News

For Judy and Michael Harrington (alumni from 1986 and 1985, respectively), the memories of selfless parents and a top-flight education at Albion College have spurred them to make a significant seven-figure gift to the school that has meant so much to them over the years. The gift consists of two parts: one will launch a residential community building initiative that will bring faculty and staff closer to the students; the other will provide financial support for students who need help continuing their education at Albion.

It was December 2015, her first college winter break, and Morgan Garmo, ’19, was looking for something to do. Then her aunt invited her to help make blankets for a brand-new nonprofit. Two months later, Garmo has signed on as Fleece & Thank You (F&TY) CFO, with the support of many of her fellow students at Albion.

Mike Turner coached the Albion men’s basketball team for 34 years. Now retired, he’s helping the College out in new ways.

With soft-spoken grace, sharp wit and a unique discernment of important events, Diane Nash enthralled a full Bohm Theatre audience in downtown Albion February 2 for the 2016 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation and Community Celebration.

Dramatic presentations, interactive entertainment and the unique cuisines of African Americans are all part of Albion’s celebration of Black History Month. The following events are free and open to the public unless otherwise specified. For more information, contact Albion College’s Office of Intercultural Affairs director Keena Williams, [email protected] or 517/629-0501.

Sometimes, as Ann McCulloch, ’93, has discovered, a new start can be found in the place you least expect. For the Ford Institute alumna, it was in one of the places she knew best and loved most. For the past year, she’s been the director of chapter and association relations for Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest collegiate honors program in the country and an organization near and dear to her heart.

On January 23 at the Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids, two Albion alumni conducted statewide high school honor choir concerts before a packed house of more than 2,000 in DeVos Performance Hall. Associate Professor Clayton Parr, ’80 (far left), and Wendee Wolf-Schlarf, ’83, who teaches in the Traverse City Public Schools, were selected by a statewide ballot of their vocal music teaching colleagues across the state of Michigan.

Both subtle and dramatic, change is coming to Albion College in the form of several new construction and renovation projects. In particular, the renovation of Munger Place into a new student “living-and-learning” community as well as reimagined and revamped outdoor athletic facilities to be collectively called the Davis Athletic Complex are planned to be ready by the time students return to campus for the fall semester.

Failure and success live on different sides of the same coin and Laurel Draudt, who on July 1 will become the new director of Albion College’s Carl A. Gerstacker Institute for Business and Management, believes it’s best to show students that in many cases, one side needs the other.

The recipient of a highly competitive Andrew W. Mellon Foundation internship in conservation, Mallory Fellows Bower, ’10, spent much of this past fall in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture as it prepares to open its doors later this year.