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Kalamazoo College’s Brighter Light Campaign Raises Over $200 Million

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Campaign exceeds $190 million fundraising goal

The Brighter Light Campaign, Kalamazoo College’s largest-ever fundraising campaign, has come to an end, raising a total of $203,236,489 from more than 16,500 donors.

Launched publicly in 2021, the campaign originally set out to raise $150 million to support “Brighter Opportunities, Brighter Minds, and Brighter Experiences” for K students through scholarships, faculty support, funding for study abroad and other curricular and co-curricular experiences, athletics and campus improvements.

In 2023, the College received an anonymous $30 million gift in support of residential life and student success programs—the biggest single gift commitment in the institution’s history. With the announcement of the gift, the College marked its 190th anniversary by expanding its campaign goal to $190 million—a goal the institution has successfully surpassed.

“I am so profoundly grateful to the thousands of members of the K community and beyond who have given so generously to the Brighter Light Campaign,” said President Jorge G. Gonzalez. “This historic achievement—the largest fundraising effort in K’s history—shows that our community believes in the exceptional education that Kalamazoo College delivers to our students. The campaign’s success will support the College in implementing its strategic plan and enable K students and alumni to bring a brighter light to the world—today and for years to come.”

With gifts ranging from $5 to $30 million, generous alumni, parents and friends, along with numerous foundations and corporations, were instrumental in strengthening K’s ability to improve student experiences and campus facilities. Some of the funding highlights include:

  • More than $81 million in scholarships to help K create Brighter Opportunities for more students, regardless of need.
  • Investments in Brighter Minds—including five new and augmented endowed faculty chairs, faculty development funds, and endowed support of experiential learning centers and programs—to ensure K’s tradition of exceptional undergraduate teaching and mentorship continues.
  • Gifts for athletics and arts programs, along with support for several critical campus projects, including construction of the natatorium, renovations to Stetson Chapel, modernized classrooms, and a new roof for Dow Science Center—that are helping to create Brighter Experiences for K students.  
  • More than $89 million for the College’s endowment, providing vital support not only for today, but for generations of students to come.

Karen Isble, vice president for College Advancement, shared, “The success of the Brighter Light Campaign has been the result of the efforts of many colleagues—current and past—and countless hours by the dedicated volunteers who help us engage alumni and encourage giving each year. Today, we celebrate the thousands of K alumni and friends who have chosen to invest in Kalamazoo College through their philanthropy.”

Kalamazoo College announced Monday that it had raised more than $200 million in the Brighter Light Campaign.
President Gonzalez speaks at the Brighter Light Campaign celebration
President Jorge G. Gonzalez speaks at the Brighter Light Campaign celebration.
“The opportunities here are endless and extraordinary scholarship is expected, encouraged, and most importantly, supported,” President’s Student Ambassador Max Rhames ’25 said at the Brighter Light Campaign event. “While we have seen the numerical value of your philanthropy here today, the ultimate return on investment is incalculable.”

Gonzalez Celebrates Student Impact at Community Breakfast

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Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez reflected today on the state of the College and highlighted the contributions of its students to the Kalamazoo community and the reciprocal benefits that result from local partnerships at K’s annual Community Breakfast. In attendance were local and state officials, business and community leaders and area educators representing more than 50 organizations and institutions.

After an introduction from Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees member Kevin E. Jawahir ’92, Gonzalez spoke about the College’s diverse enrollment, including the increasing number of first-generation college students. Gonzalez said that Kalamazoo College continues to bring in exceptional classes of students from around the U.S. and the world. This year, the College welcomed 370 first-year students and 11 transfer students from 21 states and 13 countries. Of these, he noted, 38 percent are domestic students of color, 28 percent are from families of modest means (Pell Grant eligible) and 30 percent are first-generation students.

He went on to describe how, through a variety of programs and initiatives, Kalamazoo College students become integral members of the local community during their time here, creating a profound and positive impact that extends beyond the campus borders. In return, students acquire valuable skills, develop a heightened sense of civic engagement, and establish relationships that lead to future career opportunities and a deep connection to the city.

