The retiring professors are Dr. Janet Meyer Everts, associate professor of religion; M. Linda Graham, the Dorothy Wiley DeLong Professor of Dance; Perry Landes, associate professor of theatre and resident lighting and sound designer; Dr. John Patnott, professor of kinesiology and swimming and diving coach; Dr. Dianne Portfleet, associate professor of English; Dr. Brad Richmond, professor of music; Dr. Steven Smith, professor of kinesiology; Dr. Elizabeth Trembley, associate professor of English; and John Yelding, the Susan M. and Glenn G. Cherup Associate Professor of Education and department chair.  Their combined service to the college totals 280 years.

Janet Meyer Everts

Janet Meyer Everts has been a member of the Hope College faculty since 1985. She is an ordained minister and has served as an elder in local churches. Her scholarly areas of expertise are New Testament Interpretation, New Testament Greek and Charismatic/Pentecostal Interpretation of the New Testament. She regularly teaches courses on the New Testament and The Many Faces of American Christianity. She recently developed a course on Global Pentecostalism as part of the Shalom scholars program and an upper-level biblical studies seminar on Prophecy, Miracles and the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.

Her publications include the book “Pentecostal Theology and the Theological Vision of N.T. Wright: A Conversation,” co-edited with Jeffrey Lamp. She wrote the section on “Philippians” for the “Baker One-Volume Commentary.”  She has also written other book chapters and published numerous articles in The Journal for Pentecostal Theology, Pneuma: The Journal of the Society of Pentecostal Studies, welt-sichten, The Dictionary of Paul and His letters, The Anchor Bible Dictionary and Church History. Her chapter “Pentecostalism 101: Your Daughters Shall Prophesy” in the book “Philip’s Daughter’s: Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership” received an award of excellence in 2009 from the Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship.

Everts’ professional memberships include The Society for Pentecostal Studies, where she chaired the diversity group and is still a diversity mentor; the Society of Biblical Literature, where she helped affiliate SPS with SBL and chaired the first program for SPS at the SBL International Meeting; Chicago Society of Biblical Research; and the Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship, of which she was an inaugural board member in 2006.

She graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A in 1972; she completed an M.A in English at Claremont Graduate School in 1973 and an M.Div from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1977; she received her Ph.D. in Religion from Duke University in 1985.

This May, Everts will co-lead a course,”Faith Under Fire in France,” with Professor Joshua Kraut of the French faculty.

M. Linda Graham

M. Linda Graham has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1983.  She has taught many courses in the Department of Dance, including recently dance history survey, historical social dance, career skills and ballet, as well as Senior Seminars.  She will conclude her academic career with co-leading the college’s May Term in Paris, France, for a second time.

Her activities in the Department of Dance have also included co-founding Aerial Dance Theatre (now H2 Dance Co.), which she co-directed from 1986 to 2005, and serving as director and assistant director of StrikeTime Dance Company, each featuring student dancers.  She also chaired the department from 2004 to 2015.  She received the college’s Provost’s Award for Service to the Academic Program in January of this year.

She has received external recognition including a Michigan Creative Artist Grant; two National Association of Regional Ballet Monticello Awards; the Grand Rapids Ballet “Partners in Dance” Award; a Visitante Distinguido award from the Ciudad de Queretaro, Mexico; the Maggie Allessee New Choreography Award; and the Michigan Dance Association Outstanding Choreography Award.  She has set works on the Joffrey Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company II and the Grand Rapids Ballet, among others.  Her choreography has been produced not only in the United States, but also the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain, Mexico and France.  She also choreographed the opening season of the Emmy Award-winning children’s television program “C’mon Over.”  For the last seven years she has served as an evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Dance, and in 2015 she established the National Academy of Arts archive at the Sousa Performing Arts Library at the University of Illinois.

Graham graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theatre in 1979, and completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in choreography/performance at the university in 1982.  Prior to coming to Hope she was a member of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and DanceMoves.

Perry Landes

Perry Landes came to Hope in 1987 on a one-year contract and started a tenure-track position in 1988. He is a resident lighting and sound designer and has served as interim chair, director of theatre and facilities manager for the Department of Theatre.  He has taught Lighting Design, Theatre Crafts I and II, Stage Management, Introduction to Theatre Practice and Introduction to Theatre (classroom and online), First-Year Seminar, Computers in Music and Encounter with the Arts.

