Category: Events

NBC News Journalist, Producer to Visit K

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Dan Slepian, an award-winning NBC News journalist and veteran producer of Dateline, will be the featured speaker at Kalamazoo College’s Flesche Lecture at 8 p.m. May 11 at Stetson Chapel. A livestream will also be available.

In more than two decades at NBC, Slepian has earned 11 Emmy nominations by spearheading dozens of documentaries, hidden-camera investigations and breaking news reports. Referred to as “a TV news gumshoe” by the New York Times, Slepian’s investigations have helped solve cold cases, assisted in exonerating the wrongly accused, and sparked changes in laws.

In February, NBC News released “Letters from Sing Sing,” an eight-episode podcast hosted by Slepian that documents his 20-year journey investigating the wrongful conviction claim of Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez. The podcast hit No. 1 on Apple’s top charts the day of its release. Velazquez will be a guest of Slepian at the lecture.

Slepian also conceived, developed and produced “Justice for All,” an NBC News/MSNBC series about the criminal justice system. The weeklong event included the first town hall from a maximum-security prison as well as Dateline’s Emmy-nominated “Life Inside” about mass incarceration.

In February 2021, NBC premiered Dateline’s first docuseries, “The Widower,” a five-hour network primetime series airing over three nights, detailing Slepian’s 13-year investigation into Thomas Randolph, an eccentric homicide suspect who had been married six times.

In May 2019, Dateline debuted its first podcast with Slepian. The eight-episode series “13 Alibis” helped exonerate an innocent man of homicide. In 2018, Slepian was granted exclusive access to film rapper Meek Mill on the day of his highly publicized release from prison. The Dateline special “Dreams and Nightmares” featured journalist Lester Holt’s exclusive interview with Meek just hours after his release.

As a volunteer, Slepian works with incarcerated men at Sing Sing prison where he helped create “Voices from Within,” a video featuring testimonials intended to help reduce gun violence. Slepian introduced the project, which is now a long-term program at the prison, during a TEDx talk at Sing Sing.

Before joining NBC News, Slepian began his career with the Phil Donahue Show.

K Professor Emeritus of Political Science Donald C. “Don” Flesche has been a longtime voice of the Hornets at countless athletic events and a beloved teacher. The Donald C. Flesche Visiting Scholars and Lectureship Endowment was started by Flesche’s former students, ensuring the conversations among learners on campus include the best scholars and newsmakers in the world. The Flesche Lecture is free and open to the public.

Flesche Lecture speaker Dan Slepian, an NBC News journalist
NBC News journalist Dan Slepian will deliver the 2023 Flesche Lecture at 8 p.m. May 11.
Flesche Lecture guest Jon-Adrian JJ Velazquez
Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez will be Slepian’s guest at the Flesche Lecture.

Classics Lecture Slated for Thursday

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Kalamazoo College’s Department of Classics will host the co-director of a digital archaeology project, known as the Mediterranean Connectivity Initiative, for a public lecture this Thursday. 

Lindsey Mazurek is an assistant professor of classical studies at Indiana University Bloomington. Her lecture is titled Imagining a Greek Home for an Egyptian Goddess: Time, Landscape and Architecture in Greek Sanctuaries to Isis. The talk will address Isis’ arrival on Greek shores in the third century BCE, and how her new followers had to build sanctuaries appropriate for an Egyptian goddess.  

Mazurek commonly explores ethnicity, religion, landscape and change in the Roman provinces, especially how the inhabitants of Rome’s provinces reconfigured their own ideas of themselves and their world in response to Roman rule. Her book, Isis in a Global Empire: Greek Identity Through Egyptian Religion in Roman Greece (Cambridge University Press, 2022), examines the worship of Egyptian deities such as Isis, Sarapis and Anubis in Greece during the Roman period and how local devotees reconfigured traditional ideas about Greekness in response to their religious practices. 

Mazurek’s digital archaeology project uses social network analysis and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping to study how ancient social networks were created over time and space in the Roman Empire. Her research has been recognized through awards and fellowships from the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, the German Archaeological Institute and the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

The classics lecture will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Olds Upton Room 103. For more information on the presentation, visit the Department of Classics website. 

Classics lecture speaker Lindsey Mazurek
Indiana University Bloomington Assistant Professor of Classical Studies Lindsey Mazurek will speak Thursday, April 13, at Kalamazoo College in Olds Upton 103.

Gilmore Slates Concerts at Stetson Chapel

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The Gilmore is scheduling two concerts on campus at Stetson Chapel and the Kalamazoo College community is invited to attend both at a discount.

First, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet will perform at 7:30 p.m. this Thursday. The world-renowned performer has recorded more than 50 albums and performs a range of solo, chamber and orchestral pieces at worldwide venues. In the 2022-23 season, he is performing with colleagues including Renée Fleming, Itzhak Perlman, Michael Tilson Thomas and Emanuel Ax, and he is playing Debussy’s Préludes in Switzerland, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and throughout the U.S., including at Carnegie Hall.

Thibaudet’s recordings have received two Grammy nominations, and his 2021 album Carte Blanche features a collection of deeply personal solo piano pieces never-before recorded by the pianist. He has also worked in film, as a soloist in Dario Marianelli’s award-winning and nominated scores for Atonement, which won an Oscar for Best Original Score, and Pride and Prejudice; in Alexandre Desplat’s soundtrack for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; and in Wes Anderson’s film, The French Dispatch.

Then, Maria João Pires will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 21.

Pires launched the Partitura Project in Belgium in 2012, with the aim to encourage cooperation and social engagement among pianists, while balancing the dynamic between artists toward altruism rather than competitiveness. She will conclude her nine-day workshop for pianists with a solo and joint performance with her students. The program and participants will be announced from the stage.

Picture of pianist says The Gilmore, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, March 30
The Gilmore has scheduled a performance by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet to take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 30, at Stetson Chapel.

A piano master admired for her interpretations of Chopin, Schubert and Mozart, Pires is known for her lightness of touch and vital imagination. She has devoted herself to expressing the influence of art in life, community and education. Reflecting on this philosophy, she has said, “We have a responsibility to lead our life in the best possible way, to help others and to share this planet with compassion. Music and art are the deepest expressions of our soul and the direct transmission of our universe. I think everyone is born an artist and art should be shared with all people on this planet.” 

Born in 1944 in Lisbon, Pires gave her first performance at age 4, and received Portugal’s highest award for young musicians at age 9. She gained international recognition upon winning first prize at the Brussels Beethoven International Competition, commemorating the composer’s 200th birthday in 1970. Pires has appeared all over the globe with major orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Wiener Philharmoniker. 

Faculty and staff are eligible for buy one, get one free tickets to both concerts. Students are eligible for single free tickets.

Before adding tickets to your cart for the Thibaudet concert or the Pires concert on the Gilmore website, click “Promo Code” on the upper right of the ticketing page. Students should use the code KCSTU23. Faculty and staff should use the code KC23. Click “Apply Promo Code” and choose your tickets. The discount will be applied at checkout. Rush tickets will also be available with a K ID on the day of the concert when the box office opens on site. 

K’s Day of Gracious Giving is May 17

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Kalamazoo College is hosting its Day of Gracious Giving on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. The annual giving day is the biggest fundraising day of the year for the College, and the entire K community is invited to come together to provide vital support for the student experience.    

Last year’s Day of Gracious Giving raised $448,353 from 1,433 donors, not including challenge matches. Contributions of all sizes supported scholarships and financial aid, faculty resources and K’s highest priorities.  

Over the last several years, the Day of Gracious Giving has been held on the same day as K’s Day of Gracious Living, a nearly 50-year Kalamazoo College tradition where student representatives select a day off, canceling classes.    

The actual date for the Day of Gracious Living—or DOGL (pronounced like doggle), as it is often referred to across campus—has always been a closely guarded surprise for students and employees, including K’s Advancement staff, who have previously planned the giving day with only a general idea of when the date might finally fall. This year, the College has decided to designate a specific date for the giving day, keeping the spirit of DOGL while adding the predictability of a more traditional giving day.  

Day of Gracious Giving benefits students in classrooms, labs and more
Contributions of all sizes toward the Day of Gracious Giving support scholarships and financial aid, faculty resources and K’s highest priorities to benefit students in classrooms, labs and more.

As for the Day of Gracious Living, it will continue to be chosen by student representatives, its date only revealed when the campus-wide email goes out and the chapel bells begin to ring, signaling to all students: set aside your books, gather up your friends and get your sunscreen and beach blankets ready.  

 “We believe that the Day of Gracious Giving encompasses the traditional spirit of DOGL—one of joy, appreciation and gratitude—whether or not it is held on the exact same day,” said Laurel Palmer, director of the Kalamazoo College Fund.  “Choosing a date ahead of time gives the College a consistent timeframe for planning and communicating about the event. We hope that this change will allow us to reach the broadest audience possible.”  

Palmer also encourages everyone in the K community to be a part of the Day of Gracious Giving, whether it’s by creating a buzz on social media to encourage participation, offering a challenge or making a donation. 

