A documentary film by David France ’81 titled “How to Survive a Plague,” about the early years of the AIDS epidemic, is one of five in the category to be nominated for an Oscar Award. Oscar nomination is not the only recognition France has received for his film. The Gothic Independent Film Awards and the Boston Society of Film Critics voted it the best documentary film of 2012. And the Independent Spirit Awards, which occur the day before the Oscars, has nominated “How to Survive a Plague” for Best Documentary. France’s film chronicles the tireless efforts of activists in the 1980s and early 1990s bring attention to the disease and mount a response appropriate to it–in terms of research, social policies, and human dignity compassion. An article on France and the film appeared recently in the New York Times.
awards
Dean’s List Fall 2012
Congratulations to the following Kalamazoo College students, who achieved a grade point average of 3.5 or better for a full-time course load of at least three units, without failing or withdrawing from any course, during the Fall 2012 academic term.
Fall 2012
| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y Z | ||
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Nicole Allman Madison Baxter Stefano Cagnato Hannah Daly Monika Egerer William Ferrara Cierra Gillard |
Dagan Hammar Sierra Imanse Max Jensen Margaret Kane Bonnie Lathrop Lydia Manger Alexandra Norman Franco Ojimba |
Dana Page Bianca Rasho Emily Salswedel Amy Tam Elizabeth Uribe Lydia Vadopalas Sarah Wallace Michael Yeomans Agron Ziberi |
K Writer-in-Residence Publishes Multiple Works
Writer In Residence Diane Seuss has been hard at work, and the result is a prolific fall and winter. Her poem “Either everything is sexual or nothing is, take this flock of poppies,” appears in the 2013 edition of the Pushcart Prize anthology, which is hot off the presses. And her poem “Oh four-legged girl, it’s either you or the ossuary” is in the fall/winter issue of Black Warrior Review. The poem won the Summer Literary Seminar’s Poetry Prize. “Hub,” a lyric essay, won Wag’s Revue’s winter contest (To access all of the essay’s pages, click on the arrow on the right margin). “I emptied my little wishing well of its emptiness” won Mid-American Review’s Fineline Competition and appears in its fall/winter issue. Two poems, “I’m moved by her, that big-nippled girl,” and “The ghosts down in North-of-the-South aren’t see-through” will appear in Ecotone’s “Abnormal” issue. The poem “Hindenburg” will appear in a forthcoming issue of Devil’s Lake. In other news, poet Adrian Blevins wrote a review of Di’s most recent collection of poems that appears in “On the Seawall: Ron Slate’s Website.” Just reading/hearing the titles of Di’s poems is a rewarding poetic experience!
Kalamazoo College Establishes Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership
Kalamazoo College officials announced today the establishment of the Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership, a biennial $25,000 prize that honors an innovative and collaborative leadership project in the pursuit of social justice and human rights anywhere in the world.
The inaugural $25,000 Social Justice Leadership Prize will be awarded May 11, 2013, following a juried competition administered by the College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Jurors include author, political activist, and University of California—Santa Cruz scholar Angela Y. Davis; former Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Cary Alan Johnson; and Detroit-based author, educator, and columnist Shea Howell. Howell is also a board member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership, in Detroit.
A $5,000 Social Justice Leadership Prize, also juried, will be awarded to a project in Southwest Michigan. Jurors include a panel of K students, faculty, staff, and Kalamazoo community members.
“The Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership provides an unparalleled leadership development opportunity for K students and faculty, the Greater Kalamazoo community, and for frontline social justice scholars, activists, and leaders everywhere,” said Kalamazoo College President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran. “For every seemingly intractable social justice problem, there is a collaborative leadership solution to address it. Through this prize competition, we will welcome the world to our campus to showcase some of these solutions.”
