Approximately 730 graduating seniors participated in the ceremony, held on Sunday, May 4 at Ray and Sue Smith Stadium.

The Hope College Alumni Association will present Distinguished Alumni Awards to D.J. Reyburn ’99 of Fairview, Tennessee, and Dr. James Serum ’65 of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, May 17, during the college’s Milestone Weekend for alumni and friends of the college.

Hope College will host a unique performance featuring Russian pianist Vyacheslav Gryaznov, showcasing his work with his own G-Phil project, on Wednesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts.

“People of Hope” By Dr. Lauren Hearit Assistant Professor of Management Sunday, May 4, 2025 Ray and Sue Smith Stadium Holland, Michigan

With the members of Hope College’s graduating Class of 2025 about to leave the familiar routine of the school year on Sunday, May 4, Commencement speaker Dr. Lauren Hearit offered a new way of structuring their lives — one guided by hope, even as their time at Hope was drawing to a close.

By the Rev. Dr. Nathan Hart ’01 Hinga-Boersma Dean of the Chapel Sunday, May 4, 2025 Dimnent Memorial Chapel Holland, Michigan

Dr. Lauren Hearit, assistant professor of management, has received this year’s Hope Outstanding Professor Educator (H.O.P.E.) Award from the graduating Class of 2025.

Hope College has received 2024 Tree Campus recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation, the seventh year in a row that the foundation has honored Hope for its dedication for enhancing community well-being through tree education, investment and community engagement.

Jasmine Lowell, who is the international education coordinator with the Fried Center for Global Engagement at Hope College, has been named the 2025 recipient of the college’s annual Vanderbush-Weller Award for having a strong, positive impact on students.

The 16 members of the Hope faculty and staff retiring across 2024-25 have devoted nearly 450 combined years to helping make the college the living and learning community that has shaped young lives for generations.

Dr. Robert Ritsema, a 1957 Hope graduate who was a member of the college’s music faculty for 32 years before retiring in 1999, died on Monday, April 21, 2025. He was 89.

The latest book published by the Van Raalte Press of the A. C. Van Raalte Institute at Hope College, “Present, but Not Counted: Dutch-Immigrant and Second Generation Midwives Working in Dutch Colonies in the United States, 1840-1940,” spotlights a group of women that author Janet Sjaarda Sheeres discovered were rendered all but invisible by their times even as they played an invaluable role during them.

Baccalaureate and Commencement for Hope College’s Class of 2025 are scheduled for Sunday, May 4. Commencement will take place at 3 p.m. at Ray and Sue Smith Stadium, and Baccalaureate will take place at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. in Dimnent Memorial Chapel.

Original research by Hope students on topics ranging from the foraging efficiency of sparrows, to the effect of high-tempo music on sprint swimming, to anti-immigrant violence in the United Kingdom, to Don Quixote and social media will be highlighted during the college’s annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity on Friday, April 11, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Richard and Helen DeVos Fieldhouse.

Hope College will present an honorary degree, the Doctorate of Humane Letters (LHD), to retired education professor John Yelding during the Commencement ceremony for the Class of 2025 on Sunday, May 4, at Ray and Sue Smith Stadium.

Filmmaker Curtis Chin, author of “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir,” will present the 2025 Asian Heritage Lecture at Hope College on Tuesday, April 8, at 3:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts.