Kalamazoo College Associate Provost Laura Lowe Furge is one of 65 women leaders from across the country who has been selected to attend the 2018 Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) Institute. Furge will be a part of the University of Denver cohort that meets from June 18-30.
Furge, who is also a professor of chemistry, was one of just six HERS attendees awarded a Clare Boothe Luce (CBL) Scholarship, which provides full tuition, accommodations, meals and travel to women in STEM higher education to attend the HERS Institute.
The HERS Institute will support and encourage women as they develop strategies for their leadership roles and establish communities including peer-and-mentor connections. Working together, they can thrive in and shape a new environment for equality and excellence in higher education.
Furge, who is also a professor of chemistry, was one of just six HERS attendees awarded a Clare Boothe Luce (CBL) Scholarship, which provides full tuition, accommodations, meals and travel to women in STEM higher education to attend the Institute.
For more information on the HERS Institute, visit its website.
Kalamazoo College’s efforts to get science majors experience in student research, one of the most important factors in providing them an exceptional start in their post-college careers, just got a big boost.
A $247,500 grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation will boost the availability of summer student research experiences for K biology, chemistry and physics majors.
The Sherman Fairchild Foundation will provide $247,500 to fund stipends of $4,000 apiece for students in biology, chemistry and physics to conduct research in summer. The three-year grant will also provide up to $1,500 apiece for students to attend scientific conferences to present their findings and to offset the cost of supplies, said Associate Professor of Physics Arthur Cole, who will serve as director of the project.
The student research beneficiaries, 15 each summer, will include both rising seniors working on their Senior Individualized Projects (SIPs) and younger students, allowing them to get early exposure to life in the lab before deciding whether to pursue science as a career, Cole said. He worked with Assistant Professor of Biology Santiago Salinas, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dwight Williams and Anne Dueweke, director of grants, fellowships and research, to conceptualize and develop the grant proposal.
“It gives students an earlier chance to seek out research experiences,” Cole said. “A lot of times you think you want to go into the sciences and you don’t know what research is like until you get to try it.”
He said the grant also will make it possible for those who support themselves while attending the College to concentrate on student research, rather than having to seek summer jobs, and could open doors for members of groups who are underrepresented in the sciences.
Salinas said summer research as an undergraduate played a major role in his own decision to become a scientist and professor.
“It’s more than what’s in the textbook,” he said. “They start to see the bigger picture. And they get to try things. It’s how they learn. And it’s fun.”
For those who do decide to pursue scientific careers, Williams said, the opportunity to get early research experience can give them a “leg up” on getting further grants and research opportunities.
“It’s a great way for us to get more students involved in research, particularly with an emphasis on first- and second-year students, instead of waiting until they’re seniors working on their SIPs” he said.
Though most of the research that the grant funds will involve students working with professors on the College’s campus, it will also provide support for up to three K students a year to participate in research at other institutions, Cole said.
Kalamazoo College Trustee Josephine “Jody” K. Olsen will be nominated to head the Peace Corps, the agency has announced.
Photo provided by University of Maryland, Baltimore – Peace Corps chief nominee Josephine Olsen is a Kalamazoo College trustee.
A K trustee since 2010, Olsen previously has served as acting director of the Peace Corps and was the agency’s deputy director for seven years. She is currently a visiting professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Social Work. Her pending nomination by President Donald Trump is subject to confirmation by the Senate.
Kalamazoo College has a long relationship with the Peace Corps, ranking 13th among small schools on the agency’s 2017 list of Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities, and hundreds of the College’s alumni have served as volunteers since the Peace Corps was established in 1961.
“Jody has been a great asset to our board and I am certain she will provide distinguished leadership for this crucial organization at a time when its work is more important than ever,” he said. “The Peace Corps has provided many Kalamazoo College graduates opportunities to make the world a better place while also helping them as they launch internationally focused careers.”
Olsen herself was a Peace Corps volunteer, serving in Tunisia from 1966 to 1968 after her graduation from the University of Utah, where she received a bachelor’s degree in sociology. She also holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.
In addition to serving as acting director and deputy director of the Peace Corps, Olsen has been the agency’s chief of staff and regional director for North Africa, the Near East, Asia and the Pacific. She has also directed scholarly and international education organizations and is currently head of the University of the University of Maryland, Baltimore center for Global Education Initiatives, which provides experiential learning opportunities with international health organizations.
“The Temne of Sierra Leone: African Agency in the Making of a British Colony” promotes new perspectives on the formation and social history of Sierra Leone.
Associate Professor Joseph Bangura is the chair of the History Department and the director of African Studies.
A new book written by Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of History Joseph Bangura promotes new perspectives on the formation and social history of Sierra Leone.
