Academics

For Darrell Williams, ’77, leadership skills seem to have followed him since his days as a youngster in Inkster, Mich., eventually settling around him like a cloak. “When I grew up I was always watching leaders and I was behind leaders watching them and seeing what they did,” he says. “When the time came for me to be a leader, I knew how to step into that position.”

Dannia Edwards, ’83, who in 2019 became the first African American female judge in Minnesota’s First Judicial District, presented the keynote address to the Bohm Theatre audience January 28 during the 2020 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation and Community Celebration. Judge Edwards noted that while African Americans have already seen the election of the first black U.S. president and a new naval aircraft carrier named for Pearl Harbor hero Doris Miller, the country still struggles with prejudice and discrimination.

Albion College is part of an illustrious list as it was recently named one of the top 30 colleges and universities in the Midwest by ThoughtCo.com. The institutions were chosen based on factors ranging from student retention and graduation rates to student engagement, selectivity and financial aid.

Minnesota District Court Judge Dannia Edwards shares her understanding of justice at the 2020 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation and Community Celebration on Tuesday, January 28, at 7 p.m. in Albion’s Downtown Bohm Theatre.

When it comes to the problems facing most college students in their first extended period away from home, Director of Residential Life Marcus Dawson can understand. And he has made it his mission to help smooth that journey. “Students are learning about life,” says Dawson, who joined Albion in July.

After a distinguished career in higher education spanning more than four decades, Dr. Mauri A. Ditzler has informed the Board of Trustees he plans to retire from his role as President of Albion College at the end of the 2019-20 academic year. During a town hall meeting with students, faculty, staff and community leaders, Ditzler shared the news he will step back from day-to-day leadership of the liberal arts college in June 2020, transitioning into a new role where he will lead a number of special projects for up to the next two years. The Board of Trustees announced it has engaged a national firm to lead a search for the 17th president of Albion College.

A November 10, 1:32 p.m. ET, email from President Mauri Ditzler to the Albion College community.

The largest gift in the history of Albion College has a goal equally as large—providing students of greatest need with every opportunity possible to successfully navigate, and thrive, in the demanding and turbulent waters that are the college experience. Impressed by Albion’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, Sarah Cutler (known to most as Sally), ’75, and her husband, Alexander (better known as Sandy), have given a landmark $8 million gift to create the Sarah S. and Alexander M. Cutler Center for Student Success and Academic Achievement to help smooth the path toward graduation for underrepresented, first-generation and other students in need.

Messages from President Ditzler and the Office of Campus Safety following a discrimination incident reported on Monday, October 21.

For the first time, a graphic novel was Albion’s pick for the annual Richard M. Smith Common Reading Experience—The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui. Following Bui’s afternoon talk September 26 in Goodrich Chapel, Alan Headbloom, ’75, screened his documentary Newcomer Legacy, recounting the immigrant experiences of nine Vietnamese refugees who settled in Grand Rapids in the 1970s.