This year鈥檚 Affirming LGBTQ+ Students Lecture at Hope College will present a panel discussion on 鈥淪eeking LGBTQ Justice: A Story of Friendship, Courage, and Change鈥� with current and retired Hope faculty and staff members on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 4 p.m. in the Maas Center auditorium.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The doors will open at 3:45 p.m. There will also be an opportunity for the audience to participate in a question-and-answer panel discussion following the presentation.
For several years in 2010 and beyond, as college community members sought a more welcoming and supportive environment for LGBTQ students, faculty and staff, a small network of faculty leaders harnessed their knowledge, tenure and connections to advocate change. By recollecting that time in Hope鈥檚 history, the panel will provide a case example of how justice-supporting efforts are enabled when kindred people support and encourage one another, and benefit from the wisdom and courage of a respected leader.
The panelists include multiple current and retired members of the college鈥檚 faculty: Michelle Bombe, who is a professor of theatre, chair of the department and executive artistic director of Hope Repertory Theatre; Dr. Kristen Gray, who is retired after serving in roles including associate dean for health and counseling, director of the Counseling and Psychological Services office and off-campus study advisor; Dr. Deirdre Johnston, who is retired from the communication faculty and was associate dean of global education; Dr. Joanne Stewart, who is the Elmer E. Hartgerink Professor of Chemistry and directs the college鈥檚 Center for Teaching and Learning Initiative; and Dr. Elizabeth Trembley, who is retired from the English faculty and had also directed the college鈥檚 FOCUS and SOAR programs. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Jane Dickie, who is retired from the Hope psychology faculty and was founding director of the college鈥檚 women鈥檚 and gender studies program.
Michelle Bombe is the resident costume designer, professor of theatre and chair of the theatre department at Hope College and serves as the executive artistic director of Hope Repertory Theatre. She is also the immediate past national chair of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Bombe received her MFA in design from University of Texas-Austin and her undergraduate degree with an emphasis in performance from the University of Evansville. She received the KCACTF Gold Medallion for Excellence in Theatre Education in 2016 and again in 2023 at the National Festival. Bombe has designed costumes for more than 150 productions for professional theatre, colleges, and even in prison through her work with Shakespeare Behind Bars. She has been proud to be an active LGBTQ+ ally throughout her career.
Dr. Jane Dickie was a professor of psychology and women鈥檚 and gender studies at Hope College from 1972 to 2012, and it was in that work that she developed a calling and passion to seek justice for all people regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, class and ability. She was honored by faculty (elected faculty moderator twice and to the Board of Trustees) and by students (selected Hope Outstanding Professor Educator in 1996.) She has been a member of Hope Church ever since the RCA decided to ordain women at a synod in the mid-70s. She truly feels that God nudges her, and calls not so subtly, to speak out on these issues and to act as an ally. She served on the board of Room for All, a reformed faith organization seeking the full celebration and inclusion of LGBTQ folks. And she was president of the Board of the Center for Women in Transition, which works for prevention and serves victims/survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. She reports, 鈥淚t is my great joy over the decades, living on a 20-acre farm with gardens, occasionally horses, goats, and chickens and traveling and living internationally with my life partner, Larry.鈥� She particularly likes being a grandma and visiting their two grown children Jennifer (partner Michael and children Asa and Jonas) and Sara (partner Rob and children Dorothy and Jane).
Dr. Kristen Gray, PsyD, LP served as associate dean for health and counseling from 1998 through 2020. She led a staff whose mission was to care for students and help them grow into healthy adults. Gray worked as the sexual harassment policy educator from 1997 to 2003 to ensure that Hope鈥檚 processes were fair to all members of the Hope community. From 2000 to 2010, she served on the Planning Committee on Issues of Sexuality, which was responsible for the formation of GLOBE, allowing students to meet with the assistance of CAPS at a time when much of the campus was unfriendly or closed to LGBTQ+ students. When the students were able to establish Prism, she was honored to serve as their initial advisor. Outside of the college, Gray has been is active in the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors, serving on the governing board, and presenting at the national conference 23 times (social justice, advocacy, values and ethics being the most common topics). In 2021, she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award. Her service in the Fried Center for Global Engagement followed her time with CAPS. Now in retirement, she does only those things that bring her joy: long walks, cartooning, knitting, yoga, reading and other amusements with David, her spousal unit for 34 years.
