Kim Aldrich (middle) pictured with Alumni Engagement colleagues at Homecoming in 2018, was recognized Friday as the recipient of the Lux Esto Award of Excellence. The honor is awarded annually as Kalamazoo College marks Founders Day.
YouTube video: President Gonzalez surprises honorees with news of their awards
Kim Aldrich ’80, Kalamazoo College’s director of alumni engagement, is this year’s recipient of the Lux Esto Award of Excellence. The award, announced Friday to celebrate Founders Day marking the College’s 187th year, recognizes an employee who has served the institution for at least 26 years and has a record of stewardship and innovation.
The recipient—chosen by a committee with student, faculty and staff representatives—is an employee who exemplifies the spirit of Kalamazoo College through excellent leadership, selfless dedication and goodwill.
President Jorge G. Gonzalez credited Aldrich for her wide-reaching collaborations in the K community, her networking skills and being an embodiment of the guidelines for the award. He also noted that nominees said Aldrich “brings general brightness and passion to her work, both in her everyday interactions on campus as well as with our alumni and friends of the College.”
Counseling Center Director Kenlana FergusonAssociate Professor of Psychology Brittany Liu
In accordance with Founders Day traditions, two other employees also received individual awards. Associate Professor of Psychology Brittany Liu was given the Outstanding Advisor Award, and Counseling Center Director Kenlana Ferguson was named the Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate Award honoree.
Gonzalez complimented Liu as an empathic listener who easily builds relationships with students while building on advisees’ successes and their opportunities for improvement.
He said Liu “takes time to learn of her advisees’ passions, interests and goals, and understands that those often evolve with the student throughout their time at K.”
In honoring Ferguson, Gonzalez recognized her work in first-year forums, the JED Set-to-Go program for students transitioning from high school to college, and the Steve Fund crisis text line that supports students of color.
“The confidential nature of her work allows some of her impact with individual students to fly under the radar,” Gonzalez said. “Even so, we have witnessed many occasions when first-year students turned the corner due to her involvement in their lives.”
Assistant Professor of Biology Santiago Salinas prepares dissection materials that will be sent to students participating in distance learning this term.
When Assistant Professor of Biology Santiago Salinas learned that Kalamazoo College would be transitioning to distance learning for the spring semester, he knew how he felt. “I was bummed,” said Salinas. Without meeting face-to-face in a classroom or lab, how would his students connect? How would they grasp the hands-on skills they would traditionally experience in a face-to-face classroom, like animal dissection and model work?
“I needed to pump myself up for the quarter,” Salinas said. Internet research yielded inspiration, and soon Salinas had created a movie trailer for his vertebrate biology class — complete with atmospheric soundtrack and compelling narrative voiceover.
Salinas sent the trailer to his class. “I was honest with them, as I usually am in class anyway, and I told them I was having a hard time concentrating,” Salinas said. “I explained that I was bummed out that we wouldn’t be meeting face to face.” His students responded positively, sharing that the trailer had motivated them and made them laugh. When Salinas posted the trailer to Twitter, the outside world responded similarly. That feedback and connection re-energized Salinas as he moved forward with further classroom innovations.
“Twitter has been great for ideas,” Salinas said, describing how his search for inspiration and distance learning materials caused him to reframe his approach. He now sees himself as a curator. “There’s a lot of stuff out there — videos that are so much better than anything that I could put together, supplementing my slides and narration,” Salinas said.
Now, Salinas has high hopes for his vertebrate biology class. “This is forcing me to think about how I do things, and how I decide to prioritize content. Sometimes it’s good to be shocked because you start to reassess things,” Salinas said. “For the students, my hope is that they realize that they are not at K for the grades. I hope they recognize that they are driven intrinsically by what they are interested in, because they are, and that they do biology because they enjoy it.”
Salinas said that he has intentionally encouraged his students to provide feedback regarding biology-specific skills they would like to learn. When most of his students expressed interest in improving their grasp of scientific writing, Salinas quickly adjusted his assignments accordingly. “Maybe this wasn’t something we would cover in a normal quarter,” Salinas said, “But I think it’s going to make for a better course, and a better course for next year.”
