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As part of Trinity’s commencement ceremonies on May 4, Provost Aaron Kuecker Ph.D., honored the emeritations of two faculty members: Thomas R. Roose, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Physics and Science Education; and Michael Vander Weele, Ph.D., Professor of English.

Dr. Thomas Roose

Roose received his Ph.D. in 1982 and his M.S. in 1975 from Stanford University and his B.S. from the University of Illinois in 1974. Before joining the faculty of Trinity, he taught at Chicago Christian High School for six years and worked in the public and private sector for more than 20 years, including for ARCO Oil and Gas Co., the Gas Research Institute, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. He has one patent, many trade secrets, two books, and more than 25 technical publications to his credit.

Roose’s emeritation proclamation cited his “significant academic formation along with several decades of professional preparation to teach all of the courses of the physics minor, the Foundations physical science courses, and courses in science education.”

It also pointed to his service as Chair of the Physics Department since the inception of the position; providing leadership and advocacy for his discipline, including successfully developing the minor in physics; his creative work with institutional partners to develop the Engineering 2+2 program, including formal partnerships with the University of Illinois – Chicago and Geneva College; his expertise and wisdom to multiple campus and faculty committees including CESAG (Campus Ecological Stewardship Advisory Group), Teacher Education Committee, FLUTE, and an HLC committee; his tireless advocacy for wise stewardship of God’s creation on campus, at his church, and in the broader community; his leadership of interim courses to Costa Rica to study rainforest ecosystems; and his faithful contributions to First United Methodist Church of Downers Grove, and the community through leadership in advocating for Christian environmental stewardship, his hours given to Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS), and his involvement with his church choir.

Dr. Michael Vander Weele

Vander Weele ’73 joined Trinity’s faculty in 1986. He has served the College as English Department chair, director of professional development, and co-founder of OPUS.

His emeritation proclamation stressed his commitment to scholarship, teaching, and service that has “shared his love of literature and language with the Trinity Christian College community, continually encouraging the College community to worship the Triune God through the radiance of words.”

Among his many contributions, Vander Weele served as a chief architect of the English department through curricular innovations that include apprentice-style courses modeled on the British tutorial method; planted numerous clusters of trees throughout the grounds, and designed a garden and curved brick path in the green commons south of Groot Hall in memory of Albertena Vander Weele; cultivated the community through collaborative writing projects with students, such as the published books Tasteful Diversity: The Stories Our Foods Tell and Voices of Redemption; organized the “End of Life Care” conference, the Edward Vander Weele Educational Lecture Series, and the annual Freshman Lecture event; produced a long career’s worth of scholarly publications, most notably on “the hospitable text,” the fiction of Marilynne Robinson, and the theology of John Calvin; served as an annual lecturer for the Association of Reformed Institutions of Higher Education; as member of the Advisory Council for the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the Ines and Calvin Seerveld Arts in Society Fund, and the national CCCU Faculty Development Board; shepherded students across the years, guiding many toward flourishing careers in literature and language; made his home an extension of campus: often hosting faculty reading groups in his living room and hosting yearly backyard barbecues for English students; and been a persistently encouraged mentor, a supportive colleague, a wise problem-solver, and a good friend to many on campus, leading in word, life, and deed.

The 2019 Faculty and Staff Luncheon continued the annual tradition of honoring those who serve the College, including for milestone anniversaries.

“Those being recognized add up to 270 years of service to this great institution,” said President Kurt D. Dykstra, who emceed the event in the Grand Lobby of Ozinga Chapel. “This is amazing and exciting to see.”

Faculty and staff recognized for years of service include:

25 Years

Sharon Robbert, Professor of Mathematics & Department Chair

20 Years

Josh Lenarz, Head Coach-Women’s Soccer

Aron Reppmann, Professor of Philosophy & Department Chair

15 Years

Bob Brickman, Head Coach—Track and Cross Country, Campus Safety Office Student Coordinator

Denise Coleman, Director of Financial Literacy Development

John Fry, Professor of History & Academic Dean

Mark Hanna, Associate Vice President for Student Life & Athletics; Athletics Director

