Category: Events

Student Group Seeks Alumni Who Work in Law

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The Aspiring Law Student Organization (ALSO) at Kalamazoo College is seeking alumni to return to campus to talk with students about their journeys in the legal profession. Group leaders say those conversations are among the most valuable ways to show students what’s possible with a law degree. 

“Hearing from someone who sat in the same classrooms and then went on to pass the bar is incredibly valuable,” said Libby McFarlen ’26, ALSO’s president. “Alums can talk about how K prepared them in a way that other schools can’t.” 

McFarlen is leading the effort to reinvigorate ALSO after the group had been relatively quiet in recent years. She stepped into the presidency at the encouragement of last year’s leader, who believed her passion for the field and professional connections could help strengthen the organization. She now works alongside Vice President Laura Goia ’27, an exchange student from Romania; Secretary Ella Miller ’26; and Treasurer Isabelle Mason ’27 to establish ALSO as a go-to resource for students considering careers in law. 

A major focus this year is to help students see law as a less-intimidating, more accessible field. McFarlen wants ALSO to balance serious programming—such as alumni panels and attorney visits—with lighter events designed to spark interest. For example, students can enjoy an upcoming movie night featuring the comedy film Legally Blonde, and also attend one of the standout events of this fall: an October 22 campus visit from the assistant director of admissions at Harvard Law School. 

Through these events, McFarlen hopes to showcase the variety of paths available in law. “A lot of people think being a lawyer is only about arguing in a courtroom, but there are so many areas—sports law, election law, patent law,” she said. “Students deserve to see that breadth.” 

McFarlen’s own experiences highlight the importance of real-world connections. Over the summer, she completed a legal internship with the City of Grand Rapids, working alongside prosecuting and litigation attorneys. As the only undergraduate among law school interns, she conducted legal research, prepared cases, and assisted attorneys in court. The experience confirmed her interest in criminal prosecution and underscored how rare it can be for undergraduates to access hands-on legal opportunities. 

“I was the youngest in the office, but it didn’t matter,” she said. “I learned so much, and I want other students to have those opportunities, too.” 

Looking ahead, ALSO is considering initiatives such as a mock trial team, law-themed trivia nights and panel discussions with government attorneys. McFarlen emphasized that inclusivity will remain central to the group’s mission along with it providing a support system and a launching pad for students whether they’re preparing for law school or simply curious about the profession. 

“Law can seem like a predominantly white, elite field,” she said. “We want students of color and students from all identities to see attorneys who look like them and know this path is open to them. Anyone is welcome to join whether they’re studying for the LSAT or just wondering what lawyers actually do.” 

Portrait of Aspiring Law Student Organization President Libby McFarlen
Aspiring Law Student Organization President Libby McFarlen ’26 wants Kalamazoo College students to see a breadth of opportunities available to them when they pursue the legal field.

Calling K Alumni in Law 

The Aspiring Law Student Organization (ALSO) wants to hear from you. If you’re a Kalamazoo College graduate working in the legal field, students would love to learn from your journey. 

Ways to get involved:

  • Speak on a career panel or Q-and-A session. 
  • Host a small-group discussion with students. 
  • Offer virtual mentoring or job-shadowing opportunities. 

Interested? Contact ALSO President Libby McFarlen ’26 at libby.mcfarlen22@kzoo.edu. 

Biblical Scholar: We Sometimes Get Scripture Wrong

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A popular YouTube personality, biblical scholar, best-selling author and podcast co-host will visit Kalamazoo College for a special event hosted by the Department of Religion on Wednesday, October 8.

Dan McClellan will explore how appeals to scripture are often used to authorize beliefs that might stem more from human assumptions than divine text in a lecture at 4:15 p.m. in the Olmsted Room at Mandelle Hall. The event, titled Bible Says So? How We Leverage the Bible to Authorize Our Own Dogmas, is free and open to the public. He will discuss insights from cognitive linguistics, the cognitive science of religion, and critical biblical studies to show that “the Bible says so” often really means “I say so, but I need the Bible’s authority.” A meet-and-greet will follow his presentation.

