Category: Spring 2022

Distinctive Hope: Giving Hearts Find a Way

Dance Marathon is, at its core, a reflection of community and commitment to others. Annually since 2000, hundreds of Hope students working together have raised funds and awareness on behalf of Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital of Grand Rapids—even during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The March 2020 marathon ran before the region-wide shutdowns began, but no… Continue Reading →

From the President: Matthew A. Scogin ʼ02

Dear Friends and Family of Hope College, With so much to celebrate, it’s difficult to know where to begin. Following the lead of this issue’s front and back covers, I’ll start with our athletic teams, which enjoyed an extraordinary winter season. In addition to third national championships for both women’s basketball and club men’s hockey,… Continue Reading →

Quote Unquote: Green Lecture

Dialogue was both the format and the theme of this year’s Green Lecture on Faith, Race and Community, “An Exercise in Hope: A Conversation with Esau McCaulley and President Scogin,” held on Wednesday, Nov. 10, in Dimnent Memorial Chapel. McCaulley is an assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College whose publications include the award-winning… Continue Reading →

Campus Scene

NEW PROVOST NAMED Hope has named Dr. Gerald Griffin, an accomplished scholar in neurology and psychology with a proven record of administrative leadership, as its provost. Dr. Gerald Griffin The appointment follows a national search for the position of Hope’s chief academic officer. A neuroscientist and virologist who has been a member of the biology… Continue Reading →

Anchored Tuition Pledge

Hope’s long-term commitment to remove cost as a barrier for students seeking to achieve their dreams through higher education includes a new promise: no one enrolled at the college will ever face a tuition increase. Hope has announced the “Anchored Tuition Pledge,” committing to hold tuition at the starting rate for each incoming class beginning… Continue Reading →

Growing Together in the Garden of Hope

“Who am I?” is a fundamental and ageless question, but is particularly relevant for college students. It’s even more particularly relevant at Hope, where helping students identify and prepare for their calling is baked into the mission (nudging the inquiry to “Who do I want to be?” leavened by “How should I be?”). The concept… Continue Reading →

For Their Monument, Look Around You

Hope’s professors are sources of information, yes, but more so they are mentors, counselors and role models. By who they are, they help not only make Hope what it is, but Hope’s graduates become who they will be. A total of nine members of the faculty are retiring this year, two this past December and… Continue Reading →

Home of Champions

Thrice as Nice! The Hope College women’s basketball team forged a milestone in the Steel City as the third women’s NCAA Division III program in history to win three national championships, following up titles in 1990 and 2006. The 2021-22 season provided an opportunity for a championship run that had been denied in both 2020… Continue Reading →

Winter Sports Highlights

Hope College extended its lead in the MIAA Commissioner’s Cup standings with a strong performance during the winter season that included the seventh sweep of league titles in men’s and women’s swimming and diving, an outright crown in men’s basketball, and a co-championship in women’s basketball. The feat marked the second time in school history… Continue Reading →

The Wonder of Creation

It is no surprise that the Pine Grove is the heart of campus not only literally but figuratively. For as long as Hope has been, its towering white pines and their cousins have served at once as campus crossroads and as a welcoming oasis. Endlessly patient, they can be a tranquil refuge from the demands… Continue Reading →

The ‘And’ of God

On September 12, 2021, the Rev. Ross Dieleman ’04 opened a sermon series at Fellowship Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan, with an interactive call-and-response: “Macaroni and — .” The congregation responded: “Cheese.” Dieleman continued: “Lost and — . Rise and — . Forgive and — . Grace and — . Naked and — .” From… Continue Reading →

Research Close to Home

Sometimes a research topic comes from something a researcher is passionate about. Sometimes it stems from a pressing societal issue. Other times, it’s a small detail in ongoing research that stands out and leads to new questions. The latter is what led Dr. Lauren Hinkle ’04 Janes of the history faculty and students Grace Pettinger,… Continue Reading →

Where Dreams Begin

In post-war Japan in the 1950s, Maurice Kawashima was an orphaned teenager who took a well-deserved break from supporting himself and from his studies and went to the theatre to watch Stagecoach, the classic 1939 film starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne. Someday, he thought, he’d like to visit the nation that he was seeing… Continue Reading →

Leading with the Heart

A member of the Hope College Board of Trustees invited Dr. Richard Frost, retiring dean of students and vice president for student development, to lunch. He wanted to get Frost’s view on how the student body was faring, particularly as they weather the pandemic, and perhaps gain some insights to the qualities needed for the… Continue Reading →

A National Honor for Lasting Impact

As noted later in this issue, 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient Lara Plewka ’98 MacGregor of Louisville, Kentucky, died on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. Age 45, she passed away from metastatic breast cancer. A full obituary is available online (with a link to a video interview last year in conjunction with her DAA). In this… Continue Reading →