Five Faculty Earn Tenure

Five Kalamazoo College faculty members from the Spanish, religion, mathematics, computer science and East Asian studies departments have been awarded tenure along with promotion to associate professor.

The tenure milestone recognizes excellence in teaching, scholarship and service to the College, and signifies its confidence in the contributions these faculty will make throughout their careers. The Board of Trustees-approved tenure recipients are:

Assistant Professor of Spanish Ivett Lopez Malagamba

López Malagamba currently serves as a co-chair in the Department of Spanish Language and Literatures. In her time at K, she has taught beginning through intermediate language courses, and advanced courses on Latin American literature and visual culture topics including indigeneity, contemporary women writers, fiction and documentary film, visual culture practices, and representations of nature. In fall 2019, she took 27 students to the Dominican Republic as part of K’s first faculty-lead experiential study abroad program.

Lopez Malagamba’s research centers on 20th– and 21st-century Latin American literature and visual culture. Her publications explore questions around exclusionary social and political practices and discourses in contexts of armed conflict, migration, and forced displacement. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Peninsular and Latin American literatures and Latin American Studies, and her Ph.D. in Hispanic language and literatures from the University of California, Berkeley. López Malagamba’s experience extends to the non-profit sector. Before earning her Ph.D., she worked with Latinx youth in Southern California facilitating educational programs to prepare them for college. López Malagamba sees her work at K as a continuation of her commitment to help youth access and successfully navigate higher education.     

Assistant Professor of Spanish Ivett Lopez Malagamba (middle) with Spanish 101 students.

Marlene Crandall Francis Assistant Professor of Religion Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada

Maldonado-Estrada serves as the editor of the journal Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief, a co-chair of the men and masculinities unit at the American Academy of Religion, and an editorial board member of the journal American Religion.

At K, Maldonado-Estrada has taught courses on religion and masculinity, Catholics in the Americas, urban religion, and religions of Latin America. As an ethnographer, her research includes focuses on material culture, contemporary Catholicism, and gender and embodiment. In 2021, Sacred Writes—a network of religion scholars committed to helping a broad global audience understand the significance of their work—24 fellows from around the world to train in public scholarship on religion. She was also chosen as one of the Young Scholars in American Religion at IUPUI’s Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture.

Maldonado-Estrada is the author of Lifeblood of the Parish: Men and Catholic Devotion in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, an ethnography about masculinity and men’s devotional lives in a gentrified neighborhood in New York City. She also is working on projects about the technological and sensory history of prayer, and Latinx art and religion in New York City. She received a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Tenure recipient Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada
Marlene Crandall Francis Assistant Professor of Religion Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada

Assistant Professor of Mathematics Stephen Oloo

Oloo served K as a visiting assistant professor from 2015-2017 before earning his current position in which he teaches a variety of pure math classes such as Calculus I, II and III, Number Theory, Real Analysis and Abstract Algebra.

Beyond teaching he has served in various roles by directing the Math and Physics Center, being in charge of the George Kitchen Memorial Lecture, and running the math club MathletiKs.

Oloo’s Ph.D. work was in topology of algebraic varieties and geometric representation theory. He is currently applying his knowledge of geometry and representation theory in a collaboration with physics professor Dave Wilson in which they are studying how viruses change shapes as they undergo maturation. He holds mathematics degrees including a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College, and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Tenure recipient Stephen Oloo
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Stephen Oloo

Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Assistant Professor of Computer Science Sandino Vargas-Perez

Before arriving at K, Vargas-Perez worked as an adjunct instructor at Western Michigan University, where he earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic.

Vargas-Perez has taught courses at K in data structures, algorithms, parallel computing, computing for environmental science, object-oriented programming, and programming in Java and web development. His research interests include high-performance computing, parallel and distributed algorithms, computational genomics, and data structures and compression.

Tenure recipient Sandino Vargas-Perez
Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Assistant Professor of Computer Science Sandino Vargas-Perez

Chinese Endowed Assistant Professor of Chinese Language and Literature Leihua Weng

Weng has taught first-year Chinese, advanced Chinese, Women in China, 20th Century Urban China, and Chinese Films at K. She taught at Sarah Lawrence College and Pacific Lutheran University before joining the College.

Weng holds a bachelor’s degree from Zhejiang University, a master’s degree from Peking University and a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. Her research interests have spanned the receptions of classical texts, modern and late imperial Chinese literature, and gender studies. She is currently engaged in research on late imperial Chinese literature and is working on a book about the reception of Plato in modern China.

