Category: Alumni

Renowned Painter, Pioneering Journalist to Speak at Commencement Events

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Kalamazoo College is pleased and honored to welcome both a world-renowned painter and a pioneering journalist—both alumnae of the College—as its keynote speakers when it celebrates the commencements of the Class of 2021 and the Class of 2020 at Angell Field.

Julie Mehretu ’92

Julie Mehretu ’92, one of the country’s most celebrated contemporary artists, will deliver the 2021 Commencement address at 10 a.m. on June 13.

Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Mehretu lives and works in New York City and Berlin. Mehretu creates large-scale abstract paintings, drawings, and prints that draw from the histories of art and human civilization, exploring themes such as capitalism, globalism, migration and climate change. Her work has been exhibited extensively in museums and biennials including the Carnegie International (2004–05); Sydney Biennial (2006); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010); dOCUMENTA (13) (2012); Sharjah Biennial (2015); Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto, Portugal (2017); Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, UK (2019); and the 58th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, (2019).

Among the largest and best known of her commissioned works are Mural, a 23-by-80-foot painting that Mehretu created for the lobby of Goldman Sachs in 2010, and the HOWL, eon (I, II) series at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which stand at 23-by-32 feet each and flank the main staircase of the museum’s atrium.

Commencement speaker Julie Mehretu
Julie Mehretu ’92, a world-renowned painter, will be the Commencement speaker for Kalamazoo College’s Class of 2021 on Sunday, June 13.

Mehretu has been honored with numerous awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2005 and the U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts in 2015. In 2020, TIME named Mehretu to its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is represented by Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris. A mid-career survey of Mehretu’s work is currently on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art through August 8.

Mehretu received a B.A. from Kalamazoo College, studied abroad at the University Cheik Anta Diop, Dakar Senegal, and received a Master’s of Fine Art with honors from The Rhode Island School of Design in 1997. She will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at the Commencement ceremony.

Charlotte Hall ’66

Trailblazing journalist Charlotte Hall ’66 will give the commencement address to the Class of 2020 in a celebration honoring last year’s graduates. This in-person event at 10 a.m. June 12 will recognize alumni whose degrees were conferred in a virtual ceremony last year.

Hall is the retired editor and senior vice president of the Orlando Sentinel, where she oversaw the newsroom’s transformation into a digital news provider. Before joining the Sentinel, Hall spent 22 years at Newsday on Long Island, rising through the ranks to managing editor and vice president. Under her direction, Newsday reporters won numerous honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. Hall served as a Pulitzer juror three times. For her efforts to increase newsroom diversity at Newsday, Hall received the Robert G. McGruder Award for Diversity Leadership in 2003 from the American Society of News Editors and the Associated Press Managing Editors.

Hall served as president of the American Society of News Editors and later as the president of the Society’s foundation. She also served on the Accrediting Committee of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC).

Since her retirement in 2010, Hall has been active in journalism organizations and in higher education. In 2011, she was the Reynolds Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at Washington and Lee University. She currently serves on the Temple University Journalism Board of Advisors.  She also has been active in nonprofit journalism.

Commencement Speaker Charlotte Hall
Charlotte Hall ’66, a member of Kalamazoo College’s Board of Trustees and a retired pioneering journalist, will be the Commencement speaker Saturday, June 12, for the Class of 2020.

Hall has served on the Board of Trustees of Kalamazoo College for 22 years and led the Board as its first female chair from 2013-2019. She participated in two presidential searches, chairing the search committee that nominated President Jorge G. Gonzalez.

She received her B.A. from Kalamazoo College and her M.A. from the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. Hall will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at the Commencement ceremony.

Alumnus Earns NEA Fellowship Through Poetry

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Aaron Coleman Poetry Fellowship
Photo by Andrea Bolivar
Poet Aaron Coleman ’09 has earned a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship.

The list of 35 professionals receiving a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Creative Writing Fellowship this year has a distinct Kalamazoo College flavor.

In addition to Department of English Assistant Professor Oliver Baez Bendorf, poet and K alumnus Aaron Coleman ’09 was chosen from more than 1,600 writers for a fellowship worth $25,000.

“It’s something that I’ve dreamed about for a long time because of the folks who have stepped along this path before,” Coleman said, while mentioning writers such as Professor Emeritus Diane Seuss and her mentor, Conrad Hilberry. “I also think of it at the most practical level. I know that this is going to help me create the next book project in ways that I know wouldn’t be possible otherwise.”

Coleman, who soon will earn a Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, might be known most widely for his 2018 published poetry collection titled Threat Come Close. That collection helped him earn the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award for Poetry in 2020. The recognition means Coleman will visit GLCA member institutions, including K this spring, where he will give readings, meet with students and faculty members, and discuss his techniques and creativity in the writing process.

That writing process was greatly inspired by K faculty and the lessons he learned at the College.

“I do know I brought to K the seed kernel that developed into my deep love, appreciation and sort of wonder for the roles that language plays in our lives,” Coleman said. “But during the time I was there, Diane Seuss was really someone who helped me gain confidence and trust that what I had to say was valuable, and that with a lot of work and learning about the tradition of poetry and the technique of revision that I could find a way to write and keep poetry at the center of my life.”

The recognition from the NEA means Coleman will have new opportunities to pursue his own writing, including his next as-of-now untitled project.

“I’m calling my next poetry collection a multi-generational chorus of poems, because of the way that they speak to the lives and experiences of my family over the course of generations, based on both research and family stories,” Coleman said.

