Hope College presented awards honoring teaching, service and scholarship to multiple faculty members during the college's annual recognition luncheon on Monday, Jan. 10.

Hope College presented awards honoring teaching, service and scholarship to multiple faculty members during the college's annual recognition luncheon on Monday, Jan. 10.

° Named a "Towsley Research Scholar" was Ernest Cole, assistant professor of English.

° The "Janet L. Andersen Excellence in Teaching Awards" were presented to Tom Smith, who is the Dr. Leon A. Bosch '29 Professor of Management and chairperson of the department, and Jeff Tyler, who is a professor of religion.

° The "Ruth and John Reed Faculty Achievement Awards" were presented to Annie Dandavati, who is a professor of political science and director of women's studies, and Chuck Green, who is a professor of psychology and director of the Philip Phelps Scholars Program.

° The "Academic Computing Advisory Team (ACAT) Innovation Award" was presented to Susan Cherup, who is the Arnold and Esther Sonneveldt Professor of Education.

° The "Provost's Awards for Service to the Academic Program" were presented to Mary Inman, who is a professor of psychology, and David Klooster, who is a professor of English and chairperson of the department.

The Towsley Research Scholars Program is funded through an endowment made possible through a grant from the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation of Midland. Through the program, newer Hope faculty members receive support for a project for four years. The foundation's awards to the college have also included grants for the construction of the Van Wylen Library and the Schaap Science Center, faculty development in the pre-medical sciences and support for an endowed chair in communication.

Cole plans to complete a book project based on his study of post-civil war Sierra Leone. He has been particularly interested in the experience of survivors of the war who had arms, legs or hands amputated by anti-government rebels during the decade-long conflict, which ran from 1991 to 2001, and his work has included interviewing survivors in two of the resultant amputee camps which continue to exist. His research is exploring the way that the amputees' self images are shaped by their injuries, and he argues that it is crucial for them to be provided the opportunity to become functional and re-integrated into society rather than left in the camps in a state of dependency, not only for their sakes individually but for the future of the country itself. "One's perception of the mutilated or amputated body and an understanding of what it signifies is crucial not only to empowerment and liberation but is also a key ingredient in achieving peace, forgiveness and reconciliation," he said.

Even as he is working on the book, he is completing a series of video-based interdisciplinary learning modules based on the project, working in the college's New Media studio with students in the digital humanities and in the Mellon Scholars program at Hope. A three-minute introductory video is included on the video-sharing website YouTube.

Cole is a native of Sierra Leone, where he completed his bachelor's and master's degrees and began his career conducting research and teaching English at Fourah Bay College. At the outbreak of the civil war, he left for The Gambia, where he taught at The Gambia College for a number of years. He subsequently pursued a doctorate at the University of Connecticut; he completed the degree in 2008, the same year that he joined the Hope faculty. He teaches Post-Colonial Literature, with an emphasis on Sub-Saharan Anglophone Africa, the Caribbean and India.

The Janet L. Andersen Excellence in Teaching Awards are presented to faculty members who have been teaching at Hope for at least seven years and who have demonstrated recognizable excellence in specific activities or aspects of teaching. The award is named in memory of Dr. Janet Andersen, a professor of mathematics at Hope who died of injuries sustained in an automobile accident on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2005.

Smith was recognized for his open-door policy and caring approach to working with students in conjunction with his interest in the process of learning. He serves as co-director of the college's London May Term, during which he teaches one of the college's Senior Seminar courses, and from 2001 through the spring of 2005 he was coach of the women's golf team. His research interests include the strategic use of operations management, and the incorporation of biblical principles in management theory and practice. In the fall of 2005, the student body presented him with the college's 10th annual "Faculty Appreciation Award." He has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1993, and was appointed to his endowed professorship in 2006.

Tyler was recognized for combining high expectations and commitment to his studying his academic discipline with commitment to mentoring students and helping them learn effectively. He is director of the college's interdisciplinary Senior Seminar program. His teaching emphasis is on the history of Christianity, particularly during the Middle Ages and Reformation. In 1999, he was one of only approximately 40 scholars nationwide to receive an award through the Fulbright Senior Scholar Program for study and research in Germany during the 1999-2000 academic year. In 2001, the graduating senior class presented him with the 37th annual "Hope Outstanding Professor Educator" (H.O.P.E.) Award. He has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1995, and is a 1982 Hope graduate.

