Douglas and Barbara Kindschi Receive Alumni of the Year Award

By Peter Meilaender, Professor of Political Science; Dean of Religion, Humanities and Global Studies; and Director of the Kindschi Faith and Justice Symposium

In the fall of 1960, a gifted mathematician with a penchant for philosophy arrived at Houghton College as a transfer student. It took Doug Kindschi, Class of 1962, no time at all to establish himself as one of Houghton’s best and brightest. He joined the debate team – and was a two-time trophy winner. He ran for student senate and was elected vice-president, no doubt thanks to his campaign’s successful serenading of the women of East Hall with Good morning from Kindschi sung to the tune of ‘Happy Birthday.’ Doug’s academic accomplishments were impressive: he was selected to attend a federal service seminar in Washington, D.C., based on his academic achievements, and he was the recipient of not one but two graduate fellowships. He was forced to turn down the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in favor of the National Science Foundation Fellowship for Graduate Study.

For all his success in the classroom, it was perhaps a moment in the dining hall of Gaodayeo that led to Doug’s greatest Houghton success: meeting his wife, Barbara Pechuman. Barbara, also a transfer student, was a Bible major with a minor in music.

After leaving Houghton, both Doug and Barbara pursued further education. Doug worked on a Master of Divinity degree at the Chicago School of Theology before completing an MA and a PhD in mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Barbara completed a music degree from Springfield College in Massachusetts. Upon completion of his degrees, Doug took a teaching position at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, where he taught both mathematics and philosophy. During his 45-year career at Grand Valley State, he served for 25 years as dean of Science and Mathematics.

Grand Valley State University today has fourteen academic programs in its science and mathematics department that are the direct result of Dr. Kindschi’s work, including the College of Health Professionals, the Padnos College of Engineering and Computing, and the Annis Water Resources Institute. He was a major proponent of outreach to K-12 students, establishing the Coalition for Excellence in Science and Math Education, the Regional Math and Science Center, and bringing Science Olympiad tournaments to Grand Valley’s campus.

Doug never strayed far from his love of philosophy and theology, and in 2010 he had the opportunity to put that love to good use when he was appointed the founding director of the Kaufman Interfaith Institute at Grand Valley State University. As Doug seeks to live out his calling as a follower of Christ, reaching out to and engaging with others, he has used his work at the Kaufman Interfaith Institute to live out our Lord’s two greatest commandments: love God, and love your neighbors. Since 2010, Doug has led significant programming focused on interfaith dialogue, bringing together Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities to focus on common goals and interfaith cooperation. As part of his work, Dr. Kindschi has also been a visiting fellow with the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme at Cambridge University in England.

Barbara has been a constant and invaluable partner in the sixty-two years that the Kindschis have been married. She was a dedicated homemaker, raising two biological children and two adopted children, while teaching piano lessons, singing in choirs, volunteering in the university’s greenhouse, and serving as a church deacon. Barbara’s dedication to music in her community led her to help secure Grand Valley State University’s carillon, which she sometimes takes the opportunity to play.

Together, Doug and Barbara have led lives dedicated to giving back to their communities. Grand Valley State University has buildings and programs named to honor the Kindschis for their ongoing generosity and life-long impact on their campus. Houghton University, too, has been the recipient of their commitment to philanthropy. In 2017, the couple endowed Houghton’s annual Kindschi Faith and Justice Symposium, ensuring that our campus community has the opportunity to probe matters of justice from a distinctively Wesleyan point of view. The Kindschis have also endowed the David E. Kindschi Travel Fund at Houghton, which provides financial resources to support student travel and enhance educational outcomes for students in global studies and related programs.

I first had the opportunity to meet Doug and Barbara about a year and a half ago, after being asked to take on leadership of the Faith & Justice Symposium.  I was struck not only by their desire to help us pursue important and challenging topics here at Houghton, but also by their palpable interest in the lives of our students and in supporting those students’ intellectual and spiritual development.  Some of you in today’s audience had the opportunity last year to attend symposium events dealing with international order and justice in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian War; others have already been participating in small group discussions this fall leading up to what is sure to be a memorable symposium on the theme of “Civility” in the first week of November, coinciding with the presidential election.  Events such as these are a tremendous enrichment of the university’s academic life, and we owe them entirely to Doug and Barbara’s generosity.

Dr. Kindschi is also generous with his time and leadership skills. He is a well-known member of the Grand Rapids, Michigan, community, serving on boards of the Grand Rapids Medical Education and Research Center, the Porter Hills Retirement Communities and Services, the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, the Van Andel Education Institute Council, and the Advisory Board for the DeVos Medical Ethics Colloquy. He was the founding chair of the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute Advisory Board and a founding member and chair of the Science Support Advisory Board for the Raytheon Polar Services Corporation program in Antarctica. He has also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago.

Together, the Kindschis have sought to live out the great commandments, advancing Christ’s Kingdom through their noteworthy contributions to interfaith dialogue, their investment in learning on topics of faith and justice, and their dedication to the students of both Grand Valley State University and Houghton University. For their remarkable impact as scholar-servants over the course of their lives, they are richly deserving recipients of Houghton University’s 2024 Alumni of the Year Award.