Chinese Endowed Assistant Professor of Chinese Language and Literature Leihua Weng
Chinese Endowed Assistant Professor of Chinese Language and Literature Leihua Weng

Fulbright Chooses K Adviser to Mentor Colleagues Nationwide

Fulbright is honoring a key individual at Kalamazoo College when it comes to referring students to the federal program’s international immersion opportunities. 

Jessica Fowle ’00—K’s director of grants, fellowships and research—was selected to be part of the inaugural Fulbright Program Adviser (FPA) Mentors Cohort. As an FPA mentor, Fowle is one of 20 from around the country who will provide virtual training and information sessions, presentations at the Forum for Education Abroad, and personal advice to new Fulbright program advisers who are looking to structure applicant support and recruitment at their own institutions. 

Fulbright is the federal government’s flagship for international exchange. It allows graduating seniors, graduate students, young professionals and artists to teach English, perform research or study abroad for one academic year. 

“The mission of the Fulbright program makes it one of the competitive postgraduate fellowships that seeks a variety of people, without a minimum GPA for applicants, while laying some foundations to make access feasible,” Fowle said. “FPAs are the liaisons between the Fulbright program and the Fulbright student applicants.” 

Fulbright grant recipients are chosen for their own merit and leadership potential, but there’s certainly data to back up the value of Fowle’s counsel to those who apply, making her insight and experiences valuable to professional counterparts who seek to do the same. For example, K has been a Fulbright U.S. Student Program Top Producer in six of the last seven years; the College had a total of 11 representatives abroad this year; 12 current applicants are semifinalists for awards that will be announced this spring and summer; and K has been the only college in Michigan to earn Top Producer distinction in the bachelor’s institution category in the past two years. 

“I’m a lover of storytelling and I get to do that with students, alumni and faculty on their applications for grants and applications for fellowships like Fulbright,” she said. “They reflect on what they want from the opportunity, and I help foster some reflection that strategically highlights what pieces of their stories are the most compelling. 

“I love the opportunity to transfer my experience working with students into a different format of the story of Fulbright. It’s really exciting to have a seat at the table and meet the folks at the Fulbright Program who are thinking about what they want to do on the national level. We’re asking, ‘What’s the story of Fulbright?’ and ‘How are we incorporating that story to keep federal funding and help FPAs understand their institution’s storytelling?’ It’s fun for me.” 

Fulbright Adviser Jessical Fowle
Kalamazoo College Director of Grants, Fellowships and Research Jessica Fowle ’00 is one of 20 professionals from around the country who will provide virtual training and information sessions, presentations at the Forum for Education Abroad, and advice to new Fulbright program advisers at other institutions.
Fulbright Adviser Mentors
Fowle (front row, fourth from right) is grateful for an opportunity to network with her fellow Fulbright Program advisers.

The fact that Fowle is an office of one at K makes connecting with colleagues in addition to Fulbright officials appealing, and she appreciates the recognition this opportunity presents, as mentors have reputations for successful program growth. 

“I like building things, so the opportunity to help other FPAs build a successful program is intriguing,” Fowle said. “I’m kind of the ‘small liberal arts college’ representative. There are folks from HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and community colleges. They want Fulbright grantees to represent all of America. Historically, as with many selective fellowships, selectees primarily are white students from the coasts, so they want to expand the applicant pool to include all of the country’s identity and geographic representation.” 

Fowle has been part of K’s staff in various roles for more than 20 years—nearly five as director of grants, fellowships and research—and the advice she has to offer students is applicable to any post-college experience they wish to pursue.  

“The universal quality of each Fulbright experience is this genuine desire and curiosity about a new culture and community, so it’s important to pursue opportunities in college that build those skills of getting to know a new community and understanding cultural dynamics,” Fowle said. “For our K students, that shows up by taking full advantage of things like the Center for Civic Engagement and the interdisciplinary components of K’s curriculum. My advice would be that they dig into how the topics that come up in language classes can intersect with issues that come up in other academic departments. They should see how their peers major in a million different things while taking advantage of study abroad, study away and Senior Integrated Projects. Build that curiosity, that critical thinking and the flexibility to be uncomfortable, because those are things that not only the Fulbright program looks for, but employers, as well.” 

