Tag: featured

10 Under 10

Four years ago, when the idea to convert the Young Alumni Awards, which honored two recent Hope graduates, into the 10 Under 10 Awards, increasing the number of yearly recipients considerably, one of the concerns brought forth was the rate at which we would deplete the nomination pool. Despite the risk, we decided to have… Continue Reading →

Being Intentional

Kamara Sudberry ’15 joined the Hope staff in January in a role that is likewise new for the college itself, as engagement officer for diversity, equity and inclusion with Alumni Engagement. Counting from when she was a first-semester freshman, the Flint, Michigan, native has been a member of the Hope family for nearly 10 years.… Continue Reading →

Making Music with a Mission

As the world grappled with the intensifying COVID-19 health crisis last spring, there were those in the U.S. who began referring to the plague disparagingly as “the China virus” and the “kung flu.” Concurrently, according to Time magazine, the STOP AAPI HATE center founded by the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council has received more… Continue Reading →

Bringing Back the Birds

Each year, we in more northern climes appreciate when various bird species return to our regions on the fresh wisps of spring. In fact, we eagerly anticipate their arrival with high seasonal acuity. After our muted long-winter life, “Hey, I saw my first robin today!” is as much a rite of spring as spotting college… Continue Reading →

Playing Toward the COVID Endgame

Just two months into 2021, a year that rang in with oxymoronic anxious optimism, heavy reality struck the Hope College athletics program with the force of a 500-pound barbell dropped from 1,000 feet. One of the longest-standing, tradition-laden staples in Hope athletics’ diet was removed from a limited menu of competitive offerings on its plate.… Continue Reading →

Outstanding Ensemble

Nineteen longtime members of the faculty are retiring this year. How to celebrate 19 tenures totaling 600+ years? It starts here, with these winsome portraits. But then, please, visit the college online for photographs and biographical sketches. And most of all, if you get a chance, say to them, as we do here: THANK YOU!… Continue Reading →

Global Learning in the Era of COVID-19

If you want to put yourself in the shoes of a COVID-era international student, try on these scenarios from spring 2020 — the early months of the worldwide pandemic. You need a visa to fly from the Philippines to Michigan to start your freshman year at Hope College. You line up an appointment at the… Continue Reading →

It’s a lofty ambition, but then again the college is named “Hope,” not “Settle.”

The college’s new Hope Forward initiative seeks to fully fund tuition for every student up front. While that’s the most tangible goal, it’s only one of several. “The whole world is asking why college has gotten so expensive,” said President Matthew A. Scogin ’02. “What if Hope could take the lead in solving that puzzle?”… Continue Reading →

There’s No Place Like Home

“Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other. It is the place of confidence. It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of… Continue Reading →

“I was in prison, and you came to visit me.”

My friend and colleague Jared Ortiz said to me one day back in 2017, “I’m teaching a religion class to guys in prison for the Calvin Prison Initiative. You know, Hope and Western Theological Seminary could partner to provide a similar program at another prison. You should get it organized.” “Um, I don’t think so,”… Continue Reading →

More Than a Buzzword

Sus•tain•abil•i•ty (suh-stey-nuh-BIL-i-tee) noun 1. The ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed. 2. One of the most overused, yet frequently misunderstood buzzwords of the 21st century. Just what exactly is “sustainability,” anyway? At Hope College, it appears the meaning is well defined: it is a coordinated, multifaceted, campus-wide effort to engage and impact the… Continue Reading →

On Display: Selections from an Interesting Life

Untitled 1982Alexander Liberman (American, born Ukraine 1912-1999)Painted steelLoan from the M.L. Brummel Collection A new exhibition opening at Hope’s Kruizenga Art Museum this fall reflects the lasting power of the college experience — and the unexpected ways that even one part of it can enrich a life for the 60-plus years (and counting) that follow.… Continue Reading →

Coffee Shop a First but also Familiar

With the addition of the Biggby Café, overnight and conference guests aren’t the only ones invited to spend time at the college’s newly renovated Haworth Hotel. Cafés operated by major regional and national chains are a staple of hotels, but it’s a new feature for the Haworth Hotel, which previously had a lightly staffed nook… Continue Reading →

Faith Formation in Perpetuity

Hope has received a transformational gift to endow half of its Campus Ministries program and honor a long-time member of the staff for his dedicated service as a pastor, mentor and colleague. The anonymous contribution will underwrite a significant portion of the staffing and current activities and support additional programming. By providing budget relief for… Continue Reading →

World View

A new multidisciplinary global health program at Hope is building on extensive experience to help students prepare to meet an enduring and universal need. The program, which started this fall, involves 12 academic departments in the natural and applied sciences, humanities and social sciences, and emphasizes applied learning and impact through classroom instruction and collaborative… Continue Reading →

A Story of Multitudes

How do you plan to spend your retirement years? Relaxing in a hammock between two giant shade trees? Traveling across the country or seeing the world? Brushing up on your golf or tennis skills? Well, that may come later for former Hope College associate vice president for public and community relations Tom Renner ’67. (Probably… Continue Reading →

Looking on the Bright Side

That life’s pace is ever-increasing has been a regular refrain for years, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced a lot of us into the slow lane. With that came time to consider ways we might recast our lives. Perhaps in this unusual moment, you’ve asked yourself: What makes me happy? Are there relationships I should strengthen?… Continue Reading →

Helping Hope Be the Change

Pictured from left to right are: Samantha Poon ’14, Toni Gordon ’09, Tiffany Labon ’05, Rachael Kabagabu ’15, Courtney E. Brewster ’04 and Kendall Collins-Riley ’19. If the fractious, en-factioned world is the pond, then Hope seeks to be the pebble dropped in the middle to send out waves of change. If the college is… Continue Reading →

Student. Hyphen. Athlete.

This is a sports story mainly of the mental kind. It is an exercise in appreciating a small piece of punctuation with a big effect. It is a workout in looking closer at something that seems to separate but actually unites. Because this is a story of how one young woman with a bright mind… Continue Reading →