“I think I’ve always loved teaching.”��
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Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, professor of philosophy at Calvin, says this love took root during graduate school at Notre Dame.��
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“I spent the first year of grad school wondering if I really liked philosophy after all. But the second year I got to teaching philosophy to students. That's when I realized I loved it—when I was sharing it in the classroom. When they let me be a TA, I realized I was in my sweet spot,” said DeYoung.

Discovering her sweet spot

Now, nearly three decades into her teaching career, her colleagues, students, and administration agree that she is indeed in her sweet spot. On Friday, April 25, 2025, DeYoung received ������Ƶ’s Presidential Award for Exemplary Teaching—the highest teaching honor the university bestows on its faculty.��
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“She is treasured as a teacher, a scholar, a mentor (to me), and a friend,” said Kevin Timpe, chair of the philosophy department. “I don’t think there’s a dimension of her job that she doesn’t do beautifully.”��
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DeYoung joined the ������Ƶ faculty in 1998, becoming one of the first full-time female faculty members in the philosophy department. Over the years, she’s also developed into a prolific scholar and a leading voice in both the academy and the church in understanding Christian ethics, virtues, and the seven deadly sins.��

Creating a formative environment

While she’s highly regarded in many circles, her top priority is the classroom where her pedagogical approach is more focused on formation than information. ��
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“Teaching for Professor DeYoung is never merely about conveying content, though she’s great at that,” said Benita Wolters-Fredlund, dean of the school of humanities, arts, and social sciences. “It’s always about the formation of students.”��
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DeYoung refers to her approach as an apprenticeship model.��

“I’m most interested in helping my students apprentice into certain practices that they’ll take with them for the rest of their lives,” said DeYoung. “I’m really interested in helping people live well. I think philosophy’s greatest gift to the world is to help people be more reflective about living a life that you can look back on and say ‘that was meaningful, that was rich, that was full of integrity; it was faithful to God and faithful to the way he wants us to care for others.’ Insofar as being reflective and articulate about that can help us, and insofar as being apprenticed into a tradition can help us do that well, doing that work has really been the focus of my scholarship as well as my teaching.”��

Modeling virtue

DeYoung’s intentional approach has not been lost on her colleagues who say that while she’s written and taught extensively on virtue, she also fosters classroom spaces where it is put into practice.��
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“Her teaching goes beyond content to inviting students into formative practices both inside and outside the classroom,” said Derek Schuurman, professor of computer science, who audited one of DeYoung’s classes. “I am grateful for colleagues who not only talk about virtue, but who also exemplify it.”��
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“Her students, drawn from every major and professional program on campus, routinely testify that her classes are academically very challenging and personally formative,” said John Witvliet, outgoing director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. “It is not easy to teach about virtue virtuously—to have students wake up the day after their final exam and realize that they have just been living inside a remarkable case study of the same virtues they have been learning to notice and define. But that is the gift of her work among us. Thanks be to God!”��

Loving students wholeheartedly

While her colleagues appreciate her approach, it’s her students who day-in and day-out are experiencing the formation that happens.��
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“A signature element of Professor DeYoung’s teaching is providing practical Christian wisdom for students about how to live,” said Wolters-Fredlund. “She gives students philosophical and historical insights into character formation and invites students to engage in self-reflection and spiritual formation using the framework of virtues and vices. As a result, students frequently comment about the impact that Professor DeYoung’s teaching has had on their faith and character.”��

“Professor DeYoung has not only taught me how to think; she has taught me how to live. I am graduating from Calvin more confident, more thoughtful, and more rooted in my faith because of her,” wrote one of her current students.��
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“Anyone who takes a DeYoung ethics course learns that living a good life depends on who, by friendship, shapes you,” said Juliana Knot ’21. “In that regard, I am remarkably blessed to have had Rebecca as a professor and to know her still as a friend.”��
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“My undergraduate years were marked with family hardships and the life-threatening illness of a sibling. Her compassion, generosity, and spiritual support during this time were a lifeline and they reflected the true vocational nature of her approach to her work,” said Kendall Fischer ’10, who inspired by DeYoung is now assistant professor in philosophy at Gonzaga University. “Rebecca continues to be a model for me of faithful discipleship and teaching and scholarly excellence. I aspire to serve my students with the same dedication and consideration that she has shown to me, striving to impart to them the beauty of philosophy while making known to them the goodness and love of God.”��
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And for DeYoung, at the heart of it all is her love for students.��
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“I love being in the classroom. I love being with students. I love seeing them go off and carry what we’ve given them and to see the creative ways that they use it out in the world,” said DeYoung. “So, that’s the heart of it for me. It’s not about my wonderful technique or something like that. I really just love these people.”