Category: Institutional Announcements

Gift Benefits History Projects, Honors Emeriti Professors

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Emeriti History Professors John Wickstrom, David Barclay and David Strauss
Emeriti History Professors John Wickstrom, David Barclay and David Strauss

Thanks to a lead anonymous gift, and the philanthropy of other donors, a new endowed fund is now supporting exemplary seniors and their Senior Integrated Projects (SIPs) in the Department of History while honoring two of the department’s emeriti professors, David Strauss and John Wickstrom.

Professors Strauss and Wickstrom earned respect as teachers and active scholars while shaping many students, with one measure of that being the significant number of SIPs produced under their direction over four decades. The Dr. David Strauss and Dr. John Wickstrom Senior Integrated Project Endowed Fund will continue that legacy. The current chair of the department, Wen Chao Chen Professor of East Asian Social Sciences Dennis Frost, summed up the significance of this endowment to history majors.

“The history department faculty are excited about the opportunities that this new funding will open up for our students,” Frost said. “Many of our students propose exciting and ambitious projects that require both time and access to archival materials; many essential sources can be quite a distance from Kalamazoo. It’s been challenging for us to support more extensive summer research of this sort. Thanks to the generous support from the donors who established this fund, a variety of new SIP research options will be available for our majors now.”

During the past two years, Strauss and Wickstrom led the initiative to establish an endowed scholarship in Professor Emeritus David Barclay’s name. Hearing of this project, an anonymous donor—who also is a history alum—decided to honor Strauss and Wickstrom in a similar fashion: by making a gift to establish the David Strauss and John Wickstrom SIP Endowed Fund. Other history alumni, faculty, staff and friends subsequently contributed to the fund.

Strauss earned a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College and a master’s degree and doctorate from Columbia University before joining Kalamazoo College in 1974. After training under historian Richard Hofstadter, Strauss opened new perspectives on U.S. history to generations of students throughout his years at K. True to the College’s international vision in his teaching and research, Strauss emphasized the global, comparative and interdisciplinary dimensions of U.S. history, from anti-Americanism in France to the cultural history of Japanese-American relations and the internationalization of American cuisine in the 20th century. His students learned about the social, cultural and intellectual contexts of U.S. history and many have followed his example by pursuing careers in teaching or public history.

“History is a complex, fascinating enterprise. In order to write good histories, students must first learn the trade,” Strauss said. “During the first two years at K, history students must acquire basic knowledge which is communicated by reading appropriate textbooks and engaging in conversations with instructors and fellow students. Supported by this information, juniors and seniors will be prepared to find topics of interest, search for relevant material which will be useful for the topic at hand, and then organize the material so as to present a conclusive statement on the topic chosen. Since K students wish to take advantage of their experiences abroad, often more expensive than in Kalamazoo, it’s important to help those who have developed viable topics to explore opportunities in other parts of the world.”

Wickstrom earned a bachelor’s degree at Michigan State University and a master’s degree and doctorate from Yale University before joining K in 1966. For more than four decades, K students learned from him about centuries from roughly 700 BCE to 1500 CE. Originally trained in late medieval English legal history, Wickstrom turned increasingly to the study of early medieval monasticism, culminating in pathbreaking research on the sixth-century French monastic, Saint Maurus, including a 2022 book titled Fiction, Memory, and Identity in the Cult of St. Maurus, 830-1270. For many years, Wickstrom took advantage of the Kalamazoo-based International Congress on Medieval Studies, the world’s largest conference of its kind, to introduce students to hands-on historical research and many of the world’s eminent scholars. He also arranged for K students to present papers, usually based on their SIP research, in the undergraduate sessions of the conference.

