Faculty & Staff Archives - News and Events

City Events, Off-Campus Studio Draw Art Students Downtown

Posted on May 23, 2025May 23, 2025

A visit to the off-campus community studio and several Senior Integrated Projects (SIPs) painted a picture of life at Kalamazoo College during the city’s Art Hop festivities in May. During the monthly celebration that draws crowds to downtown Kalamazoo, the Park Trades Center, 326 W. Kalamazoo Ave., was the ultimate place for the local arts community to be.

Located only about a mile from campus, the Park Trades Center has been leasing space to artists and artisans for more than 30 years. A former manufacturing facility, this 105-year-old building has 95 studio spaces, including space used by Kalamazoo College since about 2010. Art students from K gather there throughout their senior year beginning with their SIP-preparation class in fall. That continues in winter as they work independently, and in spring when advisors meet with students. Every so often, the facility hosts Art Hop, giving students a spotlight within the city.

Josie Checkett ’25 was among the seniors who exhibited her work and benefited from the Park Trades Center this year. Her SIP, titled Shooting the Moon and Other Failures, represented her journey with growing up and the big changes that took place when she left behind her teenage years to become a young adult.

“When I became a senior and got studio space in the Park Trades Center to start working on my SIP, going there almost every day to work shifted my mindset from being an art student to being an artist,” Checkett said. “You get exposed to more opportunities to show work, you meet other people who work or have studios in the building, and you’re not beholden to the hours and resources of the Light Fine Arts building. If you do it right, it’s almost like doing a residency.”

The main area of K’s community studio at the Park Trades Center is used as a classroom and a critique and exhibition space, with the rest split into individual spaces for each studio art major or SIP student to work. In a typical year, about 12 to 15 students conduct studio SIPs in the department, Professor of Art Sarah Lindley said.

“Students have 24-hour access throughout the year, and many use the studio throughout the long winter break, which provides continuity in addition to an accessible workspace,” Lindley said. “The space is managed by a post-baccalaureate fellow, who is a working artist and also has a studio in the space. The fellow serves as a liaison between on- and off-campus resources, a mentor for students, a safety monitor for tool use, an exhibition coordinator and a helper with other essential programming in the department.”

Jacob Converse is the current post-baccalaureate fellow and he relishes his studio manager title. He said students and faculty are lucky to share the Park Trades Center with many working artists and people in trades of several varieties. The professionals include glass blowers, furniture and cabinetry makers, book binders, papermakers, barbers and photographers. It even has a wallpaper-printing studio.

“Art Hops are an exciting event with many Park Trades Center members opening their doors to the public to explore, shop and meet others interested in the arts,” Converse said. “It’s a hallmark experience for our students who gain vital exhibition experience along with the benefits of sharing ideas and receiving constructive feedback for future endeavors.”

Art Hop is an important part of the student experience for all levels of students. The studio hosts art hop exhibitions for seniors in fall and winter, which highlight the different stages of SIP development, and the spring features the department show. There were even a few non-art majors included this year because the students enjoyed their art classes and were proud of what they created.

“I know many of the students who attended this year’s Art Hop enjoyed meeting some local alumni, and many of the recently declared art majors are looking forward to working here, as they appreciated this exciting introduction to the studio space and its multifunctionality,” Converse said.

Art Hop displays at the Park Trades Center studio — Kalamazoo College art students gather at the Park Trades Center throughout their senior year beginning with their SIP-preparation class in fall. That continues in winter as they work independently, and in spring when advisors meet with students. Every so often, the facility also hosts Art Hop, giving students a spotlight within the city.

Josie Checkett with artwork from her Senior Integrated Project — Josie Checkett ’25 was among the seniors who exhibited her work at and benefited from the Park Trades Center this year.

Lindley said the Gilmore Foundation supported the Park Trades Center for several years, and there have been numerous community collaborations there over the years, including partnerships with the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement along with some student-run community projects. The pandemic changed that somewhat. But the annual student show remains a highlight, with many students venturing off campus to share their work and participate in the local arts community.

Checkett says she hopes that students will continue to push their arts horizons there.

“It’s easy, especially when you live on campus, to forget we are living within an entire community, and one that has a very active art scene at that,” Checkett said. “Both showing work at Art Hop and attending other parts of the event gets students out into that community. When you’re an art student and your studio time, your critiques, most of the other art you see on a daily basis is all made by your direct peers, it’s good to broaden that scope. The Park Trades Center provides a valuable experience.”

Kalamazoo College Singers to Present Michigan Premiere

Posted on May 14, 2025May 14, 2025

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.

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.

