James Vanden Bosch

Education

Professor Vanden Bosch graduated with an English major and mathematics minor from Calvin College in 1970. From there he went on to earn a master of arts in English from Ohio University in 1972, and a master of arts in religion and literature from the University of Chicago School of Divinity in 1975. Before joining Calvin's English department faculty in 1983, Professor Vanden Bosch taught at Northwestern College and Dordt College, both in Iowa.

Biography

Favorite books

• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodr Dostoevsky
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Additional information

• Language Power, Language Play, and Promises to Keep: Language and the Image of God, Minds in the Making
• The Road, Perspectives
• Ask Anonymous: A Collection, the Calvin College Spark

Recent Activities

Professor Vanden Bosch recently completed a three-year term as chair of the English department. He regularly teaches short courses at the Russian American Christian University in Moscow, Russia, and in the summer of 2007, he taught a grammar review course to Chinese teachers of English in Lintong, China. When he is not making the world a better place for linguists and grammarians, he serves as a columnist for the Calvin College Spark, taking on the persona of "Anonymous Bosch."

Hobbies

• Racquetball
• Football (as a member of the Faculty Fumblers football team)

Academic interests

• English grammar and grammar for ESL teachers
• "ergative" verbs in English
• absolute phrases
• corpus linguistics
• Cormac McCarthy's fiction and drama

Awards

• Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching in 2010
• Professor of the Year in 2001