Stories of Hope

Hope Without Borders

Even at a college like Hope, which has a mission of preparing students for “lives of leadership and service in a global society” and which provides numerous opportunities for international and experiential learning, the Engineers Without Borders – USA Hope College Chapter (EWB-Hope) stands out as a stellar contribution to both of those elements — leadership and service — on the global stage.

Engineers Without Borders – USA is a nationwide organization that provides sustainable engineering solutions to meet basic needs in partnership with underserved communities. For the past 18 months, the EWB-Hope chapter has partnered with the community of Teodomiro, Ecuador, outside the city of El Carmen. The project kicked off during Covid travel restrictions, which made things difficult, but the team coordinated remotely via digital meetings to identify a need and develop a solution.

“Engineers Without Borders wants to make sure that projects are sustainable and community-driven, so there’s a lot longer partnership than maybe some other projects would have through other organizations,” explained Adam Peckens, engineering lab director at Hope and advisor for the EWB-Hope chapter. Hope’s chapter engages about 15–20 students each year.

“We began to work with the community to design and construct a schoolyard enclosure,” said Carolyn Atkinson, president of EWB-Hope chapter and the international project lead for the Teodomiro partnership. Atkinson has been involved with EWB-Hope since her freshman year, and she’s enjoyed seeing the chapter grow throughout its work on international projects.

“The construction of the enclosure provides safety and security for the school and ensures a better learning environment for the children,” Atkinson said. Because the school is located in a seismic zone, the installed enclosure needed to be customized to the local terrain and designed to meet seismic loads. Students from Hope worked with college mentors, including Peckens, external mentors from the United States, and an NGO and engineers in Ecuador.

With travel restrictions lifted, a group of eight students from Hope traveled to Teodomiro in July 2022 to kick off the installation of the fence. In total, the barrier fence was approximately 300 meters long; about half of it was constructed of concrete and cinder block, and the other half, through more wooded areas, was built with chainlink fencing.

“It was incredibly rewarding to see the construction of our design and the impact it made on the community,” Atkinson said. A local team in Teodomiro completed the installation after EWB-Hope returned to the United States.

“Traveling to Ecuador this past summer introduced me to a fascinating and beautiful part of the world,” said EWB-Hope’s Vice President Jenna Core. “I will always remember the hospitality that we were met with and the joy that the people in the community carried with them.”

Atkinson said that the chapter plans to travel to Teodomiro again in spring 2023 to assess other needs in the community and determine the future of their relationship.

“I realize that the partnership between EWB-Hope and the Teodomiro community will last longer than I get to be a part of it, but I feel really fortunate to have worked on the foundations of our relationship,” Atkinson said. “My involvement with EWB has impacted both my personal and professional growth. I feel blessed to be a part of it.”

Advisor Adam Peckens agrees that being involved with Hope’s EWB chapter is rewarding: “It’s inspiring to see students at such a young age invest so much of their energy into these types of programs,” he said.

Previous projects have included partnerships with the communities of Bondo, Kenya, and Nkuv, Cameroon, to provide accessible, clean water for their residents.

Project Engages Faculty and Staff in Helping Hope Be Its Best Self

“Reframing the Hope College Saga” seeks to invigorate discussion of Hope’s identity while demonstrating that topics like religion, race and human sexuality can be explored constructively.

The project is addressing how Hope can best live its institutional vocation in light of two key phrases in the college’s mission statement — “to educate students for lives of leadership and service in a global society” and “in the context of the historic Christian faith” — and the opportunities and challenges that the concepts present together. Supported by a $40,000 award from the Council of Independent Colleges/NetVUE, it seeks, as outlined in the grant proposal, “to build a renewed sense of institutional self-awareness and to prepare the college to live into its mission as it moves forward in the 21^st century.”

“Reframing the Hope College Saga” is addressing how Hope can best live its institutional vocation in light of two key phrases in the college’s mission statement — “to educate students for lives of leadership and service in a global society” and “in the context of the historic Christian faith” — and the opportunities and challenges that the concepts present together.

“Reframing the Hope College Saga” is being guided by an eight-member editorial board co-led by Dr. Marla Lunderberg, associate professor of English, and Dr. Jack Mulder, professor of philosophy. It began with a three-day workshop this past June that enabled faculty and staff from across campus to consider Hope’s past, present and future within the framework of three general categories: “Ecumenism and the Christian Mission of the College,” “Diversity and Inclusion,” and “Accessibility and Justice.” As a next step, the editorial board is calling for proposals from faculty and staff interested in developing essays during the coming year that, based on their experience or expertise, consider the college in the context of the categories. The written pieces and additional discussion will be the focus of a conference in June 2023, in preparation for contributing the essays to an edited volume.

