3 with K Connections Compete in ArtPrize

If you visit ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, be sure to check out three entries from artists with Kalamazoo College connections. Help Desk Administrator Russell Cooper ’89, Web Services Director Carolyn Zinn ’82 and Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Firth MacMillan all are participating.

Russell Cooper ArtPrize 2017 Entry
Russell Cooper is competing in ArtPrize for the sixth time. His art shows a black-and-white image of his daughter holding an oval frame at a playground. That frame is reflecting a color image of Violette on a swing.

Cooper is competing for a sixth time at ArtPrize, the event touted by organizers as the world’s most-attended public art event. His two-dimensional work again features his daughter, Violette, although the end result reflects inspirations from photographers and artists who create optical illusions, and the Persian Poet Rumi, who said: “There is a life-force within your soul, seek that life. There is a gem in the mountain of your body, seek that mine. O traveler, if you are in search of that, don’t look outside, look inside yourself and seek that.”

Cooper’s art shows a black-and-white image of his daughter holding an oval frame at a playground. That frame is reflecting a color image of Violette on a swing. The final product is on display at PaLatte Coffee and Art, 150 Fulton St. E.

Zinn is entering ArtPrize for the first time. Her quilt – which is an image of her daughter, Kirsten, that uses 480 hexagons and 60 commercial fabric prints – was designed through a technique called English paper piecing. She said the technique involves wrapping paper shapes in fabric and then stitching the fabric by hand with a thread and needle. The paper is removed before the quilt layers are stacked and topstitched.

Carolyn Zinn ArtPrize
Carolyn Zinn’s quilt is an image of her daughter, Kirsten, that uses 480 hexagons and 60 commercial fabric prints.

Zinn added she has been sewing her entire life, although she became fascinated with geometry and the color of traditional Amish quilts when she was a teenager. She made a quilt for the first time when she was a student at K and living in DeWaters Hall. In recent years, Zinn has become involved in art quilting, focusing on original design and nontraditional materials and methods.

“I believe fiber art is an underrepresented medium in the art world,” she said. “By entering my work in this open competition, I hope to raise awareness of the medium and inspire others who work with fiber to continue challenging the boundaries of art, craft and design.”

Zinn’s quilt is on display at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, 303 Pearl St. NW.

MacMillan has been teaching ceramics and sculpture since coming to K from The University of Colorado-Boulder in 2016.

MacMillan became familiar with ArtPrize while living in New York City through art critic Jerry Saltz. When she returned to Michigan, where she attended high school and college, she took her K sculpture class to ArtPrize, and decided that she should enter this year. Her work is being displayed at the U.S. Post Office at 120 Monroe Center St. NW.

MacMillan’s father, a photography enthusiast, was among the first to inspire her to become an artist. “He helped me learn to frame the world outside through the viewfinder,” MacMillan said.

Firth MacMillan ArtPrize entry
Firth MacMillan’s sculptures, including the pieces presented at ArtPrize, are often three-dimensional representations derived from her photographs.

In fact, her sculptures – including the pieces presented at ArtPrize – are often three-dimensional representations derived from her photographs.

“In my work I reinterpret experiences of pointed yet everyday moments from life like the play of shadows from sunlight filtering through a canopy of trees,” MacMillan said on the ArtPrize Web page showing her work. “I take these ephemeral moments and translate them into three-dimensional form.”

First-round voting continues at ArtPrize through Sept. 30. Anyone attending ArtPrize can vote in the first round for their favorite artist or artwork to win a share of a half-million dollars in cash and prizes. Public attendees vote through their computers after they register onsite or through the mobile app while visiting the ArtPrize district. Mobile app users need to tap the “thumbs up” icon after entering an artist’s five-digit code. Computer voters tap the “thumbs up” icon at each artist’s profile. The five-digit codes are 64719, 64662 and 66515 for Cooper, Zinn and MacMillan respectively.

ArtPrize runs through Oct. 8. Learn more about the event.

