Recent Passing of Emeritus Van Haitsma
Dr. Glenn Van Haitsma
September 3, 1927 - May 2, 2024
Professor Emeritus of English, 1958-1993
Born and raised on a Vriesland, Michigan dairy farm, Glenn was the eldest of 4 children
born to Martha and Clarence Van Haitsma. He graduated co-salutatorian of Zeeland High
School in 1945, continued his studies at Hope College, then earned a Ph.D. in English
literature from Syracuse University. Mid-graduate studies, Glenn was drafted into
the US Army, and later placed in a State Department refugee program in Germany.
In 1958, Glenn accepted a position in the English Department at Carroll where he would
remain for his teaching career. Glenn became a highly respected member of the faculty,
serving as the first Faculty President, pioneering a core curriculum of interdisciplinary
studies, and launching the popular NCEP (New Cultural Experience Program) inter-term
courses that have been formative for many Carroll students.
Glenn and his wife, Ruth, were active in their Waukesha community. Founding members
in 1962 of the Waukesha Council on Human Relations (now the Equal Opportunity Commission),
they organized a city-wide fair housing campaign and helped establish groups that
continue to serve Waukesha today, including La Casa de Esperanza, Hebron House and
Plowshare. In his teaching, Glenn introduced the first Black, Chicano, Native American
and Third World Literature courses at Carroll, and he led students in immersive cross-cultural
learning experiences to the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, Rust College in Mississippi,
and the Ecumenical Institute in Chicago. Glenn was active in several regional academic
groups that fostered incorporating ethnic studies and social justice into teaching,
and he and Ruth were involved in the Society for Values in Higher Education for many
years.
Glenn’s conscientious teaching style meant many late-night hours preparing for class
and reading hand-written student papers. He team-taught several Wilderness Studies
courses that included canoeing in the Boundary Waters, and he portaged canoes as handily
as students a third his age. Glenn particularly loved mountain-climbing, and at age
71, he was the eldest of an inter-generational group of Carroll students and faculty
who trekked the mountains of Nepal.
You can find Glenn's entire obituary here.
