Our Team

William Lafferty, Ph.D.

William Lafferty, PhD, winner of the 2007 Barkhausen Award for Original Research in Maritime History, is completing an historical analysis of the development of the self-unloader on the Great Lakes, funded by a Michigan Humanities Council grant. This analysis became, in co-authorship with Valerie Van Heest, the book Buckets and Belts: The Rise of the Self-Unloader.

A Chicago native, William spent his summers on Lake Michigan at Ludington, and at the age of ten began collecting artifacts, photographs, and other historical material related to the maritime history of the Great Lakes, particularly Lake Michigan. He has contributed maritime-related articles to the journals of the Steamship Historical Society of America and the Chicago Historical Society, among others, and to the anthology A Fully Accredited Ocean: Essays on the Great Lakes, published by the University of Michigan. He has taught video and film production and communications history and theory at Purdue University, Iowa State University, and Wright State University, where he is an associate professor. His professional scholarship, generally focusing upon technological innovation in the film and broadcasting industries, has appeared in periodicals such as the Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and anthologies such as Hollywood in the Age of Television.

Twice William has received awards from the Broadcast Education Association for his research on the historical development of American broadcasting. He holds a BS and an MA from Purdue University and a PhD from Northwestern University.

Valerie van Heest, NCIDQ

Valerie van Heest, NCIDQ, has coupled her professional career in interior and graphic design with a life-long interest in maritime history, and is uniquely qualified to design maritime-themed exhibits. Winner of a 2007 Historical Society of Michigan award for her efforts in preserving and promoting Michigan’s maritime history, she holds a BA in interior design from the Harrington Institute of Interior Design in affiliation with Loyola University. She has twenty-five years experience as designer, project manager, graphic designer, and marketing manager with major architectural firms in Illinois and Michigan. A highly experienced diver and member of the Women’s Diving Hall of Fame, she has served in a volunteer capacity as director of three non-profit maritime organizations, including Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates, contributing her management, design, underwater archaeological and writing skills to a variety of projects, including directing over two-dozen underwater shipwreck documentation projects.

Valerie has written and directed over ten documentary films, two of which debuted at the Waterfront Film Festival at Saugatuck, Michigan. She is a prolific public speaker with a schedule of over three dozen presentations annually on shipwreck topics, and is a regular writer for Michigan History Magazine, Seaway Review, Lakeland Boating, Wreck Diver Magazine, Inland Seas and other historical journals and maritime-related publications. She is also the author/illustrator of the young-readers book, Icebound! The Adventures of Young George Sheldon and the SS Michigan, which won a publishing grant from the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History, and is co-author with William Lafferty ofBuckets and Belts: The Rise of the Self-Unloader. For a more detailed look at her career, please visit her site, ValerieVanHeest.com

J. Andrew Baer

J. Andrew Baer Architect has been practicing as a registered architect in Holland, Michigan, since 1992. He graduated with a BS in Architecture from the University of Texas-Austin in 1982 and received his professional license in 1986. His architectural projects have been concentrated in West Michigan, but also span the state and the region. These projects include churches; retail, hospitality, higher education, medical, and municipal facilities; and private home additions. Andrew has also been involved in the restoration and adaptive reuse of historic structures. Andrew served six years on the board of Habitat for Humanity, is newly appointed to the board of Resthaven, and participates on the downtown Holland Design Review Board.

Todd Engle

Todd Engle is schooled in theatrical production design and has been a theatrical scenic designer for over for thirty years. Todd was formerly Manager of Exhibit Production and Maintenance and later Exhibit Developer at the Orlando Science Center, Orlando, Florida, where he gained valuable insight into what it takes to develop, design, and build high-quality museum exhibits. He was formerly the Exhibits Manager at the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum and now is proprietor of Engle Design Studios.

Matthew Harris

Matthew Harris is a composer, musician, and videomaker, and proprietor of Discipline Films, a Dayton, Ohio, video production firm. His current projects range from promotional videos for a local software company to being the director of photography for an independent feature film shot on location near Cleveland, Ohio. Matt provides LvH with creative and technical assistance on multi-media and video projects.

Robert Doornbos

Robert Doornbos is a graduate of the Kendall School of Design and has worked as graphic designer, art director, and illustrator, for some of the most respected advertising and design agencies in Michigan. Bob serves LvH as a graphic designer and artist to develop the conceptual drawings and renderings necessary to convey design intent during the schematic phase projects. He has worked with LvH on the Zeeland Historical Society and Heritage Museum exhibits, and is currently working with the firm on schematic work for two other museum projects.

Steve Hawks

Steve Hawks has a degree in History from Kalamazoo College and an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management. He has twenty-five years experience in implementing technology into business communications, and was a founding partner in a pioneering computer training company. He is the author of one of the first commercial CD-ROMs (a documentary on the battle of Gettysburg), and has produced several historical web sites. Steve provides media production services and web design applications for LvH projects.