Kalamazoo College will host two visiting scholars this month for annual lectures in religion and mathematics, scheduled for May 6 and May 12.
First, an associate professor from Oberlin College will provide the 2026 Thompson Lecture in Religion at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 6, in the Olmsted Room at Mandelle Hall, with a talk titled Leisure and Religion in South Asian Women’s Workplaces in Spain.
Emilia Bachrach will draw from her ongoing ethnographic research in Barcelona, Spain, to consider how South Asian Hindu and Muslim women build social and economic networks while navigating their minoritized religious status. Her monograph on the subject, Religious Reading and Everyday Lives in Devotional Hinduism, was published in 2022 as part of the American Academy of Religion’s Religion in Translation Series with Oxford University Press.
The memorial event is named for Paul Lamont Thompson, who was K’s president from 1938–49. It brings in speakers who enrich the ethical understanding of the College’s position in society. The lecture was established by a gift from Thompson’s sons and daughters-in-law to recognize the crucial role he played in guiding the College through the Depression and World War II.
A meet-and-greet reception will follow the lecture. Contact Office Coordinator Sarah.Bryans@kzoo.edu for more information.
Then, in the 2026 George Kitchen Lecture, a teaching professor from the University of Michigan will explore mathematical models that are used to predict real-world behavior.
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 12, P. Gavin LaRose will discuss Discrete Population Models, Cobwebs and Chaos in Dewing Hall, Room 103. The talk will investigate a population of creatures such as bacteria or insects and model what it would do. Attendees can expect to find some mathematical cobwebs, surprises and chaos.
Kitchen loved mathematics and believed that its applications could be cultivated in every student. The memorial lectureship named for him was established in 1999 to honor the mathematician who inspired students and fellow math teachers at Portage North High School and K.
Oberlin College Associate Professor Emilia Bachrach
P. Gavin LaRose, University of Michigan
For more information, contact Office Coordinator Kristen Eldred at 269.337.7100 or keldred@kzoo.edu.
A Kalamazoo College alumna has been awarded a prestigious NASA Hubble Fellowship, an honor given to just 24 early-career scientists nationwide.
Hayley Beltz ’18, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kansas, was selected from a pool of more than 400 applicants for the highly competitive program, which supports independent research in astrophysics.
As a senior double majoring in physics and mathematics at K, Beltz received an Astronomy Achievement Student Award and a Chambliss Medal through the American Astronomical Society (AAS), recognizing her exemplary Senior Integrated Project (SIP) presentations at the organization’s meetings. Her SIP involved quasar spectroscopy, meaning she analyzed light that is billions of years old to find and measure the large concentrations of hydrogen that develop as stars form.
“My time at Kalamazoo College gave me the strong physics and math background that I needed for graduate school,” Beltz said. “I loved working as a consultant for the Math and Physics Center, which helped me grow my skills as a mentor and teacher. Being able to try out research with multiple professors at K helped solidify my desire to continue my education and become a scientist. I am very grateful to all the faculty who answered my many questions in office hours, wrote me letters of recommendation, and helped shape me into the astronomer that I am today.”
Beltz earned her doctorate from the University of Michigan in 2023. She then conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland from August 2023 to January 2026 before moving to her current position in Kansas. Recently, her work has focused on “Hot Jupiters,” which are gas giant exoplanets about the size of Jupiter that orbit extremely close to their stars, completing an orbit in just a few days. Temperatures during their daytime can exceed 2,000 degrees.
The Hubble Fellowship will support Beltz’s research for the next three years as she continues developing computer models of exoplanets beyond our solar system with a focus on how magnetic fields shape their atmospheres.
“Learning about these other planets helps us understand the full range of planet formation in our galaxy,” Beltz said. “Magnetic fields are especially important because they play a key role in shaping environments like Earth’s, where life can exist.”
Hayley Beltz ’18
In 2018, Beltz was one of just five undergraduates from across the country to earn a Chambliss Medal from the American Astronomical Society.
Kalamazoo College today honored one faculty member and one staff member with two of the highest awards the College bestows on employees. Professor of Mathematics Eric Barth received the 2025–26 Florence J. Lucasse Lectureship for Excellence in Teaching, and Campus Safety Officer Adam Kaur was named the recipient of the W. Haydn Ambrose Prize for Extraordinary Service.
Barth has served K for more than 28 years as a department chair, assistant provost, first-year class dean and director of the dual-degree engineering program. He has held his professor title since 1997. During the pandemic, he was a leader in providing resources to faculty about effective online teaching.
Barth was granted K’s Outstanding Advisor Award in 2019. He also was a College leader in developing a partial-unit course to help struggling students develop the skills for academic success through a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) grant awarded to K in 2018.
Nominators said Barth’s teaching exemplifies a holistic commitment to student learning and success. Through course feedback, students have described him as being passionate, encouraging, supportive and engaging while he strives to get the best out of every student. A ceremony to confer the Lucasse Fellowship traditionally occurs in the spring term, during which the honored faculty member speaks about their work.
Kaur has worked at K since 2021. Nominators said his varied background—including a degree in education and a previous career in hospitality—gives him a broad range of skills. He’s also kind, helpful and thoughtful with tremendous foresight and an empathetic ear as he handles emergent situations calmly, efficiently and expertly with optimism in challenging circumstances. His presence sets a positive tone for students to interact with Campus Safety while making K a better place to live, work and learn.
Kaur’s interests extend beyond his work to the campus community. He regularly attends Hornet athletic contests, and he is something of a legend for his remarkable rapport with K’s squirrel population.
