Caleb Kline ’13 has been posting green gains on the College’s Sustainability Web site. It’s worth a look-see. One of his latest articles describes the installation of VendingMisers. The devices allow vending machines to power down when no one’s around. Their installation in the campus’s 11 beverage vending machines will reduce the College’s carbon footprint by an estimated 5,000 pounds of carbon dioxide annually. Keep current with Caleb by checking out Sustainability regularly.
social justice
Kalamazoo College Has Banner Year for Career Development Opportunities
From Santa Monica, California, to Silver Spring, Maryland, from Kenya to the United Kingdom, Kalamazoo College student interns and externs are hard at work this summer, honing marketable skills, gaining experience, and building relationships with professionals in various fields. Through the Center for Career and Professional Development’s Discovery Externship and Field Experience Programs, 39 externs and 85 interns are trying on careers in fields as diverse as medical research, non-profit administration, and small-business management. Many are hosted by the 48 K alumni who are serving this summer as supervisors and mentors. Many are supported financially by endowed career development funding put in place by generous donors over the years. Externs work and live with alumni hosts for one to four weeks, and interns spend at least six weeks in a supervised workplace setting. This summer the CCPD is partnering again with the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning to support the latter’s Community Building Interns, at work in Kalamazoo area nonprofit organizations. CCPD also collaborates with the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, whose interns are work at social justice advocacy organizations from Detroit to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. CCPD provides pre-departure orientations, learning contracts, opportunities for regular structured reflection, and feedback and evaluation processes for both student and supervisor. One externship host, Heidi Gregori-Gahan ’76, described her summer experience: “The 2-week program was intense in terms of my focus and the time spent with [my extern] during the evenings and on weekends. We had many meals together, went to a play, toured a couple of historic sites, went to a concert, and more. I think the host needs to be prepared to devote a lot of time and energy to ensuring the success of the program, and I enjoyed every moment of it. It was so nice to be able to share a part of the profession I love (international education) with an aspiring young professional–but also to know that I was giving back to the college which has meant so much in my life, both personally and professionally.”
Kalamazoo College Acting Troupe Performs in India
Fifteen K students, faculty, and staff members are in India performing Kahani, a unique theatrical collaboration of the College’s Theatre Arts Department, Center for International Programs, and Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, first performed on campus in May. Read their blog posts, see their photos and video, and send them good wishes at http://kzookahani.blogspot.com
Author Eve Ensler Visits Kalamazoo College
Eve Ensler has devoted her life to stopping violence against women and girls, envisioning a planet in which they will be free to thrive, not merely survive. She has traveled to Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, and the Congo providing innovative programming to support women survivors of sexual violence. She is the creator of V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls.
Her documentary, What I Want My Words to Do to You, about her work with a writing group at Bedford Hill Correctional Facility in New York, highlights her work exploring the voices of women as a path to empowerment. Her latest book, I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls around the World, made the New York Times best sellers list. Ensler is best known for her Tony award-winning play The Vagina Monologues, which has been performed in more than 130 countries.
On Tuesday May 15, she spent the afternoon and evening on the Kalamazoo College campus meeting students, faculty, staff, trustees, and community guests. She wowed a large audience in Dalton Theatre with her talk, Theater as a Tool for Revolutionary Change, and stayed late into the night to sign books and autographs in the Light Fine Arts lobby. Thank you, Eve Ensler, for your authentic and inspiring visit to K as the 2012 Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership annual spring lecturer.
Jamie Grant Co-Authors Gender Article in LGBTQ Policy Journal
Jaime Grant, executive director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, has coauthored an op/ed in the May 15 Huffington Post that describes “A Gender Not Listed Here: Genderqueers, Gender Rebels, and OtherWise,” an article she and her coauthors recently published in the Harvard Kennedy School’s LGBTQ Policy Journal.
Grant and coauthors Jack Harrison and Jody L. Herman present new research focused specifically on genderqueer people and describes the risks and resiliencies of those who identify outside the male/female gender binary. Their Policy Journal article shows that genderqueer people have unique demographic characteristics and experiences of discrimination and violence when compared to transgender people who identify as “male” or “female.”
“Story” Provides Passage to India
Ten Kalamazoo College students who are creating their own theater production this spring with guidance from a guest director from Varanasi, India, will take the show to Varanasi this summer and get a chance to see a country whose culture they have been exploring in class and on stage.
The “Kahani” project — which came about through a unique collaboration of the College’s Theatre Arts Department, Center for International Programs, and Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership—combines many of the key elements of a K education: rigorous scholarship, critical thinking, international engagement, interdisciplinary exploration, social-justice discussions…and don’t leave out creativity and performance opportunities.