As for Salinas’ earlier worries about dissection? “Well, I just finished packaging frogs, sharks, pigeons, and other critters. I will be mailing them out to our young biologists and we’ll do the dissections remotely!” Salinas said.
Chris Ludwa creates video to direct a virtual choir during Kalamazoo College’s spring term of distance learning.
When Kalamazoo College moved to distance learning for the spring term, Assistant Music Professor Chris Ludwa was initially wary about how his day-to-day teaching could change. As the director of K’s College Singers, Lux Esto Chamber Choir and Kalamazoo Bach Festival, Ludwa has maintained a constant belief in the power of connections formed during rehearsals — to him, the laughter, jokes and camaraderie students develop there are fundamental to K’s strong singing community. “Without shared rehearsals, shared time and shared meals in Hicks, people may feel disconnected,” Ludwa recalled thinking, “and in choral singing, a large part of what we do is to connect with one another.”
Ludwa’s solution demonstrated the flexibility and innovation that defines Kalamazoo College faculty. The plan to institute a virtual choir was borne of Ludwa’s admiration for composer Eric Whitacre. (Ludwa calls him “a hero in the choral world.”) “The difference is that Whitacre never had to do a virtual choir — he chose to do it,” said Ludwa. “But our goals are the same. We want to connect people from wide-ranging backgrounds and global locations, and keep people singing.”
To begin, Ludwa is recording himself as he conducts a piece of music. Then, he’ll email the recording to his choir students, each of whom will be tasked with recording their own separate and different parts of the composition. By simply using their laptops, headphones and cell phones, students will record themselves singing their parts and return the audio to Ludwa, who will mix all of his collected student voices down into one final version. The project has given Ludwa a chance to push his own abilities, too. “I’d ordinarily hire a recording engineer to mix this kind of thing,” he admitted. “But thanks to media services and the technology K provides, I’m able to learn how to do it myself.”
Ludwa also plans to maintain one-on-one connections with his students, as well. He hopes to check in with students four to five times over the term as a group in order to hear their feedback on the process and how things are going in their isolation. These check-ins are part of the course grade, just as submitting recordings is. Consequently, students will essentially be receiving an individual voice coaching, more than they would during traditional, in-person choral rehearsals. “It’s essentially a private coaching session and they’re getting a different experience than they normally would, tailored to each one of their voices,” said Ludwa.
Even as the K community transitions to distance learning, it’s clear that the rest of the world is continuing to make its own adjustments. Ludwa is aware of these changes; it’s yet another reason he believes the virtual choir will provide a positive experience for K students. “Any sense of rationality and normalcy is going to be important for well-being,” Ludwa said. “My hope is that students in virtual choir continue to develop the sense of connection with each other that they may not get otherwise, and are able to approximate the larger community at K. We’ll get through this together in a positive, constructive way, albeit through a different medium.”
To experience one of Eric Whitacre’s virtual choirs, visit his website.
Math Professor Rick Barth is preparing for a spring term of distance learning through his home work station.
A social media meme circulating of the late children’s TV star Mr. Rogers is reminding people to “look for the helpers” in a crisis. When that crisis is COVID-19, which has forced Kalamazoo College to switch from in-person to distance learning this spring, those helpers for students are K faculty and staff.
Distance learning, defined as cooperative educational experiences between people physically separated, is uncharted territory at most liberal arts institutions. That includes K, which prides itself on face-to-face interactions between students and faculty, and personalized experiences. Yet while students adjust, optimistic and dedicated faculty are ensuring that learning opportunities will proceed smoothly when the term starts in April.
Regardless of a student’s need—whether it’s technology access, academic requirements, concern over tutoring and office hours, or something unexpected—faculty want students to know their professors are eager to provide support and direction, and ensure a breadth of educational experiences true to the liberal arts.
