The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will collaborate with the West Michigan Opera Project to present another concert featuring “Susannah,” an opera from American composer Carlisle Floyd.
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will collaborate with the West Michigan Opera Project to present two concerts which will feature “Susannah,” an opera from American composer Carlisle Floyd.
The opera is set in the mid-20th Century in the rural south amidst a small, tightly-knit religious community. Susannah does something she sees as harmless that scandalizes her peers. The charges against her grow into lies, yet the more she tries to defend herself, the more convinced everyone is of her guilt. “Susannah” asks important questions that resonated in the McCarthy Trial era involving how we condemn others, the righteousness of accusers and what we recognize as truth.
The concert takes place at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, in Dalton Theater, Light Fine Arts Building. Tickets for the Kalamazoo performance are available at the door, and cost $5 for adults and seniors and $2 for students. Kalamazoo College students will be admitted free with a College ID.
The Philharmonia, directed by Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Music Andrew Koehler, is an orchestra of Kalamazoo College and the community. The group brings together students, faculty and amateur and professional musicians. The group won the 2014 American Prize Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for Orchestral Programming and has produced several CDs. It also has appeared on “CBS Sunday Morning,” and collaborated with the Bach Festival Chorus, as well as many renowned soloists. Listen to some of its recorded concerts at our website or listen to Koehler’s interview with WMUK regarding these concerts.
The West Michigan Opera Project of Grand Rapids is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing unprecedented workshop and performance opportunities to singers of all ages and is dedicated to educational outreach, as well as community enrichment. For more information about this organization, visit its website.
“It Can’t Happen Here” is the political tale based on Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 satire of what could happen if Fascism spreads to the United States. Photo provided by Andy Krieger.
A political tale timely for the upcoming elections is the featured fall production for the Festival Playhouse at Kalamazoo College.
The cast of “It Can’t Happen Here” rehearses for the political tale which opens Thursday, Nov. 1, at the Festival Playhouse.
“It Can’t Happen Here” is based on Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 satire of what could happen if Fascism spreads to the United States. The stage adaptation focuses on political candidate Buzz Windrip, who no one takes seriously until he promises to return America to greatness and prosperity.
After Windrip wins the presidency, his administration devolves into confusion and danger. Journalist Doremus Jessup explores themes of the responsibility and freedom of the American news media. Please be aware the production includes mature content.
The play, directed by guest artist Marissa Harrington, is a Michigan premiere and continues through Sunday. It follows the theme of Assumption and Confusion, highlighting the gap between what seems to happen and what really happens.
Show times are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, 129 Thompson St. Kalamazoo College students, faculty and staff are admitted free with a College ID. Public tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors 65 and older and $5 for students. Reserve your tickets at festivalplayhouse.ludus.com.
For more information on other shows this season and the Festival Playhouse itself, visit its website at reason.kzoo.edu/festivalplayhouse.
Students participate in Grateful for K Day by writing thank-you notes showing appreciation to Kalamazoo College donors.
Students, faculty, staff and alumni will celebrate a day honoring Kalamazoo College’s philanthropic donors from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Hicks Student Center.
Sponsored by the Kalamazoo College Fund, Grateful for K Day – conducted twice a year – calls on students to honor the importance of philanthropy in sustaining and enhancing Kalamazoo College by writing personalized notes to thank donors for their support. Donations help about 98 percent of K students receive scholarships or some other form of financial aid.
All students are welcome to participate. Coffee and cookies will be served.
The Academy Street Winds concert Friday will follow a theme of “Sacred and Profane.”
Music lovers will gather at 8 p.m. Friday for an Academy Street Winds concert at Dalton Theater in the Light Fine Arts Building.
The Academy Street Winds, formerly known as the Kalamazoo College Symphonic Band, functions as a beloved creative outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities.
The group, conducted by Music Professor Thomas Evans, performs one concert each term, playing exciting arrays of challenging band music. The band is a great favorite for its members and its audiences as the programs are coordinated around diverse themes, which allow for performances of much-loved pieces, both classic and new.
The theme on Friday for the fall-term concert will be “Sacred and Profane.” Songs within the performance will include “The Imperial March” from Star Wars, written by John Williams and arranged by Paul Murtha; and “Ride of the Valkyries,” written by Richard Wagner and arranged by Robert Longfield.