Students are spending just seven weeks devising the scenes for “Kahani” (which means “Story” in Hindi) before they present it May 10-13 at the College’s Nelda Balch Playhouse. And they are required to attend both rehearsals and a class taught by guest director Irfana Majumdar, a visiting fellow of the Arcus Center. In the photo at left, Jane Huffman ’15 (standing), Joe Westerfield ’15 (seated), and Sam Bertken ’12 rehearse for the play. Majumdar assigned readings of a novel and short stories by Indian women writers as jumping-off points for script creation, and many of those pieces explore gender and power dynamics within close relationships.
“Instead of using big issues like communalism, which are also very important in the world, I decided to stay inside smaller, closer human relationships, like within a family,” Majumdar said, “I think it’s very important for men and women to explore these issues of gender together.”
Much of the theater work Majumdar does is “devised work,” meaning it does not begin with a set script. “What is interesting about the project we’re doing, and exciting,” she said, “is…that it’s really a lot about the actors. And since they’re students and they’re just learning to act and beginning their journey of theater, it’s a way to really explore more of themselves and bring that into a project.”
The chance to create a theater piece with fellow students has been exhilarating for senior theater major Sam Bertken, a 22-year-old from northern California.
“I love the possibility for something completely new to be created,” said Bertken when the group was about three weeks into the project. He said the students started off doing exercises to “create a physical vocabulary” and build trust and then focused on their compositional skills. To create potential scenes for the final production, they split into small groups and began voicing their ideas, one right after another.
The process has not been without its challenges, though. “It’s tough,” Bertken said. “Every time you come in you have to be really open to possibilities. The biggest problem is time. There’s this balance of ‘Are we including everybody’s ideas?’ and then ‘Are we being efficient with our time?’”
But they have had a great teacher in Majumdar, he said. “She’s been able to make those of us who’ve never done a devised theater piece feel very confident about our ability to accomplish this project, which is something to be said.”
Back in Varanasi, Majumdar leads a theater studio that’s part of a nongovernmental organization called Nirman, which offers arts-based education for primary and secondary students and study-abroad opportunities for college students. It became one of K’s 43 study-abroad sites in 2010, according to CIP Associate Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft.
The “Kahani” project got started after K religion professor Carol Anderson met Majumdar during a sojourn in India. Majumdar and her mother, Nita, who also helps run the Nirman organization, then visited K about two years ago, and Anderson introduced Professor of Theatre Arts Ed Menta to the women.
“I found out Irfana has a great theater background, and she’s also a filmmaker,” said Menta. “And I thought, ‘Wow, we gotta do something. The stars are lining up right to sort of have a convergence of theater, social justice, and interculturalism. What could be better? It’s like many of the programs and aspirations of the College coming together in one project.’”
Jaime Grant, executive director of the Arcus Center, sees Majumdar as “a perfect visiting fellow” whose work can broaden “theater people’s visions of what theater is for” and “social justice people’s ideas of what’s in their toolbox to create change.”
“If you look at social justice movements throughout the world, theater is often part and parcel of that work,” Grant said. And because the “Kahani” project is a collaborative one in which everyone has a voice, “the process itself speaks to social justice,” Grant added.
The project has been a perfect fit for “Kahani” stage manager Kathleen “Kat” Barrett, a junior majoring both in Theater Arts and in Human Development and Social Relations, a course of study that combines anthropology, sociology and psychology. She said she wanted a college experience that would boost her critical-thinking skills and challenge her thinking about the world. She also likes to keep really busy.
“I’m in various rehearsals from six to midnight most nights,” Barrett said, “but I love what I’m doing. And this production is such an amazing project that the faculty has put together for us.”
“Kahani” will take the stage at Nirman in July as the students travel to India for about 10 days, accompanied by Majumdar, Grant, Menta, and Professor of Theatre Arts Lanny Potts. For Barrett, the journey will be a return trip. She spent July through December studying at Nirman and then a few more weeks traveling through India.
“I’m really excited to go back,” said the 21-year-old, who grew up in the small northern Michigan town of Shelby. “I loved India. I loved the city (of Varanasi). It’s not Delhi. It’s not modernized in a lot of ways. But it has so much character. It’s one of the most religious locations in India because it’s right on the holy Ganges River. It has so many stories and so many people and so much culture.”
Barrett, like so many others at Kalamazoo College, is also thrilled about this opportunity for her fellow students. “I’m so excited that they put in so much work, so much critical energy and then they get to go to India and not only perform it but see the world they’ve been thinking about so much.”
That, too, will surely be an education.
