Sports

BY JEFF FEBUS ’92

Left to right: Abbie Cooley, Sara Nealy, Stephanie Coors, and Baylee GalanBrowne.

Over the last four years the Calvin women’s basketball team has featured a strong Rocky Mountain flair.

This year’s Calvin women’s basketball team features seniors Stephanie Coors, Baylee GalanBrowne, and Abbie Cooley as well as junior Sara Nealy. The Colorado quartet all hail from the greater Denver area.

Coors is a smooth-operating wing forward with all-conference honors included in her Calvin résumé. GalanBrowne has been a key outside shooting threat from her shooting guard position, while Cooley and Nealy are lead ball handlers and defenders in the backcourt.

Coors and Nealy are graduates of Valor Christian High School from the suburbs of Denver. GalanBrowne graduated from neighboring Evergreen High School, a conference rival of Valor Christian. Cooley meanwhile is from Castle View High School in Castle Rock, Colorado, just south of Denver.

Together the Colorado quartet has found a home away from home on the Calvin campus.

“I chose Calvin because I loved the family atmosphere and it felt like home,” said GalanBrowne of her choice to attend Calvin four years ago. “It was a smaller school with great academics and a strong women’s basketball tradition.” In her first two years at Evergreen High School, GalanBrowne was a member of back-to-back state championship teams in girls basketball. As a junior and senior however, she watched rival Valor Christian win state titles with Coors and Nealy playing roles in the title runs.

Despite the rivalry, Coors, Nealy, and GalanBrowne teamed up on the same summer AAU travel team. In addition, the trio were all trained by former Calvin men’s basketball standout Derek Griffin ’09, who now lives and works as a coach and trainer in the Denver area.

Cooley went head-to-head once with her future Calvin teammates as a high school player while also bumping into them during summer ball.

“The thing about Colorado basketball, everyone knows everyone,” said Coors. “We all knew each other beforehand.”

A common theme with the four players was the willingness to leave home and start a new adventure. “There aren’t that many colleges or universities in Colorado, particularly small schools,” said Cooley. “I knew I wanted to keep playing basketball while continuing my education, so moving away wasn’t an issue for me.”

As the youngest of the four, Nealy followed the lead of the three who arrived at Calvin a year earlier. “I loved the team dynamic, and I wanted a small classroom size,” said Nealy. “Like the others, [Calvin] felt like home when I came for a visit.”

GalanBrowne is set to graduate this spring with a degree in mechanical engineering. She is busy working with her senior design team on her senior project and has a job lined up with the Grand Rapids office of AECOM Engineering. Coors is a sociology major with a minor in kinesiology. She has plans to attend graduate school after completing her Calvin degree this spring. Cooley is an exercise science major with plans to attend graduate school with the future goal of becoming a strength and conditioning coordinator. Nealy has one year left to go but, like Coors, is a sociology major.

Third-year Calvin head women’s basketball coach Mark Christner ’99 states that each of the four Colorado natives add to the program in their own way. “All four contribute heavily to our team, both on and off the court,” said Christner. “They have different gifts as basketball players but the thing that I value the most is that they are positive, hard-working young women who support their teammates and our program. We are grateful to have them and love that they are Knights.”

BY MATT KUCINSKI

It’s 5:30 a.m. Michael Le Roy peers out the front window of his four-season room in DeWit Manor. He watches the light change and the campus slowly come alive.

“I feel like that’s a place where every morning as I pray, I get in touch with the work I’m called to do today,” said Le Roy.

This daily practice has become perhaps the most important routine of his presidency.

“He roots himself in prayer. I can’t tell you how many times he’s told me, ‘I was praying for you this morning,’ or ‘I was praying for students.’ It is woven into his life,” said Mary Hulst ’91, university pastor. “When you have someone spending time with the Lord in that way, you know their heart is going to be aligned for the things of the Lord.” The Le Roys would find that time spent extremely valuable as they entered a challenging environment for higher education generally, and Calvin specifically—encountering things they were prepared to face and others they had not anticipated.

“As we look back, we need to be grateful for the heavy load they carried all these years,” said Jennifer Holberg, professor of English.

Le Roy is in his 10th year serving as Calvin’s president. In June 2021, he informed the board of trustees that the 2021–2022 academic year would be his final season at Calvin, citing a pull to return to the Northwest to be closer to his and his wife Andrea’s adult children and aging parents.

