鈥淲e are delighted that Louise is willing to share her people skills, organizational gifts, eye for detail and enthusiasm with EMU at this important time in our history,鈥� said , EMU鈥檚 director of marketing and communications.

Hostetter will work with those giving leadership to various aspects of the year鈥檚 celebrations, including large-venue events involving music, theater and art; alumni gatherings; worship services; academic department gatherings; storytelling; and displays. She will oversee the master schedule and manage the centennial budget.

鈥淓MU began with the vision of relatively few people and has grown over the past 100 years to a global community,鈥� said Hostetter. 鈥淲ith the resources of those who are currently involved with EMU as well as those with past connections, we can explore and honor the history of EMU with a variety of events in 2017-18 as well as celebrate the vision going forward.鈥�

Hostetter also serves on: the advisory boards for and the arts complex at James Madison University; the church council of ; and the board of .

In 2011-13 she co-chaired the capital campaign for the and in 2010-11 she was president of the EMU Alumni Council. From 1999 to 2012 she was an intensive individualized instructor at .

Coming to EMU from Arcola, Ill., Hostetter majored in English education and met her future husband, Alden Hostetter ’79, a pathologist. All three of their sons have attended EMU.

A 10-member planning task force began meeting in 2008 鈥渢o plan for a centennial plan,鈥� said Wenger. The task force , a 1967 graduate who is the nation鈥檚 best-known writer on Amish and Mennonite culture. A sociologist by training, he is a professor at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania and the author of dozens of publications.

A page on the EMU website, , invites submissions of stories and photographs for centennial celebration use and ideas for the centennial committee to consider.

The centennial celebrations will last throughout the academic year of 2017-18. The biggest gathering will likely be during Homecoming & Parents Weekend in October. A worship service on Oct. 19 will mark exactly 100 years since the start of classes in 1917.

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鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 imagine a better person to undertake this project,鈥� said Provost , PhD, in announcing the appointment. 鈥淒on brings a unique perspective as an EMU graduate, sociologist, theological and cultural interpreter, and prolific writer of widely read scholarly books.鈥�

A 1967 graduate from EMU, Kraybill holds a doctorate in sociology from Temple University. He served on the EMU Board of Trustees from 1986 to 1995, and chaired it from 1989 to 1995.

Of the two dozen books he wrote, coauthored or edited, 鈥溾�� is one of his most widely read. It won the National Religious Book Award in 1979. With nearly 100,000 copies in print, now in its third edition, it has been translated into Arabic and five other languages.

Kraybill anticipates beginning the intensive research required for the centennial project. 鈥淚 have many projects I鈥檇 like to pursue at this next stage of my life,鈥� he confesses. 鈥淭his one captures my interest because it offers a unique opportunity to investigate a case study of the transformation of Mennonite/Anabaptist identity in the twentieth century.鈥�

In a , when Kraybill was honored as , he noted he is happiest doing research and writing quietly at his desk at the at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.

Kraybill anticipates telling the EMU story while exploring such key questions, including: What was distinctive about Mennonite/Anabaptist identity at EMU? How did those understandings evolve over the past century? How and why did EMU remain Christian and Mennonite?

Kraybill plans to trace several 鈥渢ransformations,鈥� as he calls them, across the institution鈥檚 history. These include the movement from passive nonresistance to activist peacemaking; and from the institution鈥檚 early goal of safeguarding youth from the world to preparing them to engage it.

He anticipates that the resulting book will speak to Mennonite and EMU-related audiences as well as to those unfamiliar with Mennonites or the university. Content from the book may be part of a special website yet to be developed to help celebrate the centennial marking the start of the school in 1917 with celebrations in the 2017-18 academic year.

Kraybill, distinguished college professor at Elizabethtown College and senior fellow in its Young Center, is regularly quoted in national and international media outlets on news related to Anabaptist groups. During the 2006 Amish school shooting in Nickel Mines, Pa., he interpreted Amish culture to a worldwide audience.

He was the primary consultant for a two-hour PBS film, 鈥淭he Amish鈥� that aired in February.聽 His most recent book is 鈥淐oncise Encyclopedia of Amish Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites.鈥� A 1967 and major at EMU, he edits a series of books on Anabaptist topics published by the Johns Hopkins Press.

Further details about EMU will be posted at .

Editor’s Note 11/1/2017: EMU’s new Centennial history is now available through EMU at the special price of $19.99 plus tax, shipping and handling. To order, . The book is also available from and at at a cost of $40; Amazon also offers a Kindle version at $18.99. If you have questions about the book purchase, contact 草莓社区 at centennialbook@emu.edu or 540-432-4101.