The first poem from that collection, titled “Another Strange Land: Downpour off Cape Hatteras (March, 1864),” tells the story of Coleman’s great-great-great-grandfather and is already published on the Academy of American Poets website.

“One of my cousins from Pennsylvania found his tombstone,” Coleman said. “Its engravement said he was a part of the Pennsylvania 25th Colored Infantry, and I realized that he had fought in the Civil War. So that sent me scouring through military records trying to figure out where his unit was at different times, and that kind of blend of imagination and research is at the crux of this next collection.”

Coleman is also currently translating a poetry book titled El Gran Zoo, by Afro-Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén. Guillen’s poetry draws on disturbing realities to create a zoo of natural and humanmade wonders alongside a wealth of social and political issues.

In a news release regarding the fellowships, the NEA credits its fellowship honorees as writers who will enrich the world with their artistic contributions for years to come, an idea that helps Coleman feel he’s successful.

“Art and poetry are a unique realm for understanding our emotions and identities,” Coleman said. “It’s a space where we can figure out ways to say things we have no other way to say. Success as a poet, for me, comes from just the investment in the lifelong apprenticeship of writing. It’s in trying to grow as a poet and then seeing that reflected in the world. When people tell me my work matters to them and that it’s valuable to their own journey, that’s what feels like success to me.”

Alumni Want to Help Students Network, Launch Careers

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K to the Pacific Northwest image advertises careers event
Six alumni, representing a variety of Kalamazoo College majors and diverse professions, will represent Starbucks, Microsoft, HealthSparq, Payscale, Hulu and Intellectual Ventures, while networking with students to help them build their careers from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 4, during K to the Pacific Northwest.

A group of Kalamazoo College alumni is calling upon itself to help students overcome pandemic-prompted challenges so they can build their networks and launch their careers.

“One of the beautiful aspects of K is that we have such a rich cadre of alums who want to engage with students related to their career preparation,” Center for Career and Professional Development Director Tricia Zelaya-Leon said. “It’s a good challenge to have when there’s so much excitement and enthusiasm from alumni that they come to me and ask how they can help.”

For this particular group of alumni, the answer is coming through K-Treks, the career-immersion experiences that typically allow students to visit alumni and explore interesting professions around the country. With K-Treks temporarily being virtual, cost is not a factor in determining how many students can attend. It also allows more alumni representing a greater variety of majors and business fields to connect with students, revealing more pathways to finding their passions and their jobs.

The additional alumni are allowing the CCPD to expand Thursday’s virtual K-Treks, originally planned as K to Starbucks, to K to the Pacific Northwest (K2PNW). Six alumni, representing a variety of K majors and diverse professions, will represent not only Starbucks, but also Microsoft, HealthSparq, Payscale, Hulu and Intellectual Ventures, while networking with students on March 4 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

“I don’t want students to think that their major doesn’t matter. However, it is just one piece of the puzzle.” Zelaya-Leon said. “A major is really about helping students find a passion they’re interested in and not just a measure that will lead them to career success. The beauty of the alumni that we have attending this virtual K-Trek series is that many of them had more than one major or the work they do now is very different from what you might expect someone with that major to do.”

The alumni panelists and their majors and careers include:

  • James Burns ’05, an economics and business major, who serves as the director of in-game monetization in Microsoft Stores on Xbox with Microsoft.
  • Alison Greco ’95, a psychology major, who serves as the director of product and UX at HealthSparq.
  • Casey Herron ’07, a mathematics major, who is the senior data scientist at Payscale Inc.
  • Steve June ’03, an English and philosophy major, who is the principal of commerce solutions at Starbucks.
  • Patrick Neaton ’05, an economics and business major, who works as the senior technical program manager at Hulu.
  • Rita Rogers ’06, an art and art history major, who serves as the director of corporate communications, Intellectual Ventures.

All students are welcome to participate by registering at any time before the event through Handshake. Students who attend will receive the contact information for the alumni participants.

“I keep thinking about the senior year for the classes of 2020 and 2021, and how unexpected their experiences have been for them,” Zelaya-Leon said. “This isn’t the way they thought it was going to go, and I feel for them. These K-Treks are open to all students, but they’re especially for the seniors. I hope they’ll continue to come see us for help after these events are over.”

Alumna Provides a Trusted Voice in Science, Health

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Jill Weatherhead and her science mentors in a lab
Jill Weatherhead ’05, M.D., Ph.D., a physician-scientist and Director of Medical Education in the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, works in a lab with her mentors, Drs. Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Bottazzi, who are co-chairs in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Pediatric Tropical Medicine. Photo credit: Baylor College of Medicine.

A Kalamazoo College alumna, key to Baylor College of Medicine’s fight against COVID-19, set a goal of communicating more effectively and regularly with the public about science and health in 2020.

“Little did I know this pandemic would come and science communication would be so critical,” said Jill Weatherhead ’05, M.D., Ph.D., a physician-scientist and Director of Medical Education in the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “Over the past year, I’ve wanted to discuss the pandemic with the public honestly and openly with transparency. I’ve wanted to share scientific knowledge with the community to make sure people are safe and have a better understanding of what’s going on.”

Weatherhead has been very successful with that goal. Even a simple glance at her Twitter handle, @JillWeather, shows evidence of that. Recently, she’s been a resource for scientific publications and Houston-area media outlets regarding subjects such as COVID-19 trends, and the vaccine’s efficacy and safety. She even details her own experience with receiving the vaccine in pictures, video and personal reports.

Jill Weatherhead women in science
Jill Weatherhead ’05 has been a resource for scientific publications and Houston-area media outlets regarding subjects such as COVID-19 trends, and the vaccine’s efficacy and safety.

