Caelan Frazier ’23 (left) and Shay Brown ’23 (right) took Bippy to the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) Conference in Orlando, Florida. They posed here with Merck Senior Scientist Dr. Devin J. Swiner.
Brown ’23 receives some help from Bippy in making her poster presentation.
Frazier, Brown and University of California Irvine Graduate Research Assistant Alissa Matus pose with Bippy at the NOBCChE Conference in Orlando, Florida.
His name is Bippy and he’s the Squishmallow that’s making Kalamazoo College famous.
Squishmallows are soft, squishy, cuddly stuffed animals that come in a variety of colors and sizes, and their popularity has grown exponentially over the past year or so. The K Hornet versions of the plushies—available at the College’s bookstore—are round and orange with thin, black arms; antennae; beady eyes; a friendly smile and a K on their belly.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo, known affectionately to her students as Dr. DAR with her lab students called DARlings, uses a K version named Bippy as her lab’s mascot. He’s helping K gain recognition and students gain opportunities in their field.
“I bought it right away last summer when the Bookstore restocked them because I thought it was the cutest thing,” Arias-Rotondo said. “I thought it would be fun to take him places and he made his debut at the fall ACS (American Chemical Society) conference in Chicago last year. I tweeted beforehand that I was going to have this little guy with me, and I asked, ‘Who else is going to be at the conference?’ It was really fun because a lot of people were excited about it.”
Arias-Rotondo’s lab develops molecules that absorb energy from light while transforming that energy into electricity. Bippy gets his name from 2,2’-bipyridine, which is a key part of [Ru(bpy)3]2+, a ruthenium compound nicknamed “Rubpy.” Ruthenium is a rare and expensive metal.
Rubpy “is a molecule that has been key in the development of photophysics and photocatalysis because it works so well,” Arias-Rotondo said. “One of the problems with it is that it’s very expensive, so we keep trying to find alternatives that are cheaper, greener and more Earth friendly. Yet we use it for now, so Bippy’s name is a nod to a molecule that has had a huge impact on my career and on the field.”
In the meantime, Arias-Rotondo’s reach on Twitter has allowed chemists from all over the world to see Bippy’s pictures and learn about Arias-Rotondo’s and her students’ accomplishments.
“It’s a way for me to say on Twitter, ‘You know me and these are my students,’” Arias-Rotondo said. “I can invite others to go talk to them even if they’re at a conference when I’m not. It’s definitely generating visibility, and if it generates visibility for me and the College, it benefits my students, too, because at the end of the day, they are the ones who need the most opportunities.”
Last winter, Arias-Rotondo wanted Caelan Frazier ’23 and Shay Brown ’23 to take Bippy to the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) Conference in Orlando, Florida. Frazier, a Kalamazoo native, plans to attend graduate school at the University of Michigan and he credits K for preparing him for that with benefits such as small class sizes in a supportive environment and a study abroad experience in Northern Ireland.
Shay Brown ’23 (from left), Crystal Mendoza ’23, Lindsey Baker ’24, Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo, Maxwell Rhames ’25 and Caelan Frazier ’23 pose with Bippy at the American Chemical Society Conference in Indianapolis.
Bippy, however, Frazier was unsure of—at least at first.
“At the time I thought, ‘I don’t really know why you want me to take him, but I’m going to trust you on this one,’” he said.
Any remaining skepticism melted away when reputable scientists approached Frazier’s and Brown’s poster presentations to learn about their work, and of course, meet Bippy.
“He ended up being very helpful,” Frazier said. “We sat at a table with a few of the people that Dr. DAR told us to talk to, and immediately three of them said, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s Bippy from Twitter! I know who you guys are.’ It was an incredible conversation starter.”
Since then, Frazier, Brown, Lindsey Baker ’24, Crystal Mendoza ’23 and Maxwell Rhames ’25 have attended the spring ACS conference in Indianapolis with Bippy to similar fanfare for the cuddly plushy, not to mention their work.
Frazier poses with Bippy at his poster presentation.
Abby Barnum ’23 poses with Bippy during a recent conference.
“Obviously, Bippy doesn’t directly influence the work that we do, but he very much helps us look forward to presenting it,” Frazier said. “He has shown me that when you go to these conferences and you’re meeting some of the biggest names in science from around the world, they’re still people. And when they see this stuffed animal you’re carrying around, 90% of them are going, ‘Oh, that’s cute. I wonder what that’s about’ and ‘I want to learn more about that.’ I think it’s really important to have that comfort.”
And as beneficial as Bippy is now for her students, Arias-Rotondo hopes his influence will continue in the years ahead.
“We could just have a unicorn or a random stuffed animal, but institutional visibility is important, so the addition of the brand right on Bippy helps a lot,” she said. “I want other students to also get those opportunities and I want people to say, ‘Oh, Kalamazoo College. They put out good chemistry students.’”
Professor of Chemistry Jeff Bartz receives the Lux Esto Award from Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez.
Associate Professor of Anthropology Espelencia Baptiste receives the Outstanding Academic Advisor award from Kalamazoo College President during Founders Day.
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Laboratory Instructor Yit-Yian Lua receives the First-Year Advocate Award from President Jorge G. Gonzalez
Professor of Chemistry Jeff Bartz is this year’s recipient of the Lux Esto Award of Excellence. The award—announced Friday to celebrate Founders Day, marking the College’s 190th year—recognizes an employee who has served the institution for at least 26 years and has a record of stewardship and innovation.
The recipient—chosen by a committee with student, faculty and staff representatives—is an employee who exemplifies the spirit of K through excellent leadership, selfless dedication and goodwill.
Bartz joined the K chemistry department as an assistant professor in 1997 and became a full professor in 2011. He earned the 2020 Florence J. Lucasse Lectureship for Excellence in Teaching and currently teaches courses on chemical composition and structure, chemical reactivity and physical chemistry. His research group works in chemical dynamics, focusing on photochemistry.
Bartz “has always been dedicated to our campus community while thinking about how to make things better for everyone,” President Jorge G. Gonzalez said. “He’s a quiet, unassuming champion of K from supporting students in their academic and non-academic endeavors to supporting the faculty by helping them find creative solutions and supporting the work of offices outside his own department.”
In accordance with Founders Day traditions, two other employees received individual awards. Associate Professor of Anthropology Espelencia Baptiste was given the Outstanding Advisor Award and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Laboratory Instructor Yit-Yian Lua received the First-Year Advocate Award.
Baptiste teaches courses such as Communities and Schools; the Materiality of Money; Language, Culture and Society; and Immigrants and Exiles. Her research interests include the anthropology of education, ethnicity and nationalism, language and culture, and creole societies.
By leading last fall’s course titled Lest We Forget: Memory and Identity in the African Diaspora in New Orleans, she also has played a critical role in the College implementing coursework through a major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. That grant has provided new learning opportunities for students and faculty seeking solutions to societal problems while promoting the critical role of the humanities in social justice work.
