This week, Chaplain Dale Cooper, or ``Coop'' as many students affectionately call him, celebrated his 60th birthday. A surprise party was planned and several hundred students faculty and staff showed up in his honor.

One of Calvin's most endearing personalities, Cooper impresses the Calvin community by approaching each day with joy and in how he embraces the bad with the good.

However, he is not the only member of the Calvin faculty who finds joy in his daily work, has a love of knowledge and, more importantly, a love of imparting knowledge to the students at Calvin. In fact, many professors around campus are known to students for their love and joy in teaching and for their unique ways of inspiring and encouraging students.

It is comforting to hear how many professors are passionate about their work. Friends at larger universities often complain of teaching duties being passed off to graduate students and teaching assistants. Those students, while competent in the material, don't tend to inspire a thirst for more learning like many Calvin professors do. Sure, good professors can be found at many, if not most, colleges, but the ones at Calvin are special.

Take Uko Zylstra. According to one student - who is, incidentally, not a science major, but is taking Biology 111, a class for those students not especially interested in science - Zylstra ``sees God's revelation to him through the study of science.'' She said she especially enjoys seeing his ``marvel'' and ``joy and wonder'' when teaching.

Some students prefer certain professors, despite reputations for teaching exceptionally difficult courses.

Other professors, like Bill Romanowski in the CAS department, are known for their enthusiasam. ``He's just always excited,'' one student said.

Descriptions ``interested,'' ``caring,'' ``easy to learn from in the morning,'' ``encouraging and understanding'' and ``concerned'' jump out when students talk about their favorite Calvin professors.

Also important are the professors so engulfed in their subject matter that it is impossible to ignore their passion. English majors mentioned Ed Ericson, particularly when he is teaching Russian Literature. Mark Fackler, of the CAS department, channels his enthusiam for ethics into classes intended to inspire honesty among his students.

Students who have taken dance and self defense classes added that Ellen Van't Hof and Nancy VanNoord, of HPERDs, were caring and excited that students were interested in their respective subjects.

VanNoord, when teaching self defense, demonstrates not only concern for her students' safety, but also encourages students to consider how they, as Christians, feel they could best respond in a potentially violent situation. Van't Hof welcomes all students into her dance classes, regardless of past dance experience.

Other professors risk life, limb and sanity to take students on off-campus interim and semester programs. Last year, Barbara Carvill, of the Germanic Language Department, probably worried more about her wandering group of students than most other interim professors combined. The students loved traveling with her and her knowledge and stories of her homeland amazed them. Still other professors take their students to more dangerous and exotic places. All of those professors sacrifice time with family and time spent in less stressful environments to make sure their students get full experiences with other cultures and languages. Now that's commitment.

Examples abound and while singling out specific professors can hurt the ones not mentioned, this isn't meant to be an all-encompassing list of the best professors at Calvin. At best, this is meant to show professors that, yes, students do appreciate them, and, despite rumors to the contrary, notice the hard work they invest in preparing for class.

If professors read these stories and recognize themselves, even if they aren't mentioned by name, then maybe a step has been taken toward saying thanks.

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