Student, Faculty Research Partners Earn National Recognition

Posted on May 12, 2025May 12, 2025

Maxwell Rhames ’25 and Daniela Arias-Rotondo, Kalamazoo College’s Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Endowed Chair in Natural Science, are receiving national recognition for their three years of work together that culminated in Rhames’ Senior Integrated Project (SIP).

Arias-Rotondo’s synthetic inorganic chemistry lab works to find ways of converting light into energy. In Rhames’ SIP, that meant examining what alternative metals could possibly be used to make things like solar panels less expensive, one day assisting a global shift toward renewable energy.

“When you have some sort of inorganic complex that absorbs light, that light can get transformed into chemical energy in the form of electricity,” Rhames said. “A common example is with solar panels, but the metals that they use in them are rare, and as a result, incredibly expensive. We were looking at taking some cheaper metals that you could find anywhere in a much more sustainable way and asking whether they can work.”

For their efforts, the two have received an honorable mention in the 2024 Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award for Undergraduate Research, which recognizes research that students and faculty perform in tandem. The award, given through the American Chemical Society, has three divisions between national labs, research universities and institutions that primarily consist of undergraduates. Rhames and Arias-Rotondo were honored in the primarily-undergraduates category, which covers scientists from hundreds of schools across the country.

“The traditional photoactive metals are iridium and ruthenium, and we’re looking at manganese, which is the third-most abundant transition metal on Earth,” Rhames said. “In the state we use it in, it’s stable and nontoxic, so it’s a great alternative. We’re looking at how we can bridge the gap between saying, ‘this could be really cool,’ and actually getting it to where we could apply it in some of these areas.”

Arias-Rotondo said she and Rhames use spectroscopy to understand what kind of light the compounds they create absorb and what happens after they absorb it.

Student and professor with national Undergraduate Research Award — Maxwell Rhames ’25 and Daniela Arias-Rotondo, Kalamazoo College’s Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Endowed Chair in Natural Science, have received national recognition with an honorable mention in the 2024 Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award for Undergraduate Research, which recognizes research that students and faculty perform in tandem.

“One of the problems that we’re finding is that once our compounds absorb light and get to what we call an excited state, that excited state doesn’t last long enough yet for them to be useful,” she said. “But Max’s work has been instrumental because he was the first one in the group to make these kinds of compounds. Now that we’ve been able to understand their properties and investigate some of them, other students in our lab can understand how to make them better. We are making a name for ourselves by laying the groundwork for making these compounds.”

Rhames has discussed his SIP at the Inter-American Photochemical Society and American Chemical Society conferences, where his fellow scientists were enthused about his work on a national scale.

“That’s been the coolest thing, because when you put something out there, you don’t know what people are going to think of it,” he said. “And generally, their reactions have been super rewarding. I enjoy doing the work myself, but it’s even cooler to know that other people find it equally exciting. It’s an added bonus.”

Rhames won’t be the first or the last in his family to graduate from K when he walks the stage at Commencement in June. Both of his parents, Frank ’92 and Jody ’92, are alumni, and his sister, Claire ’27, is a current student. However, he’s clearly found his own path having performed research in Arias-Rotondo’s lab ever since his first year on campus. In addition, he will start a Ph.D. program at the University of Delaware in fall, and he hopes to one day serve as a faculty member at an institution like K.

“K is small, so you get to make a lot of good connections with your professors,” Rhames said. “I was three or four weeks into my first term as a college student, and all of a sudden, I’m in a lab doing the work with the research. There are no post-docs or graduate students. It is just the undergraduates and the faculty doing all of the work. That would’ve been a lot harder to do had I not gone to K.”

This Box is a Life Saver

Posted on May 6, 2025May 6, 2025

Some remodeled newspaper boxes—including one at Kalamazoo College—are once again worthy of front-page news. And this time, they have the potential to save lives.

Haley Mangette, K’s assistant director of student success for wellness, works with the Kalamazoo County Opioid Coalition. Supporting the Coalition’s mission, the Community Outreach Prevention and Education (COPE) Network and Bronson Healthcare refurbish the boxes and install them around town as sites for the public to quickly and anonymously obtain naloxone.

The nasal spray, also known by the brand name Narcan, rapidly reverses an overdose by blocking the effects of opioids. It works within two to three minutes for a person whose breath has slowed or even stopped. A person can’t get high from using naloxone and it’s safe for practically anyone.

K’s newly installed box is located at Lovell Street and Campus Drive behind the Hicks Student Center.

“With fentanyl overdoses harming many people, the more accessible naloxone is, the more people are prepared to respond to an overdose and potentially save someone,” Mangette said. “A person can only move toward recovery if they’re alive.”

