events

Trojans and Greeks in Sicily Take Center Stage in Classics Lecture

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Margaret M. Miles, a University of California, Irvine professor emerita of art history and classics, will offer a lecture titled Trojans and Greeks in Western Sicily on Tuesday, February 10, at 4:15 p.m. in the Olmsted Room at Mandelle Hall. The event will also be livestreamed.  

Miles, the Edward A. Dickson Emerita Professor of Art History and Classics, researches Greek and Roman art, architecture and archaeology. She will talk about the refugees from Troy who founded the cities of Segesta and Eryx in Western Sicily. They later were joined by some storm-driven Greek Phokians, a group that called themselves Elymians but insisted on their ancestry as Trojans well into the Roman period. 

Sorting out Elymian, Greek and Phoenician influence on the city of Segesta is a challenge, Miles says. An early 5th-century BCE sanctuary and its handsome large temple—newly reconstructed on paper thanks to recent fieldwork—provide further insight and illustrate the religious history, variegated ethnic identities and engineering capabilities of 5th-century BCE Segesta. 

Miles served a six-year term as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Classical Studies at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. Her publications include A Reconstruction of the Temple of Nemesis at Rhamnous, Agora Excavations XXXI: The City Eleusinion, and Art as Plunder: The Ancient Origins of Debate about Cultural Property. She also has three edited volumes including Cleopatra: A Sphinx Revisited, Autopsy in Athens: Recent Archaeological Research in Athens and Attica, and Blackwell’s Companion to Greek Architecture. She is working on a book about 5th-century BCE Greek temples and religion. 

The Doric Temple of Segesta, an ancient archaeological site on Mount Barbaro in northwestern Sicily, Italy. Trojans.
The Doric Temple of Segesta, an ancient archaeological site on Mount Barbaro in northwestern Sicily, Italy, was built around 420–430 BC by the Elymians, one of the three indigenous peoples of Sicily.

Hosted by the Department of Classics, this public event is free, and a reception will follow. For more information, email Academics Office Coordinator Sarah Bryans at Sarah.Bryans@kzoo.edu. 

Wynton Marsalis to Discuss Jazz, American Culture at Kalamazoo College

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Register to Attend

Jazz musician, band leader and composer Wynton Marsalis will join the Rev. Millard Southern III on the campus of Kalamazoo College for a conversation about Marsalis’ life in music, the history of jazz in the evolution of American culture, and the role arts education plays in a democratic society.

Part of the American Studies Speaker Series, the conversation will be hosted by Charlene Boyer Lewis, the Larry J. Bell ’80 Distinguished Chair in American History. It will take place at 11 a.m. Monday, February 2, in K’s Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts. The event is free and open to the public with advance registration required.

Marsalis is the managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the director of jazz studies at The Juilliard School and president of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation. A world-renowned trumpeter, he is the winner of nine Grammy Awards, and he is the only musician to win a Grammy in two categories—jazz and classical—in the same year. In 1997, he became the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his oratorio Blood on the Fields. His other honors include the National Medal of Arts in 2005, the National Humanities Medal in 2015 and the U.N. Messenger of Peace in 2001, in addition to honorary doctorates from universities such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton.

A native of New Orleans, Marsalis has produced more than 100 albums and performed in more than 66 countries while advocating for jazz as a living art form and exploring its connections to democracy, social justice and American identity.

Southern, a Chicago native, is an AME-ordained minister, jazz musician, writer, social activist and Western Michigan University doctoral candidate. His dissertation explores the intersection of race, religion, cultural democracy and the music of Wynton Marsalis. Since 2021, he has served as pastor of Allen Chapel AME Church in Kalamazoo, leading efforts to revitalize the city’s Northside neighborhood. He is also a Shared Passages instructor at K, where he has offered courses such as Let Freedom Swing and Paris Noir. The latter was inspired by a 2023 research grant to study Black art, jazz and culture in Paris. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Drake University and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York.

