Kim Osborne ’93 served as the chief communication adviser at the end of Operation Enduring Freedom.
A Kalamazoo College alumna, who served as the chief strategic communication adviser in Kabul, Afghanistan at the end of Operation Enduring Freedom, will deliver the keynote at K’s Convocation on Thursday, September 9.
Kim Osborne ’93 will help welcome 394 first-year students to the campus as the College opens the 2021-22 academic year at 3 p.m. on the Quad. The annual event serves as the first of two bookends to the K experience with the other being Commencement. President Jorge G. Gonzalez and Provost Danette Ifert Johnson also will address attendees. Chaplain Elizabeth Candido ’00 will provide an invocation.
Osborne was the highest-ranking civilian communication adviser to the Afghan National Security Forces. She is a trusted adviser to U.S. and foreign governments, multinational corporations, international nongovernmental organizations, top-tier universities and large nonprofits. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Myanmar at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement in 2018. In 2016, Osborne was an invited speaker at the NATO Strategic Communication Centre of Excellence in Riga, Latvia, where she addressed military and diplomatic leaders from NATO partner nations about how best practices from the commercial sector can be applied in military and diplomatic missions.
Osborne currently is a full professor and the director of the Center for Leadership Development at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, California, the U.S. Defense Department’s premier school for culturally based foreign-language education. Elsewhere, she is on the faculty of the University of Georgia’s College of Education, where she teaches graduate-level courses in leadership and organizational development.
In further involvement, Osborne serves multiple professional and nonprofit organizations. She is a past board member to the National Association for Media Literacy Education, and serves as a founding strategic adviser to the Ethiopian Diaspora Fellowship. She also is a local board member and disaster services responder with the American Red Cross and has responded to several natural disasters including the recent California wildfires, Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricane Florence in North Carolina.
All students, families, faculty and staff are invited to attend Convocation.
Use #ShowUsYourK on social media on Friday, September 3, for National College Colors Day.
Celebrate National College Colors Day on September 3 by wearing orange and black for your chance to win some K swag from the Kalamazoo College Bookstore.
We are joining colleges and universities across the country in the annual Friday-before-Labor-Day celebration that fuels school pride. Simply use #ShowUsYourK on social media on the day and you’ll automatically be entered for a chance to win a Kalamazoo College sweatshirt, hat or mug.
We are encouraging current students, admitted and prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and the community to participate by posting photos of themselves, friends, family, colleagues and pets on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Alumni may also submit their pictures through email at info@kzoo.edu for us to post. Be sure to tell us in your posts why you love K!
Read the contest rules below and start considering how you will participate in National College Colors Day. By the way, if you need more orange and black, visit the new bookstore website. Thanks for letting your K spirit shine!
Contest rules
No purchase is necessary to participate in Kalamazoo College’s National College Colors Day contest and a purchase doesn’t increase a participant’s chance of winning.
The contest will run from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. EDT September 3. A College Marketing and Communication (CMAC) representative will choose the winners at random September 7 from entrants who participate September 3. Please avoid creating multiple accounts to submit additional entries. There will be one entry per participant regardless of the number of posts. The winners will be notified September 7.
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 in the upcoming academic year.
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.
In some cases, program timing remains up in the air due to lingering issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. However, recipients of Fulbright grants are selected as a result of their academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields, making the recognition an honor. Here are this year’s K-connected recipients.
Pelak double majored in biology and women, gender and sexuality studies, minored in psychology, and studied abroad in Budapest, Hungary, as a part of the College’s program in cognitive science during her years at K.
During her study abroad experience, Pelak developed an infected blister after taking a ropes course and needed to be treated at a hospital, where she was fascinated with the Hungarian health care system.
Global health care systems inspired Pelak to look for opportunities to go abroad again. While she was writing her senior integrated project (SIP) on Cesarean section rates in the United States through a feminist and intersectional lens, Pelak learned about the research of Professor Hannah Dahlen, a midwifery scholar at Western Sydney.
“As part of the application process, Professor Dahlen wrote a letter of research invitation for me,” Pelak said. “I expect to further gain a global perspective on health care and health care systems. I also expect to become a more independent and well-rounded individual who is able to incorporate the lessons and experiences from the Australia system of care and way of life to my future work as an obstetrician-gynecologist in the United States.”
