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Kalamazoo College Raises Curtain on 50th Anniversary of Festival Playhouse

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K Professors Margo Bosker Light (German), Gail Griffin (English) and Mark Thompson (Religion)
K Professors Margo Bosker Light (German), Gail Griffin (English), and Mark Thompson (Religion) rehearse a scene from the Little Shop Around the Corner for a Festival Playhouse “Readers Theatre” production in Spring 1985.

Kalamazoo College lifts the curtain early for the 50th anniversary season of its celebrated Festival Playhouse theatre arts program. Although the anniversary takes place during the 2013-14 academic year, the celebration begins May 16-19 with the staging of Into the Woods, the groundbreaking musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, produced in collaboration with the K Department of Music.
“Our history is so rich and our celebration events so numerous, we had to start this spring in order to do it justice,” said longtime Professor of Theatre Arts and Festival Playhouse Director Ed Menta, who will stage the show. “And we are thrilled to start the celebration with Sondheim’s masterpiece.”
Into the Woods will be performed in the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse on Thursday May 16 at 7:30 p.m., Friday May 17 and Saturday May 18 at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday May 19 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $15/Adults, $10/seniors and $5/students.
Professors of Music Tom Evans and James Turner will serve as musical and vocal directors, respectively.
This Tony, Drama Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Award winning show “helped change the ‘American Musical,’” Evans said. “Sondheim shows are special. They combine in the most masterful way, music, lyrics, and plot. Perhaps what I like most about his work is his ability to create multilevel meanings simultaneously.”
Into the Woods features memorable songs such as “Giants in the Sky,” “Agony,” and “Children Will Listen” sung by iconic characters such as Jack (of Beanstalk fame), Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Cinderella.
“And it puts a contemporary twist on the timeworn fairy tale ending,” Menta said, “What happens the day after they all lived happily ever after?”
Kalamazoo College Professor of Theatre Arts Nelda K. Balch established the first season of Festival Playhouse—with generous support from the Dorothy U. Dalton Foundation—in 1963-64, with a schedule of groundbreaking modern dramas such as Max Frisch’s The Firebugs, Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, and a revival of Balch’s own 1958 production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (the first time a college in the United States had produced this landmark Absurdist play).
Beginning this spring and running through the 2013-14 season, the College will celebrate and renew the original goals and spirit of Festival Playhouse with events that include: the grand re-opening of the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse; the return of internationally known performance artist and K alumna Holly Hughes ’77; “An Evening of Kalamazoo College Theatre Alumni Scenes;” a season of three classics of Modern Drama, including Strindberg, Ibsen, and a restaging of a rarely produced early Absurdist comedy from the original Festival Playhouse season staged by professional director and K alumna Nora Hauk ’04; a special “Talkback” series led by K theatre alumni; and much more.
“From the beginning, Festival Playhouse sought to produce provocative and thoughtful theatre by combining the talents of K students, members of the greater Kalamazoo community, and professional artists,” said Ed Menta.
“The 50th anniversary season will live up to that standard.”
Dates, locations, and more details about the 50th anniversary season of Festival Playhouse at Kalamazoo College can be found by visiting www.kzoo.edu/theatre.
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, experiential learning, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.

 

Kalamazoo College Global Prize Entries Total 188

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Kalamazoo College is pleased to announce receipt of 188 entries for its inaugural Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership. Entry deadline for this juried competition was March 8.

Applicants hailed from 25 states and the District of Columbia, and from 23 countries. Numerous entries came from Michigan, including 14 from Southwest Michigan and the Kalamazoo area. A handful of entries came from Kalamazoo College students and alumni.

“We are awestruck by the number and scope of entrants, and at the same time not surprised by the incredible outpouring of brilliance and innovation among our applicants,” said Jaime Grant, executive director of K’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL) which is coordinating the competition.

Lisa Brock, ACSJL academic director noted that, “Movements for social justice all around the globe are making daring experiments and breathtaking commitments to their vision for a more just world. This is clearly reflected in the entries we received.”

Brock reported that entries came from Argentina, Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, India (3), Jamaica, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal (2), Palestine, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa (2), Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda (2), and Yemen.

