Alumni Profiles
Conviction in the courtroom: How CMU prepared a future prosecutor
These days, you'll find Nathan Dueck in Thompson, MB, arguing bail conditions, speaking to sentences, and prepping for his first trials. It's a serious role, but he admits law school itself wasn't quite as grueling as people imagine.
"After the first month of first year, I didn't open a single textbook," he says. "But at CMU, I did every single reading. That's the difference—the environment made me want to show up prepared."
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Responding to Crisis with Compassion: How CMU Shaped a Global Leader
When a humanitarian disaster makes headlines, some people read about it while drinking their coffee or share it on social media during their bus ride. Bruce Guenther, however, is already at his desk, organizing responsive action in the disaster's region.
Guenther is the Disaster Response Director at Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada, for which he designs projects and oversees staff that coordinate aid in response to humanitarian crises around the world, like the earthquake in Afghanistan and the genocide in Gaza. He has worked in this department, in various positions, for 18 years.
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Faith in Practice: How CMU Inspires Community-Centred Leadership
For Kyle Penner, CMU was where he learned how to think about faith, community, and leadership in ways that continue to shape his life today. "My time at CMU helped shape who I am and how I think in the world," he says.
After graduating in 2005 with a major in youth ministry, Penner reflects on the practical lessons CMU offered. Courses on preaching, church history, and biblical texts didn't just give him knowledge, he says they taught him how to communicate with clarity across generations. Something that he says comes in quite handy in his current role as the pastor of Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach, MB.
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Rooted in gaith, growing through ecology: A CMU alum's path of environmental leadership
Sometimes the most pivotal moments are only possible because of the communities we've already been part of. For Joanne Moyer, that moment came at an airport.
While seeing off a friend who was volunteering in Iraq with Christian Peacemaker Teams (now Community Peacemaker Teams), she bumped into Esther Epp-Tiessen who then worked for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Because they already knew each other through CMU's close-knit circles, the conversation quickly turned into opportunity.
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Research, art, and advocacy: Threads that began at CMU
This September, Jess Klassen co-created an art installation at Nuit Blanche, a night of art, music, and festivities that lights up Winnipeg's downtown. Along with fellow CMU alumna Chantel Mierau ('05), Klassen hosted a communal art project to dream up an alternative municipal budget in response to the one put forward by the City of Winnipeg. Up on the roof of a parkade at the Forks, participants could select a strip of cloth in a colour that corresponded with a budget category—housing, library services, and public transit were just a few—and weave it into a tapestry.
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