Mennonite Weekly Review

HARRISONBURG, Va. — Speaking at Eastern Mennonite University’s 92nd commencement May 2 felt like a homecoming for Joseph B. Martin.

Jason G. Godshall of Souderton, Pa., helps Heidi Anne Hershberger of Boyertown, Pa., with a final adjustment as commencement gets under way at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., on May 2. — Photo by Jim Bishop/EMU

After completing one year of medical school at the University of Alberta at Edmonton, Martin came to EMU and studied one year, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Bible in 1959.

“That one year transformed my life spiritually, emotionally and philosophically,” he told the audience.

At the end of his year at EMU, Martin said, he considered going on to seminary, but took his father’s advice and returned to medical school at the University of Alberta, earning his doctor of medicine degree in 1962.

Martin is a professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. Prior to this appointment in 2007, he served 10 years as dean of the faculty of medicine at Harvard University. In 1999 he helped establish the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, a collaboration that brings together seven institutions intent on reducing the burden of cancer.

“The world today cries out for the kind of sense of justice and wisdom that comes from the experience you’ve had here at EMU,” Martin told the class of 2010. “How are we to live in the midst of this world that is our home and our future? … I know no better way than the advice given by the prophet Micah: ‘But what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with thy God.”

He cited three examples of the church addressing the world’s problems: Mennonite Central Committee, Ten Thousand Villages and Mennonite Economic Development Associates.

“I believe that your [EMU] education has prepared you to serve your local communities and neighborhoods, in the poverty-stricken centers of our cities and around the world,” Martin said.

President Loren Swartzendruber conferred 432 degrees and certificates: 315 undergraduate (including 115 Adult Degree Completion Program recipients), 101 graduate degrees, one associate degree, nine graduate certificates and six study and training certificates.

The undergraduate class had 127 people who graduated with honors, finishing with cumulative grade point averages between 3.6 and 4.0.