McClellan is an honorary fellow at the University of Birmingham’s Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion and the author of the April 2025 book The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) About Scripture’s Most Controversial Issues. In his research and public scholarship, he examines the ways people invoke biblical authority to defend cultural norms, political positions and personal convictions.

In 2023, McClellan received the Society of Biblical Literature’s Richards Award for Public Scholarship. He has more than 180,000 followers on his YouTube channel and is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also co-hosts the “Data Over Dogma” podcast with atheist Daniel Beecher.

For more information on the lecture, contact Academic Office Coordinator Sarah Bryans in the Department of Religion at Sarah.Bryans@kzoo.edu.

Portrait of Biblical Scholar Dan McClellan
Biblical scholar and YouTube personality Dan McClellan will visit Kalamazoo College for a special lecture hosted by the Department of Religion on Wednesday, October 8.

‘Grand Bargain’ Judge Slated to Deliver Flesche Lecture

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Kalamazoo College will welcome back distinguished alumnus Gerald Rosen ’73 as the keynote speaker for the 2025 Donald C. Flesche Lecture. The event, “The Grand Bargain: Lessons from the Detroit Bankruptcy,” will take place at 8 p.m. Wednesday, September 24, in the Olmsted Room of Mandelle Hall. The lecture will be free and open to the public, and a livestream will be available for those unable to attend.

Rosen, a retired federal judge for the Eastern District of Michigan and former chief judge of the court, is best known for his role in Detroit’s historic bankruptcy case. His leadership in crafting the “Grand Bargain” helped the city exit bankruptcy in 2014 while protecting the pensions of thousands of retirees and preserving the Detroit Institute of Arts’ world-renowned collection.

Rosen also spoke at K in the 2015 Weber Lecture and was interviewed as a guest at an event for students in 2018. After earning his law degree at George Washington University, Rosen went on to a distinguished career in private practice before being appointed to the federal bench in 1989. During nearly three decades as a judge, including seven years as chief judge, he presided over landmark cases involving terrorism, constitutional questions and civil rights.

Rosen returns to campus as his story is reaching new audiences. His 2024 book, Grand Bargain: The Inside Story of Detroit’s Dramatic Journey from Bankruptcy to Rebirth, provides a behind-the-scenes account of how city officials, state leaders, philanthropists and creditors came together to negotiate a solution once thought impossible. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has described Rosen as “a very important figure in Detroit’s history” whose “daring leadership, wisdom and diplomacy” helped set the stage for the city’s recovery. Rosen discussed the book in a January interview with WMUK 102.1. He and his book also will be spotlighted in the fall edition of Lux Esto.

The annual Flesche Lecture honors Donald C. Flesche, a longtime professor of political science at Kalamazoo College, who influenced generations of students—including Rosen himself. While studying at K, Rosen majored in political science and took courses with Flesche that helped shape his career in law and public service.

Cover of Grand Bargain Book
Retired judge and author Gerald Rosen ’73 will visit Kalamazoo College on September 24 to deliver the annual Flesche Lecture. A livestream will be available.

Kalamazoo College Singers to Present Michigan Premiere

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The Kalamazoo College Singers will present the Michigan premiere of Hymnody of Earth, a song cycle composed by musician and choral director Malcolm Dalglish, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, at K’s Stetson Chapel, 1200 Academy St. 

The composer himself will play the virtuosic hammered dulcimer and will be joined by International Percussion Ensemble Director Carolyn Koebel on percussion. Associate Professor of Music Chris Ludwa will be conducting the 45-voice college choir. 

This 70-minute program features 19 songs, many of which are inspired by eco-poet Wendell Berry. This is the fourth time Ludwa has directed the piece, having previously led three performances in Indiana. He notes that the work is an all-time favorite among participating singers and audiences. 

Hymnody features the hammered dulcimer, an ancient instrument, often considered an ancestor of the piano, that has been popular in various cultures, including in the Middle East and Europe. Dalglish and Koebel are performing the piece with several other choirs in the Midwest this spring. 

