John Cox Named to DuMez
Endowed Professorship in English

John Cox of the Hope College faculty holds the college's DuMez Endowed Professorship in English.

The chair was established through a major gift from Mabelle (DuMez) Frei of Hendersonville, N.C., and is designed to provide financial support for a member of the English faculty who has a distinguished record of achievement as both a teacher and a scholar.

During his tenure, Cox has been awarded three prestigious fellowship by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). His first book, "Shakespeare and the Dramaturgy of Power," published by Princeton University Press in 1989, was supported by another yearlong fellowship from NEH. In 1993, Cox was awarded a summer grant from NEH to work on his third book, "The Devil and the Sacred in Early English Drama," published by Cambridge University Press in 2000. In 2004 Cox received the award for his book project, called "Shakespeare Thinking." The book interprets Shakespeare's writing in light of important philosophical questions, including questions about God, goodness and evil, politics, art, and how humans know what they know.

Cox is the author of "Shakespeare and the Dramaturgy of Power," published in 1989 by Princeton University Press. He has also published many scholarly articles and reviews, and was co-editor of "A New History of Early English Drama."

Cox joined the Hope faculty as an assistant professor, and was promoted to associate professor in 1982 and professor in 1989. Prior to teaching at Hope he held positions at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., and the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

He is a 1967 Hope graduate, and holds his master's and doctorate from the University of Chicago.

Frei's connections to Hope and Holland, Mich., run deep. She was born at 100 E. 13th St., just south of the main campus, and raised in Holland. Her father and his brother founded the former DuMez' store downtown. She attended Hope, graduating in 1926.

"Living so close to the campus, all my early years were spent around Hope College," she said. "And I've been interested in Hope ever since."

"I wanted to do something special for the college," she said. "And I had set up scholarship programs in memory of my husband and in memory of my parents, and I thought this was the next step."

She noted that she learned to appreciate education from her parents, who valued it greatly although their opportunity for formal schooling had been limited. She majored in English at the college.

She is retired from a career that included working as a teacher of both French and English, with the YWCA, at Middle Collegiate Church in New York City and in social services in Michigan.

Her previous support of the college includes the establishment of two endowed scholarships at Hope: "The Walter H. and Mabelle DuMez Frei Scholarship Fund," and "The Gerrit and Alice DuMez Memorial Scholarship."

Endowed chairs are established by donors who wish to assist the college on a permanent basis through the support of a faculty member. The gift is placed in the college's endowment fund with investment income used to support the work of the honored professor. In addition to recognizing faculty members for excellence, endowed chairs provide funding for summer research projects as well as some salary support.

Learn more about establishing an endowed professorship