“Transparency and media communication are really important to show I’m not only talking the talk, but walking the walk,” she said. “I want people to know that I’m doing the same thing and that I’m holding myself to the same standard. Seeing the positives and the negatives of those recommendations are critical to instilling trust in what you’re saying. That doesn’t mean the vaccine process is perfect or that I didn’t have some small side effects. But when the vaccine comes to you, please take it. Then, please continue to wear a mask and social distance. I’m trying to exemplify that.”

Such spotlights make Weatherhead an ideal example of someone the United Nations celebrated on February 11, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, along its theme of “Women Scientists at the Forefront of the Fight Against COVID-19.”

U.N. statistics show that fewer than 30 percent of scientific researchers in the world are women and only about 30 percent of all female students select fields in science, technology, engineering or math to pursue in their higher education. Representation among women is especially low professionally in fields such as information and communication technology at 3 percent; natural science, mathematics and statistics at 5 percent; and engineering at 8 percent.

To change such numbers, the U.N. General Assembly established its international day to celebrate women scientists and build equal access to and participation in science for women and girls. Weatherhead is doing her part as an Infectious Disease expert at Baylor to encourage and support women entering into science especially those starting their educational journeys.

“I think one of the biggest lessons I learned is not to be afraid to challenge yourself and try new things,” Weatherhead said when asked about advice for women interested in scientific disciplines at K. “There are things that are going to be comfortable and things that are going to be uncomfortable at K, so challenge yourself. It’s important to grow and figure out where you see your career going.”

When Weatherhead attended K, trying new things meant a study abroad experience at the Universidad de San Francisco in Ecuador.

“That experience alone really shaped the trajectory of my whole career,” she said. “I worked at an inner-city hospital, and I wrote a thesis on the health inequities caused by poverty in Ecuador. That was the first time where I saw the impact of access to health care, health communication and community outreach. It really opened my eyes to a whole different side of the world that I didn’t know existed. I honestly feel that I came back a different person.”

That experience inspired her interest not only in infectious disease, but tropical medicine, a subspecialty within infectious disease research, focusing on afflictions that most commonly affect people living in extreme poverty within certain climates.

“In order to have these diseases, you need to be living in poverty in areas where there’s poor sanitation and waste management; areas where the diseases can flourish in warm, humid climates,” Weatherhead said. “We see a lot of these infections here in Texas, as well as in other areas along the Gulf Coast where the climate and pockets of poverty support them. My lab focuses on how these infections of poverty lead to long-term, detrimental health consequences in children and adults and aims to develop new interventions to prevent these infections.”

Weatherhead’s efforts and sacrifices clearly benefited Baylor and the Houston area last year and will continue to do so as the pandemic progresses through her direct care of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and through her community outreach and service.

K helped cement that deep commitment to service.

“I would say my K-Plan was the foundation of my current career,” Weatherhead said. “Without my K-Plan I would not be where I am.”

Keynote Highlights K’s Virtual Plans for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote speaker Dr. D-L Stewart
Dr. D-L Stewart ’95 will deliver a virtual keynote Monday, January 18, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

A renowned professor, author, scholar, activist, TED Talk speaker and Kalamazoo College alumnus will help K celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a virtual event at 11 a.m. on Monday, January 18.

Colorado State University School of Education Professor Dr. D-L Stewart ’95 focuses on empowering and imagining futures that sustain and cultivate the learning, growth and success of minoritized groups in postsecondary education. His work is motivated by an ethic of love grounded in justice and informed by the lived experiences of individuals with multiple marginalities, along with the effects of systems of oppression. Stewart will deliver a keynote titled “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free.”

The address will share a title with a song performed by Nina Simone in the 1970s, a time when any gains from the Civil Rights Movement, led by many including King, were threatened with a white flight to the suburbs, protests against school desegregation in northern urban cities and the beginnings of mass incarceration. Stewart will compare those times to our current times and note many similarities.

The event, which is open to the public, will include an opening address and introduction from Asia Smith ’21. Access the event at the scheduled time here through Zoom. The passcode is MLKDay. For more information and any accommodations, email Director of Intercultural Student Life Natalia T. Carvalho-Pinto at ncarvalh@kzoo.edu.

World Teachers’ Day Applauds Educators Who Ace Pandemic’s Test

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Margaret Ferris on World Teachers' Day
World Teachers’ Day honors educators such as Kalamazoo College alumna Margaret Ferris ’90, who teaches classes online and in-person simultaneously.

As teachers guide children in new ways through a pandemic, World Teachers’ Day, celebrated each October 5, is recognizing the unique nature of this year with a theme of “Leading in Crisis, Reimagining the Future.”

Conducted through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the day is to honor educators such as Kalamazoo College alumna Margaret Ferris ’90, a teacher at The Episcopal School of Dallas, where she helps guide high school students in the classroom and online every day in the wake of COVID-19.

“I love the connections I make with my students as they become adults, and I love sharing my passion for math with them,” said Ferris, who is the school’s Math Department Chair. “My hope is they will become as excited about the subject as I am.”

At K, Ferris prepared for a teaching career with a study-abroad experience that involved student teaching in Mexico City while she majored in math and minored in Spanish.

“I took all the education classes at K, but more importantly, K taught me to think critically, be open minded and be accepting of everyone,” she said. “The math education I got there was outstanding. Foreign study gave me a perspective of the world I wouldn’t have otherwise had. And the liberal arts, having knowledge in not just one subject but every subject, has helped me in the classroom.”

