Sabbatical Summaries | Provost's Office

Dr. Aaron Best set out on this sabbatical with goals in three primary areas:

Research activities related to microbial ecology and population genetics of freshwater environments 鈥� particular long term projects in the local Macatawa watershed
Continuing to advance initiatives and growth of the Global Water Research Institute at Hope College
Explore avenues of commercialization of public health/epidemiology-based application of molecular detection of disease through a private venture, Aquora Research and Consulting, LLC

The various activities required basing operations from Hope鈥檚 campus as he continued to mentor research students and manage a large team of laboratory staff monitoring wastewater for infectious diseases throughout Southwest Michigan with daily reporting of results to state and local public health partners. However, he was able travel to multiple conferences within the United States and project locations in North America, Central America and Africa.

His research group made significant progress on studies of very large longterm DNA sequencing data sets from the watershed. This included 1) temporal dynamics of bacterial populations in the watershed in association with nutrient pollution and 2) population comparative genomics of hundreds of sequenced Escherichia coli isolated from the watershed. This work has been advanced significantly by students this past year and both projects are being finalized for publication.

The past year has seen significant changes in the federal funding climate for research and much of the last half of the sabbatical involved responding to these changes, including the loss of major funding for the wastewater monitoring program that had been running since the fall of 2020. Further uncertainty has and continues to exist with respect to grant applications and funding mechanisms 鈥� decisions to submit grant applications were delayed due to this uncertainty. Significant progress was made to establish long term relationships with non-governmental organizations working internationally to provide clean drinking water, which has led to experiential learning opportunities for students from across the academic divisions this past year and will be available to students in future years as part of GWRI initiatives. Finally, pathways for the sustainable application of wastewater-based epidemiology approaches through the private sector are emerging.

His family took some time to get away, including getting to Washington, D.C. to explore that city 鈥� something they had never quite gotten around to doing with the family. They also played quite a bit of tennis as a family, and Dr. Best was able to renew that 鈥渟kill鈥� after quite a few years of not having played. Overall, the past year was productive, frustrating, sometimes incredibly draining, and sometimes renewing. As we enter the new academic year, he is excited to meet a new set of students and to move through changing landscapes with colleagues and friends.

Dr. Erika Calvo-Ochoa is grateful for a Towsley Research Scholar Award that allowed her to complete an enjoyable and productive pre-tenure sabbatical. She advanced her research on understanding mechanisms of neuronal repair and regeneration in the zebrafish olfactory system. This model system provides unique advantages to studying neural regeneration in adult vertebrates, that are largely absent in most animal species. Research in this field could potentially lead to strategies to enhance the quality of life of people suffering from olfactory dysfunction following brain trauma and neurodegenerative diseases.

During her sabbatical, Dr. Calvo and her team focused on finalizing data collection and manuscript preparation for two projects that were accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals:

鈥淪tructural regeneration and functional recovery of the olfactory system of adult zebrafish following brain injury鈥� accepted at the Journal of Neuroscience with five student co-authors: Nathaniel W Vorhees 鈥�23, Theodore Lockett 鈥�23, Skylar L DeWitt 鈥�24 -Batt, Evan Thomas 鈥�23 and Abigail Gray 鈥�22.
鈥淥lfactory dysfunction in a novel model of prodromal Parkinson鈥檚 disease in adult zebrafish,鈥� published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences with eight student co-authors: Nathaniel Vorhees 鈥�23, Samantha Groenwold 鈥�24, Mackenzie Williams 鈥�24, Lexus Putt 鈥�25, Nereyda Sanchez-Gama 鈥�25, Grace Stalions 鈥�23, Gabriella Taylor 鈥�23 and Heather Van Dort 鈥�23.

During his sabbatical, Dr. Jeffrey Christians performed research on the phase stability of halide perovskites, an interesting class of synthetic semiconductor materials. These semiconductors appear poised to become the solar cell materials of the future because of their combination of low cost and high performance, but 20- to 40-year lifetimes in outdoor conditions is challenging. His research focused on one particular degradation mode that affects these materials where they change crystal structure and properties. In one project during this sabbatical, his team used Hope鈥檚 scanning electron microscope to develop new methods to view this process on the nano-scale and published their results and methods in a recent paper titled, 鈥淣anoscale Characterization of Halide Perovskite Phase Stability with Scanning Electron Microscopy,鈥� which was recently accepted for publication in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