He has been the lighting and sound designer on approximately 150 Hope College Theatre, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre and Department of Dance productions, regularly mentoring Hope students as well.  In addition, he has designed lighting and/or sound for Hope Summer Repertory Theatre; Aerial Dance Theatre; Contemporary Dance; Actors’ Theatre in Grand Rapids; Urban Theatre in Chicago, Montana Repertory Theatre in Missoula; Sumus Theatre in Portland, Oregon; Western Stage in Salinas, California; and Grosso Modo Dance Company in Queretaro, Mexico.  He is also a composer for theatre, having composed music for 18 productions. He has also stage managed for theatre and dance, worked as technical director and acted during his time at Hope.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music, composition and performance from Whitworth College in 1981, and with a Master of Fine Arts degree in design technical theatre from the University of Montana in 1987.  Among other professional activity, he was a member of the United States Institute of Theatre Technology Institute delegation to the Prague Quadrennial Exposition in both 1995 and 1999.

John Patnott

John Patnott joined the faculty, and founded Hope’s swimming and diving program, in 1978, the same year that the Dow Center and its Kresge Natatorium opened.

He specializes in performance exercise physiology for all sports, and his research focuses on lactate production in competitive swimmers.  He initially taught Health Dynamics and activity classes, and after a few years moved into teaching exercise science, with his courses recently including Exercise Physiology and Laboratory, and Science of Conditioning, Strength and Power.  Hope presented him with the college’s Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2003.

During his 39 seasons as Hope’s head men’s and women’s swimming coach, he coached 30 national champions, 122 All-Americans, 43 Academic All-Americans, 20 women’s Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association team champions, and 12 men’s MIAA team champions.

He was named NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year three times by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America: 1998 and 1994 for the women, and 1991 for the men.  The CSCAA presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

Patnott graduated from Fresno State with a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1969 and a master’s degree in exercise science in 1972, and completed his doctorate in exercise at the University of Utah in 1984.

He was an assistant coach at California State University in Fresno while working toward his degree and was a full-time instructor and the head swimming coach from 1972 to 1977. Prior to coming to Hope, he was head coach of the varsity swimming and water polo teams at Bullard High School in Fresno and the advanced team coach of the Fresno Swim Club.

Dianne Portfleet

Dianne Portfleet joined the Hope faculty in 1988.  Her teaching and research specialties are adolescent literature, cultural heritage, Senior Seminars, Freshman Seminars, future studies and all interdisciplinary courses.  She taught May Terms in Rwanda, Africa, during the last three years and will be leading another this year.

She is the author of numerous scholarly articles as well as two books on the work of author and educator Walter Wangerin Jr.  Her son’s purchase of an abandoned copper mine in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan stimulated her interest in the history of mining in Michigan, and resulted in the publication “The History of the Adventure Mining Company from the Ancient Miners to the Present.”  She is also the author of two books on mining geared toward a general audience, “Michigan’s Copper Country” and “Ancient Mining on the Shores of Lake Superior.”

Portfleet co-advised the college’s chapter of the national Mortar Board honorary society from 2002 through 2016.  Across her time with the organization, the chapter received multiple national awards, including being named the top chapter in the country in 2010.  Portfleet was honored twice by the national Mortar Board organization, with an “Excellence in Advising” Award in 2007 and the “Excellence with Advising with Distinction” Award in 2013.  The college’s chapter was renamed the Dianne Portfleet Alcor Chapter in her honor in 2016.

She has also been honored in other ways at Hope through the years.  She won the “Hope Outstanding Woman” Award in 2003, was presented the annual “Hope Outstanding Professor Educator” (H.O.P.E.) Award by the graduating class in 2006 and was the college’s Commencement speaker in 2007.

A 1969 graduate of Pennsylvania State University, Portfleet did graduate work at the University of Georgia and received her Ph.D. from Columbia Pacific University in 1984.  She also taught for 12 years at Grand Rapids Baptist College (now Cornerstone University).

 Brad Richmond 

 

Brad Richmond joined the faculty in 1998.  His teaching specialties are conducting and voice, and as director of choral activities he directed the Chapel Choir and College Chorus as well as the Collegium Musicum.  Under his leadership, the Chapel Choir conducted spring tours across the United States as well as abroad, including to South Africa in both 2009 and 2018.

 He was artistic director of the college’s Christmas Vespers program, which in addition to four services each year is also recorded annually for radio broadcast and filmed every two or three years by WGVU and featured on PBS stations nationwide.

He helped produce multiple compact discs featuring both the Chapel Choir and the Christmas Vespers programs.  He is an active composer whose original works are published by MorningStar Music Publishers and Mark Foster Music Company, and have been performed by the Chapel Choir as well as ensembles elsewhere.