Naloxone was already available on campus through AED boxes in administration and classroom buildings, and at residence halls through resident assistant first-aid kits. The box, however, expands the spray’s availability, even for those who live beyond the campus’ borders.

“The U.S. has seen a decline in overdose deaths with the introduction of naloxone and the widespread promotion and training of individuals delivering it,” Mangette said. “COPE Network and Bronson Hospital have been able to install several boxes around the county, and ours will ease access for those around our area.”

Two students and a staff member standing next to a naloxone box — Sam Douma ’26 (from left), Assistant Director of Student Success for Wellness Haley Mangette and Zane Jones ’27 stand with a new naloxone box at K.

Mangette works with students Sam Douma ’26 and Zane Jones ’27, who help her as peer educators in Student Development. Douma is a psychology major who has strong interests in writing, philosophy, and the intersection of computer science, new media and neuroscience. Outside of academics, he’s involved with K’s bike co-op and rock climbing. Jones volunteers with K Votes—the College’s non-partisan coalition that informs K students, faculty and staff members about voting and civic engagement—and works at Woodward Elementary School through the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement. They join Mangette in praising the installation and recognizing its potential to save lives.

“Having a naloxone box on campus is a perfect example of minimal effort, maximum impact preventative care,” Douma said. “A major part of our philosophy is based in harm reduction. In the event of an overdose, being prepared is critical. Having a naloxone box available could be lifesaving, whether for a student or someone from the surrounding neighborhood. Given Lovell Street’s visibility and traffic, placing a naloxone box there could make it a well-known resource, and not just for our campus, but for the broader community.”

“I’ve talked to my friends about it, and most of them didn’t know we had naloxone on campus until now,” Jones said. “I hope this makes it an accessible resource so it gets pushed to the people who need it, especially if we can offer some training with it.”

Douma and Jones meet with students individually, digitally through social media and the College’s website, and at various student events where they provide information and resources to help navigate complicated scenarios where they might face substance use on a college campus.

Help from them is only a click away should a student need it at their website or Instagram page. Mangette also is reachable at haley.mangette@kzoo.edu or by calling Student Development at 269.337.7209 for more information.

“We think it’s important to have peer educators because it’s easier for a student to talk to another student, and realistically, a student’s going to listen to someone their age rather than an authority figure,” Jones said. “It’s less scary for a student to come to someone like me on campus and I can just be real at the same time. We also love helping out in the community. I use the word resource a lot, but I believe we are good resources and it’s a great thing for us to do. It makes me feel good because I feel like I’m benefiting our community.”

‘Bricks’ Exhibition Opens at Light Fine Arts

Posted on March 31, 2025March 31, 2025

As students and faculty are returning from spring break, the Department of Art and Art History is presenting Bricks (I’d Like to Build a Shelter), an art exhibition by office coordinator Marissa Klee-Peregon.

The show will be on view in the Light Fine Arts Gallery through Friday, April 4, with gallery hours from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Friday and Saturday. There will also be an artist talk, with a reception to follow, at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 3.

In the ongoing project, Klee-Peregon sews bricks out of satin and then uses the soft bricks for interventions, installations and performances in the built environment. This project addresses moments of failure and collapse within both social and physical structures; the labor by which those structures are built, maintained and repaired; gendered labor and gender in general; and the desire to hide, safe and comfortable, among that which is beautiful and soft. The exhibition includes a selection of images, objects and videos produced as a part of the project.

“I’m less interested in communicating a specific message than I am in posing questions which I hope viewers will continue to ponder after the show,” Klee-Peregon said. “The questions I want to present are something like, ‘What are the structures of our world—both physical and social—built out of,’ ‘Who built them and how,’ and ‘Who gets to shelter inside those structures and who is left in the cold?’ I’m not trying to answer those questions with my work, but I am trying to suggest that the answers—whatever they may be—will be complicated, contextual, and likely contradictory.”

Klee-Peregon has a bachelor’s degree in art history and studio art from Wellesley College. Support for their project was provided by the Kalamazoo Artistic Directive Initiative, a program of the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo.

Marissa Klee-Peregon sews bricks out of satin and then uses the soft bricks for interventions, installations and performances in the built environment.

Marissa Klee-Peregon stacks bricks made from satin — The show “Bricks (I’d Like to Build a Shelter)” will be on view in the Light Fine Arts Gallery through Friday, April 4, with gallery hours from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Civic Engagement Leader Seeks Students, Faculty, Local Partners

Posted on March 27, 2025March 27, 2025

When Sashae Mitchell ’13 stepped into her new role as director of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) last year, it was a meaningful return to the place where her journey in civic and global education began. She follows in the footsteps of founding director Alison Geist, who retired after years of visionary leadership.