Jeff Bartz, K’s Kurt D. Kaufman Professor of Chemistry, said he and his colleagues are communicating regularly with tools such as Slack, an instant messaging app, while reaching out to students through email and social media. One recent tweet that included a picture of chemistry faculty dressed as Alice in Wonderland characters for a costume contest said: “Hey, Kalamazoo College chemists. This group may be a bunch of characters, but we’ll help you get through this.”
Bartz is designing a physical chemistry course in two-week modules that will address topics such as climate change, the hole in the ozone layer, and energy and fuel efficiency.
“The hard part for a chemist is that laboratory work is a big part of what we do,” Bartz said. “We’ve considered doing laboratories here and pushing out the data to students. We might set up students for experiments where they already have the material at home, or send them the material they need through the mail. I think my colleagues are doing a really good job figuring out those things.
Assistant Professor Kathryn Sederberg said the creativity ongoing in the Chemistry Department is also common in the German Department. She regularly teaches courses from first-year seminars and beginning German to intermediate German and contemporary German culture.
“We’re thinking, for example, that students might pair up and have video chats in German using the apps they already use to communicate with distant family and friends,” Sederberg said. “We will also rely on the platforms we have been using for years as a complement to classroom work, like discussion boards.”
Sederberg also is drawing inspiration from faculty at other colleges and universities.
“We are reading and sharing articles about best practices for quickly transforming courses into online formats,” Sederberg said. “Distance learning won’t replace the face-to-face instruction we do so well at K, and part of what makes our program so strong is the work students do with each other on campus. However, this pandemic is an unprecedented global crisis, and we will get through it together. And we will really celebrate when we’re back together on campus in Kalamazoo!”
The move to distance learning in many courses will benefit from pedagogical innovations a number of K instructors have been moving toward in recent years, such as those of Math Professor Rick Barth.
“My spring course is a statistics course that has, over the last decade, been redeveloped with lots of digital content and remote learning, sometimes referred to as a flipped classroom,” Barth said.
However, as the Assistant Provost for Teaching, Learning and Assessment, Barth is aware students are concerned about whether they will receive the same peer tutoring that they would in person. But Math Department Student Advisor Maddie Ward and Math-Physics Center (MPC) Peer Instructor Ben Behrens will continue serving other students.
“All the consultants know how many people depend on the MPC for help in their classes, and we will do whatever we can to help everyone with online learning,” Behrens said.
“Our big task is to imagine how we’ll each pivot to bring our accumulated experience to help students learn without face-to-face classes for a time,” Barth said. “In my view, this may well be the singular defining challenge of our careers as teachers. During this time, I’m glad to be at K with wonderful and supportive faculty colleagues. It brings me great optimism to imagine this special group of scholars and teachers bringing our best to this challenging new task.”
Students and faculty will also be supported by Information Services staff such as Education Technology Specialist Josh Moon. Moon helps faculty integrate tools such as Microsoft Teams, a virtual space for chats, audio calls and video calls, and Moodle, an online classroom environment, into learning plans.
“I have a strong hunch that weeks three through five [of the term] will be much easier for everyone than maybe the first two” in the term, Moon said. “However, students will probably find that this helps them develop communication skills that will benefit them in their careers.”
All three professors said the key for students will be maintaining individual communication through tools such as email, and being patient with each other and faculty and staff this term.
“This is a spring of gracious living,” Bartz said. “But it could be an opportunity for us as faculty to connect with students even better than when they’re so busy with all the things they’re normally doing on campus. It’s going to require more time on my end than normal, but it’s because I care a lot about the education of my students.”
Former visiting student Nelly Rupande co-authored a children’s book alongside five Kalamazoo College students. Let’s Talk About it, Period, is designed to help general audiences understand period poverty and stigma.
A group of Kalamazoo College students has a story to tell this International Women’s Day. It’s a story Shukurani A. Nsengiyumva ’20, Anne Kearney Patton ’22, Juanita Ledesma ’21, Kushi Matharu ’22 and Catherine Dennis ’22 created in the form of a children’s book with former visiting student Nelly Rupande through Associate Professor of Psychology Karyn Boatwright and her Feminist Psychology of Women class.