“Making a gift—of any size—on the Day of Gracious Giving helps to ensure that students are able to participate in the experiences that make the K education distinctive.” 

If you would like to give to K, please visit www.kzoo.edu/giving and place Day of Gracious Giving in the special instructions area to have your gift included as part of the day. Your contribution makes it possible for Kalamazoo College to provide brighter opportunities for K students—preparing them to shine a brighter light into the world as alumni.  

K Welcomes Rakugo Comedian, Storyteller Katsura Sunshine

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A storyteller and comedian with Broadway credits will be the featured presenter at Kalamazoo College’s Kafu Lecture on Thursday, April 20, in the Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts.

Katsura Sunshine is one of only a few living non-Japanese masters of rakugo, a 400-year-old tradition of comic-monologue storytelling in Japan. In the practice, a lone storyteller, dressed in a kimono, kneels on a cushion while using a fan and a hand towel as props. 

To become a professional rakugoka, a storyteller must be apprenticed to a master, from whom the storyteller receives a stage name. Sunshine, originally from Canada, first was accepted as an apprentice to the rakugo storytelling master Katsura Bunshi VI in September 2008. He debuted professionally on April 26, 2009, in Singapore, and completed his three-year rakugo apprenticeship in November 2011. 

Sunshine has performed in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Slovenia, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Gabon, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia and Japan. Reviews of Sunshine’s critically-acclaimed performances, such as a 2019 review from the New York Times, say his tales and prologues are full of self-deprecating humor, placing him in scenarios where he commonly plays an outsider. Watch excerpts from his previous performances in English and Japanese at Sunshine’s YouTube channel. 

The Kafu Lecture was established in 1982 by an anonymous donor in honor of Nagai Kafu, an acclaimed 20th century Japanese writer. Kafu studied at Kalamazoo College during the 1904-05 academic year. Admission to the event is free and open to the public. The doors will open at 6:30 p.m. with the show beginning at 7.

The event is cosponsored by K’s departments of Japanese, theatre and anthropology-sociology, and the Soga Japan Center at Western Michigan University. For more information, email K’s Department of Japanese at japanese@kzoo.edu. 

Rakugo Comedian and Storyteller Katsura Sunshine Performing
Katsura Sunshine is a master of rakugo, a 400-year-old Japanese art of comedy and storytelling. He will perform in a free show at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts.
Sunshine’s YouTube channel features some of his English performances of rakugo.

Enjoy Jazz, Music from the Movies

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Two Kalamazoo College music ensembles are sure to excite and entertain audiences this weekend with their winter performances.

A wide variety of styles will be performed from second-line New Orleans to blues and swing when K’s Jazz Band takes the stage at 8 p.m. Friday, February 17, at the Dalton Theatre. Directed by Music Professor Thomas G. Evans, K’s Jazz Band pulls together a collection of contemporary and classic jazz arrangements to provide the participating students and the audience with an electric experience. Listeners are encouraged to dance if the music inspires them with the enthusiasm of the musicians making the band special.

At 8 p.m. Saturday, February 18, at Dalton Theatre, join the Academy Street Winds as the group pays loving tribute to legendary film composer John Williams. Led by conductor Evans, the ensemble will perform selections from Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, War Horse, Star Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones and more. The group is especially proud to share the stage with Music Department Chair Andrew Koehler, who will perform the violin theme from Schindler’s List.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Music Professor Thomas G. Evans to conduct Jazz Band, Academy Street Winds concerts
Kalamazoo College’s Jazz Band and the Academy Street Winds are sure to excite and entertain audiences this weekend under their conductor, Music Professor Thomas G. Evans.

K Plans Martin Luther King Jr. Day Events

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day Presenter Maxine Maxwell
Actor Maxine Maxwell

Kalamazoo College is hosting two open-to-the-public events to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2023. The theme for this year’s festivities is Centering Black Lives: Various Movements, One Purpose. Participants will better understand the past, learn about the present and move toward improving Black communities. 

Echoes of the Past by Maxine Maxwell 

11:05 a.m.–11:40 p.m. Friday, January 13, Stetson Chapel 

Echoes of the Past is a dramatic performance from Maxine Maxwell that examines what it has been like to be Black and female over the past 150 years. The event will explore history to find the turning points in the lives of five African and African American women of remarkable strength and courage. Each character comes with a concise background and narrative along with subtle costume pieces to set the stage. Attend in person or through a live stream. 

Maxwell, a native of St. Louis, is a graduate of Webster University’s Conservatory of Theatre Arts. As an actor, she has toured throughout the country and worked in New York as a solo artist and a member of performing ensembles. Her past credits include the national tour of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enough.  

