Bethany Chupp ’16, MA ’18 (counseling), remembers the exact moment she learned she had landed EMU’s prized four-year, full-tuition Yoder/Webb Scholarship.

While on her way to get pizza with a friend’s family, she received a call from History Professor Mark Metzler Sawin, director of EMU’s Honors program, who told her the good news. “I got off the phone and told them, ‘I just got a full ride to college,’” recalled Chupp. “T���y were like, ‘Oh my God, well, now it’s a celebration dinner.’”

That was 13 years ago. Today, the Oregon native, equipped with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and an MA in counseling from EMU, runs her own private practice, , as a licensed professional counselor. She credits EMU’s graduate counseling program with helping her reach her goals.

“I feel like what it gave me, in terms of my career, was a network and a level of trust, because the program is so respected,” Chupp said. “If you’re an EMU counseling grad, in this area, at least, it’s what gets you a job, no problem.”

Growing up in a Mennonite family, Chupp said her parents, graduates of Hesston and Goshen colleges, encouraged her to attend a Mennonite school. After visiting various colleges and universities across the U.S., she said EMU just felt different. Its students seemed the kindest, she said, and its campus the most active. The fact that she could earn a college degree without paying a dollar in tuition, thanks to EMU’s generous donors, was just the cherry on top.

“T��� Yoder/Webb scholarship ultimately sealed it,” she said. “How are you going to say no to that?”

While at EMU, Chupp studied in the Middle East for her intercultural in 2015 and attended the Y-Serve Civil Rights Tour in 2016. ​Both of those experiences wouldn’t have been possible for her without attending EMU, she said.

Another unique experience offered at EMU was the closeness she shared with her professors. “My classes were small enough that we were invited to professors’ homes for dinner, and we called them by their first names,” she said. “That’s not common. That’s something EMU does differently.”

She continues to stay in touch with many of them. “T���y’re not just former professors,” she said. “T���y’re friends who happened to be my professors.”

For the past five years, Chupp has been actively involved in the local roller derby community. She skates as Peaches n’ Scream for The Hits, a team that competes in Harrisonburg’s . She had attended games as an EMU student but was committed to theater. “Plus, my mom told me I couldn’t join until I was off her health insurance,” she joked. When COVID-19 put an end to her theater shows, she discovered a newfound passion on the roller rink.

“It’s a very inclusive and welcoming community,” said Chupp. “It’s a sport where every body type has a place and a purpose. There’s also something cathartic about it in that it’s curated aggression.”

Chupp has four siblings, including two alumni, Brandon ’19 and Caleb ’25. They aren’t the only Royals she may have helped recruit to campus. The longtime camp counselor and director spent many summers working at Drift Creek Camp, a Mennonite camp on the coast of Oregon. She said several former campers are now students at EMU. “When I came to EMU, I was the first Oregon student in years,” she said. “T���re was one senior and then me. And now, there’s a whole posse of them that are here.”

Since graduating from EMU in 2018, Chupp has regularly returned to campus to attend events, meet with friends, and provide services at the counseling center.

“It’s rewarding to still be part of the community and care about it,” she said. “I think it’s easy for alumni to dismiss it as something from when they were in college, but I continue to feel invested in EMU’s success.”

Your support helps students pursue a quality college education without financial barriers. Join us for the 10th annual LovEMU Giving Day and contribute to the scholarships that empower future EMU students. On April 1, let’s show that our generosity knows no bounds…for the record!

The success has been broad-based, with grants coming from a diverse range of sources, including federal agencies, foundations, and professional associations. This mix of funding highlights the wide-ranging impact of research and programs at EMU, and positions the university as a leader in multiple fields. The results of these grants have helped support student success initiatives and professional development opportunities, and provide resources for staff and faculty roles. 