Katherine Miller-Purrenhage ’21
Katherine Miller-Purrenhage, a double major in music and German with a minor in philosophy at K, will serve as an English teaching assistant in Germany at E.T.A Hoffmann-Gymnasium Bamberg and Gymnasium Höchstadt a.d. Aisch, as she splits time between the cities of Bamberg and Höchstadt.
Katherine Miller-Purrenhage ’21
Miller-Purrenhage participated in ensembles such as the Kalamazoo Philharmonia, Academy Street Winds and College Singers. She also was a member of the Delta Phi Alpha National German Honor Society, and served the German department as a teaching assistant during her time at K. Off campus, she volunteered with El Concilio, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the Latinx community in greater Kalamazoo.
Her study abroad experiences in Erlangen, Germany, piqued her interest in the Fulbright program as she interned at a German middle school where she helped teach in the German as a Second Language and English classrooms.
“I loved teaching and learning about educational spaces that ought to be uplifting, and what I as an educator could do to make them that way so every student felt included and celebrated,” Miller-Purrenhage said. “I expect this experience will be very different than when I studied abroad because I’ll be able to focus more on bonding with my community. This will benefit me as I learn to grow and better participate in cultural exchange while immersing myself in the German language again.”
Sophia Goebel ’21
Sophia Goebel ’21
Sophia Goebel, a critical ethnic studies and political science double major at K, will be an English teaching assistant at the University of Malaga in Spain. There, she will continue building the teaching skills she established on study abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico, where she developed and facilitated an expressive-arts workshop to explore the topic of communal territories with students from San Martín Huamelulpan, an indigenous community.
“I loved being able to connect with the participants in Oaxaca and learning alongside them,” Goebel said. “I spent some time assisting in their English lessons and it was so much fun to think about my language from the perspective of a language learner and brainstorm how best to teach them pronunciation or vocabulary. In turn, they helped teach me Spanish. That inspired me to try to spend more time in an intercultural, interlingual type of learning space through Fulbright, and I also wanted to spend more time exploring the role of teacher.
“I hope to build a lot of new relationships and figure out how to establish a life for myself without the crutch of my school community,” she added. “I’m excited to learn more about who I am outside of being a student. I aim to continue learning about pedagogy, something we explored a lot at the writing center, and developing as a teacher, facilitator and mentor. I’m also really trying to improve my Spanish. I’m very excited to learn more about the history and culture of Spain, especially after learning a little bit about the country’s politics this past year in a course at K. I hope to develop a more compassionate view of U.S. culture and identify elements that are meaningful and important to me, something which I anticipate will be somewhat of a challenge.”
Molly Roberts ’21
Molly Roberts ’21
Molly Roberts, a French and psychology double major at K, had the misfortune of missing out on two opportunities to study abroad. First, she was the only applicant interested in a spring short-term experience in Strasbourg, France, during her sophomore year, forcing the trip’s cancellation. Then, COVID-19 spread across the world during her junior year.
“I still yearned to be immersed in the French language and culture,” Roberts said. “In addition, graduate school is something that I’ve been interested in pursuing for a while. When I found a master’s degree program with an adviser, Dr. Fabien D’Hondt, who shared similar passions to me and had a research project in the field of neuroscience focusing on PTSD, a Fulbright scholarship seemed like the next logical step in my career path.”
Roberts expects her education to benefit from her research opportunities in France, but she’ll also be working for the Centre Nationale de Ressources et de Résilience (CN2R), an organization that takes current PTSD-focused research and puts it into practice to hep trauma survivors.
“This groundbreaking, accessible research-to-practice approach is what I expect to bring back with me to the States,” she said.
Margaret Totten ’21
Margaret Totten ’21
As a Fulbright honoree, Margaret Totten will serve as an English teaching assistant in Thailand, a place she knows well from her time on study abroad in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
“I had hoped to return to continue learning about Thai language, culture and the natural environment,” said Totten, who had a computer science major, a math minor and an environmental studies concentration at K. “One of my major goals is to improve my Thai speaking skills and form meaningful relationships with people in my host community.”
Nina Szalkiewicz ’21
Nina Szalkiewicz ’21
Nina Szalkiewicz, a business major and German minor at K, will follow in the footsteps of Georgie Andrews ’20, who served this past academic year as an English teaching assistant in Austria through Fulbright.
