Kalamazoo College: A Global Community
By Zinta Aistars
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It may appear to be a small, pretty college campus at the western edge of town, but don’t let appearances fool you. Kalamazoo College is no small campus. This is a campus so elastic that it stretches out to encompass the globe: 20 study abroad programs in 14 locations in 12 countries. Kalamazoo, or “K” as it affectionately known, is nationally recognized as one of the International 50—the top 50 liberal arts colleges excelling in international education. While the national average for college students studying in another country is less than 9 percent, some 85 percent of Kalamazoo College graduates in the last 42 years have studied abroad.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find a student body in the United States that has a higher average degree of foreign language proficiency than ‘K’ students,” says Associate Provost for International Programs Joseph Brockington. Crossing the Kalamazoo campus, one might hear bits of conversation in an array of languages. “Once students go abroad, they realize that languages exist beyond their textbooks.”
Established in 1833 and the oldest college in Michigan, Kalamazoo College is a private, four-year, coeducational college of liberal arts and sciences set on 60 acres. The 29 buildings of Georgian architecture, with Stetson Chapel set atop the Arcadian Hill and listed as one of the city’s best-known landmarks, house and educate about 1,250 students from 42 states and 14 countries.
President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran, who took office in July 2005 but was inaugurated in March 2006, spoke of the responsibilities imposed upon higher education and Kalamazoo College. “We must enable students to go into the world projecting a scholar’s spirit, dedicated to improving human welfare,” she said. “Such a goal is not possible unless we engender in our students a sense of being home in the world, a sense that wherever they find themselves, they can be at home and make a home because they respect difference, can view the world from multiple perspectives, can adapt to new situations, and have the ability to put themselves at the margins.”
Gail Griffin, English professor at the College, adds: “When students return [from study abroad], their reference points are wider. They have all experienced terrific personal change. By understanding and appreciating another culture, we are able to better handle cross-cultural issues in our own country and on our own campus.”
Depending on a student’s qualifications, there are programs that can help develop language skills, allow the student to take regular university courses with local students, provide opportunities to work with local people on development and other projects, or give the student a chance to live with a local family.
To list just a few of the countries where Kalamazoo College has long-standing study abroad programs in place: Australia, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Spain, Thailand, Mexico, Senegal, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, and many others.
For more information about Kalamazoo College, visit www.kzoo.edu or call 269.337.7000. To contact the Kalamazoo College Center for International Programs directly, call 269.337.7133.