Among the notable recent achievements:

• The National Science Foundation (NSF) S-STEM Grant provides scholarships and support services for high-achieving, income-eligible STEM majors. This grant helps create a greater sense of belonging and opens new pathways for students in critical fields. It supports a STEM mentorship program, an eight-week paid internship, free conference attendance, and meets unmet financial need up to $15,000. 
• The HRSA BHWET Mental Health grant provides $25,000 stipends for 59 counseling students in internships from Fall 2025 through Spring 2029, while expanding their partnerships and services to schools and clinical sites in areas such as Page County, Virginia, and Pendleton County, West Virginia. The grant also funds conference registration and travel reimbursement for internship students and provides specialized training in telehealth, integrated behavioral health in primary care, and trauma-informed care.
• A SAMHSA grant addresses mental health support, suicide prevention, and substance abuse prevention and education among EMU undergraduate students. This is a critical initiative that provides vital support services and programming to the campus community. Royals RISE is the name of the program tasked with implementing the grant objectives and goals. 
• A DOJ Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) grant designed to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking at EMU. The OVW grant is the third iteration of a grant that EMU has had since 2017. Safer Together is the name of the EMU program that collaborates with community and campus partners to enhance its safety.

Foundation and association grants

• The supports interfaith dialogue and religious literacy initiatives that align with EMU’s commitment to peacebuilding and cross-cultural understanding. 
• The Center for Teaching and Learning Enhancement Grant: Funding from the Council for Independent Colleges supports the development and expansion of EMU’s Center for Teaching and Learning, providing faculty with enhanced resources for pedagogical innovation and student success strategies.
• The supports EMU’s distinctive approach to vocation and calling, funding programming that helps students discern their life’s work through the integration of faith, learning, and service. 
• Lilly Endowment Grants support EMU’s commitment to vocation exploration and faith integration in higher education. The university has benefited from many Lilly grants that have enabled innovative programming that connects academic study with personal calling and community service. 
• A Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Grant expands training opportunities for students pursuing chaplaincy and pastoral care ministries, reinforcing EMU’s commitment to holistic care and spiritual formation. This grant, in collaboration with Palm Beach University, funds the training of a Resident as a Certified Educator to teach in EMU’s CPE program and expand its capacity for offering CPE units.

Together, these grants represent more than $5.6 million in support for EMU’s mission-driven work. They affirm the dedication of EMU’s faculty and staff and the potential of its students.

Had she known about the generous stipend support available to ��ݮ���� counseling students, Jessie Hoffa MA ‘22 (counseling) says her decision of where to attend graduate school would’ve been an easy one. “EMU would’ve been a shoo-in,” she said.

It was only after comparing the counseling programs at different schools that she realized EMU’s program struck the perfect balance. It offered a quality curriculum, skilled and passionate teachers, and solid student outcomes—all at an affordable price. The fact that it was within an hour’s drive of her Greene County, Virginia, home also didn’t hurt. 

“I can tell you right now, there’s no program out there as good as EMU’s for that price—I’ve looked at so many of them,” said Hoffa, who is now a resident in counseling for the Charlottesville-based Piedmont Counseling Collective. “On top of that, to receive an extra $10,000 during my final year was such a blessing.”

The licensed professional counselor is one of 121 EMU counseling graduates since 2017 who have benefited from substantial internship stipends, interdisciplinary and interprofessional seminars, and expanded partnerships and training opportunities funded by two previous Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grants.

Grant reflects quality of graduate counseling program

A new $2.37 million, four-year grant awarded to EMU’s Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC) program this summer from HRSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will continue to build on the work of those two previous grants. The MAC program received a $1.28 million grant from 2017 to 2021 and a $1.01 million grant from 2021 to 2025. Those awards provided $10,000 internship stipends for counseling students serving rural and medically underserved communities.

The latest grant project, known as the Interdisciplinary Education in Action: Valley Counseling Expansion (IDEA: VCE) Project, will provide $25,000 stipends for 59 counseling students in internships from Fall 2025 through Spring 2029, while expanding their partnerships and services to schools and clinical sites in areas including Page County, Virginia, and Pendleton County, West Virginia. The grant also will fund conference registration and travel reimbursement for internship students and provide specialized training in telehealth, integrated behavioral health in primary care, and trauma-informed care.

Dr. Michael Horst, former director of EMU’s graduate counseling program, and Sarah Pace, administrative assistant for the program, submitted the grant proposal application in January and learned they had received the award at the end of June. 

