Congratulations to the Center for Diversity and Inclusion for 40 years at Hope College! We send you our deep appreciation for all the work you have done over these past 40 years to make Hope College a more safe, inclusive and equitable place for students, staff and faculty.
Through your mission to empower students to thrive as socially responsible members in a diverse world while creating Christ centered opportunities for increased compassionate discourse for all students, faculty and staff, you have certainly enriched and strengthened our entire campus community in the spirit of social justice, equity and inclusion. We acknowledge your continued commitment to advocating for a diverse community among students, staff and faculty and your continued work in creating supportive environments where a heartfelt sense of belonging and empowerment can be felt by all of the members of our Hope College community.
Congratulations again for 40 years!
We would like to highlight some of the events and programming The Center for Diversity and Inclusion has planned for the rest of the 24-25 academic year and to also highlight some student organizations and resources available to the campus.
This month the Recognition and Appreciation Culture Action Team recognizes everyone who participated in the Human Resources Benefits Review sessions. This was a campus-wide effort and we are so grateful to all our colleagues who shared their insights!
The Recognition and Appreciation Culture Action Team is recognizing our Hope College staff and faculty who participated in the Human Resources Benefits Review sessions, including the joint PIC and SAG session, focus groups, Culture, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Accessibility sessions, All-Employee Forums, and the Benefit Fair Booth:
NOTE: Please forgive us for any errors and let us know if there are names to add or spellings to correct!
In addition to the individuals who shared their insights and voices, these teams contributed to the benefits review process:
● Human Resources (Sara Dorer, Connie VanderZwaag)
● Strategic Initiatives (Scott Travis)
● Provost Office (Krista Deur)
● Culture and Inclusive Excellence (Sonja Trent-Brown, Amber Tejeda)
● Professional Interest Committee (PIC)
● Staff Advisory Group (SAG)
This couldn’t have been done without the many voices listed above and those who contributed to the process in other ways. Your spirit of generosity, giving of your time and your perspectives, made this endeavor possible.
We appreciate all of the ways you are a blessing to Hope College!
The Recognition and Appreciation Culture Action Team is recognizing the staff and faculty who have opened their hearts and arms to embrace our incoming and returning students and welcome them to their Hope home for the 2024-2025 academic year! You have given the gifts of your time, energy, and effort to create a joyful atmosphere for the students and their families. You have helped students move in, you have prepared for classes, you have given directions to help people find their way across campus, and you have shared a smile, a wave, or a “Welcome to Hope!” that has helped students and their families feel their student will be cared for at Hope. We would like to express our gratitude for each act of welcome and kindness you have extended to our students and their families!
In addition to each individual contribution, many teams have helped to prepare the way for our students, including Physical Plant, Catering and Creative Dining, Student Development, Student Formation, Academic Program, Registrar’s Office, Financial Aid, Bookstore, Events and Conferences, Print and Mail Services, Computing and Information Technology, Campus Ministries, Center for Diversity and Inclusion, Center for Global Engagement, Athletics, Business Services, Alumni and Family Engagement, Summer Bridge Program, Human Resources and the Student Employment Team, Transportation, office managers, administrative professionals, and more! Thank you all for the welcoming culture you help create at Hope College!!!
The Recognition and Appreciation Culture Action Team is recognizing our Hope College Campus Ministries Team for their diligence in helping select a new Dean of Chapel. Our wonderful Campus Ministries team continued to embody excellence last academic year during that time of transition. The team ensured that students were supported throughout the search process and that beautiful music ministry and inspirational messages were shared for Chapel, The Gathering, Bible Studies, and everything in between! We appreciate all of the ways you invest in the people of Hope!
We would like to applaud the entire Campus Ministries Team for their dedication to the spiritual direction of the entire Hope College Community and their prayerful and faithful commitment to serving God’s will, as we bring on a new Dean of Chapel. During this time, we ask the entire Hope College Community to join together in prayer for guidance and leadership as we welcome our new Dean of the Chapel – Rev. Dr. Nathan Hart.
The Recognition and Appreciation Group acknowledges our Business Services Team as they have been working on creating a new Chart of Accounts to benefit financial reporting across all areas of the college.
