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As part of Trinity’s exhibits by professional artists, the College is pleased to welcome Sara Black & Amber Ginsburg’s show 7000 Marks to the Seerveld Gallery.
The exhibit runs from March 1-28, with the artists’ lecture on March 28 at 6 pm in the ArCC DeWitt Lobby, with a closing reception following at 7 pm.
In 7000 Marks, Sara Black & Amber Ginsburg have transformed a Sudden Oak Death-infected tanoak tree into 7,000 pencils. An outcome of global industrial trade, the pathogen Phytophthora ramorum (SOD) has traveled on lumber and nursery trees to the United States.
Trees infected with SOD are “quarantined” until processed into lumber and kiln dried. This tightening of boundaries is a move toward conservation, but echoes a rising tide of nationalism, xenophobia and boundary reinforcement on a global scale. The work contrasts Joseph Bueys’ utopian project, 7000 Oaks, by problematizing tenets of conservation through the lens of immigration.
Artist Statement
Sara Black and Amber Ginsburg work together on projects that draw a material through-line, pointing to the complexity of ecological systems. Sara’s enduring commitment to the material and history of wood and Amber’s background in ceramics incline them to the language of craft, often employed as a metaphor for the relationship between human endeavoring and non-human forces. Their large-scale projects reach into time on a geologic scale and engage audiences to think forward in their habits and practices.
Sara is an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Amber is a Lecturer in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago. Their work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
At Trinity Christian College, our professors are dedicated to sharing their knowledge with students and growing their own gifts and talents inside and outside the classroom. We celebrate with the Trinity faculty who have recently reached career milestones with promotions and the granting of tenure.
Congratulations to our professors on these successes!
–Clay Carlson: Promoted to Professor of Biology
–Sarah Gouwens: Promoted to Associate Professor of Nursing
–Shari Jurgens: Promoted to Associate Professor of Physical Education and Exercise Science
–Bethany Keeley-Jonker: Granted indefinite tenure
–Lenore Knight-Johnson: Promoted to Associate Professor of Sociology
–Yeon Lee: Promoted to Associate Professor of Spanish
–Deb Majewski: Promoted to Associate Professor of Psychology.
–Jeff Nyhoff: Granted indefinite tenure
–Abbie Schrotenboer: Granted indefinite tenure
Trinity was pleased to welcome music director, performer, and producer Demond Mickens to campus on Feb. 22. He led and participated in several events, including the Diversity Scholars visit and Gospel Fest 2019.
Mickens also spoke at Chapel, offering a meditation on the theme “I Am.” He spent time with the Diversity Scholars who were visiting campus and discussed “Diversity Designed by God.” Mickens shared some of his story about growing up in Gary, Ind., moving to the Chicago suburbs, and his explorations of different church congregations as an adult. “Whether we believe it or not, we are all part of a bigger picture,” he told the group gathered in the Vermeer Fireside Room for the discussion. “We should never look at what we come from and our culture and shun it.”
Mickens ended his day at the College as a featured guest at Trinity’s Annual Gospel Fest that evening.
Congratulations to Assistant Professor of History Kyle Dieleman, Ph.D., on the publication of his book The Battle for the Sabbath in the Dutch Reformation: Devotion or Desecration?
According to Dieleman, the book, which is published by Vandenhoek and Ruprecht, began as his dissertation project while earning his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.
In the book, Dieleman focuses on the doctrinal and practical importance of Sunday observance in the early modern Reformed communities in the Low Countries of the Netherlands. “My project investigates the theological import of the Sabbath and its practical applications,” he said.
Dieleman’s family and faith backgrounds have Dutch connections, so the topic seemed like a natural fit for his interests in church history and theology. “I started exploring the Sabbath the first year of my doctoral program when I saw it coming up in a lot of the church records I was looking at,” he said.
His book delves in to the ways that the theology of the Sabbath moved over time from an emphasis on spiritual rest to participating in the ministries of the church to a strict rest from all work and recreation. The book also looks at congregants’ actual Sunday practices.