PHOTO CREDIT: MATT MITCHELL

In 2012, the Le Roys officially joined the Calvin community. Dr. Le Roy brought an extensive knowledge of Christian higher education, a deep understanding of the challenges academia would face over the next decade, and a strong appreciation for the Reformed perspective.

Scott Spoelhof ’84 was chair of the board of trustees when Le Roy started. From the onset, he found him to be both an incredible strategist and someone who never shied away from meeting the challenge of the day head on. “The immediate never suffered at the expense of the longer term,” said Spoelhof.

Upon arriving at Calvin, it soon became clear to Le Roy that focusing on the immediate would actually be a necessary strategy for sustaining and strengthening Calvin for the long term. So, he got to work on helping Calvin strengthen its financial position by reducing its longterm debt and closing its operating deficit.

“He was able to clarify the [financial] challenge and help us develop a plan for meeting it,” said Todd Hubers ’84, vice president of people, strategy, and technology.

That plan included asking donors to give toward reducing the university’s longterm debt. For someone who had little experience in fundraising for anything, let alone debt, this seemed like a heavy lift. But within a year of announcing the $25 million ambitious goal, the institution had exceeded it, prompting Inside Higher Ed’s headline of “Unlikely 25 Million.”

The plan also involved painful decisions and shared sacrifice in an effort to secure the longevity of the institution. It was not an easy road for the community, nor Le Roy.

“He made really hard calls that set us up for a stable, and I pray, hopeful and flourishing future,” said Hulst. “Michael owned the many difficult decisions made during his tenure. There was never a scapegoat,” said Spoelhof. “He navigated the financial challenges early in his tenure and put Calvin on a solid financial footing.”

While he owned the decisions he made, he and Andrea also shouldered the weight of them.

“I think I have a deeper appreciation for and a keener understanding of the phrase ‘a long obedience in the same direction,’” said Andrea Le Roy. “During some of the particularly hard times, I questioned why God called us to Calvin. But listening for God and trusting God was the best I knew to do. I think now, maybe, that is exactly what a life of faith looks like.” Fast forward to 2021 and the university is in a solid financial position. The institution received an A- rating and a stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s. And during Le Roy’s tenure Calvin’s assets have doubled, while its debt has been cut in half. The university has also experienced two of its three most successful fundraising years.

“A strong sense of calling helped Michael to be faithful to the work that needed to be done,” said Cheryl Brandsen ’79, who served as provost from 2014–2021. “Michael also drew on his faith to sustain him during hard times.”

Le Roy gained confidence and strength from seeking input from many advisers. While his cabinet team would often joke that with Le Roy’s grasp of all the different aspects of higher education “he could do every one of our jobs as well as we could,” Le Roy, in humility, sought the counsel of many.

“Even when there was a big decision to make, he went around the table, what does each of you think? He loves data. He loves to get more information,” said Hulst.

“He sought to create an environment where everyone could contribute,” said Craig Lubben, chair of the board of trustees from 2014 to 2020. “As solutions were debated, he made sure no voice was marginalized.”

“Michael cared well for faculty and staff by listening carefully to the concerns they expressed. Perhaps the best example of this is Michael’s work through the years to revisit and strengthen the faculty requirements regarding Reformed Christian commitments,” said Brandsen.

Le Roy heard the faculty’s concerns in his very first faculty senate meeting.

“We desired to develop faculty and staff in a way that focused on their faith commitments and practices rather than their institutional memberships,” said Brandsen. “Michael worked persistently and patiently with the board, with the faculty, and with external constituents to deepen the university’s commitments in this area.”

A key marker of success from this was the establishment of The de Vries Institute for Global Faculty Development. The institute aims to help ensure Calvin faculty and staff along with Christian educators around the world have the resources they need to deepen their abilities to bring their Reformed Christian commitments to bear on teaching and learning.

This was made possible by listening, so too was the university deepening its commitment to diversity and inclusion (D&I).

“I think under Michael’s leadership the work of D&I became more institutionalized and the awareness became a higher priority,” said Michelle Loyd-Paige, executive associate to the president for diversity and inclusion.

This became clear early on when Le Roy added a cabinet-level position focused on D&I and appointed Loyd-Paige to fill that role.

