Calvin Board Wraps May Meetings

May 19, 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY

The 31-member Calvin College Board of Trustees concluded its spring meetings
May 19 on the school's campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The spring meeting is
one of three annual sessions for the Calvin Board. The Board also meets
annually in October and February. The May meeting coincides each year with
Calvin's Commencement ceremonies, which were held this year on May 19 at
VanAndel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids.

Commencement 2007 was one highlight for the Calvin Board of the spring
meetings. This was the 87th annual conferring of four-year degrees (Calvin was
founded in 1876 but granted its first four-year degrees in 1921), a ceremony
that was marked by a stirring Commencement address by Calvin dean for
multicultural affairs Michelle Loyd-Paige. Board secretary Cindi Veenstra says
annually Calvin's Commencement is an extremely moving ceremony for the Board,
culminating, as it does, a four-year journey at Calvin for almost 900
graduates.

At Commencement the Board also witnessed the presentation of Calvin's highest
alumni honor -- the Distinguished Alumni Awards -- to 1971 graduate William
Garvelink and 1974 alumnus Joel Holtrop. Garvelink is the Senior Deputy
Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance in
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In that post he
oversees the major humanitarian operations of the United States government.
Holtrop is Deputy Chief of the National Forest System, overseeing all 155 of
the United States' national forests, including wildlife, range, timber,
watershed, recreation and minerals management.

Veenstra says the Board had a chance to meet with both distinguished alumni
award winners at a special lunch on Friday and was heartened to hear from both
honorees about the importance to their careers of a Calvin liberal arts
education. Both honorees also spoke about how important Calvin faculty had
been in their development, both as students and later as alumni.

In academic business prior to Commencement the Board met with a number of
current Calvin faculty, including approving the reappointment with tenure of
associate professor of nursing Mary Flikkema. It also ratified a number of
tenure-track reappointments: to Denise Isom (eduaction), Daniel Garcia
(communication arts and sciences), Linda Naranjo-Huebl (English) and Gerald
VanKooten (geology). And it ratified several administrative reappointments,
including: Robert Crow (dean of student development), Kathleen DeMey
(librarian), Jane Hendriksma (dean for students for judicial affairs), Sarah
Kolk (librarian), Karin Maag ( director of the Metter Center for Calvin
Studies), Linda McFadden (librarian), John Witte (dean of residence life) and
Michelle Zomer (Broene Center counselor). It also ratified the appointment of
Commencement speaker Michelle Loyd-Paige as dean for multicultural affairs (she
had been serving in that post in an interim capacity).

At a special dinner on Thursday night it celebrated the careers of Calvin
retirees and of this year's Distinguished Alumni award winners. A number of
Calvin professors moved from Calvin into retirement, including: John Beebe,
James Bradley, Daryl Brink, Wayne Joosse, James Korf, Arie Leegwater, Jeffrey
Pettinga, Kenneth Piers, Edward Seely, Calvin Stapert, LeRoy Stegink and Robert
Terborg. The Board also bid an emotional farewell to four of its own members
-- Elsa Prince Broekhuizen, Jack Harkema, Jackie Vanderbrug and Marjorie
Youngsma -- all of whom have completed their terms of service, and recognized
a quintet of Calvin employees -- Henk Aay, Nancy Meyer, Quentin Schultze,
Raymond Slager and Evert Van Der Heide -- celebrating 25 years of service to
the college.

The Board also endorsed a multitude of Calvin research fellowships, 28 in all,
including such esoteric topics as the Nazi party propaganda system, German
pietism, the Ottoman empire in world history, biocatalysts and diesel fuel and
African American women composers, and had a good discussion the morning of
Commencement on Calvin and Reformed distinctives.

NOTE: A separate release will be sent this summer highlighting the new members
of the Calvin Board of Trustees and officers for 2007-2008.

-end-
Received on Sat May 19 19:27:48 2007