Category: Alumni

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.

40 Under 40 Honoree Credits Faculty for Her K Success

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40 Under 40 Honoree Young-Jin Chang
Young-Jin Chang ’06, the managing director and global head of metals at CME Group, is a 2019 Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 honoree. Since 2016, she has been responsible for the strategic development, management and profitability of global products including precious and industrial metals.

A Chicago business executive and Kalamazoo College alumna has earned an honor that puts her in the company of previous recipients as notable as entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former U.S. President Barack Obama.

Young-Jin Chang ’06, the managing director and global head of metals at CME Group, is a 2019 Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 honoree. This year’s group includes social activists, Fortune 500 vice presidents, doctors, professors and professional coaches.

Chang, according to the Crain’s article noting her accomplishments, has “crisscrossed the world, with family travels as a youngster to places like China; graduate school studies in Paris; and work travel to Asia, Europe, South America and Africa.”

Such travels led Chang to her current job after she sat beside a CME Group executive on a flight to Germany, prompting an invitation to stop by the company’s London office. Soon after that, from 2011-2016, Chang was a director in metals research and product development at CME. Since 2016, she has been responsible for the strategic development, management and profitability of global products including precious and industrial metals.

Awards such as 40 Under 40 are notable as Crain’s defines its honorees as rule-breakers, innovators, trailblazers and risk-takers, making them people who shape their community.

At age 16, Chang told her parents she wanted to leave her home in Seoul, South Korea, move to the U.S., and stay with her aunt in Portland, Oregon. After moving, her research regarding liberal arts colleges led her to Kalamazoo College, where she majored in business and economics, and minored in Chinese.

“My English was still improving and I felt I would get lost at a big school,” she said of her choice to attend K. “I needed a little more time to adjust and pursue an education in my own way.”

The access she had to the faculty made all the difference in her success, she added. Despite first thinking she wanted to become a lawyer, Chang received guidance from faculty in navigating the liberal arts and finding a passion for business. After K, she earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

“Everyone knew who I was by name,” Chang said of her time at K, crediting faculty such as then-Economics and Business Chair Ahmed Hussen, Edward and Virginia Van Dalson Professor of Economics Patrik Hultberg, and Senior Instructor Chuck Stull. “I found it very helpful anytime I could ask a direct question, especially when I was still learning the language. I remember going to their offices on a regular basis.”

After arriving at K, Chang found out from relatives that she wasn’t the first member of her family to attend K. A great aunt, Park Gye-hee ’58, majored in philosophy and lived in Trowbridge Hall.

“My great aunt’s father was not typical of his day,” Chang said in a LuxEsto article in spring 2006. “At that time elementary school was considered higher education for women in Korea, and the majority of women did not even complete that level. Her father was very forward thinking, and he valued education. He insisted his daughters complete secondary school and then go abroad to earn college degrees. His oldest four daughters did just that.”

In reflecting on her own time at K, Chang advises that current students be proactive in finding a passion and take advantage of study abroad opportunities.

“Find a passion that triggers you,” Chang said. “If you’re not loving what you’re doing, find what you’re good at. Learn about different cultures, even if that means taking study abroad in a place you never thought of going. Explore and find what makes you happy.”

Students Should ‘Feel Empowered’ By Alumna’s Art

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Students Observe Julie Mehretu's Artwork with fari nzinga
Kalamazoo College students taking the first-year seminar titled “In Defense of Ourselves: African American Women Artists” have a chance to see artwork from Julie Mehretu ’92 alongside pieces from artists such as Kehinde Wiley, Elizabeth Catlett, Thornton Dial, Barkley Hendricks, Kori Newkirk, Norman Lewis and Howardena Pindell in the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts exhibit, Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem, on display through Dec. 8.

A first-year seminar this term is giving 14 Kalamazoo College students a chance to see critically acclaimed art created by a professional painter who once attended K herself.

Organized by the Studio Museum in Harlem and the American Federation of Arts, Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem, is an exhibit on display at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) through Dec. 8; it features two works by Julie Mehretu ’92 among 78 other artists of African descent. The exhibit began traveling in 2018 in celebration of the Studio Museum’s 50th anniversary. It opened in San Francisco at the Museum of the African Diaspora, and Kalamazoo is the exhibition’s only stop in the Midwest.

For the public, the exhibit creates dialogue regarding the artists, many of whom are inspired by current events, while expanding a viewer’s understanding of modern art and addressing themes that affect Kalamazoo and the nation such as poverty, identity, power, status and social justice.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Art fari nzinga takes students in her first-year seminar to the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts to see an exhibit that includes work by alumna Julie Mehretu ’92.

