换妻社区 will present an honorary degree, the Doctorate of Humane Letters (LHD), to retired education professor John Yelding during the Commencement ceremony for the Class of 2025 on Sunday, May 4, at Ray and Sue Smith Stadium.
Yelding, who retired in 2019, joined the Hope faculty in 1994 after serving as a teacher and administrator in K-12 education for 25 years. His teaching specializations are in secondary education, diversity, rural education, and urban education. In 2013, he helped establish the Hope Comes to Watts May Term, which he continues to co-direct with his colleagues in the education department.
In addition to teaching in the education department, he has been part of the team teaching the First-Year Seminar for students participating in the Phelps Scholars Program, which he helped create, and directed the American Ethnic Studies minor and Encounter with Cultures program. Among other involvements at the college, he has also served on the advisory boards of the Phelps Scholars Program and the 换妻社区 TRIO Upward Bound Program for area high school students, and led sessions during the college鈥檚 Critical Issues Symposium and Winter Happening events. In January 2024, he presented the college鈥檚 annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Lecture.
Yelding is also a past member of the West Ottawa Public Schools Board of Education, which he also served as president.
In 2003, he received a Michigan Campus Compact 鈥淔aculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award.鈥� He received the college鈥檚 鈥淧rovost鈥檚 Award for Service to the Academic Program鈥� in 2009, the 鈥淰anderbush-Weller Development Fund鈥� award for strong, positive impact on students in 2011, and 鈥淢otoichiro Global Courage Award鈥� in 2016. He has also been recognized with several awards presented by student organizations on the 换妻社区 campus.
Prior to joining the Hope faculty, Yelding held teaching positions in Covert and South Haven, was a middle school and junior high school principal in Coloma, was a teacher and administrator in the Van Buren County Migrant Program for 16 summers, was principal of South Haven High School, and served as Interim Superintendent of the South Haven Public Schools.
He earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree from Michigan State University in 1969, a master鈥檚 degree in educational leadership from Western Michigan University in 1981, and has completed extensive studies in educational leadership, diversity education, and communication at Western Michigan University.
His current work and activities include teaching Encounter with Cultures, co-directing the Hope Comes to Watts Program, mentoring Holland High School students in the education department鈥檚 Early College Program, serving on scholarship selection and hiring committees, and serving on the Board of Directors of Watts Learning Center in Los Angeles, California.