Monday, November 23, 2009

Campus Safety responds

A recent incident on campus summoned a quick and strategic response from the Calvin campus safety office. The officers' effort has received praise from director of campus safety Bill Corner.

Heffner wants students to enjoy music April 1, 2009

Student Activities Director Ken Heffner usually runs a pretty tight ship when it comes to cultural discernment. Learn how he's loosening up.

Faculty Profile: Anneke Van Denend-de Haan April 1, 2009

Professor of mathematics Anneke "Ginger" Van Denend-de Haan has always felt called to Christian higher education. Find out why.

Hekman Library repurposes books April 1, 2009

Does Calvin really need all the books in the library? Librarians Kathy De Mey and Diane Vander Poel don't think so. See what they do with the books.

Healthy Habits gears up for Six-a-Day Challenge April 1, 2009

After the success of Healthy Habits' 5-a-Day program last year they've decided to do it again.

Photo Spotlight

Calvin's new football team began pre-season training in Tennessee this spring under the tutelage of recently named head coach Norm Zylstra.

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News In Brief

Technology in the English department

In an age of instant messaging, Twitter feeds alerting friends to minute-by-minute movements, the Facebook news feed and much more, Calvin English professors are finding it can be tough to teach today's 18-year old freshmen meaty classics such as Shakespeare or Milton's Paradise Lost. Said professor Lew Klatt: "These books are 400 years old and they’re long. Students don't have the attention span anymore and so as teachers we need to meet them where they're at. That means technology." That's why Klatt and his colleagues in English are so excited about the Sparknotes.com Web site, which offers free study guides for today's time-challenged students. "Since the Calvin alumni magazine is called Spark the existence of an online study guide Web site named Sparknotes seemed almost providential," said Klatt. "It's been a lifesaver to our students and faculty. Basically we don't bother with the texts anymore; we just send students to the Web site and they take it from there. We now have a saying around here in the English Department: 'Sparknotes makes students sparkle!'" Or, as Sparknotes itself says: "We know you look to us to make sense of the toughest and weirdest wording around (ehem, Shakespeare)."

Department receives grant

A department at Calvin received a grant for student research. The chair of the department was thrilled.

Institute welcomes lecturer

An institute at Calvin is holding a lecture in the Meeter Center Lecture Hall. It was rescheduled, due to a conflict with the letter-writing campaign (see below), for 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, 2009. Refreshments will be served (in case you needed a reason to come).

Student organization holds letter campaign

A table will be set up in Johnny's for the Calvin community to participate in a letter-writing campaign from 9:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Cool stickers will be given for each letter written.