Professor of history, William Doezema, who came to Houghton College in forty years ago, will be retiring in the spring of 2017.
Eliza Burdick-Risser ‘18, took Recent American History, 1920 to Present, with Doezema. Burdick-Risser recalled a semester of history made vivid through Doezema’s rich teaching. “You walk into Professor Doezema’s class at eight o’clock on a Tuesday morning,” she said. “You sit down, and he starts with discussion questions on the reading from the night before.” However, the resemblance to a predictable lecture stops there.
“He was really good at providing examples of what happened, because he experienced a lot of this stuff. He was able to tell us about the Cold War, and what it was truly and honestly like to grow up during that time period,”she said. Burdick-Risser stated Doezema’s teaching gave the students in the class a greater tie to history, as well as a broader perspective on major events. “At twenty years old you haven’t experienced, a Cold War,” she said. “And most stuff that has happened, we haven’t even had a say or a vote in it.”
Doezema joined Houghton College’s history department in 1979, and has been teaching at Houghton for almost forty years. In addition to teaching, he enjoys historical research, as well as presenting and publishing scholarly work on a variety of subjects ranging from the Salem witch trials to China’s Taiping Rebellion.
The history department’s small size allows for close working relationships between faculty. “Teaching in an area of academia I love and learning much from colleagues inside and outside my department have been incalculable privileges,” Doezema said. He added, “I’ve been struck over the years by how much we complement one another.”
Those colleagues seem to agree. Meic Pearse, a fellow professor of history, described the small, tight-knit department as a blessing, “[W]e all get along so well together; departmental meetings are mostly punctuated by funny stories and laughter.”
Professor of history, David Howard, was one of the faculty members who interviewed Doezema for his teaching position years ago and said Doezema is “a wonderful colleague; absolutely a person you can count on.” According to Howard, Doezema’s presence, in conjunction with Houghton’s other history professors, has helped to balance and strengthen the department. In addition to maintaining a warm dynamic with fellow professors, Doezema said, “The most satisfying side of teaching … has been helping struggling students develop confidence in strengths they scarcely realized they possessed.”
Burdick-Risser said she appreciates the way Doezema drew connections between the past and the present, and navigated those topics in a way that allowed students to reach their own conclusions about politically-charged issues. “He never made it a thing of ‘Democrat versus Republican’ … I found that really nice. It was just history for what it was” stated Burdick-Risser.
Pearse affirmed this sentiment and stated the world needs “non-mythologized, non-romanticized, non-ideological history.” Otherwise, “All we do is delude ourselves and confirm our own prejudices, and fail to understand our own place in the world, or why others act as they do—and so fail to anticipate what is likely to happen next.”“[A]s one historian has put it,” says Doezema, “history is ‘an act of self-consciousness.’ History can make us all more discerning Christians.”
Howard said, if Doezema decided to leave Houghton after retiring in the spring he will be missed. He said, “There are very few people I’ll miss as much as Bill.”
The Federal work-study program funds eligible students a yearly limit on earned wages. Students may earn less than their limit, but not more. “Due to an increase in per hour pay, a student will have to work less hours to earn the same amount,” stated Interim Vice President of Enrollment Management, Marianne Loper. Even though the wage increase will not go into effect until the last day of the calendar year, work study wage limits cover both the fall and spring semesters. Thus, if hours were not cut in the fall semester, they would face a more dramatic cut in the spring semester.
The selection of a topic for the Faith and Justice Symposium is based both on student feedback from the past year and on what subjects are timely in wider society. This year’s topic was chosen by the Symposium Advisory Team, which includes Brian Webb, Sustainability Coordinator, and Kristina LaCelle-Peterson, Professor of Religion. According to LaCelle-Peterson, they agreed that the issue of immigrants and refugees was relevant due to the current political climate and refugee crisis.
Phifer has known of Houghton College for many years, with one of her favorite college professors having graduated from Houghton. Her undergraduate work focused on counseling, but Phifer said that she felt led by God to do work in Residence Life. That work is not unfamiliar to Phifer as she was a Resident Assistant during her undergraduate studies at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, and most recently she acted as an RD at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia. Last year, she applied to Christian campuses with openings for an RD closer to her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She wanted to work at a Christian establishment because she also received her education at a Christian liberal arts institution.
“In any country where the legal system is corrupt, IJM goes in to help restore justice,” Jones said. According to the organization’s website, IJM is an anti-slavery organization that combats violence against the poor and vulnerable. Jones participated in lobbying congressmen and senators about the Ending Modern Slavery Act while interning for IJM. This role fit well for Jones, who hopes to one day work as an international human rights lawyer.
In the third year of their program, the men’s tennis team could ensure an Empire 8 tournament berth if they finish among the top four teams in the conference. “If we can beat Alfred and Nazareth than we have a chance of going to the conference playoffs,” said Head Coach, Charlie Ellis. Currently the team’s overall record is 9-6 and their conference record is 4-2. Last weekend, the team pulled out two stellar wins against the Hartwick Hawks and the St. John Fisher Cardinals. It was their first win over St. John Fisher since joining the Empire 8 conference three years ago. “This supporting cast daily has pushed every top player in practice and supported them in the matches,” said Ellis. “They have been sweating and fighting daily to get the entire team ready to play.” Earlier this month, Chase Rangel ’16 was named the Empire 8 Men’s Tennis Play of the Week for his victories in singles matches and double matches, with the help of his partners, ending the week of April 10. “They all get along very well and they are enjoyable to coach which is part of the reason for their success this season,” added Ellis.
Regarding online education, Connell commented on Houghton’s current online presence, saying that although it is currently a small presence, he thinks Houghton needs to and will make more aggressive moves into the online market. Expanding its online presence would allow Houghton to reach previously unreachable audiences, as well as being a helpful way to generate revenue.
The Palooza offers a variety of activities, but Miller and Cannister expressed particular enthusiasm for this year’s lineup of student and faculty bands. “Last year we had a harder time booking bands,” Miller explained. “This year we started really early communications with bands across campus to get quality bands who wanted to perform.” Cannister notes that the Palooza was originally “created to be a Houghton music festival,” and looks forward to the bands being “a big presence in the whole Palooza.” The featured bands include “The Burdo and the Bee,” “The Sorrow Estate,” “Marc LeGrand and Friends,” “True Cliche,” Mitch Beattie and the Heartbreakers,” as well as talented students and faculty without official band names. “We’ve been joking at meetings about things we can call them,” Kasey Cannister noted.
Like the Adolescence Education major, IADE majors may choose a second content major. For example, a student who desires to teach math in a classroom inclusive of differently-abled students would major in IADE with a math concentration. Bullard’s major will be accompanied with a generalist concentration, enabling him to teach a broad range of subjects. Bullard said his wide range of studies gives him the tools to “help my students in all subjects.” He continued, “I can bridge gaps between subjects that a conventional single subject classroom educator may not be there to see how techniques in other classes could benefit a particular student in another setting.”