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, Kaur 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 of the honorees.
Kalamazoo College President Jorge G. Gonzalez (left) congratulates Professor of Mathematics Eric Barth on earning the 2025–26 Florence J. Lucasse Lectureship for Excellence in Teaching.
Campus Safety Officer Adam Kaur receives the 2025 W. Haydn Ambrose Prize for Extraordinary Service from President Gonzalez.
A recent honor handed to Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement Director Sashae Mitchell ’13 will help students continue strengthening community partnerships beyond Kalamazoo College through critical engagement and collaborative learning for years to come.
Mitchell is one of 18 faculty and staff from 13 states selected for the 2025–26 cohort of engaged scholars through Campus Compact’s Engaged Scholars Initiative. The effort is a professional-development program that supports early-career faculty and staff in strengthening their community-engaged efforts and programs.
Scholars were selected this year based on their commitment to centering equity in their civic- and community-engagement work. In applying, members of the cohort were asked to outline their interest in the program and share how they expect to grow with it.
“I am truly honored and elated to have been selected for the fifth cohort of Campus Compact’s Engaged Scholars Initiative,” Mitchell said. “It’s a privilege to work alongside an amazing group of faculty and staff from across the country who are deeply committed to advancing community engagement in higher education. This opportunity aligns closely with one of my core professional goals of developing my identity and practice as a community-engaged scholar and researcher, so I’m excited to grow through this experience.”
Throughout the academic year, Mitchell will participate in virtual meetings, in-person retreats and collaborative scholarly work to strengthen her own scholarship and, in turn, empower K students, faculty and staff and lead change in the Kalamazoo area.
“What excites me most about this opportunity is that it not only supports my own professional development, but also directly benefits the work of the CCE,” Mitchell said. “One of our ongoing priorities has been to amplify the impactful work happening through the CCE, both on campus and in the broader community, and being part of this national cohort will help us elevate our story, share our successes, and identify areas for growth.”
Sashae Mitchell ’13 has been selected for the 2025–26 cohort of engaged scholars through Campus Compact’s Engaged Scholars Initiative.
Mitchell earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at K, where she was actively involved in the CCE as a Civic Engagement Scholar through Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS), a grassroots community organization that provides tutoring opportunities to Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) students who live at Interfaith Homes. It offers a structured but fun environment with relationship-based homework help, literacy and math support, field trips and information about getting into colleges. After graduating, Mitchell worked with the W.E. Upjohn Institute in Kalamazoo, where she contributed to research teams analyzing data on the Kalamazoo Promise and other aspects of KPS.
Mitchell later earned a master’s degree in international education and development from the University of Pennsylvania. Since then, she has worked with organizations in the U.S., South Africa and her home country of Jamaica, conducting research on educational disparities. She has also implemented and evaluated interventions and innovative solutions to address these inequities.
As the CCE’s director, Mitchell promotes, develops, manages, funds and evaluates sustainable and effective academic and co-curricular programs while building strategic relationships with community partners and faculty, overseeing programming, collaborating with on- and off-campus partners, and leading CCE teams.
“By learning alongside peers from across the country, I’ll gain new insights into best practices in community-engaged scholarship and programming,” Mitchell said. “These lessons will inform how we support our student leaders, strengthen our community partnerships, collaborate with faculty and deepen the impact of our work. Ultimately, this honor helps position the CCE to be even more intentional, reflective and sustainable in serving both our students and the community.”
Campus Compact Vice President Nicole Springer said each engaged scholar, including Mitchell, already has demonstrated an impressive level of dedication and passion for civic and community engagement.
“Each year, our engaged scholars learn with and from each other, engage in scholarship production, and connect in collaborative ways that contribute to their own individual leadership and the growth of the field of higher education civic and community engagement,” Springer said. “I can’t wait to see how this group progresses over the next year as they engage in this transformative process.”
If you’ve ever played the game Spot it!, then you know it’s both disarmingly simple and endlessly replayable. Each card features eight symbols, and between any two cards in the game deck, there is always one—and only one—matching symbol. Several variations change the mechanics, but the goal always remains the same: Be the fastest player to spot and name the matches.
What is the secret to the game? How does it work? Well—it may come down to math.
On April 29, at 7 p.m. in Dewing Hall Room 103, Sarah Koch will deliver a talk titled “Spotting the Math in Spot it!,” this year’s installment of the George Kitchen Memorial Lecture at Kalamazoo College. The lectureship provides an opportunity for mathematicians to speak about their work in a way that is accessible to high school students and math educators.
“We’ll play Spot it! and explore ways to answer various questions about the game,” promises the description for the talk. “We will discover that there is a remarkable amount of mathematics underlying this game, including a tantalizing mathematical mystery.”
Koch, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, researches complex dynamical systems, working to understand the infinitely complicated structure of beautiful fractals that emerge. She holds two Ph.D.s in mathematics, one from the Université de Provence in Marseille, and one from Cornell University. She is the director of the Math Corps at U(M), a summer camp for middle schoolers and high school mentors from Ypsilanti and Detroit, and the organizer of the Math Mondays in Ypsi Program, which has temporarily been replaced with Super Saturdays. In addition to doing math, she enjoys teaching, working with students and making kindness chains.
Stephen Oloo, associate professor of mathematics at Kalamazoo College, said Koch was suggested as a speaker by a visiting professor who had graduated from U of M.
“I did a bit of research and could see she loves doing this kind of talk,” Oloo said. “We don’t choose just any mathematician. Our speakers are always active research mathematicians, and they like to give math talks aimed at an early high school sort of student. They like outreach. They tend to have a few talks prepared that are pitched at just the right level.”
