A variety of musicians and ensembles will welcome audiences to several Kalamazoo College Department of Music fall concerts in November.
Academy Street Winds, The Roaring 20s
The Academy Street Winds will perform music from the Jazz Age at 4 p.m. Sunday, November 9, in Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts.
The concert will be headlined by Kurt Weill’s Suite from Three-Penny Opera, which reflects new musical trends that followed World War I.
The ensemble functions as a beloved creative outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities. Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music Greg Bassett serves as the group’s director. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.
College Singers, Harvesting Joy
The College Singers, directed by Associate Professor of Music Chris Ludwa, invite audiences feeling anxious over current events to participate in a brief respite with a concert that promises melodies, harmony and poetry from humanity’s great traditions of wisdom.
Join this ensemble composed of mixed soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices representing music majors and non-music majors alike at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 12, at Stetson Chapel. Adult tickets at the door are $15. K students are admitted for free.
The Kalamazoo College Singers will perform one of several music department fall concerts in November. Its performance is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. November 12 at Stetson Chapel.
Jazz Band, One Big Beautiful Biosphere
The Kalamazoo College Jazz Band, directed by Visiting Instructor of Music Sandra Shaw, will celebrate the intricacies of amazing cultures through music from the regions of North America, West Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The program includes pieces by popular artists such as Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn and Chick Corea.
Listeners are encouraged to dance if the music inspires them during the show at 7:30 p.m. Friday, November 14, in the Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts. Admission is free, although donations are appreciated.
Kalamazoo Philharmonia, Honor Your Elders
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will feature composers who learned from the greats before them in its fall concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, November 16, in the Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts. Composers and pieces will include:
Maurice Duruflé: Trois Dances
Paul Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Andy Akiho: “in that space, at that time” from Sculptures
William Grant Still: Symphony No. 1, Afro-American
Founded in 1990 as the Kalamazoo College and Community Orchestra, the Philharmonia—directed by Professor of Music Andrew Koehler—brings together students, faculty, amateur and professional musicians of all ages to perform great music. Tickets at the door are $7 for general admission and $3 for students. Students with a valid Kalamazoo College ID will be admitted for free.
Kalamazoo College welcomed local and state officials, business leaders, community partners and friends to campus on Friday, October 24, for the College’s annual Community Breakfast. The event brought together representatives from more than 40 organizations, reflecting the strong relationships that connect K with the greater Kalamazoo area.
Each year, the College partners with local schools, nonprofits, and businesses to strengthen the region through learning, service, and collaboration. From community-based courses and paid internships to arts performances, athletics, and sustainability initiatives, the College generates both social and economic impact in Kalamazoo—contributing financially to the local economy, hosting events that drive tourism, and preparing graduates who continue to live and work in the area. Together, these efforts reflect K’s centuries-long role as an anchor institution and a contributor to the community’s growth and sustainability.
In his remarks, President Jorge G. Gonzalez, who will retire from the institution in June, reflected on the progress K has made since the start of his tenure.
“In the decade since I came to K, a lot has changed—new programs, new partnerships, new challenges,” Gonzalez said. “But one thing has remained the same: Kalamazoo College’s unwavering commitment to preparing students for lives of meaning and impact.”
Gonzalez shared that nearly 1,300 students began classes this fall, including 341 first-year students representing 20 states and six countries. The class is one of the most diverse in recent history, including 33% who are first-generation college students and 37% who are Pell Grant eligible, highlighting the College’s commitment to providing access to students of all backgrounds.
While K’s student body comes from across the U.S. and around the world, Gonzalez noted that K is home to 85 Kalamazoo Promise students who graduated from the Kalamazoo Public Schools, as well 26 Heyl Scholars. These numbers underscore K’s work to show local students that they can experience a transformative education and global opportunities right here in Kalamazoo.
These experiences were highlighted when Gonzalez recognized the conclusion of a four-year, $1.297 million initiative supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Envisioned by Associate Professor of English Shanna Salinas, Associate Professor of Sociology Francisco Villegas and Professor Emeritus of English Bruce Mills, the HILL project fostered site-based collaboration among students, faculty, and community partners in Kalamazoo, New Orleans, St. Louis, and San Diego, exploring how the humanities engage with place, displacement, and community.
Several representatives of those community partners were in attendance at the breakfast as they kicked off a weekend-long conference to mark the project’s culmination.
Of the HILL project, Gonzalez said, “Students had the chance to step out of the classroom, partner with organizations here in Kalamazoo and across the country and see firsthand how their scholarship can make a difference.”
This experience was highlighted by recent graduate Melissa Preston ’25, a Kalamazoo native and critical ethnic studies and French double major who participated in the HILL project and traveled to New Orleans with the program.
“It’s one thing to learn about history, but I believe it is even more crucial to live, to see, to experience the reality these histories created,” Preston said. “My time in New Orleans was incredible; everything that we saw, learned, tasted, heard, did, and experienced was so rich. This experience was truly monumental in my own academic journey.”
Today, Preston is a bilingual teller at a local credit union, where she assists Francophone members throughout the state of Michigan. She noted that her experiences at K within an interdisciplinary program, “challenged me to rethink my own thought processes, sharpened my critical thinking and shaped my empathy toward others. It fueled my passion for learning, growing and always asking why…It exemplifies the liberal arts model and sets K apart in a way that should be supported and celebrated.”