The initiative is building on the foundation provided by the 2005 book Can Hope Endure? A Historical Case Study in Christian Higher Education, co-authored by then-faculty members Dr. James C. Kennedy (history) and Dr. Caroline J. Simon (philosophy). Can Hope Endure? examined the complex interplay between the variety of faith traditions at Hope and the implications for the college’s identity, and the sometimes contentious result, particularly in the 1990s, as the campus community wrestled with social issues. Recalling Aristotle’s observation that “All excellent things are difficult,” the book considers that such differences can be viewed not as a weakness but a strength, since the conversations — if those who disagree can respect and value one another — are part of an important journey for an institution committed to ecumenism. The authors describe Hope’s unique blending of its Reformed heritage and conservative and progressive voices as a “Middle Way” and a “valuable variation on more standard models among denominational, evangelical and mainline Christian colleges”

Can Hope Endure? has essentially been required reading for those seeking to understand Hope’s character and the dynamics of disagreement at the college. At the same time, some two decades have transpired since the period it examined, which is where the new initiative comes in.

“[Can Hope Endure?] both suggests that a certain genius is at work in Hope’s mission and simultaneously lifts many veils in regard to persistent controversies with which Hope has struggled,” the grant proposal explains. “This book has been used with faculty orientation programs for many years, but if the vision is to endure, the stories of the struggles will benefit from being brought up to date.”

Like Can Hope Endure?, “Reframing the Hope College Saga” is using a historical framework and endeavoring to provide an unvarnished examination.

“I really respect the work, the story that was told about the college in Can Hope Endure?” Lunderberg said.

“I was impressed by the amount of institutional cooperation,” Mulder said. “At the same time, it was honest about where some of the difficulties were.”

“We’re looking for a multiplicity of perspectives that will hopefully enrich the diversity that we know is Hope College. We want not only faculty, but staff and administration all to have a voice — stakeholders who have a passion to help Hope College become the best version of itself.”
Marla Lunderberg, Associate Professor of English

Correspondingly, the editorial team has emphasized engaging a range of voices, beginning with this past June’s workshop.

“We knew in advance that both the topics and the people that we invited to talk about the topics were not going to see things in the same way,” Mulder said. “It’s fair to say that to some degree we sought out representatives from enough folks that it wasn’t going to be a puff piece — or a rally or cheerleading for a certain angle. These are difficult questions, and we wanted to discuss them robustly.”

In the same way, participation in the workshop isn’t a prerequisite for faculty and staff interested in contributing essays.

“The campus is wonderfully diverse, and we see that diversity as its strength. We’d love to welcome contributors for the 2023 conference even if their schedule didn’t allow them to be at the 2022 workshop,” Lunderberg said.

“We’re looking for a multiplicity of perspectives that will hopefully enrich the diversity that we know is Hope College,” she said. “We want not only faculty, but staff and administration all to have a voice — stakeholders who have a passion to help Hope College become the best version of itself.”

Ideally, the result and the process, for “Reframing the Hope College Saga” and for the college, will be something of a chorus: unique and distinctive individuals working together to create something transcendent.

“The business of Hope is one that requires a certain amount of collaboration, but when it’s going well it’s not necessarily a collaboration of going in the same direction,” Mulder said. “We have a shared vision, but don’t necessarily have a shared set of first-order convictions.”

“When [it works well], multiple voices are able to articulate their views in a way that’s respectful and untrammeled but also robust,” he said. “A word I’ve been using is ‘polyphony,’ as opposed to ‘cacophony’ or ‘monophony,’ that cares about the contours or context in which each voice has a contribution to make.”

Stewardship for the Greater Good

The Center for Leadership (CFL) at Hope College has completed multiple consulting projects with Koops Automation Systems, a company based in Holland, Michigan, that designs, builds, and integrates automation systems for the manufacturing sector.

But this academic year, rather than contract with CFL Consulting to do additional work with the company, Koops approached CFL Director Doug Ruch to propose a different model: Koops would make a donation to the CFL to sponsor consulting services and problem-solving expertise for two local nonprofit organizations.

“Beacon of Hope, One 17 International, and the Center for Leadership have been a part of our ecosystem for a number of years and are doing great work in our community,” said Paul Brinks, president and CEO of Koops. “Our role in the projects was to be a relationship-building catalyst that would enable all three organizations to grow and flourish.”

They were ideal projects for CFL, too: “The adage of our CFL Consulting program is outstanding value for clients, invaluable experience for students. These two projects are a great example of making that adage a reality,” Ruch said. “Two wonderful organizations benefited from their consulting team’s work, and both provided excellent experiences for our student consultants. We are deeply grateful to Koops for sponsoring these two projects.”

