As insects pester the agriculture industry, three Kalamazoo College alumni have been aiming to make a difference without pesticides for the sake of the world’s food supply.

In blazing a trail from K to K-State, also known as Kansas State University, entomologists Rob Morrison ’06, Marco Ponce ’19 and Sandra Lizarraga ’21, are performing research that has the potential to save billions of dollars of crops from ruin each year after harvest. The small swarm of researchers from K formed after Morrison started working as a research entomologist through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Grain and Animal Health Science in Manhattan, Kansas. One of the goals of Morrison’s unit at the center is to discover the natural smells that can make pests gather or scatter and use them to secure stored crops.

“Obviously, insects respond to odors in the environment,” Morrison said. “And microbes, which are everywhere—including in our food after harvest—are sources of many odors. Our labs try to minimize these microbes in our food, but we still need to figure out how insects are responding to them so we can manipulate their behavior.”

Morrison grew up in Arizona and chose K because he wanted to attend a liberal arts college and have the opportunity to study abroad. At K, Professor of Biology Ann Fraser was Morrison’s academic adviser, and she was largely responsible for developing his interest in entomology. Because faculty and staff such as Fraser were so influential to Morrison, he’s always felt it was important for him to give back to his alma mater.

“Everything I have in life, I owe to K,” Morrison said. “That sounds like an oversimplification, but it’s true. I owe my career interests to K, I met my spouse at K—in almost every regard, my life would be completely different if I had gone somewhere else.”

Morrison has been influential in Ponce’s success through Kansas State’s graduate program, and Ponce helped Lizarraga shape her Senior Integrated Project (SIP) through the university. In turn, Lizarraga would eventually like to return such a favor to another K student. In the meantime, the three have created a buzz in agricultural circles, and Morrison is praising the work of his proteges. 

“Both just have such incredible grit and are determined to succeed in the face of uncertainty,” Morrison said. “With both of them, I could tell by the questions they asked that their level of thinking was on a higher order than most of their peers. And that’s one of the things I enjoy about a lot of students from K. Relative to students from other institutions, I feel like K students tend to be more prepared. I always find it enjoyable to converse at a high level when we’re able to host them.”

PASSING THE TORCH

Marco Ponce first picked up the entomology bug as a child. In loving his time outdoors, Ponce was fascinated with natural objects ranging from rocks and wood to wildlife. Occasionally, he picked up some insects, keeping some of them in containers around the house or his bedroom until his mom found them.

“I didn’t know anything about insects so I used to give them fruit or cereal to eat, which seems funny now,” Ponce said. “I was really interested with nature overall, but more with insects since I was able to grab them and look at them closely.”

Even late in his high school studies, Ponce wasn’t sure he would attend college. Growing up between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, English was a second language for him, and he thought he would join the work force immediately after graduation. Then one of his teachers talked to him about the benefits of private colleges, which included small class sizes and opportunities to build relationships with professors.

After deciding to attend K, Ponce thought about following a pre-med track until he took Fraser’s entomology class.

“I didn’t know that you can actually work in a field like this, so I talked to Ann Fraser more,” Ponce said. 

That conversation and ones that followed encouraged Ponce to perform research in Fraser’s lab, first with painted lady butterflies, a species common in all climates throughout the world. His work analyzed how their antennae responded to different odors produced by flowers compared to those produced by potential predators such as ants. That led to Ponce conducting his SIP in Kansas under Morrison’s guidance while targeting alternative methods for managing red flour and lesser grain beetles, which primarily attack stored grains. Such work helped Ponce earn a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, through which he’s now working toward his Ph.D. at Kansas State.

“When I was doing my senior thesis, I saw how Rob managed the lab and he was really helpful,” Ponce said. “I can talk to Rob about more than just research and he gave me the opportunity to use my own ideas and do what I like most. Rob also likes to build a good community in the lab. He motivates me to be a good mentor. I’m really grateful that I was able to take this opportunity. I know that having such a good experience, I can help motivate others to enjoy doing research. I want to tell other people they’re not alone in their careers. If I can help other people, I will definitely do so.”

RETURNING THE FAVOR

Inspiration like that from Morrison prompted Ponce to return to his San Diego-area high school to talk with students. Just as a teacher approached him about private colleges, Ponce talked to students about the benefits of attending K. There, he connected with Sandra Lizarraga among a handful of others who also decided that K was a good fit for their education. 

