Category: Institutional Announcements

Kalamazoo College Will Break Ground on New Building for Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership

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Rendering of Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College
Studio Gang Architects rendering of Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College

 

Kalamazoo College will host a ceremonial groundbreaking for its new Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership building on October 9 at 4:00 PM. The ceremony, open to the campus community and general public, will take place on the corner of Academy St. and Monroe St. on the K campus.

The building’s architect, MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, FAIA, founder of Studio Gang Architects in Chicago, will participate along with members of the College community.

Construction for the single-story, 10,000 sq. ft. building is scheduled to be completed in fall 2013 at a cost of $5 million—paid through a generous gift from K alumnus and trustee Jon Stryker.

The Arcus Center building is designed to create a space where K students, faculty, visiting scholars, social justice leaders, and members of the public will come together to engage in conversation and activities aimed at making a more just world.

The building’s three transparent façades—facing the campus, a grove of trees, and the surrounding neighborhood—are connected by curved walls constructed with wood masonry, a regional, traditional building method that incorporates Michigan grown, sustainably harvested white cedar. This is the first instance that this building technique, which is both low-carbon and highly insulating, has been employed for a project at an institutional scale. A LEED Gold certification is the construction target.

Studio Gang (www.studiogang.net), founded in 1997 by MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, FAIA, is a collective of architects, designers, and thinkers whose work confronts pressing contemporary issues. The studio acts as a lab for testing ideas on varying scales: from cities to environments to material properties. Studio Gang’s work has been honored and exhibited widely, most notably at the International Venice Biennale, Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Building Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Ms. Gang and members of her staff will discuss their innovative process of designing a building that facilitates the work of pursuing social justice in a dinner discussion on social justice leadership from 7-9 PM in the Hicks Center banquet room on the K campus. This free event is open to the public, but attendees must RSVP to Arcus Center Administrative Assistant Sholanna Lewis at slewis@kzoo.edu.

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (www.kzoo.edu/socialjustice) was launched in 2009 with support from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), including a $23 million endowment grant in January 2012.

Supporting Kalamazoo College’s mission to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world, the new social justice center will develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice.

Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu), founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, learning by practice, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years, so students can do more in a lifetime.

 

Kalamazoo College Begins 2012-13 Academic Year

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Class of 2016 Convocation held Wed., Sept. 5, 3:00 p.m. on the K “Quad”

Continuing a beloved tradition, Kalamazoo College’s Convocation 2012 begins at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 5. This colorful event on the campus Quad, which some have called “reverse commencement,” is free and open to the public. It comes complete with music, faculty processional, and an international flag ceremony, and serves as a formal induction into Kalamazoo College for the incoming Class of 2016.

Approximately 340 first-year students will recite the “Ritual of Recognition for New Students” and receive their charge from President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran.

Attorney and Toyota Co. executive Chris Reynolds, a member of the Kalamazoo College Class of 1983, will deliver the keynote address. A reception for students, families, faculty, staff, and other guests follows on the Upper Quad behind Stetson Chapel. In case of rain, the Convocation will move indoors to Stetson Chapel.

First-year students will move into their residence halls earlier that morning. Sophomores, seniors, and the few juniors who are not on study abroad during the Fall Quarter arrive this weekend. Classes for the 2012-13 academic year start Monday Sept. 10, and last day of Fall Quarter is Wednesday, Nov. 21.

About 40 percent of the incoming class comes from outside Michigan, including 25 other states and the District of Columbia. Twenty-five students come from China, Jamaica, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Uganda, and Vietnam. Another 24 visiting international students come for one year from Botswana, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Mozambique, and Spain.

Ninety-four first-year students (28%) self-report as students of color.

All new students will receive an extensive orientation through the College’s nationally recognized “First-Year Experience” program.

The College’s unofficial enrollment is approximately 1,380 students; official census numbers will be available in a few weeks.

Fall Quarter also marks first use of the renovated Kalamazoo College Athletic Fields on West Michigan Ave. at Burrows Rd, the result of a $16 million renovation. The Hornet Women’s Soccer team will have the first event, playing DePauw University Friday at 7 p.m. under the lights and on the artificial turf of MacKenzie field. The Hornet Football team kicks off its first home game Saturday against Manchester College at 1 p.m. at Angell Field, also sporting new artificial turf. Both teams will use the entirely new K Field House. Spectators, news media, game officials, and coaches will use the brand new Stadium Services building that houses a press box, concession, restrooms, and more.

Other important events this fall include groundbreaking for the new building for the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 9, and Homecoming weekend, October 19-21.

Founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu) is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, learning by practice, leadership development, and both international and intercultural engagement. K Kalamazoo College does more in four years, so students can do more in a lifetime.