Sophia Merchant ’25 performs a song from the upcoming Festival Playhouse Production of “Next to Normal.”
Isabella Pellegrom ’25, a singer and songwriter with her own album titled “Nomadic Tendencies,” performs during Founders Day festivities.
“Advisors are mentors who work closely with our students, pay attention to their academic progress and help them identify and fulfill their goals while working toward completing their degrees,” Gonzalez said. “As evidenced by the nominations for her, (Baptiste) has accomplished all of these things and more.”
Lua has led labs in Composition and Structure along with Chemical Reactivity, leading her to influence of first-year students at a time they need it most.
A sophomore’s nomination of Lua noted that she has always surpassed the standard levels of grace and patience with her students, Gonzalez said. She also has a unique ability to connect personally with everyone.
“Faculty in her department noted that (Lua) teaches approximately 130 students every year,” Gonzalez said. “She interacts closely with all students in labs and provides any support that they might need. She has touched the lives of so many students at K right at the beginning of their time at the College.”
Milan Levy ’23 introduces Gonzalez during Founders Day festivities.
Kalamazoo College music ensembles are widely known for conducting performances all over the world, yet a recent appearance provided a first-of-its-kind venue for the Kalamazoo College Singers.
On March 2, the 30-student group had the opportunity to perform at the Ionia Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan, about 78 miles northeast of campus—an opportunity that College Singers Director and Assistant Professor of Music Chris Ludwa says he had been pursing for nearly 15 years.
“It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to engage in music in prisons,” Ludwa said. “It’s very easy when you’re in the academy to spend all your time focused on the academy, and I feel called to bring music to this particular population. It doesn’t make sense to me that when somebody gets locked up, we take away from them the things that may in fact provide the greatest sense of peace, serenity or calm. This is a world with so many inequities. We need to balance the opportunities that we’re providing for people of means, with those who are—for whatever reason—not able to access or experience live musical performances. Everybody’s soul hungers for it.”
Plans for the event at the prison developed as the College Singers have sought more performances in the community in recent years. Ionia Correctional Facility Chaplain Casey Cheney was thrilled to welcome the group when Ludwa reached out.
When March 2 came and the bus departed, Ludwa talked with the College Singers on the ride to Ionia about their expectations for the visit and who they might see.
“I asked the students if they have ever broken the law or broken any rules and not been caught,” he said. “Every hand went up, underscoring that most of us have a lot of preconceived notions about who’s in the prison system. We assume that we know more than we do about people who are imprisoned, but in a country whose justice system favors one population over another, that is an assumption that only furthers the systemic issues we see around us.”
Upon arriving in Ionia, the group spent about an hour going through security. “The guards did everything from checking what was on our person to taking our socks off and running scans on the bottom of our feet to make sure we weren’t bringing in any contraband,” Ludwa said. “They were checking our keyboards. Some of the students had their mouths swabbed.”
As they proceeded further into the prison complex and walked across the yard, they found themselves surrounded by razor wire, and they caught a rare glimpse of life inside the facility.
“You see these guys in the library and in the lunchroom, dressed in their blue uniforms,” Ludwa said. “But when you get into the performance hall, they’re an audience like any other. In the performance hall, there are no labels. There’s no ‘them’ or ‘us.’ You’re just all experiencing music together.”
Prison officials had taped off seats in the auditorium, putting at least 50 feet between the inmates and the College Singers. The singers stayed onstage for most of the performance until they decided to come offstage to perform a gospel piece led by Tyrus Parnell ’25, followed by the spiritual Down by the Riverside as a finale.
“When we joined them, they engaged in a different way,” Ludwa said. “It’s like we tore down this wall, literally and figuratively. When Tyrus performed, one of the inmates spontaneously got up and started applauding spontaneously. He was so encouraging of what Tyrus had done.” Then came a post-performance Q-and-A that Ludwa described as amazing.
The College Singers have performed at a variety of sites around the country including churches and concert halls.
College Singers Director and Assistant Professor of Music Chris Ludwa has made it a goal to perform at more sites in the community.
The College Singers performed March 2 at the Ionia Correctional Facility.
“They asked the same kinds of questions we get whenever we go on tour,” he said. “Whether we’re at a wealthy, predominantly white church in the middle of a city or a prison in a rural area like Ionia, the questions show us that music is universal.”
After the performance, Chaplain Cheney reached out to Ludwa to thank the group for coming: “Our men have experienced so much violence, so much trauma. They lack so many things we take for granted and the live musical performance reminds them what a beautiful place this world can be and is.”
In hindsight, College Singers representatives such as Keegan Sweeney ’24 said K professors engage in conversations around social justice, equity, the prison industrial complex and injustices in society, so it’s important that the College offers ways to engage with it.
“I appreciated the opportunity to see a part of American life that few college students our age experience,” Sweeney said. “Walking out of the auditorium, many of us were already reflecting on our experience. As we passed the window of the prison law library—several people sat inside, their noses in textbooks. Next to the window was a classroom with a group, deep in conversation.”
“I was reminded of the injustices endemic to our system and the stark comparison of the classroom and law library to our campus dorm rooms and K classrooms—where we discuss the same system, but rarely ever see it for ourselves. At the same time, I think the classroom and library humanized incarcerated people, those who only show up in statistics to many of us.”
Jacob McKinney ’26 said, “I wish we could have talked more to the people who came and watched because I felt like we connected with them when we were offstage. I could see some of them smiling and clapping along to Down by the Riverside and it brought a great amount of emotion to me. It was a really special experience.”
Ludwa said, “For me, it was the quintessential education experience that is a part of the K-Plan, where we plan what we’re going to learn about in the classroom, and then we experience it ourselves because the firsthand learning is so much more influential. It helps take something from theoretical to practical. Once the students do that, they have a better sense of the human toll these systems of injustice cause.”
Ludwa added that the trip scratched the surface of his dream, and from an emotional standpoint, it far exceeded his expectations of what he hoped the both the inmates and the students would get from the experience.
“Perhaps we go back in and do a workshop on singing. Then eventually it becomes a regular performance venue. The key is to build relationships.” The challenge is finding funding, as the trips carry an expense with them, and it’s important to avoid that expense being something that further underscores the inequities amongst students in terms of financial means.
Sweeney said, “We came to sing, but I think we left having learned something that you cannot teach in a classroom. I cannot speak for everyone, but I know that I got a dose of reality that day. As our bus pulled out of the parking lot, leaving to come back to campus, I was reminded to live each day with more intention and not to take privileges for granted.”
Help College Singers Fund Experiences Like Prison Concert
If you would like to support additional brighter experiences for K’s College Singers, please make a gift online and indicate “College Singers” in the gift instructions field.
Kalamazoo College is known for providing academic experiences that can lead to real-world jobs. Take the example of Steph Guyor ’22.
Guyor’s senior seminar, led by Associate Professor of English Ryan Fong, tackled the concept of restorative or transformative justice, a newer community-based practice that helps society do more than hold law breakers accountable in a criminal justice system. Instead, restorative justice also addresses the dehumanization an offender typically experiences with their punishment, offering basic services along with pathways for making amends to victims and the community, reducing the likelihood for recidivism.
