Hope College | College Advancement

Dr. Maria Burnatowska-Hledin of the Hope College biology and chemistry faculty holds the Frederich Garrett and Helen Floor Dekker Endowed Professorship.

The professorship was established through the estate of Dr. Fred H. Decker and Marie V. Buranek Decker to provide financial support for a faculty member who has an established record of excellence in biophysics, biomedicine or biology. Dr. Decker was a 1921 Hope graduate.

The chair was established in the 1980s. Its first recipients were biologist Dr. Harvey Blankespoor, who held the chair from 1988 until retiring in 2002; and chemist Dr. Michael Silver, who held it from 2002 until retiring at the end of the 2008-09 school year.

Burnatowska-Hledin has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1992. Her research concerns the protein VACM-1/cul 5, seeking to understand the role that it may play in inhibiting the growth of cancer cells as well as cancer-induced angiogenesis (growth of blood capillaries).

Library Director Kelly Jacobsma Appointed to Endowed Position

Kelly Jacobsma, who is director of libraries at Hope College, has been appointed the first recipient of the college's new Genevra Thome Begg Director of Libraries endowed chair.

A member of the Hope library faculty since 1988, Jacobsma became director of libraries on July 1, 2008, following the retirement of long-time director David Jensen. Her appointment to the endowed position will become effective on July 1, 2009.
In addition to recognizing faculty members for excellence, endowed chairs provide funding for summer research projects as well as some salary support. The college has a total of 19 endowed chairs for faculty and three endowed administrative positions.

Begg's interest in the college stemmed from the year early in the 20th century that her late husband Raymond had attended the high school that Hope had operated in its earlier decades. Married only 11 years prior to his untimely death in 1956, they had visited Hope and Holland together just once, because she wished to see one of the places in which he had spent his youth. From that single visit her relationship with and appreciation for the college grew.

Todd Steen Appointed to
New Endowed Professorship

Dr. Todd Steen of the Hope College economics faculty has been named the first recipient of the college's new Granger Endowed Professorship in Economics, Management and Accounting.

The professorship is designated for an outstanding member of the faculty in the department of economics, management and accounting with a spiritually mature Christian faith whose teaching and actions are exemplary; and who makes a positive difference in the lives of Hope students, sharing his or her own Christianity to help them grow in their own faith, and the world beyond. It has been established by Ron and Donna Granger of Lansing, Mich. who are pictured with Prof. Steen.

In addition to recognizing faculty members for excellence, endowed professorships provide funding for summer research projects as well as some salary support. The college has a total of 19 endowed professorships for faculty and two endowed chaplaincies.

"Leonard and Marjorie Maas Endowed Chair in Reformed Theology"
Supports Religion Program

A new endowed chair at Hope College emphasizes the faith tradition of which Hope is a part.

The new "Leonard and Marjorie Maas Endowed Chair in Reformed Theology" has been established to be awarded to a faculty member whose scholarly emphasis is on the historical and philosophical development of Reformed theology through the present day. The professorship has been donated by Leonard and Marjorie Maas of Holland, who are longtime supporters of Hope as well as lifelong members of the Reformed Church in America, the denomination with which the college is affiliated.

The chair's first recipient is theologian Dr. Mark Husbands, who joined the Hope religion faculty this fall and has made Reformed theology a central focus of his scholarship and teaching.

"The generosity of Leonard and Marjorie Maas to Hope College and the Reformed Church in America is a manifestation of their commitment to the Christian faith," said Dr. James Bultman, president of Hope College. "This endowed chair is yet another example of their joyful lives of gratitude and their desire to positively influence the Christian dimension of the college."

Thomas Ludwig and Caroline Simon Appointed to Chairs

Hope College faculty members Dr. Thomas Ludwig and Dr. Caroline Simon have been appointed to endowed chairs at the college.

Ludwig, a professor of psychology, has been appointed to an eight-year term as the John Dirk Werkman Professor of Psychology. Simon, a professor of philosophy, has been appointed to a four-year term as the John H. and Jeanne M. Professor of Philosophy.

They are each the second member of the faculty to hold their respective chairs. Their appointments will begin with the new school year.

Tom Smith Appointed
to New Endowed Chair

Tom Smith of the Hope College faculty has been named the first recipient of the college's new Dr. Leon A. Bosch '29 Professorship in Business Management.

The chair is designated for an outstanding member of the faculty in the department of economics, management and accounting who has a strong interest in management and organizational development. It was established through the estate of Virginia French Bosch in memory of her husband, Dr. Leon A. Bosch '29.

Susan Mooy Cherup
Appointed to Sonneveldt Chair

Susan Mooy Cherup of the Hope College faculty has been appointed to the college's Arnold and Esther Sonneveldt Endowed Professorship in Education.

The chair, first held in 1998, is designated for a member of the education faculty who is an outstanding teacher and demonstrates a commitment to the Christian faith and to preparing young people for the field of education. The chair was established in the Sonneveldts' honor by their family. It was originally and previously held by Dr. Leslie Wessman, who has retired from the college's education faculty.

February 4, 2010

Major NSF Equipment Grant
Assists Multiple Departments

A major grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) is enabling Hope College to purchase equipment that will support research in multiple departments in the natural and physical sciences.