Sarah Koch, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, researches complex dynamical systems and will deliver the 2025 Kitchen Lecture through a game with math ties titled Spot It!
Spotting the Math in Spot It!
What: The 2025 George Kitchen Memorial Lecture at Kalamazoo College, given by Sarah Koch, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
Oloo said the math department at K communicates the intent and audience of the lectures to the speaker, who chooses his or her own topic.
“I know this talk is going to be good,” Oloo said. “It strikes me as it will probably have a lot of combinatorics, what you can think of as advanced counting, which tends to have interesting results while being very accessible. From the nature of the game, there are all kinds of interesting questions you could ask. When you deal out a hand of Spot it! cards, how many possible different combinations are there? How big does the deck have to be? If you dealt two or three or four cards, what would they have in common and different? I’m sure she’ll have some surprising things for us. Probably she’ll talk about strategy. There are probably ways to approach the game that you could figure out by studying the math.”
The lecture’s target audience of high school students honors George Kitchen, who was a local mathematician and teacher and firmly believed that a love for mathematics and its applications could be cultivated in every student. In the 1980s, Kitchen helped start a regular gathering at K of college and high school math teachers called Calculus Connection, along with John Fink, Kalamazoo College professor emeritus of mathematics.
“George was a wonderful teacher, and he was really demanding, but he would always support his students in what he demanded of them,” Fink said.
When Kitchen died, members of Calculus Connection decided to fund an endowment to support a lecture series to honor Kitchen’s memory. The George Kitchen Memorial Lecture at Kalamazoo College was founded in 1999 and has taken place every spring since, excepting a hiatus from 2020-2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Obviously we think math is important, and math and science knowledge, education, literacy, are good things,” Oloo said. “This has been a good way to get students in the area excited about math, to show them that math is not just this dull thing.”
The talks also build local connections and help improve K’s visibility with area high schoolers. A whole community has developed over the years, with the audience often including not only math teachers and high school students and their parents, but also former students of George Kitchen as well as parents of long-grown children who first experienced the lectures when their children were in high school and continue to attend.
“I’ve seen how popular these can be, the surprising number of people intrigued by mathematical ideas,” Oloo said. “My hopes are good attendance, and that people would leave feeling like they’ve learned something—both that it was fun, and that they are now a little bit more knowledgeable.”
For example, the 2024 speaker brought a statistics and probability lens to, among other things, conspiracy theories such as the Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences urban legend that points out a large number of similarities between the two presidents, including the fact that their assassins were both known by three names composed of 15 letters.
“He was diving into the numbers, and things you encounter that seem almost spooky, but in this talk, you realize, ‘Oh, it’s not that weird.’ It’s just a function of doing the math, how many people we have on the planet,” Oloo said. “It was a great lecture where people in the audience who knew probability have thought about these things and know how the numbers work, while for many of us, it’s new, and you could learn something that actually alters how you view the world. I’m not a big statistics guy, and I left that talk armed with this new piece of knowledge. When I encounter people claiming, ‘Oh, this is a really spooky coincidence,’ now I can say, ‘No, it’s just the numbers. It’s not that weird.’”
When Sashae Mitchell ’13 stepped into her new role as director of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) last year, it was a meaningful return to the place where her journey in civic and global education began. She follows in the footsteps of founding director Alison Geist, who retired after years of visionary leadership.
Before coming back to K, Mitchell was making a difference in her home country of Jamaica as the founder and managing director of Mitchell’s Math Centre, offering math instruction and tutoring to students in grades four through 11. She also served as an assistant lecturer in the faculty of business at Montego Bay Community College.
Mitchell holds a master’s degree in international education and development from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her bachelor’s in mathematics right here at K. We caught up with her to learn more about what inspired her return and her vision for the Center’s future.
Question: How did you get involved in civic engagement as a profession? Tell us about your career path and why you have decided to return to K?
Answer: The CCE was my first introduction to critical community engagement, where students, faculty and community members work together to strengthen communities to promote a more just and equitable society. Through the CCE, I learned the immense value of this work, its role in fostering a sense of belonging, and its ability to help students find and sustain their community while on a college campus. The CCE also provided opportunities for students to learn from and collaborate with community members. This experience significantly shaped my career path. When I entered K, I aspired to become an actuary, but my involvement with the CCE ignited a passion for education and addressing educational inequities which shifted my focus and took me on a different journey.
As the new leader of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement, Sashae Mitchell ’13 wants to expand its impact while sharing its efforts nationally and even globally.
Upon graduating from K, I interned with the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, where I collaborated on reports and strategic planning sessions to advance the Learning Network of Greater Kalamazoo and conducted data analysis on the Kalamazoo Promise. This experience helped refine my focus on education and community development.
In 2014–15, I returned to K as the post-baccalaureate fellow at the CCE, which deepened my commitment to this work. One of the highlights of that year was when I co-facilitated a class with former CCE director Alison Geist and former associate director Teresa Denton, exploring critical service learning by examining contemporary social issues and their intersections. Working closely with students and facilitating their leadership development as they managed more than 15 community partnerships was incredibly rewarding. This experience also paved the way for my graduate studies in international education and development, where I further honed my skills and gained international experience through an internship with an educational think tank in South Africa. There, I applied many of the principles I learned at K, especially those focused on collaborating with the community to develop educational interventions. Throughout this process, we made sure to center the voices of those impacted by the inequities we were working to address.
