Kalamazoo College Trustee and Kalamazoo-area philanthropist Ronda Stryker will receive the 2013 YWCA Lifetime Woman of Achievement Award at an award celebration May 21 at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo.
The YWCA Award is given to an area person who has demonstrated a lifetime of outstanding contributions to the well-being of the community, state or nation, and has a record of accomplishment, leadership and positive role modeling as a volunteer and/or in a career.
Stryker has volunteered in various capacities with numerous organizations including Kalamazoo Community Foundation, Women’s Education Coalition Fund, Pathfinder International, Girl Scouts, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, United Way, Communities in Schools, Spelman College, University of Northern Colorado, Western Michigan University, Lakeside for Children, Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home Foundation, and YWCA of Kalamazoo.
She has served as a Kalamazoo College trustee for more than 20 years. In 2001, she helped establish the College’s Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning, named for her grandmother. Through the Institute, K students contribute more than 30,000 hours of community service-learning and civic engagement each year.
What better way to fend off winter blues than to celebrate the ethnic diversity of Kalamazoo College’s student body? In February a number of ethnic student organizations joined the Office of Student Involvement to host and organize the 4th annual La Fiesta Desi Soul (LFDS) event. Student organizations–including the Black Student Organization (BSO), the Caribbean society, Kalama-Africa, K-Desi, the Asian Pacific Islander Student Association (APISA), the Latino Student Organization (LSO), and the Young Persian Society–have helped turn this into the biggest Zoo After Dark event.
The event’s origins trace back to Fall of 2008, according to the Assistant Director of Student Involvement Kate Elizabeth-Leishman Yancho. It was sponsored at that time by BSO, LSO, and K-Desi. “Compared to the first time when the event took place in the Welles Dining Hall with a relatively smaller crowd, the event has become one of the most highly attended events on campus”, says Yancho. Furthermore, LFDS won the award for the 2011 Outstanding Campus Collaboration by the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA).
Participating student organizations put up visuals, serve different dishes (catered by Sodexo) and sponsor interactive games for everybody. Sashae Mitchell ‘14, the president of the Caribbean Society, said the purpose of this event is to “share aspects of the culture of the ethnic student groups through music, food, dance, and fun activities.” Mitchell added that she would like to see “more students attend the event so that it outgrows Hicks!” When asked about the future goals for LFDS, Brittany King-Pleas ‘13, president of BSO, said she hopes “the educational component continues to expand and the members of the committee work together to create a bit of cohesion amongst themselves.”
Girl Scout Cadette Troop 80683 led by Troop Leader Dawne Beougher, administrative assistant to the vice president of Advancement at Kalamazoo College collected more than 2,000 books for “Literacy Night” at Maple Street Magnet School in Kalamazoo.
Author and former New York Times reporter Amy Waldman will visit Kalamazoo College on March 6 to discuss the balance between journalism and fiction writing.
Waldman is the author of “The Submission,” a fictional novel about controversy surrounding a 9/11 memorial in New York. After a jury panel selects a design from an anonymous architect, they learn he is a Muslim. The revelation triggers both fury and ambivalence in New York City and beyond.
“The Submission,” Waldman’s first published novel, is the 2013 Reading Together book for the city of Kalamazoo.
Waldman worked for the New York Times for eight years. She was also a national correspondent for The Atlantic. Her fiction has been published in The Atlantic, Boston Review and the Financial Times and was anthologized in “The Best American Non-required Reading 2010.”
Waldman will speak from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Connable Recital Hall, Light Fine Arts Building, on the K campus. The event is free and open to the public.
The Kalamazoo College community continues to grieve the death of sophomore Emily Stillman, who died Sunday, February 3 due to complications from bacterial meningitis. Emily, 19, was taken to Bronson Hospital in the early morning hours of February 1 from her residence hall. K administration and the Student Health Center learned the diagnosis later that morning and immediately began to work in close collaboration with the Kalamazoo County health department and Bronson’s epidemiology lab.
The health department provided two nurses to help K health professionals with education and prophylactic treatment of persons who had been in close contact (within three feet sometime during the previous seven days) with Emily. Those who may have had casual contact should not be affected. Through midday Tuesday Feb. 5, the health team provided prophylactic treatment to approximately 150 persons.
