News and College Life

Graduates from the Class of 2023, Emily Ernst, Hannah Brown, Ashley Price and Maddie Mumford celebrates the fountain outside of Freedom Hall after the Bellarmine University’s undergraduate commencement at in Louisville, Kentucky on May 13, 2023.

The children of staff and faculty member Sara Alsum-Wassenaar, help each other with a camera as part of a community-based visual studies project. This project has helped broaden the past and present view along Lake Macatawa in Holland as city leaders consider future waterfront development. The idea stemmed from Sara Alsum-Wassenaar, communications resource specialist for Production Support Resources in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a part-time visual studies faculty member for the Visual and Media Arts Department. One aspect of visual studies is that students are actively engaged with the community. The effort, named Macatawa Strata, has had a goal of using research and different forms of artistic media for a site-based exploration, Alsum-Wassenaar said. She said she was also able to obtain funding to work with undergraduate students on the project.

Hannah Cline is one of 21 students who are spending their summer deep in research projects with faculty mentors. Sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship, the students and faculty receive stipends to devote 12 weeks to a project. Cline, a senior who is majoring in studio art, is working on an interdisciplinary project with Dat Nguyen, a senior majoring in computer science. With their respective faculty mentors, Vinicius Lima and Hans Dulimarta, Cline and Nguyen are contributing their research and talents toward enhancing an interactive application for exploring spherical geometry. The program was written several years ago by mathematics professors David Austin and William Dickinson. Here, Hannah meets with the group to report her progress.

An integrative studies class took advantage of Traverse City's natural resources during a week of activities to study the area's water issues. From kayaking on the Boardman River to sailing on a schooner while conducting experiments, Kate Fairman's "Wicked Problems in Sustainability" class researched issues with stormwater, dam remediation on a river, wastewater and freshwater.

 

Inaugural Water in the West trip gives students invaluable experiences and new perspectives. 

The four-week trip prompted a new appreciation for water and conservation, new friendships and new career ambitions.