Student Shines as Peace Corps Volunteer
Megan Barnes ’10 is featured in the March 21, 2012 issue of Harbor Light newspaper, published in her hometown of Harbor Springs, Mich.
Megan is a Peace Corps volunteer in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Working in small communities of 10 to 100 homes, she trains community members to pass along preventive health information to their neighbors and families on topics that range from basic illness and care to more complex skills and issues, such as midwifery, first aid, mental health, and domestic violence.
While at K, Megan studied art history with a concentration in classical civilization. She played tennis for the Hornets, was a member of student commission, and studied abroad in Rome. She also assisted migrant farm workers during her senior year, was a mentor at a local elementary school, and completed a Senior Individualized Project on repatriation of artifacts, following a few months of interning at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.
Kalamazoo College Receives $23 Million Grant From Arcus Foundation to Fund Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership
CONTACT: Jeff Palmer, 269.337.5724
January 17, 2012
Kalamazoo, Mich. – Kalamazoo College has received a $23 million grant to endow the work of its Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL). The grant, made by the Arcus Foundation, will support a broad array of activities including: student scholarships and two endowed professorships, student internships and leadership development programming, faculty and staff fellowships, public lectures and conferences, local and global partnerships, and residencies for social justice scholars and practitioners.
“The breadth of the grant makes it exceptional,” said Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran. “The entire Kalamazoo College community is extremely grateful to the Arcus Foundation and its founder, Jon Stryker, for their belief in the mission of the College and the Arcus Center. Their support will help put Kalamazoo on a path to become a higher education leader in the field of social justice and leadership development.”
The mission of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership is to support the pursuit of human rights and social justice by developing emerging leaders and sustaining existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice, creating a pivotal role for liberal arts education in engendering a more just world.
It’s a mission consistent with the College’s history, liberal arts tradition, and mission to develop enlightened leaders, said President Wilson-Oyelaran.
“The Arcus Center builds on the College’s strengths in the area of academics, career development, international engagement, and independent study—all elements of each ‘K’ student’s distinctive K-Plan. When combined with other curricular and co-curricular programs such as our Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning, our Center for International Programs, and our unique Guilds initiative, this will take the K-Plan to a new level of excellence.”
The Arcus Foundation grant is the largest grant in the College’s 179-year history, and one of the largest given for a social justice purpose to an undergraduate institution in the United States.
“I know from my own experience the emphasis that ‘K’ College places on developing global citizens who can be effective agents of transformational change,” said Jon Stryker, a Kalamazoo College alumnus and trustee, who founded the Arcus Foundation in 2000.
“Our intent in making this grant is to foster diverse leaders who advance social justice in all its dimensions – from anti-racism to economic justice to equality for all sexual orientations and gender identities. We envision ‘K’ College becoming the place to be for young people who aspire to develop the strategies and lead the work that will make our world more just and humane. This ambition maps directly to the values shared by the Foundation and the College.”
Arcus CEO Dr. Yvette C. Burton added, “Social justice is critical to our future because it maximizes the societal value and impact of advances in a wide range of disciplines, including medicine, information technology and environmental conservation. Institutions of higher learning have a tremendous role to play in advancing social justice theory and practice. Kalamazoo College’s legacy in international study, service education, and other key areas position it for leadership in this exciting field.”
Among the numerous ACSJL programs that the $23 million grant will support are:
- two endowed faculty chairs in areas related to social justice (currently held by John Dugas in political science and Adriana Garriga-Lopez in anthropology-sociology);
- fellowships for “K” faculty and staff to support projects and scholarship related to social justice leadership;
- four-year Enlightened Leadership Scholarships ($5,000 per year) awarded to one “K” student each year (currently held by sophomore Colin Lauderdale and first-year student Mariah Hennen);
- annual Social Justice Fellowships for visiting scholars, activists, artists, thought leaders, and faculty, as a way to introduce new scholarship, energy, and social justice activity and engagement to the Kalamazoo College campus and the Kalamazoo community. (currently held by Michelle Johnson from Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative in Kalamazoo and Irfana Majumdar, a scholar/artist in experimental theater based at the NIRMAN program in Varanasi, India);
- an annual spring lecture series (The 2012 lecturer will be playwright, author, and activist Eve Ensler, perhaps best known as the author of The Vagina Monologues.);
- a Social Justice Leadership Fund that provides grants to students, faculty, and staff who propose innovative social justice projects and programs;
- a summer internship program that offers qualified “K” students the opportunity to integrate social justice theory with practice as interns at social justice organizations across the United States and abroad;
- the Catalyst Project, a community-outreach and support initiative that will provide consulting and technical support to selected Kalamazoo-area social justice organizations; and
- the Praxis Center, an online resource center for scholars and practitioners of social justice work and leadership that will be launched later in 2012.
