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Kalamazoo College’s Brighter Light Campaign Raises Over $200 Million

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Campaign exceeds $190 million fundraising goal

The Brighter Light Campaign, Kalamazoo College’s largest-ever fundraising campaign, has come to an end, raising a total of $203,236,489 from more than 16,500 donors.

Launched publicly in 2021, the campaign originally set out to raise $150 million to support “Brighter Opportunities, Brighter Minds, and Brighter Experiences” for K students through scholarships, faculty support, funding for study abroad and other curricular and co-curricular experiences, athletics and campus improvements.

In 2023, the College received an anonymous $30 million gift in support of residential life and student success programs—the biggest single gift commitment in the institution’s history. With the announcement of the gift, the College marked its 190th anniversary by expanding its campaign goal to $190 million—a goal the institution has successfully surpassed.

“I am so profoundly grateful to the thousands of members of the K community and beyond who have given so generously to the Brighter Light Campaign,” said President Jorge G. Gonzalez. “This historic achievement—the largest fundraising effort in K’s history—shows that our community believes in the exceptional education that Kalamazoo College delivers to our students. The campaign’s success will support the College in implementing its strategic plan and enable K students and alumni to bring a brighter light to the world—today and for years to come.”

With gifts ranging from $5 to $30 million, generous alumni, parents and friends, along with numerous foundations and corporations, were instrumental in strengthening K’s ability to improve student experiences and campus facilities. Some of the funding highlights include:

  • More than $81 million in scholarships to help K create Brighter Opportunities for more students, regardless of need.
  • Investments in Brighter Minds—including five new and augmented endowed faculty chairs, faculty development funds, and endowed support of experiential learning centers and programs—to ensure K’s tradition of exceptional undergraduate teaching and mentorship continues.
  • Gifts for athletics and arts programs, along with support for several critical campus projects, including construction of the natatorium, renovations to Stetson Chapel, modernized classrooms, and a new roof for Dow Science Center—that are helping to create Brighter Experiences for K students.  
  • More than $89 million for the College’s endowment, providing vital support not only for today, but for generations of students to come.

Karen Isble, vice president for College Advancement, shared, “The success of the Brighter Light Campaign has been the result of the efforts of many colleagues—current and past—and countless hours by the dedicated volunteers who help us engage alumni and encourage giving each year. Today, we celebrate the thousands of K alumni and friends who have chosen to invest in Kalamazoo College through their philanthropy.”

Kalamazoo College announced Monday that it had raised more than $200 million in the Brighter Light Campaign.
President Gonzalez speaks at the Brighter Light Campaign celebration
President Jorge G. Gonzalez speaks at the Brighter Light Campaign celebration.
“The opportunities here are endless and extraordinary scholarship is expected, encouraged, and most importantly, supported,” President’s Student Ambassador Max Rhames ’25 said at the Brighter Light Campaign event. “While we have seen the numerical value of your philanthropy here today, the ultimate return on investment is incalculable.”

Compete for a Cause Helps K Students Support Local Charities

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Two students in red Compete for a Cause t-shirts watching a volleyball game at Kalamazoo College
Ty Horky ’24 (left) and Savera Rajendra-Nicolucci ’24 are co-presidents of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, which created Compete for a Cause to support local charities and foundations.
Two football players in pink t-shirts warming up on the field
Kalamazoo College’s football team joined the women’s soccer team in fall by raising breast cancer awareness and supporting the West Michigan Cancer Center with pink t-shirt sales.
Two students wearing red t-shirts that say Compete for a Cause 2023
Kalamazoo College volleyball spectators supported women’s health and the YWCA by purchasing red t-shirts at a match last fall.

Kalamazoo College’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) developed an idea last fall that is supporting local charities and foundations with the help of students, faculty, staff, parents and the community.

SAAC representatives, including co-presidents Savera Rajendra-Nicolucci ’24 and Ty Horky ’24, created Compete for a Cause, which allows K athletic teams that play in a specific season to select a beneficiary to back and a cause to amplify during a chosen Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) game on their schedule. Starting last term, student-athletes collaborated with local nonprofits, donning custom warm-up shirts on game day to raise community awareness. These custom shirts were available for sale, with all proceeds benefitting their partner organizations.