Applicants submitted 8- to 10-minute videos describing their collaborative structure, vision, and strategic approach to addressing a variety of human rights and social justice issues including: mass incarceration, health inequities, economic injustice, youth empowerment, food justice, racism, environmental sustainability, healing and self-determination, arts and theatre activism, educational access and equity, faith organizing, workers’ rights, immigration, micro-lending and social entrepreneurship, community organizing, indigenous activism, restorative justice, housing rights, LGBTQ liberation and peace and conflict resolution.

Finalists will be announced April 15 and invited to the Kalamazoo College campus for a two-day event, May 10-11, during which their work will be presented, discussed and voted upon by audience members and jurists. Two winners—one to receive a $25,000 Global Prize and one to receive a $5,000 Regional prize from Southwest Michigan—will be announced on Saturday, May 11 at 7:15 pm by Kalamazoo College President, Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran.

Jurors for the $25,000 Global Prize include author, political activist, and University of California—Santa Cruz scholar Angela Y. Davis; former Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Cary Alan Johnson; and Detroit-based author, educator, and columnist shea howell. Howell is also a board member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, in Detroit.

Jurors for the $5,000 Regional Prize include members of the Arcus Center Advisory Board, a panel of K students, faculty, staff, and Kalamazoo community members.

More information about the Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership is available at www.kzoo.edu/SocialJusticeLeadershipPrize.

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 ACSJL 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, experiential learning, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.

Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Will Host Summit on Social Justice in the Academy

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Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership will host “A Summit on Social Justice in the Academy,” January 17-19, 2013 on the K campus. Social justice scholars, thought leaders, activists, and program directors from the United States, Kenya, and South Africa will examine the integration of social justice into higher education.

Two “Summit” events, a documentary film screening and a luncheon, are open to the public.

“Numerous colleges and universities have established social justice centers, institutes, offices, programs, schools, and prizes,” said Lisa Brock, academic director for Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL), and a “Summit” organizer.

“Some have missions focused on social transformation and curricular infusion, while others concentrate on community involvement, solution-based research, and/or global engagement. Most are dedicated to some combination of these practices, and all work in some ways on progressive social change,” she said. “Although there have been many conferences to discuss social justice and public engagement, this is the first time these topics will be discussed by directors and leaders in the field of social justice.”

The documentary film Mountains That Take Wing—Angela Davis & Yuri Kochiyama will be screened in the Recital Hall Theatre, Light Fine Arts Building, on Jan. 17 at 7:00 p.m. “Mountains” chronicles 13 years in the lives of two women who share a passion for social justice: scholar-activist Angela Davis, and grassroots community activist and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Yuri Kochiyama. A conversation with filmmakers C.A. Griffith and H.L.T Quan follows the screening.

“Beyond Heroes and Holidays: Social Justice Leaders Reflect on the Civil Rights Movement,” is the theme of a luncheon discussion on Friday Jan. 18, 12:00 to 2:30 p.m. in the Hicks Student Center banquet room. Summit members will examine the values and work of three very different leaders of the Civil Rights movement—Martin Luther King, Jr., Ella Baker and Bayard Rustin—and discuss what inspirations and cautions others should take from them on building and sustaining movements today.

Attendance to the film and luncheon is free of charge, but reservations are required. Please RSVP to ACSJL@kzoo.edu.

“Summit” invitees are: Lisa Brock; Dara Cooper, ACSJL Fellow and Founding Program Director, Freshmoves, Chicago; Kenyon Farrow, Communications Director, The Praxis Project New Orleans; Jaime Grant, Executive Director, ACSJL; Crystal Griffin, Social Justice Filmmaker, Arizona State University; Donte Hillard, Assistant Dean of Students and Director Multicultural Student Center and Institute for Justice Education and Transformation, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Amber Hollibaugh, Executive Director, Queers for Economic Justice, New York City; Janet Jakobson, Director, Barnard Center for Research on Women, Barnard College; Joseph Jones, Director, Office of the Social Justice Initiative, Philander Smith College; Godwin Morunga, Associate Director, African Leadership Center, University of Nairobi and Kings College-London; H. L. T. Quan, School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University; Barbara Ransby, Vice Provost, Social Justice Initiative, University of Illinois-Chicago; Gail Smith, Communications Director, Institute for Strategic Reflection, Mapungubwe, Johannesburg, South Africa; Rhonda Williams, Director of the Institute for Social Justice, Case Western University.

