Bethel University broke ground on its $30 million University Commons facility during a festive celebration on Saturday, May 19. The building is scheduled to be completed in spring 2009.

"As we are ever becoming whole and holy people, the University Commons will provide places for personal and corporate devotion and reflection, places for relationships to thrive, and places for bodies and minds to relax as well," said Vice President for Student Life Judy Moseman. "The commons will, we believe, become the hub and the pulse of community life at Bethel and will offer a continuing invitation to each of us to tend to our relationships, tend to our minds, and tend to our souls."

Bethel’s college buildings, originally holding 1,000 students, have had numerous additions and been remodeled again and again to serve 2,900 residential students and more than 1,600 adult students. Renovations have compromised gathering places for life-shaping relationships, as well as space for essential student services.

The University Commons will solve these needs. As Bethel University’s first student center, this beautiful and functional 110,000-square-foot facility will create a “family room” for the Bethel community. It will include expanded Dining Center and a retail dining establishment; a larger Campus Store; a multipurpose social event venue; several large lounge areas; headquarters for student organizations; a centralized student life office; and meeting rooms and conversation spaces.

The facility will be built by M.A. Mortenson Company and is designed by KKE Architects.

Ron Tschetter, director of the Peace Corps and a Bethel University alumnus from the class of 1963, will speak at all four of Bethel’s commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 26. More than 800 students will graduate.

Tschetter was nominated by President Bush to lead the Peace Corps in 2006 and was later confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Tschetter was a long-time Bethel trustee and was named Bethel Alumnus of the Year in 1993.

Tschetter is the 17th Peace Corps Director, overseeing an agency with 7,810 volunteers and trainees serving in 75 countries. He is a former chairman of the National Peace Corps Association and served with his wife as a Peace Corps volunteer in India shortly after graduating from Bethel. Tschetter also worked at Dain Rauscher in Minnesota for many years.

Approximately 180 students will graduate from Bethel Seminary in separate ceremonies at its locations in St. Paul, San Diego, and on the East Coast. Author and speaker Gordon MacDonald will be the speaker at the Seminary St. Paul commencement; Seminary Provost Leland Eliason will speak at the Seminary of the East commencement; and Marvin A. McMickle, professor of homiletics at Ashland Theological Seminary, will be the speaker at the Seminary San Diego commencement.

Bethel University President George Brushaber, M.Div., Ph.D., recently announced that he will conclude his presidency when his current term expires in June 2008. Brushaber is only the fourth president in Bethel’s 136-year history, and his service since 1982 represents the longest tenure among current college and university presidents in Minnesota. Before becoming president of what is now Bethel University, Brushaber was vice president and dean of the college for seven years.

Brushaber’s leadership has been instrumental in Bethel’s rise to regional and national prominence, including the transition from Bethel College & Seminary to Bethel University in 2004; the addition of innovative and unique program delivery systems; the enhancement and subsequent growth of graduate programs; rapid development of the St. Paul campus; and increased academic quality across the university. In addition, Brushaber expanded Bethel’s distinctive emphasis on whole-person development, including growth in programs and opportunities in campus life, student life, and academics.

“George has provided critical leadership for Bethel for more than 30 years, maintaining its mission focus, adding to its academic strength, and overseeing growth in which enrollment has more than doubled,” says Leith Anderson, Bethel University Board of Trustees chair and senior pastor of Wooddale Church.

The Bethel University Board of Trustees have formed a Presidential Search Committee to lead the process of selecting Bethel’s fifth president. The committee will make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees, and subsequent to their endorsement, the candidate will be presented to the delegates to the biennial meeting of the Bethel Corporation in June 2008 for election. Details about the search process are being finalized, and more information will be available after June 1 at www.bethel.edu/presidential-search.

Harold Smith, chief executive officer of Christianity Today International (CTI) and editor-in-chief of the 17 publications and media venues of CTI, has been elected to the Bethel University Board of Trustees. He joined the board for his first meeting on May 4 and 5.

“I find it a great encouragement to have another person of such passion and credibility join an already talented and dedicated board,” said Bethel President George Brushaber about Smith.

Smith also recently visited Bethel, speaking to several classes in the journalism program and at other events open to the Bethel community about Bethel and trends in journalism and evangelicalism.

On May 4, at the 100th anniversary celebration of the founding of Mounds-Midway School of Nursing, it was announced that Mary Jo Monson, R.N., of North Oaks, Minn., has made a gift of $1 million to Bethel University. Bethel’s Christian nursing program began in part with funding from Mounds-Midway when that school closed in the 1980s. Monson, who received her nurses training at Mounds-Midway, has been a friend and supporter of Bethel since that time.

Monson’s generous gift is part of the Taking the Next Step comprehensive resource campaign, which aims to address facility and financial needs for Bethel. She has designated half of her contribution for the University Commons, Bethel’s first student center; and half toward the endowment for long-term support.

Bethel University President George K. Brushaber has announced that he will ask the Board of Trustees to approve the creation of a Mounds-Midway School of Nursing room as a permanent part of the new University Commons, scheduled for completion in 2009. The room would recognize the legacy of Mounds-Midway School of Nursing and its excellence in nursing education and Christian compassion and care that were the hallmarks of the Mounds-Midway nursing program and its ties to Bethel. In addition to initial aid for Bethel’s nursing program, current nursing students benefit from two Mounds-Midway endowed scholarships.

For more information on Bethel's capital campaign, go to www.bethel.edu/development/campaign/.

Bethel Senior Matthew Seaberg has been awarded the 2007 Glenn T. Seaborg Science Award, which is given to one student in the U.S. annually by the Swedish Council of America.

As the Seaborg Science Award recipient, Seaberg will be included among 25 outstanding young scientists from around the world who are invited to share a full week of opportunities centered on the Nobel Prize Week festivities in Stockholm. Seaberg’s time in Stockholm this December will include lectures by 2007 Nobel laureates, official dinners, opportunities to present his research to peers from around the world, and participation in the Nobel Awards ceremonies and formal banquet on December 10.

“Once you get to know Matthew, his performance is not surprising. His rank in all the classes I’ve taught has been number one,” says Professor of Physics Thomas Greenlee.

Seaberg has accepted a fellowship and research assistantship at the University of Colorado, Boulder, which has the highest ranking graduate program in the U.S. in the area of optical physics.