The conversation is supported by the Kalamazoo College American Studies Department with special funding from the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership and additional support from the Department of Music and College Advancement.

“Wynton Marsalis regards jazz and its improvisational qualities as fundamentally American—and, in form and content, as contributing to current social justice efforts,” Boyer Lewis said. “His visit to our campus is part of a wonderful continuum in an important strand of K’s history that began with abolitionist founders James and Lucinda Hillsdale Stone, including connections to Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass, and runs to and through figures such as James Baldwin, Angela Davis and Francis Fox Piven. We are lucky to have him as our 2026 American Studies Speaker.”

Wynton Marsalis with his trumpet
Wynton Marsalis will speak Monday, February 2, at Kalamazoo College as a part of the American Studies Speaker Series.
Portrait of Millard Southern
The Rev. Millard Southern III will join Marsalis for a conversation about the jazz great’s life in music, the history of jazz in the evolution of American culture, and the role arts education plays in a democratic society.

Join Art Department for Screenings on International Animation Day

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The Department of Art and Art History at Kalamazoo College is inviting the public to celebrate the 24th International Animation Day on Tuesday, October 28. 

Join students, faculty and staff from 7–9 p.m. in the Light Fine Arts Recital Hall for a free screening of more than 15 animated short films from around the world, all of which have been created independently in the past year. Titles will include Horse Portrait by Witold Giersz, What the Frog? by Yi Han Tseng, Mushroom Potato Fish by Yusi Tao and Postcard Potholder by Chris Sagovac. 

This event will be held in partnership with the Central U.S. chapter of the Association Internationale du Film d’Animation (ASIFA), which scheduled the first International Animation Day in 2002. The day honors the first public performance of projected moving images, which was Émile Reynaud’s Théâtre Optique in Paris on October 28, 1892. Events for the day recognize the artistry, innovation and impact of animation across all media, from hand-drawn to computer-generated imagery (CGI). 

For more information on the event, contact Fine Arts Office Coordinator Marissa Klee-Peregon at 269.337.7050 or Marissa.Klee-Peregon@kzoo.edu. 

International Animation Day Poster says join us for a series of animated films from around the world on International Animation Day October 28 in Light Fine Arts
The public is invited for a screening of animated films from around the world from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, October 28, in the Recital Hall at Light Fine Arts. October 28 is International Animation Day.

Alumna, Theatre Company Bring ‘Will You Miss Me?’ to K

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A Detroit-based experimental theatre company, co-directed by Kalamazoo College alumna Liza Bielby ’02, will present its newest project, a critically acclaimed play billed as a funeral for whiteness, this month in the Olmsted Room at Mandelle Hall. 

Will You Miss Me? layers traditional Appalachian songs with family secrets, ancient Welsh mythology, brutal comedy, and rituals—both inherited and invented—to push audiences to examine the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and grieve the selves that have been forgotten.  

When a haunting song echoes, a weary traveler is drawn into a funeral service for one of many white workers who moved from Appalachia to Detroit in the past century. But as the funeral unfolds, the mourners are confronted by their pasts, their ancestors, and helpful and malicious spirits. Their confusion forces them to question whether they even knew the man they’re mourning and whether he existed at all. 

The Hinterlands troupe will provide two performances of Will You Miss Me? at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, September 28, and 2 p.m. Sunday, September 29. Attendees will be admitted free thanks to sponsorships from the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership; K’s philosophy, critical ethnic studies, theatre and music departments; and the Office of Student Involvement. No reservations are necessary, but seating will be limited. 

Bielby is a former Fulbright Scholar; a student of the Sichuan Chuanju Academy, now Sichuan Vocational College of Art; a graduate of the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre; a board member of the Bangla School of Music; and a professor of movement at Wayne State University’s Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance. Bielby, Jenna Kirk, Richard Newman and Maddy Rager are performers in the show with direction from Bielby and Newman. Kirk and Bielby serve as scenic designers. Livia Chesley—who acted in the original performance—designed the show’s masks and puppets with assistance from Monty Eztcorn. 