Entries—in the form of 8- to 10-minute videos—must be received by March 8, 2013. Entry information, FAQ, and more may be found at www.kzoo.edu/SocialJusticeLeadershipPrize. Twenty finalists selected by jurors will be announced April 20. A Prize weekend at Kalamazoo College on May 10-11 will showcase the finalists and engage attendees in dialogues about them. President Wilson-Oyelaran will announce the winners during an awards ceremony the evening of May 11.
“Through the two social justice leadership prizes, the College intends to emphasize the critical importance of collaboration in creating effective social justice leaders here in Southwest Michigan and around the world,” said Jaime Grant, executive director of K’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL). “We’re certain to receive many entries for innovative social justice projects. Finalists for the prizes will be those that also raise the voices and leadership skills of those affected so that they may take strategic action.”
According to ACSJL Academic Director Lisa Brock, entries must describe the social injustice that will be addressed, show how the project will take a fresh approach in addressing it, and demonstrate that the project’s leadership structure is collaborative.
“Projects that take on entrenched social justice issues from fresh vantage points, or combine issues and communities in unexpected ways and via unanticipated vehicles are especially encouraged to apply,” said Brock. “The Kalamazoo College Global Prize for Collaborative Social Justice Leadership will lift this work into view and provide a significant reward for these social justice innovators.”
The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (www.kzoo.edu/socialjustice) was launched in 2009 with support from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), including a $23 million endowment grant in January 2012. Supporting Kalamazoo College’s mission to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world, the ACSJL will develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice.
Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu), founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.
K Student Activities Win Awards
For the second year in a row, Kalamazoo College has earned awards from the National Association of Campus Activities—Mid-America Region, during its annual conference in Grand Rapids. Awards were given to campus events at member institutions in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia during the 2011-12 academic year.
K earned the NACA Region’s coveted Program of the Year award for its annual Monte Carlo Night, the annual winter casino event at which students are the players (using funny money supplied by the College), and professors and administrative staff are dealers and croupiers. A DJ and dancing, food, and great prizes from the “Millionaire Shop” are also featured. The alcohol-free event is a formal affair with participants dressing to the nines. It’s K’s signature event for students each year, attracting nearly 1,000 participants.
K’s Homecoming Sock Hop Dance earned the NACA’s Outstanding Campus Collaboration. It’s the second year in a row for a K win in this category. Carried out in collaboration with K’s Student Commission and Student Activities Committee, the Sock Hop attracted more than 600 K students to the Anderson Athletic Center during Homecoming weekend.
Emily Lott rounded out the 2012 NACA awards for K by earning the Outstanding Graduate Assistant award. A graduate student from Western Michigan University, Emily has served as an advisor, mentor, and resource for many K students since her arrival on campus in August 2011. She recently planned and implemented the “NextGen Workshop” for the Michigan College Personnel Association’s annual conference, designed to be a resource for undergraduate students interested in pursuing a career in the field of Student Affairs.
“The NACA awards represent the best achievements by student development professionals at small colleges and large universities throughout our six-state NACA region,” said Kalamazoo College Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students Sarah Westfall. “I’m very happy for our students and Student Involvement staff, and am pleased to know that K is out front in the effort to create educational and recreational opportunities for our students and professionals.”
Dean Westfall praised Assistant Dean of Students Brian Dietz and Assistant Director of Student Involvement Kate Yancho for providing the organizational leadership behind these and other activities for K students. Read more about K’s award winning Office of Student Involvement effort here.
K Alumna Wins Prize for Science Journalism
Kirsten Weir ’99 is the winner of the 2012 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award in the children’s science news category. The awards are administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for professional journalists to honor distinguished reporting for a general audience. Weir received the award for her article “Uninvited Guests,” which appeared in the April/May 2012 issue of Current Health Kids. In a way that appeals to children and adults the article describes the parasites and microbes that live in and on our bodies. Said Weir: “Kids often seem to think that science is something that happens in a laboratory or a faraway place. I loved that this story underscored how much is still unknown about the organisms living right under our noses (not to mention the rest of our bodies).”
