Commencement, baccalaureate speakers announced

Additionally, we are pleased that the Rev. Dr. Mary Schaller Blaufuss, team leader for the UCC’s Global Sharing of Resources and executive for Volunteer Ministries, an executive and leader in the United Church of Christ, will deliver the baccalaureate sermon.

Baccalaureate is at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 12, in Gundlach Theatre. Commencement is at 10 a.m. Sunday, March 13, in Hoernemann Stadium.

Welsh, the founder and CEO of PIE, a Cincinnati-based non-profit whose goal is to provide new and transformational learning programs allowing students to excel in the 21st century workforce.  Called a “pipeline of hope” for Ohio students, PIE was named one of the top non-profit organizations in 2017. PIE is the only provider of case-based, authentic learning programs offering real-world relevancy to the K-12 classroom.

From developing cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and aerial mapping FAA Drone programs for Ohio’s middle and high school classrooms to developing the next “top shelf” gelato, complete with using Algebra, Advanced Manufacturing and 3D CAD/CAM designs to launch a product into Kroger supermarkets, PIE students realize their dreams through “real life” consulting “gigs” that deliver heightened academic achievement, deeper learning and ACT/SAT critical thinking preparation. With faculty partnerships at Harvard University, PIE develops cases that feature Ohio companies willing to create new situational “break out” challenges empowering students to see the power of experiential learning.

Welsh began her career directing governmental economic growth policies with Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh. While serving as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in New Zealand, she became the highest ranked, non-elected American serving as New Zealand’s Parliamentarian Director of Research. When she returned to the U.S., Welsh served as a marketing, strategic and technology executive for Fortune 500 corporations. While having four children, she was a field instructor and adjunct business faculty member at the University of Cincinnati, where she launched a digital consulting firm. Welsh has held management positions with Macy’s, Lipson Alport Glass Associates, Tyson Foods, ConAgra Foods, Hasbro and HJ Heinz, and she served as a marketing and new product innovation consultant with Procter & Gamble Co. 

Recommended by former Pennsylvania Go. and Federal Homeland Security Cabinet Secretary Tom Ridge, Welsh is an elite member of the FBI Citizens Academy. She has led initiatives featuring the parallel deployment of analytical, critical thinking and social-emotional workforce readiness skills in partnership with K-16 education, technology, business, computer science analytics and law enforcement sectors.

An alumna of Harvard Business School (MBA), Allegheny College (American Studies, BA) and Victoria University of Wellington (U.S. Fulbright Scholar, New Zealand), Welsh is an elected member of Phi Beta Kappa, and she serves on the Allegheny College Alumni Council. Active in her community and her church, she is a member of the Leadership Cincinnati Alumni Association, the Junior Achievement Board of Directors, Cincinnati Public Schools’ Girls to Women Leadership Collaborative, and the Board of Cincinnatus, a social action organization.

The Rev. Dr. Schaller Blaufuss is no stranger to Heidelberg. Through her work with the UCC, she has placed many Heidelberg students and graduates in the UCC’s volunteer programs. Her husband, the Rev. Kurt Schaller Blaufuss, is the pastor at Trinity UCC in Tiffin. In 2009, she gave the installation sermon for our chaplain, the Rev. Paul Sittason Stark.

In her role with the Global Sharing of Resources team, Schaller Blaufuss helps to coordinate UCC ministries with disaster, refugees and sustainable development. Through Volunteer Ministries, individuals and groups volunteer in direct service, disaster recovery and justice advocacy across the United States. She has shaped and coordinates the national Network of Young Adult Service Communities of the UCC and the Summer Communities of Service through the UCC and the Alliance of Baptists.

Schaller Blaufuss has served as a missionary in India with the Common Global Ministries Board of the UCC and Christian Church, where she was part of the faculty of the United Theological College. She received a bachelor’s degree in history from Westminster (MO) College, her Master of Divinity degree in theology from Eden Theological Seminary and her Ph.D. degree in missions, missionary studies and missiology from Princeton Theological Seminary. She has written on the history of mission and mission theology, especially in connection with the history of the UCC and predecessor denominations.