Gonzalez closed the program by urging attendees to continue investing in education and the partnerships that make transformative experiences possible for college students like Preston.
“So many indicators of success—wealth, health, upward mobility, involved citizenship—trace back to education,” he said. “It is the foundation upon which individuals and communities rise…We can teach, we can inspire, we can communicate value, but we cannot do it alone. Our colleges and universities are ultimately community efforts.”
President Jorge G. Gonzalez welcomes 2025 Community Breakfast attendees to Kalamazoo College.
Alumna Melissa Preston ’25 talks about her student experiences with the Humanities Integrated Locational Learning (HILL) project at the 2025 Community Breakfast.
Community partners of the HILL project attended the 2025 President’s Community Breakfast. Pictured are Associate Professor of English Shanna Salinas (from left), President Gonzalez, Benjamin Looker of St. Louis University, Associate Professor of Sociology Francisco Villegas, Gloria Ward of Ms. Gloria’s Garden in New Orleans, People for Public Art Executive Director Monica Rose Kelly, Macrina Cardenas Montaño of Coalición Pro Defensa Del Migrante in Tijuana, Mexico, and alumna Melissa Preston ’25.
Kalamazoo College student Joe Caton ’26 has turned his lifelong interest in radio technology into an innovative conservation project at Sarett Nature Center in Benton Harbor, Michigan. For his Senior Integrated Project (SIP), Caton built a low-cost telecommunications system to help the center monitor its population of Eastern box turtles.
Sarett is home to several types of turtles, and some, including the Eastern box turtle, are listed as threatened species in the state thanks to humans changing their habitats and predators threatening their safety.
Eastern box turtles play subtle but significant roles in their ecosystems. As omnivores, they help control insect populations and disperse seeds from berries and other wild plants. Their presence affects the food web as both consumers and prey, and their nesting habits intersect with larger environmental issues. At Sarett, turtles have contributed to booming raccoon populations, which can overconsume eggs and disrupt long-term turtle survival.
Sarett staff and volunteers have long tracked the reptiles using older analog equipment that emits radio pings, requiring searchers to walk toward the sound to locate individuals.
Caton, who is a computer science major with a telecommunications background, saw an opportunity to modernize the process and make it more accessible for conservation groups with limited resources.
“Once I found out Sarett was still tracking these turtles, I reached out to see if I could help,” he said. “The receiver technology was the area with the least work being done, so that’s where I focused.”
Caton sourced a software-defined radio device called a Hack RF, which can detect signals across a wide frequency range. He paired it with a screen for visualizing the turtle transmitters’ radio signals and built a homemade antenna using PVC pipe and a metal tape measure. When he and Sarett staff tested the system in the field, they were able to match pings to specific turtles based on recorded frequencies.
The equipment offers Sarett a flexible, open-source alternative to commercial radio trackers, which are costly and difficult to replace or replicate. Caton’s prototype can be produced at a fraction of the cost by printing circuit boards from existing online plans, making the approach scalable for other nature centers, research projects or youth-education programs.
Although Caton’s role focused on technology, he says his work has changed how he thinks about conservation.
“I hadn’t given a lot of thought to how computer science could be used this way,” he said. “Now I realize you don’t just have to use tools that already exist, you can make them yourself and tailor them to the work.”
Caton grew up in Three Rivers, Michigan, and first attended Glen Oaks Community College in nearby Centreville. He originally planned to pursue another degree path, but when Glen Oaks launched a computer science and cybersecurity program in 2020, he became one of its first computer science students. After completing his associate degree, Caton worked for a few years before deciding he wanted to finish a bachelor’s degree.
He had always been intrigued by K.
“When I was younger, I just wanted to go to K because everyone I knew was going to Western (Michigan University) and I wanted to be different,” Caton said with a laugh. “But as I got older and actually started reading about it and hearing graduates’ stories, it sounded like a place I would actually want to go.”
On a whim, he applied to K, assuming it would be too expensive. But the opposite proved to be true.
“I got this financial aid package in the mail that made it not only an option, but the cheapest option,” he said. “That pretty much answered the question for me.”
As a non-traditional transfer student at age 40, Caton expected to feel out of place at K. Instead, he again was surprised.
“The only person who ever brought up my age was me,” he said. “Once I stopped mentioning it, nobody else did either. Nobody looked at me funny or treated me differently. That made it a lot easier to just be a student.”
He quickly connected with computer science faculty including Professor Pam Cutter and Associate Professor Sandino Vargas-Pérez. Their accessibility and encouragement built his confidence to take on projects like the one at Sarett. Caton has also worked on campus in Media Services while balancing coursework and his home life.
Eventually, his SIP provided opportunities that Caton didn’t expect. He has been networking with professionals at the intersection of ecology and technology, and he plans to continue refining his prototype with Sarett. Using a Raspberry Pi—which is a low-cost, credit-card-sized computer—he hopes to combine radio tracking with image-recognition software being developed by WMU students to identify turtles by their unique shell patterns.
Caton’s SIP is complete, but the project continues and so does his enthusiasm.
“If you assume something like the conservation of Eastern box turtles doesn’t matter just because you don’t see the connection right away, you’re going to miss something important,” he said. “We don’t always know what role a species plays until it’s gone. That’s why this work matters.”
