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News Stories

K Selects Four Faculty as Endowed Chairs

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Kalamazoo College has appointed four faculty members as endowed chairs, recognizing their achievements as professors. Endowed chairs are positions funded through the annual earnings from an endowed gift or gifts to the College. The honor reflects the value donors attribute to the excellent teaching and mentorship that occurs at K and how much donors want to see that excellence continue. The honorees are as follows.

Sarah Lindley, Robert W. and JoAnn Stewart Chair

Lindley, a professor of art, previously received an endowed professorship when she was named the Arcus Social Justice Leadership Professor of Art in 2017.

Since 2001, Lindley has taught a range of ceramics and sculpture courses, and has managed and maintained K’s ceramics, sculpture and woodshop studios and equipment. Lindley served as an Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Faculty Fellow in 2010–11, and in that capacity helped found the Community Studio in downtown Kalamazoo’s Park Trades Center. She has had several solo, two-person and group exhibitions featuring her own work regionally, nationally and around the world.

Lindley earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in ceramics from the University of Washington. 

Portrait of Sarah Lindley
Sarah Lindley

Morgan Loechli, Dow Trustee Chair

Loechli, an assistant professor of physics, arrived at K in 2023 from Washtenaw Community College, where she was a part-time physics instructor while earning her doctorate.

Since then, Loechli has led six students in summer research and taught courses including Introductory Physics I and II, Introduction to Relativity and Quantum Physics, and Introduction to Climate Science. She conducted climate science research while earning her Ph.D. in applied physics at the University of Michigan. Loechli also has a master’s degree in applied physics from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Dickinson College.

Portrait of Morgan Loechli
Morgan Loechli

Carlos Vazquez Cruz, Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Junior Chair

Vazquez Cruz has been an assistant professor of Spanish at K since 2022. His teaching interests include Spanish creative writing, Latin American contemporary narratives, Latin American poetry and the visual arts and music in Spanish Caribbean literatures. He has also written one hybrid book of mixed genres, two collections of stories, two novels, three collections of poetry and one book of essays, along with research articles in peer-reviewed journals. Five of his books have been awarded by the Puerto Rico PEN, and he received the Banco Santander Spanish Creative Writing Fellowship (NYU, 2008-2010), the New Voices Award (Festival de la Palabra de Puerto Rico, 2014) and the Letras Boricuas Fellowship (Flamboyán Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, 2022).

Vazquez Cruz holds a Ph.D. in Latin American literature with a graduate certificate in digital humanities from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of Fine Arts in Spanish creative writing from New York University and a bachelor’s in Spanish education from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras.

Portrait of Carlos Vazquez Cruz, endowed chairs
Carlos Vazquez Cruz

Lanny Potts, James Stone Senior Chair

Potts, a professor of theatre arts, arrived at K in 1987 as the technical director for K’s Festival Playhouse. In addition to teaching classes in areas such as scenic design, lighting design and stage management, Potts serves as artistic director of the Festival Playhouse Theatre.

The Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo awarded Potts last fall with a Community Medal of Arts. He also has received six Michigan Wilde Awards for Best Lighting for his work at Farmers Alley Theatre. At K, he earned the 2024–25 Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship, honoring his contributions in creative work, research and publication.

Potts has a Master of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University and a bachelor’s degree from Valparaiso University.

Portrait of Lanny Potts, endowed chairs
Lanny Potts

K Promotes Four Faculty to Professor

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Kalamazoo College faculty members Noriko Sugimori, Ryan Fong, Amy MacMillan and Marin Heinritz ’99 are being promoted from associate professor to full professor, recognizing the dedication they’ve had to their students and careers.

Noriko Sugimori, Professor of Japanese

Sugimori joined Kalamazoo College in 2009 and serves as chair of both the East Asian Studies Department and the Japanese program. She specializes in sociolinguistics and was a faculty fellow with the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership from 2023-2025. Her Mellon Foundation-supported oral history project, War Memories, explored Japanese-speaking individuals’ recollections of World War II and was the first to use a bilingual metadata synchronizer to record, transcribe and translate interviews.

Sugimori holds a Ph.D. in applied linguistics from Boston University, a Certificate of Advanced Study in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, two master’s degrees in TESOL from Michigan State University and Teachers College at Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree from Toyama University in Japan. 