Though my career path took many twists and turns, including returning to Jamaica as a lecturer teaching mathematics, the common thread throughout has always been community engagement. I worked with students who struggled with the subject, and I applied the CCE’s principles of community to help encourage collaboration and mutual support in the classroom.
Returning to K has felt like a natural, even destined, step. Although my journey took me down various paths, the central theme has always been how to work in community. Being in this role feels like kismet—serving as the director of the department that helped shape my worldview, career goals and life’s work has been deeply fulfilling. I’m grateful for the opportunity to return to the place where it all began.
Q: What made K special for you as a student and now as a civic engagement professional?
A: Kalamazoo College is truly a unique institution, and surprisingly, I only fully realized this after graduating in 2013. My life has been profoundly shaped by the various aspects of the K-Plan that I had the privilege of experiencing as a student.
My passion for civic engagement began as a first-year student when I joined two programs—Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS) and Keeping the Doors Open (KDO). CAPS captured my heart, and I remained involved in the program throughout my four years at K. Working on the city’s northside at Interfaith Homes through CAPS was the first time I truly felt a sense of belonging at K. It was clear that the CCE would become my home away from home. My involvement in civic engagement grew, and it was no surprise that I became a Civic Engagement Scholar in my sophomore and senior years, eventually returning to work at the CCE as a post-baccalaureate fellow after graduation.
K’s commitment to preparing students to become enlightened leaders through a flexible curriculum, which encourages applying learning in transformative ways, is one of the many reasons the college stands out as a gem in southwest Michigan. Experiential learning is deeply embedded in the culture at K. It has been an absolute pleasure returning to campus. K provides opportunities for students to study abroad, work with community partners and learn from professionals through a variety of internship and externship opportunities. I certainly wouldn’t have gone to China without K’s excellent study abroad program.
The CCE provides an opportunity for me to work with students, faculty and community in collaborative partnerships that employ critical civic engagement and seek to address social justice issues. We facilitate opportunities for students to work alongside community partners, enhancing educational experiences and supporting efforts to create a more just and sustainable world. What a great place to work!
Q: What are your goals, short term and long term, for the Center for Civic Engagement?
A: For more than 20 years, since its inception, the leadership of the CCE has worked to build the department and establish the prominence it now enjoys. As we enter the next chapter of the CCE, our goal is to continue building on this legacy while elevating our work both on campus and within the community. We aim to expand our impact, sharing our efforts nationally and even globally.
Our goals for this next chapter include:
Engaging new and sustaining existing community partners to support our student-led programs, community-based courses and community-building internships.
Collaborating closely with faculty to ensure our work is consistently grounded in scholarship.
Enhancing our data collection methods to more effectively share the stories of our impact.
Fostering the continued growth and development of our Civic Engagement Scholars.
Increasing student participation and engagement across our initiatives.
Through these efforts, we hope to build on the foundation laid by our predecessors and take the CCE to new heights of excellence and influence.
Q: How do you like to connect with students? What’s your approach?
A: I truly enjoy working with students and I would argue that this has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my role. As a Kalamazoo College alum, I take great pride in sharing my K story with students I meet, offering insights into both the successes and challenges I’ve faced and how I navigated them.
Currently, I primarily work with our Civic Engagement Scholars, along with many other students involved in our programs. They have appreciated coming to our offices, and my open-door policy has created a space where they feel comfortable to visit whether to seek advice, share experiences or simply connect.
As a woman of color in this role, I am deeply mindful of how I show up in these spaces, particularly for BIPOC students. Representation matters, and I believe it is vital to support them in meaningful ways. During my time as a K student, I was fortunate to have advocates who ensured my experience was fulfilling and impactful. It’s my mission to pay that forward and be a source of support and guidance for future K students.
Q: On a personal note, what are three things people might be surprised to learn about you?
A: I’m currently learning to swim with the Kalamazoo Master’s Swim Club and it’s been a life-changing experience!
I majored in math at K and I still have a strong passion for the subject. My degree helped me develop critical problem-solving skills that have shaped the way I approach both life and every role I’ve held in my professional career.
I grew up in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and although the Michigan winters are still an adjustment, I absolutely love the winter outfits!
Kalamazoo College is pleased to welcome the following faculty members to campus this fall:
Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry Kelsey Aldrich
Aldrich arrives at K from Duquesne University, where she earned a Ph.D. and served as a graduate teaching assistant in biochemistry. Her educational background also includes a Bachelor of Science in chemistry with American Chemical Society (ACS) certification from Grove City College, where she was an undergraduate teaching assistant in organic, analytical and general chemistry.
Aldrich will teach a Shared Passages Seminar course this fall titled Cultured: The History and Science of Fermented Foods. In winter spring terms, she will teach classes in general chemistry and biochemistry. Her professional affiliations include membership in the ACS and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).
Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry Kelsey Aldrich
Visiting Assistant Professor of English Erika Carbonara
Carbonara recently earned her Ph.D. in English from Wayne State University. She additionally holds a master’s degree from Oakland University and a bachelor’s degree with university honors from Wayne State.
She specializes in early modern literature with an emphasis on gender, sexuality, and kink studies. In her previous teaching positions, she has taught a wide range of courses from introductory composition to literature classes focused on Renaissance literature, children’s literature, and women’s literature. This term she will lead a course on social justice from a literary perspective with a focus on issues, events, movements and historical moments while emphasizing areas of power difference such as race and ethnicity, disabilities, class, gender and sexuality.
Visiting Assistant Professor of English Erika Carbonara
Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics Rachel Chaiser
Chaiser’s educational background includes a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder, and a bachelor’s degree with honors in mathematics from the University of Puget Sound.
