Visiting Professor of English Rachel Swearingen, Ph.D., has received a 2012 Rona Jaffe Award, the prestigious writing award given annually by the Rona Jaffe Foundation to six women “who demonstrate excellence and promise in the early stages of their career.” It’s the only national award dedicated to women writers. She will pick up her $30,000 award at a New York City awards ceremony on Sept. 20. Congrats, Professor!
Category: Faculty & Staff
K Professor Takes First Place in Literature Competition
Kalamazoo College Writer in Residence Diane Seuss is the first-prize winner in Mid-American Review’s 2012 Fineline Competition for Prose Poems, Short Shorts, and Anything in Between! Judge Amelia Gray selected Seuss’s piece “I emptied my little wishing well of its emptiness” out of some 1,000 entries. The work will appear in the forthcoming fall issue of Mid-American Review.
K Theatre Director Participates in Art Hub Anniversary
Jon Reeves, director of technical theatre at Kalamazoo College, will participate in the 30-year anniversary celebration of the Park Trades Center, held this weekend (Aug. 17-18) in the former warehouse that has been an art hub in downtown Kalamazoo for three decades. When he’s not guiding K students through the process of building sets for the College’s theatre productions, Jon creates fine art metalwork in Suite 123 at the Park Trades Center. He has been renting space in the building since 1989. On Friday from 5-9 PM, he will join more than 60 artists’ who will open their studios throughout the four-story building to the public to enjoy live music and refreshments, observe demonstrations, and participate in several Community Art Projects. Jon will give blacksmithing demonstrations and talk to visitors during the open house. On Saturday, he will teach basic coppersmithing and blacksmithing techniques to young students during private studio sessions.
Memorial Service for Wen Chao Chen
A memorial service to celebrate the life of Wen Chao Chen, one of Kalamazoo College’s most beloved professors and administrators, will be held Sunday Sept. 23 at 2:00 p.m. in Stetson Chapel on the Kalamazoo College campus. Speakers will include Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran, Timothy Light, Jack Hopkins, Joe Fugate, Milt Rohwer, and Alice Chen. A reception in the Hicks Student Center will follow.
Dr. Chen died Aug. 13 at age 92. During his 36-year career with the College, he served as professor of political science, librarian, director of academic services, dean of special services, vice president, acting president, and executive director of the L. Lee Stryker Center. He also held leadership roles in the Kalamazoo community, provided sage advice to many, possessed unfailingly good humor, and played a mean pinball.
Read more about Dr. Chen on the K website. Below are some special memories about this very special man. Leave your comments on K Facebook and at the Langeland Funeral Home online guest book.
Dr. Wen Chao Chen was an extraordinarily loving person. He especially loved Kalamazoo College and the Kalamazoo community. He worked tirelessly for decades to help make each the best it could be. Dr. Chen had a brilliant mind and a gift for bringing people together. He often said he felt fortunate to be embraced by the community, but the people who continue to be touched by his legacy know just how much his life enriched all of ours.
Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran
President, Kalamazoo College
When I first got to K, I went to see every current and retired faculty member. I had scheduled two hours for each. When I was through about thirty minutes with Chen, I cancelled the rest of my appointments. I found him fascinating in spades. He gave me a copy of his autobiography that I took home. I could not put it down: from his childhood in China, to receiving his degrees from America, to his coming to Kalamazoo, to his trying to get a haircut and being told that the shop was closing, to his returning to the shop the next morning to find that the barber was “out to lunch.” From that time on, his wife, Lilia, cut his hair. He was devoted to Kalamazoo College. I considered it an honor to know him. And he provided an example for everyone else to emulate.
James F. Jones, Jr.
President and Trinity College Professor in the Humanities
President, Kalamazoo College, 1996 – 2004
Dr. Chen played a vital role in the early years of my presidency, as I reduced the number of vice presidents and he became the vice president of everything. He had two sayings that I remember well. First was, “President responsible for money and students; faculty and staff do all the rest.” Second comment was that I should always wear the white hat, and he the black hat (an academic version of good cop-bad cop). He will be sorely missed by all of us who knew and worked with him.