“Savera and I have been on the SAAC board since we were sophomores and we’ve moved up the committee together along the way,” Horky said. “Doing this was about how we can make something for the SAAC organization that lasts longer than us being here and how we can implement a plan to give back to the communities around us.”

SAAC’s first steps toward such efforts involved meeting with MIAA Commissioner Chris Brown and K athletics administrative representatives with the hope of getting the entire conference involved and initiate introductions with local charities. Their support proved to be inspiring.

“I think the support from administration, from the MIAA Commissioner all the way down, was nothing but positive,” Horky said. “Right off the bat, they just asked, ‘How can we help you? What can we do to get the ball rolling?’ Everybody being behind us has been a huge help.”

Then, despite weathering some in-game storms, the first season of Compete for a Cause was successful. Rajendra-Nicolucci’s women’s soccer squad, for example, chose breast cancer awareness as its cause, selected a game that coincided with a football contest, and conducted a united breast-cancer awareness day between the teams to benefit the West Michigan Cancer Center (WMCC).

Compete for a Cause Games

  • Kalamazoo College’s volleyball team raised women’s health awareness by supporting the YWCA of Kalamazoo with red t-shirt sales last fall.
  • In October, the football and women’s soccer teams raised breast cancer awareness by supporting the West Michigan Cancer Center with pink t-shirts.
  • The men’s soccer team raised food insecurity awareness by supporting Loaves and Fishes in Kalamazoo with orange t-shirt sales in October.
  • K’s men’s and women’s basketball squads are teaming up to support the houseless and the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission in their games on February 3.
  • K’s swimming and diving teams will raise mental health awareness and support Gryphon Place during their home meets on February 3.

    A special thank you to Capital National Bank, HAP, Miller Johnson Attorneys of Kalamazoo and Underground Printing of Kalamazoo for their support. 
Two women's soccer players warming up in pink Compete for a Cause t-shirts before a game
K’s fall athletics teams secured well more than $1,000 in t-shirt sales and online donations for the West Michigan Cancer Center, the YWCA of Kalamazoo and Loaves and Fishes through Compete for a Cause events.
Several football players with backpacks wearing pink t-shirts that say Compete for a Cause in the rain
The Student-Athlete Advisory Council met with MIAA Commissioner Chris Brown and K athletics administrative representatives to generate their support for Compete for a Cause.
Kalamazoo College football players wearing pink t-shirts gather as a team in the rain before their Compete for a Cause game
K’s football and women’s soccer teams endured a rain storm during their Compete for a Cause events, but still successfully raised funds for the West Michigan Cancer Center.

WMCC Director of Development Anne Witherspoon was invited to attend, raise awareness, share information and accept donations to support their mission.

“It was wonderful to see the student-athletes support the community through this initiative,” Witherspoon said. “Beyond just being incredible students, who I enjoyed spending time with, their impressive organization and professionalism fostered a meaningful connection with the K community, letting us share the WMCC mission with parents, fans and donors.”

Athletes were gratified by the support they received and the end result.

“It was definitely more work than we thought, especially with the business aspect of things, but we’ve learned that there’s so much in the Kalamazoo community to love,” Rajendra-Nicolucci said. “It was interesting to see how much we can do just by talking to people. Anne Witherspoon, who works at the West Michigan Cancer Center, said one of her best memories of the day was sitting with Ty and getting to know him and our school. Those connections go a long way and show there’s more to playing a college sport than the gear and winning.”

Student-athletes in dress clothes posing in front of a sculpture
Horky (second from left) and Savera Rajendra-Nicolucci (fourth from right) are co-presidents of SAAC.

In serving SAAC, Rajendra-Nicolucci and Horky have consistently organized campus events for students, including student-athletes. But the first Compete for a Cause events have been special as they’ve reached out to the at-large community. And now, it’s time for K’s winter athletics teams, including Horky’s men’s basketball team, to take the effort’s reins.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams are combining their efforts to support homelessness awareness and the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission during their home games on Saturday, February 3. The same day, the swimming and diving teams will spread mental health awareness and donate all of their proceeds to Gryphon Place.