“At its best, the SIP experience can be transformative,” Wickstrom said. “It is the point at which a student of history moves from reading history written by others to acquiring a unique and authoritative voice in the ancient and ongoing debate over the meanings of the past. This is accomplished primarily by an unfettered examination of all the evidence for a particular historical problem. Only by such an exercise can a historian appreciate the limits of what can and cannot be known about the past; and thereby begin to understand the deeper question of its connection to truth. The aspiring historian must gain as much exposure as possible to the sources that inform the problem/question of his or her SIP. I still recall my Ph.D. advisor saying that the chief value of my work was my analysis of manuscripts that I had discovered in the archives of the Public Records Office in London. I was only able to access that evidence through a grant from the university that allowed me to travel to that archive. So, I am especially grateful to the generosity of the donors to the Strauss/Wickstrom SIP fund in History. The fund will allow students to access sometimes remote repositories of historical material that alone will give their work credibility. Hopefully, this exercise will also open their minds and those of their readers to the depths and, ultimately, to the mystery of our connection with the past.”

If you would like to support K history students and give in honor of Strauss and Wickstrom, please make a gift online or contact Nicki Poer, associate director of special initiatives and athletics giving, at 269.337.7281 or nicki.poer@kzoo.edu. A generous challenge by John ’80 and Laura Laurenson Foster ’82 will match up to $30,000 in donations for the fund. Also, a virtual K-Talk, offered through the Office of Alumni Engagement, will provide a virtual event marking the scholarship’s launch at 6 p.m. June 14. Register for the event through K’s website.

Alumna, Professor Emerita Earns Pulitzer Prize

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Pulitzer Prize recipient Diane Seuss
Kalamazoo College alumna and
Professor Emerita Diane Seuss has received
the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for “frank:
sonnets.” Photo by Gabrielle Montesanti
Book Cover for Frank:Sonnets by Diane Seuss
Diane Seuss ’78 published her fifth collection of
poetry, “frank: sonnets,” in 2021.

Kalamazoo College alumna, Professor Emerita and former writer-in-residence Diane Seuss ’78 is celebrating more recognition for her latest poetry collection, and this honor is the most prestigious yet. 

Seuss was granted a 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry on Monday for frank: sonnets, a collection of poems that discuss topics including addiction, disease, poverty and death. The collection previously received the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and the LA Times Book Prize for poetry. 

The Pulitzer Prize committee described frank: sonnets as “a virtuosic collection that inventively expands the sonnet form to confront the messy contradictions of contemporary America, including the beauty and the difficulty of working-class life in the Rust Belt.” 

“This is nothing that I would ever, ever, ever have expected of life,” Seuss said of the honor in an MLive interview. “It’s hard to feel these things beyond kind of shock and awe.” 

In previous honors, Seuss received the John Updike Award in 2021 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The biennial award recognizes a mid-career writer who demonstrates consistent excellence. Seuss also joined a prestigious group of scholars and artists who have received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation as a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow. The fellowship helps honorees slate blocks of time during which they explore their creative freedom. The Foundation receives about 3,000 applications each year and awards about 175 fellowships.  

Seuss retired from K in 2016, the year she was a Pulitzer finalist for Four-Legged Girl (Greywolf Press, 2015), a poetry collection the Pulitzer committee described as “a richly improvisational poetry collection that leads readers through a gallery of incisive and beguiling portraits and landscapes.” Her other collections include Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl (Graywolf Press, 2018), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the LA Times Poetry Prize; Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open (University of Massachusetts Press, 2010), which received the Juniper Prize; and It Blows You Hollow (New Issues Press, 1999). 

“For me and others like me, people in the margins for whatever reason, such recognition is an encouragement,” Seuss said of her recent success in a Kalamazoo College news story last month. “It’s saying, your work has worth. It makes all the difference to be seen and heard and acknowledged.” 

Fulbright Again Honors K as a Top Producer

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Logo Says Fulbright Student Program Top Producer 2021-22
K has six representatives from the class of 2021 in the U.S.
Student Program, placing the College among the
top-producing bachelor’s institutions.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced Monday that Kalamazoo College is among the top producers of Fulbright recipients for the 2021-22 academic year.

