When he was invited to Kalamazoo College′s campus in 1960, African-American writer James Baldwin knew he would be looking out at a mostly white audience. Kalamazoo College Professor of English Bruce Mills led a class this past year called “Building the Archive: Baldwin and His Legacy.” In the effort of rediscovering Baldwin’s visit to campus, the class studied and enhanced the K campus’ and Kalamazoo community’s archives and deepened students′ understanding of his writings.
In order to build an archive of Baldwin’s visit to K, Mill′s students interviewed people who were in Kalamazoo during the civil rights movements and alumni who were present for Baldwin’s speech. Interviews were made into a DVD/CD and hard copy transcriptions. A copy of each interview set was given to the Colleges archives and to the South West Michigan Black Heritage Society.
Many details from Baldwin’s visit have been lost or misplaced throughout the years, even the date that he actually came. College records show that he came in February of 1960. But one interviewee, a 1964 K graduate, said that couldn’t be correct. Also the front page of an Index student newspaper edition—dated November 16,1960—states “Novelist Baldwin Arrives on Campus For Week.” These are details that need to be further researched and rediscovered, said Mills.
Mills′s class read and discussed many books and essays by Baldwin, including the speech he gave at K, “In Search of a Majority.” Baldwin’s books, essays, and speeches are still relevant to K students, says Mills, because he discusses sexuality, religion, race, and living as a foreigner, topics still important to students.
“The challenge from Baldwin,” said Mills, “is to be who we say we are. The challenge is to listen. Keeping alive his legacy as a writer is the reason to archive. It is important to archive now, because our sources of information are slowly disappearing.”
What do students do at Kalamazoo College during the summer? They are certainly here—some 200 or so. Students from around the world enjoy these hot months on campus. They work as interns, they continue work-study jobs, they spruce up the infrastructure with Facilities Management (FacMan) colleagues, they conduct research in the Dow science building, they dive into the early phases of the Senior Individualized Projects. For fun, they run around, go on adventures, eat great food, and hang out with friends. Here’s what a few students are up to this summer.
Jane Huffman
Meet Jane Huffman ’15, administrative intern for the theatre arts department, splitting her time between Saugatuck (Mich., where she’s working on the plays Xanadu and Game Show) and the Kalamazoo College campus. She has been having some fun cooking home made meals with her housemates and going to see some shows at the local theatres. She will study this fall in Chicago and is sad to be missing the opening festivities of the 50thanniversary season of Festival Playhouse at Kalamazoo College.
Dorraine Duncan
Dorraine Duncan ’14 is the student intern at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. This summer she has been cooking up an international food storm. The best meal she has made was her own version of the Thai dish “Gra-Pow”. Her friend from Thailand gave her an eight out of 10! Dorraine will soon return to Kingston, Jamaica, for an environmental internship. It will be her first trip home in two years.
Utsav Adhikari and “The Beast”.
Utsav Adhikari ’14 is in his third year on the FacMan recycling crew this summer. On that experience rests his claim to be the “wisest of the FacMan recycling crew.” This summer he went to Irish Fest, one of many summer festivals in downtown Kalamazoo, and had a splendid time. He plays a lot of soccer with neighborhood acquaintances on the Davis Street soccer fields, and chills with friends at the beach in St. Joseph, Mich. At the end of June, he left for an internship at Pinnacle Solutions, a business intelligence company based in Indianapolis, Ind.
Compost Intern Samantha Jolly
Samantha Jolly ’15 holds two positions this summer. She is one of three interns for the Lillian Anderson Arboretum. And she’s the College’s sole summer compost intern. Whatever you might imagine about that second post, Samantha likes both her jobs—minimal supervision! She is her own boss! At three o’clock everyday she heads home to start cooking something delectable; her best meal so far has been her black bean burgers. Every weekend Samantha heads downtown for brunch at her favorite local restaurant, Main Street Café.
Tyler Nichols
Tyler Nichols ’15 has been a busy kid this summer. He works full time as a chef at Henderson Castle, (he prefers the dinner shift). He also has a research stipend from K for an interdisciplinary research project with a political science emphasis. In between work and research he often finds himself at Bell’s Brewing Company or at impromptu block parties in the Vine Street neighborhood.
RA Erika Robles with Sammy Li
Erika Robles ’14 hails from Costa Rica and just returned to K from study abroad in Japan. In addition to working for FacMan she also serves as Hoben Hall’s summer Resident Assistant. “It’s much more chill in the summer here, with fun small events like barbeques,” she said. She can’t believe how many times she and her friends have made the trek by bus to the movie theater this summer. She has also been enjoying the festivals in downtown Kalamazoo.
