community

Habitat Home Honors Alumnus’ Memory

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A new Habitat for Humanity home will be built in the Roosevelt Park neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the name of the late Andy Angelo ’78, editor of the Grand Rapids Press. Construction will begin in July and complete in November, requiring an estimated  45 volunteer days to make “The House That Andy Built”.

Roosevelt Park was an important neighborhood to Andy and his wife, Mary. The house is down the street from the Cooks Arts Center, to which Andy and Mary devoted their fundraising and administrative talents. They also worked on behalf of a bilingual lending library.

Many gifts have been received toward the $125,000 required to begin construction. More are needed.

Andy died in 2012 from a respiratory ailment. He spent 26 years in news positions, working for the Associated Press and newspapers throughout Michigan and Illinois. Andy served as a board member and president of Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities.

Habitat for Humanity of Kent County seeks to identify corporations, schools, or churches who would be willing to field a team of volunteers; find building and landscaping supplies; donate, prepare and deliver food to feed the volunteers; or host a fundraiser and donate the proceeds. If you would like to sign up for volunteer opportunities, contact Mary Angelo or Joni Jessup.

Fourteen Comes in ’13

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Author Vaddey Ratner
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.

Tate-Stone Travel Writers Academy at K

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Merze Tate at Oxford
Merze Tate at Oxford

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?

Answer: Kalamazoo College, July 7 through 13.

The Tate-Stone Travel Writers Academy—a program of the Merze Tate Travel Club—has teamed with K, Western Michigan University’s Lewis Walker Institute, Ladies’ Library Association, Black Arts and Cultural Center, Community Voices magazine, and other Kalamazoo-area sponsors to offer a unique six-day residential academy for Kalamazoo schoolgirls.

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.

By Mallory Zink ’15

 

Building A Community Course

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Creators and members of the capstone course "Engaged Community Membership"
Creators and members of the capstone course “Engaged Community Membership” included (l-r): front row–Dan Kilburn and Alex Armstrong; back row–Jensen Sprowl, Marissa Rossman, Kiran Cunningham, Sara Haverkamp, Kami Cross, and Nicole Allman. Not pictured are Chris Cain and Ellen Conner. Cunningham is a member of the Class of 1983. Everyone else is a member of the Class of 2013.

The seniors taking the class, “Engaged Community Membership” (see photo), can build more than a good retaining wall in the College’s Grove area. They also can build a valuable course. And they did–their own capstone course.

In the winter quarter some 50 interested seniors met to begin to plan a “Senior capstone” course, one that would reflect the best thinking of seniors about a course that  structures reflection on their previous three and two-thirds years of academic and experiential rigor. The result of this winter planning was the spring quarter pass-fail class: “Engaged Community Membership.” The notion of community became the theme, according to class member and anthropology-sociology major Nicole Allman ’13.

The class eventually attracted nine seniors representing some 10 majors and Professor of Anthropology Kiran Cunningham ’83.

“We determined the course goals, set projects, and created the syllabus,” said Allman. “We focused on skill-based, concrete ideas surrounding the concept of community,” she added. Two projects in particular became the core of the course–a senior class recipe and cook book, tapping the experience of the Class of 2013 both on- and off-campus, including extending families throughout the world; and a landscaping and retaining wall project in the College’s Grove area.

Allman loved the class for both its hands-on and reflective qualities. “It was a valuable capstone experience that drew out and extended what we’d learned in the classroom and out over the past three years,” she said. “For me it clarified what it means to build a community and provided a blueprint for doing so that I can use to become a part of new communities.” The cookbook, she added, will be published (electronically) and shared with classmates and wider audiences.

More information access the project will be shared in the future.

DOGL Gets More Gracious

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Linda Jackson ’82

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.

Now that’s a day of gracious giving!

Kalamazoo College Selects Winners of Its Inaugural Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership

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Four social justice leadership keynote discussion panelists
The Global Prize weekend included a keynote panel discussion on social justice leadership with (l-r) Arcus Center Executive Director Jaime Grant and jurors Angela Y. Davis, Cary Alan Johnson, and shea howell.

