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Faculty, Staff & Student AchievementsACADEMIC YEAR 2010 - 2011 August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 Faculty, Staff and Student Highlights
from 2009-2010
July 20, 2011
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Ernest Cole |
Tom Smith |
Jeff Tyler |
Annie Dandavati |
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Chuck Green |
Susan Cherup |
Mary Inman |
David Klooster |
January 10, 2011
Hope College presented awards honoring teaching, service and scholarship to multiple faculty members during the college's annual recognition luncheon on Monday, Jan. 10.
January 5, 2011
Hope College has received national recognition for exemplary service-learning as one of only 115 colleges and universities across the country named to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's "2010 Community Engagement Classification" on Wednesday, Jan. 5.
The college's dean of students, who coordinated Hope's application for the recognition, said that he especially appreciates the selection because it affirms the way that community engagement and service is expressed as a core value at Hope. Even though educating students "for lives of leadership and service in a global society" is part of the college's mission statement, he noted that it happens through the efforts of hundreds of individuals--students, faculty and members of the staff - who choose to come together in multiple ways to make a difference, whether tutoring area children, raising funds for the American Cancer Society or helping provide a village in Africa with clean water.
"Hope College being the recipient of the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification is an authentic reflection of the college's commitment to service to others," said Dr. Richard Frost, vice president of student development and dean of students at Hope.
December 13, 2010
The memoir "You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know: A True Story of Family, Face Blindness, and Forgiveness" by Dr. Heather Sellers of the Hope College English faculty has been named a 2011 Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan.
This year's selections were announced on Monday, Dec. 13.
As the announcement release explains, each year, the Michigan Notable Books program, which began in 1991, features 20 books published in the previous calendar year that are about, or set in, Michigan or the Great Lakes region, or are written by a native or resident of Michigan. Selections include nonfiction and fiction books that appeal to a variety of audiences and cover a range of topics and issues close to the hearts of Michigan residents.
Published in October by Riverhead Books, Sellers's memoir has been highlighted in publications ranging from the "New York Times," to "Psychology Today," "Elle" and "People." Since the book's release, she has been featured on NPR's "All Things Considered," ABC's "Good Morning America" and "Rachel Ray," among others.
December 13, 2010
Tod Gugino, director of chemistry laboratories
at Hope, has been presented the Dean's Science
Division Staff Excellence Award for 2010-11 for
his effectiveness and the high quality of his
student and faculty interaction.
Gugino received the award on Friday, Dec. 10, during the division's Christmas celebration.
Gugino, who is a 1985 Hope graduate, has been a member of the Hope staff since 1986. His responsibilities include the provisioning of the chemistry and biochemistry labs and several GEMS labs, as well as hiring and managing 60-70 students working as teaching assistants, prep assistants, stockroom attendants and graders. He developed the college's popular summer science camps, which were attended by more than 900 area children last year, and school-year "Lil' Science Club." He also serves as the college's chemical safety and hygiene officer.
December 3, 2010
The unique "social e-textbook" pioneered
by Hope College faculty member Dr. Christian
Spielvogel as a way of more fully realizing the
Internet's teaching potential is one of only
20 innovative concepts nationwide - out of 1,000
hopefuls - to receive major support through the
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
Spielvogel's approach blends textbook content, social media and role-playing to move students from the sidelines to the center of the action in living out the material they're studying to deepen their understanding of it. It's a model that he has been using at Hope since 2009 in his "Communication and Conflict" course, during which students take on the identity of real-life Civil War-era residents of the Shenandoah Valley and interact with each other in responding to the events of the time from their counterpart's perspective.
"Our goal is to transform the textbook from a passive, solitary, read-only product to a collaborative, interactive and immersive experience," said Spielvogel, who is an associate professor of communication. "The idea is that reading is still critically important, but students by playing the simulation will have a better chance to apply, extend and critique traditional textbook content."
December 1, 2010
The Hope College Alcor chapter of Mortar Board has placed first in the national organization's "Virtual Book Drive" for the third consecutive year, raising funds to provide books to children nationally as well as locally.
The chapter raised $10,899.61 in the July 24-November 12 drive, which the national Mortar Board organization held in conjunction with First Book, a national literacy nonprofit.
The Mortar Board Virtual Book Drive is a fundraising challenge in which chapters compete to raise funds in order to bring new books to local programs serving children from low-income families. The funds are available for use through the First Book Marketplace, where programs can choose from hundreds of high-quality titles at deeply discounted prices.
A tenth of the total will support First Book's work providing books to children all over the country. The remaining 90 percent will be used in Holland, along with an additional $600 that the chapter won for being the drive's top fund-raiser and for raising more than $500, for a total of $10,409.65.