 

Students Welcome to Audition for ‘Fun Home’

Students are welcome to try out for “Fun Home,” a Tony-award winning musical that will be the first Festival Playhouse production of the year.

Fun Home Auditions at Festival Playhouse
Festival Playhouse will conduct auditions for “Fun Home” from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, and Wednesday, Sept. 13.

Auditions are scheduled for 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, and Wednesday, Sept. 13. Callbacks are Thursday, Sept. 14.

Find more information on what to expect with auditioning and the upcoming rehearsals at our Theatre Arts website.

Initial Wait Leads K Student to Boren Scholarship

Boren Scholarship Winner Kimberly Yang
Kimberly Yang ’19 has received a Boren Scholarship and will study at Capital Normal University in Beijing.

“Pleasant surprise” and “final exams” rarely are uttered in the same breath even at Kalamazoo College. Yet Kimberly Yang ’19, of Grand Rapids, Mich., received welcome news around finals time this past spring.

Yang first was placed on a waiting list in mid-April after applying for a Boren Scholarship, a prestigious grant that allows students to study abroad in geographic areas, languages and fields deemed critical to U.S. national security. Then, a congratulatory email came at the end of May, sparking her plans to spend a term in Beijing this fall before returning to the U.S. in March. She has received a scholarship and will study at Capital Normal University.

Yang, an economics and political science major and Chinese minor, departs for China in less than a week. She said the trip will provide her with international experiences representing the U.S. while living abroad in a capital city.

Boren Scholarship winners commit to U.S. federal service for at least a year after they graduate. Yang said she hopes to serve in a role in environmental relations.

“With the United States pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, China ironically is the leading proponent in the effort to reverse climate change,” she said, noting how China’s urban development affects the environment. “I want to pursue a career with the environment in China, especially with the demolition and fast-paced construction the country has been witnessing.”

Yang was born in Texas, but spent most of her high school years in Shanghai. She ultimately chose K for college because its small size seemed less intimidating as she was reacclimating to the United States. Last year, Yang served as the vice president of the Asian Pacific Islander Student Association at K. She also has served the campus as a student representative to Teach for America, a professional corps of leaders who commit to teaching in low-income schools and work to increase their students’ opportunities.

Yang joins Ihechi Ezuruonye ’19, of Southfield, Mich., and Molly Brueger ’19, of Arlington, Va., as the Boren winners from K in 2017-18. Ezuruonye and Brueger will study in Japan. Boren Awards are worth up to $20,000 depending on the student’s financial need and how long the student stays overseas. The grants are funded by the federal government through the National Security Education Program.

Boren Awards are named after former U.S. Sen. David L. Boren, the principal author of the legislation that created the National Security Education Program. Boren Scholars (undergrads) and Fellows (graduate students) study in countries throughout Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East.

 

K Student Among First AmeriFirst Interns

Kalamazoo College student Peter Rossi ’18 is among the first students to take advantage of a new internship program that teaches students about the mortgage industry.

Rossi, a computer science major and music minor from Kalamazoo, is one of nine college juniors and seniors learning career skills this summer through AmeriFirst, a mortgage banker in Kalamazoo. The students, who were chosen from more than 50 applicants, work in marketing, information technology, appraisals, human resources and legal/compliance. The program began in May and continues through August.

Peter Rossi Pictured at AmeriFirst
Peter Rossi, a computer science major and music minor from Kalamazoo, is one of nine college juniors and seniors learning career skills this summer through AmeriFirst, a mortgage banker in Kalamazoo.

“The work environment at AmeriFirst is extremely unique because my work is directly applicable to the company,” Rossi said. “They’re willing to value my opinions even at the highest level, which pushes me to work hard.”

Rossi’s job in information technology includes communicating with various departments around AmeriFirst to help the company build an intranet platform that suits employees’ needs. He also has duties involving business process modeling, which is a method of mapping processes to help make an organization’s workflow more effective and efficient.

Rossi said there are three divisions within IT at AmeriFirst including:

  • a technical-support division;
  • a network administration division, ensuring that servers are protected and company information is properly encrypted; and
  • Rossi’s division, which offers a mix of continuous improvement and project management.

