Category: Faculty & Staff

Kalamazoo College President Named NAICU Chair

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Kalamazoo College President Eileen B. Wilson-OyelaranKalamazoo College President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran, Ph.D., has been named chair of the board of directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) for 2013-14. NAICU represents more than 1,000 member colleges, associations, and other institutions nationwide, including Kalamazoo College.

As chair, Dr. Wilson-Oyelaran will lead the NAICU board in setting the association’s agenda on federal higher education policy, actively encourage support of NAICU priorities and initiatives, and oversee the association’s financial administration.

“NAICU is an effective and respected participant in the political process, representing member institutions such as K on policy issues with the federal government, including issues affecting student aid, taxation, government regulation, and the assault on the liberal arts,” she said.

“As NAICU chair, I will be in a position to advocate for these and other issues that are vital to helping institutions such as Kalamazoo College thrive in a competitive marketplace, an uncertain economy, and a divisive political climate.”

Kalamazoo College President Signs Letters to Obama, Congress

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Kalamazoo College President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran
Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran, President, Kalamazoo College

Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran has been a signatory to two open letters to President Obama and Congressional Leaders in recent days. One addresses gun control, the other addresses the possible elimination of the federal tax deduction for charitable giving.

On December 19, President Wilson-Oyelaran joined more than 160 college presidents who signed an open letter urging lawmakers to enact stricter gun laws. The letter states that the signatories do not oppose gun ownership outright and acknowledges that gun-safety laws alone will not prevent all acts of violence involving guns. The group of signatories, calling itself College Presidents for Gun Safety, state that they oppose laws making gun possession legal on college campuses and support elimination of the so-called “gun-show loophole,” which makes buying firearms easier. They also call for reinstating the ban on military-style assault weapons that expired in 2004 and addressing mental-health issues that underlie many mass shootings.

On Dec. 5, she joined members of the Association of Governing Boards in a letter expressing concerns about potential changes to the federal income tax deduction for charitable giving. Restrictions to the charitable deduction have been mentioned often as a target during the continuing negotiations on the federal budget and the so-called “fiscal cliff.” The AGB letters emphasize the value that charitable donations bring to colleges and universities, and urge the President and Congressional leaders to protect the tax deduction for charitable giving during the current negotiations. The AGB represents more than 100,000 volunteer governing board members of US colleges and universities and their affiliated support foundations.

Linked here is the AGB letter to Congressional leadership and letter to President Obama.

Cultivating Community

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Shoshana Schultz holds the calendar for "A Year of Food in Kalamazoo"
K Senior Shoshana Schultz hold “A Year of Food in Kalamazoo,” a calendar created by her and other K students.

Cultivating Community is a first-year seminar taught by Associate Professor of English Amelia Katanski ’92. It’s a service-learning course that combines academic inquiry with a project rooted in a local issue or organization.

This fall, Cultivating Community students broke into groups to interview and photograph people active in the area food community for the purpose of creating a 2013 calendar titled “A Year of Food in Kalamazoo.”

Subjects ranged from farmers and farm worker advocates, to organic food vendors such as Bridgett Blough ’08, who operates her own food truck business called The Organic Gypsy.

Teacher’s Assistant Shoshana Schultz ’13 worked as a go-between for the students, Katanski, and the People’s Food Co-Op, the class’s community partner.

“The seminar engages students in a critical examination of national food justice issues and introduces them to local food vendors who face these issues daily,” said Schultz. “The calendar is a meaningful and active way to address food justice and for others in the Kalamazoo community to be part of the discussion.

Now a senior, Schultz took Cultivating Community her first year at K. “My first year completely framed the way that I got to know the Kalamazoo community,” she said. “I’m proud of the work the students did this year.”

The calendars are on sale now at the People’s Food Co-Op in Kalamazoo for $15.

K Professor Honored at International Conductors’ Competition

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Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Music Andrew KoehlerAndrew Koehler, associate professor of music at Kalamazoo College and music director of the Kalamazoo Philharmonia and the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra, was recently honored at the 9th Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors, one of the more prestigious international competitions for conductors of all nationalities born after 1976.

The competition, held in Katowice, Poland, every five years, took place in three stages during November 17 to November 23, 2012. A selection committee, consisting of eminent Polish and international conductors and musicians, chose 50 participants from an initial pool of approximately 180 applicants. These 50 were invited to the first round of competition, from that 12 semifinalists were chosen for a second round, and from that, 6 finalists.

“I was the only American in the final round,” said Koehler. “We were judged on technical skill, our interpretative decisions, and our ability to work with the orchestra. It was a great honor.”

Koehler was awarded First Distinction, or fourth place, in the competition, with a monetary award of 10,000 Euros. The Krzysztof Penderecki European Music Centre also invited Koehler to perform sometime in the second half of 2013.