The grant will also fund ACSJL staff positions, including its co-directors Jaime M. Grant, executive director, and Lisa Brock, academic director.
Jaime Grant, Ph.D., has worked for more than 20 years with a variety of national and international organizations focused on social justice and human rights for women, youth, and the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community, as well as victims of sexual and domestic assault, and people living with mental illness. She’s published in major academic journals, and her commentaries have appeared broadly in the consumer press.
Lisa Brock, Ph.D., is a historian and activist who has merged her academic interest with Southern African social justice struggles. Her articles on Africa and the African Diaspora have appeared in dozens of academic journals and as book chapters. Her latest writing project is a comparative study of Afro-descended peoples in the United States and Cuba.
The Arcus Foundation and Jon Stryker have long supported Kalamazoo College. In 2009, the Foundation provided a $200,000 planning grant and a $2.1 million project grant to help launch the ACSJL. It provided a $5.6 million grant in 2008 to fund tuition and programming support for 50 students from Los Angeles public schools to attend “K” through the Posse Foundation, and a $5 million grant in 2001 to support the “K” study abroad program.
The Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org) is a leading global foundation advancing pressing social justice and conservation issues. Specifically, Arcus works to advance LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) equality, as well as to conserve and protect the great apes. The Arcus Foundation works globally and has offices in Kalamazoo, Mich., New York City, and Cambridge, UK.
Founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu) is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, learning by practice, and both international and intercultural engagement. Its 1,400 students hail from 30 states and 24 countries. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.
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Kalamazoo College Unveils Preliminary Building Design For Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership
CONTACT: Jeff Palmer, 269.337.5724
May 17, 2011
–Award-winning Studio Gang Architects create a
“unique, welcoming space” and “dynamic, accessible crossroads”–
–College moves oldest structure on campus to make way for newest–
[KALAMAZOO, Mich. – May 17, 2011] Kalamazoo College officials today unveiled the preliminary design for a new building to house the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Renderings from Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects were shown to the College community and neighbors at a campus gathering Monday. Detailed drawings will follow by fall. Construction will last an estimated 12 months. No start date has been set, however, because the College must first work its way through a campus master planning and rezoning process, which includes the new Arcus Center building.
Located at the campus’s highest elevation, on the southeast corner of Academy and Monroe streets, the Arcus Center is designed to be inviting and open, in keeping with other recent renovations on campus, most notably Hicks Student Center (completed in 2009) and Upjohn Library Commons (2005).
“We’re very excited to release early images of what will be a unique, welcoming structure,” said Kalamazoo President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran. “These drawings reflect the creative and collaborative process we are going through to create a space in which current and future social justice leaders will collaborate to research and learn. We are so very pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with Studio Gang on this project.”
The one-story building will be approximately 9,500 square feet and serve as an interactive space for the College and the community. Three gently arcing exterior walls define the structure’s central gathering space and embrace the surrounding landscape. Michigan-sourced white cedar will be used to construct the wood masonry exterior. Large expanses of glass at the ends of the three arcs and clerestory glazing will bring light and views of the surrounding landscape into the interior. The building will incorporate a range of green building strategies and expects to attain a LEED rating.
The Studio Gang team, led by the firm’s founder and principal, Jeanne Gang, has visited Kalamazoo numerous times since summer 2010. “We’ve met with ‘K’ students, faculty, staff, and alumni, as well as some local residents and community partners in a creative, deliberative process,” said Gang. “Our goal is to create a dynamic, accessible space where interaction is facilitated and ideas shared.”
Kalamazoo College’s newest building will rise on the site of its oldest, Hoben House, a two-story brick home constructed in 1925 by then Kalamazoo College President Allan Hoben. It was his residence and home to successive “K” presidents until 1978, when it became headquarters of the L. Lee Stryker Center for Management Studies and Educational Services. A two-story frame addition constructed in 1985 included meeting rooms, offices and an outside deck. After the Stryker Center closed in 2007, the building housed a succession of campus programs and offices.
The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership was slated to move into the Hoben/Stryker building, but renovation options fell short of the Center’s needs. In summer 2010, founder and president of the Arcus Foundation and “K” College alumnus Jon Stryker pledged funds for a new building. Rather than raze the existing structure, the College identified private landowners who were willing to move the original Hoben House to their nearby off-campus lot. The College has removed the 1985 addition and Hoben House is due to be moved to its new location on the corner of South and Monroe streets by June 1.
