awards

Student, Faculty Research Partners Earn National Recognition

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Maxwell Rhames ’25 and Daniela Arias-Rotondo, Kalamazoo College’s Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Endowed Chair in Natural Science, are receiving national recognition for their three years of work together that culminated in Rhames’ Senior Integrated Project (SIP).

Arias-Rotondo’s synthetic inorganic chemistry lab works to find ways of converting light into energy. In Rhames’ SIP, that meant examining what alternative metals could possibly be used to make things like solar panels less expensive, one day assisting a global shift toward renewable energy.

“When you have some sort of inorganic complex that absorbs light, that light can get transformed into chemical energy in the form of electricity,” Rhames said. “A common example is with solar panels, but the metals that they use in them are rare, and as a result, incredibly expensive. We were looking at taking some cheaper metals that you could find anywhere in a much more sustainable way and asking whether they can work.”

For their efforts, the two have received an honorable mention in the 2024 Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award for Undergraduate Research, which recognizes research that students and faculty perform in tandem. The award, given through the American Chemical Society, has three divisions between national labs, research universities and institutions that primarily consist of undergraduates. Rhames and Arias-Rotondo were honored in the primarily-undergraduates category, which covers scientists from hundreds of schools across the country.

“The traditional photoactive metals are iridium and ruthenium, and we’re looking at manganese, which is the third-most abundant transition metal on Earth,” Rhames said. “In the state we use it in, it’s stable and nontoxic, so it’s a great alternative. We’re looking at how we can bridge the gap between saying, ‘this could be really cool,’ and actually getting it to where we could apply it in some of these areas.”

Arias-Rotondo said she and Rhames use spectroscopy to understand what kind of light the compounds they create absorb and what happens after they absorb it.

Student and professor with national Undergraduate Research Award
Maxwell Rhames ’25 and Daniela Arias-Rotondo, Kalamazoo College’s Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Endowed Chair in Natural Science, have received national recognition with an honorable mention in the 2024 Division of Inorganic Chemistry Award for Undergraduate Research, which recognizes research that students and faculty perform in tandem.

“One of the problems that we’re finding is that once our compounds absorb light and get to what we call an excited state, that excited state doesn’t last long enough yet for them to be useful,” she said. “But Max’s work has been instrumental because he was the first one in the group to make these kinds of compounds. Now that we’ve been able to understand their properties and investigate some of them, other students in our lab can understand how to make them better. We are making a name for ourselves by laying the groundwork for making these compounds.”

Rhames has discussed his SIP at the Inter-American Photochemical Society and American Chemical Society conferences, where his fellow scientists were enthused about his work on a national scale.

“That’s been the coolest thing, because when you put something out there, you don’t know what people are going to think of it,” he said. “And generally, their reactions have been super rewarding. I enjoy doing the work myself, but it’s even cooler to know that other people find it equally exciting. It’s an added bonus.”

Rhames won’t be the first or the last in his family to graduate from K when he walks the stage at Commencement in June. Both of his parents, Frank ’92 and Jody ’92, are alumni, and his sister, Claire ’27, is a current student. However, he’s clearly found his own path having performed research in Arias-Rotondo’s lab ever since his first year on campus. In addition, he will start a Ph.D. program at the University of Delaware in fall, and he hopes to one day serve as a faculty member at an institution like K.

“K is small, so you get to make a lot of good connections with your professors,” Rhames said. “I was three or four weeks into my first term as a college student, and all of a sudden, I’m in a lab doing the work with the research. There are no post-docs or graduate students. It is just the undergraduates and the faculty doing all of the work. That would’ve been a lot harder to do had I not gone to K.”

College Raptor Honors K as a Gem for Academics, Athletics

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For the second 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—which places K among the top 15 institutions in the Great Lakes Region of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana—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 students seeking the enriching experience of a smaller college with exceptional programs, institutions like K emerge as prime options, and we are honored to spotlight them with the recognition they genuinely deserve,” College Raptor co-founder and CEO William Staib said. 

College Raptor also ranks K 11th in the country 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. 

Stetson Chapel in fall for College Raptor story
College Raptor places Kalamazoo College among the top 15 institutions overall in the Great Lakes Region of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana, and rates K 11th nationally for opportunities in Division III athletics.

Princeton Review Ranks K Among Best Colleges

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The Princeton Review has once again placed Kalamazoo College among the top 15 percent of America’s four-year colleges and universities by featuring K in the 2025 edition of its annual guide, The Best 390 Colleges.  