K has six representatives from the class of 2021 in the U.S. Student Program, leading to the honor for the fourth time in the past five years. K is the only college in Michigan to earn the distinction in the bachelor’s institution category.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers fellowships to graduating seniors, graduate students, young professionals and artists so they may teach English, perform research or study abroad for one academic year. Many candidates apply for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program as graduating seniors, though alumni may apply as well. Graduating seniors apply through their institution. Alumni can apply through their institution or as at-large candidates. K has one alumni representative this year from the class of 2013.

K’s representatives in 2021-22 and their host countries are:

  • Helen Pelak ’21, Australia
  • Katherine Miller-Purrenhage ’21, Germany
  • Sophia Goebel ’21, Spain
  • Molly Roberts ’21, France
  • Margaret Totten ’21, Thailand
  • Nina Szalkiewicz ’21, Austria
  • Evelyn Rosero ’13, South Korea
Fulbright recipient Katherine Miller-Purrenhage in Germany
Katherine Miller-Purrenhage studied abroad in Germany and
has returned there on a Fulbright award through the U.S.
Student Program.

“K’s consistent recognition through the renowned Fulbright program confirms that our students have the abilities required to earn these transformational global experiences,” Center for International Programs Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft said. “We’re proud of these students and the terrific faculty and staff who enable them to make an impact throughout the world.”

About the Fulbright Program

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Top-producing institutions are highlighted annually.

Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 380,000 participants, chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential, with opportunities to exchange ideas and contribute to solutions to shared international concerns. More than 1,900 U.S. students, artists and young professionals in more than 100 fields of study are offered Fulbright Program grants to study, teach English and conduct research abroad each year. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program operates in more than 140 countries throughout the world.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State, funded by an annual appropriation from Congress to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education.

The Fulbright Program also awards grants to U.S. scholars, teachers and faculty to conduct research and teach overseas. In addition, about 4,000 foreign Fulbright students and scholars come to the United States annually to study, lecture, conduct research and teach foreign languages.

Flu-Vaccine Efforts Lead to National Recognition

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Student Health Center staff gathered with flu vaccine recognition awards
Kalamazoo College’s Student Health Center representatives were presented with a
traveling trophy and certificate when they finished first in Michigan and third in the
country in the Small College Division of the Alana Yaksich College and University
Flu Vaccination Challenge.

The Kalamazoo College Student Health Center (SHC) is celebrating the national recognition it’s receiving for its efforts in fighting the flu on campus.

K finished first in Michigan and third in the nation in the Small College Division of the Alana Yaksich College and University Flu Vaccination Challenge. The challenge, sponsored by Alana’s Foundation, measures the number of students vaccinated against influenza at each of the 21 institutions participating across 11 states. The SHC administered 385 shots to students this fall including 180 through two on-campus vaccine clinics with the pharmacy OptiMed and 205 through walk-in service at the health center.

“K students know that when they receive the vaccine they’re not only protecting themselves, but the entire K community from the flu,” Student Health Center Director Lisa Ailstock said. “Our vaccination numbers prove that and we in the health center take great pride in this recognition.”

In 2009, Alana Yakisch’s family established Alana’s Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about the severity of influenza and the importance of yearly flu vaccinations for children and adults alike. Alana was 5 years old in 2003 when she died of flu-related complications that caused swelling and injuries to her brain. According to Alana’s Foundation, more than 200,000 people nationwide are hospitalized each year from the flu and an average of 36,000 die despite a vaccine’s availability.

“I continue to be amazed how the colleges and universities at the participating institutions have embraced this challenge and really made a difference in the yearly efforts to increase vaccination rates among the vulnerable student population and their community,” said Zachary Yakisch, Alana’s father and the founder and director of Alana’s Foundation.

