Institutional Announcements Archives - Page 18 of 24

Kalamazoo College President Announces Retirement

Posted on April 9, 2015April 5, 2023

President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran today announced her retirement from Kalamazoo College, effective June 30, 2016. She made the announcement at the College’s spring term all-campus gathering, a meeting of faculty and staff.

President Wilson-Oyelaran was unanimously elected the 17th president of Kalamazoo College by the board of trustees on December 11, 2004. She began her duties in July of 2005. Prior to the presidency of K she served as vice president and dean of the college of Salem Academy and College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

A native of Los Angeles, President Wilson-Oyelaran earned her undergraduate degree (sociology) from Pomona College, a liberal arts school in Claremont, California. She studied abroad in England as an undergraduate, and used a postgraduate fellowship to study in Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania) for 16 months.

She returned to the U.S. to earn a master’s degree and Ph.D. in child development and early childhood education (Claremont Graduate University) and then taught in the departments of education and psychology at the University of Ife in Nigeria for 14 years. She married Olasope (Sope) Oyelaran in 1980, and they have four children—Doyin, Oyinda, Salewa, and Yinka.

The family moved to the United States in 1988. President Wilson-Oyelaran taught or served in administrative leadership positions at North Carolina Wesleyan College and Winston-Salem State University prior to joining the faculty of Salem College.

At K she led the development of a 10-year strategic plan for the college that, among other priorities, focused on the re-imagination and integration of the elements of K’s internationally renowned curriculum, the K-Plan. “We’re helping students integrate and reflect on the building blocks they use to construct their own unique K-Plans,” said President Wilson-Oyelaran: classroom explorations in the liberal arts, study abroad, career internships and networking opportunities, civic engagement, social justice leadership, and the capstone experience that is the senior individualized project. “Those elements, alone and in concert, enhance the four years that students spend at Kalamazoo College and will enhance students’ lives for years to come,” added President Wilson-Oyelaran.

Other curricular improvements during her tenure include revised graduation requirements, implementation of the Shared Passages Seminar Series (which helps students reflect upon and integrate their academic and experiential opportunities), three new academic majors (business, women and gender studies, and critical ethnic studies), two new intercollegiate sports (men’s and women’s lacrosse), the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, and new career and professional development programs such as the Guilds of Kalamazoo College.

President Wilson-Oyelaran helped envision and implement another key focus of the College’s strategic plan: building a campus community whose diversity reflects the world where K students will live and work. She acknowledged that much work remains to be done in order to create a learning environment that is equitable and inclusive for each member of K’s diverse learning community–the most diverse in its history. In this the 10th year of her tenure, 26 percent of K students identify as U.S. students of color. International students (degree-seeking and visiting) are nearly 10 percent of the student body. Fifteen percent of K students are the first in their families to attend college; and one in four comes from a family of modest income.

President Wilson-Oyelaran has reinvigorated campus spaces that students and employees use to solidify the sense of community that characterizes Kalamazoo College. Not since Presidents Hoben and Hicks has the physical campus made such extraordinary gains in beauty and utility. New spaces that have been renovated or erected during President Wilson-Oyelaran’s tenure include the Hicks Center, the athletic fields and field house, and the extraordinary work of architecture that houses the social justice center. In addition to these spaces, construction of a new fitness and wellness center will begin at the end of summer, and preliminary design of a new natatorium is complete.

Also, per the strategic plan, enrollment has grown to nearly 1,500 students (the 2017 goal specified by the plan), and the College has implemented an ambitious alumni engagement plan. President Wilson-Oyelaran also has led the most successful fund-raising campaign in the College’s history. That effort, called the Campaign for Kalamazoo College, is in its final stages, having raised $123 million of its $125 million goal.

Chair of the Board of Trustees Charlotte Hall ’66 said that the search for a new president would begin immediately. She noted that the search committee would include trustees, alumni, students, faculty, and staff. The 18th president of Kalamazoo College is expected to assume those duties on July 1, 2016.

That new president will have big shoes to fill. “Eileen, we are so grateful for all the ways you’ve helped prepare K for its future,” said Hall. “I know I speak for the entire K community, the Kalamazoo Community, and all the people you have touched throughout your time in higher education when I say we hope the best for you and Sope.”

President Wilson-Oyelaran cited the “singular honor” of serving at Kalamazoo College and shared her belief that, K, “the very best is yet to come.”

