Carter Dillet portrays George Stinney Jr. in the Opera Grand Rapids production of “Stinney: An American Execution.”
Daniel Sampson plays George Stinney Sr. in “Stinney: An American Execution.”
Chasiti Lashay appears in the role of Alma Stinney during the Opera Grand Rapids production of “Stinney: An American Execution.”
Cody Colvin ’18 has been striking powerful chords at the intersection of opera and media production. This February, he was honored with the Michigan Association of Broadcasters’ Best Independent Producer award, which recognizes the best public television program in the state by an independent producer. Colvin shares the honor with fellow producers Emilee Syrewicze and Phil Lane for their work on Stinney: An American Execution, a cinematic capture of Opera Grand Rapids’ groundbreaking world premiere.
Colvin served as director, producer and co-executive producer on the project, which tells the harrowing true story of George Stinney Jr., a 14-year-old Black boy who, in 1944, became the youngest person ever legally executed in the U.S. after being wrongfully convicted of the murder of two white girls in South Carolina. Decades later, in 2014, a South Carolina judge vacated his conviction, citing an egregious lack of due process.
“The film hurts to watch every time,” Colvin said. “It reminds me of how important this story is and why we told it.”
The opera, composed by Frances Pollock with libretto by Tia Price, premiered in 2022. With Colvin as director, the production was transformed into a cinematic experience now streaming nationwide and broadcast across Michigan through Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) affiliates. The film also marks a technical achievement as it’s believed to be the first full-length opera captured entirely on cinema cameras. It features cutting-edge audio with technology from DPA Microphones and Tentacle Sync, mixed in immersive Dolby Surround with nearly 40 channels of recorded sound.
Colvin began conversations about filming Stinney in 2021, when he approached Opera Grand Rapids’ then-chorusmaster about singing in the chorus. That conversation quickly evolved into a production opportunity. OGR Executive Director and Stinney Co-Executive Producer Emilee Syrewicze then brought Colvin and his company, Colvin Theatrical, on board to produce the film.
“After touring with the American Association of Community Theatre in 2021, we were looking for a project we could really sink our teeth into,” Colvin said. “This was that project, technically ambitious and thematically vital.”
Before Colvin’s involvement, Syrewicze had begun preliminary broadcast talks with WGVU, Grand Rapids’ PBS affiliate. Once Colvin joined the team, WGVU escalated the project to PBS national headquarters. Emmy-winning PBS Senior Director of Programming Doug Chang, known for Live from Lincoln Center, worked with Colvin to help refine the film for national release. It now lives on the PBS app and has aired across multiple Michigan regions.
“When we screened it for the first time, the stunned silence in the room was palpable,” Colvin said. “I was able to watch the initial broadcast with the Opera Grand Rapids donors who helped bring the project to life, and their thoughtful and emotional response to the film reaffirmed why we do this work.”
Colvin founded Colvin Theatrical in 2020 during the pandemic, helping theater companies reach audiences far beyond their venues. One early breakthrough came in 2021, when he filmed 11 of the 12 Outstanding Production nominees at the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT) Festival, earning international media coverage. In 2023, he launched Colvin Media to expand into broader film, television and advertising projects. Colvin Theatrical now operates under that umbrella.
A classically trained bass-baritone, Colvin nurtured his passion for singing during his time at Kalamazoo College. He made his principal opera debut in 2024 in La Bohème with Opera Grand Rapids, and his next milestone comes this spring with a Carnegie Hall debut.
Colvin to Perform at Carnegie Hall
Cody Colvin ’18 will make his Carnegie Hall debut at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 12, performing a solo with the West Michigan Opera Project. The Grand Rapids-based ensemble focuses on educational outreach through concerts, workshops, and master classes. A public sendoff concert is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 6. RSVP for either event at the West Michigan Opera Project website.
Alyssa Toepfer portrays Jean Binnicker during the Opera Grand Rapids production of “Stinney: An American Execution.”
Cody Colvin ’18, a business and theatre arts double major at K, founded Colvin Theatrical in 2020. In 2023, he launched Colvin Media to expand into broader film, television and advertising projects.
If you’ve ever believed that you’re just not good at science, math, English or whatever your least favorite subject might be, Senchen Subba ’25 and his Senior Integrated Project (SIP) might convince you otherwise.
Subba, a business and computer science double major from Nepal, is the creator of The Senchy Review, a blog with a series of self-contained essays in global politics, psychology, technology and personal development. The essays allow him to analyze complex subjects through clear and engaging ideas, providing an approach that he says mirrors the exploratory nature of real-world learning. It also invites others to engage with his ideas.
Subba calls it a kind of Bildungsroman experience, like where a literary character comes of age through formative years or an education.
“I thought if I could combine my writing with building a website for my SIP, that would be very cool,” he said. “I feel it’s the best way for me to encapsulate my experience in college. If I took a history class, for example, it would be difficult for me to write an entire SIP on what I learned. But I could have an entire SIP on different tidbits of topics and each topic could be self-contained.”
Senchen Subba ’25, a business and computer science double major from Nepal, is the creator of The Senchy Review, a blog that allows him to write a series of self-contained essays in global politics, psychology, technology and personal development.
The variety of the essays reflect Subba’s natural inclination to write, be curious and explore. While he appreciates everything he learns in a familiar subject like computer science, even that once was an experiment with something new.