“This recognition from HRSA speaks to the remarkable quality of our program,” said Horst, who became dean of EMU’s Health, Behavioral, and Natural Sciences division on July 1. “Not only to the instruction in the curriculum and that we’re CACREP-accredited (accreditation by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs is the recognized gold standard for mental health counseling training), but also to the incredible site placement work that Dr. Jennifer Cline, counseling program director, has done over the years to ensure our students are serving in rural and medically underserved communities.”

Stipend a ‘game changer’

Students in the three-year MAC program are required to complete 600 hours of internship experience during their final two semesters, which is equivalent to about 20 hours per week. With that many hours spent at their internship sites, not to mention their classes and coursework, students can find it difficult to devote time to other responsibilities. 

Back when he was a student in the program, Zachary Pennington MA ‘19 (counseling) had a full plate. In addition to his academic courseload, he balanced raising three young children and working three jobs. When he learned he would be receiving a $10,000 stipend during his final year of training, he breathed a sigh of relief knowing he could step back from those jobs and invest more energy in his clients through his internship placement at National Counseling Group in Harrisonburg.

“That stipend was a game changer,” said Pennington. “It allowed enough space for me to focus on my clinical training and academics, and it helped me balance it out and make it all possible.”

Pennington now serves as clinical director of Shenandoah Psychological Services in Roanoke, an office he opened two years ago. He continues to serve clients from rural and underserved communities and said his internship experience, traveling to clients’ homes around Rockingham, Augusta, and Shenandoah counties, shaped his commitment to helping those populations.

Like Pennington, Hoffa served rural and medically underserved communities during her internship and continues that work today. She interned at Region Ten Counseling Center, where she treated clients who “fell through the cracks”—they didn’t qualify for Medicaid, but also could not afford to have insurance—and worked with them to find a payment they could afford. She also provided counseling services to students and teachers in Greene County Public Schools.

A nationwide need

The purpose of the HRSA grant, which is administered through the agency’s Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) , is to train more mental health counselors and address shortages in the counseling workforce, both nationwide and locally, in areas where mental or behavioral health services may not be accessible. The program also has a specific focus on understanding the needs of children, adolescents, and young adults at risk for mental health, trauma, and behavioral health disorders.

While the prevalence of mental illness is similar between rural and urban residents, the services available can be very different, according to the . Results from a 2018 study show that one of the most significant challenges preventing rural Americans from receiving care has been the shortage of mental health professionals in those areas. Data from a 2021 report show that rural areas have 87.7 counselors per 100,000 people, compared with 131.2 counselors per 100,000 in urban areas.

Many clients served by EMU internship students pay low-fee or pro bono rates, receiving care they might not otherwise have access to if it weren’t for those students. And many EMU counseling graduates continue working at their internship sites after graduation, with many securing positions even before finishing the program. Nearly 100 percent of counseling graduates find employment within the first nine months after completing their degree.

“By expanding into more of these rural and medically underserved areas, we hope to not only have our interns there for the next four years, but also to place our alumni there as counselors who will continue serving those communities,” Pace said.

“It creates a ripple effect,” said Cline. “We believe that every person who becomes healthier contributes to a healthier system. Those clients might become better parents, better partners, better coworkers, and the impact continues to expand, influencing positive outcomes in many areas of life.”

Learn more

An open house informational session for prospective students interested in the Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC) program will be held from 4:30-6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 20, in the MAC program department, which is located in the lower level of the Seminary Building at 1181 Smith Ave., Harrisonburg. A virtual open house will be held from 5-6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10. Please RSVP for these sessions by emailing counseling@emu.edu or by registering online at .

The deadline to apply for the program’s Fall 2026 semester is Jan. 15, 2026. Learn more about the graduate counseling program at .

Kendra Conrad Bailey ’03, MA ’05, a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) at her own private Iowa practice, was in a client session when her office received a call from ��ݮ����. When she checked with members of her staff, they assured her the call wasn’t important.

She later learned that while she was helping clients that day, her colleagues were dancing in the halls. They had heard that Bailey, whom they had nominated, had been selected by EMU’s Alumni Association and its Awards and Nominations Committee as the 2024 Alum of the Year.

