Category: Faculty & Staff

2 Faculty Members Promoted to Full Professor

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Kalamazoo College faculty members Binney Girdler and James Lewis have been promoted from associate professors to full professors.

Faculty Members Promoted Binney Girdler
Biology Professor Binney Girdler is one of two faculty members being promoted from associate professor to full professor.

Girdler, a biology professor, focuses her research on studying the structure and dynamics of terrestrial plant communities such as shoreline communities, grasslands and forests. She’s also interested in applied conservation biology, and develops relationships with area natural resource agencies and non-profit conservation groups to match her expertise and students with their research needs.

Girdler is a member of the Ecological Society of America and the Society for Conservation Biology. She has taught courses in environmental science, ecology and conservation, plant biology, population and community ecology, and senior seminars in environmental studies. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, a master’s degree from Yale University and a Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Lewis, a history professor, 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. Lewis is a professional member of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians and the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. He has written books including:

Faculty Members Promoted James Lewis
History Professor James Lewis is one of two faculty members being promoted from associate professor to full professor.
  • “The Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson’s Noble Bargain?” (2003);
  • “John Quincy Adams: Policymaker for the Union” (2001);
  • “The American Union and the Problem of Neighborhood: The United States and the Collapse of the Spanish Empire, 1783-1829” (1998); and
  • “The Burr Conspiracy: Uncovering the Story of an Early American Crisis” due out this fall.

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.

“Both Dr. Girdler and Lewis are respected teachers and scholars in the best tradition of the liberal arts and sciences,” Kalamazoo College Provost Mickey McDonald said of the faculty members promoted. “This promotion recognizes their sustained excellence and the impact they have had and will continue to have on Kalamazoo College and our students.”

College’s CCPD Dinner Connects Students to Fortune 500 Company

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CCPD Dinner Connects Students to StrykerIn early May, 28 Kalamazoo College students had the opportunity to share a meal on campus with eight professionals who have at least two things in common—the K-Plan and careers at the Stryker Corporation, a Kalamazoo-based Fortune 500 medical technologies firm.

The alumni returned to campus at the invitation of the Center for Career and Professional Development to meet with students who could learn about career paths at Stryker and the relevance of the K-Plan to those paths. At least 15 current Stryker employees got their undergraduate degrees at K, and both institutions are interested in strengthening the talent pipeline between the two.

The event began with a welcome by S. Si Johnson ’78, the retired group president of Stryker MedSurg Group and a current member of the College’s board of trustees. Johnson shared the four core values of Stryker—integrity, accountability, people, and performance—and reflected on how the critical thinking and problem solving skills inherent in a K education are great preparation for a career at Stryker.

After students and alumni enjoyed informal networking conversations over dinner, James N. Heath ’78, the retired president of Stryker Instruments and a member of K’s board of trustees, moderated an alumni panel that included Randy Rzeznik ’08, director of customer excellence, Neuro, Spine, ENT and Navigation; Bryce Pearson ’15, finance representative; Kevin Packard ’05, clinical marketing manager, Neuro, Spine, ENT and Navigation; and Michael Weslosky ’02, staff scientist.

Panelists reflected on their trajectories from K to Stryker and talked about the qualities of the company they find most attractive. The panelists’ K majors were varied—chemistry, economics, biology, and business—and each panelist cited the value of the work ethic instilled by the K-Plan and the 10-week term. They also stressed the importance of persistence in the pursuit of employment. Pearson, for example, shared the effort and time that was required before he secured a position at Stryker.

Heath also invited one of the students in attendance, junior Alex White, to describe the extensive process he’d gone through to secure an internship with Stryker for the upcoming summer.

Other alumni attending the event included Legal Counsel Christopher DiVirgilio ’04 and Senior IS Business Analyst Russ Hankey ’96.

Students and alumni agreed that the evening was a success and excellent preparation for the next step in the K/Stryker relationship: a half-day immersion K-Trek for selected students to the company’s headquarters in the fall.

Text and photo by Joan Hawxhurst

Greening On

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Kalamazoo College Students Complete Green Dot Training
Twenty-four K students completed Green Dot bystander training in late April.

Twenty-four Kalamazoo College students and five K employee Green Dot-certified trainers launched the College’s first bystander training session on April 29. It’s one of several early steps toward the goal of a “greening” that will be year-round, forever.