“When I came here, I wasn’t thinking about taking computer science,” Subba said. “I thought I would try one class and continue if I enjoyed it. But then I found out that computer science just makes sense. If you want to build a website, there are certain pieces of it that fit together like a recipe. I enjoy how logical it is. And if I make an app, I can publish it. If I make a website, I can share it.”
Yet if you scan his list of essays, you will find titles that share ideas regarding the pleasures of trial and error, how to make reading a habit, the complexities of addiction, the ins and outs of corporate finance, strategies for weightlifting, finding satisfaction in life, and the essence of public speaking.
“As a thinker, I’ve learned that I don’t know many of these concepts I write about as well as I thought,” Subba said. “Writing leaves no room for my confusion to hide. It has made me realize how much I appreciate clear, concise and engaging writing, and how challenging it is to accomplish. The ones that stand out to me right now are the writings regarding corporate finance and gym lifts—corporate finance because it was technical, fun and challenging to break down ideas down into fundamentals, and weightlifting because I’ve recently gotten into it more, so my writing has helped clarify my training philosophy.”
If he finds the subject interesting, he will consider writing about it regardless of what it is. Such topics make it evident just how much Subba loves to write and the freedom of the liberal arts, making K a perfect fit for him.
“If you want to be really good at just one topic, you can study just one subject,” Subba said. “But I think for myself, it’s helpful to have a wide breadth of knowledge. That doesn’t mean you can’t be really good at one thing. But I’ve noticed that the people who are really good at, let’s say, programming, they have other interests outside of that one field. I would say the liberal arts have helped me a lot. I’m sure it provides a lot of benefits to other people, too.”
He even dabbles with a podcast through the opportunities he has at K. It shares interviews with K students, faculty and staff regarding their areas of expertise. His latest interview was with Wen Chao Chen Professor of East Asian Social Studies Dennis Frost.
“I find that If I want to do something at K, the resources or the help I need to do it will come out if I just ask about it or talk to enough people,” he said.
Subba said he has been visiting Kalamazoo since he was a child because his uncle, Mahendra Lawoti, is a political science professor at Western Michigan University.
“I still remember coming here and driving around Kalamazoo with him,” Subba said. “He would point toward K’s campus and say, ‘There’s a really nice college over here, too.’ I forgot about that for three or four years until I was applying for colleges, and I got in at K.”
Since then, he has had great experiences with friends and faculty, while staff assistance has come from places as far ranging as K Dining and the Center for International Programs, which provides support and programming for international students like him. In fact, he’s grateful for every friend and family member he’s had in his life.
Come graduation in June, he hopes he can start building a career—and perhaps a business of his own—that helps people through an online platform like The Senchy Review.
“I want my career to be built on the idea that a person can enjoy what they’re doing while also enriching people’s lives,” Subba said. “I feel there are certain businesses that do well financially but aren’t the most helpful. I’d rather think that if I give people enough good value, earnings will come automatically and be more of a metric of success.”
As International Women’s Day approaches on March 8, leaders of Kalamazoo College’s Professional Women’s Club (PWC) are reflecting on a successful term of empowering female-identifying students to explore their future career goals.
Open to all majors, PWC brings together students who are seeking to succeed in a variety of professional spaces, especially those where women remain underrepresented.
“With the diversity in academics at a liberal arts school like K, you have the ability to pursue many different passions,” said PWC co-President Alexa Wonacott ’25, who double majors in business and Spanish. “I think our club is cool because you’re working with biology students, psych students and more, and we all have something in common that we want to work on within ourselves. I think it’s awesome that K offers all these different paths, yet you still find a group of people that you have something in common with.”
Recent PWC events have included LinkedIn and résumé-writing workshops. They’ve also involved conversations with Amy MacMillan, who is the L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business at K, and her daughter, Lindsay, a former vice president at Goldman Sachs, and current keynote speaker, author, writing coach and creative leadership expert. Lindsay’s discussions, for example, included elements regarding how to bring creativity into the corporate world.
The Kalamazoo College Professional Women’s Club leadership board includes Alexa Wonacott ’25 (from left), Bailey Callaway ’25, Grace Westerhuis ’26 and Amelia Rooks ’26.
PWC member Grace Westerhuis ’26 and co-President Bailey Callaway ’25 noted they were especially inspired by Lindsay’s message regarding how to fail successfully, and they said their experiences in the group as a whole have been beneficial.
“I thought it was important for me to practice my professional skills and try networking,” Westerhuis said. “Then, I really enjoyed connecting with other female-identifying students, learning about their majors and working together to create this environment where we’re all supporting each other and figuring out our careers and futures.”
“As a business major, I’ve noticed that there are always just a select few female-identifying students within any of my courses because we’re choosing a predominantly male field,” Callaway said. “I felt like it was very important to foster an environment where it was accepting of the women in our school, where we could have our ideas supported and uplifted.”
All three students said PWC has helped them figure out how they plan to proceed when they jump into careers as women in life after K. Callaway, for example, wants to work in hospital or healthcare administration.
“I’ve been surrounded by healthcare my entire life, but I definitely am not the type of person to go in on the clinical side,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed pursuing business, especially at K, so I want to help people, but maybe more in the background by being an administrator.”
