Five outstanding alumni honored with 2024 Alumni Awards

Five outstanding alumni received Goshen College’s 2024 alumni awards for their commitment to living out the college’s motto, “Culture for Service,” and who exemplify the core values of the college. They were presented with their awards as part of the Homecoming Weekend festivities on October 4.

The 2024 alumni awards were presented to:

• Charles Hostetter ’63, San Francisco, California – Culture for Service Awardee
• Adam Tice ’02, Goshen, Indiana – Culture for Service Awardee
• Samita Thapa ’12, Turin, Italy – Young Alumni Servant Leader Awardee
• Carl J. Yoder ’57, Goshen, Indiana – Dr. Roman Gingerich Champion of Character Awardee
• Sophia Sears ’17, Paoli, Indiana – Dr. Ruth Gunden Champion of Character Awardee

The Culture for Service Awards and Young Alumni Servant Leadership Award were established by the Goshen Alumni Association. Recipients distinguish themselves through commendable accounts of service and achievements at home or in their churches, colleges, communities and the larger world. With the same criteria as the Culture for Service Awards, one Young Alumni Servant Leadership Award is presented annually at or before their 15th class reunion year.

The Goshen College Maple Leafs Athletic Club also presents the Dr. Ruth Gunden and the Dr. Roman Gingerich Champion of Character Awards. The two awards, created in 2005, are presented to a male and female alumni athlete who exemplify the college’s core values in their lives, work and community service. Gunden and Gingerich were pioneers in Goshen College’s athletic history. There will be a special reception honoring the Champions of Character awardees at noon on Saturday in the Church-Chapel Fellowship Hall.

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Dr. Charles Hostetter ’63: Culture for Service Award

From Charles Hostetter’s humble beginnings on a dairy farm to his impactful career in public health and advocacy — particularly as a national leader addressing the AIDS epidemic — his life reflects a deep commitment to service and compassion.

Born in 1940 in Gap, Pennsylvania, Hostetter was raised in a large Mennonite family, and he graduated from Goshen College in 1963.

After earning his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967, Hostetter embarked on a journey dedicated to improving public health and serving vulnerable populations. That led him to the isolated community of Wanblee on the Pine Ridge Lakota Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, where he provided vital medical services while fulfilling his draft obligation. This experience ignited his passion for public health and preventative medicine, setting the course for his lifelong career.

Hostetter’s career with the U.S. Public Health Service spanned over two decades, during which he advocated for the health and well-being of marginalized communities across the United States and beyond. Hostetter’s work impacted lives from remote areas of Nicaragua to resource-poor Native American reservations in the Southwest.

In the 1980s as the AIDS epidemic hit the world in full force, Hostetter found himself at the forefront of the national battle against the AIDS epidemic. Living in San Francisco, a hub of the epidemic, Hostetter spearheaded federal initiatives aimed at combating HIV/AIDS. As Director of the Division of HIV Services in Washington, he collaborated with many others in Washington, D.C., to formulate public strategies and secure resources to mitigate the crisis, particularly through the federal law that became known as the Ryan White Act.

Despite retiring from the U.S. Public Health Service over 30 years ago, Hostetter’s commitment to public health and advocacy remains unwavering. As a consultant, he continues to work to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable populations.

Hostetter and his spouse Edwin Eng live in San Francisco.

Adam M. L. Tice ’02: Culture for Service Award

Adam M. L. Tice’s life and career are a testament to his deep-rooted commitment to music, faith and service. Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Alabama, Oregon and Indiana, Tice’s upbringing laid the foundation for his journey as a musician and pastor, while becoming the most prolific, most published Mennonite hymn writer of all time.

After graduating high school in Elkhart, Indiana, Tice chose Goshen College, where he pursued his passion for music, majoring in music with an emphasis on composition while completing a minor in Bible and religion in 2002.

After graduation, Tice took his first course at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, which sparked the beginning of his journey as a hymn writer. His extraordinary talent in that field was soon recognized. In 2004, Tice was named a Lovelace Scholar by the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada. Following his time at AMBS, Tice served as Associate Pastor of Hyattsville Mennonite Church in Maryland until 2012, where he continued to inspire and uplift through his music and ministry.

In 2016, Tice was appointed as the text editor for the Mennonite Worship and Song Committee, where he helped shape the recently published Mennonite hymnal, Voices Together.

“Adam is a passionate learner, always seeking out and including the insights of others,” said Amy Gingerich ’99, executive director and publisher of MennoMedia, who recommended Tice for the awards. “He has worked tirelessly as a servant leader, showing a strong commitment to diversity in all forms and fostering conversations that promote careful thinking about what happens in worship.”

