A busy summer on the Hope College campus will yield a variety of benefits for students when they arrive for the new school year later this month.
Work on campus has been, and continues to be,
conducted both inside and out. Projects this summer range
from the very visible expansion of the music building to the
nearly invisible upgrade of the primary electrical service
into campus.
The addition to the west end of the Nykerk Hall of
Music will house a new studio organ that will arrive from
England in the fall. The new primary service is a response
to growing campus demand for power, with the old service
having reached 90 percent of capacity.
Scott Hall and Cosmopolitan/Wyckoff Hall have been
renovated, receiving new carpeting, paint and furniture.
Scott Hall will house and serve as meeting space for
students participating in the college's new Philip Phelps
Scholars Program, which will focus on issues related to
cultural and racial diversity.
The sculpture department in the De Pree Art Center
has moved into the Old Physical Plant (the northeast wing of
the same building), and space in the "100 East" building on
Eighth Street is being turned into additional classrooms.
A new orange and blue track surface has been
installed on the second floor of the Dow Center, and new
carpeting has been installed on the main floor of the Van
Wylen Library. The "Presidents Room" conference room in
Graves Hall is being remodelled, and a number of laboratory
computers have been upgraded. About two-thirds of the
college's 60 cottages will have been wired into Hope's
central fire alarm system by the end of the summer, with the
remainder to be added next year.
Hope's new academic year will open formally on
Sunday, Aug. 29, at 2 p.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel with
an opening convocation. Dr. Charles Green, who is an
associate professor of psychology and director of the Philip
Phelps Scholars Program, will present the address, titled
"Achieving Success in College: An Education that Endures."
The public is invited to the convocation.
Admission is free.
Green has been a member of the Hope psychology
faculty since 1983. He was named director of the Philip
Phelps Scholars Program in 1998. The program, which debuts
with the new school year, will mix students from a variety
of ethnic backgrounds in a single residence hall, pairing
their living experience with academic and beyond-the-
classroom activities that emphasize exploration of
diversity-related issues.
Green joined the faculty as a visiting assistant
professor, was appointed assistant professor in 1986 and was
promoted to associate professor in 1990. He has taught
courses including introductory psychology, social
psychology, and religion and social behavior, in addition to
leading a research laboratory in social psychology and a
community research practicum.
He was director of the college's Carl Frost Center
for Social Science Research from 1992 through the spring of
1999. From 1993 through the spring of 1999 he directed the
college's educational assessment program, and from 1997
through the spring of 1999 he co-coordinated Hope's general
education program.
From 1994 to 1996, Green chaired the committee
concerned with restructuring the college's core curriculum.
He is a past chair of the college's Campus Life Board, and
is a past advisor to student organizations including the
college's chapters of Amnesty International, Mortar Board
and the Psi Chi honorary society.
He has had scholarly articles in professional
publications including the "Journal of Social Psychology,"
"Review of Religious Research," the "American Journal of
Community Psychology" and the "Journal of Educational
Research." He has made numerous presentations, both on
topics in social psychology and on issues related to
assessment in higher education.
Green is an elder at Fourth Reformed Church, and
involved in a variety of community organizations. He and
his wife Fonda, who is executive director of the Children's
After School Achievement (CASA) program at Hope, have three
children.
He holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and
speech/communications from Trevecca College in Nashville,
Tenn., and a master's and doctorate in social psychology
from the University of Florida at Gainesville. He was a
National Science Foundation Fellow from 1979 to 1982, while
pursuing his graduate degrees.
Residence halls for Hope's new students will open
on Friday, Aug. 27, at 10 a.m. Orientation events will
begin that evening and will continue through Monday, Aug.
30.
Returning students are not to arrive on campus
before noon on Sunday, Aug. 29. Classes will begin on
Tuesday, Aug. 31, at 8 a.m.