news from - Hope College

Campus Profile
A year in the life
It’s moments like
these.
On a typical January basketball
Saturday in the Civic Center, an older fan
struggled up the bleachers toward a bank
of available seats.
They were empty for a reason: they
were awaiting the “Dew Crew,” students
who take a visibly and volubly enthusiastic
approach to supporting the team. Once
they arrived, the locale might not prove
best for a less active viewer.
A married couple that knew what to
expect observed the developing tableau,
and resolved to warn the man about the
section’s exuberance. Someone else beat
them to it.
“Just then Dr. Bultman got up and
invited the gentleman to sit with him in
the reserved seating section,” the husband
wrote later.
“I do not know the gentleman and do
not know if Dr. Bultman did,” he wrote.
“But to me it shows the character and
awareness of Dr. Bultman. A little act like
this proves to me that Hope is in good
hands.”
Such acts are the rule rather than the
exception for Dr. James E. Bultman ‘63,
who has completed his first year as Hope’s
11th president. As an off–campus event
finishes, he helps as the staff packs up. He
finds a way in a day filled with appointments
start–to–finish to meet with a
student who just wants to chat for half an
hour.
He and wife Martie Tucker ‘63 Bultman
can be found not only––as might be anticipated––at
major campus events like
Homecoming and Christmas Vespers, but
at smaller–scale gatherings like a residence
hall study break or at dinner in
Phelps Hall. Their commitment to being
involved is so strong, in fact, that when the
very busy Hope calendar not–infrequently
presents the impossible problem of two
events happening simultaneously, they’ve
Highlights for President Bultman
included having his brother, Dr. C.
Baars Bultman ’71, at left, chosen by
the Class of ’00 to present this year’s
Commencement address.
24
By Greg Olgers ’87
been known to split up for the evening
and each take one.
The year has marked a new stage in
President Bultman’s relationship with the
college, but not the beginning. In addition
to his four years as a student, he was on
the Hope faculty for 17 years––from 1968
until becoming president of Northwestern
College in Orange City, Iowa, in 1985.
Having been at Hope as a member of the
education faculty, as dean for the social
sciences, and as head baseball coach and
an assistant football coach, he has found
the experience a pleasant homecoming.
“It has certainly been enjoyable for
Martie and me to renew friendships with
so many Hope people that we have known
over the years,” he said. “People that I
have taught. People that I have coached.
People that were fellow students at Hope.
People that were our mentors and people
that we had the privilege of mentoring.
There just are a lot of acquaintances at
Hope.”
“And of course Martie and I have also
enjoyed having an opportunity to become
acquainted with members of the Hope
community who are new to us––students,
faculty and staff, alumni and many, many
other friends of the college,” he said. “I
have been impressed throughout the year
by the enthusiasm of our constituency for
Hope College.”
In addition to being active on campus,
the Bultmans have traveled around the
country this year to become acquainted
and reacquainted with the Hope family.
They have been featured at “Meet the
President” events as nearby as the
Freedom Village retirement community
just north of campus; as far west as San
Francisco, Calif.; as far south as Naples,
Fla.; and as far east as Washington, D.C.;
and at many points in between.
With much to enjoy about the place and
its people, he has also not hesitated to face
challenges presented by the year.
Aware when he arrived of tension as
the Hope community has struggled with
how to mesh faith commitment with a
vibrant and diverse academic and living
environment, he has made his theme
“restore the joy.” “I think that we’ve
made good progress on that,” he said. “I
don’t think that we’ve totally achieved it
at this point, and I’m not sure that for
everyone we will. But I think we’re definitely
moving in the right direction.”
The campus also experienced student
behavior incidents like the late–October
off–campus Greek parties that have been
widely publicized in their aftermath.
Efforts to help the groups make better
choices are ongoing. “The college will not
tolerate these types of behaviors,” he said.
“I’m very hopeful in the year ahead that
we’ll be able to work in some developmental
ways with some of the fraternities
and sororities to enhance the wholesomeness
of their activities.”
And, while he notes that the college has
had an outstanding fund–raising year,
On the Graves Hall lawn, President Bultman wishes members of the Class of ’00
well following Baccalaureate on Sunday, May 7.
there are needs that will require an even
greater effort. Hope, he noted, has a
number of “critical” physical plant needs,
particularly as departments have outgrown
their homes. The endowment also
needs to grow.
For a people–oriented coach who has
returned home, though, the challenges,
like the good, are a labor of love.
“Both Martie and I would say that it’s
been a joy for us to be back at Hope,”
President Bultman said. “This is an institution
for which we have a deep and
abiding affection.”
“We care about Hope and the people of
hope, and my burning professional
passion is for Hope to be the very best that
it’s capable of being,” he said. “And quite
honestly, I think we have some work to
do. I don’t think we’re as good right now
as we can be.”
“But I think we have a good idea where
we can be better, and we’ll be developing
strategies to get there,” President Bultman
said. “I, for one, am looking forward to
the journey.”
Orientation ’99 provided a time for new students and their families to meet their
new president and Martie Tucker ’63 Bultman.
NFHC June 2000