Category: Alumni

K Artists in ArtPrize 2013

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Vintage neon sign at Michigan theater
Russell Cooper’s photographic ArtPrize tour gives a view of vintage neon signs across Michigan.

Russell Cooper ’89, help desk administrator for Kalamazoo College Information Services, is a popular figure around the K campus for his ability to fix all things computerized. He is also known for his love of roller coasters and his skill with a camera, many of his photos appearing on the College website. And others made up his first and second entries to ArtPrize 2012 and ArtPrize 2013, respectively. His 2012 entry was a photographic representation of his two children; his current entry, Michiganeon, explores the world of neon signs.

ArtPrize is an international, open art competition based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with $560,000 awarded by public vote and juried awards, making it the world’s largest art prize. From September 18 to October 6, three square miles of downtown Grand Rapids will become an open-air art venue, with many businesses opening their doors to participate, giving their space over to become art galleries.

“I love the look of the vintage neon,” says Cooper. “I would see something cool one time, and drive by another time, and it would be gone (business closed, sign gone). I’ve seen other photographers shooting neon, but no one focusing on Michigan. I’ve been working on this collection for about three years, but only considered it for ArtPrize this year.”

Annie Belle with her ArtPrize entry
Annie Belle ’13 with her art entry, a knitted house called “Woolhouse”

Annie Belle ’13 (artist’s name for Joanna Eckrich) is exhibiting “Woolhouse” as her ArtPrize entry. Her entry was her Senior Individualized Project at Kalamazoo College, a house knitted out of wool, complete with furniture.

Homecoming and Reunion Weekend

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Buzz the Hornet with a family of three at HomecomingWelcome back, Orange and Black, on October 18-20. Homecoming registration is open NOW! Please check out the schedule of events to view all of the opportunities to connect. Highlights from the weekend will include: reunion activities for the classes of 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 (as well as special gatherings for the Class of 2013 and emeriti alumni); a student film festival featuring works created in K’s introductory and advanced documentary film production classes; family friendly activities on the Quad, featuring the Fresh Food Fairy, Cirque Du K, and the College’s three a cappella groups; the Hornet football game vs. the Albion Britons at the new Kalamazoo College Athletic Field Complex; and an opportunity to tell your K story or record a favorite memory at the Story Zoo booth in the library. There is so much to share, and alumni relations staff members are looking forward to seeing you and your family. Kalamazoo area hotels are filling up fast so please do not forget to book your hotel and mention “Kalamazoo College Homecoming” to receive a special rate. If you would like a registration form mailed to you or need assistance with online registration, please contact the Office of Alumni Relations at 269-337-7300 or aluminfo@kzoo.edu. All alumni, faculty, staff, students and K friends are invited.

Time to Reprise

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Kalamazoo College alumna Gail Griffin
Gail Griffin in the 1986 Festival Playhouse production of UNCOMMON WOMEN AND OTHERS

It’s been 50 years of great theatre at Festival Playhouse of Kalamazoo College. What have been the highlights? And who should choose? Let’s start with the people who have acted and directed many of that half century of productions. They have picked their favorites, and you can enjoy them.

An Evening of Kalamazoo College Theatre Alumni Scenes occurs Saturday, October 19, at 4 PM in the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse. Alumni of past Festival Playhouse productions will present staged readings of their favorite plays. On the schedule:

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, featuring Emilia LaPenta ’10 and Emily Harpe ’08;

Top Girls, by Caryl Churchill, featuring Wa-Louisa Hubbard ’03, Lisa Ludwinsk ’06, Anne LaTarte ’03, and Betsy King ’05;

Uncommon Women and Others, by Wendy Wasserstein, featuring recently retired Professor of English Gail Griffin and Laura Livingstone-McNellis ’89;

Pullman, WA, by Young Jean Lee, featuring Ryan Hatch ’04 and Matt Pieknik ’04;

Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, by Anna Deavere Smith, featuring Kristala Pouncy ’02;

subUrbia, by Eric Bogosian, featuring Ben Harpe ’09 and Paul Whitehouse ’08;

Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett, featuring Todd Beck ’60 and Bill Vincent ’60

Award-winning Performance Artist Returns for THE DOG AND PONY SHOW

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Kalamazoo College alumna Holly HughesShe’s back. And back again! Playwright and performance artist (and alumna…Class of 1977!) Holly Hughes presents The Dog and Pony Show, a hilarious one-person show about lesbians and their dogs. The performance takes place at 8 PM on Saturday, September 21, in the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse. There is no charge but reserving tickets is an option and encouraged for those with special needs or who are attending in partial fulfillment of course requirements. Reserved tickets will be held at the box office until 10 minutes prior to curtain at 8pm; tickets not picked up by that time will be made available to others who are interested. Call 269-337-7333 for ticket reservations and for more information. Hughes is a 2010 Guggenheim recipient and a professor at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design. She describes Dog and Pony as “a blend of autobiography, animal behavior and bald-faced lies…a poetic/comic meditation on the midlife crisis in the key of canine by the woman who drove Jesse Helms nuts. Or nuttier.” It will not be her first visit to campus. She performed her one-woman play “Preaching to the Perverted” on campus in 2000. That play was inspired by the 1990 revocation of grants that had been made to Hughes and three other artists by the National Endowment of the Arts. Hughes was an art major during her student years on campus (1973-77). she has won numerous awards for her work, including Kalamazoo College’s Distinguished Achievement Award (1995). The performance will be followed by a talk-back, book signing, and reception.

The difference between traditional theatre and performance art, she explains, is that the latter is more experimental, quasi-anarchistic, and rebellious. And that suits her perfectly. “If you’re really committed to change,” she said, “then you must be committed to being uncomfortable.”

The Dog and Pony Show is part of The Festival Playhouse Diversity Guest Artist Series. That program is committed to providing culturally diverse art free to the Greater Kalamazoo community. It is made possible primarily through funding from the Dorothy U. Dalton Enrichment Fund. Previous Guest Artist Series performances include Oni Faida Lampley in The Dark Kalamazoo, Lisa Kron in 2.5 Minute Ride, and Guillermo Goméz-Peña in The Return of Border Brujo.

Commute and Climate

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Midway through this summer, biology graduate Trace Redmond ’13 wanted to know how K faculty and staff got to and from work. He was being paid for his curiosity, all part of his work as the summer 2013 energy intern on behalf of the College’s sustainability efforts. His work included completion of a “greenhouse gas inventory,” just one small piece of the College’s Climate Action Plan, which K developed when it signed in June 2007 the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. The plan calls for regular progress reports by the College on its effort to reduce climate-affecting emissions to an eventual goal of carbon neutrality.

Redmond has been busy setting up data collection infrastructure that would allow the College to establish baselines and measure progress in areas like greenhouse gases, waste tracking, water use, and storm water management. It’s a complex array of information that needs to be tracked over time in order to guide the College to those efforts that will make the most difference in achieving cost-effective operations that also have no ill effect on the climate.

Redmond makes three classifications of emissions–direct, indirect, and upstream. “Direct” are emissions the College releases–for example, exhaust from fleet vehicles. “Indirect” emissions released by vendors to provide products we purchase–electricity, for example. “Upstream” refer to those emissions that are even a bit more indirect, including air travel for study abroad and faculty and staff commuting, the subject of Redmond’s summer survey.

Response rate was excellent–176 people, more than 50 percent of employees. He kept the survey simple to encourage participation and ensure consistent measurement of change in future years. The survey showed that 83 percent of faculty and staff drive to campus one or more days a week. Average commutes by car per week, and average commute distance were 4.4 commutes and 15.8 miles, respectively. From those figures Redmond calculated that faculty and staff drive almost 913,000 commuter miles per year, requiring nearly 38,000 gallons of gas and releasing 336 metric tons of carbon dioxide. Said Redmond, “To offset our commuting emissions from one year, 8,608 tree seedlings would need to grow for 10 years.”

