Category: Events

Kalamazoo College Commencement 2013

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Students tossing graduation caps in the airKalamazoo College will host Commencement for the Class of 2013 on Sunday, June 16, at 1:00 p.m., on the campus Quad. About 3,000 people are expected to attend the event, which is free and open to the public.

A total of 344 graduates from 27 states and eight foreign countries (China, Ecuador, Haiti, Hong Kong, Jamaica, South Korea, Thailand, Zambia) will receive Bachelor’s of Arts degrees in 30 majors; 65 graduates are double-majors. Approximately 55 percent of class members are female, 45 percent are male, and more than 19 percent self-report as students of color.

For the first time, the K Commencement will be live-streamed via the Internet. Visit the Kalamazoo College Commencement webpage (www.kzoo.edu/alumni/commencement) on Sunday, June 16, at 1:00 p.m. to watch the ceremony live.

On Saturday, K hosts a Senior Awards Program at 1:30 and a baccalaureate service at 8:00 p.m. for seniors and their families in Stetson Chapel.

Graduating senior Regina Pell was chosen by her K classmates to deliver Commencement remarks on their behalf. Pell is a history major from Grand Rapids who studied abroad at Goldsmiths University in London as a junior. She also completed one concentration in American Studies and a second in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Walter E. Massey, Ph.D., will deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary doctorate of science degree. Dr. Massey is president of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a post he assumed in the fall of 2010. He is also the president emeritus of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, having served as president there from 1995 to 2007. Immediately prior to that post, he was provost and senior vice president for academic affairs of the University of California system. A prominent physicist, Dr. Massey served as director of the Argonne National Laboratory from 1979 to 1984, and was professor of physics and vice president of research at the University of Chicago from 1979 to 1991. He also served as director of the National Science Foundation from 1991 to 1993, appointed by former President George H.W. Bush. Additionally, he served as professor of physics and dean of the college at Brown University.

Rachel Kushner, author of Telex from Cuba and the recently published The Flamethrowers, will also receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree and speak to K seniors. Kushner was the Class of 2013’s Summer Common Reading author and spoke to class members during their fall 2009 orientation at K. At the time, Ms. Kushner was a finalist for the National Book Award and for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and was a winner of the California Book Award. Kushner earned a B.A. degree from the University of California in Berkeley and a Masters in Fine Arts degree from Columbia University. Along with her novels she has written numerous features for ArtForum, edited the infamous literary magazines Grand Street and BOMB, and founded Soft Targets, a magazine devoted to art, literary theory, poetry, and fiction. She is a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow.

Kalamazoo College Hosts Conference on Art, Social Justice, and Critical Theory

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Kalamazoo College will host a three-day conference of international artists, philosophers, social justice practitioners, and other scholars examining how art and aesthetic experience are connected to human freedom and social thriving.

Art, Social Justice and Critical Theory will be held May 16-18 on the K campus. The conference is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. A complete conference schedule is available at https://reason.kzoo.edu/criticaltheory/conference along with information on presenters and registration.

“Some of the leading philosophers of art and aesthetics in North America and Europe will join with artists, social justice practitioners, scholars, and students to focus on the connection between art, freedom, and social justice,” said conference organizer Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Philosophy Chris Latiolais.

“This will truly be a unique gathering and one that will appeal to academicians and lay audiences across a spectrum of disciplines.”

According to Latiolais, invited speakers and panel members will address questions such as: Do experiences of natural beauty and art change how we experience the world and ourselves? If artwork illuminates critical issues, what type of understanding or participation do they require from their audiences? Might aesthetic experiences open us to new personal and political commitments?

“Answers to these questions have perplexed artists, critics, and scholars for centuries,” Latiolais said. “We invite all attendees to listen, learn, and lend their voices our lively discussion.”

The conference, co-sponsored by Kalamazoo College’s Philosophy Department and Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, begins Thursday evening, May 16, with a keynote address on “Active Passivity” by Martin Seel from Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität in Frankfurt, Germany. Latiolais describes Seel as “Europe’s most celebrated critical theorist of art and aesthetics.”

Lambert Zuidervaart, author, professor of philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, and a member of the graduate faculties in theology and philosophy at the University of Toronto, will join Seel as a featured commenter and panel moderator throughout the conference. Before moving to Toronto in 2002, Zuidervaart was a professor of philosophy at Calvin College for 17 years and served as board member and president of the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts.