No additional cases of bacterial meningitis have been reported. According to the health department, the likelihood of additional cases of meningitis at Kalamazoo College is very low.
The Student Health Center continues to reach out to students to provide prophylactic antibiotic treatment, discuss symptoms of the illness, and discuss vaccination recommendations. (More information on bacterial meningitis is available from the Kalamazoo County epidemiology on-call line: 269–207–5783.) K Counseling Center staff members have also been available to students.
Emily’s funeral was held this morning at the Dorfman Chapel in Farmington Hills, Mich. Kalamazoo College provided bus transport for about 40 students, faculty, and staff. A special fund is being arranged in Emily’s memory to aid in the research and treatment of bacterial meningitis. Send donations to Temple Shir Shalom, 3999 Walnut Lake Rd., West Bloomfield, MI 48323. Phone: (248) 737-8700.
The Temple will hold donations until the fund is established.
Declaration of Major Day for K sophomores, originally scheduled for today, has been postponed until next Tuesday Feb 12, 11:30 in the Light Fine Arts Building lobby.
Kalamazoo College sophomore Emily Stillman, 19, died this morning (Sunday, February 3) due to complications from bacterial meningitis. Emily was taken to Bronson Hospital around 2 AM Friday morning, February 1. K administration and the Student Health Center learned the diagnosis later that morning and immediately began to work in close collaboration with the Kalamazoo County health department and Bronson’s epidemiology lab.
The health department provided two nurses to help K health professionals with education and prophylactic treatment of persons who had been in close contact (within three feet sometime during the previous seven days) with the student. Those who may have had casual contact should not be affected. The health team provided prophylactic treatment to approximately 120 persons through the weekend.
No additional cases of bacterial meningitis have been reported. According to the health department, the likelihood of additional cases of meningitis at Kalamazoo College is very low.
The Student Health Center has extended its hours to reach out to students to provide prophylactic antibiotic treatment, discuss symptoms of the illness, and discuss vaccination recommendations. (More information on bacterial meningitis is available from the Kalamazoo County epidemiology on-call line: 269–207–5783.) Counseling Center staff members have also been available to students.
This afternoon (February 3) approximately 350 K students, faculty, and staff gathered in Stetson Chapel to remember Emily and to support one another. Emily’s funeral is scheduled for 10 AM Tuesday morning, February 5, at the Dorfman Chapel in Farmington Hills.
K Senior Shoshana Schultz hold “A Year of Food in Kalamazoo,” a calendar created by her and other K students.
Cultivating Community is a first-year seminar taught by Associate Professor of English Amelia Katanski ’92. It’s a service-learning course that combines academic inquiry with a project rooted in a local issue or organization.
This fall, Cultivating Community students broke into groups to interview and photograph people active in the area food community for the purpose of creating a 2013 calendar titled “A Year of Food in Kalamazoo.”
Subjects ranged from farmers and farm worker advocates, to organic food vendors such as Bridgett Blough ’08, who operates her own food truck business called The Organic Gypsy.
Teacher’s Assistant Shoshana Schultz ’13 worked as a go-between for the students, Katanski, and the People’s Food Co-Op, the class’s community partner.
“The seminar engages students in a critical examination of national food justice issues and introduces them to local food vendors who face these issues daily,” said Schultz. “The calendar is a meaningful and active way to address food justice and for others in the Kalamazoo community to be part of the discussion.
Now a senior, Schultz took Cultivating Community her first year at K. “My first year completely framed the way that I got to know the Kalamazoo community,” she said. “I’m proud of the work the students did this year.”
The calendars are on sale now at the People’s Food Co-Op in Kalamazoo for $15.
Dr. Jill Biden addresses students during a Kalamazoo College campaign visit
Sophomore Alex Werder received a call from an unrecognized number. The caller simply identified himself as James and asked Werder if he was the person responsible for setting up events on campus. The mystery caller asked to meet the President of the Kalamazoo College Democrats in 15 minutes for a look around K. Werder asked for some credentials before offering the stranger a tour of campus.
