Ten recent Kalamazoo College graduates and one faculty member will pursue global opportunities during the 2026–27 academic year, earning Fulbright awards or selection to the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF).
Fulbright Recipients
Noah Chun ’26, Molly Stevison ’26, Mary Muenzenmaier ’26, Elizabeth Muenzenmaier ’26, Kelley Akerley ’24 and Kaleb (Kai) Sydloski ’23 will be participating in the U.S. Teaching Assistantship (USTA) Program in Austria. The USTA Program is administered by Fulbright Austria on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education.
Shruti Debburman ’26 will continue her studies in France through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program, which provides opportunities for graduate study, research and English teaching abroad.
K has been recognized as a Top Producing Institution for Fulbright U.S. Students in six of the past seven years. Graduating seniors apply through their educational institutions, while alumni apply through their institutions or as at-large candidates.
Debburman is especially excited to return to France after spending six months studying abroad in Clermont-Ferrand during her junior year. At Université Paris 8, she will examine relationships between mysticism and creative expression in late medieval France. After completing her Fulbright, Debburman plans to pursue a Master of Divinity degree at Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music.
“Specifically, I’ll be looking at how mystical theology and Marian devotional practices were reflected in art, music and literature at the time,” Debburman said. “My goal is to use what I learn to contribute to scholarship on medieval French religion and culture through an article and some sort of digital humanities platform. I’d also like to learn to play some of the music that I study to give a lecture-recital once I return.”
Sydloski and Chun both received offers for fellowships in Germany and Austria. Both ultimately chose Austria, noting the allure of the big city of Vienna.
“I am from a more rural community here in Michigan, and the opportunity to live in a large city where I can meet people from all over the world was something that I could not turn down,” Sydloski said. “My biggest goal is to continue to improve my German and learn the different dialects of the German language.”
Chun noted the personal growth opportunity he has in Vienna.
“I want to take classes at the university, travel as much as I can, and experience as much of what is out there as possible,” he said.
Akerley will be teaching English at an agricultural school in Upper Austria.
“I hope to learn more about the nuances of the school system and improve my understanding of the Austrian dialect,” she said. “I also look forward to exploring the more rural parts of Austria that I haven’t been able to during my brief visits before.”
Stevison noted she spent nearly all of her time on study abroad as a junior in Western Europe. This time, she hopes to explore Eastern Europe.
“I would feel accomplished if I made it as much of a cultural exchange as possible instead of merely a one-way flow of information,” she said. “I’m helping mostly teenagers, so I’m sure there is a lot more that they can teach me about. On top of that, I hope to immerse myself in various other cultures through traveling.”
K faculty are also represented among this year’s Fulbright recipients. Associate Professor of History Rochelle Rojas received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Costa Rica to work on her manuscript project, titled Science, Healing, and Ways of Knowing in Premodern Costa Rica.
Rojas will draw from archaeological records, including the petrospheres of the Diquís Delta, museum collections and colonial archives to offer the first comprehensive history of science and medicine in the region from the precolonial era through the independence era. She will be among about 380 U.S. citizens selected to teach, conduct research or provide expertise in about 120 countries. Recipients are chosen based on academic and professional achievement, service and demonstrated leadership.
Mary Muenzenmaier ’26
Elizabeth Muenzenmaier ’26
TAPIF Honorees
In addition to Fulbright honorees, three recent graduates earned teaching assistantships through TAPIF. Eleanor Bernas ’26, Karis Mulcahy ’26 and Lauren Stallman ’26 will join about 1,200 Americans selected by the French government for the program.
Bernas, for example, will serve in the Clermont-Ferrand region. She said the experience is an opportunity to give back after benefiting from French teaching assistants during her time at K.
“I hope to embody the way these assistants were engaging and welcoming, allowing me to make mistakes without judgment as they taught me more about French culture,” Bernas said.
TAPIF, a joint initiative of the French Ministry of Education and France Éducation International, places native English speakers in French public schools to teach English, improve their language skills and experience French culture. Participants typically lead conversation groups and assist classroom teachers for about 12 hours each week over seven months while receiving a stipend and access to public health care. Contracts may be renewed up to three times. After completing the program, many teaching assistants pursue international careers in education, business, public health, policy and development, and arts and culture administration.
For all 10 recipients, the coming year represents a chance to engage the world not just as observers, but as contributors. Whether researching Costa Rican science, exploring medieval mysticism in Parisian archives or helping Austrian and French students build English skills, they carry forward the curiosity and cross-cultural fluency that K has long fostered.
For generations of Kalamazoo College students, Professor Emeritus Ahmed Hussen was more than a teacher of economics. His titles and honors tell part of the story: longtime chair of the department, founder of the College’s environmental studies concentration, inaugural Edward and Virginia Van Dalson Endowed Professor of Economics, and recipient of the Florence J. Lucasse Lectureship for Excellence in Teaching, K’s highest teaching honor. But what students remember is what the titles alone can’t capture: a professor who challenged them intellectually while earning their admiration through his generosity, mentorship, and genuine interest in their success.