Other invited speakers include professors Paul Guyer (Brown University), Richard Eldridge (Swarthmore College), Michael Kelly (University of North Carolina), Elizabeth Millán (DePaul University), Sandra Shapshay (Indiana University), and Veronique Fóti (Pennsylvania State University).

According to Latiolais, Friday May 17 will focus on theoretical issues of art and aesthetics and includes a panel discussion on murals and public art featuring artists and scholars from Ireland, Wisconsin, and Kalamazoo, including Arcus Center Artist-in-Residence Sonia Baez-Hernandez. Martin Seel delivers a second keynote address Friday evening titled “Theses on Pictures and Films.”

Saturday, May 18, will be devoted to four panel discussions on performance art, the aesthetics and politics of food, museums and curatorship, and religious art and material culture. Panelists will include Grand Valley State University Professor of Art Paul Wittenbraker and numerous Kalamazoo College faculty members and students.

Kalamazoo College Hosts May 9-11 Award Weekend for Inaugural Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership

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Kalamazoo College hosts its inaugural Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership awards weekend May 9 through 11 on the K campus. The Global Prize competition honors innovative and collaborative leadership projects in the pursuit of social justice and human rights and features a $25,000 Global Prize for a project that originates anywhere in the world and a $5,000 Regional Prize for a project that originates in Southwest Michigan.

A total of 188 social justice leadership teams submitted 8- to 10-minute video entries to the juried competition. Fifteen global and three regional entries were selected as finalists and will present their social justice strategies and vision in person during a social justice leadership weekend at K. All events are free and open to the public.

Presentations for the $25,000 Global Prize on Friday and Saturday will be live-streamed. View a complete schedule of prize weekend events, information on live-streaming, and links to finalist videos at www.kzoo.edu/socialjustice.

“Our 18 finalists offer cutting-edge social justice vision and practice,” said Jaime Grant, Executive Director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. “They are working across boundaries of gender, race, age, sexuality, ability, socioeconomics, geography, politics, and more, leading us to new ways of thinking and working together.”

Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran said the Global Prize competition and weekend events are a good match for the College’s educational mission and offer a unique opportunity for both the campus and Greater Kalamazoo communities. “K students, faculty, and community members are being exposed to leading social justice scholars and practitioners from across the world,” she said. “This further demonstrates how Kalamazoo College does more in four years, so our students can do more in a lifetime.”

Finalists for the $5,000 Regional Prize will present their entries Thursday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m., in the Kalamazoo College Field House, 1600 W. Michigan Ave. Finalists for the $25,000 Global Prize competition will present their entries Friday, May 10, at 2:45 p.m., in Dalton Theatre at the corner of Academy Street and Thompson Street on the K campus. Seven finalists will present their work Friday afternoon, and eight will present on Saturday, from 2:15 to 6 p.m.

A keynote panel will be delivered by the Global Prize competition’s panel of distinguished jurors on Saturday, May 11, at 11:30 a.m., in Dalton Theatre. Panelists include renowned social justice scholar and activist Angela Y. Davis (University of California-Santa Cruz), former Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Cary Alan Johnson, and lifelong scholar/activist shea howell, whose work has focused on social justice education and grassroots empowerment in Detroit.

President Wilson-Oyelaran will award the $5,000 Regional Prize and the $25,000 Global Prize at 7:15 p.m., May 11 in Dalton Theatre.

Golden Opening

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Rudi Goddard as Cinderella and Julia Smucker as Little Red Riding Hood in "Into the Woods"
INTO THE WOODS features costumes by Elaine Kauffman. Pictured are Rudi Goddard as Cinderella and Julia Smucker as Little Red Riding Hood