“There are a lot of departments that have interns, but the IT department has a way of making every day interesting and fun,” Rossi said. “We really go out of our way to interact and have a good time.”

A weekly lunch-and-learn program encourages community and builds cohesiveness among the interns across departments. During these 60-minute sessions, members of senior management provide industry and life-skills education along with overviews of their respective areas of expertise. A recent highlight included a session with Chief Executive Officer Mark Jones, who shared his passion and business philosophy with the students, who appreciated his time.

“AmeriFirst is going out of its way to see that young talent stays here, which I think is amazing,” said Rossi, a Loy Norrix High School graduate, Heyl Scholar and a member of K’s swimming and diving team. He added he hopes he can take the experiences he has gained so far and continue to be successful moving forward.

Before launching the internship program, AmeriFirst Staff Recruiter Kelly McConnell and coworker Nicole Waterbury connected with local college career departments, including K’s Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD), and reached out to other corporations running successful internship programs. Although Rossi first heard of the internship opportunity through a friend’s dad, he said CCPD was integral in helping him prepare his résumé and learn how to network.

Rossi said he would encourage other students thinking about the AmeriFirst program in the future to “absolutely apply. If you can get in, they really take care of you. It’s a diverse workforce, and a majority of employees are women at the home office, even among the senior leadership team. For me that creates an amazing community atmosphere that also has a young, energetic vibe.”

For more information on internships at AmeriFirst, contact McConnell at 269-324-4240, ext. 12020, or recruiter@amerifirst.com.

 

K Students’ Research Relevant to Prescription Drug Discovery

Four Kalamazoo College chemistry students from Professor Laura Furge’s lab attended the Great Lakes Drug Metabolism and Disposition Discussion Group annual meeting on May 4 and 5 in Kalamazoo. The entourage included three – Sarah Glass ’17, Christi Cho ’17 and Cydney Martell ’19 – who presented their research regarding enzymes that help the human body interact with and process prescription drugs. Their research is relevant to prescription drug discovery and treating diseases, especially in predicting how individuals will respond to their medications.

Student Research Relevant to Prescription Drug Discovery
Cydney Martell ’19 is one of three students who presented their research regarding enzymes that help the human body interact with and process prescription drugs at the the Great Lakes Drug Metabolism and Disposition Discussion Group annual meeting. Their research is relevant to prescription drug discovery and treating diseases, especially in predicting how individuals will respond to their medications.

Cho – a chemistry major from Anchorage, Alaska – says her studies could help advance clinical research that ensures drugs won’t build up to toxic levels or negatively interact with other prescription drugs. She will attend the University of Washington as a graduate student starting this fall, where she has received a Graduate School Top Scholar Award to help fund her education. Yet K has made an impression on her.

“The faculty make a really good effort to create a friendly learning environment,” Cho said. “Chemistry be challenging at times. They try to bring the fun into every aspect of it.”

Glass – from Shelbyville, Mich. – in addition to presenting research, organized and planned the event’s luncheon, providing students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and pharmaceutical industry representatives with networking opportunities. Glass majored in chemistry at K, minored in math with a biochemistry concentration, and finished her undergraduate studies in December after just 3 1/3 years. She will start pursuing a Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University this fall.

At K, “all the chemistry faculty are extremely helpful and knowledgeable,” Glass said. “Students get a lot of hands-on experience through labs and have opportunities to get involved in research early on.”

Martell – a chemistry major from Gull Lake, Mich. – plans to further her research in K labs this summer.

“For me the annual meeting was a great experience to see how the topics I have learned in biochemistry and through research can be used to understand and critically think about current research in industry and academia.” Martell plans to attend graduate school after K, where she will earn a Ph.D. She is leaning toward teaching research in her professional career.

K chemistry major and Furge lab research associate Sabrina Leddy ’19 also attended the meeting. K Visiting Professor Kyle Furge took the 13 students from his advanced biochemistry course to the meeting’s opening plenary.