Now, in The Dessie Kid, Hussen traces his path from his childhood in Dessie, Ethiopia, through an academic career that spanned continents, including a year as a visiting scholar at Waseda University in Japan, two semesters at Africa University in Zimbabwe, and a Fulbright year at the University of Botswana. The memoir offers a deeply personal reflection on resilience, gratitude, family, and the people who shaped his life. We spoke with Hussen about what inspired him to write the book, what it was like to revisit decades of memories, and what he hopes readers, especially those in the K community, will take away from his story.
What inspired you to write this memoir at this point in your life?
I felt compelled to write this memoir to understand how a boy from an unlikely corner of Ethiopia—the first in his family to attend public school, at a time when secular education was still in its infancy, and raised by uneducated parents—found his way to a life in academia in the United States. Coming from a Muslim household, I faced even greater odds; public schools were often viewed with suspicion, perceived as not entirely secular and influenced by Christian teaching. Reaching this stage of life made reflection feel not only natural but necessary—a chance to look back with honesty and gratitude.
Although my story echoes familiar immigrant narratives, I did not write it to celebrate personal achievement. If anything, I wanted to challenge the idea of the “self-made” life. My journey has been shaped by luck, serendipity, and the generosity of people—and institutions—who appeared at exactly the right moments. Writing this book allowed me to honor them and acknowledge that I did not walk this path alone.
I wrote it for my family, who deserve to know the forces that shaped our story, and for the many individuals and institutions—teachers, mentors, schools, colleagues, friends, students—whose kindness and support changed the course of my life. In telling it, I hoped to understand not only what happened but also what sustained me: resilience, discipline, and the quiet mystery of how opportunity and human generosity can change a life.
Looking back across your life, were there themes or surprises you didn’t fully recognize until you began writing?
When I began writing this book, my intention was modest: to reflect on a few major turning points in my life. Halfway through, I realized I was writing an autobiography—a chronological account of my life’s journey. The book became both a narrative of events and a reflection on the lessons each stage offered. The anecdotes that appear throughout were not planned; they emerged naturally as I wrote, revealing a voice I had not fully recognized as my own.
Another surprise was that the chapters about my 34 years at Kalamazoo College became an informal history of the institution from 1985 to 2019. While I verified many of the factual details, I am aware that others may remember events differently.
What I did not anticipate was that writing would reveal deeper patterns—how often adversity redirected my path, how profoundly my life was shaped by the communities I belonged to, and how intertwined my personal and professional identities have always been.
Your years at K were a significant part of your professional life. How did your experiences shape the person reflected in this memoir?
My experience at Kalamazoo College shaped me in more ways than I can capture in a single answer. A few examples illustrate this:
Hussen in his office in 1999.
Book Cover for “The Dessie Kid.”
Ahmed Hussen with his grandchildren.
K was the first institution where I felt fully accepted, supported, and appreciated for who I was and for what I contributed. The collegial environment sustained me from my first year through the day I retired, giving me a sense of belonging that shaped my confidence as a teacher and scholar.
The students at K—curious, well-prepared and generous with their feedback—kept my passion for teaching alive. Their seriousness about learning pushed me to grow, and their kindness often lifted me more than they realized.
K offered me opportunities to develop as a leader, to engage in transformative international teaching and scholarship, and to participate in interdisciplinary work that ultimately led to my environmental economics textbook. These experiences broadened my intellectual horizons and helped shape the educator I became.
Looking back, I realize that K did more than shape my career; it deepened my commitment to students and gave me a professional home where my values and work could fully align.
As you reflect on your years at K, were there particular students, colleagues, or moments that stayed with you?
It is difficult for me to single out individuals, but certain students and moments have stayed with me. I was especially moved by students who arrived unsure of themselves and gradually discovered their abilities. Watching them grow in confidence and competence over their four years at K was one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. Their progress reminded me why teaching mattered so deeply to me.
I was also fortunate to work in a collegial culture that, in many ways, defined the institution’s character. Many colleagues played important roles in my development as a teacher and scholar, and I express my gratitude to them in the book. Of course, there were moments when I encountered attitudes that did not align with my values, but even those experiences taught me about leadership, humility, and the kind of colleague I aspired to be.
One of the most significant and impactful transformations I witnessed was K’s evolution from a predominantly white, Eurocentric institution to a more diverse and inclusive community. To live through that change—and to contribute to it in my own way—remains one of the defining experiences of my time at the college.
These students, colleagues, and moments taught me patience, resilience, and the profound privilege of being part of a community that was continually learning to become better.
How did your relationships with students influence your thinking—not only as a professor but as a person?
Throughout my teaching career, I was fortunate to build relationships with students grounded in trust, respect, and genuine care. Over time, I came to understand that these relationships shaped not only my approach to teaching but also my understanding of myself. They taught me that character—the quiet consistency of how one shows up—is the foundation of any meaningful teacher-student bond.
I was never known as an easy grader, yet students accepted my high expectations because they trusted my intentions. They believed I wanted them to grow, not merely to perform. Through them, I learned that challenge, when offered with clarity and goodwill, is not a burden but a gift. Their willingness to meet that challenge reshaped my thinking and affirmed that rigor and compassion are not opposites but partners.
As a person, I found these relationships humbling. They reminded me that influence is earned, not assumed; that young people respond not to authority but to authenticity; and that learning is most powerful when shared. Nothing has been more rewarding than hearing from former students who later recognized the value of being pushed, supported, and believed in. Their reflections taught me that the impact of teaching often reveals itself long after the classroom lights are off.