While a music education student at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Dalglish designed and built more than 60 hammer dulcimers. He was a founding member of the popular folk trio Metamora and has nine albums, including solo offerings on the Windham Hill label. The American Boychoir, the St. Olaf Choir, the Indianapolis Children’s Choir and others have commissioned his folk-inspired music. In 1997, he formed the Oolites, an engaging young group of folk singers. Hymnody of Earth was their second CD; it is a spiritual celebration of nature that has been performed by choirs around the world. 

The Kalamazoo College Singers, outside Stetson Chapel, will perform with Malcolm Dalglish
The Kalamazoo College Singers are a mixed soprano, alto, tenor and bass choir.
Composer Malcolm Dalglish
Composer Malcolm Dalglish
Associate Professor of Music Chris Ludwa directing the Kalamazoo College Singers
Associate Professor of Music Chris Ludwa serves as the director of the Kalamazoo College Singers.
International Percussion Director Carolyn Koebel to perform with Kalamazoo College Singers
International Percussion Director Carolyn Koebel

“Dalglish’s songs are instantly accessible to anyone, yet somehow speak to the deepest part of our being on a soul level,” Ludwa said. “I’ve encountered few composers that can move both the skeptic and the most devout in the same way. His music is a balm to the weary human as he knits ancient musical traditions, texts that magically describe the magnificence of nature, and melodic and harmonic material that sends shivers up the spine and brings tears to the eyes.” 

Tickets will be available at the door for a suggested donation of $15. For more information, contact Ludwa at 231-225-8877 or cludwa@kzoo.edu.  

‘Little Shop of Horrors’ Takes Root at K

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Something big, green and hungry is taking root at Kalamazoo College this week with Mo Silcott ’27 and Lee Zwart ’27 bringing it to life. The two will provide the puppetry behind the Audrey II, a giant plant with a taste for trouble, in the dark musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors, presented by the Festival Playhouse May 15–18. 

In the play, Seymour—a wallflower of an assistant at Mr. Mushnik’s plant shop—desires Audrey, a beautiful co-worker who dates a sadistic dentist. After a sudden solar eclipse, Seymour finds a mysterious plant that looks like a Venus fly trap and names it the Audrey II.  

Despite Seymour’s best efforts, Audrey II sickens until Seymour pricks his finger on a thorn, causing the plant to hungrily open its pod. Business begins to blossom for the shop as the bloodthirsty Audrey II grows like a weed. The situation, however, seeds problems, forcing Seymour to nip them in the bud. Max Goldner ’27 portrays Seymour, James Hauke ’26 plays Mr. Mushnik, Sophia Merchant ’25 performs as Audrey, and Drew Oss ’28 presents Orin the Dentist. 

Two "Little Shop of Horrors" actors with the Audrey II puppet
Sophia Merchant ’25 portrays Audrey and Max Goldner ’27 plays Seymour in “Little Shop of Horrors Thursday–Sunday at the Festival Playhouse of Kalamazoo College. Audrey II puppet provided by Cameron McEachern.

“Little Shop has always been one of my favorite shows, and I think the plot speaks to a lot of Americans’ current situation, whether that be in the same sense as Seymour or not,” Silcott said. “We might want to get out of a bad spot, to be somewhere that isn’t the harsh reality we find ourselves in during our day-to-day life. Little Shop gives the audience a chance to laugh at that a little bit and digest those realities in a show that manages to take itself seriously while also finding places for laughter.” 

Bringing the botanical behemoth to life is no small feat, but Silcott and Zwart are up for the challenge. The Festival Playhouse is renting the puppets with Silcott performing as the smaller Audrey II in the first act and Zwart performing as the full-grown beast in the second act. 

“One of the biggest challenges of performing the role of Audrey II is having to sit still on stage for about 25 minutes,” Silcott said. “Most of my acting consists of me sitting idly, and I didn’t realize how hard it is to actually just sit in one position with a full costume on, one that is stuffed with extremely warm materials. It’s very difficult to not move in a puppet that is a lot of fun to operate.” 

Zwart potentially faces an even bigger challenge, wearing a harness that allows him to operate an upper and a lower pod of the Audrey II plant: He faces a full-body workout while synching his movements with an offstage voice. 

“It’s physically taxing,” Zwart said. “I have to maneuver all of myself around to move this puppet and it’s pretty heavy and hot.”  

