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.
Dr. Joanne Stewart
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.
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.
Dr. Mary Inman, professor of psychology
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.
—
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.
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.
Femi Oluyedun
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.”
Remember when the unofficial start to the Christmas season waited until after Thanksgiving? No more. Now retail stores have Santa displays on the endcaps and “Frosty the Snowman” over the loudspeaker before kids can finish saying, “Trick or Treat!”
Into this fast-paced frenzy of commercial Christmas chaos, a group of Hope students, helmed by Bruce Benedict, the college’s chaplain of worship and arts, inserted something different: an album of new and re-tuned sacred music meant to help the church see the Incarnation of Jesus Christ in fresh new ways.
Hope College Worship released “A Swell of Grace” in November 2019.
Released on November 21, 2019, A Swell of Grace is something of a rarity, even during a season that, more than any other holiday, is marked by the soundscape of familiar music — sacred hymns and popular jingles alike. While popular artists are mostly releasing albums that put their own spin on well-known Christmas tunes, Benedict wanted to give the students the experience of writing music from scratch.
The result is an EP of what Benedict describes as “original advent and Christmas songs that explore the narrative and emotional depths of the coming of Christ.” It aims to deal honestly, interestingly and deeply with the biblical account of Jesus’ birth.
Take, for example, the first of the album’s eight tracks, “The Holy of Holies” by senior Anna Kate Peterson.
“She’s one of my strongest songwriters,” Benedict said. “Her
song was a text we had to wrestle with, because she was making some theological
connections, talking about Mary’s womb as the Holy of Holies.”
Here are lyrics from verses two and three of Peterson’s song:
The Lord our God, entered our mess, In the purity of this girl, took on flesh, Virgin’s womb, the Spirit’s room, The Holy of Holies
The brightest star, burned the way To the cross where blood was love on display, The old has passed, the new has come The veil has torn
In another song, “Dispossessed and Peaceful,” Michael Stone ’18 writes:
Persecuted in the dark The Christmas child on earth abides Incarnated word of God Carried town to town to hide Joseph and the road again Mary clutching child’s weak head Holy God, where were we then? Immigrants in search of rest
The lyrics that portray the Holy Family as immigrants touch a contemporary political nerve, and they pick up on a theme that Benedict explored in “Refugee King,” which he cowrote with Liz Vice and others at a 2018 songwriting retreat. (Vice released “Refugee King” as a single earlier this year.) Benedict’s experience at the retreat inspired him to work on this Christmas EP with his students.
In “Every Knee Shall Bow,” juniors Olivia Abdou and Cecilia O’Brien write:
The one on the throne was born without a home Despised and rejected and forced to roam In a stable filled with hay, our Savior born that day Mary and Joseph in awe at his name
And in the album’s title track, “Swell of Grace,” Sarah Sims ’19 delivers a meaningful spoken word meditation both on Mary’s pregnancy and on our Advent anticipation that opens:
This quiet carrying This gestation of grace This swelling of a song We are waiting For the barren to bear fruit For the bleak to reap hope
Benedict isn’t surprised that these students delivered songs of theological depth, biblical insight and creativity.
“What’s surprising to me is that I’ve not found more colleges creating interesting sacred music, because this is such a generative time in people’s lives,” he said. “It seems like there’d be a lot of college students — whether at Christian schools or not —being generative and creating interesting worship music, but I’ve just not found that. So part of this is trying to put examples out there for other colleges.”
It’s also an education and hands-on
experience for students, a way for Benedict to pull back the curtain on the
process of writing and recording music. “I wanted students to have the
experience of creating something themselves from scratch. I think it’s an
important skill to cultivate in this world of largely contemporary worship
music,” he said.
This Christmas album isn’t the first time Benedict has
worked with students to record original works. “The first one we did was in
Lent, and that was mostly retuned hymns,” Benedict said. “Every year I try to
do one. Typically it’s based on the sermon series in Chapel.”
“I’m really just trying to steward and shepherd the resources Hope has to do these kinds of creative projects,” he said.
Additionally, “Campus Ministries has been doing a live worship record for 20 years,” Benedict said. “Over Christmas break we’ll actually release on Bandcamp every record we’ve ever done. You’ll be able to listen to every live worship record we’ve done back to the early Dwight Beale days.” (Beale was Hope’s chaplain of worship from 1998 to 2005.) You can find the albums here as soon as they’re available.