Professor of Japanese Noriko Sugimori
Professor of Japanese Noriko Sugimori

Ryan Fong, Professor of English

Fong joined the English department at Kalamazoo College in 2012. From 2020–23, he served as a faculty fellow with the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. His teaching focuses on British literature, with additional courses in literary theory, literature by East Asian emigrants, and women, gender and sexuality studies. He co-founded Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom, a digital project that reimagines the teaching of Victorian studies, and is completing a book titled Unsettling: Indigenous Literatures and the Work of Victorian Studies.

Fong holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree in English from the University of California, Davis and a bachelor’s degree from Whittier College. 

Ryan Fong Victorian Studies
Professor of English Ryan Fong

Amy MacMillan, Professor of Business

MacMillan joined Kalamazoo College in 2012 and is the L. Lee Stryker Professor of Business Management and co-chair of the Department of Economics and Business. She teaches courses in marketing and management, including international and strategic marketing. Previously, she taught at Western Michigan University, where she was named a faculty fellow at the Lee Honors College for teaching excellence. Her earlier career included leadership roles at General Electric, Procter & Gamble and Sara Lee in the U.S. and Europe. MacMillan serves on the Colgate University Board of Trustees.

She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University. 

Portrait of L. Lee Stryker Professor of Business Management Amy MacMillan
L. Lee Stryker Professor of Business Management Amy MacMillan

Marin Heinritz ’99, Professor of English

Heinritz joined Kalamazoo College in 2003, and she teaches courses in journalism and creative writing, including creative nonfiction. A prolific writer, she has authored more than 1,000 published pieces across memoirs, literary journalism, arts criticism and more. Her current book project, Out of Body, is a memoir about coming of age with cancer. Heinritz has received numerous honors, including the Third Coast Non-Fiction Prize and several creative writing awards from Western Michigan University.

She holds a Ph.D. in English with an emphasis in creative writing from WMU, an M.S. in journalism with distinction from Boston University, and a bachelor’s degree from K. 

Professor of English Marin Heinritz
Professor of English Marin Heinritz

Internship Helps Student Dish Out Good Food, Nutrition

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Amelie Sack ’27 is hungry to help people in Northern Michigan eat healthfully this summer through her internship at the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities in Traverse City—a place that feels like home to her after growing up in Glen Arbor about a half-hour away.

“My dad’s office is directly next to Groundwork, so he recommended that I talk to some of their people when I was looking for an internship, because many of them have been mentors I’ve grown up with,” Sack said. “I realized that I know a majority of the staff there when I visited.”

Thanks to that proactive outreach, she has been able to work with a nonprofit organization that dedicates itself to strengthening communities through local food systems, clean energy initiatives and sustainable transportation.

“Their mission is to build resilient communities and address concerns by asking them what they actually need, rather than by interacting after they’ve created a plan,” Sack said. “I love to make the in-person connections that I do because Groundwork is very community oriented.”

It’s Groundwork’s work around food and farming that aligns closest with Sack’s experiences as a Kalamazoo College student. A double major in anthropology/sociology and women, gender and sexuality, with a concentration in community and global health, Sack interns during the academic year at K’s Hoop House garden, where she helps provide quality food to people who need it. In her Groundwork internship, she addresses community groups and populations to help them find fresh produce and beneficial foods while creating educational materials and in-person meal-prep presentations.

“Local food sources are everything to a community,” Sack said. “My local grocery store in Glen Arbor is expensive and the other closest grocery store is a Meijer that’s about a 30- or 40-minute drive away. Being able to walk or bike a mile down the road and go to my local farmers market every Tuesday and get the produce I need for the week is important for me. But in towns such as Empire and Bezonia, there isn’t a grocery store. Some people resort to processed foods available at a Dollar General rather than farmers markets.”

The good news is that the local farm communities in these areas are getting stronger and seeking publicity, so Sack helps create outreach materials for them along with educational materials for places such as the Empire Regional Food Pantry, the Project Starburst Food Pantry in Big Rapids, and the Up North Fields farm stand in Benzonia.

In addition, she offers presentations at places like the Esperance Community Teaching Kitchen, where she spoke to cancer patients from the Cowell Family Cancer Center, and at Munson Hospital in Traverse City, where she helped train local practitioners in culinary education focused on cardiovascular health.