Georgia State University Africana Studies Chair Jonathan Gayles
Georgia State University
Africana Studies Chair
Jonathan Gayles

Wakanda: Imagining Black Pasts and Futures by Jonathan Gayles 

11 a.m.–Noon Monday, January 16, Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts 

Jonathan Gayles, a professor and chair of Africana Studies at Georgia State University, engages the history of Wakanda and the Black Panther across a number of medias including comic books and film in Wakanda: Imagining Black Past and Futures.

With an Afrofuturist lens, he uses images and video to challenge the audience to consider the power of media that center Black life. He also considers the potential shortcomings of Wakanda that reflect continuing tensions around the articulation and understanding of Black life, even in imagined spaces.

Attend in person or through a live stream.  

Obon Festival to Feature Taiko Drums, Dancing

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Obon Festival Featured Performer Ken Koshio with stretched out arms and a drum looking over a city.
Taiko Master Ken Koshio will be among the featured performers Saturday
at Kalamazoo College’s Obon Festival.

Kalamazoo College will host a Japanese cultural festival on Saturday that traditionally is held to commemorate deceased ancestors as their spirits return to visit their relatives. 

The Obon Festival, the first of its kind at K, will feature Bon dancing, Japanese martial arts and taiko drums with Japanese Taiko Master Ken Koshio, along with crafts and food. The event is presented by K’s International Percussion Ensemble, a group that features a West African ensemble and Caribbean steelpans in addition to Japanese taiko. 

K’s taiko group will perform with the Michigan Hiryu Daiko drumming group, the Japanese instrumental group Sakura and Fort Wayne Taiko. The free event will be conducted on the Quad from 2 to 5 p.m. with the Dalton Theatre in Light Fine Arts reserved as the rain site.  

For more information on this performance, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu. 

WMUK interview: Hear from Ken Koshio and Carolyn Koebel of the Michigan Hiryu Daiko Taiko Drummers.

Academy Street Winds Concert Slated for Friday

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Poster of a dancer says the Academy Street Winds, Thomas G. Evans conductor, Celebration and Dance, Friday October 28 2022, Dalton Theatre, Light Fine Arts Building, Free Admission, Donations Appreciated
The Academy Street Winds will perform their fall
concert at 8 p.m. Friday, October 28, at Dalton Theatre
in the Light Fine Arts Building.

Music lovers will gather at 8 p.m. Friday for a free Academy Street Winds concert at Dalton Theater in the Light Fine Arts Building.

The group, formerly known as the Kalamazoo College Symphonic Band, functions as a beloved creative outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities. Director of Bands and Professor of Music Thomas Evans serves as the group’s conductor.

The theme for the fall-term concert will be “Celebration and Dance” as it features some of the great dance themes from around the world. If you can’t attend in person, listen in through a livestream on Vimeo.

For more information on the Academy Street Winds or this concert, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.

Thompson Lecture Slates Author, Lecturer as Guest Speaker

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Author, podcaster and Bates College Visiting Assistant Professor Megan Goodwin will be the
guest speaker at this year’s Thompson Memorial Lecture at 7 p.m. October 18.

An author, podcaster and Bates College visiting assistant professor of religious studies will be the guest speaker at this year’s Paul Lamont Thompson Memorial Lecture at 7 p.m. October 18 in the Hicks Student Center Banquet Room.

Megan Goodwin’s lecture is titled “Undrinking the Kool-Aid: Mis/remembering Peoples Temple.” The presentation will provide popular incorrect memories of the Jonestown Massacre and invite the audience to consider who benefits from the erasure of many Black women’s deaths at the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project in Guyana. The material is excerpted from Goodwin’s current book project, which is tentatively titled Cults Incorporated: The Business of Bad Religion.

Goodwin is the author of Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals and American Minority Religions (Rutgers University 2020). She earned a Ph.D. and a Master of Arts in religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; a Master of Arts in women’s studies at Drew University and a Bachelor of Science in print journalism at Boston University. Goodwin writes, teaches and produces podcasts about race, gender, sexuality, politics, popular culture and American minority religions. Her podcast, “Keeping it 101: A Killjoy’s Introduction to Religion,” is available on most podcast platforms.

The Thompson Lecture was established by a gift from the sons and daughters-in-law of Paul Lamont and Ruth Peel Thompson. A committee of alumni and friends of the College worked diligently to build the fund with gifts from those many students whose lives were enriched by Thompson’s leadership during his days as the College’s president from 1938 to 1949.

The lecture, hosted by the Department of Religion, brings to K speakers who enrich the community’s ethical understanding of its position in the larger society, beyond the College. Please note that masks are required at this event.