The Ruth and John Reed Faculty Achievement Awards recognize members of the Hope faculty who are superior teachers and have also contributed significantly in some other area of professional life. The award was established in memory of Dr. Ruth Yzenbaard Reed, a 1965 Hope graduate who was associate dean of Macomb Community College. Reed died in August 1999 at age 55.

Dandavati has led or co-led study-abroad programs to nations including Mexico, Chile and Rwanda, and in the fall of 2009 served as the college's exchange professor to Meiji Gakuin University in Japan. Her areas of interest in both research and teaching include comparative politics, Latin American politics, gender and development, and human rights, topics about which she has published and spoken internationally. In 1997, the college's graduating class presented her with the Hope Outstanding Professor Educator (H.O.P.E.) Award, and she also presented the college's Commencement address in 1997. In 2004 she received the college's Multicultural Life Award and Outstanding Hope Woman Award. She also currently serves the college as faculty moderator, and this past fall she was named director of the international studies major. She has been a member of the faculty since 1992.

Green has directed the Phelps Scholars Program since the program began in 1998. His active involvement in the college's academic program has included service in the past as director of the educational assessment program, as co-coordinator of the general education program, as director of the First-Year Seminar program, as director of the Carl Frost Center for Social Science Research and chairing the committee concerned with restructuring the college's core curriculum in the mid-1990s. He also delivered the college's Opening Convocation address in 1999. Green received a Michigan Campus Compact Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award in February 2005. Recognition that he has received from Hope has included being invited to deliver the Opening Convocation address in 1999; the "Provost's Award for Service to the Academic Program" in 2003; the "Vanderbush-Weller Development Fund" award for strong, positive impact on students in 2006; and the "Faculty Appreciation Award" from students in 2006 and 2010. He has taught at Hope since 1983.

The Academic Computing Advisory Team (ACAT) Innovation Award is presented to a faculty or staff member who exemplifies innovation and ingenuity in the application of technology to the academic program. The innovation may have been used in the classroom or out, in teaching or in research, or in any form of academic support or performance.

Cherup has played a leadership role in blending classroom technology into the department of education's curriculum, to help prepare students graduating from the program for its use as professionals. Her ongoing commitment to the effort began with a 1993 sabbatical during which she traveled some 15,000 miles to investigate how schools around the country used technology in the classroom. In 2002, the department received one of only six "Distinguished Achievement Awards" nationwide from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) for "exhibiting exemplary models" for integrating the society's "National Educational Technology Standards" for Teachers. Her publications include the chapter "Technology Integration" included in the 2004 book "Finding our way: Teacher education reform in the liberal arts setting," which was written by the department of education at Hope. She was voted the co-recipient of the college's "Hope Outstanding Professor Educator" (H.O.P.E.) Award in 1988 by that year's graduating class; delivered the college's Commencement address in 1989; and was named a recipient of the college's "Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching" in 1999. A 1964 Hope graduate, she has taught at the college since 1976 and was appointed to her endowed professorship in 2006.

The Provost's Award for Service to the Academic Program is presented to individuals who have provided special contributions to the academic program through student academic support, general education, assessment work, implementation of programs that support/enhance the curriculum, and any activity outside of formal teaching that contributes to the overall excellence of the academic program.

Inman's research is focused on issues related to racism and discrimination, including perceptions of discrimination, stereotype threat and impression formation. She conducts her research collaboratively with students who are majoring in psychology, and her research students have received recognition from Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology, for the quality of their work. In 2000, she coordinated a professional conference at the college that featured presentations by several of the college's alumni who were either teaching or in graduate school and conducting research related to discrimination. She has contributed her scholarly expertise to campus discussions related to racism and discrimination. In addition, she has been actively involved in shaping the work of the college's Human Subjects Review Board, which reviews proposed research projects involving human subjects. She has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1999.

Klooster has been actively involved in the emphasis on writing throughout the curriculum at Hope. He co-oversees the Expository Writing component of the General Education program, and directs the "Writing Corner," a peer-mentoring program for both students and faculty. He has focused on making a difference abroad in addition to his work with Hope students. He co-edited the book "Ideas Without Boundaries: International Education Reform Through Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking," which discusses an effort to help students in formerly communist nations of Central and Eastern Europe to better prepare for democratic life. He has worked with teachers in European nations including the Czech Republic and Armenia, and more recently in Liberia. He has twice held Fulbright awards to teach American literature teaching abroad, in Slovakia in 1992-93 and in Austria in 2005. In 2008, he received the college's "Ruth and John Reed Faculty Achievement Award." He has been a member of the Hope faculty since 2000, and is a past faculty moderator.