Since college, Ferris has taught pre-algebra to Spanish-speaking students in Houston, was Director of Education at a Sylvan Learning Center, and taught all levels of high school math at two private schools in Miami before joining the Episcopal School. This year, however, has been unlike anything she ever could’ve prepared for. Ferris’ school started this fall with two weeks of online classes before returning to the classroom, where she has taught juniors and seniors AP Calculus and Statistics, in person and online simultaneously, for about four weeks.

“Despite the hurdles, I was so excited to see my students and colleagues again,” Ferris said. “There is something special that happens in the classroom that is very difficult to replicate. Our community has really come together to keep each other safe, as well. The seniors have set a great example for the younger students. Everyone is wearing a mask, following one-way traffic patterns, and maintaining a safe distance. I have been so impressed with our entire community and the way that we are showing such great care for each other.”

Still, social-distancing guidelines prevent group work, a major component of Ferris’ curriculum, for in-person students.

“Normally, I would circulate around the room when they’re working in groups,” Ferris said. “That’s a big adjustment for me. There’s a lot more preparation that goes into each class period.”

Ferris also has to balance the needs of two audiences at the same time.

“I worry about the engagement of the students who are learning remotely,” she said. “Are they getting the same experience as the in-person students? I constantly find myself checking in with them – are you guys at home ok? Do you have any questions for me?”

And Ferris notes that opportunities for students to socialize with their peers, arguably a central part of the high school experience, look very different this term.

“The online students don’t have the same opportunities to hang out with each other,” Ferris said. And for the in-person students, “lunchtime would normally be a time when they relax, connect with each other and talk about things that don’t have to do with class. There are usually 10 students per table, and now there are four with partitions between them.  What our school has done is create outdoor spaces that allow for physically distanced socializing.”

Regardless, teachers like Ferris bring a silver lining to education during a pandemic. She said it has forced her to re-examine her teaching to ensure she reaches her students and guides them in ways that fit multiple learning environments.

“I’ve had to really look at how I teach and what methods I use,” Ferris said. “It’s allowed me to take a look at my curriculum and see how I could do things in a different way to make sure everyone is engaged, even if they’re working on their own where they would normally be working together and more collaboratively.”

Ultimately, The Episcopal School of Dallas will continue to send its graduates to college at schools ranging from Austin College to Yale. In fact, the 107-member Class of 2020 received 460 acceptances to 139 colleges and universities. And teachers such as Ferris deserve a lot of the credit for doing their part to get them there.

“In my calculus class, I hope there might be an engineer or two, or a physicist,” she said. “Then again there might not be and I understand that. Some of my students will ask, ‘Mrs. Ferris, why do we need to know math?’ It’s because by doing math, you’re exercising your mind. You’re learning to think critically. You’re learning how to problem solve. You’re learning to do something that’s difficult. And that will serve you well no matter what career you choose. Just like working out exercises your body and you get stronger? This is exercise for the mind.”

K Alumna’s Art to Honor K9 Salute Team

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Kaiser Howls for K9 Salute Team
Until late June 2020, K9 Kaiser was one of 22 dogs on the Michigan War Dog Memorial K9 Salute Team. Suanne Martin ’84 will sculpt a statue in Kaiser’s likeness, representing all the Salute Team dogs that have passed including Kaiser. Kaiser is pictured with Julie Fentner, the dog’s handler.

The Michigan War Dog Memorial (MWDM) in South Lyon gives the canines that once served our country, troops, police and firefighters, along with therapy and service dogs, a proper sendoff. The memorial cemetery, first established in 1932 as a pet cemetery, was rediscovered and renamed in 2010 as the MWDM, and it has hosted services to honor the dogs since 2014.

The MWDM K9 Salute Team was at the memorial cemetery nearly every weekend from mid-May through October in 2019, honoring 17 fallen heroes with services that included missing-dog formations, a color guard, bagpipes, bugler, funeral flag, headstone and a personalized hand drawing of the deceased dog at no charge to the dog’s handler.

Until late June 2020, K9 Kaiser—an exceptionally large German shepherd, weighing 160 pounds—was one of 22 dogs on the MWDM K9 Salute Team. In ceremonies honoring dogs at the MWDM, Kaiser performed a howling salute, much like a 21-gun salute, that would resound and recognize the honoree being interred during a service.

Unfortunately, the MWDM K9 Salute Team has lost a few of its dogs, including Kaiser; to memorialize them, the team has hired Suanne Martin ’84 to sculpt a statue of Kaiser’s likeness, representing all the Salute Team dogs that have passed. The statue will accompany a granite wall which will bear the names of the MWDM K9 Salute Team dogs memorialized.

“I am beyond honored to be chosen as the sculptor for this important memorial project,” Martin said.

When Martin first attended K, she aspired to be a painter, until an art professor, the late Marcia Wood ’55, encouraged her to take a sculpting class.

“I was intimidated, to be honest, but she pushed me out of my comfort zone,” Martin said. “Once I got my hands in clay, I never looked back.”

After graduating, Martin desired more training in anatomy to enhance her skills in sculpting life forms. She studied for three years at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit before she earned her master’s degree at the Pratt Institute in New York.

That training led to sculpting characters and figures that were later cast and used for magazine illustrations or put into production in the toy industry. She was also contracted by a studio to be one of the people sculpting portraits of the U.S. Constitution signers for the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Black Dog Studios
Suanne Martin ’84 sculpted her French mastiff, also called a Dogue de Bordeaux. Martin will now sculpt a German shepherd to honor the K9 War Dog Memorial dogs that have passed away.