The education services company selects its list from the nation’s 2,600 four-year institutions based on data it collects from administrators about their academic offerings and surveys of students who rate and report on their experiences.   

Students lauded K through surveys as a place where they develop personal relationships with their peers and faculty at a campus run by and for the students. In addition, students can quickly find their niche upon arriving thanks to a small-school environment where “everyone is always engaged in some kind of work they truly care about,” the book says.  

The Best 390 Colleges does not provide individual rankings for the schools featured, but compliments K for its offerings.  

Princeton Review Best Colleges Graphic shows Light Fine Arts Center
The Princeton Review is rating Kalamazoo College among the best in the country in the book “The Best 390 Colleges.”

“We salute Kalamazoo College for its outstanding academics, and many other impressive offerings,” said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review’s Editor-in-Chief and lead author of The Best 390 Colleges. “We recommend it as an ideal choice for students searching for their ‘best-fit’ college.” 

The College is also listed among Princeton Review’s Best Midwest Colleges and Best Value Colleges.  

The printed publication is now available through the Penguin Random House website. K’s profile is available for free online along with the list of the 390 top schools. 

Best Value Colleges List Again Includes K

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For the third year in a row, the Princeton Review—an education services organization and rankings resource—has named Kalamazoo College one of the nation’s best institutions for students seeking a top-notch education at an affordable price. 

For its annual Best Value Colleges list, the Princeton Review evaluated 650 public and private institutions across the country through their academic offerings, costs, financial aid, career services, graduation rates and student debt while examining student surveys and PayScale.com reviews of alumni salaries. Although schools are not ranked individually, K was chosen among the top 209 for value based on 40 data points that calculate return on investment (ROI) ratings. The Princeton Review gave K an ROI score of 90 out of 99 for 2024, making the College just one of four Michigan schools recognized as a best value. 

In K’s profile, the Princeton Review says the College brings a personalized approach to education through a flexible, open curriculum featuring real-world experience, service learning, study abroad and an independent senior-year project. Student surveys noted that the alumni network is easy to contact and willing to help, providing a culture of giving back to the school and supporting each other. Another student added that the College’s small-school environment helps everyone find a chance to get involved in issues they care about and the community. 

Red Square at Kalamazoo College for Princeton Review Best Value Colleges list
The Princeton Review evaluated 650 public and private institutions from across the country and named 209 of them, including Kalamazoo College, to its Best Value Colleges list.

“The schools we chose as our Best Value Colleges for 2024 are a select group: they comprise only about 8% of the nation’s four-year undergraduate institutions,” Princeton Review Editor-in-Chief Rob Franek said. “We commend their administrators, faculties, staff and alumni for all they are doing to educate their students and guide them to success in their careers. These colleges are also exceptional for the generous amount of financial aid they award to students with need and their comparatively low cost of attendance.” 

Phi Beta Kappa Welcomes New K Inductees

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2024 Phi Beta Kappa inductees
Phi Beta Kappa inductees

Kalamazoo College’s Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa welcomed 38 new members on June 12, 2024, recognizing their exceptional scholastic achievements across a wide range of disciplines.

Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society, boasting 17 U.S. Presidents, 42 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, and more than 150 Nobel Laureates among their ranks. The society’s mission is “to champion education in the liberal arts and sciences, to recognize academic excellence, and to foster freedom of thought and expression.” The Delta of Michigan chapter was founded in 1958.

Acceptance into Phi Beta Kappa is considered one of the highest academic honors a student can receive. The society is known for its rigorous selection process that evaluates students’ achievements across the arts, natural sciences, humanities and social sciences. 

As these talented seniors embark on the next chapter of their educational and professional journeys, their Phi Beta Kappa membership will serve as a symbol of their exceptional accomplishments and dedication to the pursuit of knowledge. 

