Washington Adventist University

John Konrad, Vice President and General Manager of Washington’s contemporary Christian music station, WGTS 91.9, passed away this morning after a short illness.

Looking back, Josephine Benton, now 87, knows exactly where her desire to minister came from. Her father was a Seventh-day Adventist evangelist who frequently moved their family around the country. “I would sit and listen to my dad’s sermons, and I always knew that if I had been born a boy, I would have been a preacher,” she said. “But that path didn’t seem open to me.”

Long time radio host Gerry Fuller, DDS, died Sunday, July 1, at the age of 83. Fuller, a member of Potomac Conference’s Sligo church, was best known as host of the Saturday morning broadcast, Breakaway, at Washington Adventist University’s WGTS 91.9 FM radio station in Takoma Park, Md

Last month, Weymouth Spence, president of Washington Adventist University (WAU); Mikhail Kulakov Jr., professor of religion and director of WAU’s Bible Translation Institute; Zack Plantak, chair of WAU’s Religion Department and Celeste Ryan Blyden, Visitor editor and publisher, joined leaders from the Euro-Asia Division for a groundbreaking ceremony for a new media center that will soon be erected at Zaoksky Adventist Seminary and Institute outside Moscow.

In 2010 Mikhail Kulakov, DPhil, became director and editor-in-chief of the Bible Translation Institute, which is based at Washington Adventist University. While Kulakov is based at the Takoma Park, Md.-campus, he is partnering with the Zaosky Adventist Seminary and Institute in Russia.

For decades people throughout the Washington, D.C., area who turned their radio dials to Washington Adventist University’s WGTS 91.9 FM on Sabbath mornings, have immediately recognized voice of Gerry Fuller, DDS. Over the course of 45 years, this WGTS radio host has interviewed famous authors, performers, medical experts and countless other public figures. He also hosted musical programs and advocated on behalf of Washington’s “Family Safe, Kid-Friendly” radio station.

Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse, DMA, professor and director of the New England Youth Ensemble (NEYE) at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md., passed away early this morning in Massachusetts.

During a two-week trip to Lusaka, Zambia, students from Washington Adventist University (WAU) in Takoma Park, Md., joined local church leaders and preached at 11 different locations every evening with one theme: “Searching the Scriptures.” Throughout this evangelistic crusade, more than 6,000 people faithfully attended the meetings every night. At the culmination of the meetings, 331 people were baptized.

Susan G. Hornshaw, PhD, was recently named provost at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md. Hornshaw is a graduate of the University of Manitoba in Canada where she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Master of Arts degree in Anthropology. In 1982 she received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Toronto.

Two members of churches in the Columbia Union Conference, who are also Washington Adventist University alumni, were recently named directors at the North American Division.