Three Hope students were assigned to each project team, along with an experienced practitioner coach. For Beacon of Hope, CFL worked to develop and recommend an optimal staffing plan to support the organization’s growth. Beacon of Hope is a Christ-centered counseling ministry that provides free counseling services to community members in five locations throughout West Michigan.

Hope student Danielle Spoelhof was assigned to the One 17 International team. “One 17 International is a growing local nonprofit organization that provides Christian education to students in Haiti and Cambodia,” she explained. “We were able to bring strong concluding recommendations to enhance One 17 International’s marketing strategy, donor cultivation, and financial growth.”

Spoelhof and her CFL team worked to develop a marketing and fundraising plan to support the nonprofit’s five-year growth strategy.

“We jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with the wonderful students of Hope College through participating in the CFL program,” said Curtis Stout, Executive Director. “Hope’s students added value to our mission by taking on work that isn’t always easy for a small non-profit to complete due to time constraints and staff capacity limitations. Hope’s students shared valuable insights by benchmarking other successful organizations and creating suggestions for how we can improve our reach in the community and grow our donor base.

“Doug Ruch, the CFL leader, was able to put together a diverse team with a variety of experiences and knowledge. Doug’s passion for both the students of Hope and the impact they can make for local nonprofits and businesses is contagious,” Stout said. “The students of Hope embodied the CFL’s core value of servant leadership by openly receiving feedback and working hard to develop solutions that will ultimately impact our students in Haiti and Cambodia!”

“I am so fortunate to have been a part of such a transformational project,” Spoelhof said. “It has the promise to be transformational not only for One 17 International, but also the Hope College Center for Leadership — and myself.”

Curtis Stout at One 17 International is similarly grateful for the work of CFL, and for the generosity of Koops for making it all possible: “It was a blessing to work with Doug and his motivated group of next-generation leaders! We are also extremely thankful to the Koops team,” Stout said. “Koops sets a high standard for generosity and vision as they model what it looks like to leverage their resources to impact people beyond their walls.”

Researching the Hands of Time

Inside a box waiting for her on a front porch, senior Autumn Balamucki was about to pick up history.

She would eventually receive a newfound skill and appreciation, too.

In the summer of 2020, unexpectedly back early from an off-campus study semester in Peru due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Balamucki signed on as an intern with the Joint Archives of Holland to conduct research on the Holland-area veterans of the Spanish-American War.

The box she retrieved outside of Hope archivist Geoffrey Reynolds’ home last spring contained copies of 28 years’ worth of the monthly minutes from the veterans’ two-hour-ish-long meetings.

“When I arrived, I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” Balamucki remembers. “Geoff just said, ‘I’ll leave photocopies of all of the original documents at my front door.’ This was in May, and we had to make a contactless transfer because of the pandemic. So, I go to pick them up, and I find a box filled to the brim with papers.”

Each one laden with handwriting. In inky cursive.

Most 21^st century college students avoid longhand, and the reading of it, with an intense aversion. In fact, they tend to evade it like looking away from the sun.

Nevertheless, Balamucki was determined to read and transcribed massive amounts of early 20^th century handwriting for weeks on end from scribes of the United Spanish War Veterans Camp #38.

Twenty-eight years times 12 monthly meetings per year times 2.5 average pages per meeting. Do the math, and you get the magnitude of penmanship she pored over.

Trying to Read What was Written

Actually, it turned out that Balamucki liked it. It became an exercise not only in distinguishing Fs from Ps, but in discerning and admiring the service and struggle of men and their families from a lesser-known war. (The Spanish American War lasted 114 days, from April 21 to August 13, 1898; though it is mostly remembered for Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.)

That the Holland veterans formed a camp, or club, and left behind decades of notes marking their determination to acquire pensions and parades and acceptance, showed a commitment to not be forgotten.

“It took me a little while to see the very subtle differences from one person’s handwriting to another (over the length of the project),” said Balamucki who has double majors in global studies and history and a minor in Spanish. “But, figuring out that puzzle was really fun for me. That’s why I majored in history. I love putting pieces together and figuring out how they connect.”

The connections that Balamucki uncovered dealt with that 1915 to 1943 time period, for sure, but there was more than that. She found that the century-old experiences of those veterans had an effect on her empathy for them and her understanding of her present as well.

“It so happened that my struggle to adapt with this unique period in our history (in a global pandemic) ended up bringing me closer to a group of people, in another time in history, whose experiences with global change and the necessity to adapt far surpassed mine,” Balamucki wrote in the Joint Archives Quarterly Newsletter last fall.