Please join us in congratulating the following students: 

  • Kelley Akerley of Hancock, New Hampshire; biochemistry and German majors
  • Shahriar Akhavan Tafti of Tehran, Iran; computer science major, minors in psychology and German, neuroscience concentration
  • Liz Ballinger of Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan; psychology and French majors, studio art minor
  • Jenna Beach of Vicksburg, Michigan; biochemistry major, psychology minor
  • Jonah Beurkens of Byron Center, Michigan; physics and computer science/math majors
  • Katherine Black of Grass Lake, Michigan; biology major, Spanish minor, neuroscience concentration
  • Madeleine Coffman of Portage, Michigan; biochemistry major, psychology minor
  • Ryan Drew of Niles, Michigan; Women, Gender and Sexuality major, psychology minor
  • Andreas Fathalla of Troy, Michigan; business major, Chinese minor
  • Morgan Fischer of St. Michael, Minnesota; psychology and Spanish majors
  • Nikhil Gandikota of Cary, North Carolina; economics major
  • Aliza Garcia of Kalamazoo, Michigan; Spanish, German and computer science majors
  • Sophie Haas of Traverse City, Michigan; biology major, psychology minor, community and global health and neuroscience concentrations
  • Emma Hahn of Farmington, Michigan; economics major
  • Emily Haigh of Kalamazoo, Michigan; biology and computer science majors, mathematics minor
  • Lukas Hultberg of Kalamazoo, Michigan; economics and mathematics majors
  • Madeline Hurley of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan; biochemistry major
  • Ella Kelly of Grand Rapids, Michigan; chemistry and French majors, mathematics minor
  • Mahum Khan of Kalamazoo, Michigan; biology major, community and global health concentration
  • Rhys Koellmann of Midland, Michigan; biochemistry major, anthropology and sociology minor, and biological physics concentration
  • Teresa Lucas of Mattawan, Michigan; German and psychology majors
  • Lina Moghrabi of Kalamazoo, Michigan; philosophy and psychology majors
  • Anna Murphy of Royal Oak, Michigan; biology major, psychology minor
  • Blagoja Naskovski of Skopje, North Macedonia; quantitative economics major
  • Matthew Nelson of Kalamazoo, Michigan; mathematics and physics majors
  • Elizabeth Nestle of St. Joseph, Michigan; psychology major, Chinese minor
  • Sydney Pickell of Thompsonville, Michigan; business major, psychology minor
  • Megan Ploucha of Commerce Township, Michigan; biochemistry and Spanish majors
  • Roman Ramos of San Diego, California; biochemistry major
  • Hannah Schurman of Rochester Hills, Michigan; biology major, studio art minor
  • Steven Shelton of South Lyon, Michigan; chemistry major
  • Xavier Silva of Portage, Michigan; mathematics and computer science majors
  • Allison Sokacz of Macomb, Michigan; biology major, Spanish minor
  • Camran Stack of Ithaca, Michigan; political science and German majors
  • Danielle Treyger of West Bloomfield, Michigan; business and Spanish majors
  • Maria Tripodis of Cleveland, Ohio; studio art major, art and psychology minors
  • Ifeoma Uwaje of Saginaw, Michigan; biochemistry major
  • Jordyn Wilson of Kalamazoo, Michigan; biochemistry major
2024 Phi Beta Kappa inductees
2024 Phi Beta Kappa inductees
Inductions in the Olmsted Room
2024 Phi Beta Kappa inductees
Inductions in the Olmsted Room
Inductions in the Olmsted Room

Phi Beta Kappa Welcomes New K Inductees

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Kalamazoo College’s Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa welcomed 42 outstanding seniors into its cohort on June 7, 2023, recognizing their exceptional scholastic achievements across disciplines. With a strong commitment to fostering a love for learning, Phi Beta Kappa honors these new members for their academic ability and intellectual curiosity. 

Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society, boasting 17 U.S. Presidents, 42 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, and more than 150 Nobel Laureates among their ranks. The society’s mission is “to champion education in the liberal arts and sciences, to recognize academic excellence, and to foster freedom of thought and expression.” 

Acceptance into Phi Beta Kappa is considered one of the highest academic honors a student can receive as the society is known for its rigorous selection process that evaluates students’ achievements across the arts, natural sciences, humanities and social sciences. 

As these talented individuals embark on the next chapter of their educational and professional journeys, their Phi Beta Kappa membership will serve as a symbol of their exceptional accomplishments and dedication to the pursuit of knowledge. The Kalamazoo College community looks forward to witnessing their future contributions and the positive impact they will make in their chosen fields. 

