If National Philanthropy Day, celebrated every November 15, enables the country to recognize big and small acts of generosity—through giving, volunteering and charitable engagement—there’s plenty of room to recognize our own engaged Kalamazoo College communities such as the class of 1973.
Volunteers from the alumni group connected with their classmates as a part of their 50th reunion to secure more than $300,000 from 64 of its members to endow a scholarship supporting K students.
Scholarships open the doors to K’s transformative education and experiential opportunities. This year’s recipients of the Class of 1973 Endowed Scholarship include Shannon Abbott ’24. She recently reflected on her time abroad in Japan, an experience that she says broadened her horizons.
“I love language learning and wanted to try a new language while studying at K,” she said. “I chose Japanese because I already had an interest in Japanese culture and thought it was a unique language to have the privilege to learn. Upon taking my first Japanese classes, I made close friends and had lots of fun, so I continued to study Japanese. Although Japanese is difficult, I find it to be a very rewarding language to learn and practice.”
The six-month study abroad experience allowed Abbott to meet new people through a homestay and an internship where she studied tea culture by learning sadou, a tea ceremony, and working in a tea shop. She also visited relevant sites in Kyoto before returning to K and applying her knowledge toward Japanese department events and its official social media.
Abbott added that she gained a clearer sense of independence that classroom experiences wouldn’t have provided.
“I think that being in an environment where you completely surrender to being a student—as a foreigner to the language, customs and norms—opens one up to new ways of thinking and thriving,” she said. “I believe I gained more life experience and experiential knowledge during those six months than I have throughout most of my adult life. I am extremely grateful for the funds I have received because they allowed me to live a dream. I made so many connections and friends in Japan, and I plan to go back and continue building those relationships.”
National Philanthropy Day is an opportunity to honor and celebrate the contributions of alumni and friends who support Kalamazoo College through their time, talent and charitable giving.
“The generosity of individuals and groups like the class of 1973 not only enhances educational opportunities for our students, it also inspires others to contribute to the growth and success of future generations,” Vice President for Advancement Karen Isble said. “This day serves as a reminder of the vital role that philanthropy plays in shaping a brighter future for students at K.”
Shannon Abbott ’24, pictured here on study abroad in Japan, is one of this year’s recipients of the Class of 1973 Endowed Scholarship.
A group of volunteers connected and engaged with their classmates to secure more than $300,000 from 64 members of the class of 1973 to endow a scholarship for Kalamazoo College students.
BIGGBY Coffee Co-Founder and Co-CEO Mike McFall ’93 knows a thing or two about leadership. After growing his coffee franchise from one to 370 locations across 13 states, McFall understands that people are the most critical ingredient to any successful enterprise, and he’s ready to share his hard-won wisdom with students at Kalamazoo College.
The Department of Economics and Business will host an on-campus event with McFall at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 14, in the Olmsted Room at Mandelle Hall. All students, regardless of their major, are invited to attend to discuss leadership and progressive practices in business and the workplace.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics and Business David Rhoa said he’s had the honor of hosting McFall in his classes at least a half-dozen times with each encounter proving to be a new experience.
“I think our students find Mike such a compelling speaker because of his authenticity and honesty,” he said. “He shares his real-life experiences in a candid, sometimes even brutally honest manner. While many successful entrepreneurs tend to focus solely on their achievements, Mike fearlessly addresses the value of his failures, emphasizing their pivotal role in the journey to success.”
L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business Management Amy MacMillan shares Rhoa’s enthusiasm.
“I feel tremendously grateful toward our alumni who share their time and expertise with our students,” she said. “We’re fortunate to have alumni—and community members—who support our courses in so many ways. But when Mike McFall, co-Founder and co-CEO of BIGGBY, comes to class, that turbo-charges the whole experience. By having made his big dreams a reality, he’ll help others to dream big, too, and believe in these dreams. By focusing not just on profits but also on people and purpose, he inspires others to do the same and to see what great business leaders can look like. He walks the walk, and while he does, he lays a footpath for others to follow.”
In 2019, McFall published his first book, Grind, which focuses on the commonsense strategies needed to turn a start-up idea into a positive-cash flow business. He recently released his second book, Grow: Take Your Business from Chaos to Calm, which addresses his experiences with leadership, a theme he expects to explore heavily with students.
