Hope College News
2025 May
Graduates Encouraged to Be “People of Hope”
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.
Lauren Hearit Receives H.O.P.E. Award from Graduating Senior Class
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.
Significant Coaching with Matt Rogers Episode #67: Becky Schmidt
Significant Coaching with Matt RogersIn this episode of the Significant Coaching Podcast, host Matt Rogers sits down with Becky Schmidt, the longtime head volleyball coach at Hope College and one of the most respected leaders in Division III athletics.
2025 Apr
Retired Music Professor Robert Ritsema Dies
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.
Acclaimed Biography of Isabella Stewart Gardner Wins National Marfield Prize
The book “Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner” by Dr. Natalie Dykstra, professor emerita of English at Hope College, has received the 2024 Marfield Prize from the Arts Club of Washington.
Five Members of Faculty Retiring at Conclusion of School Year
Five long-time members of the Hope College faculty are retiring at the conclusion of the 2024-25 school year.
What’s Behind The Madness?
Viewpoints RadioWhat started as a second-tier basketball tournament is now a national obsession. We unpack the history, psychology, and spectacle of March Madness
What Tap Dancers Should Consider When Looking at Colleges
Dance MagazineHeather Cornell, assistant professor of dance, speaks on what a student should be asking faculty when researching a dance department.
Hope Student Wins Psychology Research Award
It was Hope College’s sterling reputation for providing students with high-quality opportunities to participate in faculty-mentored research that prompted psychology major Cassie Morse to transfer to the college as a sophomore.
Hope to Present Honorary Degree to Professor Emeritus John Yelding
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.