Amelie Sack presents ideas for cooking with healthful food
Amelie Sack ’27 is interning this summer with the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities in Traverse City where, among other duties, she offers presentations that help Northern Michigan residents find healthful foods.
Portrait of Amelia Sack
Sack serves K as a President’s Student Ambassador, representing the College at formal events for community leaders, alumni and donors as an extension of the president’s office.

She also wrote a column this summer for the Traverse City Record Eagle. Her message addressed food access and the importance of local produce, particularly with various bills winding through Washington, D.C., that limit access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), notably for seniors and children.

“I’m happy to help these farms and give them an honorable mention where I can while helping residents find access,” she said. “And being able to write this column and share my voice has been exciting for me and so important for our partners, especially as SNAP is facing a loss of federal funding. It’s going to harm households as well as schools because there are about 18 million children who rely on it for their school meals.”

Sack expects her internship and outreach to continue until mid-August before she returns to Kalamazoo, but she’s open to continuing it remotely. She’s grateful that she received a stipend from K’s Center for Career and Professional Development so she could concentrate exclusively on her role this summer, but she would continue that work for free if it meant she could offer more services to Northern Michigan partners.

“I’m passionate about helping my community because I’ve enjoyed growing up in this area,” Sack said. “I feel lucky to have shared my voice while meeting wonderful people and seeing what this work does for the community and for public health.”

K Alumnus Wants Study Abroad to Change Lives in Oklahoma

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More students at Southeastern Oklahoma State University (SEOSU) have applied for passports and are prepared to see the world thanks in part to a Kalamazoo College alumnus inspired by his own study abroad experiences.

Kyle Lincoln ’10 is an associate professor of history at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Oklahoma, about 100 miles northeast of Dallas, Texas. He also has been appointed the university’s study abroad director. The university last year had just 14 out of more than 6,000 enrolled students participating in study abroad, but the number overall is trending higher under Lincoln’s watch.

“I can remember starting to talk about going on study abroad when I was a first-year student at K, and now I can talk to our students to plant the idea with them,” Lincoln said. “Someone else then sits near our students in class while saying something like, ‘When I was in Vienna, something amazing happened.’ That’s when students pull the trigger and decide to go. Horizontal marketing like that is pretty powerful for us. And to me, it’s gratifying to know the number of students participating in study abroad here is growing. If we can get it up to about 10% participation, that would be a legacy number for me.”

SEOSU primarily serves students from a 12-county area in the state, all of which consistently rank among the 50 counties in the country with the lowest average household incomes. Additionally, approximately 46% of SEOSU’s students identify as students of color, including about 28% who identify as Native American. Despite these long odds, Southeastern excels in supporting its students through their graduation date and beyond, and consistently ranks in the top 10 universities in the country in graduating Native American students. When Lincoln arrived, there were few opportunities for students to pursue international immersion. Many students come from high-financial-need backgrounds and historically underserved communities, where optional educational opportunities like study abroad were not commonly seen as accessible.

A fledgling study abroad program began about 10 years prior to Lincoln’s arrival, when the honors program director at SEOSU decided that her students needed to see more of the world through short-term study abroad opportunities. Other students were invited along, yet participation stayed low. Lincoln, though, had gained experience leading study abroad programs while teaching at Webster University during graduate school, and he told officials at his new institution that he could dedicate himself to furthering its international immersion efforts.

Lincoln has since helped develop opportunities for full-semester, half-semester and summer-term programs offered through exchange partnerships, federally-funded programs, special fellowships offered by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, and competitive programs for foreign language study. But much of that development started almost by accident.

“The person who was planning to lead a program to Greece my first year at Southeastern ended up leaving the university,” Lincoln said. “I couldn’t say no when the honors director asked if I wanted to go. From there, we’ve been adding more faculty-led trips. We’ve gone to Belize and Guatemala, and we’re getting ready to go to Spain next year. We went to Iceland this last spring, too. Right now, we have five full-semester programs. I have a proposal on our president’s desk to add about 20 sites in 13 or 14 countries within the next year. That’s a pretty substantial increase in the programs we would be offering, especially for a school that doesn’t really have a dedicated study abroad office except for me.”