“Their story begins 122 years ago, in 1898, on the verge of the Spanish-American War, as a group of soldiers whose lives would see a great amount of change and adaptability in the coming years,” she continued in her article. “These soldiers followed the veterans of the Civil War, and preceded the well-known soldiers of World War I. They saw times of war, times of peace, of economic depression and prosperity, of political unity and dissension, and throughout it all they adapted to the changing world around them that the first half of the 20th century brought.”

The Bigger Picture

Reynolds says Balamucki’s ability to see beyond a single snapshot in time to the bigger picture is a credit to her intellect and Hope education. Though the two could not work together in person last summer, Zoom meetings enabled “in-person” interactions when necessary and their separation did not hinder their work. In fact, Balamucki’s ability to dive into the documents, uninterrupted and without distraction, may have been a bonus from her kitchen table at her home in Traverse City, Michigan. It allowed her to not just read history but to feel it, too.

“Autumn recognized the many struggles of those men – financial struggles, sometimes lack of respect, the changing times — and connected it to the struggles she’s endured and the country has endured in the last year,” says Reynolds, the Mary Riepma Ross Director of the Joint Archives of Holland.

“She was able to identify with them. Fred Johnson (associate professor of history at Hope) hopes his students do that all the time. But that’s a tough thing to do, especially for young people to jump back 100 years and identify with what people were going through. Yet I found that Autumn empathized with the people she was reading about and also questioned, ‘What does that mean to me today, why is this important to now?’”

When Balamucki finished her project three months later, her transcription resulted in 169 typewritten pages in single-spaced, 11-point New Times Roman font. While the tangible results of her work now show up on clean, easy-to-read sheets of paper, the intangible aftermath is the ability to recognize that history is always about people.

This time that lesson was imparted thanks to the (perceived) dreaded yet beautiful reading of handwriting.

“I’m not gonna lie, I was so excited when I finished, but I was torn, too,” she says. “I was shocked at how close I felt to these people. . . I think the fact that what I was reading was personally handwritten hit me differently. I do think that I had a little bit more of a connection than if it had been typed out or explained to me. ”

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Read more about all of Autumn Balamucki’s research in the Joint Archives Quarterly Fall Newsletter: The Trials of Transcriptions: A Look Into the United Spanish War Veterans of Holland, Michigan

Pandemic Research Includes Immigrant Churches’ Response

The COVID-19 pandemic has instigated a great number of questions, and resulted in numerous subsequent findings, for researchers across the country. Often that research is focused on something other than the novel coronavirus’ scientific impact.

A recent study by Hope College Professor Dr. Rodrigo Serrão is one such example. Along with Dr. João Chaves of the Hispanic Theological Initiative, Serrão investigated the reactions and responses of three churches of the Brazilian diaspora in south and central Florida during the initial shutdowns induced by COVID-19. After viewing and listening to more than 50 online sermons, delivered in Portuguese and during the months of March, April and May, the two scholars found that “Brazilian immigrant churches in Florida reacted to the pandemic in civil, theological, and practical ways,” they wrote in “Immigrant Evangelicalism in the COVID-19 Crisis” for the International Journal of Latin American Religions.

“Because we both are Brazilians, we thought that we should try to find what is the response for these 100 percent Brazilian-focused church (in America),” said Serrão, assistant professor of sociology who began teaching at Hope this fall. “We knew that there was a lot more going on behind the cameras, but we said, ‘let’s take what they are saying in front of the cameras and let’s use that to see what they are doing.’”

In their attentive viewing of hours and hours of Facebook and YouTube sermons, Serrão and Chaves found that the three Brazilian churches responded in three primary ways.

“You have a lot of overlaps in how evangelicals in the United States think and how Brazilian evangelicals think. They share a lot of the same theology.”

First, the immigrant churches’ pastors encouraged their membership to comply with the authorities’ guidelines.

“Just to contextualize a little bit for you, in Florida, you had some (mainline) churches who were really angry about government restrictions,” Serrão observed. “In fact, one pastor of a megachurch there was arrested for having in-person services during the shutdown. But immigrants don’t have that luxury. I’m not saying that they weren’t as angry as those other pastors, but they had to show to their membership that they would follow the law. They are already a stigmatized population with labels attached like ‘undocumented’ or ‘illegal.’ They didn’t want that (stigmatization) to continue by not following the rules.”

The second finding from the study deduced that the sermons delivered by the immigrant churches’ pastors often had apocalyptic undertones.

“This was expected, especially if you think in terms of how evangelicalism in Brazil is a continuation of American missionaries’ message,” Serrão explained. “You have a lot of overlaps in how evangelicals in the United States think and how Brazilian evangelicals think. They share a lot of the same theology.”

Finally, the immigrant churches responded to the initial impact of the pandemic with practical acts of service and care by organizing food pantries and donations for members in need.