The Great Lakes Drug Metabolism and Disposition Group website says the group:

  • provides opportunities for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and senior-level associates from regional universities to meet pharmaceutical scientists and pharmacologists from various academic and industrial backgrounds;
  • promotes regional visibility of the discipline of drug metabolism and disposition science;
  • facilitates informal dialogue between pharmaceutical partners and academic laboratories; and
  • enriches interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities for those interested in drug metabolism and disposition.

7 K Students Attend Experimental Biology, 2 Honored

Seven Kalamazoo College students attended the annual Experimental Biology meeting in Chicago in May including two honored in the event’s undergraduate research posters competition.

Experimental Biology Posters Competition
K students Raoul Wadhwa (second from left) and Sarah Glass (second from right) received honors in the Experimental Biology undergraduate research posters competition. They are joined by professors Regina Stevens-Truss and Laura Furge.

About 225 undergraduates from across the country participated in Experimental Biology’s poster competition in the categories of:

  • proteins and enzymes;
  • metabolism, bioenergetics, lipids and signal transduction;
  • DNA, RNA, chromosomes and gene regulation; and
  • cell and developmental biology.

Sarah Glass ’17, of Shelbyville, Mich., was awarded first place in the “proteins and enzymes” posters category and received an award of $500. Raoul Wadhwa ’17 – originally from Portage, Mich., and now of Chicago – earned honorable mention recognition in “proteins and enzymes.”

The event is a joint meeting of six different societies including the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) as well as societies for physiology, nutrition, pharmacology, pathology and anatomy.

Glass said the meeting was a great opportunity to find out what’s going on in science and to practice presenting research. She is a chemistry major who will pursue a Ph.D. starting this fall at Vanderbilt University.

Glass presented research associated with her Senior Individualized Project (SIP). She investigated enzymes in the human liver that help process medicines, work that may become relevant in predicting how individuals will respond to their medications.

In contrast to Glass, it might seem strange that Wadhwa, a math major, not only participated but earned honors in an event largely attended by chemistry and biology majors. However, this project – which also was his SIP – united his interdisciplinary interests in computer science, math, biology and chemistry.

Experimental Biology Meeting in Chicago
K students Christi Cho, Sarah Glass, Raoul Wadhwa, Cydney Martell, Jacqueline Mills, Sharat Kamath and Susmitha Narisetty joined professors Laura Furge and Regina Stevens-Truss at the annual Experimental Biology meeting in Chicago.

“Something like this could only happen at K,” he said, adding he owes a “thank you” to chemistry professors Regina Stevens-Truss and Laura Furge. Their guidance helped him inside and outside the lab, especially as they coached him in professionally presenting scientific research. “This would never have happened at a big university.”

Wadhwa described his research as still being a ways off from clinical application, although he was looking at a new class of potential drug therapies that in some ways are similar to antibiotics. He helped develop software used to predict the antibacterial potential of peptides being studied in Truss’s lab, work that could one day prove vital in this age of antibiotic resistance. Wadhwa will attend the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western University starting this fall.

Other K representatives included chemistry majors Christi Cho ’17, Jacqueline Mills ’18 and Cydney Martell ’19; along with biology majors Sharat Kamath ’18 and Susmitha Narisetty ’19. Cho also presented her SIP research and Narisetty presented results from her summer internship at South Dakota State University.

Archivists Create Display on Immigrant and International Students at K

Archivists Shelby Long and Lisa Murphy
Shelby Long and Lisa Murphy

Can there be a better metonym foror higher measure of the virtues of courage and love than the word immigrant? It is a question posed by the new Upjohn Library Commons exhibit titled “Immigrants and International Students at Kalamazoo College.” That history is a long one at K, beginning in the 1860s and continuing today. College Archivist Lisa Murphy ’98 is responsible for the library’s main-floor displays, which she alters term to term. And hers was the idea for this spring’s. However, the execution  including the research, writing, design and installation, was accomplished by senior political science major Shelby Long. Long has worked in the College’s archives for three years doing multiple tasks but never, until now, a museum-quality exhibit. “I wanted to be sure she had that opportunity,” says Murphy, who admits she will sorely miss her colleague after June’s commencement. “Shelby did a wonderful job on this timely display.” Preparation and installation required a month, and the most difficult task was choosing the few students (from many possibilities) that the display would feature.