Lincoln, who is originally from Ionia, Michigan, said he visited K during high school when Steven Cairns ’93, Ionia’s AP history teacher, encouraged him to do so. The College’s brick-lined streets and trees, which reminded him of home, ultimately helped him decide to attend. As a K student, he took Latin classes and began learning Greek in classics department courses before spending a term abroad in Rome.

He has modeled some of SEOSU’s study abroad structure on his experience at K.

“I remember doing the background work to apply for graduate school and looking at my transcript,” he said. “I noticed I didn’t have separate transcripts from K and from studying abroad. I didn’t think about that for a long time, but it stuck in the back of my head, and we now do something similar at Southeastern. All the students that enroll in study abroad for semester or summer-term programs, enroll in classes that have a prefix of ‘Intl,’ which is international studies with me. Then, as the course codes fluctuate based on what classes they’re taking somewhere else, they stay enrolled at Southeastern despite being at Webster’s campus in Athens or the Universidad Nebrija campus in Madrid. From a practical perspective, that lets them stay on course to graduate. It also keeps enrollment verification for the state of Oklahoma, tribal funders, regional funders, philanthropic organizations or regional scholarships.”

Kyle Lincoln takes Southeast Oklahoma State students on study abroad
Kyle Lincoln ’10 (third from right) is a study abroad director and associate professor of history at Southeast Oklahoma State University. Lincoln has helped develop opportunities for full-semester, half-semester and summer-term programs at his institution.
Kyle Lincoln on study abroad in Rome
As a Kalamazoo College student, Lincoln took Latin classes and began learning Greek in classics department courses before spending a term abroad in Rome.
Kyle Lincoln with students on study abroad
Lincoln’s own study abroad experience at K meant so much to him that he now takes SEOSU students to places such as Belize and Guatemala.

Such a practice helps students maintain their access to university services, too.

“It makes the advising part easy for me, and it also means that the students can, for example, stay in contact with campus health services if they need to because they’re still enrolled with us,” Lincoln said. “They haven’t just gone to another university and enrolled in classes there. One study abroad director horror story I have that had a happy ending: I had a student whose appendix burst while she was in Geneva. Having that happen 4,000 miles from home is scary, but she called me and the campus directors, which allowed us to get some paperwork started. Her biggest complaint by the end? Why was the hospital food in Geneva better than cafeteria food at home!”

As a result, she made a full recovery without any out-of-pocket costs and still benefited from her study abroad experience. Lincoln said it puts students’ minds at ease when they know something about what they can expect and that their school has experience with what to do in emergencies.

The biggest challenge ahead is now building a lasting study abroad culture at SEOSU, which traditionally had students saying, “People like us don’t do that; that’s a rich-kid thing or an East Coast thing.” Lincoln brings to the institution the same belief that was instilled in him at K: that immersive, global experiences should be encouraged and accessible to all students, not just a privileged few.

“The financial challenges are often real for our students, yet building a lasting culture of study abroad at Southeastern has been the bigger challenge,” Lincoln said. “I will tell my students that they go with people they don’t know yet, but I do know them, and we can trust them. There might even be real opportunities abroad they can’t get at our campus or maybe we don’t have the faculty that can give them the variety that they want in their education. There’s also a transformative power in being in the place where something is happening.”

And so far, student feedback after study abroad has been encouraging, indicating the school is ready to ramp up participation.

“At this point, we’re seeing a 100% success rate,” he said. “One hundred percent of the students who go come back and ask questions like, ‘Can I go again? How do I do this forever? Can you tell me what programs for graduate school focus on international education? Is there a way to live abroad and get a master’s degree?’

“I want to make sure my students see study abroad as an opportunity that’s more accessible than they might think and a chance to do something life changing. I want it not to be a question of whether they can go, but when.”

Portrait of Kyle Lincoln
Lincoln previously led study abroad experiences as a graduate student at Webster University after graduating from K.

Complex Systems Group Welcomes K Professor to Board

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Péter Érdi, the Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies, has been named to the Board of Directors for the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS), where he will serve two years as the Secretary and Vice President of Protocol.

Among the first and oldest organizations devoted to interdisciplinary inquiry into the nature of complex systems, ISSS was originally founded in 1954 as the Society for General Systems Research. ISSS’s first purpose was to encourage the development of theoretical systems that are applicable to more than one subject of study.