Kalamazoo College Establishes Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership

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Kalamazoo College officials announced today the establishment of the Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership, a biennial $25,000 prize that honors an innovative and collaborative leadership project in the pursuit of social justice and human rights anywhere in the world.

The inaugural $25,000 Social Justice Leadership Prize will be awarded May 11, 2013, following a juried competition administered by the College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Jurors include author, political activist, and University of California—Santa Cruz scholar Angela Y. Davis; former Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Cary Alan Johnson; and Detroit-based author, educator, and columnist Shea Howell. Howell is also a board member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, in Detroit.

A $5,000 Social Justice Leadership Prize, also juried, will be awarded to a project in Southwest Michigan. Jurors include a panel of K students, faculty, staff, and Kalamazoo community members.

“The Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership provides an unparalleled leadership development opportunity for K students and faculty, the Greater Kalamazoo community, and for frontline social justice scholars, activists, and leaders everywhere,” said Kalamazoo College President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran. “For every seemingly intractable social justice problem, there is a collaborative leadership solution to address it. Through this prize competition, we will welcome the world to our campus to showcase some of these solutions.”

Entries—in the form of 8- to 10-minute videos—must be received by March 8, 2013. Entry information, FAQ, and more may be found at www.kzoo.edu/SocialJusticeLeadershipPrize. Twenty finalists selected by jurors will be announced April 20. A Prize weekend at Kalamazoo College on May 10-11 will showcase the finalists and engage attendees in dialogues about them. President Wilson-Oyelaran will announce the winners during an awards ceremony the evening of May 11.

“Through the two social justice leadership prizes, the College intends to emphasize the critical importance of collaboration in creating effective social justice leaders here in Southwest Michigan and around the world,” said Jaime Grant, executive director of K’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL). “We’re certain to receive many entries for innovative social justice projects. Finalists for the prizes will be those that also raise the voices and leadership skills of those affected so that they may take strategic action.”

According to ACSJL Academic Director Lisa Brock, entries must describe the social injustice that will be addressed, show how the project will take a fresh approach in addressing it, and demonstrate that the project’s leadership structure is collaborative.

“Projects that take on entrenched social justice issues from fresh vantage points, or combine issues and communities in unexpected ways and via unanticipated vehicles are especially encouraged to apply,” said Brock. “The Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership will lift this work into view and provide a significant reward for these social justice innovators.”

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 ACSJL 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, experiential learning, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.

 

K Again Rates High for Study Abroad

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Four Kalamazoo College students in Beijing
Kalamazoo College students in Beijing, China

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (Nov. 12, 2012) – 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 #10 among U.S. colleges that offer baccalaureate degrees based solely on the percentage of its graduates that studied abroad during the 2010-11 academic year.

IIE reports that 87.9 percent (261 out of 297) of Kalamazoo graduates in 2011 had studied abroad during their K experience. Last year’s IIE report ranked Kalamazoo #12.

“At Kalamazoo College, international/intercultural engagement is an integral part of the K-Plan for undergraduate liberal arts education, and study abroad plays a big role in helping students to achieve that engagement,” said Associate Provost for International Programs Joe Brockington. “The College is a recognized national leader in education abroad and continues 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 in addition to being integral (i.e. part of the K curriculum), it is 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 from other institutions because K students engage in long-term study abroad programs that last from one 11-week term 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 or during a January short-term break. Kalamazoo students in all majors participate in 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/cip.

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 (27) and Alma College (35) are the only other baccalaureate institutions in Michigan included on the 2012 IIE report.

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 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.

Former K professor and administrator, Dr. Wen Chao Chen, dies at age 92

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Former K Professor and Administrator Wen Chao Chen
Dr. Wen Chao Chen was a pillar of the Kalamazoo College and Greater Kalamazoo communities.