Westerhuis, as a junior, still has some time to figure out what she wants to do, although she has enjoyed pursuing ethics and business development.
“I’m looking into finding a consulting path I enjoy, maybe in B to B, so I would like to give advice on how to practice good business ethics because I think our world needs that right now,” she said. “I also love to travel, so anything that can get me to another country sounds great.”
Like Westerhuis, Wonacott enjoyed her study abroad experience and loves to travel.
“I’m hoping to go back abroad after graduation,” she said. “I recently applied for a program that would take me back to Spain to teach for about a year. After that, I’d love to work in international business. I’m interested in large global markets, so some kind of intersection between leadership, travel and big business would be ideal.”
International Women’s Day can trace its roots to February 28, 1909, when the now-dissolved Socialist Party of America organized the first National Woman’s Day. In 1910, a German woman named Clara Zetkin proposed the idea of a global International Women’s Day, so that people around the world could celebrate at the same time. In 1975, the United Nations—which had dubbed the year International Women’s Year—celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8 for the first time. Since then, the U.N. has encouraged more countries to embrace the holiday and its goal of celebrating “acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities,” according to the U.N.’s website.
Workplace inclusion and decision-making power remain key issues of discussion on International Women’s Day in 2025. In 2024, an S&P Global analysis of more than 1,100 companies showed that women hold about 25.1% of senior management or leadership roles. That figure is up slightly from 24% in 2022 and 23% in 2021, although representation clearly remains low, especially with women of color who hold only about 7% of all c-suite positions at major corporations. Women also hold only about 29% of all revenue-generating management roles in the U.S. and 24.9% of businesses’ board positions.
Wonacott, Westerhuis and Callaway agree that it’s important for PWC to present role models when helping other women learn how to succeed in business despite such odds. They point to alumnae such as Michelle Fanroy ’88, who occasionally visits business classes at K. She is the vice president of the Alumni Association Engagement Board, a member of the Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees, and the founder and president of Access One Consulting, which provides leadership development, mentoring program design and diversity planning and training to corporations.
Wonacott added that the group’s impact grows when students are able to engage one on one with the topics presented at each meeting.
“If somebody can come to our career workshop and leave feeling good about their résumé or their LinkedIn profile, that feels successful to me in the sense that we’re making sure everybody feels like they’ve gotten a lot out of a meeting,” she said.
Callaway emphasized that International Women’s Day is a chance for PWC to highlight and amplify important stories on campus, around the country and around the world.
“We throw around the word celebration a lot, but I feel like that is a good word to describe what the day is about,” she said. “That’s what we try to do as an organization on campus is just uplift, support and promote women.”
A new initiative within the economics and business department at Kalamazoo College is turning the classroom into a collaborative innovation experience, as students partner with Greenleaf Hospitality Group to craft strategies to attract area college students to downtown Kalamazoo.
The initiative is called the InKubator for Experiential Education. As part of the InKubator, senior business students will be serving as consultants to Greenleaf Hospitality Group (GHG), conducting research and preparing proposals on the types of experiences and events that might best attract K, Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo Valley Community College students to the highly anticipated Kalamazoo Event Center. The event center is slated to open on the southwest corner of North Westnedge and West Kalamazoo Avenue in the fall of 2027. The site is about a mile northeast of K’s campus.
The center will be the future home of WMU’s hockey and men’s and women’s basketball programs, as well as the Kalamazoo Wings hockey team. In addition to serving as a state-of-the-art athletic venue, the facility will feature seating for 8,000 guests for concerts, dynamic and flexible event spaces, and on-site parking. Spanning 450,000 square feet, including 20,000 square feet of flat floor space, the center offers versatile event spaces suitable for a variety of occasions, providing ample room for creativity and innovation.
Amy MacMillan, L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business at K, is co-teaching the InKubator experience with Associate Professor Emeritus Timothy Moffit. The professors will serve as managing partners to the students, who will form consulting teams. Each team will be student-led with the support of K alumni mentors. Entrepreneurs, strategists, actors, artists and writers will be invited to lead activities that open the brain to innovative thinking.
“Experiential education has long been a distinguishing feature of Kalamazoo College,” said MacMillan. “In the InKubator, students will apply design thinking, problem-solving, communication and teamwork skills to a real project that will make a difference in our community. We’re building a bridge between college and career so students can hit the ground running after they graduate. We’re excited to partner with GHG on this initiative.”
Classes will meet half the time at the downtown Radisson in meeting space provided by GHG. Sarah Olszowy, vice president of marketing and technology for GHG, will provide feedback to students throughout the various iterations of their projects. The class will culminate in a final presentation of student proposals to Olszowy and other GHG representatives.
“This collaboration with Kalamazoo College harnesses the creativity and energy of emerging professionals to make downtown Kalamazoo an exciting destination for the next generation. Together, we’re shaping experiences that will not only attract students but also build a stronger connection between our vibrant community and its future leaders,” said Olszowy.
Sarah Olszowy, vice president of marketing and technology for Greenleaf Hospitality Group, answers questions from K students participating in the InKubator initiative.
K students participate in the InKubator initiative.
