• Calvin ranks 4th in country for study abroad
• Calvin Theatre Company honored at 2006 Grand Awards
• Sports Headlines: Cross Country, Soccer Teams Advance
• Calvin mourns the death of friend and colleague Pat Prince
• Listen to Calvin chapel services live on the Faith Web site
• New book explores CRC and RCA merger
• Please consider a year end gift to the Calvin Annual Fund
• Calvin to host concert featuring 5 gospel choirs on November 18
• Send your family tree to the Calvin Archives
• Application fee: waived until December 1
• Visiting Grand Rapids? Stay on campus at Calvin’s Prince Conference Center
• Christmas at the Campus Store: Saturday, December 2
• The January Series: Best Campus Lecture Series in the USA – Jan. 3-23
• Calvin Distinctive #1: Profoundly Academic

Calvin ranks 4th in country for study abroad

The Institute for International Education (IIE) has released its annual Open Doors report, a summary of study abroad by U.S. college and university students.  Calvin ranked fourth in the country among baccalaureate institutions for the number of students studying abroad in the 2004-2005 school year. Calvin had 527 students studying off campus that year, trailing only Minnesota's St. Olaf College, College of St. Benedict/St. John's University, also in Minnesota, and Lee University, Tenn.  Calvin has both semester-long programs abroad as well as numerous three-week programs abroad during the college's January term (called Interim).  At Calvin students can live and study in China as well as such countries as Honduras, Ghana, Hungary, Spain and more. Calvin also has semester-long U.S. programs in New Mexico and Washington, D.C. Calvin director of off campus programs Ellen Monsma says the college believes that off-campus study programs broaden a student's perspectives on both the world and the kingdom of God, enhance a student's self-discipline and provide students with "coherent, comprehensive and authentic learning experiences that have an unusually deep and long-lasting effect."  Read more. 


Calvin Theatre Company honored at 2006 Grand Awards

The Calvin Theatre Company collected five Grand Awards at the 2006 awards ceremony, held in mid-October at Circle Theatre at the Aquinas Performing Arts Center. At the 10th annual celebration of these awards for local theatre, Calvin entered with 10 nominations, the most of any local college or university, and saw half its nominees honored with awards. The honors are validation for an excellent theatre program say those closely connected to the company. “We have a very high standard of production here, and I think it shows,” says Calvin communication arts and sciences professor (CAS) Michael Page, who attended the awards ceremony.  He and his CAS colleague Stephanie Sandberg both were nominated for Outstanding Direction of a College Production with Sandberg's Disciples, besting Page-directed Arcadia. Arcadia, in turn, won the prize for Outstanding College Production.  Read more. 


Sports Headlines:  Cross Country, Soccer Teams Advance

The Calvin men's and women's cross country teams punched their tickets to next week's national meet in Cincinnati's Voice of America Park as the Calvin men took first place at the Great Lakes regional with a team score of 17 points while the Calvin women took second with 57 points.  The cross country championship Web site will be the timeliest source of results.

In women’s soccer this past Saturday, Calvin defeated Kenyon 1-0 in a second-round NCAA III Tournament game at Calvin's Zuidema Field.  The Calvin women's soccer team will hit the road this weekend and compete in a four-team NCAA III sectional tournament at the University of Rochester, N.Y. The host Yellow Jackets (16-1-3) will take on defending national champion Messiah (17-2-0) in the first sectional semifinal game on Friday at 11 a.m. Calvin (21-0-0) will then face Denison (15-4-2) in Friday's second sectional semifinal game at 1:30 p.m. Read more. 


Calvin mourns the death of friend and colleague Pat Prince

The Calvin community mourns the death of a faithful Calvin employee, Pat (Worst) Prince, who died on November 1st while working in the Campus Store. She was just 52 years old. We praise God for Pat’s life and we pray for the many, many people who are mourning this too-soon passing.  Read more.   

Alumni and friends, your prayers are so very important. We invite you to pray for the needs of the Calvin community. Calvin’s online prayer log provides an opportunity to keep informed of community prayer requests, items for thanksgiving, and answered prayers. 

Listen to Calvin chapel services live on the Faith Web site

Every weekday morning during the school year, students, faculty and staff gather for worship in the Calvin Chapel to sing, pray, read scripture, and to hear testimonies of God’s faithfulness. Calvin alumni, parents and friends are also invited and now are able to join us at 10:00 am (EST), Monday through Friday, by listening to a live audio Web cast (not video) of chapel from the Faith Web site.  This year’s chapel theme is Caught Up in God’s Story. Join the Calvin community as we listen to stories of God’s work, past and present, confessing our belief in an active, personal and revealing God, and testifying to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives and around the world.