Before coming back to K, Mitchell was making a difference in her home country of Jamaica as the founder and managing director of Mitchell’s Math Centre, offering math instruction and tutoring to students in grades four through 11. She also served as an assistant lecturer in the faculty of business at Montego Bay Community College.

Mitchell holds a master’s degree in international education and development from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her bachelor’s in mathematics right here at K. We caught up with her to learn more about what inspired her return and her vision for the Center’s future.

Question: How did you get involved in civic engagement as a profession? Tell us about your career path and why you have decided to return to K?

Answer: The CCE was my first introduction to critical community engagement, where students, faculty and community members work together to strengthen communities to promote a more just and equitable society. Through the CCE, I learned the immense value of this work, its role in fostering a sense of belonging, and its ability to help students find and sustain their community while on a college campus. The CCE also provided opportunities for students to learn from and collaborate with community members. This experience significantly shaped my career path. When I entered K, I aspired to become an actuary, but my involvement with the CCE ignited a passion for education and addressing educational inequities which shifted my focus and took me on a different journey.

Portrait of New Civic Engagement Leader Sashae Mitchell — As the new leader of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement, Sashae Mitchell ’13 wants to expand its impact while sharing its efforts nationally and even globally.

Upon graduating from K, I interned with the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, where I collaborated on reports and strategic planning sessions to advance the Learning Network of Greater Kalamazoo and conducted data analysis on the Kalamazoo Promise. This experience helped refine my focus on education and community development.

In 2014–15, I returned to K as the post-baccalaureate fellow at the CCE, which deepened my commitment to this work. One of the highlights of that year was when I co-facilitated a class with former CCE director Alison Geist and former associate director Teresa Denton, exploring critical service learning by examining contemporary social issues and their intersections. Working closely with students and facilitating their leadership development as they managed more than 15 community partnerships was incredibly rewarding. This experience also paved the way for my graduate studies in international education and development, where I further honed my skills and gained international experience through an internship with an educational think tank in South Africa. There, I applied many of the principles I learned at K, especially those focused on collaborating with the community to develop educational interventions. Throughout this process, we made sure to center the voices of those impacted by the inequities we were working to address.

Though my career path took many twists and turns, including returning to Jamaica as a lecturer teaching mathematics, the common thread throughout has always been community engagement. I worked with students who struggled with the subject, and I applied the CCE’s principles of community to help encourage collaboration and mutual support in the classroom.

Returning to K has felt like a natural, even destined, step. Although my journey took me down various paths, the central theme has always been how to work in community. Being in this role feels like kismet—serving as the director of the department that helped shape my worldview, career goals and life’s work has been deeply fulfilling. I’m grateful for the opportunity to return to the place where it all began.

Q: What made K special for you as a student and now as a civic engagement professional?

A: Kalamazoo College is truly a unique institution, and surprisingly, I only fully realized this after graduating in 2013. My life has been profoundly shaped by the various aspects of the K-Plan that I had the privilege of experiencing as a student.

My passion for civic engagement began as a first-year student when I joined two programs—Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS) and Keeping the Doors Open (KDO). CAPS captured my heart, and I remained involved in the program throughout my four years at K. Working on the city’s northside at Interfaith Homes through CAPS was the first time I truly felt a sense of belonging at K. It was clear that the CCE would become my home away from home. My involvement in civic engagement grew, and it was no surprise that I became a Civic Engagement Scholar in my sophomore and senior years, eventually returning to work at the CCE as a post-baccalaureate fellow after graduation.

K’s commitment to preparing students to become enlightened leaders through a flexible curriculum, which encourages applying learning in transformative ways, is one of the many reasons the college stands out as a gem in southwest Michigan. Experiential learning is deeply embedded in the culture at K. It has been an absolute pleasure returning to campus. K provides opportunities for students to study abroad, work with community partners and learn from professionals through a variety of internship and externship opportunities. I certainly wouldn’t have gone to China without K’s excellent study abroad program.

The CCE provides an opportunity for me to work with students, faculty and community in collaborative partnerships that employ critical civic engagement and seek to address social justice issues. We facilitate opportunities for students to work alongside community partners, enhancing educational experiences and supporting efforts to create a more just and sustainable world. What a great place to work!

Q: What are your goals, short term and long term, for the Center for Civic Engagement?