The book, titled Let’s Talk About It, Period, depicts period poverty, referring to a woman’s inadequate access to menstrual-hygiene products, along with period stigma directed toward the main character, a fourth-grade girl in Kenya experiencing her first period.
The story is important because “we want to fight the stigma that exists around periods and menstruation, and share what happens when you shame someone for having something so natural,” said Nsengiyumva, who supervised the project as a teacher’s assistant. She experienced period poverty herself during the early years of her period, only receiving pads when she went to boarding school. Otherwise, her mom couldn’t afford them. She resettled in the U.S. as a Rwandan refugee in 2013 at age 15.
“It’s a topic not just for those who experience menstruation, but those who might enforce the stigma related to it,” she added.
Period poverty and stigma are issues in countries around the world. The group from Boatwright’s class studied their effects this term through an eight-week syllabus developed by Rupande, who created the Binti Initiative.
Rupande emerged as the top female student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and subsequently was chosen to attend K. Her nonprofit organization seeks to provide dignity to girls and women through access to feminine-hygiene products, educating girls about menstruation, and dispelling myths and negative perceptions of menstrual cycles.
Other topics in the syllabus included female circumcision and genital mutilation, sex education in Kenya, femicide, endometriosis and other period-related complications, and gender equality.
Kushi MatharuAnne Kearney Patton
The group, with all serving as co-authors, concluded its work by presenting the film Period, a documentary on the stigma that surrounds menstruation in India.
“When Dr. Boatwright reached out to me with the opportunity to collaborate with the Feminist Psychology of women Class, I was thrilled,” Rupande said. “She was my professor while I was at K and the very first person to show me around Kalamazoo. She is definitely someone who believes in me and I look up to her as a mentor.”
The book’s resolution involves educating the characters, each with a role to play in recognizing period stigma and poverty, so readers can learn about their own responsibilities in dispelling myths, avoiding shaming and reversing negative perceptions. Characters include a father, a sister, a young boy and a teacher to reflect just a few of the book’s target audiences.
“Some people are approaching us saying they’d love to buy it for their niece or their daughter, Nsengiyumva said. “We made it to look like a children’s book so it’s appealing to them, but adults can use it as well. We want to inform anyone who’s responsible for fighting the stigma.”
The Binti Initiative hires women around the world to produce and sell feminine-hygiene products in their communities while making the sellers economically independent. That allows people such as Rupande and her associates to continue menstruation-education efforts by training women and girls to run them. The goal is to change perceptions, address health issues, and provide a forum for women and men.
Nsengiyumva is hoping Let’s Talk About It, Period can eventually be a part of those education efforts and forums starting in Kenya with that country being just the beginning.
“There’s not yet a set plan, but I think it would be nice to distribute not only in Kenya, but here,” Nsengiyumva said.
Rupande adds the Binti Initiative is working with primary and elementary schools in Kenya to have the book available in libraries and community-resource centers by June. For more information on the book and its availability, email Nsengiyumva at Shukurani.Nsengiyumva16@kzoo.edu.
What’s black, yellow and fuzzy all over? Bumblebees. And Biology Professor Ann Fraser wants to know what it takes to preserve them in Michigan.
Trevor Rigney (from left), Niko Nickson, Amy Cazier and Nicki Bailey comprised Biology Professor Ann Fraser’s summer research group last year.
To that end, Fraser and her Kalamazoo College lab students are launching the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch. The program will track bumblebee diversity, measure local restoration efforts and discover whether any species might be declining or recuperating in the area.
“Bumblebees are important pollinators, particularly of our spring plants,” Fraser said, noting they’re vital to common Michigan crops, and more important to pollination than honeybees. “They’ll go out in cold weather, even when it’s rainy. They’re particularly good pollinators of fruit crops such as blueberries, apples and cherries.”
In the bee watch, citizen scientists in nine counties will volunteer as photographers nearly anywhere outdoors—including natural areas, walking trails, backyards and roadsides—and submit their photos to an online portal. Fraser, students and other scientists then will look at the photos, noting the black-and-yellow patterns on the bumblebees’ backs. Those patterns will identify each species and help determine which might be maintaining their numbers, which might be declining and which might be making a comeback.