The college has received $215,180 through the NSF's Major Research Instrumentation program for a scanning electron microscope and a chemical autoanalyzer. Faculty in biology, chemistry and physics worked together in seeking the grant with research projects already lined up for the new equipment, with additional uses for teaching and research by other programs envisioned. The instruments should arrive by the end of the spring semester.

"This really has been an interdisciplinary effort," said Dr. Graham Peaslee, who is one of three faculty coordinating the project and is a professor and chairperson of chemistry and a professor of geology/environmental science. "These instruments will help generations of students here."

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February 3, 2010

Research Project to Study Jazz in Japan

A Hope College professor and his student research team have received support to study how the distinctly American art form of jazz has thrived in Japan for decades.

Dr. Robert Hodson, associate professor of music, has received a $26,000 ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellowship for his project "Jazz in Japan: Music, Community, Culture." The grant, which funds collaborative student-faculty research in Asia, will provide support as he and four students travel to Japan for three weeks in July to study the Tokyo jazz scene by attending performances and interviewing performers, club owners, students and listeners.

Japan's jazz tradition goes back to the 1920s, according to Hodson. He noted that following its beginnings in New Orleans and spread to the rest of the U.S., jazz was introduced to Japan by American and Filipino jazz bands and quickly developed a fan base, even surviving the war years.

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October 12, 2009

Hope-Led Consortium Receives NSF Grant

With a namesake nod to a Renaissance painting by a famous artist-scientist, a major new equipment grant to Hope College will enable a new generation of student researchers to engage in cutting-edge investigations themselves.

Hope is the lead institution of a nine-school consortium that is sharing $1.2 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) - of which Hope gets $203,894--to build a new "Large-area multi-Institutional Scintillator Array" (LISA), a neutron detector that will be used in the study of exotic nuclei. The instrument will be housed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University, a facility that already hosts another neutron detector developed through a consortium that also includes Hope and was supported by a previous NSF grant.

That earlier detector is known as "MoNA," for Modular Neutron Array. Thus the pair of instruments together will become, pun intended, MoNA-LISA, sharing in combination the name of Leonardo DaVinci's best-known painting.

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September 29, 2009

Major Grant Funds Arts and
Humanities Research Program

A major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is funding a new program at Hope College designed to deepen students' scholarship in the arts and humanities through collaborative, interdisciplinary research projects and the use of digital technologies.

The foundation has awarded Hope $200,000 to create the "Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Scholars Program in the Arts and Humanities." The program, which will begin in the fall of 2010, will involve select students in a series of new courses beginning their sophomore year and enable them across the rest of their time at Hope to develop research projects in areas of scholarly interest with faculty mentors, with a particular emphasis on teaching them how to use new and emerging digital technologies in pursuing and sharing their work.

"The Mellon program will build upon the college's long tradition of student-faculty collaborative scholarship by offering a unique opportunity to students who are passionate about the arts and humanities and want to deepen their learning," said Dr. James Boelkins, provost at Hope. "Through coursework and collaborative research, they will become better learners and better writers, and will be better prepared for graduate school or the workplace."

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September 1, 2009

Hope Receives NSF Grant
for New Spectrometer

A major grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will help enable Hope College to continue to provide its students access to highly sophisticated and modern equipment while expanding its educational reach through cyberspace.

The NSF has awarded Hope $416,767 to purchase a new nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer, which is a powerful tool for studying the structures and dynamics of chemical compounds. The new instrument, which the college plans to install during the spring semester, succeeds a predecessor that was itself sophisticated when it replaced another of its kind a dozen years ago - such is the difference that advances in technology make, according to the grant proposal's lead author.

"There have been significant changes in technology since we purchased our current NMR 12 years ago," said Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, who is an assistant professor of chemistry and is co-directing the grant project with Dr. Moses Lee, dean for the natural sciences and professor of chemistry. "The primary benefit of this instrument to our program is that it has greater sensitivity, which will enable it to test smaller samples and to work more quickly. It will also have an auto-sampler, allowing us to set up 30 or more experiments to run automatically overnight."

Multiple research groups at Hope use the college's NMR spectrometer. It plays a role in projects ranging from monitoring of phosphates in the bed of LakeMacatawa, to analyzing molecular structures that aid the design and synthesis of polymers for electronic and biomedical applications, photochromes and novel medicinal agents. It will also enable the determination of the structure and conformation of biomolecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids. The current instrument's benefits across the past 12 years have included providing data for 56 peer-reviewed publications that have included 197 undergraduate co-authors.

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August 26, 2009

NSF Funds Development of
Software for Genetic Research

Hope College has received a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a project that is linking three Hope departments and three institutions in developing computer models for genetic research.

The support will enable faculty and students in the departments of biology, computer science and mathematics to expand an ongoing research effort at Hope to develop software to model microbial metabolism based on information encoded in microbial genomes. The resulting package will ultimately become part of the RAST (Rapid Annotation using Subsystems Technology) genome analysis service available to researchers internationally through Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.

The goal of the Hope project is to provide integrated, automated tools that can assist researchers internationally to analyze the genomes, model the way the metabolism works and provide tools for analyzing regulatory data.