Q&A with Sarett Nature Center Executive Director Nate Fuller
Sarett Nature Center—less than an hour from Kalamazoo College between Benton Harbor and Coloma—is a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to providing quality environmental education to the community. It has more than 1,000 acres along the Paw Paw River and is home to several state and federally endangered animals in addition to a rich variety of flora and fauna, representing much of what can be found in southwest Michigan. Children are free and admission is $3 for adults who want to hike the trails and visit the welcome center, which has animal displays and feeding stations that are enjoyable for all ages.
Executive Director Nate Fuller answered some questions for us about the nature center, the importance of eastern box turtles and Joe Caton’s contributions to their conservation efforts.
Question: Why are eastern box turtles important within their ecosystems?
Answer: Eastern box turtles are important because they act as seed dispersers, regulate prey populations, and serve as an indicator species for environmental health. Their role in dispersing seeds helps maintain plant diversity, while their omnivorous diet helps control insect and other small prey populations. Because they are so sensitive to changes in their environment, their presence or absence can signal the overall health of their woodland, wetland and field habitats.
Q: How threatened are these turtles?
A: Eastern box turtle populations are declining at all levels—nationally, regionally and locally. They can be found across much of the eastern United States, but they have some level of protected status in nearly half of the states where they’re found. In Michigan, the eastern box turtle was recently moved from “special concern” to “threatened” status due to their increased decline.
Eastern box turtles seem to be doing much better at Sarett Nature Center than anywhere else that they’re studied. By studying Sarett’s population, officials hope to better understand what the turtles need to thrive.Caton built a homemade antenna using PVC pipe and a metal tape measure.Caton sourced a software-defined radio device called a Hack RF (above), which can detect signals across a wide frequency range, and paired it with a screen for visualizing the turtle transmitters’ radio signals (below).Fuller had this to say of Caton’s work: “Joe’s work has the potential not just to make the research being done on Sarett’s box turtle population more effective and efficient, but it could also be a game changer for conservation efforts for all projects using telemetry.”
Q: Why is it important for Sarett to protect them?
A: Box turtles seem to be doing much better at Sarett Nature Center than anywhere else that they’re studied. By studying Sarett’s population, we hope to better understand what they need to be successful. Also, Sarett’s population is large enough that we have an opportunity to study their behaviors in a way that just isn’t possible at sites with smaller populations.
Q: What hands-on work is being undertaken at Sarett to help these turtles?
A: Work started a few years ago when Sarett hired John Rutger and his turtle dogs to help us find turtles. The idea was to demonstrate how working dogs help with conservation. We had no idea how many turtles he would find! The dogs found more than 60 turtles in four days at the nature center, and we had an inkling we were onto something special. Over the years since, we’ve documented more with few repeats while drawing attention from conservation professionals and researchers.
Maarten Vonhof at Western Michigan University is overseeing multiple research projects that are looking at genetics, shell patterns, habitat use, range sizes, nest-site selection, scent communication, disease and social behaviors. Watervliet High School Robotics Club members are working on micro-GPS trackers to add to turtles that already have transmitter beacons on them to better understand their daily movements. Sarett staff and volunteers are working on invasive plant species control to improve nesting and foraging habitats. And we are making plans for students, staff and volunteers to help identify, mark and monitor box turtle nests this upcoming spring.
Visitors to the nature center have been helpful in documenting box turtles. We also worked with WMU to set up an app for anyone who finds a box turtle to add them to our project. They can use their phone to take its picture and upload it to our database so we can build up our image catalogue and track locations of individuals.
Q:Has Sarett reached any important milestones in protecting the turtles?
A: We have hit some impressive milestones regarding the numbers of individuals we’ve identified at Sarett Nature Center. After four years of one-week surveys, we identified more than 300 individuals. After four weeks of intensive surveys in 2025, we were able to add more than 250 individuals to our inventory! We are still working on the data, but it looks like we have 600 individuals catalogued, which is many times more than any other single location documented anywhere.
The bloodwork collected this summer marks the largest genetic assessment of a box turtle population ever. The scent data collected is also the largest ever and will be the most comprehensive study ever done looking at box turtle communication via scent.
Q:How would you rate Joe Caton’s work and the importance of it in Sarett’s efforts?
A: Joe’s work has the potential not just to make the research being done on Sarett’s box turtle population more effective and efficient, but it could also be a game changer for conservation efforts for all projects using telemetry.
The costs of tracking are not just in designing the equipment used. A bigger expense comes from the time it takes humans to use the equipment, everything from training on how to use it to time in the field spent tracking down the animals. With more than 70 transmitters, it’s easier and more efficient to find transmitters in the field, and it will save us thousands of dollars. If you project that out to others using this technology, it could be a huge benefit for wildlife conservation.
A grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, provided to Kalamazoo College in 2022, will culminate this week with community partners from New Orleans, San Diego, St. Louis, Kalamazoo and more gathering at the College to share the successes of the Humanities Integrated Locational Learning (HILL) project.
The Learning in/from Place and Community Conference will take place Friday–Sunday, October 24–26. By bridging academic inquiry with local partnership, place-based practice, and regional perspectives, the conference offers a model for how liberal arts institutions can engage meaningfully with broad social themes.