After weeks of such exertion, Zwart is looking forward to opening night.   

“It’s always fun to practice a play just running through it, but hearing the audience laughing and clapping is really very rewarding, especially for a play that’s as over the top as Little Shop.” 

The student-led production promises big vocals, bold costumes and plenty of leafy-green surprises, providing the cast and crew with ambitious challenges. The musical will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 15–Saturday, May 17, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 18, in the Festival Playhouse Theatre at 129 Thompson St. Thursday’s show will include a talkback with the cast after the performance. Tickets are available online or by calling the Festival Playhouse at 269.337.7333. 

“I’m really looking forward to the audience’s reaction to the puppets,” Silcott said. “I can’t see too much, so all of my cues and understanding of how my performance is going, is through sound. The best part of a production like this is seeing the audience’s initial reaction to each of the puppets, and that gives me a lot of motivation to perform and to perform well. Working with this cast has been a truly incredible experience and I’m especially excited to perform with them in the coming week.” 

Day of Gracious Giving Set for Wednesday

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Get ready: Kalamazoo College is holding its Day of Gracious Giving on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. The annual giving day is the college’s largest fundraising day of the year, and the entire K community is invited to come together to provide vital support for the student experience.    

Contributions of all sizes support scholarships and financial aid, faculty resources and K’s highest priorities, empowering K students to explore the world in new and exciting ways and creating life-changing experiences.  Last year’s Day of Gracious Giving raised more than $564,000 from 1,314 donors, not including the anonymous matching pool.

This year’s theme celebrates the Kalamazoo College journey—the unexpected discoveries, remarkable achievements and lifelong connections that come with being a K student.

The Day of Gracious Giving is inspired by another beloved K tradition, the Day of Gracious Living. That event falls on a date chosen by student representatives, a surprise that’s revealed when the campus-wide email goes out and the chapel bells begin to ring, signaling to all students: classes are canceled, gather up your friends and have an amazing day!   

“The Day of Gracious Giving continues to signify the traditional spirit of the Day of Gracious Living, one of care, appreciation and gratitude for this amazing community,” said Laurel Palmer, director of the Kalamazoo College Fund.   

Palmer encourages everyone to help illuminate paths for K students, igniting the spark of discovery—blazing trails for today’s explorers and tomorrow’s innovators with the warmth of your generosity. This day is about participation, and your engagement makes gifts and students go places!   

On May 7, follow K on social media and check for updates in your email to start your adventure in giving!      

Image says Day of Gracious Giving, May 7, 2025
Contributions of all sizes on the Day of Gracious Giving will help provide Kalamazoo College with funds for scholarships and financial aid, faculty resources and life-changing experiences. Make plans to participate and donate on Wednesday, May 7.

Want to advocate for the day? Share these messages via social media to encourage participation, leverage a match or a challenge to inspire other donors or donate to K.  

“Making a gift—of any size—on the Day of Gracious Giving helps launch new opportunities for students, creating ways of impact that inspire countless journeys at home and abroad,” Palmer said.  

If you would like to give to the Day of Gracious Giving, please visit www.kzoo.edu/dayofgraciousgiving/

Africa Month Marks Concentration’s Relaunch

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Kalamazoo College will mark the relaunch of its African studies concentration in May with Africa Month 2025, a vibrant celebration organized by Director of African Studies Dominique Somda and Assistant Professor of French Manfa Sanogo.

Africa Month will invite thoughtful and meaningful engagement with Africa and Afro-descendants worldwide thanks in part to support from a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Inclusive Excellence grant and the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. They will welcome visionary scholars, artists, curators and thinkers whose work challenges certitudes and expands horizons.