Making music is just one part of what Benedict does in his role as worship chaplain. His primary task is to, in his words, “curate, cultivate, lead and empower” the worship services at Chapel and The Gathering. He oversees the worship and tech teams, works with chaplains and guest preachers and musicians, coordinates about 30 volunteer students for each service, and partners with the Gospel Choir, Sacred Dance and other groups with gifts to offer the Hope community.
Bruce Benedict, Chaplain of Worship and Arts
“I coordinate how the liturgical arts can support worship at
Hope,” he summarized. “Most people think about what I do purely in terms of
music, but I try to broaden that out for students. Music is part of it, but
there’s text and visuals and movement. You have a space you occupy, so how does
your worship interact with that space?”
Outside the college, Benedict directs Cardiphonia, a liturgical arts collective of dozens of musical and visual artists, mostly connected to local churches. “We release church music compilations around various biblical and spiritual themes. We did one this summer on Psalm 119, and we invited 22 artists from all over the world to write music for that.”
He’s also part of Bellwether Arts, a project from Cardiphonia that focuses on the church calendar. In partnership with Hope’s Campus Ministries, Bellwether just released a devotional for the final week of Advent based on the “O” Antiphons, an ancient set of prayers that explore images of Christ in the Old Testament. The “O” Antiphons form the basis of the familiar Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” (Download the devotional here.)
When Dr. Gloria Tseng arrived at Hope College in 2003 as a Europeanist with an emphasis on France, her first course in French history was attended by one student. “On one hand, it was a good student-faculty ratio,” she says now, with a lilting laugh.
The following semester, history repeated itself: just one student, albeit a different one. “I realized, ‘You know, there’s not a whole lot of interest in French history in Holland,’” Tseng recalls, “so I needed to think more broadly. Hope has been very transformative for me.”
In time, she underwent what could be described as a religious conversion. Tseng, born in Taiwan but a longtime U.S. citizen, wrote her dissertation on the experiences of Chinese expatriates living in France during the interwar years. During that research she came across the work of Father Frédéric-Vincent Lebbe, the late Catholic missionary to China whose advocacy in the early 20th century led Pope Pius XI to appoint the first native Chinese bishops.
Shortly after Tseng began teaching at Hope, the campus began receiving an influx of international students from China. “At first these were not degree-seeking students,” Tseng recalls. “They were graduate students funded by the John Templeton Foundation at Calvin College that funneled some of their students to the Hope philosophy department. That’s when I started having connections with people from China, and because I lived across the street from Centennial Park close to campus they would come to my house for meals and company.”
Those dinnertime conversations apparently made an impact. “When I moved into a tenure-track position there was a fund to support summer research,” Tseng says, “and for some reason I didn’t go back to Paris. I went to Shanghai. And you know, to this day I still wonder why. It must have been the Lord, putting desires in our hearts.”
The student interaction, remembering Father Lebbe — it all seemed to coalesce when she came across a book that was a directory of the holdings of the Shanghai Municipal Archives. “It specifically focused on their Christian Chinese language publications from the interwar years,” she recalls. “It was Chinese Christians who published these materials, and the municipal archives had tons of such journals. That just made me curious.”
So much so that Tseng developed a course at Hope called “Christianity in China: Negotiating Faith and Culture” and is conducting research for a book with the working title The Search for a Chinese Church: Protestantism in Twentieth-century China.
“I come from a Chinese Christian family, so I had heard of some of the Chinese preachers who were instrumental in the shaping of the Chinese church. . . For me, this has been sort of a spiritual journey, because I have been studying on an academic level my own spiritual heritage that my family is a part of.”
“When I went to China for the first time, I spoke Chinese, I looked Chinese, but it still was very foreign to me,” she says. “And the Shanghai Municipal Archives are state-of-the-art, but the archivists were very rude! But what I knew was, this was a treasure trove. There is so much there — volumes and volumes of different journals and archives of Christian colleges founded by missionaries — that I thought, ‘I could spend my whole life doing this, seriously.’”
Tseng’s academic transformation has resulted in new directions on multiple levels. “As I pursued this, my advisor from my college days, who was a great mentor, kept encouraging me,” she says. “He said, ‘A lot of what’s written about the church is hagiographical. You can do something scholarly on this, and it will have value.’ So that’s how I’ve taught on this topic.