Among other service to the college, he also chaired the A.J. Muste Memorial Committee and coordinated the annual A.J. Muste Memorial Peace Lecture.

Prior to coming to Hope, he was director of choirs at Southeastern Louisiana University.  His presentation of Bach’s “B Minor Mass” won the Gambit Classical Arts award for the best choral performance of 1998 in New Orleans and the surrounding region.  His honors also include a Canada Council for the Arts Conducting Award.  During summers from 1995 to 2000, he was a high school choral director at Interlochen Center for the Arts.

Richmond graduated with a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College in 1985, completed a Master of Music degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1986 and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at Michigan State University in 1992.

 Steven Smith 

Steven Smith has been a member of the Hope kinesiology faculty since 1990, also serving as head men’s soccer coach through the 2017 season.

He has taught many courses in physical-education teacher education, in addition to the department’s introductory Health Dynamics course and a Senior Seminar on faith and calling.  For more than 20 years, he has taken Hope students to do service work at the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf in Montego Bay, Jamaica, during spring break mission trips and May Terms, including next month.  He has also directed the college’s summer soccer camps for young players of a variety of skill levels, the largest such program in the Midwest.

Smith has researched performance and fitness levels in children for several years, with an interest in encouraging healthy behaviors.  His publications include books featuring activities designed to make exercise enjoyable for children.

He became Hope’s coach in 1990 after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Manchester, Indiana. He guided the Flying Dutchmen to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, including a 2011 trip to the national quarterfinals. He was voted the Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 1994 after his Flying Dutchmen posted a 16-2-3 record and made their first postseason appearance.  He led Hope to nine MIAA championships and a league record of 251-92-25, one of three coaches in league history to achieve the 200-win milestone.

He graduated from Grand Rapids Baptist College with a bachelor’s degree in 1982, and completed his master’s degree and doctorate at Michigan State University in 1984 and 1989 respectively.

Elizabeth Trembley

Elizabeth Trembley began teaching in a three-year position at Hope, her undergraduate alma mater, in 1988.  She later served as head of academics and faculty development for Davenport University in Holland for nearly a decade.  During that time, she received leadership and communication training at Disney University and Herrmann International. 

Having held adjunct appointments at Hope in the interim, she rejoined the college’s faculty full-time in 2000.  She taught traditional, hybrid and online courses in narrative, including creative prose, digital works and comics, and helped future teachers learn how to use creative writing in K-12 education.  Through the years her service to the college also included directing the FOCUS and SOAR programs, and coaching college faculty in online pedagogy.

She earned her doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1991, with a focus 20th-century literature, especially mystery and detective fiction.  Her scholarship includes publications on Michael Crichton, film adaptations of novels, women in detective fiction, and pedagogy.  A 1985 Hope graduate, she collaborated with one of her former faculty mentors, Dr. William Reynolds, on two books: as co-editors of “‘It’s a Print’: Detective Fiction from Page to Screen” (1994), and as sub-editors and contributing authors for “The Guide to United States Popular Culture” (2001).  She also contributed to “Great Women Mystery Writers: Classic to Contemporary,” which was nominated for an Edgar Award in 1995.

Her creative work includes both fiction and nonfiction, in a variety of media, notably an award-winning mystery trilogy published under the pen name Josie Gordon.

John Yelding

John Yelding joined the Hope faculty in 1994 after serving as a teacher and administrator in secondary education for 25 years.  His teaching specializations are secondary education, multiculturalism, rural education and urban education.  In 2013, he helped establish the Hope Comes to Watts May Term, which he will co-lead again this year.

In addition to teaching in the Department of Education, he has been part of the team teaching the First-Year Seminar for students participating in the Phelps Scholars Program and directed the American Ethnic Studies minor and Encounter with Cultures course.  Among other involvement at the college, he has also served on the advisory boards of the Phelps Scholars Program and the Hope College TRIO Upward Bound for high school students, and led sessions during the college’s Critical Issues Symposium and Winter Happening events.

Yelding is also a past member of the West Ottawa Public Schools Board of Education, which he served as president.

He received the college’s “Provost’s Award for Service to the Academic Program” in 2009; “Vanderbush-Weller Development Fund” award for strong, positive impact on students in 2011; and “Motoichiro Global Courage Award” in 2016.  In 2003, he received a Michigan Campus Compact “Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award.”

Prior to joining the Hope faculty, Yelding was principal of South Haven High School.  He had also been a junior high school and middle school principal in Coloma, and held teaching positions in South Haven and Covert.  His honors while in secondary education include being named Van Buren County Principal of the Year in 1993.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in 1969, and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Western Michigan University in 1981.

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