Hungary Program Amplifies Student’s Passion for Neuroscience

Vivian Schmidt ’25 might one day advance the fight against neurological disorders such as ALS, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease—and her recent study abroad experience is one reason why. 

Schmidt, a biology and psychology double major with a concentration in neuroscience at Kalamazoo College, worked for 10 weeks last summer in the University of Michigan’s Summer Intensive Research Experience in Neuroscience (SIREN) program, then followed that with an academically rigorous global challenge in fall at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, Hungary. 

Schmidt chose the ELTE program for its wide breadth of subjects, including biology, psychology, philosophy and computer science, each of which covered topics in neuroscience through a K partner program that included faculty from Slovakia and Hungary. She now feels ready to return to Ann Arbor this summer for additional hands-on research. 

“I was able to meet many researchers during my time in Hungary as they were our professors, so I got to learn a lot about the groundbreaking research happening outside of the States,” Schmidt said. “Before going abroad, my main goal was to get out of my comfort zone. I wanted to try new things, eat new foods, meet new people, experience new things, learn a new language and more. I wanted to make it the experience of a lifetime. Now that I am back in the States, I would say that I did just that.”

As a first-generation student, Schmidt said studying abroad seemed absolutely out of reach for her family. Therefore, the experience was special to her, especially with it supported by the James G. Stemler Study Abroad Scholarship through Alpha Lambda Delta, a national honor society that recognizes academic excellence in their first year of college. The K chapter is advised by Jessica Fowle, K’s director of grants, fellowships and research. The scholarship gives 20 students from around the country between $1,000 and $2,000 apiece every year. Recipients are ranked in the top 20% of the class at the end of their first year with a GPA of at least 3.5.

 “Without this scholarship, I wouldn’t have had a chance to study abroad, I wouldn’t have gained all the incredible experiences, and I wouldn’t have met the amazing people I did,” she said. “Because of this scholarship, I was able to grow as a person, excel as a student and make connections that will last a lifetime.”

Equally beneficial was the opportunity to discover a place completely unknown to her.

“Growing up, I did not learn much about Eastern Europe,” Schmidt said. “Given the opportunity to study abroad, I wanted to learn about a culture in which I had no preconceptions or experience with. I wanted to see a whole new part of the world, one that I probably would never have seen without my study abroad experience. Those three months were the most memorable of my life thus far and they will continue to hold a special place in my heart for years to come. The relationships that I made while abroad are some of the strongest in my life.”

Vivian Schmidt in Hungary
Vivian Schmidt ’25 (left) earned a scholarship to study abroad last fall in Budapest, Hungary.
Vivian Schmidt in Hungary
Alpha Lambda Delta distributes $30,000 in study abroad scholarships each year to students like Schmidt who finish in the top 20% of their class at the end of their first year in college with a GPA of at least 3.5.

Moritz Lecture to Feature University of Delaware Professor

A writer, author and professor will visit Kalamazoo College to deliver the 2024 Moritz Lecture at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18, in 103 Dewing. A livestream will also be available. 

University of Delaware Professor of English Martin Brückner will discuss “The Social Life of Maps in Early America: A Material History of Design, Technology and Nation-Building.” Brückner has been the acting director and director of the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, a co-director of the Center for Material Culture Studies, a co-director of the Delaware Public Humanities Institute, and a visiting curator of the Winterthur Museum. He also is known for writing more than 30 essays for journals such as American Quarterly, American Art, American Literary History and English Literary History; and two award-winning books, The Social Life of Maps in America, 1750-1860 (2017) and The Geographic Revolution in Early America: Maps, Literacy, and National Identity (2006). 

Brückner’s honors have included the Fred B. Kniffen Book Award, the Louis Gottschalk Book Prize, and numerous grants and fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Program in Early American Economy and Society at the Library Company of Philadelphia, the American Antiquarian Society and the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies at the University of Mainz in Germany. 

The history department’s annual Edward Moritz Lecture honors the late professor Edward Moritz, who taught British and European history at K from 1955–1988 and served for many years as the department chair. For more information, contact the Office of Alumni Engagement at alumni@kzoo.edu or 269.337.7300. 

2024 Moritz Lecture Speaker Martin Brückner
University of Delaware Professor of English Martin Brückner will be the featured presented in the 2024 Moritz Lecture.