“After four years of our students learning from community partners in each of these sites, we are excited to host many of them in Kalamazoo,” Associate Professor of Sociology Francisco Villegas said. “Here, they will be able to meet one another, connect with people doing similar work in Kalamazoo and across Michigan, and share lessons from their work. Each organization has substantial knowledge that is grounded in their geographic location and we hope the conference will further collaborations that will support our respective communities.”
The public is invited. No registration is necessary. Opening remarks will begin at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Dewing Hall, room 103, with a screening of the film BODEWADMI NDAW. A discussion will follow with filmmaker Davis Henderson ’25, artist Jason Wesaw of the Pokegon band of the Potawatomi tribe, and leaders from local Indigenous communities.
Saturday’s highlights include a plenary address by Jamala Rogers, the executive director of the Organization for Black Struggle, at 10 a.m. at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Additional panels throughout the day will cover history and preservation, local priorities and cultivating community.
Moderators on Saturday will include K faculty members Christina Carroll, associate professor of history; Espelencia Baptiste, associate professor of anthropology; and Marquise Griffin, associate director of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement. Panelists will include:
Lulu Urdiales of the Chicano Park Museum and Community Center in San Diego, Ben Looker of St. Louis University, Amber Mitchell of the Henry Ford Museum and Dylan AT Miner of the University of Michigan from 11:15 a.m.–12:45 p.m.
Jazmin Ortiz-Ash of the Kalamazoo County ID program, Macrina Cardenas Montaño of Coalición Pro Defensa Del Migrante in Tijuana, Mexico, Kenlana Ferguson of the Michigan Transformation Collective, and Sashae Mitchell of the Center for Civic Engagement from 2–3:30 p.m.
Gloria Ward of Ms. Gloria’s Garden in New Orleans, Hristina Petrovska of Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Jackie Mitchell of Integrated Services of Kalamazoo and Shane Bernardo from Food as Healing in Detroit at 3:30 p.m.
Associate Professor of Sociology Francisco Villegas
Associate Professor of English Shanna Salinas
Sunday will feature a digital humanities and student research exhibition from 9–10 a.m. at the Arcus Center. A plenary with People for Public Art Executive Director Monica Rose Kelly will follow along with a place-based art workshop featuring Kelly and Destine Price of the FIRE Arts Collaborative in Kalamazoo. The conference concludes with closing remarks at 12:30 p.m.
In 2022, the Mellon grant helped the College’s HILL project organizers design student coursework rooted in K’s commitment to experiential learning and social justice. The program addressed issues such as racism, border policing, economic inequities, homelessness and global warming, while examining history, how humans share land, and the dislocations that bring people to a communal space.
The project was envisioned by Villegas, Associate Professor of English Shanna Salinas and Professor Emeritus of English Bruce Mills. They invited K faculty to build curricula that reflected how power structures produce destabilizing dynamics and the collective responses of affected communities.
Students then had opportunities—locally and at sites across the country—to immerse themselves in heritage, culture, landscapes and community experiences through course materials, collaborative faculty-student research, community engagement, the development of program assessments and the sharing of oral histories tied to partnering projects and organizations. The Beyond Kalamazoo course clusters focused on themes of location and dislocation, emphasizing place-based learning through an integrated travel component in New Orleans, St. Louis or San Diego. The Within Kalamazoo cluster emphasized social issues in the Kalamazoo community. A digital humanities hub published, archived and assessed outcomes in coursework and partnerships.
The Learning in/from Place and Community Conference aims to show how the HILL project has deepened understanding of the humanities’ relevance to society by advancing innovative responses to interconnected issues through students and faculty. For more information, contact Salinas at Shanna.Salinas@kzoo.edu or Villegas at Francisco.Villegas@kzoo.edu.
Kalamazoo College is putting its commitment to sustainability into action with the construction of two new residence halls that will showcase energy efficiency and environmentally conscious building strategies when they open in fall 2027.
The structures are part of an effort to meet a growing need for affordable, on-campus housing as off-campus housing costs continue to increase. The project will provide space, primarily for juniors and seniors, for 218 beds. Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Susan Lindemann said the two buildings represent a major step in the College’s long-term goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
“At every stage of planning, we asked, ‘how can we lower our carbon footprint and create better living conditions for students?’” Lindemann said. “Our commitment to the environment goes back years, yet our housing stock hasn’t always reflected that because of its age. With these new halls, we’re putting our money where our mouth is and showing what our values look like in physical form.”
Geothermal System Replaces Fossil Fuels
The most significant feature distinguishing these residence halls from conventional buildings is a geothermal heating and cooling system that eliminates the need for fossil fuels. Instead of running on natural gas, the buildings will use a network of underground loops where fluid circulates through the ground to pick up or release heat. That steady baseline temperature drastically reduces the energy required to regulate an indoor climate.
Electric heat pumps bring the fluid to a desired temperature, and electric backup boilers provide support only during extreme cold.
“There is no gas line going to these buildings,” Lindemann said. “That’s important because it means we are not using fossil fuels to heat or cool them. We’re literally using the earth as a battery to stabilize temperatures, and then we only need a small amount of electricity to fine-tune it. In Michigan winters, there might be days when geothermal alone can’t keep up, but even then, our backup system is electric boilers, not gas. This is a huge step forward in lessening our reliance on fossil fuels.”