Green Dot is a national prevention program that has proven effective in significantly reducing the likelihood of dating and domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault. Essential to the program’s effectiveness are bystanders, people trained to safely interrupt or prevent harmful precursor behaviors associated with dating violence, stalking and sexual assault. In the program’s iconography, a red dot is any person’s choice to harm another person with words or actions. In any environment, or map, enough red dots create a norm where violence is tolerated. Green dots are small actions to intervene when a red dot is occurring or to prevent the likelihood of red dots at all. Small as they may be, Green Dot words and actions draw their power from the large numbers of people who commit to speak or do them. Together, enough Green Dots can change “worlds,” small and large. And one of those worlds will be Kalamazoo College.

In late March some 30 faculty, staff and administrators completed four days of Green Dot “College Curriculum” training, which certified them to do bystander training for K students and overview training for K faculty and staff. One month—and a lot of preparation and practice—later the first bystander training took place in the Olmsted Room. It included students identified by their peers as well-respected and influential.

“The 24 students were highly engaged throughout the training,” said Ellen Lassiter Collier, Director of Gender Equity at K. “This was a day-long event in the middle of a busy spring term, yet no one left the session.” In fact, at least three students reported applying Green Dot interventions at parties or other events that very weekend.

“To establish a norm where the intolerance of violence is immediately and plainly evident—and a culture where everyone does their part to maintain that norm—will require a critical mass of K community members,” said Lassiter Collier. “Many times it will be students who are most likely to be present in settings and situations where ‘red dots’ tend to occur. Students trained as bystanders are absolutely indispensable, so we were very gratified by the participation of these 24 early adopters.”

Additional student bystander training is scheduled for the fall, and the “first” 24 will have contributed to the success of those sessions by providing the names of several score of other influential and well-respected students who will be invited to the fall training.

In concert with the effort to train a critical mass of student bystanders, employee Green Dot-certified trainers also will work with faculty and staff this spring and early and continuing into the fall.

The bystander trainers who joined Lassiter Collier on April 29 were Andrew Grayson ’10, Admission; Laura Livingstone-McNelis ’89, Department of Theatre Arts; Leslie Burke, Information Services; and Morgan Mahdavi ’14, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership.

The 24 students included Julia Plomer ¹18, Maddie Tracey ¹17, Sidney Wall ’17, Cody Colvin ’18, Douglas Robinett ’17, Leah Finelli ’18, Ashley Henne ’17, Sep’Tisha Riley ’18, Kourtney Johnson ’17, Tenley Mustonen ’17, Amber Salome ’18, Colleen Orwin ’17, Elizabeth Clevenger ’17, James Paprocki ’18, Alex Dykema ’19, Kiavanne Williams ’18, Lilia Robins ’18, Colleen Corrigan ’17, Kaiya Herman Hilker ’19, Sophie Higdon ’19, Roger Hood ’18, Rose Maylen ’19, Malak Ghazal ’19 and Lezlie Lull ’20.

Funding for Kalamazoo College’s Green Dot efforts comes from the State of Michigan Campus Sexual Assault Grant Program.

K’s Latest K-Trek Passes all Tests

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K to the Windy City students on K-Trek
Roundtable meeting in Chicago during K to the Windy City, the newest K-Trek.

Kalamazoo College’s latest K-Trek, K to the Windy City, tested two expansions — in numbers and event type. The results are in: success above expectations!

“We wanted a K-Trek that would accommodate more students and provide more types of student-alumni and student-thought leader interaction,” said Valerie Miller, assistant director for external relations in K’s Center for Career and Professional Development. K to the Windy City is the largest K-Trek to date. Twenty-five students and 57 alumni participated in the three-day event, which featured round-table meetings (standard for K-Treks) and also offered panels, a networking event, a customized itinerary for nearly every student, and some fun and relaxation at a Second City performance.

Coordinated by the CCPD, K-Treks are multi-day immersive discussions with leaders in various industries. Previous treks (inspired by the thinking of alumnus Brad O’Neill ’93) have visited San Francisco (where the focus was on entrepreneurship) and New York City (finance and business). The Windy City trek focused on the law and nonprofit administration, with social justice as the bridge between those areas of interest.

“Our 25 students divided themselves roughly into three tracks,” says Miller. “About a third was certain they wanted to pursue a career in law. Another third were equally sure about nonprofit administration. The final group was on the fence. All were interested in social justice.”

Valerie Miller Prepares for K-Trek
Valerie Miller during the extensive K-trek prep phase.