The events, all at the Arcus Center at 201 Monroe St. in Kalamazoo, include:

Image says, "Africa Month 2025: Disobedient Knowledge: Rethinking Higher Education with African and the Global South, May 9-11, 2025
Africa Month 2025 will celebrate the relaunch of Kalamazoo College’s African studies concentration with events that welcome visionary scholars, artists, curators and thinkers whose work challenges certitudes and expands horizons.
  • Divine Fuh of the University of Cape Town in an opening lecture titled “Decolonizing Knowledges and Building Transformative Partnerships” on Friday, May 9, at 4:15 p.m.
  • The opening of an art exhibit titled Becoming of the Day: Refusing the Timeline, featuring artist Anthony Obayomi of the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign on Friday, May 9, at 6 p.m.
  • A faculty and staff workshop titled “Disobedient Pedagogies in Liberal Arts Education” on Saturday, May 10, at 9 a.m.
  • A roundtable discussion titled “Rethinking the Ethics of Knowledge with the Global South” featuring speakers Herimampita Rarivomanantsoa of Université d’Antananarivo, Madagascar, and Cyndy Garcia Weyandt of Kalamazoo College on Saturday, May 10, at 2 p.m.
  • A public lecture titled “African Disobedient Feminism: Madness as an Approach to Emancipation” with writer Ken Bugul of Senegal on Saturday, May 10, at 5:30 p.m.
  • A conversation with artist and art professor Chido Johnson titled “Sadza Space: The Zimbabwe Cultural Centre in Detroit” on Sunday, May 11, at 11 a.m.
  • A luncheon and Haitian Flag Day lecture titled “Untimely Periodicals: Haiti and the Archives of Caribbean Thought” with speakers Medhi Chalmers and Carine Schermann of Florida State University on Sunday, May 11, at noon.

Somda said she is immensely grateful for an opportunity to welcome colleagues, guests and students to discussions about Africa. She added that the relaunched African studies concentration will offer students a wealth of enriching opportunities through an expanded curriculum and fresh perspective.

“Our new program deliberately extends beyond continental boundaries to embrace Africa’s full geographic and intellectual reach—including its edges, islands and diasporic extensions across the globe,” Somda said. “Beginning next fall, students can enroll in our new core course, Global Africa, which explores these interconnections. In winter term, our course Thinking Africa will centralize the continent’s deep historical connections with the world and its foundational role in critical intellectual traditions. Beyond coursework, the African studies program is planning year-round engagement through curated events, including film screenings, scholarly talks and unique forums for intellectual exchange. These dynamic encounters will create spaces for students to engage directly with diverse perspectives and cutting-edge scholarship. By taking this more expansive approach to African Studies, students will develop a sophisticated understanding of Africa’s global significance and participate in reimagining how we study, understand, and engage with Africa and its diasporas in the contemporary world.”

Sanogo, as a postcolonial scholar and language instructor, anticipates exciting opportunities for students inside and outside the classroom.

“By centering the diaspora, or rather by decentering the continent, the program deconstructs hierarchies of power and knowledge and invites students to reimagine the world from the perspectives of Africa and its diaspora while thinking critically about the global flow of knowledge, power and culture,” Sanogo said.

Africa Month speaker Divine Fuh
Divine Fuh
Africa Month speaker Herimampita Rarivomanantsoa
Herimampita Rarivomanantsoa
Africa Month speaker Ken Bugul
Ken Bugul
Mehdi Chalmers
Mehdi Chalmers
Africa Month speaker Anthony Obayomi
Anthony Obayomi
Cyndy Garcia Weyandt
Cyndy Garcia Weyandt
Chido Johnson
Chido Johnson
Carine Schermann
Carine Schermann

“This includes access to courses rooted in Black intellectual traditions; reevaluating what constitutes African languages, extending that privilege to French and Spanish, for example; and learning African languages, exploring study abroad programs in Black-majority regions such as Dakar and Nairobi.”

More information on the African studies concentration and Africa Month 2025 events will be available soon online.

K Honors Faculty, Staff at Annual Founders Day Celebration

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Amy Elman receives Lux Esto Award from President Jorge G. Gonzalez during Founders Day 2025
William Weber Chair of Social Science Amy Elman receives the 2025 Lux Esto Award from President Jorge G. Gonzalez during Founders Day events at Stetson Chapel on Friday, April 25.
Daniela Arias-Rotondo receives the Outstanding First-Year Advocate Award from President Jorge G. Gonzalez at Founders Day
Varney Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo receives the Outstanding First-Year Advocate Award from President Gonzalez at Founders Day.
Sandino Vargas-Perez receives the Outstanding Advisor Award from President Jorge G. Gonzalez at Founders Day
Dow Associate professor of Computer Science Sandino Vargas-Perez receives the Outstanding Advisor Award from President Gonzalez at Founders Day

Amy Elman, the William Weber Chair of Social Science, is this year’s recipient of the Lux Esto Award of Excellence as announced today during the College’s Founders Day celebration, marking K’s 192nd year.