The geothermal field is being installed under what will be a parking lot, maximizing space and protecting the system from weather and wear.
Two new residence halls will have several features that support the College’s sustainability efforts when they open in fall 2027.
Work is progressing on the site of the new residence halls along West Main street.
Mass Timber Reduces Embodied Carbon
The structures will also use fire-rated mass timber as their primary structural material. Unlike traditional steel framing, mass timber is made from layers of smaller, sustainably harvested trees laminated together. This method allows builders to use farmed coniferous wood rather than cutting down old-growth forests or using large-diameter timber.
The cross-lamination process also strengthens the beams by alternating the grain, creating components that perform much like steel.
“It’s important to say that there is some steel in the building—there are pieces that are just very difficult to do in timber,” Lindemann explained. “But the largest part of the structure is mass timber, and that dramatically reduces embodied carbon. Embodied carbon is basically the carbon footprint associated with the lifecycle of building materials. These are laminated wood products, often made from smaller trees that otherwise couldn’t be used structurally. Instead of cutting down old-growth oaks, we’re taking coniferous trees from farmed sources and engineering them into beams that are incredibly strong. And because we sourced them domestically, east of the Mississippi River, we’re cutting down on the transportation footprint as well.”
Solar Power Designed to Meet Building Demand
To further reduce reliance on the electrical grid, the College is installing a bank of solar panels, designed as canopy-style carports over parking spaces, on the north side of the new lot. Because K owns and manages its own utility infrastructure, any excess generation can be redirected to other buildings on campus. The site has been designed so additional solar can be added as funding allows.
“This one bank of solar panels is designed to entirely sustain the building at peak demand,” Lindemann said. “That means this building can run on renewable energy alone when the sun is at its highest production. It’s also worth saying that this is a truly responsible way to do solar. We’re not taking farmland out of production or clearing forests to put panels up. We’re using a parking lot, which protects the geothermal field underneath while also giving us renewable energy.”
Native Landscaping and Green Roof Elements
The project’s landscaping features only native or climate-adapted plant species, eliminating the need for irrigation and reducing strain on groundwater resources. As climate zones shift with climate change, some plants traditionally native to areas farther south than Michigan are also used as naturalized selections that will continue to thrive in future conditions.
A portion of the connector building between the two residence hall towers will also incorporate trays of green roof vegetation.
“It’s not the entire roof,” Lindemann said. “The towers have pitched roofs, so we can’t do full green roofs there. But the flat connector is designed for trays of vegetation, which will insulate the building and help with air quality. It’s another way the building itself will be working toward sustainability.”
In addition, the project will create new outdoor spaces for students, including a small second Quad between the new buildings and Crissey and Severn halls, along with a front terrace where students can eat and spend time outside.
Built-In Fresh Air and Waste Reduction
Unlike most modern commercial buildings, these buildings will feature operable windows that will allow students to regulate temperature and reduce reliance on mechanical heating and cooling when weather permits. Sensors in each room will help manage temperature and reduce wasted energy when windows are open.
“We wanted students to have the ability to get fresh air, not just rely on HVAC,” Lindemann said. “In a lot of modern buildings, you can’t even open a window. Here, students will have that option, and the system is designed to sense what’s happening in the room and adjust. That way, students can use outside air to cool down rather than running air conditioning.”
Waste reduction is also top of mind in the design. The halls will include space and access for pickup by the College’s commercial composting partner, an option not currently available elsewhere on campus.
“Students will be able to compost food waste easily, which is a huge step forward,” Lindemann said. “Between composting, fresh-air circulation and renewable electricity, the way students live in this building will inherently be more sustainable.”
Supporting Students and the Broader Community
The new residence halls are designed not only to reduce energy use but also to shift student housing patterns in the surrounding neighborhood. Many students currently live in older off-campus houses that are poorly insulated, heated with fossil fuels and expensive to maintain.
“When students live in these old houses, they’re often paying high rents to landlords who aren’t affected by how much it costs to heat the place because the students pay the utility bills,” Lindemann said. “Older homes can be incredibly inefficient. Heat goes right out the roof, out the windows, out the walls. By moving students into high-efficiency halls, we’re not only lowering their carbon footprint but also opening those houses for families, who are more likely to renovate, insulate and make the houses sustainable in the long run. That’s good for the community and the environment.”
Tree Stewardship and Replanting
Lindemann anticipated concerns in the community about tree removal early in the planning process. She noted that many of the trees removed were in decline and unlikely to survive construction. Plus, newly planted trees that had been added along Catherine Street were carefully relocated to other parts of campus rather than chipped or discarded. New plantings will also take place.
“For every tree we took down, we’re replanting four,” Lindemann said.
Sustainable Transportation Options
To make lower-impact commuting more accessible, the new parking area includes a secure bike storage facility with key-card access. The enclosure will protect bikes from weather and theft and will be open to all students, not just residents of the new halls.
“A lot of students have told us they’d like to bike, but they don’t have a secure or covered place to store a bike,” Lindemann said. “So, we’re building an enclosed structure with card access where students can lock bikes, keep them dry, and feel confident using them.”
