McGregor Fellows
Calvin College senior Katie Lynch (left) is one of ten students selected to work this summer as a paid Calvin research assistant. The student McGregor Fellows will partner for 10 weeks with a Calvin faculty member on a graduate level research project. At the end of the summer each student will have earned a $3,000 stipend and a wealth of practical experience.
This will be the second summer for the Calvin program. But the Detroit-based McGregor Fund began seeding such programs at other schools back in 1962 already. And since that time The McGregor Fund has awarded over $7.5 million to private liberal arts colleges in Ohio and Michigan. It now awards five grants of $100,000 every year. The goal is to make summer research projects as common in the humanities and the social sciences as they are in the sciences.
"Last year we didn't really know what to expect," said Calvin professor of English Dean Ward, who coordinates the program. "It went better than expected. It really was an affirmation of how good our students are."
Calvin Academic Dean C. Stephen Evans (above) agrees. "I went to the final project presentations (last year) and was really impressed," said Evans, who chairs the McGregor Fellows Committee.
Communication Arts and Sciences Professor Quentin Schultze worked last summer with a McGregor Fellow. Together he and his student researcher got a lot done. "If I had somebody like my student every summer, I could probably double the amount I published," said Schultze. A main benefit of the program for students is preparation for graduate school. Schultze told his McGregor fellow that she could complete her own dissertation using the research skills she learned.
Ward agrees. "These students get into the research and the relationship with faculty that's often five years into your Ph.D. work," he said. That's just one of the reasons he's excited to be getting his own McGregor Fellow this year.
Ward and senior Phil Christman will work together on a project called "Developing a Multi-Rhetorical Approach in Writing Centers." Christman, who works in Calvin's Rhetoric Center, said: "It's almost a cliché that our society is becoming increasingly visual -- and illiterate. I want to understand what that means about where we as a people are headed and what I can do as a Christian thinker in response."
There were 30 students who applied for this year's 10 Fellowships. Those students come from 20 eligible disciplines (Calvin has almost 90 majors and programs) ranging from Archaeology to English to History to Philosophy.
The other students and projects are:
Junior Krista Betts of Highland Park, Ill., will work with English Professor Charles Pollard about the transnational nature of literature for her fellowship.
Garth Beavon of Jamestown, Mich., and Emily Zomermaand of Lafayette, Ind., will research "Stigma in the European Welfare State" with Economics and Business Professor Kurt Schaefer. "I saw a McGregor Fellowship as a wonderful opportunity to spend my summer learning and working in close contact with a professor in Calvin's economics department," said Beavon, who is considering studying economics in graduate school.
Junior Lise Evans of Grand Rapids will work with Communication Arts and Sciences Professor Bill Romanowski on a project titled "Protestants and the American Cinema." She said: "I applied for the fellowship because really want to sharpen my research skills for grad school and I knew this would be really meaningful way to do it."
Kristin Kuiper's fellowship is with Sociology Professor Beryl Hugen. Kuiper will study how to integrate spirituality into end of life health care. "I am interested in clinical therapy work and also in community development. This project brings my two interests together as I participate in developing a therapy model for hospice patients," said Kuiper, a social work major from Highland, Ind.
Katie Lynch (pictured above), a senior German and philosophy major at Calvin, sees working with Communication Arts and Sciences Professor Randall Bytwerk on a project about German propaganda as a learning opportunity. "I have spent a lot of time in Germany learning the language, experiencing the culture, and learning about its history, and I was excited for the opportunity to use this knowledge and these skills," said the Grand Rapids native.
Junior Kate Schramm will be working with History Professor James Bratt on a project titled "Critics of Revivalism in Antebellum America: An Anthology." The research will focus on those who were against the Protestant revival in the 1800s. "The fellowship is good experience to have, especially in consideration of what graduate school would be like," said the Plymouth, Ind., native.
Joseph Stubenrauch of San Rafael, Ca., also found a topic that interested him. He will be working with Mark Williams, who teaches classical languages, on an interactive web Site about Classical Mythology. "I could not pass up a chance to work with one of my favorite professors on a project that combines two of my main interests: computers and the classical world," he said.
Christy VanArragon of Nepean, Ont., will work with Political Science Professor Corwin Smidt on a project of the religious vitality among Christian Reformed Church parishioners. "I am interested in the ways Christians interact with the church and faith to form opinions about the world around them," said VanArragon.