The Year in Review

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Spiritually Invested

Where He Walked

Last spring, Carl Schultz '53, professor of Old Testament, led a tour of the Holy Land that included 12 students and eight adults. Associate Professor of Communication and Business Daniel Minchen, who was on the trip, wrote down some thoughts of the travelers. Here are excerpts:

We visited the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the house of Caiaphas where Jesus was judged, and a dungeon where he was likely held after the pronouncement. Lisa Coutras '07 read Scripture in this stony place as our group sensed the desperation of prison. "Our time here makes the narrative of the Bible more authentic because you see that it is real and tangible," she said.

"After walking around the Sea of Galilee, Jericho, the Dead Sea, and Jerusalem, I am faced with the mystery of God, how the incarnate and unlimited God of all creation, could indeed become a man and walk this earth," said Ian Galloway '08, "The questions remain, but with them I have gained a greater sense of the depth of God."

Koinonia

"...Koinonia is exerting a strong influence this semester. Close to 500 college students gather on Sunday evenings in Wesley Chapel for this hour of singing, praying and praising God. The church selects and trains the students who lead these services."

— from "A Day at Houghton Wesleyan Church," by Wesley D. Oden, senior pastor.

Mercy Seat

Mercy Seat is a student-led prayer movement which meets Monday-Friday from 9-11pm in the basement of Wesley Chapel to intercede on behalf of the campus, the county, and the nations and to seek intimate encounter with the Lord. Meetings are led by a worship team, combining worship songs, intercessory prayers, meditation on scripture, and various forms of art. Each semester the ministry sponsors a 24-hour service of prayer. For more information come to any weeknight meeting.

— from the houghton.edu Web site

MLK Service Day

Approximately 500 Houghton College students, faculty and staff volunteered at 35 sites throughout western New Year during the college's annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Day on March 17. It was the eighth year of this event.

Academically Equipped

Summer Research Institute

The college established an undergraduate program, the Summer Research Institute, which brought together physics, chemistry, biology, math and computer science faculty and students in an intense research environment. The Institute included a program of weekly, informal seminars in which students presented plans, problems and results. Students kept logbooks of their research activities and findings and will have the opportunity to present their work at scientific meetings during the regular academic year.

As part of this program Houghton students and faculty collaborated on research in the following areas:

Four students worked with Assistant Professor of Physics Brandon Hoffman at Cornell University with Cornell Professor Shefford Baker and the Cornell Center for Materials Research. The group performed electron backscattering experiments in order to study various nanostructure systems.

Professor of Physics Mark Yuly and two students collaborated with researchers from MIT, the University of Kentucky, Bogazici University (in Turkey) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory on a series of nuclear physics experiments at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. Their research focused on exploring the structure of the atomic nucleus and the behavior of the strong nuclear force, the force responsible for holding the nucleus together.

Associate Professor of Biology Jacqueline Crisman worked with two students to identify white blood cells expressing meprins during normal and chronic inflammatory states.

Associate Professor of Biology Matt Pelletier and two students attempted to express two therapeutically useful proteins found in plants. The first, relaxin, is a hormone that has been used to treat patients with scleroderma, a disease characterized by thickening and hardening of the skin. The second protein, pre-thrombin 2, promotes blood coagulation.

Professor of Biology Jim Wolfe and two students investigated the mechanisms which determine the water quality and basic ecology of Star Lake. Star Lake—220 acres in size and up to 70 feet deep—is one of a limited number of perched, seepage, kettle lakes in the Adirondacks. The group researched nutrient levels (specifically phosphorus and nitrogen) in the lake and examined the food chain, from phytoplankton to zooplankton to fish.

Globally Engaged

Zambian Literacy

For the second year, a team of Houghton students and faculty members traveled to Choma, Zambia, to continue the development and delivery of a literacy project begun in 2006 in partnership with World Hope International. This year's team, led by Associate Professor of Education Cathy Freytag and Instructor of Education Sunshine Sullivan, included nine students. Houghton students planned and delivered an English literacy program that served more than 80 third through ninth grade students. Each day, Zambian children would meet in small groups with their Houghton teachers for intense English instruction.

Russian Orphanages

Houghton students explored Moscow and Perm, Russia as part of a Mayterm class in Russian Culture. Led by Professor of Sociology Jayne Maugans, the group visited historic sites in Moscow including Red Square, the Kremlin, Victory Park, St. Basil Cathedral, the Izmailovsky Market and the Bloshoi Ballet. In Perm, the students stayed in the homes of students from the Higher School of Economics. Houghton students participated in roundtable discussions with Russian students. While in Perm, the group visited orphanages, donating clothing, toys and supplies and spent time refurbishing a building that will become an orphanage.

Pierro Wins Gilman Scholarship

Jocylin Pierro '08, a sociology major, received one of only 420 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships from the Institute of International Education. Pierro is studying in Australia this academic year. The scholarship—sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs—covers up to $8,000 for her study abroad costs.

Service in India

In May, nine Houghton College students spent three weeks observing and working with Youth for Christ's (YFC) National Director Prabakaran George in India. Traveling with John Brittain, dean of the chapel, the students visited at the Ragpickers School in Chennai, then flew to Bangalore, where they were part of a state-wide YFC Conference, visited the studios of the Far Eastern Broadcasting Association, toured the headquarters of the Indian Bible Society, led staff worship at the Bangalore Baptist Mission Hospital and visited the headquarters of India Evangelical Missions. Next, the group traveled to Kanyakumari where the group led worship and Brittain was a speaker for a nationwide YFC staff conference. They also ministered and interacted with students at a Church of South India tailoring program and assisted with vacation Bible schools. At the conclusion of the conference the team traveled to Nagercoil, where they led the morning service of a Salvation Army Church and participated in a youth conference. They also helped lay a cement roof for a new YFC building that will house a tailoring program for survivors of the tsunami.