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Trinity’s Social Work Department recently welcomed the newest inductees to the College’s Phi Xi Chapter of Phi Alpha, the national honor society for social work.

As Dr. Allison Tan, Ph.D., assistant professor of social work, said during the ceremony, member of Phi Alpha agree to recognize and encourage scholastic schievement among the students who are majoring in social work; improve and further the goals and objectives of social work by encouraging objectivity and awareness of current developments and practices in the various fields of social work; and further these goals by stimulating research in preparation for a career in social work.

Honorees:

• Karlyn Boens
• Mallory Boes
• Mallory Boyce
• Mikayla Cairo
• Michael Carthage
• Emily Groelsema
• Tiffany Henderson
• Haley Hoffman
• Faith Moore
• Vanessa Murillo
• Francesca Strolia
• Daisy Vazquez
• Nicole Wiegers
• Kylie Wilson

“These candidates have been elected by this society on the basis of their scholarly achievement and interest in social work,” said Tan. “I congratulate them and welcome them into the Phi Xi Chapter of the Phi Alpha Honor Society.”

Trinity also inducts an honorary member into the chapter. This year’s honorary member is LaVon Engbers ’99, a Trinity graduate who has served on the Social Work Department’s advisory group and as a guest lecturer at the College.

Trinity was honored to welcome Dr. Derke Bergsma, one of its first professors, back to campus for Chapel last week. In a wide-ranging interview with Trinity President Kurt Dykstra, Bergsma recalled teaching Latin 201, the very first class at Trinity,  hours after the old Navajo Hills Golf Course ceased operations. Bergsma also shared memories of Trinity founder Dr. George DeJong, who passed away on April 8 at age 100 and gave a reading from his newest book, “Monday Through Friday in the Word.”

You can view the entire interview here.

At Trinity, we bring a Christian perspective to everything we do, which allows for lifelong learning, community-focused decision making, and a strong sense of calling and vocation. In that spirit, Trinity recently hosted an interdisciplinary Conference for End of Life Care on April 16.

The conference, which brought together different perspectives from nursing, social work, philosophy, chaplaincy, psychology, and other fields, was designed to deepen attendees’ understanding of and responsibility for end of life care and, when possible, to think against the grain of contemporary customs.

The conference concluded with keynote addresses from nationally recognized experts Farr A. Curlin, MD, Josiah C. Trent Professor of Medical Humanities and co-director of the Theology, Medicine and Culture Initiative at Duke Divinity School, and Gilbert Meilaender, senior research professor at Valparaiso University and the Ramsey Fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture.

At Trinity, students with a passion for the sciences have exceptional access to modern lab facilities, small class sizes, and dedicated faculty. That provides research opportunities that aren’t available in many other places—and it means that our students are presenting rigorous research at several prestigious conferences in April.

Those conferences include:

• National Conferences on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), April 4-7, Edmond, Okla. Accompanied by Dr. Mike Bosscher, Ph.D., assistant professor chemistry, Trinity students will present three projects at NCUR this year.  Morgan De Ruiter will present research, conducted with Santana Alexander Caicedo and Emily Philips and sponsored by Dr. Clay Carlson, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, on “Monsters in the Water: Antibiotic Resistance in the Chicago Area Waterways.”The purpose of this research was to determine the population diversity and resistance mechanisms of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in urban waterways in the suburbs of Chicago. Addison Van Weelden and Jacey Dolence, sponsored by Dr. Robert Boomsma, Ph.D., professor of biology, will present “Urban Waterways: Effect on Hatching Enzymes in Zebrafish.”The purpose of this research was to study two different waterways, the Cal-Sag Canal and the Navajo Creek, alongside of a control (tap water), to see what factors affect the hatching enzymes in Zebrafish eggs.Larissa Brumlow, sponsored by Dr. Mark Peters, Ph.D., professor of music, will present “Feminism, Folk, and Freedom.” Her research explores how women in history have used folk music as a platform to support feminist ideals and women’s rights.

  NCUR, established in 1987, is dedicated to promoting undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity in all fields of study by sponsoring an annual conference for students.

• Student Symposium of the Associated Colleges of the Chicagoland Area, April 14, Lisle, Ill. Casey Weigers and Abby Lammers, working with Carlson, presented on “Comparing Bacteriophage Populations in Chicagoland Area Waterways.”The goal of the symposium is to give eligible students of ACCA schools the opportunity to present their research to their peers.
• Experimental Biology 2018, April 21-25, San Diego Cara Horstman, Laura DeVries and Marie Sonnenburg, with Carlson, will present “Bacteria, Brains, and Behavior: Gut Microbes and Their Effects on Regulation of Gene Expression in the Brain.”The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between the microbiota of the gastrointestinal system, behavioral characteristics related to Autism Spectrum Disorder, and relative gene expression of miRNAs in the brain. This research utilizes BALB/c mice (a mouse strain that demonstrates low sociability) as a rough model for ASD and C57BL/6 as a control group of mice.