“Within the U.S., justice is traditionally focused on the offender and the crime they committed,” Guyor said. “The punishments are seen as deserved. Yet by focusing on the punishment, the factors that led to the harm being committed often go unexamined, and the needs of the person who’s harmed remain unmet. Viewing punishment as the only appropriate response around accountability ends up taking the form of shame and isolation, which furthers the relational divide and deters people from changing their harmful behaviors. Restorative and transformative justice work to reorient accountability away from punishments and toward meaningful consequences that allow connections to be restored and relational dynamics to be restored.”
Guyor, who double majored in psychology and women and gender studies (WGS), was intrigued by these concepts and said Fong’s class was enjoyable because it allowed her to see justice in a different way. Then came an opportunity to connect those studies to a job, when she heard Ministry with Community in Kalamazoo was hiring a restorative justice coordinator. The nonprofit organization is a secular, daytime shelter and resource center open 365 days a year that helps local residents address homelessness, poverty, substance abuse and other crises.
“I saw the posting and thought it could be an opportunity to make change locally in Kalamazoo in a way that’s influenced by getting to know people,” Guyor said. “I knew I wanted to try to find a way to integrate the psychological understanding of why people do what they do with a socially informed understanding of how social circumstances influence it.”
And today, Guyor relishes her job, which involves learning more about the restorative justice practices in place around the country while collecting data to determine what she can do to solve problems in Kalamazoo. Hopefully, that will lead to a new yet well-rounded restorative justice program at Ministry with Community that reduces the likelihood of repeat offenses.
“It comes with a lot of responsibility that a big part of me was afraid to take on given the idea that I did just graduate,” she said. “But it’s also a unique opportunity that I’m excited to have. I think the goal will be a culture shift within the organization so there will be fewer incidents with fewer people breaking community expectations, and more trust between the members, and between members and staff.”
Guyor said a common misconception about restorative or transformative justice is that it’s soft on offenders—that it lets people off the hook and fails to follow through on a punishment. She cautions against that idea.
“In reality, facing the people who you hurt and holding the space for them to explain their hurt is a lot harder,” Guyor said. “Restorative justice is about having high expectations for people along with a lot of support. It makes sure we’re holding people accountable to the changes they work toward, but not in a way that revolves around shame. In punitive settings, you’re doing things to people. In permissive settings, you’re doing things for people. But restorative justice is more about working with people to make change.”
Fong said he’s likely to continue teaching about restorative and transformative justice at K.
“So many students, especially WGS students, are interested in social justice and activism, but don’t always know what it looks like in practice beyond demonstrations and non-profit work,” he said. “In the wake of the 2020 protests and calls to defund the police, I saw many students wondering what that demand meant. Doing a deep dive into restorative and transformative justice was one way to understand how abolitionist organizers were working in concrete ways to build new systems and structures that address and eliminate violence.”
He’s also incredibly proud of Guyor and honored that he played a role in helping her find her career path.
“I hope she keeps drawing on the skills and knowledge she gained at K and as a WGS student to continue on it for the rest of her life,” Fong said. “That’s really my hope for all our WGS students: that they find meaningful ways to put their education into action.”
Donations Fund Restorative Justice Programs
Ministry with Community, a nonprofit organization, accepts donations for the restorative justice programs being built by K alumna Stephanie Guyor ’22. To donate directly to restorative justice efforts, visit the organization’s website.
Steph Guyor ’22 took classroom experiences with restorative justice and transformed them into a career at Ministry with Community in Kalamazoo.
Guyor, who double majored in psychology and women and gender studies at K, now works as the restorative justice coordinator at Ministry with Community in Kalamazoo.
Three Kalamazoo College faculty members from the music, German studies and French studies departments have been awarded tenure along with a promotion to associate professor.
The tenure milestone recognizes excellence in teaching, scholarship and service to the College, and signifies its confidence in the contributions these faculty will make throughout their careers. The Board of Trustees-approved tenure recipients are:
Assistant Professor of Music Chris Ludwa
Ludwa is the director of the College Singers, the Lux Esto Chamber Choir and the Kalamazoo Bach Festival at K, where he is an advocate for a variety of singing methods including contemporary a cappella, musical theatre, opera, oratorio and pop music, especially those connected with justice and equity.
In 2020, Ludwa collaborated with Everett McCorvey, a fellow voice professor from the University of Kentucky; and Rhea Olivaccé, a soprano soloist with an international career and a professor of voice at Western Michigan University; to create Awake! Arise!, a musical dialogue about the lived Black experience, in contrast to what it is perceived to be. The work was a challenge to audiences to acknowledge injustice and change the world, which featured music from Johann Sebastian Bach’s 300-year-old cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, and the words of Black artists, activists and authors such as Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Amanda Gorman and Valyn Turner.
Ludwa previously worked in professional music roles for employers such as the Federated Church of Cleveland, Cuyahoga Community College, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Leonard Bernstein-inspired Artful Learning School Reform Model at the GRAMMY Foundation and the International School of Indiana. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education, a Master of Music and a DMA in Conducting and Leadership Studies from Indiana University.
Assistant Professor of Music Chris Ludwa, seen here directing the College Singers, is one of three faculty members to earn tenure this year.
Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Assistant Professor of German Studies Kathryn Sederberg
Sederberg teaches beginning, intermediate and advanced German as well as Contemporary German Culture and senior seminars on varying topics.
In 2021, Sederberg received a national honor, the Goethe‐Institut/American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) Certificate of Merit, for her achievements in furthering the teaching of German in the U.S. through creative activities, innovative curriculum, successful course design and significant contributions to the profession. She was just one of five educators between high schools and colleges from around the country to earn the honor.
In 2022, Sederberg spent a month at the University of London in its Institute of Modern Languages, conducting research through a Miller Fellowship in Exile Studies. In that research, she sifted through thousands of passages from the diaries of Jewish people who migrated away from Nazi territories in the 1930s and 40s. The experience led her to create a sophomore seminar offered this winter, Bearing Witness: Holocaust Literature and Testimony.
Sederberg holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Assistant Professor of German Studies Kathryn Sederberg is one of three tenure recipients this year at K.
Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies Aurélie Chatton
Chatton pursues teaching and interests in the poetics of globalization inspired by the philosophical concepts of Martinican thinker Edouard Glissant. Her research explores 20th and 21st century theatre and performance as well as the history and aesthetic of French cinema.
She has published articles on contemporary French and francophone artists in literature, cinema and theatre, including Wajdi Mouawad (2021), Aki Kaurismäki (2022) and Bernard-Marie Koltès. She is currently working on a book project in which she shows the shared thinking among a number of interdisciplinary and contemporary artists and the philosophy of Edouard Glissant.
At K, Chatton also designed the first Languages Film Festival, taking place each year.
Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies Aurélie Chatton is one of three tenure recipients this year at K.
Before coming to K, Chatton taught at Columbia University and New York University, where she developed a variety of classes from elementary language courses to upper-level literature and culture courses.
Chatton received her Ph.D. from the Department of French Literature, Thought and Culture at NYU. She received a teaching certificate from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Teaching program at NYU in 2010 and a Blended Learning Award from Columbia in 2015.
A major grant awarded to Kalamazoo College helped 17 students begin experiencing a new dimension of hands-on learning in their humanities coursework through a visit to New Orleans over winter break.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation granted $1.297 million in January 2022 to provide new learning opportunities through the College’s Humanities Integrated Locational Learning (HILL) project. HILL builds student coursework rooted in the College’s commitment to experiential learning and social justice to address issues such as racism, economic inequities and homelessness, while examining history, how humans share land, and the dislocations that bring people to a communal space.
Within HILL, there are multiple academic departments represented with clusters of classes that emphasize collaborative learning within the humanities and humanistic social sciences:
The Beyond Kalamazoo course clusters focus on location or dislocation and emphasize place-based learning through an integrated travel component in New Orleans, St. Louis or San Diego.
The Within Kalamazoo cluster, which emphasizes a theme relevant to location or dislocation, where faculty directly collaborate on coursework that engages directly with social issues in the Kalamazoo community.
The digital humanities hub, which publishes, archives and assesses outcomes in relation to course work and partnerships beyond and within Kalamazoo.
New Orleans was the first site on which the Beyond Kalamazoo cluster focused. In fall, courses consisted of Lest We Forget: Memory and Identity in the African Diaspora in New Orleans, taught by Associate Professor of Anthropology Espelencia Baptiste; Public Art and its Publics led by Professor of Art and Art History Christine Hahn; NOLA Divided: Race in the Big Easy, led by Associate Professor of English Shanna Salinas; and The World Through New Orleans, led by Associate Professor of Music Beau Bothwell. Each course operated independently with discipline-specific instruction.
Students interested in doing place-based research in New Orleans applied for the Beyond Kalamazoo cluster, which included six weeks of preparation, instruction on research methodologies in the humanities, the seven-day research trip, and post-trip research and writing. Those students were put into research groups formed by research interest and a distribution of one member from each of the cluster courses, so every group had at least one representative from each of the four cluster courses.
The students’ pre-trip collaboration—based on their knowledge from their respective courses within the departments of English, art history, anthropology-sociology and music—helped them create a collaborative research project that would emphasize location or dislocation, problem solving and social justice in New Orleans.
During a volunteer day, Jenna Paterob ’23 worked with her peers to create signs for Ms. Gloria’s Garden at People for Public Art in New Orleans.Community partners such as Lower Nine, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the long-term recovery of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina, Ida and Rita, and the levee breaches of 2005; and People for Public Art, an organization of artists that funds, creates and documents works of public art for the City of New Orleans to reflect the stories of the people, were significant contributors to the experiences Kalamazoo College humanities students had.“Throughout the day, I discovered that we were seeing different types of public art, allowing us to feel like we were a part of the community,” said Jenna Paterob ’23 of her humanities experience at People for Public Art in New Orleans.
Kalamazoo College students enrolled in Humanities Integrated Locational Learning classes this fall called their experience in New Orleans educational, eye-opening, fun and immersive.“There is a ton of history that none of us knew about before going there, even though we had all taken a class about the city,” said Josh Kuh ’23. “I thought it was valuable to have this structured opportunity that felt like doing more than observing for research.”During a volunteer day, Jenna Paterob ’23 worked with her peers to create signs for Ms. Gloria’s Garden at People for Public Art in New Orleans.
Their subjects of interest for the projects included the city’s theatre scene, public transportation and historical ties to slavery with each student connecting their social justice interests with each of a variety of community partners. Students were encouraged to use onsite and digital archives at the Historical New Orleans Collection for their projects when applicable.
The community partners included Lower Nine, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the long-term recovery of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina, Ida and Rita, and the levee breaches of 2005; and People for Public Art, an organization of artists that funds, creates and documents works of public art for the City of New Orleans to reflect the stories of the people. Students then worked with these partners during their on-site visit this winter.
Morgan Acord ’23, an English major with a passion for literature, found Salinas’ class to be fascinating because New Orleans has a literature culture all its own, she said. She appreciated that their trip also included cultural opportunities such as participating in a second-line parade, seeing the Oak Alley and Whitney plantations, and observing French and Spanish artifacts at the New Orleans Archive.
Yet for Acord, filling a need for social justice work through a nonprofit was the biggest benefit.
“We helped an 80-year-old woman and her husband who had been sleeping on an air mattress in their kitchen after Hurricane Ida,” Acord said. “They were living in a shotgun-style house and all of her belongings were in what I assumed was the living room. Overall, it showed how catastrophic those New Orleans hurricanes were. You see the footage on TV, but to see it firsthand and see how people live in houses still under repair is eye opening. It felt good on the surface to be able to help, but it was eye opening to know how privileged some of us are.”
Together, Acord and classmates including Josh Kuh ’23, an anthropology-sociology major from Seattle, tore a front wall out of the house that had been destroyed by termites, painted baseboards, and laid down flooring in what was to be the couple’s bedroom. Professor Mills along with Lower Nine representatives assisted in painting the ceiling and the dining room.
“There is a ton of history that none of us knew about before going there, even though we had all taken a class about the city,” Kuh said. “I thought it was valuable to have this structured opportunity that felt like doing more than observing for research. We provided a meaningful service to the organizations that we were working with. I think the biggest takeaways of mine involved seeing firsthand how extensive the hurricane damage was. I saw the disarray in this house and it hadn’t been fixed even though it had been almost 20 years since some of the damage happened.”
Jenna Paterob ’23, a business and psychology double major and art minor, took Professor Hahn’s class in fall because she often feels like she overlooks public art.
“Our experience in New Orleans was educational, eye-opening, fun and immersive,” she said. “It isn’t every day that we get to go into a new area of the country and interact with the community there. I feel like we were able to see bigger issues encapsulated in the city such as tourism, racism, white supremacy and classism. “I feel like when we stay in one place for a long period of time, we may become a little desensitized to the issues that surround us. Therefore, going to a new area, especially as someone who has never been out of the Midwest, was definitely an educational experience for me.”
Paterob had a social justice experience with People for Public Art in New Orleans. During the volunteer day, Paterob worked with her peers to create signs for Ms. Gloria’s Garden. The location offers opportunities for children to garden, cook, sew, make jewelry and music, and take yoga and meditation classes. The garden is managed by a nonprofit, Developing Young Entrepreneurs, which provides youths and young adults with entrepreneurial skills and a safe space for people to feel free to be themselves.