David W. Breneman
Newton and Rita Meyers Professor in Economics of Education, University of Virginia
President, Kalamazoo College, 1983 – 1989
When President Jones was ending his tenure as president of K, and I was about to begin my role as acting president, Chen invited us to lunch and presented us with gifts. Jimmy’s was a very elegant farewell gift. Mine was three small refrigerator magnets each about the size of a walnut. They were replicas of warrior masks used in Chinese opera. He noted my puzzled expression as I unwrapped the last one, and then explained these masks would help me ward off the “evil spirits of bad administration.” They were red, yellow, and green, and with a twinkle in his eye he explained the power of each one. I kept them in the president’s desk for that year, looked at them frequently, and often asked what Chen would recommend at that moment. They worked. In the Provost’s Conference Room in Mandelle Hall hangs “Prexie’s Zodiac,” one of my paintings. In it, two of those masks are blown up to life size. They are there as a tribute to Chen—for his valuable guidance to many, his love of K, and his love for all those that make it a jewel. I miss him.
Bernard Palchick
Professor of Art, Emeritus
Acting President, Kalamazoo College, 2004 – 2005
I am one of many whom Chen mentored and whose career he fostered. His remarkable empathy extended to an instinctive knowledge of where the people whom he encountered were in their lives and how to relate to them. His insights were always remarkable and accurate, and his advice invariably wise. He had a unique talent to be fully present in dealing with individuals and also with groups of people. We in Kalamazoo have indeed been blessed by his presence over these 62 years.
Tim Light
Acting President, Kalamazoo College, 1989 – 1990
Dr. Chen was a humble and incredibly effective leader who was fearless and selfless in bringing sometimes contentious constituencies together – on campus or in the community – to find ways to collaborate. His kind, gentle, wise, persistent, caring, and wickedly funny manner defused tensions, minimized differences, led to creative partnerships, and served as an example to everyone blessed with the chance to work with him.
Phil Carra ’69
Kalamazoo College Trustee, Emeritus
I will miss Dr. Chen’s quiet, wise counsel and jovial laugh, both of which I have appreciated in my work with the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music (MFSM). This organization was created largely through his vision: he saw a need to increase community interaction and worked to bring community leaders together to help create MFSM. It is yet another example of his ability to make significant connections, even in his retirement. Perhaps the jovial laugh is my strongest impression of Dr. Chen: I remember it also from when I was a child—he always spent a little time entertaining us kids before joining the adults at parties. We are so lucky to have had him with us in Kalamazoo for so long.
Dr. Elizabeth Start
Executive Director, Michigan Festival of Sacred Music
I never was able to bring myself to call Dr. Chen, “Chen,” as all the faculty did. I just couldn’t do it (and still can’t). One day, Dr. Chen said to me, “You really know you are old when your colleagues call you ‘doctor.’” At the time, Dr. Chen was probably in his mid-50s. He was extremely supportive of me and, I’m sure, other young faculty.
Marigene Arnold
Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, Emerita
Chen liked to play the pinball machines. There was a time when we had some of these machines in the game room and it was not uncommon to see Chen in there testing his skills. But he would also visit off-campus establishments and play. The story circulated on campus that on one such occasion when he was playing off-campus a group of students entered the place and to their amazement found the venerable Dr. Chen merrily banging away on a machine – and of course winning.
Joe Fugate
Professor of German Language and Literature and Director of Foreign Study, Emeritus
I recognize and thoroughly appreciate Chen’s importance to Kalamazoo College and the community. But for me, he was my valued professor and faculty advisor who became my indispensable mentor and counselor for an entire career. Perhaps my fondest recollections of student life at K were the regular meetings of political science majors and faculty members in Chen’s conference room at the library. The discussions he facilitated were undoubtedly the most valuable and enjoyable of my academic experience and that of many peers. After K, he continued to support, prod, and challenge. Two years into my first position, he asked “Are you comfortable in your job?” My response was that I was. His response was, “Time to find new a one!”
