Category: Events

Chemistry Symposium Bids Farewell to 40-Year Professor

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UPDATE: The venue for the chemistry symposium has been changed to Dewing Hall, Room 103.

Kalamazoo College department symposiums typically kick off student presentations of senior individualized projects. This year’s chemistry symposium has added significance, serving as the official sendoff for Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry Tom Smith, who is retiring after 40 years at the College.

Chemistry Symposium Speaker Tom Smith
This year’s chemistry symposium has added significance, serving as the official sendoff for Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry Tom Smith, who is retiring after 40 years at the College.

The chemistry symposium will start at 4:10 p.m. Thursday, April 18, 2019, in Dewing Hall, Room 103. Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez will welcome attendees before Interim Provost and Chemistry Professor Laura Furge introduces alumni Chris Bodurow and Bob Weinstein, both ’79. Bodurow and Weinstein were students in the first class Smith taught in the 1978-79 school year.

After the opening remarks, Smith will offer a lecture titled “Reflections on Teaching and Research in Inorganic Chemistry: From Small Molecules to Crystals to Metalloproteins.” A reception will follow at Dow Science Center.

“We have invited alumni to attend and send notes that we will present” to Smith, Furge said. “Alumni will continue to see how strong the Chemistry department is. All faculty are research active as campus is abuzz in summer with research students, and their grants and publishing show how deeply invested our faculty are in teaching pedagogies.”

Bodurow and Weinstein were a part of the fundraising effort that endowed a research fellowship in Smith’s honor. The Thomas J. Smith Student Research Fellowship in Chemistry honors Smith by supporting an initiative close to his heart: independent summer research.

“The endowment to fund student research positions is a very fitting tribute to the work [Smith] has done,” Furge said. “He has faithfully taken on at least two students each summer, committing himself to mentoring and influencing generations of students.”

Testifying to the devotion Smith has inspired, he was designated an Alpha Lambda Delta National Honorary Society Favorite Teacher by first-year students 13 times. In addition, he directed the senior individualized projects of 70 students, was named a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Scholar and was awarded the Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship or Creative Work and the Dr. Winthrop S. and Lois A. Hudson Award for Outstanding Contributions in Research at Kalamazoo College.

Percussion Ensemble Kicks Off Week of Concerts

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Samuel Nalangira Percussion Ensemble
Samuel Nalangira will perform Tuesday, March 5, with Kalamazoo College’s International Percussion Ensemble in Dalton Theater.

Samuel Nalangira, a world-touring musician famous for his performances on instruments such as the adungu from northern Uganda and the akogo from eastern Uganda, will perform with the Kalamazoo College International Percussion Ensemble in one of four winter concerts coming soon through K’s Music Department.

The International Percussion Ensemble will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, in the Dalton Theater at Light Fine Arts. The ensemble unites individuals with varied musical backgrounds from K, nearby institutions and the general community in West African and Japanese Taiko drumming. The West African group is led by Percussion Instructor Nathaniel Waller. Instructor Esther Vandecar leads the Taiko drummers. Tickets are $5 for adults, $2 for children and free for K students, faculty and staff who present a College ID.

The College Singers is a choral ensemble featuring music majors and non-majors alike that offers mixed soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices. The group, led by Assistant Music Professor Chris Ludwa, will perform with Western Michigan University Adjunct Professor of Voice Rhea Olivacce and the Kalamazoo Bach Festival Chorus at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, at First Congregational Church in downtown Kalamazoo.  Tickets for the concert, themed “Love Is Love Is (Volume 2),” are available at KalamazooBachFestival.org or by phone at 269.337.7407.

Kalamazoo College’s Jazz Band, led by Music Professor Tom Evans, will perform a free concert, themed “Vortex,” at 8 p.m. Friday, March 8, in the Dalton Theater. The Jazz Band plays contemporary and classic jazz arrangements to provide enjoyable musical experiences to the students performing as well as to delighted audiences.

The Bayati Ensemble, uniting K students and community members, will perform a free concert at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 12, in Recital Hall at Light Fine Arts with the Kalamazoo College Chinese Chamber Ensemble. This group, led by Assistant Professor of Music Beau Bothwell, explores and performs the music of the broader Middle East, including music from the Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish and Persian traditions.

For more information on these concerts, call the Music Department at 269.337.7070 or email Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.

Panel to Address School Discipline, Mass Incarceration Reform

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Child with Backpack Graphic for Mass Incarceration Reform
Kalamazoo College will host a panel discussion to examine the impact of mass incarceration on communities from 4:15 to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 7.

