Sarah Bragg discusses her research during a poster session at the inauguration of President Jorge Gonzalez.
Sarah Bragg ’17 won an award for her poster detailing research on barriers to HIV testing. She presented the poster at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Tampa, Florida, this month. Her work was awarded in the conference’s Behavioral Science and Public Health category.
Sarah conducted her research during 12-week summer internship at Morehouse College and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. She plans to expand the project she completed (titled “Barriers and Solutions to HIV Testing Among College and University Students”) and make it the basis of her Senior Individualized Project. That project will compare the prevalence and contexts of HIV testing at public and private institutions of higher education. During all four years of her undergraduate experience at K, Sarah has served as a Civic Engagement Scholar in the College’s Center for Civic Engagement. She has worked in a weekly mentoring program with young women. She also has worked with Assistant Professor of Psychology Kyla Fletcher on her three-year NIH study on daily HIV risk reduction behavior in African-American partner relationships.
Sarah is earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a concentration in community and global health. She plans to pursue a career in public health and, after graduating this June, to apply for a one- or two-year fellowship with the CDC. About the work she did during her summer internship, Sarah wrote: “I was able to use the skills that were cultivated at Kalamazoo College, especially through my work at the Center for Civic Engagement.” The CCE stresses the connection between effective social change and work that applies a social justice perspective. “We do not strive to save the world,” explained Sarah. “We collaborate with communities in an effort to find solutions that are suitable and that ensure the dignity and respect for the community.”
Associate Professor of Art History Christine Hahn published an article, “Maintaining Problematic Art: A Case Study of Philip Evergood’s The Bridge of Life (1942) at Kalamazoo College.” The article was published in Public Art Dialogue (6:1, 116-130) on May 27, 2016.
The piece is particularly interesting for any alumni familiar with the mural (see above) in Old Welles Hall. It covers the history of controversy inspired by the work since it’s unveiling (1942), including specific calls (in 1966 and in 2010) for some redress for iconography deemed offensive to and by some individuals and groups. Detailing the call-and-response to the criticism voiced in 2010, Christina ultimately suggests “that problematic public art has the unique potential to produce positive social change by staying in place.”
The article reveals much about K’s history, including Evergood’s time on campus as an artist and a teacher as well as his bona fides as an ardent social radical. Christina also introduces (from Lewis Hyde, author of Common as Air) a concept of “freedom of listening.” In his book Hyde cites Benjamin Franklin’s creation of a lecture hall where “people were free to give lectures on whatever they wanted.” In that space (Christina quotes Hyde): “Individual speakers present singular views; individual listeners entertain plurality….The hall was thus built to serve the eighteenth-century idea of replacing the partial self with a plural or public self, one who is host to many voices, even those otherwise at odds with the singular being you thought you were when you first walked in the door….If we take free listening to be the true end of free speech, then freedom itself takes on a different aspect…intelligence arises in the common world, where many voices can be heard; it belongs to collectivity, not privacy, and is available especially to those who can master the difficult art of plural listening.”
Christina invokes Hyde’s notion of “agonistic listening amongst equals in conflict” (a notion that is at the heart of the academy and a direct contrast to “antagonism, where opponents try to silence or destroy the other”) to describe College and student responses to the controversy implicit and explicit in the work, particularly the responses that took place or were considered between 2010 and 2015. She writes: “The building Benjamin Franklin built that embraced such agonistic pluralism eventually became the Philadelphia Academy, which in turn became the University of Pennsylvania. This transformation of space, built to house agonistic conflict among equals, is a particularly fitting symbol of how physical space can potentially create a space for inquiry, conflict and debate. This type of site is necessary and important. Indeed, as Lewis Hyde argues, it is agonistic spaces such as these that are the foundations of democracy.”
