Category: Faculty & Staff

The Magnificent Five

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Five women representing Kalamazoo College
(Left to right) Regina Stevens-Truss, Lindsey Gaston, Sandrine Zilikana, Laura Lowe Furge, and Mara Livezey

Majors Sandrine Zilikana ’12 and Mara Livezey ’13 and biology major Lindsey Gaston ’12  joined chemistry department faculty members Regina Stevens-Truss and Laura Lowe Furge at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Meeting in San Diego in late April. The students presented results of their summer research experiences (part of the Senior Individualized Projects for Sandrine and Lindsey) as part of both the Annual Undergraduate Poster Competition and the regular scientific sessions of the meeting.

More than 200 students from schools across the country were part of the undergraduate poster competition.  Zilikana’s research measured differences in reducing the potential of cancer cell types to affect drug delivery. She conducted this scientific work at the University of Michigan with Professor Kyung-Dall Lee.  Gaston’s showed that a specific hormone prevented nerve cell death after brain injury. Her research, conducted with Professor Vishal Bansal at the University of California-San Diego, will be included in a manuscript just accepted to the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology. Livezey presented the results of a study she has worked on for the past two years in Furge’s lab modeling the interactions of inhibitors with human cytochrome P450 enzymes. That study was recently published in Drug Metabolism Letters. While in San Diego, Stevens-Truss directed a teaching workshop for middle school and high school science teachers in the San Diego area. Her innovation in development of the workshop has drawn increasing numbers of teachers to the workshop and provided a new platform for scientists to collaborate with and mentor the nation’s secondary school science teachers.

The workshop was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Next year’s meeting will be in Boston, and Stevens-Truss and Furge plan to attend with another group of students. Stevens-Truss will also lead another teaching workshop there.

Interference Implications

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Kalamazoo College student at a conference in San Diego
Mara Livezey discussing the work with other scientists in San Diego.

The peer-reviewed publication Drug Metabolism Letters has accepted for publication the manuscript “Molecular Analysis and Modeling of Inactivation of Human CYP2D6 by Four Mechanism Based Inactivators.”

In addition to Associate Professor of Chemistry Laura Furge, the senior and corresponding author, the manuscript has six student co-authors: Mara Livezey ’13, Leslie Nagy ’09, Laura Diffenderfer ’11,Evan Arthur ’09, David Hsi ’10, and Jeffery Holton ’13.

Their work described in this paper contributes to the understanding of how some drugs can halt the activity of an enzyme. In this case, the enzyme studied is one that is important for the body’s processing of about 20 percent of medicines, particularly treatments for arrhythmia and other heart diseases, depression, and other maladies. Such understanding is vital because many people’s health depends on daily regimens of multiple medicines. Sometimes one drug can interfere with the very enzymes responsible for the processing and clearance of other co-administered drugs. This and other unwanted side effects are the number one cause of hospitalization in America.

The paper’s contribution to the understanding of how certain classes of drugs cause this interference with key enzymes will hopefully lead to more effective prevention of the phenomenon in the future.

The K research was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and by the Department of Chemistry Hutchcroft Fund. The latter was established by a gift from alumni Alan ’63 and Elaine (Goff) Hutchcroft ’63.

The final version of the study was presented at the San Diego meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Kalama-Raptors

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It’s no surprise that Associate Professor of Economics Chuck Stull, like most of his faculty colleagues, has a wide-ranging liberal arts-ish curiosity and sense of wonder. His biology and ornithology interests were piqued recently by a successful Red-Tailed Hawk predation of a Quad squirrel, which Stull managed to capture on camera.

In late December, the Kalamazoo Gazette carried an article about a Snowy Owl taking residence at the Battle Creek/Kalamazoo International Airport. Turns out, this year is an irruption of Snowy Owls, one of the largest on record. Often, Snowy Owls will take up residence near airports, which remind them of their tundra hunting grounds. The owl at the Kalamazoo airport died, most likely of starvation. Such an occurrence is sad, but not surprising. Up to 70 percent of the raptor offspring perish during their first winter—many from starvation. The hawk Professor Stull photographed may have better luck if he or she keeps in mind the campus’ squirrel-stocked Quad.

Former “K” Director of Spanish Language and Culture Studies Passes Away

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Carmen Pérez Romero
Carmen Pérez Romero

Carmen Pérez Romero died on May 17, 2012. She was English professor for the Colegio Universitario de Cáceres, which was the seed of today’s Universidad de Extremadura. Romero helped establish the university’s first international programs in the 1980s, which brought students from several different North American universities to the classrooms of the Universidad de Extremadura.

Kalamazoo College signed an agreement with the University in 1992, creating a program of Spanish language and culture studies that was directed by Romero until her retirement in 2002.  She devoted herself to books, articles and conferences on English literature, and North American literature, and she was a pioneer in the Spanish university system on comparative literature.

She was also a writer and translator. Her passion for poetry and her love for knowledge inspired many students. Her dedication to her students, her intellectual and personal honesty, and her integrity made her an exceptional human being. She will be greatly missed by the College and the many Kalamazoo students who studied in Cáceres.

Charles H. “Chuck” Ludlow Dies at 89

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Chuck Ludlow
Chuck Ludlow

Charles H. “Chuck” Ludlow, a former member of the Kalamazoo College board of trustees, has died at age 89. An article in the May 12 edition of the Kalamazoo Gazette traced his long and distinguished career as a business and civic leader. Chuck Ludlow was a College trustee in the late 1960s and was the father of Gregory Ludlow ’74.

Jamie Grant Co-Authors Gender Article in LGBTQ Policy Journal

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Jaime Grant, executive director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, has coauthored an op/ed in the May 15 Huffington Post that describes “A Gender Not Listed Here: Genderqueers, Gender Rebels, and OtherWise,” an article she and her coauthors recently published in the Harvard Kennedy School’s LGBTQ Policy Journal.