Since, ISSS has expanded its scope beyond purely theoretical and technical considerations to include the practical application of systems methodologies in problem solving. It also provides a forum where scholars and practitioners from across disciplines—representing academic, business, government and non-profit communities—can share ideas to learn from each other.

Érdi received the 2018 Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship, the highest award bestowed by K’s faculty, which honors the recipient’s contributions in creative work, research and publication. He has dozens of publications from his time at K, including three books since 2019, Ranking: The Hidden Rules of the Social Game, We All Play (2019), Repair: When and How to Improve Broken Objects, Ourselves and Our Society (2022) and Feedback: How to Destroy or Save the World (2024), which have received international acclaim.

Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies Péter Érdi
Péter Érdi, the Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies at Kalamazoo College, will serve two years as the Secretary and Vice President of Protocol for the International Society for the Systems Sciences.

Also, five K alumni from the class of 2009—Brad Flaugher, Jerrod Howlett, Trevor Jones, Elliot Paquette and Griffin Drutchas—honored Érdi with a fund in his name that will help support the field of complex systems studies for years to come.

For more information on ISSS, visit its website at https://www.isss.org.

Fulbright Helps Provost Explore Student Opportunities in Japan

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A two-week experience in Japan recently helped Provost Danette Ifert Johnson work toward establishing new Kalamazoo College study abroad partnerships and opportunities for students.

The Fulbright Scholars Program honored Ifert Johnson with an International Education Administrators (IEA) Award, which allows U.S. higher education administrators to learn about participating countries’ higher education systems. The people involved exchange information on best practices, explore the potential for new partnerships with institutions of higher education in the host country, and raise the profile of their home institution within the host country and the U.S. cohort.

Ifert Johnson specifically visited the students, faculty and staff at several institutions including the University of Tokyo, Tsuda University, Hiroshima Shudo University, Kansai University, and existing K study abroad partners Sophia University and Waseda University. Her cohort also met with officials from Education USA and the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). During the program, they each completed an individual project for which Ifert Johnson visited International Christian University and Kyorin University.

In addition to Japan, IEA alumni have visited France, Germany, Taiwan, Korea and India.

“Given K’s strong commitment to study abroad, I was initially interested in participating so that I could better support our institutional efforts,” Ifert Johnson said. “IEA programs exist in several countries around the world, so I worked with Center for International Programs Executive Director Margaret Wiedenhoeft to determine what would be of greatest strategic benefit to us and our students. I was honored to be selected to represent K abroad and I’m looking forward to seeing how our new and strengthened relationships benefit our students.”

Provost Danette Ifert Johnson visits study abroad partners in Japan through the International Education Administrators Award provided by the Fulbright U.S. Scholars Program
Provost Danette Ifert Johnson (top left) specifically visited the students, faculty and staff at several institutions including Kalamazoo College study abroad partners Sophia University and Waseda University through an International Education Administrators Award provided through the Fulbright U.S. Scholars Program.

Alumni Host Students for Job Shadows, Networking in New York

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Over spring break, 10 first-generation students from Kalamazoo College traded the familiar routines of campus life for the fast-paced energy of New York City, where they spent five days job shadowing across a range of industries and opportunities in finance, education, theater, media and nonprofit work.

Thanks to K to NYC—a new Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) initiative organized by Assistant Director Alejandro Alaniz— students met alumni and got a firsthand look at how a K liberal arts degree can lead to diverse career paths.

Before traveling, students participated in sessions with the CCPD to prepare for their experiences, helping them research their alumni hosts and companies, develop strong career-conversation questions, and practice professional communication strategies. Then, Alaniz said, the trek provided a transformative experience that allowed students to step into spaces they might have once felt unsure about while walking away with a sense of confidence, direction and belonging.

“For many, it was their first time in New York City, their first job shadow, and their first professional conversation outside the classroom, and yet they showed up—asking thoughtful questions, sharing their stories, and embracing every moment of growth,” Alaniz said.

The student cohort, consisting mostly of first- and second-year students, included Jay Hernandez ’28, who said he leapt at the opportunity to go the moment he saw the first email about it.

“I love traveling and being in a real work environment because it fascinates me to see how people function in a day of work,” he said. “I also had never been to New York City before, which made it even more appealing to me, a first-generation student from Texas who has never known a big city like New York.”