A: For more than 20 years, since its inception, the leadership of the CCE has worked to build the department and establish the prominence it now enjoys. As we enter the next chapter of the CCE, our goal is to continue building on this legacy while elevating our work both on campus and within the community. We aim to expand our impact, sharing our efforts nationally and even globally.

Our goals for this next chapter include:

Engaging new and sustaining existing community partners to support our student-led programs, community-based courses and community-building internships.

Collaborating closely with faculty to ensure our work is consistently grounded in scholarship.

Enhancing our data collection methods to more effectively share the stories of our impact.

Fostering the continued growth and development of our Civic Engagement Scholars.

Increasing student participation and engagement across our initiatives.

Through these efforts, we hope to build on the foundation laid by our predecessors and take the CCE to new heights of excellence and influence.

Q: How do you like to connect with students? What’s your approach?

A: I truly enjoy working with students and I would argue that this has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my role. As a Kalamazoo College alum, I take great pride in sharing my K story with students I meet, offering insights into both the successes and challenges I’ve faced and how I navigated them.

Currently, I primarily work with our Civic Engagement Scholars, along with many other students involved in our programs. They have appreciated coming to our offices, and my open-door policy has created a space where they feel comfortable to visit whether to seek advice, share experiences or simply connect.

As a woman of color in this role, I am deeply mindful of how I show up in these spaces, particularly for BIPOC students. Representation matters, and I believe it is vital to support them in meaningful ways. During my time as a K student, I was fortunate to have advocates who ensured my experience was fulfilling and impactful. It’s my mission to pay that forward and be a source of support and guidance for future K students.

Q: On a personal note, what are three things people might be surprised to learn about you?

A: I’m currently learning to swim with the Kalamazoo Master’s Swim Club and it’s been a life-changing experience!

I majored in math at K and I still have a strong passion for the subject. My degree helped me develop critical problem-solving skills that have shaped the way I approach both life and every role I’ve held in my professional career.

I grew up in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and although the Michigan winters are still an adjustment, I absolutely love the winter outfits!

Hear from Artist Regarding Climate-Themed ‘Tipping Point’ Display

Posted on January 31, 2025February 7, 2025

An immersive art exhibition titled Tipping Point—created by a Kalamazoo College faculty member and developed through eight years of projects—has drawn acclaim from viewers as it approaches subjects such as climate change, fossil-fuel extraction, environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions.

You’re invited to hear directly from that artist, Jo-Ann and Robert Stewart Professor of Art Professor Tom Rice, in a free lecture at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, February 6. The presentation will take place in room 2008 at Western Michigan University’s Richard Center for Visual Arts.

Rice stated that “tipping point” is a term made popular by journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell in his 2000 book, Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

“Gladwell was talking mostly about what he calls social epidemics or trends that suddenly have great success in our culture and how that happens,” Rice said. “Climate scientists, however, use the term to focus on changes to the atmosphere, oceans, carbon sinks, air temperature and ecosystems. In an ideal world, I’d want my work to be a tipping point as Gladwell describes it—one that starts a social epidemic toward real progress in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. There are other things that need to be done to slow the pace of global warming, but reducing our dependence on fossil fuels is critical.”

Art images from Tipping Point exhibit — “Tipping Point” is currently in the Albertine Monroe Brown Gallery at Western Michigan University’s Richard Center. It features a 95-foot drawing of the mountain-top removal mining process, works addressing the complexities and absurdities of oil refining, and miniature silverpoint drawings portraying accidents related to fracking and crude oil transportation in North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields.

The collection, currently in the Albertine Monroe Brown Gallery at the Richard Center, features a 95-foot drawing of the mountain-top removal mining process, works addressing the complexities and absurdities of oil refining, and miniature silverpoint drawings portraying accidents related to fracking and crude oil transportation in North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields.

Rice says that his use of plastic made from natural gas is intended to raise questions in the viewer’s mind about the ubiquity of petroleum-based products in our culture.

“If people will be led to discuss the contradictions, then I’ve done my job,” he said. “While the effort to transition to renewable, upcycled and sustainable materials is gaining strength—even within industry—the truth is that complete divestment from petroleum-based design is going to require a growing awareness of how deeply petrochemical byproducts are embedded within capitalism. Everything from dyes and adhesives, the plastic in the products we use every day—such as our cell phones and computers—all the way to packaging and the synthetic fibers contained in our clothing and furniture are built on the foundation of petrochemicals.”

As a result, when presenting his work, Rice often questions whether his lecture is an artist’s talk or more of a call to action. To decide for yourself, hear the lecture or visit the exhibition, which is on display through Friday, February 7.

