Calvin College is a leader in Academic All-America awards, the national honor given to student athletes who excel both in the classroom and in competition. Since 2000, Calvin has had 49 Academic All-Americans, eighth-best among all NCAA and NAIA institutions. Calvin is the only Michigan college or university represented in the top 15, which includes such schools as Notre Dame, Penn State, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Calvin College is considered a “Top Up-and-Coming School” by U.S. News & World Report, fifth in that category this year, up from 14th a year ago. That ranking, and several others for the college, are part of the 2010 edition of America’s Best Colleges. “Top Up-and-Coming Schools” are those that U.S. News said have recently made the most promising and innovative changes in academics, faculty, students, campus or facilities—schools that are “firmly focused on improving the job they’re doing today.” Calvin also tied for 17th in the category of “A Strong Commitment to Teaching.”
Calvin geography professor Deanna van Dijk and chemistry professor Crystal Bruxvoort received a National Science Foundation grant of $185,003 for “First-Year Research in Earth Sciences (FYRES): Dunes.” The project will develop a Calvin geosciences course in which first-semester students learn science while researching Lake Michigan coastal dunes.
The Calvin College music department has received continued accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) for the college’s bachelor-of-arts in music program and earned final accreditation for its bachelor-of-arts in music education program. Music department chair Bert Polman noted that the current Calvin Fine Arts Center renovation project was a plus for accreditation, as it addressed concerns NASM had about practice and private teaching space.
Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation, a new book by Calvin philosopher James K.A. Smith, received a four-star review in Christianity Today. In the book Smith calls for a temporary moratorium on the notion of worldview. Reviewer Eric Miller, a professor of history at Geneva College, writes, “Now, from the very fountainhead of the Dutch Calvinist stream, Smith intends to disrupt what has become business as usual and push the evangelical academy hard on its fundamental sense of identity.”
—Calvin College Communications