The presence of the mural, Christina continues, has provided the intellectual and emotive space for agonistic listening, “has allowed these twenty-first-century conversations on race, class dynamics and elite educations to take place….[M]aintaining problematic public art in an agonistic space helps keep our understanding of the past and our vision of the future firmly in view.” A fascinating article, well worth the time to read it.
Fifteen Kalamazoo College students joined three of their teachers (professors Dwight Williams, Santiago Salinas and Ellen Robertson) to present research at the 2016 West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference (WMRUGS) in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The annual conference provides undergraduate students with an opportunity to present their own research to a large and supportive group of professional scientists. K was well represented with sophomores, juniors, and seniors in attendance from both the Departments of Biology and Chemistry: Suma Alzouhayli ’17 (Chemistry and Biology), John Bailey ’17 (Chemistry), Christi Cho ’17 (Chemistry), Quinton Colwell ’17 (Chemistry), Rachel Fadler ’17 (Chemistry), Sarah Glass ’17 (Chemistry), Sharat S. Kamath ’19, Christina Keramidas ’18 (Chemistry and Biology), Cydney Martell ’19 (Chemistry), Garret Miller ’16 (Chemistry), Susmitha Narisetty ’19 (Biology), Darren Peel ’17 (Biology), Collin Steen ’17 (Chemistry), Myles Truss ’17 (Chemistry), Raoul Wadhwa ’17 (Chemistry and Computer Science). In addition to presenting their research, students heard a keynote address and research talks by undergraduate and graduate students from regional colleges and universities. This free event also provided undergraduate researchers the opportunity to interact face-to-face with graduate school recruiters and to learn more about future career opportunities.
There were 169 undergraduate posters presented at WMRUGS from students representing 17 different college and universities. Ten students from the Kalamazoo College Department of Chemistry, presented results of their research conducted under the mentorship of Kalamazoo College faculty that included Laura Furge, Regina Stevens-Truss, and Dwight Williams. Other students presented the results of their summer research projects conducted in laboratories at Indiana University and the University of Oregon. Students from the Department of Biology presented their findings from research conducted this past summer in laboratories at South Dakota State University and Michigan State University.
Honors Day soloist Lauren Landman and President Jorge Gonzalez
Kalamazoo College Family Weekend served as backdrop for the College’s annual Honors Day convocation. More than 250 students were recognized for excellence in academics and leadership in six divisions: Fine Arts, Foreign Languages, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Social Sciences and Physical Education. Recipients of prestigious scholarships were recognized as were members of national honor societies and students who received special Kalamazoo College recognition awards. In addition, student athletes and teams who have won Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association awards were feted. The students who received awards or recognition are listed below.
FINE ARTS DIVISION
THE BRIAN GOUGEON PRIZE IN ART, awarded to a sophomore student who, during his or her first year, exhibited outstanding achievement and potential in art. Kaiya Herman-Hilker Qynce Chumley
LILLIAN PRINGLE BALDAUF PRIZE IN MUSIC, awarded to an outstanding music student. John Bowman Christopher Coburn Matthew Peters Madeline Lauver
COOPER AWARD for a junior or senior showing excellence in a piece of creative work in a theatre arts class: film, acting, design, stagecraft, puppetry, speech. Quincy Crosby
THEATRE ARTS FIRST-YEAR STUDENT AWARD, given to a sophomore for outstanding departmental efforts during the first year. Kate Kreiss Robert Davis Maren Prophit Louise Thomas
FOREIGN LANGUAGES DIVISION
LeGRAND COPLEY PRIZE IN FRENCH, awarded to a sophomore who, as a first-year student, demonstrated the greatest achievement in French. Lauren Arquette Danny Horwitz
HARDY FUCHS AWARD, given for excellence in first-year German. Emma Eisenbeis
MARGO LIGHT AWARD, given for excellence in second- or third-year German. Eric Thornburg
ROMANCE LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT PRIZE IN SPANISH, awarded for excellence in the first year in Spanish. Kate Kreiss Daniel Cho
CLARA H. BUCKLEY PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN LATIN, awarded to an outstanding student of the language of the ancient Romans. Emma Peters
CLASSICS DEPARTMENT PRIZE IN GREEK, awarded to an outstanding student in the language of the ancient Greeks. Brittany Jones
PROVOST’S PRIZE IN CLASSICS, awarded to that student who writes the best essay on a classical subject. Danielle Gin
HUMANITIES DIVISION
O.M. ALLEN PRIZE IN ENGLISH, given for the best essay written by a member of the first-year class. Kate Kreiss
JOHN B. WICKSTROM PRIZE IN HISTORY, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in history. Mackenzie Callahan
L.J. AND EVA (“GIBBIE”) HEMMES MEMORIAL PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY, awarded to that sophomore who, in the first year, showed the greatest promise for continuing studies in philosophy. Katherine Bennett Garrett Sander
NATURAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS DIVISION
WINIFRED PEAKE JONES PRIZE IN BIOLOGY, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in biology. Min Soo Kim Cydney Martell Maggie Smith
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in chemistry. Meghan Horal
FIRST-YEAR CHEMISTRY AWARD, awarded to a sophomore student who, during the first year, demonstrated great achievement in chemistry. Anthony Diep Nicholas Ludka
LEMUEL F. SMITH AWARD, given to a student majoring in chemistry, pursuing the American Chemical Society approved curriculum, and having at the end of the junior year the highest average standing in courses taken in chemistry, physics and mathematics. Collin Steen
COMPUTER SCIENCE PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in computer science. Hans Wieland
FIRST-YEAR MATHEMATICS AWARD, given annually to the sophomore student who, during the first year, demonstrated the greatest achievement in mathematics. Dahwi Kim
Allegra Allgeier
THOMAS O. WALTON PRIZE IN MATHEMATICS, awarded to a member of the junior class for excellence in the work of the first two years in mathematics. Abhay Goel
COOPER PRIZE IN PHYSICS, given for excellence in the first year’s work in physics. Kayla Park Ricardo DelOlmo-Parrado
SOCIAL SCIENCES DIVISION
DEPARTMENTAL PRIZE IN ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY, awarded for excellence during the first and/or second year’s work. Paige Tobin Meghan Horal Hannah Muscara Adam Edery Benjamin Smith
C. WALLACE LAWRENCE PRIZE IN ECONOMICS, awarded annually to a economics student who has done outstanding work in the Department of Economics and Business during the sophomore year. Maria Franco Hannah Kline Logan Smith
C. WALLACE LAWRENCE PRIZE IN BUSINESS, awarded annually to a business student who has done outstanding work in the Department of Economics and Business during the sophomore year. Cody Colvin Jacob Wasko Alex White
IRENE AND S. KYLE MORRIS PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s courses in the Department of Economics and Business. Christopher Coburn Rachel Frank Evelyn Wagner
WILLIAM G. HOWARD MEMORIAL PRIZE, awarded for excellence in any year’s work in political science. Lauren Arquette
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY FIRST-YEAR STUDENT PRIZE, awarded for excellence in the first year’s work in psychology. Michelle Alba