For the job shadow itself, Hernandez met Kriti Singh ’17, who works as an associate with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a nonprofit that works like a think tank while transforming global energy systems through market-driven solutions to secure a clean, prosperous and zero-carbon future.

“It surpassed my expectations by tenfold,” Hernandez said. “This trip was so enlightening, and I was so thankful, because not only did I gain in-person experience from a real job shadow, but we also had free time to explore the richness of the city and experience things on our own. It felt like we were doing everything with how much we enjoyed it. It was a good bonding experience with new people as well. All the alumni gave me foresight on important skills and taught me truly how valuable networking is. With that and the advice they gave me, I understand better what to look for in jobs and what those jobs are looking for in me.”

Students meet with alumni for job shadows and networking in New York City
“This experience wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity and support of our alumni,” said Center for Career and Professional Development Alejandro Alaniz (far left). “Their willingness to open their workplaces, share their journeys, and encourage our students is what made this trek so meaningful.
Students visit New York City for job shadows and networking
“This trip was so enlightening, and I was so thankful, because not only did I gain in-person experience from a real job shadow, but we also had free time to explore the richness of the city and experience things on our own,” said Jay Hernandez ’28 of his experience in New York. “It felt like we were doing everything with how much we enjoyed it.”

In her role, Singh examines two- and three-wheel road vehicles, and how cities can develop infrastructure to increase access to transportation while adopting energy-efficient options. She said she took advantage of CCPD programs during her time at K and desired an opportunity to give back to the College.

“I did a couple of career treks including K’s first to New York, which then was called K to the Big Apple,” Singh said. “I think K prepared me well for the outside world through those experiences and more. There were classes I took that I could talk about in interviews that helped me get a job. K taught me to be flexible and willing to learn new things in quality classes with amazing professors. I think going to a small school, where professors knew my name, was important for me. I still value that today.”

Hernandez’s goals and Singh’s role weren’t a perfect match, because Hernandez hopes to work in finance rather than the nonprofit sector after earning his degree. However, Singh said there were still important lessons to learn in their time together.

“I understood that he might come out thinking, ‘This is not what I want to do,’” Singh said. “But I think it’s good to have depth and breadth regarding a variety of experiences. My goal was to give him exposure into this field. I also gave him some readings on my own work and I thought of other alumni he could connect with, whether they’re in New York or not. I wanted him to learn how to network because that was something I really benefited from.”

Amanda Johnson ’17 also wanted to give back, having benefited from three internships arranged at least in part through the CCPD during her time as a K student: working on the Raise the Wage Campaign for Michigan United, an internship with former K trustee Amy Courter at Youngsoft Inc. and a summer away at the U.S. Senate. She now works as a director at Waterfall Asset Management, where she trades residential mortgage-backed securities.

Johnson hosted one student for a job shadow and all 10 along with four other alumni for a dinner meeting in her office that night.

“I thought the questions they asked alumni were very thoughtful and showed maturity beyond their age,” Johnson said. “I recommended the students pursue a variety of career exposure opportunities at and through K. Bite size opportunities such as the experience in NYC will allow the students to learn their career preferences. Learning you don’t like something in a short term setting like a job shadow, externship or internship is incredibly useful for crafting a fulfilling, enjoyable career. I think this trip was a great experience for the students to add to their career exploration.”

As the students returned to campus, energized and inspired, their stories became fuel for Alaniz and the CCPD to expand the program going forward. In follow-up reports, Ash Rodriguez ’27 said, “This experience showed me that being first-gen doesn’t mean I have to play small. I’ve learned that I belong in professional spaces—and I want to take up space.”

Liuba Silva ’27 reflected, “Shadowing my alum taught me that career paths can be unpredictable, but that’s okay. I don’t need to have it all figured out right now—I just need to stay open and keep building relationships.”

And Sarah Guerrero Gorostieta ’28 said, “I used to think networking was about being polished and perfect. But during this trip, I learned that being genuinely curious and asking honest questions can be just as powerful.”

“This experience wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity and support of our alumni,” Alaniz said. “Their willingness to open their workplaces, share their journeys, and encourage our students is what made this trek so meaningful. The connections formed are proof that the Kalamazoo College network is not only strong, it’s deeply invested in the next generation of leaders. As I reflect, I’m already thinking about what’s next: more opportunities for career exploration, more spaces for first-generation students to thrive, and more stories of transformation waiting to unfold.”