“When I first discovered that we were going to be making signs, I was confused about what that had to do with public art,” she said. “Throughout the day, I discovered that we were seeing different types of public art, allowing us to feel like we were a part of the community. Painting signs for plants in a garden may not be the first thing people think of when they think about public art, but we really did create some fun and beautiful pieces of art that communicate information and improve the garden. I liked that day because I was exposed to a whole new setting and sense of community. I also learned that the organization creates a bunch of impactful pieces, such as the memorial pieces they showed us. They took a tragic event that was minimized and silenced by certain people and allowed the community to come together to grieve. I learned a lot about New Orleans and how the residents interact with their community through learning about the public art there.”
Ally Noel ’24, an anthropology-sociology and English double major, had similar praise for her experience at People for Public Art.
“That day shifted my entire trajectory in terms of my research in New Orleans,” she said. “Going into New Orleans, I had this idea of what I thought I wanted to study but then after Monica (Kelly, representing People for Public Art) was telling the story of the lower mid-city and the inequities that exist there, I realized I wanted to do research on the closure of Charity Hospital after Hurricane Katrina hit. That was the day that everything clicked for me, and I realized, being in that space was important. A student can study a space from afar, but being there helps research in terms of learning and making meaning of the experience.”
Salinas is serving as the curriculum coordinator for integrated travel to New Orleans and a co-principal investigator for the HILL initiative as a whole.
“The primary vision of this initiative is collaboration, be that students sharing their knowledge with other members of their research group based on the cluster class they took, community partners holding space for students to learn about the work they do in New Orleans and the stakes of that work, and research groups working across disciplines in the humanities to develop a digital humanities research project that reflects both their academic knowledge and their experiences in the city,” Salinas said. “We asked students to commit to one eight-hour work day with two of our community partners. Students self-selected according to interest or research investment, frequently with research group members on different work sites. Afterward, students were able to come together and share those experiences with each other and discuss what they learned. It was these moments that enhanced their research and, ultimately, their collaborative projects. HILL’s curricular design relies on students being able to share their experiences, to talk to each other about what they learned, to root in in the type of instruction they received in their cluster classes, and to make those concrete connections back to things like community-building as a crucial element of the humanities.”
As they reflected on their experiences, the students praised the opportunity to go to New Orleans and said they would encourage their peers to seek HILL-focused, place-based learning classes as well.
Baptiste’s class, for example, set the table for students such as Maya Nathwani ’23, an anthropology-sociology and biology double major, to examine history away from campus when she missed a study abroad opportunity because of COVID-19. Lest We Forget: Memory and Identity in the African Diaspora in New Orleans provided Nathwani with a life-changing experience in her college years that she otherwise would’ve missed.
“The class emphasized understanding what history is and how it’s created and produced, along with who has the ability to share and pass on history, impacting how we remember the past,” Nathwani said. “Going to do research in a space where I’d never been was intimidating just because I’d never done it before. But I would encourage other students to try these classes, too, because the professors prepare you to be successful.”
L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business Management Amy MacMillan
Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College are embarking on an exciting new partnership that will allow students from both institutions to go outside the classroom to gain powerful experiences in leadership and business strategy by consulting with local companies on their business challenges.
Managed by Drs. Doug Lepisto and Derrick McIver, co-directors of Western’s Center for Principled Leadership and Business Strategy, and Amy MacMillan, L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business Management for Kalamazoo College, the project will ask students to collaborate through an immersive consulting experience at Sleeping Giant Capital’s downtown office.
The partnership taps into the existing leadership and business strategy practicum course at WMU, which Lepisto co-teaches at the WMU Haworth College of Business, and integrates elements from the strategic marketing management course that MacMillan co-teaches at Kalamazoo College.
Both courses are structured so students work for the entire semester on a business issue for a company, in the same way that a management consulting firm would, exploring all possibilities and conducting research to generate the best solutions for the business.
Now, the two schools have joined forces to take things to an even higher level. There will be a total of six teams, and each team will have two student leaders and a group of student analysts from both schools. At the conclusion of the project, students will be prepared to lead, excel in project-based work and create value for small- and medium-sized businesses.
Doug Lepisto ’04
The client this semester is construction and development firm AVB, which has asked students to look at growth strategies for its future. Students from Western and Kalamazoo College will work on teams in a competitive process throughout the spring 2023 semester, where faculty members will provide feedback and decide which strategies best address AVB’s business question. At the end of the semester, the top teams will present to company leadership with a cash prize of $5,000 to be awarded to the winning team.
Along the way, students will be mentored by executives, who are WMU alumni, from management consulting firms including McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company and others.
From the beginning
The idea for this partnership first formed as Lepisto was watching a WMU football game and gazed across campus to see the Kalamazoo College stadium with a Hornets’ game taking place at the same time. Lepisto, who is a graduate of Kalamazoo College, kept thinking about that parallel and began exploring the ways in which both institutions were similar: a focus on experiential learning, a commitment to the Kalamazoo community and a passion for social good in any industry or career.
“Kalamazoo is an education city,” Lepisto says. “By connecting WMU, Kalamazoo College, Sleeping Giant Capital and local businesses, our goal is to offer an unrivaled experience that is transformative and drives widespread benefit.”
Lepisto’s concept for the collaboration soon led him to MacMillan, and after lots of brainstorming together, they created the partnership that is being piloted this semester and likely expanded in the future.
“Experiential education has long been a defining feature of Kalamazoo College,” says MacMillan. “As educators, we constantly need to innovate these experiences to meet student needs. This unique collaboration with WMU and Sleeping Giant Capital provides real-world experience that builds leaders ready to hit the ground running when they graduate.”
Students will be participating in a docuseries, providing an insider’s view of the project and what they are learning from the process and each other. Follow the story on Instagram.
About Kalamazoo College
Kalamazoo College, founded in 1833, is a nationally recognized residential liberal arts and sciences college located in Kalamazoo. The creator of the K-Plan, Kalamazoo College provides an individualized education that integrates rigorous academics with life-changing experiential learning opportunities. For more information, visit kzoo.edu.
About Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University prepares students from around the globe for a life well lived. In an environment focused on well-being and holistic success, students thrive academically, emotionally and physically and go on to pursue their purpose, prosper in meaningful careers and make an impact on society. Founded in 1903, Western offers nearly 250 academic programs to nearly 18,000 students pursuing degrees through the doctoral level. The University’s focus on well-being supports holistic success, empowering students to craft a life of meaning and fulfillment. Nine of 10 Broncos get jobs quickly in their field in jobs they like. Learn more at wmich.edu.
Kalamazoo College’s faculty and staff are dedicated to developing the strengths of every student, preparing them for lifelong learning, career readiness, intercultural understanding, social responsibility and leadership. Here are their top news stories of 2022 as determined by your clicks.
Regina Stevens-Truss, Kalamazoo College’s Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is the recipient of the 2023 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Award for Exemplary Contributions to Education.
The ASBMB is a professional organization of science, one of the largest of its kind in the world.
Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Regina Stevens-Truss
Kalamazoo College Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students J. Malcolm Smith is an Aspen Institute inaugural Aspen Index Impact Fellow. The fellowship brings together more than 90 community stakeholders in a movement to advance the future of youth leadership development.
Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students J. Malcolm Smith
Newly unearthed diaries dating back at least 80 years are providing a fresh perspective on the Holocaust for Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Assistant Professor of German Studies Kathryn Sederberg.
Sederberg spent a month at the University of London in its Institute of Modern Languages Research. There, with the Miller Fellowship in Exile Studies, she sifted through thousands of passages from Jews who migrated away from Nazi territories in the 1930s and 40s.
Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Assistant Professor of German Studies Kathryn Sederberg
The number of K students with limited financial means taking advantage of a program that provides study abroad scholarships surged this fall thanks to Center for International Programs staff members including study abroad and international student adviser Asia Bennett.
Study abroad and international student adviser Asia Bennett
Two biology faculty members, a K student and an Oberlin College student from Kalamazoo helped a study published in the journal Science prove that humans are altering evolution. Professor of Biology Binney Girdler, Associate Professor of Biology Santiago Salinas, Ben Rivera ’18 and Otto Kailing contributed to the Global Urban Evolution Project (GLUE).
If you’ve ever asked yourself whether to “repair or replace,” a new book co-authored by Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies Péter Érdi is for you. Érdi and co-author Zsuzsa Szvetelszky have released Repair: When and How to Improve Broken Objects, Ourselves and Our Society.
Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies Péter Érdi
Two Kalamazoo College faculty members are examining whether national attempts at combined trade and environmental policies might help fight climate change.
Edward and Virginia Van Dalson Professor of Economics Patrik Hultberg
Assistant Professor of Economics Darshana Udayanganie
Three faculty members in history, sociology and physics have been awarded tenure, honoring their excellence in teaching, scholarship and service to K. The tenure milestone recognizes excellence in teaching, scholarship and service to the College, and signifies its confidence in the contributions these professors will make throughout their careers.
Christina Carroll, of the Department of History, earned tenure and a promotion to associate professor.
David Wilson, of the Department of Physics, earned tenure and a promotion to associate professor.
Francisco Villegas, of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, earned a promotion to associate professor.
A major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will provide new learning opportunities for Kalamazoo College students and faculty seeking solutions to societal problems.
Associate Professor of English Shanna Salinas
Arcus Social Justice Leadership Associate Professor of Sociology Francisco Villegas
Theatre Arts Professor Lanny Potts was selected recently as the recipient of a 2022 Wilde Award for Best Lighting as a result of his work in the 2021 Farmers Alley Theatre production of “Bright Star.” Photo by Kat Mumma.
A Kalamazoo College faculty member is receiving accolades from a Michigan theatre organization for the fifth time in his career. Theatre Arts Professor Lanny Potts was selected recently as the recipient of a 2022 Wilde Award for Best Lighting as a result of his work in the 2021 Farmers Alley Theatre production of Bright Star, a musical written and composed by actor, comedian and songwriter Steve Martin and songwriter Edie Brickell.
Wilde Awards are distributed through EncoreMichigan.com, a web-based publication focusing on the state’s professional theater industry, highlighting the top productions, actors, artists, designers, writers and technicians. Potts previously earned Wilde Best Lighting honors through his work at Farmers Alley Theatre in productions such as The Light in the Piazza in 2012 and Bridges of Madison County in 2018.
In Bright Star, a literary editor, Alice Murphy, meets a young soldier, Bill Cane, who is just home from World War II. Her flashbacks to the 1920s tell the audience about 16-year-old Alice meeting Jimmy Ray Dobbs and giving birth to a son. The love story, inspired by real events and set in the American South, provided Potts and the Farmers Alley Theatre team with some distinctive challenges of how to move the story forward with lighting and other effects.
“Working closely with the brilliant Director Kathy Mulay, every scenic transition was created with lighting which then constantly moved until the downbeat of the next music, scenic or narrative moment,” Potts said. “Picture slowly moving tree leaves. In every transition moment, they would create an almost ripple effect, like wind through the leaves, that continued until the music resolved or carried us through to the next narrative moment. Having the lights breathe the music of each transition was an approach that allowed the team to seamlessly meld action, dialogue, music, blocking and projections in a way that helped the audience understand that our narrative was a constantly moving story.”
Bright Star was produced at Farmers Alley Theatre from June 23-July 10, 2021, qualifying Potts— a professional designer and consultant—for this year’s honor. His work has also included international lighting and production design; national tour designs for opera and dance; and regional designs for opera, modern dance, ballet, drama and corporate events.
Potts has presented portfolios of his work at regional conferences, worked at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and received many professional awards including a Michigan Governor’s Commendation, a design commendation from the John F. Kennedy Center (Fun Home) and Atlanta Critic’s Choice awards for his design work for the Atlanta premier of A Few Good Men. But each opportunity inspires Potts for what he will do with the next one.
“When I think about having the privilege of doing what I love, I don’t think about a particular show, production or artistic team,” Potts said. “I do have warm fuzzies when I reflect upon some great work accomplished collaboratively with so many great artists. But I think I’m a looking-forward kind of person, where one scenic idea, one costume idea or one directing idea inspires a unique new direction for the artistic team. There is no greater gift than working with talented artists who care about the work as much as you do, who will challenge your own ideas, and inspire you to pursue new ones. I also think the very nature of light requires us to look forward and not dwell upon past work. Lighting is so ephemeral, so in the moment, that once a production is complete, I’m ready for the next artistic team I get to work with, the next production I get to work upon, the next set of problems we get to resolve, the next story to be told.”
Kalamazoo College is pleased to welcome the following faculty members to campus this fall:
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Josie Mitchell
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Josie Mitchell
Mitchell comes to K from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received her PhD in Biochemistry through the Integrated Program in Biochemistry (IPiB). At UW-Madison, she was also a biochemistry teaching fellow and was part of the teaching team for Introduction to Biochemistry, Biochemical Methods Lab, Molecules to Life and the Nature of Science, and a journal-club style seminar for senior biochemistry majors.
Mitchell earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry with a biochemistry emphasis from Grand Valley State University. At UW-Madison, she completed the Delta Teaching Certification and the WISCIENCE Research Mentor Training programs. Her accolades also include the Graduate Leadership and Development Committee Service Award, the Sigrid Leirmo Memorial Award in Biochemistry, and multiple awards for research.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology Nupur Joshi
Assistant Professor of Anthropology Nupur Joshi
Joshi recently received a Ph.D. in human-environment geography with a minor in epidemiology from the University of Arizona. Her dissertation examined the nexus between housing tenure, water insecurity and informal water supply in slum settlements in Nairobi, requiring three years of mixed-methods fieldwork. Check out her recent publication here.
Joshi’s education also includes a master’s degree in society and culture studies from the Indian Institute of Technology in Gandhinagar and a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the Savitribai Phule University of Pune.
At K, Joshi is leading courses such as Development and Dispossession, which covers the political, economic and cultural dimensions of development practice, while addressing a variety of development problems, including urbanization and food security.