“He trusts my judgment to be the senior spokesperson for the university when it comes to decisions about diversity goals or how to respond to something,” said Loyd-Paige. “I know I can say, ‘You’re off on that’ [to Michael], because I have. And he’s not defensive,’ he says, OK, help me to see where I’m off. Now let’s do the corrective.’”

And Le Roy also welcomes advice from students, whom he values so deeply.

In the summer of 2020 after hearing students speaking on a panel following the aftermath of the George Floyd murder, Le Roy worked with LoydPaige to form a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) student advisory group who he would meet with monthly.

“Michael could enter into that space and suck all the air out of the room by saying, ‘I am president,’ but he shows up as Michael. He’s the last person to speak as opposed to the first,” said Loyd-Paige.

Le Roy’s desire is for every student to have an excellent learning and living experience at Calvin. And when he sees this is not happening for some, he seeks advice from students on how things can be improved. Le Roy’s actions show he values others above himself. And for the past 10 years, he’s placed a high value on students and their input.

“I never turn down a meeting with a student,” said Le Roy, who regularly met with student senators, Chimes editors, and other student leaders and groups on campus. Even during a meeting-packed day, he would strategically align his path with theirs.

“Being with students always helps to motivate me and center me in my work, and so even in the paths that I would walk during the day if I could plan my walk between meetings before and after class those would be things I would do, going over to the dining hall or Johnny’s and sitting down with students where there was an empty chair. Andrea and I tried to get to as many concerts and athletic events as we could. We would bring our dog Gus to the soccer games, partly because the dog drew students in and they’d come over, and hopefully it made me even more approachable … ‘I’m just a guy with a dog.’”

“I remember during orientation he joined our group’s table for dinner, and I was like, ‘Wow, he wants to eat with us at the dining hall and learn our names,’” said Emmanuel Essien, who is now a senior and student body president.

The Le Roys were all about trying to help students feel welcome. Among the thousands of house guests they’ve welcomed over the years, including an astronaut, national journalists, college presidents, and distinguished alumni, they count their interactions with students among their favorites.

“We loved hosting students at our house,” said Le Roy.

The Le Roys would open their home often. For several years, they’d host groups of students by major, department, athletic team, and student group, and have a family style dinner together.

“It is such a blast,” said Andrea Le Roy. “They are so happy to be here. We’d ask them questions, they’d talk about their experiences, it was conversational. Those times were really fun.”

The Le Roys were always working to enlarge the circle of affection of Calvin. They believed so much in the mission of the institution that they wanted the doors to be open to more and more learners—of all ages and backgrounds. That’s a key driver behind Vision 2030, which has made great strides in less than three years. The most visible change has been Calvin switching its last name from “College” to “University” in 2019. But what that change has enabled is the ability for Calvin to extend the reach of its mission far beyond the traditional undergraduate populations. the significant decline in high school graduates in the Midwest. Vision 2030 is that path through.

“Michael took the wheel and was like, ‘There’s an iceberg, you can’t see it, I can see it. We are going to go this way, just a couple of degrees is actually going to save us,’” said Hulst. “He knew we needed to get ready, and he didn’t let the headwinds of change drive him off course. And he wasn’t just steering, he was training others how to steer to get us safely where we want to go.”

“Many leaders have really shown heavy lifting, and that’s a testament to his leadership,” said Holberg. “He picked good people to help with the work, and they’ve made a difference.”

As leaders continue to steer the university toward Vision 2030, they can celebrate the ways the institution has opened doors to new learners. The university’s Calvin Prison Initiative is allowing inmates an opportunity to earn bachelor’s degrees behind bars, the Ready for Life Program is allowing students with intellectual disabilities to be full members of the Calvin community and earn certificates, and the Global Campus has opened a growing number of both in-person and online graduate-level offerings, which will total 10 by fall 2022. The university will also open its new stateof-the-art School of Business building in summer 2022 and established the School of Health this past fall.

Years prior, Le Roy had identified the challenging times ahead for higher education and knew the institution would need to develop a path through

There’s a lot of changes that have been made over the past decade. Some difficult. Some exciting. But they’ve all been done for students. To Le Roy, every student mattered.

“One time I was very down when I was meeting with him, and he spent the whole meeting time praying for me. Sometimes I’ll meet with him, and he remembers what I told him last month,” said Essien. “I feel more like a son than a student or mentee. I can tell him my worries. He is able to advise me and make me feel comfortable. His Christian faith makes him this loving person.”