Later, as she owned dogs, they were natural subjects for new sculptures. First was a lean and muscular boxer; years later there was a French mastiff, which Martin described as a dream breed.

“Being in New York City, this huge, red, wrinkly puppy became a celebrity in his own right,” Martin said. “I made a lot of good friends through him.”

When her mastiff died unexpectedly after five and a half years, sculpting him was part of Martin’s grieving process. When she posted the end result on Facebook, friends and their acquaintances took notice. That garnered Martin attention on social media that allowed her to earn more commissions before connecting with Julie Fentner, who was Kaiser’s handler, and earning the job of sculpting Kaiser.

“It’s exciting,” Martin said. “This is the first outdoor monument sculpture that I’ve taken on all by myself. I’m not only creating the original artwork, but doing the molding and casting. This is not just me doing a piece to please one person. I want to honor all the canine officers, military dogs and service dogs under that whole umbrella. I want this to inspire a lot of people.”

The nonprofit Michigan War Dog Memorial so far has raised about $5,000 toward a $20,000 goal to fund Martin’s project. Those interested in making donations toward the sculpture are invited to do so through Facebook or GoFundMe. If all goes well, Martin hopes to start the project in October and finish it around mid-2021.

“For the last six and a half years, Kaiser has brought joy and happiness doing therapy with veterans, seniors, mentally challenged adults, fire departments, police departments, rehabilitation centers, a few human funerals and many other places, as do many of the other MWDM K9 Salute Team member dogs,” Fentner said. “His ability to bring happiness to others knew no bounds. I am so honored that my boy Kaiser is going to represent the MWDM K9 Salute Team dogs and be memorialized himself.”

From Singapore to Michigan, Alumna Fights COVID-19

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Alumna Natasha Bagdasarian Fights COVID-19
Natasha Bagdasarian ’99 was working as an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist at National University Hospital in Singapore when the COVID-19 pandemic took shape. She now serves the World Health Organization as a consultant and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services as a senior public health physician.

When a listserv between epidemiologists first mentioned a unique syndrome identified in Wuhan, China, Natasha Bagdasarian ’99 sensed trouble. It was December 31, 2019, and an atypical pneumonia outbreak had been linked to a novel coronavirus. At that time, there was still uncertainty on the transmissibility and severity of the new pathogen, and epidemiologists were put on alert.

Bagdasarian was working as an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist at National University Hospital in Singapore, where her job involved outbreak response, surveilling infections and contact tracing for contagious illnesses. To Bagdasarian, Singapore seemed to be a potential hot spot for this coronavirus, which eventually spiraled into the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Singapore was right in the path of this because we had a lot of direct flights between Singapore and Wuhan, and this was happening right before Chinese New Year when a lot of Singaporeans travel,” Bagdasarian said.

The first case in Singapore was confirmed on January 23. The earliest cases were individuals who had traveled from China, until local transmission began to develop in February and March. The Kalamazoo College alumna’s role became vital in Singapore’s response to COVID-19, especially when it came to contact tracing, a key strategy in fighting the pandemic.

“For every COVID patient, we would have to find out where they’ve been in the last 14 days and give a very detailed summary to the Ministry of Health,” Bagdasarian said. “Then, the Ministry of Health would go to those people and places and look for contacts. Every patient that came into our hospital, we’d sort of track their path and make sure there were no breaches in their care and that nobody in the hospital had been exposed.”

If there was good news at this point, it was that Singapore had learned much of what it needed to do for an epidemic like COVID-19 during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in the early 2000s. The synergy Bagdasarian and her team developed with that knowledge, despite overseeing nearly 1,500 beds, led to zero cases of health care workers and non-COVID-19 patients contracting COVID-19.

“Everybody remembered the protocols,” Bagdasarian said. “When we needed additional capacity, we constructed a big outdoor tent as our emergency department overflow. Everything we did was sort of templated from SARS. It was a beautiful response to be a part of.”

Soon, her duties expanded, and she started examining cases outside hospitals in Singapore’s densely populated areas.

“Those settings in Singapore include migrant worker dormitories, and some of them house thousands of workers,” Bagdasarian said. “It was like taking the skills that we had learned in the hospital and extrapolating them to completely different settings to figure out strategies to stop transmission when you sometimes have up to 20 people living in one room.”

Obviously, social distancing was impossible and distinctive approaches were necessary.

“There are other strategies you have to use such as cohorting, where you try to put together people who all have been exposed or have all been infected. That was really interesting work and it got me thinking about health care disparities, and how vulnerable populations have been impacted by COVID.”

Bagdasarian returned to Michigan with her husband and young child this summer, when her husband’s job with General Motors was transferred back to the U.S. However, the lessons she learned in Singapore are serving the world still today. She now serves the World Health Organization as a consultant and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services as a senior public health physician.

“What keeps me up at night is thinking of the unknown,” she said. “COVID is bad. In the infectious disease community, we always knew there was a potential for something like this to happen. But COVID will not be the last zoonotic infection with pandemic potential to cross over to humans, and the next one could be worse.”

A Match Made at K

Natasha met her husband, Vahan, also ’99, when they were first-year students at K. The couple met during orientation and were lab partners in their first biology course, a class on evolution.

“She seemed so genuinely happy to be at K and eager to get the year started,” Vahan said. “I was more hesitant, but her positive energy was evident on day one and we quickly became good friends.”

That lab and class experience helped steer Vahan away from the hard sciences and toward an economics major and sociology minor. Conversely, they solidified Natasha’s interest in biology. Natasha added a second major in psychology and an extended, nine-month study abroad experience in Australia to her K-Plan.