Experimental Biology is the annual meeting of five societies comprised of more than 14,000 scientists and 25 guest societies.

Trinity’s community came together on April 10 for OPUS! At Trinity, OPUS is one of the biggest events of the year. It’s where everyone at the College spends an entire day together celebrating Christian scholarship and seeing all the work and achievements of students in different departments and concentrations.

From the arts to the sciences to music to nursing, students showcase their best work during OPUS. For the second year, Trinity also hosted Admitted Students Day on OPUS.

“OPUS is an amazing way to celebrate excellence in student learning,” said Dr. Sharon Robbert, Ph.D., professor of mathematics and chair of the OPUS Committee.

Literary Arts Competition Winners

Fiction

1st Place: Indira Escalante, “Emma Goes to the Market”

2nd Place: Sarah Kliora, “Polar Opposites”

Non-Fiction

1st Place: Denise Hallstrom, “My Momma Says I’m Special”

2nd Place: Deborah Fry, “Centers for Improvement and Information Transmission”

Poetry

1st Place: Jessica Slinkman, “Snow Day”:

2nd Place: Jessica Slinkman, “Five Senses”

Awards in Music

Instrumental

1st Place:  Benny Munoz, guitar, “Flight of the Bumblebee” by Rimsky-Korsakov

2nd Place:  Hannah Slager, French horn; Kate Meyrick, piano, “Romance” by Saint-Saens

3rd Place: (tie)  Gabrielle Lenting, violin and Ivy St. John, piano, “Sonatina, op.100” by Dvorak; Rachel Walby, piano “Summertime” by Gershwin

Vocal

1st Place:  Aaron De Boer, baritone, “Vergen, tutto amor” by F. Durante

2nd Place: Breanna Eissens, mezzo-soprano, “Silent Noon” by R. Vaughan Williams

3rd Place:  Matthew Meyrick, tenor, “Create in Me” by F. Mueller

Art & Design Winners

Graphic Design

1st Place: Mariah Nelesen, “Limetta”

2nd Place: Yeonji Choi, “Endangered Animals”

3rd Place: Jessica Lemmenes, “Flora Organic Toilet Tissue”

Honorable Mention: Alex Lauriano, “Metal Vision”

Printmaking/Photography

1st Place: Claire Sukamto, “Part of me, apart from me #3”

2nd Place: Pierce Cruz, “Untitled”

3rd Place: Yeonji Choi, “Untitled”

Honorable Mention: Jacob Boglio, “The Perception of Self is a Parasite of Persistence”

Sculpture/3D

1st Place: Agnes, Zabawa, “Shadow Hands”

2nd Place: Claire Sukamto, “Look Close”

3rd Place: Kacie DeKleine, “Experiences”

Drawing/Painting/Mixed Media

1st Place: Pierce Cruz, “Come a Little Closer”

2nd Place: Jacob Boglio, “Untitled No. 15”

3rd Place: Tara Vandermeer, “Plane Paper Bag”

Best in Show (Printmaking/Photography)

Kacie DeKleine, “Inside Out”

Awards in Theatre

Dramatic Interpretation

1st Place: Amanda Garcia, “If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother; Forgetting to Be Afraid; Surfer Girl”

2nd Place: Ben Friesen, “Resten’s Monologue” from The Language Archive

Original Oratory

1stPlace: Soraya Limon, “We Need to Talk”

2nd Place: Jess Slinkman, “My Good Father”

Poetry/Prose Interpretation

1st Place: Komaria Carpenter, “Uncomfortable”

2nd Place: Amanda Garcia, “We Have Always Lived on Mars”

Social Entrepreneurial Pitch Contest Winner         

Mikaela Kiel & Tracy Raikes, “Socially entrepreneurial bakery”

Presentation Showdown

Honorable Mentions

–Nicolette Vaccaro, Allison Koehler, Courtney Cramer, Caitlin Conners, Kailey McCarthy, “Perceived Health Needs of the Community and Impact of Lifelong Learning on Health”

–Morgan De Ruiter, “De-stigmatizing the Monster: HIV/AIDS and its Worldwide Attack”

–Megan Gjertsen and Morgan DeRuiter, “LSD-1 Knock-down in C. elegans”

1st Place: Michaela Kohlmeier, “Songs of Social Commentary: What Lecrae has to say about Race, Politics, and the Church in America”

2nd Place: Cara Horstman, “Light in the Darkness: Childhood Trauma, Memory Formation, Biological Implications, and the Restoration Found in Christ’s Death and Resurrection”

The 2018 OPUS Golden Troll Winner: World Languages Department (Spanish)

(The Golden Troll is a travelling trophy given to the academic department each year with the largest combined proportion of reported external student academic recognition and OPUS presentations from all declared majors in that department)

And mark your calendars for our 20^th Anniversary of OPUS: April 9, 2019!