Her legacy here is truly a blessing for our entire community. More than a decade ago, when she was considering the decision to move from Salem Academy and College to Kalamazoo College, Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran was seeking some sort of sign to tip the scale. She found it when she learned that the great abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth had once met with kindred spirit Lucinda Hinsdale Stone (head of the female department at K, which was one of the first colleges in the country to provide higher education for women). “Ever since I was a child,” President Wilson-Oyelaran said in 2004, “Sojourner Truth has been an icon for me.”

Now, in turn, Kalamazoo College President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran can be an icon for us.

K Goes Test Optional

Posted on March 24, 2015March 23, 2022

After the current 2014-15 admission cycle, Kalamazoo College will no longer require ACT or SAT standardized test scores to be part of a prospective student’s application. The change will affect students applying for enrollment in fall 2016.

The change makes K part of a growing trend in higher education called “test optional” admission. More than 800 colleges and universities in the country admit students without regard to test scores, including a substantial number of highly-ranked national liberal arts colleges. Kalamazoo College would be the first elite liberal arts college in Michigan to join the movement.

“Admission to K always has been — and will continue to be — very selective,” says Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Eric Staab. “Admission is determined by various factors that express a student’s qualities and abilities and likelihood to thrive at K,” he added.

According to Staab, these factors include high school grade point average, academic rigor of the high school curriculum, the application essay, participation in co-curricular activities, and letters of recommendation.

“Students may continue to submit test scores as additional information,” said Staab, “but for students applying to enroll at K in 2016, test scores will no longer impact the admission decision.”

Studies show that standardized test scores have little broad predictive value for undergraduate success. A two-year study by Kalamazoo College supports that finding. The study, completed by faculty and staff members serving on K’s Admission and Financial Aid Committee (AFAC), looked at data from the four classes that matriculated to K from 2009 through 2012 for correlations between academic performance at K and the admission factors, including standardized test scores.

According to Staab, high school GPA was the best and most consistent predictor of academic performance at K across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic categories. Scores on standardized tests tend to correlate with family income and may say more about an applicant’s economic advantages — or disadvantages — than about academic potential.

“Given that studies have found a correlation between income and test scores, it seems unfair to use test scores in the admission process,” Staab said.

Staab said he and others at the College expect the test-optional change to have no effect on the quality of students who will constitute future incoming classes. The College will conduct follow-up research to measure the performance of the new test-optional approach, as well as its possible effects on first-year GPA, retention and graduation rate, areas of study, and “first destination” data (a.k.a. employment, graduate school, or other) after graduation.

Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Biology Ann Fraser, who served as the AFAC study’s principal investigator, said “K’s research suggests that test scores were telling us very little regarding a student’s potential for success at K, and that high school GPA and curriculum rigor were predicting better and perhaps more fairly. We believe the change will attract students who may not do well on standardized tests but who tend to think outside the box. And that prospect can be very exciting for the College.”

Her colleagues on the Kalamazoo College faculty agreed. The test optional change was approved by a large majority of the College’s faculty in November 2014. K joins the growing ranks of test-optional colleges, including Bates, Beloit, Bowdoin, Denison, Earlham, Middlebury, and others. A list of test-optional colleges and links to studies and other information on the test-optional topic may be found at the National Center for Fair and Open Testing website.

Spring Break Update and Message From Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran

Posted on March 16, 2015March 23, 2022

Spring Break 2015 at Kalamazoo College begins Wed. March 18 at 12 noon. The following message was sent to all K students, faculty, and staff on Monday March 16…

Dear Members of the Campus Community:

As some of you prepare for Spring Break I wanted to provide an update to recent campus events and concerns.

The investigation into the identity of the persons who posted hate speech and a specific threat in the StuComm document continues. We are hopeful that the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety and the FBI can determine the perpetrator(s), and we are mindful that sufficient evidence to pinpoint with certainty the individual or individuals responsible may not be discoverable.

Throughout the week I have had an opportunity to talk with many of you regarding your thoughts on how effectively we have handled the most recent threats. Your feedback has been extremely helpful, and the campus crisis management team will make changes in light of your comments and suggestions.

Many of you have also offered suggestions regarding the various ways K might move forward in light of the multifaceted reality of students who feel marginalized at K. This will be difficult work and everyone on campus must play a part.

Very early in spring term I will outline the process—a process co-developed with a small group of students, faculty, and staff—that we will use to address the marginalization that some of our students experience. That process will allow us to get to work quickly and to enlist the minds and hearts and actions of everyone at the College in productive and creative ways. The work will be demanding, and some of the changes will be structural and fundamental. The work will yield actions, some of which we hope to implement very quickly.