November 16, 2010
A video series produced at 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 "Hope College: An Education for Life" series that the college developed for use during the WGVU telecasts of the two January 2010 Hope-Calvin men's basketball games is receiving a silver award and two bronze awards. The awards will be presented on Tuesday, Dec. 14, during the closing luncheon of the 2010 CASE V District Conference in Chicago, Ill.
The series is receiving the Silver Award for "Best Video, Student Recruitment"; the Bronze Award for "Best Video Feature"; and the Bronze Award for "Best Video, Fundraising, Alumni Relations or Commercial Spots."
November 16, 2010
A total of eight Hope College students who participated in research on campus this past summer had their work selected for presentation during the recent Annual Meeting and National Student Conference of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), more than twice as many as from all other colleges and universities in Michigan combined, with two of the students receiving awards.
Sophomore Howard Dobbs of Warrenville, Ill., won second place in the "General Papers" category, and senior Lucas Johnson of Cadillac won third place in the "Environmental 1" category. This was the third consecutive year that at least one student who participated in Hope's summer research program received an award in the national competition.
The National Student Conference ran Friday-Monday, Nov. 5-8, and the Annual Meeting ran Sunday-Friday, Nov. 7-12, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The undergraduate poster session took place on Monday, Nov. 8, and featured work grouped within a variety of categories within the field of chemical engineering.
November 9, 2010
Hope College senior Luke Eastburg of Grand Rapids, has been honored for his dedication to raising support for disabled children in South Africa by the West Michigan Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
He received the chapter's "President's Award," presented for extraordinary commitment to service to community, on Tuesday, Nov. 9, during the group's celebration of National Philanthropy Day. The event was held at Calvin College in Grand Rapids.
Eastburg, a pre-medical student at Hope who is a 2007 graduate of Forest Hills Central High School, has played a leadership role in establishing the Itsoseng Project on behalf of the Itsoseng Center for Disabled Children located in rural South Africa in the small town of Phuthaditjhaba, about three hours' drive from Johannesburg.
November 8, 2010
Four Hope College students earned honors in
the National Association of Teachers of Singing
(NATS) Michigan State Chapter Auditions, held
at Grand Valley State University on Saturday,
Nov. 6.
Hope students earned two first-place awards,
one second-place award and one third-place award.
More than 240 students from colleges and universities
from throughout the state participated.
November 3, 2010
The recent adaptive restoration of Graves Hall has earned honorable mention in the Grand Valley American Institute of Architects (GVAIA) 2010 Honor Awards program.
The award was presented during a ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 25, held in conjunction with a reception at the 38 Commerce building in Grand Rapids that recognized projects by area architects in several categories. Graves Hall was recognized for Historic Preservation/Adaptive Reuse.
Dedicated in 1894, Graves Hall re-opened in August 2009 after a year-long, $5.7 million, adaptive restoration that has emphasized a return to the building's original character while updating the 19th-century landmark for use in the 21st.
November 1, 2010
Hope
College president Jim Bultman
has been elected chair of
the Division III Presidents
Council of the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA)
for the 2011-12 term.
Dr. Bultman will begin his term at the conclusion of the 2011 NCAA Convention in San Antonio in January.
Bultman is currently the vice chair of the 15-member Presidents Council, the primary policy making group for 444 colleges and universities representing over 200,000 student athletes. He is also the chair of the strategic planning and finance committee for Division III.
He currently serves with 15 other college presidents on the executive committee for Divisions I, II and III. This is the primary decision making group for 1,000 colleges and universities representing more than 400,000 student-athletes.
November 1, 2010
Dr. Jack Mulder Jr., assistant
professor of philosophy at
Hope College, is author of
the book "Kierkegaard
and the Catholic Tradition," published
earlier this fall by Indiana
University Press of Bloomington.
Although Kierkegaard was a Lutheran, Mulder notes that he was dissatisfied with the Lutheran establishment of his day, with some scholars suggesting that he sought to push his faith toward Catholicism. Mulder's book provides an extended look into convergences and differences between Kierkegaard's thought and Catholicism, including on issues such as natural theology, natural moral law, Christian love, apostolic authority, the doctrine of hell, contrition for sins, the doctrine of purgatory and the communion of saints.
Dr. C. Stephen Evans of Baylor University, who is himself a Kierkegaard scholar, has said of the book, "There have been many comments made about Kierkegaard and Catholicism by various writers, but this is the first serious look at the places where there may be coherence and where there is tension."
November 1, 2010
A
three-member team of students
from Hope College won first
place in the 2010 Michigan
Athletic Trainers Society
(MATS) Quiz Bowl during the
2010 MATS Student Seminar,
held at GrandValleyStateUniversity
on Sunday, Oct. 31.
The Hope student team consisted of seniors Emily Corstange of Kalamazoo; Molly Schab of Galesburg; and Brian Wiese of Wilmington, N.C.