Milt Rohwer ’66
Senior Fellow, Center for Michigan
Former President, Frey Foundation
One part of Dr. Chen was shaped by traditional Chinese culture from the 30s-40s; another part was very much tuned into our contemporary U.S. world. Beginning in 1950, he and Elton Ham were colleagues at the College and at the City of Kalamazoo. After Elton died in 1975, Chen said to me “if you ever need or want to work, come and see me.” I did, and worked for and with him from 1978 to 1992 at the L. Lee Stryker Center on various projects: the Business-Academia Dialogue, (a luncheon meeting with area business people, students, and faculty), the Kalamazoo Forum, Council of Governments, a personnel directors monthly luncheon, to name a few. Chen had been conducting a seminar titled Management Development for Women, and one day in the early 80s said: “Caroline, go find out what those women want.” So, I talked to about a dozen women in small business, banks, newspapers, The Upjohn Co., academia, nonprofits. I asked “How did you get where you are, what help did you have, what help could you have used, and what help could you use now?” Thus, the Kalamazoo Network and various courses at the Stryker Center were launched. Chen was a master small “p” politician. His forward looking, community orientation and awareness were a great asset to Kalamazoo College. He was unique.
Caroline R. Ham ’48
City Commissioner and Mayor (1981-83) City of Kalamazoo
Dr. Chen, a deeply humble yet wise man, demonstrated his brilliance daily throughout our community, as he skillfully brought people together even though they would have disparate points of view, political perspectives, and organizational allegiances. Throughout my local career in higher education and community philanthropy, I continually marveled at how Chen could lead community citizens to find a strategic path to solving local problems when all the time he had thoughtfully and perhaps intuitively already conceived of “the way.” This remarkable man remains a Kalamazoo icon. He is clearly beloved by all those he touched, revered by those he personally affected by his focused and visionary example, remembered as a true community servant leader, and loved for his personal sensitivities and humane approach to all peoples. We’ll forever miss Chen and his leadership!
Jack Hopkins
Former Academic Vice President and President (1975-83), Nazareth College
Assistant Director and President, The Kalamazoo Community Foundation (1983-2008)
As a member of Dr. Chen’s home department (Political Science), I was always able to witness up close his love of the liberal arts and of Kalamazoo College. He and I also shared another academic experience: his Ph.D. was from St. Louis University and mine was from Washington University in St. Louis; we would frequently compare notes about our St. Louis activities. Of all my many memories of Dr. Chen, perhaps the most vivid occurred the night that I arrived on campus for my interview as a candidate for a faculty position at Kalamazoo College. He spent the entire evening with me, giving a detailed description of the College and of the Kalamazoo community (including where I would buy my furniture if I came to this city). It was the beginning of a close friendship that would last fifty years.
Donald C. Flesche
Professor of Political Science, Emeritus
Throughout the many years that I worked with Dr. Chen, I came to know him as a man of wisdom, integrity and humility. I especially remember his courageous willingness to speak truth to power when issues of discrimination occurred. He was, of course, widely respected as an outstanding administrator and teacher, but he also served quietly and effectively as tutor and counselor to a host of students and young colleagues, I among them.
Eleanor Pinkham ’48
Director of Libraries and Media Services, Emerita
I was so fortunate to have Dr. Chen as my advisor during my four years at K. No one knew more about the college than Dr. Chen, or could have been more generous with his time despite his very busy schedule. He did not limit his advice to what courses to take, but also gave me advice about life that I appreciate even more today than I did at the time! He was one of the first people to get me interested in a business career. Stepping back from my individual experience, I am in awe of the contributions he made to the college and the community in his many roles.