The award is given annually to an alum who has been recognized for significant achievement in her/his/their profession, community or church. Given to honor the alum, it is also awarded to inspire EMU students and fellow alumni to live lives of service and vocational excellence.

“I felt honored and humbled [to receive the award],” said Bailey, who added that being viewed by her staff in a way that drove them to nominate her was “the greatest gift.”

Bailey, 43, lives on a farm in Riverside, Iowa, with her husband, Jace Bailey ’04, and their three children: Bryce (17), Kale (15), and Jalise (11). An Iowa native, she learned about EMU when college recruiters made a stop at the school she was attending. Upon visiting EMU, Bailey said she “just overwhelmingly felt it was where the Lord was calling me.”

Bailey went on to attend both undergraduate and graduate school at EMU where she earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 2003 and a master’s degree in school and clinical counseling in 2005. She credits her EMU professors with noticing her strengths in the classroom—and recognizing how she might excel as a therapist, a career she decided to pursue after undergrad.

Bailey had no intention of starting her own business until some former clients, colleagues and her husband started asking, “Why not?” She told them she couldn’t imagine it. When her husband suggested it might be God’s will, Bailey confessed there was one place she could see God leading her: to downtown North Liberty, Iowa, in a particular neighborhood that, as far as she knew, had no suitable space.

The following day, a man approached her husband at the bank where he works as a commercial loan officer and asked if he knew anyone looking to rent a space in exactly the spot Bailey had named. She recalled the space needing a lot of work but could “see the vision.” “It’s like the Lord opened my eyes and allowed me to see what could be.”

Bailey obtained a LMHC license in the state of Iowa and opened her business Imagine Therapy Solutions, which draws its mission statement from Ephesians 3:20: “And to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, to Him be the glory.”

That was nearly 10 years ago. Now with two locations, the business provides in-person and telehealth services to children, adolescents, adults, and families with a variety of mental and behavioral healthcare needs. “From the day we opened, we’ve had a waiting list and never advertised,” said Bailey, who along with 10 other therapists and five office staffers help clients throughout Iowa to envision themselves achieving their goals so that they can take the necessary steps for self-improvement.

“I enjoy sitting with clients one-on-one to be able to walk with them,” Bailey said. “I am humbled that people allow me to journey with them in their life story.”

In addition to carrying a full-client caseload at Imagine, Bailey provides supervision to therapists in training who are working to acquire their mental health license. She wrote “Tower of Trust,” an interactive storybook for children teaching them the value of second chances, and also speaks publicly on the topic of mental health to surrounding organizations, churches and schools.

Susannah Moore ’08, assistant professor of psychology at ��ݮ����, will give the spring semester’s third Suter Science Seminar, “From Fitness Training to Health Psychology: My Journey Back to EMU,” on Wednesday, March 2, at 4 p.m. 

The sessions are free to the public, and made possible by the sponsorship of the Daniel B. Suter Endowment in Biology and the co-sponsorship of supporting programs. They will be live streamed on the . The campus community is invited to attend the seminars in person in room 106 of the Suter Science Center. 

Moore’s research explores the “long-term health risks associated with childhood maltreatment and health behaviors that may help to reduce these risks,” Moore says. “Currently in my lab, we are interested in discovering early health markers that may be due to exposure from childhood stress, and how various behaviors, such as physical activity, can improve overall health.”

The path of Moore’s research has diverged from physical fitness itself to the importance of “mind and body connection in relation to being physically active and healthy: in particular, how early stressful life experiences shape our pathways of health,” Moore says. “T��� more we understand, the more we can create opportunities for prevention and intervention.”

Moore completed her undergraduate degree from EMU and her masters and PhD from the University of Northern Colorado.

Named in honor of long-time EMU biology professor, Daniel B. Suter (1920-2006), the Endowment in Biology was established in 1986 through the generous donations of alumni and friends and currently consists of over $1 million of invested funds. EMU hopes to double the Suter Endowment in order to more adequately support distinguished faculty and to increase scholarship aid to deserving students.

Several EMU faculty and alumni have contributed to a new resource published by MennoMedia. Covering subjects from faith formation to sustaining leaders, have resonated with Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada pastors wrestling with deep and difficult issues amid the lingering pandemic.

