Dr. Martin Hill, a researcher with two decades of experience working in academic, corporate and government settings, has been appointed to lead the Carl Frost Center for Social Science Research at Hope College. Established in 1990, the center conducts surveys and assists with other data-collection and analysis needs for community organizations as well as for researchers at the College. Hill, who is currently a senior research associate with Richard Day Research of Evanston, Ill., will begin his work with the center on Tuesday, Sept. 1, the day that fall-semester classes begin at Hope. He succeeds former director Megan Mullins, who is relocating to Muncie, Ind., where she joins her husband, a faculty member at Ball State University.
"Marty Hill is an exceptionally experienced and qualified researcher. I am confident that he will be able to build on the significant strengths of the Carl Frost Center for Social Science Research so carefully and successfully nurtured under Megan Mullins' leadership," said Dr. R. Richard Ray, who is Dean of Social Sciences and a Professor of Kinesiology at Hope. "He joins a talented staff of research associates who, with his guidance and support, will continue to provide community clients, Hope College students, and faculty with the research solutions they need to succeed."
Hill has been with Richard Day Research since 2007. He was previously a senior research manager with Opinion Research Corporation of Arlington Heights, Ill.; a senior quantitative analyst with McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company of Evanston; a research assistant with the Kercher Center for Social Research and the Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo; and a research analyst with the Federal Bureau of Prisons of the U.S. Department of Justice in Butner, N.C. In addition, he has held teaching appointments at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, Southern Vermont College in Bennington and Western Michigan University. He has also served as a consultant on a variety of research projects.
Hill has received multiple awards for excellence, including the Special Act Award from the U.S. Department of Justice; selection as Criminal Justice Scholar at Western Michigan University; recognition for outstanding research contribution from Opinion Research Corporation; and certificates of appreciation from both The Evaluation Center and the Department of Sociology at Western Michigan University. He is a member of the American Sociological Association, the Society for the Study of Social Problems and the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
Hill graduated from Western Michigan University in 1986 with honors in criminal justice. He completed a master's at Western, with concentrations in criminology and in applied research and evaluation, in 1991. He completed his doctorate at the university, with an emphasis on medical sociology and also in applied research and evaluation, in 2004.
The Frost Center supports collaborative faculty-student research throughout the social sciences at Hope. Multiple community organizations have also contracted with the center for a variety of research needs. The center's external projects and clients have included a report about Kids Hope USA for the book "Street Saints"; an evaluation of Good Samaritan Ministries' faith-based mentoring programs; a survey of West Michigan residents concerning Ozone Action! Days for the West Michigan Clean Air Coalition; a Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey for the Ottawa County Health Department; a worship survey for the Reformed Church in America; and a youth-needs assessment for the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. The Carl Frost Center for Social Science Research is located on the second floor of the College's Anderson-Werkman Financial Center at 100 E. Eighth St. in downtown Holland. More information about the center may be found online at http://www.hope.edu/admin/frost or by calling (616) 395-7556.
