News

The theme was “Meaning” but the keyword was “opportunity” for Albion’s first BRITx Talks event, held October 20 as part of Homecoming 2017 festivities. A rebellious student, a failed partnership, a lucrative-but-unfulfilling job, and a career-changing discovery made on an exercise bike—each gave the alumni presenters an unlikely opportunity to clarify the values and passions that have led to success.

When Harim “Sunny” Kim prepared for a ministry mission trip to Mexico just weeks before starting her first year at Albion, she packed her violin, not wanting to miss a week of practice. Three trips and some 40 instruments later, Kim has left a musical mark in Mexico.

It’s a long way from the Chicago neighborhood of Bronzeville to the pastoral equestrian setting of Albion College. But for Alicia Espinoza, ’20, it was a trip worth making. Intrigued though unfamiliar with the sport, the Noble Charter Network graduate is now a member of Albion’s equestrian team, and it has become a valuable part of her college experience.

For the Michigan natives and longtime New Englanders, the intention is broad yet straightforward: The Murray and Jean Penzotti Swindell Student Impact Scholarship will support bright students with financial need, support President Mauri Ditzler’s vision of growth for both the College and the Albion community, and help make Albion College well known nationally as a top-notch liberal arts school.

Professor emeritus of religious studies William Gillham, age 84, died unexpectedly in Albion on Saturday, October 14. Gillham was hired by the College in 1961 as a combination philosophy and religion professor; his arrival doubled the size of both departments and he held that joint appointment for many years. He was an ardent champion of the liberal arts tradition focused in the Western classical canon.

Richard and Marilyn Vitek, ’56 ’56, have shared their lives together for more than 60 years. Part of that sharing has come in the form of years-long generosity to their alma mater. Now, the couple is celebrating the timelessness and universality of music through their largest gift to the College. The Viteks have formally made a significant gift commitment—the biggest by an individual or couple in Albion College’s 182-year history—that will result in a new campus building to be called the Richard and Marilyn Vitek Center for Musical Arts.

“It’s a huge legal document with a lot of SEC regulations,” says Laura Newbury, ’18, of Intel’s annual report. “I wasn’t breaking them or going over the line, but sometimes nudging what we could do within those rules.” An intern who “nudges” SEC guidelines sounds like a supervisor’s worst nightmare, but Newbury says her work was about best practice. She spent the summer with Intel’s external reporting headquarters in Portland, Oregon, following the company mandates to “rock the boat” and “change something.”

Diversity, inclusion, free speech and respect were the topics of discussion at a September 28 campus-wide forum where students were challenged “to be open-minded and be willing to change your own mind.” In Goodrich Chapel, a faculty panel answered student-submitted questions amid the backdrop of recent events on campus.

Drew Christopher, Albion College psychological science professor, has been honored with the 2017 Teaching and Mentoring Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. “I try to teach [students] that there are oftentimes multiple ways to solve a problem,” he says of his teaching style.

The 25-block Harrington Neighborhood, located on and around Cass Street just west of the Albion College campus approaching downtown, is featured in the September/October edition of The Review, a publication produced by the Michigan Municipal League. The project, which launched in early 2016 following a $1 million gift from Michael and Judy Harrington, ’85 ’86, is starting to make a notable impact as faculty and staff renovate existing homes, construct new houses and become an even closer part of the Albion community.