The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (https://reason.kzoo.edu/csjl) is a new initiative by Kalamazoo College, launched in 2009 with a two-year, $2.1 million grant from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org). Supporting Kalamazoo College’s mission to prepare graduates who provide enlightened leadership to an interconnected and increasingly complex world, and responding to the need for development of engaged citizens who have the abilities to envision and create a socially just world, the Arcus Center will develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice.
Founded by Jeanne Gang, FAIA, in 1997, Studio Gang is a rising international practice whose work confronts pressing contemporary issues. Conceived as a collective of architects, designers, and thinkers, the studio acts as a lab for testing ideas on varying scales: from cities to environments to individual buildings’ unique material properties. The firm’s provocative and alluring architecture is exemplified by such recent projects such as the Aqua Tower (2009 Emporis Skyscraper of the Year), Columbia College Chicago’s Media Production Center (a cutting-edge film production and teaching facility), and the Lincoln Park Zoo South Pond (an educational pavilion and landscape that is quickly becoming a new Chicago landmark). Studio Gang’s work has received national and international recognition and has been published and exhibited widely, most notably at the International Venice Biennale, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Building Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Founded in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1833, Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu) is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the “K-Plan,” which emphasizes rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, and both international and intercultural engagement. “K” College has approximately 1,370 students from 38 states and 31 countries; nearly 20 percent are students of color.
Approximately 85 percent of Kalamazoo students participate in a meaningful, immersive international and intercultural experience at more than 50 programs in 25 countries on six continents; more than two-thirds complete an internship or externship; more than half participate in course-based or student-led co-curricular service-learning projects; and all students engage in a Senior Individualized Project, an in-depth research or creative project done in the senior year.
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Kalamazoo College Selects Jaime Grant as Executive Director for Its Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership
CONTACT: Jim VanSweden, 269.337.7291
June 28, 2010
(KALAMAZOO, Michigan) June 28, 2010 – After a national search, Kalamazoo College has named Jaime M. Grant, Ph.D., as executive director of its Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL). She will begin her duties September 1.
Grant has worked for more than 20 years with a variety of national and international organizations focused on social justice and human rights for women, youth, and the LGBT community, as well as victims of sexual and domestic assault, and the mentally ill.
The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (https://reason.kzoo.edu/csjl) is a new initiative by Kalamazoo College, launched in 2009 with a two-year, $2.1 million grant from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org). Its purpose is to explore, cultivate, and engage in the study and practice of social justice leadership.
“We are very excited to have someone of Jaime Grant’s caliber and range of experience join Kalamazoo College,” said “K” President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran. “She has a deep passion and demonstrated commitment to social justice, and a substantial record of accomplishment as a leader who can foster collaboration and a sense of shared purpose. In her role as the executive director, Dr. Grant will provide leadership as Kalamazoo College works to become recognized nationally and internationally as the place to look for original thinking about social justice and social justice leadership.”
Since Nov. 2007, Grant has served as director of the Policy Institute at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the nation’s premiere LGBT think tank located in Washington, D.C. Before that, she was Program Director for “Leadership for a Changing World” (LCW) at The Advocacy Institute, also in Washington. LCW is the Ford Foundation’s signature leadership awards program, and recognizes and supports community leaders across America who are effectively tackling tough social issues.
“I’m thrilled to join Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership,” said Grant. “Kalamazoo’s tradition of combining top-quality, liberal arts academics with experiential learning makes it an ideal place to establish a first-of-its-kind academy-based social justice leadership center.
“The new center will add value to a ‘K’ education, while fueling social change efforts in the U.S. and abroad, and nurturing the next generation of leaders,” she said.
Grant has published in major academic journals and her commentaries have appeared broadly in popular publications and the consumer press. Her recent work at the Task Force has included a national Census advocacy campaign, and a policy paper on issues of aging facing the LGBT aging community. The projects she is currently completing include a visioning document for advocates working on family policy.
Grant has a bachelor’s degree in economics and government from Wesleyan University, a master’s degree in women’s studies from Bucknell University, and a Ph.D. in women’s studies from The Union Institute, where she served as director from 1993 to 2000.
Her duties at Kalamazoo College will include maintaining and augmenting the vision for the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, while overseeing a range of programs, developing international and domestic partnerships, and working with College faculty, staff, and students on innovative projects and practices in social justice leadership.
Current programming to support the ACSJL mission includes project grants for “K” faculty, staff, and students; fellowships for “K” and visiting faculty; and a series of lectures and “convenings” in which visiting social justice leaders interact with members of the “K” campus and greater Kalamazoo community.
Founded in Kalamazoo in 1833, Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu) is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the “K-Plan” that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, learning by practice, and both international and intercultural engagement.
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