K to the Windy City “started” the day after winter term finals, but prep work commenced long before that. Wade Thomson ’98, an attorney at Jenner & Block who also does pro bono work with persons seeking political asylum in the United States, provided the unique framework for this K-Trek that focused on the intersection between Chicago and justice.

For their part, student participants researched the alumni whom they would meet (and the organizations they worked for) and then prepared a list of questions for the interaction.

For her part, Miller relied on the cover letters and résumés of each student to customize individual itineraries that would provide the most educational impact.

The meetings provided some excellent outcomes and revelations for the students, according to Miller. “Some very practical advice,” she explained, “such as the need for solid business skills in nonprofit administration; timing for law school and how to optimize a gap year, should one choose that option; and the surprising number of law-related work opportunities that do not require a J.D.

“For those students certain about their choice (law or nonprofit administration),” she continued, “the experience may have confirmed or focused their vision. Those less certain found value in the additional information they could use to eventually decide.”

Students on a bus heading to the latest K-Trek, K to the Windy City
K to the Windy City departs Kalamazoo College, headed for the newest K-Trek experience.

Student participants represented a cross section of classes, majors and geography. Twelve seniors, six juniors and seven sophomores composed this first Windy City trek. Fourteen academic majors were represented; 11 students call Michigan home; 11 come from a variety of states; three were international students.

“I learned more in two days about what a legal career entails than I had learned in my entire life up to that point,” said Benjamin Toledo, a senior anthropology/sociology and business double major.  “Given the chance to speak with successful lawyers from K provided us with the opportunity to clarify any uncertainty that we had in regard to a career in law, all while receiving advice from individuals who were once in our shoes.  It was a truly phenomenal opportunity to meet and connect with such talented people.”

“I was surprised by how many alumni didn’t always know exactly what they wanted to do or have a clear vision of where they’d end up,” said sophomore Lauren Arquette (political science). She was grateful for the insight. “It takes away a lot of the pressure we put on ourselves of feeling like we always have to have a plan, because often times, things don’t exactly go according to plan. I realized that life doesn’t have to be stressful and meticulously planned out for you to be successful.”

After the event, students were provided a survey to prompt reflections on the value of the experience. The participants also are writing biographies of the alumni with whom they met to post on the CCPD website for future Windy City trekkers.

K-Trek on public transportation
K students riding public transportation in Chicago.

“That’s a future for which we all hope,” says Miller. “This K-Trek was so successful that we’ll continue to work hand in hand with our colleagues in the Office of Development to encourage participation from alumni and to raise the funds for this and other treks.”

2017 Student Participants included: Abby Lu ’17, Ailih Weeldreyer ’19, Andrea Beitel ’17, Anja Xheka ’17, Anne Waugh ’19, Ben Toledo ’17, Blanca Moreno ’17, Carmen Nogueron ’18, Cat Cook ’17, Cody Howrigon ’18, Emily Levy ’17, Gunyeop Lee ’17, Hannah Lehker ’17, Heather Brown ’18, Honora Stagner ’17, Jasmine Khin ’18, Lauren Arquette ’19, Lauren Perlaki ’17, Madison Triplett ’19, Matthew Ryder ’18, Monet Foster ’18, Regina Shaw ’19, Ren Ballew ’17, Sirui Chen ’19 and Sydney Brown ’18.

The following alumni participated in a panel event, met with a group of students and/or hosted students at their place of work. Many of these alumni also provided additional support through funding, space, food and/or ideas for the planning of K to the Windy City, and many attended networking events — Kelly Bauer ’10, Assistant Corporation Counsel, City of Chicago Department of Law; Marietta Bowman ’02, Senior Survey Director, NORC at the University of Chicago; Jane Burchfield ’85, Manager of Talent Acquisition, NORC at the University of Chicago; Michael Cansfield ’87, Director of Development, Lookingglass Theatre; Megan Carney ’92, Director, Gender & Sexuality Center, University of Illinois at Chicago; Jeremy Cole ’96, Partner, Jones Day; Andrea Dakin ’98, Director of Program Development, AIDS Foundation; Kant Desai ’99, Principal, Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund; Mike Doornweerd ’92, Partner, Jenner & Block; Kim Drew ’00, Senior Project Manager, Economic Security Policy, Heartland Alliance; Caitlin Finan ’11, Research Analyst, NORC at the University of Chicago; Mark Furlong ’83, Chief Operating Officer, Thresholds; Marie Halverson ’93, Associate Director, Education and Child Development Studies, NORC at the University of Chicago; Cole Hardy ’06, Staff Counsel, FTD; John Hayes ’96, Assistant Unit Supervisor, Illinois Attorney General; Kathleen Hirsman ’76, Faculty, Loyola School of Law; Will Hobart ’06, Program Officer, Youth Guidance; Peter Knight ’95, Partner, Latham & Watkins; Carla Kupe-Arion ’02, Assistant Corporation Counsel, City of Chicago Law Department; Matt Lango ’97, Deputy Commissioner, Chicago Commission on Human Relations; Hope Lassen ’02,

