At a recent late-May dinner Kalamazoo College feted the 2015 Kalamazoo county high school graduates who earned Heyl Scholarships for Kalamazoo College (to major in science or math) or Western Michigan University (to attend the Bronson School of Nursing). The scholarship covers tuition, book costs, and room charges. Scholarship winners are (l-r): front row — McKinzie Ervin, Cydney Martell, Kayla Park; second row — Farzad Razi, Jessica Wile, Mia Orlando; back row — Pete Schultz, Maggie Smith, and Rachel Wheat. Ervin, Martell, Park, Razi, Wile, Orlando, Schultz, and Smith will attend Kalamazoo College. Wheat will attend WMU’s Bronson School of Nursing. (photo by Tony Dugal)
awards
Amanda Johnson ’17 Earns Boren Scholarship to Study in China during 2015-16 Academic Year
Kalamazoo College sophomore Amanda Johnson ’17 has received a David L. Boren Scholarship to study in China during the 2015-2016 academic year. The $20,000 award will allow her to study Chinese in Beijing and Harbin.
Boren Scholarships are funded by the National Security Education Program, a federal government program that focuses on geographic areas, languages, and fields of study deemed critical to United States national security.
Amanda is one of only 171 undergraduate students (all U.S. passport holders) to receive the 2015-16 Boren award.
“Through the Boren Scholarship, I will focus on improving my Mandarin, immersing myself in Chinese culture, and taking part in both an internship and one-on-one study with a Chinese professor on a topic of my choosing,” said Amanda, a sophomore from Hudsonville, Mich.
In addition to pursuing majors in economics and political science and a minor in Chinese while at K, Amanda is secretary of finance for K’s Student Commission, a consultant for the student Writing Center, and a teaching assistant for the Economics Department. She also is active on campus with the movement for an intercultural center.
Upon receiving the Boren Scholarship, Amanda was enthusiastic about such a wonderful opportunity and the networks it would provide. She says it’s the result of “an amazing support system” that has helped her at K.
“By the time I submitted my final Boren application I had more than 18 rough drafts that had been edited by professors, staff members, and fellow students. This highlights what students at Kalamazoo College can do with a community that supports their endeavors.”
In exchange for funding, Boren award recipients agree to work in the federal government for a period of at least one year following their formal education. Amanda says she may consider fulfilling her Boren Scholarship requirement with the Department of Homeland Security as an asylum officer, helping adjudicate asylum cases by using her Chinese (and Spanish) language skills. Ultimately, she hopes to pursue a career with the United States Department of State and she is excited about the opportunity the Boren Scholarship will give her to jumpstart her career.
During the winter break of her sophomore year, Amanda interned with the Human Rights Initiative of Northern Texas, a nonprofit organization that provides immigration services to individuals who have experienced human rights violations in their home country. This internship opportunity, funded by the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, allowed Amanda to work with asylum applicants and utilize her Spanish and Chinese language skills throughout the application process.
The Boren awards are named for former U.S. Senator 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. They will study 37 different languages that are considered critical to U.S. interests, including Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin, Russian, Swahili, and Wolof.
Current Kalamazoo College seniors Luke Winship (China/Mandarin) and Erin Eagan (Senegal/Wolof) are previous Boren Scholars.
Research Award Winner
The Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA)has awarded Kalamazoo College’s Lindsay O’Donohue, director of prospect development and donor relations, with the 2015 Margaret Fuhry Grant. The award is given to a prospect development practitioner based on her leadership, mentorship, volunteerism, and dedication to the profession. At K, Lindsay leads a team responsible for implementing a robust prospect development program designed to inform and strengthen fundraising activity. She is a member of the Advancement office’s senior management team and has played a key support role in The Campaign for Kalamazoo College, which is closing in on its $125 million goal. Before she came to K, Lindsay spent six years in political fundraising, four of those years as the compliance director for former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm. Lindsay is an active member of APRA-Michigan and served on the chapter’s Board of Directors from 2012-2014. She is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a degree in political science. In July she will attend the APRA Annual International Conference in New Orleans to accept the award.
