HOLLAND - A total of four members of the Hope College faculty are retiring at the end of the 2004-05 school year.

Retiring this year are Dr. Hersilia Alvarez-Ruf, professor of Spanish; Dr. George Kraft, professor of kinesiology; Dr. Stuart Sharp, professor of music and chairperson of the department; and Dr. Leslie Wessman, the Arnold and Esther Sonneveldt Professor of Education and chairperson of the department. Combined, their service to Hope totals 104 years.

Alvarez-Ruf has taught at Hope since 1984. She has taught courses ranging from beginning Spanish, to "Advanced Grammar and Composition," to "The Hispanic World Today."

She has been active in connecting with students outside the classroom as well. For more than a decade she has been advisor of the Sigma Sigma sorority. She has helped Career Planning with events, was a bingo caller for the Social Activity Committee's "Vegas Night" for many six years, participated in Senior Banquet skits and worked with the Hispanic Student Organization.

In 1994, the graduating class presented her with the "Hope Outstanding Professor Educator" (H.O.P.E.) Award. In 1996, the student body presented her with the inaugural Homecoming "Favorite Faculty/Staff Member Award."

Her extensive service to the college has included directing the college's student exchange program with the Autonomous University of Queretaro in Mexico. She has also been a faculty marshal since 1997, a role she will perform for the last time on Sunday, May 8, as she leads the Class of 2005 to Commencement.

Alvarez-Ruf completed her undergraduate degree at the Universidad de Concepcion in Chile, her M.Phil. at the University of Leeds in London, England, and her doctorate at the University of Michigan. She taught at the Universidad de Concepcion prior to coming to Hope.

Kraft has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1967. His courses have included "Mechanical Analysis of Human Movement," the Senior Seminar "Sport and Religion," activity courses in badminton and racquetball, and pedagogy classes in teaching physical education.

He joined the faculty as Hope began offering a major in physical education. He was department chair from 1988 to 2003, during which time the program restructured and became the "Department of Kinesiology," to reflect its three-fold emphasis on athletic training, exercise science and physical education.

He coached wrestling from 1967 to 1978, and was an assistant football coach from 1967 until 1997.

Kraft played a leadership role in developing the Dow Center, which opened in 1978, and was the building's program director for many years.

His involvement in the department has been complemented by an active interest in music. He and his wife, Roberta, who will continue to serve on Hope's music faculty, have developed programs of sacred and secular music that they present throughout Michigan, on themes ranging from "Symbols of Christmas" and "The Life and Times of Charles Wesley," to George Gershwin, Stephen Foster, Lerner and Loewe, and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Kraft completed his undergraduate degree at Wheaton College, and his M.S. and P.E.D. at the University of Indiana. Prior to doing his graduate work, he was an infantry officer with the U.S. Army.

Sharp has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1975. He is completing a second tour as department chair, having also served early in his career at the college.

He is a vocalist whose performance credits include work in opera, chamber music and oratorio. His scholarly emphasis has been in the areas of 19th century French opera and in musical aesthetics, and his teaching specialties are voice and music history.

In addition to teaching, in the latter 1970s he began the annual Christmas Madrigal Dinner presented by the Collegium Musicum, which he directed. For 20 years he also served on the Advisory Board of the Great Lakes Colleges Association New York Arts Program, in which Hope participates.

Active in professional organizations, Sharp is past president of the Michigan chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, past chair of the Music Section of the Michigan Academy of Arts, Science and Letters, and a past board member of the National Association of Schools of Music.

He completed his bachelor's degree in music at Bucknell University, his Master of Music degree at the University of Michigan and his D.M.A. at the University of Kentucky. He taught at Georgetown College in Kentucky for 11 years before coming to Hope.

Wessman has taught at Hope since 1990, with courses including "Educational Psychology," "Secondary Reading/Language Arts Across Disciplines," "Instructional Design for Adolescents," and the Senior Seminar "Education and Christian Ways of Living." She has been department chair since 1996.

She joined the college's faculty with 30 years of experience as an educator. She had worked in high schools in Colorado, California, Rhode Island and Hawaii, teaching English and French and serving as a guidance counselor and an assistant principal. Immediately prior to coming to Hope, she was a researcher with and executive director of the Michigan Out-of-Formula District Association in Lansing.

Wessman mentored Hope's education students as they formed the first student chapter of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development in 1993. Her primary scholarly interest is on brain research and its implications for learning. Having previously facilitated workshops on the topic, in 2001 she helped establish the annual "Midwest Brain and Learning Institute," a week-long summer conference held at Hope that has drawn educators from around the country.

In January, she received the college's "Ruth and John Reed Faculty Achievement Award." She was named the first recipient of the Sonneveldt chair in 1998. She completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Wyoming; earned master's degrees at Northwestern University, at California State University-Fullerton and from University Associates; and completed her Ph.D. at Michigan State University.

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