Research regarding Sierra Leone typically focuses on the roles of the Creoles and/or Krio, who were descendants of ex-slaves from Europe, North America, Jamaica and Africa living in the colony. Bangura, however, examines the roles of the indigenous Temne-speakers through the socio-economic formation, establishment and evolution of Freetown in “The Temne of Sierra Leone: African Agency in the Making of a British Colony.”
Bangura’s analysis includes market women, religious figures and community leaders, and the complex relationships they developed. He also considers key issues such as the politics of belonging, African agency and the creation of national identities.
• The Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa; • Introduction to African Studies • Islam in Africa; • Civilizations of Africa; • Contemporary Africa; • Gender Relations in Africa; • Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade; • African Christianity; • Globalization and International Politics; • Globalization and Africa; • War and Peace in Africa; and • The Cold War in Africa.
Bangura earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Dalhousie University, and his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Sierra Leone. He co-edited two other books with Marda Mustapha, “Democratization and Human Security in Sierra Leone,” which was released in 2015; and “Sierra Leone beyond the Lome Peace Accord,” which was released in 2010.
The Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) has appointed Kalamazoo College Provost Mickey McDonald as its new president. McDonald will begin his position at the GLCA in July 2018.
Kalamazoo College Provost Mickey McDonald will begin serving the Great Lakes Association of Colleges (GLCA) as its president in July 2018.
K President Jorge Gonzalez will consult with faculty leadership to plan for the appointment of an interim provost to serve during the 2018-19 academic year. K will also begin preparations for a national search for the provost position.
In a message to faculty and staff, President Gonzalez wrote that McDonald provided invaluable support and counsel during his presidency. “I will miss his sharp mind, insightful knowledge of the College and of higher education, unflappable personality, good humor, and friendship. Mickey’s selection for the GLCA presidency is a testament of his leadership abilities and of K’s reputation in the higher education community.”
During his nearly 10 years of service, McDonald significantly shaped Kalamazoo College’s faculty, curriculum and future. He hired approximately one-third of the tenure-track/tenured faculty currently at K, increasing faculty of color from approximately 15 percent to 25 percent, and women faculty from approximately 45 percent to 55 percent.
McDonald helped support implementation of many of the elements of the Plan for Kalamazoo College’s Future including faculty approval of new graduation requirements and other curricular innovations, and an increasing emphasis on making K more diverse and inclusive. His leadership will help shape the vision of K for the next five years as he currently serves as co-coordinator of K’s current strategic planning initiative.
With former President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran and others, McDonald helped envision, plan and establish the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. He also helped secure more than $3.25 million in major institutional grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (in support of the Shared Passages Program and also in support of major diversity and inclusion initiatives), the Sherman-Fairchild Foundation, Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation, and the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, among others. He served as acting president of K from December 2013 through March 2014.
Higher education leadership and local community engagement are values K holds, and McDonald participated enthusiastically and frequently. Locally, he serves on the Board of Directors of Farmers Alley Theatre, and regionally, he served on the Southwest Michigan First Education Committee. He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education and served as facilitator for a number of leadership development programs for the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC).
Kalamazoo College History Professor James Lewis has released a new book through Princeton University Press about former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr.
History Professor James Lewis is the author of “The Burr Conspiracy: Uncovering the Story of an Early American Crisis.”
“The Burr Conspiracy: Uncovering the Story of an Early American Crisis” is available through many bookstores and websites.
“The Burr Conspiracy: Uncovering the Story of an Early American Crisis” explores Burr’s travels through the Trans-Appalachian West in 1805 and 1806, gathering support for a mysterious enterprise, leading to his arrest and trial on treason charges in 1807. Rumors at the time stated Burr had enticed some people with plans to liberate Spanish Mexico, others with promises of land in the Louisiana Purchase, and others with talk of building a new empire beyond the Appalachian Mountains.
The book, available through many bookstores and online sites, also examines the political and cultural forces that shaped how Americans made sense of Burr’s intentions and movements, and the crisis after his arrest including concerns about the nation’s fragile union and uncertain republic.
Lewis has taught courses in U.S. history, Native American history, American environmental history, Revolutionary America, the American frontier and Western history, the history of U.S. foreign relations, post-World War II America, American political culture, the trial in American history and a senior seminar in history at K. He is a professional member of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians and the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic.
Lewis’s other books include:
“The Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson’s Noble Bargain?” (2003);
“John Quincy Adams: Policymaker for the Union” (2001); and
“The American Union and the Problem of Neighborhood: The United States and the Collapse of the Spanish Empire, 1783-1829” (1998).
Lewis earned a bachelor’s degree in government and foreign affairs from the College of William and Mary, a master’s degree in history from the American University, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia. He has been teaching at K since 2003.
