Administration Profile: James E. Bultman
President of Hope College

President James Bultman has believed in the mission of Hope College ever since he first arrived as a student. In the years that have followed, he has served Hope as a faculty member, dean, coach, and, since 1999, as president.

He was first encouraged to attend Hope by two of his high school teachers and has never looked back. “I had such a great experience at Hope that when I was offered the opportunity to become a professor five years after my graduation, I had to take it,” he says.

President Bultman has always respected Hope’s ability to help its students grow in four dimensions of their daily lives— spiritual, physical, intellectual, and social. “Hope has the whole package as it is well balanced in all four of these areas,” he says.

He credits the college’s faculty and staff with making the difference in providing the outstanding Hope education. Hope professors and staff, he says, are committed to students as individuals, seeking to help them to grow in understanding not only their fields of study but themselves as well.

“Hope provides a challenging, individualized education with considerable opportunity for interaction with talented faculty members,” he says. “Students become more confident, poised, and able during their four years at Hope.”

The students, in turn, energize and inspire the college's faculty and staff—including, he notes, himself.

“What I like most about Hope are the students. I have the opportunity each year to see students mature, develop, and perform in academic and co-curricular activities,” he says. “Students are talented, diligent, fun, and purposeful. They have servant-hearts.”

The result, President Bultman feels, is a great education, with faculty, staff and students working together in community to do their best to learn and prepare so that they can make a transformational difference in the world. Students who decide to attend Hope, he says, will not be disappointed.

“Students who come to Hope will be part of the grand tradition of exceptionality in academics, superiority in co-curricular activities, and excellence in character and faith development,” he says. “Hope will positively influence your life forever.”

This profile was written by Christopher M. Lewis, a 2009 Hope College graduate from Troy, Mich., for the 2009-2010 Hope College Catalog.

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