“When he talked about college, it just clicked for me,” Lizarraga said. “He was definitely the person who showed me how much there is to like about K.”

Lizarraga had previously been acquainted with Ponce, but they didn’t know each other well until she attended K. Like Ponce, she considered following a pre-med track until he introduced her to entomology and nurtured her initial interest. They collected insects together at the Lillian Anderson Arboretum and he taught her how to create pin boards of insects for display. The pair also were among three students who co-founded the College’s entomology club, a group that reached out to local elementary schools to show children how interesting insects can be. 

“When we first made this outreach, the kids didn’t even want to be there,” Lizarraga said. “They were grossed out. But at the end of the program, they wanted to take the insects home and to know everything about them.”

On her own, Lizarraga followed a study abroad path typical for K biology majors, performing hands-on research at the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, an experience that convinced her to declare Spanish as a second major. Then, when Ponce earned his SIP research opportunity, he asked Lizarraga whether she would want to join him at Kansas State for her own SIP. It sounded like a great opportunity to her and she was excited to meet Morrison.

The end result was Lizarraga spending 10 weeks at Kansas State to complete her SIP, for which she earned honors from the biology department, before returning to finish her studies at K and research pesticides at a biotech company. At Kansas State, she analyzed rice weevils, which are stored-product pests that attack seeds of crops such as wheat, rice and maize. The pandemic meant she had to spend time in the lab by herself, but she received plenty of guidance from Ponce and Morrison.

“I got some experience writing lab reports at K, but this was completely different from anything I’d ever done,” Lizarraga said. “I received a lot of writing advice from Rob and Marco because they know how to go about doing it.”

As she now ponders graduate school and the possibility of her work being published in peer-review journals, she also is considering how she might be able to encourage other K students to follow in her footsteps.

“I do see myself helping another student as I have been helped,” Lizarraga said. “I want to show other people the amazing things they can find in entomology and what they can do in it.”

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A MENTOR’S REWARD

While it may sound like the biggest rewards in these professional and educational relationships belong to the students, Morrison might say otherwise. He feels pride in being able to provide research and professional development opportunities to students like Ponce and Lizarraga, and it’s enough of a reward that he would like to bring even more K students to his lab through the foreseeable future.

“I know that sometimes there aren’t as many SIP experiences available as there are students, so it’s a good feeling for me to be able to offer opportunities,” Morrison said. “All the students that have come to my laboratory from K so far have earned honors on their projects from the biology department, so I think that speaks to the value of the experience. I feel it’s important to give back and I have a lot of experience to give through my career. If I can give back in this way, that’s worth something to the next generation.”

If you love technology products from Apple, chances are you’ve admired the work of Paul Flynn ’83 without even knowing it. His job involves designing software that helps all the bells and whistles in your Apple Watch, iPhone or iPad coexist, preventing glitches.

“These items are small and they have lots of radios in them that kind of get in each other’s way sometimes,” said Flynn, a software engineering manager. “Normally, you’d want to design the product by fixing all those issues in the hardware, but that’s not totally possible to do. What I do is come up with solutions to fix it in software.”

After career stops at Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks and AT&T Bell Laboratories, Flynn joined Apple in 2011, where he has worked with iPhone development since the 5S model. He’s also expanding into technologies such as the Apple HomePod Mini. But before Flynn’s career success, he was a Heyl scholar at Kalamazoo College.

The Heyl Scholarship Fund, established in 1971 through the will of Dr. Frederick Heyl and Mrs. Elsie Heyl, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Frederick Heyl was the first chemist at The Upjohn Company, later becoming a vice president and the company’s first director of research. He also contributed to about 80 research papers and patents while teaching chemistry at K. He maintained a lifelong passion for science and education and was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree from K in 1937. 

Since then, Heyl scholarships have enabled hundreds of high school graduates from Kalamazoo County to attend Kalamazoo College for STEM-focused majors or Western Michigan University for nursing, with renewable benefits for up to four years that cover tuition, fees, housing and a book allowance.