Kalamazoo College business students in the InKubator initiative will attend half their classes at the downtown Radisson in meeting spaces provided by GHG. Standing with students in the first row are Associate Professor Emeritus Timothy Moffit (second from left), L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business Amy MacMillan (third from left) and GHG mentor Sarah Olszowy (fourth from right).
ABOUT:
Kalamazoo College, founded in 1833, is a nationally recognized residential liberal arts and sciences college located in Kalamazoo, Mich. The creator of the K-Plan, Kalamazoo College provides an individualized education that integrates rigorous academics with life-changing experiential learning opportunities. For more information, visitwww.kzoo.edu.
The Kalamazoo Event Center ushers in a new era for hosting collegiate and professional sports and events. It is positioned to become the must-experience destination in downtown Kalamazoo and southwest Michigan. Set to redefine the entertainment and sports landscape, this cutting-edge venue is currently under development and promises a dynamic space for diverse events. The center is owned and operated by Greenleaf Hospitality Group.
Greenleaf Hospitality Group (GHG) includes the Radisson Plaza Hotel, Wings Event Center, Wings West, the Kalamazoo Country Club, several outlets within these venues, and the future Kalamazoo Event Center. GHG strives to positively impact the greater Kalamazoo community by offering premier establishments for dining, hospitality, sports, and entertainment. For more information, visitwww.greenleafhospitalitygroup.com.
Three recent Kalamazoo College grads have earned opportunities to work as English language teaching assistants and cultural ambassadors in Spain starting this fall.
Ali Randel, Andre Walker Jr. and Maggie Zorn, all from the class of 2024, have been selected for the North American Language and Culture Assistants Program (NALCAP) through the Education Office of the Embassy of Spain. They will work under the supervision of teachers in Spain to help Spanish students improve their English skills and understand American culture.
NALCAP recipients receive a monthly stipend and medical insurance for 14–16 hours of assistant teaching per week. They make their own housing arrangements and are encouraged to immerse themselves in the language and culture of Spain while sharing the language and culture of the United States with the students they teach. The program runs from October 1 to May 31, and participants can choose to apply for a renewal.
Ali Randel
Randel double majored in English and Spanish at K; completed a journalism Senior Integrated Project (SIP) about health and wellness resources on campus; was a student participant, wellness intern and president her senior year with Hillel at K; and studied abroad in Cáceres, Spain. On study abroad, she met several NALCAP participants, including a K alum, which first piqued her interest in the program. She knew she wanted to return to Spain after graduation, and Director of Grants, Fellowships and Research Jessica Fowle helped her consider options and apply to programs including NALCAP.
During her time in Spain, Randel hopes to continue improving her Spanish speaking skills, travel throughout Europe, and spend time with her host family from Cáceres.
“When I was on study abroad, my speaking improved a lot, and I’m hoping that I can continue to improve that and also learn more about Spanish culture,” Randel said. “I loved it in Spain so much when I studied abroad, and I can’t wait to get back and experience it through a different lens, with high school students, in a professional role and in a different city.”
Randel is placed at a high school in Bedmar y Garcíez, a small town in the southern Spanish province of Jaén.
Ali Randel ’24 has been selected for the North American Language and Culture Assistants Program (NALCAP) through the Education Office of the Embassy of Spain. She will be at a high school in Bedmar y Garcíez, a small town in the southern Spanish province of Jaén.
Andre Walker Jr.
A psychology and Spanish double major, Walker incorporated both fields of study into his SIP by studying possible reasons bilingual people have been found to be more creative. During his time at K, Walker participated in the Black Student Organization, the Latinx Student Organization, Students for Justice in Palestine, and the volleyball club. He also studied abroad in Chile.
While applying to NALCAP, Walker was finishing his SIP and reading about how other countries prioritize learning a second language, especially English.
“In Spain, they start as early as primary, which I think is amazing, because the earlier you start, the more proficient you can become at a second language,” Walker said. “I want to see what the bilingual experience is outside of the United States, see how different and how beneficial it really is, and use that as a force to encourage more bilingual education here.”
Walker will teach primary students in the city of Santiago de Compostela in the northwestern region of Galicia. He hopes to improve his Spanish, learn some of a regional language called Galego (closely related to Portuguese), travel, and possibly extend the research of his SIP.
“I’m using this as a driving force of my long-term goals of wanting to use Spanish in the workplace,” Walker said. “I want to be able to advocate for the importance of hiring more bilingual people and the success they can bring for the overall work environment and spread the importance of bilingual education.”
Andre Walker Jr. ’24 ill teach primary students in the city of Santiago de Compostela in the northwestern region of Galicia through NALCAP.
Maggie Zorn
Zorn studied business and Spanish at K, was a swimming and diving student-athlete and studied abroad in Cáceres. Zorn also volunteered for the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement in Swim for Success, which offers swimming lessons to disadvantaged local children in a partnership with the City of Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation Department.
Zorn has been placed in Almonte, a town in the southwestern Spanish province of Huelva in the region of Andalucía, with high school-age students.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity to revisit Spain, as I went to Cáceres as a junior for study abroad,” Zorn said. “I am incredibly passionate about teaching, and as a Spanish major, I see this as a way to combine my interests; long term, I am hoping to potentially turn teaching into a career. I am most looking forward to learning more about the culture and enjoying the natural spaces.”
