Elaine Moyer, associate director of the Mennonite Education Agency (MEA) and a Bluffton University alumna, will return to her alma mater as commencement speaker on Sunday, May 9. The ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. in Salzman Stadium.
Moyer earned a bachelor's degree in health and physical education from Bluffton in 1972 and later served the university as a faculty member, administrator, coach and, most recently, as a trustee from 1991-2009.
In her speech, titled "Engage Complexity, Live Simply," she is scheduled to discuss how Bluffton has prepared its alumni to live in a complex world and to challenge this year's graduates to make a positive difference with a simple lesson of compassion.
Moyer, who assumed her current duties with the MEA last year, spent six years at Bluffton between 1976 and 1983. During that time, her positions included assistant professor of health, physical education and recreation; department chair; director of women's athletics; and coach of volleyball, tennis and track and field. She was inducted into the university's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.
Moyer, who holds a master's degree in physical education from Marshall University, also spent 26 years at Christopher Dock Mennonite High School in Lansdale, Pa. After three years as a teacher and three more as assistant principal, she was chief school administrator for 20 years. Those years saw a 23 percent increase in enrollment and facility enhancements of more than $20 million at the school.
She has been a leader in Mennonite education both at Christopher Dock and at conferences, has presented several papers and made other presentations at churches, in the media and elsewhere. A participant in a Fulbright Administrator Exchange in Northern Ireland from 1998-2000, Moyer has served as a consultant as well, most recently at Bethel College; Juniata Mennonite School, McAlisterville, Pa.; and Warwick River Christian School, Newport News, Va.
