Julie Wildschut Named Calvin University’s 2026 Professor of the Year
It was a joyful interruption worthy of the honor.
On April 29, students and faculty surprised Julie Wildschut in her classroom with news she didn’t expect: she had been named Calvin University’s 2026 Professor of the Year.
Presented annually by the Student Alumni Association (Knights4Life) through the Alumni Office, the Professor of the Year award is selected by the senior class and recognizes a faculty member whose impact reaches far beyond the classroom.
For this year’s graduates, the choice was clear.
An associate professor and Environmental Sustainability Core Fellow, Wildschut is known for cultivating intellectual curiosity, integrating faith and learning, and investing deeply in students. The award recognizes excellence in teaching, spiritual impact, and concern for students—qualities many students say Wildschut embodies every day.
“Julie Wildschut embodies the very best of Calvin University. She is an extraordinary teacher, a thoughtful scholar, and a faithful mentor who helps students see learning as a calling and engineering as a way to serve God’s world,” said Greg Elzinga, president of Calvin University. “Her passion for her students, creation care, and integrating faith with scholarship makes her richly deserving of this recognition.”
Students who nominated Wildschut describe a professor whose enthusiasm is contagious and whose mentorship has helped shape both vocation and character.
“Professor Wildschut makes her classes so exciting that students want to learn more than just the required material,” one student wrote.
Another added, “Through many engaging learning formats, her classes inspire me to be a better engineer.”
Others praised the way she weaves Christian ethics into technical disciplines like hydraulics and geotechnical engineering, while helping students see engineering as a calling to serve others.
“She helped me find my specific vocation,” one student wrote. “Her passion for engineering is contagious.”
Students also highlighted the personal care she extends beyond academics.
“She cares about all of her students and truly wants everyone to succeed,” another wrote. “She’s always willing to help.”
That care extends naturally from Wildschut’s own work and calling.
Since joining Calvin, Wildschut has helped students explore how engineering can contribute to restoration—of communities, watersheds, and creation itself. Through her work with Plaster Creek Stewards, she has led projects in hydrologic research, green infrastructure, and natural stream restoration, helping improve water systems while modeling engineering as stewardship.
Her teaching reflects that same vision, helping students discover their own relationship to water and how their gifts can bring clean water, healing, and hope to communities around the world.
“I work hard to share my love of Jesus and my passion for engineering, showing students how the work we do as engineers can help build a flourishing world,” said Wildschut. “I’m deeply honored that students recognized that and voted for me. Everything I do is for them, preparing them not only for their careers, but to make a lasting impact through their lives and work.”
For the Student Alumni Association, the award continues a tradition of honoring professors whose influence lasts long after graduation.
For the Class of 2026, honoring Wildschut was a way to recognize someone who helped shape not only what they learned, but who they are becoming.
In a classroom surprise filled with applause, emotion, and gratitude, one thing was unmistakable: Julie Wildschut has made a profound mark on Calvin students.
And now, the students she has inspired have made sure the university knows it.