I thank you and hope that each of you find some time for rest and reflection during the Spring Break. Several of you requested possible resources to consult. I can think of none better than “In Their Own Words” (a report in the voices of K students from the K student focus groups of April and May 2013) and an article referenced in that report: “Talking About Race, Learning About Racism: The Application of Racial Identity Development Theory in the Classroom,” by Beverly Daniel Tatum.

At K, we share many things in common, and we differ from one another. Engaging fully with those truths, with compassion and empathy, will get us where we need to be as a larger community.

Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran

Miles to Go: Toward an Equitable, Inclusive Campus Learning Experience

Posted on March 12, 2015March 23, 2022

In recent weeks, three separate events embedded in a much broader historical context have brought to light the need for greater attention and resources devoted to shaping our campus climate and continuing to foster a community that is safe and inclusive for all.

First, during the weekend of Feb 21-22, an anti-Semitic comment was posted anonymously to a social media site similar to ones aimed at colleges and universities nationwide on which anonymous posters post all sorts of hate-filled speech. K has no control over what is posted there, and the post in question may well have originated with someone unassociated with K. The content of the entry, however, was antithetical to Kalamazoo College and to its Honor System. Moreover, members of the K campus community suffered unnecessarily as a result of this attack. K President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran urged the entire campus community to stand in solidarity by rejecting this action and any action that dehumanizes members of our community.

Second, at the February 23 Student Commission meeting, a K student asked StuComm to support his effort to allow him and others to carry a concealed weapon on campus, part of a national campaign for concealed carry on college campuses. StuComm declined to support his effort. Some Commissioners have reported that the student visibly displayed an empty gun holster and made threats to individuals and/or groups. The meeting made some students feel unsafe. The following day, students expressed these safety concerns via a social media campaign and directly to College administrators and trustees. The student advocating for the concealed-carry measure cooperated with a search of his residence hall room and vehicle. No weapon was found. The Campus Security Director performed a threat assessment, and determined that this individual did not pose a threat to the community or individuals on campus.

Weapons are not, and will not be, allowed on campus.

No weapon was involved in any of the events of the past two weeks. The wearing and showing of an empty holster is not against the law or the Kalamazoo College code of conduct. Nor does the action in and of itself constitute bullying and harassment. Nevertheless, we know that some felt bullied or harassed. That concerns us deeply.

The third event occurred last week (March 3) when College officials were informed that a highly inflammatory entry had been placed in a Student Commission Google Doc, a document repository hosted on Google servers which allows for anonymous group editing and sharing online. The entry was racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, and homophobic. It also contained a direct threat for March 5 aimed at “faculty at Kalamazoo U, that will teach them the value of campus carry.”

The College and the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS) consider the inflammatory entry a hate crime, and KDPS is investigating it as such. Police investigators have also enlisted the FBI‘s support in the matter. Investigators are seeking to determine the identity of the source of the anonymous entry; the likelihood of such an identification not known.

Kalamazoo College and KDPS take all threats seriously. The initial assessment of KDPS was that the threat was not credible and was unlikely to be acted upon. However, patrols by campus security and Kalamazoo police officers were increased around and on campus, including plain clothes officers, on March 5. As police officials expected, no incident of violence occurred on campus that day. Nevertheless, the matter was and is unnerving for many people, and we are taking precautions and measures to address the concerns of those who feel uneasy. Being safe and feeling safe are two different things. Both are important, particularly for students of color, international students, first-generation students, and students from low income families who have traditionally been underrepresented and underserved at K and by higher education generally.

These recent events have generated new conversations, renewed previous discussions, and sparked protests on the subjects of safety and institutional progress toward a learning environment that is equitable inclusive for all students. The conversations, discussions and protests have involved students, faculty, staff, President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran and other senior administrators, and the Board of Trustees. On the matter of an equitable and inclusive learning environment for students traditionally underrepresented and underserved by K and in higher education generally, the College has made some progress and still has further to go. Progress in and of itself is not our end goal. Instead the achievement of an equitable and inclusive learning environment is the end goal.