The content covers six subjects: faith formation, worship, sustaining Leaders, community engagement, navigating polarization, and connection.

With more than 2000 downloads to date, the content has clearly filled a need in the church.

“We were able to determine that more than two-thirds of pastors in Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada signed up to receive these resources,” said Joe Hackman MDiv ’11, director of development and partner engagement.

Among the contributors are several EMU faculty:

• David Brubaker, dean of EMU’s School of Social Sciences and Professions; 
• Jayne Seminare Docherty, executive director of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding; 
• Cheree Hammond, professor in the graduate counseling program; and 
• Sarah Ann Bixler, associate dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

Alumni include Hendy Matahelemual MA ‘19 (Christian leadership); Nelson Okanya ‘02; Jane Hoober Peifer ‘75, MDiv ‘98; and Martin Rhodes ‘02. Former faculty member Lisa Schirch, now with the Kroc Institute at University of Notre Dame, also contributed.

MennoMedia received a Schowalter Foundation grant in May 2021 to help churches thrive after COVID-19. MennoMedia used the funds to develop the “What Now?” podcast series and downloadable resources distributed to an opt-in email list and housed on the MennoMedia website.

“What Now?” resources were released in three installments in August, September, and October . The full set of resources are available for download at MennoMedia.org and the What Now? podcast episodes are hosted on the “-ing” podcast.

The Master’s in Counseling program at ��ݮ���� (EMU) has been awarded a four-year grant continuation from the Health Resources and Services Administration to increase access to mental and behavioral healthcare in the Shenandoah Valley. The grant, which is funded through the administration’s Behavioral Health Workforce Education Training program, will provide $1.01 million to the counseling department to support counseling students in internships in high-demand clinics and provider offices. 

The department was first awarded this grant in 2017, when it received $1.28 million to be used over the past four years.

“We were able to fund almost all of our internship students with $10,000 stipends, expand our partnerships with internship placements in rural and medically underserved areas, design and implement a series of interprofessional seminars each year, and host expert speakers,” said Professor Michael Horst, director of the counseling program. 

Once again, counseling students who are serving in high need and high demand areas will each receive a $10,000 stipend, and the remaining 38% of the funds will go towards trainings for students, faculty, and site supervisors. The goal of the project is to fund the work of 63 interns over the next four years. 

The stipends “are meant to defray costs of living, so they don’t need to go towards things like tuition or books, and, through federal funding, recognize the vital importance of the services our students provide to our communities,” said Horst.

This initiative, dubbed the Interdisciplinary Education In Action (IDEA) Project continues and builds upon the work started under the first round of grant funding: the ECURA Program, which stood for Expansion of Counseling in Underserved and Rural Areas.

Horst said the same unmet need for counseling and behavioral health services “has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” with many providers he knows operating with long waiting lists for services.

Trainings will be led by expert speakers, such as Dr. Bonnie Badenoch, who spoke to program participants last year about the interpersonal neurobiology of trauma. Future educational opportunities will also focus  on trauma-informed and resilience-focused practices, as well as telecounseling ethics and efficacy. 

“Telehealth was growing before COVID, but it has exploded since,” Horst said. 

Another component of the project is a series of interdisciplinary seminars, which will be designed by faculty from the fields of counseling, social work, nursing, and psychology, to benefit all of their students.

Founded in 1993, the counseling program is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs.

Shank, who lives in Mount Solon, Virginia, is a second-year Master of Divinity student who was recently granted dual degree status by EMU’s Master of Arts in Counseling program. Aspiring to help those marginalized by the church to deconstruct harmful theologies that oppress instead of
liberate, she is characterized by one of her references as “promoting a gospel of freedom and inclusivity through the ministry of spiritual direction, affirmations of LGBTQI+ persons in the church,” and engagement in “unceasing labor to discern love and liberty in the scriptures.”

In addition to her academic pursuits, Shank has been engaged in pandemic-schooling five children, working as a food pantry volunteer, and providing regular spiritual direction for several young adults. She has published two works of fiction under a pen name and spent a decade as a therapeutic foster parent – asserting now that two of her teenaged daughters, who influenced her deeply, “needed to be able to stand in the strength of a bigger gospel.”

