Denise Isom

As a visitor to Calvin, Denise Isom was impressed with “the academic rigor and intellectual community” she discovered.

“I always came away amazed by the kinds of activities, the types of speakers and the quality of discussions I was hearing at Calvin,” said Isom. “Even in just overhearing snippets of conversation, I was impressed by how seriously people here took the work of their disciplines.”

Isom’s impression of Calvin, combined with some persistence by Calvin history professor Randal Jelks, convinced her to come here to teach.

“I met Denise in 1996 and was thoroughly impressed,” said Jelks. “She was young and talented and full of energy. I immediately thought that she would enhance the work of the college.”

Isom applied for and received a Graduate Study Fellowship from Calvin which is designed to enhance the recruitment of ethnic minority persons to the college faculty. Calvin awards funds to help pay for graduate school tuition in exchange for a commitment to teach at Calvin for a certain number of years based on the amount awarded.

As a professor at North Park University, Isom was facing the challenge of teaching while trying to complete her doctoral degree.

Graduate Study Fellowship Program Faculty Positions Open positions at Calvin Education Department Preparing future teachers

“I thought she was a perfect fit for the fellowship because of her situation, but even more I wanted her to come to Calvin because she is a strong person of faith and she has thought a lot about faith and how it affects her teaching and her life,” said Jelks.

After completing her doctoral work (completion of her dissertation is scheduled for later this winter), Isom began teaching in the education department at Calvin this past fall.

“The very nature of my work as a faculty member is ministry,” said Isom. “It is an extraordinary gift to be involved in bringing young adults into wholeness. To help them analyze, assess, respond to the world and have that connected to a Christian mission is paramount.”

In her role as a faculty member, Isom has felt supported by colleagues and the African-American staff and faculty at Calvin.

“They have welcomed me and made me a part of the broader Calvin community,” she said.

But Isom is also aware of her role in that broader community. “It is always daunting to come into a situation in which I wonder what it will mean to take on the various roles that in a spoken or unspoken way people expect of me,” she said. “I’m asking myself, ‘What part of the conversation am I to contribute?’”

Isom is committed to two years of teaching at Calvin through the Fellowship program and will then re-evaluate her role, she said.

“Any choice about coming or going is about having a sense of call or purpose,” she said. “I felt called to come to Calvin and I want to invest myself in this community and see where that leads.”