Faculty, Staff Dedicated Themselves to Students

Kalamazoo College’s faculty and staff are dedicated to developing the strengths of every student, preparing them for lifelong learning, career readiness, intercultural understanding, social responsibility and leadership. Here are their top news stories of 2023 as determined by your clicks. If you missed it, you can find our top 10 stories of students at our website. Watch in the coming days for our top 10 alumni stories and stories from the College itself.

10. Faculty Member’s Grant to Provide Students with Intros to Accessible Design

Associate Professor of Computer Science Pam Cutter will introduce the fundamental concepts and skills of accessible design and development to her Kalamazoo College courses thanks to the Teach Access Faculty Grants program.

Bringing together industry, education and disability advocacy organizations, the mission of Teach Access is to address the digital accessibility skills gap by equipping learners to build toward an inclusive world.

9. Admission Staffer Targets Favorite Chef Title

Teresa Fiocchi had collected praise in the past as an award-winning chef. Yet a prospective Favorite Chef title provided her with bigger fish to fry.

By reaching the competition’s quarterfinals, Fiocchi reached the top 1% of the thousands of nationwide entrants.

Favorite Chef Contestant Teresa Fiocchi Cooking in Her Kitchen — Office of Admission Operations Manager Teresa Fiocchi reached the quarterfinals of the Favorite Chef competition.

8. Prison Concert a ‘Quintessential Experience’ for College Singers

As the College Singers director, Assistant Professor of Music Chris Ludwa has sought more performances in the community in recent years, and on March 2, the 30-student group had the opportunity to perform at the Ionia Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan.

A group picture of the College Singers with faculty member Chris Ludwa — College Singers Director and Assistant Professor of Music Chris Ludwa has made it a goal to perform at more sites in the community.

7. ‘Tandem’ Tussels with Hit-and-Run Cover-Up

Professor of English Andy Mozina just couldn’t turn his attention away from a tragedy he first heard about seven years ago. Although the inescapable images were dreadful, they also seeded the plot that grew into Mozina’s latest work of fiction, Tandem.

The book centers on Mike Kovacs, an economics professor from Kalamazoo living in the West Main Hill neighborhood, who kills two college-age tandem bicyclists in an inebriated hit-and-run at the parking lot of Saugatuck Dunes State Park.

6. Fulbright Enables English Professor to Spend Year in Australia

Professor of English Amelia Katanski ’92 is working with faculty at the University of Wollongong to develop curriculum that will better prepare K students for study abroad there.

Professor of English Amelia Katanski in her office with books in the background — Professor of English Amelia Katanski ’92 has earned a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award sent her to Australia during the 2023–24 academic year.

5. K Announces Lucasse, Ambrose Recipients

One faculty member and one staff member earned two of the highest awards the College bestows on its employees in September. Rosemary K. Brown Professor of Computer Science Alyce Brady received the 2023–24 Florence J. Lucasse Lectureship for Excellence in Teaching, and Custodian Laura Weber was named the recipient of the W. Haydn Ambrose Prize for Extraordinary Service.

Ambrose Prize Recipient Laura Weber — Laura Weber, a 10-year staff member in Facilities Management, received the Ambrose Prize, named after W. Haydn Ambrose from President Jorge G. Gonzalez.

4. Partnership Benefits K, WMU Business Students

K embarked on an exciting new partnership with Western Michigan University that allowed students from both institutions to gain powerful experiences in leadership and business strategy this year with Amy MacMillan, K’s L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business Management, playing a key role.

Portrait of K faculty member and L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business Management Amy MacMillan — L. Lee Stryker Associate Professor of Business Management Amy MacMillan helped manage a partnership allowing K and WMU students to collaborate through an immersive consulting experience at Sleeping Giant Capital’s downtown office.

3. Three Faculty Members Earn Promotion, Tenure

Three faculty members from the music, German studies and French studies departments—Chris Ludwa, Kathryn Sederberg and Aurélie Chatton respectively—were awarded tenure along with a promotion to associate professor.

Aurélie Chatton, a faculty member at Kalamazoo College, writes on a dry-erase board during a class — Then-Assistant Professor of French Aurélie Chatton was one of three K faculty members to earn tenure this year and a promotion to associate professor.

2. A Bippy on Their Radar Helps Scientists Find K Students

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo used a K version of a Squishmallow she named Bippy as her lab’s mascot, and he helped her students gain opportunities in their field.

Arias-Rotondo’s reach on Twitter allowed chemists from all over the world to see Bippy’s pictures and learn about her and her students’ accomplishments.

Faculty member Daniela Arias-Rotondo with five students and a Squishmallow named Bippy at an American Chemical Society conference — Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo, known affectionately to her students as Dr. DAR with her lab students called DARlings, uses a K version of a Squishmallow named Bippy as her lab’s mascot.

1. Star Wars Class Fills with Hyperspace-Like Speed

Some students learned about religion through the ways of the Force this fall in a new Star Wars-themed class offered by Assistant Professor of Religion Sohini Pillai.

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Faculty, Staff Dedicated Themselves to Students, Achievements in Top Stories of 2023