“It was clear that they knew they had to put their personal resources into action, and that they very much wanted to,” said Serrão.

This research resulted in one of the first papers to be published about church response to the pandemic, Serrão added. Fast access to online video helped with speedy data collection as did his prior knowledge of the churches he researched.

“Just because data was readily available, we still made sure that we were thorough and systematic on what we were looking for and not give up, even when the audio was difficult to hear sometimes,” he said. “Consistency and persistence got us what we needed.”

Serrão and Chaves are now in the process of translating their article into Portuguese for inclusion in an edited book in Brazil.

How Home Attachment Helps Mental Health in a Pandemic

There’s no place like home, author Frank Baum’s Dorothy said, but then again, she wasn’t confined to hers during a multi-month global pandemic.

Still, recent research by two Hope psychology scholars has confirmed that that famous line from The Wizard of Oz has bearing not only when you miss home, but also when that space is primarily where you must stay.

Dr. Alyssa Cheadle, assistant professor of psychology, and Dr. Benjamin Meagher, visiting scholar of psychology and assistant professor of psychology at Kenyon College, wrote in the Journal of Environmental Psychology that “in the midst of increased mental health concerns and limited resources due to COVID-19, the home may buffer some individuals from depressive and anxiety-related symptoms by functioning as a source of refuge, security, and stability.”

To reach that finding, the two Hope scholars quickly went to work to research the relationship between home attachment and mental health when the pandemic began to keep people in their homes for long periods due to stay-at-home orders and business and educational closures last March. In their article “Distant to Others, But Close to Home,” Cheadle and Meagher noted that “although people by and large tend to show some degree of attachment to their home, such an emotional bond is not universal.”

Creating opportunities for heightened mental health via home attachment could be just one small home improvement project away.

How then can we consider our homes as emotional safe havens during a pandemic and not just as places where we have to be?

“Something we would want people to try to do is be conscious of the way in which the home space they are in matters to their mental health,” says Cheadle. “I think a lot of people don’t necessarily reflect on it in a deliberative way. But changing the way we think about the spaces in our lives as potential resources – and not spaces that are just ‘there’ – can help us feel better.”

To reach that recommendation through research, Meagher, an environmental psychologist, and Cheadle, a health psychologist, enlisted 289 participants to take surveys in three waves (baseline, two weeks four weeks) via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a crowdsourcing website for businesses (and researchers) to hire remotely located “crowd-workers” to perform discrete, online tasks. Their respondents were located nationwide, ages 19 to 72, a little more than half male, and a majority Caucasian. “That make-up was just by virtue of who signed up for the study,” says Meagher.

Cheadle and Meagher then asked those participants to make judgments about their homes. This included indicating how strongly attached participants feel towards their home, as well as rating the emotional ambience of their home across four categories: restoration, kinship, stimulation and productivity. Each participant also completed a standardized questionnaires about depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and perceptions of stress.

Using those survey tools to both assess participants’ home attachment and mental health, the two researchers came to an important conclusion about home attachment regarding kinship ambience in particular. What is kinship ambience? It is that feeling you get when you associate a certain person, or people, with a particular space.

“If my home is able to meet that need (of kinship with others) over the course of this pandemic, then the space will become more and more important to me.”

“So, what we found over the course of the study is that how much a space made a person feel a sense of kinship with others became more and more important in terms of making that person feel attached to the space,” says Meagher. “I think it makes sense to think about it this way: The longer I am in isolation, the more I miss other people. If my home is able to meet that need (of kinship with others) over the course of this pandemic, then the space will become more and more important to me.”

“During this time in particular, if home is not satisfying the need of togetherness and a feeling of connection with others, it’s not going to be a space that’s accomplishing that feeling of protecting you from all the anxiety that’s out there,” says Cheadle. But especially with kinship ambience as a strong predictor of home attachment over time, she adds, this study shows that a pleasant attachment to one’s home during the pandemic is protective of stress, depression, and anxiety.

So, go ahead and add to or rearrange pictures of your family and friends in your home space. Maybe even get a new house plant or relocate your favorite comfy chair. Creating opportunities for heightened mental health via home attachment could be just one small home improvement project away.

Pandemic Inspires Art

It has been observed that, throughout history, pandemics have inspired creative minds — to write plays, to postulate new scientific theories, to create works of art.

That last undertaking — to create works of art — naturally emanated from Lisa Walcott, assistant professor of art, during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. Now, a sculptural installation by Walcott, located at The Centennial Inn of Holland, displays her inspiration from and reflection on the spread of the novel coronavirus and the isolation that it has caused.