In this way, my students shaped my thinking as deeply as I shaped theirs. They made me a more patient teacher, a more attentive listener, and, I hope, a better human being.
Did writing about your own experience change the way you think about your career or the impact you have had?
Writing about my experience did not fundamentally change how I think about my career, but it sharpened and clarified what I had long sensed. My entry into teaching was never planned. I became a teacher almost by accident, despite having been trained exclusively as a researcher with strong empirical skills and no formal preparation for the classroom. Yet within two years of teaching at Allegheny College, where I taught before coming to K, I realized that what had begun as a career experiment had revealed my true calling. Nothing since has made me imagine a life outside teaching.
Revisiting these early years helped me see more clearly how I learned to reconcile two commitments I once feared were incompatible: the demands of full-time teaching at a small liberal arts college and the scholarly work that fed my intellectual curiosity. I had assumed one would inevitably crowd out the other. Instead, I discovered that teaching and research could inform and strengthen each other, though doing so required imagination and a willingness to shape my scholarly agenda around the rhythms of the classroom.
What the memoir distilled for me was the coherence of that journey. One of the accomplishments I value most is finding a way to build a career in which my teaching and scholarly lives were not competing forces but mutually sustaining. Writing the memoir helped me see that this alignment was not accidental at all, but a steady and shaping force throughout my professional life.
After spending so much time looking back, what lessons or perspectives feel most important to share with the next generation of students and faculty?
Looking back, the lesson I most want to share with students is simple: never underestimate the power of a liberal arts education. It prepares you not only for a career but also for a lifetime of learning, adaptation, and curiosity. I have found nothing more reliable for navigating an uncertain future. This does not diminish the value of vocational preparation; during my 17 years as department chair, I worked to integrate business courses into a liberal arts framework. It is challenging but deeply worthwhile.
To my faculty colleagues, I offer a reminder shaped by both history and experience. K has always been a resilient institution. Over its long history, it has weathered repeated cycles of financial strain—patterns driven by forces larger than the college itself. I witnessed this over my 34 years at K, and I write about it in my book. Through every downturn, the college has held fast to its core mission: a high‑quality liberal arts education.
We are again in a difficult moment, one shared by many small liberal arts colleges, especially as the very idea of liberal arts education faces public skepticism. Yet I have no doubt that K will endure this period as it has others and will ultimately emerge stronger. My advice to faculty and staff is steady and sincere: do not lose hope in K.
At the same time, looking ahead requires honesty about challenges that are not simply financial. My experience taught me that a collegial environment is vulnerable to slippage, and it’s something I hope the community will continue to guard against. Collegiality is not a luxury; it is the quiet foundation that allows a liberal arts institution to thrive.
I am also mindful of a deeper, more existential challenge: the rapid introduction of AI into learning and teaching. When the internet became widespread at the dawn of the 21st century, I worried about what it meant for a teacher who preferred chalk and blackboard. But the scale of today’s transformation is different. AI has the potential to fundamentally alter how knowledge is acquired and transmitted—an unknown, unfamiliar, and largely untested field. It is not a threat in the budgetary sense, but in the intellectual and pedagogical sense. My hope is that K will approach this moment with both caution and imagination, preserving the human core of education even as new tools reshape its landscape.
What has your latest chapter of life looked like since retiring?
Since retiring, my life has taken on a different but deeply meaningful direction—caring for my grandchildren, continuing my lifelong learning, and traveling when time allows, accompanied by my lifelong partner. I also devote a good deal of time to caring for my aging body through regular physical exercise, which has become an essential part of my daily routine.
How long did this project take, and where can readers find a copy of The Dessie Kid?
It was a long journey. Although the project spanned nearly six years, most of the writing happened over the past two. The book was never intended for commercial purposes. That is why I chose to self-publish through Palmetto Publishing, which allowed me to retain full copyright ownership while producing a professionally edited, high-quality book, and to manage distribution myself. These decisions were not cheaper or easier—quite the opposite. However, they gave me complete control over the process, from content to final production.
I believe the result is a substantive, thoughtfully crafted book, produced with care and intention. For those who wish to read it, the book can be ordered directly from the website created exclusively for its distribution: dessiekid.com.
For my colleagues and former students, if a signed copy would add a personal touch to your reading, I would be glad to provide one. You may contact me at ahmed@dessiekid.com. Lux Esto!
Kalamazoo College has awarded tenure and promotion to Daniela Arias-Rotondo and Manfa Sanogo, recognizing years of their excellence in teaching, scholarly achievements and service to the institution while affirming their long-term roles as leaders in the College community.
Daniela Arias-Rotondo
Arias-Rotondo, the Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Endowed Chair in Natural Science, teaches courses including Introductory Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Molecular Structure and Reactivity at K.
Her research focuses on molecules that convert light energy into electricity with broad implications for renewable energy. In 2024, Arias-Rotondo received an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund grant for her lab’s exploration of photoredox catalysis, a project which explored new uses for petroleum byproducts through these reactions. Her collaboration with Maxwell Rhames ’25 on alternative metals for more affordable solar panels earned an honorable mention in the 2024 Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award for Undergraduate Research, which recognizes research that students and faculty perform in tandem.