New book explores CRC and RCA merger

Is there a possibility that the Christian Reformed Church in North America and the Reformed Church in America, which split over a century ago, could someday reunite? A new book, written appropriately enough by four professors at two colleges closely identified with the denominations, will add to that conversation when it is released this month. Divided By A Common Heritage: The CRC and the RCA at the Beginning of the New Millennium is authored by Calvin College political scientists Corwin Smidt and Jim Penning, and Hope College sociologists Donald Luidens and Roger Nemeth. It is being published by Eerdmans through the historical series of the Reformed Church in America. “The impetus for it was the discussion that's begun in the last 10 or so years, rather more aggressively recently, about whether or not the two denominations, in the face of the fact that they’re both losing members, should be thinking now about reconciliation, about merging,” Luidens says.  Read more. 


Please consider a year end gift to the Calvin Annual Fund

If you haven’t already, we invite you to consider a year end gift to the Calvin Annual Fund. Your gift, along with other Calvin alumni and friends, helps Calvin provide daily resources for students that help bridge the gap between tuition and the actual cost of a Calvin education. The Calvin Annual Fund encourages the broader Calvin community to support the mission of the college: furthering God’s work of renewal through the preparation of our students for lives of service in God’s Kingdom. Every gift, whatever the size, helps every student, every day and strengthens the education Calvin is providing our students. You can make an online gift now.


Calvin to host concert featuring 5 gospel choirs on November 18

For the second straight year, Calvin will host a concert of five gospel choirs from colleges and universities in Michigan and elsewhere, featuring choirs from Calvin, Grand Valley State University, Hope College, the University of Michigan and Bowling Green State University in Ohio. This event will take place at 2:00 pm on Saturday, November 18 in the Calvin College Fine Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public, and a freewill offering will be taken to benefit local churches. “Last year over a thousand people attended, and it was a very, very diverse crowd in terms of ethnicity, race and age,” says Jermale Eddie, a project developer for Calvin’s office of Multicultural Student Development. “Basically, it’s an army of God’s children giving him honor and glory.” Eddie, who pioneered the gospel concert at New Hope Baptist Church in 2004, hopes to draw a similar cloud of witnesses to this year’s event, titled, “Where Are You?”  Read more. 


Send your family tree to the Calvin Archives

The Calvin Archives (Heritage Hall) is presently revising the genealogy collection.  Calvin alumni and friends are invited to send a copy of your family tree to the expanded collection. Nearly 900 genealogies are available at this time. Send your genealogy to: Ralph Haan, Hekman Library-Calvin Archives, 1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546, or send via e-mail attachment to Wendy Blankespoor. 



Application fee: waived until December 1

Help us spread the news that Calvin is waiving the application fee for prospective students who submit their application for admission by December 1, 2006 (Canadians have until January 1, 2007). Perhaps you know of a relative, neighbor, or a high school senior from your church or work community that should be encouraged to consider Calvin College. Please forward the following link along with an encouraging word! http://www.calvin.edu/apply


Visiting Grand Rapids? Stay on campus at Calvin’s Prince Conference Center

Are you making plans to visit Grand Rapids? Did you know that there is a quality hotel right on campus? Please consider the comfortable accommodations in any of one of 69 guest rooms at Calvin’s Prince Conference Center. Be sure to identify yourself as a Calvin alumnus/alumna (or parent, if you have a student at Calvin) when registering or checking-in to receive preferred and reduced rates. A special holiday rate of $62/night plus tax is in effect from December 10, 2006 – January 13, 2007; be sure to mention the holiday rate when making a reservation. This rate can not be combined with other offers or discounts. Make your reservations today by calling toll-free at 866-526-7200 or on line.


Christmas at the Campus Store: Saturday, December 2

Join in the fun for this annual holiday event at the Campus Store on Saturday, December 2 from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm! Highlights include book signings, free gift bags, refreshments, and 15%-25% discounts on selected items. Every purchase made on this day helps the Grand Rapids Chapter (Calvin Alumni Association) Fund for student scholarships. Since 1991 the Chapter has funded 111 scholarships with $190,000 from local alumni. 



The January Series: Best Campus Lecture Series in the USA – January 3-23

The lineup for the 2007 January Series of Calvin College features its usual collection of top-notch experts from around the world. The January Series is held in the Calvin College Fine Arts Center Auditorium; tickets are not required. All presentations begin at 12:30 pm and end promptly at 1:30 pm. Alumni and friends who live out of town may also join in as most of the presentations will be broadcast in real audio through the Calvin Web site. More information, including the 2007 January Series schedule, is available at the January Series Web site.


Calvin Distinctive #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.  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. For more information visit the Calvin Distinctives Web site. 

The Calvin Wire newsletter is a bulletin of the Calvin Alumni Association sent to alumni and friends of Calvin College to inform them of the latest news from campus.