“As a visual artist, I process and articulate through making. I wanted to allow myself the time to feel this moment and be in my space as I reflected on proximity, space between, and interdependence,” said Walcott. “The disrupted version of life in quarantine has been very difficult and also very beautiful as we slow down and understand what is essential. . . This work could not be made in another time and space and mean the same thing.”

Titled “Given Situation,” the installation features eight large, mechanized mobiles that mimic the motion of bugs swarming. Walcott, who specializes in kinetic installations, developed it during the state-wide “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order that was into effect from late March to early June.

The venue was a location where Walcott could work when the college went to remote operations. She and her husband, Rob Walcott, have owned and operated the inn since the couple purchased it at the beginning of the year. Rob hopes that the inn can be developed into a place that supports art, culture and local dialogue.

“I have been thinking a lot about independence and interdependence, and I wanted to offer something to those around me — my neighbors and community,” said Walcott. “’Given Situation’ is for solitary viewing and follows guidelines for social distancing — no touching surfaces and masks worn inside.”

As Walcott explains in the artist’s statement that accompanies the installation, “‘Given Situation’ references the highly coordinated manner in which a colony can move. The motion of each ‘fly’ is connected to those around them creating a visual manifestation of interdependence. Group coordination can be quite simple yet extremely effective toward solving complex problems (like an ant finding the shortest distance to food and others following that trail). At the same time, the presence of bugs can indicate deterioration and change. The ‘flies’ are coated in black wax melted from birthday candles which references celebration as well as the passing of time.”

She notes that the viewers become a part of the experience as they move through the piece. “Perception is heightened as the web like ‘swarms’ seem to materialize and disappear,” she said. “Visitors’ presence both activates and threatens to disrupt the installation.”

Located in the inn’s market building, “Given Situation” has open viewing hours on Saturdays and Sundays from 4-9pm or by appointment until June 26. The Centennial Inn is located at 8 E. 12^th St.

Joanne Stewart Featured in STEM Video Showcase

Hope College’s Dr. Joanne Stewart, Elmer E. Hartgerink Professor of Chemistry, will be featured in the 2020 STEM for All Video Showcase funded by the National Science Foundation. The event will be held online May 5^th -12^th at https://stemforall2020.videohall.com.

The presentation entitled “Come for the Content, Stay for the Community” looks at how the VIPEr Fellows project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is shaping the teaching of inorganic chemistry across the country.

Update May 14: Stewart’s video presentation received special recognition with a Facilitator’s Choice Award. Fifteen videos out of the 171 submitted earned this honor.

Stewart has been formally involved with the leadership of the project since 2008. She commented, “The Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists (IONiC) provides a supportive community and professional tools to help faculty improve their teaching. The video describes our research on how the IONiC community encourages effective faculty practice and how changes in faculty practice impact student learning. We are excited to be part of the STEM for All Video Showcase so that we can share what we have learned about faculty development and learn from other leaders in STEM education.”

Now in its sixth year, the annual showcase will feature over 170 innovative projects aimed at improving STEM learning and teaching, which have been funded by the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies. During the week-long event, researchers, practitioners, policy makers and members of the public are invited to view the short videos, discuss them with the presenters online, and vote for their favorites.

The theme for this year’s event is “Learning from Research and Practice.” Video presentations address improving K-12 STEM classroom, informal environments, undergraduate and graduate education, teacher professional development, and community engagement. Collectively the presentations cover a broad range of topics including science, mathematics, computer science, engineering, cyberlearning, citizen science, maker spaces, broadening participation, research experiences, mentoring, professional development, NGSS and the Common Core.

Last year’s STEM for All Video Showcase is still being accessed, and to date has had over 76,000 unique visitors from 181 countries.

The STEM for All Video Showcase is hosted by TERC, in partnership with: STEMTLnet, CADRE, CAISE, CIRCL, STELAR, CS for All Teachers, NARST, NCTM, NSTA, NSF INCLUDES, and QEM. The Showcase is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (#1922641).

Research to Reduce Workplace Racism

As a social psychologist, Dr. Mary Inman, professor of psychology, prioritizes learning about people’s basic motivations, environmental influences on behaviors, and why and how people use stereotypes. As a Christ-follower, she seeks to understand and address social issues for the sake of justice. Her recent research on racial harassment and discrimination in the workplace addresses both of those professional and personal life goals.

Along with her colleague, Dr. Phanikiran Radhakrishnan of the University of Toronto, and Hope student Kayla Liggett ’20, Inman co-wrote the paper “The Socialization-Stressor Model of Racial Harassment” which will be published in an upcoming research book, Diversity and Inclusion in Organizations.

“The workplace ought to be a place where people want to come to work,” she says. “Kindness and respect can prevent hostilities and some workplace violence. All this informed our socialization-stressor model of workplace racial harassment and discrimination.”