Phi Beta Kappa logo

Join us in congratulating the following students, 

  • Hashim Akhtar of Saginaw, Michigan; biology major, psychology minor, biochemistry and molecular biology and biological physics concentrations 
  • Abigail Barnum of Byron Center, Michigan; biochemistry and German majors 
  • Eleana Basso of Evanston, Illinois; psychology and studio art majors, art history minor 
  • Natalie Call of Cody, Wyoming; biology major, psychology minor 
  • Eleanor Carr of East Lansing, Michigan; biology and computer science majors 
  • Hannah Durant of Grand Blanc, Michigan; English and mathematics majors 
  • Payton Fleming of Olivet, Michigan; business major, computer science minor 
  • Hana Frisch of Morton Grove, Illinois; biology major, anthropology and sociology minor, community and global health concentration 
  • Tristan Fuller of Whitmore Lake, Michigan; business and English majors 
  • William Fulton of Kalamazoo, Michigan; biology major, psychology minor 
  • Zoe Gurney of Ann Arbor, Michigan; economics major, Chinese and mathematics minors, community and global health concentration 
  • Lucy Hart of Evanston, Illinois; biochemistry major, psychology minor 
  • Katherine Haywood of Hastings, Michigan; biology and computer science majors 
  • Ian Hurley of Plymouth, Michigan; biology and Spanish majors 
  • Ryan Johnson of Kalamazoo, Michigan; biology major 
  • Koshiro Kuroda of Kawasaki, Japan; anthropology and sociology and music majors 
  • Claire Kvande of Memphis, Tennessee; chemistry and physics majors, French and mathematics minors 
  • Dillon Lee of Ada, Michigan; biochemistry major 
  • Thomas Lichtenberg of Farmington, Michigan; philosophy and political science majors, mathematics minor 
  • Alvaro Lopez Gutierrez of Lima, Peru; German and psychology majors 
  • Nicholas Lucking of Dexter, Michigan; psychology major, English minor 
  • Aleksandr Molchagin of Borisoglebsk, Russia; business and computer science majors 
  • Matthew Mueller of Charleston, Illinois; psychology major 
  • Erin Grace Murphy of Grosse Ile, Michigan; computer science major, music minor 
  • Alexis Nesbitt of Parchment, Michigan; biology major, psychology minor, neuroscience concentration 
  • Jenna Paterob of Melrose Park, Illinois; business and psychology majors, studio art minor 
  • Harrison Poeszat of Commerce Township, Michigan; chemistry major 
  • Ashley Rill of Rochester Hills, Michigan; biochemistry major, psychology and Spanish minors 
  • Madeline Gehl Shroeder of East Grand Rapids, Michigan; computer science and East Asian studies majors 
  • William Shaw of Kalamazoo, Michigan; computer science major, Japanese and mathematics minors 
  • Emma Sidor of St. Charles, Illinois; psychology and Spanish majors 
  • Sophia Sjogren of Chelsea, Michigan; computer science major 
  • Alex Stolberg of Charlotte, Michigan; biology major, environmental studies concentration 
  • Katelynn Stover of Troy, Michigan; psychology major 
  • Suja Thakali of Kalamazoo, Michigan; chemistry major 
  • Abhi Thaku of West Bloomfield, Michigan; chemistry major, mathematics minor 
  • Mia Flora Tucci of Richland, Michigan; chemistry and Spanish majors, psychology minor 
  • Oliver Tye of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania; chemistry and mathematics majors 
  • Elizabeth Wang of Portage, Michigan; biochemistry major, German minor 
  • Katelyn Williams of Ada, Michigan; classical civilizations and psychology majors 
  • Tony Yazbeck of West Bloomfield, Michigan; biochemistry major, anthropology and sociology minor 
  • Nathaniel Zona of Albion, Michigan; biology major, community and global health concentration 

A Social Justice Warrior Fights for Your Health Care

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If you’re a Michigander, a Kalamazoo College alumna is fighting for your health care.

A short time after graduating from K, Audrey Gerard ’19 delayed treating what could have been a simple health issue because she had no health insurance. By delaying care, she needed to be hospitalized for eight days. She recovered, but without insurance coverage, her medical bills amounted to more than $100,000.

Thankfully, an emergency Medicare program pared down her costs. Yet her experience prompts her goal today of making sure you can avoid similar issues. Gerard works to expand access to medical care and insurance coverage across the state as the Health Care for All Organizer at Michigan United, a coalition of labor, business, social-service and civil-rights groups that fight for homeowners, renters, immigrant families, students and a variety of underrepresented constituencies.

“Talking about our medical needs is sort of taboo,” Gerard said. “It’s not something you’re going to bring up at work or talk about at the dinner table because it’s not the most pleasant thing. But once people start opening up and sharing their stories, they commonly start thinking that they’ve been directly and negatively impacted by issues surrounding their health care and they want to speak out. We want to support them.”

