2012 Hightower Symposium
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Kim Cummings
Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Kalamazoo College
Keynote Address
We would like to offer a special thanks to the 2012 Hightower Symposium speaker, Dr. Kim Cummings, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Kalamazoo College. In his many years at the college, Dr. Cummings profoundly impacted his students and shaped the very departments in which we now study Anthropology, Sociology, and Human Development and Social Relations. Many of the graduating seniors in AnSo and HDSR took one or both of Dr. Cummings’s popular classes: “Building Blocks” and “How to Change the World.” From discussions in class, to one-on-one meetings with students in his office, to ice-cream socials on his porch, Dr. Cummings took the time to engage with students on a deeply personal level, and for some of us presenting this weekend, Kim is the reason we chose to major in AnSo or HDSR. His legacy reaches far beyond the boundaries Kalamazoo College’s campus, and for this we would like to honor Dr. Kim Cummings and welcome him back to Kalamazoo for the keynote speech at this year’s Hightower Symposium
Event Program
Poster Presentations
Date: April 13, 2012
Time: 4:30 – 6:00pm
- Consumer Choices as Expressions of Identity: Radical Consumerism Demonstrated Through Organics, CSA, and Health Foods by Lily Anderson
- Making the Career/Family Decision: How German and American Women Imagine their Futures by Leah Buckley
- The Academic Achievement of Adolescent Boys in the Child-Welfare System by LaShawn Etheridge
- The Trajectory of Black Male Athletes by Bill Gallagher
- Community Rehabilitation: How Structure and Environment Yield Positive Psychosocial and Behavioral Gains in a Traumatic Brain Injured Population by Ellen Hallgren
- Children of the Road: A Snapshot of Health Among Migrant Farmworkers’ Children in Northwest Michigan by Elizabeth Hubbell
- Marketing in a Spa/Salon Industry by Katie Hoff
- Looking to Cleveland’s Economic and Social Past to Understand Its Future by Iris Lehmann
- Fractal Impacts: How Gender Shapes Immigration in the context of Globalization by Cathy Oldershaw
- Sternal Fracturing: A Comparison of Fracture Patterns Caused by Sternal Compression and Blunt Force Trauma by Miah Pavlik
- Recycled and Upcycled Clothing: An Examination of Environmentalism in American Fashion Culture by Taylor Sruba
- Our Stories, Our Selves: A Study of Narrative Identity Formation by Lindsey Wilson
Oral Presentations
Date: April 14, 2012
Time: 9:00 am – 3:45 pm
- Micro-Finance: How Economic Empowerment Initiatives Impact Women in Rural Andean Ecuador by Hannah H. Reischl
- “The Vertigo of Eros”: Examining the Aesthetic-Ecstatic Space of Electronic Music for the Postmodern Subject by Emily Matus
- Penis Envy: The Hyper-Heterosexualization of African American Men in the United States by Dion Bullock
- The Gendering of Child Welfare: Chile as a Case Study by Anna Miller
- Half a Chance at Life: Racial Disparities in Infant Mortality Rates in Calhoun County, MI by Britta Seifert
- Well This is Awkward: An Exploration of Awkwardness as a Cultural Construct by Rachel Smith
- An Integrative Approach to Understanding Domestic Violence against Women in Vietnam by Hong Nguyen
- “It’s Just Food:” A Study of the Foodways of Chin Refugees in America by Gregory Flanigan
- Green Islam: The Color of Environmentalism in Senegal by Aya Cockram
- The Medicalization of Women’s Bodies in a Public Health Clinic in Ecuador by Dana Robinson
- The Condom Moment: a Structural Look at HIV in Detroit by Anna Witte & Meredith Quinlan
2011 Hightower Symposium
Keynote Speaker
Rob Oakleaf
Executive Director of Ministry with Community
Ministry with Community is a Greater Kalamazoo United Way agency and the city’s only day shelter. It is located at 440 N. Church St. in Kalamazoo. MwC programs include substance abuse counseling, educational classes, employment support, housing assistance, food, clothing and health referrals.
Event Program
Poster Presentations
Date: April 15, 2011
Time: 4:30 – 7:00pm
- A Promise Worth Keeping: The Kalamazoo Promise and Its Impact on Educational Outcomes by Ben Ayres
- Millenials and Urban Sustainable Development by Sam Brennan
- Hip Hop and the Social Construction of Racial Realities by John Flemming
- The Fetishism of Soap and Hygiene and its Implications for Racist Ideologies by Julie Kedroske
- The Effect of Advertising on Society’s Most Vulnerable Members by Chris LeBlanc
- Parallel Lives: A Study of Mexican Immigrant Farmworkers and Day Laborers by Kathleen O’Donovan
- New Religious Movements by Quentin Reynolds
- Not a Conversation Between Equals: Perceptions of Barriers to Healthcare for Latinos in the Twin Cities by Sari Rosenfield
- Feminism, Foucault, & Freedom of Choice: An Analysis of Body Modification Techniques and How They are Advertised by Erin Thompson
- Alive and Free: A Public Health Approach to Urban Youth Violence Prevention by Kaileen Wolf
Oral Presentations
Date: April 16, 2011
Time: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm
- Rebuilding Lives of the Poor: How Ministry with Community Drop-In Center Cultivates Self-Sufficiency and Dependency by Martha Cavazos
- Cultural Sensitivity and Mixed Methods in Social Research: Integrating Qualitative Practices into Quantitative Studies by Margy Brill
- Can You See Now? An Exploration of Peculiarities Previously Unknowable by Zoe Bernard
- Understanding Stereotypes and Discrimination in the United States: The Latino Middle Class Experience by Kate Christman
- Colonialism, Modernity and Women in Islam by Liz Baugh
- Diving into the Gender Pool: The Difference between Coaching Girls and Boys in Swimming by Danielle Williams
- Teaching the Forbidden Fruit: The Role of Religion in the Development of Sex Education by Emma Miele
- The Seeds of Change: How the 9 to 5 Women’s Labor Movement Rooted a Labor Revolution by Nandita Bhargava
- Gender, Language, and Identity by Haley Decker
- “Book With No Index”: A Qualitative Study of the Experiences of Latino Students at Kalamazoo College by Cooper Wilson
- Leadership, Gender and Empowerment: Female Student Experiences at Kalamazoo College by Hannah Guilford