What exactly is a socialization-stressor model of workplace racism? Why does it matter? Learn more in this Q-and-A with Dr. Inman.

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How did you become involved in this research with Dr. Radhakrishnan?

Phani and I met at a psychology conference held in Texas. She was looking at workers’ experiences and outcomes of workplace racism. I was examining how people decide when an event is classified as racism. We both had an interest in misunderstandings and tension in the workplace. It was a natural fit. Hope student, Kayla Liggett, came aboard with us and is a co-author on our paper, too. I value her contributions.

Why is this research important to do?

People spend a third or so of their adult lives at work. Some employees stay longer with their “work family” more than with their spouses. Understanding the causes, dynamics, and solutions of racial and other identity-related tensions at work is critical. Knowing the causes can help researchers and human resource leaders identify and test possible solutions to create harmony at work. Workers do not need the added stress of prejudice and discrimination. All workers have value. All workers need to be heard, respected, and affirmed, especially while working through difficult company decisions like mergers or layoffs. This will help the employees’ mental health and help the company. Racial tensions hurt the company’s climate, reputation, stock, and finances when lawsuits arise.

I am interested in understanding the daily racialized events and related work outcomes. Our research is reliably showing that racial harassment and discrimination experiences are related to negative emotions, dissatisfaction with coworkers, poor health symptoms, and intentions to quit. Companies and employees need to be informed.

What is the socialization-stressor model of workplace racism?

We reviewed several research articles in psychology, sociology, and business to understand what causes stereotypes to be promoted in organizations and what the trickle-down effects are. Our model states that stereotypes are socialized beliefs that people bring to the company. Racial stereotypes can affect work behaviors such as racial harassment and racial discrimination. The model states that people pay attention to the racial composition of the company, the perpetrator’s race, and the target’s race when deciding if racially charged comments and actions reflect racism. The model states that both harassment and discrimination are social stressors that can drain energy, joy, and engagement when at work.

And why did you create the model for this research?

We developed this model because it logically fits with the stereotyping social psychology research and the discrimination-as-stressor research. Our model focuses on the distinction between harassment and discrimination as two social stressors at work that are related and yet could have different outcomes.

Our research is reliably showing that racial harassment and discrimination experiences are related to negative emotions, dissatisfaction with coworkers, poor health symptoms, and intentions to quit. Companies and employees need to be informed.

How are racial discrimination and racial harassment distinct?

Both are behaviors rooted in racial stereotyping. Racial harassment is the interpersonal behaviors of racially based comments, jokes, invalidation, and slurs. It is also excluding people from work social events based on race.

Racial discrimination is hindering one’s employability or advancement. Behaviors include racially biased practices in hiring, pay, and promotion. We also focused on more subtle behaviors such as withholding key work information, resources, training, good equipment, assignments, and public recognition due to one’s race. Discriminatory policies and procedures can be affected, reflecting institutional racism. So, pay inequities can happen at hiring and can re-occur when career-progressing activities favor one race. Companies should monitor their career-progressing practices, or they can lose talented workers.

How do each result in different discriminatory outcomes in an organization? Or, are their outcomes similar?

Workers have relationships with people and with the company — which produces one difference. Our prior work showed that workers compartmentalize their negative experiences at work. Dissatisfaction with supervisors was better predicted by discrimination than by harassment. The boss has input on the allocation of rewards and punishments. In contrast, harassment can come from anyone at work. Harassment, not discrimination, was more consistently related to dissatisfaction with coworkers.

The stress responses are similar for racial harassment discrimination but stronger feelings occur when employees reported experiencing both harassment and discrimination.

Our current work examined whether the stress responses are heightened by racial discrimination beyond that already felt when experiencing racial harassment. The answer seems to be yes. We’ve identified two kinds of discrimination — denial of opportunities and receiving negative treatment, like poor quality equipment— and are seeing that these are not equally toxic.

Still, a common theme in our research is that workers reported others are not sharing vital work information and that they lack the opportunities for advancement — for example, training — compared to other racial groups.

How can people “unlearn” previous socialization that might lead to racism at work?

Diversity training efforts to raise cultural awareness of racial biases has some research support. The training involves many elements such as working firsthand with a person who violates the racial stereotype — for example, a Black hero who saves a White person from danger or failure — as well as getting to know and listen to the other person’s story, and mindful techniques such as watching one’s assumptions and stereotyping.
Once one is aware of any implicit racial preference one has, research shows that having an internal goal to NOT be prejudiced is critical. One can internally yell, “STOP,” when racial stereotypes are activated to break the automatic racial link. Like developing a new habit, research has shown that practiced efforts to stop harassing, such as laughing at ethnic jokes, changed behavior.