Separately in their time at K, Rajendra-Nicolucci played women’s golf for two years and taught biology and English to children in Spain during her study abroad experience. After graduating, she hopes to develop a career in medical or pharmaceutical sales. Horky also wants to build a career in medical and pharmaceutical sales and might consider playing basketball as a graduate student to fulfill a final year of eligibility. But Compete for a Cause’s effectiveness will be what they and other SAAC participants point to as they define their legacies at K.

“Students are busy all year, whether it is with school responsibilities, work responsibilities, athletic responsibilities or extracurriculars,” Rajendra-Nicolucci said. “Something as simple as this initiative can remind us that there is always more to be done. Giving back is something you will never regret. Whether it is the connections that you make along the way or the touching moments, these feelings are just as good or even better than the feeling of winning a double overtime game. Everyone is welcome to these games, and we hope to see you and the rest of the Kalamazoo community continue to give back to something greater than just a game.”

Honors, Philanthropy Prompt College’s Top 10 Stories

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In 2022, national publications continued to recognize Kalamazoo College as an outstanding institution of higher education. That reputation was furthered through the achievements of faculty, staff and academic departments, and donors funding K’s strategic plan, Advancing Kalamazoo College: A Strategic Vision for 2023. Here are the institution’s top 10 stories this year as determined by your clicks. Find the top stories from our students, faculty and staff, and alumni.

10. K Confers Lucasse, Ambrose Honors

K awarded one faculty member and one staff member with two of the highest awards it bestows on its employees with Professor of Psychology Bob Batsell earning the Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship, and Student Health and Counseling Centers Office Coordinator Jen Combes granted the W. Haydn Ambrose Prize.

Lucasse Recipient Robert Batsell in class_fb
Professor of Psychology Bob Batsell
Ambrose Award Recipient Jen Combes
Student Health and Counseling Centers Office Coordinator Jen Combes receives the Ambrose Prize from Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez.

9. Gift Benefits History Projects, Honors Emeriti Professors

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

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

8. Money Magazine Credits K for Quality, Affordability, Outcomes

K is gaining global repute among some of the top institutions in higher education with Money magazine ranking K 19th among the country’s liberal arts and sciences colleges and 50th in the Midwest regardless of public or private status.

Money Magazine_fb

7. German Studies Program Receives National Honor

K’s Department of German Studies was one of just three programs in the country this year honored by the American Association of Teachers of German with a German Center of Excellence award. The designation is presented to well-established and growing programs with demonstrated excellence in instruction, and strong support from administration, professional colleagues, alumni and students.

The faculty members in K’s German department include Co-Chair and Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Assistant Professor of German Kathryn Sederberg, Co-Chair and Professor of Classics Elizabeth Manwell, Instructor of German Stefania Malacrida and Assistant Professor of German Petra Watzke.

Kathryn Sederberg teaching a course in German
Kathryn Sederberg is the Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Assistant Professor of German and co-chair of the Department of German Studies.
Petra Watzke
Assistant Professor of German Petra Watzke

6. K Announces $250,000 Gift to Support Faculty-Led Student Research, Creative Works

Students participating in faculty-advised research or creative projects now have access to dedicated funding thanks to a $250,000 gift from a couple who previously served as members of the K’s faculty and administration.

The Richard J. Cook and Teresa M. Lahti Endowment for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity was established to facilitate faculty-student collaborative work. The fund provides stipends, materials and essential project-related travel assistance to students engaged in such research or creative activity.

Faculty-Student Research and Creative Works Endowment
Richard J. Cook and Teresa M. Lahti

5. Princeton Review: K Offers Value, a Chance to Make an Impact

An independent study from the Princeton Review shows that K provides one of the most outstanding returns on investment in higher education. The education-services company profiles and recommends K in the 2022 edition of The Best Value Colleges, an annual guide to undergraduate schools, and again in The Best 388 Colleges.

