Category: Institutional Announcements

Kalamazoo College Selects Jaime Grant as Executive Director for Its Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership

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CONTACT: Jim VanSweden, 269.337.7291

June 28, 2010

(KALAMAZOO, Michigan) June 28, 2010 – After a national search, Kalamazoo College has named Jaime M. Grant, Ph.D., as executive director of its Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL). She will begin her duties September 1.

Grant has worked for more than 20 years with a variety of national and international organizations focused on social justice and human rights for women, youth, and the LGBT community, as well as victims of sexual and domestic assault, and the mentally ill.

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (https://reason.kzoo.edu/csjl) is a new initiative by Kalamazoo College, launched in 2009 with a two-year, $2.1 million grant from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org). Its purpose is to explore, cultivate, and engage in the study and practice of social justice leadership.

“We are very excited to have someone of Jaime Grant’s caliber and range of experience join Kalamazoo College,” said “K” President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran. “She has a deep passion and demonstrated commitment to social justice, and a substantial record of accomplishment as a leader who can foster collaboration and a sense of shared purpose. In her role as the executive director, Dr. Grant will provide leadership as Kalamazoo College works to become recognized nationally and internationally as the place to look for original thinking about social justice and social justice leadership.”

Since Nov. 2007, Grant has served as director of the Policy Institute at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the nation’s premiere LGBT think tank located in Washington, D.C. Before that, she was Program Director for “Leadership for a Changing World” (LCW) at The Advocacy Institute, also in Washington. LCW is the Ford Foundation’s signature leadership awards program, and recognizes and supports community leaders across America who are effectively tackling tough social issues.

“I’m thrilled to join Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership,” said Grant. “Kalamazoo’s tradition of combining top-quality, liberal arts academics with experiential learning makes it an ideal place to establish a first-of-its-kind academy-based social justice leadership center.

“The new center will add value to a ‘K’ education, while fueling social change efforts in the U.S. and abroad, and nurturing the next generation of leaders,” she said.

Grant has published in major academic journals and her commentaries have appeared broadly in popular publications and the consumer press. Her recent work at the Task Force has included a national Census advocacy campaign, and a policy paper on issues of aging facing the LGBT aging community. The projects she is currently completing include a visioning document for advocates working on family policy.

Grant has a bachelor’s degree in economics and government from Wesleyan University, a master’s degree in women’s studies from Bucknell University, and a Ph.D. in women’s studies from The Union Institute, where she served as director from 1993 to 2000.

Her duties at Kalamazoo College will include maintaining and augmenting the vision for the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, while overseeing a range of programs, developing international and domestic partnerships, and working with College faculty, staff, and students on innovative projects and practices in social justice leadership.

Current programming to support the ACSJL mission includes project grants for “K” faculty, staff, and students; fellowships for “K” and visiting faculty; and a series of lectures and “convenings” in which visiting social justice leaders interact with members of the “K” campus and greater Kalamazoo community.

Founded in Kalamazoo 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, and both international and intercultural engagement.

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Kalamazoo College Receives $400,000 Grant From W.K. Kellogg Foundation

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CONTACT: Jeff Palmer, 269.337.5724

April 9, 2010

Grant will help fund College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership
 activities and associate director position

Kalamazoo, Mich. (April 9, 2010) — Kalamazoo College has received a $400,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation that will assist in the planning, development, and implementation of the curricula, programming, and learning opportunities for the College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. The grant will also fund, for three years, the position of associate director at the Center.

Donna Lartigue, a former Kellogg Foundation program director, has been hired to fill the associate director position beginning May 1. She will be responsible for helping to carry out the goals of the Kellogg Foundation grant and assisting Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Interim Director Carol Anderson in day-to-day operations until a permanent executive director and academic director are hired. Nationwide searches for both are underway. Candidates are being interviewed and selections will be announced later this spring.

Currently in its first year of operation, Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership offers lectures by individuals who are recognized nationally and internationally for their work in the field of social justice; short-term residencies for scholars, artists, and activists who will interact with the campus and the local community; opportunities for the development of new courses and leadership programs in the area of social justice and human rights; and conferences that address major issues related to the creation of a more just world.

A kickoff lecture—open to the public—will be held Tuesday April 13 at 8 p.m. in Dalton Theatre in the Light Fine Arts Building on the Kalamazoo College campus. Joia Mukherjee, M.D., medical director of Partners in Health will speak on the topic “Learning from Haiti: Relief and Long-Term Partnerships in the Developing World.” Partners in Health was founded in 1987 by Paul Farmer, M.D. Dr. Mukherjee has spent much of the past three months in Haiti helping to mobilize grassroots community health workers and rebuild the capacity of Haiti’s public sector to provide health care and other essential social services.

From 2003-09, Donna Lartigue served as a program director with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, leading its hometown grant making initiatives and providing support to its civic engagement, nonprofit effectiveness, and women’s philanthropy programming. She was a senior program officer at Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City from 1991-2002, where she led its comprehensive high school reform and school-to-work program investments. Prior to that, she worked for the Missouri State Department of Economic Development, the City of Springfield (Mo.) Job Council of the Ozarks, and as a middle school teacher in Augusta, Georgia.

Established in 1930, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation supports children, families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and southern Africa. For further information, please visit the Foundation’s website at www.wkkf.org.

Founded in Kalamazoo 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 through practice, service learning, international and intercultural engagement, and a senior independent project.

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