Gene Bissell ’76
Kalamazoo College Trustee
Dr.Chen was indeed my savior. Not only did I work for him in the library for three years, but he made it possible for me to graduate with my class in the spring of l960. I had more than enough credits, but they did not seem to fall in the right categories. (I thought they did.) He attended the meeting in which it was decided who would graduate on time and who would not. My name came up as a “would not graduate on time” student. He told me about this situation and that he would represent me at the next meeting, which he did handily. Needless to say, I graduated on time, thanks to Dr. Chen.
Ellie (Helfen) Miller ’60
Wen-Chao Chen was the contact person responsible for my joining the faculty some 44 years ago. It was he, along with Paul Collins, who convinced me that K would be a good fit for me, considering my uniqueness. From my interview on, this talented, unique, quiet gentleman appeared to have made it his business to see to it that my being here was a positive experience for the College and me. I thanked him for his personal efforts and he, in his humorous way, said years later, that until I arrived he was the “only colored person on the faculty!”
Chen was a man who practiced what he preached, and I do not mourn his passing; I cherish his memory.
Romeo Eldridge Phillips
Professor Education and Music, Emeritus
Former K professor and administrator, Dr. Wen Chao Chen, dies at age 92
Wen Chao Chen, Ph.D., a farmer’s son from rural China who became a celebrated Kalamazoo College educator and civic leader, died August 13, 2012, at Friendship Village in Kalamazoo. He was 92.
“Dr. Wen Chao Chen was an extraordinarily loving person,” said Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran. “He especially loved Kalamazoo College and the Kalamazoo community. He worked tirelessly for decades to help make each the best it could be.
“Dr. Chen had a brilliant mind and a gift for bringing people together. He often said he felt fortunate to be embraced by the community, but the people who continue to be touched by his legacy know just how much his life enriched all of ours.”
Chen joined the faculty of Kalamazoo College in 1950 as professor of political science. During his 36-year career with the College, he also served as librarian, director of academic services, dean of special services, vice president, acting president, and executive director of the L. Lee Stryker Center. He also helped establish the Heyl Scholarship program, which brings outstanding area high school graduates to Kalamazoo College to study science and to Western Michigan University to study nursing.
Throughout his career, Chen was a mentor to countless Kalamazoo College students, faculty, staff, alumni, and several presidents. His impact was so significant that he was repeatedly honored by the College. He was a recipient of Kalamazoo College’s Weimer K. Hicks Award, which honors current or retired employees who have provided significant long-term contributions to the College, and was named a Fellow of the College, Emeritus.
Shortly before his 1986 retirement, a faculty resolution acknowledged the College’s “long history of debts owed” to Dr. Chen,” his “steady hand” as “a source of security and reassurance,” and his commitment to K as “a treasured resource.”
In 1998, Chen’s friends and former students provided more than $1 million to endow the Wen Chao Chen Chair in East Asian Social Sciences at the College. In 2000, he and wife Lilia, a long-time substitute teacher in Kalamazoo Public Schools and a gifted artist, created a scholarship fund for art students.
During and after his years at Kalamazoo College, Dr. Chen was also active in local civic, business, and cultural matters. He co-founded the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music and helped establish the Kalamazoo Network, which developed leadership opportunities for women. He also helped establish the Kalamazoo Forum, which brought together business and academic leaders to discuss communitywide issues, and the Core Council of Governments, which sought greater cooperation among Kalamazoo County municipalities.
Wen Chao Chen was born October 14, 1919, in Chen Village, Fenxi County, Shanxi Province, China. He was one of seven children. At the age of six he began working on his father’s 33-acre farm. After several years in small village elementary schools, an older brother paid for him to attend a boarding school and later an American-administered Christian missionary training center.
Before he could complete high school, however, the Japanese army invaded China, and in 1937 Chen’s family was forced to flee the fighting. For several years, he worked a series of jobs as a tax collector, medic, and newspaper proofreader, in addition to taking some college courses.
