Update
June 2022
Dr. Curtis at 100: Celebrating a Life of Service
Happy Birthday, Dr. Curtis! Albion College recently celebrated with esteemed alumnus Dr. James L. Curtis, ’44, as he marked his 100th birthday in Upper Baldwin with his family, friends and members of the community. Every member of the audience had a story to tell about how Curtis impacted them in their lives and how profoundly he changed them. The evening was filled with laughter, love and tears — along with blues music and vanilla cupcakes (Curtis’ two requests for the evening). “In planning this event with Dr. Curtis, I continue to be inspired by his vocation, advocacy and principles,” said Dr. Ashley Woodson, dean of the School for Public Purpose and Professional Advancement (SPP). “He is committed to higher education access for diverse students, a guiding feature of the mission of SPP. He's my favorite part of my job!” Several proclamations and resolutions were read — from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer; a musical tribute from alumnus Jontaj Wallace, ’20; Interim
President Joe Calvaruso, ’78, who read the Board of Trustees resolution; Curtis Institute for Race and Belonging Faculty Director Dr. Dominick Quinney; and Mayor Victoria Garcia Snyder, ’89, who read a proclamation from the City of Albion. Albion NAACP Chapter President Robert Dunklin’s resolution was read by Albion professor emeritus of history Dr. Wes Dick; Talmon Butler read Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity's resolution; and Lisa Harris, ’89, gave remarks from the family. Curtis was born in Jeffersonville, Ga., April 27, 1922, to Will and Frances, who instilled the values of education, positive racial identity, personal resilience and collective struggle in him. He surmounted racial and socioeconomic hurdles to graduate from Albion High School in 1940, Albion College in 1944 and the University of Michigan in 1946. Across five decades, Curtis established himself as an expert in the recruitment, retention and development of diverse students in health and wellness professions as a clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, associate dean
Albion College Update is a free publication produced by the Office of Marketing and Communication and distributed to alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the College. The next edition of Io Triumphe will publish in Fall 2022.
of Cornell University Medical College and director of psychiatry at Harlem Hospital Center. He authored three books that continue to inform best practices at Albion and in medicine, history and Black studies. Curtis is a beloved and awarded alumnus of Albion College, receiving — among other recognitions — the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1968, an honorable Doctor of Science degree for contributions in the field of medicine in 1992, and, in 2018, the Service Award from the Black Student Alliance and Office of Intercultural Affairs as well as the Mackinac Leadership Award from then-President Mauri Ditzler. In 2020, Curtis lent his name to the James L. Curtis Alumni Leadership Award for Black alumni who have made significant contributions to Albion College and its students. Curtis’ vision for equity and excellence in education inspired him to lend both his name and resources to establish the James L. Curtis Institute for Race and Belonging. This experiential learning institute has as its mission to integrate and model hope, reparation and community as guiding principles for justice-driven experiential education, with an emphasis on inclusive science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
ALBION COLLEGE'S MISSION Albion College is an undergraduate, liberal arts insitution committed to academic excellence. We are learning-centered and recognize that valuable learning takes place in and outside the classroom, on and off campus. We prepare student to translate critical thought into action.
Music and Motion Roommates all four years, a pair of piano and physics students hit the right notes with minimal friction. “Danny and I exchanged a By Jake Weber few texts over the summer, but Countless alumni can tell we never actually planned to stories of lifelong friendships room together,” Jennings says. that began on campus. But “I was filling out the residence even among those alums, not hall application and I didn’t many spent eight semesters know anyone else, so I just put living with the same person. his name down. I didn’t even Nathaniel Jennings, ’22, think to tell him before he and Danny McGarry, ’22, asked me if I wanted to room not only accomplished with him.” that feat, they also ended As the younger brother of their Albion careers with a student at the time (Josh events showcasing shared McGarry, ’19), Danny was achievements in an unusual familiar with Albion. He was double major. In April, the leaning toward a physics major duo presented a physics when he won a performance research project during scholarship that required him the Elkin R. Isaac Student Daniel McGarry (left) and Nathaniel Jennings presented their to pursue a music major as Research Symposium; less research, titled “Thrust Vector Controlled Model Rockets,” at the well. than a week later, they 2022 Isaac Symposium. Given they shared both a performed a two-piano room and two majors, the duo arrangement of Gershwin’s has spent a lot of time together “Cuban Overture” during in class and adjoining practice rooms. They’ve performed McGarry’s senior recital. In between these two events, together nearly every semester and, through the College’s Jennings appeared with the Albion College Symphony Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Orchestra as the 2022 Concerto Competition winner. Creative Activity, spent the summer of 2021 on a research Both graduated May 7 from Albion with a bachelor’s project focused on rocketry. degree in music performance and combined-engineering And, as it turns out, the end of their Albion careers may physics with a minor in applied mathematics. not be the end for the roommates. Both applied to aerospace In some ways, Jennings and McGarry had little choice in engineering programs for this fall. While they didn’t apply becoming friends. “When I applied to Albion, I was under the to all the same schools, there’s still a chance they could find impression that majoring in physics and in music wasn’t that themselves in the same city. uncommon,” says Jennings with a smile. (In fact, the last such “We made it work over the last four years, and we’ve double major at Albion had graduated in 2008.) A native of worked very hard to get where we are,” McGarry says. “I don’t Nebraska, Jennings had met piano professor Dr. David Abbott see why we couldn’t do it again.” through Kalamazoo’s Gilmore International Piano Festival, and chose Albion as a place to pursue that double major.
