Dr. Charles Green of the Hope College faculty has been named recipient of the college's seventh annual "Vanderbush-Weller Development Fund" award for strong, positive impact on students.

Dr. Charles Green of the Hope College faculty has been named recipient of the college's seventh annual "Vanderbush-Weller Development Fund" award for strong, positive impact on students.

The award recognizes and supports the efforts of Hope faculty and staff who make extraordinary contributions to the lives of students. Green will be recognized during a luncheon held on Friday, May 5, in conjunction with the spring meeting of the college's Board of Trustees.

Green, a member of the Hope faculty since 1983, is a professor of psychology and director of the college's Phelps Scholars Program and First-Year Seminar program.

"Dr. Green is genuinely committed to each student," said Dr. Richard Frost, vice president and dean of students at Hope, whose office coordinates the award, which is presented based on nominations from the campus community. "He works with them to help them become the best they can be intellectually, spiritually and as whole people."

He was appointed director of the Phelps Scholars Program in 1998. The Phelps Scholars Program is an academic program for first-year students interested in learning about issues of race and culture. They take one course together each semester, live in the same residence hall, participate in discussions and workshops, take part in service projects and engage in various social activities.

He has directed the First-Year Seminar program since 2002. Established in 1997, the program is designed to provide an intellectual framework for pursuing college with an emphasis on class discussion that is geared toward making the students become active participants in their learning. Every Hope student enrolls in one of the seminars during his or her first year at the college. In the fall of 2005, Hope offered some three dozen First-Year Seminars on a variety of topics.

Green was director of the college's Carl Frost Center for Social Science Research from 1992 to 1999. His active involvement in the college's academic program has included service in the past as director of the educational assessment program and as co-coordinator of the general education program, and chairing the committee concerned with restructuring the college's core curriculum in the mid-1990s. He delivered the college's Opening Convocation address in 1999.

He was on the planning committee for the first Ottawa Area Summit on Racism. He has volunteered with several local organizations and agencies, including the Greater Holland United Way, the Holland Public Schools and the City of Holland, and is actively involved in his church, New Community Fourth Reformed Church.

Green received a Michigan Campus Compact (MCC) Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award in February 2005, and in January 2003 received a "Provost's Award for Service to the Academic Program" from the college.

The "Vanderbush-Weller Development Fund" was established in honor of longtime Hope professor and football coach Alvin Vanderbush, who retired in 1972 and died on Feb. 20, 2005. It was created by Ken and Shirely Weller of Pella, Iowa. Ken Weller is one of Vanderbush's former players and also a former Hope faculty colleague.