As Flynn graduated from Loy Norrix High School in 1979, he considered attending Oberlin College, Carleton College and K. He leaned toward K because of its study abroad opportunities, and ultimately decided to stay in Kalamazoo when he earned a Heyl scholarship. He credits that decision for a lot of his career success.

“I had this broad range of experiences at K that helped me learn how to communicate more effectively,” Flynn said. “That’s one thing that is clearly different between me and the typical person I work with. Some days it feels like the bugs we have are due to miscommunications between people. They happen because one person told another person one thing, and the person who heard misunderstood. Written communication especially is not the forte of an engineer. But the differences in my college experiences have been really helpful.”

Flynn majored in math at K and remembers the steady influence of Wen Chao Chen, a political science professor who worked as a mentor for Heyl scholars of his time. Chen joined K’s faculty in 1950, and served as librarian, director of academic services, dean of special services, vice president, acting president and executive director of the L. Lee Stryker Center during his 36 years at the College. 

“For those of us who were Heyls at the time, he was a key presence for us,” Flynn said. “He was like a second academic adviser.”

In his sophomore year, Flynn had a career development experience interning with the state’s House Taxation Committee through state Rep. Mary Brown, a Democratic member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1977 through 1994. On Brown’s behalf, he analyzed the quantitative aspects of public policy by examining the effects of a specific policy on a given industry or the public.

In his junior year, Flynn studied abroad for two terms in Clermont-Ferrand, France, where he broke his ankle while running in a cross-country race. Regardless, Flynn credits the overall study abroad experience for helping him navigate aspects of international business culture while working in Europe and Asia in his career. And in his senior year, Flynn completed his Senior Integrated Project (SIP), an independent study in linguistics and formal languages.

Eight Heyl scholars have matriculated at K this fall, and all of Flynn’s experiences—plus his classes in French, Spanish, political science and economics—represent what Flynn would advise them to pursue in their years at the College.

“I would encourage them to take advantage of K being a liberal arts college and try out different things to see what interests them,” Flynn said. “Look for some breadth in your education. If you’re going to be a math major or a chemistry major, don’t just load up your schedule with tons of classes in the sciences. Go dabble in other areas to see what interests you because you never know what could be useful 10 to 20 years from now.”

‘I still remember when I got the call’

Annie Tyler ’22 is among the current Heyl scholars, and she exemplifies how the curiosity Flynn described can shape academic paths and student success. She’s a chemistry and religion double major, having taken classes as varied as Organic Chemistry and Spirituality, Money and Travel.

“Science explains how the world works and religion explains how humans work,” Tyler said. “I’ve also taken ancient Greek, which I never thought I would learn, but I did.”

When Tyler was in middle school, she began thinking about pursuing a college education out of state. In her time at Kalamazoo Central High School, however, she realized staying close to home would be beneficial.

“In my junior year I took AP chemistry and my teacher said I should think about going to K and applying for the Heyl,” Tyler said. “I thought about it more and more, and by senior year, I decided I would stick with K no matter what, even if I didn’t get the Heyl.”

Still, it was only a matter of time until she learned she would be a Heyl scholar.

“I still remember when I got the call,” Tyler said. “I was shopping for my prom shoes and I always have my phone loud. My mom could overhear the conversation and she was jumping for joy in a shoe store.”

As Declaration of Major Day approached her sophomore year, Tyler was tempted to choose biology over chemistry because she was intimidated by some of chemistry’s coursework, including calculus and physics. That’s when Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dwight Williams stepped in to guide her into thinking differently.

“Dr. Williams said, ‘Are you leaning toward being a bio major because they don’t have to take those classes or because you actually like biology?’” Tyler said. “I ended up majoring in chemistry. I took physics and calculus, and they were fine. I even took Calculus 3.”

Tyler now pursues personal passions in the Black Student Organization and Sukuma, a peer-based support group for students of color. Plus, she worked this year in Williams’ summer research lab, where she teamed up with eight other students in examining antibiotics and antimicrobials.

“Biotic resistance is a big problem right now,” Tyler said. “Penicillin was only discovered about 70 years ago, and it’s practically useless in a lot of bacteria. Our goal is to be able to make new antibiotics, so antibiotic resistance isn’t such a problem.”

Williams said Tyler had a distinctive role to fill within that lab.