That extended experience was fateful because it put Natasha behind schedule in applying to medical school. That was all the reason she needed to first pursue a master’s degree in public health at the University of Michigan.

“While on foreign study, I read a book called, The Hot Zone,” Natasha said. “It talks about investigating Ebola outbreaks and I was absolutely captivated. That sort of propelled me through medical school with this goal in sight that I was going to be an infectious disease doctor and work in outbreaks.”

She attended medical school at Wayne State University before serving an internal medicine residency and an infectious diseases fellowship at the University of Michigan.

After Natasha’s education was complete, Vahan had an opportunity to work for General Motors in Singapore. Natasha supported Vahan and followed him by taking a leap of faith with no guarantee she would be able to work. Medical training often is specific to an individual country, and many countries don’t accept American medical training.

However, “Singapore at that time, they were still allowing some American medical trainees, and I ended up working at the most wonderful hospital,” Natasha said. “I don’t know how I got so lucky. It was five years of training for a COVID-like scenario under a boss who had years of experience working for an arm of the World Health Organization that does outreach to low- and middle-income countries when they experience outbreaks.”

To complicate the scenario, Vahan—after three years in Singapore—was offered a chance to become the CFO for General Motors in the Africa and Middle East Region, meaning a move to Dubai. Fortunately, the hospital allowed Natasha to telecommute and continue her role with occasional visits back.

“It was a seven-and-a-half-hour flight from Singapore to Dubai and I worked remotely across time zones, but we made it work,” Natasha said. “I had a team on the ground that was absolutely wonderful. We would have Zoom calls a couple times a day, and then I would fly to Singapore every month. I did that for about two years when COVID hit. Then, I went to Singapore to work on the COVID response.”

That opportunity to work remotely until COVID-19 hit benefited Singapore, and continues to benefit the World Health Organization and the State of Michigan in her current roles. In the meantime, Vahan emphatically praises Natasha and the work she’s done to fight the pandemic.

“There aren’t words really to describe how proud I am of Natasha,” Vahan said. “She has spent countless sleepless nights working on this pandemic, but this is the norm. I’ve watched Natasha dive into various other outbreaks and give the same dedication and attention. Her love for her work and desire to help people is inspirational. Now that we are home in Michigan, I think it is very fitting that she can transfer that passion to her home state and work to keep us as safe as possible.”

K Alumnus Pioneered Technology Behind COVID-19 Testing

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COVID-19 Testing Pioneer Lincoln McBride and Family
Lincoln McBride with his partner, Claire, and sons Max and Leo.

Kalamazoo College chemistry graduate Lincoln McBride ’80 has a pioneering connection to the fight against COVID-19: Working at Applied Biosystems Inc. (ABI) in the 1990s, he founded and led the technology program that commercialized real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a system to detect and quantify small amounts of genetic material with unparalleled speed sensitivity and accuracy. The latest generation of this technology is the worldwide workhorse and gold standard for COVID-19 testing at this critical moment of the pandemic. Dr. McBride talked with K about his time at the College and his work on this important technology.

Can you tell us about your K-Plan and your experience at K? 
Candidly, my only application went to K on a strong hunch I’d prefer a small school, not too far from home, and with a solid academic reputation. During freshman year, math was my intended major. Sophomore fall, I had the great fortune of taking organic chemistry with Professor Kurt Kaufman. He eventually hired me for two years to synthesize psoralen analogs to treat psoriasis. The key ingredient of my first synthesis was an abundance of cyanide dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide! Apparently, Kurt didn’t believe in training wheels.

COVID-19 Testing Team
Lincoln McBride (far right in pink shirt) and his product team, surrounding the crate holding the first 7700 Sequence Detector prototype about to be shipped to Genentech-Roche in 1995.

Although math and science came easily to me, reading and writing were unnatural work. So, at Rochester (Michigan) High School I chose Spanish. My sophomore spring at K was spent in Madrid, and if allowed one “do over,” I’d choose two quarters abroad to lock in the language.

My senior individualized project (SIP) was in the analytical chemistry department of the Upjohn Company in downtown Kalamazoo under the supervision of Margaret (Peggy) Merritt. She and her staff were helpful and patient as I stumbled along trying to develop densitometry assays of phospholipids separated by thin layer chromatography. I considered my SIP a failure; however, in hindsight, it gave me a passion for analytical chemistry which aligned better with my affinity for math. This hands-on exposure led and enabled me to develop and commercialize revolutionary bio-analytical systems.

COVID-19 Testing Pioneer Lincoln McBride
Lincoln McBride in the lab at ABI.

Were there K faculty who were a major influence on your path to graduate school and your career path?

Although not totally unique, K’s intimate and informal culture between student and professor was my most immediately impactful ingredient. It began with the late T.J. Smith’s one-on-ones in his office after his linear algebra class. It remains my favorite class and subject of all time.

I’m overwhelmed with bittersweet emotion as I type about my relationship with the late Professor Kaufman. If someone tells you a teacher can totally change your life, know that it’s true. I marveled at his charismatic command of the largest and many would say K’s most notorious class in that era, organic chemistry. His every sentence expressed his zest for life. At the top of my midterm exam, he wrote, “I believe you have the soul of an organic chemist.” I was hooked.