K-Trek to the Windy City
Some fun at Second City

Restorative Justice Specialist, Alternatives, Inc.; Jodie Lawton ’99, Major Gifts Officer, McCormick Foundation; Stephanie Leite ’01, Lead Trainer and Curriculum Designer, Global Learning Modules; Matt Longjohn ’93, Evidence-Based Health Interventions and Community Integrated Health/National Health Officer, Y-USA; Carlton Marcyan ’76, Senior Partner, Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP; Elizabeth Okey ’07, Senior Associate, Corporate Responsibility, Burson-Marsteller; Jeff Owen ’76, Partner, DLA Piper; Anne Renaud ’10, Community Support Specialist, Thresholds; Sam Sedaei ’06, Associate Attorney, Foran Glennon; Wade Thomson ’98, Partner, Jenner & Block; Carla Varner ’97, Chief Legal Officer, Franklin Monroe; Mary Woolever ’70, Former Architectural Archivist and Reference Librarian, Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, Art Institute of Chicago; Mike Woolever ’71, Partner, Foley and Lardner.

The following alumni provided support for K to the Windy City through donations or through support/guidance around the development of trek events. Many also attended networking events — Alexandra Altman ’97, Doug Doetsch ’79, Jay Goodwin ’85, Andrea Johnson ’15, Alex Morgan ’11, Aaron Ries ‘06, Sonya Olds Som ’94, Juli Scalf ’09 and Elizabeth Schweitzer ’09.

And the alumni listed below participated in networking opportunities with students — Margy Brill ’11, Mathew Duggan ’09, Justin Evans ’09, Christine Grodecki ’06, Kelly Koss ’04, Haley Madel ’13, Kristen Nuyen ’12, Kathleen O’Donovan ’11, Sara Reschly ’95, Christopher Rollyson ’82, Christie Schuessler ’11, Jeannette Srivastava ’00, Erin Stockall ’11, Ajka Suljevic ’10 and Rachel Zarit ’02.

K Attends the MICWIC

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Kalamazoo College Computer Science Students and Professor Alyce BradySeven Kalamazoo College computer science students traveled with professors Alyce Brady and Pam Cutter to the 6th Biennial Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing (MICWIC), held at Michigan State University in late March.  Seniors Marlisa Pennington and Colleen Orwin presented posters on their Senior Individualized Projects–“JAVA Simulation Software for Handbell Change Ringing: Generating Permutations of Tones” and “Swim for Success Mobile Application,” respectively. Sivhaun Sera ’18 presented a poster on the benefits of having a Computer Science Leadership Team at Kalamazoo College. The Leadership Team is a new initiative the computer science department started this year.

At the celebration, the K students attended presentations, panel discussions and the poster session. They explored careers in computing fields by networking with computing professionals throughout Michigan and participating in a career fair featuring both regional and national companies. More than 200 participants from around the state attended the event.

The group also united with two computer science alumni. Pictured are (l-r): Courtland VanDam ’08; Azra Ahmad ’18; Marlisa Pennington ’17; Sivhaun Sera ’18; Associate Professor of Computer Science Pam Cutter; Colleen Orwin ’17; Serita Evelyn ’19; Nora Wichmann ’18; Alyce Brady, the Rosemary K. Brown Professor in Mathematics and Computer Science; Joo Young Lee ’19; and Hayley Smith ’15