Noting that many in our time are “deconstructing from purity narratives that did violence to their hearts, souls, and bodies,” she asks, “How do we integrate sexuality and spirituality in a way that does not harken back to the ancient economic system of an agrarian society, but is life giving and
faithful to the spirit of the law?” Above all, she asserts that “I hold a dear hope for the evangelical church that it will continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, wrestling as it has through generations, finding a path forward of faithful witness. If I can be a part of that hope and that struggle, I would like to.”

As an Honorable Mention awardee, Shank will receive a year’s gift membership in Christian Feminism Today and a 2021–22 subscription to The Humble Gathering, CFT’s monthly online lectureship series that brings the Christian feminist community together for insightful presentations
and discussion with outstanding artists and theologians. The other Honorable Mention awardee is Josefine Parker, a student at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee. The Hardesty Memorial Scholarship recipient this year is JoDeanne Francis of Gordon Conwell
Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts.

The Hardesty Scholarship competition is held annually in memory of Nancy A. Hardesty (1941–2011), a founding member of the Evangelical Women’s Caucus that, over the past 46 years, has grown into Christian Feminism Today. Until her death, Dr. Hardesty was a professor of religion in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Clemson University, in Clemson, South Carolina. Previously, she had taught English and writing at Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois, and had worked on the editorial staffs of Eternity magazine and The Christian Century.

Hardesty’s first book, co-authored with Letha Dawson Scanzoni, was All We’re Meant to Be: A Biblical Approach to Women’s Liberation. Originally published in 1974, the book has gone through several editions and has influenced countless Christian feminists, from evangelicals to mainline
Protestants to Roman Catholics. In 2006, Christianity Today magazine ranked All We’re Meant to Be among the top fifty books that had influenced the evangelical Christian movement over half a century.

Christian Feminism Today is an organization with a long history of working for gender equality. CFT welcomes members of any gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, color, creed, marital status, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, age, political party, parental status, economic class, or
disability. Its biennial conferences sustain spiritual connectedness and foster learning about critical Christian feminist issues. The CFT website, www.eewc.com, provides Christian feminist news, articles, book reviews, blogs, Bible studies, links to explore, and inspiration.

Anyone who’s experienced mental health challenges or taken an interest in psychology has likely heard of the DSM-5, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is the American Psychiatric Association’s definitive text for defining over 300 psychiatric diagnoses.

Professor Cheree Hammond, who teaches in the master’s counseling program at ��ݮ���� (EMU), identified a number of areas where practitioners and students could benefit from additional information outside of the DSM-5. The result was just published: a textbook titled (SAGE Publications, 2021). It contains about 200 fictional case studies that Hammond wrote based on her 11 years of experience as a counselor educator.

“My first aim was to create a model and a platform for honing diagnostic skills that would be student-focused and would have the potential to raise accuracy in diagnosis,” Hammond said. She explained that two different practitioners will often arrive at different diagnoses for a single client, which directly affects what treatments that person will be offered.

Expanding upon these diagnoses with case studies helps students and faculty become familiar with how disorders can present differently in different people.

“There also seemed to be a need for case studies that reflected the general population – cases that depicted the diversity of our clients in race and ethnicity, sexuality, religion, age and so on,” Hammond said.

Hammond also wanted to humanize these diagnoses, and include the social forces in a person’s life that can and do contribute to their mental health concerns. She’s actually not a “huge fan” of the DSM or the diagnostic process in general.

“I worry a lot about the potential of the diagnostic process to concretize emotional experiences or even to create an identity of brokenness, for instance when a person describes themselves in this way, ‘I am bipolar,'” she said. “I worry, too, about the potential for diagnosis to objectify people and reduce complex lives, circumstances and experiences into ways of organizing and responding to others or even ourselves.”

“It feels important that clinicians in training have resources that both reflect the complexity and weight of making an accurate diagnosis while at the same time retaining what brought them to the profession in the first place, a desire to sincerely understand and be a support to the person seeking help,” Hammond explained.

Those circumstances and experiences can include systems of oppression that negatively affect mental health and wellbeing, such as racism or homophobia. Hammond worries that the medical model of diagnosing disorders tends to focus solely on the individual, rather than the individual in the context of what they go through in life.