The award recognizes an employee who has served the institution for at least 26 years and has contributed significantly to the campus. The recipient—chosen by a committee with student, faculty and staff representatives—is an employee who exemplifies the spirit of K through selfless dedication and goodwill.

At K, Elman has taught a variety of courses within the political science, women’s studies and Jewish studies departments. During her tenure, she has also been a visiting professor at Haifa University in Israel, Harvard University, SUNY Potsdam, Middlebury College, Uppsala University in Sweden and New York University.

Elman has received two Fulbright grants, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a grant from the Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism at Hebrew University. She has written three books: The European Union, Antisemitism and the Politics of Denial (2014); Sexual Equality in an Integrated Europe (2007); and Sexual Subordination and State Intervention: Comparing Sweden and the United States (1996). She also edited Sexual Politics and the European Union: The New Feminist Challenge (1996). In the 1997–98 academic year, she was awarded K’s Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for outstanding scholarship.

In accordance with Founders Day traditions, two other employees received community awards. Dow Associate Professor of Computer Science Sandino Vargas–Pérez was given the Outstanding Advisor Award and Varney Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo received the First-Year Advocate Award.

Before arriving at K, Vargas-Perez worked as an adjunct instructor at Western Michigan University, where he earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic.

Vargas-Perez has taught courses at K in data structures, algorithms, parallel computing, computing for environmental science, object-oriented programming, and programming in Java and web development. His research interests include high-performance computing, parallel and distributed algorithms, computational genomics, and data structures and compression.

Founders Day Celebration performers
Jazz quartet Liam McElroy (piano), Laura DeVilbiss (flute), Garrick Hohm (string bass) and Adam Cornier-Bridgeforth (drums) performed at the Founders Day celebration.
Two students introduce President Gonzalez
President’s Student Ambassadors Ava Williams ’26 and Madeline Hollander ’26 introduced President Gonzalez at the 192nd Founders Day celebration.
Presidents Student Ambassadors seated at Stetson Chapel
President Gonzalez recognized the students who served this year as President’s Student Ambassadors and shared the names of 13 more who will serve beginning this fall.

Nominators said Vargas–Pérez has consistently gone above and beyond his responsibilities as a professor to promote learning while finding opportunities for his advisees.

Arias-Rotondo has earned significant funding in support of her research and her commitment to engaging students in hands-on experiences in her lab. A $250,000 grant in 2023 from the National Science Foundation’s Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (LEAPS-MPS) provided funding for student researchers, typically eight to 10 per term. In 2024, she received a $50,000 American Chemical Society (ACS) Petroleum Research Fund grant, which will support her and her students’ upcoming research regarding petroleum byproducts. H.

Arias-Rotondo teaches Introductory Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Molecular Structure and Reactivity, and commonly takes students to ACS conferences. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires in Argentina and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Nominators said she has been a dependable, inspirational and fierce advocate for students.

Gonzalez also recognized the students who served as President’s Student Ambassadors in the 2024–25 academic year and introduced those who will serve the College beginning this fall in 2025–26. As student leaders, President’s Student Ambassadors serve as an extension of the president’s hospitality at events and gatherings, welcoming alumni and guests of the College with a spirit of inclusion. About 15 students serve as ambassadors each academic year. The students selected show strong communication skills; demonstrate leadership through academic life, student life or community service; and maintain a minimum grade-point average.

