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Rev. Gwendolyn Cook Webb

Rev. Gwendolyn Cook Webb, Pastor at God’s People United For A Better World Church, is a native of Birmingham, Ala. Webb is a mother of one lovely daughter, grandmother of three, great grandmother of triplets, three beautiful identical girls, one great grandson and counselor to all young people through her ministry. Webb states that she thought the joy of childbirth was great, but nothing in her life has compared to the greatness of her life with Jesus Christ. Even at a young age, she was always fighting for, defending, protecting and serving the downtrodden. Being an original Foot Soldier for Civil Rights, a student leader who went to jail and led others in 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama, she is also now, a Foot Soldier for Christ. She has been ministering all her life, and was licensed and ordained into God’s Ministry in 1999. She is the current Pastor of the God’s People United for a Better World Church.

Rev. Webb attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Jefferson State Community College. She graduated from the Birmingham Police Academy as the second black female officer and served many years obtaining the rank of Detective. During her tenure on the police force, Webb met and married the late Rev. (Lt.) Billy D. Webb; their union lasted 23 years until his demise in 1998. Civic affiliations include being an original Foot Soldier for Civil Rights that earned her the prestigious “I Have A Dream” Award, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Award, Civil Rights Legends 2011 Black Achievers Regions Financial Corporation, and other numerous awards and positions. Webb has not stopped fighting for Civil Rights. She is the Founder and CEO of Foot Soldiers International Inc., Founder and CEO of Sisters Informing Sisters Inc. In addition, she earned the status of an Outstanding Young Woman of America and served on the Jefferson County Judicial Commission for six years, The Mayor’s Drug Task Force, and The Governor’s Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect. Webb is featured in an outstanding documentary that won an Academy Award, “Mighty Times the Children’s March.” Webb was selected as the outstanding Foot Soldier from Birmingham, Alabama, along with four other delegates, from other parts of Alabama as President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s special guest for Black History Month 2015. Webb is still traveling all over the country, “Teaching Non-Violence.”

Ryan Ozar

Dr. Ryan Ozar is a visiting assistant professor of education at The College of Wooster where he teaches courses on adolescent to young adult teaching methods, content area reading, classroom management as social justice, and global education. His research interests center on the philosophy of education, experiential learning, and justice-informed pedagogies. When not in the classroom, you may find him walking his dog, attending improv shows on campus, or eating ice cream with his family.

Makiba Foster

Makiba J. Foster, who has attracted national recognition for leading digital projects that curate the Black experience, such as Documenting Ferguson, and, most recently, Archiving the Black […]

Lisa Skeens

Current City: Libertyville, IL
Major: Chemistry
Graduate School: Northwestern University
Employer: Pfizer (retired)

Term ends: 2028

Meret Nahas

2022 – current

Weston, Massachusetts

Career: Senior Associate Director of Development for External Relations, The Rivers School

Scots in Service: GOLD (Graduates of the Last Decade) Trustee in 2017 and 2018, Class President, Fighting Scots Career Connections network advisor, The Wooster Fund

Missy Schen

Ashley Gumber

Zane Hostetler

Jerrod Weyer

Natalie Johnson

John Morris

Mamaw’s Cut Out Cookies

“These cookies are not fancy. No sea salt and dark chocolate, no spectacular royal icing. Just plain white frosting with colored sugar sprinkles on simple cutouts. The thing that makes them special is the woman who used to bake them. My Mother-in-Law was one of the most loving, caring people to walk this earth. Her love language was acts of service; baking cookies to take to work, cheering at a church softball game, sewing snuggly quilts.

Some of our best memories involve baking (and eating) these cutout cookies for every holiday and sometimes just because you need a cookie. While the recipe says that you can use part butter instead of a full cup of shortening, we recommend you stick with the shortening and sprinkle liberally with colored sugar after frosting!”
-Tracy Mathys-
Academic Administrative Coordinator, Art, Art History, and The College of Wooster Art Museum

Salt Cellars

“It’s 5:00 pm on an early summer evening around 1977. I hear mom call me and my sisters to help set the table for “supper.” One of us runs out to the garden to pull a handful of green onions. Another gets the small glass salt cellars from the cabinet and fills them with salt.

Once filled, we place one cellar next to Dad’s plate. The other cellar floats… available for whoever else is brave enough to follow Dad’s lead and eat a raw onion dipped in the salt!

The small glass vessels always felt so special, since they had just that one function and they added a particular flare to our typical Midwestern table. Originally my Great Grandmother’s, my Mom remembers her Dad using them when she was a child.

They now sit on my window sill awaiting those first green onions of the season. They remind me of my Mom, the garden, dinner times of my childhood, of Dad and his perpetual love of peppers and onions, and also to dare to be brave and try everything at least once.”
-Jodi Robison-
Visual Resources Technology Specialist

Grandma’s Popcorn Pan

“My grandma lived to be 99 years old. At the age of 19 she had her appendix removed on the farmhouse dining room table. She was married to my grandfather but he was a mean alcoholic and thankfully absent most of the time. She had three children at the age of 36, 37, and 39, and she survived hepatitis in her 60s.

She was an amazing woman, a survivor.

