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Bethel Hosts Its Eighth Pres­i­den­tial In­au­gu­ra­tion

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Barb Bellefeuille, Ed.D., visits with students, staff and faculty during a dessert reception on Sept. 12. Photo credit: SIERRA ADAMS

MISHAWAKA- Barb Belle­feuille, Ed.D., be­gan serv­ing as the in­terim pres­i­dent of Bethel Uni­ver­sity in June 2021 and was of­fi­cially named the eighth pres­i­dent and first fe­male pres­i­dent in March 2022. On Sat­ur­day, Sept. 10, Pres­i­dent Belle­feuille was of­fi­cially in­au­gu­rated.   

Dur­ing the cer­e­mony, sev­eral peo­ple shared en­cour­ag­ing words as well as chal­lenges for the new pres­i­dent. Fac­ulty, stu­dents, and alumni were all rep­re­sented as well as other peo­ple and or­ga­ni­za­tions con­nected to Bethel Uni­ver­sity.  

Each of the speak­ers com­mu­ni­cated strong sup­port for Pres­i­dent Belle­feuille and op­ti­mism re­gard­ing the fu­ture of Bethel Uni­ver­sity. Belle­feuille in­vited Bob Lau­rent, Ph. D., a for­mer pro­fes­sor at the Uni­ver­sity, to be the main speaker dur­ing the cer­e­mony. 

The event ended with a speech from Pres­i­dent Belle­feuille and prayer over her with a hymn led by Shawn Holt­gren.  

“Faith­ful­ness to our pur­pose, our peo­ple and our place: this is my com­mit­ment,” Belle­feuille said.  

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