The 2024-25 ambassadors have been:

  • Jaylen Bowles-Swain ’26  
  • Christopher Cayton ’25  
  • Kyle Cooper ’25  
  • Blake Filkins ’26 
  • James Hauke ’26 
  • Maya Hester ’25  
  • Madeline Hollander ’25 
  • Gavin Houtkooper ’25  
  • Katie Kraemer ’25  
  • Isabelle Mason ’27  
  • Alex Nam ’25 
  • Tyrus Parnell, Jr. ’25 
  • Isabella Pellegrom ’25 
  • Addison Peter ’25  
  • Maxwell Rhames ’25 
  • Emiliano Alvarado Rescala ’27  
  • Amelie Sack ’27  
  • Dean Turpin ’25  
  • Ava Williams ’25 

The 2025-26 ambassadors succeeding this year’s seniors will be:

  • McKenna Acevedo ’27 
  • Randa Alnaas ’27 
  • Zahra Amini ’26 
  • Baylor Baldwin ’26 
  • Victoria “Gracie” Burnham ’27 
  • Avery Davis ’28 
  • Landrie Fridsma ’26 
  • Grey Gardner ’26 
  • Ava King ’28 
  • Claire Rhames ’27 
  • Simon Sawyer ’28 
  • Jillian Smith ’27 
  • Darius Wright III ’28 

2025 Sustainability Symposium to Welcome Local Activist

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A local activist known for constructing the first legally built tiny house in the county will be a keynote speaker for the 2025 Sustainability Senior Integrated Project (SIP) Symposium at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. 

Ben Brown will address the symposium in a lecture titled Rumors of Hope. A writer and international speaker, he will discuss his years of public engagement through social justice movements, urban farming, food sovereignty, energy sovereignty and economics.   

Brown, who grew up on a family farm in Southwest Michigan, is also an expert in the affordable-housing movement and is a founding member of the Kalamazoo Electric Vehicle Association (KEVA). He continues to be involved in environmental and conservation work and is credited with helping to preserve several cultural resources.  

In 2017, Brown provided WMUK Radio with a video tour around his tiny house, which measures less than 270 square feet. Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity assisted in the house’s construction.  

The SIP Symposium will feature student presentations representing a variety of academic departments at K and include research on topics such as food access, marine eco-systems, sustainability transitions for public transportation in Kalamazoo, sheep grazing and soil health, carbon sequestration and more. K recently featured one of the SIPs, a project on coral reefs in the Philippines by Brooke Dolhay ’25, on its website.  

Local food from Of the Land will be provided at the free event sponsored by the Larry J. Bell ’80 Environmental Stewardship Center and the environmental studies concentration. For more information, please contact Sara Stockwood, the director for the Environmental Stewardship Center and Lillian Anderson Arboretum, at Sara.Stockwood@kzoo.edu. 

Image says Keynote Speaker Ben Brown, Rumors of Hope: You in the Community, April 23, 6:30 p.m., 2025 Sustainability SIP Symposium
Writer and international speaker Ben Brown will discuss his years of public engagement through social justice movements, urban farming, food sovereignty, energy sovereignty and economics at the 2025 Sustainability SIP Symposium at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership.

Kitchen Lecture to ‘Spot’ Math at Play

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If you’ve ever played the game Spot it!, then you know it’s both disarmingly simple and endlessly replayable. Each card features eight symbols, and between any two cards in the game deck, there is always one—and only one—matching symbol. Several variations change the mechanics, but the goal always remains the same: Be the fastest player to spot and name the matches. 

What is the secret to the game? How does it work? Well—it may come down to math. 

On April 29, at 7 p.m. in Dewing Hall Room 103, Sarah Koch will deliver a talk titled “Spotting the Math in Spot it!,” this year’s installment of the George Kitchen Memorial Lecture at Kalamazoo College. The lectureship provides an opportunity for mathematicians to speak about their work in a way that is accessible to high school students and math educators. 

“We’ll play Spot it! and explore ways to answer various questions about the game,” promises the description for the talk. “We will discover that there is a remarkable amount of mathematics underlying this game, including a tantalizing mathematical mystery.” 

Koch, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, researches complex dynamical systems, working to understand the infinitely complicated structure of beautiful fractals that emerge. She holds two Ph.D.s in mathematics, one from the Université de Provence in Marseille, and one from Cornell University. She is the director of the Math Corps at U(M), a summer camp for middle schoolers and high school mentors from Ypsilanti and Detroit, and the organizer of the Math Mondays in Ypsi Program, which has temporarily been replaced with Super Saturdays. In addition to doing math, she enjoys teaching, working with students and making kindness chains.