“Kalamazoo College is a talent importer,” Gonzalez said. “Wherever students come from, once they are on campus, they inevitably become part of the fabric of life in Kalamazoo. They work for local employers and nonprofits, they volunteer and work in local schools, and they spend money in local businesses. After experiencing everything that K and Kalamazoo has to offer, some of our students choose to stay and build a life in the Kalamazoo area.”

He noted that an important element of the student experience at K is the partnership between the College and local organizations. Gonzalez cited the work of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement, the Larry J. Bell ’80 Environmental Stewardship Center, the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership and the Center for Career and Professional Development—all of which provide student-led programming, service-learning opportunities, and connections to employment in the Kalamazoo area.

These opportunities would not be possible, Gonzalez said, without gifts and grants from alumni, friends, corporate donors and community foundations, which support programming and provide stipends and funding for students with financial need. 

Such gifts have also advanced The Brighter Light Campaign, which the College launched publicly in 2021. The campaign has raised $181 million against its original $150 million goal. The College recently announced that it was raising the goal to at least $190 million, in honor of the institution’s 190th anniversary.

After Gonzalez’s remarks, junior biochemistry and music major Isabella Pellegrom spoke about her experiences at K, focusing on her scientific research and her involvement in K’s music ensembles.

Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez speaks from a lecture at the 2023 annual Community Breakfast
At the annual Community Breakfast, President Jorge G. Gonzalez described how, through a variety of programs and initiatives, Kalamazoo College students become integral members of the local community during their time here, creating a profound and positive impact that extends beyond the campus borders.
Isabella Pellegrom at Community Breakfast
Isabella Pellegrom ’25 spoke at the annual Community Breakfast about her experiences at Kalamazoo College, focusing on her scientific research and her involvement in K’s music ensembles.

At K, Pellegrom had the opportunity to participate in inorganic chemistry research with Assistant Professor of Chemistry Daniela Arias-Rotondo, synthesizing manganese and zinc crystals. She also completed a summer clinical research program at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern. As a musician, Pellegrom is a member of the Academy Street Winds, the Kalamazoo Jazz Band, the College Singers and the Limelights a cappella group.

Hailing from Minnesota and having parents who attended K, as well as relatives from Kalamazoo, Pellegrom said, “My deep roots in Kalamazoo brought me to K, and since arriving I have found opportunities to deepen my connections to this city, discovering more about myself along the way.” Of her many accomplishments, she said, “Three years ago, I wouldn’t have thought any of these feats possible. But now, I am unafraid to be ambitious because, above all that I’ve learned in my time at Kalamazoo College, the most important has been the ability to believe in myself. So, though I can’t see into my future, I know the future holds great things for me because, like my family, now I too am rooted in Kalamazoo.”

City Approves 2022 Campus Master Plan

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Kalamazoo College Campus Master Plan
City commissioners have approved Kalamazoo College’s 2022 Campus Master Plan.

Kalamazoo College received approval from the city’s commissioners Monday to move forward with a master plan that focuses on enhancing and expanding the on-campus living experience while strengthening the connection between K’s campus and the surrounding community.

The 2022 Campus Master Plan was developed over 10 months by encouraging feedback and input from the West Main Hill Neighborhood Association, the Historic Stuart Neighborhood Association, city officials and members of the K community. The plan updates the 2012 Campus Master Plan and presents a roadmap of how the College envisions the physical campus may evolve over time. The team determined the plan’s goals would include:

  • Enhancing the campus identity and its image along its public edges.
  • Identifying sites for future student housing.
  • Replacing Trowbridge Hall residence hall.
  • Raising the number of students living on campus.
  • Improving pedestrian safety and connectivity to and from campus.
  • Finding holistic parking solutions.
  • Increasing outdoor gathering spaces on campus.