A Kalamazoo woman who participated in last year’s Kalamazoo County initiative to provide under-documented residents with government-issued IDs has earned one of three Regional Fellowships from the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College.
Nelly Fuentes received one of three Regional Fellowships.
Nelly Fuentes, of Movimiento Cosecha Kalamazoo, hopes to expand the organization with the project funds she receives through the Fellowship, which runs until June 2018. Movimiento Cosecha seeks permanent protection, dignity and respect for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Fuentes, who migrated to Michigan around 2000 and arrived in Kalamazoo in 2006, hopes to expand the organization to about 25 members. She wants to culminate her efforts with a May Day celebration for farmworkers in coordination with other local Movimiento Cosecha chapters, including one in Grand Rapids.
Each Regional Fellow receives a $5,000 stipend and funds for travel and project-related expenses, in addition to professional development and coaching for their social justice-related goals.
“The Regional Fellowships are our way of providing concrete support to local leaders who are working for justice and equity in Southwest Michigan,” said Mia Henry, executive director of the Arcus Center. “We believe that our partnership with these visionary organizers will help them strengthen the impact and increase the reach of their projects, which will benefit our community well after the fellowship period ends.”
Also receiving fellowships are:
Linda Cypret-Kilbourne and Julie Dye, who are creating a campaign that will inform and educate K-12 teachers about institutional racism related to Native American-themed mascots in interscholastic sports.
Julie Dye
Linda Cypret-Kilbourne
Cypret-Kilbourne is a co-founder of the Michigan Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media, a member of the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media and a chairperson of Native American Student Community Organization Movement. Dye is a Pokagon Band and Walpole Island First Nation Potawatomi Native American. As an anti-racism and environmental activist, she works to improve the lives of Michigan’s indigenous people through education.
Kalamazoo College graduates Gina Bravata and Ryan D’Mello, who are addressing race-based health inequity through anti-racism and implicit bias training for future healthcare providers as co-leaders and co-organizers of the Social Justice Interest Group at Western Michigan University’s Homer Stryker, M.D. School of Medicine.
Bravata was born and raised in Kalamazoo and is a student at the Stryker School of Medicine. Before attending medical school, she was a chemistry teacher in Newark, N.J. She is interested in using her background in education and health to promote health equity by increasing discussions regarding the integral link between social justice and medicine.
D’Mello was born in Kalamazoo and has lived, worked, researched and volunteered there. After graduating from Kalamazoo College, he worked with a team of local health professionals on The Kalamazoo Heart Project, evaluating undetected heart disease in the community.
About the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership
The mission of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College is to develop and sustain leaders in human rights and social justice through education and capacity-building.
Kalamazoo College Psychology Professor Siu-Lan Tan, with co-authors Peter Pfordresher and Rom Harré, has released a second edition of her 2010 book titled “Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance.”
The second edition of “Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance” was released on Monday, Nov. 6.
Psychology of Music Professor Siu-Lan Tan signs copies of her book “The Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance.” The book’s second edition was released Nov. 6.
The new version, released Nov. 6 through Routledge Publishing, considers music from its beginning as an acoustical signal to its manifestations across cultures. As a second edition, it puts greater emphasis on linking academic learning to real-world contexts, and on compelling topics that appeal to students and their curiosity.
Chapters have been updated with about 500 new citations to reflect advances in the field. A new “Chapters in Action” section includes exercises and application assignments designed to engage students in active learning.
Tan has enjoyed teaching since 1998. Her research focuses on listeners’ perception of musical structure, graphic representations of music, and the role of music in film and other multimedia. Her other contributions to the field of psychology in music have included a book titled “The Psychology of Music in Multimedia,” published by Oxford University Press in 2013; and a film documentary released last year, “SCORE: A Film Music Documentary.”
We all have a shadow, but Mickey’s has a name: Michele.
Beginning this fall and throughout the school year, Michele Kelly, associate dean of arts and sciences at Macomb Community College, will periodically shadow Kalamazoo College Provost Mickey McDonald.
Throughout the school year, Michele Kelly, associate dean of arts and sciences at Macomb Community College, will periodically shadow Kalamazoo College Provost Mickey McDonald.
McDonald’s mentorship of Kelly is under the auspices of the Michigan-ACE Network for Women Leaders in Higher Education. The “Moving the Needle” Senior-Level Leadership Shadow Program aims to increase the number of women in top college and university leadership by providing them the experience they need to move into positions such as president and provost – the chief academic officer for a higher education institution.
Kelly, who was chosen for the program through a competitive process, acknowledged that Macomb – a 40,000-student community college serving the Detroit suburbs – is a very different kind of school than K. But she said there is much that observing McDonald can teach her.