"The pace of genetic sequencing is increasingly exponentially, and there's more data than can be analyzed manually," said Dr. Matt DeJongh, who is an associate professor of computer science and leading the project with Dr. Aaron Best of the biology faculty and Dr. Nathan Tintle of the mathematics faculty. "By putting all three pieces together, we're hoping to be able to make predictions about metabolism and regulation in bacteria, and to do so more efficiently than would be possible using disparate tools in different locations with different interfaces."

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July 8, 2009

Grant Supports Research
on Cell Functioning

A major multi-year grant from the National Science Foundation is supporting a Hope College professor's on-going research into how cells produce natural anti-oxidants.

Dr. Leah Chase, associate professor of biology and chemistry at Hope, has received a three-year, $466,724 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her project focused on understanding strategies used by cells to combat oxidative damage. The support began in June and will continue through May 31, 2012.

Chase's research lab studies how cells control the production of the intracellular anti-oxidant, glutathione. Specifically, Chase and her students examine the basic mechanisms by which oxidants regulate the function of membrane transport proteins which internalize the precursors for the synthesis of the gluathione. She notes that a better understanding of such cellular processes is of fundamental importance because oxidative stress can lead to significant cellular damage and ultimately cell death if left unchecked.

Chase's research team will include Hope undergraduates during both the school year and summer, as well as high school students during the summer through "Project REACH" (Research Experience Across Cultures at Hope).

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May 1, 2009

Van Andel Foundation Gift
Supports Hope Soccer Project

Hope College officials today announced the name of the school's new $5.3 million Van Andel Soccer Stadium at a groundbreaking ceremony honoring the project's lead donors, David and Carol Van Andel. The Van Andel family revealed a lead gift of $3 million from the David & Carol Van Andel Foundation to help build a world-class athletic facility serving the HopeCollege soccer program and Holland-area sports and recreation community.

"As Hope College alumni and the proud parents of two Flying Dutchmen, Carol and I are honored to be involved in a project that will enhance the school's athletic program and provide our community with one of the finest soccer stadiums in the country," said David Van Andel. "In addition to enjoying a beautiful new facility, we are confident the community will also realize a significant economic impact with the ability to attract major sporting events to the area."

Designed to complement Hope's recently expanded athletic complex, the new stadium will be built on the site of the college's existing soccer fields on Fairbanks Avenue near 11th Street in Holland. The state-of-the-art facility will include stadium-style and bleacher seating for 1,400 fans, a concession stand, public restrooms, two locker rooms, a training room, a meeting room for visiting teams along with a ticket booth and press box. It will also feature terrace areas for picnics and tailgating as well as lighting for night games and artificial turf. Construction is expected to be completed this October.

"Our gift is a tribute to the tireless dedication of the Hope College players, coaches and staff, a recognition of the impressive records set by both the men's and women's soccer teams, and an opportunity to engage the community and energize its youth," said Carol Van Andel.

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April 19, 2009

Hope Participates in
International NASA Project

Physics researchers at Hope College are participating in a NASA-funded collaborative project that is linking multiple teams in an international effort that could result in a giant leap in mankind's understanding a type of star.

Dr. Peter Gonthier, who is a professor of physics, and his student researchers are part of a NASA-based project that has been seeking to better understand how pulsars, which are highly compact collapsed stars, produce high-energy gamma rays. The team's project, "Particle Acceleration and High Energy Radiation from Pulsar Magnetospheres," has recently received a three-year, $459,043 grant--$76,866 of which will support work at Hope - from the NASA Astrophysics Theory Program.

"This grant is highly significant because it is mainstream and it has to compete with the big guns to get funded by NASA," said Dr. Moses Lee, who is dean for the natural and applied sciences and a professor of chemistry at Hope. "I am extremely proud of Pete and his collaborators."

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April 18, 2009

Named Fund Honors
Herb Dershem for Service

Dr. Herbert Dershem, who played a leadership role in developing the department of computer science at Hope College, is being recognized through a lasting tribute with a fitting focus: a student research fund in his name.

Alumni and faculty colleagues of the department announced the creation of the "Herb Dershem Summer Research Fund" on Saturday, April 18, during an appropriate milestone, a reception scheduled in celebration of the department's 35-year anniversary. Once fully endowed, the fund will provide support for a student to conduct research full-time with the department for eight to 10 weeks during the summers, joining students who are conducting research in the program through other external and internal sources of support.

Dershem is a professor of computer science and director of institutional research at Hope. He has taught at the college since 1969, five years before the department of computer science was established in 1974, and served as the department's chair from 1975 through 2003. In addition to teaching and helping develop the program's curriculum, he played a significant role in shaping the department's practice of involving students in original, collaborative research projects with members of the faculty.

"During his 40 years at Hope, Herb has had a significant impact on hundreds of people," said Dr. Ryan McFall, an associate professor of computer science who has taught at Hope since 2000 - and who as a 1993 Hope graduate is also one of Dershem's former students. "My life certainly would not be the same without his teaching and mentoring."

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April 1, 2009

Four Hope Students Receive
Goldwater Recognition

Four Hope College science students - as many as colleges and universities were invited to nominate - have received national recognition from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation.

Juniors Mark Lunderberg of Grandville and Blair Williams of Fenton have each received Goldwater Scholarships for the 2009-10 academic year, out of only 278 awarded nationwide. Juniors Joel Blok of Schoolcraft and Paul Frybarger of Muskegon have each received honorable mention, out of only 175 students to be accorded the recognition.