Resolve to Keep That New Year’s Resolution

About a month ago, your intentions were good, your motivation was high, and you were ready to go. A new year had started and your new resolutions were about to be put in place.

So…how’s that going for you?

If you answered, “It’s great; I’m still on track and going strong,” kudos to you. Keep it up!

If, however, you said, “Yeah, well, I’m done with that; let’s move on,” you are not alone. According to U.S. News & World Report article from December, 2018, about 80 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail by February.

That’s a sobering statistic to be sure, but that doesn’t mean you have to quit altogether. In fact, Femi Oluyedun, assistant professor of kinesiology, has some advice that can help you rethink and recommit to your resolution, whether it’s about exercise, diet, or reading your Bible every day. Though Oluyedun specializes in sport motivation and sport commitment, his words of wisdom transcend the physical realm and can be applied to social, spiritual and intellectual domains as well.

Here are the top five ways Oluyedun recommends to get back on your resolution track. Or, to even start one today. It is not too late, nor never is.

1.Get SMART!

Let’s say you resolved to exercise every day in the new year. That’s a great idea, but it’s not specific enough. How long will you exercise? When will you exercise? What will you do for exercise? A goal is better when it’s SMART, an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, rewarding and timely.

“Often people set goals that are too general or too vague,” says Oluyedun. “Goals, or resolutions, need some specifics. You have to have goals that are tangible so that when you meet it, that feels good and you keep going.”

For example, if your goal is to eat healthier, perhaps that starts with simply cutting out (or back on) fried food. Once you achieve that for a week or two, then move onto the next healthy-eating, like cutting back on sugar.

“And don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t reach some of those goals, but be realistic,” he says. “I think too many people have these exceedingly high expectations that can get them off track. The key is getting back on that track, though, and not giving up even you mess up your goals a few times. This is about improvement so it’s about process, too.”

“I think a lot of people make things too tough on themselves when it comes to goals. . . No! Make it enjoyable. Have fun with it. This is about bettering yourself.”

2. It’s always better with a friend.

Humans are unquestionably social creatures. Having a friend or family member with whom to engage your resolution gives you two things: company and accountability. Even if you’re an introvert and prefer to go it alone, you may feel as though you are keeping your resolution for the benefit of others as well as yourself. Or, it could simply be telling someone, out loud, that motivates you toward resolution-keeping. “People who are either on your side or at your side are huge motivators to help you meet your goals,” says Oluyedun.

The bottom line is taking someone with you on your resolution journey makes the going less lonely and keeps you more adherent.

3. Mix it up.

The old adage that variety is the spice of life can also apply to resolution-keeping, especially if your goals involve exercise. If you decide to take up running or walking and are bored after a month or two, consider mixing in some yoga. Maybe you feel that cycling at your gym is getting ho-hum; try lifting weights twice a week. Maybe adding a sport — like shooting hoops or playing pickleball — into your regime is the way to go.

This can apply to intellectual resolutions, too. If you resolved to read more, perhaps changing up genres — historical fiction to non-fiction to self-help to spiritual books — will help you stay interested. . . and informed.

“Again, you don’t have to — and for many, probably shouldn’t — stick with one thing all the time,” advises Oluyedun. “But don’t be afraid to fail if you do try something new. If I go and do yoga for the first time, I’m not going to do it very well. Once I get the hang of that task, though, it can be really fulfilling.”

4. Fill your ears as you go.

Listening to music or podcasts as you exercise can help engage your mind as well as your body. It can also make the time seem to go faster. Develop a playlist or tap into a podcast that goes for the precise amount of time you want to exercise. Then when it’s done, so are you, and you feel as if you’ve accomplished two things: exercise and your listening list.

5. Know your WHY? And make it FUN.

Why is it that you want to eat better, exercise more, or read your Bible every day? Why is it that it is important for you to make a resolution in the first place? Understanding and answering your WHY, sometimes on a daily basis, can help you keep your resolution. Whether it’s for better sleep, weight management, mental or spiritual health, regularly reminding yourself of your resolution reasons is key to staying on track.

And so is having fun while you do it. “I study sport enjoyment when it comes to sport commitment, and enjoyment mediates almost the entire model. Meaning commitment is most often driven by enjoyment,” observes Oluyedun.

“I think a lot of people make things too tough on themselves when it comes to goals. ‘Okay, I’m going to try this new regime, which means it’s got to be tough and I’m not going to enjoy it,’” he continues. “No! Make it enjoyable. Have fun with it. This is about bettering yourself.”

And what is more fun than that?!

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Trying to Read What was Written

The Bigger Picture

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