Kalamazoo is Among “Colleges That Change Lives”

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Colleges That Change Lives book cover“If you were to build your own liberal arts college, you’d look closely at Kalamazoo College for ideas about how to do it. That’s because other colleges offer some of the same distinctive features you’ll find at Kalamazoo, but few integrate all of them so thoughtfully to create life-changing experiences.”

So begins the chapter on Kalamazoo College in the 2013-14 edition of “Colleges that Change Lives: 40 Schools that Will Change the Way You Think about College.”

Colleges That Change Lives (Penguin Books; ISBN: 9780143122302 On-Sale Date: August 28, 2012; 352 pages; $17.00) was first published in 1996 by Loren Pope, former education editor of the New York Times. Pope was also the founder of the College Placement Bureau, a college administrator, and the author of “Looking Beyond the Ivy League.”

Pope published updates to his book in 2000 and 2006. He died in 2008.

The fourth and most recent edition has been updated by Hilary Masell Oswald a journalist who writes about education, architecture and design, and public policy. Her work has appeared in Newsday, the Chicago Tribune, Edutopia, and other publications and websites.

She anticipates the questions that prospective students and their parents will have and provides the answers. Topics include:

• The look and feel of the campus

• Quality of dining hall food

• Percentage of students who study abroad

• Percentage of students who go to grad school

• Average SAT/ACT scores

• What professors have to say about their schools

“We are thrilled to be included once again in Colleges That Change Lives,” said Kalamazoo College Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Eric Staab. “Prospective students and their parents have more than 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States to choose from. This book helps them cut through the clutter and move beyond the ratings and rankings to find a college that is a good, affordable fit.”

Kalamazoo College has been included in each of the book’s four editions. Other colleges in the fourth edition include Allegheny (Pa.), Beloit (Wis.), Clark (Mass.), Hendrix (Ark.), Rhodes (Tenn.), Southwestern University (Texas), and University of Puget Sound (Wash.). Hope College and, for the first time, Hillsdale, are the only other Michigan schools included.

Oswald, as did Pope before her, visited K’s campus to conduct extensive interviews with students, faculty and staff.

She cites characteristics of the K-Plan —the College’s multilayered academic program—as a key to K’s success. These include a solid liberal arts curriculum, study abroad, experiential learning opportunities such as service-learning and leadership development, and a Senior Individualized Project.

“The K-Plan makes so much sense,” says Professor of Biology Binney Girdler in the book. “The first two years are the students’ foundation. The third year, they go far. The fourth year, they go deep. By the end of their time here, we’re willing to coauthor papers with them. That transformation—I’ll never get tired of it.”

According to Oswald, “What happens to students here is remarkable,” and K faculty members are a big reason why. “Over and over again,” she says, “students rave about their teachers, even as they complain about the amount of work. That’s a sign of good teaching.”

As proof a value for a Kalamazoo College education, Oswald cites Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) test results. CLA tests freshmen and seniors for their critical thinking, analytical reasoning, problem solving, and written communications skills.

“CLA examiners compare results across a variety of four-year colleges to answer the question: Are student really learning anything?” writes Oswald. “At Kalamazoo they are. CLA said the students performed well above expected.”

Dean of Students Sarah Westfall describes the K student body: “We have a student body of individuals. There’s very little herd mentality. They feel a call to activism and learning, but they’re also garden variety kids—some from small towns, working-class families, and a good number are first-generation college kids.”

Oswald concludes her chapter on Kalamazoo College with her own observation about its students by saying they are “enthusiast about their learning and thoughtful about their responsibilities to their community. A few conversations with current students will convince you that Kalamazoo’s component parts are remarkable, but if ever there were a place where the effect is greater than the sum of its parts, that place in Kalamazoo College.”

K is a proud partner of CTCL Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement and support of a student-centered college search process. Separate from the book, CTCL Inc. works to dispel publicly held myths about college choice by hosting information sessions nationwide and coordinating outreach efforts with high school counselors and college counseling agencies.

Founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu) is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, learning by practice, leadership development, and both international and intercultural engagement. Its 1,400 students hail from 30 states and 24 countries. Kalamazoo College does more in four years, so students can do more in a lifetime.

Kalamazoo College Seeks Public Comments for Accreditation

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Kalamazoo College is seeking comments from the public about the College in preparation for its periodic evaluation by its regional accrediting agency.

The College will host a visit October 1-3, 2012, with a team representing the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. Kalamazoo College has been accredited by the Commission since 1915. The team will review the institution’s ongoing ability to meet the Commission’s Criteria for Accreditation.

The public is invited to submit comments regarding Kalamazoo College to:

Public Comment on Kalamazoo College
The Higher Learning Commission
230 South LaSalle Street, Suite 7-500
Chicago, IL 60604-1411

The public may also submit comments on the Higher Learning Commission’s website.
Comments must address substantive matters related to the quality of the institution or its academic programs. Comments must be in writing. All comments must be received by August 31, 2012.