The Princeton Review doesn’t rank the Best Value Colleges. However, K received a separate honor in The Best Value Colleges guide as the College was ranked No. 18 on a list of the Top 20 Private Colleges Where Students Are Making an Impact. This means K students said through surveys that their student-government opportunities, the College’s sustainability efforts and K’s on-campus student engagement are providing students with opportunities to make a difference in their community.

Stetson Chapel in Fall for Best Value Colleges
The Princeton Review examined more than 650 institutions for this year’s list.

4. Fulbright Again Honors K as a Top Producer of Scholarship Recipients

K had six representatives from the class of 2021 in Fulbright’s U.S. Student Program, leading to the College receiving top producer status for the fourth time in five years.

K’s representatives in 2021-22 and their host countries were Helen Pelak ’21, Australia; Katherine Miller-Purrenhage ’21, Germany; Sophia Goebel ’21, Spain; Molly Roberts ’21, France; Margaret Totten ’21, Thailand; Nina Szalkiewicz ’21, Austria; and Evelyn Rosero ’13, South Korea.

Katherine Miller-Purrenhage in Germany
Katherine Miller-Purrenhage ’21

3. Forbes Praises K for Successful Student Outcomes

If you’re a student who wants an excellent education at a great price, K will provide it, according to Forbes magazine. Forbes also says choosing K means you’ll follow in the footsteps of successful entrepreneurs and countless influential leaders in their fields.

The magazine chose K as the top private college in Michigan, ranking it third in the state overall and No. 183 in the country among its picks of the top 500 schools in the U.S.

Students Sitting in a Circle on the Lower Quad for Forbes Rankings

2. K Parents Geoffrey and Kathleen Fieger Create Endowed Scholarship

A generous $1 million gift from Geoffrey N. Fieger and Kathleen J. Fieger will support current and future students by funding the Keenie and Julian Fieger Endowed Scholarship, named for Kathleen and the couple’s son Julian.

Geoffrey and Kathleen Fieger_fb
Geoffrey N. Fieger and Kathleen J. Fieger

1. City Approves 2022 Campus Master Plan

K received approval from the city’s commissioners in October to move forward with a master plan that focuses on enhancing and expanding the on-campus living experience while strengthening the connection between K’s campus and the surrounding community.

Kalamazoo College Campus Master Plan
City commissioners have approved Kalamazoo College’s 2022 Campus Master Plan.

Gonzalez Celebrates Partnerships at Community Breakfast

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Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees member Don Parfet
Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees member Don Parfet introduced President Jorge G. Gonzalez at the Community Breakfast on October 6.
Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez spoke about the College’s diverse enrollment, updates to the Campus Master Plan and the many partnerships that exist between the College’s various centers and local community organizations, schools, city government and businesses at the Community Breakfast on October 6.

Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez reflected on the state of the College and shared a bit about its future vision at K’s annual Community Breakfast on October 6. In attendance were local and state officials, business and community leaders and area educators representing more than 40 organizations and institutions.

After an introduction from Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees member Don Parfet, Gonzalez spoke about the College’s diverse enrollment, updates to the Campus Master Plan and the many partnerships that exist between the College’s various centers and local community organizations, schools, city government and businesses.

After Gonzalez’s remarks, senior biology major Nate Zona spoke about his experiences at K, focusing on the vibrancy of the K-Plan and how Kalamazoo College encourages students to experience life outside of campus through experiential education. Zona studied abroad in Quito, Ecuador, and has held research internships at the Division of Interventional Radiology and the Pediatric Center of Excellence in Nephrology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Recently, he held his first clinical job with Kalamazoo-based Progressive Alternatives, which provides rehabilitative care for adults with physical, cognitive and/or behavioral disabilities.

Four smiling community breakfast attendees
Rebecca Strauss of Miller Johnson (from left), Andy Dominianni ’94 of WWMT-TV 3, Tyrus Parnell ’25 and Jane Ghosh of Discover Kalamazoo were among the community members attending Kalamazoo College’s Community Breakfast on October 6.
Senior Biology Major Nate Zona speaks at the Community Breakfast
Senior biology major Nate Zona ’23 speaks October 6 at the Community Breakfast.