Kalamazoo College opens the 50th anniversary season of its celebrated Festival Playhouse theatre arts program, with Into the Woods, the groundbreaking musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, May 16-19. Performances occur in the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse on Thursday May 16 (7:30 p.m.), Friday May 17 and Saturday May 18 (8 p.m.), and Sunday May 19 (2 p.m.) Tickets are $15/Adults, $10/seniors, and $5/students. Into the Woods features iconic characters such as Little Red Riding Hood (played by Julia Smucker ’13), Rapunzel (Corinne Taborn ’13), Cinderella (Rudi Goddard ’13), the eponymous character from Jack and Beanstalk (Brian Craig ’14), and one antagonistic witch (McKenna Kring ’15). The ensemble cast performs memorable songs such as “Giants in the Sky,” “Agony,” and “Children Will Listen.” Assistant director and K senior Megan Rosenberg calls Sondheim’s score “an elegant lullaby that stirs up the shadows of classic bedtime stories. Its intricate storyline and beautiful, if somewhat creepy, music lend themselves perfectly to bold directorial choices. “Without giving too much away, our production will break some rules,” added Rosenberg. K Professors of Music Tom Evans and James Turner serve as musical and vocal directors, respectively. Assistant Director of Student Involvement Kate Yancho serves as choreographer.“Audiences will be struck by both the darkness and vitality of this musical,” said Yancho about the Tony, Drama Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Award winning show that puts a new twist on a fusion of old Brothers Grim tales. “Adults will love how numerous fairy tales they knew as children are intertwined into one entirely new story, with vibrant song and dance,” said Yancho, who earned a B.A. degree in dance from Ohio University and teaches dance to K students.

K Alum Returns to Campus to Screen his Oscar-Nominated Documentary

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David France ’81, co-writer and director of the Oscar-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague, will screen the film on campus Sunday, May 5, at 7 PM in Dalton Theatre (Light Fine Arts Building). France will participate in a discussion with the audience at the conclusion of the film. Everyone is invited, and the event is free. INDEX news editor Elaine Ezekiel posted an interview with France. ABC Studios has purchased the rights to France’s film with the idea of making it into a dramatic miniseries. France will prepare the adaptation, which will go broader and deeper into the subject of the documentary.

Sustainability Goes Fourth at Kalamazoo College

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Kalamazoo College will host the fourth annual Sustainability SIP Symposium on Monday, April 29, 6-9 p.m., in 103 Dewing Hall on the K campus (1200 Academy St.), co-sponsored by the College’s Guilds and Environmental Studies Program. Free and open to the public, the event will feature student presentations of sustainability-related Senior Individualized Projects (SIPs) ranging in topic from English to Economics. Audience members will have time for questions following each presentation, and an opportunity to meet student researchers at the interactive poster session and reception beginning at 8 p.m. in Dewing Hall Commons. Refreshments will be provided by the People’s Food Co-Op.

Student presentations include:

Mysha Clarke: Energy Recovery in Landfills: A Jamaican Case Study

Monika Egerer: Ecosystem Services on the Mariana Islands: Implications of bird loss for a wild chili pepper species

Rebecca Rogstad: Zane, the Curious Little Zooxanthellate

Shoshana Schultz: Inverting the Atlas: Mapping Geographically Based Food Security in Kalamazoo

“The annual symposium recognizes the scholarship and research that many K seniors devote to their SIPs (a graduation requirement) and showcases the breadth and depth of sustainability-related work taking place at the College,” said Joan Hawxhurst, Director, Center for Career and Professional Development.

This year’s Symposium is the first since the reorganization and expansion of the Guilds to include seven career path clusters: Arts & Media, Business, Education, Health, Law, Nonprofit & Public Service, and Science & Technology. Sustainability infuses the conversations and collaborations in all seven Guilds, and the Sustainability SIP Symposium showcases how this value cuts across disciplines and departments and informs the work of all professionals.

Improv Festival in Downtown Kalamazoo

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Professor of Theatre Arts Ed Menta, who also directs Festival Playhouse of Kalamazoo College, gives a shout-out to the 5th Annual Kalamazoo Improv Festival. Festival activities take place on May 10 and 11. Friday, May 10, features four shows (6PM, 8PM, 10PM, and 11:30 PM). Saturday offers two workshops (1PM and 4PM) and two shows (8PM and 10PM). All shows and workshops will be at Farmers Alley Theatre. More information and ticket reservation are available online, for call the Farmers Alley box office at 269.343.2727.

Washington March Culminates in Campus Event

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Kalamazoo College students joined the National March for Immigration Reform
Kalamazoo College students joined the National March for Immigration Reform.

