Few graduate schools in the U.S. teach Old Norse, an ancient language with Germanic origins, and fewer liberal arts colleges offer it still. But this past academic year, Dr. Lee Forester brought the language of Vikings and Icelanders and even Tolkien fans to a Hope classroom, using modern techniques to teach age-old, runic vocabulary and grammar.
Author Archives: Eva Dean Folkert
One Artist, One Faculty, One Question
Numerous professional visiting artists come to campus each academic year to both display their creative talents and impart their expressive wisdom to the Hope community. They show and tell us, by virtue of their displayed talents and spoken wisdom, that the arts are important to our collective communities because they require response and engagement, making us …
Boston: City of History, Archives, and GLCA Research Opportunities
The GLCA Boston Summer Seminar, created and directed by Dr. Natalie Dykstra, offers Midwest faculty and students the opportunity to find historic people and places and paper that impacts independent thinking and learning.
Hope Formula SAE: Right on Track
Hope’s team fared well on the Formula SAE stage last week at Michigan International Speedway. One-hundred-and-fifteen entries from across the country and around the world represented strong competition and Hope finished 77th overall. Many of the teams were from comprehensive research universities with long-established Formula SAE programs. Hope, participating for just the second time in six years, was one of only two liberal arts colleges at the event.
The First Great Inoculation Debate
One of only 60 projects selected for this year’s showcase from among several hundred highly competitive applications nationwide, “The First Inoculation Debate: A Quantitative Text Analysis of the Boston Smallpox Epidemic of 1721” by Elizabeth Ensink looks at communication practices between doctors and religious leaders when a smallpox epidemic broke out in Boston.
Student Research and Development from Day1
After its first year, Day 1 students have achieved and experienced what Hope science educators hoped they would – an early and deep-seated love and appreciation for cutting-edge research that has real-world relevance while thriving in community.
Breaks Away: Jenny Hampton
At the Energy Materials Center (EMC2) at Cornell University last year as a visiting scientist, Dr. Jenny Hampton went back home in a way to help discover new energy materials and methodology. Hampton’s sabbatical research reminds us that other Earth-abundant materials – such as sodium or potassium – have the potential to help with energy usage and storage, too.
Breaks Away: Sylvia Kallemeyn
The New Song Movement, born out of struggle, political repression and sometimes civil wars in Central and South America, was the break-away focus of Professor Sylvia Kallemeyn, associate professor of Spanish, during her sabbatical leave from Hope in 2014-15. Through the study of the folk-inspired and socially-committed music of this era first in Ecuador and then back in the States, Kallemeyn’s goal was to make these songs more accessible to students in her Spanish language classes.
The Time in the In-Between: Thriving in Transition to Hope
The time between high school graduation and college enrollment is fraught with excitement and anticipation for almost every incoming freshman. It’s also a time filled with more questions and some anxiety, too. To address both excitement and stress, Hope has instituted – under the direction of both Dr. Ryan White, director of advising, and Chris Bohle, associate director of student development – two programs that provide greater communication and support to soon-to-be Hope freshmen.
Laugh Just for the Health of It
Some research has indeed proven that “laughter is the best medicine..” And Dr. Jayson Dribble, an associate professor of communication at Hope, told a LaughFest audience why and how when he was given a mic to not so much be funny – though it turns out he’s a pretty puny guy – as to teach about why being funny matters.