“Avoiding a complete climate disaster is going to mean sacrifice from all of us,” he said. “As author Naomi Klein says in her book This Changes Everything: Capitalism and the Climate, it’s going to take mass social movements to start the change we need in regards to battling global warming and environment degradation. It’s not one behavior or action that humans can take to slow the pace of climate change and environmental degradation. We really can’t predict with certainty when the tipping point will be, or what outcomes will result, but we can be sure that our climate is changing and those changes are not only making the planet warmer, but less inhabitable for humans and many other forms of life.”

Grants, Music Department Harmonize for Keyboard Renewals

Posted on January 21, 2025January 21, 2025

Musicians, like all artists, are people obsessed with the details of their art. And like all artists, they require quality tools to create their best work. Vocalists, of course, carry their instrument with them at all times. Instrumentalists often spend years, even decades, learning the idiosyncrasies of their instrument. Pianists, however, don’t have the luxury of bringing their own piano to a lesson, a practice session or a performance.

“If you’re a pianist trying to work on those details, and you have an instrument that cannot respond to the subtleties that pianists work on extensively, then your learning is hampered. Your performance is hampered. Even the audience’s enjoyment of what they’re hearing will be somewhat diminished,” said Andrew Koehler, Kalamazoo College professor of music, music department chair and conductor of the Kalamazoo Philharmonia.

That’s the big picture explanation of why, for more than 20 years, the music department at Kalamazoo College has wanted to restore, enhance and update its piano and keyboard collection in support of every student, faculty and community member who makes and enjoys music on campus. Now, thanks to grant support from several local organizations, that work is almost complete.

The keyboard renewal project funded the restoration of the College’s performance pianos, added new pianos to classroom and studio spaces, and updated the instrument collection in several of the College’s practice rooms.

Piano keyboard restoration project — For more than 20 years, the music department has wanted to restore, enhance and update its piano and keyboard collection in support of every student, faculty and community member who makes and enjoys music on campus. Now, thanks to grant support from several local organizations, that work is almost complete.

Many of the pianos had aged beyond the lack of nuance that would impede a professional pianist, and into a space of no longer being functional instruments.

“Pianos are very complicated technological mechanisms,” Koehler said. “They break down, and they need to be repaired carefully and expertly to remain in good functioning order. It takes a lot of money, and it’s complicated to do.”

The College received nearly $150,000 toward the project from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, Marvin and Rosalie Okun Foundation, H.P. and Genevieve Connable Fund, Thomas A. Todd Foundation and Burdick-Thorne Foundation.

In addition to the professional rebuilding of two nine-foot Steinway grand pianos in Stetson Chapel and in Dalton Theatre and significant restoration of a Mason and Hamlin piano in the Light Fine Arts Building Recital Hall, the project has provided a variety of electronic keyboards and tiers of pianos for all levels of musician.

Rebuilding and restoring the three performance pianos is key to the continued use of both Stetson and Dalton for College as well as community events and concerts, said Susan Lawrence, Kalamazoo College music event coordinator, piano teacher and accompanist.

“We do a lot with community here on campus, hosting other music organizations, bringing in community works with some of our ensembles,” Lawrence said. “People use Stetson for weddings and a lot of different things. In Dalton, people rent that out, and we bring artists in that the community comes to hear. There are community members who play with the symphony or with some of our other ensembles. The community benefits from those pianos.”

Among the music department’s ensembles, the Kalamazoo Philharmonia orchestra, the Academy Street Winds band and the Kalamazoo Choral Arts choir intermix K students with a substantial number of community members.

“That’s a town-and-gown kind of relationship,” Koehler said. “Community members are here, they’re using these facilities, the concerts are also thus populated by their acquaintances, their friends. Beyond students and parents, the music department is a place where people come to campus to hear these performances. Any choir concert will feature the piano; a lot of orchestra concerts do. We have guest recitals. Our final exam in music is an opportunity to perform for others. That is the end goal of almost all our performance-based activity. We want to play for others. We want to share what we’re doing. That is a critical part of the ethos of music making, that’s how we’re sharing with the larger community, and those instruments will make a big difference.”

As students develop their musical abilities toward that end goal, offering a range of keyboard and piano options for their use is crucial regardless of their primary instrument or type of musical interest.

“Every musician who walks through this department touches a piano in some way, for theory, composition, music production,” Lawrence said. “Most of them don’t want to be famous pianists, and they may not sit down to hone a craft, but they need a functioning instrument.”

The department worked to create tiers of instruments for the range of student needs.

