Category: Winter 2024

Distinctive Hope: “What If?” No More

Hope vs. Calvin is arguably the best Division III collegiate rivalry in the nation, if not among the best at any level. Football, though, has been conspicuously absent (since Calvin didn’t field a team), leaving hypothetical the question of who would emerge victorious. Until now. With Calvin having added the sport this year, the Flying… Continue Reading →

From the President: Matthew A. Scogin ʼ02

Dear Hope Family, This fall, Hope College was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the 23rd most innovative liberal arts college in the nation. We are quite proud of that achievement — especially considering that there are more than 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S.! But, ironically, the biggest, most innovative thing… Continue Reading →

Quote Unquote: Convocation 2024

Dr. Brooke Odle at Convocation 2024 With the school year and their journey as college students about to begin, Dr. Brooke Odle told the members of the incoming Class of 2028 that there may be times ahead that they question whether they’ve earned their place. Presenting the college’s Opening Convocation address on Sunday, Aug. 25,… Continue Reading →

Campus Scene

GUIDES PRAISE HOPE The college’s recognition in guides released this fall includes a variety of national and regional rankings. In U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Colleges, for example, Hope is 23rd among the most innovative National Liberal Arts Colleges (and 90th overall), and 31st among all of the country’s 4,000 degree-granting post-secondary institutions… Continue Reading →

Soaring to New Heights

With its spacious, 3,900-square-foot studio highlighted by two-story floor-to-ceiling windows, the new, state-of-the-art Jim and Eileen Heeringa Dance Wing at the DeWitt Center not only supports but enhances the flourishing and award-winning department that has long since grown from the one course taught in 1965 by the visionary Maxine DeBruyn. Perhaps the best assessment is… Continue Reading →

Being More of Who We Already Are

Hope will enhance its emphasis on character development with a grant received through the Educating Character Initiative of Wake Forest University’s Program for Leadership and Character. The college will focus on the virtues of gratitude and generosity, using the grant to help scale up a foundational programmatic component of Hope Forward. Hope is one of… Continue Reading →

Orange and Blue Times Two

While their sports differ greatly, the Hope College football and volleyball teams both represented the college on the national stage exceptionally well this fall and delivered seasons for the record books. The Flying Dutchmen football team completed the first 10-0 regular season in program history and won their first NCAA Division III playoff game, 49-21,… Continue Reading →

Thrilling Runs

Memorable runs from the Hope College men’s cross country and men’s soccer teams thrilled fans this fall. Ian Petruska In men’s cross country, the Flying Dutchmen celebrated qualifying for the NCAA Division III championship as a team for the first time since 1990 and their first individual All-America performance at the NCAA Division III Championships… Continue Reading →

New Study-Abroad Option on the Horizon for Hope Nursing Students

Understandably, given the demands of their professional preparation, study-abroad opportunities have long been scant for nursing students at Hope. Their academic schedules are packed to an unusual degree because healthcare licensure requires nursing education programs to structure an unusually intensive mix of research, clinical experiences and many course credits. Dr. Melissa Bakhuyzen ’95 Bouws, however,… Continue Reading →

A Quest to Discover the Who Behind the What

As she visited Boston’s famed Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Dr. Natalie Dykstra of the English faculty couldn’t help but wonder about the founder for whom it’s named. Who was the person who did something that for a woman in 1903 was almost unthinkable: design, build, fill and endow a museum for the public to enjoy… Continue Reading →

Every Gift a Legacy

Never give up. Never give in. Those are words that Hope College sophomore Marcus Westphal lives by every day. He follows in the enormous footsteps of alumnus Daniel Foy ’20, who in his short 26-year life defined what the words mean. Although they never met, Marcus is closely connected to Daniel as a recipient of… Continue Reading →

At Home in the Lions’ Den

Emily Griffin ’08 says she grew up in a “football house.” “It seemed like we always had football on the TV,” she remembers of her childhood in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. “We always watched the Lions. My parents both went to the University of Alabama. So, lots and lots of football in our home.” Lifelong… Continue Reading →

10 Under 10

Kaleigh Doan ’16 Instructional designer, AuditBoard What was a favorite memory while you were a student at Hope? “Study Abroad in Nantes, France — I know it’s cliché, but studying abroad really did change my life! Because of study abroad, I am a much more open-minded, brave, curious person than I think I would have… Continue Reading →

A History of Tradition

The first comprehensive history of Hope’s storied freshman-sophomore Pull tug-of-war blends an academic’s scholarly training and an insider’s understanding and love of the subject. The Pull: Hope College’s Legendary Tug-of-War, 1898-2023 was researched and written by Dr. E. Bruce Geelhoed ’70, a longtime member of the history faculty at Ball State University who as a… Continue Reading →