More than 20 teams, each with three members, participated in the quiz bowl, which uses a "Jeopardy"-like format to challenge the academic knowledge of students who are studying athletic training at one of the state's 13 accredited athletic training programs.
As the state winners, Corstange, Schab and Wiese will now compete in a regional competition during the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers Association (GLATA) Annual Symposium, which will be held in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday-Friday, March 10-12. They will be competing with five other teams representing Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
October 29, 2010
Hope College has moved up in the annual “College Sustainability Report Card” compiled by the Sustainable Endowments Institute.
Hope has earned a B- in the report for 2011, a dramatic climb given that the college received a D- grade two years ago and a C+ for 2010.
The report card evaluates institutions in nine main categories: administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities and shareholder engagement. The college’s aggregate score included As in food and recycling and in investment priorities.
October 28, 2010
The winners of the 2010 Hope Entrepreneurship Initiative Idea Pitch competition were families.
° Lindsay Allward, a senior management major from Milford, presented "Rent-A-Parent" for parents who can't be in two places at once.
° Lisa King, a senior management and Japanese studies double major from Oxford, created a way to make shopping more efficient by labeling clothes according to body type.
° Ericka Morales, a sophomore studio art major from Holland, designed a product concept to help parents bring fun and creativity into their children's lives while the children are drifting into sleep.
October 28, 2010
Hope College is included in the annual rankings of the best values among private institutions, according to the annual rankings by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.
The listing recognizes colleges and universities that deliver a high-quality education at an affordable cost. Hope is ranked 77th out of 100 in the rankings. There are only two other private Michigan institutions included in the rankings, Hillsdale College and Kalamazoo College.
The publication said it began with a pool of more than 600 private institutions. The rankings are based on academic quality and affordability.
October 26, 2010
A preliminary report on the Hope faculty-student collaborative research project focused on jazz in Japan is highlighted on the website of ASIANetwork, which supported the project through a $26,000 ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellowship earlier this year.
The research project is led by Dr. Robert Hodson, associate professor of music. This summer, he and four students (Larry Figueroa, Zach Pedigo, Nate Roberts and David Webster) traveled to Japan to study the Tokyo jazz scene by attending performances and interviewing performers, club owners, students and listeners, and performed as well. Their follow-up plans include developing a website about jazz in Japan that will include audio and video recordings. Dr. Hodson and the students also intend to make presentations on campus and during external events including the ASIANetwork annual conference.
October 20, 2010
Dr. Chuck Green, who is a professor of psychology and director of the Philip Phelps Scholars Program at Hope College, was chosen to receive the 15th annual "Faculty Appreciation Award" presented by the student body.
Green received the award on Saturday, Oct. 23, during halftime of the college's Homecoming football game at Holland Municipal Stadium.
Recipients of the award are chosen through a vote open to the entire student body and conducted at the same time as elections for the Homecoming court and king and queen. The students are not provided with a list of candidates for the award, but rather are asked to write in the name of the person that they feel should be honored. The award was first presented in 1996.
October 20, 2010
For the second time in as many months, the recent adaptive restoration of Graves Hall is receiving recognition for excellence.
The project is being named the area's top historical-renovation project in the 2010 Construction Awards Program of the Western Michigan Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., and will be honored during a banquet on Tuesday, Oct. 26, at the Pinnacle Center in Hudsonville. The program will present awards in several categories, such as historical renovation/remodeling, new construction, renovation and/or additions and green building.
On Saturday, Sept. 25, the Grand Valley American Institute of Architects (GVAIA) recognized the project in the Historic Preservation/Adaptive Reuse category of its 2010 Honor Awards program.
Dedicated in 1894, Graves Hall re-opened in August 2009 after a year-long, $5.7 million, adaptive restoration that emphasized a return to the building's original character while updating the 19th-century landmark for use in the 21st.
October 18, 2010
Dr. David Myers of the Hope College psychology faculty is being honored by two national professional associations in recognition of his service to the field of psychology and behavioral understanding.
He has been honored for his career contributions by the FABBS (Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences) Foundation. He is being celebrated on the FABBS Foundation website during October through the foundation's "In Honor Of" program, which recognizes eminent, senior scientists who have made important and lasting contributions to the sciences of mind, brain and behavior. An extended biographical sketch on the site outlines Myers's accomplishments and contributions to the field.
The FABBS Foundation Board selects the honorees based on nominations by their professional peers. Nearly 50 scientists have been recognized through the program. Myers is the only honoree from a liberal arts college.
Dr. Peter Gonthier works
with student researchers
Caitlin Taylor and Caleb Billman
October 11, 2010
Featuring distances so vast and detailed calculations so precise and complex that they each in their way seem to approach the infinite, the astronomical research conducted by Dr. Peter Gonthier of the Hope College physics faculty provides a stellar learning opportunity for the students who work with him.
