Category: Spring 2019

The Allure of Pure Research in Nuclear Physics

“I like the mathematical aspects of physics. How circuits work. Control theory. Understanding how they put music onto a digital disc. I know the mathematics behind that. That’s cool math. I also like the big questions. How did we get the elements that we see in the universe? Why does 26O behave the way it… Continue Reading →
Photography by
Steven Herppich

Finding a Brain Cell Fix

About 2 percent of a person’s body weight is mostly responsible for the way the other 98 percent of it functions. The complex human brain, which usually weighs in at about three pounds, is the ultimate multi-tasker of human organs — processor of senses, memory and knowledge; coordinator of heartbeats, breaths and motor skills; releaser… Continue Reading →

Combing Statistics for Clues to Future Mass Shootings

Sandy Hook. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The Capital Gazette newspaper. The Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas. Orlando’s Pulse nightclub. The First Baptist Church of Sutherland, Texas. The Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The roll call and the death toll keep rising, steadily and seemingly unchecked, and random mass shootings are… Continue Reading →

Clean Water for the Global Greater Good

If you’ve gone backpacking, you may be familiar with Sawyer point-of-use water filters — small, easy-to-use devices that allow outdoor enthusiasts to drink water safely from streams and other natural sources. But how well do they work, really? And not just in the United States, where their use is primarily recreational, but in countries where… Continue Reading →

What Alternative High Schools Are Getting Right

Flexibility. Low student-teacher ratios. Valuing relationships more than attendance. Dr. Laura Pardo is finding that successful alternative high schools have these features, among others, in common. She wants to equip aspiring teachers to replicate their impact in traditional schools, too. “There are some things that we can pull from, as a profession, that can help… Continue Reading →

Bolstering a Line of Defense in the Battle Against Sex Trafficking

Michigan has the sixth-most reported cases of human trafficking in the United States. Dr. Llena Chavis is teaching people on the front lines how to recognize the signs of trafficking — and how to intervene. In 2016, when one of her students was doing research about trafficking, Chavis and the student learned that health professionals… Continue Reading →

A Crossroad for Reflection and Academic Exploration

Finding the intersections between one’s faith and vocation needn’t be a solitary task. At a yearly conference sponsored by the Lilly Fellows Program in the Humanities and the Arts, faculty from Christian institutions work through nuanced issues together — each refining their personal sense of how their faith relates to their teaching, their scholarly work,… Continue Reading →

What drew me to Latin American politics

“My undergrad degree was in history; we focused a great deal on Indian history. My master’s was in African politics: the diaspora — the Indian people who had undergone British imperialism and therefore transferred their wages and their livelihood — living in Anglophone Africa. For my Ph.D., I wanted to pick a region of the… Continue Reading →
Photography by
Steven Herppich

Distinctive Hope: Fellowship of the Spring

Held on the last Friday of April prior to semester exams, Spring Fling serves on one level as an opportunity for students to relax before the intensity of finals week. More, though, the event reflects Hope as a community. Hundreds of students fill the central campus not just for a mix of activities and a… Continue Reading →

From the President: Rev. Dennis N. Voskuil, Ph.D.

Dear Friends, So, here we are, nearing the end of both another academic year and my two-year tenure as Hope’s president. As you have already seen on the cover, this issue highlights my successor, Matthew A. Scogin ’02, who will take office this summer. I have enjoyed getting to know Matt, and I am certain… Continue Reading →

Quote, Unquote: Presidential Family

Through the magic of the Internet, readers and viewers around the world learned mere minutes after the decision had been made on December 7 that Matthew A. Scogin ’02 had been named Hope’s next president. Members of the campus community, though, enjoyed a bonus: the opportunity to greet in person the president-elect; his spouse (and… Continue Reading →

Hope is … faithful

Hope College is a Christian community that invites all its members into a holistic and robust engagement with the historic Christian faith and a personal encounter with the living Christ through the Holy Spirit. We are guided and challenged in mutual journey by three aspirations — to be faithful, to be welcoming and to be… Continue Reading →

Campus Scene

from blogs.hope.edu “While staring at a stone, I’ve witnessed a whole culture — gossip in Latin on the walls, pleas for remembrance during a plague, a whole host of animals and faces, staves of music carefully laid out, building plans and even reminders to pray.” As she has shared in “The Accidental Archaeologist” on the… Continue Reading →

“The Perfect Leader for Hope’s Next Chapter”

Matthew A. Scogin ’02 named 14th president President-Elect Matthew A. Scogin ’02 It is telling that when Matthew A. Scogin ’02 spoke to the college’s staff in November as a presidential candidate, the crowd that packed the room seemed ready to stand up and cheer. His heartfelt understanding of, and appreciation for, Hope had that… Continue Reading →

280 Years, Unquantifiable Commitment

Hope is in the final weeks of its 157th academic year. Add together the years 2018-19’s nine retiring faculty have been at the college, and they have that beat by more than a century. Their combined service, from 21 to 41, totals 280 years, representing thousands of days, countless hours and unquantifiable commitment to providing… Continue Reading →

20 Years of Building Community

Caryn Dannah pulled up to Scott Hall last fall ready to launch into something really new. Not only was she moving away from home for the first time — she’d opted into a living situation unlike anything that she’d experienced growing up in Grand Rapids. As a Phelps Scholar, Caryn “does life” with 95 other… Continue Reading →

Giving Back While Paying Forward

That old saying — “It’s not what you know but who you know” — is not only cynical: It uses the wrong conjunction. It is actually what AND who you know that make a difference in calling and career. Deep knowledge of “what” and giving connections from “whom” are the perfect combination to move a… Continue Reading →

Who was A.J. Muste?

Tell me you’ve heard of him: Abraham Johannes Muste (1885-1967), labor leader, world-renowned pacifist and probably Hope’s most famous alumnus. Born in the Netherlands, Muste immigrated to Grand Rapids with his family in 1891; he graduated from Hope College in 1905, valedictorian, captain of the basketball team, president of his fraternity (the Fraters, of course),… Continue Reading →

The Secret is Persistence

Matthew Baker ’08 dreamed of becoming a professional writer since the fourth grade, when he entered a “When I Grow Up” speech competition. “My speech was all about how I wanted to be Brian Jacques, the British guy who wrote the Redwall books,” Baker recalls. He wrote throughout high school in Grand Rapids but readily… Continue Reading →