Dr. Janis Gibbs is very grateful for her spring 2025 sabbatical. She made progress on her research project, served as an external evaluator for the history department at Ohio Wesleyan University and traveled. Her research project is the completion of an article about Hermann von Wied, a sixteenth-century archbishop of Cologne. He was deposed from his see and deprived of his princedom in the Holy Roman Empire in 1546 because he was suspected of having become a Protestant. Then, after his death in 1552, he had two funerals 鈥� a Protestant one and a Catholic one. Her research asks why the Catholic community of Cologne, after having expelled Hermann von Wied from the Church, honored him with a public, Catholic funeral. Her working thesis is that it has to do with the fluid nature of the concept of conversion in the mid-sixteenth century. She did quite a bit of research and reading in the recent scholarship on conversion and the early Reformation, trying to find out if the fluid nature of conversion is evident in other ways. To her surprise, she discovered, in the secondary literature, another bishop whose confessional identity was contested. The work she did this semester has helped her to place her microhistorical research (one case, about one bishop), into a broader historical context. She is still working on the analysis of the material she discovered and read this past semester.

During January and February, she served as an external reviewer for the history department at Ohio Wesleyan University. With colleagues from Allegheny College and Eastern Mennonite University, she reviewed the history curriculum and the faculty specializations at OWU. In March, she attended the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston and had a wonderful time seeing great figure skating in person, as well as reconnecting with some high school friends there.

Dr. Curtis Gruenler is especially grateful for the sabbatical gift of time for reading that he had set aside and for discovering more good things to read. He gathered thoughts for a writing project that has begun to take shape as essays published on Substack under the title He also completed a chapter on friendship for a new handbook of mimetic theory, wrote three , edited two issues of the quarterly , gave presentations at the annual meetings of the Colloquium on Violence & Religion and the American Comparative Literature Association, and reconnected with an old friend who invited him to talk about friendship on his podcast, The Pocket Contemplative. Curtis is looking forward to bringing the fruits of time for reading, writing and talking with friends into the classroom this year.

During sabbatical, Dr. Brigitte Hamon-Porter researched representations of social inequality in contemporary French literature. In February, she presented at a conference a paper titled 鈥�Class, Identity, and Disillusionment: Exploring Social Inequality in the Works of Nicolas Mathieu and Annie Ernaux.鈥� She also wrote an article (currently under submission) focusing on Nicolas Mathieu, whose novels explore themes of social reproduction and economic stagnation in post-industrial France. Throughout the semester, she read extensively on Pierre Bourdieu鈥檚 sociological theories, especially his work on habitus and illusio, which provided the framework for her literary analysis. She also read both sociological studies and literary scholarship on the figure of the transclasse 鈥� individuals who move from one social class to another, most often upwardly. Finally, she used the sabbatical to continue her study of Arabic and German, both for personal enrichment 鈥� especially as some of her research engages with North African literary texts 鈥� and to deepen her understanding of the language-learning process from a student鈥檚 perspective.

Dr. Yooyeun Hwang found her spring 2025 semester sabbatical to be both productive and enjoyable. She accomplished three main goals. First, she revised a manuscript based on a project conducted with three of her student researchers, focusing on religious diversity in classrooms and culturally responsive-sustaining education. As this was a new area for her, the sabbatical allowed her to conduct an in-depth literature review. It strengthened the manuscript and expanded her research interests further. Second, she wrote a grant proposal for the Spencer Foundation Vision Grants to support future research; while the process was intense, she found it intellectually rewarding. Finally, she traveled to Seoul, South Korea, to examine how increasing immigration is affecting the country鈥檚 education system, with a specific focus on the Koryo-saram 鈥� ethnic Koreans who were forcibly relocated to Central Asia by Stalin in the early 20th century and are now returning to Korea. The Koryo-saram speak Russian and are culturally distinct from most Koreans, which presents unique challenges for integration into Korean schools. She visited two schools with significant Koryo-saram student populations, observed a math class, and interviewed the principals. She is excited to continue exploring this emerging aspect of Korean education.