For the K students taking the seminar titled “In Defense of Ourselves: African American Women Artists” specifically, it’s a chance to witness original work from an alumna whose art is usually seen in bigger cities, alongside pieces from artists such as Kehinde Wiley, Elizabeth Catlett, Thornton Dial, Barkley Hendricks, Kori Newkirk, Norman Lewis and Howardena Pindell — household names among art historians and curators, as well as Black artists.

The class may be offered again in future terms, although the fall course was designed specifically for Black Refractions, giving students a distinct chance to observe Mehretu’s work firsthand.

“Oh, they love her work,” said fari nzinga, who teaches the course, of how the students have reacted to seeing Mehretu’s creations. nzinga is a visiting assistant professor of art at K and post-doctoral curatorial fellow at the KIA.

“When I first saw one of Mehretu’s paintings, I was intimidated by its size and scale, as well as its complexity,” she said. “It’s abstract and I felt like I didn’t have the tools to engage with it and interpret it for myself. But actually, my students have not responded in the same way I did all those years ago. They see connections and stories and aren’t afraid to trust their own instincts. I love to see it.”

nzinga earned her master’s degree and doctorate in cultural anthropology from Duke University. She was based in New Orleans for nearly a decade and conducted dissertation research on Black-led arts organizations and community building after Hurricane Katrina. She also worked for two years at the New Orleans Museum of Art, where she facilitated institutional transformation around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. In April 2018, she independently produced and curated an exhibition, “The Rent Is Too Damn High,” in celebration of the New Orleans tri-centennial.

nzinga came to Kalamazoo when she got to know KIA Executive Director Belinda Tate and it was clear a joint position between K and KIA would be available. The hope is that students taking this course will see what Mehretu has accomplished and feel that they too can one day change the world.

“I feel like they are teaching me so much,” nzinga said. “Because the students are in their first semester of college, K hasn’t really crystallized for them yet, so I’m excited to see how they make meaning of the institution and make it their own as they grow and develop. I think seeing Mehretu’s work right up front at the beginning of their time here will be something that guides them, just an example of what they can do here if they want to and that’s powerful. I hope they feel empowered.”

Homecoming 2019 Begins Oct. 18

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Kalamazoo College will welcome back alumni, families and friends for a fun-filled weekend as we celebrate Homecoming 2019 on Oct. 18-20.

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Alumni and guests will participate in events such as the 5K Run/Walk during Homecoming 2019.

Events begin at dawn Friday when alumni are invited to begin taking self-guided tours of the Lillian Anderson Arboretum. The “Roots in the Earth” first-year seminar created the tour in 2018, sponsored by the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement, with stop information available at the arboretum’s website. Visitors can enjoy acres of marsh, meadow and forest, and visit the Batts Pavillion, named for H. Lewis Batts Jr. ’43 and Jean M. Batts ’43.  Parking at the arboretum is available throughout the day in its main lot, with overflow parking offered at the Oshtemo Township Park, 7275 W. Main St., just east of the property.

Other Homecoming 2019 highlights will include:

  • Peter Rothstein ’14, the 2019 Young Alumni Award recipient, delivering a lecture titled From K to Tea at 4 p.m. Friday in Room 103 at Dewing Hall. Rothstein will talk about how he created a successful business after attending K. Rothstein, a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree , established Dona Chai with his sister, Amy. The company crafts tea concentrates and sodas brewed with spices from around the world.
  • The Alumni Association Awards at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Dalton Theatre, honoring the Distinguished Achievement, Distinguished Service, Young Alumni, Weimer K. Hicks and Athletic Hall of Fame awards recipients.
  • Guided campus tours and opportunities to visit newer facilities including the Fitness and Wellness Center, the Intercultural Center, the Hornet Golf Lab and revamped weight room at Anderson Athletic Center, and the Admission Center. Consult our full Homecoming schedule for specific times.
  • An improvisation show with K’s improv troupe, Monkapult. Free tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at the door at Connable Recital Hall in Light Fine Arts at 10 p.m. Friday.
  • The Homecoming 5K Run/Walk at 8 a.m. Saturday. Check in will begin at 7:30 a.m. The event, offering an opportunity to see the campus and neighborhood, is open to all ages and fitness levels. The first 300 registrants will receive commemorative T-shirts designed by Tanush Samson ’19.
  • The K Song Project at 1 p.m. Saturday. Guests can enjoy a high-energy performance from the College Singers featuring songs submitted by reunion classes.
  • Athletics events throughout the weekend including team reunions, a volleyball match at 5 p.m. Friday against North Park at Anderson Athletic Center, a women’s soccer match against St. Mary’s at noon Saturday at the Athletic Fields Complex, a men’s soccer match against Alma at 4:30 p.m. at the Athletic Fields Complex, and the Homecoming football game against Albion at 2 p.m. at Angell Field.