K Students and Faculty Present at ASIANetwork

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K Students Present at ASIANetworkThe 25th annual conference of the ASIANetwork in Chicago drew a K presence from Kalamazoo, Tokyo and Toronto. ASIANetwork is a consortium of some 160 North American colleges that strengthens the role of Asian Studies within the framework of liberal arts education. Three Kalamazoo College Freeman Foundation Student Fellows (Frank Meyer ’18, Emerson Brown ’17, Hannah Berger ’18), one former student fellow (Dalby-eol Bae ’18, who transferred from K to the University of Toronto), and Dennis Frost, the Wen Chao Chen Associate Professor of East Asian Social Sciences at Kalamazoo College, presented a poster on the role of Okinawan identity in the protests against U.S. military bases on the island. That presentation was based on a research trip the five made to Okinawa last summer. Frost flew to the Chicago conference from his sabbatical in Tokyo. Other K presenters at the conference were Bailee Lotus ’17 and Assistant Professor of Japanese Noriko Sugimori. Lotus discussed her Senior Individualized Project, “Moving Forward of Standing Still: Black Women in South Korea.” Professor Sugimori talked about the Oral History in the Liberal Arts, a project that has produced for widespread classroom use the world’s first bilingual (Japanese and English) synchronizations of interviews Sugimori conducted that focus on the World War II memories of various Japanese individuals. Pictured (holding an Okinawan newspaper “Ryukyu Shimpo”) are the K attendees (l-r)–Noriko Sugimori, Dalby-eol Bae, Hannah Berger, Bailee Lotus, Emerson Brown, Frank Meyer, and Dennis Frost.

K Professor Helps SCORE the Power of the Music Creeping in our Ears

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Kalamazoo College Psychology Professor Siu-Lan Tan
Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan at Tower City theaters, where the film, SCORE, played for three days in five theaters as part of the Cleveland International Film Festival.

The very same expertise (teaching and music) that made the role of Siu-Lan Tan so prominent in the documentary SCORE also prohibited her from attending any of the more than 40 public screenings of the film–she was, after all, busy teaching classes. That changed in early April, when the professor of psychology at Kalamazoo College was finally able to see a festival screening of the film at the 41st Annual Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF).

She picked a great screening, or screenings.

“The first screening at Cedar Lee Theater sold out,” says Siu-Lan. “On day two, they moved the film [full title: SCORE: A Film Music Documentary] to a theater complex at Tower City and the cinema sold out again.  So they opened a second theater, and that one filled too! On the last screening day, they filled two theaters for SCORE and had to turn more people away.”

That enthusiastic reception kept Siu-Lan busy.

“The director [Matt Schrader] asked if I could attend as a special guest from the cast, and I joined Q&A sessions at the first and third screenings. I also did 35-minute extended Q&A Chat Room by myself.”

And CIFF is no small event. This year more than 100,000 people attended. The festival featured the work of some 300 filmmakers and a total of 418 films from 71 countries. SCORE won in its category (Music Movies Competition) and was one of only 15 films recognized on closing night.

Why the great response? Because the best movie you ever saw is the best, in part, because it’s the best movie you ever heard. Siu-Lan and some 60 other people interviewed for SCORE help explain the critical role of music scores to the emotional impact of a film. In addition to Siu-Lan, others interviewed include some of the top living film composers in United States and the United Kingdom (Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, Randy Newman,  Howard Shaw, Trent Reznor, Alexandre Desplat, among others), as well as film directors like James Cameron, producers like Quincy Jones and several film scholars.

An expert in the psychology of music (a course she teaches at K) Siu-Lan appears five times in the film. Kalamazoo College is mentioned every time Siu-Lan appears, and K is thanked in the end credits along with the filming location of Dalton Theater.

The popular film is on the docket for many upcoming festivals. You can also check upcoming screenings here. So if you get a chance, go see SCORE; it’s likely to be the best film you’ve ever heard, or at least reveal why your favorite movie has as much to do with your ears as your eyes.

Shakespeare was right when he had Lorenzo say (Merchant of Venice, Act 5, Scene 1) that it is music creeping in our ears that has the sweet power (like Orpheus) to change the very nature of reality and the way we perceive it. A film without its score is a body without its heart.

SCORE is scheduled for release in theaters in 20-25 major cities on June 16.

Endowed Professorships Mark the Quality of Pedagogy at K

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Kalamazoo College recently appointed four faculty as endowed professors. Endowed professorships are positions funded by the annual earnings from an endowed gift or gifts to the College; therefore they are a direct reflection of 1) the value donors attribute to the excellent teaching and mentorship that occurs at K, and 2) the desire of donors to ensure the continuation of that excellence. Currently at K there are 26 endowed faculty positions, including the four recently announced.