Kalamazoo College Trustees Elect New Board Chair

The Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees has unanimously elected Jody Clark ’80 to become chair of the Board effective July 1, 2024. She succeeds Si Johnson ’78 who has served as chair since 2019.

A retired commercial real estate executive, Clark has been a member of the Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees since 2014 and currently serves as vice chair. She has served on the Buildings and Grounds, Compensation, Finance, Investment, and Executive Committees in various leadership roles.

“Jody has a wealth of experience and a strong commitment to Kalamazoo College,” said K President Jorge G. Gonzalez. “As an alumna and a longtime trustee, she deeply understands the College’s mission and is well-positioned to help guide the institution through its next chapter.”

“I’m honored and humbled to accept the role of chair of the Board,” said Clark. “I am excited to collaborate with the Board of Trustees, President Gonzalez and the entire college community in guiding our institution toward continued success and impact for generations to come.”

Portrait of Board of Trustees Chair Jody Clark
Jody Clark ’80, a retired commercial real estate executive, has been elected chair of the Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees.
Portrait of S. Si Johnson
Si Johnson ’78, a retired Stryker executive, had served in the role since 2019.

A retired Stryker executive, Johnson has served on Kalamazoo College’s Board of Trustees since 1996. During Johnson’s tenure as Board chair, the College has executed its five-year strategic plan, Advancing Kalamazoo College, embarked on The Brighter Light Campaign, the institution’s largest fundraising campaign to date with a goal of $190 million, and navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Si has been an engaged and dedicated leader throughout his time on the Board,” said Gonzalez. “He served as Board Chair during one of the most disruptive and difficult global events in recent history, and his leadership assisted K in continuing to meet its strategic objectives, despite the challenges. I am deeply grateful for his support and service.”

Taiko, Steel Pan Drummers Plan Concert

A new Kalamazoo College student organization will participate in the winter term’s International Percussion concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, in Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts. 

The Steel Drum Club—dedicated to classic rock, modern pop and calypso music—will play mainstream songs such as Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana and Story of My Life by One Direction. 

Separately, the music department’s Taiko Drums group, led by International Percussion Ensemble Director Carolyn Koebel, also will perform. The Taiko ensemble unites individuals with varied musical backgrounds from K, nearby institutions and the general community. The ensemble’s performances regularly include solos, group drumming and collaborations with other complementary instruments. 

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information on this event and others sponsored by the Department of Music, visit music.kzoo.edu/events, call 269.337.7070 or email Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.  

International Percussion Taiko Drummers perform
Taiko drummers will be among the performers featured Wednesday, Marc 11, during the winter International Percussion concert.

Philharmonia Slates Saturday Concert

The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will spotlight three composers in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, in Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts. All three are known for taking the smallest components of their music and transforming them in brilliant ways to show how contrasting passages can share many of the same fundamental features. 

The performance will include music from mid-20th century Czech composer Miloslav Kabeláč, who developed inspiration from a divine cosmic order of stars into The Mystery of Time; German composer Johannes Brahms who looked to the stately St. Anthony Chorale of Joseph Haydn for his inspiration in the piece Variations on a Theme by Haydn; and American composer Samuel Barber, who took the contrasts of a four-movement symphonic form and combined them into a unified piece titled Symphony in One Movement

The Philharmonia, conducted by Music Director Andrew Kohler, unites students, faculty, amateur musicians and professional musicians of a variety of ages to perform symphonic music. Having grown since its inception in 1990, the ensemble has been recognized as an arts organization of high importance in greater Kalamazoo. 

Tickets are available at the door and cost $7 for general admission, $3 for students, and are free for students of Kalamazoo College. For more information, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.  

Andrew Koehler directing the Kalamazoo Philharmonia
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, in the Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts.

Heeding the Call of the Wildlife

World Wildlife Day, observed annually on March 3, underscores the critical role of wildlife veterinarians in global conservation efforts as professionals like Maddie Chilcote ’17 work to ensure the health and survival of wild species, supporting both biodiversity and ecosystem preservation.

Many people think of household pets like cats and dogs when they think of veterinary medicine, yet it’s a whole other animal for Kalamazoo College alumna Maddie Chilcote ’17.

Chilcote is a wildlife and conservation medicine intern at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW), a nonprofit teaching hospital and visitor education center in Sanibel, Florida, dedicated to saving wildlife through veterinary care, research, education and conservation medicine.

