Culture Task Force

The CTF was charged by President Matthew A. Scogin with design and recommendations which were presented to institutional leadership for implementation. 

Members

• Ellen Awad, Student Development 
• Llena Chavis, Social Sciences, Sociology & Social Work
• Henry Chen, Campus Safety
• Eva Dean Folkert, Public Affairs & Marketing
• Kimberly Frey, Human Resources 
• Jason G. Gillmore, Natural & Applied Sciences, Chemistry
• Vanessa Greene, Center for Diversity & Inclusion
• Lauren Hearit, Social Sciences, Communication
• Trygve Johnson, Campus Ministries 
• Megan Marthens,  Admissions & Retention
• Richard Perez, Arts, Theater 
• Rakesh Peter-Dass, Humanities, Religion 
• Jeff Puckett, Development & Alumni Engagement
• Mary Remenschneider,  President’s Office
• Matthew Scogin, President
• Cady Short-Thompson, Provost’s Office
• Debra Swanson, Sociology & Social Work 
• Theodore Robert, Physical Plant 
• Marla Lunderberg, Humanities, English
• Sonja Trent-Brown, President’s Office
• Jonathan Becker, ThisTeamWorks

Charge

The task force’s work has been conceptualized as having three parts:

• 1. To articulate what we aspire to in terms of an organizational culture (e.g., “Where do we want to be?”).
  2. To do an audit of where we are today (“Where are we now?”)
  3. To help us develop a strategy for getting from where we are today to where we’d like to be (“How do we get from here to there?”)

Recommendations

The work of the CTF, in collaboration with external consultant Jonathan Becker with ThisTeamWorks, culminated in the 18-month Belonging-Understanding-Grace culture approach. The CTF recommended that a new team of culture leaders from across campus be invited to begin the implementation of the approach, and the Culture Action Team leaders emerged.

Belonging-Understanding-Grace Culture Grid

Download a PDF of the Belonging-Understanding-Grace culture grid

Workplace Commitment

Our Workplace Commitment

We are empowered and flourish when we invest in and value one another in our inclusive learning community where all members are grounded in dignity, engaged in diversity, and invited by Christ’s love.

Workplace Values

Excellence with Grace

• We grow through giving and receiving constructive feedback.
• We encourage, support, and celebrate achievement while respecting and affirming the gifts and wellbeing of all employees.
• We invest in opportunities for continuous learning.

Inclusion with Purpose

• We engage difference because it makes us better and stronger.
• We include by acting: listening, inviting, valuing, encouraging and receiving.

Compassion with Discernment

• We care for each other and hold each other accountable.
• We listen and understand before we take action.
• We make courageous decisions with openness, generosity, honesty, transparency and consistency.

Dignity through Empowerment

• We support each other in being recognized and compensated for the work we do.
• We empower every employee to grow and flourish, speak and be heard, and plan and act.
• We remind each other that faith calls us to treat others as we would like to be treated.

Innovation and Inheritance

• We achieve true hope and innovation through diversity, growth, risk and imagination.
• We encourage multiple views of Hope’s heritage and the development of new traditions.

Encouraged by Faith

• We are free to live out our faith in our work and service to others.
  
• We support and respect a range of expressions of faith.
  
• We draw on faith during times of personal crisis or communal loss.

Download a printible version of our workplace commitment 

Developed by and for the employees of Hope College during multiple Culture Works workshops in 2016.