In his remarks, Gonzalez said that Kalamazoo College continues to bring in exceptional classes of students from around the U.S. and the world. This year, the College welcomed 372 first-year students from 22 states and seven countries. Of these, he noted, 33 percent are domestic students of color, 28 percent are from families of modest means (Pell Grant eligible) and 22 percent are the first in their families to attend college. The new class also includes 30 Kalamazoo Promise students from the Kalamazoo Public Schools, as well as eight recipients of the Heyl Scholarship, which provides full-tuition scholarships for Kalamazoo area students who will be majoring in STEM fields.

Gonzalez noted that while K’s six-year graduation rate for Pell-eligible students is laudable—nearly 80 percent compared to a national median of 44 percent—the College is focused on inclusion and supporting the diverse needs of students, particularly those who are first-generation college students, and providing students access to all the experiential opportunities that K offers.

He then touched on future changes to the landscape of the College, including the long-term development of new and renewed residential housing and “changes to build better bridges between the campus and the city.”

A critical component of the student experience at K is the partnership between the College and local organizations. Gonzalez cited the work of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement, the Larry J. Bell ’80 Center for Environmental Stewardship, the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership and the Center for Career and Professional Development—all of which provide student-led programming, service-learning opportunities and connections to employment in the Kalamazoo area. The Center for Civic Engagement alone has partnerships with more than 45 local organizations.

These opportunities would not be possible, Gonzalez said, without gifts and grants from corporate donors and community foundations, which support programming and provide stipends and funding for students with financial need. 

Such gifts have also boosted The Brighter Light Campaign, which the College launched publicly in 2021. The campaign has raised $133 million against its minimum $150 million goal, more than half of which is designated for K’s endowment, which will sustain the College in perpetuity.

“As we look to the future, we envision K being well-known for excelling at supporting all students through a rich liberal arts experience,” Gonzalez said, thanking attendees for being a part of this vision. K, he emphasized, wants to be a place where every student is supported equitably and provided access to the tools and resources to succeed—not only accepting the best students, but graduating the best—and where the best are more representative of the world. 

Greening On

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Kalamazoo College Students Complete Green Dot Training
Twenty-four K students completed Green Dot bystander training in late April.

Twenty-four Kalamazoo College students and five K employee Green Dot-certified trainers launched the College’s first bystander training session on April 29. It’s one of several early steps toward the goal of a “greening” that will be year-round, forever.

Green Dot is a national prevention program that has proven effective in significantly reducing the likelihood of dating and domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault. Essential to the program’s effectiveness are bystanders, people trained to safely interrupt or prevent harmful precursor behaviors associated with dating violence, stalking and sexual assault. In the program’s iconography, a red dot is any person’s choice to harm another person with words or actions. In any environment, or map, enough red dots create a norm where violence is tolerated. Green dots are small actions to intervene when a red dot is occurring or to prevent the likelihood of red dots at all. Small as they may be, Green Dot words and actions draw their power from the large numbers of people who commit to speak or do them. Together, enough Green Dots can change “worlds,” small and large. And one of those worlds will be Kalamazoo College.

In late March some 30 faculty, staff and administrators completed four days of Green Dot “College Curriculum” training, which certified them to do bystander training for K students and overview training for K faculty and staff. One month—and a lot of preparation and practice—later the first bystander training took place in the Olmsted Room. It included students identified by their peers as well-respected and influential.

“The 24 students were highly engaged throughout the training,” said Ellen Lassiter Collier, Director of Gender Equity at K. “This was a day-long event in the middle of a busy spring term, yet no one left the session.” In fact, at least three students reported applying Green Dot interventions at parties or other events that very weekend.

“To establish a norm where the intolerance of violence is immediately and plainly evident—and a culture where everyone does their part to maintain that norm—will require a critical mass of K community members,” said Lassiter Collier. “Many times it will be students who are most likely to be present in settings and situations where ‘red dots’ tend to occur. Students trained as bystanders are absolutely indispensable, so we were very gratified by the participation of these 24 early adopters.”