“This year, my hope is to build a strong volunteer base so that we can start building a thorough database of bumblebee species in the area,” said Niko Nickson ’21, the student most dedicated to the effort as it will develop into his senior individualized project (SIP). “I’m also planning to analyze our data for relationships between species abundance and landscape differences. In the future, I would love to see the program continue to build, maybe inspiring more community science efforts across the state.”
Fraser said she had been hoping to start a project like the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch for a few years, but never found the right student to lead it. Then, she met Nickson.
“Community science is fascinating because I see it as an opportunity to connect academia and its surrounding community,” Nickson said. “In this way, it makes science approachable to all, regardless of educational level.”
His love of the outdoors also benefits the project.
“I think being outside is a great way to relieve stress and spend time in general,” Nickson said. “I see this program as an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of our regional environment while also encouraging more community members to spend time outdoors. In this sense, community science gives volunteers an excuse to be outside, and who doesn’t love a reason to get some sunlight?”
March 3 is World Wildlife Day. Its theme this year is “Sustaining all life on Earth,” as it recognizes all wild animal and plant species as being key components of the world’s biodiversity. Yet within the biosphere, bumblebees are struggling. In fact, according to NationalGeographic.com, we are nearly 50 percent less likely to see a bumblebee in any given area of North America than we were before 1974.
“Insects in general are in decline,” Fraser said. “That’s alarmingly well documented. Bumblebees are following this trend. At least half a dozen species of the 20 in Michigan are in decline. One of which, the rusty-patched bumblebee, was on the federal endangered species list as of 2017.”
A project like the Southwest Michigan Bee Watch could play a role in reversing those trends. Those interested in volunteering can sign up for the project’s mailing list and request more information at swmbees.kzoo.edu/.
Xiu Cai ’20 (middle) and Shane Spink ’20 (right) finished second and third respectively out of dozens who represented colleges and universities across Michigan in a Japanese Speech Contest organized by Detroit’s Consulate General of Japan. Cai and Spink are third-year Japanese students of Visiting Instructor Masanori Shiomi.
For the second year in a row, two Kalamazoo College students placed among the top three finishers in a prestigious Japanese Speech Contest organized by Detroit’s Consulate General of Japan.
Xiu Cai ’20 and Shane Spink ’20 finished second and third respectively out of dozens who represented the University of Michigan, Western Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University and Lansing Community College at the 24th Michigan Japanese Language Speech Contest. Cai and Spink are third-year Japanese students of Visiting Instructor Masanori Shiomi.
Contest participants drafted their own speeches in Japanese to present in front of three judges and an audience Feb. 9 at Michigan State University. Cai’s speech, “My Life with Accidents and Coincidences,” shared her unlikely foray into studying Japanese and how she came to love it. Spink’s speech, “How to Use Soft Power,” detailed Japan’s use of pop culture in diplomatic relations, contrasting it with the use of hard power in the United States.
Cai’s second-place finish tied Amanda Esler ’19 for the highest-ever finish for a K student in the contest.
The event “offered me a chance to meet new people and make friends with more Japanese students,” Cai said. “These intellectuals helped me learn more about the diverse perspectives of the world. However, I want to say thank you to my amazing Japanese teacher for being one of the most helpful and thoughtful teachers.”
Spink’s third-place finish was the best in the contest’s history for a K student who didn’t study abroad in Japan. Spink, a Kalamazoo native, said he believes he could have done better, but added “many of the other contestants have had far more experience with learning and practicing Japanese.” He plans to work in Japan after he graduates.
“Though it was nerve-wracking to perform a memorized speech in front of a large audience with far greater knowledge of the Japanese language than myself, it was a rewarding experience,” Spink said. “Events like these are important milestones and I will never forget this speech contest.”