Maggie Zorn ’24 has been placed in Almonte, a town in the southwestern Spanish province of Huelva in the region of Andalucía, through NALCAP.
Story by Social Media Ambassador Blagoja Naskovski ’24
In a pivot prompted by Kalamazoo College’s flexible curriculum, Ian Burr ’24 heeded a call for “lights, camera, action” in New York while discovering a potential lifelong passion.
Burr, a business major, recently participated in the New York Arts Program, a winter-term study away opportunity, where students learn about acting, musical theatre, dance, play writing, directing, vocal music, instrumental music, improvisation and children’s theatre—or in Burr’s case—filmmaking.
His interest in photography pushed him to take Framing Differences, a sophomore seminar taught by Genevieve U. Gilmore Professor of Art Richard Koenig, which gives K students a working knowledge of the tools used in photography before leaving for study away or study abroad. Burr then bought his first camera and worked on sports videography for the women’s soccer team and recreational hockey games.
These experiences convinced Burr to add a film and media concentration to his K-Plan and seek opportunities in New York. There, he worked as a production assistant intern for an upcoming Netflix show, American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders, and at Green Point Pictures, an advertising company where he helped create pitches for clients. The time in New York also gave Burr an opportunity to shoot his first film.
“The New York Arts Program was an amazing opportunity for me to gain hands-on experience as someone who is interested in the film industry,” Burr said. “It is very hard to get into the industry and participating in this program while taking classes and working for two companies was a very valuable way to gain skills for something that I am very passionate about.”
Since, Burr has developed a Senior Integrated Project (SIP)—not in business, but in filmmaking—with a production titled I Love You, Bro, dedicated to his friend Jake, who died in a car accident. The short film focuses on the mental health of Rhett, who loses his best friend, Avery, in a crash.
“I wanted to show how people deal with loss,” Burr said. “Some people push their feelings off, so they don’t seem weak, but no one should be alone, and it’s totally OK to share your feelings with someone.”
Last fall, Burr had a chance to present the film—which takes place in his hometown of Franklin, Tennessee—to the K community while emphasizing the importance of mental health awareness.
“The idea to turn my movie into a SIP came while I was attending the New York Arts Program,” Burr said. “Without the opportunity that K gave me and the collaboration with Professor Koening, I wouldn’t be able to do something that means so much to me. The professors are so great and welcoming. The small size class made me establish close relationships with the professors and my classmates easily. Professors here care about your progress and your ability to use your whole potential.”
Burr also credits a close friend for his assistance with the movie.
Aidan Baas ’23, “who also participated in the New York Arts Program, was very supportive during this journey,” Burr said. “When I was with him during the study away program in New York, he helped me to come up with the idea of I Love You, Bro. Furthermore, he came from Michigan to Nashville during the summer of 2023 and helped me with shooting and editing, which made the movie to be successfully completed.”
Elsewhere at K, Burr is a punter and kicker on K’s football team, through which he’s established lifelong connections with his teammates. He also has drawn inspiration to achieve excellence in academics through faculty members such as L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business Management Amy MacMillan, Visiting Professor of Business David Rhoa and Visiting Instructor in Art Daniel Kim, who have provided Burr with real-world experiences related to his coursework. And although he’s been dedicated to undertakings such as football and more, Burr strongly encourages his peers who are interested in filmmaking to find their own opportunities through faculty and coursework.
“Dive into it,” he said. “Ask professors for many opportunities to grow. Filmmaking is building portfolios. If you want to be a director, direct something. Go and create. The only way you fail is if you never try. Be dedicated. Collaborate with your friends, classmates and professors. Create the films you want to see.”
Ian Burr ’24 (left) works with actors Graeme Cadaret and Jayden Scheer while filming a scene of “I Love You, Bro.”
While participating in the New York Arts Program on study away, Burr found his passion for filmmaking while working as a production assistant intern for an upcoming Netflix show, “American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders,” and at Green Point Pictures, an advertising company where he helped create pitches for clients.
Burr prepares to punt during a Kalamazoo College football game. Photo by Kimberley Moss.
Burr films Cadaret and Scheer in the making of his film, “I Love You, Bro.”
Over the past 35 years, the business and economics department at K has grown from one part-time business professor to a popular business major with several full-time faculty.
One constant over that time has been Professor Timothy Moffit ’80. Moffit took on that part-time business professor role in 1989 as a one-year sabbatical replacement, and other than a couple short breaks in the first few years, he has been teaching students at K ever since.
As Moffit approaches retirement this spring, a group of alumni—both classmates and students of Moffit’s—have established a scholarship in his honor. Given to students for the first time in the 2023–24 academic year, the Dr. Timothy Moffit ’80 Endowed Scholarship in Business has already raised $175,000 from a small group of donors. The goal is to increase that total to at least $300,000, which will provide $15,000 to scholarship recipients majoring in economics and business every year, forever.
The honor speaks to Moffit’s commitment to the classroom and his students, to business within the framework of the liberal arts, and to his department and the College as a whole.
Love of learning has kept Moffit in the classroom for 35 years.
“That’s what brought me to K, and that’s what’s kept me at K,” Moffit said. “As a teacher, you never stop learning, and I tell my students that you never really learn a subject until you teach it. I find that enchanting because I love learning.”