Grant and coauthors Jack Harrison and Jody L. Herman present new research focused specifically on genderqueer people and describes the risks and resiliencies of those who identify outside the male/female gender binary. Their Policy Journal article shows that genderqueer people have unique demographic characteristics and experiences of discrimination and violence when compared to transgender people who identify as “male” or “female.”

Professor Dorrien Delivers Speech on Economics, Ethics, and Democracy

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Professor Emeritus of Economics Phil Thomas enjoys his retirement in Northport, Michigan. He also keeps Kalamazoo College informed of events that may be of interest to K alumni in northern Michigan. One such event is Northport Trinity Church’s eighth annual Peace Lecture, which this year features former Kalamazoo College Professor of Religion Gary Dorrien (who currently teaches at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University).

Dorrien will speak on Saturday evening, June 2, at 7 PM, and on Sunday morning, June 3, at 11 AM. The theme of his talks will be “Economic Crisis, Social Ethics, and Economic Democracy.” Dorrien is the author of 14 books and some 250 articles that range across the fields of ethics, social theory, theology, philosophy, politics, and history.

Tan Earns Lucasse Lectureship

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Kalamazoo College Psychology Professor Siu-Lan Tan holds her book in front of a blackboard
Photo Credit: Rachel Leider ’15

By Rachel Leider ’15

Siu-Lan Tan, associate professor of psychology, has earned Kalamazoo College’s highest annual honor for classroom teaching, the Florence J. Lucasse Lectureship for Excellence in Teaching.

The “Lucasse,” was established in 1979 in honor of Florence J. Lucasse, Class of 1910, in response to the major unrestricted endowment gift she bequeathed to the College in her will. In addition to the Lectureship, a Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship is also awarded. Andrew Mozina, associate professor of English, holds the current Lucasse Fellowship.

Tan was taken aback by her award: “I think the world of my colleagues and students, and knowing that they nominated and supported me for this was overwhelming. I immediately teared up, as I felt it deeply.”

President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran expressed her admiration for Tan as she presented the award during the fall quarter all-campus gathering in Dalton Theatre on Sept. 20. “Professor Tan often extends students’ experiences beyond the classroom, and these service-learning experiences transform their learning, making concepts that may have once seemed dissonant in class become consonant in practice.”

Born in Indonesia, Tan grew up in Hong Kong where she taught music. After moving to California, she earned a B.A. degree in music at Pacific Union College and taught music for several years. Later, she became interested in psychology and earned both Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in psychology at Georgetown University.

Teaching at Kalamazoo College since 1998, Tan offers courses in developmental psychology, creativity, and the psychology of music. In 2010, she co-authored the textbook The Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance.

Per Lucasse tradition, Tan will speak to students, faculty, staff, and quests about her work at a spring 2012 lecture.

Congratulations, Dr. Tan!

Science Grant Benefits Breast Cancer Research

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Professor Furchak at Dow with four chemistry majors
Professor Furchak in the Dow Science Building with Kalamazoo chemistry majors (l-r) Vinay Sharma ’12, Lydia Manger ’13, Eric Glanz ’13, and Amy Ong ’11

Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Assistant Professor of Chemistry Jennifer R. Furchak has received a 2011 Cottrell College Science Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. She will use the $35,000 award to further her work into the development of a multiplexed assay for the analysis of breast cancer metastasis.

“The potential impact of this work in detection and understanding of breast cancer metastasis lies in improvements in simplicity, accuracy, and speed over current methods, which could allow for improved patient treatment and prognoses,” she said. “Ultimately, additional sample throughput will result in better understanding of disease progression.”

According to Furchak, five student researchers at “K” have worked on this project thus far. It’s been the foundation for three completed Senior Independent Projects, and another is in progress this summer. Furchak’s grant is one of 48 Cottrell grants this year totaling $1.8 million and intended to support early career scientists at liberal arts colleges and primarily undergraduate universities.

Undergraduate students must be involved in the research in meaningful ways. Founded in 1912, Research Corporation for Science Advancement is the second-oldest foundation in the United States and the oldest foundation for science advancement.

Writer-in-Residence Diane Seuss Receives Accolades for Outstanding Poetry

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Kalamazoo College’s Writer-in-Residence Diane Seuss ’78 continues to receive accolades for her outstanding work in the world of poetry. A sample of a few recent honors follow–honors that help put Kalamazoo College, on Di’s coattails, on the literary map!

First, she will be teaching the “Advanced Seminar,” with poets Patrick Donnelly and Reginald Dwayne Betts, at the Frost Place this summer, located at Robert Frost’s homestead in Franconia, New Hampshire. In the fall, she has been invited to be the McLean Distinguished Visiting Writer at Colorado College.  That position has been held by many distinguished writers, including Ghanaian poet and cultural activist Kofi Anyidoho, feminist film theorist Tania Modelski, Canadian novelist Nino Ricci, and Irish poet Eamon Grennan.

At Colorado College, Di will be teaching the Advanced Seminar in Poetry. In addition, Di was named the winner of the Summer Literary Seminars contest in poetry because of three of her poems, which will appear in Black Warrior Review later in the year.  The contest winner also receives airfare, tuition, and housing for one of the Summer Literary Seminars in Lithuania or Kenya.  Di will go to Kenya. And, most recently, Di learned that her poem “Either everything is sexual, or nothing is. Take this flock of poppies,” has been selected for reprint in Pushcart Prize XXXVII: Best of the Small Presses. The Pushcart Prize honors the best poetry, short fiction, and short nonfiction published in literary magazines in the previous year.

Congratulations, Di!