Kalamazoo College Has Banner Year for Career Development Opportunities

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Externs Lauren Gaunt and Brianna Melgar with host John Kerley
Externs Lauren Gaunt ’15 and Brianna Melgar ’14 with host John Kerley ’61 on the construction site of a replica of a Spanish galleon at the San Diego Maritime Museum.

From Santa Monica, California, to Silver Spring, Maryland, from Kenya to the United Kingdom, Kalamazoo College student interns and externs are hard at work this summer, honing marketable skills, gaining experience, and building relationships with professionals in various fields.  Through the Center for Career and Professional Development’s Discovery Externship and Field Experience Programs, 39 externs and 85 interns are trying on careers in fields as diverse as medical research, non-profit administration, and small-business management.  Many are hosted by the 48 K alumni who are serving this summer as supervisors and mentors.  Many are supported financially by endowed career development funding put in place by generous donors over the years. Externs work and live with alumni hosts for one to four weeks, and interns spend at least six weeks in a supervised workplace setting.  This summer the CCPD is partnering again with the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning to support the latter’s Community Building Interns, at work in Kalamazoo area nonprofit organizations. CCPD also collaborates with the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, whose interns are work at social justice advocacy organizations from Detroit to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. CCPD provides pre-departure orientations, learning contracts, opportunities for regular structured reflection, and feedback and evaluation processes for both student and supervisor.  One externship host, Heidi Gregori-Gahan ’76, described her summer experience:  “The 2-week program was intense in terms of my focus and the time spent with [my extern] during the evenings and on weekends. We had many meals together, went to a play, toured a couple of historic sites, went to a concert, and more. I think the host needs to be prepared to devote a lot of time and energy to ensuring the success of the program, and I enjoyed every moment of it. It was so nice to be able to share a part of the profession I love (international education) with an aspiring young professional–but also to know that I was giving back to the college which has meant so much in my life, both personally and professionally.”

College Rezoning Approved

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By Suzanne Curtiss ’14

Erran Briggs ’14 speaks about the stadium lighting improvements.

After three-and-half hours and 48 college and neighborhood speakers, the Kalamazoo City Commission approved an amended version of Kalamazoo College’s Institutional Campus (IC) rezoning application at its Monday, June 18, meeting in the City Commission chambers.

With the approved IC zone, the College can now move forward with its 10-year campus plan, including the construction of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership and the installation of stadium lighting at the Angell Field athletic complex. The latter had been a particular point of controversy.  As proposed by Commissioner Bob Cinabro, the stadium lights on the football field will be limited to 20 nights per year and must be turned off no later than 8:30 p.m., instead of 10:30 p.m.

Commissioner Don Cooney deemed the amendment a “reasonable compromise” and commended the College for its efforts in the last month to work closely and considerately with neighbors.

During the 14-month master plan process, K held a total of 21 meetings with neighbors, and on June 14 ceded to neighborhood concerns by excluding the closing of Thompson Street from the plan. Commissioner Barbara Miller, too, acknowledged the compromises of the College. “I think they [Kalamazoo College] have been good neighbors and Kalamazoo is a better place because of them,” said Miller.

Junior football player Erran Briggs ’14 (see photo) spoke of the impact the stadium lights will have on the lives of student athletes.

“We are more than just students,” he said, “Athletics can have as much of an impact on us as academics.”

Kalamazoo College President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran said she is “very happy about what the decision means for our student athletes” and pledged that she and College staff will work hard to keep lines of communication open with neighbors.

“K” Rates High for Study Abroad

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Kalamazoo College has again been recognized as a leader in study abroad programs for U.S. college students. According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), Kalamazoo ranks #12 among U.S. colleges that offer baccalaureate degrees in terms of the percentage of its graduates that studied abroad. IIE reports that 83.2 percent (238 out of 311) Kalamazoo graduates in 2010 had studied abroad during their “K” experience. Last year’s IIE report ranked Kalamazoo #16.

“Kalamazoo College is a pioneer in providing quality education abroad programs for students,” said Associate Provost for International Programs Joe Brockington. “We’ve been doing it for more than 50 years and continue to be a model for other colleges and universities.”

Kalamazoo operates 48 programs in 24 countries on six continents. During the past four years, an average of 51 percent of “K” students traveled to Europe, 22 percent to Austral-Asia, 16 percent to Latin America and the Caribbean, and 11 percent to Africa and the Middle East. Popular programs are in China, Ecuador, Scotland, and Thailand.

Kalamazoo’s program is distinctive, said Brockington, “because it’s integral (i.e. part of the ‘K’ curriculum), intentional (i.e. supported by learning outcomes that are assessed regularly), and integrative (i.e. striving to connect our students with local communities abroad).”

