Three Longtime Juniata Faculty Retire After Decades of Exemplary Service
(Posted May 12, 2008)
HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Three Juniata College faculty who retired at the end of the 2007-2008 academic year were honored recently at the faculty retirement dinner, April 18. The retirees are: Klaus Jaeger, professor of German; Janet Lewis, associate professor of philosophy; and Andrew Murray, Elizabeth Evans Baker Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies and director of the Elizabeth Evans Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.
All three were granted emeritus status by the college.
Klaus Jaeger came to Juniata in 1972 with a one-year appointment to teach German. Born in Kiel, one of Germany's most active seaports on the Baltic Sea, Jaeger started his higher education by studying literature at the University of Kiel. He emigrated to the United States in 1963.
He entered the master's program in German at Ohio State, where he was reunited with Ellin Bliss, a recent graduate of Antioch College he had met during his year of study in Exeter, England. Jaeger earned a master's degree in 1965. He earned a doctorate in German in 1989 from Penn State University.
The couple married in 1964. They have a daughter, Marla, of Portland, Ore.
Jaeger started his academic career at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa. in 1965. In 1972, Jaeger came to Juniata as an assistant professor. Jaeger spearheaded the introduction of the "Dartmouth Method" of language instruction at the college, which emphasizes spoken language in real-life situations and familiarity with the culture of the country being studied.
Jaeger has been an active mentor for Juniata athletes. He started the varsity soccer program at Juniata and served as the team's first coach for more a decade. He assisted soccer coaches John Mumford, and then Scott McKenzie from 1997 to 2003. He also coached tennis and worked with the football team as a "kicking consultant." He co-arranged a 2004 tour of Germany for the soccer team and accompanied the team on the tour. He also helped start youth soccer in the Huntingdon area and helped start the varsity soccer program at Huntingdon Area High School.
He has been honored numerous times for his work, receiving the Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1972 and the Beachley Distinguished Professor Award in 1992. In 1979, he was awarded a three-week visit to West Berlin by the German Goethe Institute. He also was named a Dana/Dartmouth Fellow in 1990.
He, with his wife, Ellin, established the Max Bliss-Angus Karns-Arnold Schwemmlein scholarship for study abroad. Jaeger also presented the honorary degree commendations in Germany for two eminent German authors, the late Walter Kempowski (who received a Juniata honorary degree in 2004) and Guenter Kunert (who received a Juniata honorary degree in 2005).
During his professional career he was a member of the Modern Language Association, the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages, and the American Association of Teachers of German.
Janet Lewis came to Juniata in 1970 from Villanova University, where she was an instructor in philosophy from 1968 to 1970. She earned a bachelor's degree from Wilson College in 1964 and a master's degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1968.
She has published two in-house publications, "Theories of Ethics" and "Logic and Language" to complement her teaching.
Lewis received the Beachley Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1999. She was awarded the Sears-Roebuck Foundation Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award in 1991.
She was promoted to assistant professor in 1973 and was promoted to associate professor in 1993. She served as chair of the philosophy department from 1979 to 2001.
She has served on the J.C. Blair Hospital Medical Ethics Committee and has served on numerous campus committees.
Lewis is a nationally known dog trainer and expert on the effects of positive reinforcement on animal behavior. She taught animal obedience classes in the community for many years. She also wrote a monthly training column for the national publication Front & Finish.
She has won five Obedience Trial Championships with her border collies and also has won titles in tracking, agility and conformation. She is the author of the book "Smart Trainers, Brilliant Dogs."
Andrew Murray came to Juniata in 1971 as a faculty member in the religion department and campus minister after serving pastorates in Virginia and Oregon. He was named college chaplain in 1986, a post he held until 1991. He currently serves as professor of religion and the Elizabeth Evans Baker Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies.
A leader in the international development of the field of peace studies, Murray founded the Juniata Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies in 1985. He has directed Juniata's peace and conflict studies program since 1977. He literally dove into his role as director, making a 20-mile fundraising swim the length of Raystown Lake to raise money for the peace program. He has led the Institute, named for the John C. and Elizabeth Evans Baker family in 1986, since its beginning.
He has consulted on curriculum and administrative issues in peace studies at more than 20 colleges and universities across the country. In 1988, he helped found the Peace Studies Association, and has been elected twice as chair of its board of directors. In 1990, he was appointed to the United Nations/International Association of University Presidents Commission on Arms Control Education. As a member of the Commission, he began the International Seminar on Arms Control and Disarmament, sponsored jointly by Juniata College and the United Nations Center for Disarmament Affairs. The seminar attracted more than 50 professors from universities in Mexico, Central America, Western and Southern Africa, the Middle East and South Asia to Juniata's campus for arms control and disarmament curriculum training.
He also served as a special consultant for a UN peace-building initiative in West Africa and worked with the government of Mali to develop a moratorium on small arms manufacture, import and export and a national policy on civilian/military relations.
He earned a bachelor's degree in 1964 from Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, Va. He went on to earn a master's of divinity degree in 1968 from Bethany Theological Seminary and earned a doctoral degree from the seminary in 1980.
He has taught at the University of Hawaii and the Pennsylvania State University as a visiting scholar. In 1978, he received a Fulbright Fellowship to study in India. Juniata honored him with the 1991 Beachley Award for Distinguished Academic Service. He also received honorary degrees from Manchester College and Bridgewater College.
Along with his wife, Terry, Murray has maintained a music career throughout most of his adult life. The duo recorded and released eight albums: "Summertime Children" (1975), "One Person At a Time" (1976), "Goodbye, Still Night: (1978), "Next Stop" (1980), "Caring and Capable Kids" (1986) "Just As I Am" (1991) "Keep On Passing On" (1998) and "River Still Running" (2007). The couple also performed more than 300 concerts in twenty states and Canada.
Upon retirement, Murray will spend more time on his sailboat, which is currently located in Newport, R.I.
Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.