Redmond’s tenure as energy intern ends this month. He career pursuits include consulting on greenhouse gas emissions or quality assurance work in the brewing industry.

Bike Pilgrimage Becomes Book Basis

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An illustration by Elayna Snyder
An illustration by Elayna Snyder ’09 from her upcoming book, Temple by Temple, which is based on her experience doing Japan’s 88 Temple Pilgrimage.

Elayna Snyder ’09 is gearing up to again bicycle an ancient pilgrimage route to 88 temples in Shikoku, Japan. The 900-mile route takes a circular path around Shikoku. Snyder is one-half of a writer-illustrator team that is working on Temple by Temple, an illustrated book about a girl’s journey to the temples with her cat.

Snyder does the art. Chelsea Reidy does the words. They both lived in Shikoku, Japan, for three years near the pilgrimage route where ohenro (pilgrims) are seen against the landscape of green mountains and blue seas. Before returning to the United States last November, Snyder and Reidy (along with Snyder’s sister, Alyse) completed the pilgrimage route on bicycles. The illustrations in the book are all based on photographs taken while they were traveling the 88 temple path.

Now they are planning to embark on the 88 temple journey a second time. Along with translating the book into Japanese, they will collect the materials needed to make 88 hand-bound copies of their book. Snyder is seeking to gain funds through Kickstarter, a web-based crowd-sourcing platform where creative entrepreneurs pitch their ideas.

The pilgrimage in Japan commemorates a Buddhist saint, Kobo Daishi. Many believe that his spirit still roams Shikoku, traveling with all pilgrims who do the journey. Although the route is Buddhist in nature, people of all faiths set off on the path for various reasons—to explore rural Japan, to pray for good fortune or for ill loved ones, and to seek adventure. Temple by Temple explores all the different aspects of the pilgrimage and pays homage to Daishi by including him in all the illustrations. He is hidden in the illustration above

K Grads Receive “Preferred” Admissions Status to New WMU Medical School

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The new Western Michigan University School of Medicine (WMed) has announced a “preferred” relationship with Kalamazoo College, Western Michigan University (WMU), and WMU’s Lee Honors College. Prospective students from these institutions may apply to WMed through the American Medical College Application Service, a centralized application processing service available to applicants to first-year entering classes at participating U.S. medical schools. Students will be selected through the regular selection process and must meet all admission requirements. All things being equal, students from K, WMU, and Lee will receive preference in admission.

“We are excited about this relationship between K and Western Michigan University School of Medicine,” said Kalamazoo College Provost Mickey McDonald. “This acknowledges the strength of K’s Health Sciences Program and provides K graduates an opportunity to pursue a medical degree while remaining in southwest Michigan.”

Construction of the new medical school in downtown Kalamazoo is underway. Students in the first WMed class will begin their studies in August 2014.

K alumni (and one long ago faculty member) in the news

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Kalamazoo College alumnus Roy Yewah
Roy Yewah ’13

Roy Yewah ’13 is among 33 young adults who recently learned they were selected from 700 applicants to spend the next two years of their life living and working in Detroit. Roy is among the “Year Two” class of Challenge Detroit, an organization dedicated to recruiting young talent to the Motor City to work for businesses and nonprofits. Read about the program in this MLive report. And listen to Roy talk about his commitment to Detroit in a Challenge Detroit video clip. Leigh Ann Ulrey ’11 and Sam Brennan ’11 are part of “Year One” Challenge Detroit. Read about them in this January 2013 issue of BeLight. Which young K alumni will we read about from “Year Three” of Challenge Detroit?!

Kalamazoo College alumna Carolyn DeChants
Carolyn DeChants ’09

Carolyn DeChants ’09 is very busy in Philadelphia. Not only is she creating a digital archive for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center at the University of Pennsylvania, she’s pursuing a master’s degree in social policy at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice. She hopes to have the online archive set up and in a sustainable form by August, when she will also finish her degree—and join the work world. Carolyn, who says she’s passionate about using research to help illuminate and ameliorate the experiences of any marginalized populations, is currently looking for a position conducting policy research or program evaluation in the Philadelphia area.