An Investment in the Future
Locally sourced materials, renewable energy systems, and high-efficiency design required a significant upfront investment, one that Lindemann said aligns with campus values.
“This building could have been built less expensively in the financial sense,” Lindemann said. “But we chose to walk the walk and spend money on things that would use less energy and lessen our carbon footprint. When you look at geothermal, mass timber, solar, native landscaping and composting, I think we were able to include some really impactful items without pricing ourselves out of reach. It’s painting a picture of who we are as a college.”
Lindemann noted that as we approach future projects, there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to sustainability.
“Every building has its own story,” she said. “In this case we had the open land to install geothermal and solar, so we took that opportunity. Another project might look different. But what will stay consistent is our dedication to being as sustainable as possible in every container we have to work with.”
By the end of the summer, Caleb Jenkins ’26, Willow Hayner ’27 and Mairin Boshoven ’25 had recorded data on nearly a thousand Pitcher’s thistle seedlings, some barely a half-centimeter tall, on Beaver Island.
Pollinators such as bees, monarchs and hummingbirds rely on Pitcher’s thistle for food in the early spring before much else blooms.
Surrounded by the waters of Lake Michigan, between the state’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, three Kalamazoo College students spent their summer with Professor of Biology Binney Girdler, studying a small species of plant that fulfills big roles.
Caleb Jenkins ’26, Willow Hayner ’27 and Mairin Boshoven ’25 devoted their days to researching and protecting Pitcher’s thistle, a rare and threatened yet important plant on Beaver Island, where the students spent a couple of months at a remote hub for scientific activity: Central Michigan University’s Biological Station.
Pitcher’s thistle grows only on the shores of the western Great Lakes, Jenkins said, where it began to spread thousands of years ago as a huge glacier traveled northward, depositing minerals and sand.
“As the glacier melted, it gave us our Great Lakes,” Jenkins said. “From that, Pitcher’s thistle established roots deep within the Earth. As it grows, it collects more and more sand as the sand drifts and storms wash up deposits, assisting dune grasses in building dunes. Those dunes have developed into areas like the Sleeping Bear Dunes and Wilderness State Park.”
Studies in Wisconsin have shown that entire swaths of Pitcher’s thistle have been wiped out by an invasive weevil called Larinus planus, which destroys the plant’s seeds. Beaver Island is unique because researchers have yet to find any evidence of the weevils there. Their absence helps make the island an ideal spot for the pollinators that rely on Pitcher’s thistle for food in the early spring before much else blooms. It also provided Jenkins, Hayner and Boshoven with a perfect environment for their research, conducting tests and measurements that contribute to the plant’s conservation.
Even the deer on Beaver Island, whose growing numbers are hurting populations of other plants, seem to be having less impact on Pitcher’s thistle.
“The seedlings of the Pitcher’s thistle tend to be the most vulnerable,” Boshoven said. “The deer might step on a few or bite them, but the plants tend to be very resilient. Humans would be much more of a threat to the plant’s population than deer.”
CMU’s Biological Station is a nucleus for scientists and students from across the country. Hayner said K’s representatives were collecting data during the day while evenings brought talks from visiting researchers from organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Michigan Natural Features Inventory.
“These groups often gave lectures on their research, and it was amazing to meet them and learn about their work,” Hayner said. “We also got to work in Binney’s lab, right next to the shores of Lake Michigan. As an added bonus, we were able to participate in the end-of-summer open house and poster show to present our research to the public.”
Much of the team’s daily work involved close observation—very close observation.
“There was a lot of crawling involved,” Jenkins recalled with a laugh. “We’d be hunched over the plants in the sand, and when people walked by asking what we were doing, we’d pop our heads up like groundhogs and say, ‘We’re measuring plants!’”
By the end of the summer, the group had recorded data on nearly a thousand seedlings, some barely a half-centimeter tall. Beyond the data, the project connected the students with the island community, whose residents deeply value Beaver Island’s natural plant and animal systems and appreciate research on species vital to the island’s ecology.
“You don’t have to convince anyone there why conservation matters,” Boshoven said. “They already know. One of my favorite moments was sharing our findings at the open house and seeing how excited people were about the research. It felt like conservation was happening in real time.”
All three students credit Girdler for fostering an environment that balances challenges with encouragement.
“Binney never pressured us just to produce results,” Jenkins said. “I could lay out what I’d learned and what I understood and say, ‘Here’s where I am.’ She was more than happy to meet us in the middle. That level of understanding is an extra bit of humanity you usually don’t get in academic settings.”
“She met us where we were and encouraged us to keep going, even when things went wrong.” Hayner added. “She’s an outstanding mentor. I learned so much just being part of her lab and hope to continue working with her on data analysis this year.”
For Boshoven, the experience has been transformative.
“My first summer there opened my eyes to what fieldwork could be,” she said. “Now I know I want to go to grad school not just for the degree, but for the process of doing the research. It really taught me how and why I want to structure my work in the future.”
Boshoven expects such enthusiasm to spread to the next generations of K students.
“The program Dr. Girdler has built is so well thought out,” Boshoven said. “Academically, it’s a great experience; she will follow it through with you all the way to publishing research, which is impressive for undergraduates. It has made me an exponentially better researcher. On the other hand, it was also just a great time.”
Jenkins said the experience solidified his own dream of becoming a conservation biologist.