Among Long’s favorites is Nagai Kafu, who attended K in 1904-05. “He became one of the most prominent writers in Japan in the 1920s and ’30s,” said Long, “described by some as Japan’s Ernest Hemingway. Fans of his work still visit the house on Elm Street where he lived when he studied at K.” Asked what strikes her most about K’s immigrant and international students, Long says: “All their remarkable accomplishments after they left, in the U.S. and in their home countries.

Immigrant and International Students Display
Sam Song Bo

Those countries (in addition to Japan) included Burma, Poland, Latvia, Nigeria, Kenya, Iceland, Iran and China. Sam Song Bo left China to attend college in the United States (first McMinnville College in Oregon, then K in 1881-82). He decried the discrimination Chinese immigrants endured in the United States, writing about that injustice some dozen years after Chinese workers helped complete the building of the transcontinental railroad. One of the earliest immigrant students to attend K (although one could consider all Americans immigrants) was Martha den Bleyker, class of 1863. At the age of nine she and her family arrived in Kalamazoo from the Netherlands. They were soon thereafter quarantined from cholera in a shack outside the city limits. All but one brother recovered from the disease. Martha’s father went on to establish Kalamazoo as a premier celery growing region.

Immigrant and International Students Display
Martha den Bleyker

Martha was an anomaly in that most 19th-century immigrant students at K were men. That began to change after World War II. One example is Hilda Arzangoolian who traveled from Iran to study chemistry and mathematics at K in 1946-47. She spoke six languages and had studied English a mere six months before arriving at K. In addition to her academic pursuits, she played excellent tennis for the College’s team. You can learn more about the history of K’s immigrant and international students by traveling no further than the first floor of Upjohn Library Commons. Shelby Long remains very interested in archival work, and plans to earn to Master in Library Science degree. Lisa Murphy will be seeking a student to take Long’s place. “It’s wonderful work,” says Long. Interested students should write to Murphy at archives@kzoo.edu.

College’s CCPD Dinner Connects Students to Fortune 500 Company

CCPD Dinner Connects Students to StrykerIn early May, 28 Kalamazoo College students had the opportunity to share a meal on campus with eight professionals who have at least two things in common—the K-Plan and careers at the Stryker Corporation, a Kalamazoo-based Fortune 500 medical technologies firm.

The alumni returned to campus at the invitation of the Center for Career and Professional Development to meet with students who could learn about career paths at Stryker and the relevance of the K-Plan to those paths. At least 15 current Stryker employees got their undergraduate degrees at K, and both institutions are interested in strengthening the talent pipeline between the two.

The event began with a welcome by S. Si Johnson ’78, the retired group president of Stryker MedSurg Group and a current member of the College’s board of trustees. Johnson shared the four core values of Stryker—integrity, accountability, people, and performance—and reflected on how the critical thinking and problem solving skills inherent in a K education are great preparation for a career at Stryker.

After students and alumni enjoyed informal networking conversations over dinner, James N. Heath ’78, the retired president of Stryker Instruments and a member of K’s board of trustees, moderated an alumni panel that included Randy Rzeznik ’08, director of customer excellence, Neuro, Spine, ENT and Navigation; Bryce Pearson ’15, finance representative; Kevin Packard ’05, clinical marketing manager, Neuro, Spine, ENT and Navigation; and Michael Weslosky ’02, staff scientist.

Panelists reflected on their trajectories from K to Stryker and talked about the qualities of the company they find most attractive. The panelists’ K majors were varied—chemistry, economics, biology, and business—and each panelist cited the value of the work ethic instilled by the K-Plan and the 10-week term. They also stressed the importance of persistence in the pursuit of employment. Pearson, for example, shared the effort and time that was required before he secured a position at Stryker.