This academic year, working under Arias-Rotondo’s guidance, Will Tocco ’26 was one of just six undergraduates nationwide selected from more than 1,400 nominees to present at the ACS Presidential Symposium in Atlanta.
Tocco and Rhames are two of 36 students who have worked in Arias-Rotondo’s lab in her years at K. Tocco and Rhames both were also among the students who benefited from a $250,000 grant she received in 2023 from the National Science Foundation’s Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (LEAPS-MPS) program, which has provided funding for about eight to 10 student researchers per term.
Arias-Rotondo was recognized by the College in 2025 with the First-Year Advocate Award. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires in Argentina and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University.
Daniela Arias-Rotondo
Manfa Sanogo
Sanogo joined K as an assistant professor in 2020, bringing experience as a teaching assistant, lecturer and research fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Sorbonne Universités and École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and Florida State University.
Sanogo has recently taught courses at K such as Beginning French, Intermediate French, French Conversation and Composition, Indian Ocean Literature and Culture, and Afro-Perspectives. He earned a Chateaubriand Fellowship from the French Embassy in the U.S. in 2018 for a project highlighting how Madagascar’s Indigenous literature has shaped innovation in French-language literature while aiming to foster greater scholarly interest in the Indian Ocean as an important literary center. In 2022, he completed a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship at University College of Dublin.
He has also been among the conveners of Africa Month events at the College over the last two years. The series brings world-renowned scholars, artists, filmmakers and performers from four continents to Kalamazoo for lectures, art exhibits, community conversations, meals and joyful music.
Sanogo holds a Ph.D. from Florida State University.
Archivist Lisa Murphy ’98 reviews some of the materials she gave students for Novels and Podcasts, a class that incorporated the Charles Dickens classic “Bleak House.”
Blindfolded professors dumped in a cornfield. A campus scandal that landed in The New York Times. And a 19th-century Charles Dickens novel with more in common with true crime podcasts than most people would guess. Welcome to Novels and Podcasts, a distinctive new English course at Kalamazoo College.
The winter course, led by Professor of English Ryan Fong, drew students from across disciplines into a conversation about how serial storytelling works and why it still resonates today. At the center of the syllabus sat Dickens’ Bleak House, an 1852–53 masterwork about an inheritance lawsuit, tangled secrets and systemic injustices in Victorian England. Students compared it with groundbreaking true-crime podcasts such as Serial, which has captivated millions with its own drip-feed of suspense, scandal and revelation.
The parallels, it turns out, were hard to ignore.
“Most of Dickens’ novels were written in serialized installments over many months,” Fong said. “In this class, I wanted to explore the continuities between that form of storytelling—when it became popular in the 19th century—and how it shows up today in podcasting, where stories unfold incrementally over time.”
For their final project, students in the course didn’t write papers—they made podcasts. Working in groups, they designed five-episode series using materials from the College Archives before recording episodes in the library’s audio lab. Students used documents, old editions of the Index student newspaper, historical faculty meeting minutes and photographs curated by College Archivist Lisa Murphy ’98 to inform their storytelling. Reference Librarian Kelly Frost also helped students deepen their research through specialized library guides, and Elena Pulliam in the Rare Book Room showed students two serialized versions of works by Dickens: Bleak House and Little Dorrit.
Those archival discoveries became the backbone of their storytelling. The students’ explorations ranged widely across K’s history, but a couple of groups zeroed in on a notorious 1890 campus kidnapping prank so outrageous that it landed in national headlines. Students transformed the episode into serialized audio narratives, echoing the same suspense techniques they studied in Dickens and modern podcasts.
Murphy holds the portrait of William Des Autels.
“The story was that two professors stopped by Upper Hall, which was the men’s dorm,” Murphy said. “They had been invited to the birthday party of student William Des Autels, and when the two professors showed up, a bunch of students burst in, loosely bound their hands, blindfolded them and marched them up past Monroe Street to a cornfield.”
Students at the time testified to trustees that the young professors, who were close to the students’ ages, knew it was a prank and that the situation got blown out of proportion.
“The controversy became more about the punishment, the reaction and the bad publicity for the College,” Murphy said. “William Des Autels, who later became a Baptist minister, was expelled and there were several suspensions.”
Several years later, the College and its faculty board awarded a degree to Des Autels because he had been so close to graduating at the point of his expulsion. But today’s students were attracted to the unusual circumstances.
“It’s fun telling the college’s stories, because a lot of students don’t know about the archives or about the College’s history,” Murphy said. “Watching them have fun and seeing their disbelief, especially at this kidnapping story, was exciting.”
Other students explored different historical narratives. Sarah Guerrero Gorostieta ’28 produced a podcast examining former College President James Stone and his wife, Lucinda Hinsdale Stone, an early feminist advocate for coeducation. In the 1860s, both faced backlash from conservative Baptist leaders and students resistant to progressive ideas, ultimately leading to their departure from the College.
The research inspired Guerrero and helped her feel a deeper connection to Lucinda, the College and K’s history.
“That was only possible because of the deep archival research we had to do,” she said. “This class was extremely valuable to my journalism aspirations because we were given the tools to create a passion project that bridged relevant local history to contemporary questions and conversations.”
She added that the course changed her perspective on literature, making it one of her favorite classes at K so far.
“I never thought I would become as enthralled with Dickens’ work the way I did, but Bleak House, and the themes we explored through the book, helped me understand why pre-20th century literature is worth studying,” she said.