Also, she pointed out, clinicians’ unconscious bias can affect how they choose to apply the DSM-5. For example, even when two children show identical symptoms, research shows that white children are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, while Black children are more likely to be diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder.

“Misdiagnosis impacts long-term wellness and can impair a person’s relationships, education, employment and overall happiness,” Hammond said. “Consequently, it is essential that counselors have well-honed diagnostic skills, and cultural competence is an essential component of that process.”

Diagnostic Essentials of Psychopathology: A Case-Based Approach (SAGE Publications, 2021) is available for purchase from and.

Last weekend, the ��ݮ���� community honored approximately 30 students at the sixth annual Donning of the Kente Ceremony.

The ceremony, always the first of the, recognizes and rewards achievement; honors those who contributed to the grad’s success; connects grads to their heritage; and encourages them to continue striving for excellence.

The ceremony was live in Martin Chapel, but limited to participants and their honorary donors. The new livestream format enabled friends and family, and a few honored donneers, from around the world to share in the joy of the moment, sending messages of love and support through the chat. [View the recording of the ceremony on .]

The ceremony, which is voluntary and open to all, celebrates the achievements of graduating seniors who recognize their international roots. Each graduate receives a stole of kente cloth, a symbol of prestige in many African societies, handwoven for each graduate, or a satin sash with flags from the countries they feel a connection with.

Each student selects an individual to place the stole or sash around his or her neck. Many seniors choose to wear the stole at commencement as an important component o f their academic regalia.

Hosts of the ceremony were Celeste Thomas, director of multicultural student services and special advisor to the president on diversity, equity and inclusion, and Micah Shristi, director of international student services. David Berry, professor of music, contributed musical selections, and Brian Martin Burkholder, campus pastor, gave the blessing.

Participants 

Nana Akyaa Okyere Acheampong, a nursing major from Harrisonburg, Va., donned by Kennedy Akwo 

Justice Allen, a recreation sports management major from Waynesboro, Va., donned by Bob Hepler, cross country and track coach

Josephine Awotoye, from Brooklyn Park, Minn., graduating with an MS in biomedicine and donned by Laura Otieno

Akiel Baker, a social work major from Bowie, Md., donned by Celeste Thomas

Luz Contreras, from McGaheysville, Va., graduating with an MS in biomedicine, donned by Professor Beth Good (nursing)

Maya Dula, a biology major from Lancaster, Pa., donned by Celeste Thomas

Brandon Higgins, a psychology major from Culpepper,Va., donned by Lindy Magness, assistant director for housing and residence life  

Amanda Jasper, a social work major from Madion, Va., donned by Celeste Thomas

Terry Jones Jr, a computer science major from Palmyra, Va., donned by Professor David Berry (music)

Brenda Kasongo, an accounting major from Kinshasa, The Democratic Republic of Congo, donned by her father Louis Kasongo Olenga

Yonas Ketsala, a nursing major from Alexandria, Va., donned by Brian Martin Burkholder, campus pastor and Yonas’s spiritual mentor

Philia Lienardy, a photography major from Semarang, Indonesia, donned by her best friend Kayla Segner

Anisa Leonard, a social work major from Nairobi, Kenya, and Harrisonburg, Va., donned by Shannon Dycus, dean of students

Rodrigo Makelele, earning an MA in conflict transformation, from The Democratic Republic of Congo and Harrisonburg, Va., donned by Jayne Docherty, executive director and professor, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Mariana Martinez-Hernandez, a peacebuilding major from Tegucigulpa, Honduras, donned by her roommate and cousin Alexa Lorenzana

Maha Mehanna, earning a graduate certificate in business administration (2021), and an MA in organizational leadership and a graduate certificate in restorative justice (2020), from Gaza, Palestine, donned by David Brubaker, dean and professor of the School of Social Sciences and Professions

Valerie Meza-Cooper, earning an MA in Counseling from Woodstock, Va., donned by Celeste Thomas

Aminata Wallet Mohamed, earning an MA in conflict transformation from Bamako, Mali, donned by Micah Shristi