By 1943, Chen was a lieutenant in the Chinese Army assigned to translation duties with United States Army forces in China. Toward the end of World War II, he was among 100 Chinese translators sent to the U.S. for further training. When the war ended, he enrolled at Grinnell College in Iowa where he completed his bachelor’s degree in political science. He went on to earn a master’s degree in public administration and doctorate in political science, both at St. Louis University.
Later, while teaching at Kalamazoo, he earned a master’s degree in library science from the University of Chicago. He also was awarded honorary degrees from Nazareth College, WMU, and Kalamazoo College.
Chen became a naturalized United States citizen in 1983.
In addition to Lilia, his wife of 62 years, Dr. Chen is survived by sons Michael (Niki) of St. Charles, Ill., and Philip (Janet Lootens Chen) of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and grandchildren Alice Chen of San Antonio, Tex.; Megan Chen of Falls Church, Va., and Dylan Chen of Ann Arbor.
Memorial gifts may be directed to the Wen Chao Chen Chair in East Asian Social Sciences at Kalamazoo College, 1200 Academy St., Kalamazoo, MI, 49006.
A memorial service for Dr. Wen Chao Chen will take place at Stetson Chapel on the Kalamazoo College campus at a date and time to be determined.
K Professor and Students Publish Encouraging Science on the Search for a Useful Bio-Indicator
Maintaining good human health depends in part on reliable markers. Think blood pressure in cardiovascular medicine or blood sugar and triglyceride levels in determining the effects of diet on metabolic disorders. Reliable markers are important for ecological health as well, which is why science seeks them. Associate Professor of Biology Ann Fraser and five Kalamazoo College undergraduates recently published peer-reviewed science (“Evaluating Multiple Arthropod Taxa as Indicators of Invertebrate Diversity in Old Fields,” The Great Lakes Entomologist, Vol. 45, Nos. 1 – 2) that advances efforts to find a manageable indicator of the effect invasive species have on biodiversity.
Like most good science, the journey was both years long and collaborative—as well as a great example of the kind of professor-student partnerships that make science education at K great—a matter of “more in four years.” The idea for the project began with some preliminary data gathered during a lab exercise in Fraser’s Organism Diversity class. That field work took place at the College’s Lillian Anderson Arboretum, where the class sought to test whether the invasive plant species known as spotted knapweed was affecting ground-dwelling invertebrates (mainly insects). Joe Waller ’06 followed up on the preliminary class data with a more in-depth study for his Senior Individualized Project. He used pitfall traps to collect invertebrates in areas with varying densities of knapweed but was soon overwhelmed with huge numbers and types of insects to sort through. He shifted the focus of his SIP to determine whether a certain insect or other arthropod species, such as spiders, might be a proxy or reliable marker for general invertebrate diversity. He spent most of his summer sorting through and classifying thousands of specimens. In late summer a second round of pitfall sampling was conducted and the project’s torch was passed to other undergraduates.
The sorting, identification, and matching of this second sample with the first sample were conducted by Alyssa Bradshaw ’08, David Hyman ’08, Michael Johnson ’06, and Rob Morrison ’06. “We were able to identify several insect groups as promising indicators of larger invertebrate diversity in old field habitat,” said Fraser. “More work across a greater number of field sites is needed to confirm their usefulness as bio-indicators, but this is an encouraging first step in finding manageable ways to assess the impact of invasive plant species on invertebrate diversity.”
Fraser cited the pivotal role of Morrison in bringing the project to completion and publication, earning him first author on the paper. Such studies are time-consuming but well suited to undergraduate research projects. The K grads continue their science education in various ways. “Rob Morrison is conducting his Ph.D. in applied entomology at Michigan State,” said Fraser. “Joe Waller, I believe, is in a physician assistant program at Michigan or MSU. Alyssa Brayshaw has been working as a research assistant in wildlife biology and is applying to graduate programs in that subject; David Hyman is in medical school at Loyola University in Chicago, and Michael Johnson will begin his Ph.D. in paleontology at the University of Wisconsin this fall. It’s very satisfying to see this collaborative project come to fruition with a peer reviewed publication.”