You can still join the festivities and renew connections with your classmates. Visit our homecoming website for a full schedule, details and registration information. And watch the College website, Facebook page, and Twitter (@kcollege) and Instagram @kalamazoocollege accounts for photos and updates throughout the weekend.

Change Ringing Award Honors K Alumnus, Student

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One Kalamazoo College alumnus and one student have ensured K’s reputation as a home for change ringing will continue by earning a national award named after a former K professor.

Change Ringing Award Recipient Ian McKnight
Ian McKnight ’19 is one of two with Kalamazoo College ties to receive the first Jeff Smith Memorial Young Ringer Award.

Ian McKnight ’19 and Sam Ratliff ’21 are among ringers from towers in Kalamazoo; Kent, Connecticut; Shreveport, Louisiana; Northampton, Massachusetts; Marietta, Georgia; and Sewanee, Tennessee, to earn the first Jeff Smith Memorial Young Ringer Award from the North American Guild of Change Ringers. The award recognizes bell-ringing achievement and a commitment to local change ringing communities.

Change Ringing Award Recipient Sam Ratliff
Sam Ratliff is studying mathematics and computer science on study abroad in Aberdeen, Scotland, this fall and rings regularly with the band at St. Machar’s Church there.

The award is named after the late Jeff Smith, a longtime and beloved professor at Kalamazoo College. In addition to teaching mathematics, Smith taught hundreds of students to ring changes and inspired the College to install change ringing bells at Stetson Chapel on campus.

Change ringing developed in England and is traditionally heard after royal weddings as well as before and after most English church services. It requires a group of ringers working in tight coordination to ring the bells in changing permutations. Because each tower bell takes more than a second to complete its full 360-degree rotation, the bells can’t ring traditional music or melodies. That constraint led to an intricate system of generating unique permutations known as change ringing.

In addition to strengthening the abilities of the Kalamazoo band of change ringers, McKnight and Ratliff have both rung quarter peals. A quarter peal contains a series of at least 1,250 permutations rung in rapid succession according to rules that ensure no permutations are repeated. A quarter peal takes about 45 minutes of concentration and cooperation among the band of ringers, creating beautiful sounds.

McKnight graduated with a degree in political science in June after earning a senior leadership award. He once wrote about his experience with change ringing in K’s student blog. He now works for State Rep. Darrin Camilleri in Detroit.

“It’s a real honor to receive an award named for Jeff Smith, without whom I would probably never have discovered ringing,” McKnight said. “I first went to the tower after hearing the bells that he brought to Kalamazoo College and was hooked after just one practice. For four years since, ringing has been a great joy and a source for friends on both sides of the Atlantic. I know that will continue to be the case for many years to come.”

Ratliff is studying mathematics and computer science on study abroad in Aberdeen, Scotland, this fall and rings regularly with the band at St. Machar’s Church there.

“I heard that ringing was a cooperative musical, physical and mental exercise, all of which interested me, so I dropped into the tower the first week of my first year at K,” Ratliff said. “The algorithmic methods that we use to make music held my attention and I’ve been ringing ever since.”

The Kalamazoo College ringers welcome visitors and would be pleased to show anyone how the bells are rung. The ringers can be contacted at kzooringers@yahoo.com.

Display Your K Spirit on National College Colors Day

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Fridays are normally Spirit Days at Kalamazoo College, prompting the K community to wear orange and black, but the one coming Aug. 30 is special. It’s National College Colors Day and we are joining colleges and universities across the country in the annual Friday-before-Labor-Day celebration that fuels school pride.

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We are encouraging current students, admitted and prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and the community to participate in National College Colors Day on Aug. 30.

We are encouraging current students, admitted and prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and the community to participate by posting photos of themselves, friends, family and colleagues wearing K gear to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtags #ShowUsYourK and #CollegeColorsDay. Alumni may also submit their pictures through email at alumni@kzoo.edu for us to post. Be sure to tell us in your posts why you love K!

As a bonus, the College Marketing and Communication office will randomly select three participants to win a K sweatshirt, hat or mug from the Kalamazoo College Bookstore.

Read the contest rules below and start considering how you will participate in National College Colors Day. By the way, if you need more orange and black, visit the bookstore in person or online. Thanks for letting your K spirit shine!

