Bluffton University

Incorporating student chanting and movement into language instruction may help children learn words faster.

An innovative phonics instruction program created by an Ohio first-grade teacher in 1999 compared favorably to a popular, more traditional program in recent research conducted by Dr. Amy Mullins, assistant professor of education at Bluffton University.

While some college students migrated to Florida beaches for spring break, a group of Bluffton University students braved zero-degree temperatures in Illinois to serve others.

Members of Shining Through, Bluffton’s music ministry team, spent a day sorting through snow-covered debris from a home destroyed by a November 2013 tornado in Washington, Ill.

Ashley Litwiller, a Bluffton junior and student coordinator of Shining Through, is an Illinois native who knew of the devastation the tornado had caused. “I knew that there was still some work to be done,” she said.

Jeff Gundy, a professor of English at Bluffton University, will present a program on Thursday, March 27, on his newly published book, “Somewhere Near Defiance.”

Beginning with refreshments at 3:45 p.m., the event—also featuring student participants—is free and open to the public in Bluffton’s Musselman Library Reading Room. Afterward, Gundy will sign copies of his book, which will be available for purchase.

Dr. Brian Bantum, an assistant professor of theology at Seattle Pacific University and Seminary, will address the question “Discipleship: What’s Race Got to Do with It?” in a Bluffton University forum on Tuesday, March 25. Free and open to the public, the event will begin at 11 a.m. in Bluffton’s Founders Hall.

Bluffton University art majors Lydia Speicher of Marysville, Ohio, and Erika Lauf of Lima, Ohio, will display art they have created at Bluffton during their senior exhibition, from March 25-April 6 in the Grace Albrecht Gallery in Sauder Visual Arts Center.

The exhibit, titled “Figurative Psychology,” is free and open to the public, as is a reception for the artists from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, March 30. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 1-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Drawing on his recent sabbatical trip to New Zealand, Dr. Trevor Bechtel shared stories of peace in the animal kingdom and challenged traditional views on domestication and slaughter March 12 in Bluffton University’s C. Henry Smith Peace Lecture.

The Bluffton professor of religion suggested that peace is found wherever right relationships are discovered, which can easily be viewed within the animal kingdom.

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