Helen Momoh, earning an MA in conflict transformation from Harrisonburg, Va., donned by her spouse Charles Kwuelum

Sidney Morgan, earning an MA Transformational Leadership from Vancouver, Wa., donned by her three children

Edith Ortega-Sanchez, a peacebuilding and development major from Torreon, Mexico, donned by her mother Maria de Ortega

Jakiran Richardson, a biology major from Virginia Beach, Va., donned by Celeste Thomas

Gene St. Val, earning an MS in biomedicine from Eden, Md., donned by Tara Kishbaugh, professor and dean of the School of Sciences, Engineering, Art and Nursing

Shakeerah Sykes, earning an MA in Counseling from Harrisonburg, Va., donned by Professor Jennifer Cline standing in for Rita Dunston, Shakeerah’s aunt.

Angela Walker, earning an MA in conflict transformation, from Amity, Ore., donned by her nephew and nieces Asia, Andrew and Aaliyah Smith

Tessa Waidelich, a computer science major from Pettisville, Ohio, donned by Charles Cooley, instructor (computer science)

Rebecca Yugga, major in Spanish language and Hispanic studies from Rockingham, Va., donned by Celeste Thomas.

*Two students’ names have been redacted for security purposes.

Matt Tibbles MA ‘18 is the featured guest of this week’s episode of Peacebuilder podcast. Tibbles speaks with host Patience Kamau MA ’17 about and trauma-informed classrooms.

The “Peacebuilder” podcast, in its second season, is a production of ��ݮ����’s, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. 

More than 6,500 listeners in 102 countries and 1,239 cities across the globe enjoyed Season I.

The podcast is among just a handful covering the general peacebuilding field. It is available on, Apple Podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, TuneIn and other podcast directories.

During the conversation, he shares moving personal stories that actualize both his learning journey and the important peacebuilding ideas he studies, practices and teaches – drawing from experiences as a youth pastor and a juvenile detention officer, in education and prevention for a domestic violence and sexual assault shelter, and from among his students in classrooms at EMU.

A 2018 graduate of ��ݮ����’s , Tibbles is an organizational development and conflict transformation professional with experience working in and with multi-ethnic for-profit businesses, higher education, nonprofit organizations, and indigenous tribes. He balances teaching at EMU with consultancy work among organizations and school districts, focusing on co-creating dignity and honoring trauma-informed and restorative organizational cultures. 

Tibbles brings these experiences into the courses he teaches to undergraduates in the peacebuilding and development program and the sociology program. He also teaches graduate courses at CJP. 

Tibbles begins by describing a pivotal experience of de-escalating conflict while working as a youth pastor in the Pacific Northwest. Witnessing the effect of trauma on the child involved pushed him to explore the concept more fully in the youth group he worked with at the church. Later in Alaska, he worked at a juvenile detention facility where he encountered trauma-informed care and practices. Night shifts there allowed for deeper exploration of restorative justice, especially through webinars offered by the and readings of The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr (Good Books, 2002).

There, Tibbles began to ask different and probing questions about the behavior of the teens he worked with: One guiding question was “In what reality does this behavior make sense?” Viewing those behaviors through a trauma lens, as responses to trauma, helped him and others he worked with see how daily protocols and practices could raise fear and anxiety. For example, walking directly behind a teen in transition between activities triggered a stress reaction, but shifting slightly into her peripheral vision was a much less threatening position. 

While our default approach might be “blaming and judging,” asking questions about why behavior might be happening “allowed us to see a much bigger, broader picture of what was going on,” Tibbles said.

After studies at CJP, he’s worked to integrate restorative justice and trauma-informed pedagogy within the larger university community with a ripple effect as students across the disciplines see the potential and benefits to bring those principles into various settings.

“When we’re able to create trauma-informed and resilient systems, my hope is, and I’m seeing it a little bit from students that have graduated, or even students that have transferred out of EMU into another university or college, is that they’re taking these experiences of being trauma-informed and resilient into their own communities into wherever they’re going,” he said. “And they’re beginning, in small ways, to shift systems that haven’t been trauma informed, or, or haven’t focused on resilience into systems that are beginning to explore just even a little bit of what that means and how it [can be] transformative.”