Gonthier, working in collaboration with Hope students, has been studying the rotating stars known as pulsars for nearly 20 years. His research is currently supported by three federal grants - two from NASA, the second of which he received this summer; and a third, awarded this fall, through the "Research in Undergraduate Institutions" program of the National Science Foundation (NSF-RUI).
He is engaged by the opportunity to address fundamental questions about how the universe works, but - like his colleagues throughout the division of the natural and applied sciences at Hope--he is particularly driven by providing a chance for students to learn how science works by involving them in the process. Students are regularly co-researchers with him, working on campus during the school year and summer as well as at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for a number of weeks each summer; making presentations at professional conferences; and even earning co-author status on publications.
October 11, 2010
The alumni H-Club at Hope College presented its "Hope for Humanity Award" to Dr. Glenn Van Wieren and Karla Wolters on Saturday, Oct. 23, during the college's Homecoming Weekend.
Van Wieren and Wolters, who are both Hope College graduates, were long-time members of the faculty and coaches at Hope before retiring at the end of the 2009-10 school year.
The "Hope for Humanity Award," first presented in 1990, recognizes Hope athletic alumni for consistent service to others and demonstrating the values of Christian commitment and service. The H-Club consists of Hope alumni who were athletic letter winners and other honorary letter winners as approved by the H-Club's Board of Directors.
October 11, 2010
The Hope College Alumni Association presented a Young Alumni Award to 1997 graduate Luke Pinkerton, president and chief technology officer of Ann Arbor-based Polytorx, on Saturday, Oct. 23, during the college's Homecoming Weekend.
Pinkerton received the recognition during a celebration brunch for all Hope alumni being held at the Haworth Inn and Conference Center. Registration for the brunch, which begins at 9:30 a.m., is required.
The Young Alumni Award was established to honor the talents and contributions that young alumni have made to their professions, their communities and to the college, and was first presented in 2007. Criteria include having been a member of the Alumni Association for 15 or fewer years; notable prominence through professional endeavor, research, volunteerism, and/or involvement with the local or global community or the college; and demonstrating significant initiative by starting innovative service projects, research, businesses or other original enterprises.
October 5, 2010
In her newly published memoir "You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know: A True Story of Family, Face Blindness, and Forgiveness," Dr. Heather Sellers of the Hope College English faculty explores how an apparent handicap turned out to be a remarkable gift that allowed her to "see" people as they truly were and gave her unexpected insights into the nature of family, forgiveness and love.
Sellers has a highly unusual neurological condition known as face blindness, or prosopagnosia. The disorder, which is believed to affect about two percent of the population, prevents the brain from interpreting the information that it receives from the eyes, with the effect specific to the section or process that deals with face recognition. The eyes function correctly, but the brain can't make sense of what is being seen.
"I have failed to recognize my step kids, my best friends, even my then-husband," said Sellers, who has taught at Hope since 1995. "I can't even recognize myself in a photo or video unless I remember what I was wearing that day, although my huge hair helps."
October 5, 2010
New software developed with the involvement
of faculty and student researchers at Hope College
is helping to speed dramatically the time-intensive,
painstaking task of transforming the immense
amount of genomic data being collected worldwide
into working models of how organisms function
at a fundamental level.
The work was recently highlighted in an article published in the August issue of the prestigious monthly scientific journal "Nature Biotechnology." In 2009, the journal ranked first in biotechnology and applied microbiology for its "impact factor" - a measure of the frequency with which the publication's articles are cited elsewhere - as determined by Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports.
According to Hope faculty members Dr. Aaron Best (pictured left) and Dr. Matthew DeJongh (pictured right), co-leaders of the Hope research team, the web-based "Model SEED" resource, which is available at http://www.theseed.org/models, can reduce to 48 hours most of the calculations that used to take a year to render manually - and the research team is working on speeding up the rest. Even as the Model SEED is already being used by scientists internationally, they noted that the team is also looking at a further step: how to use the models in examining a variety of questions, from the way that some bacteria cause diseases to how other bacteria produce energy and clean up pollution.
September 28, 2010
The recent adaptive restoration of Graves Hall has earned honorable mention in the Grand Valley American Institute of Architects (GVAIA) 2010 Honor Awards program.
The award was presented during a ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 25, held in conjunction with a reception at the 38 Commerce building in Grand Rapids that recognized projects by area architects in several categories. Graves Hall was recognized for Historic Preservation/Adaptive Reuse.
Dedicated in 1894, Graves Hall re-opened in August 2009 after a year-long, $5.7 million, adaptive restoration that has emphasized a return to the building's original character while updating the 19th-century landmark for use in the 21st.
