HOLLAND – Dr. Virginia Beard and Dr. Ernest Cole of the Hope College faculty are among the 15 scholars nationwide chosen to participate in the 2012 Lilly Fellows Program Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers, “Teaching Peace and Reconciliation: Theory and Practice in Northern Ireland.”

The July 7-28 event will be based at the Corrymeela Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland, and is sponsored by Aquinas College of Grand Rapids through the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts, which is housed at Christ College of Valparaiso University in Indiana. The seminar will address the history of the Anglo-Irish conflict in Ireland and the move to a post-conflict society, with emphasis on the theory and practice of peace and reconciliation in a Christian context.

HOLLAND – The United States Professional Tennis Association has announced honors for several of its top teachers, coaches, players and volunteers, including Jorge Capestany, manager of the DeWitt Tennis Center at Hope College, who has been inducted to the 2012 Hall of Fame for the Midwest division.

Capestany is a 5-time USPTA Michigan Pro of the Year and 2-time Midwest Pro of the Year.  Jorge has been published in several industry publications and has been a frequent speaker at the PTR International Symposium, the USPTA World Conference on tennis, the USTA Tennis Teachers Workshop in New York and many other conventions. In his 30 years in the industry, he has created and directed lesson programs that have generated over one million dollars in revenue a year.