“Everything he does points back to his faith, especially in his mentorship,” said Kay Casturo, a senior who is interning with Le Roy this year. “He mentors me in a way that always points me back to my own faith too, and that’s been really impressive.”

“He’ll be remembered by 10 years of students who knew he cared deeply about them,” said Bruce Los ’77, current chair of the board of trustees.

“This is why my desk sits right here,” said Le Roy, pointing to his desk that is facing the window and the Commons Lawn. “I get to sit here in the middle of the hard things and see students pass by. No matter what my day is like, that helps me re-center.

“Calvin University truly is one of the most amazing Christian higher ed institutions in the world, and I can say that because I’ve been at a few,” said Le Roy. “My parting words to the Calvin community would be to cultivate gratitude: This is an amazing place with an amazing mission.”

KAY CASTURO ’22

PHOTO CREDIT: STEVEN HERPPICH Left page, top: In his first year as president, Michael Le Roy joined students in the Cold Knight Plunge. He jumped twice more during his presidency. Left page, bottom: Commencement 2021 at LMCU Ballpark.

Right page, top left: The Le Roys’ favorite space on campus is the 100-acre Ecosystem Preserve & Native Gardens. Andrea is on the advisory board and regularly volunteers at the preserve. Right page, top right: Every January, the Le Roys opened their home for a luncheon with each of the January Series speakers, underwriters, and invited guests. In 2017, astronaut Leland Melvin, a dog lover, had heard about Gus from students, and so requested a photo with the first dog … and Michael. Right page, bottom: From his first semester at Calvin until now, President Le Roy immersed himself in the student experience.

BY SARAH POTTER JOHNSON ’00

This professor thinks Christians can do a better job at disagreeing and he’s using an ancient text to open up conversations about life’s big questions.

Political science professor Micah Watson first read Plato’s Republic when he was a student in college. You might remember the Republic—it’s Plato’s best known work that recounts stories of Socrates inviting people into a discussion about life’s big questions. What is the meaning of justice? How should the government reflect justice? And what is the nature of the good?

This semester, Watson taught the Republic to students in POLS 240: “Freedom, Justice, and Political Authority.” Watson guides the discussion, but he isn’t heavy-handed. “It’s not me with a box of data that I’m handing over to students. I want to know what they think.”

Watson, the son of a pastor and schoolteacher, grew up in California and studied politics at a large public university. He often had more conservative viewpoints than his professors and was one of the few vocal Christians in class. “Being a person of faith in the public university classroom was tricky. I had to articulate my faith in a way that was winsome,” he said.

He found that some of his professors shut down his ideas and didn’t welcome dialogue. But some—including the one who introduced him to the Republic—welcomed an open exchange. These dialogues deepened his convictions, and they opened his eyes to the possibility of real conversations amidst people who loved the material but saw it differently.

Modeling the exchange of ideas in a civil way is central to why Watson teaches. “Our society is full of polarization and ugliness. We as Christians are called to reason, act, and discuss with love,” Watson said. “Christians can do a better job at disagreeing. How we disagree and discuss ideas is part of our witness.”

Watson was drawn to Calvin because he knew that Calvin would not be one-sided politically. “At Calvin, we have a range of political views, and we have a common framework of Christian belief and commitment. That’s unique and rare, and we should press into that as a strength of who we are rather than a liability.”

Students in his classes are told that up front, from the very first day. “If you’re progressive, you’re going to rub shoulders with conservatives. If you’re conservative, you’re going to rub shoulders with progressives. If you were hoping that you’d come to a place where you’d be surrounded by people who thought like you and you wouldn’t be challenged, you’ve come to the wrong place.”

Watson still enjoys the journey through the Republic because he gets to see it through the eyes of new students each year. “It’s pretty great to work through a 2,400-yearold text about the big questions in life with students for whom those questions are much more than academic. Calvin is a place where those conversations still happen.”

Watson is also the executive director of the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics and the Paul B. Henry Chair in Political Science.

Hear Micah Watson talk with friends and colleagues from across the political and religious spectrum about faith, politics, and culture. You can find the podcast by searching for Henry Conversations on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

On the first day of literature class, Jennifer Holberg shows her class a painting by Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. She doesn’t tell them the title, but asks what they see. The first answers are expected: a lake, a man, a boat, a plow.