Szalkiewicz first went abroad through K when she spent six months in Bonn, Germany, leading to what she called her wonderful and surprising experiences studying German, thereby creating her interest in Fulbright.
“By pushing my boundaries and opening myself up to new cultures and customs, I grew tremendously as an individual which has changed my perspective toward my life,” Szalkiewicz said. “I began considering Fulbright more intently after reflecting on my Intercultural Research Project (ICRP) at the Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium. Much to my surprise, teaching and mentoring at this German middle school was one of my most enjoyable endeavors and something I gained the most from.”
Evelyn Rosero ’13
Evelyn Rosero ’13
Evelyn Rosero was a human development and social relations major at K, leading to two years of volunteer work in Detroit with Teach for America, a nonprofit organization that finds teachers for low-income schools. Now, she’s a teacher in East Los Angeles, California, who wants to gain a global perspective on education while serving Fulbright as an English teaching assistant in South Korea.
On a personal note, she’s happy South Korea is her assigned destination because she’s a big fan of the South Korean boy band BTS and hopes to see one of their concerts. However, her primary goals are professional and developed with a philanthropic heart. She wants to find connections between Korean students’ identities and English-language content; share her American identity to engage in dialogue; continue learning Korean to empathize better with her students; and grow beyond her personal comfort zones.
“I am really excited to partake in this experience, especially as an educator,” Rosero said. “Even though I have been teaching for eight years, there is still so much to learn. As a foreigner, I will educate myself on my students’ Korean background and the community in which they reside.”
About the Fulbright U.S. Student Program
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 in more than 140 countries throughout the world each year. 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.
For more information about the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, visit its website.
Sourcebooks, the publisher of the “Fiske Guide to Colleges,” says “K’s academic terms may be fast-paced and the workload demanding, but students are given the flexibility to pursue their interests through individualized projects and off-campus exploration.”
Kalamazoo College’s excellence is again featured in the annual Fiske Guide to Colleges, a selective look at about 300 higher-education institutions in the United States, Canada and the U.K.
The guide’s readers discover institutional personalities based on a broad range of subjects including the student body, academics, social life, financial aid, campus setting, housing, food and extracurricular activities. The book also includes a quiz to help students understand what they’re looking for in a college, lists of strong programs and popular majors at each institution, indexes that break down schools by state and price, and ratings regarding academics and quality of life.
In the 2022 version, available now, the publisher Sourcebooks says K students “pursue a liberal arts curriculum that includes language proficiency, a first-year writing seminar, sophomore and senior seminars, as well as a senior individualized project—directed research, a creative piece, or a traditional thesis—basically anything that caps off each student’s education in some meaningful way.”
In addition to senior integrated projects promoting independent scholarship opportunities, the guide praises other tenets of the K-Plan, the College’s four-part, integrated approach to education, including:
Rigorous academics. The flexibility and rigor of K’s curriculum provides students with a customized academic experience.
Experiential education. Students connect classroom learning with real-world experience by completing career development internships or externships, participating in civic engagement and service-learning projects, and getting involved in social justice leadership work.
International and intercultural experience. Students choose from 56 study abroad programs in 29 countries across six continents. A biology major interviewed by the publisher remarks on how easy it is for students to take advantage of the opportunity, noting, “Kalamazoo College does study abroad so well that it seems ridiculous not to take advantage of this opportunity. They make it financially accessible and ensure that you won’t fall behind by going abroad.”
“K’s academic terms may be fast-paced and the workload demanding, but students are given the flexibility to pursue their interests through individualized projects and off-campus exploration,” the Guide to Colleges says. “The result, says a senior, is a student body defined by open-minded, global citizens.”
Eight Kalamazoo County high school students seeking to major in STEM-related fields have earned Heyl Scholarships to attend Kalamazoo College in the 2021-22 academic year.
The Heyl Scholarship Fund, marking its 50th anniversary, was established in 1971 through the will of Dr. Frederick Heyl and Mrs. Elsie Heyl.
Maggie Lekan
Cole Koryto
Alex Kish
Frederick Heyl was the first director of research at the Upjohn Company and he taught at Kalamazoo College. The scholarships are renewable for four years and cover tuition, fees, college housing and a book allowance.
This year’s recipients of the scholarships, their high schools and their chosen majors or professional goals are:
Laurel Wolfe
Emerson Wesselhoff
Ava Apolo, Loy Norrix High School and Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center (KAMSC), biology.