MARSHALL HALLOCK BRENNER PRIZE, given by the family and friends in memory of Marshall Hallock Brenner, class of 1955, to be awarded to an outstanding junior for excellence in the study of psychology. Kyle Hernandez
PHYSICAL EDUCATION DIVISION
DIVISION OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION PRIZE, awarded to those students who, as first-year students, best combined leadership and scholarship in promoting athletics, physical education and recreation. Jordan Wiley Amanda Moss Cheyenne Allyn-White
MAGGIE WARDLE PRIZE, awarded to that sophomore woman whose activities at the College reflect the values that Maggie Wardle demonstrated in her own life. The recipient will show a breadth of involvement in the College through her commitment to athletics and to the social sciences and/or community service. Malak Ghazal
COLLEGE AWARDS
GORDON BEAUMONT MEMORIAL AWARD, awarded to the student who displays qualities of selflessness, humanitarian concern and a willingness to help others, as exemplified in the life of Gordon Beaumont. Sarah Bragg Mireya Guzman-Ortiz
HENRY AND INEZ BROWN PRIZE, awarded in recognition of outstanding participation in the College community. Sidney Wall
VIRGINIA HINKELMAN MEMORIAL AWARD, awarded to a student who displays a deep concern for the well-being of children, as demonstrated through career goals in the field of child welfare. Moises Hernandez
HEYL SCHOLARS – CLASS OF 2020
Taylor Ashby Kento Hirakawa Matthew Krinock Samuel Maddox Shukrani Nsenga Michael Orwin Marjorie Wolfe Julie Zabik
POSSE SCHOLARS – CLASS OF 2020
Iffat Chowdhury Fabien Debies Neelam Lal Madisyn mahoney Israel Mazas Joseph Ney-Jun Melissa Pasillas Cesar Soria Gabriel Ugarte Raphaela Varella
NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLAR – CLASS OF 2020
John Patton
ALPHA LAMBDA DELTA – CLASS OF 2019
Alpha Lambda Delta is a national honor society that recognizes excellence in academic achievement during the first college year. To be eligible for membership, students must earn a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 and be in the top 20 percent of their class during the first year.
Lauren Arquette Meredith Ashton Max Aulbach Katherine Bennett Kevin Bhimani Emily Boyle Moly Brueger Mackenzie Callahan Tapiwa Chikungwa Heeseong Cho Jennifer Cho Christopher Coburn Ricardo DelOlmo-Parrado Anthony Diep Emma Eisenbeis McKinzie Ervin Alex Fairhall Rachel Frank Ian Freshwater Sarah George Natalie Gratsch Claire Greening Meghan Horal Sadie Jackson Min Soo Kim Mackenzie Landman Madeline Lauver Hyunyn Lim Sara Lonsberry Nicholas Ludka Cydney Martell Abigail McDonough Jacob Mooradian Emma Mullenax Kayla Park Andrew Parsons Cecilia Ringo Skylar Rizzolo Scott Roberts Timothy Rutledge Austin Smith Benjamin Smith Margaret Smith Natalie Thompson Evenly Wagner Ailih Weeldreyer
ENLIGHTENED LEADERSHIP AWARDS
ARCUS CENTER FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADERSHIP Donovan Williams
CREATIVE EXPRESSION IN JOURNALISM Emiliana Renuart Maia Taylor
CREATIVE EXPRESSION IN MUSIC Anna Christinidis Liam Fries Joshua Gibson Kathryn Martin Boemin Park Orly Rubinfeld
CREATIVE EXPRESSION IN VISUAL ARTS Georgie Andrews Brianna Burnell Lizi Chinchilakashvili Nutsa Chinchilakashvili
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT Lakshya Choudhary Shiva Sah
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM AND SUSTAINABILITY Aiden Voss Madeline Ward
MICHIGAN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (MIAA) AWARDS
The following Hornet teams earned the 2015-2016 MIAA Team GPA Award. Team members achieved a 3.3 or better grade point average for the entire academic year.
The MIAA each year honors students at member colleges who achieve distinction on the classroom and in athletic competition. Students need to be a letter winner in a varsity sport and maintain at minimum 3.5 grade point average for the entire school year.