Behind the scenes, teaching assistant James Hauke ’26 kept podcasting operations running. Hauke guided students through the recording process, from the first-time in the studio to final edits, and came away impressed with the course and the students.
“I appreciate that every Dr. Fong class is a conversation, where there are no lectures and 20 people or so are talking to each other,” Hauke said. “Everyone speaks. There’s never one person who’s raising their hand and taking all the questions. Everyone is a part of it, and I think that’s why he loves podcasts so much. They’re just conversations. I’d say the conversations are why Dr. Fong is a great professor.”
From Dickens’ serialized mysteries to student-produced podcasts, the course showed that great storytelling, whether in print or audio, still unfolds one episode at a time. Fong said he will offer the class again, in part because it also showcased campus resources that students might have repeatedly overlooked. Now, they have used those resources to investigate the history of student life and culture, conduct independent research, and evaluate the information they found.
“It was exciting to see students go into the archives and realize the richness of materials there,” he said. “It was equally exciting to see them use the audio lab and develop skills that are going to be increasingly important in the future. Watching students connect literature, history, research and creativity in this way was incredible, especially as they collaborated and engaged with contemporary and historical issues.”
Professor of English Babli Sinha has received a fellowship administrative position sponsored by the Great Lakes Colleges Association as Kalamazoo College’s director of AI and education.
In this role, she will develop guidelines and policies for AI use in conjunction with K’s Gen AI Coordinating team and its Teaching and Learning Committee. Her responsibilities will include developing faculty resources to foster critical thinking about AI and pedagogy; creating opportunities for dialogue about AI technologies among faculty, staff and students; and gathering information about the promises and limitations of AI in various disciplines, divisions and departments.
The GLCA cohort of fellows including Sinha will meet regularly to foster their professional and leadership development while grounded in self-reflection and strategic self-awareness. Together, they will share their learning, successes and challenges on their project and administrative responsibilities with each other.
Sinha will serve through the 2026–27 and 2027–28 academic years.
Professor of English Babli Sinha has received a fellowship administrative position sponsored by the Great Lakes Colleges Association.
Africa Month: Homecoming will focus on the category of home and the mobilities that carry people to and from their homes, across land, time, memory and knowledge.
Kalamazoo College will host world-renowned scholars, artists, filmmakers and performers from four continents Thursday, May 14–Saturday, May 16, for its second annual Africa Month. The assemblage will provide a space of conviviality and community for conversations, meals and joyful music at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, 205 Monroe St.
Director of African Studies Dominique Somda, Assistant Professor of French Manfa Sanogo, Associate Professor of Anthropology Espelencia Baptiste and Professor of English Babli Sinha are the event’s convenors.
In 2025, the first edition of Africa Month helped K relaunch its African studies concentration while invited scholars and the community rethought and questioned their knowledge of Africa and from Africa. This year’s edition, themed Homecoming, turns its focus to the category of home and to the mobilities that carry people to and from their homes, across land, time, memory and knowledge. The event offers a space to think through African studies in its broadest sense, embracing Africans and the homes of African descendants alike.
“Home, in postcolonial thought, is never a stable or innocent place,” Somda said. “It is both a site of return and a terrain of struggle. Homecoming asks what it means to return when histories of colonial violence, displacement and extraction have profoundly transformed the conditions of belonging.”
Sinha said that the exploration of this theme will take place through a variety of media including art, film, scholarship and music, “reflecting the ethos of the liberal arts as it explores Africanness through many forms of knowledge and expression in dialogue with each other.”
Sanogo said the continuation of Africa Month helps establish a lasting tradition of K engagement and institutional commitment to centering African and diasporic voices, knowledge, culture and lived experiences.
“Calling it Homecoming highlights the importance of creating a space where these experiences can circulate across borders and generations,” he said. “We hope this program will resonate both on campus and in the broader Kalamazoo community.”
Presenters, speakers and panelists will include:
Cheikh A. Thiam, professor of English and Black studies, Amherst College
Sakiko Nakao, assistant professor of African history and French, University of Tokyo
Hilary Jones, director of graduate studies for history, University of Kentucky
Alain Kassanda, filmmaker
Julia Woods ’20, New York University Ph.D. candidate
Brian Klein and Justine Davis, Afro-American and African studies assistant professors, University of Michigan
Klara Boyer-Rossol, historian, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
Franck Rakotobe, assistant professor of French at the American University of Paris
Erol Josué, a Vodou priest, performer and director general of Haiti’s National Bureau of Ethnology
Espelencia Baptiste, Kalamazoo College associate professor of anthropology
“This is a new annual rendezvous: a place to learn, think and celebrate in a world where Africa and Africans are too often seen only through the lens of lack,” Somda said. “The event of the year, Homecoming, speaks to experiences we all carry: mobility, nostalgia, the journey away and the journey back.”
Cheikh Thiam
Sakiko Nakao
Alain Kassanda
Hilary Jones
Julia Woods ’20
Brian Ikaika Klein
Justine Maisha Davis
Klara Bover-Rossol
Franck Rakotobe
Erol Josué
Africa Month: Homecoming
“Homecoming, especially for Africans in the diaspora, asks us to think about homemaking by negotiating history, identity, power and mobility. It is a constant search for stability and meaning in spaces and places shaped by colonial disruptions and global economic inequalities.”
— Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Anthropology Espelencia Baptiste
Kalamazoo College students, faculty and alumni attend the American Chemical Society (ACS) Conference. Pictured (from left) are Caden Frost ’26, Will Tocco ’26, Baylor Baldwin ’26, Ellen Robertson ’08, Ava Schwachter ’27, ACS president-elect Christina Bodurow ’79, Associate Professor of Chemistry Blakely Tresca, Bea Putman ’26, Devi DeYoung ’26 and Christopher Aldred ’26.
Will Tocco ’26 joined an elite group this spring as one of just six undergraduates nationwide selected from more than 1,400 nominees to present at the American Chemical Society’s Presidential Symposium in Atlanta.
Tocco’s selection came through two pathways. He had already been approved to present at a specialized inorganic chemistry symposium at the ACS National Meeting, one of the field’s premier annual gatherings. Separately, because Kalamazoo College offers an ACS-certified degree, the chemistry department was invited to nominate a student for the Presidential Symposium and put Tocco’s name forward.
“I felt very honored,” Tocco said. “It was a great experience to network, meet people and learn how professionals found their way, because I’m still figuring out what I want my career to look like.”
Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo and Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry Regina Stevens-Truss nominated Tocco. For Arias-Rotondo, sending students to conferences is central to her lab’s mission.
“Every opportunity for students to share their work and practice presenting is valuable,” she said. “Conferences give them the chance to get feedback from experts in the field and expose them to perspectives they may not encounter on campus.”
One highlight of the experience was a private reception hosted by the ACS president the evening before the symposium, where Tocco mingled with leading scientists and industry professionals. He met a senior scientist from Pfizer, the president of the Goldwater Foundation and the president of the ACS. He also connected with ACS president-elect Christina Bodurow ’79, a K alumna and member of the College’s Board of Trustees.
Absorbing Light, Moving Electrons
The opportunity stemmed from research Tocco has been developing in Arias-Rotondo’s lab at the intersection of chemistry and renewable energy. Building on work started by Maxwell Rhames ’25, he has helped develop single-molecule dyes capable of absorbing light and converting it to electricity, an approach with potential applications in next-generation solar panels and hydrogen fuel production.
“They can be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, and then you can burn that hydrogen as a fuel source,” Tocco said.
Tocco synthesized one such complex and demonstrated that it can move electrons through nearly every step of the energy-transfer process.
“It can absorb the light and do everything up until the handoff, but it doesn’t want to release the electron,” he said. “A solar panel needs to absorb light and give off electrons.”
Unlocking that final step by enabling the compound to release its electron and complete the cycle will be the focus of future work in the lab after Tocco graduates. His contributions have already refined procedures for synthesizing key molecules, giving future students a strong foundation to build on.
“Will is a strong synthetic chemist, and his work is opening the door for new students to join this project and make contributions,” Arias-Rotondo said. “It is impossible to overstate his contributions to our research group, both scientifically and personally. He is always willing to support and encourage others.”
Tocco’s presentation was well received, particularly at the inorganic symposium as more of the audience was familiar with the topic. Ahead of the conference, he contacted faculty at the University of Notre Dame, where he will begin his doctoral studies this fall, and one professor made a point to attend.
“He had his own presentation, but he took the time to come see mine,” Tocco said. “That was really inspiring.”
Tocco also earned an honorable mention for the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), a highly competitive award that provides three years of funding for graduate study. Although the honorable mention does not include funding, it is a significant distinction.
“As an undergrad, getting that honorable mention is big because I’m a year behind most others applying,” he said. He plans to apply again next year as a first-year doctoral student.
From Math Major to Chemist
Tocco presents his research at the ACS Conference.
DeYoung presenting at the ACS Conference.
K representatives attend the ACS Conference in Atlanta.
Arias-Rotondo, Bodurow, Frost, Tocco and ACS President Rigoberto Hernandez at the ACS Conference in Atlanta.
Tocco did not arrive at K intending to pursue chemistry. He planned to major in mathematics, entering with dual enrollment calculus credits, before taking General Chemistry I with Arias-Rotondo.
“I just had so much more fun than I did in any other class,” he said. “Even what some might consider boring felt kind of cool.”
On the first day of class, Arias-Rotondo—known to her students as Dr. DAR—mentioned her research and invited interested students to speak with her. By the next term, Tocco had joined her lab, where he has worked since.
“When I first started chemistry, I thought I’d get my bachelor’s degree and find a job,” he said. “But I kept going to conferences, kept learning and realized I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. A lot of that was Dr. DAR’s influence.”
Tocco also credits Associate Professor of Chemistry Blakely Tresca, who organized a group of graduate student mentors to help K students navigate the demanding GRFP application process.
“I wouldn’t have started it without his help,” Tocco said.
The process also strengthened his Senior Integrated Project, as feedback on his grant proposal turned into improvements.
Tocco’s undergraduate experience also has included a Research Experience for Undergraduates fellowship at Duquesne University and a study abroad term in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He will graduate this spring with a major in chemistry and a minor in mathematics.