Wildlife and conservation medicine intern Maddie Chilcote at a lake
Kalamazoo College alumna Maddie Chilcote ’17 is a wildlife and conservation medicine intern at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) cares for more than 6,000 sick, injured and orphaned wildlife patients from more than 200 species a year.
Wildlife doctor Maddie Chilcote performing surgery
Chilcote performs surgery to remove dead tissue on a mottled duck.
Wildlife doctor's photo shows healing on a treated mottled duck
The mottled duck Chilcote treated at CROW began growing new feathers and healthy tissue three weeks after surgery.

Each year, CROW cares for more than 6,000 sick, injured and orphaned wildlife patients from more than 200 species—varying from tortoises to bald eagles—while offering educational fellowships and externship programs for undergraduate students and visiting veterinary students, and internship programs for veterinarian graduates like Chilcote, a Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine graduate. In addition to clinical duties, CROW interns work closely with staff from all departments in the hospital to gain a better understanding of the rehabilitation process, participate in research and conservation projects, and help teach students, staff and volunteers.

“Anthropogenic threats are the primary reason patients present to the hospital—whether they have been hit by a car, stuck in a glue trap, suffering from toxins such as rodenticides or harmful algal blooms, or reaping the consequences of habitat destruction.” Chilcote said. “If students want to be a part of the organizations that are the One Health and climate change first responders, I would encourage them to get involved in wildlife rehabilitation and medicine.”

Chilcote began to realize her potential career path in fourth grade in her hometown of Rochester Hills, Michigan, when she gave a speech in school about her dream of becoming a veterinarian.

“I don’t know what inspired me at that age, probably just love for my pet cat, hearing about the conservation work my uncle was involved in, seeing animals on TV and going to the zoo,” she said.

That dream shifted slightly when she job shadowed in high school and the appeal of clinical care lost some of its luster. Chilcote said she considered pursuing research over clinical work when she began taking classes such as animal behavior, animal development, vertebrate biology and symbiosis from influential faculty members such as Biology Lab Director Anne Engh and Associate Professor of Biology Amanda Wollenberg at K, where she also minored in German and played women’s soccer.

Her Senior Integrated Project (SIP) at Binder Park Zoo focused on the stereotypic pacing behaviors of three American black bear siblings while introducing food-based and environmental enrichment, sealing her career interest in wildlife. Soon after, she found an internship at the Center for Wildlife in Cape Neddick, Maine, where she began embracing the idea of attending Michigan State to study veterinary medicine.

At Michigan State, Chilcote used elective opportunities to spend time at the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network in California, the Wildlife Center of Virginia, the California Wildlife Center, The Georgia Aquarium, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife before fulfilling an internship—similar to a residency for students of human medicine—at VCA South Shore Animal Hospital near Boston.

The mottled duck was brought back to health after surgery.
The mottled duck patient was released at Gator Lake at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve in Fort Myers, Florida.

At VCA, Chilcote helped pets on an emergency room floor while also rotating through specialties such as neurology, dermatology, internal medicine and surgery. But because she still hoped for experience in wildlife medicine, she re-entered the internship match program and ended up at CROW, where one of her most satisfying experiences involved saving a mottled duck over one Thanksgiving weekend.

“A lot of my colleagues were out of town visiting family and this patient presented with a scabbed and necrotic wound that extended the length of its neck and further down its right side,” Chilcote said. “Although this is not a wound we regularly see, and it may look like an immediate euthanasia given the extent of the wound, I felt inspired to try to treat this patient. After a couple of days of supportive care that included intravenous fluids, antibiotics, pain medications, and an appropriate refeeding plan, this patient was ready for an anesthetized procedure for debridement and wound care.”

After a successful surgery, daily bandage changes, wound dressings and nurturing healthy tissue at CROW, a partnering facility finished the duck’s rehabilitation with outdoor care and conditioning.

“They collaborated with us again a couple weeks later and we released him together,” Chilcote said. “It was remarkable. He flew just above the water along the length of a small lake at a nature preserve. It was a good full-circle moment to see what saying yes and trying something new can lead to. Knowing that I had primary responsibility of that case and could see it all the way through was a big milestone for me.”

With her CROW internship winding down, Chilcote is hoping to intern again to further her veterinary skills—perhaps in Nebraska, California or Minnesota—when Match Day comes around again next week. She has applied to sites in each of those states, eyeing additional internship opportunities, perhaps at a wildlife center near you.