“The chemistry I’m asking her to do is not trivial,” he said. “When we work through it, it’s supposed to work as we expect, but it might not. In order to do it, she’s got to be a creative thinker in terms of problem solving, and she’s tenacious. She doesn’t give up. I will definitely remember her as a student in my lab for many years to come.”

Tyler thinks she will take a gap year between graduating from K and beginning graduate school. She’s debating between medical school along with a career as a pediatrician and continuing in chemistry as the Heyl has empowered her to do.

“To be part of such an honored scholarship is really humbling,” she said. “Receiving it motivated me to do well because I knew I was here for a reason. I was given the scholarship because I can do well academically, so I felt I had to prove that I could, especially with there being such a love and respect for science in this community.”

Building a diverse pipeline

Scholars such as Flynn and Tyler have ensured the vibrance of Heyl success over the foundation’s first 50 years, and Heyl Foundation Executive Director Wraegen Williams seeks to build on that over the years to come.

Williams’ first year at K didn’t quite go as planned considering the pandemic’s effects. The traditional spring banquet honoring Heyl recipients, for example, was canceled in 2020 and the 2021 banquet was postponed until the fall. However, she has big plans to talk about the Heyl Foundation to younger Kalamazoo Public Schools students, diversify the pipeline of Heyl candidates, and increase word-of-mouth regarding Heyl scholarships in the community.

“We’re going to hit the ground running this fall,” Williams said. “Hopefully we can bring some more life to conversations about the Heyl, so we can have it on everybody’s lips. We’re probably never going to be as big as the Kalamazoo Promise, but our goals should be in that realm. People know about the Promise, and we also want them to know about the Heyl. That’s what I’m looking to bring to the table.”

Once Heyl scholars arrive on campus, Williams hopes to emphasize a well-rounded college experience beyond their STEM-related focuses.

“Even though the scholarship is geared toward science, we don’t want that to be their sole focus,” she said. “We want them to take advantage of a liberal arts education with that breadth and depth. They can’t be a part of that if they spend every night in their room studying. Yes, they’re on scholarship, but we want them involved with some clubs and to get involved in the community.”

And that involvement won’t stop when they leave campus, because Williams wants to build a community where Heyl scholars support each other beyond their undergraduate career.

“If alumni want to provide a student with a job shadowing experience or internship, or if they know about a job opportunity coming available appropriate for a graduate, or if they want to come back and talk with students about their profession, I want those types of opportunities shared in our community,” Williams said. “We’re just starting to see some of those connections among the students, faculty and alumni, but long term that’s what I’m looking to build.” 

Eighteen-year-old Ed Hortelano ’83, at that time finishing his high school education in Detroit, Michigan, and pondering a college education, had only once been out of North America. He knew almost nothing about travel abroad, even as the thought intrigued him. 

“I was hopelessly naïve then, as most 18-year-olds are,” Hortelano laughed. “I had only been to the Philippines because my parents were from there. But then we had College Day at my high school, and Kalamazoo College had a booth there—I had never heard of K—and it was all about study abroad.”

Hortelano did not know it then but choosing Kalamazoo College was about to open doors to the world for him, doors that would never close. 

“My other interest was chemistry,” he said. “I had a teenage fascination with melting things, changing things, but I also wanted to understand nature. At K, I majored in chemistry, and my sophomore year was the first time I got to work in a lab. From the experiences I had during my career development quarter, I knew that was what I wanted to do—to be a chemist.”

Hortelano took his first transatlantic trip to Hanover, Germany, with about a dozen other Kalamazoo College students, to study abroad for two quarters while living with a host family. Eyes wide, heart beating hard, he embraced the opportunity to walk into a world completely new and wonderfully strange to him. 

“Fantastic,” he said. “Living with a German family forced me to speak the language in daily life. I got all the cultural elements. I had heard in high school that German was important to chemistry—not true, that was just random advice—but I chose that path and it changed me. This was during the Cold War when Germany was divided into the East and the West. I hadn’t been interested in politics before then, but we were taken on a trip into Berlin, this bizarre island in the middle of East Germany, and seeing that gave me an entirely different perspective on the world—and also on America.”

Without the modern technological connections of today, Hortelano felt his separation from home sharply. 

“I wasn’t really homesick, just aware of distance, of my separation,” Hortelano said. “Writing letters became important. Transatlantic phone calls weren’t easy to arrange and were expensive. I began to understand how my parents must have felt leaving the Philippines and coming into a different culture and language.”