Anna Buck, Loy Norrix High School and KAMSC, mathematics.
Elizabeth “Ellie” Grooten, Kalamazoo Central and KAMSC, biology.
Alex Kish, Comstock and KAMSC, mechanical engineering.
Cole Koryto, Portage Central and KAMSC, computer science and business.
Maggie Lekan, Kalamazoo Central, biology or chemistry.
Emerson Wesselhoff, Loy Norrix and KAMSC, biology with an environmental science concentration.
J. Malcolm Smith will join Kalamazoo College as its vice president for student development and dean of students on August 1.
President Jorge G. Gonzalez announced today that J. Malcolm Smith will join Kalamazoo College as the institution’s new vice president for student development and dean of students. Smith, who is the vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, will begin his new role on August 1, 2021.
“Malcolm has considerable experience in student development at institutions like K,” Gonzalez said. “He brings a collaborative leadership style, dedication to the development of college students, passion for equity and inclusion work, and a commitment to student success. I am confident that he will be an excellent addition to our campus community and that he will build strong bonds with students, staff and faculty.”
Smith joined Salve Regina in 2013 as dean of students and also served as associate vice president before being named vice president in 2019. During his tenure at Salve Regina, Smith led the revision of the university’s Sexual Misconduct Policy, established the Student Conduct Hearing Board to give students a stronger voice in the university judicial process, developed services and programs for the LGBTQ+ student community, and developed a Review and Standards committee to give students, faculty and staff input on proposed revisions to conduct policies.
Before Salve Regina, Smith worked at a variety of institutions including John Carroll University, Ohio University and University of Illinois at Chicago. He brings extensive experience in areas such as student conduct and advocacy; retention efforts; diversity, equity and inclusion; Title IX administration; housing management; budget oversight; and crisis management.
He has presented on the national and regional level for the National Association for Student Personnel Administration, the Association of Title IX Administrators, and the Association for Student Conduct Administration. In 2006, Smith received the Annuit Coeptis Award for Emerging Professionals from the American College Personnel Association. He holds a B.A. in elementary education and a M.Ed. in college student personnel, both from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
“My family and I are excited to join the K community,” Smith said. “I am looking forward to working with such amazing students, a great team in student development, and partnering with colleagues across the campus. I’m honored and humbled by this opportunity to join K! Go Hornets!”
Smith succeeds Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students Sarah Westfall, who will retire on July 1 after 14½ years at the College. Smith was selected after a competitive nationwide search conducted by an on-campus committee with the assistance of Storbeck Search & Associates, an executive search firm specializing in the education and non-profit sectors. Comprised of faculty, staff and students, the committee was chaired by Provost Danette Ifert Johnson.
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.
The recipients represent talented athletes, outstanding academic performers, members of the President’s Student Ambassadors and student-organization standouts. Here are the honorees:
Gold Afolabi nominated by Natalia Carvalho-Pinto, Intercultural Student Life
Katrina Arriola nominated by Liz Candido, Religious and Spiritual Life
Maya Banks nominated by Diomedes Rabago, Spanish; and Katie MacLean, Provost’s Office
Richard Brown III nominated by Francisco Villegas, Anthropology/Sociology; and Sandy Dugal, Kalamazoo College Fund
Isabelle Clark nominated by Katie Miller, Women’s Basketball
Adam Decker nominated by David Wilson, Physics
Vivian Enriquez (not pictured)
nominated by Alison Geist, Teresa Denton, Paulette Rieger, Emily Kowey and Moises Hernandez, Center for Civic Engagement; and Francisco Villegas, Anthropology/Sociology
Anna Gambetta nominated by Santiago Salinas and Anne Engh, Biology
Brendan Gausselin nominated by Mike Ott, Baseball; and Sandy Dugal, Kalamazoo College Fund
Merritt Hamann (not pictured)
nominated by Nick Giard, Men’s Basketball
Kaylee Henderson nominated by Dennis Frost, History
Maeve Hening nominated by Alison Geist, Teresa Denton, Paulette Rieger, Emily Kowey and Moises Hernandez, Center for Civic Engagement
Audrey Honig nominated by Jeffrey Haus, History and Jewish Studies; and Liz Candido, Religious and Spiritual Life
Denise Jackson nominated by Danielle Turner, Residential Life; and Jon Collier, Student Activities