“Even the project itself has undergone a big evolution. Initially I was going to make it a monograph on the modernist and fundamentalist controversy in the Chinese church in the 1920s and ’30s, because at that time the China mission field was influenced by what was going on in the Western church. But then I realized that what I’m actually more interested in is the evolution of the Chinese church and how the faith became Chinese, how it became indigenized.”
And on a personal level, “I think I was just drawn to it,” says Tseng. “I come from a Chinese Christian family, so I had heard of some of the Chinese preachers who were instrumental in the shaping of the Chinese church, men like Wang Ming-Dao — but we never studied them, never read any biographies or sermons. For me, this has been sort of a spiritual journey, because I have been studying on an academic level my own spiritual heritage that my family is a part of.”
The present-day state of Christianity in China “is very complex,” Tseng observes. “For much of the 20th century Christianity was associated with Western military power. All Western denominations were absorbed into the Three-Self Church (self-governance, self-support, self-propagation), which began as a patriotic movement among Chinese after the Communist takeover of China. To this day, the government-sanctioned church is called the Three-Self Church. If you go into a Three-Self Church today they are filled to the brim. Once I witnessed more than 100 baptisms in one service, so the spiritual hunger is quite palpable. There’s no official persecution, because the Chinese government does not say churches cannot exist. Yet a couple of years ago, the government was tearing down crosses on church buildings because the government said the buildings were not up to code. There are Chinese pastors in jail, but usually they are pastors who are also involved with advocating for a civil society or a rights defense.
“So, is there persecution for Christianity in China?” Tseng asks, and then answers. “Yes, but it comes in very subtle forms. There is reason to be cautious.”
Over 20 centuries ago, the great Roman statesman Cicero uttered
a now-popular maxim:
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others.”
It is a saying that is still relevant today.
Dr. Charlotte VanOyen-Witvliet
Dr. Charlotte VanOyen-Witvliet, professor of psychology, chair of the department, and a researcher of embodied virtue (e.g., forgiveness, gratitude, hope, accountability) believes so anyway. Her volume of work, as well as a recently completed study on gratitude, happiness and hope (see end note), confirms that “many good things grow when with gratitude we identify givers, gifts, and our identity as recipients. Gratitude is a space of abundance when it comes to happiness and hope,” she says.
What are some of those “many good things” to which Witvliet refers? In this week of thanksgiving, here are five insights that Witvliet offers about gratitude.
1. Gratitude is honest.
“We’re merely telling the truth when we express gratitude,” says Witvliet. “When we recognize that we are recipients of good and gracious gifts from givers and from the Giver, we are simply being honest about the blessings in our lives.”
2. Gratitude fits in good times and bad times.
“While gratitude allows us to tell the truth about uniformly good situations, it also helps us tell more of the truth, not less, in times of suffering and struggle. With a benefit-focused approach, we can identify lessons learned in hardship, strengths shown in facing difficulty, and relational supports that were present in those times. So even though we aren’t grateful for all things, we can aspire to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18)”
3. Gratitude is contented.
“In our consumerist culture that seeks to develop lists of
what we want, gratitude cultivates the ability to want the good we already have. It facilitates a fullness and a
flourishing for individuals in relationship to other people and to God.”
4. Gratitude is healthful.
“Research ties appreciation to cardiovascular regulation. Similarly, when people acknowledge benefits even in a negative situation, their heart rate variability increases, indicating a healthier heart response, emotion regulation, and cognitive flexibility.”
5. Gratitude can connect us to givers across time and space.
“When we think about who we’re grateful to, we can usually
find givers behind the immediate giver…givers behind givers behind givers. So,
there’s a way in which our awareness of givers connects us over generations and
across space. And for believers, we see that behind every giver is the ultimate
Giver, the God of grace with the ultimate gift — Jesus Christ. In the end, it
is all about hope after all.”
—
As the lead investigator in a two-study assessment of states
and traits, Witvliet — along with Hope’s Dr.
Lindsey Root Luna, Dr.
Daryl VanTongeren and alum Fallon Richie ’18 (now a P.hD. student in
clinical psychology at UNC-Charlotte) — asked “Does gratitude outperform other
virtues in predicting hope and happiness? Answer: Yes! Also, are there particular
exercises that people can engage in that are gratitude-oriented that
specifically fuel present states of happiness and hopes? Answer: Yes! Their
findings that engaging in gratitude led to increased hope and happiness were published
in the Journal
of Positive Psychology.