Moffit’s belief—supported by what he hears from former students—is that his classroom has been rigorous, demanding, and full of experiences and applications that bring meaning to theory.
“Many students who go to grad school say, ‘Boy, your classes are tougher than my grad school classes.’ The rigor and the toughness are not for the sake of being tough. It’s out of excitement for the material. I want to learn—let’s learn!—so I’m fairly demanding in terms of what we learn and how we learn. I think for a lot of students, it’s incredibly rewarding. Once they’ve graduated from K, they’re like, ‘Wow, in the workplace, I really do know how to do these things. I can accept this challenge, because I was beat up by Moffit,’” Moffit said with a laugh.
As Professor Timothy Moffit approaches retirement this spring, some alumni have established a scholarship in his honor.
Donate to the Moffit Endowed Scholarship in Business
Moffit’s approach to teaching and continued influence inspired Gary Lewis ’00 to help fund the business scholarship. Lewis is founder and managing partner of Aquila Equity Partners, and Moffit serves as an advisor to the company.
“For so many of us, Dr. Moffit helped to foster an unmatched passion for business, accounting and finance,” Lewis said. “Not only did he provide us with a rigorous academic foundation, but he also taught us the tenacity, big-picture thinking and real-world pragmatism which is so critical for being successful.”
Aaron Ries ’06, another contributor to the scholarship fund, applied lessons learned from Moffit’s classes in his first post-K job with the investment banking company Jefferies. Today, as the company’s co-head of leveraged loan sales and trading, Ries credits Moffit for having played a significant role in his life.
“Tim had an outsized positive impact on my mindset, approach, education, and as a result, my career,” Ries said. “And he did it one lesson, one interaction, one test at a time. His energy and enthusiasm are infectious. That type of compounding at the individual level, at first daily, then over years, and now decades, is so valuable.”
Jeremy Ardshahi ’25, a business major with a political science minor, took two accounting classes with Moffit before becoming one of the first recipients of the scholarship.
“The classes were not easy, but I really liked Dr. Moffit as a teacher,” Ardshahi said. “When we would get stressed out about the work, he would take us off topic a bit, make us laugh, and then bring us back on topic, and that worked well to keep the class learning. The course work is definitely not easy, but it’s rewarding, and he makes it a lot more fun than it could be.”
As a student, Moffit loved the liberal arts experience, taking many English classes in addition to religion, philosophy and history. (He met his wife, Kimberley Yull Moffit ’82, when she tutored him in French.) As a professor, he appreciates how business pulls from many disciplines, including communication, psychology, mathematics, history and philosophy.
“I took a lot of different types of classes, and I have used them extensively, both in my business career and also in my teaching of business,” Moffit said. “I try to integrate all of these because they’re important in business. You need to bring all those skill sets into play to be effective.”
Moffit is proud of how the business department has grown and flourished during his tenure, and he is loyal to the school itself. When he first came to K as a transfer student, Moffit “fell in love with the school immediately, and I have been in love with it ever since. That’s why I came back, because I had such great memories of learning and the community.
“The campus is lovely, the study abroad makes this place special, and the students are unique. They have this entrepreneurial flair about them, whatever discipline they may be interested in. That is true throughout the ages.”
Moffit felt a calling to teach when he was young, and taught Sunday School classes in high school and piano lessons in college. After graduating from K, he taught English in Japan for two years, earned an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College, and worked in investment banking for about six years before taking on his first teaching position at K.
“Teaching is my passion, business is my profession, and I marry the two in the classroom,” Moffit said. Yet after 35 years, it’s “just time” to retire, Moffit said. “I have a lot going on and a lot of outside interests.”
He owns three local businesses with his son—Kalamazoo Kettle Corn, Heilman’s Nuts & Confections and a medical supply company. He also sits on the board of Delta Dental as well as other boards.
“I have a new grandson; I’m a granddad,” Moffit said. “There are just so many things I want to do. I want to go fishing and hunting and take my grandson fishing. I’ve done this for a long time, I think I’ve accomplished what I set out to accomplish, and I’m ready to move on.
“I’ll miss the classroom for sure, but this doesn’t mean I’ll stop teaching.”
Moffit also intends to do what he can to help make the scholarship in his name successful.
“I was just a poor dirt farmer kid,” he said. “The school really supported me and helped me get through. I didn’t have the money to go here, but they found a way for me, and I would like to help create that same opportunity for others. I have a soft spot in my heart for those first-generation students, or the kids from these little schools that don’t have educational opportunities, let alone life opportunities like traveling abroad and seeing the bigger world. If this scholarship in any way can help students who need help to have that experience, that would be phenomenal.”
“I would 100 percent need to have a job if I didn’t receive the scholarship,” Ardshahi said. “If I were working and playing sports and going to class, I would have a lot more stress in my life. Knowing that the fund is dedicated to someone who has taught me and is still teaching at the school makes it more personal, too.”
In this way, Moffit’s commitment to teaching, to business and the liberal arts, to K and its students, will continue long after his upcoming retirement.
“This scholarship is a well-deserved and fitting tribute for someone who has given so much to the K community and deeply impacted numerous K students’ lives over the last 30-plus years,” Lewis said. “I’m very grateful for his life-long mentorship and wish him and his family nothing but the best in their next chapter.”
Moffit is excited about what the scholarship could do for students at K.