It was an experience Hortelano would never forget. After earning his Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry at Wayne State University, Hortelano began a career which would take him on the road across the country and overseas, traversing the globe. His ease adjusting to different countries, different cultures, became a quality employers noticed and rewarded. 

“My first job after earning my doctoral degree and postdoctoral fellowship eventually took me back to Germany,” Hortelano said. “For two-and-a-half years, I worked at the Bayer headquarters in Leverkusen. I was hired as a research chemist in part because I could speak both German and English. It was a good opportunity to see and be seen at the headquarters. It was the first opportunity to lead multi-cultural teams.”

For the next two decades, Hortelano worked for Bayer, moving from location to location as his work and positions progressed upward. Hortelano worked on—and led teams working on—polyurethane raw materials for coatings, adhesives and other applications. Over the course of his career, he had a variety of assignments, including heading a project to commercialize materials for holographic data storage, leading to sales to a global key account. 

Hortelano married a chemical engineer, Jane, in 2000. Their son, Ethan, was born in Pittsburgh in 2002. In 2009, the Hortelano family moved to Shanghai, China. The family returned to the United States when their son was in second grade at an international school, after 18 months in Asia. 

“While in China, I tried to learn some Mandarin words alongside my son. As we traveled in China or spent weekends together in Shanghai, I tried to help him understand the differences in culture and the privileges we enjoy in America,” Hortelano said. “When we returned to the States, to work at Bostik in Milwaukee, once again I was able to apply my global experiences. I was leading international teams developing adhesives—mostly for diapers. It’s a huge market.” By 2010, Hortelano was chief technology officer for the Bostik North American operations, and in 2015, he became global vice president at Loparex, leading product development, tech service and research activities.

This resulted in another family move to Raleigh, North Carolina, and once again Hortelano’s global reach was a valuable quality. Visiting his team required him to travel to the Netherlands, India, Thailand and back to China. At present, Hortelano leads materials development as the senior vice president of engineering and development at 3D Systems in South Carolina. 

And the travel never stops. 

“At 3D Systems, we are leaders in the field of 3D printing,” Hortelano said. “It’s a fantastic technology, building layers upon layers of plastic or metal, fusing powders with lasers. We also have technologies where we convert liquid resins to solids using light. My team is responsible for the development of all materials that are used by our printers.”

Maintaining his connection to Kalamazoo College throughout, Hortelano still remembers himself at that tender young age, looking out upon an unknown world and the adventures it offered. He wanted to pass that privilege along to those coming up in generations behind him. 

“I heard that my classmates were raising funds for an endowment so that students who couldn’t afford to study abroad could still have that experience,” he said. “I wanted to help to close that gap, so that anyone who wants to study abroad, can.”

It is not the only K connection Hortelano has maintained over the years. 

Since 2019, Hortelano has served as a trustee on the Kalamazoo College Board of Trustees, currently serving as vice chair of the buildings and grounds committee.

“If everything is working as it should, the physical footprint of K is invisible to you,” he said. “There’s still a lot to be done, but K has been working hard to maintain buildings and it’s been investing in renewing the physical plant. However, we do have a lot of constraints—for example, the challenge of having limited open land. Our dormitories are aging—I lived in Trowbridge, so I have a lot of affection for that building, but it is ancient. It needs to be updated or replaced, but where do we move the students during that time? Overcoming these challenges will require creativity and resources. The College is preparing to renew the Campus Master Plan, which will address this critical need.”

While working to solve such problems, Hortelano also manages to schedule in time to visit with friends from K—friends he’s had since he was a first-year student on Lux Row. 

“A handful of us have stayed close over the years, and about seven years ago, we decided to charter a sailboat for a long weekend together,” Hortelano said. “We’ve been doing that every year since—except this past year during the COVID-19 pandemic when we got together over Zoom calls, playing video games together once a week.” 

Hortelano laughed. “I need to apologize to my friends’ wives for the video games,” he said. “I treasure these friendships. We’ll be back on the water again this August.”

Travel, Hortelano has learned, creates distance but also reduces it. It has brought people close in business and in his personal life, expanded understanding of what makes us different and the same, breaking down barriers and building collaborations. 