Will You Miss Me? premiered in 2022 with outdoor versions of the piece performed at Spread Art in Detroit; Tympanum in Warren, Michigan; and Double Edge Theatre in Ashfield, Massachusetts. In 2023, the piece was presented at Play House in Detroit and at Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, through Goodyear Arts with lecture-performance versions shown at the University of Michigan Flint and Teatro Libre in Bogotá, Colombia. 

“It hit me on a body level, a gut level, and it sent me into a kind of reverie that I haven’t felt from a piece in a long time,” said Zak Rose of Slate Magazine. “I was haunted by it, not just on my drive home, but I woke up the next day thinking about it. I kept talking about it and l couldn’t get back to my life before buying a ticket to go see it again the following week.” 

For more information on Will You Miss Me? and the Hinterlands company, visit thehinterlands.org. 

Will You Miss Me at Double Edge 2, Photo by Milena Dabova
 Actors Richard Newman, Livia Chesley, Jenna Kirk as Remy and Liza Bielby ’02 perform a remixed European bear ritual midway through “Will You Miss Me?” Photo by Milena Dabova.
Will You Miss Me at Spread Art 2 Photo by Paul Biundo
Kirk and Newman take on ancient spirits as a funeral dissolves into a forgotten ritual in “Will You Miss Me?” Photo by Paul Biundo.
Will You Miss Me at Tympanum, film still by Adam Sekuler
Newman, Kirk and Bielby perform in “Will You Miss Me?” Film still by Adam Sekuler.

Celebrate the Class of 2024 at Commencement

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Congratulations to the class of 2024! This year’s Commencement is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday, June 16, on the campus Quad. Here’s what you need to know about the weekend’s events surrounding Kalamazoo College Commencement and the ceremony itself. 

Rehearsal

Seniors are required to attend Commencement rehearsal at 2 p.m. Thursday at Dalton Theatre. Faculty and staff will provide graduating seniors with pertinent information, including what to do during an intricate line-up and processional. Students who need to be excused from rehearsal should contact the Office of Alumni Engagement in advance at alumni@kzoo.edu. There will be a senior picnic on the Dewing Hall patio after the rehearsal. 

Parking This Weekend

For your convenience, most of the faculty, staff and student parking lots will be open to everyone. Guests are also invited to use street parking on campus and in the surrounding neighborhoods. See the parking information page for details related to street detours, graduate and accessible drop-off, campus parking lots, street parking, campus maps and more.

Class of 2024 Commencement
The Office of Alumni Engagement maintains a website that offers more details regarding Commencement, including a list of frequently asked questions, dining and lodging information, and ceremony accommodations for the class of 2024. For more information, visit the site at commencement.kzoo.edu.

Saturday Events

Receptions for individual departments help families meet professors and see individual projects from selected seniors. Consult the department schedules for information on the time and location for each event. The day’s remaining events—including the Senior Awards Program, the Senior Music Recital and the Baccalaureate—will take place at Stetson Chapel.

Seniors receiving awards will get an invitation from the Provost’s Office after finals to attend the Senior Awards Program, which begins at 2:30 p.m. Contact the Office of the Provost by email if you have questions about the event. The Senior Music Recital is a public concert at 4:30 p.m. featuring performances by graduating seniors who have been involved in music. All are welcome to attend. The Baccalaureate is a public non-religious service with student and faculty speakers and musical performances beginning at 8 p.m.

Livestreams for the Senior Awards Program, Senior Music Recital and Baccalaureate will be available for those unable to attend. An information desk will be staffed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the atrium at Hicks Student Center. The College’s bookstore will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Commencement Sunday

Seniors unable to attend the ceremony should inform the Office of the Registrar as soon as possible at regist@kzoo.edu. All participating seniors should meet at Dalton Theatre in their cap and gown no later than 9:30 a.m. Although Commencement will take place outside regardless of weather conditions, the ceremony could be delayed by up to three hours if there is heavy rain or severe weather. Communication about a delay would be sent through a K-Alert, social media and email no later than 8 a.m. Sunday. The ceremony is scheduled to last about two and a half hours.

