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Relational learning, lasting impact: Carrying the spirit of CMU into education

Friday, September 5, 2025 @ 12:00 AM

Heather Schellenberg was thrilled when she found out about CMU's new education degree program. As a teacher herself, she's excited about how this will allow CMU to send even more thoughtful, well-equipped grads out into the world to nurture the next generation. "I feel proud to have gone there, and I know it shaped me a lot," she says.

Conviction in the courtroom: How CMU prepared a future prosecutor

Thursday, September 4, 2025 @ 12:00 AM

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."

Responding to crisis with compassion: How CMU shaped a global leader

Wednesday, September 3, 2025 @ 12:00 AM

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.

Faith in Practice: How CMU Inspires Community-Centred Leadership

Wednesday, September 3, 2025 @ 12:00 AM

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.

Rooted in faith, growing through ecology: A CMU alum's path of environmental leadership

Tuesday, September 2, 2025 @ 12:00 AM

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.

Research, art, and advocacy: Threads that began at CMU

Monday, September 1, 2025 @ 12:00 AM

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.

From student council to corporate communications: A CMU alum’s journey of curiosity, community, and connection

Monday, September 1, 2025 @ 12:00 AM

Zachary Peters came to CMU for adventure.

In 2005, Peters joined CMU's Outtatown Discipleship School, a program that enabled students to experience travel through a mission trip while still keeping up with their studies.

From basketball star to keeper of stories: CMU alum brings Mennonite history to life

Thursday, August 28, 2025 @ 8:06 AM

Andrew Klassen Brown makes working in archives sound as exciting as an experimental jet test pilot.

The 32-year-old CMU alum works as the Archivist and Records Manager with Mennonite Central Committee Canada, serves as the vice-president of the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, and spends his free time visiting secluded attractions important to Mennonite history, such as the Mennonite Memorial Landing Site on the Banks of the Red River near Ste. Agathe, MB.

CMU taught alum how to think "inside out and upside down"

Tuesday, August 19, 2025 @ 4:05 PM

The current Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Winnipeg came to CMU from Providence University College, by way of the University of Manitoba, where he initially planned to become a dentist.

After a conversation with a friend attending CMU, who mentioned a course on the history of rock music, he quickly changed direction. That pivot eventually led him to CMU's Music Department in the early 2000s, where he graduated in 2006.

Spring 2025 alumni updates

Monday, June 16, 2025 @ 4:20 PM

John Longhurst (MBBC '79), Winnipeg, MB, was appointed to the Order of Canada in December 2024 for his interfaith journalism at the Winnipeg Free Press, where he has been a faith page columnist since 2003 and a faith reporter since 2019. Through his writing, he seeks to connect people across religions and strives to foster understanding and respect. Longhurst also writes for various other publications in Canada and the U.S., including Canadian Affairs, Anabaptist World, Faith Today, Christian Courier and the Canadian Jewish News. He has won awards for his writing from the Associated Church Press and the Canadian Church Press and, in 2021, he received the Manitoba Lieutenant Governor's Award for the Advancement of Interreligious Understanding.

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