“Study abroad was transformational in my life,” Hortelano said. “K gave me that.”

Letter from the Vice President

Growth, Renewal, Endurance. 

These words describe the bold outcomes K strives for as part of the Brighter Light Campaign. 

Growth in the College’s ability to provide access to the full richness of the K experience to bright and talented students, regardless of their means. Growth in its ability to attract and nurture high caliber, dedicated faculty as they continue to innovate, teach and mentor K students year after year.

Renewal of this beautiful, lively campus, creating and enhancing the environments where K students learn, live and play. Renewal of our students’ commitment to fellowship, leadership and learning and the College’s commitment to provide welcoming spaces in which those activities occur. 

Endurance of the programming that makes K a catalyst for the transformative personal and professional development of its students and extends K’s reach into the local community of which it is a part. Endurance created by a strong endowment and financial sustainability that will weather the types of challenges we collectively faced this past year.

In my short time at K, I have been continually gratified by the enthusiasm and generosity of so many of the College’s alumni and friends. I have delighted in hearing from alumni, students, faculty and community members who each have a remarkable and unique K story to tell, and I look forward to hearing many more! 

Every gift to K is a part of the Brighter Light Campaign; I invite you to learn more about the effort as we share stories of opportunity and the immediate and lasting impact of your collective philanthropy. As members of this vibrant and strong community, I invite you to “be the light” that will make the campaign’s goals a reality, sustaining and enhancing the excellence of a K education for future generations of students who will, in turn, bring a brighter light to the world. 

I look forward to connecting with you all as we work to transform K’s future.

Lux esto,

Karen T. Isble
Vice President
for College Advancement

A Transformational Campaign

A Q&A with campaign co-chairs and Board of Trustees members Amy Upjohn and Jim Heath ’78.

K has a mission to develop enlightened leaders. What does enlightened leadership mean to you and how does K deliver on it?

JIM: Leadership to me is really about being able to define purpose for both yourself and for your team—to provide a vision of what paths you might take and then trying to encourage others to follow that path, supporting and guiding them. I think that’s what Kalamazoo College teaches and what K represents. The College has a very clear purpose in trying to develop students—mind, body and soul—and the faculty, the staff and the coaches are there to guide and direct and provide this vision, and they do a fantastic job at it. This was certainly my experience. 

I was deeply impacted by several people at Kalamazoo College—professors and coaches who influenced me beyond what I learned on the field or in the classroom. People like Ed Baker who was the head football coach, who pushed me and taught me about going harder than I thought I could ever go, and Madame Dale, my French teacher, who was not going to accept my rather mediocre efforts, so to speak. And as a history major, I had three history professors—John Wickstrom, David Strauss and David Barclay—who were just terrific. They were super smart guys that never tried to be the smartest person in the room. They really tried to bring out the best in every one of their students. They taught me to appreciate history, a subject I really loved, and they pushed me beyond my comfort zone, forcing me to prepare and to really up my game. The lessons they taught me are the lessons that I have tried to instill in my children and also in my professional life. 

One of the campaign’s top priorities is growing the endowment. How does strengthening the endowment help K’s competitive position? 

AMY:  K has managed to do a lot of really good work without a huge endowment, yet we know that in order to stay competitive, we need to grow our resources. When I talk about being competitive, it’s not just about recruiting students. The larger our endowment, the more competitive we can be in recruiting and retaining faculty. K has an extremely impressive faculty, but for us to continue to attract these talented individuals and have them want to stay and grow here, and really invest themselves in the culture at Kalamazoo College and in the K-Plan, we have to be able to invest in them as well. 

The K-Plan itself is an exceptional program where we focus on developing students holistically—it isn’t just about giving them the academics and the degree and letting them figure out the world on their own after graduation. They’ve traveled overseas, they’ve had internships, they’ve had externships. We spend a lot of time focused on social justice and what the real needs are in society, and they’re exploring this abroad, in the U.S. and in our own community. We are helping prepare these students to be caring and perceptive individuals, people who really take the time to focus on others. We’re sending students into careers or off to graduate school who are fully prepared for whatever that next step brings. That’s what makes K competitive relative to other institutions, so continuing to expand those opportunities—as well as access to those opportunities—through the endowment is really important. 