There are no tickets or rain tickets required for the ceremony, and there is no limit to the number of guests each senior can invite to campus. Chairs will be available to accommodate family and friends on the Quad on a first-come, first-served basis. Open seating will also be available on the grass of the Upper Quad, where guests can sit in lawn chairs and blankets to view the ceremony.

Guests with a mobility challenge can find answers to frequently asked questions on our accessibility information page. An information desk will be staffed from 8 to 10:30 a.m. in the atrium at Hicks Student Center. The College’s bookstore will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Commencement Speakers

The Commencement keynote speaker will be Tamea Evans ’93, a board-certified internal medicine physician and diabetologist, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Science from the College. The class speaker will be Nghĩa (Nolan) Nguyên Trịnh.

More Information 

The Office of Alumni Engagement maintains a website for the class of 2024 that offers more details regarding Commencement, including a list of frequently asked questions, dining and lodging information, and ceremony accommodations. For more information, visit the site at commencement.kzoo.edu. 

Jazz Band Seeks Packed House for Retiring Director

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Music Professor Tom Evans says he has dreamed of seeing a standing-room only crowd for a Kalamazoo College Jazz Band performance since he arrived at K in 1995. 

He’s never truly had that experience. But if there’s ever a time for a packed house, it’s this Friday, May 10, during Evans’ last concert as the Jazz Band’s director. The free and open-to-the-public performance—aptly themed That’s All, Folks—will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts. 

The concert will leave its audience Feeling Good, which conveniently is the final tune on the docket. Other selections on the program have special significance as they were among the first songs Evans played in his high school jazz band. They include Fever, Soulful Strut, Kickin’ It, Blues for Percy, Intro to Art, Out of the Doghouse, Hard Right and Puente Ariba. Attendees are encouraged to bring their dancing shoes to swing and sway in the aisles should the music inspire them to do so. 

“Finding the right words to express my gratitude to all my students and colleagues, from 1976 to the present, is difficult,” Evans said. “Quite simply, my career has afforded me some of the best experiences of my life. As such, I am sincerely grateful to all who have supported me along the way. And I am especially grateful for those with whom I’ve had the pleasure of making music. While my years of teaching and conducting were meaningful and momentous, I also hope that they were meaningful and momentous for those who shared my journey. How lucky I am to have had something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” 

For more information on this concert and music events, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.   

Kalamazoo College Jazz Band Director Tom Evans at Dalton Theatre
Friday, May 10, will be the final Kalamazoo College Jazz Band performance for its director, Music Professor Tom Evans.

Public Lecture to Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.

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Kalamazoo College will recognize and honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. at 7 p.m. Wednesday, January 17, at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership as a part of events during the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 

The center and Student Development will host community organizer and Wayne State University Assistant Professor of Urban Education and Critical Race Studies Aja Denise Reynolds as she presents an open-to-the-public lecture, “Dr. King’s Legacy: Fighting for Justice at Home and Abroad.” The keynote is the reimagining of a love letter from King to young activists in celebration of their fight for a more just world. The event will celebrate him as a radical and phenomenal leader, organizing for freedom and justice. 

Reynolds received her doctorate in educational policy studies and social foundations at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her scholarly work has focused on her collaborative work in creating freedom spaces with Black girls through art, activism and healing as she explores the geographies of Black girlhood. Her dissertation is titled “Ain’t Nobody Checking for Us: Race, Fugitivity and the Urban Geographies of Black Girlhood.” She has more than 12 years of experience as an educator and youth worker and is a part of national education organizations, including the Education for Liberation Network, in which she organizes with teachers, youth, and community organizations to develop more equitable educational structures for marginalized youths. 

Those interested in attending should RSVP online.  