In Boulder, she served as a part-time graduate instructor in linear algebra for non-math majors and calculus courses, a graduate teaching assistant in precalculus and an advanced undergraduate research mentor. At K this fall, she will teach calculus with lessons in algebra, precalculus and analytic geometry.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics Rachel Chaiser
Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Sharon Colvin
Colvin has teaching experience with the University of Pittsburgh School of Education as an instructor, leading students with research methods and applied research; and the University of Maryland First-Year Innovation and Research Experience (FIRE) as an assistant clinical professor. Before getting her PhD., she was a youth services librarian for 10 years. At K, Colvin will teach educational psychology in fall, which applies the principles of psychology to the practice of teaching.
Colvin holds a Ph.D. in learning sciences and policy from the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, Health and Human Development; a master’s degree in library science from the Simmons University Graduate School of Library and Information Science; a master’s degree in mind, brain and education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education; and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wellesley College.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Sharon Colvin
Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry Caitlin Coplan
Coplan arrives at K from Northwestern University, where they recently earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. They also hold a bachelor’s degree with honors in physical and educational chemistry from the University of Utah.
Coplan has prior professional and teaching experience as an instructor as a part of the Arch program for incoming first-year students, and a teaching assistant for general chemistry and nanomaterials courses at Northwestern. They have also served as an interim undergraduate chemistry advisor, College of Science student ambassador, and teaching assistant in general chemistry at the University of Utah. At K, they will teach analytical chemistry this fall.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry Caitlin Coplan
Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Mahar Fatima
For the past seven years, Fatima has served the University of Michigan, first as a postdoctoral researcher and then as a research laboratory specialist. Her research interests include studies of the sensory neural circuits under physiological or pathological conditions, the molecular mechanisms required to interpret sensory information, and how relations between neural and non-neuronal systems contribute to chronic pain, chronic itch, and pulmonary disorders. This fall, Fatima will teach neurobiology at K, addressing the structure and function of the nervous system with topics including the cell biology of neurons, electrophysiology, sensory and motor systems, brain development, and nervous system dysfunction.
Fatima earned a Ph.D. from the National Brain Research Centre in India along with master’s and bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and life sciences respectively from the University of Allahabad.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Mahar Fatima
Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion Shelby King
King holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) along with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas State University, San Marcos.
Her teaching areas include the history of religion in America, religion and popular culture, religion and American politics, theories and methods in religion, and theories of genders and sexualities. Her professional memberships include the American Academy of Religion, and the UCSB Center for Cold War Studies and International History.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion Shelby King
Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics Cemile Kurkoglu
Kurkoglu comes to K from Denison University, where she had been a visiting assistant professor, teaching undergraduate mathematics and statistics courses since 2021.
Kurkoglu holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Indiana University Bloomington, where she served as an associate instructor for algebra, calculus and finite mathematics courses and she assisted for graduate mathematics courses. She also has a master’s degree from Bilkent University and a bachelor’s degree from Hacettepe University. Her graduate-level coursework included abstract and commutative algebra, number and representation theory, and ordinary and partial differential equations, real and complex analysis, and topology.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics Cemile Kurkoglu
Visiting Assistant Professor of History Josh Morris
Morris is arriving at K from Wayne State University, where he has been a visiting assistant professor at Grand Valley State University since 2021. Elsewhere, he has served St. Clair County Community College, the University of Toledo and Wayne State University as an adjunct faculty member; a graduate teaching assistant at Wayne State and Cal State University Pomona; and a lecturer for the Los Angeles Workers’ Center and the University of California, Irvine.
Morris holds a Ph.D. from Wayne State, a master’s degree from CSU Pomona, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, all in history. His professional memberships include the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the Historical Materialism Society for Critical Research in Marxism, the Labor and Working-Class Historical Association and the Historians of American Communism.
Visiting Assistant Professor of History Joshua Morris
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology Koffi Nomedji
Nomedji holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Duke University, a master’s degree in economics from Oklahoma State University, and bachelor’s degrees in sociology and economics from the University of Lomé, Togo, West Africa. At Duke, Nomedji taught courses in introductory cultural anthropology, the digital revolution, the anthropology of money, and development and Africa.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology Koffi Nomedji
Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science Nick Polanco
While recently earning a Ph.D. in computer science at Michigan State University, Polanco conducted research in automotive cybersecurity specific to autonomous vehicles. He also was a teaching assistant in artificial intelligence, computer organization and architecture, software engineering, computer systems, discrete structures, mobile applications and development, and database systems.
At K, Polanco will teach courses in introductory computing and programming basics for JavaScript and web development this fall.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science Nick Polanco
Director of African Studies and Assistant Professor of Anthropology Dominique Somda
Somda has arrived at K from the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA) at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where she was a research fellow. She also has past appointments as traveling faculty with the International Honors Program (IHP) at study abroad and world learning sites in the U.S., Spain, Jordan, India, Nepal, Senegal, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina and Chile; as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Reed College and the Department of Anthropology and Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania; as a visiting scholar in anthropology at the London School of Economics; as a postdoctoral fellow at the Université Paris Nanterre in France; and as a teaching and research fellow at the University of Paris Nanterre.
Somda has a Ph.D. and two master’s degrees in ethnology and comparative sociology from the University of Paris Nanterre, and a master’s and bachelor’s in philosophy from the University Clermont Auvergne.