Lisa Ludwinski ’06 opens Sister Pie bakery in Detroit with help from $50,000 Hatch Detroit award
Lisa Ludwinski ’06 has opened Sister Pie, a bakery and coffee shop at 8066 Kercheval in Detroit’s West Village neighborhood. Lisa was the winner of Comerica Bank’s 2014 Hatch Detroit development grant meant to champion and support independent retail businesses in Detroit through funding, exposure, education, and mentoring. A $50,000 Hatch award allowed her to build out the new bakery complete with double convection ovens that help her create Buckwheat Chocolate Chip cookies, Salted Maple pies, savory hand pies, and more.
“I like whimsical things,” she told a Detroit Free Press reporter. “I come up with flavor combinations in my sleep and I try them in the kitchen the next day.” She also said she uses high-fat French butter, unbleached all-purpose and whole-grain flours, and locally sourced fruits and berries in season.
Lisa is a Detroit Mercy High School grad who earned a B.A. degree in Theatre Arts from K.
Visit her and Sister Pie in person or at http://sisterpie.com and friend her on www.Facebook.com/SisterPie.
Read more here: www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/12106/sister_pie_a_detroit-baked_startup_opens_in_west_village#.VUD1PRDQpoE
Commitment, Heart and Soul
Eight Kalamazoo College seniors–each of them Civic Engagement Scholars in K’s Center for Civic Engagement–will receive Michigan Campus Compact (MiCC) Awards for their dedication to community service. Kacey Cook and Mele Makalo earned the MiCC Commitment to Service Award, recognizes up to two students per member campus in the state of Michigan for either the breadth or depth of their community involvement or service experiences. Only 31 students in the state will receive this award.
Jasmine An, Hannah Bogard, Alejandra Castillo, Katherine Rapin, Andrea Satchwell, and Rose Tobin will receive the Heart and Soul Award, “given to students to recognize their time, effort, and personal commitment to their communities through service. “We are thrilled that our remarkable students are receiving these awards,” said Alison Geist, director of the Center for Civic Engagement. “We are even more thrilled that we have had the honor to work closely with them.” The eight will be feted at an awards brunch in East Lansing on April 18. MiCC promotes the education and commitment of Michigan college students to be civically engaged citizens, through creating and expanding academic, co-curricular and campus-wide opportunities for community service, service-learning and civic engagement.
Senior Honored in Speech Contest
Vageesha Liyana-Gunawardana ’15 won the Special Prize in the annual Michigan Japanese Speech Contest, held at the Japanese Consulate in Detroit. Vageesha’s speech was titled “The Policeman I Met That Day Does Not Know My Name.” According to his Japanese language teacher, Assistant Professor of Japanese Noriko Sugimori, the speech is based on his study abroad experience in Tokyo, during which Vageesha was questioned by the police on thirteen different occasions. Inspired by Nobel Peace Prize winner Lester Pearson, Vageesha’s reflection upon these seemingly negative experiences reaffirmed the importance of meeting people and making an effort to understand each individual at deeper levels in order to work toward world peace. His talk, of course, was delivered in Japanese. Vageesha is a chemistry major at Kalamazoo College. He is a United World College alumnus (he attended high school at Pearson UWC in Victoria, British Columbia) and a Davis Scholar. At K he also works in the Center for International Programs.
The R in K’s DNA
RecycleMania 2015 is over, and if you didn’t know that (or if you weren’t aware the contest had even begun) that’s because for the second consecutive year the College has competed without promoting the contest–sort of a test to see the degree to which R (for recycling or Rob, as in Rob Townsend) has become part of K’s DNA. The results are good.