The usual “who-are-you-and-what-do-you-do” chatter of an
introductory lunch conversation, those words of nicety that more often than not
just scratch surfaces, transformed into a vision of deeper collaboration for
four new Hope arts faculty members this fall.
Now, just a few weeks into their first semester at Hope, Dr. Jordan VanHemert of the music department, Greg Lookerse of the art department, Jasmine Domfort of the dance department and Eric Van Tassell of the theatre department will put their varied talents on stage, together for the first time, in “Toward Convergence: An Arts Collaboration,” a concert framed by the music of the college’s Jazz Arts Collective, Hope’s premier jazz ensemble.
Dr. Jordan VanHemert
“With this concert, we’re saying, ‘This is who we are, this
is what we do,’” said VanHemert, the director of the Jazz Arts Collective and
instigator of the collaboration. “That’s a really powerful way to introduce
yourself, I think.”
While talking at a lunch break for Initium — the workshop for new Hope faculty — the four new
professors began to share “the things that we are really passionate about and
really enjoy about our respective art,” said VanHemert. In no time, that
conversation took a turn away from personal generalities toward professional specificities.
“I didn’t expect it to happen this fast,” VanHemert admits,
“but I think that’s really a testament to Hope College and the place that it is
and is actively becoming. I don’t think that at many other institutions you
would have people who are as willing to take time out of their busy lives and
schedules for something like this. That takes a special kind of colleague. I’m
finding that Hope is really the perfect place for a project like this to come
to fruition.”
Jazz is a music that is beautifully collaborative in and of
itself, VanHemert says. Add in other art forms, and a mix of creative juices
not only has performance power but has pedagogical purposes, too. “This music
was never, ever conceived in a vacuum,” VanHemert says. “What good does it do
for my students having them learn it in one? So, I want them to collaborate not
just with other musicians but with other artists.”
Cheese-cloth forest imagery in the works by Lookerse
With the Jazz Arts Collective’s performance as the
centerpiece of the concert, playing a total of five works — two of which were
composed by VanHemert — the worlds of dance and visual art and lighting design
and poetry will converge in this way:
Domfort will perform improvised dance;
Lookerse has created temporarily installed artwork of forestry images, painted on semi-transparent cheese cloth that will hang at various depths and spacing from the ceiling;
Van Tassel has designed stage lighting that could be considered unconventional when compared to a “normal” concert and will give poetry readings.
Erik Alberg, director of design and production for the performing arts, will run the lighting board.
VanHemert says the element that brought the concert
altogether was discovered when, after giving a guest lecture at the Hope
Academy of Senior Professional (HASP), a HASP member introduced himself to the
new prof and asked if he could share his poetry and songs. Sure, VanHemert
said, unaware of its impact. Herbert Tews’ poems spoke to the music professor
who then wanted to include them “Toward Convergence.”
“Creativity and creating are such personal things,” VanHemert explained. “I didn’t necessarily know if everyone (else in the concert) was going to be moved by the poetry in the same way that I was. And that kind of experience was a little nerve-wracking, but it really throws you back to the concept that art is about vulnerability and putting yourself out there. And that was one way in which I put myself out there because I thought, I don’t even know if they are going to like this. I was moved by what this gentleman was writing but I had no idea it was going to speak to anybody else.”
It did. The entire artistic result will take stage on Monday, October 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the John and Dede Howard Recital Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for the Musical Arts.
“People experience art and are moved by the arts in different ways,” says VanHemert. “So, through this concert, I’m hoping that everybody finds a way to be moved whether it’s through the poetry readings, or through the music, or through the beautiful landscape and lighting, or the dance. There are just so many different ways someone in the audience will be able to appreciate all of the arts in one place.”
Since the summer of 2018, 42 Hope faculty members have ventured away from the college to do what they encourage many of their students to do — study abroad. Each professor took part in a unique, faculty-only Hope College program that instills the same benefits as students who study abroad receive: empathy, education, personal development, and cultural introductions, interactions and understanding.
The Hope Portal to the World program was created by Dr. Deirdre Johnston, Hope’s interim associate dean for global education and professor of communication, as was the GLCA Global Crossroads Innovations Grant she wrote to secure funding from the Mellon Foundation. Dr. Annie Dandavati served as co-director to help implement the grant in 2018.