K students still interested in receiving a flu shot may do so on a walk-in basis during normal business hours or through a yet-to-be scheduled clinic this term. For more information, contact the health center at 269.337.7200

Humanities Grant Boosts Experiential Learning Project

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Portrait of Humanities Project Leader Shanna Salinas
Associate Professor of English Shanna Salinas

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 and promote the critical role of the humanities in social justice work.

The $1.297 million three-year grant will provide funding for the College’s Humanities Integrated Locational Learning (HILL) project, which is building student coursework rooted in K’s commitment to experiential learning and social justice to address issues such as racism, border policing, economic inequities, homelessness and global warming, while examining history, how humans share land, and the dislocations that bring people to a communal space.

The project was envisioned by Associate Professor of English Shanna Salinas (Co-PI), Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Assistant Professor of Sociology Francisco Villegas (Co-PI) and Professor of English Bruce Mills. HILL will invite K faculty to build curricula that foreground how power structures produce destabilizing dynamics and the collective response(s) of affected communities through the development of course materials, collaborative faculty-student research and community engagement, the development of program assessments and the sharing of oral histories tied to partnering projects and organizations.

Portrait of Humanities Project Leader Francisco Villegas
Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Assistant Professor of
Sociology Francisco Villegas

Each class within the curriculum will fit into one of two cluster programs: the first focuses on hubs outside of Kalamazoo such as New Orleans, St. Louis and San Diego; the second looks within Kalamazoo with themes relevant to the city such as prison reform and abolition, and migrants and refugees. Both cluster programs will contribute to a digital humanities initiative for publishing, archiving and assessing coursework and partnerships. Each will provide opportunities for immersing students in local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experiences.

Salinas and Villegas will co-direct the HILL initiative. The three sites outside Kalamazoo—New Orleans, St. Louis and San Diego—were chosen for their current or historical dispersion of people from their homeland, as well as dislocated communities with strong histories of social justice movements. About 15 to 20 students at a time will go to those cities to further their experiential learning. Salinas added that faculty and students will first put in research and legwork related to their collaborative partnerships with a year of concentrated work. Then, by about December 2022, they will be ready to conduct in-person learning, first in New Orleans.

Portrait of Bruce Mills
Professor of English Bruce Mills

In addition to co-directing the project, Salinas will also serve as the curriculum coordinator for New Orleans. “We hope that students will develop an understanding of place as a living entity with a storied history and people who are a part of that location,” Salinas said. “We want students to learn what it means to be a part of a particular place. We want them to contend with histories, and meet the residents and people who inhabit the spaces we study with a real sense of generosity and purpose. We want to change students’ understanding about how they approach space and operate within it.”

Villegas plans to build on his strong connections within Kalamazoo County in leading the cluster focused on issues inside Kalamazoo. As a member of an exploratory taskforce (and now advisory board chair), he helped Kalamazoo County launch a community ID program in 2018, allowing residents, including those otherwise unable to get a state ID, to obtain a county ID.

“I think the grant speaks to the Mellon Foundation seeing promise in the kind of work we are imagining,” Villegas said. “It’s encouraging that they are willing to invest so greatly in such a project. They’re also recognizing the ethics of the project. They’re trusting that we’re going to engage with cities, including our home city, with a sense of respect and with a recognition of furthering community agendas already in place rather than imposing our understandings to other spaces. Most importantly, we’re invested in thinking about how students can consider the humanities in these projects as a way of producing nuanced understandings toward addressing very big problems.”

Mills will lead the digital humanities portion of the initiative. He noted that one measure of success for participating faculty will be how HILL shows the enduring dimensions of its partnerships with the digital project playing a large role.

“When you create classes, writing projects, oral histories or collaborate on community projects, these efforts often get lost when they just go into a file or a paper or are not passed along in local memory,” Mills said. “The digital humanities hub is an essential part of this initiative because faculty, students and city partners will have a site for a collective work to be published or presented. Community members will have access to it. That means the work being done will not disappear.”