After synthesis work in his lab, we’d play tennis, occasionally with dinner or drinks afterwards at the Kaufmans’. In my senior year, he indicated unexpectedly that he would award me with K’s Heyl Scholarship for a full ride at Yale, but before he did, he wanted to make sure I’d accept. Without much thought, I told him I was hesitant to live on the East Coast and wanted to go to California. He didn’t bat an eye. Shortly thereafter during the last conversation I ever had with him, he gave me two pieces of prophetic advice: The future and your future is in biochemistry and you must take at least one biochemistry class. Then, he apologized for having run out of time to teach chapter 36 of Morrison and Boyd, “Amino Acids and Proteins.” He flipped through its pages and singled out an exciting new synthetic technique of synthesizing polypeptides on a solid support.

Within weeks of Kaufman’s prophetic advice, he suffered a debilitating stroke, a tragedy that shocked and saddened me beyond words. Without his letter of recommendation, I’d eventually be rejected by both Berkeley and Caltech, yet I would land on the biochemistry floor at University of Colorado (CU). Almost miraculously, I chose Professor Marvin Caruthers as my thesis advisor; his group had just invented solid-supported DNA synthesis by the phosphoramidite approach, which would emerge as the most revolutionary enabling technology of the early 1980s for biotech research.

After you earned your doctorate in chemistry at University of Colorado, you eventually joined Applied Biosystems (ABI) in R&D. Tell us how you came to work on the technology now being used for COVID-19 testing?

Thanks to my foreign study experience, I had just enough courage to leave ABI’s R&D lab to be their international traveling scientific spokesman. During my short stint working for ABI’s vice president of marketing, I presented at the 1991 IBEX Conference in San Francisco, right before Russ Higuchi, the inventor of real-time PCR. After he revealed his invention, I introduced myself and stated that it would be a perfect instrument system for my company to commercialize. Russ was receptive, and I pitched this product line in front of the whole of ABI’s R&D and senior management at our annual “New Ideas Day.” ABI hadn’t commercialized a successful new product line in years and sorely needed one. The next week I was given the green light to investigate the technical and commercial feasibility of real-time PCR. The main obstacle was freedom to operate. So, in 1992, ABI merged with Perkin Elmer (PE) as their junior partner to acquire the key patent rights. I led the commercialization program of the 7700 Sequence Detector through its full release in 1997. This wildly successful product line thankfully thrives to this day, even outlasting PE-Applied Biosystems, which was acquired several times. Thermo Fisher Scientific currently owns the ABI brand.

How would you describe the technology and its lasting impact?

For readers seeking a technical description of how real-time PCR works, I recommend checking out the interview I did recently with University of Colorado. If you have further technology questions, I invite you to email me at Lincolnclaire2018@gmail.com.

As I noted in the interview with CU, 25 years after shipping our first prototype, my team and ABI as a whole can still be proud of the work we did. For a virus as a detection target, fluorescence, probe-based real-time PCR has proved to be the most sensitive and rapid way to measure its genetic material in a myriad of sample types.

Based on your own experience, what would you say makes a K education special? 

There are a few key dimensions to highlight that best answer this most important question. Let’s start with the powerful combination of diving hands-on deeply into a specialized discipline, alongside K’s broad liberal arts exposure to our world. I worry my sons’ engineering educations were too focused and insufficiently enriching for gracefully living in our too rapidly changing world. Even for engineers and scientists, my experience is that key innovations often emerge at the interfaces between disciplines.

K’s graduation requirement of rigorous proficiency in a second language certainly was unique in the United States in the 1970s, and profoundly shaped my life. My quarter in Madrid helped me peel back layers of that difficult onion called French. In 1990, I met my French partner Claire Pairaud, mother of my sons, Max, 25, and Leo, 21. French became vital during dinner time to know what my toddlers and Claire might be saying about me!

K’s broad curriculum with its international focus gave me the confidence, wisdom and nimbleness to navigate our rapidly changing world.

Where do you live now?

I’ve lived in Belmont, California, since 1985. My son Leo, an industrial engineering major at Cal Poly, returned home to live with us now that his university has converted to remote learning. Leo landed a summer job manufacturing Real-Time PCR COVID testing kits at Cepheid. He commutes to Sunnyvale at 5 a.m. every morning. It’s no surprise that he’s been instructed to work weekends to keep up with overwhelming demand. He can be proud of his contribution to helping end this horrible world war against the virus.

How do you stay connected to K?

I belong to the Kalamazoo College Class of 1980 Facebook page. Until recently, I’d been actively reading and posting there. I’ve also taken summertime pilgrimages to Michigan to spend time with some of my dearest college friends, including Al Biland ’80, Jerome Kuhnlein ’80, Britt Lewis ’81 Dave Lewis ’82, Dave Op’t Holt ’80, and Barry Owens ’84. My 2021 goal is to drag Paul Lugthart ’80 and Jon Starr ’82 along.

Fulbright Honors Five from K

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Five Kalamazoo College representatives are receiving one of the highest honors the federal government provides in regard to scholarship and international exchange. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers fellowships for graduating seniors, graduate students, young professionals and artists to teach English, perform research or study abroad for one academic year. Some of the programs are in doubt and travel availability is uncertain this year given the COVID-19 pandemic. However, K’s representatives, should their programs ranging from Austria to Vietnam be uninterrupted, include several from the classes of 2019 and 2020.

Fulbright Scholar Georgie Andrews
Georgie Andrews ’20 plans to visit Austria through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Georgie Andrews ’20, Austria

Andrews was a business and studio art major at K, where she played on the women’s soccer, basketball and lacrosse teams. She quickly became homesick when she traveled to Austria as a high school student, but her K study abroad experience in Bonn, Germany, led to her desire to travel more.

