Bethel University: the Missionary Church's school, 1947 to the university

1947–present · founded as Bethel College; Bethel University from 5 May 2019

The founding: Bethel is the web's denominational college, and its founding belongs to the Mennonite Brethren in Christ — the church that became the United Missionary Church in the very year the college opened, and is today's Missionary Church. The call for a training institute goes back to the evangelist Daniel Brenneman in 1893; J. A. Huffman pressed the cause of a liberal-arts college and proposed the name Bethel, "house of God." The church's formal approval came in 1944, and land was purchased in Mishawaka in 1946, under Q. J. Everest, Seth Rohrer and Warren Manges. Bethel College began classes in the fall of 1947 with a first class the college's own history gives as ninety-three students; secondary accounts give ninety-four. Both figures stand, the college's own first.

The presidents, as the university's own history gives them: Woodrow I. Goodman, 1947–59 — twenty-seven years old at his appointment, then the youngest college president in the United States — grew the school from 93 to 329 students and a million-dollar campus program that raised the Huffman Administration Building, the Helm, the Goodman gymnasium-auditorium and Shupe Hall; he afterward led Marion College, now Indiana Wesleyan University, from 1960 to 1976. Ray P. Pannabecker, 1959–74, who had begun as Bethel's first business manager, added twenty-seven acres, the Middleton Hall of Science and Oakwood-Slater Hall, began intercollegiate athletics, saw the campus revival of 1970, and won North Central Association accreditation on 31 March 1971, with enrollment near five hundred and 1,201 diplomas granted. Albert J. Beutler, 1974–82 on the university's own dating (a secondary roundup gives 1974–81; the university's stands first), an alumnus of the inaugural class of 1951, built the Dining Commons and Eastwood Apartments and eliminated the operating debt. James A. Bennett, 1982–88, built Bowen Library and began the nursing and adult programs. Walter L. Weldy, a banker, served as interim president 1988–89 and stabilized the finances. Norman V. Bridges, 1989–2004, more than tripled enrollment to about 1,850, grew the budget from under $3 million to about $30 million, and raised the Wiekamp Athletic Center and the Everest-Rohrer Chapel/Fine Arts Center across more than forty programs, sign-language interpreting among them. Steven R. Cramer, 2004–13, carried enrollment past 2,100, launched online programs, and received a sitting president of the United States, George W. Bush, on campus. Gregg A. Chenoweth served 2013–21. Barbara K. Bellefeuille, 2021–25, interim from June 2021 and inaugurated on 10 September 2022 as the eighth president and the first woman to hold the office, led the $6.5 million Faithful campaign and was made an honorary alumna in 2025, receiving a key to the city of Mishawaka.

The course: Eleven academic programs marked the first decade, and a teacher-education program began in 1955 — Bethel's oldest professional line, fitting a church college planted in a school city. In 2006 the college reorganized on a university model of seven schools, and at the close of commencement on 5 May 2019 Bethel College became Bethel University. Its motto, "With Christ at the Helm," carried over from the college. The campus stands at seventy-five acres on the city's east side, and the university claims more than 120 degree programs. Enrollment, at dated figures: 93 (or 94) in 1947; 329 by 1959; about 500 at accreditation in 1971; about 1,850 by 2004; past 2,100 at its Cramer-era peak; and 1,167 in the federal count for 2024–25 — 1,065 undergraduates and 102 graduate students — a smaller, more graduate-weighted university than its peak years, standing in November 2026 as Mishawaka's only resident college or university. A caution the record itself requires: the Bethel University of McKenzie, Tennessee, is a different institution of the same name; none of its figures belong in this entry, and none are used.

Sources:

1. Bethel University, "History of Bethel University," the President's Office's own history page (betheluniversity.edu), governing source for the founding, presidents and milestones.
2. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) figures for Bethel University, Mishawaka (unit 150145), via the federal data as republished, 2024–25.
3. Bethel University, institutional pages (campus, programs), November 2026.