BIGGBY Coffee Co-Founder and Co-CEO Mike McFall ’93 will visit Kalamazoo College to talk with students at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 14, in the Olmsted Room at Mandelle Hall. All students, regardless of their major, are invited to attend.
“As leaders, we need to understand the impact we have on others,” McFall said. “Business needs to go beyond what it has been historically, which is to try to get as much productivity for the least amount of money possible. We need to start emphasizing human-centric leadership and what goes into making that happen. I also like to focus on progressive thinking in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion, and things like biomimicry. It’s a little bit of a look into what’s coming or what leaders should be focused on in the next five to 10 years to become more effective leaders.”
As an alumnus of Kalamazoo College, McFall places high value on his liberal arts background.
“So much of what I’ve learned in the world was built off of the foundation I had at K,” McFall said. “I’ve said forever that a liberal arts education is the best training ground for an entrepreneur because you get a much more well-rounded education. As an entrepreneur, you need to fit into all kinds of different scenarios with different kinds of people. As you grow and build your company, you need to be comfortable with that and you need to be comfortable with change. That’s exactly what a liberal arts education provides. I look at some of the extraordinarily successful entrepreneurs that came out of my class and the years around me, and I think a lot of their success has to do with the structure and format of a liberal arts education.”
McFall’s business strategies have helped him and his co-founder, Robert Fish, build their franchise into the third-largest coffee franchise in the United States, according to Forbes, a fact that’s sure to resonate with students.
“I think it’s important for students to see the practical applications of their work and then learn from the experiences of alumni who are at different intervals removed from college,” McFall said. “Someone who graduated from K 30 years ago like me has a very different take than someone who graduated five years ago, but both takes are important. As alumni, that’s what we should be focused on in terms of our engagement with the student body. We should bring our perspectives and share the many different practical ways we use our education from K to move forward and build powerful lives.”
A Kalamazoo College Homecoming and Reunion Weekend tradition will offer a twist this year by presenting a posthumous honor during the Alumni Association Awards and Athletic Hall of Fame Ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Dalton Theatre.
K alumni and friends will recognize 1861 graduate Rufus Perry, who is believed to be the first Black person to attend the College, with the Distinguished Achievement Award, which celebrates graduates who have achieved distinction in their professional fields.
Perry settled in Chatham, Michigan, after escaping enslavement at the Overton plantation in Tennessee. In Chatham, he might have met Martin Delaney, the father of Black nationalism, who was planning to emigrate to Africa. Perry became interested in emigrating as well, motivated by a desire to establish competition against the American South in the cotton industry.
Perry enrolled at K in 1859 when the Reverend John Booth, intrigued by Perry’s Africa aspirations, sponsored his education. Soon after graduation, the African Civilization Society selected Perry to lead an expedition to Western Africa. As a member of the society, Perry had joined some of the most progressive members of the country’s Black elite.
Perry’s plans changed after the Emancipation Proclamation. The African Civilization Society began working with freed people in the South and appointed Perry superintendent of its freedmen’s school in Washington, D.C.
In the late 1860s, Perry moved to the Weeksville neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. As Judith Wellman writes in Brooklyn’s Promised Land, “national leaders such as Henry Highland Garnet, Rufus L. Perry, and Martin Delany consciously attempted to make Weeksville part of … the ‘golden age’ of black nationalism.”
Alumni and friends will recognize 1861 graduate Rufus Perry, who is believed to be the first Black person to attend K, with the Distinguished Achievement Award, which celebrates graduates who have achieved distinction in their fields.
Perry later served as corresponding secretary for the Consolidated American Baptist Missionary Convention (CABMC), a national Black Baptist organization. He was co-editor of two publications for CABMC, The American Baptist and The National Monitor. During those years, he argued with the white-run American Baptist Home Mission Society, bristling at the idea that Black people couldn’t serve within the Baptist power structure. Perry also served as pastor for several churches including the Messiah Baptist Church, which he founded in Weeksville in 1887.
Perry died in 1895 at the age of 61. The Brooklyn Eagle eulogized him as “one of the best-known colored clergymen in the country,” who “enjoyed a considerable reputation outside of Brooklyn. He was clear, concise and earnest in his speech, and wrote with ease and force.”