A Lab Community in Atlanta
Tocco was not the only K student to attend the conference. He was joined by fellow chemistry and biochemistry students Caden Frost ’26, Ava Schwachter ’27, Bea Putman ’26, CJ Aldred ’26, Jack Bungart ’26, Max Plesscher ’26, Baylor Baldwin ’26 and Devi DeYoung ’26, along with Arias-Rotondo and Tresca. The students shared an Airbnb, and the trip became as much a bonding experience as a professional one.
“We went to the Georgia Aquarium, went to dinner, hung out and watched movies,” Tocco said. “It was a great experience to be professionals and also just spend time together.”
That blend of close community and high-level research is what Tocco sees as distinctive about K.
“Kalamazoo College punches above its weight class,” he said. “Our professors are well connected, so if we don’t have an instrument, we know someone who does. I’ve built relationships with all of the chemistry faculty, and that wouldn’t always happen at a larger institution.”
Arias-Rotondo has seen the impact firsthand. After returning from Atlanta, she led students through a debrief, reflecting on what they learned.
“Every time we take students to conferences, colleagues from other schools tell me how well our students present,” she said. “We could see the growth that happened in just a few days.”
Looking ahead, Tocco imagines returning one day to a lab that has continued to evolve.
“It’ll be exciting to see what others build,” he said. “That’s what makes it special.”
Regina Stevens-Truss, the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry, is this year’s recipient of the Lux Esto Award of Excellence as announced today during Kalamazoo College’s Founders Day celebration, marking K’s 193rd 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. President Jorge G. Gonzalez presented Stevens-Truss with the award in his final Founders Day before retiring in June.
In 2016, Stevens-Truss received K’s highest teaching honor, the Florence J. Lucasse Lectureship for Excellence in Teaching. In 2018, she was named the College’s director of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Inclusive Excellence grant, awarded to K’s science division. She’s also been a faculty leader for Sisters in Science, a student organization that visits local schools to encourage young women to pursue science; and Sukuma, a peer-based study group for students of color in the sciences.
“One of my favorite traits of this individual is their integrity and how I consistently see them promote goodwill on campus,” a nominator said about Stevens-Truss. “Our mission at K is to provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world. Through her strong moral principles, gratitude and honesty, she does just what our institution stands for. She never fails to leave a strong, positive impression, and she never fails to foster long-term relationships. Her reputation of being a strong, intelligent, kind, supportive and nurturing person proceeds her.”
Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez presents Regina Stevens-Truss, the Dorothy H. Heyl Professor of Chemistry, with the 2026 Lux Esto Award at Founders Day events.
In accordance with Founders Day traditions, two other employees received community awards. Kurt D. Kaufman Associate Professor of Chemistry Dwight Williams was given the Outstanding Advisor Award and Assistant Professor of Theatre Quincy Thomas received the First-Year Advocate Award.
In 2025, Williams was awarded a three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support his work developing new molecules that could help protect brain cells from dying from neurodegenerative diseases. In 2019, he was awarded a Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching grant from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and Course Hero.
Williams teaches courses including Organic Chemistry I and II, Advanced Organic Chemistry and Introductory Chemistry. His research interests include synthetic organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry and pharmacology.
A student in Williams’ nomination said, “He has played a significant and meaningful role in my time at K. He suggested courses that will be beneficial to me no matter what career path I decide to take. I have always appreciated how he is realistic and honest with me and genuinely cares as much as I do about my future.”
Gonzalez presents the 2026 Outstanding Advisor Award to Dwight Williams, the Kurt D. Kaufman Associate Professor of Chemistry, during Founders Day events.
At K, Thomas has directed Festival Playhouse productions including The Mountaintop, The Importance of Being Earnest, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Be More Chill. His research centers on subjects including counter-storytelling; Black performativity in American culture; representations of the marginalized in popular culture; comedic and solo performance; and performative writing.
Thomas teaches courses such as Directing, Theatre History and Playwriting. His courses are informed by his research on issues of cultural marginalization and misrepresentation in the arts, specifically of racial and ethnic minorities, women and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
One first-year student said in Thomas’ nomination for the award, “I hadn’t known what to expect out of the transition from high school to college, and some parts were definitely rougher than I’d thought they would be. At every moment when I or other cast members stumbled, he was always there. He checked in, listened, directed us to resources and helped us set boundaries. He made rehearsals a safe space and community where we could just breathe and keep going, and I’m so grateful for that. He made it clear that we were more important than the show.”
Gonzalez presents the 2026 Outstanding First-Year Advocate Award to Assistant Professor of Theatre Quincy Thomas.
Gonzalez also recognized the students who served as President’s Student Ambassadors in the 2025–26 academic year. 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 in a given 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.
For Miyani Sonera ’27, a biology project about soccer was as much about learning the research process as it was about the result. “Getting to design a study, analyze data and see it published, that was incredible,” she said. “It showed me how much there is to explore when you ask the right questions.”
In soccer, chemistry might outweigh star power.
A new study from Kalamazoo College, published in Football Studies, found that a soccer player’s individual ability accounts for only about 11% of performance variation in small-sided games. Their combination with teammates? Roughly double that.
In the study, Associate Professor Santiago Salinas, soccer alumnus Shun Yonehara ’24 and student-athlete Miyani Sonera ’27 ran 78 small-sided matches—three-on-three, men and women, rotating teammates through ever-changing combinations. Because each athlete played with many different teammates, the researchers were able to separate the influence of individual ability from the impact of specific teammate combinations.