Kalamazoo College recycles far more than half of the solid waste it produces, according to Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Paul Manstrom. “We placed very high in many of the categories despite the fact we did not promote the contest at all on campus–unlike most other schools that competed,” said Manstrom. “Our performance is a testimony to the recycling culture that Rob Townsend has built at K over the years. While some schools need the publicity of a contest to up their recycling statistics, it just comes naturally at K.” This year the College had three top-ten finishes out of eight categories. K’s ranking (and number of participating institutions) by category follow: Grand Champion–32nd (233); Per Capita Classic–10th (334); Gorilla–201st (334); Waste Minimization–116th (148); Paper–20th (141); Corrugated Cardboard–4th (163); Bottles & Cans–3rd (142); and Food Service Organics–129th (175).
RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. During an eight-week period, colleges across the United States and Canada report the amount of recycling and trash collected each week and are in turn ranked in various categories based on who recycles the most on a per capita basis, as well as which schools have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste and which schools generate the least amount of combined trash and recycling.
Kalamazoo College earned silver-level recognition for its 11 years of RecycleMania participation, and it’s unlikely to rest on the excellence of its tradition. Said Townsend: “The data shows our numbers slipped a bit from the previous year. We won’t get complacent.”
Kalamazoo College Professor Awarded NEH Grant
Dennis Frost, the Wen Chao Chen Associate Professor of East Asian Social Sciences, was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to support his project titled “The Paralympic Movement, Sports, and Disability in Postwar Japan.” His was one 232 humanities projects in the country to receive NEH funding. Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Professor Frost earned his B.A. at Wittenberg University and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He completed research programs at University of the Ryukyus (Okinawa, Japan) and Iwate University (Iwate, Japan). He is the author of Seeing Stars: Sports Celebrity, Identity, and Body Culture in Modern Japan. In addition to his study of the Paralympic Movement, sports, and disability in postwar Japan, his current research interests include a comparative exploration of military “base towns’ in Okinawa and mainland Japan. Said NEH Chairman William Adams: “The grants announced continue the Endowment’s tradition of supporting excellence in the humanities by funding far-reaching research, preservation projects, and public programs.”Congratulations to Professor Frost!
Dean’s List for Winter Term 2015
Congratulations to the following Kalamazoo College students, who achieved a grade point average of 3.5 or better for a full-time course load of at least three units, without failing or withdrawing from any course, during the Winter 2015 academic term. Kudos to the entire group of some 300 students, and good luck in Spring Term, 2015.
Winter 2015
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | ||
AAyaka Abe B Sara Babcock CNicole Caddow DSusmitha Daggubati EDaniel Eberhart FRachel Fadler GBridget Gallagher |
HSimon Haile IPinar Inanli JJordan Jabara KKamalaldin Kamalaldin LAriah Lacey MSpencer MacDonald NVictoria Najacht OBryan Olert |
PNirmita Palakodaty QYilan Qiu RJustin Rabidoux SMinato Sakamoto TEmerson Talanda-Fisher UAmanda Ullrick VAsha Vadlamudi WRaoul Wadhwa XAnja Xheka YBrent Yelton ZJingcan Zhu |
Aced it With ACEit!
Senior computer science major Jae Hyun Choe presented a poster at the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Student Research Competition. The title of his presentation was “ACEit!–Android app to Assist Children in Learning to Read English.” The work was based on his Senior Individualized Project, which was supported by the Hough Foundation Natural Science and Mathematics SIP grant last summer, according to Associate Professor of Computer Science Pam Cutter, who served as Choe’s SIP supervisor. “Jae Hyun competed with 16 others,” said Cutter, “and although he didn’t make it to the next round of the competition, he said that making and presenting the poster as well as explaining what he did and getting ideas and feedback from others were very valuable experiences. The competition was held in Kansas City, Missouri, during the ACM’s Special Interest Group in Computer Science Education technical symposium. The College’s computer science department has been busy with meetings preparations. Six women computer science students plan to participate in the upcoming Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing, which will be held in Ann Arbor. One of the students will present her SIP work there.