Péter Érdi, the Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies at Kalamazoo College, recently spoke at two conferences in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Péter Érdi, the Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies at Kalamazoo College, recently visited Johannesburg, South Africa, where he served as the keynote speaker at the sixth International Conference on Soft Computing and Machine Intelligence (ISCMI) and spoke at the Biomath Forum at the University of Pretoria.
The annual ISCMI conference Nov. 19 and 20, organized by the India International Congress on Computational Intelligence (IICCI), presented soft computing and machine intelligence research, and allowed delegates to exchange ideas while finding global partners for collaborations. Soft computing, inspired by the human mind, is an area of computer science that targets possible solutions to complex problems. Machine learning, related to yet different from artificial intelligence, enables a computer system to learn from inputs, rather than only by linear programming. Érdi’s keynote was titled The Reality, Illusion and Manipulation of Objectivity.
The Biomath Forum aids mathematical modeling and qualitative analysis to enable scientific understanding of biological processes. Érdi’s lecture, titled Dynamical Systems and Perspective in Neuroscience–Historical and Current Approaches, addressed systems of learning that use the human brain as a prototype. These systems are possibly uncovering some hidden links between epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease.
Érdi has been a prolific researcher with more than 40 publications and three books published in addition to editing two books since joining K. In that time, he has given more than 60 invited lectures across the world and earned the 2018 Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship, honoring his contributions in creative work, research and publication. Visit our website for more information on his career and achievements.
Kalamazoo College students taking the first-year seminar titled “In Defense of Ourselves: African American Women Artists” have a chance to see artwork from Julie Mehretu ’92 alongside pieces from artists such as Kehinde Wiley, Elizabeth Catlett, Thornton Dial, Barkley Hendricks, Kori Newkirk, Norman Lewis and Howardena Pindell in the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts exhibit, Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem, on display through Dec. 8.
A first-year seminar this term is giving 14 Kalamazoo College students a chance to see critically acclaimed art created by a professional painter who once attended K herself.
Organized by the Studio Museum in Harlem and the American Federation of Arts, Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem, is an exhibit on display at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) through Dec. 8; it features two works by Julie Mehretu ’92 among 78 other artists of African descent. The exhibit began traveling in 2018 in celebration of the Studio Museum’s 50th anniversary. It opened in San Francisco at the Museum of the African Diaspora, and Kalamazoo is the exhibition’s only stop in the Midwest.
For the public, the exhibit creates dialogue regarding the artists, many of whom are inspired by current events, while expanding a viewer’s understanding of modern art and addressing themes that affect Kalamazoo and the nation such as poverty, identity, power, status and social justice.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art fari nzinga takes students in her first-year seminar to the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts to see an exhibit that includes work by alumna Julie Mehretu ’92.
For the K students taking the seminar titled “In Defense of Ourselves: African American Women Artists” specifically, it’s a chance to witness original work from an alumna whose art is usually seen in bigger cities, alongside pieces from artists such as Kehinde Wiley, Elizabeth Catlett, Thornton Dial, Barkley Hendricks, Kori Newkirk, Norman Lewis and Howardena Pindell — household names among art historians and curators, as well as Black artists.
The class may be offered again in future terms, although the fall course was designed specifically for Black Refractions, giving students a distinct chance to observe Mehretu’s work firsthand.
“Oh, they love her work,” said fari nzinga, who teaches the course, of how the students have reacted to seeing Mehretu’s creations. nzinga is a visiting assistant professor of art at K and post-doctoral curatorial fellow at the KIA.
“When I first saw one of Mehretu’s paintings, I was intimidated by its size and scale, as well as its complexity,” she said. “It’s abstract and I felt like I didn’t have the tools to engage with it and interpret it for myself. But actually, my students have not responded in the same way I did all those years ago. They see connections and stories and aren’t afraid to trust their own instincts. I love to see it.”
nzinga earned her master’s degree and doctorate in cultural anthropology from Duke University. She was based in New Orleans for nearly a decade and conducted dissertation research on Black-led arts organizations and community building after Hurricane Katrina. She also worked for two years at the New Orleans Museum of Art, where she facilitated institutional transformation around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. In April 2018, she independently produced and curated an exhibition, “The Rent Is Too Damn High,” in celebration of the New Orleans tri-centennial.
nzinga came to Kalamazoo when she got to know KIA Executive Director Belinda Tate and it was clear a joint position between K and KIA would be available. The hope is that students taking this course will see what Mehretu has accomplished and feel that they too can one day change the world.