Heath also invited one of the students in attendance, junior Alex White, to describe the extensive process he’d gone through to secure an internship with Stryker for the upcoming summer.

Other alumni attending the event included Legal Counsel Christopher DiVirgilio ’04 and Senior IS Business Analyst Russ Hankey ’96.

Students and alumni agreed that the evening was a success and excellent preparation for the next step in the K/Stryker relationship: a half-day immersion K-Trek for selected students to the company’s headquarters in the fall.

Text and photo by Joan Hawxhurst

Greening On

Kalamazoo College Students Complete Green Dot Training
Twenty-four K students completed Green Dot bystander training in late April.

Twenty-four Kalamazoo College students and five K employee Green Dot-certified trainers launched the College’s first bystander training session on April 29. It’s one of several early steps toward the goal of a “greening” that will be year-round, forever.

Green Dot is a national prevention program that has proven effective in significantly reducing the likelihood of dating and domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault. Essential to the program’s effectiveness are bystanders, people trained to safely interrupt or prevent harmful precursor behaviors associated with dating violence, stalking and sexual assault. In the program’s iconography, a red dot is any person’s choice to harm another person with words or actions. In any environment, or map, enough red dots create a norm where violence is tolerated. Green dots are small actions to intervene when a red dot is occurring or to prevent the likelihood of red dots at all. Small as they may be, Green Dot words and actions draw their power from the large numbers of people who commit to speak or do them. Together, enough Green Dots can change “worlds,” small and large. And one of those worlds will be Kalamazoo College.

In late March some 30 faculty, staff and administrators completed four days of Green Dot “College Curriculum” training, which certified them to do bystander training for K students and overview training for K faculty and staff. One month—and a lot of preparation and practice—later the first bystander training took place in the Olmsted Room. It included students identified by their peers as well-respected and influential.

“The 24 students were highly engaged throughout the training,” said Ellen Lassiter Collier, Director of Gender Equity at K. “This was a day-long event in the middle of a busy spring term, yet no one left the session.” In fact, at least three students reported applying Green Dot interventions at parties or other events that very weekend.

“To establish a norm where the intolerance of violence is immediately and plainly evident—and a culture where everyone does their part to maintain that norm—will require a critical mass of K community members,” said Lassiter Collier. “Many times it will be students who are most likely to be present in settings and situations where ‘red dots’ tend to occur. Students trained as bystanders are absolutely indispensable, so we were very gratified by the participation of these 24 early adopters.”

Additional student bystander training is scheduled for the fall, and the “first” 24 will have contributed to the success of those sessions by providing the names of several score of other influential and well-respected students who will be invited to the fall training.

In concert with the effort to train a critical mass of student bystanders, employee Green Dot-certified trainers also will work with faculty and staff this spring and early and continuing into the fall.

The bystander trainers who joined Lassiter Collier on April 29 were Andrew Grayson ’10, Admission; Laura Livingstone-McNelis ’89, Department of Theatre Arts; Leslie Burke, Information Services; and Morgan Mahdavi ’14, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership.

The 24 students included Julia Plomer ¹18, Maddie Tracey ¹17, Sidney Wall ’17, Cody Colvin ’18, Douglas Robinett ’17, Leah Finelli ’18, Ashley Henne ’17, Sep’Tisha Riley ’18, Kourtney Johnson ’17, Tenley Mustonen ’17, Amber Salome ’18, Colleen Orwin ’17, Elizabeth Clevenger ’17, James Paprocki ’18, Alex Dykema ’19, Kiavanne Williams ’18, Lilia Robins ’18, Colleen Corrigan ’17, Kaiya Herman Hilker ’19, Sophie Higdon ’19, Roger Hood ’18, Rose Maylen ’19, Malak Ghazal ’19 and Lezlie Lull ’20.

Funding for Kalamazoo College’s Green Dot efforts comes from the State of Michigan Campus Sexual Assault Grant Program.