Stephen Oloo, associate professor of mathematics at Kalamazoo College, said Koch was suggested as a speaker by a visiting professor who had graduated from U of M.  

“I did a bit of research and could see she loves doing this kind of talk,” Oloo said. “We don’t choose just any mathematician. Our speakers are always active research mathematicians, and they like to give math talks aimed at an early high school sort of student. They like outreach. They tend to have a few talks prepared that are pitched at just the right level.”  

Kitchen Lecture speaker Sarah Koch discusses Spot It math game
Sarah Koch, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, researches complex dynamical systems and will deliver the 2025 Kitchen Lecture through a game with math ties titled Spot It!

Spotting the Math
in Spot It! 

  • What: The 2025 George Kitchen Memorial Lecture at Kalamazoo College, given by Sarah Koch, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor 
  • When: Tuesday, April 29, at 7 p.m. 
  • Where: Dewing Hall, Room 103 
  • Who: Free and open to the public 
  • For more: Contact Kristen Eldred at Kristen.Eldred@kzoo.edu or 269.337.7100
  • George Kitchen Memorial Lecture website 

Oloo said the math department at K communicates the intent and audience of the lectures to the speaker, who chooses his or her own topic. 

“I know this talk is going to be good,” Oloo said. “It strikes me as it will probably have a lot of combinatorics, what you can think of as advanced counting, which tends to have interesting results while being very accessible. From the nature of the game, there are all kinds of interesting questions you could ask. When you deal out a hand of Spot it! cards, how many possible different combinations are there? How big does the deck have to be? If you dealt two or three or four cards, what would they have in common and different? I’m sure she’ll have some surprising things for us. Probably she’ll talk about strategy. There are probably ways to approach the game that you could figure out by studying the math.” 

The lecture’s target audience of high school students honors George Kitchen, who was a local mathematician and teacher and firmly believed that a love for mathematics and its applications could be cultivated in every student. In the 1980s, Kitchen helped start a regular gathering at K of college and high school math teachers called Calculus Connection, along with John Fink, Kalamazoo College professor emeritus of mathematics.  

“George was a wonderful teacher, and he was really demanding, but he would always support his students in what he demanded of them,” Fink said. 

When Kitchen died, members of Calculus Connection decided to fund an endowment to support a lecture series to honor Kitchen’s memory. The George Kitchen Memorial Lecture at Kalamazoo College was founded in 1999 and has taken place every spring since, excepting a hiatus from 2020-2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Obviously we think math is important, and math and science knowledge, education, literacy, are good things,” Oloo said. “This has been a good way to get students in the area excited about math, to show them that math is not just this dull thing.” 

The talks also build local connections and help improve K’s visibility with area high schoolers. A whole community has developed over the years, with the audience often including not only math teachers and high school students and their parents, but also former students of George Kitchen as well as parents of long-grown children who first experienced the lectures when their children were in high school and continue to attend. 

“I’ve seen how popular these can be, the surprising number of people intrigued by mathematical ideas,” Oloo said. “My hopes are good attendance, and that people would leave feeling like they’ve learned something—both that it was fun, and that they are now a little bit more knowledgeable.” 

For example, the 2024 speaker brought a statistics and probability lens to, among other things, conspiracy theories such as the Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences urban legend that points out a large number of similarities between the two presidents, including the fact that their assassins were both known by three names composed of 15 letters. 

“He was diving into the numbers, and things you encounter that seem almost spooky, but in this talk, you realize, ‘Oh, it’s not that weird.’ It’s just a function of doing the math, how many people we have on the planet,” Oloo said. “It was a great lecture where people in the audience who knew probability have thought about these things and know how the numbers work, while for many of us, it’s new, and you could learn something that actually alters how you view the world. I’m not a big statistics guy, and I left that talk armed with this new piece of knowledge. When I encounter people claiming, ‘Oh, this is a really spooky coincidence,’ now I can say, ‘No, it’s just the numbers. It’s not that weird.’”