June 2022 | 3
Back in Person, Stronger Than Ever Now in its fourth decade, the Isaac Symposium represents a triumph of undergraduate research and scholarship across the liberal arts and sciences. By Ariel Berry The Elkin R. Isaac Student Research Symposium returned to its beloved in-person format in the Science Complex April 21, after being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic the last two years: canceled in 2020 and conducted virtually in 2021. “It’s important to reestablish this tradition,” says Jill Marie Mason, ’01,
4 | Albion College Update
director of the library and Symposium coordinator. “We’ve had two classes of students who haven’t been familiarized with this annual celebration.” With both morning and afternoon sessions, Albion College has presented the event for more than 30 years. Students can participate in two ways: through platform presentations, where they discuss their research in front of a large audience and answer questions; and poster presentations, where students create a research poster and informally discuss it with visitors. Some students do multiple presentations in multiple years. The intellectual extravaganza that is the Isaac Symposium has enjoyed its
unique place on the academic calendar and in the campus culture. “It’s a nice time to meet people from across campus, and mingle with people whom you might not see every day,” Mason says. “There’s an excitement in the air that’s always enjoyable and palpable.” She points out that students often invite family members and friends to attend their presentations, and community members are welcome to come as well, in addition to other students, faculty and staff. “It’s nice to see the students all dressed up and with their families,” Mason says. “And watching each other and seeing them support each other, it’s fulfilling.”
Book Boundaries Alexandria Eberly, ’22, who graduated in May as an art and art history double major and history minor, presented on book arts as a culmination of her senior thesis and summer 2021 project through the College’s Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (FURSCA). “I’ll be going into graduate school after Albion, and I felt like the Symposium is a really wonderful opportunity to highlight what I have been doing for the last four years,” Eberly says. “It felt like a good conclusion to everything I’ve been working on.” Eberly’s work challenges the limits of the form of a book. She wants to “create books that might not immediately be thought of as a book by the viewer if you were to walk into a gallery space and see it presented,” she says. An example is her work “Puddle Book,” a mylar sheet with poetry blind-embossed onto it so that the text is almost invisible. When placed on a gallery floor, the “book” imitates a puddle. Eberly says participating in the Symposium makes delivering research presentations feel more accessible to students. “I think this makes it sort of easy and appealing for students to share their research and get that experience, and learn that it’s not something scary and intimidating, that only professionals do,” she says.
Real-World Science Peter Filbrandt, ’23, a biochemistry and Spanish double major with a concentration in public health, agrees that the Symposium is a valuable experience. “Just being involved in the scientific community” is of particular importance, he says. “In my future
I’ll definitely be involved in the sciences, and just thinking broadly and answering questions and brainstorming on the spot will help me develop skills that can be applicable and beneficial for my future career.” Filbrandt’s presentation focused on hard science with real-world effects. “There are food crops such as tomatoes and wild rice that can be targeted for infection by bacteria, and so it has the potential to be a big problem, especially because so many people around the world rely on rice in their diet to live healthily,” he says. “So, although it might not be the biggest problem right now, these pathogens can potentially disrupt the lives of a lot of people.” Mason says that while many Isaac Symposium presenters are associated with FURSCA or the Prentiss M. Brown Honors Program, “Anyone can do it who’s done research. More students should take advantage of the opportunity because I think it’s a great way to build experience with public speaking,” she says. “The students work really hard, and we need to celebrate their efforts, and their scholarship.”