Gerard’s efforts in this respect were recognized in January when she received the Justice Warrior Award presented by the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity. The award is given to a community activist or organizer that led a community effort to bring about change on a local, county or statewide level. It was presented to Gerard for taking a risk, being courageous, and often conversing with people who disagreed with her about issues such as reproductive health and the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

Gerard, Michigan United as a whole, and its volunteers were invited to a roundtable with Michigan Voices, a nonprofit organization that invests in grassroots campaigns to advance equity-seeking community efforts. The roundtable worked with the ACLU to write the legislation for Michigan’s Reproductive Freedom for All initiative, leading people such as Gerard to rally support by collecting signatures all across the state. Gerard helped collect 1,400 signatures in an area of the Upper Peninsula that has about 4,000 residents.

Eventually, the initiative was approved for the midterm election ballot last fall as Proposal 3, and its ultimate success has since amended the state’s constitution, providing individual rights to reproductive freedom, including the right to make and carry out pregnancy-related decisions. 

“We realized this was a health care issue and we should absolutely be fighting on behalf of it,” Gerard said. “I took a big risk being in an incredibly conservative, rural community, far away from where I grew up in Ann Arbor, to be bold and to fight on behalf of these policies. There was an outpouring of support, even from people we wouldn’t have guessed would support it. They attended a rally that I organized, and they said they didn’t want the government determining what they could or couldn’t do with their bodies. We talked to 2,800 people here and knocked on that many doors to convey our point and make sure the Upper Peninsula was included in these critical conversations about reproductive health.”

In her sophomore year in high school, Gerard decided to attend Early College Alliance at Eastern Michigan University where she found herself interested in advocacy work. While attending ECA, she landed a part-time job with the environmental advocacy group Clean Water Action where she found her passion and skill for civic engagement.

As a senior at K, Gerard worked with the Just Food Collective student organization to secure a hoop house on campus. She also began working for another organization as a volunteer on a local campaign seeking to keep an asylum seeker in Kalamazoo in 2019. In 2020, she joined Michigan United for a short-term position before staying on to begin her full-time career as the organization’s statewide healthcare organizer.

Her full-time position was based in Kalamazoo at first, but she recognized a move to the Upper Peninsula was necessary if she and Michigan United wanted to effectively target health care equity across the state. After connecting with and consulting Governor Gretchen Whitmer and then-state Rep. Darrin Camilleri ’14 on a COVID-19 health-care relief package, Gerard advocated for her relocation, and since, she has lived in rural Michigan, supporting health care efforts there and elsewhere across the state.

“We all have a health care story and a reason to fight for health care for all,” Gerard said. “One of the biggest successes, I think, that we’ve had in this past year is getting people from rural Michigan involved in this work, because often people living in rural Michigan are the last to be thought about when it comes to health care policies, but they’re also very directly impacted.”

In 2022, Gerard’s professional efforts started slowly when she invited about 50 people to help form a Michigan Community Health Care Committee.

“No one showed up,” Gerard said. “One person eventually came and they were late. That’s when it dawned on me that I wasn’t getting people in their gut to feel strongly about prioritizing their health over the crazy-high cost of insurance, making meds affordable, and why we need to fight to stop medication rationing and outrageous prescription costs.”

Health Care Organizer Audrey Gerard '19, holding an award, and Michigan United Executive Director Ken Whitaker at a church
Audrey Gerard ’19 and Michigan United Executive Director Ken Whitaker celebrate Gerard receiving the Justice Warrior Award presented by the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity.
Audrey Gerard and several award honorees
Audrey Gerard ’19 (third from left) celebrates with other honorees when she receives the Justice Warrior Award presented by the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity.

Health Care and the World Day of Social Justice

Kalamazoo College is featuring Audrey Gerard ’19 on February 20, the World Day of Social Justice, for her work seeking health care equity across Michigan.

The United Nations first celebrated the World Day of Social Justice in 2009, when member states were invited to devote it to the promotion of national activities in accordance with the objectives and goals of the World Summit for Social Development.

As recognized by the World Summit, social development aims at social justice, solidarity, harmony and equality within and among countries and social justice, equality and equity constitute the fundamental values of all societies. To achieve “a society for all” governments made a commitment to the creation of a framework for action to promote social justice at national, regional and international levels. They also pledged to promote the equitable distribution of income and greater access to resources through equity and equality and opportunity for all. 