Toward that end we have dramatically changed our representational diversity. We have increased our percentage of domestic students of color and international students, becoming the most racially diverse school in the Great Lakes Colleges Association, which includes Hope, Oberlin, Kenyon, Wooster and eight other small top colleges.. We need to do more. We have trained more than half of our faculty and staff (and some students) using the VISIONS, Inc., multicultural training and ERAC/CE anti-racism training. This training is ongoing; we need to evaluate its effectiveness and expand it. We have listened to the campus experience of our students of color and from that focus group work we must continue discussions and develop or refine recommendations that will eliminate or change institutional practices and structures that inhibit an equitable and inclusive learning environment. A recent result of this ongoing effort was the creation last quarter of the “Sense of Belonging” Task Force charged to make specific recommendations to achieve that learning environment. We have recently secured a grant from the Mellon Foundation that will allow us to hire additional staff in student development and to reconfigure our intercultural work there. We’ve also approved a new major in Critical Ethnic Studies, and have secured an endowed gift to support a faculty line in this area. The Mellon Foundation Grant will also be used for faculty development and further curriculum development on behalf of educational practices and a learning environment that is equitable and inclusive.

In regard to that goal the events of the past weeks have allowed us to take a critical look at our roles, and in doing so the duress and struggle associated with our discussions and self-criticism are signs of health. We are committed to building an equitable and inclusive learning environment. We’ve made progress. And we have further to go. Both of those statements are true. Progress requires hard work, struggle, and occasionally pressure from our community. All of those phenomena–work, struggle, and pressure–are signs and part of progress. We will not content ourselves with progress alone. We are committed to the goal no matter how difficult it is to get there.

Message to the K Campus Community on Recent Events and Commitment to Safety and Inclusion

Posted on February 26, 2015March 23, 2022

The following message was emailed to Kalamazoo College students, faculty, and staff this afternoon, and posted on the Colleges Intranet site:

At the Monday, February 23, Student Commission meeting a K student asked StuComm to support his effort to allow him and others to carry a concealed weapon on campus. The commission declined to support his effort. Some have reported that the student visibly displayed an empty gun holster and made threats to individuals and or groups. The meeting made some students feel unsafe.

On Tuesday students expressed safety concerns via a social media campaign and directly to college administrators and trustees. On Wednesday morning the College’s security department asked the student who displayed the empty gun holster on Monday to allow a search of his residence hall room and car. He cooperated, and no weapon was found. Our Director of Campus Security did a complete threat assessment of the situation and the individual with the empty holster. The director has extensive training in this area through the FBI and the Michigan State Police. In his professional judgment, this individual did not pose a threat to the campus community or to individuals on campus.

Weapons are not, and will not be, allowed on campus. No weapon was involved in any of the events of the past three days. The wearing and showing of an empty holster is not against the law or the Kalamazoo College code of conduct. Nor does the action in and of itself constitute bullying and harassment. Nevertheless, we know that some felt bullied or harassed. That concerns us deeply.

We also are concerned about a much deeper issue—our institutional progress toward building an inclusive, safe environment for all students, particularly students of color. On Wednesday afternoon we met with students who expressed safety concerns stemming from Monday’s StuComm meeting. About 100 students attended and we have heard very clearly that many have concerns about feeling safe on campus, and that these feelings are not only predicated on Monday’s incident, but also arise out of a broader set of concerns, including not being heard, not feeling included within our campus community, and at times being targeted as an individual or as part of a group.

Creating a campus that is safe and inclusive for all is a top concern of ours. The events of this week remind us that while we have made many strides (including diversifying the student body, adding a new major in the curriculum, and with training and on-going work on campus climate and student support) there is much more that must be done to meet our aspiration of a campus that is fully inclusive. We pledge to keep the lines of communication open. We invite all members of the campus community—students, faculty, staff—to consider our individual roles in creating a safe and inclusive community, including how we interact with each other in person and on social media. We also commit to continuing to examine and eliminate or change institutional practices and structures that inhibit a truly inclusive community.

— President’s Staff

Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Earns Awards for Miller-Davis Contractors

Posted on February 24, 2015March 23, 2022

Exterior of Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership — Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Steve Hall (c) Hedrich Blessing.

Miller-Davis Company, a general contracting and construction management firm based in Kalamazoo, has been awarded the 2014 Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Michigan Grand Award for the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (Arcus Center) at Kalamazoo College. The Grand Award is given to the most significant construction project in Michigan.

This is the first time the AGC of Michigan has given out the Michigan Grand Award.

Miller-Davis also received a 2014 AGC Build Michigan Award for the Arcus Center, in the Construction Management New category.

“This unique building is like no other,” said Kalamazoo College Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Paul Manstrom. “The innovative design resulted in the most technically complex construction process I have experienced in my 24 years as the College’s representative for major capital projects.”

