Hope College has received a new grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. that will fund efforts to help young adults find a sense of belonging and purpose in the churches they attend after college.

Dr. Pablo Peschiera, associate professor of English at Hope College, will present the college’s 2024 Hispanic Heritage Month Lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 4 p.m. in the Maas Center auditorium.

Dr. Chris Avery, a 2005 Hope College graduate who is chief of staff for the National Climate Assessment at the U.S. Global Change Research Program, will present the address “How Do You Make an Informed Decision in a Changing World?” on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 5:30 p.m. at Hope in Schaap Auditorium of the Jim and Martie Bultman Student Center.

The storied life of the founder of Boston’s famed Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will be the focus of an illustrated lecture at Hope College on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 5:30 p.m. in Winants Auditorium of Graves Hall by Dr. Natalie Dykstra of the English faculty, whose recent biography of Gardner has been receiving national acclaim.

This year’s Indigenous Peoples’ Lecture Series at Hope College will feature the documentary, “Warrior Lawyers: Defenders of Sacred Justice,” which is a one-hour documentary about Native American role models, nation rebuilding and tribal justice. The film will be shown on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m. in the Knickerbocker Theatre.

The documentary film “Undivide Us,” which explores both the impact of toxic polarization and a route for moving past it, will be shown at Hope College on Monday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m. in the Knickerbocker Theatre in downtown Holland.

Dr. Lee Forester, professor of German, has been appointed as the next Vienna Summer School director and will serve a three-year term beginning in 2025.

An evening of “Family Math Fun” at Hope College on Monday, Oct. 7, will feature games designed to show that mathematics doesn’t need to be scary or a chore. In fact, as the name makes clear, it can be fun — for all ages.

This year’s community-wide Big Read Lakeshore and accompanying programs for younger readers organized by Hope College will pair a mainstay of American literature classes that is nearing its centenary with more recently published books, including two graphic novels and a children’s picture book, to explore the timeless weaving of identity, societal expectations and personal goals.

The Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Hope College and the Ottawa County Road Commission are partnering to trap and study roadside litter entering storm drains. Equipment was provided by the charitable arm of the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR) in the United States, the CGLR Foundation, through a grant to Hope College thanks to generous funding from Michigan-based Dart Container Corporation, a leading manufacturer of sustainable beverage and food packaging solutions.