“I’m especially looking to further my orthopedic experience,” Chilcote said. “We’ve pinned a handful of fractures in birds this year, but our caseload and therefore surgical case load has been down since Hurricane Ian. I want to feel a little bit further along in those skills before trying to find a staff position where I may be the only veterinarian there and have to make decisions and do procedures like that primarily on my own.Because Michigan is so near and dear to me, my 20-, 30- or 40-year plan is to eventually get back to Michigan, partner with local businesses, and design and build a wildlife teaching hospital of my own.”

Alumni Honor Complex Systems Studies Professor

A longtime Kalamazoo College professor with connections around the world is being honored by five alumni from the Class of 2009 with a fund in his name that will help support a field of study for years to come.

Péter Erdi was hired as the Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies in 2002 when the College received a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. K’s efforts to attain the grant were driven by a small but vocal group of students who were mathematically skilled and interested in applying their skills to social problems through quantitative models. Ever since, Erdi has influenced many deeply curious alumni, including Brad Flaugher, Jerrod Howlett, Trevor Jones, Elliot Paquette and Griffin Drutchas, who are the five benefactors initiating the Interdisciplinary Fund for Complex Systems Studies in Erdi’s name.

Flaugher, who works in software development for startup companies, double majored in computer science and economics at K. He met Erdi in his first year on campus when he took Computational Neuroscience—a study of the mathematical models, computational algorithms and simulation methods that contribute to an understanding of neural mechanisms—before taking all the classes Erdi offered.

“There were so few of us in his classes—I think in my year we had only three or four computer science majors—that he took all of us under his wing,” Flaugher said. “He got us jobs in his lab with funding. All of us except Jerrod had gone to Hungary to work with him at his lab in Budapest. All of us were studying artificial intelligence back in 2006 and 2007, which was amazing. We were super close to him. He wrote all of us recommendation letters for graduate school. He did everything he could for us and taught us the hottest topic in the world 10 years before we needed it.”

Flaugher was attending an event in Philadelphia last March when President Jorge G. Gonzalez shared examples of how alumni were endowing funds in honor of their favorite or most influential professors. That led Flaugher to rally support from his classmates and recognize Erdi in complex systems studies.

“I talk to Dr. Erdi pretty regularly and I want to keep the interdisciplinary spirit of what he does alive,” Flaugher said. “I think it’s a great fit for a liberal arts institution, and when I was at K, I got not only job skills thanks to him, I got jobs-of-the-future skills.”

Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Péter Erdi presents in front of a large audience with visuals beside him and tall windows behind him
Henry Luce Professor of Complex Systems Péter Erdi presented at the Brain Bar, a technology and music conference in Budapest, while wearing a T-shirt that says “OK, Boomer” as a way to connect with a younger audience. He is being honored by five alumni from the Class of 2009 with a fund for Kalamazoo College in his name.
cMUMMA-Lucasse-Award-Peter-Erdi-lo-9301_fb
Erdi receives applause from Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez while presenting his lecture for receiving the 2018 Florence J. Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship.

Erdi 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 two books since 2019, Ranking: The Hidden Rules of the Social Game We All Play and Repair: When and How to Improve Broken Objects, Ourselves and Our Society, which have received international acclaim. He also recently finished another book due out soon, Feedback Control: How to Destroy or Save the World and has served the University of Michigan as a visiting professor and scholar.

Complex systems studies can be described as an examination of how a system’s parts contribute to its collective behaviors, and how the system interacts and forms relationships with its environment. Erdi added that complex systems theory finds connections among seemingly very different phenomena. For example:

  • The onset of epilepsy, an earthquake eruption and a stock market crash are different occurrences, but all three are abrupt, extreme events. Complex systems theory looks at the predictability of these events, and interestingly, there are algorithms for predicting the probability of earthquakes that also can be adopted by brokers to estimate stock prices.
  • When we look at the spreading of viruses, ideas and opinions, we can examine all three through similar mathematical models.
  • Network theory offers methods that can help us understand the structure and dynamics of topics as varied as the human brain, interacting social groups, food chains in specific ecosystems, financial networks and more.

With a program such as complex systems studies being rare at a small college, it has been difficult to efficiently increase its offerings over the years; Erdi remains the program’s sole representative at K despite its interdisciplinary nature, with applications in fields such as physics, computer science and psychology. The fund in Erdi’s name, however—thanks to Flaugher, Drutchas, Jones, Howlett and Paquette getting it off the ground—will ensure the professor’s legacy lives on after his retirement.