Lisa Johnston nominated by Eric Nordmoe, Mathematics
Nicklas Klepser nominated by Brian Dietz, Student Development
Juanita Ledesma (not pictured)
nominated by Katie Miller, Women’s Basketball; and Natalia Carvalho-Pinto, Intercultural Student Life
Tristen Mabin nominated by Natalia Carvalho-Pinto, Intercultural Student Life
Nat Markech nominated by Jon Collier, Student Activities
Alonté Mitchell-Presley nominated by Jon Collier, Student Activities
Daniel Mota-Villegas nominated by Sandy Dugal, Kalamazoo College Fund, and Alison Geist, Teresa Denton, Paulette Rieger, Emily Kowey, & Moises Hernandez, Civic Engagement
Kelly Nickelson nominated by Sara Stockwood and Binney Girdler, Environmental Stewardship and Biology
Nikoli Nickson nominated by Ann Fraser, Biology
Aisat Oladokun nominated by Sandy Dugal, Kalamazoo College Fund, and Alison Geist, Teresa Denton, Paulette Rieger, Emily Kowey and Moises Hernandez, Civic Engagement
Sydney Patton nominated by Alison Geist, Teresa Denton, Paulette Rieger, Emily Kowey, & Moises Hernandez, Civic Engagement
Helen Pelak nominated by Sandy Dugal, Kalamazoo College Fund
Brynn Rohde nominated by Lisa Ailstock, Jennifer Combes, Deb Annen-Caruso, Cindi Anspach, Liza Escamilla, & Jennie Hill, Student Health Center
Asia Smith (not pictured)
nominated by Alison Geist, Teresa Denton, Paulette Rieger, Emily Kowey and Moises Hernandez, Civic Engagement, and Francisco Villegas, Anthropology/Sociology
Savannah Sweeney nominated by Jon Collier, Student Activities
Vanessa Vigier nominated by Tony Nelson, Center for International Programs
Brandon Wright (not pictured)
nominated by Vince Redko, Men’s Lacrosse, and Sandy Dugal, Kalamazoo College Fund
Alaq Zghayer nominated by Sandy Dugal, Kalamazoo College Fund; Brian Dietz, Student Development, and Jon Collier, Student Development
A $5 million commitment to Kalamazoo College from emeriti trustees Rosemary and John Brown will create an endowed scholarship fund that will help students of all socioeconomic backgrounds.
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.
The Rosemary K. and John W. Brown Endowed Scholarship Fund will further the College’s strategic plan by assisting future students in achieving their goals through a K education. The Browns have donated to higher-education institutions through scholarships, faculty-chair funding, capital projects and programs within engineering, sciences and mathematics, the performing arts and veterinary medicine including many gifts to K over the years; in particular, they made two large gifts to establish the Rosemary K. Brown Endowed Professorship in Mathematics and Computer Science, showing their generosity to the College. Such efforts nurture future breakthroughs, progress and leadership. One of their favorite quotes is by Nelson Henderson: “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”
“We are profoundly grateful to the Browns for their remarkable gift, which opens the doors of our unique institution to students who otherwise might not have this opportunity,” Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez said. “A K education is truly life-changing for our students, and we are honored that the Browns have chosen to invest in our mission and our students through both their past service as trustees and their financial support of the College.”
Rosemary Brown is a lifelong educator who shared her passion for math with students in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and several schools in Kalamazoo. She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Auburn University and her master’s degree in mathematics education from Rutgers University. She received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Freed-Hardeman University, an honorary doctor of science degree from Auburn University, and was presented with the Distinguished Alumni Award from Auburn’s College of Science and Math. Rosemary is an emerita trustee of the College, having served on the board from 1998 to 2009. She was also a member of the Kalamazoo College Women’s Council.
John Brown is former chairman, president and CEO of Stryker Corporation. He was named Chairman Emeritus of Stryker in 2010. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Auburn University, an honorary doctor of humane letters from Kalamazoo College, an honorary doctor of laws degree from Freed-Hardeman University, and an honorary doctorate in science from Auburn University. John is an emeritus trustee of the College, having served on the board from 1980 to 1995.
Reflecting on their gift, the Browns shared, “Our involvement with Kalamazoo College dates back to the late ’70s when we moved to Michigan. It has been a rewarding experience: getting to know the administrators, the faculty, the students, attending the Boys’ tennis tournaments, the concerts, the Kitchen lectures…we are happy to play a role in helping students have the opportunity to become part of the K family.”