Our previous Chart of Accounts (COA H) was established in 1999 as a migration strategy to minimize potential Y2K glitches that might have happened during that time. Since then our COA H has served its purpose and is in need of an upgrade.
The capabilities of our new Chart of Accounts (COA 1) include the ability for department managers and deans to be able to look at their areas as a unit and see how their department operational systems are working as well as generating account types on a more cohesive and consistent basis making financial statements easier and more accurate to produce – something that could not be done with COA H.
Notably the new COA 1 will also allow Human Resources a more effective way to budget for wages and salaries from year to year. In addition, there is more room for fund number expansion in order to retain flexibility with the growing needs of the college.
Although almost all account numbers will be new, processes for submitting an invoice will remain the same, with the only addition of providing Business Services with an Organization fund code.
All in all, these changes will streamline the process, while making the generation of financial reports more accurate and efficient.
Thank you Business Services for all of your hard work on the new Chart of Accounts!
The Recognition and Appreciation Team would like to extend our gratitude to the Hope College Human Resources Team for working so hard throughout the year and especially during this time as open enrollments have come in and are being processed.
Open enrollment occurs yearly giving all Hope College employees the opportunity to change and/or add Hope College benefits for the upcoming plan year. Notifications are sent out by HR in April and the Open Enrollment period extends for a month, usually April 15 – May 15. Each year all employees must respond to the open enrollment form regardless of whether or not they make a change in benefit elections.
Elected benefits remain in place for the full year, July 1 through June 30, unless there is a life event that qualifies an employee to change benefit designations at a different point in time. Get information on Life Events that qualify!
Thank you Hope College Human Resource Team for all the great work you do for us as Hope College employees!
On Friday, April 26, The Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the Office of Disability and Accessibility Resources and Culture and Inclusive Excellence co-hosted Hope College’s annual Diversity Awards Presentation. This year, the Culture Action Team awarded 10 individual Culture Champions as well as one team award. We are grateful for the work of the recipients and all Hope employees for creating spaces of belonging, understanding, and grace.
Read on for this year’s Culture Champions, with words directly from those who nominated them!
Culture Champion Award recipients. (photo credit: Greg Olgers)
1.Dr. Jennifer Blake-Mahmud – Assistant Professor of Biology
“Dr. Blake-Mahmud is gifted with creativity, compassion, and curiosity, and she uses her talents to promote equity, inclusion, social justice, and the overall culture at Hope College inside and outside the classroom… She consistently and intentionally disseminated cultural information (such as holidays of various nations and campus cultural events) to the department, increasing awareness of diversity across the globe.”
“Dr. Blake-Mahmud is committed to educating students and the community that it is possible to reconcile faith and science and make them mutually illuminating, and the mindset can be applied to our daily lives.”
2.Dr. Annie Dandavati – Professor of Political Science
“There are few people who can bridge the gap between staff and faculty the way Annie does. She is passionate about people, about learning, and about working hard – beyond that, she doesn’t bother herself with caring about titles or hierarchy. She learns people’s names, she contributes to projects outside her scope of work, she is honest about the struggles she sees in the world while also shining a light on the good future that could be possible. Annie is all the best things about Hope rolled into one person and she is very deserving of this award.”
3.Katie DeKoster – Director of Family Engagement
“Katie truly makes everyone she comes in contact with feel like they are worthy of belonging. She is genuinely curious about what makes people tick and makes you feel like you are the most interesting person in the world with valuable contributions. She is constantly looking for new and creative ways to include people who aren’t regularly included and is able to connect with almost everyone in some way. She does all this while still being strong in her beliefs and convictions, never backing down simply to make others feel comfortable – and by doing this, she makes others ultimately feel more free to do the same thing themselves.”
4.Dr. Natalia Gonzalez-Pech – Assistant Professor of Chemistry
“[I nominate Dr. Gonzalez-Pech] for her voluminous informal mentoring of students and colleagues of color; for being very engaged with programming coming out of CDI [the Center for Diversity and Inclusion] / Keppel House and advertising it to colleagues and students alike; for being engaged with NASD [Natural and Applied Science Division] Antiracism Team and Faculty of Color groups and helping bridge the two; for the courage to speak up on issues of DEI and culture even as a pre-tenure faculty.”