Tice’s hymns have appeared in numerous hymnals and supplements, performed in choral settings worldwide and translated into multiple languages. In July he was named a Fellow of the Hymn Society. He is the third Goshen College alumnus to be so honored, after Mary K. Oyer and Kenneth Nafziger.

Tice and spouse Maria Tice ’02 live in Goshen with their son, Ezra.

Samita Thapa ’13: Young Alumni Servant Leader Award

As the research lead for the Gender Benchmark at the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), Samita Thapa’s work is instrumental in advancing gender equality and empowering women on a global scale.

Thapa’s career trajectory reflects her unwavering commitment to social justice and sustainable development. Serving as a research analyst for the WBA since 2021, she spearheads efforts to evaluate the performance of 2,000 of the world’s largest companies on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Through meticulous research and analysis, Thapa and her team assess companies’ policies and practices, providing valuable insights to stakeholders worldwide. She has also helped with research in the Digital Inclusion Benchmark and the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark.

“Leading the gender benchmark that aims to bring equality for women in the most influential companies in the world, both in their direct and indirect operations, says it all,” said Gonnie Been, a WBA colleague, who recommended Thapa for the award. “She leads a globally diverse organization, ensuring that all are able to develop to the fullest of their potential.”

By holding corporations accountable for their performance on gender-related issues, Thapa advocates for systemic change and fosters a culture of inclusion and empowerment, both within her organization and in the broader business community.

Prior to joining WBA, Thapa worked as a researcher at a sustainability consulting firm in Santiago, Chile, assisting publicly listed Latin American companies to strengthen their sustainability strategies and reporting against the S&P Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Before Chile, Thapa worked with the World Economic Forum and the International Organization for Migration in Geneva as well as various non-profits in Nepal focused on women’s leadership and grassroots empowerment.

Thapa studied history at GC, graduating in 2012, and holds a master’s degree in development studies from the Graduate Institute of Geneva (IHEID).

Born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thapa and her spouse Nicolás Torres Vieira currently live in Turin, Italy.

Dr. Carl J. Yoder ’57: Dr. Roman Gingerich Champion of Character Award

At 91, Carl J. Yoder has lived a long life serving others, first in voluntary service with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Maine and Vietnam, and then in leading a family medical practice in Middlebury, Indiana.

Yoder grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and initially attended the local Franklin & Marshall College for his first three semesters. Yoder was the school’s first All-American in soccer, where he was a standout right winger on the national championship team.

After his All-American season, though, the local draft board took away Yoder’s student deferment because he was a conscientious objector. In his second year, Yoder was relentlessly hassled, one of the only COs among thousands of students in the Air Force Reserves. Because of his lack of student deferment, Yoder elected to serve two years of voluntary service with MCC, working at Maine Medical Center.

Yoder then attended Goshen College, graduating in 1957, where he was a member of the first intercollegiate sport at GC when he played on the 1956 men’s basketball team. Their team went 11-1 under the coaching of Roman Gingerich, the namesake of this award.

Yoder went on to medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his M.D. Immediately after graduating, he was once again conscripted by the military, and once again chose voluntary service with MCC — this time serving in Vietnam with his spouse Phyllis Yoder ’57 for three years at a clinic.

After returning, he opened a family practice in Middlebury, where he worked for 40 years. After retirement, Yoder volunteered his medical expertise with the Center for Healing and Hope in Goshen for 12 more years, providing vital care for uninsured people in the community.

Carl and Phyllis reside in Goshen, and have four children, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Dr. Sophia Sears ’17: Dr. Ruth Gunden Champion of Character Award

Sophia Sears was a leader on and off the basketball court during her time at Goshen, and continues to be a trailblazer. With a doctorate in pharmacology and toxicology, Sears recently opened her own research laboratory with a broad focus on cardiorenal health.

Sears started playing basketball at 4 years old. She played soccer, softball and volleyball as well, but basketball was where she excelled — along with winning two sectional championships, Sears still holds the women’s basketball record at her high school in Paoli, Indiana, for both career and single game points scored.

When she came to Goshen, Sears took the basketball court by storm. She was part of the 2016 team that made it to the NAIA national championship semifinals, and was named First-Team All-Conference and First-Team All-NAIA Tournament that year. She was a team captain, became an All-American, joined the 1,000-point club and is still in the top ten all-time scorers with 1,199 points. She also holds the all-time record at GC with a career free throw percentage of .844.

Off the court, Sears graduated in 2017 with a 4.0 GPA while majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology. She was a member of the school’s pre-med club, worked as a research assistant and joined the chemistry stockroom as an assistant chemical hygiene officer.

After graduating, Sears moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where she carried out kidney disease research at the University of Louisville. She received her doctorate in 2021, and now works as a faculty member at the university’s Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute.

Sears is married to Justin King ’15. They live in Louisville with their dog Nolan and their cat Cleocatra.