Opposite page: History major Akaiia Ridley, ’22, gave a platform presentation titled, “The Beginning of Belonging: Exploring the Black History of Albion College.” Above: Biology major Austin Raymond, ’23 (right), discusses his research poster about DNA repair in the common fruit fly. Below: Alexandria Eberly, ’22 (left), and Peter Filbrandt, ’23, were among the 100-plus Albion students who participated in the 2022 Elkin R. Isaac Student Research Symposium.
June 2022 | 5
Bright Day, Bright Future Albion’s Class of 2022 celebrates Commencement during a sunny spring afternoon on the Quad.
Left: Moments before the processional (left to right): Board of Trustees Chair Joey Miller, ’75; Commencement speaker Dr. James Wilson, ’77; Trustee Michael Williams, ’78; and Interim President Joe Calvaruso, ’78. Above: Members of the Class of 2022 moved their tassels from the right side of their caps to the left. Opposite page: Albion’s newest graduates take in the moment together.
By Jake Weber After a week of rainy days and nervous weather watching, Albion College breathed a sigh of relief on the perfect spring day that was Commencement 2022. Faculty, friends and families of 307 graduates gathered in front of Kresge Gymnasium May 7 in celebration of the College’s newest alumni. “We are incredibly proud of all that you have achieved through your classes and projects; during your internships and off-campus experiences; in the friendships and lasting connections
6 | Albion College Update
you’ve made,” said Interim President Joe Calvaruso, ’78, during his welcoming remarks. “We know that even more impressive accomplishments are yet to come — accomplishments that will help shape your future, to be certain, but ours as well. Congratulations, and thank you!” As the senior class speaker, Haley McQuown, ’22, noted that the class distinguished itself through a spirit of community that learned how to navigate virtual environments, led the reestablishment of student organizations following the height of the COVID-19
pandemic, protested for change and founded numerous groups devoted to campus diversity. “We are about to leave the physical boundaries of Albion College, but we have the tools to benefit [our new communities] with our individual strengths, and we also have each other,” McQuown said. “We will be of even more value to each other as we continue to learn and grow wherever we go next.”
An Education to ‘Think Big’ Along with receiving an honorary
doctorate of humane letters, 1977 Albion alumnus James Wilson, M.D. Ph.D., gave the College’s newest graduates a thought-provoking Commencement address. A world-class gene therapy researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, Wilson and his wife, Lisa Dolik Wilson, ’79, in 2018 gave one of the College’s largest gifts to establish the Lisa and James Wilson Institute for Medicine, which counted 71 members among the Class of 2022. An additional $1 million gift from the Wilsons to further support and expand Institute offerings was announced from the stage during the Commencement ceremony. In his remarks, Wilson discussed the “bright side” of medical technology in addressing the COVID pandemic — along with the persistent “dark side” of growing inequities in health care among countries and populations. “Developing
global solutions to global health problems is not only the right and moral thing to do; it’s the necessary thing to do,” he said. Wilson concluded his remarks with a few lessons he gained from his student days. “The technical competencies of sciences and humanities served as essential foundations for my career, but my Albion experience provided me with much, much more,” he said. “At Albion, I learned to think big. I learned that my education did not stop with graduation. Your goal should be to assure that you are never the smartest person in the room. “At Albion I also learned the importance of service in helping the most vulnerable and underserved, which in my career [concerns] rare diseases,” Wilson said. “I hope the purpose you learned will serve as a beacon for you to continue to do good in this world. We’re counting on you.”
Faculty Farewell Michael Dixon, professor of art and art history, offered remarks following the conferral of degrees. “When you leave here and go out into the world, that is when the true mentorship begins,” he said, recounting a conversation he had with a former student who is now a graduate teaching assistant at Purdue University. “He was in the midst of grading his drawing class when he thought to call me to let me know that now he ‘gets it.’ We had a good laugh,” Dixon said, adding that such relationships — lasting well past any student’s four years — are something to look forward to for every member of the Class of 2022. “I hope you know that we, the faculty, will always be a resource for you along this journey. And we will look forward to that random call when you let us know that now you ‘get it,’ too.”
June 2022 | 7
A New ‘Workhorse’ for Chemistry An important instrument used by more than 100 students each semester will be upgraded to a new model during the 2022-23 academic year. For more than 20 years a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer, manufactured by JEOL Ltd. and acquired through support from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation, has served as backbone equipment for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, both for class work as well as for student and faculty research. NMR spectrometry is essentially the same technology as magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, for humans, only at the molecular level. “This is a workhorse instrument for the department,” says Dr. Lisa Lewis, professor and interim chair of chemistry and biochemistry, adding that an NMR spectrometer is required instrumentation in order to maintain accreditation by the American Chemical Society. According to Lewis, replacement had become necessary, and obsolescence was not far down the road. “JEOL has been supporting us and doing everything they can to find spare parts, but now they are running out of sources,” Lewis says.