This pan was always on her stove and when we would come to visit she would make a batch of popcorn. This pan reminds me of her strength and ability to withstand the elements of life. It brings my grandma back to me every time I make a batch of popcorn.”
-Lynne Miller-
Payroll Administrator

Pasty

“This pasty recipe from my mother-in-law passed down to her from her mother. I make mine in a plain pie dish. U.S. Pasties come from the mining families in Corwell, England to the copper mining families of the Michigan Upper Peninsula. Originally made in “pockets” of pie crust with a large, twisted edge for holding. The miners could keep them easily (sometimes in their pockets), eat them without utensils and toss the crust “handle” after eating since they could not wash their hands before eating them.”
-Jill Munro-
Director, International Student Services

Mississippi Pot Roast

“I was raised in Wyoming, in a family that religiously hunts big game, and almost never purchased beef. Traditionally this pot roast recipe would utilize an elk roast, or a moose roast if we’re gettin real fancy, however a chuck roast will do you just fine.

When it came time for my mother’s only child to leave home for art school, she passed on to me a full kitchen’s worth of cookery and utensils, including her 1980’s 5-quart Rival Crockpot. This crockpot became the essence of my nourishment, particularly through graduate school.

Hands down, my favorite slow-cooker recipe is the “Mississippi” Pot Roast. Why it’s name for Mississippi, we do not know. As my mother will humbly admit, she first found the recipe on the back of a Hidden Valley Ranch packet, however it did lovingly receive her Italian zhuzh with additions of garlic, red wine, and double the veg.”
-Zach Bath-
Art Department Studio Tech

Dinner Club Chicken Curry

“There once was an idea to bring together a group of people from different backgrounds and walks of life to form a community of recent grads that would help support each other while navigating the highs and lows of post-adolescent life. This idea blossomed into Woo Crew Dinner Club. A Monday night weekly endeavor in which this newly formed group of friends would host each other in their homes and cook the group a meal.

There have been many themes for Dinner Club, including: Chopped Edition, a meal based on a song, a meal paired with a drink… The list goes on, and will continue to go on for as long as their paths and seasons of life cross and connect. The recipe that has been highlighted is important because it was made the night a dear Dinner Club member moved onto a new chapter of their life. It symbolizes an important theme in Dinner Club; Wholeheartedly welcoming others into their community whether for just a Monday night or a full season. Regardless of how long a person experiences Dinner Club one thing is certain: Once a member of Dinner Club, always a member.”
-Makayla Smith-
Assistant Director of Regional Programs

The Green Cake (Pistachio Cake)

“As a young girl, I would be asked what dessert Granma Karen should make for Christmas or what I wanted to eat for my birthday (St. Patrick’s Day) and my response 99 percent of the time was “The Green Cake.” This was a family tradition to have at holiday dinners growing up and now that I host holiday dinners, I have now taught my son how to make the cake as well.

We lost Granma Karen just days before Thanksgiving in 2020 so this recipe is like still having her with us at dinner. When I was asked to participate in this exhibit, I knew right away The Green Cake was to be my contribution. I hope that, if you try it, it brings you as much joy as it does my family.”
-Erica Adams-Gowins-
Facilities Planner and Scheduler

Tillie Friedman’s Chopped Chicken Liver

“My grandparents were all immigrant Jews from the “Pale of Settlement,” meaning those provinces of Tsarist Russia where Jews were allowed to reside. My mother’s parents came as young children and were quite Americanized, both high school graduates who spoke English without an accent. My dad’s parents, however, came as teenagers and were far less acculturated. My dad grew up speaking Yiddish at home, and when we gathered weekly at Bobie (grandmother) and Zaydie’s (grandfather) house with the aunts and uncles and cousins and neighbors, the adult conversation was all in Yiddish while we grandkids played and didn’t understand.

My mother had never learned to make the foods from the “old country,” and didn’t like them, so my dad used to stop off at Bobie and Zaydie’s house once a week on his way home from work, and Bobie would give him a “care package” of the delicacies he loved: kishke (stuffed cow’s intestine), helzel (a sort of dumpling made with the skin from a chicken’s neck), gefilte fish (fish skin stuffed with a chopped fish mixture), mohn (poppyseed) cookies, mandelbrot (similar to biscotti), and my personal favorite, gehakte leber (chopped liver). Chopped liver was also a staple of all festive meals – not only all the Jewish holidays, but also Thanksgiving! And my favorite lunch to take to school during the week of Passover was chopped liver on matzah.

Bobie passed away in 1979. In 1990 I bought the same kind of hand turned, clamp-on food grinder that she used in her kitchen in an antique/junk store in Bloomington, Indiana. It has holes about 3/8″ in diameter. I use it once a year – to make chopped liver for our Passover Seder meal. It took a couple of years, but I finally figured out how to make chopped liver that has the same texture and taste as Bobie’s.”
-Joan Friedman-
Religious Studies & History – Professor

Anytime Lavender Syrup

“This syrup is best made with fresh lavender, but dried (make sure it is labeled edible) can be used, too. If you want to make this syrup in June or July, email me (agamble@wooster.edu) and I will share some fresh flowers with you. You can use the syrup to flavor coffee, tea, sparkling water, lemonade, iced tea – really any kind of drink.”
-April Gamble-
Associate Director of Admissions & Coordinator of Counselor Relations