Perry’s nomination for the Distinguished Service Award developed during a discussion between Tom Ticknor ’67, Donna Odom ’67 and Anne Dueweke ’84. At the time, Dueweke was performing research for her 2022 book, Reckoning: Kalamazoo College Uncovers its Racial and Colonial Past, when Perry’s record came to their attention. Their recommendations to the Emeriti Club Leadership Council and the Alumni Association Engagement Board (AAEB) secured the honor for Perry through both alumni groups.
Perry’s great-great-grandson Freedom Williams will be on hand to accept the award on Perry’s behalf. Williams is the lead rapper for the popular group C+C Music Factory, which rose to fame in 1990 with their first album, Gonna Make You Sweat. He said the recognition for Perry is a prime honor for their family.
“I have worked very hard to keep the Rufus Perry legacy alive and at times not hard enough,” Williams said. “To say that this is a daunting task to build a legacy from scratch and carry the name of a loved one several generations past is beyond difficult. Thanks to his grand schemes and painstaking work of love, he provided me and us with enough thrust to move the ball forward rather easily. Ancestral veneration is an undertaking lost on a lot of my people, considering the bondage and tribulation prescribed upon them in the hopes that they would forget. Regardless of the hardships and erasing of lineage, I firmly believe in it and its benefits as I believe all lovers of history do whether they believe so or not. Although we prescribe to move into the future, it is the memories and relationships of the past that shape and mold us. I am eternally indebted to Kalamazoo College because you allow us one more point of light we can use as a guide to clear the path forward for the sake of all humanity and its endless possibilities in a time where good humans and their stories of triumph are so needed to help blight the chaos and hopelessness so prevalent in our world today.”
Others honored during the Alumni Association Awards and Athletic Hall of Fame Ceremony will include Don Schneider ’63 with the Distinguished Service Award, praising voluntary or elected leadership positions for the Alumni Association or College; Melanie Williams with the Weimer K. Hicks Award, saluting a current or retired employee of the College who has provided long-term support to programs or activities beyond the call of duty or excellent service in their job; and Darrin Camilleri ’14 with the Young Alumni Award, given to graduates within 15 years of their graduation on the basis of outstanding achievement, personal growth in their career or outstanding professional, civic and cultural service in ways that positively reflect K. Athletic Hall of Fame Awards will also be granted to Kelsey Hassevoort ’12, women’s tennis; Branden Metzler ’17, men’s tennis; Ryan Orr ’18, baseball; Colleen Orwin ’17, women’s swimming and diving; and the 1994 men’s tennis team.
Although he doesn’t think of himself as a philanthropist, Erran Briggs ’14 embodies the 2023 theme of Black Philanthropy Month, Love in Action.
“I tell people all the time that love is a verb,” Briggs said. “If you love, it involves action. I don’t think you can have love without action, because they are one and the same and encompassing.”
Briggs lives his philanthropy by mentoring and advising people in whose shoes he has been: high school students from his hometown of Muskegon, Michigan, who are applying to college; K students, particularly those who are considering a path like his, taking advantage of military scholarships to get to medical school; and younger medical residents, especially Black male residents.
“Life is in part based on what you do, how you prepare for opportunities, but I think a big piece of it is, do you land in places where the people around you want to pour into you and help you grow?” Briggs said. “One of the things that I’ve tried to keep with me as I left K is, just like so many people helped me, I need to make sure that I’m doing something to help the people around me, particularly the people who look like me, because they’re facing the same sort of roadblocks. I know how powerful it can be to have somebody believe in you and push you and help you.”
Love in action drives Briggs’ dedication to mentoring.
“I am acutely aware that, particularly in medicine, there are not enough people that look like me,” Briggs said. “The studies suggest that when folks have doctors they can see themselves in, doctors that look like them, their health outcomes are better. We need to do what we can to improve the numbers. I love my people, I want to see other Black men get into the field, and with that love comes action, responsibility and a sense of duty.”
In addition to mentoring, Briggs has given his time by serving on the Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees from 2020-2023. That experience provided him with a reason to visit campus and an opportunity to see current students, professors and building projects at the same time as it challenged him to reconsider what philanthropy can be.
“I still don’t really consider myself a philanthropist,” Briggs said. “I think the misconception—and perhaps I’m also a victim to this—is that to be a philanthropist, you have to give large amounts of money. I’ve found over the years that’s not true; you give what you can give, and over time, you’re able to give more as you get more. Being on the board and being a part of that group of people who are older and farther in their careers, that inspired me and pushed me to think about how important giving is and to prioritize it in my life.”
