Writer In Residence Diane Seuss has been hard at work, and the result is a prolific fall and winter. Her poem “Either everything is sexual or nothing is, take this flock of poppies,” appears in the 2013 edition of the Pushcart Prize anthology, which is hot off the presses. And her poem “Oh four-legged girl, it’s either you or the ossuary” is in the fall/winter issue of Black Warrior Review. The poem won the Summer Literary Seminar’s Poetry Prize. “Hub,” a lyric essay, won Wag’s Revue’s winter contest (To access all of the essay’s pages, click on the arrow on the right margin). “I emptied my little wishing well of its emptiness” won Mid-American Review’s Fineline Competition and appears in its fall/winter issue. Two poems, “I’m moved by her, that big-nippled girl,” and “The ghosts down in North-of-the-South aren’t see-through” will appear in Ecotone’s “Abnormal” issue. The poem “Hindenburg” will appear in a forthcoming issue of Devil’s Lake. In other news, poet Adrian Blevins wrote a review of Di’s most recent collection of poems that appears in “On the Seawall: Ron Slate’s Website.” Just reading/hearing the titles of Di’s poems is a rewarding poetic experience!
faculty
K Science Majors Present at Undergraduate Research Conference
Nine Kalamazoo College science majors and two chemistry department faculty members (Regina Stevens-Truss and Laura Lowe Furge) attended the recent West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference in Grand Rapids. The students were Carline Dugue ’12, Chelsea Wallace ’13, Nicholas Sweda ’12, Mara Livezey ’13, Michael Hicks ’12, Kelly Bresnahan ’12, Josh Abbott ’12, Amanda Bolles ’14, and Erran Briggs ’14. Hicks and Wallace are biology majors; the others are majoring in chemistry. They presented results of their summer and academic year research experiences, including Senior Individualized Project work for Dugue, Bresnahan, Sweda, and Abbott. More than 170 posters from colleges across West Michigan were part of the conference’s poster session, and some 400 people participated in the conference. Dugue’s research focused on semiconductor quantum dots and charge transfer; she worked with Western Michigan University professor Sherine Obare. Abbott’s work focused on the role of a specific liver enzyme (CYP2B6) in the way the body processes the cancer drug cyclophosphamide. He did this work in the lab of Professor Paul Hollenberg at the University of Michigan. Bresnahan completed her SIP at the University of Michigan laboratory of Professor James Woods. She worked on animal models for testing of molecules called cholinergic receptor agonists for aid in smoking cessation studies. The other six posters described research done at Kalamazoo College. Sweda presented ongoing studies from Professor Stevens-Truss’s lab on suramin selective inhibition of nitric oxide synthases, part of a chain of events that affects production of nitric oxide in the human body. An excess of nitric oxide is associated with conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. This work is the basis of a manuscript in preparation with Sweda and Alyssa McNamara ’11 as co-authors. Wallace’s research (with Associate Professor of Biology Blaine Moore) showed that BCL-2 is able to rescue neuroblastoma cells from ethanol toxicity. Livezey, Hicks, Bolles, and Briggs each presented individual posters with results of three projects from Professor Furge’s lab on the interactions of inhibitors with human cytochrome P450 enzymes. These enzymes metabolize compounds, including medicines, in the liver, and the inhibition of those enzymes may influence the effectiveness of current and new medicines. The work presented by Bolles and Briggs is currently being prepared in a manuscript for publication with both students as co-authors along with Livezey. The posters presented by Hicks and Livezey are the basis of a current NIH grant renewal to support ongoing opportunities for student research in the Furge lab. In addition to the poster sessions, students attended several lectures and were able to meet with graduate school recruiters.
Four K Faculty Present at East Asian Studies Conference
Rose Bundy, Japanese, was chair and organizer of a panel discussion at the Japan Study 50th Anniversary Conference: The Future of East Asian Studies at Liberal Arts Colleges. The conference took place at Earlham College in early October. The name of the panel presentation was “Passages to Asia: The Japanese Studies Curriculum–From Intro to Senior Seminar.” In addition to Bundy the panel included her fellow K professors Dennis Frost, history; Yue Hong, Chinese; and Noriko Sugimori, Japanese.
K Documentarian Dhera Strauss Cooks Up New “Kitchen Conversation”
Kalamazoo College Video Specialist and Instructor Dhera Strauss will show a new cut of her documentary “Kitchen Conversations” this Sunday Nov. 4 at 4 PM and 7 PM at WMU’s Little Theater, located on the corner of Oakland Dr. and Oliver Lane. “Kitchen Conversations” includes 13 separate segments, each profiling a Kalamazoo-area woman in her kitchen preparing a recipe that reminds her of her family. The documentary features several women with connections to K, including Professor of Sociology and Anthropology (Emerita) Marigene Arnold, Professor of German Language and Literature (Emerita) Margo Light, Library Acquisitions Technician Renata Schnelker, Professor of Romance Languages and Literature Jan Solberg, and President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran. Sunday’s screening of Strauss’s documentary, which debuted in 2010, includes an additional 20 minutes that focuses on local baker Judy Sarkozy. The screening is a fundraiser for Sarkozy’s effort to reopen her business destroyed by a fire earlier this year. There will be a suggested donation of $10, but all contributions are welcomed.