Admission is free.
For more information, contact Susan Lawrence in the Music Department at 269-337-7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
When Kalamazoo College students network, there’s no place like home. Seventeen Kalamazoo College students took advantage of a fall break day to network with professionals at Steelcase, a company local to southwest Michigan, in Grand Rapids.
K to Steelcase was the latest K-Trek offering from the Center for Career and Professional Development. K-Treks involve in-person, immersive discussions K students have with leaders in various industries. Many of the leaders are K alumni.
Steelcase provides architecture, furniture and technology products and services designed for office environments in the education, health care and retail industries. The trip was the latest K-Trek offering from the Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD). K-Treks involve in-person, immersive discussions K students have with leaders in various industries. Many of the leaders are K alumni.
“When students think of their K network they often think of connections across the country and abroad, but they should also think about their network closer to campus,” said Richard Sylvester, the CCPD assistant director of experiential opportunities.
Some K-Treks are multi-day experiences in cities such as San Francisco, New York City and Chicago, and there are plans for K-Treks to Washington, D.C., and Detroit. This K-Trek, however, was about thinking locally through a one-day trip. And networking in southwest Michigan provides a distinct advantage to students looking for an internship now or local job openings when they graduate.
Other local K-Treks have included K to Stryker and K to Kellogg’s, and a K to Bell’s Brewery trip is scheduled. The Bell’s tour will be Feb. 8, 2019—a break day in the winter term—and will cover careers in business and science.
The event increased student awareness of a local employer, showed students how the company operates and opened students to the idea of interning at Steelcase in logistics, information technology, marketing, sales, project management, product development and engineering. Those internships can be 12-week summer opportunities or year-round posts. Some internships allow students to work remotely.
K to Steelcase included facility tours, a warm welcome and introduction to Steelcase from Director of Global Talent Management Isabelle Medellin, a panel discussion and lunch with the panelists. Sylvester said a participant survey is planned to help the CCPD measure the event’s success, although early anecdotal feedback indicates it was a day well spent.
“Students were engaged and insightful, and they showed they were interested in Steelcase and what it offers,” Sylvester said. “What more could you want when you otherwise have a break day?”
Learn more about K-Treks events such as K to Steelcase at our website.
Other Homecoming events this Friday-Sunday include:
the Alumni Association Awards Ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Join us in the Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts to honor the award recipients for 2018 including Distinguished Service Award winner Rick Gianino ’78, Distinguished Achievement Award winner Sandra Greene ’74, Weimer K. Hicks Award winner David Barclay, Young Alumni Award winner Eli Savit ’05, and the Athletic Hall of Fame Awards honorees. The athletic awards honorees include Kristyn Buhl-Lepisto ’04 (women’s golf); Meaghan Clark McGuire ’05 (women’s tennis), Eric Gerwin ’00 (football), Scott Whitbeck ’04 (men’s swimming and diving), and the 1955, 1980 and 1981 men’s tennis teams.
reunions of the classes of 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013.
receptions and gatherings for groups including the 1833 and Stetson societies, the Alumni of Color, the Emeriti Club, and alumni from specific academic departments.
guided campus tours of historical sites, the campus in general and the new hoop house.
performances by Monkapult, Cirque du K and theater seniors.
opportunities for alumni to tell their K stories in video through Story Zoo.
gatherings where alumni can offer advice and compare notes with current students.
Kalamazoo College is receiving nearly $300,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice through a shared grant to proactively prevent domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking on campus.
K is the only Michigan institution and one of just a few small private schools among 60 colleges and universities nationwide to receive part of the $18 million being distributed. K’s portion, totaling $298,698, will:
create a Campus Coordinated Community Response Team;
expand training for campus safety officers and Title IX investigators;
expand victim services;
hire a full-time project coordinator who will focus on culturally relevant prevention efforts;
further enhance the College’s focus on student safety; and
support a K partnership with the Kalamazoo YWCA and the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety. The partnership will bring a victim advocate to campus for 20 hours a week and formalize response to incidents that involve students in the city.
