In the new role, Good will coordinate off-campus cross-cultural undergraduate and graduate courses, provide academic and programmatic oversight of the undergraduate cross-cultural requirement, and teach undergraduate cross-cultural learning courses. 

鈥淎t EMU, equipping students with relevant, robust cross-cultural experiences is central to all of our programs, from undergraduate to graduate,鈥� said Provost Fred Kniss. 鈥淏eth brings not just a wealth of personal intercultural and administrative experience to this new role, but also perspective as a parent whose own children were positively impacted by EMU鈥檚 cross-cultural requirements.鈥�

The position is an expansion of the undergraduate-focused role previously held by Ann Graber Hershberger, who this year became Mennonite Central Committee鈥檚 interim associate director.

Cross-cultural study has been a part of the EMU core curriculum for over 30 years. Faculty have introduced undergraduate and graduate students to cultural learning through educational travel in more than 80 locations around the globe.

Intercultural qualifications

Good has lived or worked internationally in Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda, North Korea, Ukraine and Vietnam, as well as with underserved populations in the United States. In addition to English, she speaks Maa (Maasai), Swahili and beginner French. 

She completed her doctoral studies in nursing science and research, with a focus on conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, where she also earned a master鈥檚 degree in public health nursing and certification as a clinical nurse specialist. She completed her bachelor鈥檚 degree in nursing at EMU after earning an associate degree in nursing from Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Area Community College.

A certified trainer of Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience, Good served as Mennonite Central Committee鈥檚 Kenya country representative with her husband Clair from 2018-19 and as the organization鈥檚 health coordinator 2012-18, having earned board certification in advanced practice public health nursing.

From 2005-12, she was clinical director at the Hope Within Community Health Center in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and from 2003-12 she was the HIV/AIDS education program coordinator for Eastern Mennonite Missions, which is based in Salunga, Pennsylvania. She was a staff nurse at the Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center 2003-05.

As a medical missions worker in Kenya from 1989-2001, she began a small rural health center, provided community health and wellness education and children鈥檚 educational programs, and educated and learned in women鈥檚 groups.

She has taught at EMU since 2012.

Grads in the family had four different crosscultural experiences

Good鈥檚 own cross-cultural perspectives have evolved over her years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the mid-1980s and in Kenya 1989-2001. Intercultural experiences, she said, allow people to learn skills and gain experiences that will help them communicate and navigate relationships with people from other cultures and who hold different beliefs and ideas.

When Good and her husband Clair first served overseas, in church construction and later church planting, it was with a sense of calling that she now describes as 鈥渢he white savior thing.鈥� Soon, however, she realized that the experience was more a 鈥渓earning exchange.鈥�

In Kenya, she had anticipated speaking out against the Maasai practice of female genital mutilation. But while she continues to believe it is wrong, she came to believe it was more important to address it through 鈥渁 conversation with friends instead of from on a soap box,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat was a huge shift for me, from wanting to tell people what to do to 鈥楬ey, why don鈥檛 we talk about this and see where the conversation goes.鈥欌��

The Goods have four daughters, all of whom graduated from EMU having fulfilled the undergraduate cross-cultural requirement, but in different ways. Even though the family had lived internationally, their daughters鈥� college-age travel experiences were important, Good said: traveling apart from their parents developed new confidence to travel and engage interculturally. One daughter attended a Mennonite World Conference in Zimbabwe, another spent a semester in the Washington Community Scholars鈥� Center, another enrolled in a three-week summer trip to China, and the fourth spent a semester in Colombia.

鈥淚 think they were pleasantly surprised that there were some things that they recognized from their growing up, but also that there were still new things to learn,鈥� Good said.

And, Good observed, her children鈥檚 experiences of living cross-culturally have allowed them to 鈥渢hink more deeply,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey think in a more broad worldview.鈥�

鈥淭he MAOL is a great blend of business and personal skill development,鈥� says Gabb, operations and business manager at in Timberville, Va. 鈥淭he program can build you up, but more importantly, it reveals to you and others who you really are.鈥�

Learning who he 鈥渞eally鈥� is as a leader has helped Gabb improve relationships and efficiencies in his unique role, a position which he describes as 鈥渁 mixture of human resources, production and administration.鈥�

Based in several hundred acres of Shenandoah Valley orchards, the business sells its apples throughout the United States and internationally through wholesalers, distributors and retail chains. They also grow peaches, nectarines and cherries for seasonal sales at two area farm stands, local farmers鈥� markets and local retailers.

Through MAOL coursework, Gabb says his leadership skills have expanded to better awareness of his strengths and weaknesses, stronger listening skills, the capability to view multiple perspectives, and a versatile and more flexible leadership style.

鈥淚 highly recommend the program to anyone who thinks they are a leader or need to become a leader,鈥� said Gabb, who also completed his bachelor’s degree in 2006 through EMU’s .