5.Lance Pellow – Associate Director of Admissions
“Lance Pellow has helped direct the Covenant Process for the last 6 years. He has stood as the informal liaison for our Covenant students and remains a safe place for the Covenants as they continue their four years through college. Lance also supports the Calling Program for the Phelps Scholars as they recruit their incoming class.”
“Lance has many talents but the one that comes to mind the most, is that he is always thinking of everyone. He finds himself volunteering with different departments on campus as well as local schools for tours and visits. Lance makes this place a school where others feel like they belong.”
6.Sara Sanchez -Timmer – Residential Life Coordinator – Phelps Scholar Program
“Sara Sanchez-Timmer has embodied the ethos of belonging, understanding, and grace since beginning her employment at Hope College in 2022. Sara has been relentlessly curious about processes, systems, and structures that undergird the animated experience of students and employees at Hope. This curiosity about structures has been matched by a curiosity about the people at Hope and their experiences… Always seeking to understand people and circumstances, Sara becomes a contagion of suspended judgment and thoughtful response. Her colleagues and students are more considerate, gracious, and kind as a result of her role modeling…Sara cultivates a culture of learning and growth that prompts each of us to be more like the mission and vision we are aspiring toward at Hope College.”
7.Dr. Joanne Stewart – Elmer E. Hartgerink Professor of Chemistry
“Joanne has worked throughout her career to support LGBTQ students both on and off campus. Countless small acts as a faculty member and, particularly as a member of the Board of Trustees, have helped the college get to the point where we have a true campus organization that supports LGBTQ-identifying people… Again, Joanne has provided support through many small acts over her years on campus; more specifically Joanne was critical to the formation of FACES [Fostering A Community of Excellence in Science] , getting funding to start the program and Anna Bonnema as the director….which makes a huge difference for underrepresented students in the sciences.”
8.Shomari Tate – Chaplain of Discipleship
“Shomari has provided energy and leadership to expand the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day commemorations on campus by developing a day for faculty, staff, and students to both learn and present about justice and advocacy.”
“He has been an active voice in shaping how Campus Ministries thinks about social justice as a necessary part of our Christian mission. The fact that he manages to connect [with] Athletics, Campus Ministries, and CDI through his role is just a small portion of how easily he connects people and offices in the service of our students.”
9.Eric Van Tassell – Assistant Professor of Lighting and Sound Design
“Eric is a connector and spark plug in every sense of the word for our campus community. Eric’s dedication to culture and inclusion is felt every single day…. Eric is constantly thinking of new and innovative ways to engage his students and making them feel more valued, connected and included to one another and to the community at large. Eric volunteers to be a faculty/staff connection point for new hires as well, by offering up his time to do campus tours for new employees. Eric also spends time with the Hope faculty/staff soccer group and always looks to make connections with others through casual conversations and through the art of playing sports together. “
10.Margo Walters – Assistant Director for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion
“Margo Walters pours her heart into her work with the Center for Diversity and Inclusion and the Multicultural Student Organizations. In addition to providing leadership in these areas of the college, Margo has gone above and beyond, such as creating an opportunity this past year for a Self-Care Friday event which has been a great opportunity for staff and faculty to get together and connect in a relaxed setting. It’s important to have spaces like these that are dedicated to health and well-being and Margo has been passionate about making sure these kinds of spaces are created. Margo also is a champion for diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and social justice, across campus and in the Holland community.”
11. Kruizenga Art Museum Team – Charles Mason & Alexandra Lewis
“They exude and embody all forms of belonging, understanding, grace while making continual strides and efforts to improve the equity and accessibility of visual art at Hope College. The team at the KAM is responsible for all things art and curation, but specifically their efforts in the programmatic space have been incredibly impactful and meaningful for members of communities that may not otherwise have the space or representation of their artwork.”
“They pick beautiful exhibitions that include important and significant moments of history. I’m always so impressed at the inclusivity of the exhibitions whether it’s Pride Month, Día de [los] Muertos, Black History Month, Asian History month, or many others.”