"It is a tremendous accomplishment for our students to have been recognized by the Goldwater Foundation in this way," said Dr. Moses Lee, who is dean for the natural and applied sciences and professor of chemistry at Hope. "It also demonstrates the high quality of our programs in the natural and applied sciences, particularly our focus on learning by doing through undergraduate research."

The scholarships were awarded by the Board of Trustees of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation to undergraduate sophomores and juniors. The Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,097 mathematics, science and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide.

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November 18, 2008

Foundation Awards Grant
for Student Research

For the second consecutive year, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation is presenting Hope College with support for a student to conduct research during the summer in chemistry.

The foundation annually provides the awards, the "Jean Dreyfus Boissevain Undergraduate Scholarship for Excellence in Chemistry," to selected colleges and universities as a stipend for an exceptional undergraduate to carry out chemistry research with a faculty mentor. They are presented in recognition of the positive environment that the recipient institutions provide to encourage undergraduates to develop interest in the chemical sciences through research.

The award will include a $4,500 salary to support the student in conducting research for 10 weeks during the forthcoming summer and an additional $1,000 for related supplies.

Students at Hope engage in collaborative research projects with the college's faculty both part-time during the school year and full-time for several weeks during the summer.

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October 1, 2008

Research Will Trace
Presence of Nuclear Materials

A research project at Hope College is seeking to provide new tools in the ongoing effort to assure national security, focusing on a specific area of nuclear forensics: how to determine whether or not nuclear materials have ever been present in a particular location.

The project, led by Dr. Graham Peaslee of the Hope College faculty, has recently received a three-year, $149,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The award is through department's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, which is seeking to enhance the nation's ability to detect and report attempts to import or transport a nuclear device, Special Nuclear Material or radiological materials intended for illicit use. Special Nuclear Materials are those elements that fission readily and can be made into a nuclear device.

The project is a fundamental research initiative that will focus on developing a method to determine whether or not common minerals have been exposed to neutron irradiation. The approach, Peaslee noted, is based on the idea that the radiation will have affected the structure of the minerals in a way that can be measured even though they will not be radioactive.

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September 8, 2008

Matt DeJongh Receives
Fulbright and NSF Awards

Dr. Matt DeJongh, who is an associate professor of computer science and a Towsley Research Scholar at Hope College, has received support for his ongoing work in bioinformatics through both the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program and the National Science Foundation.

He has received a Fulbright-Aquitaine Regional Council Award to spend the spring of 2009 conducting groundbreaking functional genomic research in France. In addition, his ongoing research at Hope in bioinformatics has been awarded a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Through the Fulbright award, DeJongh will be working from mid January through mid June at one of France's largest academic computer science laboratories, LaBRI (Laboratoire Bordelais de Recherche en Informatique), which is based at the Université de Bordeaux. He will be collaborating with researchers at the laboratory in the field of bioinformatics, which blends biology and computer science in managing and analyzing genetic data compiled through projects such as the Human Genome Project.

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Hope Chosen for National
HHMI Science Initiative

Hope College is one of only a dozen colleges and universities nationwide and the only institution in Michigan selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to implement a new genomics course that will involve incoming freshmen in cutting-edge research during their first semester in college.

The program, the Phage Genomics Research Initiative, has been developed by HHMI's Science Education Alliance, which is a new initiative intended to help shape science education nationwide. HHMI is committing a total of $4 million overall over the first four years of the program, including the support given to all of the individual colleges and universities.

The research-based, year-long laboratory course has been designed to provide beginning college students with a true research experience that will teach them how to approach scientific problems creatively and hopefully solidify their interest in a career in science.

Chemist Participates
in NSF-Funded Project

Dr. Joanne Stewart of the Hope College faculty is one of seven chemists from colleges and universities across the nation participating in a project recently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop an online resource to help professors of inorganic chemistry work together to improve their teaching.

The project is titled "IONiC," for "Intellectual Online Network of Inorganic Chemists." It has received a $150,000 award for development during 2008 and 2009 through the NSF's "Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Initiative."

IONiC will use a Web site and other Internet technologies to develop a virtual community that will serve as a way for colleagues from a variety of institutions to work together conveniently regardless of distance to share and develop materials related to teaching in the discipline and to help each other improve through online discussions and workshops. Following the network's development and initial testing, it will become part of the National Science Digital Library, an online library for education and research in science that is available to scientists around the world.

Project Will Benefit CASA and
Upward Bound Students

A new effort at Hope College will focus on inspiring a brighter future for the local elementary-age and high school students participating in the Children's After School Achievement (CASA) and Upward Bound program at Hope.

The Michigan Campus Compact (MCC) has awarded a "Brighter Futures" grant to the college for activities to help the two programs place additional emphasis on overcoming obstacles to academic success and preparing the students to think about their futures. The $6,000 grant has been awarded to Dr. Deborah Sturtevant of the college's sociology and social work faculty through MCC's "Investing in College Futures Learn and Serve" program, and will provide support matched by Hope and the business community as students in the department develop the additional activities on CASA's and Upward Bound's behalf.