According to a report from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Black households give a larger portion of their wealth to charity than any other racial group, prioritizing giving despite the racial wealth gap—a statistic that evokes pride for Briggs.
Black Philanthropy Month
August is Black Philanthropy Month, which honors Black philanthropists all around the world and celebrates their gifts of time, talent and treasure to positively impact communities. Kalamazoo College would like to mark this month by recognizing one of our own donors and highlighting why they prioritize giving—both to K and beyond.
Although he doesn’t think of himself as a philanthropist, Erran Briggs ’14 embodies the 2023 theme of Black Philanthropy Month, Love in Action.
“From my perspective, when you’ve been the person on the receiving end of somebody’s generosity, and then you get something that you can give back, I think the sense of duty is a little bit stronger—at least that’s what I felt personally,” Briggs said. “I’ve been the person who needed those need-based scholarships. I needed those endowment funds that folks have started to help out people who look like me. I’m sensitive to that fact, and that’s been the biggest driver for me, that somebody helped me, so I should try to help when I can.”
Briggs and his wife, Nicole (Antoine) Briggs ’14, have three main organizations they target with their philanthropy: Doctors Without Borders, the Jarrad D. Blade Foundation Scholarship and Kalamazoo College. In addition, they have helped specific people in various ways, including paying for medical school applications and assisting with travel costs for interviews.
“I give to Doctors Without Borders every month,” Briggs said. “I think they are an important organization with a good mission.”
The Jarrad D. Blade Foundation Scholarship honors a man who was in a relationship with Briggs’ sister-in-law when the two of them were in a car that was hit by a drunk driver.
“He ended up passing away, and his family started an organization in his name,” Briggs said. “They raise money to help young Black kids go to college, and we contribute to them every year.”
Briggs chooses to give to K in gratitude for the experiences he received and a desire to help provide similar experiences for other students.
A chemistry major, Briggs played football all four years, played intramural basketball and participated in the Black Student Organization. Along with two friends, he started the Young Men of Color student organization to offer support, brotherhood and education.
He performed research at K and volunteered at local hospitals. For his Senior Integrated Project, he spent three months at University of Maryland, Baltimore County conducting HIV research.
“When I was going on my SIP, I didn’t have enough money to travel, and I was able to tap into this special fund with the help of President [Eileen] Wilson-Oyelaran to give me a stipend to travel,” Briggs said. “It’s not just the academic piece of affording tuition, room and board; it’s also when you can’t afford to take an unpaid internship because you need to make money, or you want to travel for research or for an externship, but you don’t have the funds to travel—things like that are an important piece of the K-Plan as well. Folks whose parents are financially able traditionally have more access to those extra things, and giving back, my hope is to try to even the playing field.”
The close relationships with faculty made K special for Briggs.
“I went to an inner-city high school that I don’t think prepared me well enough for college. When I got there, I was behind a lot of the other students, but I had professors who saw something in me. They voiced that to me, and they were encouraging. They pointed me in the direction where I could get help. They met with me frequently, made sure that I was doing okay and staying on track.”
Paul Sotherland, professor emeritus of biology; Regina Stevens-Truss, Dorothy Heyl Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry; Laura Furge, former chemistry professor; and Greg Slough, professor emeritus of chemistry were especially influential for Briggs.
“These people nurtured me and helped me to succeed at K,” Briggs said.
After graduating from K, Briggs joined the military and completed medical school at Indiana University in Indianapolis. He credits K with making that feel easy.
“I was used to studying to a level that I don’t think folks at other colleges, particularly the large public universities, are expected to do. I came in with that sort of mentality and that study habit, and I hit the ground running and I excelled.”
Briggs served a residency in internal medicine at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia, and currently has one year left on a fellowship in pulmonary critical care at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he continues to lean on his K experiences.
“I think at least half of medicine is people and relationships and knowing how to talk to people and how to explain things to people at a level that they can understand,” he said. “K prepared me well for that. The way K is set up allowed me to take a good number of classes outside of the chemistry department, and I tried to take classes in areas that would help make me a strong writer and communicator.”
