Former Calvin College physics professor Vernon J. Ehlers introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives honoring former Calvin president William Spoelhof. House Resolution 91 concludes with the words: “Resolved, That the House of Representatives honors the life of Dr. William Spoelhof and his outstanding devotion and service as a member of the military, teacher, and professor, president, and friend of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.” Ehlers, a U.S. Congressman from Michigan, spent three years at Calvin as a student before earning his undergraduate degree in physics and his doctorate in nuclear physics from the University of California at Berkeley. He taught at Calvin for 16 years.
NEH Award for Romanowski
Communication arts and sciences professor William Romanowski has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support six months of research for a book on American Protestants and the movies. Romanowski said the book will explore “the struggle of two dynamic American institutions over the possession of cultural power and the function of entertainment.”
Van Reeuwyk Honored
Jo-Ann Van Reeuwyk, a professor of art, was honored with a Michigan Campus Compact (MCC) Community Service-Learning Award. The award recognizes the numerous ways in which she integrates service-learning into her art education courses, through which her students have collaborated with everyone from the Grand Rapids Public Schools to the Kent County Correctional Facility. MCC, of which Calvin is one of 43 members, exists to “promote the education and commitment of Michigan college students to be civically engaged citizens.”
Smith Earns ICS Honor
David Smith, director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning at Calvin College, has been named the 2009 Worldview Lecturer for the Toronto-based Institute for Christian Studies (ICS). Smith, who earned a master’s degree at ICS, will offer a series of public lectures at a variety of venues throughout 2009, including Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Sioux Center, and Grand Rapids. The series is sponsored by ICS, the Kuyers Institute, and Calvin’s graduate programs in teacher education.
—Calvin News