Since September 2021, the master plan process has been guided by a K committee consisting of Associate Vice President for Facilities and Chief Sustainability Officer Susan Lindemann, Vice President for Student Development Malcolm Smith, Vice President for Admission and Financial Aid Mj Huebner and Professor of Physics Tom Askew and informed by campus and community participation. It also included input from the City of Kalamazoo through City Planner Christina Anderson, who helped ensure that the plan connected to the strategic goals of Imagine Kalamazoo 2025, the vision and guide for Kalamazoo’s future, as imagined by community members and stakeholders throughout the city.

“The campus master plan presents a collective vision created through participants who were eager to collaborate on a plan that benefits everyone,” Lindemann said. “We are grateful to the West Main Neighborhood Association, the Historic Stuart Neighborhood Association, the City of Kalamazoo, and our campus partners for their support and confidence.”

As part of its next steps, the College is expected to begin fundraising for a new residence hall while drafting more detailed planning and design for that hall. The campus master plan is available for public view at the College’s website.

“Our master plan creates opportunities to foster an inclusive and supportive campus with updated facilities, safer and more accessible pathways and improved gathering spaces, while continuing to foster partnerships with the city and community at large,” Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez said. “This plan helps ensure that our future footprint will serve the needs of all our community members.”

About Kalamazoo College

Kalamazoo College, founded in 1833, is a nationally recognized residential liberal arts and sciences college located in Kalamazoo, Mich. The creator of the K-Plan, Kalamazoo College provides an individualized education that integrates rigorous academics with life-changing experiential learning opportunities. For more information, visit www.kzoo.edu.

Travel Site Names K Michigan’s Most Beautiful Campus

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Travel + Leisure Magazine  — a Time Inc. publication offering tips, news and information about destinations around the world — has named Kalamazoo College the most beautiful campus among colleges and universities in Michigan.

Most Beautiful Campus in Michigan
Travel + Leisure Magazine has named Kalamazoo College the most beautiful campus in Michigan thanks in part to its “understated but attractive red-brick buildings” such as Hodge House.

The article describes college campuses in each state as picturesque resources appreciated by nearly everyone in each college town, and not just residents, students, faculty, staff and alumni. They’re also worthwhile destinations for travelers.

“Kalamazoo College is probably best described as pleasant,” its article says of K. “Understated but attractive red-brick buildings make up the majority of campus structures: Hodge House, the president’s residence, is a good example.”

K is located about 140 miles from Chicago and Detroit. The Kalamazoo-Portage metropolitan area has 335,000 people, making Kalamazoo feel like a large city with the intimacy of a small town.

If you’d like to see our campus for yourself, find your opportunities for visiting Kalamazoo College or take a virtual tour today. You can also find directions to campus and information on lodging and dining nearby.

“Without Borders” Conference Imagines World Where All Life May Thrive

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Without Borders ConferenceThe tension between what is politically possible under the world’s current political and economic systems and what is ecologically necessary exposes an urgent need for change, said journalist and activist Naomi Klein, keynote speaker for the conference, “Without Borders, Post-Oppression Imaginaries and Decolonized Futures.” The conference was sponsored by the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College and attracted several hundred activists and social justice experts from across the country.

According to Klein, even though the recent Paris climate change agreement looked like the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era, the treaty is neither legally binding nor sufficient in its goals to avert ecological disaster.

“Fossil fuel frontiers have to be closed if we have any hope of a future,” said Klein. “Politicians have absolutely no plan to do this.”

Adequately addressing climate change has failed since the late 1980s, emasculated by a neoliberalist interpretation of capitalism that promotes privatization, fiscal austerity, deregulation, free trade and reductions in government spending to enhance the public sector. Such policies have created in people a profound sense of hopelessness about climate change, said Klein.

“We are told that selfishness and short-sightedness is part of human nature, which prevents us acting,” said Klein. “This is not true and it steers us away from an analysis of our system. In fact, the fight for survival is human nature.”

Many local, grassroots groups are advocating steps to address climate change because they see the issue’s connection to an unjust economic system that is failing for a vast majority of people all over the planet, she added.

Klein challenged the audience to work for “climate justice” by reversing the “extractivist” point of view of the Earth and promoting the “caretaking” of one another, an ethos that indigenous people advocate.