Martin Luther King Day speaker Aja Reynolds
Wayne State University Assistant Professor of Urban Education and Critical Race Studies Aja Denise Reynolds will present a public lecture, “Dr. King’s Legacy: Fighting for Justice at Home and Abroad,” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, January 17, at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, 205 Monroe St.

Music Concerts Put Ensembles Center Stage

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Three concerts in the coming week will put Kalamazoo College students center stage along with a mix of community music partners. 

First, the Kalamazoo Philharmonia will hold a recital titled The 9th at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Dalton Theater at Light Fine Arts as a tribute to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. 

The performance will include a collaboration with the Kalamazoo Bach Festival Chorus and feature soloists Madelaine Lane, soprano; Carrie Ledet, mezzo-soprano; Jonathon Lovegrove, tenor; and Trent Broussard, baritone. Tickets are $2–$5. 

Led by Director Andrew Koehler, the Kalamazoo Philharmonia brings together students, faculty, and amateur and professional musicians. The group won The American Prize in Orchestral Programming—Maestro Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award in 2014 and has produced several CDs. It also has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning. 

The Kalamazoo College Singers will have a free performance at 4 p.m. Sunday in the lobby at Light Fine Arts. The hour-long program, simply titled RE, will focus on restoring many of the things we lose in the struggles of daily life within themes of revival, restoration, reparation, resurrection, recirculation and respiration. 

Kalamazoo College Singers perform in a music concert at Light Fine Arts
The Kalamazoo College Singers will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday in the lobby at Light Fine Arts.

The 35-singer ensemble features students representing majors from music to chemistry. They’re from locales as close as Kalamazoo and as far as Colombia. Nature enthusiasts and environmentalists will appreciate the texts centered on Earth’s natural beauty. Other works link the power of nature with the beauty of languages such as Mandarin, drawing together similarities from across the globe. 

Sophomore Tyrus Parnell, a multi-talented musician and Presidential Student Ambassador, will direct the choir in a gospel piece. In solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, the singers will perform pieces by luminaries for queer rights such as the Indigo Girls and kd lang. The whole evening wraps up with a bit of Stevie Wonder and a setting of the spiritual Down by the Riverside. 

“If audiences have never experienced a concert in the lobby of the Light Fine Arts building, they are in for a treat, as the acoustics are superb for a cappella singing, as most of this concert is,” College Singers Director Chris Ludwa said.  

Finally, the International Percussion Ensemble will perform a free concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, in the Dalton Theatre. The group—which includes African drums, Japanese taiko drums and Caribbean steel drums—features individuals with varied musical backgrounds from K, nearby institutions, and the general community.  

For more information on these performances, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.  

Linguistics Professor to Visit K

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The Department of Spanish Language and Literature and the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership are welcoming University of Illinois at Chicago Professor of Spanish Linguistics Kim Potowski for her lecture, “Apples and Oranges: Best Approaches in Working with Spanish Heritage Speakers.” 

The talk will be held on March 1 from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. in the Hicks Banquet Room at Kalamazoo College. 

Potowski began directing UIC’s Spanish Heritage Language Program in 2002, and she is the founding director of its summer study abroad program in Oaxaca, Mexico, where she spent a year as a Fulbright scholar. Her advocacy for the value of education in two languages for all U.S. children was the focus of her 2013 TEDx talk, “No child left monolingual.” 

Potowski has served as the editor of the journal Spanish in Context since 2009. She also has authored and edited more than a dozen books including El español de los Estados Unidos, Heritage Language Teaching: Research and Practice, Language and Identity in a Dual-Immersion School, and Conversaciones Escritas. 

Register for the in-person lecture online or plan to attend the livestream through Zoom. 

University of Illinois at Chicago Professor of Spanish Linguistics Kim Potowski
University of Illinois at Chicago Professor of Spanish Linguistics Kim Potowski will visit Kalamazoo College on March 1 and provide a lecture titled. “Apples and Oranges: Best Approaches in Working with Spanish Heritage Speakers.”