Kalamazoo College will host a panel discussion to examine the impact of mass incarceration on communities, explore how to reduce incarceration rates and increase successful re-entry through a collaborative call to action. This event is free and open to the public.

WHEN: 4:15-7 p.m., Thursday, March 7

WHERE: Hornets Suite, Kalamazoo College Field House, 1600 W. Michigan Ave., Kalamazoo

WHO: Sponsored by the community and global health concentration at K, this event aims to foster dialogue among people directly and indirectly affected by mass incarceration, including community members, non-profit and youth-serving organizations, the faith-based community, law enforcement, mental health professionals, K-12 educators, and college and university faculty and students.

WHAT: The event will examine the link between student disciplinary history and future incarceration, and how access to mentorships, counseling and other services can be more effective than traditional methods of discipline in fostering student success. It will include a presentation of the documentary Pathways to Prison and thoughtful discussion with panel participants, including the documentary’s producer. Participants will consider how to support youth, schools and local law enforcement in the building of safe communities that affirm the dignity of every individual.

Panelists include:

  • Dr. Charles Bell (Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Sciences, Illinois State University)
  • Bill Kubota, (Producer, Pathways to Prison)
  • Cindy Green (Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Services, Kalamazoo Public Schools)
  • Reuquiyah Saunders (Director of Special Education, Kalamazoo Public Schools)
  • Mitch Hawkins (Principal, Northeastern Elementary)
  • Joseph Thomas (Field Service/Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Manager, 9th Circuit Court Family Division)
  • Honorable Tiffany A. Ankley (8th District Court)
  • Michael Wilder (Returning Citizen)
  • Michael Monroe (Returning Citizen)

Two Ensembles to Perform Winter Concerts

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Fortune tellers, wanderers, hobbits and mermaids … meet them all through music when Kalamazoo College presents two public winter concerts this Friday and Saturday in Dalton Theater at Light Fine Arts.

Academy Street Winds Winter Concerts
Music Professor Thomas Evans will lead the Academy Street Winds in one of two winter concerts scheduled for this weekend.

The Academy Street Winds will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, March 1, featuring a theme of “Rogues and Vagabonds.”

The Academy Street Winds is a wind ensemble providing a performance outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities. Conducted by Music Professor Thomas Evans, the group performs one concert each term, playing exciting arrays of challenging band music. The ensemble is a favorite of audiences as the programs are coordinated around diverse themes, which allow for performances of much-loved pieces, both classic and contemporary. Admission is free.

The Kalamazoo Philharmonia, directed by Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Music Andrew Koehler, will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 2. Tickets to this concert are $5 each for the public, $2 for students and free for Kalamazoo College students who present their College IDs.

This orchestra unites professional and amateur musicians, including Kalamazoo College students and faculty, along with many from the community. The concert is titled “A Tale of Two Cities” and will compare works from Johannes Brahms’ “Symphony No. 1” and Alexander Zemlinsky’s “The Mermaid.” Both composers had ties to Vienna, Austria.

The Kalamazoo Philharmonia won the 2014 American Prize Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for Orchestral Programming and has produced several CDs. It also has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, and collaborated with the Bach Festival Chorus, as well as many renowned soloists. Listen to some of its recorded concerts at our website.

For questions about either of the winter concerts, call 269.337.7070 or email susan.lawrence@kzoo.edu.

Festival Playhouse to Stage “Student Body”

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The Kalamazoo College Festival Playhouse’s 55th season, featuring the theme of Assumption and Confusion, continues this week with the powerful play Student Body.

Student Body Rehearsal
Kalamazoo College students rehearse for Student Body, which runs Thursday, Feb. 21-Sunday, Feb. 24, at the Nelda K. Balch Festival Playhouse.

Written by Frank Winters and directed by Visiting Theatre Arts Assistant Professor Bianca Washington, the play approaches complicated ethical questions when a college student wakes up after a party in her parents’ house and finds a video on her camera of a sexual encounter. The woman in the video might or might not be unconscious as others watch, leading the 10 characters, consisting of seven women and three men, to debate whether a sexual assault has occurred and who they should tell about it.

“The setting is written to be a university in the middle of nowhere, but the director made a bold decision to place it at K,” said Ynika Yuag ’21, who noted that some of the characters will wear Kalamazoo College apparel.

In her role as a dramaturg, Yuag is responsible for working with the director on background research and how current events and perspectives might inform or shape the production. “K isn’t exactly the middle of nowhere,” she said, “but the campus is small enough that we all get to know each other, which really makes [the production] personal. The more I work on it, the more I realize how it fits the theme of Assumption and Confusion.”

The performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21 through Saturday, Feb. 23, with a 2 p.m. showing on Sunday, Feb. 24. Yuag said a lobby display with interactive elements will allow audience members to engage with ideas related to the play through proxy stations before and after the show. Plus, there will be talkback sessions featuring facilitators and cast members after each show. The scheduled facilitators include:

Be advised, there is strong language and a graphic discussion of sexual violence in the show.

Tickets for all four shows at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse are available by visiting festivalplayhouse.ludus.com or by calling 269.337.7333. Adults are $15, seniors are $10 and students are $5 with an ID. Kalamazoo College students, faculty and staff are admitted free with their College IDs.

Learn more about Student Body at reason.kzoo.edu/festivalplayhouse.

Declaration of Major Day a Milestone for Sophomores

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Male student smiles and signs Declaration of Major Day forms
Declaration of Major Day is a festive gathering where sophomores designate their majors, minors and concentrations at Kalamazoo College.

There are two camps of students who come to college: those who know exactly what they want to study — or are pretty sure they know — and those who don’t. Kalamazoo College takes a different approach to helping students decide their major. Through the K-Plan, students explore and discover academic fields for a year and a half before choosing a major. Best of all, the curriculum is designed to give students this freedom while keeping them on track to graduate in four years. This past Wednesday’s Declaration of Major Day, the midpoint of their sophomore year, was a festive gathering where students formally designated their majors, minors and concentrations.

The banquet hall at Hicks Student Center was packed as each department set up a booth. Students went from table to table, committing to their fields of study and getting stickers declaring their choices. They celebrated the big moment with one another and the rest of campus with a piece of cake baked for the event by Dining Services.

“Declaration of Major Day is a 15-year tradition at Kalamazoo College,” Associate Dean of Students Dana Jansma said. “College students everywhere are required to declare a major, but here at K we make it a special event and celebration.”

Jansma also said it’s a way to celebrate students finding their academic home.

“It is a real rite-of-passage for sophomores,” she said.

K senior Emma Eisenbeis, a political science and German double major, recalled the excitement of her Declaration of Major Day. “This event gives you the opportunity to situate yourself in your academic community with your fellow peers and faculty. It really hits you that this is the start of your career path,” Eisenbeis said.

This event typically merges the two camps of students into one, where they all have a sense of where their paths are headed. And if something changes, no worries. Thanks to the flexibility of the K-Plan, the College will work with students to make a switch of major or majors as seamless as possible.

Westhuizen Duo to Perform Feb. 1 at K

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Westhuizen Duo
Sophié and Pierre Westhuizen, also known as the Westhuizen Duo, will perform in a free concert Friday, Feb. 1, at Dalton Theater in the Light Fine Arts Building at Kalamazoo College.

An international piano duo known for playing at major festivals and venues throughout the U.S., will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1, at Dalton Theater in the Light Fine Arts Center. South Africans Pierre and Sophié Westhuizen, acclaimed as the Westhuizen Duo, will perform works from Schubert, Brahms, Debussy, Poulenc and Corigliano.

Since completing their educations at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, the pianists have settled in the Kalamazoo area, where Pierre has recently been appointed the director of the International Gilmore Keyboard Festival. Sophié has joined the applied faculty at Kalamazoo College, where she is teaching collaborative piano.

In summer 2007, the Westhuizens were the first duo to be featured as Shouse Artists at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Michigan, where they shared the stage with artists such as Ann Schein, Jeremy Denk and James Tocco.

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information on this concert and other Music Department events, contact Susan Lawrence at 269-337-7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.

Make Plans for Martin Luther King Jr. Day Events

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Kalamazoo College students, faculty and staff will take part in events Friday, Jan. 18, and Monday, Jan. 21, to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The events are open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Friday

11 a.m., Community Reflection, Stetson Chapel

Tasleem Jamila Martin Luther King Jr Day
Tasleem Jamila, an international poet, vocalist, author, speaker, educator and holistic health advocate, will be a guest performer at the Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation Monday, Jan. 21, at Dalton Theatre.

The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Reflection is an opportunity for Kalamazoo College students, faculty and staff to speak from their experiences and hearts on this year’s theme, “Kneeling for Justice, Then and Now.”

Monday

10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Black History 101 Mobile Museum Exhibit, Light Fine Arts lobby

This exhibit is an award-winning collection of more than 7,000 original artifacts of Black memorabilia dating from the trans-Atlantic slave trade era to hip-hop culture. The Black History 101 Mobile Museum has traveled to 32 states, visiting more than 300 institutions including colleges, K-12 schools, corporations, conferences, libraries, museums, festivals, religious institutions and cultural events. Community members are invited to stop by throughout the day to view the exhibit.

