Henk Aay, Johnathan Bascom, Ken Bergwerff, Jan Curry, Ralph Stearley,

Deanna van Dijk, Jason VanHorn, Gerry Van Kooten

Adjunct and Part-time, Faculty, Staff
D. Baker, T. Tilma, M. Brewer

Henk Aay

Email: aayATcalvin.edu
Ph.D. Clark University, 1978

Research Interests: Cultural and urban geography, environmental studies, history and philosophy of geography, cultural ecology, environmental perception, and geography of the Netherlands.

Dr. Henk Aay graduated with a B.A. (Geography and Planning) from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and with a Ph.D. in Geography from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Born in the Netherlands, Henk immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of thirteen. That country remained his home for 25 years and its strong British-inherited tradition in geography captured his interest and enthusiasm already in high school. After graduate school, Henk returned to Canada and joined the geography faculty at his alma mater, Wilfrid Laurier University, teaching full and part time for seven years. Before coming to Calvin in 1982, he briefly taught at the University of Toronto. Henk Aay was the first full time Ph.D. geographer at Calvin, hired to develop both geography and environmental studies. Before long, a geography and environmental studies minor and a geography major were available for Calvin students. The development and cultivation of these programs was a principal preoccupation during the first decade of his tenure at Calvin.

Henk Aay's scholarly interests have several focal points: the history and philosophy of geography as well as cultural and historical geography. He has published research on the settlement geography of the Dutch in West Michigan, on the relationships between nature and culture in works of fiction, on the historiography of geography, on environmental advertising, on the history of geographic education, on the perceptions of geography textbooks, and on the nature of the cultural landscape. Together with Sander Griffioen from the Free University of Amsterdam, Henk edited Geography and Worldview: A Christian Reconnaissance (1998), a collection of essays presented at a 1996 Calvin conference on Christian Worldview and Geography. Currently, Henk is writing a book on Arie Van Deursen, an important, but forgotten Dutch Christian geographer. Together with Ab van Langevelde from the Geography Department at the University of Groningen, Henk is writing several articles on Christian philosophical foundations for geography. With financial support from the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research and the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship, Henk spent the summer of 2003 and Interim and Spring semester of 2004 as visiting professor in the Geography Department at the University of Groningen. During these visits Henk and Ab van Langevelde collaborated on researching and writing a number of articles for publication. Each article employs a Dooyeweerd-based philosophical approach to re-conceptualize key ideas in geography, for example, regional economic development and spatiality. The plan is to eventually bundle these pieces into a book, tentatively titled, Christian Philosophical Foundations for Geography. Herman Dooyeweerd together with D.H. Th. Vollenhoven are the founders of a comprehensive and integral Christian philosophical system which has become known around the world as reformational philosophy.

Dr. Aay's favorite landscapes and places come from his geographical roots and from the venues of his post-commencement geography field trips (with thanks to all the participants!): Amsterdam and other Dutch urban and cultural scenes, Toronto, Britain's Yorkshire, rails-to-trails, and Prince Edward Island.

Johnathan Bascom

Email: jbascomATcalvin.edu
Ph.D. University of Iowa, 1989

Research Interests: Developing regions, economic geography, refugees and internally displaced persons, geographic pedagogy.

Dr. Bascom joined the department in the fall of 2000. He is a graduate of Kansas State University (BS 1980, MA 1982). He worked a year for an economic research firm, then completed a Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Iowa (1989). His eleven-year tenure at East Carolina University included the university's Teaching Excellence award. He has been a visiting Lecturer at the Department of Geography, University of Asmara (1997-2005) and a visiting Research Fellow at the Refugee Studies Programme, Oxford University (1993). His work experience includes an internship with the Africa Bureau of the US Agency for International Development. Invited entries of his are found in the Encyclopedia of Sub-Saharan Africa and the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Bascom has written on a pedagogical approach to teaching Third World geography. Agencies that have supported his research include the American Philosophical Society, the US Agency for International Development, National Science Foundation, and the Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Program.

Refugees and the issues that surround their migration, protection, and assistance have been the primary focus of his research (reflected in a book and a dozen journal articles). His articles have appeared in The Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Economic Geography, The Journal of Refugee Studies, The Geographical Review, The Journal of Cultural Geography, and The African Geographical Review. Dr. Bascom is a past president of the Africa Specialty Group (Association of American Geographers) and a past editor of the African Geographical Review. In 2005, he was a Fulbright Faculty Scholar at the University of Asmara. He is currently working on the first collegiate-level geography of Eritrea. Dr. Bascom's teaching assignments include the Geography of Africa, Economic Geography, Cartography, and World Regional Geography. He has coordinated the college's McGregor Program for three summers and is the current director of the Africa and African Diaspora Studies Program here at Calvin.