Hannah Apps is the Thomas K. Kreilick Professor of Economics;

John Dugas is the Margaret and Roger Scholten Associate Professor of International Studies;

Kyla Day Fletcher is the Lucinda H. Stone Assistant Professor of Psychology; and

Sarah Lindley is the Arcus Social Justice Leadership Professor of Art.

Hannah Apps
Hannah Apps

Hannah Apps earned a B.A. degree, cum laude, from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.  She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984.  She began her career at K in 1989, teaching a wide range of courses from principles of economics to public sector and urban economics to econometrics.  She served one term as mayor of the city of Kalamazoo and seven terms as vice mayor (1997 through 2014), community service that well aligns with her scholarly focus on community and economic development.  Her body of scholarship is impressive–two monographs; more than a dozen papers, articles and reports; numerous invited presentations; and a number of consultancies, typically with local governments and public agencies. Apps was selected as a Woman of Achievement by the Kalamazoo YWCA in 2004.  At K she has been department chair, chair of the Faculty Hearing Committee, and (currently) member of the Faculty Personnel Committee.

John Dugas
John Dugas

John Dugas earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Louisiana State University. He completed his Ph.D. (political science) from Indiana University. He began his career at K in 1995 and teaches a range of courses in international politics and Latin American politics.  His early research focused on issues of political reform in Colombia, including decentralization, constitutional reform, and political party reform.  In more recent years, he has written about U.S. foreign policy toward Colombia as well as on human rights in the northern Andes. His current research explores the concept of “political genocide” in relation to the systematic killing of members of the Unión Patriótica, a Colombian political movement that was decimated in the 1980s and 1990s. He is the co-author of one book and the editor of another, both published in Spanish in Colombia.  His scholarship also includes nine book chapters, three articles in refereed journals, and numerous book reviews and conference papers.  Dugas is the recipient of two Fulbright Grants, one for teaching and research in Bogotá, Colombia (1999) and another for research in Quito, Ecuador (2010-2011).  At K Dugas has served as chair of the political science department and is currently the director of International and Area Studies major.  He is also the faculty advisor for the Model United Nations student organization.

Kyla Fletcher
Kyla Fletcher

Kyla Day Fletcher earned a B.S. degree, summa cum laude, from Howard University.  She earned a Ph.D. (developmental psychology) from the University of Michigan.  She has worked at K since 2012, teaching general psychology, adolescent development, psychology of the African-American experience, research methods, and psychology of sexuality. She has published five peer-reviewed journal articles since 2014 and is currently the principal investigator of a study titled “Substance Use and Partner Characteristics in Daily HIV Risk in African Americans.” That study is sponsored by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health).  Fletcher has been an active contributor to the psychology department and the College, most recently serving as a representative on the presidential search committee.

Sarah Lindley
Sarah Lindley

Sarah Lindley earned her Bachelor of Fine Art degree, magna cum laude, from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.  She earned a M.F.A. (ceramics) from the University of Washington.  Since 2001 she has taught a wide range of ceramics and sculpture courses, and she has managed and maintained K’s ceramics, sculpture and woodshop studios and equipment.  Lindley served as an Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Faculty Fellow in 2010-2011, and in that capacity she helped found the Community Studio in downtown Kalamazoo’s Park Trades Center. The Community Studio provides space for advanced art students to do and show work in close proximity to and collaboration with professional artists and community advocates for the arts and social justice.  In 2014 Lindley won the Michigan Campus Compact Outstanding Faculty Award for her civic engagement pedagogy.  She has had numerous solo, two-person and group exhibitions regionally, nationally, and  internationally.  In 2015 she won honorable mention in the 8th Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale in Korea.

“Professors Apps, Dugas, Fletcher and Lindley are extraordinary teachers,” said Provost Mickey McDonald. “And each has a deep commitment to scholarship and service, to the art and science of learning, and to the achievement of educational outcomes students can long apply to successful living.”

Greening Away Violence

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Green Dot-Trained Faculty and Staff at KThis spring Kalamazoo College is beginning to turn green from Green Dot, and that “greening” will create a campus where the likelihood of dating and domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault decreases significantly because everybody does their part.

Just last week some 29 K faculty, staff and administrators completed four days of Green Dot “College Curriculum” training.

Green Dot is a violence prevention program with origins in college and university settings. It is also being implemented across the entire U.S. Air Force, on installations across all other branches of the military, and in communities and organizations in all 50 states and internationally.