Michael Allen Kelsey Adamski Ryan Andrusz Elizabeth Arellano Lauren Arquette Alberto Ayala Sonal Bahl Victoria Beehler Kennedy Boulton Riley Boyd Allie Brodsky Molly Brueger Thomas Bryant Hayley Buckhout Matthew Burczyk Janice Burnett Alex Cadigan Kathryn Callaghan Olivia Cares Charlie Carson Katherine Cebelak Madeleine Chilcote Cody Colvin Anthony Convertino Anna Dairaghi Christina Dandar Elan Dantus Sabrina Dass Eric De Witt Ricardo DelOlmo-Parrado Dana DeVito Cecilia DiFranco Mikayla Doepker Guillermo Dominguez Garcia Alivia DuQuet Erin DuRoss John Dynes Charles Edick Emma Eisenbeis Rachel Epstein Angelia Evangelista Kevin Ewing Andrew Feeley George Fishback Matthew Fitz Chris Francis Maria Franco Ian Freshwater Brett Garwood Sarah George Camille Giacobone Emily Good Evan Gorgas Monica Gorgas Kyle Hahn Griffin Hamel Jordan Henning Kaiya Herman-Hilker Kyle Hernandez Samantha Hicks Megan Hoinville Shelby Hopper Allia Howard Robert Hudson Nicole Huff Julia Hulbert Jordan Jabara Clare Jensen Claire Kalina Spencer Kennedy Kelsey Kerbawy Benjamin Kileen Dahwi Kim William Kirchen Hannah Kline Emily Kozal Stefan Leclerc Da Bin Lee Jacob Lindquist Jordan Loredo Nick Ludka Megan Malish Sarah Manski Nicholas Marsh Cydney Martell Mallory McClure Alexander McDonnell Thomas McLravy Madison Moote Christopher Muir Victoria Najacht Jonathan Nord Skyler Norgaard Mackenzie Norman Andrew Novetsky Michael Oravetz Alexandria Oswalt Dylan Padget Dana Page James Paprocki Bradley Popiel Nicole Prentice Megan Riley Phillip Ritchie Scott Roberts Sophie Roberts William Roberts Rebecca Rogers Anna Roodbergen Keigan Ryckman Matthew Ryder Mason Sarosi Ashley Schiffer Grady Schneider Eleanor Schodowski Aaron Schwark Cameron Schwartz Jacob Scott Lauren Seroka Sharif Shaker Claire Slaughter Grace Smith Kathleen Sorenson Sophia Spencer Vethania Stavropoulos Mira Swearer Lily Talmers Alexander Townsend Lydia Turke Elizabeth Tyburski Kaela Van Til David Vanderkloot Jacob Waier Kyra Walenga Jacob Wasko John Wehr Alex White Joshua Whitney Hans Wieland Jordan Wiley Madeline Woods Sarah Woods Brent Yelton Matthew Zhiss
The tension between what is politically possible under the world’s current political and economic systems and what is ecologically necessary exposes an urgent need for change, said journalist and activist Naomi Klein, keynote speaker for the conference, “Without Borders, Post-Oppression Imaginaries and Decolonized Futures.” The conference was sponsored by the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College and attracted several hundred activists and social justice experts from across the country.
According to Klein, even though the recent Paris climate change agreement looked like the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era, the treaty is neither legally binding nor sufficient in its goals to avert ecological disaster.
“Fossil fuel frontiers have to be closed if we have any hope of a future,” said Klein. “Politicians have absolutely no plan to do this.”
Adequately addressing climate change has failed since the late 1980s, emasculated by a neoliberalist interpretation of capitalism that promotes privatization, fiscal austerity, deregulation, free trade and reductions in government spending to enhance the public sector. Such policies have created in people a profound sense of hopelessness about climate change, said Klein.
“We are told that selfishness and short-sightedness is part of human nature, which prevents us acting,” said Klein. “This is not true and it steers us away from an analysis of our system. In fact, the fight for survival is human nature.”
Many local, grassroots groups are advocating steps to address climate change because they see the issue’s connection to an unjust economic system that is failing for a vast majority of people all over the planet, she added.
Klein challenged the audience to work for “climate justice” by reversing the “extractivist” point of view of the Earth and promoting the “caretaking” of one another, an ethos that indigenous people advocate.
“It’s not just ‘energy democracy’ but ‘energy justice’ that we need,” said Klein. “This leads to clean energy projects and jobs.”