CASA, a community organization housed at Hope, focuses on academic and cultural enrichment for at-risk second-through fifth-grade students. The program, which runs year-round, is intended to improve the students' academic performance by providing the tools they need to succeed in school.

Grant to Support Students
from Community Colleges

A major new grant to Hope College from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will provide scholarship aid to community-college students who are interested in continuing their education in the sciences at Hope.

The scholarships will support students who transfer to Hope to major in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, the geological and environmental sciences, mathematics or physics after completing work at a community college. The $564,360 grant has been awarded through the NSF's "Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics" (S-STEM) program. It is one of approximately 90 new S-STEM awards made nationwide this year.

"Hope has a proven record of success in preparing students for successful careers in the sciences, but historically most of our students have gone through our entire four-year program. We believe we also have a lot to offer to students who have completed a two-year degree and are seeking the additional career options made available through a four-year degree," said Dr. Herb Dershem, who is the Hope initiative's coordinator and also a professor of computer science. "We hope that by providing additional scholarship assistance and enhancing our outreach to community colleges in the region that we can help make attending Hope a reality for them."

Chemist Jeff Johnson
Receives Dreyfus Award

Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, assistant professor of chemistry at Hope College, has received a Faculty Start-Up Award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Inc.

The foundation presents the awards to support the scholarly activity of new faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions, generally to faculty who will be beginning their first tenure-track appointments. The foundation typically awards only a dozen or fewer each year, and Johnson is the only recipient at a Michigan college or university from among the eight scholars who received the awards this year.

It is second time in four years that a member of the Hope faculty has received one of the awards. Dr. Jason Gillmore, also an assistant professor of chemistry, also received one when he joined the faculty in 2004.

Hope Participates in
International Science Program

Hope College is one of nine colleges and universities from Canada, Mexico and the United States participating in the North American Mobility Project, a consortium focused on the study of ethics and public policy issues in the sciences in North America.

Through the consortium, students from any of the nine participating institutions will have an opportunity to spend a semester at an institution in one of the other two nations represented. The program includes three institutions each in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.

The program has been funded through a three-year, $203,021 grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) that will continue through August of 2010. In addition to Hope, the participating U.S. institutions are HowardUniversity in Washington, D.C., which is the U.S. lead for the project, and the University of Texas at El Paso. The participating Canadian institutions are ConcordiaUniversity in Montreal, Quebec; Université de Montréal; and St. PaulUniversity in Ottawa, Ontario. The participating institutions in Mexico are the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro; the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla; and Universidad Anahuac.

Hope Receives One of Only
11 Phi Beta Kappa Grants

Hope College is one of only 11 colleges and universities nationwide chosen to participate in "Deliberation about Things That Matter," an initiative sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa to encourage the teaching and learning of deliberative skills through the discussion of major issues of meaning or value.

Through the support, Hope is developing a program with an academic focus for incoming freshmen in conjunction with New Student Orientation that will also link with campus-wide events scheduled for later in the school year.

"We are honored that Phi Beta Kappa selected Hope for participation and recognized our longstanding commitment to a liberal education that engages students in the deliberative thinking about issues that impact our world," said Dr. James Boelkins, provost at Hope. "The opportunity to engage our first-year students in discussions of important cultural issues will contribute to our efforts to grow world citizens in the soil of Hope."

Grants Support CASA Summer Program

Local elementary-age children will be learning about the natural world in their own neighborhood this summer through a grant to the Children's After School Achievement (CASA) program at Hope College from the Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area.

And then they'll go into the new school year well-equipped thanks to further support from the Holland Junior Welfare League.

The Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area has awarded CASA $6,600 to help underwrite "CASA Goes Wild: Amazing Lessons in Nature," which will be featured throughout CASA's summer program, running Monday, June 18, through Thursday, July 26. The theme will provide the framework for a variety of activities for the approximately 110 second- through fifth-grade students the program anticipates hosting.

Professor Vicki Ten Haken
Receives Fulbright Award

Vicki Ten Haken, associate professor of management at Hope College, will spend the fall and winter teaching and conducting research in Krakow, Poland, through an award from the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.

Ten Haken is the fourth member of the Hope faculty to receive one of the awards in the past four years, and it is the second year in a row that a member of the economics, management and accounting faculty has received one. Dr. Victor Claar, associate professor of economics, has spent the 2006-07 school year teaching at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan, Armenia, through a Fulbright award. In 2004, Dr. William Cohen, professor emeritus of history, and Dr. David Klooster, professor of English, received Fulbright awards to teach in Japan and Austria respectively.

Ten Haken will be teaching management classes at the Krakow University of Economics in the university's MBA and international business studies programs. She will participate in an orientation program in Warsaw during the latter half of September and then be in Krakow from October through the end of the university's first semester in February.

Grant Supports NSBE Chapter

The Hope College chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) has received a grant from the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund in support of professional development opportunities for its student members.

The $2,500 grant will enable students to attend the regional and national conferences of the NSBE.

The NSBE is the premier organization serving African Americans in engineering and technology. With 15,000 members and more than 300 chapters, NSBE supports and promotes the aspirations of university and pre-college students and technical professionals. The society's mission is to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.

Professor Veldman and senior Becky Lathrop show
Congressman Peter Hoekstra materials used in the testing.