James said he was with the Obama Campaign looking for a venue where Vice President Joe Biden’s wife, Jill Biden, could speak in Kalamazoo.
Biden wanted to come to Kalamazoo to address some college students between her other campaign stops in Grand Rapids and Battle Creek. An education advocate, she is the only second lady who has continued to work a full time job out of the White House while her husband serves in office. She currently teaches at Northern Virginia Community College.
“My internal reaction was, ‘Holy crap; this is pretty cool,’” said Werder. The aspiring political science major showed James and two other Obama staffers some possible venues on campus.
Three days later, after a frenzied preparation that included two secret service security sweeps of Hicks with bomb-sniffing dogs, negotiations over the number of allowed guests, furniture arrangement, and last minute invitations, the Stone Room was packed to capacity, mostly with students from K and Western Michigan University, awaiting a speech by the second lady.
Craig Isser ’13 sat among the crowd of about 130 in the sunlit room. Isser had done some research on Biden beforehand, and said he was excited to see a influential person interested in education come to the college.
“She is someone who really is a voice for the students who, and not just a voice,” he said, “She also has power.”
Next to Isser sat Jung Eun Pyeon ’16. She arrived on campus just weeks ago from California’s San Fernando Valley for her first year in college. She said she was still adjusting to campus life when she heard about the event. She plans on studying economics and business, and she is also interested in politics and wants the opportunity to learn more.
“What better chance than to listen to someone of Jill Biden’s stature?” she asked.
Attendees also included three sophomores who live in the Women’s Voice House, a Living Learning Cooperative with a mission of promoting feminist ideas on campus. Katherine Stevenson ’15, Samantha Foran ’15, and Abigail Keizer ’15 said they jumped at the occasion to see a woman in power speak.
“She’s a woman who is very high up, so we’re all excited to see what she has to say,” said Foran.
“She’s still teaching even though her husband is the Vice President,” said Stevenson of the second lady. “That’s really cool to see.”
According to Ms. Biden’s Press secretary, the second lady was grading her students’ papers on the way to the event.
The housemates said they plan on including the content of the second lady’s speech in their weekly dinner discussions.
Besides the K and WMU students, other attendees included Kalamazoo dignitaries and area politicians. Kalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell said Ms. Biden’s visit—her first campaign speech on a college campus—highlights the power and educational focus of the city.
In his introductory remarks, Werder noted that this upcoming election would be the first in which he could eligibly vote, and it would be one he remembers for the rest of his life. “This event combines two of my greatest loves,” he said, “Democratic politics and K.”
Biden recalled her voting for the first time while in college, and said that she voted for her husband, though she didn’t know him at the time.
She gave a student-focused speech, telling the audience the Obama administration will “have your back” if reelected.
“This feels right at home,” she said of campus, “and young people like you inspire me every single day. I often say that my kids are my heroes. And I want you to know that every single day, this administration is really fighting for all of you.”
She closed with a story about a community college student named Angie Flores, who introduced Ms. Biden at the Democratic National Convention.
“In this election,” she said, “we’ve got a choice whether we’re going to tell students like Angie, students like many of you, that ’you’re on your own,’ or whether we’re going to say, ’we’re all in this together, and everyone deserves a fair shot.’”
Biden stayed for a few minutes to shake students’ hands and pose for pictures before rushing off to Battle Creek.
After the crowds cleared and flurry subsided, Werder was smiling.
“It’s all been thrown together in the last 72 hours,” he said, “so it’s been a whirlwind, but we’re all really excited that she took the time and came out to see us.”
Story by Elaine Ezekiel ’13; Photo by Erik Holladay
About 70 first-year students—including Sarah Werner and her family from Clinton Township, Mich., photographed here—arrived August 16 to begin their Kalamazoo College journey via LandSea, an optional 18-day wilderness backpacking, climbing, canoeing, glad-I-brought-my-bug spray experience in Adirondack State Park, a six-million-acre tract in northern New York. After checking out their gear, the campus, and each other, participants pile onto a bus and head east at 7PM for a nine-hour overnight trek. A team of student and staff leaders awaits their arrival in New York. Welcome, bon voyage, and good luck LandSea 2012 participants. We’ll see you back here on Sept. 3!