“It’s not just ‘energy democracy’ but ‘energy justice’ that we need,” said Klein. “This leads to clean energy projects and jobs.”

She also emphasized that service work like nursing, child care, public interest media should be redefined as climate work that sets out to create a “caring and repairing economy.”

“We need to embed justice in every aspect of our lives,” said Klein. “The people are hungry for transformational change, and we have to go for it on all fronts.”

The conference focused on four related themes: Afrofuturism, Decolonized Knowledge, Sustainable Futures, and Next Systems.

Text by Olga Bonfiglio; conference photo by Susan Andress

Public Lecture Explores Historic Treatment of Pueblo People

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Nora Naranjo MorseNora Naranjo Morse will deliver the annual Phi Beta Kappa lecture at Kalamazoo College on Tuesday, October 11, at 8 p.m. in the Mandelle Hall Olmsted Room. The event is free and open to the public. Morse Morse is a sculptor, writer, and producer of video films that look at the continuing social changes within Pueblo Indian culture.  Her talk, “Numbe Wahgeh,” focuses on the historical treatment of the Pueblo people and history retold by indigenous peoples.

An artist best known for her work with clay and organic materials, she has been trained in the Pueblo clay work tradition of the Southwest.  Her installation exhibits and large-scale public art speak to environmental, cultural, and social practice issues.  Beyond New Mexico, her work can be seen at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.

She studied at the College of Santa Fe, where she received her B.A. degree in 1980, and is the recipient of an honorary degree from Skidmore College.  In 2014 Naranjo Morse was awarded a Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Artist fellowship.  She is the author of two books:  a poetry collection, Mud Woman: Poems from the Clay, and a children’s book, Kaa Povi.

Morse will spend two days on K’s campus. In addition to her public lecture she will visit four classes and meet with various faculty and students.

Convocation 2016

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Kalamazoo College Convocation 2016Kalamazoo College kicks off the 2016-17 academic year on Wednesday September 7 at 3 p.m. with its annual opening convocation ceremony for new students ready to begin their liberal arts adventure.

The ceremony will take place on the campus Quad and be available via live streaming. In case of rain, the ceremony will move into Stetson Chapel.

President Jorge Gonzalez, Provost Michael McDonald, Dean of Students Sarah Westfall, Chaplain Elizabeth Candido ’00, faculty, staff, and student leaders will welcome new students and their families. Jeffrey D. Hsi ’83, Ph.D., J.D., will deliver the keynote address. Jeff is a shareholder at the intellectual property law firm of Wolf Greenfield, and his career both at the bench and at the bar testifies to the power and versatility of the K-Plan.

K will welcome 354 first-year students (including 27 matriculating international students), 11 transfer students, and 24 visiting international students. New students come from 24 states within the U.S., including Alaska, Maine, Florida and California, and from 22 countries including, Japan, Ecuador, Greece, Vietnam, Nepal and Senegal. Students of color from the U.S. make up more than 30 percent of the incoming class. Fifteen percent of the incoming class will be the first in their families to attend college.

The class of 2020 is outstanding in many ways. About 11 percent achieved state honors in academics, athletics or both. Forty-two percent participated in one or more sports in high school, and 28 percent of those served as team captains. Fifteen percent of the class served in student government, and 10 students were their class presidents. Thirty-two percent participated in music (seven of them garnering state honors). Ninety-one percent took college course work during high school, and 84 percent of the class did volunteer work in civic organizations and social justice causes. Welcome, Kalamazoo College class of 2020!

College Tests Football Lights

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College Football LightsBe Light, indeed! After a 30-some-year absence, stadium lights once again light Angell Field, home to the Kalamazoo College Hornet football team. With help from Musco Sports Lighting and Hi-Tech Electric, K is now the first sports stadium in Michigan with LED lights designed to drastically reduce both light trespass and glare outside the College’s property lines. Musco engineers, a City of Kalamazoo inspector, K officials and several neighbors witnessed a test of the lighting system at its highest intensity Wednesday night. All pronounced the finished product a success. K and its lighting consultants will continue to tweak the lights in order to achieve maximum benefit on the field and off. Per an agreement with neighbors and the City, K will use the lights for up to 20 nights annually, almost exclusively for practices that will accommodate Hornet varsity football, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s club ultimate Frisbee and intramural teams. (Wednesday’s test counted as one of those 20 nights.) Thank you, everyone, who worked hard to bring lights back to Angell Field. Lux esto! (text by Jeff Palmer; photo by Susan Andress)