“I hope to be a provost someday,” said Kelly, whose previous experience includes administrative positions at Queens University, a private liberal arts college in Charlotte, N.C. “I think that there are some trends in higher education that transcend institutions. It will be interesting to get the perspective of a completely different institution to fill in the gaps of my own knowledge. Following Mickey around I hope to do that.”
McDonald said Kelly won’t just be working with him.
“It’s more than just following me around,” he said. “She has access to everybody at K, and specifically digging into the areas she kind of wants to fill in in terms of her own background. Whether it’s around budgeting, strategic planning, global initiatives, diversity and inclusion – one of the things we’re trying to do is pair her up with the people on our campus so she can learn about different leadership styles, different approaches to various areas in higher education.”
He said her time at K – up to 150 hours through June – will be scheduled around key learning opportunities. For example, a recent visit allowed her to sit in on a meeting about the College’s strategic plan – an aspect of administration in which she said she had not previously participated. Other visits will allow her to leverage her own experience, such as when administrators discuss the follow-up to K’s assessment by the Higher Learning Commission, a process she helped lead at Macomb.
McDonald said he sees mentoring Kelly as benefiting K, too.
“While it is not necessarily explicitly supporting the mission of preparing our students for their lives after K, I think implicitly by supporting women’s leadership, and higher education leadership, it’s contributing broadly to our mission,” he said.
It’s also a way of giving back to ACE, the American Council on Education. McDonald said a yearlong ACE Fellowship at Ohio’s Baldwin-Wallace College (now University) during the 2001-02 school year, when he was an administrator at California’s Occidental College, helped further his career.
“It certainly much better prepared me for leadership opportunities and gave me the confidence and specific experiences that would make me a more effective leader,” he said.
Beyond experience, the ACE program allowed him several years later to make what turned out to be a vital connection. Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez, then at Trinity University in Texas, was an ACE Fellow during the 2007-08 school year at Pomona College, a near neighbor of Occidental in the Los Angeles suburbs.
Joseph Stulberg ’67 says he sometimes marvels at how two or three years spent in a particular place can set the course for a lifetime.
Suzie Gonzalez ’83, Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez, Midge Stulberg, Janet and David Scarrow and Joseph (Josh) Stulberg ’67 (from left to right) gather at the home of Philosophy Department Chairman Christopher Latiolais during Homecoming weekend to celebrate the Stulbergs’ endowment of the Janet and David S. Scarrow Endowment for Philosophy.
For Stulberg, more commonly known as Josh, that place was Kalamazoo College, where people like David Scarrow, then a philosophy professor, and Scarrow’s wife Janet served as role models who inspired his own distinguished academic career.
Marking the 50th anniversary of his graduation and his class reunion during the 2017 Homecoming weekend, Stulberg – the Michael E. Moritz Chair in Alternative Dispute Resolution at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law – and his wife Midge are creating the Janet and David S. Scarrow Endowment for Philosophy. He says the fund is aimed at ensuring today’s Kalamazoo College philosophy majors have the sort of experience that helped shape his life.
The Stulbergs previously created scholarships for students majoring in philosophy and in English or theatre. Philosophy Department Chair Christopher Latiolais says their latest gift goes a step further, both supporting students and making possible what he hopes will be a fundamental element of the department’s program: the funding of teaching assistantships for philosophy majors.
The Scarrow Endowment will also support travel by philosophy majors to academic conferences where they can gain experience presenting their research. And Latiolais says the department hopes to launch an annual newsletter to help keep alumni connected to current students.
He says the Stulbergs’ gift is not only the largest the department has received during his tenure, but also is the product of years of discussions with the couple, who asked “hard, good, strong questions about what we were doing.”
“I thought it was a remarkably thoughtful gift,” Latiolais says.
College President Jorge G. Gonzalez says it is especially gratifying to see one professor honor another – and in the process, foster yet another generation of scholars.
“It reinforces that we are part of a profession that values its past yet is always looking ahead,” he said. “Nowhere is that more apparent than at a place like Kalamazoo College, where the liberal arts tradition endures.”
Stulberg says he and his wife are “thrilled” to be able to “provide some tangible resources” to support the mission of liberal arts education at Kalamazoo College – “the place I know best.”
As for Scarrow, now 91, he is self-effacing when asked about the reverence Stulberg holds for him, but pleased, honored and confident that the endowment “will enhance the lives of students who are serious about studying philosophy.”
For more information about the Janet and David S. Scarrow Endowment for Philosophy, contact Al DeSimone, Kalamazoo College Vice President for Advancement, at 269.337.7292 or Al.DeSimone@kzoo.edu.