Wen Chao Chen, Ph.D., a farmer’s son from rural China who became a celebrated Kalamazoo College educator and civic leader, died August 13, 2012, at Friendship Village in Kalamazoo. He was 92.

“Dr. Wen Chao Chen was an extraordinarily loving person,” said Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran. “He especially loved Kalamazoo College and the Kalamazoo community. He worked tirelessly for decades to help make each the best it could be.

“Dr. Chen had a brilliant mind and a gift for bringing people together. He often said he felt fortunate to be embraced by the community, but the people who continue to be touched by his legacy know just how much his life enriched all of ours.”

Chen joined the faculty of Kalamazoo College in 1950 as professor of political science. During his 36-year career with the College, he also served as librarian, director of academic services, dean of special services, vice president, acting president, and executive director of the L. Lee Stryker Center. He also helped establish the Heyl Scholarship program, which brings outstanding area high school graduates to Kalamazoo College to study science and to Western Michigan University to study nursing.

Throughout his career, Chen was a mentor to countless Kalamazoo College students, faculty, staff, alumni, and several presidents. His impact was so significant that he was repeatedly honored by the College. He was a recipient of Kalamazoo College’s Weimer K. Hicks Award, which honors current or retired employees who have provided significant long-term contributions to the College, and was named a Fellow of the College, Emeritus.

Shortly before his 1986 retirement, a faculty resolution acknowledged the College’s “long history of debts owed” to Dr. Chen,” his “steady hand” as “a source of security and reassurance,” and his commitment to K as “a treasured resource.”

In 1998, Chen’s friends and former students provided more than $1 million to endow the Wen Chao Chen Chair in East Asian Social Sciences at the College. In 2000, he and wife Lilia, a long-time substitute teacher in Kalamazoo Public Schools and a gifted artist, created a scholarship fund for art students.

During and after his years at Kalamazoo College, Dr. Chen was also active in local civic, business, and cultural matters. He co-founded the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music and helped establish the Kalamazoo Network, which developed leadership opportunities for women. He also helped establish the Kalamazoo Forum, which brought together business and academic leaders to discuss communitywide issues, and the Core Council of Governments, which sought greater cooperation among Kalamazoo County municipalities.

Wen Chao Chen was born October 14, 1919, in Chen Village, Fenxi County, Shanxi Province, China. He was one of seven children. At the age of six he began working on his father’s 33-acre farm. After several years in small village elementary schools, an older brother paid for him to attend a boarding school and later an American-administered Christian missionary training center.

Before he could complete high school, however, the Japanese army invaded China, and in 1937 Chen’s family was forced to flee the fighting. For several years, he worked a series of jobs as a tax collector, medic, and newspaper proofreader, in addition to taking some college courses.

By 1943, Chen was a lieutenant in the Chinese Army assigned to translation duties with United States Army forces in China. Toward the end of World War II, he was among 100 Chinese translators sent to the U.S. for further training. When the war ended, he enrolled at Grinnell College in Iowa where he completed his bachelor’s degree in political science. He went on to earn a master’s degree in public administration and doctorate in political science, both at St. Louis University.

Later, while teaching at Kalamazoo, he earned a master’s degree in library science from the University of Chicago. He also was awarded honorary degrees from Nazareth College, WMU, and Kalamazoo College.

Chen became a naturalized United States citizen in 1983.

In addition to Lilia, his wife of 62 years, Dr. Chen is survived by sons Michael (Niki) of St. Charles, Ill., and Philip (Janet Lootens Chen) of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and grandchildren Alice Chen of San Antonio, Tex.; Megan Chen of Falls Church, Va., and Dylan Chen of Ann Arbor.

Memorial gifts may be directed to the Wen Chao Chen Chair in East Asian Social Sciences at Kalamazoo College, 1200 Academy St., Kalamazoo, MI, 49006.

A memorial service for Dr. Wen Chao Chen will take place at Stetson Chapel on the Kalamazoo College campus at a date and time to be determined.