“Wait a minute,” one student says, leaning in, “are those legs sticking out of the water?”

It’s the comment Holberg has been waiting for. The painting, unbeknownst to the students, is called “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.” The student who noted the tiny legs, bare and flailing out of the sea, has uncovered something that Holberg wants them to understand about literature. And it’s something she wants them to understand about the Christian life.

It’s important to notice the details, to notice what—and who—is on the margins.

In this video, Jennifer Holberg talks about the student-centered way she gives feedback on papers in English 101. “Right before the scene in this painting, Icarus is falling out of the sky, plunging toward the sea. Yet everyone has their head down or turned away,” she tells the class.

Holberg pulls up a poem by W.H. Auden about the painting and shares, “Auden says that for the people in the painting, Icarus falling from the sky was ‘not an important failure.’”

She looks out at the future nurses, software engineers, parents, and social workers. “This painting is why you’re taking a literature class at Calvin University. I’m asking you to look to the margins and notice the things that are not the most obvious things. Pay attention.”

If you’ve taken a class with Holberg, you might recognize and appreciate her gentle challenges. A student favorite, the 2002 senior class selected her for Professor of the Year.

Her appeal might be because she’s been championing “student-centered learning” long before it was trendy. “The whole point of English 101 is teaching students to trust their own instincts. They’ve lost confidence or they never had confidence in their writing. It’s my job to encourage them.”

That encouragement often comes in the format of one-onone conversations with students. Instead of marking up students’ papers with red ink, Holberg sits across from them and they talk through how to make the work better. It’s her favorite part of her job.

“I actually really like college students,” she said. “I like them as an age group, and I love Calvin students in particular because they’re earnest and want to do good in the world.”.

It’s no surprise that she’s one of those professors who stays in contact with students long after they graduate. “I love seeing where their lives go,” she said. “I get to have this tiny little contribution to what God is going to do in their life, and hopefully give them a tool or a way of thinking or even just encouragement.”

Holberg is also chair of the English Department and co-director of the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing.

Stories have a lot of power. See how this English professor uses a painting and a poem to show students their role as agents of renewal.

This professor asks a lot of questions. He’s always learning, reading, and making new connections. And that curiosity often rubs off on his students.

Eric Washington’s office is how you’d imagine a history professor’s office—hundreds of books, thousands of stories. The books go from the floor to the ceiling, and if you read them, all the way around the world. They contain personal accounts from both sides of the transatlantic slave trade. There are heart-wrenching diary entries from the Haitian Revolution.

One book is a memoir written by an Iranian-American woman who came to the U.S. when the Iranian Revolution broke out. “Students really get into her story. They tell me on the way out that I have to keep that book.”

These stories are at the heart of Washington’s classroom and his profession as a historian. Not because the stories give the answers, but because they invite complex questions. After reading the Iranian-American woman’s memoir, students often write in their papers about how reading it has challenged their views of immigration and revealed some nuance they didn’t understand before.

“People have uncomplicated views of the world and of history. I encourage students to live in the tension. History is not an equation that gives you an answer. In fact, you may have more questions after you read these stories— and that’s good,” Washington said.

“This is a great big world. And there’s a lot that we don’t know. God has placed us in this world not to remain stuck in our own corners. I want students to understand that you can travel without leaving where you are, through books, through history, through literature. That’s important because we’re in the world to explore it, to see what makes us human.” Exploring the world and what makes us human has always been important to Washington. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Some of his favorite books growing up were the encyclopedias and the World Atlas set his parents bought. “I read those over and over. I guess in one sense, that’s probably what started me on a path of becoming a historian.”

As for teaching, his first experience teaching was in church. He was 15, his dad was the pastor, and the vacation Bible school program needed a teacher. It was inevitable. “I was teaching kids just a few years younger than me,” he said. “I had to learn how to prepare for class and present the material in an interesting way.”

Today, he keeps his class interesting by modeling curiosity himself. “A professor never stops learning, interrogating, and challenging themself. I bring that attitude into the classroom—that’s what I want for my students. If they see me being curious and asking a lot of questions, I think they will, too, and that’s how they learn and grow.”

In 2018, the senior class gave Eric Washington the Professor of the Year award. “He makes class feel like a family,” one student said. Read the whole story.