Catherine (Rutherford) McCann ’55 was a longtime resident and public servant of South Miami, Florida. She served 10 years as city commissioner and four years as mayor.
McCann passed away on April 19, 2009, at age 75. But recently, family and friends gathered to honor her legacy with the naming of Cathy McCann Drive in South Miami. The naming honors, in particular, her quest for affordable housing for all residents of her community.
Phunny Business: A Black Comedy, produced, written, and directed by John Davies ’75 debuted Thursday, February 23, on Showtime.
The documentary chronicles the rise and fall of All Jokes Aside, a Chicago-based comedy venue considered by many to be the preeminent black comic showcase in America throughout the 1990s. The club provided early exposure to major talent like Steve Harvey, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, MoNique, Bernie Mac, D.L Hughley, Cedric The Entertainer, and others.
Davies’ documentary includes footage of these stars “back in the day,” as well as current interviews with them discussing the importance of the venue to their careers. The documentary will air throughout March and April.
When alumni mentor seniors doing their Senior Individualized Projects it can lead to co-authorship of published papers. The proof: Rebecca (Becky) Tonietto ’05 and Katherine (Katie) Ellis ’09. The two are coauthors of the paper “A comparison of bee communities of Chicago green roofs, parks and prairies,” which appeared in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning 103 (2011) 102-108.
Tonietto was a mentor for Ellis during the latter’s SIP, and the published article includes results from Katie’s senior research. Tonietto is working on a Ph.D. in plant biology and conservation at Northwestern University. According to Associate Professor of Biology Ann Fraser, the biology department has many examples of alumni serving as SIP mentors for seniors, “and entomology has been an especially fruitful area for this kind of collaboration,” she added.
Ed Mamou ’00 is owner of The Root in White Lake, the Detroit Free Press 2012 Restaurant of the Year.
Corinne Beckwith ’85 was sworn in as an appellate judge for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals during ceremonies in Washington, D.C. She was nominated last spring by President Obama, earned Senate confirmation in November, and has been serving in the post since December.
Cori earned a B.A. degree in English from Kalamazoo and while here served a student internship at the Holland (Mich.) Sentinel newspaper. She earned a master’s degree in journalism from University of Illinois and later worked as a reporter at the Midland Daily News.
She earned her law degree in 1992 from the University of Michigan Law School. Since 1999, she’s worked as an attorney representing the rights of indigent criminal defendants on appeal in the Appellate Division of the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C., and was appointed a supervisor in that office in 2009.
Alum Aubrey Parker Covers “Run Across Palestine” as Journalist series chronicling the event, and she plans to write an article on water issues related to olive farming for Circle of Blue. Parker is also pitching the story to other various media organizations.
Usually if you wanted to hear the chamber pop group Canasta (featuring “K” alums Matt Priest ’97 and Elizabeth Lindau ’97) you’d drive to Chicago. But attending a concert in early February would have meant a longer trip…to Mongolia. Canasta members trekked to the Far East country as part of the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs’ Arts Envoy Program. The group’s latest album is titled “The Fakeout, the Tease, and the Breather.”
Lew Miller ’93 will represent the United States at the 32nd International Tennis Federation Seniors World Team Championships. The nation’s top tennis players in age groups 35+ and 55+ will compete against teams from 35 counties February 6 through 11 in San Diego. More than 1,000 athletes are expected to participate.
This will be the fourth ITF Cup Team for Miller. He played on the Men’s 35+ Cup Teams in Mallorca (2009), Mexico City (2010), and Christchurch (2011). He is the 2011 Men’s 40+ National Clay Court Doubles Champion. Miller was a member of the NCAA Division III National Championship teams from Kalamazoo College in 1991, 1992, 1993 and was NCAA Division III National Singles Champion in 1991 and 1992. He was a four-time All-American in singles and two-time All-American in doubles.
Miller earned a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1998 and is now the Director of U.S. Operations for Affiliated Computer Services in Denver. He and his wife, Michelle, have two children.
Amelia Katanski ’92, English, received the Outstanding Faculty award from Michigan Campus Compact (www.micampuscompact.org) at the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Conference on January 30 in East Lansing.
Nominated by President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran and the College’s Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning, Katanski was honored for her commitments to local food, food justice, and sustainability and her dedication to engaged, student-centered learning.
She has been teaching a first-year seminar, “Cultivating Community” as a service-learning course since 2006. She is also faculty advisor to “Farms to K,” which she co-founded with students, staff, and community partners.
“Farms to K” advocates for a local purchasing policy at Kalamazoo College and works closely with other student-led Service-Learning programs, including community gardening initiatives and Migrant Rights Action.
Vicky Minderhout ’72, a professor of chemistry at Seattle University, was named the State of Washington’s “Professor of the Year” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. She was one of 27 state-level winners in 2011; four others were national-level winners. Minderhout was cited for her innovations in teaching, particularly biochemistry.
“Her research in Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning as applied to biochemistry has been a national model for many years now,” said Associate Professor of Chemistry Laura Furge,“I have met Vicky many times, and always introduce my students to her when we see her at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology meetings.”
ASBMB’s newsletter, ASBMB Today, published an interview with Minderhout in which she was questioned about teachers who influenced her classroom methods. In her answer she describes a quantum mechanics class that was taught by Associate Professor of Chemistry Ralph Deal. She also cites the enthusiasm that characterized Professor of Chemistry Kurt Kaufman’s interactive lectures. King TV in Seattle did a feature story on Minderhout’s Socratic style that includes the voices of many of her students.