Five people standing with an award — Accepting the ACG Michigan awards were (l-r) Miller-Davis Chief Estimator Steve Zimmerman, K’s Paul Manstrom, Miller-Davis Senior Project Manager Michele Wregglesworth, Miller-Davis Senior Project Superintendent Rob Morris, and Miller-Davis President Rex Bell.

Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center is the world’s first purpose-built structure dedicated to developing emerging leaders and sustaining existing leaders in the fields of human rights and social justice.

The one-of-a-kind $5 million, 10,000 square foot, Y-shaped, steel-frame, single-story pavilion embodies the College’s founding commitment to be a catalyst for positive social change and will serve as the hearth for social justice globally. The building was constructed utilizing nontraditional construction processes with the purpose of fulfilling its principles of economic, social, and environmental justice and is seeking LEED Gold certification.

“Miller-Davis is honored to be part of the construction team for the Arcus Center, which provides a space to study, meet, and host events where students, faculty, visiting scholars, social justice leaders, and members of the public will come together to engage in conversation and activities aimed at creating a more just world,” said the company in a news release.

AGC of Michigan presented the award during AGC’s Annual Meeting on February 20 at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan. Build Michigan project entries are judged on: meeting the challenge of a difficult project, excellence in project management, innovation in construction techniques or materials and state-of-the-art advancement, sensitivity to the environment and surroundings, responsiveness to client needs, the contractor’s contribution to the community and exceptional service.

Congrats, to our Miller-Davis partners!

K Closes for Holiday Break

Posted on December 19, 2014March 23, 2022

Kalamazoo College will close for its annual holiday break–December 24 through January 2.

Anyone who wishes to make a gift to K before the end of the calendar year may call the College’s main line (269.337.7000) between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. eastern standard time on December 26, 29, 30, and 31, and a staff member will be happy to assist. At any other time the College is closed for the holiday, a donor may contact Laurel Palmer, director of the Kalamazoo College Fund, at 269.598.2007. Gifts also may be made online or by post marking a mailed gift by December 31, 2014.

The College’s residence halls open on January 3 at 9 a.m. Students are not permitted to check in early. The first meal in the dining center is lunch on January 3. Classes start Monday, January 5.

The emergency contact number for the College is 269.337.7321, and that number is answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year.

Holiday Greetings from Kalamazoo College

Posted on December 8, 2014March 23, 2022

Dear Friends:

Happy holidays and warm wishes for 2015. This is a very exciting time at K. We welcomed an outstanding class of 2018: 362 students from 30 states and 17 countries. The class is one of the most diverse in the College’s history. Thirty-two percent of its members identify themselves as domestic students of color. Ten percent are four-year degree-seeking international students. Many are the first in their families to attend college.

In September we dedicated the beautiful piece of architecture that houses our Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, and one week later the center convened its first biennial conference, gathering our learning community with social justice scholars and activists from across the globe. The purpose of the center folds beautifully into the goals of a liberal arts education at Kalamazoo College, one of which-as articulated by President Allan Hoben in the 1920s-is for each of us to identify a “charter of service” for humankind. To engage in that important pursuit, we study widely and with rigor. We cultivate the courage it requires to ask big questions and act upon the answers even if they differ from conventional wisdom. What a vibrant environment in which to live and work!

Kalamazoo College is in the final seven months of the most ambitious fund-raising campaign in its long and storied history. We are seeking to raise $125 million to support the priorities that will help ensure that the Kalamazoo College of tomorrow is every bit as strong, every bit as vibrant, and every bit as willing to grapple with the big questions, as we are today. This holiday season is a perfect time to give thanks for the incredible support we have received from alumni and friends.

I am grateful to all of you for what you do on behalf of K. You are making a difference in the lives of our students; helping them to learn and to act on their inclination to make the world a better place.

I hope you enjoy this holiday greeting. Its original music was composed by alumnus Robert Severinac ’85 as part of his Senior Individualized Project. Today, he is a renowned plastic surgeon and entrepreneur who does pro bono work with families of children with cleft palates. And he continues to enjoy and make music! The roots of such breadth and service lie in the power of the liberal arts at K.

President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran

Arcus Center Building Dedication is Open to the Public, Friday Sept. 19, 4:00 p.m.