The research drew inspiration from an unlikely source in quantitative genetics. “In biology, we often separate the effects of genes and environment to understand why organisms differ,” Salinas said. “We realized we could apply the same idea to soccer. Players are like genotypes, teammates are the environment, and performance is the resulting phenotype.”
What they found surprised even the researchers. Individual player effects accounted for only about 11% to 12% of the variation in performance, while teammate combinations explained 20% to 23%. The rest, nearly two-thirds, remained unpredictable, likely influenced by opponent dynamics, moment-to-moment decisions, and the inherent randomness of low-scoring games.
“When you actually see the numbers, it’s eye-opening,” Yonehara said. “I expected teamwork to matter, but I didn’t expect individual impact to be that small.”
For Yonehara, the research question was personal. A biology major who played soccer throughout his life, he had long felt that games are won in moments that often miss the highlight reels.
“People talk about great teams like they’re just a collection of great individuals,” he said. “But from playing, you know that without cohesion, without players doing the unseen work, the whole thing falls apart.”
The study also compared match performance with traditional skill assessments including passing accuracy, dribbling speed, shooting precision and ball control. Those measures, commonly used in evaluations and tryouts, did not strongly predict how much a player helped their team in games.
“That was a big takeaway for me,” Sonera said. “Being great in isolated drills doesn’t necessarily translate to being effective in real gameplay.”
Sonera, who has loved soccer since childhood, was drawn to the project because it merged science with a sport built on collaboration.
“Soccer demands understanding your teammates,” she said. “That’s part of what makes it beautiful. This research puts numbers behind that idea.”
Shun Yonehara ’24 currently works as a research assistant for Momoko Yoshimoto, an associate professor at the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker, M.D., School of Medicine.
Associate Professor of Biology Santiago Salinas traditionally teaches classes such as vertebrate biology and human physiology. His research interests include his work in the K Fish Lab, where he and his student collaborators study the ways fish populations cope with changes in the environment.
In the men’s dataset, the researchers observed that teams made up of complementary roles such as a scorer, a facilitator and a defensive-minded player tended to outperform teams of similar player types. Although that pattern did not appear in the women’s data, Salinas cautioned that the difference might reflect sample size rather than a fundamental distinction.
Together, the results challenge conventional approaches to scouting and performance analysis, which often rely on individual statistics or fixed lineups.
“Our findings suggest that some players make everyone around them better,” Salinas said. “But that kind of impact is hard to see unless players are tested in multiple contexts.”
Sonera hopes coaches take that message seriously.
“I’d like to see coaches think beyond who looks best on their own,” she said. “Building balanced lineups and focusing on how players connect could make a huge difference.”
Yonehara echoed that idea, comparing team building to constructing a well-balanced system rather than collecting stars.
“It’s like building chemistry in a video game or a trading card deck,” he said. “It’s not just about rating, it’s about fit.”
Although the study focused on soccer, the researchers believe the approach could apply broadly across team sports, particularly those that are fluid and fast paced, such as basketball or hockey.
For the research team, the findings support a long-held belief in team sports that what matters is not just who the players are, but how they work together.
Eleanor Pinkham ’48, director emerita of Library and Media Services, died on March 24, 2026. She was 99.
As a student at Kalamazoo College, Eleanor majored in sociology with minors in music and French and was recognized with the Todd Sociological Prize. She was active on campus as a member of the Eurodelphian Literary Society, the College Singers, and the Gaynor Club women’s singing group, and she served on the student newspaper staff. After graduating in 1948, Eleanor married her classmate, the late James Pinkham ’48.
Eleanor received a Master of Library Science degree in 1967 from Western Michigan University and attended the Oxford Library Seminar at the University of Oxford, England, in 1985. She began her career at K as circulation supervisor in the Upjohn Library in 1964. Over nearly three decades, she held a series of roles: assistant librarian for public service (1967-70), acting director (1970-71), and library director (1971-82). She was named director of library and media services in 1982, a role she held until her retirement in 1993.
Her tenure was marked by significant growth and innovation. Under her leadership, the library’s endowment grew by more than $2 million.
Eleanor Pinkham ’48 shows a student how to use a computer in 1976.
She helped to bring new technology to campus, spearheading the installation of Kalamazoo’s first online union cataloging system through the Ohio College Library Center and directing the implementation of the College’s first integrated computerized library system. Eleanor also helped curate and grow the rare book collection in the Library’s A.M. Todd Rare Book Room, establishing a series of student-developed exhibits and programs.
She was an active member of numerous state and national professional organizations, serving on and chairing committees for the American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Library Administration and Management Association, the Michigan Library Association, and the Michigan Library Consortium. Among her many honors, Eleanor was named Michigan Librarian of the Year in 1986 and received the Michigan Library Consortium Distinguished Service Award in 1982. In 1993, she was honored with the Weimer K. Hicks Award in appreciation for her leadership and service to Kalamazoo College. She was highly regarded as a role model and caring mentor to students and employees alike.
A Celebration of Life will take place on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Gorsline Runciman Funeral Homes, 1730 E. Grand River Ave, East Lansing. A one-hour visitation begins at 11 a.m., followed by a noon service and a reception immediately following. An obituary will appear in the fall issue of LuxEsto.