“Anyone who knows me knows I’m a plant guy,” he said. “If I can spend the rest of my life studying plants and teaching people about them, I absolutely will.”
Hayner, too, found the project has influenced her long-term goals.
“I’m not totally sure where I’ll end up, but I know I want to keep doing fieldwork,” she said. “This showed me how passionate I am about plant ecology.”
Jenkins, Hayner and Boshoven joined Professor of Biology Binney Girdler this summer on Beaver Island to research Pitcher’s thistle, a threatened species of plant.
The remote location of Beaver Island required the research team to take a ferry from Charlevoix, Michigan, to their summer home.
Professor Proud of Students, Beaver Island Research
Professor of Biology Binney Girdler said she’s proud of all of her students who perform research, especially Jenkins, Hayner and Boshoven, who did so in such a remote place.
“From Kalamazoo, it’s a three-and-a-half-hour road trip followed by a two-hour ferry ride,” she said. “There is one small grocery store on the island, one gas station where gas is $6 a gallon and four restaurants. But on the plus side, the students had 300 feet of sugar sand Lake Michigan beach at their disposal, and the lake to go jump in whenever they wanted. I was incredibly proud of each of them for their creativity and dedication. Each student had their own piece of the puzzle. I was really impressed with what a great team these three scholars made. Even though they each had ownership of a different part of the project, they coordinated their work well so that they traded jobs and supported each other through challenges, especially when I was off-island. My students were professional and engaging, and community members told me what a great job they did presenting.”
What is Pitcher’s Thistle?
Named after: Zina Pitcher, a U.S. Army surgeon at Fort Brady and an amateur naturalist. He discovered the plant in the 1820s along Lake Superior.
Scientific name: Cirsium pitcheri or CIPI for short.
Range: Native only to the dunes of Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior.
Status: Federally threatened in the U.S., federally endangered in Canada.
Ecological role: Stabilizes sand dunes with deep roots; blooms early to feed pollinators such as bees, monarchs and hummingbirds.
Biggest threat: Shoreline development and a seed-eating invasive weevil, Larinus planus.
Why Beaver Island matters: It’s one of the few places with no reports of weevil damage, offering a refuge for healthy populations.
Kalamazoo College connection: Professor of Biology Binney Girdler and her students have studied the species for years, contributing to its conservation.
If the Halloween season has you itching for real-life information about witch trials, plan to attend the Edward Moritz Lecture in History at Kalamazoo College on Wednesday, October 29.
The event will feature Associate Professor Rochelle Rojas presenting a lecture titled Gender, Gossip and Religious Revival: Crafting Witches in Early Spain. The lecture will run from 5 to 6 p.m. in Dewing Hall, Room 103, followed by a reception in Dewing Commons. A livestream will be available for remote attendees.
Drawing on witch-trial records from early modern Spain, Rojas will illuminate how shifting gender roles, religious reforms and social control shaped beliefs about witchcraft in communities. She will explore how narratives from villagers, judges and Inquisitors reveal an inner logic of early modern witch belief systems and investigate how issues of identity and moral regulation resonate with contemporary debates.
Rojas earned a Ph.D. from Duke University. She joined Kalamazoo College’s faculty in 2018 and recently published Bad Christians and Hanging Toads: Witch Crafting in Northern Spain, 1525-1675 (Cornell University Press, 2025). This lecture is part of the history department’s annual Moritz Lecture series, established in honor of Professor Edward Moritz, who taught at Kalamazoo College from 1955–88. For more information about this event, contact History Department Chair Christina Carroll at Christina.Carroll@kzoo.edu.
Each year during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend, Kalamazoo College recognizes alumni whose accomplishments, service and achievements bring honor and distinction to the College and represent the lasting value of a K education.
The Alumni Association presented its 2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards on Friday, October 3, recognizing the following honorees:
David Strauss,the Weimer K. Hicks Award.This award honors a current or retired employee who has provided long-term support to College programs or activities beyond the call of duty while offering excellent service in the performance of their job. After teaching at K, he worked to establish an endowed scholarship that honors his retired colleague, David Barclay. Two College awards bear his name, the David Strauss Prize in American Studies and the Strauss/Wickstrom Senior Integrated Project Endowment.
Susan Stuckey Thoms ’70 and David Thoms ’70,the Distinguished Service Award.The honor recognizes individuals who have made exceptional volunteer contributions to Kalamazoo College. Susan practiced ophthalmology, first in private practice, and later as a clinical professor of ophthalmology at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. David practiced law for 44 years, and his work was honored with numerous professional accolades. David was a College trustee for five years; Susan continues her service into her eighth year as a member of Women’s Council. Both have long assisted students with career advice and served as mentors in law and medicine.
Quincy Isaiah ’17, Young Alumni Award. The citation awards a K alum—within 15 years of their graduation—for outstanding achievement; personal growth in their career; or outstanding professional, civic and cultural service. Isaiah is an actor who earned a Rising Star Award for his portrayal of Magic Johnson in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty on HBO Max. More recently, he played the role of Brandon—a character struggling to move forward after a mistake he made as a child—in Grassland. The 2023 film attempts to change society’s views about marijuana-incarceration policies.