September 27, 2010
The gallery of the De Pree Art Center at Hope College will host "The
Docile Body" by Katherine Sullivan, from Friday, Oct. 8,
through Friday, Nov. 19.
The exhibit will begin with a talk by Sullivan on Friday, Oct. 8, at 4:30 p.m., followed by an opening reception from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Exhibiting work from her sabbatical during the 2009-10 school year, Katherine Sullivan reflects in a series of paintings on the dialectics of power.
"With images drawn from both Abu Ghraib and the dramatic works of Bertolt Brecht, the series consider the cyclical nature of torture and violence, the sexuality implicit in much torture depiction, and the dynamics which prevail between those who hold power and those who are subject to it," explained Sullivan.
Sullivan is an associate professor of art at Hope, where she has taught since 2003.
September 27, 2010
A major instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation
(NSF) for a supercomputer housed at Hope College is going to
help make a successful collaborative effort even better.
The award, $299,942 through the NSF's "Major Research Instrumentation" program, is funding the purchase of a "cluster" of 50 computers with 600 compute cores for use by faculty and student research teams at the eight colleges and universities, including Hope, that comprise the "Midwest Undergraduate Computational Chemistry Consortium."
The new equipment will expand the existing cluster of 60 computers with 120 compute cores installed at Hope during 2005-06 when the consortium consisted of four institutions. The project reflects the increased demand as the consortium has become larger and the cutting-edge research being conducted requires even greater capacity, according to Dr. Brent Krueger (pictured), who is an associate professor of chemistry and the grant's principal investigator.
"Because this consortium has been successful at promoting undergraduate research, we've grown," Krueger said.
September 15, 2010
Bruce
McCombs, professor of art at Hope College, has recently had work
featured in multiple exhibitions around the country, including
in West Michigan.
McCombs actively displays his prints and paintings throughout the U.S. and around the world. His artwork has been procured by many permanent collections both nationally and internationally, including the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the National Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi, Vietnam. A member of the Hope faculty since 1969, he holds his B.F.A. from the Cleveland Institute of Art and his M.F.A. from Tulane University in New Orleans, La.
Provost Richard Ray congratulates Stephanie Milanowski of the art and art history faculty on her appointment to the college's Howard R. and Margaret E. Sluyter Endowed Professorship in the field of design.
September 13, 2010
Stephanie Milanowski of the Hope College art and art history faculty has been appointed to the college's Howard R. and Margaret E. Sluyter Endowed Professorship in the field of design.
Milanowski joined the Hope faculty in the fall of 2009 as an assistant professor of art. Her appointment to the endowed professorship began with the start of the new school year, and will be celebrated with a formal investiture ceremony on Friday, Sept. 24.
Milanowski has spent more than two decades working with a variety of clients in guiding design ideas from concept to market, experience that she brings to her classroom instruction. In addition to teaching at Hope, she currently works professionally as an art director, designer and consultant through Grand Rapids-based Stephanie Milanowski Design, which she established in 1999. Her emphases include digital media products as well as products and design for paper and giftware industries, corporate collateral, identity packages, annual reports, brochures, books, catalogs, and commissioned drawings for corporate and private collections and exhibition displays.
She teaches introductory and advanced design classes at the college. She has involved her students in preparing projects for local businesses and organizations to provide authentic experiences in bringing client-oriented assignments from initial planning through implementation. During 2009-10, such opportunities ranged from a competition to design a new beverage and promotional campaign for Lemonjello's in downtown Holland to preparing the 122-page booklet for the college's annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Performance.
September 13, 2010
The Hope College campus continues to operate at capacity with enrollment above 3,200 for the fifth consecutive year.
Hope has enrolled 3,202 students this fall, the fifth time since the fall of 2006 that enrollment has topped 3,200. Last year's enrollment headcount was 3,230.
The student body consists of 1,267 men and 1,935 women from 44 states and territories and 29 foreign countries. The total includes 766 first-time students.
With the enrollment headcount remaining high, the college's full-time-equivalent enrollment is tied for the second-highest level ever. The "full-time-equivalent" figures are a synthesis of full-time and part-time enrollment, and help the college measure the demand on its resources. Hope's total this year 3,177.1, tied with the fall 2008 figure; last year's total was a record-high 3,201.8.
The enrollment by class, with last year's class in parentheses, is: freshmen, 781 (812); sophomores, 742 (820); juniors, 739 (753); seniors, 877 (768); and special students, 63 (77).
September 7, 2010
A
highly competitive grant from NASA is supporting a Hope College
physicist's
research into the presence and nature of the rotating stars known
as pulsars.