Ken Bergwerff

E-mail: kbergwerATcalvin.edu
MAT: Grand Valley State University, 1988

Research Interests: Earth science education

Ken Bergwerff joined the faculty in the fall of 2001. He came from the Education department at Calvin where he had been supervising student teachers for the previous two years. He completed his undergraduate work at Calvin, receiving a teaching certificate in 1978. From there he went to Redlands, California where he taught all the sciences grades 5-9 for five years. In 1983 he moved back to the Grand Rapids area to teach at Sylvan Christian Middle School. He earned his MAT in Science Education at Grand Valley State University in 1988 while continuing to teach his primary interest: Earth Science. During his tenure at Sylvan, he participated in NSF grants to study the geology of the western parklands, both in 1985 and in 1991. For the past several years, he has been active with providing in service training to middle schools in the US and Canada. During the summer of 2003 he was invited to speak at a conference in St. Petersburg, Russia. While there, he addressed the pedagogy of elementary science teaching and teaching science from a Christian perspective. For the past several summers, he has been working with the Science Education Group in developing inquiry-based science units for area schools. This has been funded by an HHMI grant, a Heuer grant, and a grant from Calvin's Alumni Association.

During the Summer of 2001, Mr. Bergwerff developed an introductory biology course for students who are becoming elementary school teachers. This enables the students to learn the content in the same way they will teach it in their own classrooms. His teaching load includes the biology course, IDIS 313 which is also a science education course and the supervision of student teachers.

A michigan Department of Education grant is providing funds for the work he is currently doing with the development of inquiry-based teaching. This is a multi-year project involving two school districts, Calvin's Education Department and Calvin's Science Education Group.

Janel Curry

E-mail: jcurryATcalvin.edu
Ph.D. University of Minnesota, 1985

Dr. Curry joined the Calvin faculty in the fall of 1996. She is a graduate of Bethel College in St. Paul, MN (B.A., 1977). After her undergraduate work, she did ethnographic and historical research in southern Louisiana for the Houma Tribe as a volunteer of the Mennonite Central Committee. Dr. Curry did her graduate work in geography at the University of Minnesota (M.A., 1981; Ph.D., 1985) and taught at Central College before coming to Calvin. Her interests range from natural resource management to the geography of the U.S. and Canada. In support of her research she has received grants from the University of Iowa Center for Global Environmental Change, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, The National Rural Development Committee, Indiana Campus Compact Universities as Citizens Program, and the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship. In addition she has received a research fellowship through the Pew Charitable Trusts Evangelical Scholars Program to study worldviews and farming and a research Fulbright to do a comparative study of Canadian and U.S. natural resource policy. She has published papers in such journals as The Geographical Review, the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Society and Natural Resources, and Agriculture and Human Values. In 2002 she published the book, Community on Land, with Steve McGuire. Her present research involves marine and coastal management in New Zealand. She is also part of a working group of scholars attempting to explore at greater depths the relationship among theology, social structures, and the Earth.

Recent travels took her to New Zealand where she spent four months with her daughters while on sabbatical during academic year 2002-2003. In May 2004, she visited China where she lectured at Xiamen University. Dr. Curry believes that the three most beautiful landscapes in the world are the Palouse Hills of Eastern Washington, the tropical highlands of Central America, and Great Barrier Island, New Zealand. The most interesting place she has visited is the Altiplano (High Plain) of Bolivia.

Ralph F. Stearley

E-mail: rstearleATcalvin.edu
Ph.D. University of Michigan, 1990

Research Interests: Paleontology, oceanography, history of evolutionary thought

Ralph Stearley has broad interests in the history of Earth and its life. At Calvin, he teaches historical geology, paleontology, oceanography, and stratigraphy, as well as participating in teaching introductory geology. He has also taught introductory geology during the summer to students at the Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies and for Wheaton College's field station in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He received his B.A. from the University of Missouri, his M.S. from the University of Utah, and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. During 1991-92, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the Illinois State Museum. Dr. Stearley's past research has included studies of rock-boring marine invertebrates in the intertidal zone of the Gulf of California in Sonora, Mexico; field collection of Miocene and Pliocene fossil fishes in the Snake River Plain of Idaho; anatomy and systematics of salmonid fishes; analysis of fish remains from archaeological sites in New Mexico and west Michigan; and assisting in developing a computerized database of Pleistocene mammalian fossil sites for North America. During the summer of 1999 he directed the excavation of the Ada Bible Church Mastodon in Cascade, Michigan by a crew of Calvin College geology students and community volunteers. Dr. Stearley has authored or co-authored technical papers for Palaios; Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology and Palaeoecology; Earth and Planetary Science Letters; as well as book chapters and a popular article on Michigan fossils in the journal Rocks and Minerals. In 1994, the American Fisheries Society awarded Ralph Stearley and co-author Gerald Smith (University of Michigan) its Best Paper award for their article on salmonid evolution and systematics published in the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (1993). He is currently collaborating with emeritus professor Dave Young on an update of Young's 1982 book, Christianity and the Age of the Earth.