Lila Lazarus ’84, Distinguished Achievement Award. The honor recognizes alumni who achieve distinction in their professional fields. Lazarus has worked in journalism and health communication for more than 39 years. She received the Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Michigan Chapter. She is the founder and owner of Lila Productions LLC.
David Strauss
Lila Lazarus
Quincy Isaiah
David and Susan Thoms
1990 men’s tennis team
1993 volleyball team
Five individuals, a men’s tennis team, a volleyball team and three men’s basketball teams were also inducted into the College’s Athletics Hall of Fame during the Distinguished Alumni Awards. They were:
On Saturday, October 4, the College’s Emeriti Club honored two alumni with its annual Citation of Merit Award. They were:
Carl Bekofske ’64. Bekofske has practiced law in Flint for more than four decades. He is also a Chapter Thirteen trustee for Genesee, Lapeer, Livingston and Shiawassee counties and serves as a Genesee County public administrator.
Sally Padley ’62. In 1972, Padley began a decades-long career as an educator with Kalamazoo Public Schools, Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Western Michigan University’s Academic and Talented Youth Program.
For the third year in a row, Kalamazoo College has been selected as a Hidden Gem by College Raptor, a planning platform that helps students and families find college matches driven by algorithms to find their best-fit schools at the best price.
This selection for 2026 places K among the top eight institutions in the Great Lakes Region of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. It further recognizes the College as one of the best in the country based on a combination of factors including retention rates, graduation rates, student-to-faculty ratio, endowment per student, selectivity and other key metrics as reported through the National Center for Education Statistics.
“For today’s students, expanding the definition of ‘dream school’ to include attainable options that align with family income, grades and additional factors can help more students arrive at college with confidence,” College Raptor co-founder William Staib said. “That’s what our Hidden Gems list and College Match tool aim to do.”
Kalamazoo College has retained its status as a College Raptor Hidden Gem for 2026.
College Raptor also ranks K among 25 Hidden Gems for Division III athletics. To qualify for either list, an institution must receive fewer than 5,000 applications per year, have fewer than 7,000 undergraduate students, offer at least five unique majors and have an acceptance rate of at least 10%.
College Raptor’s full methodology is outlined on its website.
Kalamazoo College is pleased to welcome the following faculty members to campus this fall:
Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Bonnie Ebendick
Ebendick arrived at K after earning her Ph.D. in biological sciences in August from Western Michigan University (WMU). She previously earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology/biotechnology, with a specialization in microbiology, from Michigan State University.
Before attending WMU, Ebendick worked as a research scientist at Michigan State, the University of Toledo and Iontox, LLC, beginning in 1999. Her teaching experience includes positions as a lecture teaching assistant and recitation teaching assistant at both Michigan State and WMU.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Bonnie Ebendick joins the Kalamazoo College faculty.
Visiting Assistant Professor of English Kevin Fitton
Fitton recently earned his Ph.D. in English creative writing from WMU. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Hope College, a master’s degree in New Testament from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a Master of Fine Arts from Bennington College.
Before arriving at K, he taught first-year writing, children’s literature and creative writing workshops as a graduate assistant at WMU; courses in creativity and literature at Grand Valley State University; and academic writing at Olivet University.
Visiting Assistant Professor of English Kevin Fitton joins the Kalamazoo College faculty.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Andrew Jensen
Jensen arrived at K from the University of Michigan, where he was a postdoctoral researcher, a mentor for graduate and undergraduate researchers, and a guest lecturer for courses in chemical analysis, physical properties of analysis, environmental chemistry and mass spectrometry. He previously served as a graduate research assistant at the University of Colorado, Boulder and an undergraduate research assistant at Davidson College in North Carolina.
Jensen earned a Ph.D. in analytical, environmental and atmospheric chemistry at the University of Colorado, Boulder and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Davidson College.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics and Business Matthew Schultz
Schultz has prior teaching experience at Kellogg Community College, where he was an adjunct instructor for business courses specializing in economics; Lakeview School District, Climax-Scotts Community Schools and Battle Creek Central High School, where he taught marketing, accounting, entrepreneurship, business law, finance, business management, career preparation and computer science; and with the MiSTEM Network/Code.org, where he facilitated teacher training for the AP Computer Science Principles curriculum.
Schultz received a Ph.D. in education from Indiana Wesleyan University, a master’s degree in career and technical education from WMU, and both a Master of Business Administration and a bachelor’s degree in business management from Cornerstone University.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics and Business Matthew Schultz joins the Kalamazoo College faculty.
Assistant Professor of Spanish Language and Literature Brayan Serratos García
Serratos García recently earned a Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature from Vanderbilt University, where he also completed a master’s degree in the same field. He holds a bachelor’s degree in World Languages and Cultures with an emphasis in Spanish from Iowa State University. His research explores transoceanic connections among Europe, Asia, and the Americas during the Early Modern period, with particular emphasis on the contributions of Indigenous and local knowledge-producers.
Serratos García has held teaching positions as instructor, adjunct faculty, teaching assistant, and course coordinator at Vanderbilt University and Fisk University, as well as a teaching appointment at Beijing Normal University. He has taught a wide range of courses from introductory language classes to advanced seminars on Spanish and Portuguese literature and culture. In addition to Spanish and Portuguese, he speaks Chinese and Italian and has lived, studied, and conducted research across Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the United States.