In what ways do you see K creating a brighter light within the community?

AMY: That, for me, is the reason that I sit on the board as a trustee. I didn’t go to Kalamazoo College. I have connections to K through my family; my mother sat on the board, my father has an honorary degree, and my brother-in-law and niece graduated from the College. So as a young person I knew a lot about K. When I was first asked to sit on the board, it was really an honor, because I feel that Kalamazoo College brings so much to our community. And our community brings so much to K. 

When we look at community-based internships, for example, not only are our students growing and learning, they’re also giving back locally. Consider the Kalamazoo Public Schools and how hard they’re working to prepare kids for the Kalamazoo Promise scholarship program—our students are involved in many of those schools. And they aren’t just helping these students academically; with the personal experiences they bring, the experiences they’ve had with the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement and the Arcus Center—our students are equipped to understand the difficulties that some of the kids are facing. They understand diversity and inclusion, which is incredibly helpful to those schools and their students. 

When I look at the arts and the opportunities for theatre, music and collaboration with the community, like the Gilmore Piano Festival or the Bach Festival, all those things make our community stronger. It’s great for our faculty and staff, too, living in a vibrant community where they can see the support and the philanthropy. And this outstanding faculty and student body that we have, they want to be a part of the Kalamazoo community. The K-Plan encourages them to get involved. That’s huge for Kalamazoo. And it provides a whole other support network for students while they’re here. 

What led you sign on as a campaign co-chair? 

AMY: I am so excited about this campaign and the focus on endowment, because I think that is our greatest need, and it will have the greatest impact on the college as a whole, as well as individually to our faculty, staff and students. As I said earlier, this is an opportunity for me to give back to an institution that has had a huge impact on a community I love and have lived in all my life. 

JIM: In its own way, Kalamazoo College has transformed the lives of so many and we need to continue to do that, in a way that’s a little more personalized, that offers a variety of experiences that students can take advantage of and with faculty and a staff who are very committed to fulfilling the mission. This campaign is a way for us to build up the endowment and other areas that are necessary to continue K’s great legacy. 

Be The Light

When students come to K, it’s not just about becoming a physics major or getting a job. It’s really about transforming young people’s lives and teaching them that learning never ends. I’m learning as much today if not more than I did 40 years ago. I started out in my career as a teacher and a coach, and later I went into business. I was ready to tackle anything even though I was more of a generalist—I felt like I could assimilate into just about any role because I had this well-rounded education. My experience as a student at K was something that I feel very strongly about, and I want to continue to be able to help other kids get these opportunities—in the classroom, outside the classroom, overseas, etcetera. That’s why I’m a member of the Board of Trustees and why I agreed to be a campaign co-chair. Contributing to this campaign and being able to further this mission is really important to creating a brighter future and ultimately a brighter world. 

GIVE TODAY:

The Kalamazoo College Fund: Provide vital support for all aspects of the K student experience.

Endowed Gifts: Support K’s liberal arts mission with a gift that lasts forever by endowing scholarships, faculty recruitment and retention, academic and co-curricular programs, experiential learning and athletics.

Planned Gifts: Create a legacy by including K in your estate plans or by making a gift that provides you with income for life.

WAYS TO GIVE:

Online: Give securely online by visiting kzoo.edu/onlinegiving/. Gifts can be made using a MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover card, PayPal, Venmo, or ACH bank transfer (wire transfer).

Call: Please call 269.337.7236 and Advancement staff can process your credit card gift over the phone.

Send a Check: Checks may be made payable to Kalamazoo College and sent to: Kalamazoo College, Office of Advancement, 1200 Academy Street, Kalamazoo, MI, 49006.

Securities Transfers: Transferring appreciated publicly traded securities to K allows you to avoid capital gains taxes and receive a tax deduction for your gift. 

IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD): A QCD is an otherwise taxable distribution from an IRA owned by an individual who is 70½ or older that is paid directly from the IRA to a qualified charity. Making a QCD to K counts toward your required minimum distribution and is excluded from your taxable income. 

Corporate Matching Gifts: Gifts matched by your employer provide a wonderful opportunity to double, sometimes even triple, your contribution to K. 

More questions? Contact our Advancement team at 269.337.7236 for assistance, or visit kzoo.edu/brighterlight.