Biography
Professor den Dulk has trouble narrowing his focus, and so he’s written on a wide range of ideas and movements, from the great challenges of religious pluralism in western democracies to the nitty-gritty politics of water managers in local politics. True to form, he is currently working on several very different projects, including a three-year grant-funded exploration of the tension between populism and internationalism within evangelicalism, a spatial analysis of state-level resources available to men and women when upon re-entry from prison, and an exploration of the politics of water among agricultural interests in the western United States. He is active in various community-based activities, especially civic education in local schools. He serves on the board of the Michigan Center for Civic Education and the Association for Public Justice.
Hobbies
Gardening, travel, fly fishing, hiking, working on his money pit
Education
A native Californian, Kevin den Dulk earned his bachelor of arts degree in philosophy at Calvin College in 1992. After a brief stint in a corporate law firm, he completed his M.A. in political science at the University of Georgia (1995) and his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin at Madison (2001). In 2001, he took a position in the Department of Political Science at Grand Valley State University, and later added a joint appointment as Honors Faculty-in-Residence. He returned to Calvin as the Spoelhof Teacher-Scholar-in-Residence during the 2011-2012 academic year. From 2012-2019, he served as the Executive Director of the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics and held the Paul B. Henry Chair in Political Science. In 2020, he began his current role at Calvin University, serving as Associate Provost.
Academic Interests
Religion and politics cross-nationally; religious freedom; American politics and policy; public law and courts; political theory
Publications
Research and Scholarship
The Politics of Clean Water
<p><strong>Project Outcome</strong>:</p>
<p>The goals of the project are (1) to apply Christian understandings of distributive justice to the problem of water, and (2) to explore ways that political development can help sustain efforts to get clean water into impoverished regions.</p>
<p>I imagine several outcomes: (1) a solid preparation for the faculty mentor's sabbatical project (2016-17) on water policy; (2) at least one or two occasional pieces for Christian think tanks on water policy, which the student will co-author; (3) the likelihood of faculty-student co-presentation in a panel at the 2017 Henry Symposium that explores Christian approaches to the politics of water; (4) first-steps to preparing a team-taught course that focuses on how the politics of a region shapes the development of water systems, which will benefit the college as a whole; and (5) possibly a seminar on Christianity, environmental justice, and approaches to water in the summer of 2017 or 2018. The Henry Symposium panel and the course would be opportunities for Calvin colleagues and students to learn more about water policy and its connections to other work on development and the sustainability.</p>
<p>This is part of the Civitas Lab, which you can find out more about at: <a href="https://calvin.edu/centers-institutes/henry-institute/programs/civitas-…;
