Hope College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
Hope College |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Motto | Spera in Deo : "Hope in God" |
| Established | 1866 |
| Type | Private coeducational liberal arts |
| Endowment | $126.5 million (FY 2005) [1] |
| President | James Bultman |
| Staff | 250 |
| Undergraduates | 3,200 |
| Postgraduates | 0 |
| Location | Holland, MI, USA |
| Campus | Suburban, 91 acres (0.4 km²) |
| Athletics | 18 varsity teams |
| Colors | Orange and Blue |
| Nickname | Flying Dutchman Flying Dutch |
| Website | http://www.hope.edu/ |
Hope College is a medium-sized (3,200 undergraduates), private, residential liberal arts college located in downtown Holland, Michigan, a few miles from Lake Michigan. It was opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants only 4 years after the community was first settled. (The first freshmen college class matriculated in 1862, and Hope received its state charter in 1866.) It has been historically associated with the Reformed Church in America, and it retains a conservative Calvinist Christian atmosphere. The school's campus - now 91 acres (368,000 m²), adjacent to the downtown commercial district - has been shared with Western Theological Seminary since 1884.
Since 1999, Hope has been led by current president and alumnus Dr. James Bultman.
Contents |
[edit] Academics
The college offers 83 majors leading to a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Science, or Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. It has a student population of about 3,200 and a student-to-faculty ratio of 13:1.
In 2003 U.S. News & World Report's college rankings listed it 4th in undergraduate research after the University of Michigan, Stanford University, and MIT. Graduates applying to medical and dental schools have 90% and 94% acceptance rates, respectively. As of 2006, it is the only liberal arts college in the country to receive national accredidation in all four areas of the fine arts: art, music, dance, and theater. It is in the top 5% of liberal arts schools whose graduates go on to earn a PhD. In addition, U.S. News & World Report in 2006 included Hope among the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the nation.
Hope College faculty rank fourth nationally among all liberal arts institutions for numbers of faculty research publications and 14th overall for highest impact of those publications as measured by the Science Citation Index. Since 1990, more than 300 undergraduate students have co-authored research publications with faculty.
The college offers off-campus study programs in several US cities, including Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, and overseas programs for the summer, semester, or an entire academic year. Among its international programs, a long-standing summer semester in Vienna is fairly popular among students.
Hope College is a member of the Great Lakes Colleges Association.
[edit] Athletics
Hope College competes in the MIAA conference, and is a Division III member of the NCAA. It fields 18 men's and women's varsity teams. In 2005, Hope began use of a new 3,400-seat field house, and it shares a 5,000-seat football stadium with the city of Holland. In 2006, the women's basketball team won the National Championship in its division, the second in school history.
Hope has won the MIAA All-Sports championship more than any other member school. Winners of the All-Sports championship 20 times since 1980, Hope has won the honor a league-leading 28 times, including the 2005-06 school year. In 2005-06 Hope athletes and/or teams qualified for 12 NCAA championships.
The school's athletic teams are called the Flying Dutchmen (men) and the Flying Dutch (women). The school colors are blue and orange (possibly chosen because the Dutch royal family is the House of Orange-Nassau). The college has 27 competitive intramural sports teams.
National Championships:
- 1990 - Women's Basketball (NCAA Division III)
- 2006 - Women's Basketball (NCAA Division III)
National Runners-up:
- 1994 - Women's Swimming and Diving (NCAA Division III)
- 1995 - Men's Swimming and Diving (NCAA Division III)
- 1996 - Men's Basketball (NCAA Division III)
- 1998 - Men's Basketball (NCAA Division III)
Club Team National Runners-up:
- 2003 - Men's Ice Hockey (ACHA Division III)
[edit] Campus Life
Housing is provided by 11 residence halls, 15 apartment buildings, and 72 houses (called "cottages") that the college owns near the campus. A small percentage of students - mostly juniors and seniors, and Holland residents - live off-campus. The majority of Hope students come from the greater Great lakes region- in 2006 approximately 90% of the student body came from the states of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.[1]. Approximately 91.5% of the student body is white, students from minority backgrounds account for about 6.5% of the student body. Approximately 2% of the student body is international.[2] The college has just completed a $70 million facilities construction program that included the A. Paul Schaap Science Center (formerly the Peale Science Center), the Martha Miller Center for Global Communication, and the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse. Construction was completed in time for the 2006-07 school year on an addition to Cook Residence hall and a $3 million renovation to the academic building Lubbers Hall.
Traditions at Hope include "The Pull", in which freshman and sophomore men engage in an elaborately prepared three-hour tug-of-war across the nearby Black River. This event was started in 1897.
The Nykerk Cup is a competition between freshman and sophomore women, in music, drama, and oration, held annually since 1936. Both Nykerk Cup and the Pull are routinely accused of being sexist institutions, but nevertheless have strong support among much of college community.
Student activities include Dance Marathon, FM radio station (WTHS), newspaper (The Anchor), literary magazine (Opus), and yearbook (Milestone), plus a variety of clubs, musical & choral groups, spiritual, literary, social and athletic groups. About 10-12% of students belong to social fraternities and sororities, which are local to Hope rather than chapters of larger organizations. The college holds Sunday evening worship services ("The Gathering") and Monday/Wednesday/Friday chapel services on campus. Attendance at these events has been voluntary since 1970.
There is also a student-run concert series, with recent performances by Switchfoot, Mat Kearney, Ben Kweller, and Aqualung.
The Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series regularly brings in prominent authors for free public readings. Previous visiting writers include David Kirby, Marilynne Robinson, and Li-Young Lee, amongst many others. The Series was recently renamed in honor of poet and professor Jack Ridl, who founded the tradition in 1982. It is a student-run organization under the coordination of professor Carla Vissers, with a number of volunteers and student interns.
[edit] History
Hope's motto is taken from Psalm 42:5: "Spera in Deo" ("Hope in God"). The college's emblem is an anchor. This is drawn from a speech made by Albertus van Raalte, the leader of the community, on the occasion of the founding of the Pioneer School in 1851: "This is my anchor of hope for this people in the future," (an allusion to Hebrews 6:19). The primary-level Pioneer School was later expanded to secondary, and soon after, college level education as Hope College. Van Vleck Hall, which originally housed the Pioneer School, is the oldest building on campus (1858) and now serves as a dormitory. It is the second oldest building in the city. The college admitted its first female students in 1878.
[edit] Notable alumni
Pete Hoekstra, U.S. Representative
Jim Kaat,* 25-year Major League Baseball pitcher
Terri Lynn Land, Michigan Secretary of State
Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda, founder of Slashdot
A. J. Muste, pacifist, labor, and civil rights activist
Robert A. Schuller, televangelist, son of Robert H. Schuller
Robert H. Schuller, televangelist, host of The Hour of Power.
Richard Smalley,* Nobel prize-winning chemist
Sufjan Stevens, musician
Guy Vander Jagt, U.S. Representative
Carol van Voorst, US ambassador to Iceland
Rachel Reenstra, host of Ms. Adventure on Animal Planet.
* attended but did not graduate from Hope
[edit] External links
| Great Lakes Colleges Association |
|---|
| Albion • Antioch • Denison • DePauw • Earlham • Hope • Kalamazoo • Kenyon • Oberlin • Ohio Wesleyan • Wooster |