With a daughter heading into high school and sons who are 2 and 4 years old, Briggs finds that being a husband, father and doctor fills most of his time. He also prioritizes involvement in professional societies related to medicine as well as exercising and staying active—and, of course, always mentoring and supporting those following in his footsteps, smoothing and lighting the way for them.
“K is a special place to me,” Briggs said. “It helped me to become the person that I am, and I don’t think my life would have unfolded the way it has if I didn’t go to K. It’s important to me as a gratitude piece to give back for what it has given me. I want to help make K possible for students like me because it really is a life-transforming experience. What inspires me to give back is what K gave me, wanting to see other students have access to that, and then having good examples. Those folks on the board who have become friends of mine, they lead by example, and I want to go down that pathway as well.”
Lisa Ludwinski ’06, owner of Detroit’s nationally recognized bakery, Sister Pie, will deliver the keynote at Kalamazoo College’s 2023 Convocation on September 7 at 3 p.m.
Ludwinski launched Sister Pie out of her parents’ Milford, Michigan, kitchen at Thanksgiving 2012. The business grew steadily, and in April 2015, Sister Pie opened its doors in a corner shop at Kercheval Avenue and Parker Street in the historic West Village neighborhood in Detroit. Known for its seasonally influenced sweet and savory pies as well as unique cookies, the shop has been featured in The Detroit Free Press, Hour Detroit, Eater, Bloomberg News, The New York Times and Bon Appetit.
In 2015, Ludwinski, who earned a B.A. in theatre arts at Kalamazoo College, was named one of the best chefs in the United States in Eater’s national Young Guns contest. She has also been nominated several times for a James Beard Award and was a finalist in 2019.
The Sister Pie cookbook, published in 2018, was a 2019 Michigan Notable Award-winning book, finalist for the International Association of Culinary Professionals award, and named one of the best cookbooks of the year by the New York Times and Chicago Tribune.
Ludwinski was recognized among the 2019 Crain’s Detroit Business 40 Under 40 honorees, focused on those who target important Michigan issues such as technology, inclusivity and opportunity for all. In 2019, Sister Pie partnered with Alternatives for Girls, which serves homeless and high-risk girls and young women, both donating funds and holding baking workshops for program participants.
Ludwinski and her bakers experiment with nontraditional flavor combinations and seasonal options that promote Michigan’s varied agriculture. They consider themselves a triple bottom line business, focusing on employees, environment and the economy. The bakery also supports a Neighborhood Fund, which helps to subsidize neighborhood and senior discounts, as well as food donations for a community fridge and freezer for the West Village and Islandview neighborhoods—just one way Ludwinski and Sister Pie are helping make Detroit sweeter, one slice at a time.
Alumna Lisa Ludwinski ’06, the owner of Detroit’s Sister Pie bakery, will speak at 3 p.m. September 7 at Kalamazoo College’s Convocation.
Convocation marks the start of the academic year and formally welcomes first-year students to campus. President Jorge G. Gonzalez, Provost Danette Ifert Johnson, Dean of Admission Suzanne Lepley and Dean of Students J. Malcolm Smith will also welcome attendees. Chaplain Elizabeth Candido ’00 will provide an invocation. All students, families, faculty and staff are invited to attend.
Convocation will be held in person on the College’s Quad and will be available to livestream.
If you think of the Apple TV show Ted Lasso when someone mentions the English Premier League, you’re not alone among Americans. Yet for Kelly Estes ’05, the international soccer organization offered a real-life experience that allowed her to raise her passion for her favorite sport to new heights this summer.
Estes, a sports medicine physician for the Cleveland Clinic, worked for 10 days as Fulham FC’s team physician after her employer, through its new London location, won the bid to provide sports medicine services to the Premier League during its East Coast tour. The Kalamazoo College alumna said she often follows the U.S. women’s national team, but this was her first true in-person exposure to world-class soccer athletes and competition.
“I basically cleared my schedule and asked which kidney I could donate to be involved because I was very excited,” she said. “I played soccer during my time at K, and I always wanted to work in the field of sports, so any way that I can combine my medical career with my soccer background is a huge win.”
As an Ohio native, Estes majored in chemistry at K before earning a master’s degree in nutrition at Columbia University and attending medical school at Wright State University. She completed an emergency medicine residency at the University of Virginia and a primary care sports medicine fellowship at the Ohio State University before becoming a sports medicine physician at Washington University in St. Louis. She moved on to the Cleveland Clinic in March 2020, leading to this summer’s unique career experience.
