Music was at the center of Joyce Stuermer’s life. Her ability to bring the heart out of a music piece, as well as her students was what endeared her to so many during her two-time tenure as assistant professor of music and choir director at Ottawa University (1970-76 and 1989-96). Joyce returned in 2010 as guest director of the alumni choir during OU’s Reunion Celebration. Joyce was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and attended schools in the Stony Point and Muncie areas, graduating from Turner

TThe traditional Vespers service at Ottawa University took place Sunday, December 9, in the Fredrikson Chapel. During the service, the OU Orchestra and Concert Choir performed featured works by Johann Strauss, Sr., Louis-Claude Daquin, Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, George Frideric Handel, William Byrd, Mozart, and Thomas Campion. The program included passages from the traditional reading of the Nativity story, as well as audience participation in the singing of familiar Christmas carols.

On July 10, 2012, the J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation awarded Ottawa University a $750,000 challenge grant toward the University’s new Gangwish Library and Gibson Student Center slated as part of its $24.3 million Advancing the Vision Campaign. Having currently raised approximately $6 million in gifts and pledges of the $10 million needed for the building project, OU now has until July 10, 2013, to raise the remaining $4 million in order to receive the Mabee funds. “This is a wonderful opp

He did it because of his love of music. He did it because he enjoyed playing the saxophone. He did it because a career as a professional musician is difficult financially. But mostly, music teacher Marlin Cooper ’61 did it for the students. “The students were the most enjoyable part of my many years in teaching,” says Cooper. “I especially enjoyed the wide variety of students, their various skill levels and their energy.” Cooper was recently recognized for his more than