Somda will lead a course this fall at K titled On Being Human in Africa. The course will examine the experiences of Africans through racialized and gendered existences, their affective relations, their ways of relating to and caring for each other and the land; and explore what it means to think and write about Africa with representations and discourses including fiction, academic writing and social media.
Director of African Studies and Assistant Professor of Anthropology Dominique Somda
Assistant Professor of Biology Clara Stuligross
Stuligross was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Riverside prior to K. She holds Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis, and a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Earlham College.
Stuligross studies the impacts of environmental stressors on native bee ecology and recently received a federal grant to study the effects of climate change on bees. She also has professional experience as a museum educator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, where she taught science outreach programs and developed hands-on climate change education lessons. At K this fall, she will teach Biology Explorations.
Assistant Professor of Biology Clara Stuligross
Visiting Instructor of Chinese Ruyuan Yang
Yang has a master’s degree in teaching Chinese to non-native speakers from the Beijing Language and Culture University, and a bachelor’s degree in teaching Chinese as a second language from Yunnan Normal University in Kunming, China.
Yang previously has taught college-level courses in beginning, intermediate and advanced Chinese at K; basic and intermediate Chinese, and Chinese dance and culture at Western Michigan University; and integrated Chinese and Chinese listening and speaking courses at Beijing Language and Culture University. Yang’s courses this fall include beginning and intermediate Chinese.
The tenure milestone recognizes excellence in teaching, scholarship and service to the College, and signifies its confidence in the contributions these faculty will make throughout their careers. The Board of Trustees-approved tenure recipients are:
Assistant Professor of Spanish Ivett Lopez Malagamba
López Malagamba currently serves as a co-chair in the Department of Spanish Language and Literatures. In her time at K, she has taught beginning through intermediate language courses, and advanced courses on Latin American literature and visual culture topics including indigeneity, contemporary women writers, fiction and documentary film, visual culture practices, and representations of nature. In fall 2019, she took 27 students to the Dominican Republic as part of K’s first faculty-lead experiential study abroad program.
Lopez Malagamba’s research centers on 20th– and 21st-century Latin American literature and visual culture. Her publications explore questions around exclusionary social and political practices and discourses in contexts of armed conflict, migration, and forced displacement. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Peninsular and Latin American literatures and Latin American Studies, and her Ph.D. in Hispanic language and literatures from the University of California, Berkeley. López Malagamba’s experience extends to the non-profit sector. Before earning her Ph.D., she worked with Latinx youth in Southern California facilitating educational programs to prepare them for college. López Malagamba sees her work at K as a continuation of her commitment to help youth access and successfully navigate higher education.
Assistant Professor of Spanish Ivett Lopez Malagamba (middle) with Spanish 101 students.
Marlene Crandall Francis Assistant Professor of Religion Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada
Maldonado-Estrada serves as the editor of the journal Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief, a co-chair of the men and masculinities unit at the American Academy of Religion, and an editorial board member of the journal American Religion.
At K, Maldonado-Estrada has taught courses on religion and masculinity, Catholics in the Americas, urban religion, and religions of Latin America. As an ethnographer, her research includes focuses on material culture, contemporary Catholicism, and gender and embodiment. In 2021, Maldonado-Estrada was among 24 scholars from around the world selected for the Sacred Writes public scholarship training cohort. She was also chosen as one of the Young Scholars in American Religion at IUPUI’s Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture.
Maldonado-Estrada is the author of Lifeblood of the Parish: Men and Catholic Devotion in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, an ethnography about masculinity and men’s devotional lives in a gentrified neighborhood in New York City. She also is working on projects about the technological and sensory history of prayer, and Latinx art and religion in New York City. She received a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Princeton University.
Marlene Crandall Francis Assistant Professor of Religion Alyssa Maldonado-Estrada
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Stephen Oloo
Oloo served K as a visiting assistant professor from 2015-2017 before earning his current position in which he teaches a variety of pure math classes such as Calculus I, II and III, Number Theory, Real Analysis and Abstract Algebra.
Beyond teaching he has served in various roles by directing the Math and Physics Center, being in charge of the George Kitchen Memorial Lecture, and running the math club MathletiKs.
Oloo’s Ph.D. work was in topology of algebraic varieties and geometric representation theory. He is currently applying his knowledge of geometry and representation theory in a collaboration with physics professor Dave Wilson in which they are studying how viruses change shapes as they undergo maturation. He holds mathematics degrees including a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College, and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Stephen Oloo
Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Assistant Professor of Computer Science Sandino Vargas-Perez
Before arriving at K, Vargas-Perez worked as an adjunct instructor at Western Michigan University, where he earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic.
Vargas-Perez has taught courses at K in data structures, algorithms, parallel computing, computing for environmental science, object-oriented programming, and programming in Java and web development. His research interests include high-performance computing, parallel and distributed algorithms, computational genomics, and data structures and compression.
Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Assistant Professor of Computer Science Sandino Vargas-Perez
Chinese Endowed Assistant Professor of Chinese Language and Literature Leihua Weng
Weng has taught first-year Chinese, advanced Chinese, Women in China, 20th Century Urban China, and Chinese Films at K. She taught at Sarah Lawrence College and Pacific Lutheran University before joining the College.
Weng holds a bachelor’s degree from Zhejiang University, a master’s degree from Peking University and a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. Her research interests have spanned the receptions of classical texts, modern and late imperial Chinese literature, and gender studies. She is currently engaged in research on late imperial Chinese literature and is working on a book about the reception of Plato in modern China.