Research Seeks to Reduce
Aircraft Blast Damage

Even as security measures internationally endeavor to prevent terrorists from smuggling explosives onto aircraft, Dr. Roger Veldman of the Hope College engineering faculty is conducting research he hopes will make a difference if the unthinkable does happen.

Veldman, an associate professor of engineering, is engaged in a multi-year, ongoing research effort to help aircraft better withstand internal explosions. His work has recently received funding from the Science and Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security, the third in a series of federal grants in support of his work in the wake of the 9-11 attacks in 2001.

"The idea is, how can you make aircraft structures more robust if something does make it through the security system," he said.

Player's Sacrifice for Team
Inspires Scholarship

A Hope College basketball player's selfless act is having an effect far beyond her team's recent national championship season.

It's led to creation of a scholarship that will help other students in perpetuity.

When the Hope women's basketball team made it to the playoffs this past spring, NCAA regulations required that only 15 players could suit up for the competition. Hope's MIAA championship squad had 16 members. Rather than make it necessary for Coach Brian Morehouse to choose or perhaps for one of her teammates to sit out the remaining games, junior guard Becky Bosserd of Sparta stepped forward and volunteered to spend the rest of the season in her street clothes.

The gracious gesture earned the admiration of her coach, her team mates and also Hope's loyal fans. One of those fans, community member Rob Zaagman, has decided to celebrate it by establishing an endowed scholarship at the college in her name. The "Rebecca Bosserd Scholarship Fund," available starting with the new school year, is intended for any student with financial need who, in keeping with Bosserd's example, has shown commitment to servant-leadership or volunteerism.

Economist Victor Claar
Receives Fulbright Award

Dr. Victor Claar, associate professor of economics at Hope College, will spend a year teaching and conducting research in Armenia through an award from the Fulbright Scholar Program.

It is the third time in three years that a member of the Hope faculty has received one of the awards. In 2004, Dr. William Cohen, professor emeritus of history, and Dr. David Klooster, professor of English, received Fulbright awards to teach in Japan and Austria respectively.

Claar will teach at the American University of Armenia in the capital city of Yerevan. The university, founded approximately 10 years ago, offers only graduate-level courses, taught in English. Claar will be teaching MBA students in the business school and economics courses in the political science program from late August through early May.

CrossRoads Project Receives
Renewal Grant Posted

The CrossRoads Project at Hope College has received a three-year renewal grant through Lilly Endowment Inc.'s "Program for the Theological Exploration of Vocation" (PTEV).

The $500,000 grant will support the program from the fall of 2009 through the spring of 2012. The CrossRoads Project was established through a $2 million PTEV grant that Hope received from the Endowment in 2002 that will continue to provide funding until the new grant takes effect.

Grants Support CASA Summer Program

The Youth Advisory Committee of the Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area has awarded CASA $9,960 to help underwrite "CASA Strikes Gold on the Journey West," which will be featured throughout CASA's summer program, running Monday, June 19, through Thursday, July 27. The western theme will provide the framework for a variety of activities for the approximately 100 second- through fifth-grade students the program anticipates hosting.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, through a grant to Holland Hospital and Hope College, has provided $4,735 in support of CASA's "ABC Workout (Active Bodies at CASA)" program, which as part of the summer program will offer structured physical activity and presentations designed to help the children value and practice physical fitness.

Grant Supports Van Raalte
Institute Program

A grant from the Netherland-America Foundation of New York City to the A.C. Van Raalte Institute at Hope College is supporting the institute's on-going commitment to sponsoring scholars conducting research on area history. The $10,000 grant from the NAF is underwriting the "NAF Visiting Research Fellowship Program" at the institute for the next three years, starting this fall. Representatives of the NAF presented a check for the first year during a visit to the institute on Wednesday, May 10, during the city's Tulip Time Festival.

"I'm very pleased with receiving this grant because it enables us to enhance our visiting research fellows program, doubling the size of the research fellowship," said Dr. Jacob E. Nyenhuis, who is director of the Van Raalte Institute. "By labeling this person the 'NAF Visiting Research Fellow' we add prestige to the fellowship and help to promote the NAF as well."

Science Center Named in
Honor of Hope Alumnus

A Hope College graduate who appreciated his own undergraduate experience has given a $7 million leadership gift in support of the college's science center project as a way of saying thank you and helping new generations of students. In recognition of the gift, given by Dr. A. Paul Schaap and his wife Carol of Grosse Pointe Park, the college is naming the building the "A. Paul Schaap Science Center." Both the gift and the naming were announced on Friday, May 5, in conjunction with the spring meeting of the college's Board of Trustees.

"This is a generous and transforming gift for this exceptional facility and for enhancing Hope's national reputation in collaborative undergraduate research," said Hope College President Dr. James Bultman. "With this gift, Paul and Carol are giving the largest gift to the science center project, one of the largest gifts Hope has ever received, and in the process are providing the last remaining piece of the very successful 'Legacies: A Vision of Hope'capital campaign."

Hope Again Leads with
Six NSF-REU Grants

For a third consecutive year Hope College holds six grants for summer student research from the National Science Foundation's "Research Experiences for Undergraduates" (NSF-REU) program, continuing to hold more than any other liberal arts college in the country.

