News

E. Paul Penner, a pillar of Grebel, retired in March 2024, leaving a 36-year legacy of commitment, care, and hospitality, as well as memories of pranks, laughter, and classic movie nights. After living at Grebel as a student, he returned in 1988 as Business Manager, then transitioned to Operations Manager in 1995, and finally to Director of Operations. His primary responsibilities were managing the staff, operations, and buildings of the College, but to Paul, the job was a mission of hospitality, service, and community-building.

At Grebel, excellence in research and creativity is central to our mission and identity. Our support for research reflects the vision of founding president Winfield Fretz that Grebel students and faculty would be fully embedded in the university and “compete in intellectual discourse and research with any person on the university faculty or other colleges.” This vision continues to guide us today. Our faculty are not only educators but also active researchers, composers, performers, and advocates who contribute to multiple scholarly disciplines and take those conversations beyond the College into the community.

At Grebel, we remember Walter Klaassen as one of the foundational figures in our college’s history. Walter was not only the first chaplain, but also the first dean of students, a founder of the University of Waterloo’s Religious Studies department, and (with Winfield Fretz) one of the first two faculty members at Grebel. He was a scholar of the Radical Reformation, an articulate pacifist, a public intellectual, and a kind but deeply principled man.

When Marina Gallagher was sitting in Professor Laura Gray’s Music and Landscapes class in 2013, she didn’t imagine that the connections she was making between pastoral music, landscapes, and Classical literature would lead her back to Grebel a decade later, teaching a special topics course on Video Game Music.  

Peace is not just a theory for Maria Lucia Zapata Cancelado (DPCS 2001); it is a daily mission. As a Colombian lawyer and peace scholar, Maria is the Director of the Institute for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution at Javeriana University in Bogotá. Her work at the Jesuit school focuses on restorative justice and post-conflict peacebuilding. Maria earned her PACS diploma from Conrad Grebel University College in 2000, where she developed an interdisciplinary approach that reshaped her perspectives on law and peacebuilding. 

Think about a time when you attended a worship service in a community that was new to you. What stood out as different? What is most important about worship for you? Now imagine you’re 13-29 years old. Would you answer differently? 

Two Grebel alumni, Sarah Kathleen Johnson (BA 2007, MTS 2008) and Mykayla Turner (BSC 2020, MTS 2024), are asking these very questions through a collaboration on the Young People and Christian Worship study. This research project aims to shape better conversations about teenagers, emerging adults, and Christian worship by valuing their experiences as an important theological voice. 

The Mennonite Archives of Ontario, housed at Conrad Grebel University College, is now home to a traditional Mennonite Wanduhr (wall clock), thanks to Kenneth Friesen (BSC 1997) and his father Bert. While the clock had been on loan in the Archives since 2017, the Friesens formally transferred ownership in September as 2025 marks 100 years since the arrival of some of their ancestors in Canada. 

Now in her fifth year, Abby Krueger reflects on her experiences in student leadership at Conrad Grebel University College. “Grebel has given me a space where I can learn exactly who I am and where I want to end up in the world. I can’t imagine my university experience any other way.”

Two historic academic journals — The Conrad Grebel Review and Mennonite Quarterly Review — will merge into a single open-access publication in 2026 through a new collaboration among their three founding institutions: Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana; Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; and Goshen (Indiana) College.

For 24 years, Fred W. Martin served Grebel in fundraising and advancement. As the Director of Advancement, Fred has been a tireless advocate for Grebel, building strong relationships with donors, alumni, students, churches, and community partners.