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Patrick McLean has long been fascinated with our neighbors to the north. “In 1985, I did my undergraduate honors thesis on Nova Scotian provincial politics,” says the Ford Institute director. From there he was hooked on a country whose culture and people are in so many ways similar to the U.S. but, in other key ways, are so different. This semester, he has taken his love of all things Canada to the classroom, teaching an honors class for first-year and sophomore students called Canada: More than Snow, Hockey and Maple Syrup.

One of Albion’s own, Keena Williams, will become the director and president’s special advisor for global diversity at Albion College. Williams, a 2009 Albion College alumna and a graduate of Albion High School, is currently the College’s interim director for intercultural affairs and has been a part of the Office of Intercultural Affairs staff for nearly four years. The promotion is effective April 1.

For National Women’s History Month, Albion College presents three events that explore unique and universal female experiences.

Albion College and five other Great Lakes Colleges Association institutions are coming together to design and teach hybrid courses, with an emphasis on digital teaching, thanks to last year’s $335,000 grant from the New York-based Teagle Foundation. This semester, history professor Marcy Sacks (left) is collaborating with a counterpart from Hope College; in the fall, exercise science professor Heather Betz will team up with a faculty peer from DePauw University.

On a snowy Super Tuesday, Mark Schauer found a ray of sunshine. “Empathy in politics is alive,” said the former U.S. congressman and 2014 Democratic Michigan gubernatorial candidate. “But with a faint pulse.” Schauer, ’84, who developed his love of public service in Albion’s Ford Institute, spoke to about 40 people Tuesday in Bobbitt Auditorium, offering a sober look at politics in perhaps one of the strangest election years America has ever seen.

Craig Streu, ’04, won’t say the words. No one can say the words. Not now. Not yet—that maybe, possibly, a cure for cancer awaits somewhere just around the corner. And while Streu—in his first year as an assistant professor of biochemistry at his alma mater—won’t say those words, he will allow himself the next best thing. “It could be one of the tools of the arsenal to cure cancer,” he says with all of the diplomacy he can muster.

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.