Author: News from Hope College

The Art and Science of Composition

As a youngster growing up in California, Dr. Benjamin Krause realized that no matter how excited he got playing other people’s music on the piano, at some point he would have to compose himself. “In the beginning, it was all about just playing the piano,” recalled Krause (rhymes with drowsy), assistant professor of music and… Continue Reading →

Imaginary Numbers, Real Belonging

In many ways, mathematics is art — at least for Dr. Stephanie Edwards. She’s always had an affinity for the field, but it really blossomed when she was in graduate school. Doing complex analysis (math beyond calculus) brought home to her that math is beautiful — and it works. Complex analysis is, as the name… Continue Reading →

The Road to Epic

As Dr. Steve Boerigter, who became chair of the college’s Board of Trustees in July, anticipated retirement from Los Alamos National Laboratory, he wanted to begin with something once-in-a-lifetime epic. It didn’t take long for him and spouse Kathy Reeder ’83 Boerigter, who’d retired from teaching a couple years earlier, to decide — as experienced… Continue Reading →

“Hope Sustains”: Affinity for the Environment

The “Hope Sustains” affinity group established this summer provides a new way for alumni to connect with others committed to stewardship of creation and to make a difference at and via the college. In addition to offering a community of alumni with similar interests, “Hope Sustains” presents abounding opportunities for alma mater impact. They run… Continue Reading →

Window to Hope’s History: Hall-of-Famer

Jim Kaat ’60 was a freshman pitcher for the Flying Dutchmen in the spring of 1957 when he was discovered by a scout during a Hope game. His time at the college ended that spring, but his dream career was just beginning. He signed that summer with the Washington Senators, and went on to 23… Continue Reading →

Distinctive Hope: Dynamic Honor

Receiving the 2023 Inspiration Award in February as a leader in dance education from Chicago Tap Theatre — one of the nation’s top tap companies — would have been recognition enough for the Department of Dance. It was next-level to have students invited to perform during the Chicago company’s 20th-anniversary celebration; and not only to… Continue Reading →

From the President: Matthew A. Scogin ʼ02

Dear Friends and Family of Hope College, Are we at Hope College “revolutionists”? That’s how Malcolm Gladwell referred to us. He repeatedly called the Hope Forward vision “revolutionary” and said that we are leading a revolution to change higher education. Maybe! I hadn’t really thought of us as revolutionaries. If it is the case that… Continue Reading →

Quote Unquote: Civil Rights Lecture 2023

This year’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Lecture on Monday, Jan. 16, provided personal historical perspective along with a celebrated example for inspiration. The speaker, Sheyann Webb-Christburg, is known as one of the youngest activists during the Civil Rights Movement in Selma, Alabama, in the 1960s, and was even described by King, who… Continue Reading →

Campus Scene

Three FACULTY Appointed TO ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS Three members of the faculty were appointed to endowed professorships earlier this year. Dr. Angela Carpenter, assistant professor of religion, has been appointed to the Leonard and Marjorie Maas Endowed Professorship in Reformed Theology. The professorship was established by the late Leonard and Marjorie Maas to be held by… Continue Reading →

A Catalyst for Hope

In the latest of his seven New York Times bestsellers, Bomber Mafia: A Dream, A Temptation and the Longest Night of the Second World War, Malcolm Gladwell, the world-renowned author, journalist and visionary thinker, draws a conclusion after researching the “Bomber Mafia,” the small but renegade band of 1930s U.S. Army pilots who sought to… Continue Reading →

Thank You!

There is an aphorism to the effect that trees are planted for the next generation. To teach is much the same — although the results are often more immediate and observable. Both are acts of giving and faith, a commitment to a future hoped for and unseen. The eight faculty retiring this year have devoted… Continue Reading →

Jairus Meer Goes to Washington

I am lost. I am lost in a world of endless possibilities.” With this dramatic statement, Hope College junior Jairus Meer opened his keynote address at the 12th Annual National Summit of the Courageous Conversation Global Foundation (CCGF) in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 3, 2022. Meer, who is earning a major in biology and a… Continue Reading →

Inspiring a Healthier Lifestyle for Adolescent Girls

As COVID-19 disrupted health the world over, Dr. Vicki Voskuil was tuned into one of its hidden, insidious effects: an ancillary pandemic that was particularly pernicious among the United States’ youth. “Especially during the pandemic, it became obvious that we also have this other pandemic of inactivity that’s across all ages,” she says. She has… Continue Reading →

Probing the Nature of “Stuff”

Given Dr. Zachary Williams’ hometown heritage and mathematical proclivity, studying physics may have always been a bygone conclusion — much to his relish, and Hope’s. Williams grew up on Florida’s “space coast” near the Kennedy Space Center. “Everyone in my hometown was, at most, one or two degrees removed from a NASA affiliation,” he says.… Continue Reading →

2022 Hope College Faculty Books

How Do We Know Ourselves? Curiosities and Marvels of the Human Mind Dr. David Myers, Professor of Psychology With a conversational approach and bite-sized chapters, How Do We Know Ourselves? by psychologist Dr. David Myers makes it easy to find psychology’s answers to questions ranging from why we misinterpret song lyrics to why it can… Continue Reading →

Window to Hope’s History: Ren Faire

The dedication of the Van Wylen Library on April 21, 1988, wasn’t just an event, but an occasion, as reflected by the pair of equestrians on College Avenue. The costuming was in keeping with the day’s Renaissance theme, a nod to the building — eagerly awaited successor to long-outgrown Van Zoeren Library — as a… Continue Reading →

Distinctive Hope: Gold Stars

Hope has earned a STARS Gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. While achieving the standard in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System is the headline, the college’s journey from aspiration, to Bronze (2012), to Silver (2017), to Gold reflects something more significant. It is the result of… Continue Reading →

From the President: Matthew A. Scogin ʼ02

Dear Friends and Family of Hope College, Earlier this summer, a new Gallup poll reported that confidence in higher education has sunk to a historic low. Only about a third of Americans express confidence in the nation’s colleges and universities. Public confidence decreased by more than 20 percentage points in the past eight years alone… Continue Reading →

Quote Unquote: Final Lessons

As the members of the Class of 2023 concluded their journey as undergraduates on Sunday, May 7, they received encouragement and advice from two recently retired or soon-to-retire mentors whose combined service to Hope totals more than 80 years. The day opened with the college’s 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Baccalaureate services in Dimnent Memorial… Continue Reading →