“This grant is very competitive, so we’re excited to have this additional funding and support,” said Ellen Lassiter Collier, K’s Title IX coordinator and director of gender equity. She added documented endorsements of existing efforts from students, faculty and staff likely were determining factors for the Department of Justice in securing the shared grant.
“This kind of grant traditionally goes to public schools,” Lassiter Collier said. “That speaks to the work the College is already doing and the support we receive from across campus.”
K’s existing efforts include programs such as Green Dot, which offers bystander training that statistically reduces the likelihood of dating and domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault. Green Dot at K is funded through the State of Michigan Campus Sexual Assault Grant Program, which gave the College about $18,600 in 2016 and $41,800 in 2017.
The Department of Justice grant, though, will enhance such efforts and others, including the creation of targeted online training programs for students, to ensure the programs and training materials are culturally competent considering K’s diversity, and relevant to its student experiences such as study abroad.
With study abroad, for example, “We want students to know that the College is still a source of support and potential investigation should something happen abroad,” Lassiter Collier said.
For more information on the grant from the Department of Justice, visit its website.
Kalamazoo College will begin the 2018-19 academic year at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5, with Convocation 2018 for new students.
The ceremony will take place on the campus Quad and will be available through a live stream. There will be a reception after the ceremony behind Stetson Chapel. The ceremony’s rain site will be the Anderson Athletic Center.
Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez will be among the speakers Wednesday, Sept. 5, at Convocation 2018.
K will welcome 410 first-year students, including 22 degree-seeking international students, plus 16 transfer students and 20 visiting international students at Convocation 2018. New students will attend K from 24 states including Colorado, California, Texas and Maryland, and 13 countries including Spain, South Korea, Zimbabwe and Pakistan. Students of color from the U.S. make up more than 32 percent of the incoming class. Twenty percent of the incoming class will be the first in their families to attend college.
President Jorge G. Gonzalez, Interim Provost Laura Furge, Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students Sarah Westfall, Chaplain Elizabeth Candido ’00, faculty, staff and student leaders will welcome new students and their families. Convocation 2018 will conclude with new students signing the Matriculation Book.
Michael McFall ’93, the co-president and chief executive officer of BIGGBY Coffee, will deliver the keynote address. BIGGBY is a regional retail coffee franchise with more than 270 stores open or under contract across Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Florida, Texas and New Jersey, according to the company’s website.
McFall has a bachelor’s degree in economics, four athletic varsity letters in golf and the value derived from a study abroad experience in Sierra Leone to show for his years at K. Since then, he has pioneered BIGGBY’s successful independent-owner business model and he is developing some exciting lines of new business within the company.
McFall lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and three children. He visits K for events such as the College’s Career Summit, which offers students two days of networking with executives and venture capitalists in preparation for Life after K. Hear from McFall regarding the Career Summit beginning at 1:39 in the video below.
Move-in day is an exciting time at Kalamazoo College as first-year students arrive. Orientation-related events will continue throughout the week, but here’s what students and families can expect Tuesday, Sept. 4.
Student move-in day will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4.
Report to Your Residence Hall
Student move-in day runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please note that morning is traditionally the busiest time for moving in, and families are encouraged to arrive throughout the day for an easier experience. Resident assistants and peer leaders will be available at check-in tables at each residence hall, where students may pick up their orientation packets. Residential Life staff also will be there to provide students with their K IDs and room keys.
Students and families who expect to arrive after 4 p.m. should contact Student Development at housing@kzoo.edu or 269-337-7210 as soon as possible.
Residential Life requires that health verification forms be complete before students check in. Students with incomplete health information will be directed to the Health Center at Hicks Student Center. Health Center staff will be available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Get Your Questions Answered
Student Development and Admission representatives will staff an information table from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Hicks Student Center. Stop by for schedules, maps, directions and a list of local restaurants for those who choose to eat dinner off campus. K’s bookstore will be open during the same hours at Hicks, offering 20 percent off Kalamazoo College imprinted items.
Students who have questions about connecting to K’s wireless network can meet Information Services staff in the main lounges at Harmon, Hoben and Trowbridge halls.
Observe Athletics Practices, Games
Eight intercollegiate fall athletics teams including football, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s golf, and men’s and women’s cross country will hold practices and competitions from 3 to 6 p.m.
