Homecoming activities at Hope College will take place on Friday through Sunday, Oct. 14-16, and are expected to bring hundreds of alumni back to campus.
Highlights of the week include a dedication celebration for the college's new Martha Miller Center for Global Communication throughout Friday and Saturday, an exhibition of paintings of the Hope campus, the 28th annual Run-Bike-Swim-Walk on Saturday, a home football game with Wisconsin Lutheran College on Saturday, and reunions for four graduating classes from 1985 through 2000.
Many of the Homecoming events are open to the public.
The dedication activities for the Martha Miller Center for Global Communication will begin on Friday, Oct. 14, at 9 a.m. with a keynote address by Floyd Brady, a 1968 Hope graduate from Chicago, Ill., who is the president and chief executive officer of the Dr. H.B. Brady Foundation. There will be a second keynote address at 1:30 p.m., by Scott Carpenter, a 1987 Hope graduate from Alexandria, Va., who is deputy assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs MEPI (Middle East Partnership Initiatives) with the U.S. State Department. Conversations and panel discussions with alumni of programs in the building are scheduled throughout the day: communication and international education at 10 a.m., multicultural life at 11 a.m., and the department of modern and classical languages at 2:30 p.m. Dr. Betsy Bach, a 1974 graduate who is on the communication studies faculty of the University of Montana, will discuss graduate school and global communication at 11 a.m. The dedication ceremony itself will take place at 12:30 p.m.
On Friday at 3:30 p.m., Dr. Marilyn Aardema of The Proctor and Gamble Company will present the first Gentile Lectureship, "Future Challenges in Science: the Need for
Interdisciplinary Teams" in room 102 of VanderWerf Hall. The lectureship, a divisional
seminar in the natural sciences at Hope, is named in honor of Dr. James Gentile, a former dean for the natural sciences at Hope who is now president of Research Corporation. Aardema is a 1981 Hope graduate and was one of Gentile's research students at Hope.
An exhibition of paintings featuring the Hope campus, painted by art faculty member Bruce McCombs during his fall 2004 sabbatical, will open on Friday, Oct. 14, with a reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The gallery is open Sunday and Monday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and on Thursday from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. The exhibition will continue through Wednesday, Nov. 23.
The "La Estudiantina" musical group of Queretaro, Mexico, will perform on Friday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre.
Hope College Theatre is presenting its first production of the season, "Strider" by Mark Rozovsky, on Friday-Saturday, Oct. 14-15, and Wednesday-Saturday, Oct. 19-22, at 8 p.m. in the DeWitt Center main theatre. Tickets are $7 for regular admission, $5 for Hope faculty and staff, and $4 for senior citizens and students, and are on sale at the theatre lobby box office in the DeWitt Center, which can be called at (616) 395-7890.
The 28th annual Run-Bike-Swim-Walk will take place on Saturday, Oct. 15. Events will include a health fair in the Dow Center from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.; a two-mile prediction walk; a five-kilometer run; ¾-, 3.5- and five-mile criterium bicycling events; and quarter-mile and half-mile swims. Starting times vary for the competitive events, and registration information may be obtained by calling the Dow Center at (616) 395-7690.
The Hope-Geneva Bookstore in the DeWitt Center will be open on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The bookstore will also sponsor a tent staffed by members of the college's Alumni Board and featuring selected Hope merchandise, primarily clothing, at Holland Municipal Stadium on Saturday from 1:30 p.m. through the end of the college's game with Wisconsin Lutheran College.
There will be an alumni lacrosse game on Saturday at 10 a.m., and an alumni soccer game and family picnic on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Buys Athletic Fields.
Activities will continue throughout the day Saturday at the Martha Miller Center for Global Communication. There will be a dedication ceremony at 10:30 a.m. of the Fried-Hemenway Auditorium, named for Dr. Paul Fried, professor emeritus of history, and Dr.
Stephen Hemenway, professor of English, the former and current leader respectively of the college's popular Vienna Summer School. The departments of communication and modern and classical languages and the offices of international education and multicultural life will all hold alumni receptions at 11 a.m., and there will be a reception for international student alumni at 4:30 p.m.
The Alumni H-Club's annual Homecoming luncheon will begin on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at the Maas Center. The club will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first women's MIAA championship teams of swimming and tennis. In addition, the group will present its "Hope for Humanity Award" posthumously to Jon Mark Schoon, a 1963 Hope graduate who died at age 62 on May 17, 2003, as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, a tailgate picnic will be held for alumni, parents, friends and students of the college on the lawn of the DeWitt Tennis Center, located on Fairbanks Avenue near Holland Municipal Stadium. The picnic will include fare such as hot dogs, hamburgers, pasta salad, caramel apples, chips and soft drinks, and live music by Oregon Dreamchild for entertainment until 2 p.m. Tickets may be ordered in advance for $10 each (free for children 10 and under) by sending a check to: Hope College; Alumni Relations; PO Box 9000; Holland, MI 49422-9000 or by credit card by calling (616) 395-7339. Tickets will also be sold on-site for $10 each.
At noon on Saturday, women's soccer will host Albion College at Buys Athletic Fields.
At 1 p.m. on Saturday, the Homecoming parade will leave campus at 13th Street and College Avenue and wind its way to Holland Municipal Stadium.
The men's soccer team will host Albion College on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Buys Athletic Fields.
The Flying Dutchmen will host Wisconsin Lutheran College at Holland Municipal Stadium at 2 p.m. The pre-game show, which begins at 1:30 p.m., will feature the Schoolcraft High School Marching Band, which will also be marching in the parade. Halftime will feature the band; the presentation of the annual "Honorary Professor/Staff Member" award, as chosen by the student body; the introduction of the Homecoming Court; and the crowning of the Homecoming king and queen. In addition, the college's chapter of Mortar Board will be holding a children's book drive at the stadium beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Senior Elizabeth Irvine of Rochester, N.Y., will present her senior percussion recital on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 6 p.m. in Wichers Auditorium of Nykerk Hall of Music.
The award-winning documentary "Shakespeare Behind Bars" will be screened at the college on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre, with an additional screening on Monday, Oct. 17, at 8 p.m. in the Fried-Hemenway Auditorium of the Martha Miller Center for Global Communication. The film centers on a prison program that uses theatre - specifically, productions of William Shakespeare's work - as a catalyst to prompt the inmates to examine their lives. Admission to the screenings is $7 for the general public, and free for Hope students, faculty and staff.
A Homecoming worship service will begin on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 11 a.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel. The service will feature the college's Alumni Chapel Choir and Chapel Choir under the direction of Dr. Brad Richmond of the Hope faculty. The guest preacher will be the Rev. Trygve Johnson, who is the Hinga-Boersma Dean of the Chapel at Hope. Dr. Huw Lewis, professor of music, will be organist.
Reunion-oriented events include a career networking reception for alumni and students Friday evening; and reunion events on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14-15, for the classes of 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000, including an all-class brunch on Saturday and individual class parties.
An exhibition of Japanese ceramics and books, a small portion of the collection donated to Hope by Maurice Kawashima of California, will be on display at the Van Wylen Library from Homecoming through the end of October. The library is open Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m. to midnight; Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 p.m. to midnight.
An orchid show is running in the greenhouse in the college's science center from Monday, Oct. 10, through Thursday, Oct. 20. The science center is open Mondays through Thursdays from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Fridays from 5 a.m. until 6 p.m., and will also be open during the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 15, in conjunction with Homecoming activities at Hope. While not continuously staffed, the greenhouse is generally open from dawn to dusk when the building is open.