Initiative Category: Literature & Languages

As part of Trinity’s commencement ceremonies on May 4, Provost Aaron Kuecker Ph.D., honored the emeritations of two faculty members:  Michael Vander Weele, Ph.D., Professor of English; and Thomas R. Roose, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Physics and Science Education.

Dr. Michael Vander Weele

Vander Weele ’73 joined Trinity’s faculty in 1986. He has served the College as English Department chair, director of professional development, and co-founder of OPUS.

His emeritation proclamation stressed his commitment to scholarship, teaching, and service that has “shared his love of literature and language with the Trinity Christian College community, continually encouraging the College community to worship the Triune God through the radiance of words.”

Among his many contributions, Vander Weele served as a chief architect of the English department through curricular innovations that include apprentice-style courses modeled on the British tutorial method; planted numerous clusters of trees throughout the grounds, and designed a garden and curved brick path in the green commons south of Groot Hall in memory of Albertena Vander Weele; cultivated the community through collaborative writing projects with students, such as the published books Tasteful Diversity: The Stories Our Foods Tell and Voices of Redemption; organized the “End of Life Care” conference, the Edward Vander Weele Educational Lecture Series, and the annual Freshman Lecture event; produced a long career’s worth of scholarly publications, most notably on “the hospitable text,” the fiction of Marilynne Robinson, and the theology of John Calvin; served as an annual lecturer for the Association of Reformed Institutions of Higher Education; as member of the Advisory Council for the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the Ines and Calvin Seerveld Arts in Society Fund, and the national CCCU Faculty Development Board; shepherded students across the years, guiding many toward flourishing careers in literature and language; made his home an extension of campus: often hosting faculty reading groups in his living room and hosting yearly backyard barbecues for English students; and been a persistently encouraged mentor, a supportive colleague, a wise problem-solver, and a good friend to many on campus, leading in word, life, and deed.

Dr. Thomas Roose

Roose received his Ph.D. in 1982 and his M.S. in 1975 from Stanford University and his B.S. from the University of Illinois in 1974. Before joining the faculty of Trinity, he taught at Chicago Christian High School for six years and worked in the public and private sector for more than 20 years, including for ARCO Oil and Gas Co., the Gas Research Institute, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. He has one patent, many trade secrets, two books, and more than 25 technical publications to his credit.

Roose’s emeritation proclamation cited his “significant academic formation along with several decades of professional preparation to teach all of the courses of the physics minor, the Foundations physical science courses, and courses in science education.”

It also pointed to his service as Chair of the Physics Department since the inception of the position; providing leadership and advocacy for his discipline, including successfully developing the minor in physics; his creative work with institutional partners to develop the Engineering 2+2 program, including formal partnerships with the University of Illinois – Chicago and Geneva College; his expertise and wisdom to multiple campus and faculty committees including CESAG (Campus Ecological Stewardship Advisory Group), Teacher Education Committee, FLUTE, and an HLC committee; his tireless advocacy for wise stewardship of God’s creation on campus, at his church, and in the broader community; his leadership of interim courses to Costa Rica to study rainforest ecosystems; and his faithful contributions to First United Methodist Church of Downers Grove, and the community through leadership in advocating for Christian environmental stewardship, his hours given to Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS), and his involvement with his church choir.

For finance major and Spanish minor Alexis (Lexi) Zambrano ’18, her classes have taken her across the world all the way to Seville, Spain.

Zambrano took part in Trinity’s Semester in Spain program over the summer, fulfilling her language requirements and getting an unforgettable experience at the same time. “The architecture, the food, the people in Seville—I will definitely go back,” she said.

And while Zambrano has visited Colombia, where her father grew up, and Mexico, where her mother is from, the experience in Spain was very different. “It was a huge change, in terms of culture, weather, and other things.” She explained that a glass of water was more expensive than a glass of soda, and that the weather seemed especially hotter with temperatures averaging 95 degrees while she was in Seville. “Luckily, the school is air conditioned,” she said.

For her coursework, she took a class in historical literature. “It involved legends. So we would read about legends that took place in Seville, then visit those sites. It didn’t seem like learning! I also took a course on culture.”

Before Zambrano departed for Seville, she received information about her host family and was able to talk with her host mother. She also received itineraries, maps, and other helpful information. “Everything was laid out in advance,” Zambrano said.

And while Zambrano didn’t really know any of her classmates before the trip, she became good friends with her roommate, who attends Geneva College in Pennsylvania. “We had a blast. On long weekends, we took minivacations to Barcelona, Ronda, and Malaga.”

A defender and forward for Trinity’s Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAC) championship women’s soccer team, Zambrano also became a fan of the local soccer team, Sevilla Football Club.

Zambrano encourages others to consider studying abroad. “I would urge other students to go outside of their comfort zone and not overthink the experience, because it will over exceed any expectations going into it.”

“Getting to Know Us: The Stories Our Foods Tell” developed out of a freshman composition class’s study of Nina Thursteneau, an Indian-American writing about her access to Indian foods, family, and culture somewhere along the Missouri-Kansas border. In the class were three Korean young women, with Shin from Cambodia and Jessie from Peru. Naomi was only one generation removed from Eretria & Ethiopia, Paulette two generations from Mexico, Andrea two generations from the Philippines. Other students had cultural connections to Ireland, Lithuania, The Netherlands. They had parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, and their stories, to write about. Their foods ranged from beer brats and OJ banana bread muffins to kugelis and himbasha, to lumpia and Young Yang Bab, to Ddok-Bok-Gi and mole poblano, to Janchi Guksu and Keating (Irish) potatoes! The foods, family histories, and cultural insights seemed too good to keep in the classroom, especially as they also picture the way we image God together better than we do separately. Read the stories here! 

Groups of Trinity freshmen and visiting students from Holland Christian High school explored five Chicago neighborhoods on Tuesday, November 7. Students visited a museum, ate locally, and took a neighborhood walk in Pilsen, Chinatown, Ukrainian Village, the former Polish district of West Town, or Washington Park. Students characterized the day as humbling, fun, exciting, unique, eye-opening, and inspirational.  “I think the food gave the most insight to current Polish culture, but the museum gave great context for it all,” said one student. Check out the English Department Facebook page for more pictures.

Kate Meyrick ‘17 is a double major in English and music, and she recently combined her interests in an article posted on Think Christian titled “Millennials, Worship, and Hillsong: Let Hope Rise.”

Read more about Meyrick’s thoughts.

Students. Authors. Thanks to their experiences in Trinity’s English classes, several students and recent alumni have seen their worked developed into a blog, Getting to Know Us: Our Foods, Our Cultures, and a book, Voices of Redemption, that has recently been released in an electronic version.

Read more about this achievement.

If you never thought that attending an anime convention would be a requirement for an English class, then you haven’t read the syllabus for English 356: Manga and Anime.

Read more about Ramencon and the Anime class.