Chinese Endowed Assistant Professor of Chinese Language and Literature Leihua Weng
A liberal arts education from Kalamazoo College gives students a chance to expand their academic interests with great opportunities to turn hobbies into academic involvement. A great instance of that practice is Lizzy Rottenberk ’24, who is double majoring in mathematics and English with a focus on poetry.
In high school, Rottenberk was sure that mathematics was her main academic focus, while she considered poetry to be her hobby. That changed after she took classes through the English department at the end of her first year at K.
“Personally, writing poems has always represented a good way to self-reflect,” Rottenberk said. “It’s a passion that allows me to see how I am feeling and learn more about myself.”
In fact, for her Senior Integrated Project (SIP), she is merging her two passions of math and poetry. Together, they form “Academic Tangents,” where Rottenberk integrates calculus theorems with poetry structures and contexts. The project consists of reflective poems related to academic struggles with five different math concepts represented: functions, limits, derivatives, sequences and series, and anti-derivatives.
All those collections of poems start with a definition of the theorems, followed by a free-verse poem that redefines the theorem in a poetic way. Finally, Rottenberk incorporates poems representing the theorem in the structure and context. The following is an excerpt from a poem titled Connected and Continuous in her SIP:
Editor’s note: This story was written by Blagoja Naskovski ’24. He serves as a social media ambassador for the College Marketing and Communications team.
Lizzy Rottenberk ’24 is merging her two passions of math and poetry.
“Connected and Continuous” by Elizabeth Rottenberk
6:00 am eyes widen brain begins animation embarking towards the serene kitchen breakfast smells of sweet warmth and motivation pecan almond syrup comforting slightly chewy waffles leading to a freshly organized backpack filled with unlearned trig to be explored when the sun peaks above tree lines through a wired window the window that holds foreheads until listening and comprehension become equal wielding a pencil like the sword of King Arthur as he is who you traveled to learn about through the roughest of puddles, more ferocious of red lights but nevertheless, you arrived to hear the educators chant the literary devices and warn us about math’s greatest complexities and experience numerous “ah ha’s” that fuel flights into deeper TOK and AOK conversations until exit from the essential castle known as the education system has been granted headed home your mind becomes lured into a rooted nap as it shifts to autopilot the time for learning discontinues as the sun hides behind the tree line walking under the threshold to the kitchen where delicious satisfying-smelling food needs your dining fuel in the vessel that travels distances to calculate and conquer problems and write essays in MLA eyes closed 6:00 am
Rottenberk is active not only in academics, but also in many on-campus and off-campus initiatives. She currently works as a consultant at the Math and Physics Center, where she provides academic peer support to K students for advanced math classes. Moreover, she is the captain for the softball team and president of the Hacky Sack student organization. She is also a First-Year Experience mentor, which allows her to guide students while they adapt to new academic environments.
Off-campus, Rottenberk is part of Sustainable Living Guide, an organization that provides educational support and resources for healthy and sustainable living. Her commitment to this organization includes organizing virtual classes for sustainability, writing for social media and a website, and conducting research on climate action, zero-waste lifestyle and other topics.
“Being proactive makes me feel better and more productive,” Rottenberk said. “While participating in many on-campus initiatives, I feel that that I am not only contributing to my personal and professional growth, but also to my community.”
Rottenberk said K’s liberal arts education has empowered her to push her boundaries while allowing her to apply creative thinking in her academics. Two of her most influential classes at K have been ENG210: Intermediate Poetry Workshop, where she expanded her knowledge of how to write poems, and MATH320: Real Analysis.
“I would encourage students to be independent with established critical thought,” she said. “More importantly, I strongly suggest students utilize every opportunity that K classes offer when it comes to critical thinking.”
Lizzy Rottenberk ’24 is a captain for K’s softball team.
Kalamazoo College STEM-related academic departments are celebrating a banner year as the overall number of current students and alumni receiving National Science Foundation (NSF) graduate research fellowships reaches four, the most since 2016.
The Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding students who pursue research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. A five-year fellowship covers three years of financial support, including an annual stipend and a cost-of-education allowance to attend an institution along with access to professional-development opportunities.
About 2,000 applicants are offered a fellowship per NSF competition in fields such as chemistry, biology, psychology, physics and math. This is the first year since 2013 that two current K students, Claire Kvande ’23 and Mallory Dolorfino ’23, have earned awards. Two alumni also have earned fellowships, Cavan Bonner ’21 and Angel Banuelos ’21.
“The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship is a highly competitive program that is only awarded to about 16% of the applicants, who represented more than 15,000 undergraduates and graduate students across all STEM fields,” Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Assistant Professor of Chemistry Blakely Tresca said. “Approximately 2,500 awards were offered this year across all STEM fields and the vast majority of them go to students at large research universities and Ivy League schools. It is rare to see more than one or two awards at an undergraduate-focused college, particularly at a small liberal arts school like K. It is exceptional for schools in the GLCA (Great Lakes Colleges Association) to have one award in a year, and four awards is a truly outstanding accomplishment for these students.”
Claire Kvande ’23
Kvande has been a double major in physics and chemistry with minors in math and French at K. She credits faculty members such as Dow Distinguished Professor of Natural Science Jan Tobochnik and Associate Professor of Physics David Wilson, along with a wide range of courses, for preparing her to receive an NSF fellowship.
“I like the nitty gritty of sitting down and figuring out how to approach a problem within physics even though it’s often hard,” she said. “I really like work that is grounded in real-world problems and it’s part of why I’m interested in the subfield of condensed matter. There’s a lot that stands to be applied to technologies that I think could improve our world and help a lot of people.”