Alumnus Conquers Curveball to Work in Major League Baseball

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Three months before Thomas Bentley ’25 graduated from Kalamazoo College, he secured his full-time dream job. He even started that role remotely while going through his last term, and he since has moved to a new state. But his favorite part of his new pursuits so far might surprise you.

“At the moment, my favorite part is when I take my lunch break,” he said. “I go sit on the balcony of the fourth floor and I eat my lunch overlooking a Major League Baseball field. That experience is tough to beat.”

The field Bentley observes is Target Field in Minneapolis, and since spring break this year, he has served the Minnesota Twins as an analyst in the Pro Personnel Department of Baseball Operations. He joins alumni such as Jordan Wiley ’19 and Samantha Moss ’23 by working in Major League Baseball roles within two years of Commencement. Another young alum, Jack Clark ’17, is the manager of MLB draft operations and has worked in professional baseball since 2020. And like theirs, Bentley’s position is ideal for someone who has been a baseball fan since childhood.

“I’m grateful that I found a job in the sport that I always wanted to be a part of in some capacity or another,” he said. “I think a lot of people would think it’s a cool job and that’s definitely not lost on me. That’s a piece of the gratitude that I weigh in terms of how things have turned out.”

Minnesota Twins graphic says, "Welcome to the team, Thomas Bentley, analyst, baseball operations"
Thomas Bentley ’25 joins alumni such as Jordan Wiley ’19 and Samantha Moss ’23 by working in Major League Baseball roles within two years of their Commencement. The Minnesota Twins hired Bentley as an analyst in Baseball Operations, making his input vital toward any trades the Twins might pursue this season.

If you’re familiar with the 2011 movie Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, you might have a ballpark idea of what Bentley is doing for the Twins. Although Hill’s character is fictional, he represents an amalgamation of everyone who serves a Major League Baseball team in pro personnel. Bentley performs similar work by evaluating statistics to determine how the Twins might improve their organization by making trades with other teams. As a result, if the Twins pull a deal at or before the July 31 trade deadline this year, it’s possible that his work will have influenced it.

“It’s like I’m doing homework all the time for a test that I might or might not have with the trade deadline coming up,” Bentley said. “Obviously, some of that homework will come into play, but my job is to understand Major League Baseball prospects really well and go to a meeting with pre-existing knowledge on those players.”

Bentley grew up in White Lake, Michigan, where K baseball coach Mike Ott recruited him as a pitcher. As a student, he was familiar with K’s academic reputation, making it an easy choice for his education and athletics goals.

Late in high school, however, Bentley faced a problem that came out of left field when he experienced what athletes sometimes call a dead arm. The condition would sound ominous for anyone, but it’s especially concerning for a baseball pitcher who might lose much of his velocity and control as a result of the problem.

A dead arm can be indicative of any one of many issues. For Bentley, it was a sign of a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow, an injury that requires Tommy John surgery. With the procedure, named after the pitcher who was one of its early successes in 1974, a surgeon grafts and attaches a ligament from a different part of the patient’s body or a cadaver to replace the UCL.

After a year of treatment and recovery, patients usually can return to their sports. Bentley, though, while attempting his recovery, had a couple of setbacks, and his elbow never fully healed. That curveball meant he would lose his entire senior season in high school, and his college baseball career ended before it even began.

Thankfully, Bentley kept his eye on the ball and K remained his destination for college as it led him toward a series of opportunities and a job, starting with Ott allowing him to be a director of data analytics for the Hornets.

“Coach Ott gave me a lot of freedom to test my ideas and let me use the baseball team as a sandbox of sorts,” Bentley said. “I was doing a bunch of projects for them, managing some systems for them on an ad hoc basis, and I learned how to create reports. They weren’t very good at the time, but it was a good starting point for me.”

Bentley said he wasn’t the best student for his first year and a half at K. In fact, he had hoped to declare a physics major during his sophomore year, but his grades cost him that opportunity. Regardless, he found a home in the economics department when its faculty went to bat for him.

“When I transitioned into economics, the department was awesome, and all the professors there were super welcoming and helpful,” Bentley said. “I have nothing but good things to say about them. They helped me rehabilitate my academics. [Associate Professor of Economics Julia] Cartwright especially pushed me, harder than I think most professors did, to pull my stuff together and be a good student.”