Estes conducted some research on the Premier League and its players before she left to meet the team and was pleasantly surprised to find that three Americans are among its athletes. That is a big deal in her opinion, as not many soccer players from the U.S. have played in Europe until recently, signaling the sport’s national growth.
Regardless, she wasn’t sure what to expect from Fulham FC’s own players until she met them in the New York area.
“I’ve had some limited experience in the U.S. with some high-level elite athletes, but the soccer team was so welcoming, and the staff was so kind,” she said. “Everyone was down to Earth, which was refreshing, because I felt we clicked like a little family. One of my favorite memories was with an initiation for the new players when they had to sing in front of everyone at a team dinner. They actually asked me to sing as well, so it was like I was initiated. It was nothing that I would’ve ever expected, and it was memorable.”
Fulham FC spent its first two days on the East Coast training at facilities belonging to the New York Red Bulls, a Major League Soccer (MLS) team, before playing its first game in Philadelphia. After a quick 24 hours there, the team spent five days in Orlando before finishing its tour in Washington, D.C.
“I get so excited about being in a stadium around all that energy with a full crowd,” Estes said. “That made my heart sing more than anything else. It’s about being around the fans and the coaches—even being in a smelly locker room. The stadiums are my happy place.”
Kelly Estes ’05 (right), a sports medicine physician for the Cleveland Clinic, worked for 10 days as Fulham FC’s team physician this summer after her employer won the bid to provide sports medicine services to the Premier League during its East Coast tour.
The club began in 1879 when a school teacher and churchwarden formed a boys team at Fulham St. Andrew’s Church in London. The team shifted its name to Fulham Football Club in 1889.
The team derives its current nickname, the Cottagers, from its home field, Craven Cottage, where it has played since 1896.
Fulham FC’s first crest was produced in 1898. Variations have been used over the past 141 years with the present badge (pictured) beginning a new era for the club after its promotion to the Premier League.
Serving the team meant Estes had to watch for lower-extremity injuries such as ankle sprains and hamstring issues along with muscle strains and contusions. She also needed to be prepared to treat less common yet more serious problems such as head injuries, concussions and fractures.
“We basically travel with a small pharmacy and supplies for emergency needs,” Estes said. “We also can use local pharmacies if certain prescriptions are needed. Basically, you set up and establish your resources in advance, because this was a moving tour. In each city, you have to make sure you know where you’re going to get your emergency supplies like oxygen, which pharmacy we are going to work with, and where our local hospital and emergency departments are, so there’s a lot of planning that goes into every facet of medical care.”
Communication was a challenge, too, considering Fulham FC’s current coaching staff is from Portugal and players are from all around the world. Even medications could be difficult given that the British health system is different, and drugs could have disparate names in the U.S. than in England. Yet she said her K study abroad experience in Erlangen, Germany, was foundational to her approaches. Plus, virtually no obstacle could’ve made Estes’ Premier League experience less than extraordinarily valuable to her.
“I’ve played soccer my whole life, so essentially, it has been my sport since I was 5 or 6 years old,” she said. “I’ve loved to watch my kids play and I still play myself once a week. I’m also still in close connection with my team from K, so it’s in my blood. We would love to continue to bridge sports medicine between the U.S. and the U.K., and now that we’ve had some physical time with each other, we’re hoping to really make it a regular occurrence. They’re doing some exciting things, we’re doing some exciting things, and we’re trying to compare notes and work together.”
A record number of 10 recent Kalamazoo College graduates, including six from the class of 2023, are heading overseas this year as Fulbright fellows.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers fellowships to graduating seniors, graduate students, young professionals and artists—chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential—so they may teach English, perform research or study abroad for one academic year. The honor is among the highest the federal government provides in regard to scholarship and international exchange. K consistently has been identified in recent years as one of the country’s Fulbright Top Producing Institutions for U.S. Students.
K’s representatives and their destinations this year are Natalie Call ’23, Denmark; Vincent DeSanto ’23, Austria; Ben Flotemersch ’23, Austria; Sean Gates ’23, Austria; Samuel Kendrick ’23, Uzbekistan; Kanase Matsuzaki ’23, Jordan; Rachel Cornell ’22, Ecuador; Anna Dorniak ’20, Poland; Nat Markech ’21, South Korea; and Garrett Sander ’19, Mexico.
