Provost's Office

Hope Lingo

ASC	Academic Success Center (formerly Academic Support Center) — second floor of Van Zoeren Hall, room 261; offers group help sessions, peer tutoring, study skills and time-management workshops
ACAB	Academic Affairs Board
ADAB	Administrative Affairs Board
Academic Computing Committee	Meets monthly to support and promote the use of technology in teaching and learning.
Anchor	Student newspaper; appears on Wednesdays; available in Martha Miller, library, and online at anchor.hope.edu.
attendance	Hope College does not have an attendance policy; if you do, it’s important to include on your syllabus (e.g., if a student gets As on tests and papers but never comes to class, is the grade affected?). It’s important to notice when students don’t attend — no matter their year in school. If you have concerns about a student’s attendance, phone the Registrar’s Office at x7760. Sometimes a nudge can help students get on track. When we don’t follow up, students may assume attendance doesn’t matter. If you are concerned about student safety or health, please contact the CARE Team using the form on their website. If a student is absent more than three days and has notified Student Development, you’ll get e-mail about the absence. The e-mail neither verifies nor gives permission for the absence; it’s simply a notification. If a student reports working with Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), it’s not possible to confirm unless the student signs a release (CAPS encourages profs to ask for this release). The release allows you to confirm attendance, not to know what happens in sessions.
B-Lite	blite.hope.edu — an on-line dashboard utility where advisors can see grades, photos, scholarship and other information for their advisees.
BSC	Bultman Student Center
CAPS	Counseling and Psychological Services
CARE	Coordinated Assistance Resource and Education (CARE) team is a multidisciplinary group of staff members who meet regularly to identify, monitor and, if necessary, provide support for students in an integrated fashion. This support is focused on the academic and personal success of the student as well as the safety of the campus community. If you have concerns about a student, fill out the Concerning Behavior Report which is then routed to the CARE team.
CASA	Children’s After School Achievement, a community program at Hope, directed by Fonda Green, that pairs Hope students with at-risk elementary students to provide tutoring.
CIT	Computing and Information Technology (in Durfee Hall); they run a help desk (7670) from 8 till 5 to handle questions about e-mail, word processing, software of all sorts, entering mid-term and final grades, and lots more. Their Technology Room Finder can show you the technology available in each classroom on campus.
CRC	Christian Reformed Church; a sister denomination of the Reformed Church in America; Hope was founded by the Reformed Church in America, not the CRC.
Day1	Day1 is an academic program for first year students interested in gaining new skills, addressing real-world problems and making a difference beginning their first day on campus. The program provides research or design opportunities for first year students in science, engineering and math. Some include a residential component.
Dance Marathon	Dance marathon is a year-long philanthropic student effort that culminates in a 24 hour dance-a-thon each spring. Money raised supports Helen DeVos Children's Hospital.
Digital Media Lab	On second floor of VanWylen Library, the Digital Media Lab offers training for software, help with spread sheets, training with scanners, digital cameras, PowerPoint, trouble-shooting files, etc. Equipment ranges from office computers to high-tech and expensive. It’s open when the Library is open.
Division III	Hope is a Division III college in all sports; no athletic scholarships are awarded at D-III schools.
degree evaluation	Available to students and their advisors via plus.hope.edu, this system helps students and advisors track progress toward degree, explore requirements of majors/minors, and develop four-year plans.
drop/add	Students can drop/add without penalty [no grade on transcript, no billing] until generally the second Wednesday of fall and spring semesters. Students need signatures of instructors of classes they want to drop and of classes they want to add, and an advisor's signature. If you’ve reached your course enrollment limit, you CAN refuse to sign an add slip; if you sign the slip, you give permission for the student to enroll — even if your class limit is exceeded.
e-mail	All students, faculty, and staff have Hope accounts; you can make a class distribution list in plus.hope.edu.
EMS	Event Management System - Use to reserve rooms and catering for events on campus.
FACES	Fostering a Community of Excellence in Science. FACES is a peer mentoring program for underrepresented science students starting their freshman year. The purpose of the program is to facilitate positive connections and relationships at Hope. Anna Bonnema is the director.
FAR	Faculty Activity Reporting allows faculty to enter their faculty data and accomplishments once for multiple uses, thus saving faculty time. FAR collects syllabi and faculty activity information for use in accreditation, annual reviews, departmental reviews, tenure and promotion processes, and reporting to other departments across campus such as Public Affairs and Marketing and the Office of the President. Hope College uses Digital Measures by Watermark to track faculty activity. If you used this system at another institution, contact FAR administration at far@hope.edu and Watermark may be able to directly import your data from your previous institution into the Hope College system. You may also use FAR to create a customized CV.
Faculty Moderator	Faculty omnibus-person elected to a two-year term. You may submit (anonymous or signed) questions and concerns to him/her; he/she’ll raise with appropriate person and read Q and A at faculty meeting. The moderator (elected by the faculty) helps determine agenda of faculty meetings.
