Van Der Slik's degrees are from Calvin College, Western Michigan University and Michigan State University. A career teacher, he taught students from junior high to post-doctoral levels of Southern Illinois University, Calvin College, Trinity Christian College, Sangamon State University and the University of Illinois Springfield. His scholarly writing focused on U.S. national and state politics. He is the founding editor of the Almanac of Illinois Politics. His articles appear in Political Science Quarterly, American Journal of Political Science, Polity, Policy Studies Review, Congress and the Presidency, Korea Journal, Christian Scholars Review, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Journal of Church and State, Pro Rege, and Social Science Quarterly. His administrative duties were as an acting department chair, an associate dean for liberal arts, an academic dean and director of a public affairs research center. Van Der Slik served on advisory committees for the Illinois Board of Regents and the Illinois Board of Higher Education. He served on the Calvin College Board of Trustees. In 1993 was selected and sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency to serve as a resource person to congressional and local government agencies in the Philippines. In 1997 he was an exchange professor at Heilongjiang University at Harbin, in the People's Republic of China. Since emeritation in 1999 he has traveled widely in Europe. Other visits have covered South Africa, Uganda, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.