Brad Stech
Brad Stech ’15 is a proud member of the custodial FacMan crew. He stayed over to earn some money before he heads out on his extended-term study abroad (nine months!) in Japan. He likes his job because of the funny and friendly people he gets to work with. In his free time he has been hanging out with friends, playing music, and enjoying sushi from downtown Kalamazoo.
Dakota Clement
Dakota Clement ’14 lives with his friends in the Vine Street neighborhood. He is working his third summer for the FacMan grounds crew, and he is also starting preliminary research for his Senior Individualized Project. He is writing a poetry SIP based on nine of his favorite movies from directors Stanley Kubrick and Terrence Malick. These films include Clock Work Orange and The Thin Red Line.
Hadley Harris
Hadley Harris ’16 lives only twenty minutes away from K but decided to stay on campus to continue her work-study job in media services. There are not too many media requests during the summer, so the crew has spent a lot of time cleaning the library’s DVD collection. When she can’t stand to be in the humid dorm rooms at night, she heads to the movies with her friends.
Sammy Li
Sammy Li ’16, a native of China, stayed at K to work for FacMan’s renovation crew. She resides in the Vine Street neighborhood but often thinks about camping out in Hicks Center because of the summer heat! She has gone to the movies a lot, and not just because of the air conditioning. Her favorite films of the summer have been World War Z, The Lone Ranger, and Despicable Me 2.
At tonight’s Major League Baseball all-star game, players from the National and American Leagues will contend to make their team number 1. But it takes someone really special–like Gail Raiman–to be number 1,833. Today (July 16) Raiman became 1,833rd member of the global professional network known as the Guilds of Kalamazoo College. The special number corresponds to the year 1833, when Kalamazoo College was founded.
A graduate of the Class of 1973, Raiman majored in philosophy, studied abroad in Strasbourg, France, and completed a career service internship for then house minority leader Gerald Ford. After graduation she worked in the Ford Administration and later held executive positions for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, and the national trade association Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. She serves on the College’s Board of Trustees and the Alumni Association Executive Board. And now she’s joined the Guilds LinkedIn group, becoming the 1833rd member of the extended K community to do so since the Guilds launched their LinkedIn network in June 2010.
Other new Guild members admitted along with Raiman this week include Jeff Outslay ’06, an MBA Associate at Delta Airlines in Atlanta, Georgia; Leslie Knox ’01, a case management professional at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York; Riley Lundquist ’16, a rising sophomore and summer engineering intern at Eaton Corporation outside Kalamazoo; and Elinor Epperson ’13, an aspiring video editor and public historian who just graduated in June.
The Guilds of Kalamazoo College launched in January 2008 as part of a strategic initiative to engage alumni professionals in current students’ career development. In January 2013, five Guilds became seven when the Arts & Media Guild and the Education Guild joined the Business Guild, the Health Guild, the Law Guild, the Nonprofit & Public Service Guild, and the Science & Technology Guild.
Reaching the 1833rd member mark is the result of sustained outreach and growth on the LinkedIn professional networking platform, according to Joan Hawxhurst, director of the Center for Career and Professional Development. Overall membership in the College’s Guilds is up 40 percent compared to last year. Guild members seek and offer mentorship, career advice, summer and entry-level positions, insight into industry trends, and networking opportunities.
Young travel writers use the occasion of an ice-cream social to interview some international students from Kalamazoo College.
They have toured the Michigan state capitol, met the WWMT weatherman, and had the opportunity to fly in a small plane—all while writing a magazine. They are participants in the Tate-Stone Travel Writers Academy for girls.
The girls are leading a structured lifestyle during their week on the Kalamazoo College Campus. “They have been meeting women who have been around the world, including international K students, and speaking with women who have come to K for various opportunities. We are trying to show the girls different perspectives,” said Sonya Bernard-Hollins, a member of the Ladies Library Association and one of the leaders of the academy. The girls, whose ages range from nine to 16, have been videotaping, photographing, and interviewing people any chance they can.
Every morning they head to the Upjohn Library to write short articles and stories on the women they have met the previous day. They are ramping up to create a magazine that will be released in October at Art Hop in downtown Kalamazoo.
The girls are staying in DeWaters Residence Hall on K’s campus. “It’s their favorite part of the program,” said Bernard-Hollins.
Vaddey Ratner, author of “In the Shadow of the Banyan”
Kalamazoo College marks its 14th annual Summer Common Reading (SCR) program in Fall 2013 with The New York Times bestseller In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner. SCR is the first step in Kalamazoo College′s first year experience. The assigned reading and short written responses lead to discussions with fellow first-year students, faculty and staff among other readers.