Kalamazoo College, seen here outside the Hicks Student Center, is one of just five Michigan schools to earn best value recognition from the Princeton Review in 2021.
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.
The Princeton Review examined more than 650 institutions for this year’s list and selected K among the top 200 colleges and universities. Kalamazoo College is one of just five Michigan institutions overall to be honored this year.
Colleges and universities were selected based on surveys of students and administrators that addressed academics, cost, financial aid, career services, graduation rates, student debt and alumni support. The Princeton Review also factored in data from PayScale.com surveys regarding alumni salaries and job satisfaction.
According to the College’s profile at the Princeton Review’s website, student respondents said K “allows students to really develop personal relationships with their peers and professors” and is “a campus run by and for the students.” Students also said the open curriculum means they have more time to explore exactly what they want to learn.
“The schools we name as our Best Value Colleges for 2021 comprise only just over 1 percent of the nation’s four-year colleges,” Princeton Review Editor-in-Chief Rob Franek said. “They are distinctive in their programs, size, region and type, yet they are similar in three areas. Every school we selected offers outstanding academics, generous financial aid and/or a relative low cost of attendance, and stellar career services. We salute Kalamazoo College for these exceptional offerings and recommend it highly to college applicants and parents.”
“The flexibility of the K-Plan, our approach to an excellent education in the liberal arts and sciences, allows us to seek out students with a broad array of interests, achievements and experiences,” Director of Admission Suzanne Lepley said. “We strive to provide an excellent return on investment for all of our students as we help them grow as individuals and build skills employers want in their work force.”
The Best Value Colleges is one of more than 150 books developed by The Princeton Review and published by Penguin Random House. Others that are resources on this topic include The Best 385 Colleges, which includes Kalamazoo College in 2021.
Judith Bollinger ’77, a Kalamazoo College trustee, and her husband, William, are creating the Judith and William Bollinger Endowed Professorship in Computer Science with a generous gift to K.
A generous gift from a Kalamazoo College alumna and her spouse will support the institution’s students and its strategic plan, Advancing Kalamazoo College: A Strategic Vision for 2023, by funding the Judith and William Bollinger Endowed Professorship in Computer Science.
“We are deeply honored and grateful to the Bollingers for this wonderful gift,” Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez said. “This endowment will strengthen our Computer Science Department and invest in its faculty while empowering students to attain more of the skills that employers demand. It will benefit students and their achievements beyond their years at K.”
The computer science program at K has experienced a greater than tenfold increase in the number of majors in the past 10 years, and the department’s offerings are also in great demand from nonmajors. The increased interest from students makes the addition of an applied computer science faculty member a valuable and vital investment to ensure students access to the classes they want.
“In computer science, we put a really high priority on issues of access and equity, and we have for a long time,” Computer Science Chair Alyce Brady said. “That means one of the aspects that we’re really interested in—thanks to this endowment—is expanding our reach to address students beyond just the computer science majors. With an additional faculty member, we would hope to provide for more students and continue our focus on developing a curriculum that allows everyone to thrive.”
Provost Danette Ifert Johnson noted that the gift “represents the value of what we do at K and the fact that there are folks outside the institution who believe in what we do. That speaks not just to the kinds of experiences that our students have, but the real impact that our students make in the world as graduates.”
One of those graduates is Judith Bollinger ’77, a Kalamazoo College trustee. After graduating from K with a B.A. in English, she earned her MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania before working at Goldman Sachs for more than 13 years. In 1999, she joined ABG Securities as a research director and executed the company’s merger with Sundal Collier as its CEO in 2001. Bollinger was the board chair of ABG Sundal Collier, before serving as the chair of its foundation for Women in Finance beginning in 2019.
Her husband, William Bollinger, co-founded Egerton Capital Limited, a London-based asset-management firm in 1994 and remains a limited partner. He attended the University of Texas, earning a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in business administration.
In designating the gift, the Bollingers noted that the knowledge and skills gained by a computer science education are applicable and necessary in nearly every discipline, and that all students can benefit from the attainment of such skills, regardless of their area of study. Says the couple, “Most disciplines today—from medicine to finance—require robust computer science skills. We hope that our gift equips many generations of K students with the computer skills they need to flourish in their chosen fields.”