10:50 a.m., Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation at Dalton Theatre, Light Fine Arts

Speaker Khalid El-Hakim will deliver the keynote, “The Truth Hurts: Black History, Honesty and Healing the Racial Divide.”

Khalid El-Hakim is the founder and curator of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum. He has received national and international attention for his innovative work of exhibiting Black history outside of traditional museum spaces. Most recently he was named one of the 100 Men of Distinction for 2017 by the highly respected business magazine, Black Enterprise. He holds a master’s degree in socio-cultural studies of education from Western Michigan University and is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Dylan Milton ’21 will be the student speaker. Tasleem Jamila, an international poet, vocalist, author, speaker, educator and holistic health advocate, will be a guest performer. She is the CEO of My Soul Speaks, a company that creates interactive workshops, presentations and performances across the world. Her work focuses on social action, community healing and revitalization through art and expression.

12:30 to 2 p.m., Coffee and Conversations with Khalid El-Hakim, Black History 101 Museum Curator, in the Light Fine Arts lobby

Khalid will be available at the museum exhibit for questions and one-on-one dialogue about the Black History 101 Museum and the exhibit at K. Tea, coffee and lemonade will be available.

12:45 to 3 p.m., MLK Day Brunch and Workshop, “Writing Your Own Freedom Song” with Tasleem Jamila, Intercultural Center at Hicks Student Center

Brunch will be served at 12:45 p.m. followed by a 70- to 80-minute workshop. Attendance is limited to 40 students. RSVP to Natalia T. Carvalho-Pinto at ncarvalh@kzoo.edu to attend. This event is open only to students from Kalamazoo College, Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

3:40 p.m., annual Commemorative Walk

Kalamazoo College participants will ride buses from Red Square to MLK Park in Kalamazoo. After the MLK Park event, participants may take buses back to K. One bus will take participants to a celebration at the State Theatre, after which a 6 p.m. bus will return participants to K.

5 to 6 p.m., Community Celebration, State Theatre, 404 S. Burdick, Kalamazoo

Immediately after the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Walk, Bronson Healthcare and Ascension Borgess Hospital invite the public to a community celebration. For accommodations and further information, contact Mikka Dryer at 269.341.8323 or Sister Sue McCrery at 269.226.5937.

7 p.m., Movie Night and Discussion, Intercultural Center at Hicks Student Center.

Kalamazoo College students, faculty and staff are welcome to watch the movie “Selma” with popcorn and pizza provided.

Cafsgiving Makes Finals Prep More Palatable

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Student lifting plates during Cafsgiving
Students enjoyed tables full of delectable Thanksgiving treats during Cafsgiving on Thursday. You can see more pictures from the event on our Facebook page.

Kalamazoo College students flocked Thursday to the Hicks Student Center to participate in an annual tradition that makes preparing for fall-term finals a little more palatable.

Cafsgiving, a Thanksgiving-style meal served by faculty and staff through Kalamazoo College Dining Services, presented students with delectable delights including ham and turkey, a multitude of breads, mashed potatoes and gravy, and an array of pies and desserts that could satisfy any student’s hunger.

Long lines formed early outside the cafeteria, as they always do for Cafsgiving. But professors and staffers, including Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez, served appetizers and hors d’oeuvres as students waited their turns.

The meal is served each year on the last Thursday of the fall term with students anticipating winter break. The mood was complete this year with a turkey-shaped ice sculpture at the punch table proclaiming “Happy Cafsgiving,” dimmed lights and snow gently falling outside.

‘Praying with Lior’ Screening Available Saturday

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Join the Film and Communities Living-Learning House at 2 p.m. Saturday in Dewing Hall Room 103 for a screening and discussion of the New York Times Critics Pick documentary “Praying with Lior.”

Praying with Lior film Lior standing over candle
“Praying with Lior” publicity photo

The film, directed by Ilana Trachtman, is about a Jewish boy who has Down syndrome and is preparing for his bar mitzvah after losing his mother at age 6. Many in Lior’s family and community believe Lior is close to God, although he’s also a burden, a best friend, an inspiration and an embarrassment, depending on who is asked and when. According to the film’s website, “Praying with Lior” is the centerpiece of an ambitious outreach campaign to change the way people with disabilities are perceived and received by faith communities.

“Praying with Lior” won audience awards at the Boston, Washington, San Diego and Vancouver Jewish film festivals as well as 2008 media awards from the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and the National Down Syndrome Congress.

The discussion will include submitted commentary from the director. For more information, email Ellie Hughes of the Film and Communities Living-Learning House.