“It’s a huge honor, of course, that students would establish this in my name,” Moffit said. “Usually, you do that when someone dies. I’m not there yet. I’m still teaching, even. I think there’s a lot of opportunity to make this a substantial scholarship for students who want to study business, and that would be great. I want it to be about students and outcomes. It’s not about me.”
BIGGBY Coffee Co-Founder and Co-CEO Mike McFall ’93 knows a thing or two about leadership. After growing his coffee franchise from one to 370 locations across 13 states, McFall understands that people are the most critical ingredient to any successful enterprise, and he’s ready to share his hard-won wisdom with students at Kalamazoo College.
The Department of Economics and Business will host an on-campus event with McFall at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 14, in the Olmsted Room at Mandelle Hall. All students, regardless of their major, are invited to attend to discuss leadership and progressive practices in business and the workplace.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics and Business David Rhoa said he’s had the honor of hosting McFall in his classes at least a half-dozen times with each encounter proving to be a new experience.
“I think our students find Mike such a compelling speaker because of his authenticity and honesty,” he said. “He shares his real-life experiences in a candid, sometimes even brutally honest manner. While many successful entrepreneurs tend to focus solely on their achievements, Mike fearlessly addresses the value of his failures, emphasizing their pivotal role in the journey to success.”
L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business Management Amy MacMillan shares Rhoa’s enthusiasm.
“I feel tremendously grateful toward our alumni who share their time and expertise with our students,” she said. “We’re fortunate to have alumni—and community members—who support our courses in so many ways. But when Mike McFall, co-Founder and co-CEO of BIGGBY, comes to class, that turbo-charges the whole experience. By having made his big dreams a reality, he’ll help others to dream big, too, and believe in these dreams. By focusing not just on profits but also on people and purpose, he inspires others to do the same and to see what great business leaders can look like. He walks the walk, and while he does, he lays a footpath for others to follow.”
In 2019, McFall published his first book, Grind, which focuses on the commonsense strategies needed to turn a start-up idea into a positive-cash flow business. He recently released his second book, Grow: Take Your Business from Chaos to Calm, which addresses his experiences with leadership, a theme he expects to explore heavily with students.
BIGGBY Coffee Co-Founder and Co-CEO Mike McFall ’93 will visit Kalamazoo College to talk with students at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 14, in the Olmsted Room at Mandelle Hall. All students, regardless of their major, are invited to attend.
“As leaders, we need to understand the impact we have on others,” McFall said. “Business needs to go beyond what it has been historically, which is to try to get as much productivity for the least amount of money possible. We need to start emphasizing human-centric leadership and what goes into making that happen. I also like to focus on progressive thinking in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion, and things like biomimicry. It’s a little bit of a look into what’s coming or what leaders should be focused on in the next five to 10 years to become more effective leaders.”
As an alumnus of Kalamazoo College, McFall places high value on his liberal arts background.
“So much of what I’ve learned in the world was built off of the foundation I had at K,” McFall said. “I’ve said forever that a liberal arts education is the best training ground for an entrepreneur because you get a much more well-rounded education. As an entrepreneur, you need to fit into all kinds of different scenarios with different kinds of people. As you grow and build your company, you need to be comfortable with that and you need to be comfortable with change. That’s exactly what a liberal arts education provides. I look at some of the extraordinarily successful entrepreneurs that came out of my class and the years around me, and I think a lot of their success has to do with the structure and format of a liberal arts education.”
McFall’s business strategies have helped him and his co-founder, Robert Fish, build their franchise into the third-largest coffee franchise in the United States, according to Forbes, a fact that’s sure to resonate with students.
“I think it’s important for students to see the practical applications of their work and then learn from the experiences of alumni who are at different intervals removed from college,” McFall said. “Someone who graduated from K 30 years ago like me has a very different take than someone who graduated five years ago, but both takes are important. As alumni, that’s what we should be focused on in terms of our engagement with the student body. We should bring our perspectives and share the many different practical ways we use our education from K to move forward and build powerful lives.”
With another year of Kalamazoo College football camp beginning, student-athlete Adam Stapleton ’25 is proudly reflecting on a summer that included some international volunteerism through his sport.
Stapleton, a business major in his academic life and a linebacker for the Hornets in athletics, introduced children in Kenya to flag football by visiting a rural, ministry-based school in the town of Nyahururu through the Pan African Christian Exchange (PACE).
The idea was to help the children experience some diversity in their physical education classes in coordination with a two-week service trip he shared with his family, including his dad—who works as a pastor—his mom and his brother.
“Usually, the students would only be playing soccer, and the school wanted them to have a more enriching experience in general,” Stapleton said. “I feel like football as a game teaches a lot of life skills outside of just athleticism. There’s teamwork because you have to be on the same page, and there’s strategy, which helped them learn to think while contributing to their growing experiences in school as a whole.”
The children, he said, were somewhat familiar with rugby, which provided some parallels along with some challenges because of slightly different rules. They had to learn, for example, that football has four downs and varied guidance as to how teams can sub players in and out of a game.
Regardless, the classes embraced the experience, making Stapleton’s job feel less like a Hail Mary and more like an inevitable run to pay dirt.
