Calvin College

Calvin College, one of the largest Christian colleges in North America, is internationally recognized as a center of faith-anchored liberal arts teaching and scholarship. At Calvin, students discover a distinctive blending of Reformed Christian worldview and academic inquiry.

What’s New

Calvin moved up one spot in its category in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings, ranking second among 108 comprehensive colleges in the Midwest.

Calvin’s newest building, the Vincent and Helen Bunker Interpretive Center, received two prestigious environmental awards. A gateway to the Ecosystem Preserve, the Bunker Center includes composting toilets, recycled “gray water,” an abundance of recycled materials, windows that open automatically, and a photovoltaic array on its roof for solar power.

Since 1876 Calvin has been pondering what it means to teach, learn, and think in a Christian way. The new Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning provides a focal point for such thinking. The Institute was launched in 2005, with David Smith as its first director. Endowment funding came from Milt and Carol Kuyers, both 1956 graduates.

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, English professor Gary Schmidt’s new novel for young adults, was named both a 2005 John Newbery Honor Book and a 2005 Michael L. Printz Honor Book.

In honor of Calvin president emeritus Dr. William Spoelhof’s 95th birthday on Dec. 8, the college held a campus-wide celebration of his life and legacy. Spoelhof was president of Calvin from 1951-1976, a tenure that included the move from Franklin Street (site of the current Grand Rapids Public Schools administration buildings) to the Knollcrest campus, which at the time was farmland along a two-lane road.

Calvin professor of science education and physics Jim Jadrich was named the 2005 winner of the Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching, the college’s top teaching honor.

Shirley Roels, director of Calvin’s Lilly Vocation Project and senior Kari Slotsema completed a survey on the shortage of clergy in Protestant and Catholic church groups across the United States and Canada. The survey was funded by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.

From April to August Calvin hosted the exhibit Petra: Lost City of Stone. Calvin was one of only three U.S. stops for this major traveling museum exhibition.

A team of senior engineering students spent the school year designing and building a small mill that farmers in Kenya and other countries can use to increase productivity when harvesting amaranth, a broadleaf plant with high nutritional value. Brian Katerberg, Kristin De Groot, Dan Schrik, and Andy Vander Moren worked with volunteers from Hillcrest Christian Reformed Church and CRWRC.

With renewed funding from Indiana-based Lilly Endowment Inc., the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship awarded almost $700,000 in Worship Renewal Grants to 54 churches and organizations for projects designed to enrich and transform worship. To date, nearly 50 Christian Reformed congregations have received worship grants.

Commencement 2005 featured President George W. Bush as the speaker and honored the 875 graduates, who were sent out to become agents of renewal in God’s world. The ceremony included the presentation of the Distinguished Alumni Award—Calvin’s highest alumni honor—to Edwin Bos and Carol Yonkers Bos, both 1968 graduates, and to Richard Katte, a 1958 graduate.

Website: www.calvin.edu
800-688-0122 or 616-526-6142

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