Among all institutions nationwide, including major research universities, fewer than 20 hold more of the grants.
Hope holds the grants in biology, chemistry, computer science, the geological and environmental sciences, mathematics, and physics and engineering. It is the 15th consecutive year that at least four Hope departments have had NSF-REU support.

Several Hope Projects
Receive Consortium Support

Several Hope College projects have received grants from the Michigan Space Grant Consortium.

A total of 10 projects from Hope received funding from the consortium through its 2006-07 grant period. The awards to Hope projects are in three categories: seven are fellowships for students conducting collaborative research with members of the college's faculty, two are "seed grants" for faculty research and one is through an initiative for pre-college education. They total $32,500, including $2,500 for each of the student fellowships, and $5,000 each for the other three projects. The consortium awarded grants in the three categories to a total of 34 projects statewide, chosen from among 92 applications.

College Advancement
Communication Programs Honored

Hope College has won multiple honors in the "Pride of CASE V Awards Program" sponsored by the Great Lakes District V of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). The awards will be presented on Tuesday, Dec. 16, during the 2008 CASE V District Conference in Chicago, Ill.

Publications used as case statements in fund-raising efforts at the college were honored in two categories, one at the Gold level and the other at the Bronze level. Development of the pieces was shepherded by staff members Jason Cash '07, Kate Frillmann and Scott Wolterink '88 of the college's Advancement Division.

The video The Mission of Hope College: Anchors of Hope won the Bronze Award in the "Best Video/DVD/CD-ROM, Fundraising, Alumni Relations or Commercial Spots" category. Developed by staff members Jason Cash '07 and Scott Travis '06, the program debuted as the college's halftime segment during the televised spring 2008 Hope-Calvin basketball games and has since been used for a variety of college projects.

Beth Szczerowski Joins
Alumni and Parent Relations Staff

Beth Szczerowski has joined the Hope College staff as assistant director of alumni and parent relations.

She started in the position on Monday, Jan. 4. She is responsible for a number of the events, activities and services at the college for alumni and parents and families of students, and works with the program's director on a variety of other aspects of the program.

As assistant director, Szczerowski will assist with the college's regional events and annual on-campus events for alumni, parents and students hosted by the office. She holds additional responsibility for involving alumni and parent volunteers in the college's programs, and for communicating with alumni, parents and friends of the college. She will also assist the program's director, Scott Travis, with strategic planning and program development, and in promoting financial support of the college to alumni, parents, friends and families of Hope.

Tom and Carole Renner
Honored for Service

After spending more than four decades helping to put the spotlight on Hope College students, faculty, teams, coaches and athletes, Tom Renner is in turn receiving some enduring recognition from the college.

Renner and his wife Carole are being honored for their significant roles in the life of the college by having the media section of the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse named in their honor. A bronze plaque commemorating the recognition will be unveiled during pre-game activities for the Hope men's basketball game that begins at 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 7, as part of the Holland Sentinel Community Tournament.

"It is time to recognize Tom and Carole for their distinguished service to Hope College for the past 40 years," said President Dr. James E. Bultman. "Tom has received accolades from so many different organizations, and it is fitting now for this place that receives most of his attention to honor him and his wife Carole. Their work at Hope, especially in intercollegiate sport, has been a team effort. No one could give what Tom has given without the involvement and support of an understanding spouse."

Scott Travis Joins
Alumni & Parent Relations Staff

Scott Travis has joined the Hope College staff as assistant director of alumni and parent relations.

He started in the position on Tuesday, Sept. 5. He is responsible for a number of the events, activities and services at the college for alumni, and parents and families of students, and works with the program's director on a variety of other aspects of the program.

As assistant director, Travis will assist with the college's regional events and annual on-campus events for alumni, parents and students hosted by the office. He holds additional responsibility for involving alumni and parent volunteers in the college's programs, and for communicating with alumni, parents and friends of the college. He will also assist the program's director, Mary Remenschneider, with strategic planning and program development, and in promoting financial support of the college to alumni, parents, friends and families of Hope.

Advancement Staff Addition
and Changes Announced

Hope College has announced an addition to and several promotions and changes within its advancement staff.

Annie Valkema joined the staff on Monday, June 12, as a regional advancement director. She is responsible for the college's fund-raising efforts in Southern California as well as in portions of West Michigan.

She was most recently a member of the advancement staff at Houghton College in New York, where she was director of the annual fund from 2000 to 2004 and a major gifts officer from 2004 until coming to Hope. Prior to joining the Houghton staff, Valkema had been employed at the University of Michigan. She was senior coordinator of Alumni Clubs from 1997 to 2000; a student services representative in the School of Public Health from 1992 to 1997; and a publication assistant with News and Information Services from 1989 to 1991.

Advancement Staff Additions Announced

Hope College has made two appointments in recent months to the college's advancement team. Brett Holleman and John Ruiter, who are both Hope alumni, have both joined the staff as regional advancement directors. Holleman started at the college in late February, and Ruiter in November.

Holleman was most recently a development officer with the Holland Hospital Foundation. He had earlier served in development roles with Good Samaritan Ministries in Holland and Holland Christian Schools. Prior to his work in development he had worked in youth ministry with Young Life and Beechwood Church in the Holland area.