SCR began in 1999. Each year the author of the selected text visits campus and reads and discusses the work with the incoming class during orientation week. This year’s novel focuses on the character of Raami, a five year old girl living in Cambodia’s capital city at the time of the Khmer Rouge coup. “Often, when students first read a SCR selection, they don’t usually like the characters. But when the students interact with the author they become really involved, and they begin to enjoy the texts”, said Zaide Pixley, dean of the first year and advising.
In the Shadow of the Banyon was suggested by Writer in Residence Diane Seuss, one of three members of an SCR team that evaluates and determines each year′s selection. Other members are Pixley and Marin Heinritz, assistant professor of English and journalism. According to Pixley, potential selections must be “recent, appealing, well written, and intercultural. The author must be willing to visit campus and have the ability to engage with eighteen-year-old readers.”
During the summer the students are asked to write a response paper based on one of several prompts. Orientation week discussions focus on the responses and continue into the classroom with first year seminars. First year seminars were added to Kalamazoo College′s curriculum in 1990. The seminars develop the critical thinking and writing skills that are necessary for college-level work. Seminar professors read the SCR selection and students’ written responses, meet with the author during orientation, and discuss the book with their seminar classes.
Each seminar class is assigned a peer leader, an upperclassman student who mentors first-years and fosters community among the seminar members. Peer leaders often participate in the first year forums, special events that focus on the goals of the First Year Experience. Many of the forums connect back to the issues and perspectives raised in SCR discussions.
All members of the K community are invited to read In the Shadow of the Banyan before classes start this September. Author Vaddey Ratner will visit the campus on Friday, September 12, to read from her novel at 8 PM in Stetson Chapel. She will discuss her work with students at 10 AM on Friday, September 13.
Question: Where can inner-city Kalamazoo schoolgirls ages 9 through 14 experience hands-on career exploration with women lawyers, scientists, pilots, and world travelers, AND experience college life?
According to Tate-Stone organizer and Community Voices Editor Sonya Bernard-Hollins, the Travel Writers Academy will help girls meet inspirational women, allow them to work and lead service projects in their own community, introduce them to the field of media, expose them to a college setting, and help prepare them to take advantage of The Kalamazoo Promise, a program that provides free college tuition to Kalamazoo Public School graduates.
The Tate-Stone students, selected through essay applications, will create their own Girls Can! Magazine based on the women and places they visit and photograph during their stay at K.
The Travel Writers Academy takes its name from two leading Kalamazoo educators.
Merze Tate was a 1927 WMU graduate and the first African-American to graduate from Oxford University. She became a professor at Howard University, an international expert on disarmament, and a successful businesswoman.
Lucinda Hinsdale-Stone helped form women′s clubs across Michigan during the 1800s, one being the now historic Ladies’ Library Association in downtown Kalamazoo. She and her husband, James Stone, were important Kalamazoo College leaders in the mid-1800s. Both women were world travelers who championed women’s educational opportunities, and chaperoned young women on educational travels.
For more information and to learn how to sponsor a student to the Tate-Stone Travel Writers Academy at K, email contact@merzetate.com, or call Sonya Bernard-Hollins at (269) 365-4019.
Kalamazoo College students typically celebrate the Day of Gracious Living (DOGL) at the beach. This year, many young alumni commemorated gracious living with gracious giving.
On Wednesday, May 15, alumni from the Classes of 2002 through 2012 contributed through the Kalamazoo College Fund as part of the first DOGL Challenge, a one-day giving opportunity just for K’s young alumni. Linda Jackson ’82 challenged K’s young alumni to make a gift on DOGL by pledging to match all gifts dollar-for-dollar, up to $2,500. The goal: raise $5,000 for K in a single day.
Then, something unexpected happened on the morning of DOGL: young alumni gave at a surprising rate. Before noon they had exceeded the $2,500 match. Jackson was so pleased with the response that she increased her challenge to $5,000.
By the end of the day, 178 young alumni had made a gift through the DOGL Challenge, contributing a total of $8,124. With Jackson’s $5,000 match, the DOGL Challenge generated more $13,000 for K in 24 hours.