Despite the deeply analytical nature of his field, Erdi is also known for his sense of humor. For example, in September 2022, when he spoke at the Brain Bar, a technology and music conference in Budapest, he donned a red T-shirt with the words “OK, Boomer” on it while presenting to and connecting with a young audience. Also, when he was recently asked how he would like to be remembered at K in years after his retirement, he said: “Péter was an interesting character on the campus with his terrible ‘Hunglish’ accent. It looks like he managed to motivate some students.”

In all sincerity, however, Erdi was grateful to hear from Flaugher and his fellow alumni regarding the Interdisciplinary Fund for Complex Systems Studies.

“I knew that I had influenced several students intellectually,” he said. “Maybe five per year is a good estimation, so about a hundred may positively remember my name when they reflect on their college education. Still, the mail from Brad, and then the correspondence with Elliot, Griffin, Jerrod and Trevor, and the establishment of the Fund were wonderful surprises, and I am humbled to have this Fund while I am still active.”

‘Dutchman’ Puts Racism, Black Identity Center Stage

Black identity, racism and allusions to the slave trade will be put center stage this week when Kalamazoo College’s Festival Playhouse presents Dutchman.

The 1964 play—written by Amiri Baraka, who then was known as LeRoi Jones—is the second of the Festival Playhouse’s 60th season, which has a theme of “Systems as Old as Time,” focusing on the harmful systems that hold back the oppressed and how people fight against them.

The plot features Clay, a 20-year-old, college-educated Black man portrayed by Jared Pittman ’20, who also played Martin Luther King, Jr. last winter in the Festival Playhouse’s production of The Mountaintop. Pittman notes that Clay is traveling on the subway to a friend’s house for a get-together when he meets Lula, a young white woman.

“He’s shy and timid upon his introduction to Lula on the train, given the racial climate during the 1960s,” Pittman said. “He’s polished in his three-piece suit and speaks with great intellect. Clay doesn’t want to be grouped amongst the stereotype of Black men, so he makes a conscious effort to be above the stereotype.”

Abigail Nelson '24 and Jared Pittman '20 portray Lula and Clay respectively in the Festival Playhouse production of Dutchman
Abigail Nelson ’24 and Jared Pittman ’20 portray Lula and Clay in the Festival Playhouse production of “Dutchman” being staged at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, February 29–Saturday, March 2, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 3.

Lula, however, played by Abigail Nelson ’24, is symbolic of white America during the Civil Rights Movement. She enters the train eating an apple beginning references to Adam and Eve that occur throughout the play as Clay attempts to be his own man even though his name might suggest that he should be easily shaped and molded.

“She’s very flirtatious with Clay, and although he is shy, he is intrigued by Lula, so he entertains her advances,” Pittman said. “She has a bipolar personality, and it keeps Clay on his toes, not really knowing if she is joking or serious. This allows her to antagonize Clay, and ultimately push him over the edge.”

The play is guest directed by Anthony J. Hamilton, a former visiting assistant professor of theatre arts at K and guest professor and director at Western Michigan University. His career directing credits include The Piano Lesson, The 1940s Radio Hour and Once on This Island at the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre; Into the Woods and Skeleton Crew at WMU; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at Hackett Catholic Prep; Grandma’s Quilt and Playwright’s Competition at the Negro Ensemble Company in New York; and Next to Normal at the Festival Playhouse last spring.

Dutchman will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, February 29–Saturday, March 2, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 3, in the Festival Playhouse Theatre at 129 Thompson St. Thursday’s show will include American Sign Language interpretation and an audience talkback.

Tickets are available online or by calling the Festival Playhouse at 269.337.7333. K students, faculty and staff are admitted free with a College ID. Adult tickets are $25, seniors are $20 and children younger than 12 are $5. Audiences should be aware that the play’s content includes adult language, themes and situations that include simulated violence and may be triggering

Pittman said that audiences are certain to appreciate the performances, even as they provoke a profound emotional response. “I think those who come to see the show, should know that this is theatre, and we are people portraying characters,” he said. “Although a very real experience for some people, we ask that the audience members provide the performers with grace. We’ve worked hard to tell this iconic story and we understand the sensitivity of it all.”