Derrick Hassert, Professor of Psychology

Shari Jurgens, Assistant Professor of Physical Education & Department Chair

Dolores Juris, Executive Assistant to the Provost

Kathy Laning, Student Records Coordinator

Debbie Wiltjer, Bookstore Assistant

10 Years

Cini Bretzlaff-Holstein, Associate Professor of Social Work & Department Chair

Justin Huisman, Head Coach-Baseball

Anmarie Humenik, Financial Aid Specialist

Nadine Iwema, Student Account Representative

Becky Starkenburg, Vice President for Student Life

Keith Starkenburg, Professor of Theology

Mike Trochuck, Controller

Along with milestones, other recognitions included:

Catherine Yonker Award

Nicole St. Victor, Director of Multicultural Engagement, was named the recipient of this year’s Catherine Yonker Award, which is given every year to two students and one faculty or staff member for contributions toward accomplishing Christian race relations, and cross-cultural understanding within the Trinity community.

Staff Member of the Year Award

Laura Dávalos, Director of the Office of Learning Services, was the recipient of the inaugural Staff Member of the Year Award.

Eight Trinity students, along with Dr. Clay Carlson, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, took a road trip from Palos Heights to suburban Atlanta last month to present their research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

The NCUR 2019 conference, held at Kennesaw State University, brought together students and faculty from around the country in an event that supports and promotes high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship.

The stellar caliber of work and dedication of Trinity students and faculty was clearly on display at the conference, Carlson said. Several of the Trinity presentations attracted so much interest that people were lined up to learn more. “Our student presentations looked great,” he said.

The students who presented were:

— Larissa Brumlow Music and National Identity in Ecuadorian Pasillo

–Casey Wiegers and Abigail Lammers: Bacteriophage and Their Prey in Chicagoland Area Waterways

–Marie Sonnenburg and Laura DeVries: Can Changes in Gut Microbiota Impact Function and Make Differences in Conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder?

–Marie Sonnenburg and Amber Shoberg: Transfer between Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Cardiac H9c2 Cells

–Jenna Van Der Pol, Olivia Otte, and Jessica Grevenstuk: The Effect of Perceived Mutability on Racial System Justification

Carlson also expressed his gratitude for the generous support of those in the Trinity community who have made attending the NCUR conference possible. “It’s an extraordinary accomplishment to be selected to present, and attending these types of conferences offers our students invaluable experiences,” he said. “We are grateful for all the encouragement our students receive that makes this possible.”

Troll Nation has a lot to cheer about this post season!

The baseball team has earned a berth in NCCAA World Series and members of the women’s team Advance to the NAIA national track and field competition.

The World Series takes place May 22-25 and the track and field events will be held May 23-25.

NCCAA Baseball World Series

The Trolls earned their spot by claiming the NCCAA North Central Region Championship. Trinity’s 6th-seeded team is competing in pool play in a field of 10 at JB “Red” Owens Sports Complex.

The Trolls will take to the field:

• May 22 at 9 am CDT vs Warner University (FL)
• May 22 at 6 pm CDT vs Bluefield College (VA)
• May 23 at 9 am CDT vs College of the Ozarks (MO)
• May 24 at 12 pm CDT vs Randall University (OK)

The semifinal round begins May 24. Check out tournament pairings, results, and livestream here!

NAIA Women’s Outdoor Track & Field National Championship

Four members of the women’s track and field team will compete at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium in Gulf Shores, Ala., starting on May 23: Madelyn Clausen in the high jump and Megan DeWeerd, Hope Fathman, and Nicole Syverson in the marathon.

DeWeerd, Fathman, and Syverson will compete on May 25 at 5 am CDT. Clausen competes on May 25 at 1 pm CDT.

You can follow all the action on the NAIA website here.

And of course, we’ll be sharing all the latest developments through the Athletics Twitter feed!

Go Trolls!

Congratulations to Madelyn Clausen ’21, the 2019 NCCAA women’s national high jump champion!

Clausen won with a jump of 5 feet, 5 inches at the NCCAA National Championships held at the Bernard and Linnie Key Track and Field Complex on the campus of Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind. from May 9-10.  She was named to the All-American list, along with Megan DeWeerd ’19, who had a third place finish in the 5000 meter with a time of 18:23.08.  For the men’s team, Caleb DeWeerd ’21 earned All-America honors with a third place finish in the 1500 meter. He finished with a time of 4:00.56.