Professor of English Amelia Katanski will also represent K through Fulbright this year as a U.S. Scholar Program selectee in Australia. Katanski will be working with faculty at the University of Wollongong to develop curriculum that will better prepare K students for study abroad there.
Fulbright has provided more than 400,000 participants with opportunities to exchange ideas and contribute to solutions to shared international concerns since its inception in 1946. Fulbright alumni work to make a positive impact on their communities, sectors, and the world and have included 41 heads of state or government, 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 78 MacArthur Fellows, and countless leaders and changemakers who carry forward the Fulbright mission of enhancing mutual understanding.
Commencement means Kalamazoo College’s class of 2023 is leaving campus. However, seeing them cross the stage to collect their diplomas Sunday reminded us of their outstanding accomplishments as students. Here are the top 10 news stories we’ve written about 2023 graduates as determined by your clicks.
Elle Waldron will visit a variety of feminist and gender-equity organizations in Australia, South Africa, Costa Rica and Spain to witness the tools and strategies they use to execute their work thanks to a new fellowship available to graduating K seniors.
Two seniors, Claire Kvande and Mallory Dolorfino, were among four with K ties to receive NSF graduate research fellowships, the most for the College since 2016.
The honorees represented talented athletes, outstanding academic performers, members of the President’s Student Ambassadors and student-organization standouts.
Kalamazoo officials are taking note of Lauren Crossman’s Senior Integrated Project, which engaged local businesses in environmentally friendly practices.
Crystal Mendoza was the second K chemistry major in as many years to earn the prestigious Priscilla Carney Jones Scholarship through the American Chemical Society.
Rachel Kramer completed 10 weeks of research last summer investigating health inequities in Ghana, Africa, while collecting data and researching Neglected Tropical Diseases for her Senior Integrated Project.
Rachel Kramer (second from right) in the Centre for Research in Applied Biology (CeRAB).
July 2022 was the hottest calendar month in Spain since records were first kept in 1961. It was also the month that Fiona O’Rielly set out on a 500-mile hike across Spain.
Fiona O’Rielly stops at one of the albergues, or hostels, along the route of the Camino de Santiago.
Congratulations to the class of 2023! This year’s Commencement is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday, June 11, on the campus Quad. Here’s what you need to know about the weekend’s events surrounding Kalamazoo College Commencement and the ceremony itself.
Rehearsal
Seniors are required to attend Commencement rehearsal at 4 p.m. Thursday at Dalton Theatre. Faculty and staff will provide graduating seniors with pertinent information including what to do during an intricate line-up and processional. Students who need to be excused from rehearsal should contact the Office of Alumni Engagement in advance at alumni@kzoo.edu. There will be a senior picnic on the Stetson Chapel patio after the rehearsal.
Parking This Weekend
For your convenience, most of the faculty, staff and student parking lots will be open to everyone. Guests are also invited to use street parking on campus and in the surrounding neighborhoods. See the parking information page for details related to street detours, graduate and accessible drop-off, campus parking lots, street parking, campus maps and more.
The class of 2023 will celebrate Commencement at 10 a.m. Sunday on the campus Quad.
Commencement Saturday
Receptions for individual departments help families meet professors and see individual projects from selected seniors. Consult the department schedules for information on the time and location for each event. The day’s remaining events—including the Senior Awards Program, the Senior Music Recital and the Baccalaureate—will take place at Stetson Chapel.
Seniors receiving awards will get an invitation from the Provost’s Office after finals to attend the Senior Awards Program, which begins at 2:30 p.m. Contact the Office of the Provost by email if you have questions about the event. The Senior Music Recital is a public concert at 4:30 p.m. featuring performances by graduating seniors who have been involved in music. All are welcome to attend. The Baccalaureate is a public non-religious service with student and faculty speakers and musical performances beginning at 8 p.m.
Livestreams for the Senior Awards Program, Senior Music Recital and Baccalaureate will be available for those unable to attend. An information desk will be staffed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the atrium at Hicks Student Center. The College’s bookstore will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Commencement Sunday
All seniors should meet at Dalton Theatre in their cap and gown no later than 9:30 a.m. Although Commencement will take place outside regardless of weather conditions, the ceremony could be delayed by up to three hours if there is heavy rain or severe weather. Communication about a delay would be sent through a K-Alert, social media and email no later than 8 a.m. Sunday. The ceremony is scheduled to last about two and a half hours.