“Walking Dead” Star Plugs Kalamazoo Prof
Steven Yeun ’05 is an actor who plays Glenn Rhee, a pizza delivery guy turned survivalist in “The Walking Dead,” the wildly popular apocalyptic zombie drama on AMC. In a recent New York Times interview, Steve gives a shoutout to Kalamazoo College professor Andy Mozina and his book “The Women Were Leaving the Men.”
K Economics Professor Publishes Third Edition of Textbook
Professor of Economics Ahmed Hussen has published the third edition of his textbook–Principles of Environmental Economics and Sustainability: An Integrated Economic and Ecological Approach (Routledge, September 20, 2012).
New chapters in the book cover the economics of climate change, the economics of biodiversity and ecosystem services, “green” accounting and alternative economic and social indicators of sustainability, the business case for environmental sustainability, and an appendix that provides an historical account of the development of ecological economics.
College Congratulates K-Connected “Geniuses”
Coincidence? Most certainly, but it is nevertheless fun to count the times a Kalamazoo College campus visit coincides with a subsequent “genius award,” a.k.a. the MacArthur Fellowship.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation recently announced the MacArthur Fellowships for 2012. On that list were Junot Diaz and David Finkel. Both were featured authors in K’s Summer Common Reading (SCR) program—Diaz in 2007 for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Finkel in 2011 for his nonfiction work The Good Soldiers.
Past MacArthur Fellows with a K connection include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (SCR author—Purple Hibiscus—in 2004, MacArthur Fellow in 2008); Aleksandar Hemon (SCR author—Nowhere Man—in 2004, and named a MacArthur Fellow the following month); and architect Jeanne Gang, who received a MacArthur Fellowship not long after her firm designed the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership.
“Is it cause and effect?” quipped Amy Smith, associate professor of English and associate provost. “Show up at K, get a genius award,” she smiled, no doubt aware that the timeline works in reverse as well. Edward P. Jones won the MacArthur in 2005 and was the Kalamazoo College SCR author (The Known World) two years later; Colson Whitehead got a MacArthur in 2002 and came to K in 2010 when his novel Sag Harbor was the SCR selection.
What is certain is that the SCR selection committee is very good at assessing major writing talent. The committee includes or has included Marin Heinritz, assistant professor of journalism; Andy Mozina, professor of English; Zaide Pixley, dean of the first-year and advising; and Diane Seuss, writer in residence.
K History Prof Discusses Influence of Julia Child
To celebrate Julia Child’s 100th birthday, Professor Emeritus of History David Strauss recently joined a panel of food historians whose task was to consider Child’s continuing impact on the American food scene eight years after her death. Along with the panelists, 40 members of the National Arts Club in New York City first enjoyed a dinner comprised of four entrées, four vegetable dishes, and two desserts, including such signature dishes as boeuf Bourguignon, oven-roasted potato galettes, and mousse au chocolat, all prepared from Child’s recipes. To conclude the evening, slices of los gatos gâteau cake (apricot and hazelnut)–a less familiar Julia Child dessert–were served. In addition to Strauss, panelists included Andy Smith (The New School, New York), Patricia Parkhurst Ferguson (Columbia University) and Dana Polan (New York University.) Strauss’s presentation was informed by findings from his recent book titled Setting the Table for Julia Child: Gourmet Dining in America, 1934-1961 (The Johns Hopkins University Press).
K Psychology Professor and Student Publish Collaborative Research
Psychology professor Siu-Lan Tan and K alumnus John Baxa ’09 published a book chapter on their video game research in the book Interdisciplinary Advancements in Gaming, Simulations, and Virtual Environments (published in 2012 by IGI Global, edited by R. Ferdig and S. de Freitas). Their research focuses on the role of music and sound effects on video game performance in gamers with different levels of expertise. It is based on collaborative work between Tan and Baxa beginning in his sophomore year, continuing through his Senior Individualized Project, and extending beyond his graduation. Baxa is currently a graduate student pursuing a degree in Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University, where he will learn video game design and may be able to implement their research on sound design in future video games. Baxa (right) is pictured with Tan (center) last April, at her Lucasse teaching award presentation. Also shown is Sally Warner ’08 (left), who worked with Tan for three years to co-organize service-learning projects and assisted her on a book manuscript. Warner is currently working on a Doctorate in curriculum, instruction, and teacher education at Michigan State University.
K Economics Professor Advocates Long-Range Municipal Planning
“Buffeted But Not Broken: Kalamazoo’s Five-Year Fiscal Plan” (by Kathy Jessup) describes the origin and development of the city’s long-range planning process, one that contains a further horizon than typical fiscal plans of other cities. Kalamazoo’s decision to engage in longer range planning has been invaluable in response to the economic downtown. Professor of Economics Hannah McKinney first proposed the idea of the Five-Year Fiscal Plan in 2005, when she served as the city’s mayor. McKinney has worked with the National League of Cities and champions the idea of pushing out financial planning horizons in order to better predict and manage both growth and downturns. Jessup’s article appears in the Michigan Municipal League’s magazine, The Review, and a longer version will come out this fall in the International City Managers Association’s publication.