Kalamazoo College’s Only Rhodes Scholar Offers Advice to WMU Finalist
Kalamazoo College alumna Becky Gray ’81 is the only student from K or Western Michigan University ever to receive a Rhodes Scholarship. In a Nov.15, 2012 Kalamazoo Gazette article, she offered some words of advice for Rhodes Scholarship finalist Mitch Zajac, a WMU graduate student and former football player.
Battle of the Brains
Congrats to the Black Hornets (Jiakan Wang ’13, Renjie Song ’13, Tibin John ’15) and the Orange Hornets (Chris Clerville ’13, Will Reichle 14’, Kyle Sunden ’14) on their success at the regional Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest, or “Battle of the Brains,” this past Saturday. Both Kalamazoo College teams finished in the top half of the teams in their region.
The Black Hornets solved two out of nine problems, finished in 39th place in the region (out of 131 teams), and earned the Extreme Programmers award for solving problem B in 25 minutes! The Orange Hornets solved one out of nine problems and finished 53rd in the region.
“Our region is one of the most competitive in the country, including multiple teams from such schools as Carnegie Mellon, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, University of Michigan, and Notre Dame,” said Associate Professor of Computer Science Pam Cutter, Ph.D. “I’m proud of both teams for solving at least one problem. There were 54 teams in our region that did not solve any of the problems!”
According to Cutter, the “Battle of the Brains” consists of a five-hour, real-world, problem-solving challenge that is equivalent to an entire semester’s worth of computer programming. Teams of three from colleges and universities in 90 countries and six continents use skills based upon open technology and advanced computing methods to compete for a coveted spot on the World Finals held in summer 2013 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Full standings and results from the recent regional, and problem sets with judges solutions can be found at http://acm.ashland.edu.
Black and Orange! Orange and Black!
Honors Day
“Honors Day Convocation” was the Week 7 (Oct. 26) Community Reflection in Stetson Chapel. The event is a time to present special awards to Kalamazoo College students for their accomplishments. Most awards are based on outstanding performance in a particular area during the previous academic year.
Chaplain Liz Candido ’00 greeted the audience of more than 200 K professors, staff members, students and their families present for Parents Weekend. Jenna Hunt ’13 sang “Love Went A-Riding” accompanied by piano before Provost Mickey McDonald delivered opening remarks. “These times of celebration are important to any community,” he said. “It is a time to learn more about each other, to recognize the outstanding contributions being made by those in our community, and to honor those making these contributions.”
Accompanied by Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students Sarah Westfall and Dean of the First Year and Advising Zaide Pixley, McDonald awarded about 60 students with 31 honors across Fine Arts, Foreign Languages, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Physical Education. He also announced non-departmental awards and recognized students and athletes who received various honors in scholarship last year, such as the Posse Scholars of 2016 and 122 Hornets who qualified for the MIAA Academic Honor Roll.
View a complete list of those awarded.
To close the ceremony, the audience joined in singing the Kalamazoo Alma Mater.
Community Reflection offers a unique forum for discussion, worship, performance, and community expression each Friday at 10:50 AM in Stetson Chapel. The entire campus community and general public are invited. The Week 8 (Nov 2) Reflection will be “Unmasking the Sting of Micro-aggressions in Everyday Life.” This service, Co-sponsored by the Counseling Center, will reflect on the hurtfulness of micro-aggressions, and encourage audience members to think about the impact of daily interactions that may be perceived negatively. [Story and photo by Elaine Ezekiel ’13]
K Grad (and Fulbright alumna) Sends Letter to Fulbright Applicants
Julia Anderle de Sylor ’09 has posted a letter to Fulbright applicants that offers encouragement, advice, and an assessment of the value of the rigorous application process, regardless of whether one is ultimately accepted. Julia received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant fellowship in Germany after she graduated from K, and she writes how it changed her life. At K she majored in German and studied abroad in Clermont-Ferrand, France.