Yet a third award came in the form of Karol Szymanowski State General School of Music of the 2nd Degree in Katowice – the “YOUNG BATON MASTER” award granted by a Young Jury jointly to Koehler and Russian semi-finalist Stanslav Kochanowskiy.

K Writer-in-Residence Publishes Multiple Works

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Writer In Residence Diane Seuss has been hard at work, and the result is a prolific fall and winter. Her poem “Either everything is sexual or nothing is, take this flock of poppies,” appears in the 2013 edition of the Pushcart Prize anthology, which is hot off the presses. And her poem “Oh four-legged girl, it’s either you or the ossuary” is in the fall/winter issue of Black Warrior Review. The poem won the Summer Literary Seminar’s Poetry Prize. “Hub,” a lyric essay, won Wag’s Revue’s winter contest (To access all of the essay’s pages, click on the arrow on the right margin). “I emptied my little wishing well of its emptiness” won Mid-American Review’s Fineline Competition and appears in its fall/winter issue. Two poems, “I’m moved by her, that big-nippled girl,” and “The ghosts down in North-of-the-South aren’t see-through” will appear in Ecotone’s “Abnormal” issue. The poem “Hindenburg” will appear in a forthcoming issue of Devil’s Lake. In other news, poet Adrian Blevins wrote a review of Di’s most recent collection of poems that appears in “On the Seawall: Ron Slate’s Website.” Just reading/hearing the titles of Di’s poems is a rewarding poetic experience!

Just Lead: K’s Jaime Grant Pens Huffington Post Op-Ed

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Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Executive Director Jaime Grant
Jaime Grant, Ph.D., Executive Director, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College.

Jaime Grant, executive director of K’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, wrote an op-ed piece entitled “Just Lead” that appears in the Dec 6, 2012 Huffington Post. In it, she praises “the power of community in motion; the power of innovative, just collaboration.” Grant’s piece coincides with the launch of the Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership, a biennial $25,000 prize that honors an innovative and collaborative leadership project in the pursuit of social justice and human rights anywhere in the world. 

Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce Panel on Higher Ed Includes K President

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The average student debt with which some K students graduate “is comparable to a new Ford Focus,” Kalamazoo College President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran said today. “That Focus depreciates the minute you drive out of the dealer,” she added. “But that degree continues to appreciate over time.” Wilson-Oyelaran spoke as a member of a panel discussion on higher education topics sponsored by the Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce. She was joined by the presidents of Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

Four K Faculty Present at East Asian Studies Conference

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Rose Bundy, Japanese, was chair and organizer of a panel discussion at the Japan Study 50th Anniversary Conference: The Future of East Asian Studies at Liberal Arts Colleges. The conference took place at Earlham College in early October. The name of the panel presentation was “Passages to Asia: The Japanese Studies Curriculum–From Intro to Senior Seminar.” In addition to Bundy the panel included her fellow K professors Dennis Frost, history; Yue Hong, Chinese; and Noriko Sugimori, Japanese.

K Documentarian Dhera Strauss Cooks Up New “Kitchen Conversation”

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Kalamazoo College Video Specialist and Instructor Dhera Strauss
Dhera Strauss

Kalamazoo College Video Specialist and Instructor Dhera Strauss will show a new cut of her documentary “Kitchen Conversations” this Sunday Nov. 4 at 4 PM and 7 PM at WMU’s Little Theater, located on the corner of Oakland Dr. and Oliver Lane. “Kitchen Conversations” includes 13 separate segments, each profiling a Kalamazoo-area woman in her kitchen preparing a recipe that reminds her of her family. The documentary features several women with connections to K, including Professor of Sociology and Anthropology (Emerita) Marigene Arnold, Professor of German Language and Literature (Emerita) Margo Light, Library Acquisitions Technician Renata Schnelker, Professor of Romance Languages and Literature Jan Solberg, and President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran. Sunday’s screening of Strauss’s documentary, which debuted in 2010, includes an additional 20 minutes that focuses on local baker Judy Sarkozy. The screening is a fundraiser for Sarkozy’s effort to reopen her business destroyed by a fire earlier this year. There will be a suggested donation of $10, but all contributions are welcomed.

Arcus Center Names 2012-13 Visiting Fellows

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The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership has announced Sonia Baez-Hernandez, MFA, and Karika Phillips, MA, as Visiting Fellows for the 2012-2013 academic year. Baez-Hernandez is a visual artist, filmmaker, scholar, human rights advocate and most recent artist-in-residence for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) from Miami, FL. She most recently produced an award-winning film, “Territories of the Breast,” that courageously explores difficult questions about human rights and healthcare. Phillips is a National Health Equity Leadership Institute Scholar, community organizer, and Ph.D. student at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. She will be on leave from the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department where she serves as the Director for the Center for Health Equity (CHE) and Supervisor of the Community Action Agency. Read more about these leaders at https://reason.kzoo.edu/csjl/fellowships/visiting/current.