Dieleman’s book brings to life how people during that time and place truly observed worship. Among the stories he discovered was how a local tavern was supposed to close during church services. “That wasn’t happening,” he said. “And when the consistory brought the owner in for his discipline, the owner mentioned that he didn’t know when to close because he didn’t have a clock telling him when the services would start—an obvious lie they didn’t buy!”
He reveals another anecdote about the general reluctance of congregants to go back to the second service, which took place on Sunday afternoon. “There’s a church document where the church authorities demand those services be held even if the only people present are the preacher and his family,” he said.
To research the book, Dieleman visited the Netherlands. “I mainly went to one archive in the city of Kampen, connected through a Dutch friend,” he said. “There I looked at the manuscripts of consistory records from their Reformed church from the early 1600s. I was, of course, paying close attention to the ways in which they talked about and disciplined Sunday observance.”
A friend of Dieleman’s, Herman Selderhuis, connected him to the publisher. “He recommended I submit the book to the publisher and series, so I did. It was accepted, so then it was a matter of some revisions, edits, and so on,” he said.
And while much of the work for the book was completed before joining the College in 2017, Dieleman said he appreciated the insights and encouragement of his colleagues here. “I want to thank Trinity for supporting the latter stages of the project,” he said.
As part of Trinity’s annual observation of Black History Month, the History Department brings a scholar of race relations or African American history to campus as a guest speaker.
On Feb. 18, at the Vermeer Fireside Room, guest lecturer Nathan Jérémie-Brink, Assistant Professor of the History of Global Christianity and the L. Russell Feakes Memorial Assistant Professor of Church History at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, offered this year’s lecture. “We can’t just receive and memorialize black history,” he said. “It’s something we do.”
Looking at history requires looking for evidence, interpretation, and offer critical thinking, he said. “We reaffirm the past and think ethically as we live as human beings with dignity and respect,” he said.
During his lecture, Jérémie-Brink spoke about “Moving Abolitionist Print: Activist Networks, African American Churches, and Antislavery Print Distribution in the Early American Republic.”
According to Jérémie-Brink, in the early 19th century, there were several eastern areas in the United States that distributed print materials advocating for the abolition of slavery. This distribution took place in diverse areas from New Jersey to South Carolina. Ministers, laborers, and teachers were a vital part of using print to expand the message. These materials included hymn sheets, independently produced information sheets, and newspapers, as well as early black textbooks. Once printed, these were read and passed along to others, which helped spread the message of the abolitionist movement.
For example, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself,” was published by a commercial printer, at the Anti-Slavery Office in Boston in 1845. “This book continued to expand the availability of abolitionist ideals through print and continued to strengthen the groundwork for the abolition of slavery,” said Jérémie-Brink.
Improvements in technology in the 19th century helped the expansion of the printed word. “Paper was improved and became more available,” he said. “Printing presses improved, which enhanced quality. Distribution improved through rail lines and shipping routes. This allowed the printed messages to spread from several to all areas of the United States.”
The way people thought about print also changed in the 1800s. By the 1830s, many black thinkers embraced print as a message mover. While the ante-bellum experience tended to support the view that blacks were from the south and were slaves, black people lived in areas across the United States. “The printed message was available to them as well,” he said.
The role of the printed message that worked to abolish slavery was a complex process, according to Jérémie-Brink. “You needed thoughtful writers, editors, printers, binding, and distribution, and then an understanding of who would receive and use these printed messages and put them into their living practice,” he said. Churches and social communities made these publications free to readers, or to those that could read and pass on the message in the spoken word. “Anti-slavery print came to empower people,” he said. “We need to be liberators of the liberated word.”
The winter 2019 issue of “The Christian Scholar’s Review” features the insights and contributions of several members of Trinity’s staff and faculty.
Among the articles, Director of First Year Experience Emily Bosscher reviews James Emery White’s “Meet Generation Z.” Her review explores ways to understand the current generation of traditional-aged undergraduate students, based on what White calls “the new reality of a post-Christian world.” While White’s book focuses on Gen Z and the church, Bosscher explores parallels for those in higher education as well.