The Right Formula
According to Lewis, a grant application to the National Science Foundation was not in the cards since NSF funds typically don’t support replacement equipment. But a conversation with Albion’s Institutional Advancement team proved to be a catalyst.
8 | Albion College Update
Hannah Geiss, ’22, prepares samples to be analyzed by the College’s current NMR spectrometer. A brand-new spectrometer is on order.
A new $1 million gift from 1977 Albion alumnus James M. Wilson, M.D. Ph.D., and his wife, Lisa Wilson, ’79, was announced at the May 7 Commencement ceremony, and a portion of their gift is being used to match an in-kind gift from another source to complete the purchase of the new spectrometer. “This is a great example of collaboration,” says Kim Arndts, ’84, chief advancement officer — alumni relations and stewardship. “We were able to identify members of the Albion College community who would support this effort.”
Student Success
Samantha Dye, ’23, is already excited to use the new NMR spectrometer. The order has been placed and the new instrument, also made by JEOL, is due
to arrive near the end of the calendar year and be ready for use by the start of the spring 2023 semester. Dye, a biochemistry major, Spanish minor and Wilson Institute member from Canton, Mich., recently completed an internship at the University of Pennsylvania through The Philadelphia Center and is participating in a Research Experience for Undergraduates this summer at the University of Puerto Rico. “I use [the spectrometer] in most of my chem classes and for my research quite frequently because I am working on a synthetic project,” Dye says. “That means every time before I can move on to the next step, the next reaction, I want to make sure what I have is pure and what I want, and I do that by using the NMR.”
Importance to Program
Dr. Craig Streu’s regular use of the instrument — the actual one that will be in use for one more semester — goes back to his undergraduate years as well. The associate professor of biochemistry received his bachelor’s degree from Albion in 2004. “I’m probably the only person who will miss the old NMR,” Streu says, before quickly adding, “I’m thrilled for the new NMR because it is central to our work at the cutting edge in classes and in research. It’s used throughout the curriculum in ways that are only possible at a place like Albion. It’s difficult to explain the extent of its importance to our program.”
In Memoriam Environmental advocate and leader Walt Pomeroy, ’70, the Albion College student featured in CBS News’ 1970 Earth Day special, passed away May 24. Read about his life and impact at albion.edu/earthday.
Professor Joe Lee-Cullin (below) and Albion Honors students kayak on the Kalamazoo River.
Earth Day at Albion: Still Vital By Ariel Berry Earth Day, April 22, is special for several reasons. It’s a time when people around the globe take time to reflect on the importance of the health of the planet. Many participate in volunteer activities toward this end, or make lifestyle changes to reduce energy waste. At Albion College, Earth Day is special for all of these reasons. But it is also one of Albion’s claims to fame. The College, and the City of Albion, were among the first to celebrate Earth Day in 1970. Both were featured in a Walter Cronkite-hosted prime-time CBS News special at the time. The segment features Albion College students and Albion residents working together to make a difference.
It may be more than 50 years later, but that civicminded spirit at Albion College hasn’t changed. In fact, it has grown. This past spring, Dr. Joe Lee-Cullin, assistant professor of earth and environment, taught a Prentiss M. Brown Honors Program class titled Citizen Science and Community Engagement in the Natural Sciences. Lee-Cullin said the class focused on “How do we get participation of nonscientists in science?” The class designed stream gauges, essentially large rulers, for each branch of the Kalamazoo River, along with signage to encourage passersby to note the water level and text their observation to a number provided. The data will be automatically entered into a spreadsheet, available through
the class’s community partner, the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council. The process may be simple, but the implications for scientists, kayakers and canoers will be valuable, says Lee-Cullin. Knowing how much water is in the river at a certain point can tell hydrologists a lot about the health of the land around the river, as well as the water. “I think part of the impetus for the stream gauges wasn’t necessarily that data collection is the most important thing,” said Lee-Cullin, who joined the Albion faculty in 2020. "But it's a way to get people to look at the stream." Dr. Thom Wilch, professor of earth and environment, serves as faculty director of the Center for Sustainability and the Environment and also co-chairs the Sustainability Council, a group that advises the College on sustainability issues. He says that while “in many ways the original Earth Day was a turning point” and much progress has been made, the environmental issues at that time still remain. “Since then, the consequences of environmental degradation have become more profound,” Wilch says. “In 1970 no one was concerned about climate, but now the climate crisis has become an existential issue. I am motivated by the many students at Albion who are concerned about the environment and climate change, and who want to take action to make a more sustainable and just college, community and world.”
