When I decided to pursue a history degree, I never expected to be able to experience history firsthand; however, I proved myself wrong by traveling abroad to Seville, Spain in the fall of 2017. There, and throughout my European travels, I visited museums and historic sites and greatly deepened my understanding of history and how …
Category Archives: Faculty
Alumni Feature: How to Answer “What are You Going to Do with That?”
If you are a student of history or simply the humanities in general, you get asked the following question A LOT: “So, what are you going to do with that? Teach?” I’m pretty sure if I had a dollar for every time I was asked that about my studies in English and history, I would …
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A Bittersweet Goodbye
Happy New Year, and welcome back to Hope students, faculty, and staff! The history department is gearing up for our semester, including offering new courses on Russian history and the history of peacemakers in the 20th-century United States. All of our faculty are looking forward to meeting new students and working with them on a …
The Gifts of the Season
It’s the end of the semester. This is one of those good news, bad news stories. The holidays are coming. We are about to get a break. For some people, the holidays mean a chance to see friends and family. For others, the holidays can be a challenging time, with loneliness and depression always a …
Alumni Feature: Claire Barrett, ’15: “Do What You Love”
I grew up in a family that loved history. As a child I would attempt, in vain, to keep up with my father and older sister at dinner as they jumped from topic to topic, war to war. Tired of not contributing, I began to read. What began as an earnest desire to be part …
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Student Feature: Jennifer Cimmarusti
The application deadline for the Paris May Term is Nov. 29. As that date approaches, Professor Janes asked senior history major Jennifer Cimmarusti to share some of her experiences and insights about the trip. Professor Janes: What was your favorite place that you visited or activity you did? Jennifer: The first was the beautiful town …
Faculty Feature: Marc Baer
Historians don’t create information: they read what’s handed to them, or rather what they can discover that was created by people in the past. Often, one bit of information contradicts another, and the historian is forced to compare and then choose between them, or ascertain which data are the truest, or construct a narrative from …
The Long Shadow of Vietnam
The 2017 Vietnam May Term was the first ever such experience offered to Hope College students. For two weeks, eight fierce young women helped their two gasping male professor chaperones keep up as we traveled across the immense beauty of Vietnam. At the risk of sounding like a cliché, the Vietnam May Term was a …