Calvin Distinctives

1. Profoundly Academic

Calvin consistently receives national recognition for academic excellence.

Calvin's well-respected faculty, inquiring student body and innovative core curriculum come together in an environment that links intellectual freedom with a heart for service.

  • A variety of college guidebooks rate Calvin highly. Among them, America's Best Colleges, the prestigious guide from U.S. News & World Report, the selective Fiske Guide to Colleges, Barron's Best Buys in College Education and The Best 351 Colleges and America's Best Value Colleges, both published by the Princeton Review.

  • Teaching is a passion and priority for faculty members at Calvin:

    • Calvin has a student/faculty ratio of 12:1 and an average class size of 22. Quality teaching and availability to students are considered top priorities by faculty members.

    • Calvin faculty are fully accredited. Among the Calvin faculty [pdf], 82 percent hold the doctorate or first professional degree in their field. This means students are taught by teaching professors--- not teaching assistants--- and Calvin professors are highly regarded by colleagues in other institutions.

  • The Calvin faculty emphasizes the relationship between Christian faith and the academic disciplines in their classes. 100 percent of Calvin's faculty are committed Christians who actively integrate their faith with learning, teaching, and scholarship. In fact, Gayle Ermer, engineering professor, has written about her faith and her discipline.

  • Calvin's research is recognized and rewarded by national and private funding sources:

    • An innovative new center at Calvin will bring fresh resources to beleaguered Christian school administrators. The Van Lunen Center for Executive Management in Christian Schools is being established at Calvin thanks to a $2 million gift from the Richard D. Van Lunen Foundation. The Center's purpose will be to provide world-class executive management education for senior leaders of schools based on the historic Christian faith, while practicing a big-tent philosophy, reaching out to schools from a wide-range of faith traditions.

    • In April 2007, Stan Haan received a National Science Foundation grant to continue his research on the double ionization of atoms by intense laser light. Stan's work has been supported by NSF for over 20 years, leading to a long list of student researchers and many papers, including a recent paper in the premier journal Physical Review Letters.

    • Calvin has landed a three-year, $60,000 grant from the pharmaceutical company Merck and the American Association for the Advancement of Science to fund faculty-student research partnerships where biology and chemistry intersect. Four projects, each pairing two professors with two student researchers, will cover everything from protein transport in brain cells to the effects of heavy metals on the bacterial formation of biofilms.

  • Undergraduates get scholarship and research experiences equivalent to those available at large universities.

    • A wind turbine, funded in part by a state of Michigan grant, became the college's first renewable energy source when it was installed on campus recently. The turbine was part of a class project and will serve as an ongoing educational tool for students.

    • Kelly Edwards, a biology and Spanish major, will partner with biology professor David Dornbos to study the autumn olive shrub. They each received $3,000 from the Undergraduate Research Grants for the Environment (URGE) program and will work out of the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute biological field station and research just what it is that makes the autumn olive so invasive, edging out native species throughout Michigan.

    • Calvin has landed a three-year, $60,000 grant from the pharmaceutical company Merck and the American Association for the Advancement of Science to fund faculty-student research partnerships where biology and chemistry intersect. Four projects, each pairing two professors with two student researchers, will cover everything from protein transport in brain cells to the effects of heavy metals on the bacterial formation of biofilms.

    • Professor of biology John Ubels, along with three student researchers, have written a paper accepted for publication in the journal, "Cutaneous and Ocular Toxicology." Professor Ubels recently received a $564,000 grant for eye research to work with several student researchers over the next three years.

    • Through the Summer Research Fellowship Program-supported by a $100,000 McGregor Fund grant and several private donors' contributions-faculty-student partnerships research myriad topics, from "A Musicological Study of Handel's Judas Maccabeaus as sung by Jews in Yiddish Translation during the Holocaust" to the "History of Christianity in 20th Century Eastern Europe."

  • Calvin's core curriculum is intentionally designed to offer the knowledge, the skills and the virtues students need to be informed and effective agents in all domains of life. The core begins with two gateway courses, concludes with a senior capstone course and is permeated throughout with a Christian worldview and a broad, faith-based engagement with surrounding culture. Neal Plantinga's highly regarded text, Engaging God's World, frames the discussion of the first-year program.

  • Each semester, over 40 Calvin classes integrate Academically Based Service-Learning (ABSL) into the coursework, underscoring the benefits that community service brings to the classroom. Service-learning courses also demonstrate Calvin's commitment to providing a well-rounded education that addresses the whole student.

  • Calvin's 400-acre campus boasts state-of-the-art science, communication and research facilities. We believe that God has called us to consider all things--- to explore the academic spectrum and to develop our athletic abilities. The new Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex will include a health and recreation center, track and tennis center, aquatic center, and a 5,000 seat arena.