English Alum Receives “Outstanding Faculty” Award

Amelia Katanski ’92, English, received the Outstanding Faculty award from Michigan Campus Compact (www.micampuscompact.org) at the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Conference on January 30 in East Lansing.

Nominated by President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran and the College’s Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning, Katanski was honored for her commitments to local food, food justice, and sustainability and her dedication to engaged, student-centered learning.

She has been teaching a first-year seminar, “Cultivating Community” as a service-learning course since 2006. She is also faculty advisor to “Farms to K,” which she co-founded with students, staff, and community partners.

“Farms to K” advocates for a local purchasing policy at Kalamazoo College and works closely with other student-led Service-Learning programs, including community gardening initiatives and Migrant Rights Action.

What is Orange and Black and Green All Over?

Sierra Club magazine ranks Kalamazoo College as the 58th “greenest” institution of higher learning in the United States in its annual “America’s Coolest Schools” rankings. The ranking is based on a 12-page questionnaire sent to 940 four-year undergraduate colleges and universities. Questions center on environmental goals and achievements. Ten categories include energy supply, efficiency, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, administration, financial investments, and a catch-all called “other initiatives.”

Kalamazoo College is also included in the Princeton Review’s 2011 Guide to 311 Green Colleges, developed in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council. Kalamazoo also received a solid “B” on the 2011 College Sustainability Report Card from the Sustainable Endowments Institute.