There are no tickets or rain tickets required for the ceremony, and there is no limit to the number of guests each senior can invite to campus. Chairs will be available to accommodate family and friends on the Quad on a first-come, first-served basis. Open seating will also be available on the grass of the Upper Quad, where guests can sit in lawn chairs and blankets to view the ceremony.
Guests with a mobility challenge can find answers to frequently asked questions on our accessibility information page. An information desk will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the atrium at Hicks Student Center. The College’s bookstore will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Commencement Speakers
Alumnus Larry J. Bell ’80, the founder of Bell’s Brewery, Inc., and author Jaroslav Kalfař will be the ceremony’s featured speakers.
Bell majored in political science at K before founding Bell’s Brewery Inc. in 1985. Kalfař’s debut novel, Spaceman of Bohemia, was the Summer Common Reading book for the incoming class of 2018, and Kalfař visited campus in September of that year to discuss his book as part of new student orientation. Per K tradition, he returns to address this same class of students at their commencement.
Bell and Kalfar both will receive honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees.
More Information
The Office of Alumni Engagement maintains a website that offers more details regarding Commencement including a list of frequently asked questions, dining and lodging information, and ceremony accommodations. For more information, visit the site at commencement.kzoo.edu.
Author Jaroslav Kalfař will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from K during Commencement on Sunday.
Larry Bell ’80, the founder of Bell’s Brewery, Inc., will address the class of 2023 at Commencement on Sunday.
Professor of English Amelia Katanski ’92 has earned a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award that will send her to Australia during the 2023–24 academic year.
Katanski will be working with faculty at the University of Wollongong to develop curriculum that will better prepare K students for study abroad there. She previously undertook similar work after a visit to another K study abroad site—Curtin University, in Perth, Australia—and created a sophomore seminar titled World Indigenous Literatures to help students be more aware of Indigenous issues while on study abroad. This time the goal is to develop a curriculum in partnership with the host university and centered on land-based learning that addresses what international students need to know before going to Wollongong, with an emphasis on how K students impact Wollongong’s Indigenous faculty, staff and students.
“Like most universities in Australia, Wollongong has a lot of international students from all over the world, not just the U.S., which is very important to their functioning,” Katanski said. “The university is trying to be conscious about what it means for them to welcome these students onto Indigenous land through a program that teaches curriculum reconciliation, which looks at how to keep Indigenous issues at the forefront of all university operations. The international program would like to focus on their own curriculum reconciliation process, so I would be going through it with them or learning from their experiences, depending on timing.”
Professor of English Amelia Katanski ’92 has earned a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award that will send her to the University of Wollongong in Australia in the 2023–24 academic year.
Katanski will spend her fall term preparing for the Fulbright trip and working on another piece of a sabbatical project before heading to Australia in January. She is one of about 800 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research or provide expertise abroad through Fulbright. Those citizens are selected based on their academic and professional achievement, as well as their record of service and demonstrated leadership. The awards are funded through the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s international education-exchange program designed to build connections between U.S. citizens and people from other countries. The program is funded through an annual Congressional appropriation made to the Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations around the world also support the program, which operates in more than 160 countries.
“We don’t get a lot of opportunities to be somewhere long enough that we get to know the people and their land while developing relationships with them,” Katanski said. “I’m really grateful for the chance to be in a place that is far from home with a distinctive landscape, while being supported in my learning.”
Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has given more than 390,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and professionals in a variety of backgrounds and fields opportunities to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute solutions to international problems.
Thousands of Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in many fields, including 61 who have been awarded the Nobel Prize, 89 who have received Pulitzer Prizes and 76 MacArthur Fellows. For more information about the Fulbright program, visit its website.
“There’s so much for me to learn and I’m grateful for this opportunity because I can sit at my computer and do some research or read literary, cultural or historical texts, but the important piece for me is helping our students who are learning from and on Indigenous land right now,” Katanski said. “This is also an opportunity to work in partnership with and learn from the University of Wollongong, which has clearly articulated institutional goals about reconciliation, and how Indigenous people and issues are centered within its work.”