Deanna van Dijk

E-mail: dvandijkATcalvin.edu
Ph.D. University of Waterloo, 1998

Research Interests: aeolian and coastal geomorphology, cold-climate processes, wind erosion in complex environments, Lake Michigan coastal dunes

Deanna van Dijk came to Calvin College in 1999 from southern Ontario, Canada, where she completed her undergraduate studies at Redeemer College (B.C.S. 1991) and her graduate work in physical geography at the University of Waterloo (M.A. 1993; Ph.D. 1998). Dr. van Dijk's research focuses on wind erosion in cold environments and Lake Michigan coastal dunes. From 1991-1999 she spent part of each year on the north shore of Lake Ontario, studying the processes which make winter winds a dominant agent of landform change on the Presqu'ile beach and coastal dunes. Along with the dubious privilege of experiencing -40°C wind chills on an early morning frozen beach, the research has produced articles in Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, Geomorphology, and Geografiska Annaler. From 2000 to the present, Dr. van Dijk, along with Calvin students, has been measuring rates of sediment transport by wind and coastal dune change at a Lake Michigan field site in P.J. Hoffmaster State Park. Other research projects include collaborating on a Hope College study of an active dune near Holland, MI, and studies of several Ottawa County dunes to inform management strategies. The research has produced a number of student presentations at conferences and articles in the Michigan Academician, The Great Lakes Geographer and Journal of Coastal Research. Dr. van Dijk teaches courses in introductory physical geography and meteorology, geomorphology, coastal geomorphology, and environmental geology.

Jason VanHorn

E-mail: jev35ATcalvin.edu
Ph.D. Ohio State University, 2007
Research Interests: Geographic Information Systems (GIS), cartography
Website: http://www.calvin.edu/~jev35

Jason is the newest faculty member for our department. He attended Indiana University as an undergraduate, graduating with a double major in geography and political science. After graduation, he spent five years in ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ. In 2001, he started graduate school at Texas A&M University and earned a MS in geography. From there, Jason entered the PhD program in geography at The Ohio State University. His research and studies have focused on gaining expertise in geographic information systems (GIS), cartography, and remote sensing. His PhD dissertation explores the geovisualization and geography of terrorism using GIS and mapping.

Gerry Van Kooten

E-mail: gkv2ATcalvin.edu
Ph.D. University of California, Santa Barbara, 1980

Research Interests: Forensic geochemistry, oil pollution and environmental recovery, generation of biogenic gas, ammonite taphonomy, subsurface porosity development.

Gerry VanKooten joined the faculty first in the fall of 2002 and on a permanent basis in 2004. He comes from Alaska where he worked for 20 + years as a petroleum geologist and oil and gas consultant. At Calvin, Gerry has held the Spoelhof chair in 2002/3 and 2004/5. Gerry attended Calvin for two years and completed his B.S. in geology at the University of Washington. He attended graduate school at Arizona State University, receiving his Masters in geology. Dr. Van Kooten received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1980. He also studied recent volcanic rocks in Germany on a Fullbright Scholarship. He has worked on the recovery of Prince William Sound in Alaska from a major oil spill and has documented the role of natural oil seeps on the marine environment. Dr. Van Kooten's current research interests include using geochemistry to track the origin and movement of hydrocarbons in the natural environment. A few more of Dr. Van Kooten's research interests deal with the development of secondary porosity in North Slope subsurface sediments in the Brooks Range, Alaska, and the origin of large natural gas deposits found in the Cook Inlet of Alaska. He is currently working with a student on identifying and describing a suite of Alaskan ammonites of Cretaceous age from the Talkeetna Mountains in Alaska. He is involved with several students in developing educational projects jointly with local high schools to study and monitor local streams. Dr. Van Kooten teaches Mineralogy, Petrology, Geochemistry, and Structural Geology as well as Introductory Geology courses. He also teaches off-campus geology interim courses in Hawaii (in January) and Montana (in May).

David Baker

E-mail: dbb5ATcalvin.edu
M.A. University of Michigan, 1966

Thomas J. Tilma AICP, CNU
Adjunct

E-mail: ttilmaATsbcglobal.net
MUP University of Michigan

Prof. Tilma, a practicing community planner, has taught our Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning course since 1993.  He has worked for a regional planning commission, an architecture and engineering firm, and a large urban county's community development department.  He received the B.A. degree from Calvin College and a Master of Urban Planning degree from the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor.  Prof. Tilma has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) since 1992, and a member of the American Planning Association and Michigan Association of Planning for over 20 years. 

Prof. Tilma's other affiliations include Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), United Growth for Kent County, Michigan Community Development Directors Association, and National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO).  He earned NAHRO's HUD Section 8 Housing Program Manager (SHM) professional certification in 2004.  Prof. Tilma is a member of the faculty of the Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies, where he has served as associate professor, teaching the Land Resources course at the Great Lakes campus in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002.  He is past recipient of the Adopt-a-House Volunteer Award from Habitat for Humanity of Kent County.

Prof. Tilma has provided internship opportunities for several Calvin College students, and has assisted many Calvin students interested in urban planning and community development with internship and job leads, resume development, and graduate school recommendations.

Margene Brewer, Department Manager

E-mail: mkb25ATcalvin.edu
M.S. Western Michigan University, 1991