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 →

An All-America Season

Hope student-athletes delivered NCAA Division III All-America performances in 15 events and MIAA regular-season or tournament titles in four sports during the 2022-23 winter season. Junior Eli Meder represented the Flying Dutchmen at the NCAA Indoors Championships. Seniors Evan Thomas, Brady Swinehart and Harris Hawkins, pictured from left, helped the Flying Dutchmen win an MIAA… 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 →

Tipping the Scales

A single grain of rice is almost inconsequential, measuring about a quarter-of-an-inch long and weighing 1/64 of a gram. But as one Hope alumna discovered, one grain of rice can tip the scale and make all the difference. Amy Back ’06 Ahiga, relying on her faith and the idea that doing something small can have… Continue Reading →

The Global Travel Program Is Back

After a pause due to the pandemic, we are excited to relaunch the Global Travel Program. Since 1961, alumni and friends of the college have had the opportunity to explore the world as lifelong learners and gain a deeper understanding of different cultures. Recently, more than 900 people have expressed interest in traveling with the… 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 →