Dr. Peter Gonthier, a professor of physics, is leading a three-scholar team from two continents in an effort to investigate the potential relationship between positrons - which are a form of electrically charged particle--and gamma ray pulsars. They are using the information to refine computer models, which Gonthier has been developing for NASA for several years, to better understand and locate the stars, which cannot be seen by the naked eye or even detected from earth.
The project is supported by a one-year, $45,161 NASA Fermi Guest Investigator grant that took effect in July.
The research follows what Gonthier described as the major break-through in data-gathering concerning the stars since the 2008 launch of the highly sensitive Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. Where the Fermi telescope's predecessor had discovered seven to eight gamma pulsars during its entire nine-year life, Fermi found about 60 in its first year.
September 7, 2010
A
research team's discovery of a protein's role in controlling
whether or not cells multiply could lead to a new understanding
of how to combat cancer.
Dr. Aaron Putzke, assistant professor of biology at Hope College, and Dr. Joel H. Rothman, professor of biology and chair of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology at the University of California-Santa Barbara, have gained new insights into the way that a protein called Fer affects how cells behave. The findings are reported in an article being published in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."
According to Putzke, the Fer protein was previously known to help keep cells together in the way necessary for normal functioning. He and Rothman, however, have discovered that Fer also helps prevent cells from reproducing excessively. With rampant cell growth a characteristic of cancer, the researchers hope that they have uncovered a clue as to how the disease might one day be controlled.
September 7, 2010
Dr.
Scott VanderStoep, professor of psychology and chairperson of
the department at Hope College, is one of only 42 faculty or
administrators in higher education nationwide selected by the
Council of Independent Colleges and the American Academic Leadership
Institute to participate in a year-long Senior Leadership Academy.
The purpose of the academy is to prepare faculty and administrators for senior leadership positions in any division - including academic affairs, student affairs, finance, enrollment management, and advancement - in independent higher education. As a participant, VanderStoep will attend two seminars, one in the fall in Williamsburg, Va., on Friday-Sunday, Nov. 5 - 7, and one in the spring in Washington, D.C. He will participate in a mentoring program, experiential learning projects, and a series of readings and case studies.
"Competition for the available places in the program was extremely keen," said Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges. "It is worth noting that the review committee found the nomination materials to be most impressive. They (and I) believe that Dr. VanderStoep has the potential for highly effective leadership in a position of senior responsibility on campus."
September 7, 2010
Dr. Janis Gibbs, associate professor of history at Hope College,
has received a three-month research fellowship from the Herzog
August Bibliothek of Wolfenbüttel, Germany.
She will use the support to conduct research on Archbishop Hermann von Wied as part of her larger study of the social and political history of Cologne in the 16th century. The Herzog August Bibliothek is a major research library with significant collections in the history of early modern Germany.
Cologne's wealth of religious institutions and strong identification with the traditional Catholic church helped the city weather the storms of the Reformation era, including an attempt by von Wied, Archbishop of Cologne, to institute Protestant reforms in the city in 1540s.
Nearly 400 Hope students participated
in service projects at over
30 different locations throughout
the Holland area through the college's
" Time to Serve" program
on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010.
September 7, 2010
Nearly 400 Hope College students will participate in service projects throughout the area through the college's "Time to Serve" program on Saturday, Sept. 11.
Most of the students will be members of the newly arrived freshman Class of 2014. The students signed up shortly after their arrival at Hope, during "New Student Orientation," for the mass volunteer effort.
The students will be working in groups of six to 12 at more than three dozen sites from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Projects are scheduled throughout the greater Holland area, and will range from sorting at Bibles for Mexico and Goodwill Industries, to spreading wood chips at the Critter Barn, to groundskeeping and cleaning at many area churches.
READ
THE PRESS RELEASE / TIME
TO SERVE PHOTO GALLERY
September 2, 2010
An
article by recent Hope graduate Shirley Bradley highlights the significance
of her experience participating in undergraduate research at the college.
Her article "My Passion for Research" is featured in the September 2010 edition of "Enzymatic," the newsletter of the Undergraduate Affiliates Network of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Bradley, who notes that she was drawn to the college because of its strong reputation in the sciences and undergraduate research, calls undergraduate research "one of the most rewarding experiences of my life."
She reflects on her four years working in the laboratory of Dr. Maria
Burnatowska-Hledin, who is the Frederich Garrett and Helen Floor Dekker
Professor of Biology and Chemistry at Hope. She highlights her growth
across her time with the research group, and concludes by describing
the feeling of accomplishment that accompanies answering research questions;
the benefits in attending regional and national scientific meetings;
and the important guidance provided by her research mentor. She also
discusses opportunities that she enjoyed beyond her academic and research
experiences, and her commitment to giving back by sharing her experiences,
such as through science demonstrations for students at her former middle
and high school.
