Graham Peaslee Holds the Elmer E. Hartgerink Endowed Professorship

Graham Peaslee has been appointed the Elmer E. Hartgerink Professor of Chemistry.

First held in 1995, the Elmer E. Hartgerink Endowed Professorship recognizes an outstanding chemist dedicated to students, teaching and research, and committed to the Christian faith. It was established by Elmer E. Hartgerink, a 1939 Hope graduate who spent his career as a chemist, serving in the latter part of his career as chair and chief executive officer, and then chairman of the board, of Wyckoff Chemical Company Inc. in South Haven. Hartgerink, who died in February 2000, received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the college in 1988. The professorship was previously held by its original recipient, Dr. William Mungall, who retired from the faculty at the end of June, 2011.

Peaslee has taught at Hope since 1993. Chair of the department of chemistry, he holds a split appointment between chemistry and geological and environmental sciences, teaching a variety of introductory and upper-level courses in each.

Trained as a nuclear chemist, he maintains an active interdisciplinary research program involving undergraduates. Since joining the faculty, he has been the principal investigator or co-principal investigator for more than $3.4 million in external grants and has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and given more than 100 public presentations.

For the past 18 years, he and physicist Dr. Paul DeYoung have collaborated to run the college's Nuclear Group, mentoring more than 100 research students and producing more than 60 research publications associated with the group. Peaslee has also conducted research on the Lake Macatawa Watershed since 1998, studying the sources of pollution in the lake. In addition to articles in research journals, his resulting publications include, as co-author, the book "An Environmental History of The Lake Macatawa Watershed."

Among other honors through the years, he has received the college's "Hope Outstanding Professor Educator" (H.O.P.E.) Award from the graduating class in 2000; the Macatawa Watershed Project's "Stakeholder of the Year" award in 2005; a "Janet Andersen Lecture Award" from the Midstates Consortium for Math and Science in 2010; and a "James N. Boelkins Natural and Applied Sciences Division Research Award" from Hope in 2011.

Prior to joining the Hope faculty, Peaslee was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at MSU. He was also a post-doctoral fellow in the Nuclear Science Division at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. He completed his bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1981 at Princeton University, and his Ph.D. in chemical physics in 1987 at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Endowed chairs are established by donors who wish to assist the college on a permanent basis through the support of a faculty member. The gift is placed in the college's endowment fund with investment income used to support the work of the honored professor. In addition to recognizing faculty members for excellence, endowed chairs provide funding for summer research projects as well as some salary support.

Learn more about establishing an endowed professorship