Harvey Dickson ’80 is a copy editor of The New York Times Magazine and an occasional contributor to “The 6th Floor” blog where the Magazine’s staff members share ideas, arguments, curiosities and links. Read Harvey’s July 18, 2013 post “Where Have You Gone, Willie Horton?” about the Detroit Tigers slugger and 1968 World Series hero who—still wearing his Tiger uniform after a game against the Yankees—went into the streets of Detroit to help quell some of the violence taking place there during the riots of summer 1967.

Kalamazoo College alumnus Gerald Rosen
Gerald Rosen ’73

Gerald Rosen ’73 is chief district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Will he be appointed as the mediator to rule on disagreements between Detroit and its creditors during the city’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy case? U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes signaled in a court filing that he plans to do just that. Read about Jerry Rosen and his possible appointment in this recent Detroit Free Press article.

Edward Olney was Professor of Mathematics at Kalamazoo College for ten years beginning in 1853. He established the first mathematics curriculum at K and had a reputation for being a stern disciplinarian and a stickler for correct details. Despite his nickname “Old Toughy,” Olney was said to take great pains to see that the poorer students obtained help in making up their deficiencies. Read more about Olney in the July 24, 2013 entry of “On This Day in Math,” a popular blog about, well, math.

K-Plan Cultivation

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Kalamazoo College students may not be in class during the summer, but they are busy cultivating their K-Plans, across the country and around the world, in externships and internships supported by the Center for Career and Professional Development.

This summer 109 students are taking part in the CCPD’s summer career development programs. The Discovery Externship Program, in its 12th year, offers 46 first-year and sophomore students the opportunity to test the waters of a possible career by living and working with an alumni or parent professional for up to four weeks. Externs and hosts agree that the intensity of sharing both workday and “porchtime” experiences leads to rich relationships and deep discovery about the reality of the working world. This summer discovery externs can be found shadowing alumni in hospitals and health networks, a maritime museum, an organic food truck, dentistry and veterinary practices, financial and consulting firms, a school in India and a farm in Michigan.

To ensure the educational quality of their workplace experience, interns enrolled in the CCPD’s Field Experience Program agree with their supervisor on a learning contract outlining mutual goals and objectives for their summer together. They commit to regular structured reflection about their workplace experience, and they receive evaluation feedback at the conclusion of the internship. This summer, 63 interns are spending at least six weeks working with alumni professionals, Kalamazoo area non-profits, social justice organizations, and a wide range of independently-secured experiences across the country. Most Field Experience Program interns receive a stipend to help defray the costs of their unpaid experiences.

Externships and internships challenge students to apply theoretical learning to practical situations and to examine assumptions about work and careers. One current student mid-way through her internship described her summer work experience as “both gratifying and challenging.” She said, “In many ways this internship is not meeting my expectations and is showing me how off-base those expectations have been. These past three weeks have helped me rid myself of assumptions I held, and have given me new ways of thinking about how work at a non-profit can be done.”

The CCPD is already at work recruiting hosts and supervisors for summer 2014. Alumni and parents interested in offering a workplace experience to a student may contact career@kzoo.edu to request more information about becoming part of the Discovery Externship Program or the Field Experience Program.

Britta Seifert ′12 Reports from the Kyrgyz Republic

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Kalamazoo College alumna Britta Seifert with other health educators
Britta Seifert ’12, center, poses for a photo with health educators in a village outside of Toktogul in the Kyrgyz Republic.

Britta Seifert ′12 is about three months into a two-year Peace Corps commitment in the Kyrgyz Republic, a small mountainous country in the center of Asia. Her job is helping improve the health outcomes of residents around Toktogul, a town she says is “located about five hours by taxi and two mountain passes south of Bishkek,” the country′s capital city. Britta recently filed a report in the Battle Creek (Mich.) Enquirer addressing the challenges and opportunities she faces, especially regarding HIV education and prevention.