“I could just see their joy, especially when I told them we would leave all the materials there so they could play on their own,” Stapleton said. “They don’t have a lot of what we do, but they were so much happier than we usually are. The whole experience helped me see that attitude is what makes you happy.”
Stapleton added that he and his brother also taught chess to the students. In fact, some of the children picked it up so quickly that they nearly beat the duo by the time they left. The whole experience leaves Stapleton with no doubt that he would like to return to Kenya one day, in addition to studying abroad in Madrid or Costa Rica before he leaves K.
“This wasn’t so much about my K-Plan, but it definitely fit with the K experience,” Stapleton said. “It was about putting myself out there to try new things. It also fit for me as a business major. I sat in on one of their business classes and tried to contribute some things about my classes. I want to go back again, and in my professional life, I think this experience will help me interact more with diverse people and reach others different from me. I’m glad I went because I didn’t expect it to be anything like it was. Going there and seeing the joy on the kids’ faces while teaching them something new and experiencing a new place was an awesome opportunity.”
Student-athlete Adam Stapleton introduced children in Kenya to flag football this summer, diversifying their physical education classes.
When significant sports moments are celebrated, fans turn to broadcasters for the words that will help make those moments historic. Zach Metz ’25 doesn’t yet have something like “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” to call his own, but he’s been preparing to be a broadcaster for years.
“I would always be the kid who turned the volume down on a TV sports broadcast to commentate on the game,” he said. “It’s just a passion I’ve had since I was little.”
You might know Metz as a business major; the voice of the Hornets for Kalamazoo College’s baseball, softball, soccer, basketball, volleyball and lacrosse teams; or a quarterback for K’s football team. But this summer, he’s interning as the play-by-play livestream broadcaster with the Grand Lake Mariners in Celina, Ohio, one of 14 cities with a Great Lakes Summer Collegiate Baseball League team.
“I knew about the Great Lakes league through some of our players at K who had played in it, so I went on the league’s website, and I filled out an interest form,” Metz said. “I said, ‘I would like to broadcast,’ and Dave Maurer, our assistant general manager reached out. I sent him my materials and interviewed, and they offered me the job. I was excited to take it.”
His internship began quickly after K’s baseball team earned a 10-5 victory against Adrian in May, a triumph that gave the Hornets their first outright Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular season title since 1927.
“Calling the final out of that game was a lot of fun for me, especially with it being a game we had to win to get the outright title,” Metz said. “Whenever there’s a crucial RBI at the end of the game and you can really put some excitement into it, it’s fun. But I loved knowing that what I was doing at that moment was a small part of what the players and their families got out of it.”
After that, Metz was off to Ohio, where the Mariners are the second-oldest team in their league and are named for being on the shores of Grand Lake St. Mary’s. He stays with the team’s assistant general manager and applauds the franchise for welcoming interns as well as it does.
Zach Metz ’25 is the livestream broadcaster for the Grand Lake Mariners, a Great Lakes Summer Baseball League team in Celina, Ohio.
“Fortunately, this role in this league is pretty similar to what I do in college, so there hasn’t been a lot new to me aside from the players using wooden bats,” Metz said. “I talked a lot to the players on our team. I learned what their pitchers throw. Other than that, it’s not much different from any other game I’ve ever done. It’s finding the stats, putting them into a format that I like and rolling with it.”
Preparing for a game in the summer league involves putting together a packet for each Mariners opponent with their schedule, record, players’ stats, team stats and potential storylines.
“With baseball being slower, there’s more time to tell a story,” Metz said. “It usually takes about an hour for each side per packet in a format that’s easy to read.”
Taking to the road means additional challenges.
“On road trips, we don’t have video for our broadcasts—only the home team does—so it turns into more of a radio broadcast,” Metz said. “In that case, it requires me to prepare more because I need to talk more. I can’t stop and let things play out for a minute because the person listening doesn’t know what’s going on if I don’t talk. It can get a little tiring if the game isn’t going well for the Mariners, but really, I just need to get more preparation done.”
Yet no matter where he roams or where he broadcasts from, K—along with its community—will always be special to him.
Football Coach Jamie Zorbo “has helped me in learning how to approach academics and time management,” Metz said. “Steve Wideen, our sports information director, was the one who got me into broadcasting at K. I talked to him once and he said, ‘Alright, we’ll get you going.’ I did one game and he said, ‘we’re going to keep you.’ And Tanner White, too, another member of the football team who graduated last year was the broadcaster at K before I came here. We were in the middle of football camp once and I happened to get into the same ice bath with him after practice. He immediately said, ‘Let’s talk broadcasting.’ He told me everywhere to go, everything I need to get there, and we worked together for a year.”
Metz is a business major, the voice of the Hornets for Kalamazoo College’s baseball, softball, soccer, basketball, volleyball and lacrosse teams, and a quarterback for K’s football team.
He expects such connections, along with his internship, to be integral to his future.
“When I was deciding between colleges, I didn’t think I wanted to go to K because they didn’t have a set broadcasting or communications program,” Metz said. “But since I’ve been here, the people who helped me get these opportunities to broadcast and propel me forward have been so important. If I had to pick schools again, I’d pick K without a doubt. Aside from the actual education for me as a broadcaster, the connections you make and the people you meet are super important. That’s ultimately why I chose K and I’m thrilled I’m here.”