Kalamazoo College sophomore Mariah Hennen, a member of MiRA, an advocacy program of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning, organized 13 Kalamazoo College students to attend the National March for Immigration Reform on April 10. Those 13 students will be part of a special campus event called “What is Immigration Reform?” That event features a keynote address by Susan Reed. Reed has practiced immigration and immigrant rights law since 2003. She has also served as a staff attorney at Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan and as a regional attorney for Justice for Our Neighbors, the immigration legal services program of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Her particular interests include the intersection of family and immigration law, the rights of unaccompanied immigrant children, immigrant eligibility for public benefits and programs, and civil rights matters. Reed is Secretary of the Steering Committee for the Michigan Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and co-chairs the Advocacy Committee of the Michigan Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She has served as an adviser to several State Bar of Michigan committees and initiatives. Her research and commentary has been published in Clearinghouse Review among other publications. “What is Immigration Reform?” will occur Wednesday, April 17, at 4 PM in Dewing Hall Room 103.

Kalamazoo College Will Host a Ceremonial Groundbreaking for New Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership

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3D model of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College
A 3D model of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership will be on display in Upjohn Library Commons through Spring Quarter 2013.

EDITOR′S NOTE: DUE TO RAIN, THE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY WILL BE MOVED INDOORS TO LOUNGE OF TROWBRIDGE HALL, IMMEDIATELY TO THE EAST OF TROWBRIDGE LANE.

Kalamazoo College will host a ceremonial groundbreaking for its new Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership on Friday, April 19, at 4:30 p.m. The ceremony is open to the public and will take place on the construction site located at the corner of Academy St. and Monroe St. on the K campus. Attendees are asked to gather on Trowbridge Lane that runs south off Academy St. along the east side of the construction site.

K students, faculty, staff, alumni, and board members will participate in the ceremony along with representatives of Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects.

An Arcus Center staff member and Studio Gang architect will discuss the building’s use and design in the lobby of Upjohn Library Commons at the corner of Academy St. and Thompson St., at 12:15 and 3:00 p.m. on the day of the groundbreaking ceremony. On display will be architectural drawings, a 3D model, and a sample section of the distinctive wood masonry siding planned for the building.

Construction for the single-story, 10,000 sq. ft. building began in late fall 2012 with contractor Miller-Davis Company of Kalamazoo. The building is scheduled to be completed in late winter 2014 at a cost of approximately $5 million—paid through a generous gift from K alumnus and trustee Jon Stryker.

Upon completion, the Center will be the world’s first purpose-built structure for social justice leadership development and will support the College’s mission in multiple ways. It will feature study, meeting, and event space where students, faculty, visiting scholars, social justice leaders, and members of the public will come together to engage in scholarship, dialog, and activities aimed at creating a more just world.

The Center is sited to engage its three immediate contexts—the K campus, a residential neighborhood, and an old-growth grove of trees—by drawing their topography into the building and outwardly projecting the activities taking place within through transparent façades.

The gently curving walls connecting these façades are constructed with wood masonry, a low-carbon, highly insulating building method traditional to the upper Midwest, updated to respond to the needs of a contemporary institutional building for the first time. A LEED Gold rating is targeted.

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership was launched in 2009 with support from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), including a $23 million endowment grant in January 2012. Supporting Kalamazoo College’s mission to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world, the new social justice center will develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice.

Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu), founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, learning by practice, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years, so students can do more in a lifetime.

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Tuesday April 9 at Kalamazoo College

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Baseball v. Holy Cross College (double header)
2 PM, Homer Stryker Field

Men’s Tennis v. Hope College
4 PM, Stowe Stadium

Territories of the Breast
6 PM, Connable Recital Hall, Light Fine Arts
Film screening with filmmaker Sonia Baez-Hernandez
Visiting Fellow, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership
The film traces Sonia Baez-Hernandez’s experiences after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. She interviews four other Latina and African American breast cancer survivors. The film interweaves their journeys and discloses the complexities of medical access and choices, and the process and meaning of becoming women. Honest, heartfelt, hopeful.
Ms Baez-Hernandez will be present and take questions from the audience.

How Did Civil Rights Happen In Kalamazoo?
7 PM, Olmsted Room, Mandelle Hall
Oral history interviews and discussion with Phyllis Seabolt, Cal Street, Charles Warfield and James Washington, Sr. Sponsored by students in the Kalamazoo College Senior Seminar “Building the Archive: James Baldwin and His Legacy” in partnership with Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society.