Beau Bothwell tenure
Associate Professor of Music
Beau Bothwell
Portrait of Esplencia Baptiste
Associate Professor of
Anthropology and Sociology
Espelencia Baptiste
Portrait of Christine Hahn
Professor of Art and Art History
Christine Hahn

In addition to Salinas, Villegas and Mills, Associate Professor of Music Beau Bothwell and Professor of Art and Art History Christine Hahn will be curriculum coordinators for St. Louis and San Diego respectively. The first four courses that will be offered in the HILL project are Advanced Literary Studies (Salinas, English); Missionaries to Pilgrims: Diasporic Returns (Associate Professor Espelencia Baptiste, Anthropology and Sociology); The World Through New Orleans (Bothwell, Music); and Architecture Urbanism Identity (Hahn, Art and Art History).

The Mellon Foundation’s grant to K is one of 12 being issued to liberal arts colleges as a part of the organization’s Humanities for All Times initiative, which was created to support curriculum that demonstrates real-world applications to social justice pursuits and objectives.

“Kalamazoo College’s commitment to social justice is most profoundly realized through students’ opportunities to connect the theoretical with hands-on work happening in our communities,” Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez said. “We’re grateful for the Mellon Foundation’s generous support, which will enable us to build on our foundation of experiential education and demonstrate to our students how the humanities have a practical role in fostering positive social change.”

The Mellon Foundation notes that humanities thought and scholarship efforts influence developments in the social world. However, there’s been a sharp decline in undergraduate humanities study and degree recipients nationwide over the past decade despite students’ marked interest in social justice issues. The initiative targets higher student participation in the humanities and social justice while building their skills in diagnosing cultural conditions that impede a just and equitable society.

“The Humanities for All Times initiative underscores that it’s not only critical to show students that the humanities improve the quality of their everyday lives, but also that they are a crucial tool in efforts to bring about meaningful progressive change in the world,” said Phillip Brian Harper, the Mellon Foundation’s higher learning program director. “We are thrilled to support this work at liberal arts colleges across the country. Given their unequivocal commitment to humanities-based knowledge, and their close ties to the local communities in which such knowledge can be put to immediate productive use, we know that these schools are perfectly positioned to take on this important work.”

Top Stories in 2021 Highlighted K’s Excellence

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Kalamazoo College students and faculty enjoyed a return to in-person instruction in 2021, giving us a chance to spotlight the academic excellence, high-achieving students and accomplished faculty and staff that make our institution special. Here’s a year-end roundup of what you read at our website the most, shaping K’s top stories of the year. We’re eager to see what accomplishments will come in 2022. 

10. Emeriti Trustees Establish New Scholarship with $5 Million Gift 

As noted in our 2021 top stories, Kalamazoo College was
the only institution in Michigan ranked among the nation’s
top liberal arts colleges by AcademicInfluence.com.

A generous $5 million commitment to Kalamazoo College from emeriti trustees Rosemary and John Brown will create an endowed scholarship fund to help provide access to talented students of all socioeconomic backgrounds. The Browns are active philanthropists, particularly as strong supporters of higher education.

9. Senior Leadership Awards Honor 32 

Thirty-two students known for their invaluable contributions to the Kalamazoo College community were honored April 30 at the 17th annual Senior Leadership Recognition Awards. 

8. K a Best Value in Higher Education 

Kalamazoo College provides one of the most outstanding returns on investment in higher education, according to the Princeton Review. The education-services company profiles and recommends K in the 2021 edition of The Best Value Colleges, its annual guide to undergraduate schools. 

7. Seven from K Earn Fulbright Scholarships 

Seven Kalamazoo College representatives, including six from the Class of 2021, are receiving high honors from the federal government that will provide them with international learning opportunities. 

6. K a Top Producer of Fulbright Recipients 

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced that Kalamazoo College is among the top producers of Fulbright recipients among colleges and universities for the 2020-21 academic year. 