Assistant Professor of Computer Science Tasnim Gharaibeh
Assistant Professor of Computer Science Tasnim Gharaibeh
Gharaibeh has 14 years of international computer science teaching experience between Western Michigan University, where she led in-person and online classes including six semesters of labs for engineers; the University of Hail and Open Arab University in Saudi Arabia, where she guided education majors in computer courses; and Hashimat University and Yarmouk University in Jordan, where she instructed courses in C++ and general computer skills.
She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in computer science from Yarmouk University and a Ph.D. in computer science from Western Michigan.
Assistant Professor of English Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley
Assistant Professor of English Benjamín Naka-Hasebe Kingsley
Kingsley has come to K from Old Dominion University where he was an assistant professor of poetry and nonfiction in the school’s Master of Fine Arts program. Most recently, he taught classes there including a graduate poetry workshop, Contemporary Classics: Literature for Writers, an advanced poetry workshop, an introduction to creative writing and Writing for Video Games.
His accolades have included three poetry books: Dēmos: An American Multitude (2021, Milkweed Editions), Colonize Me (2019, Saturnalia Books) and Not Your Mama’s Melting Pot (2018, University of Nebraska Press), each of which are the winners and/or finalists of 19 literary awards.
Kingsley has a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Miami and a Master of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.
Assistant Professor of Business Sydul Karim
Assistant Professor of Business Sydul Karim
Karim began serving K in January and has previous higher education experience as an assistant professor of international business and management at Dickinson College and a research assistant at the University of New Orleans. He has also been the chief investment officer at Athena Venture and Equities Ltd., a branch manager and corporate credit relationship manager at Habib Bank Limited and a principal credit officer at AB Bank Limited, all in Bangladesh.
Karim is a published author with five peer-reviewed papers and a book chapter to his credit, along with several works in progress. His research and publications can be found online. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, an MBA in Finance from the University of Akron, and a Master of Science and a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of New Orleans.
Assistant Professor of Chinese Yanshuo Zhang
Assistant Professor of Chinese Language and Literature Yanshuo Zhang
Zhang joined K in January 2022, coming from the University of Michigan, where she was a postdoctoral research fellow in its Center for Chinese Studies. She developed courses with an emphasis on cross-cultural communication in her previous appointments. She also has prior teaching experience in higher education as an instructor at the University of San Francisco and a lecturer in the program of writing and rhetoric at Stanford University.
Her own education consists of a Bachelor of Arts from St. Catherine University in Minnesota, a Stanford Graduate School of Business Certificate and a Ph.D. from Stanford in Chinese literature and culture. During her education, she was offered several fellowships, awards and honors, most recently dissertation fellowship awards from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange in Taiwan and the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity from Stanford, and an award for excellent Chinese students studying abroad from the Chinese National Scholarship Council.
Assistant Professor of Spanish Carlos Vazquez Cruz
Assistant Professor of Spanish Carlos Vazquez Cruz
Vazquez Cruz has more than 20 years of experience in higher education and most recently taught at institutions including the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and McDaniel College. His teaching interests include Spanish creative writing, Latin American contemporary narratives, Latin American poetry and the visual arts and Music in Spanish Caribbean literatures. His research interests include Hispanic queer literatures, Hispanic digital projects, Spanish Caribbean visual art, Spanish American contemporary pop music and racial discourses in Latin American literatures.
Vazquez Cruz is the author of Dos centímetros de mar, a novel; 8% de desk-cuentos and its second edition, Asado a las doce, along with Malacostumbrismo, which are collections of stories; Silente, Ares and Sencilla mente, which are poetry books; La mirilla y la muralla: el estado crítico, a criticism; and Inimaginado, a collection of poetry, short stories and essays.
He holds a Ph.D. in Latin American literature with a graduate certificate in digital humanities from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of Fine Arts in Spanish creative writing from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish education from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts Anthony Hamilton
Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts Anthony Hamilton
Hamilton was a guest professor and director at Western Michigan University in 2021 and 2022, where he taught beginning acting, introduction to acting, and African-Americans in theatre and media. His career directing credits include The Piano Lesson, The 1940s Radio Hour and Once on This Island at the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre; Into the Woods and Skeleton Crew at WMU; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at Hackett Catholic Prep; and Grandma’s Quilt and Playwright’s Competition at the Negro Ensemble Company in New York. His performance credits include Shakespeare in Love, Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night’s Dream and Evita at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida; and Bengal Tiger at the Zoo and Ruined at WMU.
Hamilton was honored as the Director of the Decade and for Best Choreography for Once on This Island through Broadway World Detroit, and received the Young Artist Award from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo in 2008. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in theatre studies from Western Michigan University and a Master of Fine Arts in theatre from Florida State University.
Visiting Assistant Professor of English Sam Tett
Visiting Assistant Professor of English Sam Tett
Tett is a recent graduate of Indiana University Bloomington, where she earned a Ph.D. in English with a concentration in Victorian studies. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kenyon College and advanced-level qualifications in English, psychology and human biology from Greenhead College in the United Kingdom.
Tett’s professional experience includes serving as the managing editor for the flagship journal of 19th century British Literature, Victorian Studies. She also has held positions as an instructor, teaching fellow, associate instructor, research assistant and archival assistant between Indiana University and the University of Pennsylvania. She’s also been an invited lecturer and presenter at a variety of sites in the United States, United Kingdom and Italy, and has several fellowships and honors from Indiana University and Kenyon College.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dana Hunter
Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics Dana Hunter
Hunter is arriving at K from the University of Oregon, where she earned a Ph.D. in mathematics. There she served as a graduate researcher and instructor while teaching calculus, elementary functions, probability and statistics, and elementary math classes. She also earned the university’s Frank and Dorothy Anderson Mathematics Ph.D. Student Research Award, and was an officer in the Association of Women in Mathematics Student Chapter.
Hunter performed undergraduate research through Mount Holyoke College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in mathematics with a physics minor, and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics Brian Wu
Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics Brian Wu
Wu served Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, as a visiting assistant professor in 2021–22 and Oakland University as a special lecturer in 2020–21 before arriving at K.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and music from Albion College, and a Master of Science in applied statistics and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Oakland University. During his graduate work, he taught an introductory undergraduate mathematics course as a solo instructor.
Visiting Assistant Professor Chemistry Arjun Bhowmick
Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry Arjun Bhowmick
Bhowmick previously served as a research and teaching assistant at the University of South Dakota’s Department of Chemistry, where he earned a Master of Science and a Ph.D. He also was an assistant professor in chemistry at the Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University in Bangladesh.
In addition to his Ph.D., Bhowmick holds a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science, both in chemistry, from Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology Ian VanderMeulen
Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology Ian VanderMeulen
VanderMeulen has previous higher-education teaching experience as a postdoctoral fellow and a postdoctoral lecturer and undergraduate advisor at New York University. He also served the League of American Orchestras for five years as the assistant editor of its quarterly symphony magazine.