Bentley didn’t study abroad largely because he garnered an internship with Driveline Baseball, a data-driven player-development organization in Seattle. He also obtained on-campus work with the Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) as a career advisor, a job that helped him develop his own skills while assisting his peers.

“That career-advisor job was something I didn’t think I was going to like, but I wanted to get an on-campus job, and I ended up loving it,” Bentley said. “My bosses and co-workers there were great, and I learned more about my own career than I thought I was going to. I greatly improved my career-finding skills while working in that department.”

These combined educational experiences wound up making his high school injury feel like a blessing in disguise.

“My parents and I sometimes talk about the UCL tear because it seems like it might have been the best thing that ever happened to me,” Bentley said. “Realistically, the Tommy John surgery is a big reason why I got a great job with the Minnesota Twins. All the pieces kind of came together.”

And since, from the drive to work on a Monday through his last duties on a Friday, Bentley has relished his opportunities with the Twins. Entering the All-Star Break, Minnesota sits in second place in the American League Central, making the team one to watch—possibly as a buyer or a seller—in the trade market, so think of Bentley if they make a deal. 

“Admittedly, I try to understate how cool I think my job is most of the time,” he said. “But coming into work every day has been really exciting. The drive is pretty standard, until I’m right outside the stadium. When I park and use my ID to get into a Major League Baseball stadium, that’s when it clicks: I was hoping I would one day work in baseball and I’m already doing exactly that. It’s a surreal feeling because I was a high-schooler just four years ago, setting this exact goal. It’s an amazing experience.”

That Computes: Faculty Member’s Fellowship to Benefit Students

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Cecilia Vollbrecht, assistant professor of chemistry, is one of just 10 faculty members from institutions across the country to be chosen for a new fellowship that will help students in the chemistry and biochemistry department at Kalamazoo College attain new skills.

The fellowship, called Accelerating Curricular Transformation in the Computational Molecular Sciences (ACT-CMS), is managed by the Molecular Science Software Institute (MolSSI) through funding from the National Science Foundation. Through 2027, Vollbrecht will participate in an annual weeklong bootcamp at MolSSI, where she will receive curriculum development and assessment training to help her introduce computer programming and computation in her courses.

“I’m really glad to be selected for this fellowship along with other talented scientists,” Vollbrecht said. “Since arriving at Kalamazoo College, it has been my goal to make sure our students are getting the most current skills they need to succeed and that means constantly evaluating where our curriculum can improve. I think adding more computational knowledge, such as coding, into our chemistry and biochemistry curriculum will help our students leave K with essential skills for a broad range of scientific pursuits.”

Incorporating new skills will benefit physical chemistry courses such as Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy, a class taken primarily by juniors and seniors where they discuss the molecular reasoning for chemical energy, how quantum mechanics applies to chemistry, and how molecules interact with light to produce chemical reactions.

“I want to make sure our students have skills such as basic knowledge of computer coding and data-visualization techniques, which are important no matter what career they go into,” Vollbrecht said. “When students complete the modules that are added to the course, they will have a deeper understanding of the chemistry topics as well as the ability to explain basic coding techniques and write a bit of their own code.”

Portrait of fellowship recipient Cecilia Vollbrecht
Students taking courses from Assistant Professor of Chemistry Cecilia Vollbrecht will build skills in computer programming and computation thanks to her new fellowship.

Vollbrecht said she has already started including some cyberinfrastructure skills in the Thermodynamics and Kinetics class she leads. But the goal is to enhance present learning in that class and others.

“I think these curricular adjustments will help all of our students,” she said. “Most fields our students enter today will involve working with computers to either collect, analyze or share data. The more background knowledge they have on the subject, the more prepared they will be to contribute to projects. I think this is a quality investment by NSF that will help continue training the next generation of scientists.”

Vollbrecht added that the weeklong workshop will be a great chance to connect with and learn from other people working toward the same curricular goals. It is a chance to share ideas and best practices, and to workshop how to best fit these new skills into K’s courses effectively.

“Although I have used programming extensively in my career, the workshop is a great chance to learn from other instructors on how to best teach these skills to our students,” she said. “As a fellows group, we are also working toward making an online repository where we can post our materials for other instructors to use. The goal is to help other instructors also have an easier starting point for introducing their students to these topics as well.”