The athletes were part of the women’s and men’s teams that faced national-level competition at the three day meet, which featured competitors from 25 schools across the country. The Trolls competed in 19 different events and placed in 13 events. Overall, the women’s team scored 42 points and was seventh of 22 teams. The men’s team scored 14 points for a 16th place finish of 25 teams.

Along with Clausen and DeWeerd’s performances, the women also had two fourth place finishes with Allie Boss ’22 in the 800 meter and Boss, DeWeerd, Nicole Syverson, and Brittany Hoekman in the 4 x 800 meter relay. Olivia Hoekstra had a strong race in the 400 meter and took fifth place. The team picked up points in four events with sixth place finishes. Those competitors were Hope Fathman in the 3000 meter steeple-chase, Taylor Yanke in the javelin, and Muabon Paye, Olivia Hoekstra, Carissa Wisse, and Clausen in the 4 x 100 meter relay and the foursome of Wisse, Alexis VanRyn, Val Hoekstra, and O. Hoekstra in the 4 x 400 meter relay.

Other points for the men came from Nick Heidinger in fifth place in the 3000 meter steeple-chase and Kyle VanderPlaats in seventh place in the 10,000 meter. In addition the 4 x 800 meter relay team of Ryan Mathes, DeWeerd, Andrew Dobrescu, and Brantley VanOverloop took seventh place.

Four women will be competing at the NAIA National Championships on May 23-25 at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium in Gulf Shores, Ala.: Clausen in the high jump and DeWeerd, Syverson, and Fathman in the marathon.

With a double-header victory over Hannibal-LaGrange University of Hannibal, Mo., on May 11 in the NCCAA North Central Region Championship, Trinity advances to the NCCAA World Series on May 22-25 in Easley, South Carolina!

The top-seeded Trolls faced Hannibal-LaGrange in a double-header of seven inning games before home-team fans at Schaaf Fields. The first game needed two extra innings before the Trolls took a 4-2 win on a walk-off home run. In the second game Trinity shut-out the Trojans with a 5-0 final.

Through the first three innings of the first game Trinity did not give up a hit and allowed only two runners on base.  The Trolls had a runner on base in each of the first two innings, but first got on the scoreboard in the third inning. With bases loaded Jake Tholl singled to left field to drive in two runs that gave the team a 2-0 lead.

Trinity threatened to score in each of the following innings of regular play and left bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth. In the top of the fifth the Trojans connected on three hits to score two runs to tie the game. When neither team broke the deadlock after seven innings the game went into extra play.

The eighth inning was scoreless and, despite two hits by Hannibal-LaGrange, so was the top of the ninth. With one out and one runner on base in the bottom of the ninth, Chris Baker set a ball over the right field fence for the two-run walk-off homer that gave the Trolls the 4-2 win.

Trinity ended the game with nine hits and Hannibal-LaGrange had seven. Baker had three hits and Sam Herzog had two. Dan Vos pitched the first seven innings and Bryan Vanderlee stepped for the win with the final two innings.

The second game had plenty of action on the base path in each inning, but after four the score was still 0-0.  Herzog doubled to start off the top of the fifth inning and eventually scored on a throwing error to put the Trolls on the board. In the following inning the Trolls registered three hits, of which two were bunts, and scored four runs to take a 5-0 lead. Ryan Stejskal singled for one RBI and, with bases loaded, Herzogsingled for two more runs. The next run came in on a fielder’s choice from Baker.

Hannibal-LaGrange, the home team on the scoreboard, got a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth, but did not score. They were three up and three down in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.

The Trolls registered 12 hits for the game and the Trojans had five. Herzog led the team with three hits while Will Kulcher and Stejskal each had two.  Christian Howell threw the first five innings for the win and Mike McIntyre finished the game.

Trinity will be in a field of 10 teams at the NCCAA World Series. More information on that national championship will be released as other regional play is completed. Click here for NCCAA region tournament results.

Trinity business major Mady Zula ’21 was “surprised but excited” when she and her team of seven students from Chicago-area colleges took first place in Ernst & Young (EY)’s Diversity Challenge at 1871, Chicago’s technology and entrepreneur center. Her team’s winning concept centered on an app they designed to solve a real-world problem for global professional services firm EY: how to attract a more diverse job applicant base.