Corporations and other organizations have significantly evolved their views of social responsibility, and now many more of them realize that they owe more than just profits to their stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility policies can also lead to improved employee morale. Those were just a few of the topics that were discussed on April 9 during a Trinity Business Network luncheon as part of Changemaker Week at Trinity.

Corporate social responsibility, where companies voluntarily commit to high compliance and ethical standards, has become a new benchmark in today’s business world, panelists agreed.

“Companies can and should be part of the solution to solving the world’s greatest problems,” said Matt Vander Laan ’97, public relations and crisis management professional who was formerly vice president of Edelman.

Corporate social responsibility actions don’t just improve the world outside of companies–they can inspire employees, too, according to Eric Schoonveld ’88, founding partner at the law firm of Hall, Prangle and Schoonveld. “People with purpose have energy,” he said. As the son of a preacher, Schoonveld used to presume that the world was divided into kingdom work and market work. “But the greatest commandment is that we love God and our neighbors,” he said. Now, his law firm focuses on the “triple bottom line” of providing great services to clients, having employees who want to work for the firm, and making an impact on the broader environment around them. The firm’s corporate social responsibility activities include wellness programs for employees and raising funds for clean water in Africa.

Vander Laan said Edelman allowed employees to move off of accounts where they felt uncomfortable. He also shared stories of how his former clients, such as United Airlines, Monsanto, and GE, work towards corporate social responsibility. That included advising United after an April 2017 incident where a passenger was forcibly dragged off a plane for refusing to give up his seat. “Using transparency is key,” he said. “The demand for information is always highest when the amount of information is lowest.”

Trinity President Kurt Dykstra, who served as moderator, asked the panelists about their experiences as Christians in the workplace. “There is no expectation that your clients are Christians. Were there conflicts in the trenches?” Such situations can be problematic, Schoonveld said. “But clients hire us for our advice. I used to be very hesitant to mention my faith, but I’ve realized I can be true to who I am.” Consistency is very important, though. “You can’t be lying and cheating, and then call yourself a Christian,” according to Schoonveld.

For Vander Laan, it’s important to realize that it’s not always possible to act like Billy Graham in every work environment. “But people should be able to realize you are different and that you aren’t just working for a paycheck.”

Dykstra also asked the panelists about their advice for the students in attendance. According to Schoonveld, the ability to listen and learn is extremely important. “It takes a while to learn to listen to other people’s perspective,” he said. Vander Laan agreed, and also encouraged students to learn to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Along with the luncheon, other activities taking place during Changemaker week include a viewing of the documentary Poverty, Inc., on April 11 and a social entrepreneurship event at 1871 on April 12.

Congratulations to Dr. Bill Boerman-Cornell, Ph.D., Professor of Education, for being awarded the 2018 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award Honorable Mention for the book “Graphic Novels in High School and Middle School Classrooms: A Disciplinary Literacies Approach.”

The book, which was published last year by Rowman & Littlefield, was coauthored with Jung Kim and Michael L. Manderino

Since 1902, the Society of Professors of Education has provided a forum for addressing the issues facing the discipline and vocation of education. The awards ceremony will take place on April 14 in New York.

According to the publisher, “The ultimate guide for using graphic novels in any middle school or high school classroom, this book considers how the graphic novel format can support critical thinking and help reach disciplinary goals in history, English language arts, science, math, fine arts, and other subjects. Using specific graphic novels as examples, this book considers how to help students read, question, and write about both fiction and non-fiction. Whether teachers are new to graphic novels or have been working with them for years, this book will help improve instruction.”

Trinity recently became only the seventh University Partner at the world’s top university-affiliated startup incubator, 1871, in downtown Chicago.  And that partnership has helped answer two significant institutional leadership questions, as Trinity Provost Dr. Aaron Kuecker, Ph.D., described in an article in “Faith & Leadership,” published by Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.

The article, “A small college, a large entrepreneurial incubator and a transformative network,” focuses on two areas: In what ways has God given us all that we need for life and faithfulness in this present moment? And what does it mean for Trinity to be here and not somewhere else?

To learn more, click here to read the full article.

Dr. Kyle Dieleman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History, will be presenting a paper at the upcoming Society for Reformation Studies’ 25th Annual Conference at Westminster College in Cambridge, England.

“I’m very excited to be presenting at the conference, which draws participants from around the worldwide,” said Dieleman. His paper will focus on education and confessional identity in the Dutch Reformation. His work focuses specifically on efforts in the Low Countries, where education was used as a means to establish the Reformed confession in religiously plural settings.

The 25^th Annual Conference, which takes place April 10-12, marks the 400^th anniversary of the convening of the Synod of Dordt, one of the most important gatherings of Protestant divines before modern times. According to conference organizers, “The anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect upon the Synod itself, and more widely on the Reformed tradition in its various manifestations, and on its relationship with the broader Reformation.”