Additional student bystander training is scheduled for the fall, and the “first” 24 will have contributed to the success of those sessions by providing the names of several score of other influential and well-respected students who will be invited to the fall training.

In concert with the effort to train a critical mass of student bystanders, employee Green Dot-certified trainers also will work with faculty and staff this spring and early and continuing into the fall.

The bystander trainers who joined Lassiter Collier on April 29 were Andrew Grayson ’10, Admission; Laura Livingstone-McNelis ’89, Department of Theatre Arts; Leslie Burke, Information Services; and Morgan Mahdavi ’14, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership.

The 24 students included Julia Plomer ¹18, Maddie Tracey ¹17, Sidney Wall ’17, Cody Colvin ’18, Douglas Robinett ’17, Leah Finelli ’18, Ashley Henne ’17, Sep’Tisha Riley ’18, Kourtney Johnson ’17, Tenley Mustonen ’17, Amber Salome ’18, Colleen Orwin ’17, Elizabeth Clevenger ’17, James Paprocki ’18, Alex Dykema ’19, Kiavanne Williams ’18, Lilia Robins ’18, Colleen Corrigan ’17, Kaiya Herman Hilker ’19, Sophie Higdon ’19, Roger Hood ’18, Rose Maylen ’19, Malak Ghazal ’19 and Lezlie Lull ’20.

Funding for Kalamazoo College’s Green Dot efforts comes from the State of Michigan Campus Sexual Assault Grant Program.

“Jazz for Springtime”

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Jazz for Springtime advertisementAh, spring–one day sunny and 70 degrees, the very next, overcast and 40. This most improvisational of seasons is the perfect time for…Jazz! The Kalamazoo College Department of Music invites everyone to enjoy an afternoon of jazz music at its “Jazz for Springtime Concert” on Sunday, April 23, at 4 p.m. in Dalton Theatre. Amina Figarova, jazz pianist, and Bart Platteau, flute, will present original music and will also assist Ron Di Salvio with the premiere of his work “Puglia Suite”, based upon a recent visit to Puglia (Apulia), Italy. Amina and Bart are from the Netherlands and now reside in New York City where they perform with a jazz sextet. Ron is the adjunct jazz piano instructor at Kalamazoo College as well as a fine jazz pianist and composer. Please plan to attend this incredible Sunday event and celebrate the spring season!

K Paths Crossed (and Shared) Down Under

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Kalamazoo College Alumni Holly Gillis '09 and Jeff Palmer '76
Holly Gillis ’09 and Jeff Palmer ’76

Kalamazoo College alumni never know where their paths might cross.

In early March, Jeff Palmer ’76 and his wife, Susan Andress, were about midway through a month-long trip to Tasmania and New Zealand when they stopped to hike to the Franz Joseph Glacier on New Zealand’s “South Island.”

“It was a beautiful place on a beautiful day and we were taking our time on the roughly four-mile round trip trail,” said Jeff, who recently retired as associate director of communication in K’s Office of College Communication.

“Surrounded by green-sloped mountains, waterfalls, and a glacier bluer than we imagined it would be,” Jeff said “we expected the cast and crew from Lord of the Rings to step out of the mist at any moment.”

Instead, a flash of orange and a familiar logo in the hand of a young man darting past on the trail caught his attention.

“Hey!” Jeff called out. “Where’d you get that K College water bottle!”

The young man stopped quickly and spun around. The young woman running with him did, too.

“I gave it to him!” she said with a big smile. “Do you know K?”

Holly Gillis ’09 and her husband, Ethan Basset, were toward the end of a ten-day vacation, rushing to see the Glacier before moving on to their next stop. Both are medical doctors working in Houston and soon moving to Ohio.

Holly and Jeff talked a little about their K-Plans (“Mine doesn’t take long to tell,” said Jeff) and some of the K professors and staff they both know on campus. They also agreed to follow up via email once they were back home. [See Jeff’s brief write up below about Holly’s post K career thus far.]