He said Kalamazoo stands out even from other institutions because “K” students engage in long-term study abroad programs that last from one quarter to a full academic year. Many schools that send a high percentage of students abroad (including schools on the IIE list) only do so for three to four weeks in the summer.

Kalamazoo students in all majors participate on study abroad, including a majority of student athletes even if it means they miss all or part of a competitive season. Many “K” students continue their major course of study while abroad, including science and math majors.

Most students take advantage of the Fall-Winter program and reside with host families. An Integrative Cultural Research Project, or ICRP, is a required component of selected programs. Bearing an academic credit, ICRP projects place great emphasis on participation, informed by observation and more traditional research activities.

“Study abroad remains a signature element of the K-Plan, said Brockington. “And it will for years to come.”

Read more about Kalamazoo College’s study abroad program, including blogs by “K” students currently studying abroad, at www.kzoo.edu/international.

IIE is the leading not-for-profit educational and cultural exchange organization in the United States. Its annual census is based on a survey of approximately 3,000 accredited U.S. institutions and draws support from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Calvin College (28) and Alma College (35) are the only other baccalaureate institutions in Michigan included on the 2011 IIE report.

Happy Birthday, K!

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Zaide Pixley and Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran
Zaide Pixley, Dean of the First Year and Advising at Kalamazoo College, receives the Lux Esto Award of Excellence. College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran presented the award. Photo Credit: Anthony Dugal.

By Elaine Ezekiel ’13

“Founders Day 2012” was the theme of the Week 4 (April 20) Community Reflection in Stetson Chapel. Sponsored by the Founders Day Committee, the event celebrated 179 years of community at Kalamazoo College by honoring members of its faculty and staff. After a welcome by Student Commission President Meredith L. Quinlan ’12, President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran gave a brief history of K’s early founders. Kate Fodor ’12 and Rachel Horness ’13 sang a beautiful interpretation of Leo Delibes’ Dome epais (Lakme), accompanied by Jack Brooks on piano.

Dean of Advising Zaide Pixley (pictured at right, with President Wilson-Oyelaran) read from her essay “Celebrating 179 Years of Community.”

“Kalamazoo College is a place where we can ask hard questions, questions that don’t have easy answers, questions that can’t be reduced to sound bites, slogans and attacks,” she said.

After reciting the names of K employees celebrating five, ten, 15, 20 and 25 years of service, Wilson-Oyelaran announced recipients of three key annual employee honors. Professor of English Bruce Mills received the Outstanding Advisor Award.  Gail Griffin, the Ann V. and Donald R. Parfet Distinguished Professor of English, received the Outstanding First-Year Advocate Award, and Zaide Pixley was awarded the Lux Esto Award of Excellence which honors an employee of 25 or more years of service for a superlative record of stewardship and innovation.

This year marked the first of an “Honorable Mention” category of the Lux Esto Award of Excellence. Honorable mention for their years of dedicated service to the College was made of nine of the eligible members of K’s Facilities Management and Custodial Staff (John Charlier, Kolden Heldart, Doug Hilton, James Modderman, James Ringler, Michael Sawyer, Jeff Sherman, Jerry Vincent, and Ken Wielinga).

Community Reflection offers a unique forum for discussion, worship, performance, and community expression each Friday at 10:50 AM (refreshments at 10:30) in Stetson Chapel. The entire campus community and general public are invited. The Week 5 (April 27) Reflection will be “Yom HaShoah—Remembering the Holocaust Through Varied Perspectives,” during which members of the Jewish Student Organization will reflect on the Holocaust and invite the community to consider how we can make the sacrifices of the past mean something for the future.

Spaces of Great Character

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Reading Room at Kalamazoo College Upjohn Library Commons

It’s not high tech. It’s not “trendy.” It is large – with the height spanning two stories and featuring large windows streaming an abundance of natural light. The Yehle Reading Room in Kalamazoo College’s Upjohn Library Commons is rightly called a “Space of Great Character” in an article in Psychology Today.

Writer Ann Sloan Devlin encourages the development of spaces that promote concentration and creativity and wrote how such spaces are becoming rare in newer college and university buildings. She cited the Yehle Reading Room and a similar space at Connecticut College as “precisely the kinds of spaces that students today need to encourage thinking.”

Let’s hear it for meditative space—and time, part of the More in Four that is Kalamazoo College.

Institute of Arts Exhibits Kalamazoo College Rare Book Collection “Birds of a Feather”

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AudubonThe Kalamazoo Institute of Arts has gone to the birds with a new exhibition, Birds of a Feather: John Costin and John James Audubon, featuring works loaned by the A.M. Todd Rare Book Collection at Kalamazoo College.

The exhibition is open from March 24 to June 24 and pairs images of species featured in Michigan native Costin’s recent “Large Florida Birds” project with corresponding work created in the 1830s by Audubon, still America’s most famous ornithologist.