Professor of Education Bill Boerman-Cornell, Ph.D., also offers an extended review of “Why Comics? From Underground to Everywhere” by Hillary Chute. Boerman-Cornell, with Jung Kim and Michael L. Manderino, recently co-authored “Graphic Novels in High School and Middle School Classrooms: A Disciplinary Literacies Approach.
“The Christian Scholar’s Review” publishes articles of original scholarship and general interest dealing with all aspects of Christian thought and the interrelationship of Christian thought with all areas of scholarly interest. Trinity Professor of Music Mark Peters, Ph.D., and Professor of Philosophy Aron Repmann, Ph.D., currently serve as book editors for the periodical.
As part of Trinity’s Celebration of Blackness during Black History Month, a group of students, faculty, and staff attended worship on Feb. 10 at St. Luke Church of God in Christ. LaDarius Beal ’21, who serves as associate minister for the historic black church on Chicago’s Near North Side, gave the sermon that morning. The Black Student Union organized the trip.
After worshiping together, the congregation provided lunch for the Trinity guests.
The Black Student Union has several more events scheduled for February, including:
–Saturday, Feb. 16: Service Day at the Symphony of Morgan Park Nursing Home at noon
–Friday, Feb. 22: Spoken Word at the BBC at 7:30 pm
–Thursday, Feb. 28: Celebration of Blackness Banquet in the Ozinga Grand Lobby at 5:30 pm
As part of Black History Month, Trinity’s History Department is also sponsoring its annual lecture. This year’s event will take place on Monday, Feb. 18, in the Vermeer Fireside Room from 3:30-5 pm. Guest lecturer Nathan Jérémie-Brink, Assistant Professor of the History of Global Christianity and the L. Russell Feakes Memorial Assistant Professor of Church History at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, will discuss “Moving Abolitionist Print: Activist Networks, African American Churches, and Antislavery Print Distribution in the Early American Republic.”
For more information about these and other events, visit Trinity’s Events page.
Trinity and Restoration Ministries have a deep and rich history together. Over the years, members of the Trinity community have worked in many different capacities with the organization based in Harvey, Ill., whose mission is to provide life-changing opportunities to at-risk underprivileged youth, men, and women with histories of addiction and families struggling in poverty.
And with an Illinois Nurses Foundation grant secured by Assistant Professor of Nursing Kathryn Stefo, the good work between the organizations will be strengthened even further.
According to Stefo, the grant will be used to pay for materials for teaching and providing health maintenance and illness preventive items at a food pantry event on March 23 hosted by Restoration Ministries. Nursing students will also conduct surveys to collect data and evaluate client needs.
“Trinity’s Nursing Department and Restoration Ministries have worked together in various ways over the last 10 years to meet the needs of Harvey residents,” she said. “This project will support the partnership in a relevant, evidence-based, collaborative way. The research- and education-oriented event will also facilitate and expand the BSN students’ learning and the promotion and maintenance of health for clients.”
While Trinity’s nursing students typically participate in a food pantry event in the fall, the grant allows them to participate in Restoration Ministries’ spring event, too. Since half the community is invited to the fall event and half to the spring event, Trinity students will be able to provide education and research to all of Restoration Ministries’ clients in 2019. “Now, we can reach the whole area that is served by the food pantry,” she said.
“I’m so grateful that as we try to minister and fulfill the mission of Trinity, we are supported by INF and are able to provide not only education, but blood pressure cuffs, vaccinations, toothbrushes, and other education and health support and equipment to Restoration Ministries,” she said.
The survey aspect of the students’ work is part of ongoing research that the Nursing Department has conducted for the last five years. “We have adapted a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called a perceived health needs survey,” Stefo said. “It’s a very simple, one-page questionnaire that the students will use to collect data from people willing to participate. It’s an ongoing process, since community’s health needs change, of course.”
The Illinois Nurses Foundation promotes the health of the public by supporting nurses through charitable research and educational initiatives.
Congratulations to Trinity’s psychology professors Dr. Kara Wolff, Dr. Jessica Clevering, and Dr. Debra Majewski for their recent articles in “The Journal of Counseling in Illinois” Winter 2019 issue!