They compared a few New Zealand travel notes and agreed they were “glad to see one of nature’s wonders before climate change and science denial causes it to melt away,” said Jeff.

Susan and Ethan took photos while their alumni spouses marveled at the odds of having an impromptu Hornet gathering in a mountain valley half a world away from K’s “Fair Arcadian Hill.”

“What an incredibly small world,” Holly said. “Light attracts light.”

With a little help from a K water bottle.

*****
Holly Gillis ’09 is a Madison, Wis., native who majored in chemistry at K. She also sang the national anthem for a range of Hornet home athletics events, wrote restaurant reviews for the Index, sang soprano in the Premium Orange a capella group, served as a co-director of Frelon dance troupe, was the American Chemistry Society Student Affiliate Chair; and volunteered in the children’s ward at Kalamazoo’s Bronson Hospital. She also traveled to Perth, Australia, for her  study abroad, during which she volunteered at the Western Australian AIDS Council, working on a needle exchange program and youth risk reduction programs.

After K, Holly earned a medical degree from Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Western Pennsylvania and completed her residency in pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital.

She and Ethan were married in July 2016 and have been living in Houston this past year “learning and working” at Texas Children’s Hospital, she said. He is completing his pediatric otolaryngology fellowship, while she works in the emergency department and serves as assistant professor of pediatrics.

Next up for the couple is a move to Columbus, Ohio, “learning and working” at The OSU Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Ethan will join the pediatric ear-nose-throat clinical and academic faculty, while Holly starts a fellowship in pediatric critical care. She intends to focus on the disparate access to quality health care that low income children with complex medical needs have within a pediatric hospital system compared to those with middle and high incomes.

“K study abroad shaped the way I think about medical practice and empathy for low and very low income women and children,” Holly said. “The service component to my study abroad program–a health screening project in a low-income suburb of Perth with primarily aboriginal women and children–helped expose the bubble that is so convenient for many of the economically stable K students to live in, including myself.”

Study abroad also fueled Holly’s interest in travel, particularly to the lands Down Under. She traveled to Sydney, Australia, during the summer after her first year of medical school to work in a lab related to research she conducted for her K Senior Independent Project, or SIP. (Professor of Chemistry Laura Furge served as Holly’s on-campus SIP faculty mentor for the reading of her thesis.)  A recent vacation to New Zealand with Ethan was a respite from work and studies before they finish their assignments in Houston and pack for the move to Ohio.

She looks forward to being a little closer to her Wisconsin and Kalamazoo College homes, and hopes to cross paths with K alumni.

TEXT AND PHOTO BY JEFF PALMER ’76

Greening Away Violence

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Green Dot-Trained Faculty and Staff at KThis spring Kalamazoo College is beginning to turn green from Green Dot, and that “greening” will create a campus where the likelihood of dating and domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault decreases significantly because everybody does their part.

Just last week some 29 K faculty, staff and administrators completed four days of Green Dot “College Curriculum” training.

Green Dot is a violence prevention program with origins in college and university settings. It is also being implemented across the entire U.S. Air Force, on installations across all other branches of the military, and in communities and organizations in all 50 states and internationally.

The program is designed to enlist entire communities in order to spread the work and the joy that comes with it. And it works! In a five-year longitudinal study, Green Dot was shown to reduce violence perpetration by up to 50 percent in Kentucky high schools. Other studies found a 17 percent reduction in colleges, and additional research is being funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the effect of Green Dot in communities and additional colleges.

The 29 trainers will contribute to the planning and implementation of bystander education sessions for students (the first is set for late April) and Green Dot overview sessions for faculty, staff, administrators and students. Bystanders are trained to safely use words and actions to address or prevent “red dots.” In the program’s iconography, a red dot is any person’s choice to harm another person with words or actions. In any environment, or map, enough red dots create a norm where violence is tolerated. Green dots are small actions to intervene when a red dot is occurring or to prevent the likelihood of red dots at all. Small as they may be, Green Dot words and actions draw their power from the large numbers of people who commit to speak or do them. Together, enough Green Dots can change “worlds,” small and large.