“I loved the culture and the atmosphere, and I was not homesick, which has made me feel like I could live there longer,” she said. “I think the main reason I wanted to return after study abroad was loving the public transportation, easy access to other countries, and the small grocery stores. I thought Fulbright would be a good chance to learn about myself as a teacher and also get to live in Austria or Germany again and continue to work on my German.”

Grace Beck ’19, Colombia

Beck was a biology and Spanish double major at K, where she joined the Asian Pacific Islander Student Association and Frelon, participated in World Night and Asia Fest, and volunteered as a teacher’s assistant at El Sol elementary in Kalamazoo.

Fulbright Scholar Grace Beck
COVID-19 has forced Fulbright to cancel the program in Colombia for Grace Beck ’19, but she hopes to return to Spain.

“I was very lucky to have an amazing study abroad experience in Ecuador and it definitely inspired me to seek more opportunities to live abroad after college, especially in South America,” Beck said. “I’ve also had the chance to travel to Peru, and in both countries, I was blown away by the beautiful scenery and the incredibly warm and friendly people I met. I decided to apply for the Fulbright in Colombia because I wanted to explore another country in South America.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Fulbright to cancel the program in Colombia, but Beck hopes to return to Spain this fall, where she was an English assistant this past school year in Murcia, Spain.

“My students were at times chaotic, but extremely eager to learn English and about where I came from,” Beck said. “Every time I said ‘Michigan,’ they heard ‘Mexico.’ When the lockdown started in mid-March, everyone in Spain had to stay inside for nearly 50 days, and my school asked for my help with online lessons. I chatted with my students about various topics and even played games like Bingo with them on Zoom. It was a strange but fun year and I’m looking forward to moving to Madrid in the fall if travel is possible. I still hope to get to Colombia one day, too, when this is all over.”

Paige Chung ’20, Vietnam

Paige Chung
Paige Chung ’20 plans to visit Vietnam thanks to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Chung double majored in critical ethnic studies and English with a creative writing focus at K, where she worked in the Writing Center, Intercultural Center and Residential Life. She also participated in the Chinese Lion Dance Troupe and tried swimming, tae kwon do, K du Soleil and the improvisation group Monkapult.

“I chose K because I wanted to be far away from home,” Chung said. “I fell in love with the brick road and the tight knit community when I came to visit. It also helps that they offer competitive financial aid packages.”

Chung said she is thrilled to visit Vietnam as a member of the Vietnamese diaspora.

“I plan to eat food all the time,” she said. “Vietnam is abundant with flavors, textures and smells. I love my people’s food more than anything. I also plan to practice my language learning and build relationships in Vietnam.”

Brett Fitzgerald
In Moldova, Brett Fitzgerald plans to volunteer with a nongovernmental organization, expand his musical interests, speak at conferences and universities, and work on his language skills through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Brett Fitzgerald ’19, Moldova

Fitzgerald was a political science and economics double major at K while playing on the men’s lacrosse team. He also was a clarinetist with the Symphonic Band and performed in several recitals.

His study abroad experience in Strasbourg, France, included volunteering at the AGORAé at the University of Strasbourg, an organization providing discount food and a social environment to low-income college students. An Elton W. Ham Grant, provided by K’s Political Science Department, and later allowed Fitzgerald to study child poverty in Romania.

“I jumped at the opportunity to teach English in Moldova through the Fulbright program not only because of its fascinating history and intercultural population, but also because the experience I gained through my Ham grant,” Fitzgerald said. “If it weren’t for the College’s support in allowing me the opportunity to study elements of my SIP in Romania, and thereby gaining a greater connection to education abroad and its impacts on shaping future generations in the region, I may not have even applied to the Fulbright in Moldova.”

In Moldova, he hopes to volunteer with a nongovernmental organization, expand his musical interests, speak at conferences and universities, and work on his language skills.

Fitzgerald credits Jessica Fowle ’00 and Anne Dueweke ’84, who have been K’s directors of grants, fellowships and research during his application process, for providing the guidance that have led to his opportunity.

Matthew Flotemersch
Matthew Flotemersch ’20 will teach at a school in Hamburg, Germany, through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program

Matthew Flotemersch ’20, Germany

During his time at K, Flotemersch — a German studies major and philosophy minor — played on the men’s soccer team, acted through the Festival Playhouse, participated in Monkapult, and had a study abroad experience in Erlangen, Germany.

“My last week of study abroad was hectic,” he said. “Between packing, planning, goodbyes and everything else, I never really had a moment to just reflect on everything that I had done there in a year, everything that I had experienced. When my train pulled away from Erlangen for the last time, though, all the memories and feelings flooded back to me. With them came the realization that I had to return, through Fulbright or otherwise.”

When he returns to Germany through Fulbright, he will teach at a school in Hamburg.

“I can’t emphasize enough how excited I am to immerse myself in the culture and language again; this time, though, with a year of experience in Germany and another year of language courses at K under my belt,” Flotemersch said. “Any student abroad wants to take time to travel and explore, and of course I want to do more of that, but with my Fulbright year I want to be more active in my local community.”

Avila Selected as Alternate

A sixth K representative, Juan Avila ’19, has been named a Fulbright alternate. He could be selected to serve the program in Andorra should additional funds or an additional place become available.

Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 380,000 participants, chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential, with opportunities to exchange ideas and contribute to solutions to shared international concerns. K consistently has been identified in recent years as one of the country’s top-producing Fulbright small colleges. Top-producing institutions are highlighted annually in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

More than 1,900 U.S. students, artists and young professionals in more than 100 fields of study are offered Fulbright awards each year in more than 140 countries throughout the world. The program, funded by an annual appropriation from Congress to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is managed through the U.S. Department of State.