A publication of the Illinois Counseling Association, “The Journal of Counseling in Illinois” is dedicated to increasing the quality and quantity of professional dialog among Illinois counselors by publishing articles concerned with contemporary issues for mental health professionals.
The article by Majewski, “Parentification: Causes, Consequences, and a Case Study,” explores the concept of parentification and outlines potential causes and ramifications of parentification in adulthood. Majewski identifies several treatment considerations, both preventative and reactive, intended to assist clinicians when working with parentified adults.
The article by Wolff and Clevering, “System Justification Theory and Multicultural Training in Counselor Education,” endorses the utilization of system justification theory as a mechanism by which to promote multicultural and social justice competencies in counselor education and beyond. The article explores deficits in current multicultural counselor education training and provides a clear rationale for the use of system justification theory as a potential barrier to the legitimate promotion of social justice.
At least nine Trinity students have been accepted to present their collaborative research with faculty at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) this year. The research represents a range of topics, from an oral presentation about the effect of perceived mutability on racial system justification to a poster presentation on mitochondrial transfer between mesenchymal stem cells and cardiac H9C2 cells.
“These projects represent mentored research under six different faculty in four different disciplines,” said Dr. Clay Carlson, Ph.D., associate professor of biology. Students and professors will be presenting their research in April at NCUR’s 2019 conference, which is being held at Kennesaw State University in suburban Atlanta.
The Trinity students and professors accepted to NCUR 2019 include:
— Larissa Brumlow & Dr. Mark Peters, Professor of Music: Music and National Identity in Ecuadorian Pasillo
Brumlow’s work focuses on the pasillo style of music and how it has shaped and been shaped by Ecuadorian identity, both individually and nationally.
— Emma R. Darcy & Dr. Michael Vander Weele, Professor of English: Knightly Virtues Embodied In a Beast
Darcy analyzes the Christian symbol of the lion in Chrétien de Troyes’s 1170s poem “Yvain, the Knight of the Lion.” She argues in her essay that, despite the title of the poem, it is the lion that serves as a role model for the knight.
–Casey Wiegers and Abigail Lammers & Carlson: Bacteriophage and Their Prey in Chicagoland Area Waterways
Preliminary studies by Wiegers and Lammers have revealed bacteriophage that have the ability to reproduce in laboratory-strains of bacteria. Through their studies and metagenomic analysis of three waterways, they have found many implications for improving public health surrounding potentially harmful bacteria in local waterways.
–Marie Sonnenburg and Laura DeVries & Carlson: Can Changes in Gut Microbiota Impact Function and Make Differences in Conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder?
The anticipated outcome of Sonnenburg and DeVries’ research is a clearer picture of the relationship between specific bacterial strains in the GI system and the effect they have on behavioral symptoms of ASD on a microbiological, psychological, and molecular biological level.
–Marie Sonnenburg and Amber Shoberg & Dr. Bob Boomsma, Professor of Biology: Transfer between Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Cardiac H9c2 Cells
Results of studies by Sonnenburg and Shoberg showed close interactions between MSC and H9c2 cells with mitochondria in long filamentous extensions that made contact with H9c2. These results suggest that mitochondrial transfer may be one mechanism used by MSC to improve heart function after myocardial infarction.
–Jenna Van Der Pol, Olivia Otte, and Jessica Grevenstuk & Associate Professors of Psychology Dr. Kara Wolff and Dr. Jessica Clevering: The Effect of Perceived Mutability on Racial System Justification
Van Der Pol, Otte, and Grevenstuk have done a theoretical replication of Kray, Howland, Russell, and Jackman’s 2017 study measuring racial ideology as opposed to the gender role theories of the original study. Based on this research, they hypothesize that there will be a significant difference in the average scores of system justification between the racism is unchangeable prompt and racism is changeable prompt.
The mission of the Council on Undergraduate Research is to support and promote high-quality undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research and scholarship. Trinity congratulates the students and professors who have been selected to participate in this prestigious conference.