Johnston says the program’s purpose is to increase cultural competencies and inform teaching and scholarship for Hope faculty members, and she believes it’s been working.
“Through the Portal to the World program, faculty teams bring back compelling stories that connect Hope College’s mission with people and institutions in 10 different countries, on three continents.” — Dr. Dede Johnston
“I see Hope College’s global strategy as cultivating compassionate action, grounded in ethical, community-based relationships, and authentic understanding,” explains Johnston. “Our mission is tied to our realization that our ‘neighborhood,’ that Christ commands us to love, extends well beyond our family, our community, or our nation. For students and faculty alike to live into that mission, it helps to have a compelling story to share – a story promoting dignity, justice, equity, and compassion for all God’s people. Through the Portal to the World program, faculty teams bring back compelling stories that connect Hope College’s mission with people and institutions in 10 different countries, on three continents.”
As for some of the faculty members, they say their two-to-three week Hope Portal to the World experience has helped them. Here’s how:
Dr. Stephen Scogin’s view from Shanghai Tower, currently the second tallest building in the world.
“Chinese hospitality and their attention to detail were impressive. Most of us were strangers to our hosts, yet they showed us the utmost kindness and received us as friends. In addition, every detail was coordinated, and this helped us focus on developing relationships with our counterparts at the various universities and finding common interests for scholarship. I am hopeful that these relationships will lead to future student exchanges between Hope College and Chinese colleges/universities as well as educational research that compares learning and affective outcomes between countries.” – Dr. Stephen Scogin, on the “Hope Faculty in China” study tour
Left to right, Aaron Franzen, Stephen Bouma-Prediger, Virginia Beard, Hope alums Rowland and Jan Van Es, and Jack Mulder
“I appreciated hearing from a variety of different people about their experience with Christian faith and Kenyan and African culture. Several students told of how sometimes too rigid a Christianity can interfere with African culture, and a faculty colleague who was a Catholic nun related how often a too-relaxed attitude toward African traditions on the part of some African and Church authorities can interfere with development efforts inspired by the Gospel that protect human rights. Overall, I was just impressed with how vibrant the experience of the Christian faith was there.” – Dr. Jack Mulder, on the “Engaging History, Politics, Health, Religion and Ecumenical Higher Education in the Kenyan Context” study tour
Daina Robins at the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens
“Focusing on the ancient worlds of Greece and Rome while traveling with a classicist — what could be better? And that classicist, (Hope professor) Stephen Maiullo, is a wonderful teacher. On top of that, at every meal all of us on the trip had engaging and stimulating conversations — about the day’s events, pedagogy, politics, religion, you name it. It was a great way to get to better know my colleagues away from Hope. – Daina Robins, on “The Body through Sport, Art and Theatre in Ancient Greece and Rome” study tour
“Food provided one foundation for my learning on this trip. Kimchi on fried rice plus miso soup for breakfast. Three courses of fresh fish at the fish market for lunch, including squid that squirted its ink as the skilled vendor prepared it for the table. Rice crackled and vegetables steamed as the bibimbap arrived, still sizzling, at our table for dinner. Shared meals provided opportunities for cultural immersion and deep conversation with my colleagues.” — Dr. Marla Lunderberg, on “Demystifying Complexities: Exploration into South Korean History, Culture and Sociopolitics study tour
Marla Lunderberg with Chonghee Han and Charles Green in Seoul, South Korea
“Originally being from India and having spent a great deal of time there, it was interesting seeing India through the eyes of colleagues. And the more I see India through the eyes of my colleagues, the more questions I have myself. They raised so many good questions that I sometimes just did not have the answers. So, through this, I’ve learned that maybe we live in this stage of adaptability and flexibility. Not knowing with conviction what we know yet being convinced about it requires both flexibility and adaptability. I mean, I’m not a pushover but at the same time, giving room for intellectual expansion and enrichment is very important. It was lovely just to be able to take this trip and learn even more about myself and India in this way.” — Dr. Annie Dandavati, on leading the “Hope College/Flame University Liberal Arts Collaborative” in Delhi, India
Roger Nemeth, Alyssa Cheadle, Brian Bodenbender, Marcus Fila, Richard Perez and Annie Dandavati in Delhi, India
It all started because a giant praying mantis crawled up the side of a parked car. That small creature helped spark a big idea because now a new wildflower garden is in full bloom in its first summer in the “backyard” of the Schaap Science Center.