As we end another semester here at Hope, the Recognition and Appreciation sub group of the Hope College Cultural Action Team is recognizing all the hard work our Admissions and Financial Aid teams have put in throughout the year.
We would especially like to recognize the difficulties that these departments faced during the end of this semester with the rollout of the new version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). FAFSA has been delayed by various reasons causing problems for both the students as they fill out the form, as well as problems for many colleges as these forms were received very late in the process due to glitches and errors.
We are grateful for our amazing Financial Aid and Admissions Staff who have worked so hard to make applying to Hope a smooth process and have extended the deadline for FAFSA to May 15. We also appreciate the ongoing work of our Admissions Team with their continued dedication to outreach and recruitment as well as providing events such as Anchor Days and Junior Days in order that prospective students feel informed and welcomed to apply here at Hope.
Thank you to both the Financial Aid team and the Admissions team for all you do, providing Hope College with a diverse and high functioning student body.
Students wrap up their semester this week, but faculty and staff still have one more to go before we call it a year. Want to add some whimsy to that typically quiet week? Look no further than the faculty and staff Spirit Week!
Started roughly 8 years ago, Spirit Week has held different iterations. It was originally started by the Student Life team started when they were still located in DeWitt and the Bultman Student Center was just a dream. Katie DeKoster, currently the Director of Family Engagement and previously the Assistant Director of Student Life, has been a part of the tradition for years.
“That week when we’re all here without students is just asking for an injection of extra fun!” said Katie. “We used to ‘advertise’ by hanging signs with the Spirit Week schedule around DeWitt. Once the Bultman Student Center (BSC) existed, we tried to spread the fun across both buildings. Now we’ve included the details in Hope Daily because we wanted to include all the faculty and staff across campus who would like to be involved.”
In its many forms, Spirit Week has included potlucks, trivia competitions, dress-up days and always a book swap. Some of this year’s highlights include “Dress like a College Student” Day, Bring Your Own Bowl Cereal bar, communal coffee hour at Biggby, and (you guessed it) a book swap.
“Hope staff members work incredibly hard to serve our students, and it’s fun to have something slightly silly to look forward to at the end of the semester,” commented Katie.
Katie credits her colleagues in Alumni and Family Engagement for collaboratively coming up with this year’s daily options and activities. Thanks Katie and all at Alumni and Family Engagement for bringing fun, belonging, and connection to our final work week of 2024!
Written by Alexandra Lewis, Visitor Services Coordinator at the KAM
I experienced belonging, understanding, and grace at the Culture Action Team’s (CAT) Belonging Together event at the Kruizenga (KAM) this past September.
As a staff person who is fairly new at Hope (celebrated my 1 year in Sept!), I can tell you firsthand how intimidating it can be to walk into a space or event and not know anyone else in the room. It can be terribly isolating. At the start of the event, discouraging thoughts were quickly whirling around in my head. What if I say the wrong thing? Will anyone want to talk to me?
Within my first conversation, while picking out my CAT swag notepads and pens, these fears melted away. Attendees were eager to introduce themselves and connect with me. Common ground was easy to find and I was met with friendly explanations about anything I had yet to encounter on campus. A tidbit from one conversation I had, “How amazing that God brought you to Hope having so much passion for what you do.”
The Hope community welcomed me, and my hidden worries, with open arms. Now, when I attend an event I seek out the “me” in the room, the person who is new and apprehensive, and I do as was done unto me – embrace them.
For those who were not able to attend, I have attached a few photos and a synopsis below:
The CAT event was centered around 3 different video screenings featuring stories of belonging, understanding, and grace by Culture Champions (staff and faculty who were nominated for embodying belonging, understanding, and grace). These videos were played throughout the day on a projector screen in KAM’s north gallery space. CAT also offered the opportunity for guests to write down their own ideas on how “Hope gets Culture right.” Delicious food was enjoyed by all and community was formed while attendees gathered around tables to relax and catch up with colleagues. Swag notepads and pens were a hot commodity – a fun yet functional perk!