Dr. Wen Chao Chen was a pillar of the Kalamazoo College and Greater Kalamazoo communities.
Wen Chao Chen, Ph.D., a farmer’s son from rural China who became a celebrated Kalamazoo College educator and civic leader, died August 13, 2012, at Friendship Village in Kalamazoo. He was 92.
“Dr. Wen Chao Chen was an extraordinarily loving person,” said Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran. “He especially loved Kalamazoo College and the Kalamazoo community. He worked tirelessly for decades to help make each the best it could be.
“Dr. Chen had a brilliant mind and a gift for bringing people together. He often said he felt fortunate to be embraced by the community, but the people who continue to be touched by his legacy know just how much his life enriched all of ours.”
Chen joined the faculty of Kalamazoo College in 1950 as professor of political science. During his 36-year career with the College, he also served as librarian, director of academic services, dean of special services, vice president, acting president, and executive director of the L. Lee Stryker Center. He also helped establish the Heyl Scholarship program, which brings outstanding area high school graduates to Kalamazoo College to study science and to Western Michigan University to study nursing.
Throughout his career, Chen was a mentor to countless Kalamazoo College students, faculty, staff, alumni, and several presidents. His impact was so significant that he was repeatedly honored by the College. He was a recipient of Kalamazoo College’s Weimer K. Hicks Award, which honors current or retired employees who have provided significant long-term contributions to the College, and was named a Fellow of the College, Emeritus.
Shortly before his 1986 retirement, a faculty resolution acknowledged the College’s “long history of debts owed” to Dr. Chen,” his “steady hand” as “a source of security and reassurance,” and his commitment to K as “a treasured resource.”
In 1998, Chen’s friends and former students provided more than $1 million to endow the Wen Chao Chen Chair in East Asian Social Sciences at the College. In 2000, he and wife Lilia, a long-time substitute teacher in Kalamazoo Public Schools and a gifted artist, created a scholarship fund for art students.
During and after his years at Kalamazoo College, Dr. Chen was also active in local civic, business, and cultural matters. He co-founded the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music and helped establish the Kalamazoo Network, which developed leadership opportunities for women. He also helped establish the Kalamazoo Forum, which brought together business and academic leaders to discuss communitywide issues, and the Core Council of Governments, which sought greater cooperation among Kalamazoo County municipalities.
Wen Chao Chen was born October 14, 1919, in Chen Village, Fenxi County, Shanxi Province, China. He was one of seven children. At the age of six he began working on his father’s 33-acre farm. After several years in small village elementary schools, an older brother paid for him to attend a boarding school and later an American-administered Christian missionary training center.
Before he could complete high school, however, the Japanese army invaded China, and in 1937 Chen’s family was forced to flee the fighting. For several years, he worked a series of jobs as a tax collector, medic, and newspaper proofreader, in addition to taking some college courses.
By 1943, Chen was a lieutenant in the Chinese Army assigned to translation duties with United States Army forces in China. Toward the end of World War II, he was among 100 Chinese translators sent to the U.S. for further training. When the war ended, he enrolled at Grinnell College in Iowa where he completed his bachelor’s degree in political science. He went on to earn a master’s degree in public administration and doctorate in political science, both at St. Louis University.
Later, while teaching at Kalamazoo, he earned a master’s degree in library science from the University of Chicago. He also was awarded honorary degrees from Nazareth College, WMU, and Kalamazoo College.
Chen became a naturalized United States citizen in 1983.
In addition to Lilia, his wife of 62 years, Dr. Chen is survived by sons Michael (Niki) of St. Charles, Ill., and Philip (Janet Lootens Chen) of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and grandchildren Alice Chen of San Antonio, Tex.; Megan Chen of Falls Church, Va., and Dylan Chen of Ann Arbor.
Memorial gifts may be directed to the Wen Chao Chen Chair in East Asian Social Sciences at Kalamazoo College, 1200 Academy St., Kalamazoo, MI, 49006.
A memorial service for Dr. Wen Chao Chen will take place at Stetson Chapel on the Kalamazoo College campus at a date and time to be determined.