Pictured from left to right: Andrea Eddy, 2009-10 Hope Mortar Board
Webmaster; Dan Turner, National Mortar Board President; Hope advisor
Dianne Portfleet; Kelsey Bos, 2010-11 Hope Mortar Board president;
and Phoebe Burtless-Creps, 2010-11 Hope Mortar Board treasurer.
August 30, 2010
The Hope College chapter of Mortar Board received multiple honors during the society's recent national conference, including recognition as the top chapter in the country.
The chapter received the national Mortar Board organization's highest honor for a collegiate chapter, the Ruth Weimer Mount Chapter Excellence Award, during the 2010 Mortar Board National Conference, held on Friday-Sunday, July 23-25, in Chicago, Ill. The chapter also received its fourth consecutive Golden Torch Award, eight Project Excellence Awards, and an additional commendation for having been the top chapter in the national "Reading is Leading" Virtual Book Drive in both 2008 and 2009.
The Ruth Weimer Mount Chapter Excellence Award is presented to the chapter that exemplifies the national college honor society's ideals of scholarship, leadership and service in the most outstanding manner. The recipient is chosen on the basis of a variety of criteria, including chapter operations, campus visibility, member participation, advising, communications and chapter projects.
August 30, 2010
Dr. David Cho of the Hope College English faculty is the author of Song
of Our Songs, a chapbook of poetry published by Finishing Line Press
of Georgetown, Ky.
The collection is based primarily on Cho's own life experiences as a Chicago-born and raised child of Korean parents, who immigrated to America in 1971. The chapbook provides a series of poetic "snapshots" of Cho's own life, and the lives of fellow family members. And as the title indicates, the poems serve as an homage to the Midwestern and wider Korean American experience.
An assistant professor of English, Cho has been a member of the Hope
faculty since 2008. He has previously had poems published or accepted
for publication in journals including "Amerasia," "Many
Mountains Moving," "Prairie Schooner," "Theology
Today," and the Asian American Special Edition of "Flyway Literary
Review."
poetry
anthology edited by Hope College English faculty members Peter Schakel
and Jack Ridl has again made the top of its category in the best seller
lists reported by the Poetry Foundation.
The volume, "250 Poems: A Portable Anthology" was number one in the "Anthology" category for the week of August 1, the current data set presented on the foundation's website at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/books.html.
It's a position that the anthology has held before, most recently during the summer of 2009. The August 1 report noted that the anthology has been back on the top-10 list for the past three weeks.
August 17, 2010
Hope College continues to fare well in multiple college guides as the newest editions of a variety of the publications debut in tandem with the advent of the school year nationwide.
Recent or soon-forthcoming guides that list Hope among the select number of institutions they single out for praise include the 2011 "Best Colleges" published by "U.S. News & World Report," the 2011 "Fiske Guide to Colleges" and the "America's Best Colleges 2010" published by "Forbes Magazine."
The annual rankings compiled by "U.S. News & World Report" have once again included Hope College among the 100 best liberal arts colleges in the nation.
Hope
College senior Reed Swift of Midland has received the July "Senator's
Award for Men in Mentoring" from State Senator Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland).
Swift is a mentor with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Lakeshore. He received the award during a ceremony on Friday, July 23.
The award consists of a framed certificate signed by Kuipers and Governor Jennifer Granholm, and a $50 gift certificate to the City Vu Bistro inside City Flats Hotel in Holland.
Dr.
William F. Polik, who is the Edward and Elizabeth Hofma Professor of
Chemistry at Hope College, has been named a 2010 ACS Fellow by the American
Chemical Society.
The ACS Fellows program recognizes members of the professional organization for demonstrated excellence in the chemical sciences and outstanding service to the ACS. Fellows come from the entire breadth of ACS's membership, which exceeds 161,000 worldwide, and the chemical enterprise - including high school teaching, entrepreneurship, government service, and all sectors of industry and academia.
This is the second year in the ACS Fellows program. Although most of this year's 192 fellows are educators, only three, including Polik, are from primarily four-year liberal arts colleges. Polik was one of eight scientists from Michigan honored, including from Hope, Central Michigan University, the Michigan Molecular Institute, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University.
July 28, 2010
Dr.
Jeff Johnson, an assistant professor of chemistry and Towsley Research
Scholar at Hope College, has received an Undergraduate New Investigator
Grant from the American Chemical Society's Petroleum Research Fund (ACS-PRF).
He has been awarded $50,000 for the next two years for his project "Toward Greater Understanding and Expanded Utility of the Palladium-Catalyzed Activation of Carbon-Carbon Single Bonds." The ACS makes approximately 45 of the awards nationwide each year.
The Undergraduate New Investigator grants provide funds for scientists and engineers who are in the beginning years of their independent careers in academia, and are intended as seed money for generating preliminary results that can be used in applying for further funding from other agencies. Recipients must be in departments without doctoral programs and must involve undergraduate students in the work being supported.