She also emphasized that service work like nursing, child care, public interest media should be redefined as climate work that sets out to create a “caring and repairing economy.”
“We need to embed justice in every aspect of our lives,” said Klein. “The people are hungry for transformational change, and we have to go for it on all fronts.”
The conference focused on four related themes: Afrofuturism, Decolonized Knowledge, Sustainable Futures, and Next Systems.
Text by Olga Bonfiglio; conference photo by Susan Andress
Junior A.J. Convertino – a Canton, Mich., native and a son of Val and Rick Convertino – has received a $20,000 David L. Boren Scholarship to study Chinese for six months in Beijing during Kalamazoo College’s winter/spring quarters.
A.J. Convertino will study for six months in China, where he will be immersed in Mandarin Chinese and work in an internship.
Boren Scholarships are funded by the federal government through the National Security Education Program, which focuses on geographic areas, languages and fields of study deemed critical to United States national security. About 170 students nationwide earned the scholarship last year.
The prestigious scholarship is named for former U.S. Sen. David L. Boren, the principal author of the legislation that created the National Security Education Program. Boren Scholars (undergrads) and Fellows (graduate students) will live in 40 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East, and study 37 languages.
A.J., an East Asian studies major and a political science and Chinese minor, said he chose K for its academic and athletic opportunities as well as the study abroad program. He is a wide receiver on the K College football team and a member of the a capella group Kalamadudes, which he feels gave him an advantage in the rigorous Boren application process that required two essays and three letters of recommendation.
A.J. said he started taking Chinese when he attended Plymouth High School.
“At first I think taking Chinese was about me wanting to be different from everybody else,” he said. “We had more than 20 Spanish teachers and only one Chinese teacher. But it’s rare for a native English speaker to be fluent in Chinese.”
The scholarship will be a life-changing opportunity for A.J. When it’s done he will fulfill a two-year service obligation with the federal government in a department with national security responsibilities. A.J. hopes his service eventually leads to work as a Foreign Service officer in the U.S. Department of State.
Most football players at K need to miss their junior season if they decide to study abroad in a program like A.J.’s given when most of the programs are available. However, A.J. worked with Center for International Programs Acting Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft to find a six-month opportunity with enough credits that begins Dec. 28. He will depart Dec. 26 for Beijing’s Capital Normal University.
A.J. credits Wiedenhoeft, football coach Jamie Zorbo, Associate Professor of Political Science John Dugas, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature Madeline Chu, and Assistant Professor of Chinese Yue Hong for a combination of hard work, letters of recommendation, essay assistance, teaching styles and dedication for his upcoming opportunity.
The first part of A.J.’s experience will involve a language pledge, meaning he must speak Mandarin inside and outside the classroom. After the January term, he will have a two-week break for Chinese New Year before spring semester when he will have an intensive language course with a Chinese politics or history course in English. On top of that, he will work in an internship for eight hours a week, but he won’t know what his internship will involve until he gets to China.
“I’m really excited (for the internship) because I made it clear on my questionnaire that I’m interested in government and politics. Learning the vocabulary of that setting would really help me in my career,” A.J. said.
A.J. will return to the U.S. on June 24. Luke Winship (China/Mandarin), Erin Eagan (Senegal/Wolof) and Amanda Johnson (China/Mandarin) are previous Boren Scholars from K.
Noriko Sugimori (left) and senior Christa Scheck, who is majoring in studio art and earning a minor in Japanese
Assistant Professor of Japanese Noriko Sugimori will use a three-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to contribute her research to the Oral History in the Liberal Arts (OHLA), a project of the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA). In a collaboration that also involves the Japanese department at Albion College, Sugimori and her K students are producing the world’s first bilingual (Japanese and English) synchronizations of interviews Sugimori conducted that focus on the World War II memories of various Japanese individuals.