“I feel like they are teaching me so much,” nzinga said. “Because the students are in their first semester of college, K hasn’t really crystallized for them yet, so I’m excited to see how they make meaning of the institution and make it their own as they grow and develop. I think seeing Mehretu’s work right up front at the beginning of their time here will be something that guides them, just an example of what they can do here if they want to and that’s powerful. I hope they feel empowered.”
When an award-winning poet speaks on campus, you can bet Kalamazoo College students are eagerly listening and learning.
Poet Marcelo Hernandez Castillo reads to Kalamazoo College students from his book, Cenzontle, at the Intercultural Center.
Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, a celebrated writer known for his early life experiences as an undocumented immigrant, was warmly welcomed last week to K. He conversed with students in classes taught by Assistant English Professor Shanna Salinas (Reading the World: Identities) and Assistant Sociology Professor Francisco Villegas (Race and Racism). He also provided a poetry reading in front of about 80 students in the Intercultural Center at Hicks Student Center.
“Intersections of language and home are on the hearts and minds of so many of our students,” said Assistant English Professor Oliver Baez Bendorf, who helped facilitate Castillo’s visit. “It’s important for them to know that they can do anything, and to see different models for that. Their stories matter and they can survive the telling of them and even make it beautiful. Reading is always a portal through which they can transport and grow. I know that Marcelo was likewise touched by the energy of our community and our students, their readiness to engage with his writing, their intellectual and creative curiosity, and all that they so impressively juggle.”
Castillo’s poetry collection, titled Cenzontle, addresses the fears he once faced of being deported. Castillo came to the United States with his family from Zacatecas, Mexico, at age 5 and was an early beneficiary of President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Sacramento State University and was the first undocumented student to graduate from the Helen Zell Writers Program at the University of Michigan.
For Cenzontle, the poet received the New Writers Award this year from the Great Lakes Colleges Association — a 13-member consortium of higher-education institutions in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania — which includes K. The award, founded in 1970, honors writers who are in the early stages of their literary career. Along with Cenzontle, Castillo has a 2018 chapbook titled Dulce. His memoir, Children of the Land, is scheduled for release next year.
Beyond poetry, Castillo is an essayist, translator and immigration advocate and a founding member of the Undocupoets campaign, which successfully eliminated citizenship requirements from all major first-poetry-book prizes in the country. His work has been featured in The New York Times, People Magazine, Buzzfeed and New England Review, and he teaches in the Low-Res MFA program at Ashland University.
With focused eyes and open minds, Salinas’ students listened intently to Castillo and asked a range of questions: poem- and content-specific, craft and poetic technique, themes and broader open-ended considerations. “I appreciated how generous Marcelo was in sharing his personal experiences and talking about his writing process,” Salinas said. “He was invested in their questions and insights, and I could tell the students felt that they were being seen, heard and respected.”
Opportunities to hear from renowned, in-the-field experts are celebrated occasions at K regardless of their field of expertise, although hearing from Castillo was a notable treat for students, faculty and staff, especially the aspiring writers among them.
“So many things about reading and writing happen in solitude,” Baez Bendorf said. “When you’ve read words on a page and then the human behind them arrives in your midst, it can be almost magical. I saw that happen with Marcelo’s visit. It’s thrilling to have a visitor, and even better when they’ve come with stories and generosity. Our students extended great hospitality to Marcelo and welcomed him into their spaces.”
“Some people are approaching us saying they’d love to buy it for their niece or their daughter, Nsengiyumva said. “We made it to look like a children’s book so it’s appealing to them, but adults can use it as well. We want to inform anyone who’s responsible for fighting the stigma.”