While the garden beautifies another corner of an already-beautiful Hope campus, and while it attracts and supports wildlife in a 13-meter by 5-meter space, it is also producing a primary unique crop. This garden is the foundation for research on curriculum about nature-based learning.
Dr. Vanessa Muilenburg, left, and Hope student Cameryn Veine, right, in Hope’s new wildflower garden
“My colleague Ginny McDonough knows I love insects, and she saw this giant praying mantis on her car one day last year in the Schaap parking lot,” says Dr. Vanessa Muilenburg, entomologist and assistant professor of biology. “We started talking about the mantis and about where it came from and about that area in back of Schaap. We were observing that it was a kind of desert out there (because of the monoculture of plants formerly there). There’s no habitat for native animals, including insects and pollinators.”
So, Muilenburg decided to do something about it. First, she enlisted the help of members of the Hope’s grounds crew last summer to rip out Schaap’s current backyard groundcover – Liriope spicata, or lily flower — a non-native, invasive plant which is used in steep areas to control erosion. “We had to bring in a sod cutter because it’s so thick,” she said. “Our grounds crew did a great job to take it out including the whole root system. Occasionally now, a few new liriope plants have popped up over time so we have to watch and pull them out. They can grow just from a little bit of root. That’s why it’s invasive.”
The long process of cultivating, planting, waiting, tending and then watching a garden grow has birthed more than colorful blooms this summer; it bore a habitat for pollinators, insects and other small animals that nourish the area. It also is now bearing elementary-school science curriculum.
By last July, Muilenburg had the ground prepared for future purple and yellow coneflowers, butterfly weed, common milkweed, prairie coreopsis, wild columbine, and golden alexanders. By this spring, 1000 small plants from the Schaap Center greenhouse, as well as from seeds, had taken root and the new plants have been carefully nurtured by sophomore biology major Cameryn Veine. The long process of cultivating, planting, waiting, tending and then watching a garden grow has birthed more than colorful blooms this summer; it bore a habitat for pollinators, insects and other small animals that nourish the area. It also is now bearing elementary-school science curriculum.
“Nature-based learning has shown that it has many, many benefits for children,” said Veine of outcomes such as increased ability for children to attend to task, increased motor skill development, and more varied social and nature interactions. “And there are these new science standards that really encourage young students to act like scientists. That really pairs well with our wildflower garden. So basically, we’re using what we find and observe in this wildflower garden to write kindergarten through fifth grade curriculum.”
Veine and Muilenburg have worked closely with Dr. Stephen Scogin, Hope’s expert on biology education, in creating their nature-based learning curriculum. InnoAcademy in Zeeland is the first to field-test it. Other local schools are welcome to use it, too. Since many schools don’t have the resources to go on field trips to experience nature-based learning, Muilenburg and Veine want to bring it to them in an easy-to-maintain system.
“Native plants have evolved to live here and thrive with no maintenance,” Muilenburg explained. “So, our hope is to establish native plant gardens on schools’ grounds and to provide a curriculum that they can use to investigate scientific questions that they see in their own gardens.”
Metamorphosis in Hope’s garden: Monarch chrysalis to caterpillar to butterfly.
As Veine has conducted most of the observational transects of the garden this summer, she has seen an overwhelming amount of new, thrilling life. Honeybees. Flies. Chrysalis. Caterpillars. Butterflies. The sheer number of monarchs alone has dramatically increased with 89 observed over six-week period, a drastic increase considering they probably weren’t there before. “I have seen the garden grow over time because I started with Dr. Muilenburg in early May,” said Veine, “and it’s so much thicker now. We are even having trouble navigating through it. So, just being able to see it grow up is pretty cool. I’m pretty proud.”
Pollinators on butterflyweed and prairie coreopsis (left and middle). A baby praying mantis struts its stuff (right).
For Muilenburg, there is great satisfaction in watching wild things grow and live and thrive. That includes the young children who will now come in contact with the curriculum she and her garden colleagues created. It also includes praying mantises that started this whole thing in the first place.
“We’ve observed lots and lots of baby praying mantis out there,” Muilenberg says, grinning with genuine gladness. “That’s been really cool and fun to see this come full circle.”