Small acts and everyone doing their part is the key to the program’s success. Last week’s faculty and staff training included an array of work lives and “spheres of influence” that nearly covers the campus map, so the Green Dot greening of K is off to a broad and excellent start.

Early participants and Green Dot educators included (l-r)–front row (seated): Ellen Lassiter Collier, Gender Equity; Liz Smith ’73, Library, Katie Miller, Athletics (Women’s Basketball); Leslie Burke, Library; Miasha Wilson, Business Office; Kenlana Ferguson, Counseling Center, Erika Driver, Counseling Center; Laura Livingstone-McNelis ’89, Theatre Arts; Brittany Liu, Psychology; back row (standing): Jessica Ward, Registrar’s Office, Morgan Mahdavi ’14, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership; Jeanne Hess, Physical Education (Volleyball); Josh Moon, Educational Technology; Narda McClendon, Center for International Programs; Andrew Grayson ’10, Admission; Elizabeth Manwell, Classics; Bryan Goyings ’04, Athletics (Women’s Soccer); Jax Gardner, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership; Heather Dannison, Counseling Center; Jason Lintjer, Athletics (Men’s and Women’s Swimming); Marcie Weathers, Facilities Management; Franki Hand, Media Services; Jay Daniels ’13, Athletics (Men’s and Women’s Swimming); Dan Kibby ’90, Computer Programming; Tim Young, Security, Karen Joshua Wathel, Student Development, Heather Garcia, Center for International Programs; Melissa Emmal, Green Dot, Washington, D.C.; Sirajah Raheem, Green Dot, Atlanta, Georgia. Not pictured are Stacy Nowicki, Library, and Jim VanSweden ’73, College Communication.

Funding for Kalamazoo College’s Green Dot efforts comes from the State of Michigan Campus Sexual Assault Grant Program.

A Distinguished Dozen

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Kalamazoo College 2017 Class Agents
Class agents (and their majors) for the class of 2017 are (l-r) front row–Kamal Kamalaldin (computer science), Bianca Delgado (political science), Kriti Singh (economics), Emma Franzel (theatre arts), Brooke Travis (anthropology and sociology); middle row–Emerson Brown (economics), Emily Levy (anthropology and sociology), Emily Finch (English and history), Chris Francis (economics); back row–Alivia DuQuet (political science and women, gender and sexuality studies) and Eric DeWitt (economics). Not pictured is Amanda Johnson (economics).

The class of 2017 has its agents, a dozen as distinguished as they are diverse. Alivia DuQuet, Amanda Johnson, Bianca Delgado, Brooke Travis, Chris Francis, Emerson Brown, Emily Finch, Emily Levy, Emma Franzel, Eric DeWitt, Kamal Kamalaldin and Kriti Singh come from four states and three countries and represent eight different majors, five different study abroad programs on four continents, one study away program and a K-Trek (K to the Big Apple). Seven will enter the work force after graduation (several with jobs already lined up), two will go to graduate school, two will take a gap year then proceed with their graduate educations, and one will do Teach for America before beginning grad school. Senior Individualized Projects ranged widely, and topics included, among others, state sexual education policies, climate adaption strategies, cultural institutions in Palestine, corporate venture capital investments, the Dodd-Frank Act, parental attitudes regarding corporal punishment, feminism performance theory and the U.S. primary care industry.

All of the class agents were asked why they wanted to take on this lifetime role. Their answers, understandably, varied and yet shared some common themes: an appreciation of the K learning experience, a desire to remain connected to classmates and the College and to pay forward the benefits of a K education. “Throughout my time at K,” said Singh, “I have realized the importance of financial support and support from alumni. I would love to be actively involved because a lot of students (unknowingly) benefit from the support from the people who have been giving back.” Kamalaldin agrees: “I want to be able to improve Kalamazoo College and stay connected to its mission. I want to give back the tremendous support and educational opportunity that Kalamazoo College gave me.”

Photo courtesy of Tony Dugal