Hearing loss, Hope College’s first 150 years, lessons from long-lived companies, the world’s precarious water resource, a new way of screening for chemicals recommended for discontinued use, and an interfaith initiative with the federal government during World War I will all be featured during the annual Hope College Winter Happening on Saturday, Jan. 23.
Winter Happening will feature multiple seminars in two blocks in the morning, a luncheon featuring musical entertainment, and a home men’s basketball game with Kalamazoo College. Open to the general public, the event is sponsored by the college’s Division of Public Affairs and Marketing.
Admission to the seminars is free. There is an admission charge for the luncheon and the basketball game.
The morning will feature six seminars, three at 9:30 a.m. and three at 11 a.m. The 9:30 a.m. seminars are “A Quiet World: The Wonders of Hearing and Hearing Loss,” “Water: Precious, Precarious, Problematic, Perplexing, Promising” and “Protestants, Catholics and Jews in World War I America: The 1918 United War Work Campaign.” The 11 a.m. seminars are “Using Nuclear Science to Influence U.S. Public Health Policy,” “Hope at 150: How Rocky Was the Road to Success?” and “Lessons from Century Club Companies: Managing for Long-Term Success.”
“A Quiet World: The Wonders of Hearing and Hearing Loss” will draw on personal experience
and psychological science to explain and demonstrate the psychology of hearing and
the realities of humor and hearing loss. The presentation will also describe user-friendly
assistive technologies, including the hearing loops that, across America, are doubling
the functionality of hearing aids and cochlear implants. The presentation will be
by Dr. David Myers, a professor of psychology whose avocation is supporting Americans
with hearing loss; he has received multiple awards for his efforts, which include
the Hope-hosted hearingloop.org, and is on the Advisory Council of NIH’s National
Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
“Water: Precious, Precarious, Problematic, Perplexing, Promising” will consider the
international, domestic and local challenges that have resulted from humankind’s treatment
of the world’s water supply, reflecting an observation by former United Nations Secretary
General Boutros Boutros Ghali that water would “be more important than oil this century.”
The seminar will also explore signs that some of the responses to the challenges provide
hope that things may be changing for the better. The presentation will be by Dr. David
Van Wylen, who is dean for the natural and applied sciences and a professor of biology
and has regularly taught and spoken about water.
“Protestants, Catholics and Jews in World War I America: The 1918 United War Work
Campaign” will highlight the first national cooperative campaign involving Catholic,
Jewish and Protestant organizations working together with the federal government,
a successful effort to raise funds for wholesome entertainment and recreation activities
for U.S. servicemen during World War I. The seminar will examine how the campaign
illustrates the changing nature of religion in the United States during the early
20th century as well as the complicated relationship between church and state during wartime.
The presentation will be by Dr. Jeanne Petit, professor of history, who has studied
the campaign with a team of Hope students through a collaborative student-faculty
research project.
“Using Nuclear Science to Influence U.S. Public Health Policy” will explore how Hope
researchers developed a non-destructive, rapid analysis technique that detects per-
and polyflourinated alkyl substances (PFAS) and ways that the testing is shaping efforts
to eliminate the chemicals’ use. The seminar will also review the recent creation
of a start-up company, UMP Analytical, to take advantage of a distributed network
of academic labs to provide a commercial testing service. The presentation will be
by Dr. Graham Peaslee, who is the Elmer E. Hartgerink Professor of Chemistry, Schaap
Research Fellow and professor of geology/environmental science and co-leads the college’s
nuclear research group; and Evelyn Ritter, a 2015 Hope graduate and mechanical engineering
major who was active in entrepreneurship programs as a student and has since played
a leadership role in the start-up.
“Hope at 150: How Rocky Was the Road to Success?” will feature reflections by three
of the authors involved in a comprehensive history of Hope being written in conjunction
with the college’s 2015-16 sesquicentennial commemoration. Dr. Jacob Nyenhuis, who
is co-leading the initiative, will give an overview of the entire project and highlight
key discoveries about the college’s history. Dr. Dennis Voskuil will present pithy
insights into the relationship between the college and the Reformed Church in America,
and Dr. Elton Bruins will give a summary of his approach to creating a list of alumni
of distinction. Nyenhuis retired this past fall as director of the college’s A.C.
Van Raalte Institute, and is provost emeritus and professor of classics emeritus at
Hope; Dr. Dennis Voskuil is the current director of the A.C. Van Raalte Institute
and is the retired president of Western Theological Seminary as well as a former member
of the Hope religion faculty. Dr. Elton Bruins was the founding director of the A.C.
Van Raalte Institute and is retired from the Hope faculty as the Evert J. and Hattie
E. Blekkink Professor Emeritus of Religion.
“Lessons from Century Club Companies: Managing for Long-Term Success” will discuss
management practices at companies in Japan and the United States that have survived
for more than 100 years, when the average age of companies today is 12 to 15 years
and less than one half of one percent of U.S. companies have lasted for more than
a century. The seminar will also explore what practices today’s companies might consider
implementing if they want to live for the long term. The presentation will be by Vicki
TenHaken, who is a professor of management and the Ruch Director of the college’s
Baker Scholars Program.
Also on Winter Happening Saturday, the De Pree Art Center and Gallery will be featuring the exhibition “440,” an exhibition of work by faculty member Billy Mayer running from Monday, Jan. 11, through Thursday, Feb. 11. The gallery is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
In addition, the Kruizenga Art Museum, which opened in September, is featuring its ongoing inaugural exhibition, “Past Present East West: Highlights from the Permanent Collection.” The museum is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.
In addition to being required for the luncheon, advance registration is recommended for the seminars. Additional information may be obtained by calling the college’s Division of Public Affairs and Marketing at (616) 395-7860 or online at hope.edu/winterhappening.
Registration during the morning of the event will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Haworth Inn and Conference Center, located facing College Avenue between Ninth and 10th streets.