Kalamazoo College Included in Fiske Guide to Colleges 2017

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Fiske2017_CVRKalamazoo College once again is included in the annual “Fiske Guide to Colleges,” a popular and useful resource for high school students and their families researching prospective colleges, compiled by former New York Times education editor Edward B. Fiske, a top independent voice in college admissions.

Fiske is a selective, subjective and systematic look at 300-plus colleges and universities in the United States, Canada and the UK. It’s available as a paperback book, as an iPad app on iTunes and a web program on CollegeCountdown.com.

Readers will discover the real personality of a college based on a broad range of subjects, including student body, academics, social life, financial aid, campus setting, housing, food, and extracurricular activities.

According to Fiske, “Kalamazoo is a small liberal arts school that opens up the world to its students—literally. An impressive 80 percent of Kalamazoo Hornets study abroad thanks to the
ingenious K-Plan, a quarter system that allows students to study abroad one, two, or three academic terms. And if you need an extra boost to round out that résumé, there is an extensive internship program.”

Other quotes from the review of Kalamazoo College in Fiske Guide to Colleges 2017:

“Kalamazoo aims to prepare students for real life by helping them synthesize the liberal arts education they receive on campus with their experiences abroad. ’The rigor of classes makes the academic climate seem competitive at times but it is pretty collaborative,’ says a sophomore.”

“’Being a liberal arts school, people are doing very cool and exciting things in all of the departments,’ one student says.”

“K students are very passionate and determined to make a difference…”

“[Students] take a liberal arts curriculum that includes language proficiency, a first-year writing seminar, sophomore and senior seminars, as well as a senior individualized project—an internship, directed research, or a traditional thesis—basically anything that caps off each student’s education in some meaningful way.”

“Professors give students lots of individual attention and are rewarded with some of Michigan’s highest faculty salaries. “Every professor I’ve had has been passionate about what they teach and accessible outside of class,” says a senior.”

“There are always tons of things to do on campus, like movies, concerts, speakers, and events,” an economics major reports. Students look forward to a casino night called Monte Carlo, homecoming, Spring Fling, and the Day of Gracious Living, a spring day where, without prior warning, classes are canceled and students relax by taking day trips or helping beautify the campus. (One popular T-shirt: ’The end of learning is gracious living.’)”

Fiske uses data supplied by colleges and gathered by Fiske researchers. These data can sometimes be out of date by the time the book is published. For example, K’s 2016 deadline for Early Decision I and Early Action admission applications is Nov. 1, not Nov. 15, as reported by Fiske. Also, K’s six-year graduation rate is more than 80 percent, not 77 percent, as reported by Fiske. Additionally, K’s newest major, Critical Ethnic Studies is not “coming in 2016,” as reported in the book. It arrived in fall 2015.

Edward B. Fiske served for seventeen years as education editor of the New York Times, where he realized that college-bound students and their families needed better information on which to base their educational choices. He is also the coauthor of the “Fiske Guide to Getting into the Right College” and “Fiske Real College Essays That Work.”

Leaders off to Leadership Conference

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Leaders off to Leadership ConferenceMalak Ghazal ’19 (left), Ian Freshwater ’19 and Jazzilyn Dubois ’17 are pictured on the plane en route to attend the annual Student Government Institute hosted by the National Association for Campus Activities.  This year’s conference will be held at the University of Oregon, and these three Hornets will join students from around the country to hone their leadership skills and learn strategies to effectively manage student government and represent student needs.  Ghazal, Freshwater, and Dubois all served on the Interim Body of Student Representatives during the 2015-16 academic year, and are involved in ongoing work to redefine student government at Kalamazoo College in an effort to best meet needs of the current student body.