Zula and 12 other Trinity students took part in the event, held April 5 and 6 at 1871 headquarters in Chicago’s historic Merchandise Mart.

The competition challenged more than 100 students from other Chicago area colleges and universities. Zula learned about the competition through Trinity’s Fusion 59 entrepreneur club, and was attracted by the opportunity to network with other business majors. But she admits to being intimidated at first, because she was the only Trinity student on her team, which also included students from Loyola University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, DePaul University, and the University of Chicago.

But intimidation soon turned to excitement as she and her teammates began analyzing the issue at hand.

“EY is already doing a great job with diversity,” she said. That made the project more challenging. Teams had 24 hours to brainstorm solutions and develop a presentation to the panel of EY judges in a “Shark Tank”-style concept pitch.

Zula’s team built their solution around a prototype mobile application that was designed to encourage undergrad applicants age 18-25 from diverse backgrounds to apply for jobs at EY and prepare them for an interview. The proposal included a home page, logo, and a detailed rollout plan.

App users earn points at different stages of usage, from signup to taking quizzes and participating in workshops offered by EY. The app also enables student applicants to upload their resumes and communicate directly with EY staff through email. “We wanted the app to be similar to LinkedIn, but be specific to EY,” Zula said.

During the judging process, she and her teammates discovered that all of the other teams had similar ideas of how EY could broaden applicant diversity, but none had developed an app and a solid plan to launch it. In fact, her team laid the groundwork so well that EY could actually launch the app in real life, she said.

Team collaboration was important, and members were grouped by major. Zula’s team included tech, marketing, and management majors, so all disciplines were represented.

The days were long: The Saturday brainstorming session ran from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the Sunday pitch session from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. But although it was “extremely exhausting,” it was also “a lot of fun,” and the team format made it easy to form strong friendships with her fellow teammates.

Zula double majors with management and marketing, and events like the 1871 experience are helping her to learn what she’s good at and what’s fun for her. “It was an incredible weekend! I learned a lot and was able to connect with other students in Chicagoland,” she said.

Along with Zula’s team winning the overall title, Soraya Limon ’20, a social work major, participated on a team that won its division.

The 1871 team was also impressed with what participating students brought to the table. “Our entire community cannot stop raving about their tremendous efforts, knowledge and eagerness to get involved with the tech and entrepreneurship communities here in Chicago,” said Jessica Childress of 1871.

Trinity Students from a range of majors participated in the EY Diversity Challenge in April

Nolani Schnabel- Entrepreneurial Management

Emily Schmidt- Accountancy

Mady Zula-Marketing

Josh Olson-Marketing

Mike Melody-Biblical Studies

Pat Hogan-Marketing

Dan Reiling- Computer Science

Ariel Love-Psychology

Kailah Price-English

Alec Visser-Computer Science

Joseph Wagner- Computing

Kynasia Hughlett- Communication Arts

Soraya Limon-Social Work

Thanks to the faithful generosity of two dedicated donor families, Trinity will be able to grow our nursing program facilities and enrollment for the future.

“Trinity has been blessed by two significant gifts from the family of George and Agnes DeJong and another donor family who wishes to remain anonymous. Both families have been touched by past interactions with Trinity’s nursing program,” said Rick Van Dyken ’83, Vice President for Advancement. “We are grateful that they have felt the call to give back to today’s students, and to those who will carry on Trinity’s tradition of nursing with Christian excellence.”

The expansion is scheduled to be completed next summer, in time for the beginning of Fall 2020 classes. Under the nursing program expansion plan, the entire first floor of the Classroom Building will be reconfigured to include an additional new simulation lab, observation room, and a welcome center/study space for nursing students.

“These gifts will allow us to add critical lab space to be able to expand the use of simulation for hands-on experience, and provide new areas for interaction between students and faculty,” said Nursing Department Chair and Associate Professor of Nursing Tina Decker, D.N.P. “At Trinity, we focus on preparing our nurses for a world that needs them, and the nursing program expansion will allow us to grow our tradition of Christian nurses.”

Trinity’s nursing program, which is ranked among the top BSN program in Illinois by RegisteredNursing.org, is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. For three of the last four years, 100% of Trinity BSN graduates have passed the NCLEX-RN exam the first time they have taken it. Learn more about Trinity’s Nursing Program here.