“The piano is a really important part of how all musicians come to understand music, because the keyboard is a visual representation of the spectrum of notes: the lower pitches ascending to the higher ones, arranged from left to right,” Koehler said. “All musicians are expected to have at least some passing familiarity with how it works. Even if you’re a singer or a violinist who’s trying to make sure you’re in tune and you’re hitting the right pitch, sometimes you have to go to the keyboard, even if it’s one-finger kind of level of piano playing, to say, ‘OK, I think I’ve got those intervals right. I’m doing it correctly.’ All of that absolutely is necessary.”

Electronic keyboards in some of the practice rooms in the Light Fine Arts basement serve as basic or entry-level options. They offer full keyboards—88 weighted keys that mimic the feel of a piano—as well as the ability to connect to a computer for recording, theory, composition and music-production work. In addition, they will weather basement conditions better than an acoustic piano.

High-quality used upright pianos in several practice rooms provide a step up from the electronic keyboards for an intermediate or advanced student, while grand pianos in other rooms allow faculty to work with more serious students. Finally, there are the fine performance pianos in Stetson, the Recital Hall, and Dalton.

“The end result of this project is instruments that support our students’ learning, that allow them to do that kind of nuanced work that I was talking about earlier, and that fundamentally is what we’re here to do: Support the learning of our students and allow them to share it with the community,” Koehler said. “We want to make sure that we provide the materials that they can do that with.”

College pianos endure heavy use, and so it is important both to start with strong pianos and for students to learn how to care for them.

“Students learn to take care of their own instruments,” Lawrence said. “Pianos seem more like furniture to some people in some ways, and they may think it’s going to be there forever, and it’s not if you don’t take care of it. We have covers and locks on all the performance pianos. It’s important that we teach anyone who comes in and uses a piano how to take care of it.”

With that careful maintenance, and aided by recent improvements to climate control in Light Fine Arts, the music department expects the keyboard renewal project to make a difference on campus and in the wider community for years to come.

“Our annual maintenance fund helps us do simple things, like keep the pianos in tune, and maybe some basic action regulation to make sure the hammers are the right shape to hit the string in the right way and create the range of sounds that you want,” Koehler said. “Then sometimes, of course, like we’re seeing here, whole things have to be replaced, or much more significant work has to be done to re-regulate aspects of the complex machine that is the piano. We’re grateful to these organizations for supporting this work, because in the 20 years we’ve been waiting to get this done, these complex machines kept getting worse. It’s just wonderful to turn the corner on this, and we should be in a good place for 10, 20 years or even longer.”

K Staffer Thanks Donor, Family in a Tale with Heart

Posted on January 17, 2025January 17, 2025

Kalamazoo College will have an additional reason to celebrate life in February alongside Wendy Fleckenstein, K’s administrative secretary to the president and provost. About four years ago, Wendy was seriously ill and awaiting a heart transplant. Now, she will be the featured survivor at an American Heart Association Go Red for Women Gala on Friday, February 28, at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Kalamazoo.

Locally, the event this year concludes American Heart Month, which raises awareness about heart disease and how to prevent it. It’s a time to encourage people, especially women, to focus on their cardiovascular health with cardiovascular disease being the leading cause of death for both men and women, as well as most racial and ethnic groups, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

“It’s such a huge honor for me and a way to recognize the donor and his family, because without them, I wouldn’t be here to tell my story,” Wendy said. “I hope I can be an inspiration to anybody to get them to make sure they’re staying on top of their heart health, especially if they have a family history. I think that’s really key.”

Emerita Professor of Physical Education Jeanne Hess introduced Wendy to American Heart Association Development Director Caleb Porter when Wendy’s health stabilized after the transplant.

“Caleb told me what they do, and he said I would be an incredible survivor story for the gala,” Wendy said. “They will play a video interview of me, have a silent auction, a live auction, and an open-your-heart donation request. I’m glad to be participating in it.”

Heart transplant survivor Wendy Fleckenstein rings the heartiversary bell — Wendy Fleckenstein, the administrative secretary to the president and provost at Kalamazoo College, rings the heartiversary bell on the anniversary of her heart transplant.

The video will show that in January 2018, Wendy thought she had a cold. The timing was annoying considering it coincided with her first days as a K employee. It lingered for several days, forcing her to visit an urgent care facility.

“They didn’t have an x-ray machine there, so they just said, ‘It looks like you’ve got a sinus infection. Here’s an antibiotic for that,’” Wendy said.

A week later, she still wasn’t well. Wendy could hear a crackling sound coming from her lungs when she tried to sleep, prompting a pneumonia scare and a trip to a second urgent care center.