The origins of those interviews trace back to Sugimori’s doctoral work. She researched the relationship between imperial honorifics and the concept of lèse-majesté (the crime of violating the dignity of a reigning sovereign or state) in Japan prior and during World War II. For that work she talked with several score of Japanese civilians born before 1932. The interviews were powerful, and the people with whom she spoke often deeply wanted to share their stories.
After completing her doctorate Sugimori began an oral history project that focused on war memories. Audiotaping was the cutting edge technology when Sugimori first starting interviewing subjects. Later she adopted digital videotaping. And in 2010 she became aware of Oral History Metadata Synchronizer technology, which provides a platform to show simultaneous English translation of video recordings in Japanese.
“That changed everything,” said Sugimori. “I am videotaping people who were teenagers during the war who are giving untold accounts of their experiences. These tapes can convey a whole different message to future generations about the war, and this is considered a unique contribution to the linguistics field.”
The videos and simultaneous translations have pedagogical implications for K students of Japanese. “They get to see the interviewee’s facial expressions,” said Sugimori, “which provide much more information about what is being said in a cultural context. This goes way beyond trying to learn the language from only grammar exercises.”
Because simultaneous translation allows for a more flesh-and-blood and nuanced entry into a recorded interview, students gain a more comprehensive understanding of history. “Students learn much more than political history,” said Sugimori. “They also see, as well as hear, how people were affected by the political actors.”
Today, digital technologies are making oral histories very popular among the general public. Sugimori and K students are among the pioneers helping to make that happen.
Sasha Issenberg, a leading author and journalist on American politics, will deliver the 2016 William Weber Lecture in Government and Society. The lecture, “The Victory Lab 2016: A Report from the Campaign Trail,” will take place on Tuesday, September 27, at 8 p.m. in the Mandelle Hall Olmsted Room, and it is free and open to the public.
Issenberg is the author of three books, including The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns. He covered the 2012 election as a columnist for Slate and the 2008 election as a national political reporter in the Washington bureau of The Boston Globe. His work has appeared in New York magazine, The New York Times Magazine, and George.
For the book The Victory Lab (dubbed by POLITICO as the “Moneyball for politics”) Issenberg went on the campaign trail and uncovered the hidden story of the analytical revolution upending the way political campaigns are run. Renegade thinkers are crashing the gates of a venerable American institution, shoving aside its so-called wise men and replacing them with a radical new data-driven order. In the 2016 Weber Lecture, Issenberg will discuss what he’s seeing in the current race and how it compares to past campaigns.
The William Weber Lecture in Government and Society was founded by Bill Weber, a 1939 graduate of Kalamazoo College. Past lecturers have included David Broder, Frances Moore Lappe, E.J. Dionne, Jeane Bethke Elshtain, William Greider, Ernesto Cortes Jr., John Esposito, Benjamin Ginsberg, Frances Fox Piven, Spencer Overton, Tamara Draut, Van Jones and Joan Mandelle.
Kalamazoo College senior Sara McKinney and junior Shawn Fair secured and completed Monroe-Brown internships this summer. Monroe-Brown internships are local opportunities that include at least 400 paid hours of work with a Kalamazoo area company, valuable networking, and scholarship funding upon completion.
The Monroe-Brown family (and, subsequently, The Monroe-Brown Foundation) has a long history of supporting Michigan students in higher education. McKinney’s internship focused on research into this legacy.
She compiled a family tree; cataloged birth, death, and marriage certificates; interviewed family members; read biographies and news articles; and much more. Much of the work was conducted independently.
The end goal is a book for the Monroe-Brown grandchildren. “I’ve really enjoyed the research aspect of it,” McKinney says. “The project has really helped me develop self-accountability and has helped me learn how to seek out information and contacts in the Kalamazoo community.”
McKinney is majoring in English (with an emphasis in creative writing) and earning a minor in psychology. This fall she will complete a collection of short stories for her Senior Individualized Project.