INTO THE WOODS features costumes by Elaine Kauffman. Pictured are Rudi Goddard as Cinderella and Julia Smucker as Little Red Riding Hood
Kalamazoo College opens the 50th anniversary season of its celebrated Festival Playhouse theatre arts program, with Into the Woods, the groundbreaking musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, May 16-19. Performances occur in the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse on Thursday May 16 (7:30 p.m.), Friday May 17 and Saturday May 18 (8 p.m.), and Sunday May 19 (2 p.m.) Tickets are $15/Adults, $10/seniors, and $5/students. Into the Woods features iconic characters such as Little Red Riding Hood (played by Julia Smucker ’13), Rapunzel (Corinne Taborn ’13), Cinderella (Rudi Goddard ’13), the eponymous character from Jack and Beanstalk (Brian Craig ’14), and one antagonistic witch (McKenna Kring ’15). The ensemble cast performs memorable songs such as “Giants in the Sky,” “Agony,” and “Children Will Listen.” Assistant director and K senior Megan Rosenberg calls Sondheim’s score “an elegant lullaby that stirs up the shadows of classic bedtime stories. Its intricate storyline and beautiful, if somewhat creepy, music lend themselves perfectly to bold directorial choices. “Without giving too much away, our production will break some rules,” added Rosenberg. K Professors of Music Tom Evans and James Turner serve as musical and vocal directors, respectively. Assistant Director of Student Involvement Kate Yancho serves as choreographer.“Audiences will be struck by both the darkness and vitality of this musical,” said Yancho about the Tony, Drama Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Award winning show that puts a new twist on a fusion of old Brothers Grim tales. “Adults will love how numerous fairy tales they knew as children are intertwined into one entirely new story, with vibrant song and dance,” said Yancho, who earned a B.A. degree in dance from Ohio University and teaches dance to K students.
On April 22, 2013, the Higher Learning Commission Institutional Actions Council continued the accreditation of Kalamazoo College. So concludes an exhaustive evaluation process that began in 2009 with preliminary planning focused on the project. The next reaffirmation of accreditation will occur in academic year 2022-23. “We are delighted that accreditation continues with no monitoring required,” said Professor of Mathematics Eric Nordmoe, who chaired the Re-accreditation Committee, which formed in 2010. The process involved a comprehensive self-study book written by Assistant Professor of Journalism Marin Heinritz. The self-study book was based on evaluation input gathered from the entire campus community by some 40 employees associated with the self-study. The re-accreditation process continued with a three-day visit in October by a team of higher education professionals working on behalf of the HLC. Each member of that team had read the self-study book. During their campus visit team members interviewed the campus community and observed the K learning experience in action. Then, based on the self-study book and the visit, the HLC team wrote its report. The Institutional Actions Council based its decision to continue accreditation on that report, and the HLC board ratified that decision on April 22. According to Nordmoe, the report cited many things K does very well and suggested some opportunities for improvement. The College will study and act on both. “I’m happy about the decision, of course,” said Nordmoe. “But I’m most grateful for the process. It was a chance for K to think about our work and about the way we assess the outcomes of our work. That was very valuable. A kind of ’Know Thyself’ moment–or years of such moments–in order to live an examined (and therefore worthy) learning experience.”
A 3D model of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership will be on display in Upjohn Library Commons through Spring Quarter 2013.
EDITOR′S NOTE: DUE TO RAIN, THE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY WILL BE MOVED INDOORS TO LOUNGE OF TROWBRIDGE HALL, IMMEDIATELY TO THE EAST OF TROWBRIDGE LANE.
Kalamazoo College will host a ceremonial groundbreaking for its new Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership on Friday, April 19, at 4:30 p.m. The ceremony is open to the public and will take place on the construction site located at the corner of Academy St. and Monroe St. on the K campus. Attendees are asked to gather on Trowbridge Lane that runs south off Academy St. along the east side of the construction site.
K students, faculty, staff, alumni, and board members will participate in the ceremony along with representatives of Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects.
An Arcus Center staff member and Studio Gang architect will discuss the building’s use and design in the lobby of Upjohn Library Commons at the corner of Academy St. and Thompson St., at 12:15 and 3:00 p.m. on the day of the groundbreaking ceremony. On display will be architectural drawings, a 3D model, and a sample section of the distinctive wood masonry siding planned for the building.
Construction for the single-story, 10,000 sq. ft. building began in late fall 2012 with contractor Miller-Davis Company of Kalamazoo. The building is scheduled to be completed in late winter 2014 at a cost of approximately $5 million—paid through a generous gift from K alumnus and trustee Jon Stryker.
Upon completion, the Center will be the world’s first purpose-built structure for social justice leadership development and will support the College’s mission in multiple ways. It will feature study, meeting, and event space where students, faculty, visiting scholars, social justice leaders, and members of the public will come together to engage in scholarship, dialog, and activities aimed at creating a more just world.
The Center is sited to engage its three immediate contexts—the K campus, a residential neighborhood, and an old-growth grove of trees—by drawing their topography into the building and outwardly projecting the activities taking place within through transparent façades.
The gently curving walls connecting these façades are constructed with wood masonry, a low-carbon, highly insulating building method traditional to the upper Midwest, updated to respond to the needs of a contemporary institutional building for the first time. A LEED Gold rating is targeted.
The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership was launched in 2009 with support from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), including a $23 million endowment grant in January 2012. Supporting Kalamazoo College’s mission to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world, the new social justice center will develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice.
Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu), founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, learning by practice, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years, so students can do more in a lifetime.