“They did an x-ray and that doctor didn’t wait for the radiologist to read it,” Wendy said. “She said, ‘Yes, there’s something in your lung. Here’s an antibiotic for pneumonia.’”

A diagnosis more serious, though, was coming. Before she could even get home, in fact, Wendy’s doctor called back with news from the radiologist and said, “You need to get back here. It’s congestive heart failure.”

Wendy was stunned. Heart conditions are common in her family, although she was still three months away from her 48^th birthday. To her knowledge, no one that young among her relatives had ever suffered such an ailment.

“They never were able to figure out what caused it, other than perhaps an illness that just settled in the heart and the heart just didn’t recover,” she said. “They did a nuclear stress test. They did a heart catheter and all of that showed nothing. My arteries were pristine and I did fine on the stress test.”

Wendy thought she was in the clear after her doctors installed a defibrillator shortly after the College’s Commencement in 2018. Her condition already was responding well to medications and the procedure strictly was a safeguard in case her heart rate got too slow or she experienced cardiac arrest.

Yet something happened in November 2019, a short time before the pandemic shuttered much of the country.

“We’re pretty certain that I had COVID,” Wendy said. “I was very sick. I was in bed for about a week with no smell, no taste, a high fever and a cough that lingered into February and March.”

Her heart health soon varied significantly, often from day to day, and it was quite noticeable to her family and friends that something was wrong. April 30, 2021, was her last day working at K before her health required her to take a break.

“Louise, one of my best friends here, told me we had to do something,” Wendy said. “She said, ‘You can’t just stay in bed. You’re not getting better,’ so she picked me up and took me to the ER. I had no idea that my body was shutting down. We think now that the COVID took out my heart.”

Wendy was hospitalized for six days in early May, leading her cardiologist to suggest she be moved to another facility to receive a pump called a left ventricle assistive device (LVAD). Yet upon arrival, tests found that Wendy’s heart was bad on the left and right sides, leaving a transplant as the only option.

Her condition became dire, even grave at times. Thankfully, after some improvement helped her get well enough to potentially survive the operation and get stronger afterward, she went on the transplant list and the heart of a 16-year-old boy saved her life. Although Wendy knows her body could still reject the heart at any time, the transplant went well.

“I don’t know anything about him,” she said. “I don’t know where he’s from, just that a donor can be from up to about 1,200 to 1,250 nautical miles away. I really wish that I knew at least his name, his birthday and something that he liked to do. I’ve developed a passion for drawing and painting that I never had before, so I wonder whether he was an artist. I didn’t have curly hair like this before either. I asked my doctor if there was any chance this boy had curly hair. He said he didn’t think there could be anything that connected our DNA, but I would rather think it’s that than the medication.”

Wendy feels better today than she has in a long time and her recovery allows her to think of the donor and his family often.

“In the first days when they had me up and walking around the hospital, the psychiatrist saw me in the hallway and asked me how it felt to know I had somebody else’s heart beating inside me,” Wendy said. “I hadn’t really thought about it until he asked me and I said, ‘guilty.’ I didn’t know why I got to live and someone else had to die. I don’t think I knew until about the two-year mark that a kid saved my life. It hits especially as a parent, knowing that because of him, and because of their decision to donate his heart to me, there are so many things I get to do that they will not experience with him. They’ll never see him graduate high school or college, get married, have children. Their holidays will never be the same. I just decided that this young life saved me and I was going to fight to get back. I do everything I can to live my life and celebrate him.”

There’s no guarantee Wendy will ever meet the donor’s family, although she has opportunities to write to them despite not knowing their names. It ultimately will be up to the family to decide whether they want to meet her, but if she has the chance one day, she will tell them how grateful she is.

“I would tell them how much their gift means, not only to me, but to my family,” Wendy said. “It would’ve destroyed my mom to lose a child, so just to be here is so special. I’m so proud of my kids and what they’re doing in their lives, and to watch them be parents is just the greatest feeling.”

Wendy said that if not for having to fill a big medicine box every month, she wouldn’t know she has a heart problem anymore. Because of that and more, she’s eager to tell her story at the gala.

“I probably don’t work out as much as I should, but I try to keep the donor and his family in my mind every day,” she said. “Being asked to share my story with the American Heart Association is so important with their mission to educate women about heart health and how to get the help that they need. I never realized until the last few years that women are at the highest risk for cardiovascular issues, and the symptoms of a heart attack for women are different than they are for men.

“I had no clue that I was so sick, and when you get the rug pulled out from under you, you realize you might not get a chance to do the things you want to do again. It’s overwhelming and pretty scary, so I’ll just say to live your life to the fullest, love your family and friends, and tell people you love them.”