Hope College
Hope College is a medium-sized (3,100 undergraduates), private, residential
liberal arts college located in downtown
Holland, Michigan, a few miles from
Lake Michigan. It was opened in
1862 (received state charter in
1866) by
Dutch immigrants only 15 years after the community was first settled. 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.
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 3,100 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. The book "Colleges That Change Lives" cites Hope as one of 40 "life-changing" colleges that are "outdoing the Ivies and the major universities in producing winners" and describes the college as a place that "raises higher education's moral and intellectual levels." The 2007 "Fiske Guide to Colleges" includes Hope as one of "the best and most interesting institutions in the nation," observing that "While the college has pride in its Christian roots, it also provides a place for the less religious and more liberal. High marks are given to Hope's science programs and student activities, as well as the personalities on campus," and further praising the professors "for their teaching and accessibility." Hope is among 50 colleges recommended by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in its guide "All-American Colleges: Top Schools for Conservatives, Old-Fashioned Liberals and People of Faith,' which notes that "The students and faculty we spoke with confirm that the school walks its talk; Hope College is both academically serious and theologically earnest."
Hope is one of only 10 church-related colleges and universities nationwide highlighted in the book Putting Students First: How Colleges Develop Students Purposefully. The institutions were included specifically for being "individually and collectively distinguished and distinctive in fostering holistic student development."
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 in the sciences alone 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.
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). It has a traditional rivalry with
Calvin College in nearby
Grand Rapids, Michigan which is associated with the similar
Christian Reformed Church. For men's basketball in particular, a 2005
ESPN poll ranked the Hope/Calvin rivalry as the fiercest in
NCAA Division III, and the fourth fiercest rivalry in any
NCAA division. The college has 27 competitive intramural sports teams.
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 its students come from the
Great Lakes region, primarily from
middle-class Protestant backgrounds. It also attracts a modest number of international students. The college has just completed an ambitious $70 million facilities construction program that included the A. Paul Schaap 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. Restoration plans are on the drawing board for historic Graves Hall.
Traditions at Hope include "The Pull", in which freshman and sophomore men (and occasionally, women) 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 have been accused of being sexist institutions, but have strong support among the college community. A dance marathon has been held in recent years to raise funds for a hospital program for children.
Student activities include an 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 weekday chapel services on campus, but attendance has been voluntary since 1970.
|
The Anchor, symbol of Hope College |
Hope's motto is taken from
Psalms 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 student residence hall. It is the second oldest building in the city. The college admitted its first female students in 1878.
*
Pete Hoekstra,
U.S. Representative*
Terri Lynn Land,
Michigan Secretary of State*
Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda, founder of
Slashdot*
A. J. Muste,
pacifist,
labor, and
civil rights activist
*
Sufjan Stevens, musician
*
Carol van Voorst,
ambassador to the Republic of Iceland*
Robert H. Schuller, televangelist, host of
The Hour of Power.
*
Robert A. Schuller, televangelist, son of Robert H.
*
Richard Smalley,*
Nobel prize-winning chemist
*
Guy Vander Jagt,
U.S. Representative* attended but did not graduate from Hope
*
Hope College web site*
Holland, Michigan municipal web site
