Seminar
Descriptions
All seminars are free, but we’d like you to register
for
them so we can plan for enough seating for each session.
To make
a reservation please contact:
Julie Huisingh, (616) 395-7860,
huisingh@hope.edu
Celebrating Hope College’s Early Graduates
Professors Alfredo Gonzales, John Yelding
and Fumihito
Andy Nakajiman
9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Diversity, inclusion and global education are not new trends at Hope. Rather,
they have been present since the foundation of the college. Immigrant founders,
who understood the value of education and need for inclusion in a new nation,
believed (remove) that that the education of international students was necessary
as Hope College began living into its mission. Understood from this historical
perspective, it should not be surprising to learn that in the Class of 1879
two of the six graduates were from Japan; nor should we be surprised that the
commencement address for this class was delivered in Japanese and Latin. The
admission and the subsequent graduation of Kumaji Kimura and Motochiro Oghimi
set in motion the later graduation in 1925 of the first Native American, James
Ottipoby, and in 1932 the first African American, James Carter Dooley. This
legacy of inclusion and global learning is today found in the mission of Hope
College as it seeks “to educate for lives of service and leadership in
a global society.” It is this legacy and the impressive stories of these
early graduates that we will celebrate during Winter Happening 2013.
Alfredo M. Gonzales is Associate Provost, Dean for International and Multicultural
Education. In this capacity he directs the advancement of diversity and global
learning at Hope College.
John Yelding, associate professor of Education, has been teaching at Hope
since 1994. He specializes in secondary education / multiculturalism / rural
education.
Fumihito Andy Nakajima, associate professor of Japanese, has been teaching
Japanese language, history, and culture at Hope since 1996.
Preparation, Hard Work, and Luck:
A Guide
to the Development of
a New Chemical Reaction
Dr. Jeffrey Johnson
9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
In the Johnson group at Hope College, student research focuses on the investigation
of the molecular nature of chemical reactions and the development of organic
reactions. A new organic transformation is much like adding a new tool to the
chemist’s toolbox—simply put, while a nailgun won’t change
the shingles that ultimately top your house, it can make installation significantly
more efficient than the use of a hammer. Likewise, a new organic transformation
can shorten a synthetic route and provide more efficient and cost effective
production of a complex molecule. This presentation will illustrate, in layman’s
terms, our study of chemical reactions: the techniques used to develop molecular
understanding, the characteristics of a desirable reaction, and the role of
hard work—and luck.
Jeffrey B. Johnson, assistant professor of chemistry and Towsley Research
Scholar, joined Hope College in 2007. He has since mentored over 35 undergraduate
researchers pursuing the mechanistic investigation of transition-metal catalyzed
processes and the development of new organic chemistry reactions. This work
has resulted in numerous peer-reviewed publications with student coauthors,
including two in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. While at Hope,
he has received over $1 million in external funding, highlighted by an NSF
CAREER award.
Making Youth Sports Safer
for the Mind, Body, and Spirit
Dr. Kirk Brumels ’88 and Dr. Scott VanderStoep ’87
9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Over 30 million American young people participate in youth sports every year.
Dr. Brumels and Dr. VanderStoep have collected data on injuries in youth
sports, perceptions of parents, and perceptions of youth and collegiate athletes.
They will share their thoughts on the current status of youth sports, focusing
on early athletic specialization, sports injury, and the role of parents.
Scott Vander Stoep ’87 is professor of psychology and Dean for Social
Sciences. He taught at Hope from 1992-94 and rejoined the faculty in 1999.
For five years he directed the Frost Research Center. He served as department
chair from 2006-2012.
Kirk Brumels, PhD, AT, ATC is the director of the Hope College Athletic
Training Program, associate professor of kinesiology, and Athletic Trainer.
Brumels joined the Hope faculty in 2001 after 11 years as an athletic trainer
for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. Brumels currently
provides clinical care to Hope College athletes, and teaches in the Athletic
Training and Human Anatomy programs.
A Good Fight:
Loyalty and Conflict in the RCA
Dr. Lynn Japinga ’81
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
As a church-related college, the history of Hope College has always been
intertwined with the history of the Reformed Church in America. In the last
70 years, since the end of WWII, the RCA has experienced significant conflicts
over ecumenism, the interpretation of the Bible, and the nature of the church.
In the late 1940s, the late 1960s, and the late 1970s, conflict was so severe
that there was talk of dividing the denomination. Each time, the RCA got through
the crisis, in part because the denomination has a strong sense of family and
its members and ministers felt loyal to and connected with the RCA. This
seminar will provide a brief overview of the history of the RCA from 1945 to
1994, with a focus on conflict and attempts at resolution.
Lynn Japinga, professor of religion, received her BA from Hope College, her
M.Div from Princeton Theological Seminary, and her Ph.D from Union Seminary
(New York). She began teaching at Hope in 1992. She teaches American Religious
history, women's studies, and senior seminars. She is an ordained minister
in the Reformed Church in America and has served as an interim preaching pastor
at Hope Church, Holland.
Electrical stimulation as a Treatment
Option for Phantom Limb Pains
Dr. Katie Polasek
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Phantom limb sensations, or sensations that seem to be coming from the missing
limb, occur in most individuals with amputations. These sensations range from
mild to extremely painful. One proposed mechanism for these odd sensations
is improper connections between the part of the brain that used to receive
input from the missing limb and adjacent brain areas. Dr. Polasek's research
team is looking at using electrical stimulation of nerves in the residual limb
to send more 'normal' sensations to the brain that will seem to be from the
missing limb. The goal is to strengthen the old connections and weaken the
improper ones and that this will reduce or eliminate these painful sensations.
Dr. Polasek will present this idea in detail as well as results from her preliminary
work in this area.
Katie Polasek, assistant professor of engineering, joined the engineering
department in 2010 after completing a post-doctoral fellowship in Biomedical
Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. She has enjoyed incorporating
biomedical engineering into her electrical circuits class and looks forward
to seeing the first Hope student to graduate with an emphasis in Biomedical
engineering this year.
Making Democracy:
Lessons from 19th Century London
Dr. Marc Baer
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
From the American and French revolutions through the Arab Spring, the birth
of democracy seems to depend on political cataclysms for its creation. Using
insights from two decades of scholarship and his recently published book, The
Rise and Fall of Radical Westminster, 1780 – 1890, Hope history
professor Marc Baer will discuss how Britain’s most radical and contentious
political site in the 18th century became the most conservative and tranquil
by the end
of the 19th century. In so doing, Westminster, in London’s West End,
provided Britain an alternative path to inventing democracy.
Marc Baer joined the Hope faculty in 1983, and since then has taught a variety
of courses in British and Irish history. He is now professor of history and
chair of the department. He has authored two books and numerous research articles
and scholarly reviews. Besides his teaching and research, every two years he
helps to organize the Hope College Veritas Forum. He was also the founding
director of Hope’s Pew Society, which helps students to consider and
prepare for graduate school and careers as professors.
For additional information, please contact:
Lynne Powe ’86,
(616) 395-7860, powe@hope.edu
