Willis Sommer recently wrapped up oversight of three final projects as a Bluffton University vice president. Now he's taking on another campus project as a retiree.
Three Bluffton University alumni and a retired Bluffton professor will be honored by the university during its annual alumni awards banquet on Homecoming weekend. The Commons in Marbeck Center will be the site of the event at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8.
Robert Smucker '52 is this year's recipient of the Lifetime Service Award, presented to alumni who have dedicated their lives to heartfelt service to people, community or church.
Dr. James M. Harder, president of Bluffton University, will speak at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14, in Founders Hall, at the annual President's Forum, which is part of Bluffton's weekly Forum series. Forum is free and open to the public.
As the new school year gets under way, Harder will highlight a number of ways that Bluffton is moving forward, including new academic program development and facilities improvements.
He will also provide a progress report on plans for a new Health and Fitness Education Center, the next facility in the university's master plan.
Bluffton University will host Game Day @ Bluffton on Saturday, Sept. 11, when the Beavers meet Trine University in their football home opener at 1:30 p.m. in Salzman Stadium. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children; children under 5 are admitted free.
Before the game, "Sports Talk with Koza," which airs on Sports Radio 93.1 The Fan, ESPN Radio in Lima, will broadcast live from the stadium from 10 a.m. to noon.
Since 1997, Dr. Lynda Nyce has led seven groups of Bluffton University students to southern Texas and northern Mexico for a few weeks as part of the university's cross-cultural program.
Last winter, while on a leave of absence in France, the sociology professor found out that for many of the participants, those experiences were life-changing. And now, back on campus and directing the program, she wants to see if other former students have similar reactions to their Bluffton cross-cultural travels.
Dr. Cynthia Bandish, associate professor of English at Bluffton University, will present her sabbatical research, "Exploring the Themes of Imprisonment in Gothic Novels," at a Bluffton Colloquium Friday, Sept. 10. The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 4 p.m. in Stutzman Lecture Hall in Centennial Hall.
Bandish studied many gothic novels during her sabbatical last fall, focusing on books written in the 1790s but set in the Middle Ages. She delved into the way these novels indirectly reflect events that were taking place during the French Revolution.