Read the press release

Tom Renner Named "Paul Harris Fellow"

Tom Renner of the Hope College public relations office attended the Thursday, Jan. 19, meeting of the Holland Rotary Club thinking that he'd been invited as a guest in celebration of his birthday. That was only partially true. He was actually there to receive a present: recognition as a Paul Harris Fellow.

Renner was selected for and presented the award by Rotary member Jerry Redeker, a long-time friend, "for service and humanitarian efforts in the Holland community and for Hope College." The citation, accompanied by a pin and medallion, further notes that the award is given "in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world."

Read the press release

College Advancement News

Maria Burnatowska-Hledin Appointed to the Frederich Garrett and Helen Floor Dekker Endowed Professorship

Library Director Kelly Jacobsma Appointed to Endowed Position

Todd Steen Appointed to New Endowed Professorship

"Leonard and Marjorie Maas Endowed Chair in Reformed Theology" Supports Religion Program

Thomas Ludwig and Caroline Simon Appointed to Chairs

Tom Smith Appointed to New Endowed Chair

Susan Mooy Cherup Appointed to Sonneveldt Chair

Major NSF Equipment Grant Assists Multiple Departments

Research Project to Study Jazz in Japan

Hope-Led Consortium Receives NSF Grant

Major Grant Funds Arts and Humanities Research Program

Hope Receives NSF Grant for New Spectrometer

NSF Funds Development of Software for Genetic Research

Grant Supports Research on Cell Functioning

Van Andel Foundation Gift Supports Hope Soccer Project

Hope Participates in International NASA Project

Named Fund Honors Herb Dershem for Service

Four Hope Students Receive Goldwater Recognition

Foundation Awards Grant for Student Research

Research Will Trace Presence of Nuclear Materials

Matt DeJongh Receives Fulbright and NSF Awards

Major Grant Emphasizes External Research Ties

Beckman Foundation Award Funds Student Research

Hope Chosen for National HHMI Science Initiative

Chemist Participates in NSF-Funded Project

Project Will Benefit CASA and Upward Bound Students

Grant to Support Students from Community Colleges

Chemist Jeff Johnson Receives Dreyfus Award

Hope Participates in International Science Program

Hope Receives One of Only 11 Phi Beta Kappa Grants

Grants Support CASA Summer Program

Professor Vicki Ten Haken Receives Fulbright Award

Grant Supports NSBE Chapter

Research Seeks to Reduce Aircraft Blast Damage

Player's Sacrifice for Team Inspires Scholarship

Economist Victor Claar Receives Fulbright Award

CrossRoads Project Receives Renewal Grant Posted

Grants Support CASA Summer Program

Grant Supports Van Raalte Institute Program

Science Center Named in Honor of Hope Alumnus

Hope Again Leads with Six NSF-REU Grants

Several Hope Projects Receive Consortium Support

College Advancement e-Newsletter Honored

College Advancement Communication Programs Honored

Beth Szczerowski Joins Alumni and Parent Relations Staff

Tom and Carole Renner Honored for Service

Scott Travis Joins Alumni & Parent Relations Staff

Advancement Staff Addition and Changes Announced

Advancement Staff Additions Announced

Tom Renner Named "Paul Harris Fellow"

Hope Highlighted as a Favorite

Todd Steen Appointed to
New Endowed Professorship

"Leonard and Marjorie Maas Endowed Chair in Reformed Theology"
Supports Religion Program

Tom Smith Appointed
to New Endowed Chair

Susan Mooy Cherup
Appointed to Sonneveldt Chair

Major NSF Equipment Grant
Assists Multiple Departments

Major Grant Funds Arts and
Humanities Research Program

Hope Receives NSF Grant
for New Spectrometer

NSF Funds Development of
Software for Genetic Research

Grant Supports Research
on Cell Functioning

Van Andel Foundation Gift
Supports Hope Soccer Project

Hope Participates in
International NASA Project

Named Fund Honors
Herb Dershem for Service

Four Hope Students Receive
Goldwater Recognition

Foundation Awards Grant
for Student Research

Research Will Trace
Presence of Nuclear Materials

Matt DeJongh Receives
Fulbright and NSF Awards

Major Grant Emphasizes
External Research Ties

Beckman Foundation Award
Funds Student Research

Hope Chosen for National
HHMI Science Initiative

Chemist Participates
in NSF-Funded Project

Project Will Benefit CASA and
Upward Bound Students

Grant to Support Students
from Community Colleges

Chemist Jeff Johnson
Receives Dreyfus Award

Hope Participates in
International Science Program

Hope Receives One of Only
11 Phi Beta Kappa Grants

Professor Vicki Ten Haken
Receives Fulbright Award

Research Seeks to Reduce
Aircraft Blast Damage

Player's Sacrifice for Team
Inspires Scholarship

Economist Victor Claar
Receives Fulbright Award

CrossRoads Project Receives
Renewal Grant Posted

Grant Supports Van Raalte
Institute Program

Science Center Named in
Honor of Hope Alumnus

Hope Again Leads with
Six NSF-REU Grants

Several Hope Projects
Receive Consortium Support

College Advancement
Communication Programs Honored

Beth Szczerowski Joins
Alumni and Parent Relations Staff

Tom and Carole Renner
Honored for Service

Scott Travis Joins
Alumni & Parent Relations Staff

Advancement Staff Addition
and Changes Announced