoom and many online classes, the Canadian Mennonite University community gathered in person on Aug. 21 to celebrate the Class of 2021. At an outdoor convocation ceremony on CMU’s grounds, CMU President Dr. Cheryl Pauls conferred 68 undergraduate degrees, 20 master’s degrees and three certificates.

CMU Xplore program ventures into new territory

Marlene Janzen

Aubrey Hemminger

When Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) moved its Xplore classes online for the fall 2020 semester due to COVID-19, Marlene Janzen was thrilled. Janzen lives in Ottawa, so the new format meant she could participate for the first time.

“This was really interesting to me, to access these resources from CMU,” she says, adding that she had a great experience in her course.

Practising hope

Chris Huebner, associate professor of theology and philosophy, pictured, and his colleagues found ways to enhance online classroom participation at Canadian Mennonite University during the COVID-19 pandemic. Huebner discovered that teaching from the classroom, where he could employ large displays and multiple cameras, allowed both him and his students to read each other’s faces and body language better than when he taught from behind a laptop. (Canadian Mennonite University photo)

People who arrived on the Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) campus last fall were greeted by singing, soaring not through the windows of the music wing, but from outside. In order to create a safe environment during COVID-19 but still continue voice lessons, CMU scheduled them outside.

Watch: Quarantine viewing ideas

"Everyone has their own needs, their own ways of engaging with film..." (Image by Jan Vašek/Pixabay)

Looking for a movie to watch? Sue Sorensen has some suggestions for you.

Sorensen, an English professor at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, is featured in a series of five short videos CMU posted to its YouTube channel earlier this month. 

Each video features a film that Sorensen recommends watching, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CMU prof offers sermons, reflections in new book

WINNIPEG—The gaping mouth of a giant fish stretches open across the cover of Chris Huebner's new book, Suffering the Truth: Occasional Sermons and Reflections. The image of a Polish church pulpit in the shape of the giant fish from the biblical story of Jonah represents the difficult undertaking of speaking on behalf of God through preaching. The associate professor of theology and philosophy at Canadian Mennonite University released the book this April through CMU Press. The 111-page volume is a collection of provocative explorations and thoughts on the Christian life.

CMU is Climate Smart certified

WINNIPEG—On Earth Day 2020 (April 22), Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) announced that it was now officially Climate Smart certified. This certification marks a significant milestone in CMU's effort to address its role in climate change, and sets the university on a path towards continuous improvement in the stewardship of the resources, people and planet entrusted to its care. Climate Smart certification is based on a quantified commitment to greenhouse gas emissions reduction, reflecting standardized measurements of sustainability discerned at a global scale.

Outtatown students stranded in Guatemala

Outtatown students pose for a group shot at the top of Pacaya, a volcano that lies 30 km. outside of Guatemala City. (Photo courtesy of Instagram.com/outtatowncmu)

While school and government officials work together to bring the group home, 36 students, six leaders and two program staff from Canadian Mennonite University’s Outtatown Discipleship School are waiting patiently in Guatemala, putting the semester's lessons to the test. 

‘In the end, we’re all neighbours’

Will Braun, Canadian Mennonite’s senior writer, left, makes a point to Marnie Klassen during the Face2Face panel discussion at Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, on the theme ‘Us and them: How did we become so polarized?’ (CMU photo)

How do people respond to the strong rhetoric of polarization that is gripping the world? How can they listen and talk to people that are different from them? And why does it matter if they do?

Watch: How did we become so polarized?

Larry Updike and Sandy Koop-Harder share a laugh during a discussion event at Canadian Mennonite University. (Photo courtesy of Instagram.com/cmuwpg)

Why does polarization so frequently characterize our discourse? How can people find common ground?

Those were two of the questions at the heart of “Us and Them: How did we become so polarized?”, a panel discussion held at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) earlier this month. 

Teaching peace across Asia and around the world

Wendy Kroeker, third from left, is pictured with the Mennonite World Conference Peace Commission The others, from left to right, are: Mennonite Church Canada Witness worker Joji Pantoja, Neal Blough, Andrew Suderman, Garcia Domingo, Adriana Belinda Rodriguez, Kenneth Hoke and Jeremiah Choi. Kroeker and Pantoja were part of the delegation to Hong Kong. (Photo by Marijne Stenvers)

Name any region in Asia and chances are that Wendy Kroeker has done peace work there.

CMU recognizes distinguished alumni with 2019 awards

Randy Klassen (clockwise from top left), Donna Kampen Entz, Jeffrey Metcalfe and Eileen Klassen Hamm are the recipients of the CMU 2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards. (Photo courtesy of CMU)

A former teacher dedicated to building relationships with Indigenous peoples, a former Mennonite Church Canada Witness worker invested in intercultural relationships, a long-time pursuer of justice with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), and a priest and canon theologian in the Anglican Church are the recipients of the Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) 2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards.

CMU/Bethel College launch joint research journal

With the help of the internet, students, faculty and administrators from two Mennonite colleges in two different countries met on April 23 to launch something brand new in Mennonite higher education. The groups from Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg and Bethel College in North Newton, Kan., were celebrating the first issue, now live, of the Marpeck Undergraduate Research Journal (MURJ). The name is derived from a major source of financial support, the Marpeck Fund, set up by Robert S.

New Centre for Resilience open for business at CMU

The ceremonial ribbon cutting at the April 13, 2018, grand opening of the Centre for Resilience at CMU. From left to right: Heather Stephanson, Manitoba’s minister of justice and attorney general; Cheryl Pauls, CMU’s president; Ian Wishart, Manitoba’s education and training minister; Doug Eyonlfson, MP for Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley; and James Magnus-Johnston, director of the Centre for Resilience. (Canadian Mennonite University photo)

Faculty, students and staff celebrated the grand opening of the $1.7-million Centre for Resilience (CFR)—a co-working lab that will incubate and nurture social enterprises—on April 13, 2018. 

On the court and in the classroom

Growing up in Morris, Man., Jessica Edel played sports starting in elementary school. (Photo courtesy of Canadian Mennonite University)

Jessica Edel is a first-year student at Canadian Mennonite University. (Photo courtesy of Canadian Mennonite University)

‘Your team starts to act as a second family,’ writes Jessica Edel (No. 9). ‘They always have your back.’ (Photo courtesy of Canadian Mennonite University)

Growing up just south of Winnipeg in Morris, Man., I was involved in sports starting in elementary school. I participated in many school sports but invested most of my time in basketball, playing competitively from Grade 5 until Grade 11.

Subscribe to RSS - Canadian Mennonite University