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Photo credits: Vanessa Muilenburg, Cameryn Veine, Greg Olgers, Eva Dean Folkert
Dr. Chuck Cusack, associate professor of mathematics and computer science, turns playthings into works of art embedded with his academic expertise. His Lego art show is now on display in the 602 Gallery at Holland Community Hospital through Tuesday, July 30.
“Mondriacci” by Dr. Chuck Cusack
Cusack’s works are unique and approachable — combining his love for combinatorics, the study of finite discrete structures, with algorithms and Legos, into creative abstract pieces of art that draw the viewer in with vivid colors and interesting patterns. He has been constructing Lego art for five years, and three of his works have appeared in ArtPrize — the international art competition held annually in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His current exhibit at the 602 Gallery, organized by the Holland Friends of Art, reveals an artist who has evolved from a very rigid application of mathematics in his work, requiring everything he made to be a direct representation of a mathematical object, to one that has been inspired by Piet Mondrian and Josef Albers. The results have “loosened up” Cusack’s creativity as he now sometimes chooses the aesthetic over the mathematical, even using the underside of Legos to show off their unique artistic lines and order.
“Under” by Dr. Chuck Cusack
“When I began, it was all about math and representing math using Lego. In a lot of my work people may not ever actually realize that there’s some structure to it other than the overall rectangles and colors,” Cusack says. “As people saw my art, particularly several people at ArtPrize a couple years ago, they would mention other artists’ names. I would look up those artists to see why people were mentioning these then. Mondrian is one that stuck out to me. I liked his work, but it was not very mathematical. But I thought, let’s just try something new and so I did a Mondrian-like Lego art and really liked it. I started doing ones that were more like Mondrian’s work but included some math in them.”
The works that Cusack creates do not come from a Lego kit found at your local retailer. Instead, his materials are methodically tracked down on the internet to meet his exact requirements. Between conceiving his idea, working out the math, ordering the Legos, sorting the Legos and finally creating the Lego art, Cusack says he can work up to 20 hours on a more complicated 13”x13” creation. For this second work in ArtPrize three years ago — a 6’x10’ Lego monstrosity that cost him “as much as a small new car” in materials — he cannot even begin to estimate its time value. What he can say though is that over the years, Cusack has purchased, handled and placed hundreds of thousands of Lego pieces. And he never uses glue.
“My works are vulnerable without glue but I prefer it that way,” he explains. “I’ve got to know exactly what I want to do and a lot of times I don’t and I want to pull them off. But more than anything, it seems wrong to use glue. It’s Lego. It’s meant to be removable.”
“Yes It Is” by Dr. Chuck Cusack
While there are 35 of Cusack’s works on display at Holland Community Hospital, several of his pieces are also hanging on Hope’s campus. His first ArtPrize piece called “Latin Square Squared” can be found outside the office of the dean for the natural and applied sciences in the Schaap Science Center. It is a 38”x38” grid constructed from many squares, each of different sizes and each of which is what is called a Latin square: every cell is a certain color (or shape or number) and every row and every column contains each color exactly once (like Sudoku).In VanderWerf Hall’s first floor computer science lab, Cusack takes a turn at participation art. “Yes It Is” is an orange-and-blue puzzle. To Hope fans, the colors alone may draw the viewer in. To computer science students, the work could pique their academic interest and, with a lot of work, increase their art collection, too.
“If someone can decode the message in ‘Yes It Is,’ they get it,” Cusack says. “Decoding it requires a Vigenere cipher, shift cipher, understanding a magic square, debugging code, some sort of binary representation, and maybe a rotation here or there, not necessarily in that order.”
“I hope the viewer will see that there is the beauty inherent in mathematics, and that serious art can be created using mathematical concepts and a very simple medium.”
In the 602 Gallery, those who see his art do not need any understanding of math or computer science to appreciate Cusack’s colorful and creative work, though knowing that a deeper level of artistic intention exists in them makes their creation that much more impressive. “I hope the viewer will see that there is the beauty inherent in mathematics, and that serious art can be created using mathematical concepts and a very simple medium,” he says. “And I hope that viewers will come away from the show inspired to create their own art using whatever medium they find the most interesting and taking inspiration from whatever they are passionate about.”
An artist reception will be held on Friday, July 12 from 6-8 p.m. in the lower level lobby of Holland Community Hospital (green entrance). Cusack’s exhibit will be on display until Tuesday, July 30. Gallery hours are 24/7.