Kalamazoo College Has Banner Year for Career Development Opportunities
From Santa Monica, California, to Silver Spring, Maryland, from Kenya to the United Kingdom, Kalamazoo College student interns and externs are hard at work this summer, honing marketable skills, gaining experience, and building relationships with professionals in various fields. Through the Center for Career and Professional Development’s Discovery Externship and Field Experience Programs, 39 externs and 85 interns are trying on careers in fields as diverse as medical research, non-profit administration, and small-business management. Many are hosted by the 48 K alumni who are serving this summer as supervisors and mentors. Many are supported financially by endowed career development funding put in place by generous donors over the years. Externs work and live with alumni hosts for one to four weeks, and interns spend at least six weeks in a supervised workplace setting. This summer the CCPD is partnering again with the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning to support the latter’s Community Building Interns, at work in Kalamazoo area nonprofit organizations. CCPD also collaborates with the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, whose interns are work at social justice advocacy organizations from Detroit to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. CCPD provides pre-departure orientations, learning contracts, opportunities for regular structured reflection, and feedback and evaluation processes for both student and supervisor. One externship host, Heidi Gregori-Gahan ’76, described her summer experience: “The 2-week program was intense in terms of my focus and the time spent with [my extern] during the evenings and on weekends. We had many meals together, went to a play, toured a couple of historic sites, went to a concert, and more. I think the host needs to be prepared to devote a lot of time and energy to ensuring the success of the program, and I enjoyed every moment of it. It was so nice to be able to share a part of the profession I love (international education) with an aspiring young professional–but also to know that I was giving back to the college which has meant so much in my life, both personally and professionally.”
K Art Professor Cited in Exhibition Review
Sarah Lindley, Art, was one of several featured artists who participated in an exhibition titled “Acts of Recognition.” The exhibition took place at Kendall College, and according to a recent review comprised “an offering of small and heroic acts of grace that perpetuate self-reflection.” The title of Lindley’s piece is “Abandon.” The critic lauded the work, writing that it “captures the simultaneous presence and absence of landmarks that punctuate [the artist’s] daily commute. …By refusing to ground the work, Lindley transports the forms into the realm of the imagined. By doing so, factories once central to the region’s economy become susceptible to memory’s permeability.” The entire review of the show appears in the online publication H.A.C.K.
Kalamazoo Religion Professor Quoted in NY Times Article on Mormonism
Assistant Professor of Religion Taylor Petrey is among and growing national cadre of scholars of Mormonism. He is the author of a much discussed recent article, “Toward a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology,” published in Dialogue, an independent Mormon journal, and on July 2 he was quoted in “The Mormon Lens on American History,” an article published in the New York Times.
English Professor’s Witch Piece Accepted–Story or Fable?
Gail Griffin, English, writes, “I guess I’m a fiction writer now.” Her piece, “Four or Five Witches,” will be published in the October 1 issue of Phantom Drift: A Journal of New Fabulism. The October issue will be the second for the new journal and is “dedicated to developing an understanding of and appreciation for fabulist literature.” When she wrote the piece, Griffin was thinking more in terms of fable or myth and less so in terms of fiction per se. The four movements in the piece seem to belie the “or Five” in the title, but Griffin explains that those two words are “meant to be just flamingly ambiguous. The witch in the ’Red’ piece is mostly the Snow White witch but has a little of the Wicked Witch of the West about her. And in number 4, she’s both the Hansel-and-Gretel witch and the Blair Witch. I just thought I’d let the title reflect how the witch figures morph into each other.” Check out the entire story (or fable) come October!