He has a bachelor’s degree in music performance and religious studies from Oberlin College, a Master of Arts in near and Middle Eastern studies from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, and a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies from New York University.
His research on Qur’an recitation and sound media technologies has been published in American Ethnologist and the International Journal of Middle East Studies.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Samhitha Raj
Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Samhitha Raj
Raj is a molecular and developmental biologist who has prior experience teaching biology courses such as introductory biology and courses relating to the biology of infectious diseases.
After receiving her Bachelor of Engineering in biotechnology from the JSS Science and Technology University in Mysore, India, she attended the University of Michigan, where she earned her Ph.D. in molecular, cellular and developmental biology.
Since attaining her Ph.D., she has taught at Fulbright University Vietnam as a founding undergraduate faculty member. As a graduate student, she taught courses at the University of Michigan and the University of Veracruz in Xalapa, Mexico.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Elena Specht
Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Elena Specht
Specht is a recent recipient of a Doctor of Musical Arts in composition from Michigan State University, where she also earned a Master of Music in music theory and a university distinguished fellowship. Additionally, she holds a Master of Music in composition and a Certificate in college teaching from the University of Colorado Boulder, where she received the Thurston E. Manning Scholarship in Composition; and a Bachelor of Music in composition and music theory from the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, where she received the Blair Dean’s Honor Scholarship.
Specht began teaching in higher education in 2012 as a student assistant in musicology at Vanderbilt where she later was a student teaching assistant in music theory. At CU Boulder, she was a graduate teaching assistant in music theory and aural skills from 2015–17. At Michigan State, she was an instructor in composition and a graduate teaching assistant in music theory/aural skills.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Juan Carlos Guerrero-Hernandez
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Juan Carlos Guerrero-Hernandez
Guerrero-Hernandez researches and writes about contemporary and modern art and culture with an emphasis on video, photography, performance, gender, politics and experimental cinema.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in electrical engineering from Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia; a Master of Arts in philosophy from the National University of Colombia; and a Ph.D. in art history from Stony Brook University, where his dissertation was titled “Mutilated Bodies and Memories of Violence: Displacements and Contestations of Representations of Violence in Contemporary Video Art and Photography in Colombia, 1993–1998.”
Guerro-Hernandez is the author of the Spanish-language book Subverting the Order: Women Artists, Explorations and Operations in video in the 1980s in Colombia, which is due out next year. The book analyzes and discusses six paradigmatic works of six of Latin American female and Latina artists, whose work is mostly unknown or has been superficially studied.
Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow of English Monique McDade
Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow of English Monique McDade
McDade has arrived at K from the University of Nevada-Reno, where she earned a Ph.D. and was a lecturer in the Department of English, teaching classes in core writing, women’s studies, core humanities, the literature of ethnic minorities in the U.S., and theories and criticism.
She has prior teaching experience from Truckee Meadows Community College, where she taught basic English composition. Her other certifications and degrees include a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature and creative writing from the University of California, San Diego; a Master of Arts in English and creative writing from California State University, Sacramento; and a faculty teaching certificate in community engagement and a graduate certificate in gender, race and identity from Nevada-Reno.
Her book project, California Dreams and American Contradictions: Women Writers and the Western Ideal (Nebraska University Press) will be out in spring 2023.
Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow of Anthropology-Sociology Houman Oliaei
Oliaei is a sociocultural anthropologist studying forced migration, statelessness, and humanitarianism with research focusing on lived experiences of displaced Yezidis, who compose an ethnoreligious minority in northern Iraq. His first book project, On the Margins of Humanity, explores the complex interplay between humanitarian intervention, forced displacement, belonging and politics of recognition among displaced Yezidis.
Oliaei recently earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Brandeis University, where he also earned a Master of Arts in anthropology. In addition, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in music and a Master of Arts in anthropology from the University of Tehran in Iraq.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Nayda Collazo-Llorens
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Nayda Collazo-Llorens
Collazo-Llorens, who previously was a part-time faculty member at K, is a visual artist engaged in an interdisciplinary practice incorporating multiple mediums and strategies. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Collazo-Llorens has received grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and Beta-Local’s El Serrucho, among others, and is a former visiting fellow at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Her work has been exhibited at El Museo del Barrio in New York City, The Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum in Miami, Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, Richmond Center for Visual Arts in Kalamazoo, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in San Juan, and Museo Universitario del Chopo in Mexico City, among other national and international institutions.
Visiting Assistant Professor of History Akil Cornelius
Visiting Assistant Professor of History Akil Cornelius
Cornelius has been a fixed-term assistant instructor in the Department of History at Michigan State University, where he also earned his Ph.D. His research specializations include 19th and 20th century South Africa, migration and mobility studies, as well as a disciplinary sub-specialization in archaeology. His teaching credits include courses on the history of sports in America and a seminar in digital history.
Before his time at Michigan State, Cornelius served in the military through a 12-year career in the U.S. Intelligence Community including active duty service in the Middle East and Western Balkans. In his military service, Cornelius earned Army Commendation, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary, Global War on Terrorism Service, National Defense Service and Army Achievement medals, and Army Service and Overseas Service ribbons.
Visiting Instructor of Economics Seong-Hee Kim
Visiting Instructor of Economics Seong-Hee Kim
Kim has previous experience in higher education between Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan University, where she taught principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics, environmental and resources economics, and money and banking courses.
She is an ABD from the University of Wyoming in natural resources and environmental economics, regional and international economics, and public utility and regulation. She holds a Master of Arts in economics from Wyoming, a Bachelor of Arts from Central Missouri State University in hotel and restaurant management administration, and a Bachelor of Arts in international trade with a minor in English language and literature from Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea.
She is also a certified Korean Language Teacher (Lv. 3) and a yoga instructor.
Visiting Instructor of Music Anthony Elliott
Visiting Instructor of Music Anthony Elliott
Elliott is a conductor of the Michigan Youth Symphony Orchestra at the University of Michigan and a professor of cello. He is a longtime advocate for music in public and inner-city schools, and has worked toward the development of new constituencies with symphony boards and foundations. He has given countless workshops, clinics and performances in schools and community centers across the country.
In 1987, Elliott won the Emanuel Feuermann International Cello Competition, and was the top ranked American cellist in the 1979 Concours Cassado in Florence, Italy. He has appeared frequently as a soloist with major orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, and the CBC Toronto Orchestra. He also has conducted symphony, opera and ballet including the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival. He served for many years as music director of the Houston Youth Symphony and Ballet, leading that orchestra on a two-week concert tour of Holland, Germany and Austria.
Visiting Instructor of Classics Robert Santucci
Visiting Instructor of Classics Robert Santucci
Santucci teaches Greek and Latin at K. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2022 with a dissertation on eating in the text of the Roman philosopher Seneca. He has published on Seneca, Ovid and classical reception, and has particular affinities for creative literary engagement, appetites and gender. His zodiac sign is libra, his shoe size is 13, and he plays bass guitar.