Dr. Deirdre Johnston is a professor emerita of communication and former associate dean of global education at Hope. Most recently, at Hope, she worked on developing the interdisciplinary global health major and minor, and the peace studies minor. Her research includes the social constructions of motherhood, oral histories across generations and race in post-apartheid South Africa, intercultural competencies, and her most recent book, 鈥淭he Wiley Handbook of Online Collaborative Learning and Global Engagement.鈥� In retirement, she facilitates higher education workshops on global learning, intergroup dialogue, conflict mediation and diversity education. Johnston also leads international travel tours. She spends her free time writing a novel, playing with clay and fused glass, dancing tango, and striving to improve her pickleball game. She likes her lattes plain and her food fancy, and she likes good conversation best of all. Her ever-suffering spouse, brilliant children, rambunctious dogs, and wunderkind grandchild are the light of her life.
Dr. Joanne Stewart received her B.A. in chemistry from Kalamazoo College in 1982 and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. She is a chemistry professor at Hope College and a leader of an international inorganic chemistry community of practice called IONiC (www.ionicviper.org). She is studying how professional communities like IONiC enable faculty to engage in more effective teaching practices. She was a founding member of Holland is Ready, which grew into Out On The Lakeshore, a local center for the LGBTQ+ community. She also spends time with her family, working for safety and rights in her community, and fitness training at the gym.
Dr. Elizabeth A. Trembley, Ph.D., is the author of the graphic memoir 鈥淟ook Again鈥� (Street Noise, 2022), which was named one of the Best Graphic Novels for Adults by the American Library Association (2023) and shortlisted for the Graphic Medicine International Collective鈥檚 Award. She is also a Lambda Literary Award-winning mystery novelist (鈥淲hacked,鈥� pen name Josie Gordon), and skilled teacher and creative writing coach of more than three decades (most of which she spent in the English department at Hope. She trained in literature, writing, and innovation and creativity in places as diverse as the University of Chicago, Disney University, the Center for Cartoon Studies and the Sequential Artist鈥檚 Workshop. At the Sequential Artists Workshop, she teaches online classes on graphic memoir, story structure and time/project management. She also lectures on graphic memoir and runs comics and zine-making workshops for groups of all ages. She enjoys living on 10 wooded acres with her Episcopal priest wife, dogs, cats and lots of wild turkeys. More information is available on her website elizabethtrembley.com or Instagram @elizabeth_trembley
The event is being presented by the college鈥檚 Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI), which is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary and is incorporating the theme throughout the 2024 Diversity Lecture Series. CDI is using the 2024 Diversity Lecture Series to celebrate and honor those who have put their time and effort into creating a diverse and inclusive community at Hope.
鈥淥ur theme for this time of celebration and reflection is 鈥�40 years of Belonging and Growing Together: 1984-2024,鈥欌�� said Jevon Willis, director of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. 鈥淯tilizing CDI鈥檚 distinctive diversity spring and fall lecture series, each lecture is focusing on the legacy of work and personal experiences connected with past and present leaders of CDI at Hope College.鈥�
The lecture is being presented by the college鈥檚 Center for Diversity and Inclusion in collaboration with Prism, the Office of Culture and Inclusive Excellence, and the GROW Diversity Council.
To inquire about accessibility or if you need accommodations to fully participate in the event, please email accommodations@hope.edu. Updates related to events are posted when available at hope.edu/calendar in the individual listings.
The Maas Center is located at 264 Columbia Ave., between 10th and 13th streets.