Kalamazoo College has announced the winners of its inaugural Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership, a juried competition that attracted 188 entries from across the United States and 22 other countries. Instead of awarding one Global Prize for $25,000, as had been planned, jurors awarded three Global Prizes for $10,000 each.
Jurors also awarded a $5,000 Regional Prize for a project originating in Southwest Michigan.
Sharing the top Global Prize (with links to their brief video entries) are:

  • Dalia Association: The Road toward Palestinian Self-Determination. Based in Ramallah, Palestine, Dalia Association is a Palestinian-led community foundation dedicated to civil society development, accountability and self determination through awarding local grants and eliminating reliance on international aid.
  • Language Partners. Based in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, Language Partners is a prisoner-created and led bilingual educational program that develops language, leadership, and job skills post incarceration in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  • Building Power for Restaurant Workers. Based in New York City and with national impact, Building Power is a restaurant worker-driven wage justice project founded by workers displaced by the 2001 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.

Winners were announced by Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran on May 11 at the end of a three-day social justice leadership weekend where 18 Global and Regional finalists presented their project strategies and visions to jurors and an audience of campus and community members.

“You are all winners,” she said to the finalists, “because of what you do every day and by how you inspire us to believe that the just world we all seek is within our grasp.”

Longtime social justice activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis, who served as a juror, explained the jury’s decision to depart from the plan to award one $25,000 Global Prize. “We had no idea it would be so difficult to choose one winner” from among so many inspiring finalists. “We came down to three and asked if it would be possible to split the prize three ways for $10,000 each.”

Welcoming Michigan, a regional partnership that seeks to educate and organize across immigrant and U.S.-born communities throughout Michigan, earned the $5,000 Regional Prize. Based in Kalamazoo at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, Welcoming Michigan carries out its work across the state with an emphasis on Southwest and Southeast Michigan. Its message—“When Michigan welcomes immigrants, Michigan thrives”—can be spotted on billboards and in other media region-wide.

The biennial Global Prize competition honors innovative and collaborative leadership projects in the pursuit of social justice and human rights around the world and in Southwest Michigan. Leadership teams submitted 8- to 10-minute video entries by a March 8 deadline. Fifteen global and three regional finalists were selected. More information about the Kalamazoo College Global Prize competition and video entries of all finalists is available via www.kzoo.edu/socialjustice and K Facebook.

In addition to Davis, jurors included former Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Cary Alan Johnson and lifelong scholar/activist shea howell, whose work has focused on social justice education and grassroots empowerment in Detroit.

Several Kalamazoo College students, faculty, staff, and community partners also served as jurors.

The Global Prize competition was administered by the College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, 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 ACSJL will develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice.

Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu) was founded in 1833 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, located midway between Detroit and Chicago. K is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.

K Receives Accreditation News

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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.”

Washington March Culminates in Campus Event

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Kalamazoo College students joined the National March for Immigration Reform
Kalamazoo College students joined the National March for Immigration Reform.

Kalamazoo College sophomore Mariah Hennen, a member of MiRA, an advocacy program of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning, organized 13 Kalamazoo College students to attend the National March for Immigration Reform on April 10. Those 13 students will be part of a special campus event called “What is Immigration Reform?” That event features a keynote address by Susan Reed. Reed has practiced immigration and immigrant rights law since 2003. She has also served as a staff attorney at Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan and as a regional attorney for Justice for Our Neighbors, the immigration legal services program of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Her particular interests include the intersection of family and immigration law, the rights of unaccompanied immigrant children, immigrant eligibility for public benefits and programs, and civil rights matters. Reed is Secretary of the Steering Committee for the Michigan Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and co-chairs the Advocacy Committee of the Michigan Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She has served as an adviser to several State Bar of Michigan committees and initiatives. Her research and commentary has been published in Clearinghouse Review among other publications. “What is Immigration Reform?” will occur Wednesday, April 17, at 4 PM in Dewing Hall Room 103.