For his internship Fair worked in the marketing internship at Fabri-Kal, an industry leader in product packaging. He analyzed the branding, marketing and advertising of the company’s environmentally friendly Greenware line.
Fair used the opportunity to evaluate what he’d learned in the classroom about leadership. He observed the leadership styles of his coworkers, managers and company executives, and determined that, to be a relational leader, “You have to be trustworthy, dependable, supportive, and willing to devote time to getting to know each of your team members.”
Fair is majoring in business and earning a minor in Chinese. He is already applying the practical lessons of his internship by launching his own mobile application production company, Simple Fix, LLC.
K students like Fair and McKinney have been well represented in the Monroe-Brown Internship Program for the last several years. Since 2012, 13 students have interned with local companies including Eaton, BASIC, AVB, Parker Hannifin, LKF Marketing, Imperial Beverage, Abraxas, and Schupan & Sons, Inc.
Text and Photo by McKenna Bramble ’16, Post Baccalaureate Summer Intern, Center for Career and Professional Development
Scientific inquiry takes no summer break at Kalamazoo College, and a culmination of the summer’s work occurred at the Dow Science Center Mini Poster Session (August 26). In the chemistry department alone some 17 students worked in the laboratories of five chemistry faculty–Professors Bartz, Furge, Smith, Stevens-Truss and Williams. Those students include first-years, sophomores, juniors and seniors, many of the latter working on their Senior Individualized Projects. The mini poster session included 12 presenters explaining the science they had conducted during the summer. Quinton Colwell ’17 (in the red tie) is pictured discussing his poster, titled “Molecular Dynamics and Real-Life Drug Metabolism.” Molecular dynamics is the study of real life systems using computer models and simulations. Colwell’s work involved a relatively novel technique,biased molecular dynamics, which, he wrote, “brings an additional layer to computer simulations relevant to bench-top experiments. It has the potential to be a game-changer.” In addition to Colwell, other presenters included Sarah Glass ’17, Myles Truss ’17, Shreya Bahl ’17, Suma Alzouhayli ’17, and Blake Beauchamp ’17.
Associate Professor of Art History Christine Hahn published an article, “Maintaining Problematic Art: A Case Study of Philip Evergood’s The Bridge of Life (1942) at Kalamazoo College.” The article was published in Public Art Dialogue (6:1, 116-130) on May 27, 2016.
Fifteen Kalamazoo College students joined three of their teachers (professors Dwight Williams, Santiago Salinas and Ellen Robertson) to present research at the 2016 West Michigan Regional Undergraduate Science Research Conference (WMRUGS) in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The tension between what is politically possible under the world’s current political and economic systems and what is ecologically necessary exposes an urgent need for change, said journalist and activist Naomi Klein, keynote speaker for the conference, “Without Borders, Post-Oppression Imaginaries and Decolonized Futures.” The conference was sponsored by the 
Scientific inquiry takes no summer break at Kalamazoo College, and a culmination of the summer’s work occurred at the Dow Science Center Mini Poster Session (August 26). In the chemistry department alone some 17 students worked in the laboratories of five chemistry faculty–Professors Bartz, Furge, Smith, Stevens-Truss and Williams. Those students include first-years, sophomores, juniors and seniors, many of the latter working on their Senior Individualized Projects. The mini poster session included 12 presenters explaining the science they had conducted during the summer. Quinton Colwell ’17 (in the red tie) is pictured discussing his poster, titled “Molecular Dynamics and Real-Life Drug Metabolism.” Molecular dynamics is the study of real life systems using computer models and simulations. Colwell’s work involved a relatively novel technique,biased molecular dynamics, which, he wrote, “brings an additional layer to computer simulations relevant to bench-top experiments. It has the potential to be a game-changer.” In addition to Colwell, other presenters included Sarah Glass ’17, Myles Truss ’17, Shreya Bahl ’17, Suma Alzouhayli ’17, and Blake Beauchamp ’17.