Elaine A. Moyer, senior director of Mennonite Education Agency (MEA), has announced her retirement, effective Feb. 28.

“We celebrate this milestone with Elaine and thank her for nearly 45 years of dedicated service to Anabaptist-Mennonite education and especially for her decade of devotion to MEA,” says Tom Stuckey, MEA interim executive director.

Moyer played an important role in supporting, connecting and amplifying the work of board members, administrators and faculty of MEA institutions. As senior director, she served as the agency liaison with Mennonite Schools Council, a network of 20 Mennonite schools from early education to grade 12.

“I have good memories of working with Elaine on many projects through the years,” said Richard Thomas, MEA board chair. “She was a passionate advocate for Christ-centered Anabaptist education that brought people together across the divides in church and society.”

Her accomplishments include:

• Creating a complementary accreditation process for schools rooted in Anabaptist faith values
• Developing the Anabaptist Learning Institute, a graduate-level professional education program for teachers, pastors and other leaders
• Working with Mennonite Schools Council to develop the Encounter Bible curriculum, a bilingual Anabaptist education program focused on building community through scripture, storytelling and practice
• Leading the biannual Mennonite Educators Conference

Prior to joining MEA, Moyer was the first female head of school at the former Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, now Dock Mennonite Academy, in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, a position she held for 20 years. The school experienced an enrollment increase of 23% under her leadership.

“I have always been grateful for the way Elaine has been an advocate for women in leadership within our Mennonite schools,” says Conrad Swartzentruber, executive committee chair of Mennonite Schools Council and superintendent of Dock Mennonite Academy. “She has been a trailblazer, and we hope to carry her vision forward.”

Moyer worked for seven years at Bluffton (Ohio) University as a department chair, assistant professor of health, physical education and recreation, and director of women’s athletics. She was inducted into the Bluffton College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992. She gained experience in public education as a teacher and coach in Lima City Schools in Ohio.

Moyer will continue to be coordinator of the Mennonite World Conference Global Anabaptist Primary and Secondary Education Network and board chair for Lezha Academic Center in Albania, a Mennonite Schools Council-affiliated school.

Moyer holds a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Bluffton University and a master’s degree in physical education from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, and has completed her doctoral coursework in education at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She also has studied at Hesston (Kansas) College and Temple University in Philadelphia.

Moyer and her husband, Dave, live in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, and are members of Salford Mennonite Church.