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.
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 and psychology faculty since 2015, Griffin has been interim provost since January 2021. He had previously served as associate provost for academic affairs since 2019.
“I could not be more excited about Dr. Gerald Griffin as Hope’s next provost,” said President Matthew A. Scogin ’02. “Gerald is an accomplished scholar who deeply loves Hope College and leads with his Christian faith at the center of everything he does. I look forward to working with him as he sets a vision for taking our academic programs to new heights. Gerald shares my passion for making Hope College the best Christian liberal arts college in the country. Not a great institution, but the best.”
Griffin has many peer-reviewed publications that represent his dedication to neuroscience research and education. He has mentored and published with more than 30 undergraduate and graduate students, and has been active in numerous science-education opportunities, including serving in leadership roles on the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience. In 2019, he was named an Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT HONOR
Staff member Dr. Kristen Gray has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD).
Each year, AUCCCD recognizes member achievements that exemplify excellence in the promotion of campus mental health. As described by the AUCCCD, the award honors Gray for having provided “outstanding service to AUCCCD and exemplary leadership in the field of University and College Counseling Centers at the highest national levels.”
Gray transitioned in January 2021 to a new role as Hope’s off-campus study advisor, but for the preceding 23 years was associate dean for health and counseling and director of the Counseling and Psychological Services office. Throughout her time as associate dean and director, she was also actively involved in the AUCCCD.
CAREER ACCLAIM
Dr. Daryl Van Tongeren, who is interim associate provost and an associate professor of psychology, has been named the recipient of three international honors.
In October, he was selected as a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. Fellow status is awarded to APS members who have made sustained outstanding contributions to the science of psychology in the areas of research, teaching, service and/or application.
Also in October, he received a “10 Under 10” alumni award for 2021 from Virginia Commonwealth University, from which he received his doctorate in 2011. In August, he will be receiving the Margaret Gorman Early Career Award for 2022 from the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, which is a division of the American Psychological Association. He was selected for both awards as an outstanding scholar who earned his Ph.D. within the past 10 years.
SUMMER THEATRE GRANT
Hope Summer Repertory Theatre’s forthcoming 50th anniversary season is being supported by a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.
The $21,000 award will support an eight-production, four-venue season that will include A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Much Ado about Nothing, The Color Purple, Every Brilliant Thing, Hold These Truths, A Night with Alex Thompson: 50 Years of HSRT Through Song, Figaro, and Lulu and the Long Walk, a musical commissioned through GENext, HSRT’s program to present new work by a BIPOC artist every season and based on the children’s book of the same title by Dan Haseltine and Joel Schoon-Tanis ’89.
This year’s season will run May 19-August 4.
SERIES COMPLETED
The recent release of the final two films in the four-part documentary series A.J. Muste: Radical for Peace completes the comprehensive study of the 1905 Hope graduate’s life. All are available for public viewing at no cost at radicalforpeace.org.
A.J. (Abraham Johannes) Muste (1885-1967) was one of the most well-known and influential peace activists in the United States. He was also a prominent labor leader across much of his career, and active in the civil rights movement, meeting with leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The series has been developed by Dr. David Schock, a former member of the Hope communication and English faculty whose roles include serving as producer, director, videographer and editor; and Dr. Kathleen Verduin ’65, a professor of English who served as associate producer. Both conducted interviews of people who knew Muste and scholars of his life.
BOOK RECEIVES TRANSLATION AWARD
Faculty members Dr. Anne R. Larsen ’70 and Dr. Steve Maiullo have received the Scholarly Edition in Translation Award from the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender for their book Anna Maria van Schurman: Letters and Poems to and from Her Mentor and Other Members of Her Circle.
Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-78) was acclaimed during her lifetime both as the most learned woman of her era, and as a controversial figure who, in her last decade, renounced the argumentative culture of Dutch Reformed scholasticism, denounced the lax standards of the official Reformed Church, and moved from Utrecht, in the Netherlands, to Amsterdam to join the controversial “Christian household” led by Jean de Labadie, a French former Jesuit and convert to Calvinism.
Larsen (the Lavern ’39 and Betty DePree ’41 Van Kley Professor Emerita of French) and Maiullo (associate professor of Classics and chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures) translate and give cultural context for her letters and poems in Latin and French from 1631 to 1669 — the year that she joined the “Labadists.”
GRADUATION ’22
Baccalaureate and Commencement for the Class of ’22 are scheduled for Sunday, May 8. Commencement will take place at 3 p.m. at Ray and Sue Smith Stadium, and Baccalaureate at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel.
The Commencement speaker will be Dr. Marcus Fila, associate professor of management. The Baccalaureate speaker will be Rev. Paul Boersma ’82, who is the Leonard and Marjorie Maas Endowed Senior Chaplain.
In the event of rain, Commencement will be held at the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse. Admission to Baccalaureate, and Commencement if indoors, is by ticket only.
SUMMER CHILDREN’S CAMPS ACCREDITED
The college’s popular ExploreHope Summer Camps for children have achieved accreditation from the American Camp Association (ACA), providing external recognition of the engaging hands-on science experiences that area K-12 students have enjoyed for a quarter century.
The ACA is the only nationwide organization that accredits all types of organized camps. While accreditation isn’t required for summer camps for children, the Hope program’s forthcoming 25th anniversary was deemed the perfect time to complete the association’s voluntary review process.