With
the bicentennial of the birth of the Rev. Albertus
C. Van Raalte only a few months away, a new book
provides insights into the life and mind of Holland's
founder from a new source: the man himself. 
The US Department of Energy has formed a collaboration
of researchers
that it has tasked with developing
a
systems
biology database that will enable comparative
genomics research for scientists studying plants,
microbes, and the environment. 
Recent
Hope College graduate John Donkersloot of Zeeland
(Zeeland East HS) has been awarded the highest
honors that can be presented to a scholar-athlete. 
Led by faculty members Dr. Graham Peaslee and
Dr. Michael Pikaart, the work at Hope is involving
more than a dozen current students, two recent
graduates, a high school teacher and two high
school students, a post-doctoral researcher and
a cohort of approximately eight community volunteers
collecting samples. The research is spread across
seven laboratories in two buildings, taking the
process from organizing and storing samples gathered
at the lake and its tributaries, to running a
variety of tests, to collecting and analyzing
the resulting data. 
Dr.
Todd Steen of the Hope College economics faculty
is among the co-editors of a book celebrating
the 40th anniversary of the quarterly journal "Christian
Scholar's Review." 
A
reception celebrated a Hope/Holland community
collaboration that has helped highlight a distinctive
neighborhood. 
Two
Hope athletes have received All-District academic
honors from the College Sports Information
Directors Association (CoSIDA). 
The
first full-length poetry collection by David
James, as D.R. James, of the Hope College faculty
reflects a life journey from loss to joy, with
an emphasis on finding wonder in the moment whatever
the stage. 
Hope
College junior Angelina Matthews of Amityville,
N.Y., has won a scholarship from the Kalamazoo-Muskegon
chapter of the National Black Nurses Association
(NBNA). 
Hope College junior Angelina Matthews of Amityville,
N.Y., has won a scholarship from the Kalamazoo-Muskegon
chapter of the National Black Nurses Association
(NBNA). 
Parrish presented the paper "Neuroscience
and the Mind: A Scientific and Philosophical
Defense of Materialism" during the conference.
He received both the "Matthew Grappone Prize
in Philosophy of Science" for presenting
a paper that was exceptional in the philosophy
of science and the "Spirit of the Conference
Award" for noteworthy contributions to the
academic, intellectual and positive social atmosphere
of the conference. 
Hope College registrar Jon Huisken and education
faculty member John Yelding have been named recipients
of the college's 12th annual "Vanderbush-Weller
Development Fund" awards for strong, positive
impact on students. 
Graduating Hope College senior Jeffrey Vredenburg
(pictured right) and 2009 graduate Edward Helderop,
who have been friends since seventh grade and
were classmates at Forest Hills Northern High
School in Grand Rapids, have each received highly
competitive English teaching assistantships for
the coming year through the Fulbright U.S. Student
Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. 
For the sixth consecutive year, Hope College
has been named one of the "101 Best and
Brightest Companies to Work For" in West
Michigan. 
Dr. Jeff Brown, assistant professor of engineering
at Hope College, has been named the 2011 recipient
of the "Peter J. Bosscher Faculty Advisor
Award for Outstanding Leadership" by Engineers
Without Borders-USA (EWB-USA). 
Meg Frens, who is an assistant professor of
kinesiology and athletic trainer at Hope College,
has received the President's Excellence Award
from the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers' Association
(GLATA). 
Dr.
John Lunn, who is the Robert W. Haack Professor of Economics at HopeCollege,
has been elected to a two-year term as president of the Association of Christian
Economists (ACE). 
A
grant from the Campbell Foundation of Grand Rapids
is supporting Hope College neuroscientist Dr. Gregory
Fraley in his ongoing research focused on improving
the effectiveness of deep brain stimulation as
a treatment for Parkinson's Disease. 
A
new book edited by Dr. David Ryden of the Hope
College political science faculty looks beyond
the voting record and stereotypes in seeking to
understand the policy views of evangelical Christians,
a group whose rise he considers the most significant
occurrence at the intersection of politics and
religion in the past three decades.
Hope
College has received national recognition for
exemplary service-learning as one of only 115
colleges and universities across the country
named to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement
of Teaching's "2010 Community Engagement
Classification" on Wednesday, Jan. 5. 
An
article by Hope College senior nursing major
Audrey Griffith of Naperville, Ill., has been
accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue
of the "Journal of Christian Nursing." 
Health
experts are consistent in asserting that children
should exercise, but Dr. Steven Smith of the
Hope College kinesiology faculty knows that keeping
it fun and finding the time can be a challenge.
He has written a book that he hopes will help
educators and families do both.