Posted on September 18, 2014March 23, 2022

Kalamazoo College hosts a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4 P.M., Friday Sept. 19, for the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership building at 205 Monroe St., at the corner of Academy St. in Kalamazoo, Mich. The 10,000 sq. ft. structure—the newest on the K campus—was constructed by Miller-Davis Company of Kalamazoo and designed by Studio Gang Architects of Chicago.

The dedication event is free and open to the public. Guests are encouraged to park in the K Athletics Fields parking lot, 1600 W. Michigan Ave., and take continuously operating shuttle vans to the ceremony.

Speakers will include Charlotte Hall ’66, chair, K board of trustees; Jon Stryker ’82, K trustee; Jeanne Gang, founder of Studio Gang Architects; Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran, K president; and Cameron Goodall ’15, K student commission president.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will include Carol Anderson, K professor of religion and chair of the Department of Religion; Lisa Brock, academic director of K’s Arcus Center; and Mia Henry, executive director of K’s Arcus Center.

Refreshments and an open house in the new building follow.

The Arcus Center building features offices, work areas, and classroom/seminar spaces situated around a central hearth and kitchen area. Wooden benches around the central fireplace preserve and repurpose wood from the site’s trees. The building’s structural frame includes 680 pieces of steel—many curved, some in two planes, and no two alike.

The building’s three-sided form emphasizes academic learning, relationships with the natural world, and interdependency of communities. A predominance of curvature represents arms open to all to join in social justice work.

The exterior cordwood masonry construction—northern Michigan white cedar logs of varying diameter in 11- to 36-inch lengths—symbolizes the diversity of humanity. While cordwood construction is traditional to the upper Midwest, this is believed to be the first commercial or institutional structure in North America to employ this technique.

The College will seek Gold LEED certification for the new building. Its geothermal heating and cooling system (12 wells drilled to a depth of 400 feet) meets the College’s stringent energy efficiency standard. A radiant and forced convection heating system transforms the Center’s entire floor into a heat duct, with air movement undetectable to the senses. Onsite drainage and retention reduces storm water runoff.

K gratefully acknowledges Steelcase Inc. and Custer Workplace Interiors for their generosity in helping supply office furnishings for the new Arcus Center building.

The Arcus Center building and its $5 million construction cost is a gift to the College from Jon Stryker, a member of the K board of trustees and of the K class of 1982. Jon is founder and president of the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), a private, global grant-making organization with offices in New York City, Kalamazoo, and Cambridge, U.K., that supports the advancement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights, and conservation of the world’s great apes. Jon is a founding board member of the Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy in Northern Kenya, Save the Chimps in Ft. Pierce, Fla., and Greenleaf Trust, a trust bank in Kalamazoo. He also serves on the board of the Friends of the Highline in New York City. Jon is a registered architect in the State of Michigan. He earned a B.A. degree in biology from K and a M.A. degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.

MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang is the founder of Studio Gang Architects, a Chicago-based collective of architects, designers, and thinkers practicing internationally. Jeanne uses architecture as a medium of active response to contemporary issues and their impact on human experience. Each of her projects resonates with its specific site and culture while addressing larger global themes such as urbanization, climate, and sustainability. With this approach, Studio Gang has produced some of today’s most innovative and visually compelling architecture. The firm’s projects range from tall buildings like the Aqua Tower, whose façade encourages building community in the vertical dimension, to the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo, where 14 acres of biodiverse habitat are designed to double as storm water infrastructure and engaging public space.

Founded in 1909, Miller-Davis Company is headquartered in Kalamazoo, Mich., with an additional office in South Bend, Ind. It is a full-service construction company providing general contracting, construction management, design-build, and construction consulting services. Miller-Davis has served as the construction manager on numerous Kalamazoo College projects for more than 80 years. In addition to the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, these projects include Upjohn Library Commons, Hicks Student Center, the K Natatorium, Stetson Chapel, Mandelle Administration Building, Hoben Residence Hall, and Trowbridge Residence Hall.

The mission of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (www.kzoo.edu/socialjustice) is to support the pursuit of human rights and social justice by developing emerging leaders and sustaining existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice, creating a pivotal role for liberal arts education in engendering amore just world. The Arcus Center was established at Kalamazoo College in 2009 through generous funding from the Arcus Foundation. In 2012, the College received a $23 million grant from the Foundation to endow the Center’s activities.

Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu), founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts and sciences college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.

News and Events

Category: Institutional Announcements

Message to the K Campus Community on Recent Events and Commitment to Safety and Inclusion

K Closes for Holiday Break

Holiday Greetings from Kalamazoo College