Dr. Benjamin Meagher spent his sabbatical working on several writing projects that emerged from his lab鈥檚 research in ecological social psychology. He was an author on six papers that were accepted for publication, including:

鈥淭he varieties of spiritual ties to place: A latent class analysis,鈥� which was published in Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. The paper, which includes two Hope students as coauthors, discusses the themes present in how people describe the physical places in their lives that they feel a spiritual connection to.
鈥淕racious hosts and welcomed guests: Implicit theories of good hosts and good visitors,鈥� which was published in The Journal of Positive Psychology. This paper reports a conceptual analysis of the term 鈥済ood host,鈥� identifying both the ways it overlaps and is distinguishable from other, related social roles (e.g., 鈥済ood person鈥� or 鈥済ood visitor鈥�).
"A social relations model of interpersonal distance preference,鈥� which was published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. This paper offers a novel methodological approach for studying how people vary in terms of their preferred physical distances during interactions.
Dr. Meagher also co-authored a chapter on the topic of interpersonal coordination that will appear in the International Handbook of Ecological Psychology, which will be published by Routledge next year.

In the spring, Dr. Meagher was a visiting researcher at the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University in Sweden, where he had the opportunity to lead a seminar, discuss new ideas, and collaborate with members of an international and multidisciplinary department. During his time there, he completed a manuscript, currently under peer review, developing a theoretical model for how interactions in the home facilitate feelings of intimacy among friends. Finally, he was awarded a grant from the Association of College and University Housing Officers to begin a research project this fall to study how different social settings on campus are used by undergraduates to support their friendships.

Professor Melissa Mulder enjoyed part of her sabbatical in southern Spain, where she took an intensive course for native speakers of Spanish in M谩laga. In addition to her studies, she made pilgrimage to cathedrals in Granada, C贸rdoba, Sevilla and Madrid. She was also fortunate enough to be able to walk on a southern trail of the Camino de Santiago, the Camino Moz谩rabe. In addition to Melissa鈥檚 travels, she worked to revamp her Spanish 121, 122, 250 and 251 courses, as well as her FYS. Creating her new senior seminar played a large role in her time away from campus, and she continues to look for content that will help her students consider what makes a 鈥済ood鈥� life.

Melissa鈥檚 sabbatical allowed her to spend more time with her family and do some additional traveling, while also finishing up her three-year tenure as the president of the Corpus Christi school board. She is grateful to be headed back to the classroom with her students this fall after a rejuvenating time away. Deo gratias.

During his spring 2025 sabbatical, Dr. Brian Porter had the welcome opportunity to focus on research, learning and travel. He completed three research papers: one on Charles Feeney and biblical giving, accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal; a second on international retirement planning, presented at a conference in Bangkok, later revised, and now also accepted in a peer-reviewed journal; and a third on student performance in finance, currently under review. He also made steady progress in French, reaching a solid B1 level and keeping up a 100+ day streak on Duolingo.

Traveling with his family through Southeast Asia and later spending meaningful time with relatives in France enriched both personal and professional growth. Highlights included motorbiking the Ha Giang loop in northern Vietnam, scootering around Angkor Wat in Cambodia and hiking (yet again!) to Mont St. Michel. These experiences broadened his global perspective and renewed his commitment to Hope College鈥檚 mission of thoughtful teaching and engaged scholarship.

Dr. Christiana Salah is grateful for a sabbatical devoted to developing new projects, wrapping up old ones, and expanding ties with fellow scholars.

She and Dr. Steven Mollmann of the University of Tampa are guest editing a special issue for the journal Studies in the Fantastic called 鈥淪peculative Detectives.鈥� Drawing on Christiana鈥檚 specialization in detective fiction and Steve鈥檚 in science fiction and fantasy, the asks how the merging of two genres alters the themes of each. Thanks to this sabbatical, Christiana was able to take the heavier load on all tasks, working closely with contributors and offering significant feedback at the proposal and full draft stages. Christiana also drafted her own submission to the special issue. Peer review is ongoing. The issue should see publication next year.
She has been hard at work developing Beyond Novel to Film, a collection of essays that offer frameworks for interpreting adaptations of literature in forms like concept album, limited television series, musical, live-action roleplay, and video game. Conference travel offered the opportunity to network with interested contributors.
She visited New Orleans to present her 鈥淪peculative Detectives鈥� research at the Nineteenth-Century Studies Association conference, with the title 鈥淔rom Wilkie Collins to Connie Willis: How the Mystery Rejected, then Reintegrated the Mystical.鈥�
She traveled to Southampton in the UK to attend the Global Jane Austen conference honoring Austen鈥檚 250th birthday. She presented new work based on teaching the novel Ayesha at Last (a transcultural adaptation of Pride and Prejudice) at Hope College.
She revised an accepted article forthcoming in Disability Studies Quarterly.
She spent one month in Uppsala, Sweden, with her family while her spouse undertook a short-term residency at Uppsala University鈥檚 Institute for Housing and Urban Research. Christiana was delighted to enjoy the cultural experience, work on her own scholarship, and meet several times with English scholars based there.

