Shakespeare and Christianity
Dr. John Cox ’67
9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Shakespeare lived in a culture that was much more emphatically Christian than ours, but none of his plays are drawn from the Bible, and none of them deal directly with God or even with God’s hand in human experience. It is therefore common to identify Shakespeare as a secular playwright. Is this the only possible conclusion? How might one frame the question about Shakespeare and Christianity in order to gain some useful answers? What do we know about Shakespeare biographically that might shed light on the question?
How might we think about the plays in light of Christian assumptions without distorting either the plays or the Christian faith?

Dr. John D. Cox, a 1967 Hope alumnus, has taught at Westmont College, the University of Victoria, Harvard University, Calvin College, and the University of California at Berkeley, as well as Hope, where he has been since 1979. He is the author of three books about Shakespeare and early drama: Shakespeare and the Dramaturgy of Power (Princeton , 1989), The Devil and the Sacred in English Drama 1350-1643 (Cambridge, 2000), and Seeming Knowledge: Shakespeare and Skeptical Faith (Baylor, 2007).

Can Students at Hope College
Help Find a Cure for Cancer?
Dr. Maria Burnatowska-Hledin
9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

The dysfunctions of vascular cells have been associated with the pathogenesis of many clinical disorders, including cancer. Certain gene products specific to the vascular cells can serve as a trigger for cellular activities and can inhibit cell growth and, ultimately, cause cell death. Our research focuses on identifying such factors able to compromise cellular events that may reduce development of cancer. Once identified, these genes and their products can become targets for drug development. This talk will highlight some of the discoveries made by Hope College students over the years, and will illustrate how our students contribute to the knowledge that may help develop strategies for diagnosis and intervention in the pathologies of excessive cellular growth, and thus may lead to a better diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Dr. Maria Burnatowska-Hledin is a professor of biology and chemistry at Hope College, where she has taught since 1992. She teaches biochemistry, advanced cell biology and a science class for non-majors. She has received a variety of grants, including the latest one from the National Cancer Institute to support her work described above.

Michigan’s Tax System—SBT to MBT to CAT (Confused Accountants and Taxpayers)
Professor Herb Martin
9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

This seminar will be a review of the substantial change to Michigan business taxation which was the result of more than a year of discussion and lobbying by numerous factions. There will be a brief summary of the service tax—negotiated and enacted in the wee hours of the morning and then axed on a December Saturday afternoon—a unique process where two wrongs did make a right. The major part of the discussion will cover the new Michigan Business Tax, which replaces the Single Business Tax. There will be a brief discussion of the winners and losers and an attempt to summarize whether or not the MBT will be an improvement for the Michigan economy.

Professor Herb Martin is a CPA in the state of Michigan and has taught accounting and taxation at Hope College for more than 25 years. He is the co-author with Thomas Ludwig of a problem workbook and accompanying software named “Complete Picture Accounting,” which is a computerized tutorial to help students learn financial accounting. He has served as interim chairperson of the department of economics, management and accounting on two occasions. He has served on the Professional Interests Committee at Hope College and has advised the committee on compensation issues.

Hoosiers in Spoon River
Professor Jack Ridl
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Jack Ridl will read poems from Losing Season, his collection to be published in 2008. Through the lens of a high school basketball season, the book looks at life in a small town. Come meet Coach, Scrub, Star, Cheerleader, Coach’s Wife, Custodian, Ticket Seller, Sports Writer, Teacher, Barber, Bus Driver and other citizens of this mythical small town. Poet Conrad Hilberry has said, “These poems are unmatched, I believe, anywhere in American poetry. They are so compelling, so varied, so familiar to anyone who has played high school sports that they may well introduce a new genre.”

Professor Ridl is in his 37th year teaching at Hope College. His new book will be his fifth published collection. He has also published three chapbooks, one of which was selected by former Poet Laureate Billy Collins for the 2001 Chapbook Award from The Center for Book Arts in NYC. His last collection, Broken Symmetry, was chosen by The Society of Midland Authors as the best collection of poems published in 2006. With colleague Peter Schakel, he has co-authored two works about literature and two anthologies. More than 55 of his students have gone on to MFA programs in creative writing and are now publishing. He was named the H.O.P.E. Award winner, received the Hope College Favorite Faculty/Staff Member award, and was named Michigan Professor of the Year by the CASE/Carnegie Foundation. In 2007 he was named one of the most influential sports educators in America, recognized as “sports poet,” by the Institute for International Sport.

Photography: Past and Present Tense
Professor Steven Nelson
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

An overview of the history of the medium of photography and its impact over the past 200 years throughout various cultures and across disciplines ranging from science to art will set the stage for Steven Nelson’s examination of his personal fine art photography.
Following the overview, Professor Nelson will discuss the evolution of his work in the context of various traditions. His particular approach explores the ‘elements of change’ that the image records. These elements of light, space, time, and energy are the basis of the vocabulary of photographic narratives. The source of inspiration for his narrative spans the history of the medium from the early photographic experiments of inventor William Fox Talbot in England to snap shots found in his father’s childhood photo album from the1930s along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Steve Nelson serves as chair for the department of art and art history as well as associate professor of art. He has taught photography at Hope since 1989, including a course in Great Britian entitled: “The Golden Age of British Photography.” His photographs have been exhibited widely, including in solo and group exhibitions in Chicago and New York. This past fall he had a solo exhibition of his photographs at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids titled “Simultaneity.”

Photoresponsive Materials -
Using Light to Change Stuff
Dr. Jason G. Gillmore
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

From current technologies like Transitions® lenses that “gate” the property of “sunglasses” or novelty items that change color in the sun, to advanced rapid prototyping technologies and next-generation data-storage applications, photochemists are working with materials scientists and others to develop systems where light causes a chemical reaction which in turn changes the properties of a material. This seminar will explore various present and future applications of “using light to change stuff” and will put Dr. Gillmore’s specific research at Hope into its broader context within modern photochemistry. Come find out how those photo-gray glasses work, or how plastic the size of a sugar cube could someday store a thousand DVDs' worth of information read out in the time it now takes to burn just one CD.

While completing his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, Dr. Gillmore worked on an interdisciplinary project that resulted in several publications and a patent. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Gillmore joined the chemistry faculty in 2004 as an assistant professor. He has established an externally funded research group investigating the use of photochromes to gate sensitivity toward photoinduced charge transfer for eventual materials science applications. He and his students are currently writing their first two publications on this work.

For additional information please contact: Lynne Powe ’86, (616) 395-7860, powe@hope.edu