5. K Ready to Make a Splash with New Natatorium 

Kalamazoo College is ready to make a splash with student-athletes and the community thanks to the completion of its new $18 million natatorium.  

4. K Ranks Highly Among Liberal Arts Colleges 

AcademicInfluence.com is endorsing Kalamazoo College as one of the top four-year schools in the country where students can excel in the liberal arts. 

3. Wall Street Journal, Times Higher Education Rankings Laud K  

Another analysis has placed Kalamazoo College as the top-ranked private higher education institution in Michigan. 

2. K Welcomes New Faculty Members 

Kalamazoo College was pleased to welcome 10 new faculty members to campus this fall. 

1. K Welcomes New VP for Student Development 

J. Malcolm Smith joined Kalamazoo College as the institution’s new vice president for student development and dean of students. Smith began his new role August 1 from Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, where he was its vice president for student affairs and dean of students. 

Kalamazoo College Names New Vice President for Business and Finance

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Chief Financial Officer: Photo says Lisa VanDeWeert Vice President for Business and Finance
Kalamazoo College has named Lisa VanDeWeert as the institution’s next
vice president for business and finance and chief financial officer (CFO).

Kalamazoo College has named Lisa VanDeWeert as the institution’s next vice president for business and finance and chief financial officer (CFO). VanDeWeert, vice president and CFO at Aquinas College, will begin her new role on February 16, 2022.

“Lisa brings significant expertise in higher education finance and business operations to K,” said Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez. “Her work with a wide range of colleges and non-profit institutions, her leadership experience within a small liberal arts college, and her commitment to cultivating collaborative partnerships with various stakeholders will make her a great fit at our institution.”

As Aquinas’ chief financial officer and a member of the president’s leadership cabinet, VanDeWeert is responsible for leading accounting, finance, information technology services, human resources, campus safety, physical plant, and operations such as conferencing and events and the campus bookstore. Prior to Aquinas, VanDeWeert served as a certified public accountant at Rehmann, supervising and reviewing audits in a variety of industries, including higher education and nonprofit organizations. Prior to Rehmann, VanDeWeert spent 15 years providing audit services and leading teams at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Grand Rapids.

VanDeWeert is a member of the National Association of College and University Business Officers and serves as CFO group chair for Michigan Independent Colleges and Universities (MICU). She also serves on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors for Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids. VanDeWeert holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting from State University of New York College at Oswego.

“I am excited to be joining Kalamazoo College and I’m looking forward to blending my skills and talents with those of the capable leaders and team members at K,” said VanDeWeert.

VanDeWeert was selected after a nationwide search conducted by an on-campus committee with the assistance of Storbeck Search, an executive search firm specializing in the education and non-profit sectors. Comprised of faculty, staff and trustees, the committee was chaired by Vice President for Advancement Karen Isble.

Kalamazoo College Wishes You a Happy Holiday Season

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Hicks Center with Luminaria in Front During Holiday Season
We hope you enjoy this video message of gratitude, and we wish you a most happy,
healthy and peaceful holiday season.

Dear Friends,

At Kalamazoo College, we have just wrapped up a season of firsts: Our first fully in-person term since the start of the pandemic. The first residential experience for our first-years and many of our sophomores. Our first swims in the College’s new Natatorium. The first study abroad opportunity for many of our juniors and seniors. And our first snowfall of the year—complete with the tell-tale tracks of sledders on the Quad.

Bearing witness to these experiences brings us incredible joy and gratitude. From the faculty and staff who make these opportunities possible, to the alumni and friends who support our students and programs through their philanthropy, to the students themselves, who show up every day to learn, to grow, to challenge the status quo and push for a brighter world—our fellowship in learning lights the path for future generations, and it is a tremendous gift to be a part of such a passionate and dedicated community.

We hope you enjoy this video message of gratitude, and we wish you a most happy, healthy and peaceful holiday season.