FYS	First Year Seminar; a 2-credit requirement for all first- year students in the fall semester.
GenEd	The general education (liberal arts) part of the degree, also called the core. There are three (slightly different) cores: for BSN; for B.M.; and the most commonly-followed for A.B. or B.S.
GLCA	Great Lakes Colleges Association — A consortium of 12 liberal arts colleges located in Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Members are Albion, Allegheny, Antioch, Denison, DePauw, Earlham, Hope, Kalamazoo, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio Wesleyan,Wabash and Wooster.
Greek life	Eight sororities and eight fraternities (all but two are local), 20–30% of student body are members; a small-scale pledging happens in fall; a large-scale one in spring.
Half-semester classes	Since 1998, we’ve had a few classes that meet for only 7.5 weeks — these are indicated in the online schedule by an A (first half) or a B (second half) following the section number.
InHOPE	The college intranet (in.hope.edu). Campus news and events, safety updates, campus directory and links to common campus resources — great to check first thing in the morning. Public Affairs and Marketing maintains it.
the Jack	Nickname for the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts
Klooster Center for Writing and Research	The Klooster Center is located on the first floor (southeast corner) of VanWylen Library and provides trained writing mentors for students. Great resource for students and faculty.
MIAA	Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association — the oldest collegiate conference in USA. Members are Adrian, Albion, Alma, Calvin, Hope, Kalamazoo, Olivet, St. Mary’s and Trine.
midterms	Grades given about half-way through the semester. Sometimes they reflect about half students’ final grade; more often, they don’t. Grades are available to students online. Midterms are not part of students’ permanent record, but are an indication of how things are going in class. It’s good to talk with students about what your midterm grades represent (and don’t represent) and what suggestions you have for those who are not happy with their midterm grade.
Moodle	Moodle is an open-source course management system (CMS) – many faculty use it for grade book, syllabus, readings, blogs, etc.
Nykerk	Contest between 1st- and 2nd-year women involving song, play and oration; during Family Weekend.
pass/fail	Open to those who have earned at least 24 credits (sophomore status) for one course a semester, not in core, major or minor; “pass” is awarded for any grade but “F.” Professors are informed only at student’s request.
PIC	Professional Interest Committee — two members from each division plus the faculty moderator represent faculty concerns to administration; minutes distributed via email.
Phelps Scholars	Phelps Scholars is a one year residential, academic and social activities program for first year students. These students from a broad range of cultural backgrounds explore issues of diversity together, preparing to be leaders in a global society.
plus.hope.edu	Used for a variety of secure tasks at Hope College, including signing off on timecards, accessing course schedules and class lists, checking on transactions for any Hope College funds you manage, viewing your pay stubs, and submission of midterm and final exam grades. Note that you will not receive paper copies of class lists. Instead, you’ll access them at plus.hope.edu. If your class list is not accurate, let the student (or the Registrar’s Office) know. You’ll find addresses, phone numbers, photos and emails for your students; you can create distribution lists and files for spreadsheets.
the Pull	To call this a “tug-o-war” would be to call the World Cup a scrimmage. First-year (usually) men (coached by juniors) take on sophomores (coached by seniors) across the Black River, pits are dug, moralers (first-year/sophomore women) are selected. Practices last for hours over the course of weeks.
RCA	Reformed Church in America; the denomination that founded Hope College and with whom Hope maintains a relationship.
SAC	Student Activities Committee — sponsors movies, dances, social events; many are open to faculty.
Senior Seminar	Capstone class to the liberal arts, a 4-credit requirement for all seniors.
SHARP	Summer Hope Academic Research Program. Hope College has a robust summer research program. Students from all divisions work with faculty on academic research. The student funds are often paid by outside granting agencies or internal funds such as the Nyenhuis Development Grant. Summer programming typically includes opportunities to share research and collaborate with other students, ice cream socials, and faith and scholarship breakfasts. SHARP also refers to the online system used to process student applications and hiring. The system is typically accessed by students in December through February as a recruiting/application tool, by office managers and faculty February through April as a hiring tool, and by campus housing, campus safety and human resources in April and May to onboard students for the summer.
SOAR	Spring Opportunity for Academic Recovery. Program for students to meet with academic advisors weekly to discuss their academic habits. Advisors serve as coaches to cheer students on in their successes and to remind them of best practices in striving for academic success; advisors also contact professors throughout the semester, checking whether students' perception of their course progress is consistent with a professor's perceptions.
withdraw	In general, if students drop a full-semester class after the second Wednesday of the semester, they are awarded a grade of “W;” this grade appears on their transcript; Hope has no “WP” or “WF” [withdraw passing; withdraw failing]; signatures of advisors and instructors are needed for students to withdraw from a class. Students have until the 10th week of the semester to withdraw from a class.