K Team Presents at Food Justice Meeting

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A Kalamazoo College (and Kalamazoo-area) food justice partnership coordinated by the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (formerly the Institute for Service-Learning) came together as a plenary session team and presented at Michigan State University’s First Annual Workshop on Food Justice & Peace. Team members included Alison Geist, director of the Center for Civic Engagement; Associate Professor of English Amelia Katanski; K students Shoshana Schultz ’13 and Charlotte Steele ’14; Ben Brown of the People’s Food Co-op; and Guillermo Martinez of the Van Buren Intermediate School District. Martinez also works with the College’s Hispanic Health and Disease class (Spanish 205). Steele is a former Civic Engagement Scholar of the organization Farms to K. Most of the MSU conference presenters discussed theoretical aspects of food justice and peace. The K team discussed how theory has translated into action in the Kalamazoo area. According to Schultz, the K team demonstrated the “ecology of food justice work in Kalamazoo,” how the parts work together in a manner that integrates theory and practice. Said Schultz: “People were blown away and very impressed by the collaboration that takes place in Kalamazoo.

Kalamazoo College Announces Finalists for $25,000 Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership

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Kalamazoo College is pleased to announce the finalists for its inaugural $25,000 Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership.

Fifteen finalist projects are collaboratively led by scholars and activists from eight U.S. cities (Columbus, Ohio; Detroit; Los Angeles; New York; Oakland, Cal.; Olympia, Wash.; South Bend, Ind.; and Urbana, Ill.; and ten nations including Germany, Honduras, Hungary, India, Malawi, Palestine, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. One of these projects will earn the $25,000 Global Prize.

Three finalists—two from Kalamazoo and one from Marshall—are eligible for a $5,000 Regional Prize for a project that originates in Southwest Michigan.

All finalists will present their work May 9-11 in Dalton Theatre on the K campus to jurors and attendees who will discuss and deliberate over the course of a three-day “Prize Weekend.” Global and Regional Prize winners will be announced by Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran, on Saturday, May 11 at 7:15 in Dalton.

“The Kalamazoo College Global Prize creates an opportunity for our students, faculty, and the local community to interact with scholars and activists who are at the leading edge of collaborative social justice leadership practices around the country and around the world,” Wilson-Oyelaran said.

“The Global Prize also matches up with K’s mission to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world,” she said.

Visit https://reason.kzoo.edu/csjl/clprize/finalists  to see a brief description of each finalist and link to its video entry. Facebook users may also view each video and “Like” their favorites (https://www.facebook.com/GlobalPrizeFinalists).

Each Global Prize applicant submitted a video (8-10 minutes) describing a social justice project, its innovative approach, and its collaborative leadership structure. A total of 188 entries were received from 23 countries and 25 U.S. states (including 14 from Southwest Michigan) by the March 8 deadline.

“The Global Prize undertaking truly presents an excellent opportunity for K students and the entire community to see social justice theory in action and to reflect on what we see as promising practices in the pursuit of a more just world,” said Lisa Brock, academic director of Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, which is administering the Global Prize competition.

According to Brock, a wide variety of social justice issues are addressed among the finalists, including: education access and equity, environmental sustainability, food sovereignty, health inequities, human rights violations against prisoners and LGBTQI people, immigration, international development, racism, workers’ rights, and more.

“Several finalists involve projects and partners that cross state and international borders,” Brock said. “One project from India, for example, includes partners in Columbus, Ohio and South Bend, Indiana. And the project from South Africa includes collaborators in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.”

More than 50 people, including K students, faculty, and staff members, as well as social justice advocates in Kalamazoo and elsewhere, juried the semifinal round of the competition and selected the 18 finalists. Jurors included: author, political activist, and University of California-Santa Cruz scholar Angela Y. Davis; former Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Cary Alan Johnson; and shea howell, Detroit-based author, educator, columnist, and board member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership.

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 ACSJL 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, experiential learning, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.