June 2022 | 9
Faculty Spotlight Math and art are two things that many people don’t readily associate with each other. But for Dr. David Reimann, professor of mathematics and computer science, they are intrinsically linked. And he has an award to prove it. Reimann recently won the American Mathematical Society’s JMM Mathematical Art Exhibition Award for best photograph, painting or print with his work “Septenary Circles.” He says the idea for the artwork was inspired by the weekly mathematics and computer science colloquium at Albion College. A decade ago, a colloquium speaker talked about Langford sequences. Reimann’s interest was sparked. “I just tucked it away in the back of my mind for a while,” he says. He also became aware of Bridget Riley, an optical artist who became popular in the 1960s for her paintings of vertical stripes of color. “I kind of put these two ideas together into this artwork,” Reimann says. Langford sequences are a mathematical problem posed by English math teacher Dudley Langford. “This problem dates back to the 1950s from Langford,” says Reimann. “He came upon this problem playing with his son stacking blocks, and he noticed if you have three blocks with three colors that you could stack them where one color is between the reds, two colors between the blues and three colors between the yellows.” Inspired by this problem, Reimann says, “I combined this idea of Langford’s original connection of this with colored blocks to these Bridget Riley stripe paintings, and just use concentric circles rather than vertical stripes as a way of doing that.” For Reimann, the connection between math and art is natural. “Math has an intersection with lots of different subjects,” he says. “Math can tell a story. You can use a mathematical concept to illustrate some aspects of humanity in some way.” Read more about Reimann and his art at albion.edu/reimann. FIND MORE ONLINE www.albion.edu Connect with students, faculty, staff and alumni through Albion College's social media channels.
10 | Albion College Update
“My favorite part of teaching at Albion every year is working with the students,” says Dr. John Carlson, who retired in May as associate professor of economics and management after a decade of service. “I just like helping out, getting them started on their way, whatever that direction is.” A corporate accountant for many years before Albion who also worked for the Cincinnati Symphony, Carlson was especially known for his creative assignments, including one known as The Dude, inspired by the film The Big Lebowski. “His creativity with class assignments made learning more fun,” says Katie Donahue, ’13, a CPA and tax manager at Plante & Moran. Albion College, Carlson says, “was everything I expected, plus more.” Dr. Vicki Baker’s sixth book in five years further solidifies her standing as a nationally recognized expert in the unique issues faced by mid-career faculty in higher education. In Managing Your Academic Career: A Guide to Re-Envision Mid-Career, published by Routledge in May, the professor of economics and management ties together stories and case studies from the worlds of organizational development and human resources, as well as higher education, to inform, illuminate and inspire potential paths forward for established faculty, whether that be the road to full professor or an administrative pursuit. “Faculty development spans individual-, department- and institutional-level considerations. And this book captures that,” Baker says.
Albion Ranks Among Top 50 U.S. Small, Private Colleges The newest ranking of colleges by Money.com, released in May, counts Albion College among the country’s top 50 private institutions with fewer than 2,500 students. With a 12-to-1 student-faculty ratio, Albion has long been known for its teaching and the connections students create with professors and staff. Those connections regularly lead to impactful experiential learning and networking opportunities on and off campus, often through the College’s well established institutes and centers that focus on public policy and service, business,
medicine and health, sustainability and the environment, and teacher development. Money’s 2022 Best Colleges listing also puts Albion at No. 32 among all colleges and universities in the Great Lakes states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Additionally, Money included Albion in its top quartile of America’s best value colleges and universities that admit at least 20 percent of applicants. “As they navigate their college search, prospective students and their families continually come to see the
value of an Albion education,” says Jamie Krueger, vice president of enrollment management. “They catch glimpses of that value in conversations with their tour guide and other students during a campus visit. It comes through in a phone call with a professor, coach or member of our admission team. They hear or read success stories about our alumni. “From enrollment to graduation, our students know that Albion’s combination of opportunity, value, and personal attention and support is one that few other schools can match,” Krueger says.
June 2022 | 11
NON-PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID ALBION MI 49224 PERMIT No. 35 611 East Porter Street Albion, MI 49224
ROCK YOUR WAY The Campus Rocks Collection by Detroit-based jewelry maker Rebel Nell features fallen paint from Albion College’s Rock. The collection was created to encapsulate the symbolism college rocks have for the student experience: activism, empathy, camaraderie and togetherness. Learn more about the Campus Rocks collection at rebelnell.com. Pick up your piece of the Rock today.