Enjoy Dinner
Families are welcome to have dinner between 5 and 7 p.m. on campus at Welles Dining Hall or venture off campus to local restaurants. New students may use their student ID, which also serves as a meal card, to access the dining hall. Families may pay $10.30 a person at the dining hall entrance.
Feel Welcome
President Jorge G. Gonzalez, Vice President of Student Development and Dean of Students Sarah Westfall, First-Year Class Dean Jennifer Einspahr, College Chaplain Liz Candido, peer leaders and the Office of Student Involvement will conduct the Hornet Student Welcome from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Anderson Athletic Center gym. Students should sit with their seminar groups. The event concludes with seminar groups connecting with their peer leaders.
Connect with Your Community
Meet Residential Life staff, your RAs and student peers at 8:15 p.m. Harmon Hall residents will meet at Dalton Theatre in the Light Fine Arts Building. Hoben Hall residents will meet in the Hoben lounge. Trowbridge Hall residents will meet at the Anderson Athletic Center gym. Learn about residence hall life while relaxing, enjoying snacks and getting to know neighbors.
Incoming students who participate in LandSea, Kalamazoo College’s outdoor orientation program, have opportunities to meet their peers, gain self-confidence, earn a partial physical education credit and develop classroom skills even before moving to campus. Two K administrators will attest to that after participating in and reaffirming the program’s success.
Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students Sarah Westfall and Associate Dean of Students Brian Dietz traveled to the 6-million-acre Adirondack State Park in New York State to observe and experience the outdoor orientation program called LandSea, ongoing through Monday, and meet many of the 66 students participating.
Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students Sarah Westfall and Associate Dean of Students Brian Dietz traveled to the 6-million-acre Adirondack State Park in New York State to observe and experience the outdoor orientation program, ongoing through Sept. 3, and meet many of the 66 students participating. The 18-day program is in its 44th year, and was among the first of its kind in the country.
The state park features the largest system of hiking trails in the country, along with 3,000 lakes and ponds, 1,200 miles of rivers, and the state’s highest mountains. K students are divided into six to nine patrols for the outdoor orientation program, with at least two trained leaders per patrol. After three days of training, they challenge themselves on the rivers, lakes, trails and peaks through one of two choose-your-own adventures, Expedition or Basecamp, both with a climb-and-rappel day, a service-and-reflection component and a day of rafting.
The Expedition adventure consists of backpacking and canoeing, and allows participants the choice of extending the distance of the backpacking or canoeing portion of the trip. The Basecamp adventure offers more of a group camping experience, with bunks in canvas tents at Massawepie Lake. The students build skills including canoeing, hiking and backpacking, with opportunities for day trips and expanded service projects.
Friendships that begin during LandSea often remain fundamental connections for a lifetime. Plus, participants of outdoor orientation trips such as LandSea are more likely to develop social connectedness, feelings of belonging, campus involvement and independence with increased retention rates and higher grade-point averages. To best understand these benefits, Westfall and Dietz said it was important to examine the program first hand.
“We’ve always thought LandSea was great, although we’re paid to worry,” Westfall said.
Westfall and Dietz, though, saw how Outdoor Programs Director Jory Horner and Assistant Director Sara Stockwood had the students prepared for everything from necessities such as water sterilization, to common challenges such as hot days and cold nights, to possible emergencies such as lightning storms.
“Any student who comes to K should do this,” Westfall said. “Don’t let finances be a barrier because Outdoor Programs helps find gear for participants, and scholarships are available to help cover other program costs for students who demonstrate financial need. And don’t let a thought like ‘I don’t camp’ be a barrier. This program is for everyone. We hear from families who say their student is a different person after LandSea.”
The success of the program, Dietz said, is evaluated long-term based on whether the participating students stay at K and graduate, gain confidence, maintain their friendships as alumni, recognize their growth and learn about environmental responsibility. Here’s what some students have said:
“It is unforgettable, and when you climb a mountain, it teaches you that you can overcome any obstacle.”
“It was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I’ll carry it with me forever.”
“I had never been to LandSea,” Dietz said. “I was intrigued by the logistics with it being in a 6-million-acre park, but you never know what it’s like until you see it. All the work (Horner and Stockwood) do is amazing. It’s neat to see new students in that element.”