Contest rules

No purchase is necessary to participate in Kalamazoo College’s National College Colors Day contest and a purchase doesn’t increase a participant’s chance of winning.

The contest will run from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. EDT Aug. 30. A College Marketing and Communication (CMAC) representative will choose the winner at random Sept. 3 from entrants who participate Aug. 30. Please avoid creating multiple accounts to submit additional entries. There will be one entry per participant regardless of the number of posts. The winners will be notified Sept. 3.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are not sponsoring the contest and are not responsible to entrants or participants. By posting, you consent to have your name announced by the College on social media should you win a prize.

What to Bring to Campus: Alumna Offers Tips for First-Year Students

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Excitement is building across the country for first-year students who are anticipating their college experiences and planning what to bring to campus this fall. It’s a time Ximena Davis ’19 fondly remembers even though she attended college close to home after growing up in Kalamazoo.

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Student employees help first-year students with moving in to the residence halls. Read what one alumna offers for advice regarding what to bring to campus on move-in day.

“It was still a different place to stay and I was very excited,” Davis said. “I was ready to explore being an independent person. I also got to see a different side to the city than the one I saw while living at home.”

Davis’ experiences—beyond majoring in English, minoring in sociology and anthropology, and declaring concentrations in film and media studies and American studies—included regularly attending Art Hop, a fun evening of art exhibits and events in and around Kalamazoo; writing for K’s student blog and establishing the Kalamazoo College Filmmakers’ Society, one of more than 70 organizations available to students.

Residential Life has its suggestions regarding what to bring to campus this fall. However, it helps to get some perspective from someone like Davis who has lived in the residence halls while attending K. Based on her experiences, here are her suggestions after living in Hoben Hall, DeWaters Hall and a Living Learning House in her years at K.

Avoid overpacking

Even if you’re arriving from several states away, it’s better to leave yourself more space than to overpack.

“It’s good to have pictures of friends, but you don’t want to be overwhelmed in your space,” Davis said. “I brought trinkets and keepsakes to occupy my desk space my first year. But throughout that year, I found it was too much. I was constantly getting stuff I wanted to decorate with, and I ended up packing away what I originally brought. I found myself wishing I would’ve given myself more of a blank slate by leaving more at home.”

Davis said that includes the cold-weather clothes she brought too soon.

“After moving in, I was going through my clothes and realized I brought five different jackets for various levels of warmth, along with my winter jacket and snow boots,” Davis said. “I must have thought, ‘What if it snows in October?’ as it has in many years. But even if it does snow early, it probably won’t be enough to justify boots.”

There could be exceptions to this rule of thumb if students can’t return home between fall and winter terms or if students don’t have both fall and winter coats available to them, although additional space in a residence hall room is valuable.

Buy local

If it makes it easier to pack less, remember most items can be purchased in Kalamazoo stores and thrift shops after you take a visual assessment of your space. The shopping experience can also be beneficial.

“Because Kalamazoo College is located in a city, it’s not difficult to go to a store to find things you might need,” Davis said. “Even if you’re worried about not having a car on campus, there is public transportation, and carpooling is a good way to make friends. I think going with a roommate can be a bonding experience.”

Record your experiences

Bring to campus simple tools and decorations that will enable you to better remember your first year at K. Davis, for example, decorated with strings of lights that used clips for attaching photos, and she kept an assignment notebook that doubled as a journal.

“I first had a couple of pictures from prom or an amusement park, but it helped to keep adding to it,” said Davis, regarding her string of lights. “I brought it every year and added to it every year.”

Within the journal, “I kept all of my thoughts in one place,” Davis said. “It was nice to have during that time of change and then look back on those memories. I think it helped me grow into a more confident person and helped me be better organized.”

Talk to your roommate in advance

Before Davis moved to campus, she feared the worst regarding her roommate.

“I knew Residential Life tries to match like-minded students, but I was worried they would make a mistake somewhere along the line and they would give me a roommate I wouldn’t get along with as well as they’d hoped,” Davis said.

Talking with that roommate in advance through social media, though, helped alleviate that fear. Plus, just as importantly, it helped the two determine who would bring what to campus.

“Communication is very important,” Davis said. “It helps you feel better about this new experience, and it will prevent you from doubling up on big items such as microwaves that can take a lot of space.”

More information

Kalamazoo College’s new-student move-in day is scheduled for Sept. 10. If you have questions before, during or after that time, more information is available. Find Residential Life at its website or contact its offices at housing@kzoo.edu or 269.337.7210.