Kvande will attend the University of Washington this fall, where she plans to extend her Senior Integrated Project (SIP) work, which examined how charge-density waves relate to superconductivity within condensed matter.
“Superconductivity is a tantalizing physics concept,” she said. “If we could realize superconductivity at room temperature, it would allow us to do a lot with energy saving and revolutionize how we use electricity. There are schools of thought that say charge-density waves would be helpful in achieving that and others that say it would be hurtful. Since we really don’t know how superconductivity works, this is worth investigating so we can hopefully better understand this powerful phenomenon.”
Claire Kvande ’23 will attend graduate school at the University of Washington as a National Science Foundation fellow.
Mallory Dolorfino ’23
Dolorfino, a computer science and math double major, also will attend the University of Washington, where they will pursue a doctorate in math.
“I didn’t really like math until I came to K,” Dolorfino said. “I took calculus in high school and I was just not going to take any more in college until one of my senior friends told me when I was a first-year student to take linear algebra. I took that and Calculus 3 online during the first COVID term and I just kept doing math, so I switched my major. It’s not like other subjects because you can work for hours and not get anything done. That’s frustrating at times, but it’s fun to understand it enough to prove things logically.”
Dolorfino credits several faculty members for their growth and success at K, leading to their NSF opportunity. They include Tresca, who helped students keep track of their NSF application timelines and materials; Associate Professor of Mathematics Michele Intermont, who provided letters of recommendation and application assistance for research opportunities and graduate school; and Assistant Professor of Mathematics Stephen Oloo, who provided invaluable feedback regarding their research proposal and many conversations about math.
Dolorfino remains in contact with a professor they worked with in a math-focused study abroad program in Budapest. The two of them conducted a monthlong research project in algebraic number theory, which is a foundation in applications such as encryption and bar codes. Their NSF application proposes group theory work, which is what she based some research on last summer at Texas State University. They hope their NSF work will help them become a college professor one day. “There are a lot of math institutions on the West Coast and specifically in the Northwest, so I will have really good connections there,” said Dolorfino, who agreed the award is an honor. “I was grateful for the people at K who helped me apply.”
Mallory Dolorfino ’23 will attend graduate school at the University of Washington as an NSF fellow.
Cavan Bonner ’21
Bonner has spent the past two years working as a research staff member in industrial and organizational psychology at Purdue University. His NSF fellowship will take him to another Big Ten school.
“My area of research involves personality development and how personality changes over the lifespan,” he said. “It’s a pretty small sub field and there are only a few doctoral programs where you can study the topic with an expert. The University of Illinois is one of them.”
Bonner further hopes the fellowship will propel his career toward a tenure-track job at a research university. He said K helped prepare him well for that trajectory through a broad range of subjects, not only in psychology, but in adjacent fields such as sociology and statistics. Bonner also credits his experience working as a research assistant for Ann V. and Donald R. Parfet Distinguished Professor of Psychology Gary Gregg, and Associate Professor of Psychology Brittany Liu for training him in skills that he frequently uses in his research work after graduation.
“I was drawn to personality psychology because it provides an integrative framework to study many of the research questions I have about human development, aging and change over time,” Bonner said. “My SIP and research assistant experiences at K helped me realize that I could address these questions from a personality perspective, but my professors also exposed me to so many other fields and perspectives that inform my research. I primarily identify as a personality and developmental psychologist, but ultimately I hope that this fellowship helps me contribute to the broader science of aging and development.”
Cavan Bonner ’21 will attend the University of Illinois as an NSF fellow.
Angel Banuelos ’21
Banuelos, a biology major and anthropology/sociology minor at K, is in his second year at the University of Wisconsin, where he said he studies genetics—specifically the construction of the vertebrate brain and face—under an amazing mentor, Professor Yevgenya Grinblat.
“Live beings are built by cells that are informed by DNA,” Banuelos said. “At the beginning of embryonic development, the cells split into groups. One of those groups is called the neural crest cells. Those cells go on to contribute to a whole bunch of things such as pigment cells in the skin, and cartilage and bones in the face. My project is trying to understand how neural crest cells contribute to stabilizing the very first blood vessels of the developing eye.”
Ultimately, when his graduate work is finished, he would like to steer his career towards education.
Angel Banuelos ’21, a newly-named NSF fellow, is in his second year of graduate school at the University of Wisconsin.
“I would like to bring research opportunities to people who don’t have higher education experience,” Banuelos said. “I would imagine starting with programs for middle schoolers, then high schoolers and adult learners. I want to be part of research addressing community problems and conducted by the people who live there.”
Banuelos credits inspiration for his career goals to the many mentors he had at K. Natalia Carvalho-Pinto, former director of the intercultural center, and Amy Newday, who provided guidance in food and farming justice, served as role models for applying theory to meet material needs.
“In my NSF application, I described meeting community needs as a central component of my scholarship,” he said. “Natalia and Amy are people who literally fed me while I was at K. They saw the student and the human. They handed me books, handed me plates, even welcomed my family. During a very difficult transition to grad school, they were there for me. When I’m a professor, I want to be like them. I’m grateful for the growth opportunities I had at K through the Intercultural Center and food and farming.”
‘It doesn’t happen every year’
Faculty members as a whole across STEM departments are taking great pride in these K representatives earning fellowships as it speaks to the quality of students at the College and their studies, especially as the number of recipients stands out.
“At K, it is exciting when even a single student wins a fellowship, and it certainly doesn’t happen every year,” Professor of Physics Tom Askew said. “It’s special to have four in one year.”