The program is designed to enlist entire communities in order to spread the work and the joy that comes with it. And it works! In a five-year longitudinal study, Green Dot was shown to reduce violence perpetration by up to 50 percent in Kentucky high schools. Other studies found a 17 percent reduction in colleges, and additional research is being funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the effect of Green Dot in communities and additional colleges.

The 29 trainers will contribute to the planning and implementation of bystander education sessions for students (the first is set for late April) and Green Dot overview sessions for faculty, staff, administrators and students. Bystanders are trained to safely use words and actions to address or prevent “red dots.” In the program’s iconography, a red dot is any person’s choice to harm another person with words or actions. In any environment, or map, enough red dots create a norm where violence is tolerated. Green dots are small actions to intervene when a red dot is occurring or to prevent the likelihood of red dots at all. Small as they may be, Green Dot words and actions draw their power from the large numbers of people who commit to speak or do them. Together, enough Green Dots can change “worlds,” small and large.

Small acts and everyone doing their part is the key to the program’s success. Last week’s faculty and staff training included an array of work lives and “spheres of influence” that nearly covers the campus map, so the Green Dot greening of K is off to a broad and excellent start.

Early participants and Green Dot educators included (l-r)–front row (seated): Ellen Lassiter Collier, Gender Equity; Liz Smith ’73, Library, Katie Miller, Athletics (Women’s Basketball); Leslie Burke, Library; Miasha Wilson, Business Office; Kenlana Ferguson, Counseling Center, Erika Driver, Counseling Center; Laura Livingstone-McNelis ’89, Theatre Arts; Brittany Liu, Psychology; back row (standing): Jessica Ward, Registrar’s Office, Morgan Mahdavi ’14, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership; Jeanne Hess, Physical Education (Volleyball); Josh Moon, Educational Technology; Narda McClendon, Center for International Programs; Andrew Grayson ’10, Admission; Elizabeth Manwell, Classics; Bryan Goyings ’04, Athletics (Women’s Soccer); Jax Gardner, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership; Heather Dannison, Counseling Center; Jason Lintjer, Athletics (Men’s and Women’s Swimming); Marcie Weathers, Facilities Management; Franki Hand, Media Services; Jay Daniels ’13, Athletics (Men’s and Women’s Swimming); Dan Kibby ’90, Computer Programming; Tim Young, Security, Karen Joshua Wathel, Student Development, Heather Garcia, Center for International Programs; Melissa Emmal, Green Dot, Washington, D.C.; Sirajah Raheem, Green Dot, Atlanta, Georgia. Not pictured are Stacy Nowicki, Library, and Jim VanSweden ’73, College Communication.

Funding for Kalamazoo College’s Green Dot efforts comes from the State of Michigan Campus Sexual Assault Grant Program.

Why Neibuhr? Why Now?

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Students Work with Former K Visiting Professor Jeremy SabellaSeveral students from Visiting Instructor of Art Danny Kim‘s videography classes had the opportunity to interview Jeremy Sabella, author of the companion book  of the new documentary, “An American Conscience: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story.”

The K students asked the questions and did all of the sound and camera work required for the interview. They focused on the reasons the filmmakers chose to tell Neibuhr’s story. Their interview will be featured on the film’s website in coming weeks. The documentary film is currently screening in select locations this spring and will air on PBS later this year. It features interviews with many internationally recognized historians and scholars, including former Kalamazoo College professor Gary Dorrien, the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Religion at Columbia University.

Neibuhr was one of America’s most prominent 20th-century theologians and political thinkers, noted for his unrelenting advocacy for justice and for the incisive clarity of his thinking and writing. Presidents from Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter have credited his impact on their thinking, as well as John McCain, countless historians, theologians, political thinkers, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who cited Niebuhr in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”.

Niebuhr’s books, Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932), The Nature and Destiny of Man (1941–43) and The Irony of American History (1952), continue to influence theological and political thinking. His insights into human nature and its relationship to political movements and social justice propelled him to speak openly, and often critically, to an America consumed by moral certainty. The documentary includes interviews with many prominent

The K “Sabella Interview” production crew included (l-r): Christine Cho, Kalkidan Amare, Mackenzie Landman, author Jeremy Sabella, Madeline Lauver, Ximena Davis and Blair Garner. Sabella is married to Sarah Koenig, visiting assistant professor in K’s religion department.