The solution entailed hitting the road to talk with 405 Michiganders from across the state about their experiences with health care.

“I realized I needed to have direct, one-on-one conversations with people in Michigan about their health care stories, because every single person, no matter who it is, has one,” Gerard said.

As she started, one conversation led to another as each interviewee referred Gerard to her next conversation.

“Slowly, as I did that, I was able to tell people about their skin in the game,” Gerard said. “People started coming to the meetings. We ended up having more than 400 people from around the state join the committee, which was comprised of people from Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Flint, Detroit, and more recently, the Upper Peninsula.”

Such work means Gerard and Michigan United can work directly with lawmakers and legislators through movement politics that accomplish social goals and continue fighting for health care efforts in the state. And as a result, you can expect Gerard and her colleagues to continue fighting for you.

“I give my biggest thanks to Ken Whitaker, the executive director of Michigan United,” Gerard said. “When he started, he was a volunteer just like I was. He went through the hoops of becoming a leader, becoming active in his community, and inspiring people through his vision. Between him and his wife, Shanay Watson-Whitaker, who was the deputy director of the Reproductive Freedom for All campaign, I’ve developed as a professional in more ways than I could express. I’m also grateful for my parents because they were so chill with me, letting their teenage daughter knock on doors in Southeast Michigan on school nights for a year. That’s built up my career and there’s plenty of opportunity in Michigan to do some amazing work.”

K Confers Lucasse, Ambrose Honors

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Lucasse Recipient Robert Batsell teaches a class
Professor of Psychology Bob Batsell

Kalamazoo College today awarded one faculty member and one staff member with two of the highest awards the College bestows on its employees. Professor of Psychology Bob Batsell was named the recipient of the 2022–23 Lucasse Fellowship for Excellence in Scholarship, honoring his contributions in creative work, research and publication; and Student Health and Counseling Centers Office Coordinator Jen Combes was granted the W. Haydn Ambrose Prize, recognizing her outstanding service to the Kalamazoo College community.

Batsell, recognized for his teaching as a former Kurt D. Kaufman endowed chair, has served K since 1999. His expertise is in classical conditioning with a focus on taste-aversion learning.

Batsell has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles with 18 written during his years at K and 13 with K students as co-authors. His work has appeared in publications such as Language and Motivation, Learning and Behavior and the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. He also has authored a number of chapters in edited volumes.

Writing in support of Batsell’s Lucasse nomination, one student said, “Dr. Batsell always pushes to know more so he can teach more. … He cares deeply about his work and his students. I would not be the student I am with his help, and I know I’m adequately prepared to engage in and publish research in the future thanks to his help.”

A faculty colleague described Batsell’s work on a test-enhanced learning project by saying that Batsell, “invited me to be a collaborator on the project, and in his capacity, I have gotten to witness firsthand Bob’s keen mind for research design and methodology. Not only does he think critically about alternative hypotheses and potential pitfalls, but he is also proactive about suggesting solutions.”

A ceremony to confer the Lucasse Fellowship traditionally occurs in the spring term, where the honored faculty member speaks regarding their work.

Ambrose Award Recipient Jen Combes
Student Health and Counseling Centers Office Coordinator Jen Combes receives the Ambrose Prize from
Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez.

Combes was one of 37 nominees for this year’s Ambrose Prize and she wrote four nominations herself for other people. She was nominated for the honor by multiple colleagues across multiple divisions who shared different stories along similar themes.

Of Combes, one nominator said, “The pandemic shined a light on the varied and important work that talented and creative people managed to deliver during the most challenging of circumstances.”

Yet Combes’ leadership goes beyond issues related to the pandemic. Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez noted in today’s all-campus gathering that Combes plays a significant role in organizing vaccination clinics and is often the first and last point of contact when students need assistance.

“Students rely on her expertise and kindness to understand how best to use their resources,” he said. “She strikes a careful balance between the practical and the compassionate sides of her work. She uses her vast knowledge and over 15 years of K experience to deliver actionable, student-centered support with an empathetic word and a gentle smile.”

The Ambrose Prize is named after W. Haydn Ambrose, who served K for more than 20 years in a variety of roles, including assistant to the president for church relations, dean of admission and financial aid, and vice president for development. Ambrose was known for being thoughtful in the projects he addressed and treating people with respect. In addition to a financial award, Combes has earned a crystal award to commemorate the achievement and an invitation to sit on the Prize’s selection committee for two years.

Congratulations to both the honorees.