Winter Happening will feature multiple seminars in two blocks in the morning, a luncheon featuring musical entertainment, and a home men’s basketball game with Kalamazoo College. Open to the general public, the event is sponsored by the college’s Division of Public Affairs and Marketing.

Admission to the seminars is free.  There is an admission charge for the luncheon and the basketball game.

The morning will feature six seminars, three at 9:30 a.m. and three at 11 a.m.  The 9:30 a.m. seminars are “A Quiet World: The Wonders of Hearing and Hearing Loss,” “Water: Precious, Precarious, Problematic, Perplexing, Promising” and “Protestants, Catholics and Jews in World War I America: The 1918 United War Work Campaign.”  The 11 a.m. seminars are “Using Nuclear Science to Influence U.S. Public Health Policy,” “Hope at 150: How Rocky Was the Road to Success?” and “Lessons from Century Club Companies: Managing for Long-Term Success.”

“A Quiet World: The Wonders of Hearing and Hearing Loss” will draw on personal experience and psychological science to explain and demonstrate the psychology of hearing and the realities of humor and hearing loss.  The presentation will also describe user-friendly assistive technologies, including the hearing loops that, across America, are doubling the functionality of hearing aids and cochlear implants. The presentation will be by Dr. David Myers, a professor of psychology whose avocation is supporting Americans with hearing loss; he has received multiple awards for his efforts, which include the Hope-hosted hearingloop.org, and is on the Advisory Council of NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

“Water: Precious, Precarious, Problematic, Perplexing, Promising” will consider the international, domestic and local challenges that have resulted from humankind’s treatment of the world’s water supply, reflecting an observation by former United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali that water would “be more important than oil this century.”  The seminar will also explore signs that some of the responses to the challenges provide hope that things may be changing for the better. The presentation will be by Dr. David Van Wylen, who is dean for the natural and applied sciences and a professor of biology and has regularly taught and spoken about water.

“Protestants, Catholics and Jews in World War I America: The 1918 United War Work Campaign” will highlight the first national cooperative campaign involving Catholic, Jewish and Protestant organizations working together with the federal government, a successful effort to raise funds for wholesome entertainment and recreation activities for U.S. servicemen during World War I. The seminar will examine how the campaign illustrates the changing nature of religion in the United States during the early 20^th century as well as the complicated relationship between church and state during wartime.  The presentation will be by Dr. Jeanne Petit, professor of history, who has studied the campaign with a team of Hope students through a collaborative student-faculty research project.

“Using Nuclear Science to Influence U.S. Public Health Policy” will explore how Hope researchers developed a non-destructive, rapid analysis technique that detects per- and polyflourinated alkyl substances (PFAS) and ways that the testing is shaping efforts to eliminate the chemicals’ use.  The seminar will also review the recent creation of a start-up company, UMP Analytical, to take advantage of a distributed network of academic labs to provide a commercial testing service.  The presentation will be by Dr. Graham Peaslee, who is the Elmer E. Hartgerink Professor of Chemistry, Schaap Research Fellow and professor of geology/environmental science and co-leads the college’s nuclear research group; and Evelyn Ritter, a 2015 Hope graduate and mechanical engineering major who was active in entrepreneurship programs as a student and has since played a leadership role in the start-up.

“Hope at 150: How Rocky Was the Road to Success?” will feature reflections by three of the authors involved in a comprehensive history of Hope being written in conjunction with the college’s 2015-16 sesquicentennial commemoration.  Dr. Jacob Nyenhuis, who is co-leading the initiative, will give an overview of the entire project and highlight key discoveries about the college’s history.  Dr. Dennis Voskuil will present pithy insights into the relationship between the college and the Reformed Church in America, and Dr. Elton Bruins will give a summary of his approach to creating a list of alumni of distinction.  Nyenhuis retired this past fall as director of the college’s A.C. Van Raalte Institute, and is provost emeritus and professor of classics emeritus at Hope; Dr. Dennis Voskuil is the current director of the A.C. Van Raalte Institute and is the retired president of Western Theological Seminary as well as a former member of the Hope religion faculty. Dr. Elton Bruins was the founding director of the A.C. Van Raalte Institute and is retired from the Hope faculty as the Evert J. and Hattie E. Blekkink Professor Emeritus of Religion.

“Lessons from Century Club Companies: Managing for Long-Term Success” will discuss management practices at companies in Japan and the United States that have survived for more than 100 years, when the average age of companies today is 12 to 15 years and less than one half of one percent of U.S. companies have lasted for more than a century.  The seminar will also explore what practices today’s companies might consider implementing if they want to live for the long term. The presentation will be by Vicki TenHaken, who is a professor of management and the Ruch Director of the college’s Baker Scholars Program.

Also on Winter Happening Saturday, the De Pree Art Center and Gallery will be featuring the exhibition “440,” an exhibition of work by faculty member Billy Mayer running from Monday, Jan. 11, through Thursday, Feb. 11.  The gallery is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.  Admission is free.

In addition, the Kruizenga Art Museum, which opened in September, is featuring its ongoing inaugural exhibition, “Past Present East West: Highlights from the Permanent Collection.” The museum is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

In addition to being required for the luncheon, advance registration is recommended for the seminars. Additional information may be obtained by calling the college’s Division of Public Affairs and Marketing at (616) 395-7860 or online at hope.edu/winterhappening.

Registration during the morning of the event will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Haworth Inn and Conference Center, located facing College Avenue between Ninth and 10th streets.

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