Sabbatical offered Dr. Elizabeth Sharda the opportunity to successfully complete research projects from the pre-tenure period and envision what her mid-career scholarship might entail. In terms of existing projects, she concluded a qualitative study on foster parenting during COVID-19 and has an article in press detailing these findings. Similarly, she completed analysis for a study of belonging among LGBTQ+ students at a Christian college. A research brief on these results was distributed at CURCA in April, and a full research manuscript is in the works.

Having concluded existing research projects, she was able to envision what the next stage of her scholarship might entail. Out of this, a few exciting opportunities emerged. Currently she is providing strategic planning consultation to a local nonprofit organization. She is also exploring grant funding to expand research related to belonging among marginalized student groups. On a personal note, she traveled to Arkansas, California, Montana and around Michigan, attended countless soccer matches for her daughters and knit four sweaters! In all, sabbatical has been a wonderful time to intentionally pause, reflect and dream about where to invest next.

Katherine鈥檚 sabbatical was spent working in her De Pree Art Center studio, with trips to museums and churches in Florence, Rome, New York and Chicago. Her work in the studio explored the continued relevance of characters from two Bertolt Brecht plays: the 1941 antiwar play, Mother Courage and Her Children, and The Life of Galileo, drafted when Brecht first fled fascism in Europe in the late 1930s and revised after his experiences with the House Committee on Un-American Activities and later the Communist Party in East Berlin.

Over her sabbatical, paintings from each series were included in group exhibitions at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Minot State University in North Dakota, Janice Cranach Gallery in West Bloomfield and The Painting Center in New York City.

In February, she opened a solo exhibition of small paintings, titled Ritual Practice, at Ox-Bow House. These works explore the boundaries between devotional objects, art works and ephemerality.

During her sabbatical Dr. Deborah Van Duinen worked on a variety of projects focused on adolescent literacy, AI, faculty development and community-wide reading. She gave presentations and led professional development focused on adolescent literacy instruction and started a book project with Teachers College Press on navigating literacy practices with AI. She took part in the Lilly Faculty Fellows Program (with Chad Carlson) and, from this experience, developed and will pilot a Faculty Fellows program on campus this year. Using a Lilly Network grant, she organized and led a workshop titled 鈥淢anaging Your Academic Career鈥� for mid-career women faculty. She planned and ran the Big Read Lakeshore鈥檚 2024 program focused on The Great Gatsby and received an NEA grant to support the upcoming 2025 fall program based on Leif Enger鈥檚 I Cheerfully Refuse. She also enjoyed learning new literacy skills in the areas of tap dance, cooking Spanish tapas, gardening, skate skiing and MLA Masters swimming.

Professor Lisa Walcott spent the spring semester of 2025 studying the material and conceptual possibilities of craft, using her sabbatical to explore material traditions, ideas of labor and artistic hierarchies through art historical research and hands-on making. She began with Soft Meaning, a two-week intensive at Ox-Bow School of Art, where she studied a variety soft material processes such as felting, natural dyeing and weaving. Later in the semester, she participated in Experimental Basketry: Sculptural Form at the Weaving Workshop in Chicago, which brought dimensionality to the fiber techniques she had begun exploring. This shift into three-dimensional form was especially exciting from a sculptor鈥檚 perspective and directly informed her evolving studio work.

Additional highlights of the sabbatical included a three-week RV road trip through the American South with her family, which served as a mobile studio for drawing and weaving. The trip included research stops in Gee鈥檚 Bend, Alabama, and South Carolina鈥檚 Lowcountry to study quilt and basketry traditions. Building on these experiences, Walcott developed a new body of sculptural work incorporating experimental weaving, soft construction and domestic references. Some of this work has been exhibited in a solo show at ARC Gallery in Chicago, with additional solo and group exhibitions forthcoming at Kendall College of Art and Design, Moraine Valley Community College, Saint Xavier University, and Hope College鈥檚 De Pree Gallery. The sabbatical offered a rare and invaluable opportunity to engage deeply with her practice, and she returns to teaching with a refreshed set of materials, ideas and questions to explore in both her studio and the classroom.