The MAOL program is just one of several graduate and certificate programs at EMU with the common curricular goal of developing leadership for the common good. Additionally, the highly successful degree completion program, which started in 1995, has a similar emphasis; students with at least 60 credit hours of undergraduate work can work towards a bachelor鈥檚 degree in leadership and organizational management.

Students bring their skills, life and professional experiences into the classroom, where they explore leadership and organizational skills, as well as conflict management, strategic planning, decision-making processes and financial management.

“The School of Graduate and Professional Studies at EMU is a remarkable place to be,鈥� says , director of admissions and marketing. 鈥淚n many ways, it is an incubator for new ideas and new approaches to higher education at EMU. These programs banding together is just one example of the synergy and collaborative spirit here. The school is also quite nimble, which allows us to quickly respond to听evolving challenges and opportunities in our community and beyond.” 听

MA in Organizational Leadership enrolling the fourth cohort

The graduated its second cohort in April and will enroll its fourth cohort this fall.

Professors and have been added to the faculty. Stauffer, who teaches in the undergraduate Applied Social Sciences Department and with the MA in Biomedicine program, will teach an introductory course in leadership studies. Kioko, who is completing her doctorate at James Madison University, will teach project development.

A cross-cultural component has also been added. 鈥淓MU has long led the way in promoting the benefits of a cross-cultural learning experience and we want our graduate students to have this opportunity as well,鈥� says Professor , the new director of the MAOL program.

MAOL students beginning this fall will have two options at the end of their coursework: an organizational sustainability course that includes travel to Costa Rica (a for several years), or a domestic cross-cultural course designed with 2-3 weekend excursions to areas of cultural diversity in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Brubaker has added oversight of the MAOL program to a portfolio that also includes administration of the MBA program. He has taught in the MAOL and MBA programs, and for many years, taught in the .

He takes over from Dr. , who will become interim graduate dean.

鈥淒ave brings significant real-world experience to his teaching and administration, gleaned from many years as an organizational change consultant,鈥� Cockley says.

Humanitarian Action Leadership program offers practical skills

This summer and fall, local and international students alike will benefit from a series of online courses offered by EMU’s Humanitarian Action Leadership (HAL) program.

鈥淭he HAL program is a response to the growing challenges and complexities of our global society, offering a range of courses delivered by experienced practitioners to NGOs, aid agencies, government organizations, businesses, and individuals working to address natural and human-made disasters,鈥� says Dr. , who came to teaching from a multifaceted career in family and community health, including many years in Central America.

Coursework draws on EMU鈥檚 niche programs: sustainable and compassionate leadership, peacemaking and peacebuilding, and trauma awareness and resilience.

The program explores topics related to disaster response and humanitarian action through the lenses of climate change, peacebuilding, justice, sustainable development, capacity building, resiliency and personal formation from a values and faith base. These courses are available in multiple formats. Students can choose to pursue a graduate certificate (18 credits), a MA in Interdisciplinary Studies (36 credits), or an undergraduate minor.

HAL will also work with individual organizations to develop and deliver custom training sessions or workshops to address specific needs.

MS in Nursing Program enters eighth year

The听听(MSN) program started its eighth year of operation with an orientation session in May 2017 for the Leadership and School Nursing concentration and with the upcoming orientation in July for the Leadership and Management concentration.

鈥淪tudents and faculty continue to explore new ways to integrate the EMU nursing philosophy of sacred covenant with servant leadership in the diverse practice roles and settings of nursing,鈥� says program director Dr. .

With students from Nepal to southern Africa, the MSN has increased in geographic, professional and organizational diversity.

鈥淲ith the fall 2017 entering class, we hope to welcome several students from South America and the Middle East,鈥� Tyson said. 鈥淭his diversity of students, partnered with faculty from the U.S. to Central America within an online environment while still maintaining a high level of relationship, illustrates the EMU values of community across cultures and practices.鈥�

The program added adjunct faculty members Carli Youndt, MSN 鈥�15, in the school nurse concentration, and Doug Alderfer, an assistant superintendent of schools with Rockingham County Public Schools, in the leadership and management track.

Ten students will complete their capstone projects in August, implementing evidence-based quality improvement initiatives in the following projects:

• improving the health of diabetic students in schools,
• preventing oxygenation loss events in patients transported within hospitals,
• creating a mental health screening of foster children in developing countries,
• implementing an innovative “grab and go” breakfast program for school children, and
• enhancing nursing education through learning how to capture patient narratives.

Adult degree program increases flexibility with hybrid classes

The newly revised features the BS in Leadership and Organizational Management. The progam will begin offering hybrid classes for fall 2017, according to , program director.

鈥淭his program is designed specifically for working adults who want to complete their bachelor’s degree while still maintaining work and family commitments,鈥� she says.

Students complete a 16-month program as a cohort, forming a learning community that provides academic and social support. 听A hybrid (or blended) format was chosen to address the need for flexibility without sacrificing a strong sense of community.

Courses are offered in a five-week format with asynchronous (on your own time) online sessions during the second and fourth weeks of the course. During the first, third and fifth weeks, students attend a single traditional class session on campus from 6-10 p.m.